The following is the conversation I have with my patients when I talk to them about liver cleansing:

Not everyone should liver cleanse in the beginning. Sometimes you need to stabilize that liver first. This might involve the low insulin diet plan (found here) or it might include Hepatrophin, which we normally do not think of as a cleansing formula at all. It also might involve milk thistle seed (we use and carry Thisilyn) and tonifying liver herbs like astragalus and schisandra. Which of the above are needed might need to involve a health professional or someone competent in muscle testing. Discovering whether you need something to stabilize your liver before cleansing is easy!

If you start liver cleansing and you get really emotionally unstable, then you probably need some type of help first. Everyone experiences some emotional instability when they cleanse, but this usually comes after a few days and lasts a day or so. If it comes right away and lasts as long as you are cleansing, you need to do something else first.

But the majority of people can handle a basic liver cleanse. If you are thinking about getting pregnant and want to get your body ready for that, you should definitely consider liver cleansing. The basic liver cleanse can be done seasonally but should not be done during pregnancy, but rather before. This should not be confused with the gall bladder stone flush, on which subject we have already written a blog in detail.

This is a 5-day cleanse.

Day 1 and day 5 are all raw fruits and vegetables. Apples and berries are preferred to citrus except when using citrus as a cleansing drink.

Days 2,3 and 4 are juice fasting. This must be raw, fresh juice and can be many different things but my preferred items are apple and carrot with a bit of celery and fresh ginger added. On the juice days, use 1 pint of juice at four equal intervals throughout the day for a total of 4 pints or 1/2 gallon of juice.

During this cleanse, I like Dr. Christopher's Liver Gall Bladder formula--1 capsule with each meal or juice (depending on the day).

One can get even more aggressive with the cleanse by doing Richard Schulze's liver flush drink each morning. It is made as follows:

Fresh juice from: 2 small or 1 large oranges, 2 lemons, 2 limes, 2 inches of ginger root, 6 (assuming average size) cloves of garlic. This juice is best made if each of the 5 items are loosely peeled, which is to day the outside is peeled off but the inner peel is left. In the case of citrus, just peel off the color. In the case of ginger, don't peel it all the way down but leave some skin on it here and there. In the case of garlic, leave the inner paper on it.

To the finished juice, add 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. It is best if this is blended briefly or stirred well before drinking. It is very strong but most people find it quite delightful and will really clean out everywhere when they do this.

During any intensive cleanse, it is absolutely vital to keep the bowels moving very well--at least 3 easy bowel movements per day. If this is not happening, it is important to do enemas to keep the bowels moving that often. Use Dr. Christopher's Lower Bowel Formula, just empty 5 capsules into 5 cups of warm water (just barely warmer than body temp) and use this in an enema bucket or bag. Slather up the bottom with an herbal ointment (Chaparral Yerba Mansa Rub is a great choice) or petroleum jelly. Lubricate the tip of the enema hose. Run it enough to let the air out of the hose. Use the whole 5 cups, even if it means 2-3 back to back enemas where you have to void in between.

After the 5 days, the intestinal flora (microbiome) will need to be restored. The VERY BEST WAY to do this is with 10 capsules per day of Dandelion Root, taken all at once each day for one month. This is so much better than probiotics that it is amazing. It feeds only the very best flora and will not be damaged by your stomach acid and will change the gut lining to a more favorable chemistry for ongoing intestinal health.