Some friends and I have decided to do a spring cleanse and detox. This is not my first rodeo, as They say, but it is theirs. I’ve done quite a few cleanses over the years, and that would perhaps seem normal, healthy and wise were I a European blogging to a mostly European audience. But I’m not European and my assumption is most of my readers will be /are American. I am not an SME, a certified whatever or a deep studier on the subject. I’m offering here my perspective and feelings.
So, first things first. There are many ways to cleanse and detox, many products, many approaches and many reasons. My friends and I going to do the Blessed Herbs product cleanse, with some of us doing the five-day fast, cleanse and detox (I’ve gone as long as 10 days with this system) and others choosing a lighter approach where they’ll be eating for five days and using the cleanse and detox products.
This post is aimed at the fast-and-cleanse group and I’m providing some tips that I can offer from my experience, namely:
- Get your products and go shopping.
- Find good juices.
- Find savory drinks.
- Find satisfying water alternatives.
- The hunger will pass.
- Cheat with coconut oil.
- Open to whatever needs to be cleansed.
- Make it a meal!
- Do your best and don’t fret the rest.
get your products and go shopping
You’ll need a bottle of the Digestive Stimulant (DS) and two 14-packet packs of the Toxin Absorber (TA). I prefer the ginger flavor as I feel it mixes better with other juices. Start taking the DS and TA, one per day, a couple-few days before you start your full cleanse. You can skip the kit, save yourself some money and just buy the two items. You’ll need a shaker jar to shake-shake-shake the TA. You’ll also need juice and other items, so check out my shopping list at the end of this post. If you use this coupon code for Blessed Herbs, you’ll get 20% off and I’ll earn $10.
find good juices
In a perfect world, you’ll buy organic fruits and produce, juice them in your world-class juicer (I have one, a Champion) and drink healthful, nutrient-rich juices. Right. Been there. Done that. You might as well take vacation days for all the time and effort it takes to prep, juice, clean-up and then repeat the process for a total of five times a day. You do need juice (imo) to mix with the TA; I prefer sweeter juice rather than vegetable-y juice as the TA gets thick quickly and it’s just easier to drink a sweeter drink quickly.
When mixing the TA, put half juice and half water in the jar, add the packet; shake; have your glass ready to pour it into; drink quickly; do not delay. Juice has loads of sugar in it, so going forward, I’ll be cutting down the amount of juice I consume when cleansing and detoxing. If you purchase juice (recommended, though I used to be a purist and made all my own juice) get healthier alternatives where you can and stretch your juice with flavored teas.
find savory drinks
I find having something savory and tasty makes all the difference. I feel more satisfied and less denied when I have savory drinks. For me, this has included home-made beef broth, miso soup (a bit of a cheat as miso is a solid) and any sort of soup broth. I’ve recently purchased some Numi savory tea for my upcoming cleanse and feel this will be a big help to have something that feels/smells more substantial than “just” cold fruit or vegetable juice.
find satisfying water alternatives
Regardless of how many experts say “drink lots of water,” I do not believe this nor do I find it sound advice as it does not, in my understanding, match pre-industrialized human history and behavior. I personally think the “drink more water” mantra promulgated is really an unconscious battle against the crazy amount of cheap, low-grade, poor-nutrient, industrialized salt added to tens of thousands of food products. And it is my opinion that rather than dealing with the issue of crappy food, crappy salt quality and poor eating choices, our Society has collectively decided to declare that drinking more water is good , unconsciously attempting to lower the salt quantity in our bodies (by adding more water and diluting it) rather than dealing with the true problem in food and salt quality. But I digress…
Personally, I do not find drinking water satisfying except in small amounts at key times, and yet to cleanse and detox with the Toxin Absorber packets, you’ll need more liquid moving through you. I need satisfying alternatives to water. For me, this is mainly tea; thankfully, in the realm of tea, there are so many choices. I’ve been experimenting with various flavors, quality levels and types of tea. Explore. Also, drinks such as unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, honey and water are nice, or the Numi savory teas, or barley water can be good. I’ll be doubling up on my homebrew kombucha before my cleanse so that I have something tasty to drink. Ginger and/or turmeric rhizomes, chopped up and placed in really hot (not quite boiling) water with good quality honey can be a nice drink too. Options abound.
And while this may seem sacrilege to purists, alcohol is liquid. Have a good quality beer, a really nice glass of wine or cocktail made with top shelf liquor. In other words, enjoy your liquids. The fast, the pills, the TA packets are enough of a challenge; there’s no need to suffer.
the hunger will pass
There are times when you will be hungry. No doubt. The Blessed Herbs Toxin Absorber can provide a surprising sense of fullness. There may be times when you feel lethargic and spacey; other times when you have such a surprising amount of energy (because your body isn’t expending so much energy to digest food).
cheat with coconut oil
For this upcoming fast, I’m going to “cheat” with coconut oil. Most any other fast — even ones that allow eating during the fast and cleanse — will have admonitions about avoiding processed food, animal protein and fat. But we need fat for vitamin absorption, to feel satisfied and yada yada. I’m not a SME here. Google it. Coconut oil is king among fats. Or at least royalty. I’ve recently discovered that a teaspoon of coconut oil added to hot tea is quite enjoyable, especially a fruity-tasting tea. I steep the tea, then add the coconut oil; wait for the temp to drop just a bit and then drink it. I will definitely be having this drink a lot on my next cleanse and fast. Plus coconut oil helps with expelling parasites … which some people have. It happens.
cheat with chia seeds
Super small, known for suppressing appetite, providers of great energy and chockfull of nutrients, these little seeds help with so much, including hydration, and are a most-excellent cheat. When I did a 10-day fast and incorporate daily consumption of chia seeds, I had no hunger. It was amazing!
open to whatever needs to be cleansed
With every cleanse I’ve done, something else has been going on. Sometimes I’ve gone through my wardrobe and reviewed what I wanted to keep or pass on to a thrift store; other times I’ve gone through years of old paper and/or computer files; one time I helped a friend thoroughly clean the scrub growth encroaching into her yard and we cleaned and prepped her yard for spring. It doesn’t matter what it is, but it does matter, imo, that you’re aware that the physical cleanse and detox is the anchor, but your whole life — or a part of it — may also need a cleanse and detox. Be open to it. And fear not the sudden wave of sadness or some deep emotion that appears “out of nowhere.”
make it a meal
There will come a time when you’re facing your fourth Toxin Absorber packet of the day is just not a pleasant thought. So make “a meal” of it. First, when possible, try to take your packets and pills with another person. Celebrate that you’re doing a cleanse. Acknowledge what you’re up to. When cleansing and detoxing, I often pull out of the back corners of cupboards any abandoned or forgotten bottles of tinctures, vitamins or supplements. I keep them on the kitchen counter and make a bit of ceremony and effect out of the process. If I’m already swallowing one pill (the Digestive Stimulant) why not also swallow a handful more of pills, use up the bottles around my house and get some more nutrients and curative elements in me?
do your best and don’t fret the rest
The fast, cleanse and detox outlined by Blessed Herbs is an “optimal” plan. Do your best. Enjoy the ride. Have the experience. And enjoy the benefits.
my shopping list for a cleanse
- Blessed Herbs cleanse products (Digestive Stimulant and Toxin Absorber)
- Somewhat healthy juices, various flavors
- Teas (good quality)
- Good quality broth (or ingredients to make your own broth)
- Coconut oil (Kelapo is my favorite)
- Miso soup – bonito flakes, miso and kombu
- Chia seed
optional liver cleanse
There is an amazing liver-cleanse drink — garlic+olive oil+lemon/citrus+sweet juice drink+ginger liver-cleanse — that you may find is a tasty and satisfying (it helps with hunger, too). Each day the amount of garlic and olive oil increases one notch, starting with one clove of garlic and one tablespoon of olive oil; day two, same drink but two cloves of garlic and two tablespoons of olive oil. Here’s how I make it —
- Peel a clove of garlic.
- Peel a 1/2 inch of ginger.
- Juice (not puree or blend) a lemon and lime (seeds removed, rinds included, trust me).
- Juice several apples with some grapes (or buy unpastuerized apple juice), or juice a couple/few oranges and grapefruits.
- Place all of these ingredients plus a tablespoon of olive oil in a blender, blend on high until emulsified; drink.
liver cleanse shopping list
- Garlic
- Really good quality olive oil
- Lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit (for the optional add-on liver cleanse)
- Ginger
- Apples and grapes, or unpasteurized apple cider, or lots of oranges and/or grapefruits
This whole text is yet to be proofread.
