Detox supplements
Disclaimer: This document is not intended for use as health or medical advise. It is for education purposes only. You should always consult with your primary care physician on all supplements and herbs you plan to take, especially to learn what possible interactions they may have with prescription drugs you are currently taking.
What this report is about:
I put this special report together because I find that there are a lot of “cleanse” supplements out there that don’t necessarily support detoxification in the best way. It can be cheaper and more effective to choose your detox supplements based on your needs.
In the next few pages I highlight my favorite supplements (and supplemental foods) that assist the detoxification process. I hope you find it useful.
Liver support:
• Chlorophyll
The green pigment in plants is one of the primary agents assisting detoxification in your body. It does this primarily by supporting liver
regeneration and helping it clean itself out. When the liver is working better it will in turn, clean out the blood of the cellular waste that is coming in by way of the blood and lymph.
A chlorophyll supplement can come in multiple forms. There are frozen
wheatgrass shots (unless you have access to fresh wheatgrass), bottled liquid chlorophyll, greens powders to add to smoothies, and all sorts of algae in pill form like spirulina and chlorella, which I’ll talk about later. You can pick whichever one works best for you.
• Alpha lipoic acid
This antioxidant supports liver detoxification and liver regeneration. In fact, it has been used as part of a treatment for liver cirrhosis and hepatitis C. It protects the liver from free radical damage and increases the levels of other fundamental antioxidants (such as vitamin C and vitamin E).
You can find it in capsules of 100 mg to 600 mg. It is not known to have side effects or drug interactions – but always check.
• Liver tonic herbs: milk thistle (sylimarin), dandelion, artichoke leaf.
Milk Thistle is known as the king herb for the liver and has been used in treatments for cirrhosis and hepatitis C as a means to avoid transplants. You can find these herbs in extract form, in capsules and teas. Take the recommended amount on the bottle or check with your health practitioner.
• Phyllanthus:
This herb’s name in Spanish, “Chanca-Piedra” literally means stone-crusher. Apparently it has been available for millennia in both South America and Asia as it is used in traditional medicine in both continents in the treatment of gallstones and kidney stones.
This is an herb that is not as commonly found in health-food stores but rather in specialized herbalist shops or online. Typically it’s taken in capsule form.
Colon support:
• Fiber:
Psyllium husks, ground flax seed or konjac root fiber. My favorite is psyllium because it’s an “adaptogen” herb. In other words, it adapts to your colon’s needs. If you’re constipated, it accelerates bowel transit by bringing lots of water with it into your colon and pushing things along. If your bowels are loose, then it helps to absorb the excess moisture and firm up stool.
When taking psyllium or any other fiber, start with a small amount. Sensitive colons might react with bloating at the presence of extra fiber. This is a sign that your colon REALLY needs some support. Taking probiotics and
fermented foods should help. Again, start slowly with perhaps 1 tsp or less in a glass of water and make your way up to 1-2 tbsp a day.
• Bentonite clay:
This is a volcanic clay typically in a water suspension. It is believed that the clay with its negative charge attracts positively charged substances in your colon, which adhere to the clay. In this way it’s believed that the bentonite clay helps to carry out pesticides, metals and other positively charged toxins from your colon.
Most people take 1 tsp – 1 tbsp of bentonite with a glass of water and fiber (i.e. psyllium). People with constipation can sometimes notice that bowel transit slows down even more with bentonite. If this is the case and you choose to use bentonite, you’ll want to increase fiber first and notice motility improving and then add the bentonite little by little. Each body is different. Always drink lots of water when taking bentonite.
• Probiotics:
These are live cultures of the same strains of bacteria that constitute your intestinal flora. They are vital for your health overall as they are involved in digestion, creation of vitamins and attacking pathogens in the form of viruses, parasites and other bacteria. Modern diets (with sugar, fast foods, processed foods, fried oils, alcohol, excess meat and excess starches) wreak havoc on intestinal flora, which doesn’t rebuild itself without support.
There are many wonderful probiotic supplements. You’ll want to check for different strains of bacteria and different amounts. It’s also a good idea to rotate brands as they each have different bacteria and we have thousands of different strains of them in our intestines.
Take your probiotic daily with fiber because fiber is one of its preferred foods, whereas sugar is its enemy. Food for probiotics is what we call prebiotics.
• Aloe Vera:
This is a master healing plant. It’s good for healing any sort of tissue inside your body and out. It can have a bit of a laxative effect for some, so be mindful in taking it. When you take it orally, it helps to heal the lining all along your digestive tract. It’s also a good prebiotic.
You can buy aloe vera gel and take it straight or add it to smoothies. You can also use the aloe leaf, peel the thick green skin and add the inside ‘gel’ to your favorite smoothie.
Heavy metal detoxification:
• Chlorella:
This is a micro-algae that is known for its ability to chelate (bind with) heavy metals from the body, such as mercury and aluminum, and it also removes other chemicals and pesticides from your digestive tract. Chlorella is one of the agents used to treat mercury poisoning.
Chlorella can be found in powder, tablets and capsules. It’s important to look for cracked-cell-wall chlorella because its cellular walls are so thick and tough that our digestive system can’t access them. In order to get the detox benefits of chlorella, it must be cracked-cell-wall.
Chlorella has a potent taste so I recommend capsules or tablets until you’re used to the flavor. Once you’re used to it, you can consider adding it to smoothies and juices. Start with about ¼ tsp or less and work your way up.
• Spirulina:
This is another micro-algae with similar properties as chlorella but slightly more subtle. In some cases, people may have a strong reaction to chlorella but they can tolerate spirulina without any problems.
Spirulina and chlorella are both foods with all of the essential amino-acids, which means they’re what we call a “complete protein”. Adding spirulina to your foods is a good way to supplement protein and greens while also
boosting your body’s detoxification pathways.
The flavor of spirulina is slightly sweeter and milder than chlorella. You can also find it in powder, capsules and tablets.
• Cilantro:
This herb is another heavy metal chelator, though it is much gentler than chlorella in its effect. When you start a detox, especially when your body is sensitive or when you suspect you have high levels of mercury, you’ll want to start with cilantro for a few days before you move to spirulina or chlorella. You can add cilantro to your juices, salads and any foods. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cilantro supplement!
*Important note for people with dental fillings*
If you have “silver” dental fillings, you may or may not be aware that those fillings are not silver at all but rather they’re mercury. Mercury amalgams are a common source of mercury toxicity, and if you have them you should be careful when consuming chlorella, spirulina and cilantro. You do not want to chew them or have them in your mouth for long because they will bind to the mercury in your mouth and bring it along into your digestive tract.
You may want to explore having those mercury amalgams removed by a
dentist who is trained in safe mercury removal. Improperly removing amalgams can cause more harm than good.
Mucus elimination and lymph movement:
• Lemon juice:
It’s interesting that lemon will support detoxification in several ways. The first way is by supporting the production of glutathione in your liver, which is an essential element in the liver’s detoxification process. A second way in which lemon helps you detox is through its astringent nature, it helps to eliminate excess mucus from tissues. A third way is through its enzymatic action. All fresh, raw fruit and vegetables contain enzymes. It is enzymes that act as the
catalyst for the cellular processes that lead to detoxification and the safe removal of cellular waste.
I recommend drinking at least the juice of ½ lemon every day.
• Curry, ginger and cayenne pepper:
The heating spices are believed to support mucus elimination and speed lymph flow. This is typically more a view of eastern forms of medicine vs. our traditional western perspective. In Chinese medicine when chi is stagnant and damp, you’ll want to dry it up and get it moving through drying foods. If you have signs of coldness and excess dampness (mucus, bloating, etc.), you can experiment with these herbs in your foods and as supplements. If you have signs of excess heat (warm body, flushed complexion, redness of your body, sweating, etc.) you’ll want to avoid these heating spices.
• Pineapple and parsley:
These foods are known to be diuretic, so if you’re experiencing fluid retention and swelling from stagnant lymph, you can add some parsley and pineapple to your detox program. This should always go hand in hand with drinking lots of water because paradoxically, the body works very hard at retaining liquid when it’s feeling dehydration coming on.
• Vegetable juicing:
Every glass of fresh vegetable juice is loaded with enzymes, deep pigments (phytochemicals) and vitamins. The most potent juices are the ones you make yourself and drink them within 30 minutes of when they were pressed. After 30 minutes you begin to lose some of the enzymes and the exposure to oxygen begins to oxidize the juice… so it’s no longer as fresh and potent. Drinking vegetable juice floods your body with the nutrients needed to
facilitate elimination and it delivers them in an easily digestible vehicle. That’s why you hear of juicing being so popular for cleansing.
Don’t overdo the fruit in your juices. The emphasis should always be on
vegetables with 1-2 pieces of sweet fruit or a sweet vegetable (like carrots or beets) for flavor. But if you make a juice that is all sweet fruit, you’ll still be overloading your body with sugar, which you want to minimize.
Antioxidants:
• Vitamin C:
in your body and inside cells. It is an essential vitamin to detoxify the liver because it is a precursor to your liver’s production of glutathione, which is essential for your liver detoxification function.
All antioxidants essentially inhibit the oxidation of cells. Oxidation is like rusting, so cells that rust become damaged just like rusted metals.
You can get vitamin C in multiple forms. I tend to prefer rose hips and other food-based forms of vitamin C. Synthetic ascorbic acid is a less effective source of vitamin C. Opinion on what is the right amount of vitamin C is very varied. For detox purposes, some practitioners recommend finding the
amount of vitamin C that is just short of loosening your stool. This means you would start at about 1,000 mg/day and increase every day until you see your stool soften to apple sauce consistency. When you get there, you cut back by 1,000 mg. I tend to favor less of an isolated supplement approach and do more juicing, more lemons and deeply colored foods.
• Vitamin E
This is the primary fat-soluble antioxidant. As such, it is incorporated into the cell lining, which is an intelligent fat membrane. It acts as a team with vitamin C to fight free radical damage to your cells.
You can find vitamin E as tocopherols and tocotrielnols. But you can also find them in almonds and sunflower seeds in abundance, so you can eat plenty of these raw (not roasted). Supplementing with vitamin E should be done cautiously especially with regards to its blood-thinning properties. As with vitamin C, I tend to favor getting vitamin E from foods instead of
supplements.
• Alpha-lipoic acid
As I mentioned before, this is another antioxidant. It’s both a water-soluble antioxidant (like vitamin C) and a fat-soluble one (like vitamin E.) When you supplement with alpha-lipoic acid, it bolsters the availability of both vitamin C and vitamin E, so it’s a great all-around antioxidant. And if you recall, we talked about it as a great supplement for the liver, so I’d say that if you’re going to take only one specific anti-oxidant nutrient, I’d suggest this one.
• Astaxanthin and resveratrol
These are deep, powerful pigments from nature which I believe we are still far from understanding why or how they have such an extraordinary effect on our body.
Astaxanthin is the red pigment that colors krill, shrimp, salmon and flamingos. It originates in nature from an algae and then it travels up the food-chain as
krill and shrimp feed on it, and then salmon and flamingos feed on the krill and shrimp. It’s now one of the most powerful antioxidants we know.
Resveratrol is the deep red pigment in grape skins, and is also found in some concentrations in cocoa, blueberries and cranberries. This is one of the reasons why drinking red wine has been associated with certain health benefits, such as heart disease protection. It’s the red!
Inflammation support:
• Turmeric:
This is the bright yellow herb that gives traditional curry its color. It is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory agents we know. It’s really shocking what turmeric is capable of healing.
Turmeric can be hard to absorb so it’s usually best taken in food where it lends its deep pigment to any food it comes into contact with, or in liquid extract form. As a powder, you can take turmeric in capsules or put a pinch of turmeric in boiling water; either drink straight or make a hot beverage with the turmeric water.
* As you can see, whether it’s deep red (resveratrol and astaxanthin), deep green (chlorophyll) or deep orange/yellow (turmeric), the potent pigments in nature are powerful medicinal tools that should not be ignored.
• Bromelain, quercetin and papain:
Here we are talking about enzymes again. These are three potent enzymes that have been long associated with reducing inflammation. You can get them in isolated form as a supplement and take them away from meals. Taking them before bed tends to work well.
Bromelain is found in pineapples, quercetin is found most abundantly in capers, and papain is the enzyme found in papayas. You can find them as a supplement at most health-food stores. They are also very good digestive aids if you take them with meals.
• Aloe vera gel:
In addition to being a wonderful tonic for your digestive tract, aloe is one of the most healing plants we know. They are meant to trigger healing wherever they go and as such, they reduce inflammation. Aloe can be used both topically and internally. Do pay attention to your bowel movements though, because it cans sometimes have a laxative effect.
Do you need all of these supplements?
No!Please don’t try to take all of these supplements at once; that would be crazy. :) You need to prioritize which supplements to take based on your body’s needs and whether this is your first time doing a detox program or you’ve done many in the past.
What I like to do is take an inventory of different body systems and organs (i.e. liver health, thyroid, colon, adrenal glands, etc.) to see how they’re doing and what needs the most support. That helps me decide where to start with
someone. This means that everyone who participates in a detox program with me does that assessment and receives tailored suggestions based on what their body is saying.
You can take the Detox Quiz on my website to get a general idea. And if you’d like the kind of tailored support during your cleanse that I described, I’d be thrilled to have you in one of my groups. Simply email me or check out the calendar for upcoming dates. They’re all facilitated remotely, so you can be anywhere in the world to receive my support.
I hope you have fun on your cleanse and I hope to perhaps hear from you. Here’s to consistently moving towards better health and greater joy!
Morella
If you do want to contact me here’s how:
mdevost@transformationONE.com (802) 735-1348
And if you want to check the calendar for upcoming programs, here’s where you can find it:
