READY FOR A CLEAN START?
“Spring” and “Cleanse” go together like Sunday and brunch. When you see sweet, perfect green buds and blossoms sliding out of rough branches and the air just seems cleaner, it’s hard to resist the desire to feel just as fresh and new.
While you’re wiping down your window sills and shaking out your rugs, could your internal home do with a little freshening up?
The liver and gallbladder deal with all the grime and toxins that manage to get tracked into the body systems through pollution, processed food, unfiltered water, and more. They do an excellent job of sweeping all that away into the waste removal systems we have within us—urine, sweat, stool. However, our modern environment can overwhelm our efficient systems that haven’t biologically caught up to this level of industrial damage. Even these powerhouse organs can use a little support.
This is what’s occurring when you do a “cleanse”. Your body is already expert at processing toxins. The gentle cleanse you offer your body is a chance to bring awareness to what you put into your body and really give your body a rest from all the different substances you encounter.
A key foundational step to any cleanse is to open up the pathways that allow toxins to exit. This involves intestinal clearing. The small intestine helps move unusable material to the large intestine where it accumulates until it is naturally flushed out with a bowel movement. Your level of hydration, the types of foods you’re eating, and the amount of insoluble fiber all contribute to the effectiveness of this elimination. If anything is unable to leave the body, it can ferment in the gut or worse. So, it’s key to make sure you have enough fiber in your food and hydration to allow waste matter to compress completely and exit smoothly.
Sound like a rough task? Fortunately, the natural world provides so many helpers!
In addition to the plentiful fiber in fresh, whole fruits and vegetables and (hopefully) easy access to fresh water, there are key herbs, spices, and minerals that have the power to aid in your intestinal clearing. Essential oils made from plant allies also offer more vigorous assistance if that’s needed.
Here are a few of DeAnna’s favorite solutions:
Cleansing Tea
Steep 1 tsp into a cup and pour your hot water or milk over. Cover, stir, and drink. The herbs are blended to promote liver and gallbladder function to release toxins. This tea is helpful whether you’re focused on a cleanse or if you tend toward more stagnation and mucus (a kapha imbalance). Use the powdered version to ingest the herbal fiber for added support.
Triphala Tea
Each night, add 1 tsp. of triphala herb blend in an average size tea cup. Pour boiling water over the Triphala and cover for 10 minutes.
Stir and drink!
Do not strain the plant fiber, as it will keep working in the stomach.
Triphala tea is made up of 3 enzymatic fruits: Amalaki, Haritaki and Bibhitaki. It is quite bitter, but the bitter taste will aid in activating the intestines and kick-starting peristalsis function. Triphala is also used after an intestinal clearing to keep the intestines balanced and releasing regularly.
Cardamom Essential Oil
Use 3 drops in the morning and evening. Place in your hand and rub on your abdomen.
Essential oils are transdermal, so they absorb into the bloodstream via the skin. They are potent, so 6 drops total is all you will need each day.
Cardamom is a carminative, which means it dispels gaseous waste and alkalizes the waste for a less eruptive clearing.
It is also good for the liver and gallbladder and so it acts as a precursor for further cleansing.
Magnesium for Intestinal Clearing
One of DeAnna's favorite intestinal clearing protocols is magnesium. She finds using powdered magnesium to be easy and convenient.
DeAnna recommends starting with 2 tsp. morning and night in room temperature water. (You can also add in electrolyte grey salt in the morning). If this dosage does not make you have three bowel movements a day, take one tsp. more each morning and night until it does.
This is the smartest way to clear the intestines, since you are doing it with a mineral compound. A magnesium supplement works well because when the intestines are cleared out, this magnesium can be absorbed into the strength of the muscular and nervous systems, acting as a tonic.
Magnesium will loosen the bowels and can be a bit uncomfortable, since you will be going to the bathroom more frequently. If you have uncomfortable diarrhea, lower the dose, but keep taking it. It is sloughing the edges of the intestines and clearing out old waste, mucus and undigested food.
There is no way around getting all the old waste matter out and clearing the way for a deeper cleanse.
Take it as slow or as quick, as you wish, by lowering or raising the dosage. For instance, if you have to leave the house, take less; if you have a day at home, take more.
Once the magnesium has cleared the intestines it will stop creating loose stool, even at a high dose. Then you will know you have completely cleared the bowels.
Make sure you stay hydrated with electrolytes through any process. You’ll be amazed how much lighter and energized you’ll feel just from intestinal clearing alone. It’s enough to put a spring in your step!