May 2nd is National Herb Day
Exploring Different Ways to Detox Your Body, Like an Herbal Spring Cleanse!
An interview with health educators Carl and Jhoane (Joan) Robinson, founders of Cedar Bear Liquid Herbal Supplements
Spring is the perfect time to cleanse and revitalize the body from inside out. Over the winter, we may have indulged in sweets and treats, had too many holiday feasts, been more sedentary than we usually are during the rest of the year and have not been exercising, been sick more than usual… all these things contribute to the toxic load our bodies are subjected to.
But, what is the best way to remove the many types of toxins that have accumulated in our tissues over the last many months, (and sometimes over the last many years), because of our unhealthy food choices and exposure to environmental pollutants in our air and water?
According to natural health educators Carl and Joane, there is a right way and wrong way to go about body cleansing, and they say following the correct guidelines can mean the difference between feeling light and energetic after your cleanse, or feeling sick and hung-over.
Basic Body Cleansing Do’s and Don’ts:
- Do drink plenty of water: The first rule when doing any type of cleanse is to drink plenty of clean water throughout the day, up to twice your normal intake. This helps loosen and flush out toxins and metabolic waste trapped within the body’s cells and tissues and aids in the body’s elimination process.
- Do a pre-cleansing diet: Preparation for your cleanse begins with reducing and eliminating heavy foods from the diet. Heavy dairy, heavy grains, fried foods, and red meat should be avoided.
- Do increase fiber intake: You want to be taking both soluble and insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber assists in building the moisture content of the gut, and insoluble fiber stimulates the digestive tract to maintain healthy peristalsis.
- Do maintain a healthy diet while cleansing: You want to avoid processed foods and eat whole, fresh foods, fruits and vegetables. Certain foods will aid in the cleansing process.
- Don’t stop eating: A body cleanse does not need to disrupt your normal lifestyle.
- Don’t continuously flush your bowels: We want to avoid the depletion of important minerals and intestinal flora. Cleaning out bulk material from the colon is okay in the situation where you are constipated or not getting a bowel movement for a couple days. But depleting electrolytes in the colon with enemas can imbalance the blood PH, and the person could have a very bad experience, including disrupted heart function.
- Don’t try to push through a “healing crisis”: If you experience illness or physical distress during your cleanse, stop. That is your body’s immune response telling you, you have gone too far, too fast. You are dumping too many toxins into your bloodstream.
- Don’t assume your body is detoxified after a 3-day colon cleanse: You need to cleanse your liver, blood, bone marrow, fatty tissues, and nervous system to restore your health and immune function to optimum levels. Detox time can extend to weeks or months when it is done intelligently, i.e., slowly and gradually.
- Do use the power of herbs to gently deep cleanse your body tissues: “There are four avenues by which toxins can be expelled from the body: The lungs, the skin, the bladder and the colon,” says Carl. “The object is to stimulate each of these channels of elimination while loosening and dislodging the toxins from the tissues biochemically with hydration and herbal preparations.”
Intelligent Body Detoxing – Important Herbs That Help in the Process
- Colon: Senna Leaf and Cascara Sagrada Bark help loosen the bowels.
- Liver: Dandelion Root for gentle cleansing, Chaparral and Red Clover for deep cleansing.
- Blood: Burdock Root, Yellow Dock Root and Chickweed are excellent blood cleansers.
- Lymph: Red Root Bark is known for its lymphatic system clearing abilities.
See the complete line of herbal detoxing and cleansing formulas at:
cedarbear.com/health-strategies/cleansing-spring-cleaning
ABOUT CARL AND JHOANE ROBINSON
Carl and Jhoane (Joan) Robinson are health educators and co-founders of liquid supplement manufacturer Cedar Bear Naturales / Liquid Herbs.
Carl Robinson is a clinical & formulary herbalist and nutritional therapist with a Master of Herbology in herbal pharmacognosy and pharmacology. Carl was an owner/operator of a colon therapy and nutritional counseling center on a medical plaza. He has been an ‘insider’ to the herbal products industry for 30 years and was involved in passage of State legislation that in turn became the template for the Federal government’s Dietary Supplements Health Education Act of 1994 (1994 D.S.H.E.A.). Carl is also the author of numerous White Papers and published works and educational courses on herbs, nascent iodine and natural health.
Jhoane (Joan) is a traditional herbalist, yoga & meditation instructor, and the former lead writer and editor of a nationally distributed herb journal and natural health newsletter. The daughter of an MD internist who co-founded the largest medical clinic in the Northwest, Jhoane developed a disabling auto-immune condition, which she overcame utilizing natural holistic means, giving her a unique perspective on healthcare.
