Cleansing the bowels with these suggestions will help encourage elimination. Ever think about doing a bowel cleanse?
There are SO many ways that you can do it. You can get kits, you can take pills, powders, oils and so on. This blog post contains a custom made bowel cleanse that I created for a client and I decided to share it! The main goal of a bowel cleanse is to ensure stagnant waste is moved out of the bowels, to bombard the bowels with healthy substances it needs to function well, and to establish healthier habits for continued bowel health. Spring cleaning really does apply to more than just your house!
You can do any combination of these suggestions; the more you implement and adhere to, the more effective bowel cleanse will be achieved.
For this cleanse I suggested a duration of 1 month in preparation for a liver cleanse the following month. Now is a great time to do a bowel cleanse as March is an excellent month for liver cleansing. You can also do two weeks on, two weeks off; essintially breaking up the cleanse so it doesn't seem so long.
Just a few reasons to cleanse the bowels and liver:
- hormonal imbalance
- hot flashes
- painful periods
- poor digestion
- constipation or diarrhea
- candida or chronic yeast infections
- acne
Implement the following bowel cleansing habits for the duration of the cleansing period:
- High Quality Fiber such as ground flax, ground psyllium husk or chia seeds or a combination of all three. (2 tbsp per day in juice or water) Drink it quickly and consume at least 8 to 12 ounces of water with it! After 1 week, this should be increased to twice daily. Psyllium is available in capsules as well. Starting small is key. Begin with one capsule or tsp of ground psyllium husk and increase until 2 bowel movements are achieved daily
- Chew ALL food very well, liquefying it prior to swallowing! This makes digestion easier from the stomach down
- Eat a diet consisting in at least 50-75% vegetables, fruits, unprocessed whole wheat, grains, and legumes.
- Half your body weight in purified water should be consumed per day. If your 150lbs, drink 75oz per day.
- Dry Brushing the skin at least 3 times a week towards the heart
- Essential Fatty Acids should be consumed to lube the tube! (fish oil, flax oil, hemp oil) 2-4 tsp per day
- Laxative teas or herbal laxative capsules (3 times a week at night for a movement in the morning)
- Probiotics (30 to 50 Billion potency per day) Renew Life and Garden of Life are two great brands. I like to take these after a meal to ensure that the healthy bacteria make it through the stomach
- 1 Enema per week. There is more information below on benefits of enemas
- Herbal tincture of Dandelion and Burdock Root to cleanse the liver gallbladder and blood. 20 drops 2 times daily
- Daily Juicing
Foods to Avoid During the Bowel Cleanse:
- Avoid Pork Completely. Pork is the meat that takes the longest to go through the digestive tract, therefore it contributes to stagnant waste in the bowels. Ham should be avoided for a healthy gut
- Red meat (limit to 1 time weekly, if you consume red meat, only consume vegetables with it. i.e., a big salad, a pile of steamed vegetables and a grass fed steak. Do not combine potatoes with steak. Grass fed beef only is preferable in limited amounts
- Chicken (limit to 3 times per week)
- Avoid Dairy. Allow yourself to have it as a treat only (3 times per week maximum)
- Avoid processed wheat such as bread (unless 100% whole grain, preferably sprouted grain bread)
- Avoid pastries, donuts, cookies and crackers. If you consume these limit them to 3 times per week or so
Snacks, Breads and Dairy that are acceptable:
- Raw Nuts (almond, Brazilian etc, these can be purchased at the health food store)
- Ezekiel sprouted bread that can be purchased at the health food store
- Raw snacks and crackers (health food store)
- Vegetables with hummus
- Apples and peanut butter
- Use hummus for spread on Ezekiel bread in place of Mayonnaise
- REAL butter on toasted Ezekiel bread is ok
- Raw Cheeses a few times a week is ok (this can be bought at the health foods store)
The main benefit of an enema is the cleansing of stagnant wastes from the body. Stagnant waste in the colon, leads to dirty blood. Dirty blood must be eliminated elsewhere; unfortunately the skin is the best place for the body to rid itself of toxins. People with acne, hormonal imbalance, candida or digestive problems can benefit. Find Directions for doing Enemas here. Additionally probiotics administered in enemas populate the bowels with healthy bacteria to encourage a healthy ecosystem in the bowel. This is going to encourage proper elimination. All this info and more is at the link above on enemas. 
Always brush towards the heart!Dry Brushing:
Dry brushing is important as it will encourage lymphatic drainage in the body. We want to open ALL channels of elimination so that we can cleanse the organs, bowels, blood and skin. It’s simple, it takes 5 minutes and it FEELS SO GOOD! Pick up a dry brush at any health food store or at the link above to vitacost.com. Begin with it each morning prior to showering, dry brushing on bare, dry skin towards the armpits, towards the heart, towards the groin. This will encourage lymphatic movement, and detoxification of the body.
Laxative Teas:
We must do laxative herbal teas or herbal capsules as it will purge the bowels several times a week. With dry brushing, eating better, juicing more and detoxing more than normal, purging the bowels periodically will ensure that stagnant wastes do not collect there. Try doing the tea (1 bag at first, steeped for 20 minutes). Do this at night when you don’t have to be anywhere in the morning prior to 10:00am. We need to see how quickly the tea is effective for you. I would recommend drinking the tea around 7:00 or 8:00pm at night. Everyone responds differently to laxative teas. You may wake up at 4:00am to go, or you may not go until 9:00am. You will need to experiment at first to find out what works for you. I do not advocate for people using herbal laxatives habitually. This creates a dependency on the laxative for movements. We must rely on our own natural peristalsis (wave like motion in the bowels) to move food through the intestine. The laxative herbal teas should be used 2-3 times a week at the most during the bowel detox.
There are many variations of bowel cleanses. You can pretty much take or leave any of these options and STILL benefit the bowels in a positive way. As I mentioned before, you really get out of it what you put into it.
Please reach out to me with questions or comments on bowel cleansing or any other natural health topics!
Thanks!