Here it is! The long awaited narrative on my husband and I's cleanse.
I began my cleanse on the Thursday previous to Spring Equinox. I did my prune juice in the morning and pressed on with my apple juice and water. I felt terrible the first half of that first day, but by about 3:30 I was feeling pretty good and up to my evening responsibilities. The next day I felt even better, energized with a little happy humming in my veins.
My husband began his juice around lunch time that day. When 7:30pm rolled around, we started taking little shots (in an old shot glass even) of lemon juice and olive oil. Nasty! But honestly still better than plain olive oil. We continued on with the shots every 15 minutes, pulling crazy faces and stomping around with every shot. At first our 8 year old wanted to try it out, but after watching us a little longer he changed his mind. After my first shot, I almost immediately felt a short little pain in my mid back on the right side . . right in my gall bladder! That stuff works fast!
We both had little moments where our stomachs were quiet unsettled, but they mellowed back out before long. It's possible our stomachs would have handled it better if we had done a straight fast starting in the afternoon. Well, my husband decided at 10:15pm he was done for the night. I took one more shot at 10:30 and crawled in bed. That one extra shot did me in and I ended up hugging the toilet . . . but I felt way better when that was over. :) (Don't you always!?)
The next morning we both woke up at 6:30am feeling AMAZING! We felt totally energized and ready for the day and we had absolutely no reason to be up that early. The only problem was, we knew the olive oil and lemon juice had done it's work in the night but neither one of us felt the need to use the bathroom. We each took 2 Tbsp of epsom salts in water and within half an hour that problem was remedied.
Through out that Saturday my husband cleansed 40-50 gall stones and I cleansed 25-30! It was also so interesting, when we woke up the second day, both of us were sore through our backs in a way we never have been before. I can only guess that it was from the deep cleansing of our intestines. It is so amazing seeing something that you know could have caused you problems in the future like gall stones that you cleansed out naturally yourself, just with your will power. I have had two family members have problems with their gall bladders and now I can be sure I will never be caught in that situation. We intend to do this gall stone cleanse once a year from now on. It is well worth half an hour or so of discomfort one night.
There are many effective cleanses, cleansing products and cleansing procedures available. My intention is to provide some cleansing options that use are simple, cheap and effective using items from your kitchen, straight from nature. I am not a doctor and I take no liability for the results of your cleansing experience.
The cleansing organs in the body are the bowels, kidneys, skin and lungs. When toxins begin to back up in the bowels and the way out for toxins becomes more of a struggle, your body begins to use other means. Sometimes you get a cold, as the excess mucus in your body turns to your lungs to be expelled or sometimes you may find yourself with a fever, or even just sweating more profusely when you exercise as the toxins escape through your skin. Your body does everything it can on it's own to keep up with all the accumulating waste.
You may think, "I eat pretty healthy. Can there really be that much that I need to cleanse?" Absolutely! In addition to the types of foods we take in, the preservatives, additives, hormones, antibiotics, etc, our bodies have to sift through the impure air, impure water, and the used up cells and tissues from all body functions. Much of this waste accumulates in the form of an extra thick mucus lining throughout the body.
Many of the foods we eat create an acidic reaction in the body which results in mucus. Too much mucus stops us up (in more than one way), and gets our immune team stuck in their tracks among other things. Even when you have an emotion that is less than love (which has a healing and alkaline effect on your body), it creates a chemical (such as adrenaline) that has an acidic reaction in your body, and therefore creates an additional need to cleanse. Some of my friends have joked around and justified eating a brownie because it was "made with love!"
Now to the cleanses. I have decided for myself that I would like to do a cleanse every quarter as we enter a new season, so long as I'm not pregnant or breastfeeding. Stay in tune with your body and it will let you know when you are ready for a good cleanse. Very likely, it could use more cleansing than you give it. Listen to your own guidance and feel out each cleanse to find out which is best for you at this time.
Note: If you need to feed others while you are on a fasting cleanse, you may want to prepare for some fast easy meals ahead of time.
Kidney Cleanse
Drink 3 cups each of fresh ginger and parsley tea daily. This cleanse can last anywhere from three days to a two weeks.Pre-cook your parsley tea in large amounts so that it's light green and store in the fridge through out the cleanse. This will make it much more convenient. For your ginger tea, place a small piece of your ginger root in a cup, pour boiling water over it, and cover for 10-15 minutes.
You can eat just like normal but you will get more from the cleanse if you stay away from kidney irritants. These include cooked black pepper, large servings of meat (uric acid) and soft drinks. Parsley tea is safe for pregnant women and heals bladder and kidney infections, however parsley tea is known to reduce the flow of breast milk.
Gall Bladder Cleanse
You will need:
2-5 lemons
1.5-2 cup olive oil
This cleanse is best to start on the evening previous to two days you can take off from all running around. If you are cleansing over the weekend (the 20th through the 22nd) have a liquid diet, or a very light diet with little or no fat throughout the day Friday. Take the first dose of your concoction at 7:30 Friday night. This cleanse calls for 2 Tbsp every 15 minutes. The amount of lemons you use depends on the size and your preferences. All amounts in the range should work just fine. Don't try to rush and take the drink down faster . . . you will not be able to hold it down.
Go to bed at a decent hour Friday night, the objective is to do your major cleansing on Saturday. When you wake up will begin your cleansing if you are like most people you will cleanse 30-200 soft, non painful gall stones Saturday and possibly some Sunday. Most people will finish passing stones in one day. Continue with your 2 Tbsp every 15 minutes Saturday morning until it's gone. Saturday and Sunday be sensitive to your body as far as the foods you take in. Sunday most people feel pretty normal and recovered. Let it be a day of sensitivity to your new internal cleanliness. I have not yet done this cleanse and I'm excited to clear out some stones this weekend!
Dr. Christopher's 3 Day Juice Cleanse
You will need:
48 oz max prune juice
9-18 Tbsp expeller pressed olive oil
3 gallons apple juice
3 gallons distilled water
I love this cleanse. I always do it with fresh, unpasterized apple juice that is so yummy I don't care I'm not eating. Here's the protocol:
In the morning drink 16 oz of prune juice. The prune juice is not only for giving your bowels a little extra push, but it also draws toxins from all over your body into your intestines. Lovely right! Half an hour later follow that up with 8 oz apple juice (a wonderful blood purifier). When desired have a glass of water, followed up half an hour later with another 8 oz of apple juice. Keep this up all day and throw in 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil 3 times a day. Keep up this schedule for 3 days. This cleanse will clean out approximately 3 gallons of toxic lymph and replace it with pure juice and water. Be sure to SWISH your apple juice. This will aid your digestion.
If you get so hungry you can't stand it, you can have an apple at night or maybe a salad with greens and some lemon and olive oil dressing. I find that I start getting hungry every time right before I'm due for more apple juice, which satisfies me for another hour. Feel free to alter the amounts of liquids you are taking in if you start to feel bloated.
It is normal on this cleanse to be constipated. If this happens you can take more prune juice, take some internal epsom salts (follow directions on the package) or take any all natural laxative that you have on hand. Much of this cleansing will come through the kidneys. It is possible to go to work on this cleanse if necessary.
Ease back into food gracefully on the fourth day with lots of fruit, juices and salad. Listen to your body.
How my husband and I are combining the cleanses
I was told (and also read online) that apple juice softens gall stones and can also be used in gall bladder cleansing. I have never cleansed anything as notable as a gall stone so I wanted to combine the Gall Stone cleanse with the 3 Day Juice Cleanse. My husband is always surprising me and is on to cleanse with me! We are beginning our cleanse Thursday. We will do Thursday and Friday according to the protocol for the 3 Day Juice Cleanse. Friday evening, we will begin the gall stone cleanse. I hope to complete the third day of the juice cleanse on Saturday, but as I have no experience cleansing gall stones, I am staying open to how my body feels and what it needs. That's it!
I will update you on our cleansing experience next week. I would love to hear about all of your cleansing as well! Happy cleansing!