I mentioned this last week— but I started writing this post a while ago. And somewhere between that time and now, I accidentally went into a full force detox. It was rough. But I’m grateful for it. My (short) all fruit detox taught me:

  1. my first plan (the one below) makes the most sense– proper steps need to be taken before I jump into all fruit– my body is just not there yet).
  2. a full and total healing detox IS possible.
  3. if I do this correctly (and safely), I will be able to naturally purge a good amount of built-up toxins from my system to feel much better on the day-to-day.
  4. fruit is no joke. I can’t tell you the number of studies, articles, testimonials I’ve read over the past 4 years on illness and healing. There are so many items that can aid in healing, but fruit truly is the greatest detoxifier and cleanser.
  5. where more of my weaknesses are. I mean, I knew that my liver must be backed up. I know I have mercury and other nasty poisons floating in my body, etc etc. But I’m leaning so much more about my body through this healing process. It’s truly amazing.

Anyway– here is the post I started (and will now finish) from about a week and a half ago—-

My 2019 detox plan for optimal healing:

I know we’re a few months in 2019, but with everything happening in our lives— and us seemingly getting close to a settling phase in our new apartment, I’m trying to create the best plan for this year. I already mentioned how I don’t plan to travel much. I mean, it would be great to travel, but money is tight and I really want to try to focus on my health this year. You know, my health, by most people’s standards, is probably totally fine. But for me, I’m always trying to seek improvement in all areas of my life… because I know I can. So this year, I’m holistically looking at how to improve my overall life, for the current stage, I’m in. And for me, that means, I really want to focus on improvements in the health category. Adventure is fun. But being that we’ll be mostly home-based in 2019, it seems like the perfect year to intentionally and fully detox.

So whats a detox? Well, there’s a lot of ways to detox. It’s not all gut-based. You guys know I’m all about gut detoxing, I created a whole e-book on the topic about 6 or so years ago. A lot of you guys joined me in detoxing then– and it’s totally great– for everyone, not just for people who suffered digestive crashes. But outside of detoxing your gut, you also have the ability to detox your wardrobe and material things, toxic people, your blood, lymph, and so much more! Clearing out the junk in all areas of your life is important.

A detox is simply a set amount of time (some are long, some are sort) where you rid yourself (your mind, your body, your surroundings) of toxic and unuseful substances. Cool.

You guys know that we’re not total minimalist, but we definitely lean on the side of minimalism. I want to continue on that path. I’ve already detoxed the toxic people out of my life years ago (I have a few grumpy grump people in my life still, but I love them so they stay– and are just less often part of my everyday life). I’ve really detoxed as many toxic substances out of my life as I could over the last few years– whether its processed foods, alcohol,  makeup/beauty stuff, cleaning stuff, or in our home– we have the greenest flooring, mattress, and paint in our new home (I’m a geek, but it brings me joy). And more. I want to continue with these everyday detoxes and subtle clean-living life as best I can.

But this year, where I really want to start paying more attention and truly diving into is my internal body. Some could ask, “umm haven’t you been doing that the last four years Drea?”

And the answer would be: “totally.”

But the thing is that– the last four years have been focused on mostly healing and becoming functional

This year I don’t want to just be functional. I want to be optimal.

The three main areas I want to focus on in detoxing are:
  1. my liver
  2. my blood
  3. my gut/parasites

In that order. This order made/makes the most sense to me. But especially after last weeks detox, now I KNOW that this is the right order. My liver is so overloaded with the medications I took as a child/teen, the terrible processed high chemical foods I ate in my adolescent years, mercury from poor dental work, years of binge drinking in college and in my early 20’s, toxic die off from c. diff, and SO MUCH more. There is no way that I’m going to be able to cleanse anything if I don’t start by cleaning out the liver. After that, I can move on to the other parts of my body. I don’t have my EXACT plan in order yet– because my body (and all our bodies are) is so sensitive, that I know I have to be open and flexible with the plan in front of me. But here is a general outline of what each separate stage of cleansing will look like…

Also… please note that I said separate stage of cleansing. I’m doing this in parts to not overload my body. This will in no way be a quick process. If this takes me months to years, I’m open to it– as long as I feel good (both physically and mentally), and can feel better, then I’m in. Sustainable happy healing is KEY.

 

1. Cleanse my liver.

I’m looking into a few different modalities for liver cleansing. I know its truly the most important first step. And I know it’s not going to be easy. This last fruit cleanse showed me, that yes, I’m swimming with toxic junk, but also that it’s going to be a struggle for me to keep my bowels moving as toxins start to purge out. The general ideas I have for liver cleansing are:

  • daily or at least frequent coffee enemas. I have THIS enema kit and recently purchased THIS coffee.
  • stay VERY hydrated. Hoping to make loads of cucumber juice and coconut water on top of my already high water consumption. My juicer already gets used at least once a day– but now it’s going to have to work double time.
  • milk thistle. I first started diving into detox and cleansing about 12 years ago– and would do total body cleanses that contained milk thistle. It’s supposed to be very helpful for the liver.
  • my ex-boyfriend recommended this kit, but I’m not sold on it yet. I get nervous about taking things with more than one ingredients at one time now. because if something doesn’t react well, it’s hard to navigate which ingredients is causing the allergy. But it’s on my maybe list. My ex-boyfriend is also slightly crazy doing multiple coffee enemas multiple times a day for multiple years– but that’s a whole other story haha.
  • I am interested in maybe taking livatrex though— as it’s mostly herbs, zeolite, and fulvic acid. But we’ll see– I might even break up those supplements as well and take the fulvic acid and zeolite separately.
  • speaking of herbs– continuing to juice /consume loads of herbs like cilantro, spirulina, and chollera.
  • eating clean, but not overdoing it on fruit that’ll speed up the process more than my body can handle. I’ll still continue to eat a low-fat/low protein diet to keep up with cleansing and proper digestion. Fresh food often. Lightly cooked food as it feels best. And avoiding grains and allergen foods as I can.
  • continuing to research more. I’m open open open to learning as much as I can always. If there is more research out there, I’ll find it 😉

Again, I don’t plan to do all this at once, those are my general ideas that I’ll be working into. This will be a slow building. I do think that liver cleansing will be the longest part of this process. And this part alone might take months. And I’m okay with that.

2. Cleanse my blood.

I did blood analysis testing recently. Not for any reason other than pure curiosity. I expected some things that were revealed– like candida floating around and parasites swimming their way through my body. And I definitely did see these things. But also, there was a ton of plaque and fibrin as well– both of these things were a bit surprising to me, the plaque especially– since I haven’t eaten meat in about 19 years. I’m not sure what caused all the build-up– it could just potentially be really old from my poor diet before, but I’m not sure. The fibrin, I assume is from liver stress. And if you look at the photo above you can see all my blood cells piled up together. I’ve been looking for answers for years (since c. diff) to why I feel like I don’t have enough oxygen and this is it. The constant dehydration from colon damage and the fibrin is causing my cells to clump into rolls together and I’m just not receiving and delivering enough blood. Womp.

So yeah, I have to cleanse my blood. The reality is that my diet is the best diet for this, but between my liver and old build ups, there still needs to be some cleaning involved. I want this to take place after my liver cleansing, because no matter how careful I am, I’m sure there will be some toxic drop off into my blood system.

The general ideas I have for blood cleansing are:

  • light exercise
  • chanca piedra to help break up/dissolve the plaque.
  • and I have serrapeptase to help eat up the old fibrin. I am a bit nervous about the serrapeptase– as it can have a strong herxing reaction in some people. And I do worry that I’ll be one of those people– especially with the biofilms of my viral load and c. diff floating in my system. So I will go painfully slow with dosing this. But I think if I can successfully take it, it should help a lot.
  • skin brushing. daily.
  • sauna often.


3. Cleanse my gut + parasites.

Truth is, I’ve been cleansing my gut for four years now. Each year I’ve learned more and improved the way I eat and how my digestion works. I eat cleaner than most people already. I juice regularly. I eat pretty damn well. I mean, could I eat cleaner? Yeah, totes. I could be grain and nightshade free. I could avoid all the spices. I could stop eating out completely to avoid all processed foods. Etc etc. But at the same time, I don’t want to live in a hole. I want to live in a real world and be able to eat well while supporting my emotional self too. So I’m mindful of the choices I make without ever letting myself feel completely restricted.

My general ideas for gut and parasite cleansing are:

  • I hope to keep eating well. And once my liver is clean, I hope to dive back into an all fruit detox. As of now, I never plan to return to eating oils or high fats/high proteins. The science shows this isn’t a long-term sustainable diet plan for optimal health.  And while I also know some people are total fruitarians and only plan to eat this way until the end of their lives, I’m not looking to do this. I hope to fruit detox as best I can and then gently ease back into more greens and eating cooked foods again.
  • I’m not sure which parasite cleansing tool I plan to use. But I do hope to do a gentle parasite cleanse. Either a wormwood cleanse, black walnut cleanse, or sensitive plant cleanse. I think as animals on this earth, we do live symbiotically with some parasites. It’s just part of nature. But obviously, if we have too many, it can cause serious problems. Many of our grandparents or parents grew up with regular parasite flushing– yet our generation is so distanced from that. I’m hoping cleaning out some will show a big improvement in overall well-being.
  • Other than that, I don’t plan to do much for my gut. I’ll continue to take my daily probiotics (I’ve taken these lately). But I think the fruit will detoxify my system enough to where I don’t need other supplements. I mean, I’ll drink regular herbal teas for support too, because they’re delicious and do help.

Welp, this is certainly a longer post, but that’s my general plan. Again, it’s loose. I want to be flexible and adjust to my body’s needs, as needed. I don’t want or expect to be perfect. I just feel like, in life, you can do your best and thrive for more, or not. And if I have the opportunity for more, why wouldn’t I?! You know? I’m nervous but excited for this year. My main goal, above all else, is to be cautious. If not done well, a detox can actually harm you more than benefit you (as the case was last week– gosh that was a bit of hell). But I’m in tune as I can be. And as hopeful as I can be too.

Please keep in mind, this is just my personal plan. I’m not here telling what you guys should do or not do. I just hope this gives you some insight or knowledge that you may be interested in — like I always am 🙂  Whatever you do with your own body, be aware, be cautious, be safe!  Cheers friends! Happy living <3

ps. how do you like that drunk overweight blonde flashback photo? It’s a good one, I know.

9 Comments

  1. Have you been actually to a Doctor who tested you? Maybe you need to watch GojiMan YouTube Video’s. No hate just seems unsafe. Anyways, good luck.

  2. Hi! Still following your health journey (I’ve been reading your blog since Marlowe was tiny tiny, actually!)and have been so happy to follow along with how much healing you’ve been doing. I’ve been on my own heath journey for a couple years now- it’s freakin’ fascinating, isn’t it, hard times aside?- and was wondering if you’ve considered acupuncture/TCM to support your detox stages? I’ve been to a TCM acupuncturist myself several times for a few different things and it’s always been a gentle support to whatever my goal has been, and I think detoxing is something it has a lot of potential to help with. Just curious if it’s something you personally hold stock in or not! 🙂

    • Hi! Thanks for being here 🙂

      I did about a year of acupuncture after I got sick. But I feel like when I did it there wasn’t a real plan in mind. It was just “OMG I NEED TO FEEL HUMAN” — and then this year, I met a really sweet TCM practitioner and went to a few appts. with her– and was actually debating reaching out to her this month to see about going back and seeing her with this plan in mind 🙂 I always have mixed feelings about acupuncture. While I think it can totally be beneficial with some things I don’t like the idea of moving energy. I hope to create energy instead of moving it 🙂 But I do think it can still be helpful regardless!

  3. This all sounds incredibly dangerous and unscientific. Do you have any peer-reviewed studies supporting your claims?

    • Hi! Curious to know what part sounds dangerous to you? Also, I’m not sure what claims I’m making that need supporting? It’s just a post about the plans I have for my body this year– plans I’ve made for myself after carefully reading and studying (multiple peer-reviewed studies a day actually) for years. But I don’t save (most of) the studies, because I’m not here telling people they need to do certain things and claiming they’ll have certain results. Just a journal entry on my personal journey that I’m sharing in case other people are as interested in hearing peoples detox stories as I am 🙂

  4. Miami girl here. Where did you get your blood testing done? My body has been off for a few years and I want to investigate further so I can try to do what’s best for me.

    • Honestly, I can give you the name of the team— but I think it might be better if you googled and found someone else. There were two people — a husband-wife team, and while I liked the husband, I found the wife VERY jarring. Like, I’d like to go back and get follow up testing done at some point, but I don’t know if I will because she was just a bit too much for me to deal with. But I feel like its def something you could find down there!

  5. I’m super curious to hear how the coffee enemas go! I was thinking about it recently and decided to start with castor oil packs (almost daily) instead. But I’m still thinking about introducing them at some point. Also love infrared sauna-ing.

    Do you think you’ll do any heavy metal testing or other before/after testing?

    • How do you like the castor oil packs? When I tried castor oil in the past, I wasn’t in love with it. It didn’t work as well as I would like OR just work too well, ya know? My only fear with the coffee enemas is (you know, besides possible dangers) is that I cant actually perform enemas when my colon gets all inflamed, like tmi but its physically impossible. I’ve figured out some of the triggers (gluten, nuts), but not all so it still happens from time to time. This last detox actually made my colon flare– I’m assuming because the heavy metals going into my digestive pathways– but that’s a guess, not completely sure.

      I actually looked into heavy metal testing this week! My ex (the coffee enema one) has been suggesting for years. And while I’m sure it works, I think im actually going to pass on it. If I had endless amount of cash, I’d totally do the testing, but right now, we’re definitely needing to be more cautious with our cash flow, so more testing isnt super high on my list. I’m certain I have heavy metals in there anyway– so I guess it doesn’t matter too much which ones? As long as I can rid of them? Maybe maybe?!