Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself (30 page)

This story is not to encourage anyone to do a detox program when they have chest pain that suggests coronary artery disease. On the contrary, I still give this patient a piece of my mind when I see him about how he risked his life, and my medical license, on that occasion. But one cannot argue with good results, and he had them. There are rules and there are “exceptions to the rules,” and in this moment in time when everything we know about staying healthy is changing, it’s possible that more people could be exceptions than they think.

CHAPTER TEN A Vision of the Future

The future of medicine is NO medicine.

If monkeys one day lost the instincts telling them to eat bananas, would there suddenly be monkey nutritionists?

The wide variety of diseases the human species is prey to, the severity of many of them, and the suffering experienced as a consequence by our loved ones, our communities, and the entire race are exclusive to mankind. In nature, most animals are born, roam, eat, reproduce, and die from old age, from injury, or at the jaws of other animals. There is no cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression and autoimmune diseases affecting wild animals. These things are a human phenomenon. We are paying a high price for extracting ourselves from nature and putting the whole planet at our service. Wildlife is now suffering the consequences as well and we are threatening to make life on the planet disappear.

It will take more than the Clean program and the follow-up maintenance to completely undo and prevent the damaging effects that modern life has on our biology, but at least we as individuals can avoid becoming part of the alarming statistics. We can avoid being one of the projected 20 million annual new cancer cases predicted worldwide by 2030—up from 12 million a year today—and sidestep the degenerative conditions that have made “growing old” into a disease of its own. When I was younger, “cancer” was something that friends of friends had. Today, there are at least ten people in my close circle of friends who are attempting to survive it. This is not a fear tactic to get anybody to complete Clean or any other detoxification program, or even to make any of the changes recommended in this book. It is simply a report of the reality we are living in. It will take a radical planet-wide shift in all areas of human endeavor to bring back the balance of health to a centered place. It demands effort. It is inconvenient. But it is essential to recognize the need for such a shift.

Global warming was the first “inconvenient truth” to hit critical mass awareness. Finally, we are stepping up to the plate to meet its challenges. Global toxicity is another inconvenient truth, and it needs as much attention and as many innovative solutions in action as the first one if we are to survive as a species and flourish. Delivering some of these solutions is my intention with this book and with Clean. To raise awareness, and provide safe and simple tools for you to live a more vibrant life, look broadly for solutions to your health issues, and explore other areas of wellness.

There is no question that the healthcare system as it is in the West right now is failing us. To return to the analogy of the earth as a living animal whose lungs are the forests and the Internet its nervous system, then the hospitals are its lymph nodes—the sites where diseases should be stopped and healing should happen. But the lymph nodes are not doing this job; instead of making people better, we have to ask if modern medicine’s reliance on expensive drugs, surgery, and expensive intervention might just be making them sicker. It is certainly breeding an atmosphere of distrust and even fear. In my own work as a cardiologist in some extremely busy hospitals, I have frequently met with patients who were terrified about their own impending treatments. They had had friends or family members who had undergone similar surgeries and suffered medical neglect, and gotten “iatrogenic” illnesses (the recently coined term given to sicknesses that come from modern medicine, whether from harmful drug interactions or medical mistakes). Sometimes these people had been affected fatally. The undercurrent of anger and stress in our places of healing today is rarely discussed but it is often felt by doctors.

There is a great need to return the power to patients so they can see that in fact they are in charge of their own well-being and health. A doctor or a hospital team doesn’t cure anything; we help create the conditions whereby the body can best heal itself. My own experience of losing digestive health and falling into depression, then fixing the digestion through cleansing and restoring the intestinal tract, and losing the depression as a result, was a revelation. Since that time I have witnessed countless people not only lose weight and troubling symptoms by detoxing but also gain the confidence in their own potential to heal, as I did.

My meditation teacher used to say, by way of encouraging her students to perform service in the school of meditation’s kitchen, “First, we comfort the belly, and then we talk spirituality.” She meant that when physical health is firmly established, the spirit can then begin to expand and grow. When you commit to your first cleanse, transformation on every level is facilitated. This is reflected by patients, even the most skeptical ones, who tell me their detox program has liberated something beyond physical energy. Often it has revealed a new spaciousness inside. When attention is released from food for a while, other subtler activities, such as contemplating, dreaming, and reflecting, are funded. Many times the simple fact of reducing time spent on meals has recaptured time for other important things such as spending more time with their children, creative projects, or spiritual lives. They say, “I’ve remembered what’s important in my life.”

In this respect, Clean can be the beginning of a great awakening. Some years ago I met an Indian saint who was famous for producing glittering bangles from thin air to give to his delighted followers. When asked why he would do that instead of only lecturing on the yogic scriptures, he said, “First I give them what they want with the hope that one day they will want what I really have to give them.” Likewise with a detox program, when you come to it to put some shinier, healthier, younger-looking “leaves” on your tree, you cannot help but clean up the roots also. This triggers a positive cascade: it builds a foundation for ongoing good health. This in turn opens the way to gain the peace in body and mind where true happiness is anchored. Ultimately, it is by building this real, enduring health that we will cure the fever of global toxicity affecting us, our planet, and our future.

21 Liquid Meals: Smoothies, Soups, and Juices

The following recipes make two servings each. You may either make the full recipe, and save half for later (store in fridge and use within 24 hours), or make half the recipe.

SMOOTHIES

If possible, make your ice from pure filtered water. If you prefer your smoothies less chilled, leave out the ice. All fruit may be fresh or frozen. First, here are two recipes, for nut milk and coconut milk, which you can use in the smoothie recipes.

Basic Coconut Milk (makes about 4 cups)

It is simple to make your own supply of coconut milk.

1 cup of dried, unsweetened coconut

Soak the coconut in the water for fifteen minutes.

Strain through a fine strainer.

In any recipes that call for coconut milk you may substitute the same amount of coconut water blended with 5 to 6 macadamia nuts or ¼ avocado, for extra body.

Basic Nut Milk (makes 4 cups)

Use this recipe to make the almond milk required in some the following recipes, as well as brazil-nut milk, and many others. Do not use peanuts.

1 cup of nuts, soaked for 3 hours in purified water

1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup or brown rice syrup

Drain the nuts, discarding water.

Place in blender with vanilla powder or extract, sweetener, and 3 cups purified water.

Blend for about 3 minutes.

Strain through fine strainer or cheesecloth.

Store in refrigerator; lasts for 2 days.

Agave syrup, also called agave nectar, is made from cactus. It is still a sugar (fructose) so use it sparingly.

Green Smoothie

1½cups of almond milk (see recipe for Basic Nut Milk)

½ cup of coconut water (fresh if possible; see note on coconut water)

2 leaves lacinato (dark green) kale or Swiss chard, coarsely Choppe

¼ avocado

½ cup mango chunks

½ cup of ice

Blend together until smooth.

Coconut water is the clear liquid inside a fresh coconut. Fresh coconuts can be bought at health food stores and some supermarkets. If you don’t have a coconut, you can buy coconut water in packs in a supermarket; look for the O.N.E. brand.

If using commercial almond milk instead of homemade, try to get a kind that contains no soy. Blue Diamond unsweetened vanilla almond milk is one option.

Kale, Pineapple, and Chia Smoothie

Chia is a superfood seed with complete protein and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Soaking for a few hours in pure water will activate the enzymes, but is not essential.

When juicing kale, look for the darkest-green kind with long leaves, such as lacinato or dinosaur kale. If it’s not available, use any kale you can find.

½ cup pineapple chunks

1 cup pure water 1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup

½ cup ice

Blend together until smooth.

Mango and Coconut Milk Smoothie

½cup pineapple chunks I½ cups coconut milk

½cup ice

Blend together until smooth.

Coconut milk is not the same as coconut water. It is made from pureeing and soaking the white meat of a fresh coconut. Canned versions may have additives; read ingredients and when in doubt make your own.

Blueberry, Carob, and Almond Milk Smoothie

1½ cups almond milk (see recipe for Basic Nut Milk)

2 teaspoons raw cacao powder, carob powder, or cocoa

½ cup ice

Blend together until smooth.

Cacao powder is the same thing as cocoa powder, but the raw form is usually called cacao. It is preferable because it’s packed with nutrients, including magnesium, and is high in antioxidants. The Navitas Naturals brand is stocked in many health food stores.

Energy Smoothie with Almond Butter and Cardamom

¼ cup almond butter

2 cardamom pods or 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1½ cups of pure water 1 cup frozen peaches 1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup

½ cup ice

Blend together until smooth.

Tahini or pumpkin-seed butter can be substituted for almond butter.

Berry Smoothie with Coconut Milk and Cinnamon

2 cups coconut milk with coconut meat or ¼ avocado addedto 1½ cups coconut milk

½ cup ice

Blend together until smooth.

Dig some white coconut meat out of a fresh coconut, available at natural food stores.

Tropical Smoothie

1½ cups pineapple and mango chunks

2tablespoons passion fruit puree

1½ cups any kind of nut milk (see recipe for Basic Nut Milk)

½ cup ice

Blend together until smooth.

Add 1 sprig of mint if desired.

Look for frozen packs of passion fruit puree or substitute extra pineapple chunks if not available.

SOUPS

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mint

3cucumbers, peeled and seeded

1 lemon, peeled

¼cup pine nuts

4cups pure water

¼ cup fresh mint leaves

1teaspoon sea salt

2tablespoons olive oil

1.Blend everything except fresh mint together in a high-speed blender for 3 minutes or until smooth.

Add mint and blend for 15 seconds.

Serve chilled.

Use sun-dried sea salt or pink Himalayan salt if possible.

Spinach and Dulse Soup

1 zucchini, cut in cubes

¼ cup dulse flakes

¼ avocado

2cups spinach leaves, washed

Blend together in a high-speed blender for 3 minutes or until smooth.

Season with sea salt to taste.

Serve with garnish of dulse and a drizzle of olive oil.

Dulse is a sea vegetable; look for it in the ethnic foods aisle of your supermarket or in a health food store.

Easy Pineapple and Avocado Gazpacho

2 cups pineapple, diced small

1 avocado, diced small

½ to 1 jalapeño chili pepper, seeds removed and chopped fine

½teaspoon sea salt

Juice of 1 lime

Sprouts or cilantro (garnish)

Combine all ingredients except garnish in a bowl.

Put half of the mixture in the blender and blend.

Pour blended mixture into the bowl and fold in to unblended diced avocado and pineapple.

Add cup water if thinner texture is desired.

Serve chilled garnished with sprouts or cilantro.

Sprouts are a living food, rich in enzymes. Look for them in the produce section of your supermarket. Sunflower sprouts are especially good, if you can find them.

Zucchini and Basil Soup

1 zucchini, diced

1 tablespoon red or sweet onion, finely chopped

½teaspoon sea salt

¼ avocado 4 cups pure water

Additional basil leaves (for garnish)

Blend all together in a high-speed blender.

Garnish with fresh basil leaves, finely shredded.

Butternut Squash Bisque

1½cups butternut squash, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 tablespoon red or sweet onion, chopped