How To Do A Liver Detox & Blood Cleanse – 5 Days
By Karen Foster
By cleansing the liver, we’re talking about inducing the liver to purge all of the fats, old cholesterol deposits, gallstones, poisons, drug residues, and toxic waste stored therein. Probably nothing else you do (including even the colon detox) will make a greater difference in your overall health. The liver is so important to our well-being that many healers maintain that most diseases cannot develop in the body (that, in fact, no form of cell degeneration can occur) if the liver is functioning in an efficient, healthy manner. Conversely, an unhealthy liver is very likely at the root of most serious health problems.
By removing and eliminating toxins, then feeding your body with healthy nutrients, detoxifying can help protect you from disease and renew your ability to maintain optimum health. Specific foods will assist in boosting your metabolism, optimizing digestion, while allowing you to lose weight and fortify your immune system.
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Detoxification is a normal process within the body as it neutralizes and eliminates toxins through the major organs such as our colon, liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph and skin. According to many healing experts, detoxification through special cleansing programs may be the missing link to disease prevention.
The liver is the gateway to the body and in this chemical age its detoxification systems are easily overloaded. Thousands of chemicals are added to food and over 700 have been identified in drinking water. Plants are sprayed with toxic chemicals, animals are injected with potent hormones and antibiotics and a significant amount of our food is genetically engineered, processed, refined, frozen and cooked. All this can lead to destruction of delicate vitamins and minerals, which are needed for the detoxification pathways in the liver. The liver must try to cope with every toxic chemical in our environment, as well as damaged fats that are present in processed and fried foods.
Note: It is vital that you do a colon detox before doing the liver detox. When the liver dumps, it dumps through the bile duct and out into the colon. If the colon (the drain pipe if you will) is plugged, the waste backs up into the blood stream and can make you feel extremely ill. This is the reason that the “Miracle Doctors” always start with the colon detox. It’s the prerequisite for all the other cleanses in the body — and, of course, can also produce dramatic healings in its own right.
The 5-Day Liver Detox
This is the Liver/Gallbladder flush recommended by Dr. Richard Schulze — and is the one most people should opt for. It is done in the morning on an empty stomach for 5 days.
First thing on rising, drink 8 oz of pure water to flush your digestive tract.
An hour later, in a blender, mix up 8 oz of any fresh squeezed citrus juice (fresh squeezed apple juice or grape juice with all the sediment will work too), one lemon, 1 clove of garlic (increase by 1 clove each day), 1 tbs. of olive oil (increase by 1 tbs each day), and a piece of ginger (about 1″ long) along with 8 oz of pure water
Drink it down and follow with a fresh juice chaser to clear your mouth.
Fifteen minutes after consuming this drink, follow with 2 cups of the liver/detox tea. It is also important to take 2 droppersful of the liver/detox tincture 3-6 times a day while on the 5-day cleanse — and continuing after until the bottle is gone.
The Liver Detox Diet
It is extremely beneficial to incorporate a 2-day raw food and 3-day juice-fast into your 5-day liver cleanse. However, for those who can make it, a five day juice fast is the best. Below are the directions, and you may want to follow along with our new downloadable detox diet chart in PDF format.
Liver Detox Day 1
During the morning (after your cleansing drink and stopping one hour before lunch), eat all the live FRESH fruit or vegetable juice you want. Beet juice is especially good. Do not mix your fruit and vegetable juices together, and feel free to dilute your juices.
For lunch you can have more diluted juice, or a raw vegetable or sprout salad. Absolutely do not use bottled dressing. Make your own dressing from fresh olive oil and lemon or apple cider vinegar and any fresh herbs and spices you of your choice. If you are hungry thoughout the day, feel free to snack on fresh vegetables or juices.
For dinner eat fresh fruit or fruit juice or fruit smoothes.
Liver Detox Days 2-4
After your morning flush, drink diluted juices and herbal tea throughout the day — as much as you can drink. Try to consume 128 oz during the day.
Also recommended throughout the day is to consume cups of potassium broth. Potassium broth takes advantage of the fact that the outside of a potato is one of the highest plant sources of potassium. Take the peelings (1/4″ to 1/2″ including the skin) of several potatoes. Do NOT use the inside. Add other well chopped vegetables to taste including carrots (with skin), celery , whole beets (including greens), fresh parsley, and lots of onion and garlic (up to 50 cloves).
Simmer for 40-60 minutes in a covered pot using clean filtered water. Strain out the vegetables, cool and drink the broth. Refrigerate leftover broth in glass containers in the refrigerator for use over the next two days.
Liver Detox Day 5
Same as Day 1
An Alternative Liver Detox (30 Day Cleanse)
For those who don’t want to do the full liver flush, there is a slow and easy version that will give you 70 to 80 percent of the benefit without the difficulty. As part of your daily diet, just eat one cup of raw, freshly grated beets mixed with olive oil and lemon juice for thirty days straight. Daily use of a liver detox tea is also required. Using one bottle of liver tincture is recommended.
What Can You Expect From The Detox
If you are so inclined (and you should be) you should examine what you deposit in the toilet. Look for “stones.” The bile from the liver gives some stones their pea green color. But also look for black stones and red ones and brown one. And look for stones with blood inside them. (Note: Oftentimes, the olive oilis converted into little “soap beads” in the intestinal tract, and many people confuse these little beads with actual stones.) If you do not notice anything, it does not mean it is still not working.
During the course of a cleanse, it’s not uncommon to pass some 2,000 of these stones. Be glad. The more you pass, the healthier you become. You may also find untold numbers of tiny white cholesterol “crystals” mixed in with the waste.
The Liver Detox Tea & Tincture
The use of an herbal tea and tincture along with the flush is essential.
The Detox Tea
The tea helps with the flushing process itself, but also helps minimize any discomfort or nausea. The key herb in the tea is dandelion root, one of the strongest herbal lipotropics known. That is to say, it flushes fat deposits from the liver. Other herbs that you will find in a good detox tea include things like: ginger, clove, cinnamon, burdock root, and horsetail.
Incidentally, some of the other herbs used in a good liver/detox tea (such as uva ursi, parsley root, and juniper berries) are also extremely beneficial to the kidneys.
Two cups of the tea should be consumed fifteen minutes after drinking your citrus and olive flush. But several cups can and should be consumed throughout the day. In fact, consuming the liver/detox tea as a regular part of your diet is a pleasant and tasty way to continually optimize your health. (Feel free to sweeten the tea with honey or real maple syrup as desired.)
The Liver Detox Tincture
The tincture is crucial in that it contains herbs that help the liver to rebuild and regenerate itself. A secondary benefit is that it will significantly reduce the liver’s release of LDL cholesterol. The key herbs include milk thistle, dandelion root, the perennial herb picrorhiza kurroa (sometimes called kutkin, or “Indian milk thistle), and artichoke or beet leaf.
The liver/detox tincture is also a good place to include the antiparasitic herbs such as wormwood and black walnut. Along with the garlic that you are taking with the liver flush, this will drive virtually any parasite from your body.
Take 2 droppersful 3-6 times a day (depending on your level of illness and your level of discomfort) until the entire bottle is gone.
Cleansing Your Blood
There are actually several ways to cleanse your blood. One of the most effective is to take digestive enzymes between meals or before bed. Within a matter of minutes the enzymes enter the bloodstream and begin cleaning the detritus out of the blood and stimulating the immune cells to consume Circulating Immune Complexes in the blood. This can make a significant improvement in your overall health.
But what we’re talking about here is something different. We’re talking about using herbal blood cleansers to remove toxic residues from the blood so that it is inimical to cancer and tumors. The great blood cleansing herbs are: red clover, burdock root, chaparral, poke root, and sheep sorrel. These are the herbs you will find in the famous blood cleansing formulas such as the Hoxey formula, the Essiac formula, and the Dr. Christopher and Dr. Schulze formulas. These herbs can literally “drive” tumors out of the body.
The best way to take this type of formula is as an herbal tincture, which concentrates the herbs up to 30 times. Take 4-12 droppersful a day (depending on need) in juice. Take rest days as needed, but finish the entire bottle. Repeat as often as needed.
FORMULAS
Liver Tea
- Dandelion root
- Burdock root
- Cinnamon bark
- Cardamon seed
- Licorice root
- Fennel seed
- Uva Ursi
- Juniper berries
- Ginger root
- Clove buds
- Black peppercorns
- Horsetail herb
- Orange peel
- Parsley root
- Fenugreek seed
- Sassafras root bark
Liver Tincture
- Milk thistle seed
- Black walnut hulls
- Dandelion root
- Picrorhiza kurroa
- Oregon grape root
- Ginger root
- Artichoke leaf
- Gentian root
- Wormwood leaf
- Garlic
- Fennel seed
Blood Cleansing Tincture
- Red clover
- Chaparral
- Burdock root
- Poke root
- Yellow dock root
- Goldenseal root
- Oregon grape root
- Bloodroot
- Mistletoe
- Periwinkle flowers
- Lobelia seeds
- Sheep sorrel
- Cayenne
Sources:
liverdoctor.com
preventdisease.com
jonbarron.org
Karen Foster is a holistic nutritionist, avid blogger on Prevent Disease, where this article first appeared, with five kids and an active lifestyle that keeps her in pursuit of the healthiest path towards a life of balance.
