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Family Acupuncture Log
with Kay Madsen, Licensed Acupuncturist
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The Basic Detox Program
The detox program document lays out the plan for a good physical detoxification program. It tells you what supplies you need to get started and dosages for the supplements. Here's also a quick run down on my rationale. A proper detoxification strategy must achieve the goal of releasing stored toxins and then clearing them from the body. In order to achieve this, the following elements must be addressed:
(1) Release stored toxins
This is the role of the detox herbal formulas, as well as iodine supplementation. Lemon juice and green tea are also mild toxin releasers, but not strong enough by themselves to effectuate a thorough cleanse. Coffee enemas also prompt the liver to release toxins into the bile for direct elimination. It's a pretty intense method of detox, and highly optional.
(2) Enable the liver's detoxification pathways
The liver needs certain macro nutrients (carbs, fats, proteins) and micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals) to process the released toxins. If they aren't present, there will be no detoxification. It is biologically impossible. The toxins will just be circulated through the blood and re-stored in the liver, making you feel pretty yucky in the process. That's why fasting or super low carb dieting isn't recommended during a cleanse. So, eat good food and take the recommended supplements. This isn't optional. (3) Excrete the toxins Once the toxins get filtered back through the liver, they are ready to be eliminated. The two routes are urine and feces, primarily the latter.
The key here is quick excretion. If feces hang around too long in the colon, it is possible to reabsorb their toxic content straight back into the blood stream via the portal vein. That's why most programs include a fiber and laxative component. Because the liver sends some toxins to the kidneys, we can't forget to address them (which most boxed programs do). The use of natural unrefined sea salt helps the kidneys process and safely excrete the toxins through the urine.
(4) Don't re-pollute This makes sense, right? Don't put more garbage in while you're trying to clean house. So, eliminate food additives, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (except what you must take for any health conditions). For the complete purists, use only natural cleaning agents in your home and on your body. That mostly means no artificial scents (pthalates) or preservatives (parabens). Your health food store has many options for home and personal cleaning products.
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Goodness, I hate to harp about the weather, but spring has been kind of a ridiculous roller coaster ride for us here in the DC area.
And as whacky as it sounds, there are a lot of folks starting to experience allergy symptoms - myself included. Since there is no pollen to speak of, this doesn't seem to make much sense. And for me personally, I haven't had much trouble with spring allergies in years. So, what gives?
Allergy symptoms are characterized as "internal wind" in Chinese medicine. From that vantage point, it isn't the pollen, per se, that causes allergies. It is our internal reaction to the pollen that drives this "wind." This spring, we are experiencing tumultuous temperature swings. This is driving forces of both the external wind in the climate and our internal winds, yielding symptoms of sinus pressure, congestion, sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes. What to do? Time to detox.
Enjoy!
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Last month, I wrote about the emotional and spiritual aspects of cleansing the liver. Click, here to read that issue. Given the rising of the spring winds and allergy type symptoms, many readers asked for a refresher on a physical liver detox program.
Walk into any health food store and you will find dozens of detox kits on the shelves. They each, no doubt, have their merits. I haven't found one that meets my fussy criteria, so I have fashioned my own. I've published it before and there is a link to it on the side bar. This will tell you everything you need to get and why. That's all necessary information, but it occurs to me that it can be overwhelming. So, in this main article, I am going to lay out what I do. What a day in the life of a detox program looks like. When laid out this way, you can see that it really isn't that complicated.
You certainly don't have to duplicate my schedule to the last detail. I offer it as an example of how easy this whole detox thing can be. So here's my detox schedule:
Morning Cleansing Ritual arise
eliminate
drink cup of water with sea salt
take detox supplements (as noted in Detox Plan):
Liver Care (1 capsule)
Milk thistle/dandelion/yellow dock (2 capsules)
N-acetyl cysteine (1 capsule)
Bowel Cleanse (3 to 5 capsules)
skin brushing (optional)
take a shower
use neti pot (personal note - my allergy type symptoms completely cleared after just 2 days of using the neti pot)
Morning Nourishment cooked, warm breakfast
(my favorite: oatmeal w/coconut oil, seeds, walnuts and dried blueberries)
green tea
vitamin and mineral supplements
(1/2 dose of multi vitamin; iodine; vitamin C; iron; B-12; vitamin D3 & K2)
extra glasses of purified water throughout the day
Mid-day Nourishment cooked, warm lunch
(e.g., soup, "salad" made from cooked greens and other veggies with homemade tahini dressing; meat and veggie stir fry with brown rice; leftovers)
sea salt water or lemon water
Mid-Afternoon Respite 20 minute nap or quiet meditation (between 3 and 5 pm)
Pre-Dinner Cleanse/Exercise Liver Care (1 capsule)
Milk thistle/dandelion/yellow dock (2 capsules)
light snack
sea salt water or lemon water
take the dog for a walk, exercise bike, or rebounder (mini trampoline)
Evening Nourishment cooked, warm dinner
(E.g., grilled beef strips with veggie side dishes and rice)
vitamin and mineral supplements
(1/2 dose of multi vitamin; vitamin C; calcium)
Bedtime go to bed by 10:30 pm
sleep 7 to 8 hours
Optional Extras
- skin brushing - This is a technique that stimulates lymphatic cleansing. Use a dry, stiff bristled bath brush. Lightly brush the skin from the extremities inward toward the heart.
- coffee enemas - This is for the die hard detoxers. Special equipment and kits can be found on-line on Amazon and elsewhere. Not used so much to create bowel movements, coffee stimulates the liver to immediately release toxins into the bile for elimination.
- gua sha - A specialized method of skin scraping, this Chinese medical technique helps release "internal wind."
The Question of Food
What not to eat Foods that congest the Qi are counter productive to the liver cleanse and should be eliminated as much as possible. These include: - sugar (including all natural sources)
- artificial sweeteners
- dairy
- glutenous grains (wheat, barley, rye)
- corn and corn by-products
- soy
- hydrogenated oils
- processed foods
What to Eat There is so much more on the OK to eat list than on the not OK list. The best way to stay true is simply to avoid processed foods and cook "real whole food." Remember, in Chinese medicine, cooked is better than raw. Raw foods (like fruits, nuts and seeds) should be eaten in conjunction with a meal of mostly cooked warm food. Here are the basics. - rice (especially whole grain)
- oats
- organic free range meats, poultry, fish and eggs
- cooked vegetables - unlimited amounts; go to the produce section and go hog wild
- onions and garlic - cook them into anything and everything that makes sense
- mushrooms (cooked)
- whole fruit, especially berries
- lemon or lime juice
- high quality unrefined oils in small quantities (olive oil, coconut oil, organic butter)
- nuts
- seeds (esp. flax, sesame, chia, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin)
- beans and legumes
- herbs and spices - flavor it up! Healthy food should be yummy.
- stevia or small quantities of maple syrup for sweetening
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ABOUT ME
After leaving behind a decade of practicing as an attorney, I received my Masters of Acupuncture in 2002 from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, Maryland. It certainly was an interesting career shift! Every day I am increasingly grateful to do this amazing work. I guess I still use some of my old attorney skills to piece together every patient's experiences to create a new picture of their health concerns from a Chinese medical perspective. From there we fashion a strategy toward healing together. It never gets old to watch a person's sufferings unravel. Sure beats interpreting government regulations for a living!
I keep balance in my own life by sharing my love of outdoor experiences with my husband and daughter. Camping, hiking and critter watching are much loved family activities. It's important to me to see that my daughter learns to attune herself to the movement of the seasons and the many lessons they offer, so that she can appreciate balance from an early age.
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Suite 204
Silver Spring, MD 20906
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Kay Madsen, M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM)
Licensed Acupuncturist
13415 Connecticut Ave.
Suite 204
Silver Spring, MD 20906
(240) 393-5420
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Copyright � 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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