Unless you start on the Paleo diet in a lean and mean condition, AKA athletic peak, chances are you are going to lose weight, primarily in the form of fat. That’s because the diet is relatively high in the lean protein that builds muscle and low in the poor quality fat that is often stored or worse yet, an irritant. As the fat breaks down the body has to process toxins that was stuck in the fat, a common problem with weight loss that’s often the cause of abhorrent pimples, rashes and headaches.
The body prefers to dispose of heavy toxins through the bowel and urinary system. If the toxins are dislodged faster than the eliminative systems can handle them the body turns to the biggest eliminative system, the skin. Those red bumpy things on the skin are toxins leaving. If you use the correct herbal tools you increase the bowel and urinary systems abilities to handle the detoxification process without those unpleasant side effects. Herbalist joke: You know you’re an herbalist when you can meet somebody and say ‘HI, my name is …….! How are your bowels?
That’s because in today’s grain, bean, dairy and sugar based society most people’s bowels are continuously clogged with the glues associated with these foods and an herbalist’s work often starts with providing solutions for that system. Until the bowels work correctly real detoxification can’t begin.That reality inspired the saying that 90% of disease begins in the bowels. It’s true; people grow all kinds of pathogens in there in a morass of undigested gluey foods. We turned that expression into 90% of health begins in the bowels.
Anyone who studies health, even on a casual level knows that fiber is essential to bowel health. That has created a huge industry for oat bran muffins, psyllium drinks and capsules and a wide variety of easier and easier ways to get fiber in the diet. The Paleo diet is very high in plant fiber from vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. For anyone who has depended on daily fiber drinks to keep their bowels working correctly it is shocking how well they function on the Paleo diet sans fiber drinks. As soon as the bowel no longer has to deal with the glues of grains, beans, dairy and sugar it starts cleaning itself using the fiber in the diet.It’s helpful to understand that gluten, a main component of most popular grains is a glue. Also, casein, a component in dairy products is used for Elmer’s Glue.
While beans don’t make such a good glue they block the absorption of minerals, especially calcium, which explains in part why economies that depend on beans often have less than average heights. We all know how sticky sugar is, but beyond that it is highly acidic and promotes the growth of pathogens that compete with the healthy flora of the bowel. That flora is a major component of the immune system so it can use all the help it can get.
Where can herbs and fiber most help that weight loss and detoxification process? In deep tissue cleansing where toxins and pathogens are resistant to being dislodged! Heavy metals are a toxin that the body understands because volcanoes are a fact of life. Heavy metals have an electrical charge that locks them into the body’s tissues. It requires a product with a strong electrical attraction to pull them free and carry them out through the bowel. Products like kelp, Bentonite, Irish Moss and Algin have a good history for this purpose. Why do you want to get the heavy metals out? Your nervous is electrical and it depends upon the correct balance of electrically conductive metals floating around in your body to function correctly.
Those metals are call electrolytes. Heavy metals have the wrong electrical charge. When they clutter up the passageways where electricity flows they create static disruptions and poor communications between the body systems. The best way to get started is with a Bentonite bath. Do this late in the day when you don’t have to work the next day because it takes a lot out of you. Pour half a bottle of NSP liquid Bentonite into a tub of hot water and bath in it for twenty minutes, no more and no less. Make sure you rub it onto your scalp and face, remember those mercury fillings. After twenty minutes rinse off thoroughly but watch your step and have a hand hold, because this can produce rubbery legs.
Supplement immediately and the following day with ---------- to replace the good minerals that were pulled out with the bad. After that start an herbal program for six months to a year. Use small amounts; one capsule daily for a gradual cleanse that is both effective and comfortable. Make sure you take any herb with plenty of pure water because while the herb can dislodge the toxin the water is what carries it out of the body.Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are Master Herbalists and Naturopathic Physicians. You can find their books and other products plus a wealth of useful information at http://www.SpaceAndTime.com and you can contact them at Lahni@spaceandtime.com