I have known about Liver Flushing for many years now and have done it myself a few times, but it wasn’t until reading the fantastic book ‘The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse’ by Andreas Moritz that I realised how vitally important a cleansed liver is to good health. If your liver is congested it can affect pretty much every organ and important life enhancing function in the body. Read the book if you can, it is fascinating stuff.
Below I have outlined in detail what the flush entails. Do ring me if you want to talk any of it through. Mandy
The Liver and Gallbladder Flush
There are too many symptoms of a congested liver to include them all here, but here are a few: backache, headache, allergies, irritability, anger, bloating, digestive troubles, flatulence, asthma, high cholesterol, heart disease, pancreatitis, depression, sexual problems, urinary problems, hormonal imbalances, puffy eyes, skin disorders, liver spots, dizziness, gout, dark rings, stiff neck, chronic fatigue, cancer, sleeping problems joint problems and the list goes on!!!
If you are thinking of embarking on a series of liver cleanses then please read ALL of the instructions below carefully.
Never cleanse if suffering from acute illness, even a simple cold. If you suffer from chronic illness however, cleansing the liver may be the best thing you can do for yourself! If unsure, speak to a qualified practitioner.
The liver cleanse requires 6 days of preparation followed by 16 to 20 hours of actual cleansing.
Below is what you will need:
• 6 x one litre cartons of packaged apple juice. (Preferably organic)
• 4 tablespoons of Epsom Salts (Sometimes called Magnesium Sulphate)
• 4oz cold pressed olive oil
• 6oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (Pink grapefruit is best) Or fresh lemon and orange combined.
• A pint jar or beaker with a lid
PREPERATION
If you have ever suffered from kidney stones any type of kidney or bladder infection it would be advisable to do a kidney cleanse before the liver flush, and then again after every 3 flushes. Don’t drink the kidney tea on the day of the actual liver cleanse.
If you suffer from constipation, it is advisable to have about 3 colonic sessions before you start to prepare.
Drink at least one litre of apple juice per day, 6 days before the actual flush. You can also mix in some cranberry juice if you would rather.
If you suffer from gallbladder disease or have had your gallbladder removed, you may need to drink cranberry juice for 2 to 3 weeks before the cleanse.
The malic acid in the apple juice (and cranberry juice) softens the stones and makes their passage through the bile ducts smooth and easy.
Some people may experience bloating or diarrhoea. If it becomes uncomfortable you can always dilute the apple juice with water. Drink slowly throughout the day, avoiding meal times. This is in addition to your normal water intake of 6 to 8 glasses.
If you are intolerant to apple juice, suffer from diabetes or hypoglycemia or know that you are suffering with Candida Albicans, you can use apple cider vinegar as an alternative. Mix 1 to 2 tablespoons into a glass of water and drink 4 times per day for 6 days. (More alkalizing than apple juice.)
Dietary Recommendations
During preparation and cleansing, avoid cold or chilled foods or beverages as it will chill the liver. (Room temperature or above is fine.) To prepare the liver avoid meat, dairy and fried foods as much as possible during preparation. Otherwise, eat normally.
Schedule
You might want to schedule the cleanse for the weekend so that you can relax and rest. Avoid a full moon. The preferred time is on a day between full moon and new moon.
Medication and Supplements
Whilst on the regime, avoid taking any medication, vitamins or supplements that are not absolutely necessary so as not to give the liver any extra work to do.
Colon Cleansing
Having regular bowel movements is not necessarily an indication that your bowel is unobstructed. Colon cleansing either a few days before or on the 6th day is ideal, and helps to minimize any discomfort or nausea that may arise during the cleanse. It prevents back flushing of the oil mixture or waste products from the intestinal tract into the stomach. It also helps the body to swiftly eliminate the toxic stones after the flush.
Colonic Irrigation (Hydrotherapy) is the most effective way to do this. Or you may prefer to use your own enema kit on the 6th day. This is not as effective as a colonic, but better than nothing.
THE 6th DAY
Drink all of the 1 litre of apple juice in the morning.
Eat a light breakfast such as oats or fruit.
Avoid sugar, sweeteners, spices, milk, butter oils, yoghurt, cheese, ham, eggs, nuts, pastries and cold cereal.
Lunch – Eat plain steamed vegetables with white basmati rice and flavour with a little rock or Himalayan salt.
Make sure the grapefruits are not in the fridge as this will make them too cold.
Do not eat or drink anything except water after 1.30pm!!! This is very important, otherwise you may have difficulty in passing the stones.
THE ACTUAL CLEANSE
6 p.m. Add 4 tablespoons of Epsom Salts into 24 fluid oz of filtered water in a jug. This makes up 4 x 6oz servings. Drink your first 6oz portion now. You may need a few sips of water afterwards to neutralize the taste or add a little lemon juice. Some people drink it through a straw to avoid their taste buds! It is also helpful to brush your teeth afterwards.
One of the main actions of the Epsom Salts is to dilate the bile ducts in the liver, making it easy for the stones to be passed.
8 pm Take your second serving of 6oz of Epsom Salts.
9.30pm If you have not had a bowel movement or done a colon cleanse in the last 24hours, this would be a good time to do a warm water enema.
9.45pm Squeeze grapefruits to make up 6oz. Pour this into the beaker with 4oz cold pressed olive oil. Put the lid on and shake like mad (about 20 times) until the mixture is watery.
10 pm Stand by your bed and drink the concoction down, preferably without interruption. Do not take more than 5 minutes for this. Try to avoid drinking any water for 2 hours after this.
LIE DOWN IMMEDIATELY!
This is essential for helping to release the stones.
Turn off the light and lie flat on your back with 1 or 2 pillows propping up your head. Your head should be higher than your abdomen. If this is uncomfortable, lie on your right side with your knees pulled towards your head.
Lie perfectly still for at least 20 minutes and try not to speak.
Put your attention on your liver. You may feel the stones travelling along the bile ducts. Bile excreted along with the stones help to keep the ducts lubricated.
If at any time during the night you feel the urge to have a bowel movement then do so. Check to see if there are any small tan or green coloured gallstones floating in the toilet. You may also feel nauseated during the night. This is due to a sudden outpouring of gallstones and toxins from the liver and gallbladder, pushing the oil mixture back into the stomach. Don’t worry, it will pass.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING
6 – 6.30 am Drink your 3rd 6oz glass of Epsom Salts. You can drink a warm glass of water before taking the salts if you feel thirsty. If you feel sleepy you can go back to bed but better to sleep upright.
8 – 8.30 am Drink your 4th 6oz glass of Epsom Salts
10 – 10.30 am You can drink freshly pressed fruit juice now and a ½ hour later one or two pieces of fruit.
Midday Eat lightly from now on, preferably for the next 2 or 3 days. Don’t forget that your liver and gallbladder have undergone a deep and you don’t want to overwork them too soon. (Or never again of course!!!)
WHAT TO EXPECT
During the morning and sometimes also in the afternoon you will have many watery bowel movements. These initially consist of gallstones mixed with food residue, then just stones with water.
Most of the stones are pea green and float in the toilet. It is the bile that makes them this colour. There may be dozens or even hundreds of them ranging from pea size or some can be 1 inch in diameter!
Tan or white stones may sink to the bottom. These are calcified gallstones, released from the gallbladder and contain heavier toxic substances.
Any white or tan coloured foam consists of millions of tiny white cholesterol crystals.
You didn’t produce any stones!
In rare cases you will not produce any stones. There are usually 2 or 3 reasons for this.
Firstly, you may have severe congestion in your bile ducts and the apple juice hasn’t softened them sufficiently. Chamomile tea may help and more apple cider vinegar but it may take 2 or 3 cleanses before the stones start to come out.
Secondly, it may simply be that you have followed the directions exactly. Leaving out anything can reduce the efficiency of the cleanse.
Thirdly, in some cases the liver cleanse doesn’t work at all unless the large intestine has been cleaned first. The back up of wastes and gases prevents the oil mixture from moving easily through the GI tract, and in severely constipated people the gallbladder may barely open up during the cleanse
THE NEXT DAY - COLON CLEANSE
It is essential that you have a colonic within 3 days after completing the liver cleanse. The stones themselves can be very toxic and some of them may get left behind along with other toxic residue from the cleanse. It is essential for your health to clear them out.
If gallstones remain in the colon they can cause – irritation, infection, headaches, abdominal discomfort, thyroid problems and so on. If colonics are not available where you live, take a coffee enema followed by a water enema, or 2 or 3 consecutive water enemas. Still it is not guaranteed that all the stones will be removed. There is no real substitute for colonic irrigation when it comes to cleansing the liver. If you do choose to do enema’s instead, mix a teaspoon of Epsom Salts with one glass of warm water and drink it first thing in the morning on the day of your chosen colon cleanse.
If you suffer from headaches or nausea after the cleanse, (very rare) it may be because some stones are still being released. If so, it can be helpful to have 4oz of apple juice daily for 7 days a ½ hour before breakfast and have another colonic to clear out the latecomers. Ginger tea can be helpful if suffering from nausea.
Future Cleanses
In order to prevent diseases from arising in the future and to help with any chronic illnesses you may already be experiencing, then you need to completely remove all stones from the liver. This may require 8 to 12 cleanses which can be performed every 4 weeks, so your preparation will start 3 weeks after your flush. Do not cleanse more frequently than that. Keep cleansing until no more stones come out on 2 consecutive cleanses.
The liver should start to function more efficiently soon after the first cleanse, but within a few days, stones from the rear of the liver will travel forward and all of your previous symptoms or discomforts may return. This merely indicates that some stones were left behind ready to be removed in the next cleanse! Repeat the liver cleanse every 6 to 8 months. Each cleanse will give a further boost to the liver and take care of any toxic or new stones that you have accumulated in the meantime.
All the above information is taken from ‘The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse’ by Andreas Moritz. Pg’s 114 – 129 Ulysses Press 2007
Mandy Elliott - Colonic Hydrotherapist, Homeopath, Detox Coach
01243 514995 www.naturalsolutionsforhealth.co.uk Email – health@mandyelliott.co.uk
Posted on 13 Aug 2010 by Mandy Elliott
The Dreaded Irritable Bowel Syndrome!
So 2010 has arrived and without trying to sound too cheesy, I am going to mention the phrase - New Year – New You!!!! So what does that mean? Well, for some of you, I hope it means sorting out those niggly health problems that you’ve been moaning on about or indeed, keeping to yourself over the past few years. So I thought I would put a bit of focus on one of those possible issues, that being Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
IBS is becoming increasingly common and almost ‘accepted’ in the western world as something almost normal. How crazy is that? It is believed that as many as 20% of the adult population experience some symptoms of IBS, and being a colonic therapist, it is one of the most common reasons that people seek my help.
There is nothing pathologically serious about IBS. It is actually a disorder of the muscular walls of the bowel. It affects gut motility – the rate that food and waste is pushed through to the rectum – too slow = constipation and too fast = diarrhoea. With IBS, this can of course alternate.
Compared with other bowel complaints there are no particular changes visible in bowel tissue, and your overall health is often good, despite your symptoms. However, it can be very embarrassing and stressful.
Symptoms
Predominantly Constipation, but also:-
Abdominal pain, Cramping
Bloating/Gas/Gurgling
Diarrhoea – Often alternating with constipation.
Mucus in stools
Urgency
A feeling like you still need a bowel movement after you have had one
Symptoms worse after eating
Causes
There is no singular reason why you would get IBS and stress is often to blame. However, it is more likely that constipation is usually the root of the problem. If there is a back up of your body’s plumbing system, it puts the bowel under a lot of strain and it actually causes it to become half asleep. So treat the constipation and often the symptoms will subside.
In 1983 The Health Education Council reported that 80% of the population have slow bowel movements and 40% are regularly constipated, and millions of pounds are spent annually on laxatives. So from this you can understand why IBS is on the increase. It’s because you are all bunged up! Below are other contributing factors that can increase and aggravate your IBS symptoms. They include: -
Candida Albicans – too much yeast in the bowel
Food allergies and intolerances (including yeast and gluten)
Prescribed medication
A lack of essential nutrients. Particularly B vitamins, essential for bowel health.
Poor digestion
Unstable blood sugar (feeds the yeast in the bowel)
Emotional problems
Colonic Hydrotherapy
We are basically trying to improve the health and function of the colon, particularly if constipation and the build up of waste matter are behind the problem A colonic is going to gently remove the build up of old waste, which over the years has put a lot of pressure on the gut wall, creating dysfunction in motility – either too fast or too slow.
The bowel motility is helped further during the Colonic by using water temperature variation to either relax or stimulate peristalsis of the muscles, therefore re-training the muscle reaction.
Lifestyle Adjustments
As well as having a course of 2 or 3 Colonic treatments, there are other suggestions you can experiment with, which you might find will relieve and reduce your symptoms. However, if you don’t cleanse the bowel, they will only act in a more palliative fashion. These we will discuss more during your consultation, but it might include reducing stimulants and irritating food and introducing a gentle fibre supplement.
Supplements
I also strongly recommend the use of supplements, which should hopefully only be needed in the short term to support your body whilst it gets back onto the straight and narrow. Again, we can discuss this, but be prepared to buy some Probiotics after the treatment, as these are essential when restoring the balance of healthy bacteria and maintaining the health of the bowel, and also Slippery Elm to soothe and heal the gut wall.
So I hope that has given some of you some food for thought, and you might take the leap and come and book in a couple of treatments. You could also think about a Detox Retreat!!! www.vitalitydetox.com
Posted on 11 Jan 2010 by Mandy Elliott
