The Paleo Diet and Cleansing, A Personal Insight
I've been doing an extended cleanse, the kind that we recommend to people in our books. This goes upstream from system to system, month by month, from the deepest to the most surface. Bowel, liver, kidney, blood, lymph. It takes patience.
The reason I started on this was an ongoing skin issue that gave way, but stubbornly resisted my efforts. Finally, I fell back on a basic truth, the condition of the skin is a direct reflection of the walls of the bowels. So, if there are recurring rashes on the skin, the same thing is happening along the surface of the bowel.
To get started I was doing a tablespoon of fiber twice daily and fifteen capsules of flora split up in three segments daily. Later I cut the fiber to once daily. Most essential to this stage was the combination from Nature's Sunshine Products, Small Intestine Detox. It is in the small intestine where a great deal of absorption takes place and when the walls get lined with gunk that process suffers.
Normally we continue with one system for a month, preferably starting at the New Moon. That way the body starts at a set point and the overall energy level rises each day as you are initiating the process. One of the secrets of healing is that the first two weeks working with any system is often devoted to cleaning out the junk. It is only after that when the body builds new tissue.
The organs are not designed to be plastered for extensive periods of time with pasty gunk. As you clean those layers of casein, gluten, fats and undigested protein off the walls, the tissue underneath is not performing at its peak. It takes time to heal and rebuild that layer.
Because I was working on the small and large intestines and massively repopulating the flora, I stuck with that program for a full three months, before moving on the Liver. I was a little worried about the liver cleanse, because in the past that has stirred up anger issues for me. This time that seems to be less of a problem, probably because of the extended bowel cleanse. The liver cleanses daily, how well it cleanses depends upon the health of the bowel, because that is where it vents the toxins. If the bowel is clean the liver cleanses daily.
Three months in I started with the Red Beet Combination and the western Liver Cleanse. I've been noticing that my liver function seems to be improving very nicely. Of course, when the liver is toxic the blood gets dirty. It is the liver and the kidneys that keep the blood clean. I do muscle testing to confirm my progress and the way things are going I should be starting the next phase, the kidneys, after a month of liver herbs.
One glitch which I ran into is a recurring theme. We do the Paleo Diet, not always in the purest way, but pretty close. As I started the liver cleanse I added fiber back in. The problem is that the Paleo Diet contains very little of the gunk that the Standard American Diet S.A.D. contains. The fiber was pulling too many of the good fats out of my system causing subtle inflammation. The Paleo Diet, the way I do it is very high in vegetables, which are the highest form of fiber. I don't need the additional psyllium, which can be harsh if there is nothing there to cleanse.
I've run into this problem before for myself and with clients, excessive cleansing. People often assume that the problem is that something needs to be washed away, when what the body needs is feeding. Fiber is great for pulling F.A.T.S. out of the system, Fats, Acids, Toxins, Sugar. That's why a fiber product is so helpful for diabetes, it grabs those sticky sugars and gets them out of the body.
But, the Paleo Diet is very low in sugar, high in vegetable fiber, and has a great alkaline acid balance. If done properly there are relatively few toxins in the diet and it is rich in the ever important Essential Fatty Acids. Why would I want to scrub that out when the body is busy digesting those valuable nutrients.
I've written about this issues with fiber and the Paleo Diet before. Then I forget about it, make the same mistake again, and then write about again in hopes that I'll remember it this time and avoid making the mistake again in the future. Cleansing needs to be used judiciously and timed properly.
While the Paleo Diet is great for encouraging health, with time the body accumulates toxins. So, if you have seen a fair share of birthday before you do Paleo, and you want to get the most from the Diet, consider a good, but gentle cleanse to get you back to firm, and clean foundation. But once you are there don't mess up a good thing with too much cleansing.
|