Healthy Happenings: Cleansing!!Should we or shouldn’t we?

We get questions almost daily about the headlines that tell all of us to cleanse the 25 pounds of waste from our intestines.This is untrue and only used to sell cleansing kits that can cost a lot of money.Cleansing with these kits can be dangerous.However, due to our toxic environment, medications and less than nutritious foods, a simple juice fast is recommended a few times a year.Dr. Elson Haas has many recommendations for cleansing using foods in The Detox Diet.I follow Ann Louise Gittleman’s Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet using cranberry water and flax. I do the fast when the seasons change.I tried the Miracle Cleanse for 3 days and a water fast for 1 day but they left me weak and with a decreased immune system.So be careful when you consider cleansing.

vOne Day Detox Protocol:

1.The week before the seasons change remove all unhealthy foods (sweets & starches).Use Stevia as a natural sweetener.

2.Nourish yourself with cabbage family vegetables, leafy greens, citrus fruits, eggs, onions, liver-loving foods (asparagus, beets, celery, dandelion root tea, nutritional years, whey), colon-caring foods (apples, berries, carrots, ground flaxseeds, psyllium husks, and a little olive oil to fortify your major detoxification and eliminations organs.

3.Drink filtered or purified water.

4.Eat protein (chicken, turkey, fish and lean beef or lamb).

5.Vegans need blue-green algae or spirulina daily.

6.Avoid alcohol, excess fat, gluten, molds on overly ripe fruit and soy protein isolate.

*Note:unless you can follow this regimen for seven days, do not begin the following fast.Fasting without this kind of support releases toxins into the bloodstream-and you’ll be even more likely to gain weight.

vOne Day Detox Diet:

1.Begin with 1 tablespoon of ground flax in cranberry water upon rising and again at the end of your day.

2.Then alternate drinking 1 cup of filtered water with 1 cup of Miracle Juice, throughout your one-day fast.

3.While fasting, engage only in light exercise.Take 20 minute walk, or jump for 10 minutes on a rebounder.

vBreaking the Fastfor 3 days:

1.Once a day, eat foods rich in probiotics (yogurt, kefir, kombucha tea)

2.Enjoy one liver-loving food, two colon-caring foods, two servings of protein, and olive oil.

Ann Louise Gittleman’s Miracle Juice

2 quarts of Cranberry Water

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

¼ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Stevia to taste.

Good Luck,

Maurine Sharp Natural Nurse

*Cranberry water recipe: ½ cup of 100% cranberry juice in 28 ounces of filtered water.

1.Bring Cranberry Water to a light boil; reduce the heat to low.

2.Place cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in the warm Cranberry Water.

3.Simmer 15-20 minutes; cool to room temperature.

4.Add orange juice and lemon juice.Sweeten with Stevia.