ExamineHealth

 
I've been thinking about detox and cleanses for a while now. I've made arguments in the past, about how our bodies are strong and capable and can handle anything we throw at it. However, I've been convinced that this is a shortsighted argument. The fact of the matter is that we're putting things in our body today that is so far outside of anything that it's prepared for and it's definitely affecting our health. Yes, our bodies are tough, and miraculous machines of digestion and filtration, and they do a tremendous job of keeping us upright and walking around, despite all of the garbage that goes into it. It's surprising that we're not all lying in ditches somewhere.

And if you never decide to do a cleanse or any kind of detox on your body, you'll probably keep right on living. The question becomes the quality of that life, and how long will it last? With 100,000 Americans a year diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease, and 320,000 Americans that are on a kidney dialysis machine already. More than 1 million Americans suffering and bleeding from kidney stones. And colon cancer killing over 60,000 Americans each year. There's plenty of evidence that something about our way of life is not copasetic with the natural functioning of our bodies. And I don't know about you, but I plan on being healthy, active, and pain-free until the end of my days. If I can avoid some of the maladies that have become common in our modern society, just by cutting out some junk food and watching what I eat, I'm sold.

After doing some research on various cleanse protocols, I finally decided on the 28-Day Cleanse by Colorado local, Scott Ohlgren. The program essentially consists of eating whole foods that are low on the food chain. No meats, no dairy, nothing processed, no flour, no hydrogenated oils, etc. It seemed like a really good cleanse because it's not fasting, and it's not living only on juice. Those types of detox programs seem to weaken the body, when it really needs strength and extra nutrients to rebuild itself after shedding a bunch of garbage.

The idea behind Scott's program is to assist your body in it's natural regeneration. All of the cells in your body die and are regenerated on a regular basis. This allows our body to recover from damage and toxins that we've been loading it down with for years. This program includes supplements to support this recovery in the form of probiotics, digestive enzymes, blue-green algae and plenty of chlorophyll from green vegetables and juicing.

Since the cleanse is 28 days long, each week has a different focus, or at least can have a different focus. Personally, Megan and I are going to take a week to get into the groove. Then week number two we'll be performing a colon cleanse. This is the first organ that needs to be cleaned, since it's the primary excretion organ in the body. If it's backed up or not working properly, than you're going to have a much harder time ridding yourself of the toxins elsewhere in your body.

Week number 3 will be a rebuilding week, consisting of high quantities of superfoods. The idea is to flush our cells with nutrients, pushing out anything foreign. The third week will be focused on a parasite cleanse. This is a specific type of cleanse for getting rid of anything nasty that's living inside you. The fourth week will likely be a kidney flush and whole body flush really. Lots of water and liquids during that week.

At some point, I'd like to do a thorough liver cleanse as well, however they're supposed to be pretty intense and this is my first major cleanse, so we're going to hold off on this for now, likely to be returned to at a later date.

So, we've been planning this cleanse for some time now, trying out some of the recipes and starting to ease into healthy eating so that it won't be such a shock. Now that we've started, I'm going to be posting our progress on this site so that you can get a play-by-play account of what is going into the cleanse, and what is coming out. :)

I'm going to try to be as transparent and specific about what we're doing from day to day, and throughout the month will be talking more about my reasons for choosing this particular cleanse and some of the other aspects of it. Hopefully this will be a good account for anyone who is thinking about doing a cleanse, or maybe just curious about them.