Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself (17 page)

There are other factors influencing when, if, and how efficiently we enter detox mode. If we ingest a food that triggers an allergic response, a host of processes are put in motion that consume even more energy and time. When the GALT, the immune cells that live close to the intestinal wall, get irritated, they start manufacturing substances—histamines and immunoglobulins—to mediate allergy, which in turn activate a series of responses, including the activation of the inflammatory system. Thus, foods that cause allergies end up activating three bodywide systems: the digestive, immune, and allergic systems, all high energy consumers. When they’re switched on, a snowball effect starts: one reaction triggers the next in a chain of reactions that recruit other cells and cause specific effects such as sneezing, itching, vomiting, vasodilatation, and more. By using up so much of the energy budget, they cause detoxification to get delayed even longer. And simultaneously, they cause disruption all over the body—draining resources further. The chaos and confusion caused by irritating foods can drain the body, the patient, and the doctors, who typically don’t connect the problem to irritating foods or the eroded state of the intestines to the presenting symptoms. Pulling this picture into focus makes very clear how every one of us, over time, can end up with a backlog of toxins in our tissues.

The news is not all bad, though. Some foods delay the signal to start dumping toxins, but other foods accelerate it by supporting and enhancing the many steps in digestion and absorption. Magnesium-rich foods promote intestinal motility and accelerate intestinal transit. Olive oil facilitates transit by lubricating the walls as well as triggering the release of bile from the gallbladder. Bile is crucial for effective digestion. Enzyme-rich foods speed up the process by supplying the body with many of the enzymes needed. Nature actually provides much of what we need to get toxins out of our bodies, if we just follow its rules.

This understanding is the basis of an “Elimination Diet.” Avoiding the foods that are difficult to digest and that are known to cause food allergies and sensitivities will allow the body to enter detox mode reliably and consistently. When you combine meals that follow the Elimination Diet guidelines with liquid meals, as you will do during the Clean program, you reduce the workload of digestion even further. Naturally, this helps the detox mode to start sooner, last longer, and consequently clean deeper.

Disarming the Toxins: The Liver’s Important Work

The toxins and mucus that are released into circulation once detox mode has been switched on must get neutralized and eliminated. Why? Because these toxins contain free radicals, electrically charged molecules that corrode tissues and damage cells on contact. In addition, different toxins interfere with different functions such as cell division and reproduction, hormone assembling and release, and receptor sensitivity. And as described earlier, they even affect gene expression, altering the way our genes govern the inner workings of the body and literally changing the course of our life expression at the origin of command. Furthermore, since toxins, particularly the humanmade ones, are by and large fat lovers (lipophillic), if they circulate long enough without being neutralized, they will find fatty tissue to lodge within. The brain, with its high percentage of fat, is a prime target. Neurological disturbances are, not surprisingly, a consequence of accumulated toxicity.

Because fat is hard to offload (as everyone knows), the newly freed toxins must get transformed from fat-soluble molecules into water-soluble molecules, which can be more easily excreted. The central player in this part of the story is the liver. Its cells contain a group of enzymes called the cytochrome P450 system, which are designed to cause the chemical reactions for this crucial process of neutralization. The reactions are performed in two steps, phase 1 and phase 2 liver detoxification. During phase 1, the structure of the toxin being neutralized is actually altered and it is turned into an “intermediate metabolite.” In some cases, this intermediate product is more toxic than the toxin it came from. The rush is now on to push it through to the second phase of liver detoxification, which will neutralize the toxic property and transform it into a water-soluble product that can then be thrown back into blood circulation and passed through to the blood vessels inside the kidneys. The kidney cells will recognize it, capture it out of the blood, and finally release it into the urethra as urine. You pee it out and with this act of elimination, the detoxification journey is completed.

This essential liver work has some important requirements. It requires energy, a steady supply of antioxidants (to neutralize the free radicals), and an array of other minerals, vitamins, and nutrients (to feed the chemical reactions of phases 1 and 2). If all these things are available, detoxification occurs safely. The transition between phase 1 and phase 2 happens so quickly that the intermediate compounds don’t spill out. If the liver doesn’t get this support, however, phase 2 is compromised. The partly transformed toxins spill out of the liver, return to circulation in the blood and lymph, and travel back to the tissues and cells, where they cause damage. The other organs of detoxification might try to compensate, but none can do what the liver can do. A cascade of stresses on different systems can set in, which strains the body more. Knowing this, you can begin to see why fasting on its own, even though it helps accelerate the release of toxins from tissues, might be harmful to health. There are no nutrients coming in to help with the processing and neutralizing stage that must occur next.

The Spectrum of Cleansing

This basic understanding of the mechanics of detoxification helps explain why different detox programs have different effects and results. Some are designed to release toxins in a rush, others, to let them out slowly. But they vary in how successfully they “equalize” the intensity of detox mode and the intensity of liver detoxification, and this determines, to my mind, their safety for the average person. With this in mind, here’s a guide to the most popular detox programs of the moment, and where Clean lies in relation to them.

Water Fasting

Water fasting is the most intense form of detoxification, and has been used by spiritual leaders, including Jesus and the Buddha. Since only water is consumed, once the signal to enter detox mode is triggered, tissues release toxins and mucus into circulation—and don’t stop. In fact, the release gets more intense as the days go by. In ancient times, when this method was used primarily for spiritual reasons, there were no chemicals in the environment and so there were far fewer accumulated toxins to be released back into circulation. With our level of toxicity today and our nutrient-deficient bodies, water fasting can be dangerous. More toxicity is released, with a lot less nutrient support for liver detoxification.

I have witnessed many people try this method over the years. They all got very weak and sleepy and could not go for long, with the exception of one individual who had been cleansing consistently for twenty-five years and lived a very clean life in between detox programs. Although a few water fasters had no other problems but fatigue, many others suffered nausea, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes, and other symptoms. Though I didn’t personally witness the more severe cases, they occurred and, tragically, included one death, that of a man who tried this fast to cure his cancer. (It is impossible to say what killed him, the fasting, the cancer, or a combination of both.) Nevertheless, I have also seen, heard of, and read of people healing themselves from apparently “incurable” diseases using this intense and controversial fasting method.

The Master Cleanse

The Master Cleanse is a liquid-only detox program that has recently gained popularity. You drink only water with lemon, grade-B maple syrup, and cayenne pepper for as long as you can handle it. It is generally well tolerated, but as with the water fasting, I have witnessed cases where it went very wrong. Even if well tolerated, the Master Cleanse is more beneficial to those who undertake a cleanse for emotional, mental, and maybe spiritual reasons than for the physical benefits. Once toxins and mucus are released into the blood, they must be eliminated from the body, and the Master Cleanse method enhances elimination only by the irritation that cayenne pepper causes on the intestinal mucosa, not by “binding” fiber to the toxins to prevent reabsorption and pulling them out. The main reason the Master Cleanse is incomplete is because it does not accomplish what I consider to be the most important aspect of a detox program in our modern world: the restoration of the intestinal flora and the integrity of the intestinal wall.

Juice Fasting

In a juice fast you consume nothing but freshly made vegetable and fruit juices and water or herbal teas. This slows down the detox intensity seen in water fasting, although not by too much, so detoxification is still quite intense. The juices provide the nutrients needed for both phases of liver detoxification—they need to be primarily green (vegetable) juices with few of the sweet fruit juices. Kale is considered the king of juicing vegetables.

However, you still need a good knowledge of nutrients to create and benefit from a juice fast. You need to add minerals via supplements, and good fiber or herbal laxatives are essential as there is no fiber in the juices. Though hunger tends to diminish naturally, most people report that a juice fast works best when they are able to take a sabbatical from regular demands of life at a retreat center—if only because it takes strong discipline to avoid the temptations of food. This type of cleanse also fails to rebuild the intestinal flora and therefore is not complete, unless you add in a side program of herbal antimicrobials and probiotics.

Blended Fasting

Blended fasting involves pureeing instead of juicing your vegetables and fruits, so that their fiber makes you fuller, and may add emollients like avocado or olive oil to increase fat quantity. This slows down toxin release as it takes more energy to digest, but the advantage of this method is that you are less hungry, and the fiber that remains in the drinks sequesters (grabs) the toxins in the intestinal lumen and carries them out, preventing them from being reabsorbed into the bloodstream. As a detox program, it is of medium-high intensity. For this reason, blended smoothies and shakes are an integral part of the Clean program.

Raw Food

A raw-food diet is usually seen more as a lifestyle diet than as a cleanse, but I use it as a detox tool for some patients, because it combines the benefits of the juice and blended fasts with a little more solidity in the daily diet in the form of raw-food meals. As raw-food devotees will confirm, the power of enzyme-rich raw foods both aids the release of toxicity and supports the liver in its processing. The downside is that for many people living busy city lives, it is hard to shop for and prepare.

Nutritional Cleanses

Nutritional cleanses are a recent addition to the detox world. You drink shakes that have been specially designed to deliver protein, fat, and some carbohydrate in liquid form along with all the nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals needed by the liver. You also eat a reduced number of solid-food meals that will not irritate or tax your system. This kind of cleanse is often done using so-called medical foods—powdered protein shakes made with natural ingredients and an array of natural supplements. Over several weeks, toxins are released consistently with all the necessary support to neutralize them successfully. A huge benefit of this modern method is that it provides protein, which can attract some of the circulating toxins, thereby preventing them from reentering the tissues. (This is especially important to know should you go on to do a specialized heavy-metal cleanse; heavy metals bind to proteins, which help prevent them from circulating to their favored locations, such as the brain.) The Clean program is a type of nutritional cleanse.

Ayurvedic Detoxification Programs

Ayurvedic detoxification programs are slower in their toxic release than many other cleansing routines, because they use cooked foods, yet slow does not mean ineffective. Many conditions are better addressed by longer-term, lower-intensity detoxification methods. Furthermore, the ancient panchakarma techniques get many of their great results from taking into consideration your individual constitution (the kapha, vata, pitta body types mentioned in the “Quantum Toxins” section of chapter 5.

The Elimination Diet

The Elimination Diet depends on eliminating foods that are hard to digest or cause allergic reactions. It can be used on its own as a detox program. When you eliminate hard-to-digest foods and eat mainly organic vegetables, brown rice, beans, fish or lean protein, fruits, and nuts, you free up much of the energy wasted on initiating and sustaining immune responses. This alone can greatly clear up many people’s symptoms, although it takes longer than more targeted cleanses.

Why Clean?

There is no one single “right” method for building and maintaining balanced health. The range of tools available for promoting detoxification is impressive, and, with experience and guidance and attention to some disclaimers, you can use all the methods at varying points in your life. Extensive experience with all of them has shown me that the largest number of people get the greatest results from a nutritional cleanse. Bringing about an ongoing release of toxicity backed by a steady supply of nourishment, they achieve in a relatively short time (three weeks) the kind of results that the more challenging juice fasts might achieve in seven to ten days. The Clean program that you will follow in this book uses the principles of the nutritional cleanse to create a detox program you can easily do at home, with freshly made foods and drinks. (A medical-foods version of it is also available in a kit from www.the cleanprogram.com.) It is safe and practical and has been tested extensively on hundreds of patients under my medical supervision.

To design Clean, I drew on the extensive research and knowledge of Functional Medicine, a model of healing that exemplifies the integration of Western, evidence-based science with an Eastern, holistic approach to deliver individualized care that truly gets to the root of disease. Functional Medicine is “openminded” medicine in action, benefiting from ancient health knowledge while using the most advanced technology when necessary.