Elimination Diet

So, I guess I'm out for detoxing and cleansing for another year +, because toxins are eliminated in breast milk which would harm the baby. I just signed up for a gym membership to do saunas, which I can do while breastfeeding (but not pregnant), but I don't know how useful they'll be without detoxing.

While detoxing is out (for over a year! :(), the elimination diet may be our next adventure. Many people have food sensitivities, allergies, or diseases. Celiac's disease is a genetic intolerance of gluten which is very rare and will never be cured. Many people may claim to have Celiac's disease but are really just gluten intolerant. A food allergy is an auto-immune response which can result in hives, rashes, asthma, and other serious symptoms. Food sensitivities are common (we all have them), and are just reactions to food we eat. Symptoms may include headaches, gas, abdominal pain, moodiness, ADHD, hyperactivity, etc. Symptoms to all these three conditions, I believe, can be physical or neurological. Some reactions are very subtle, and many people do not even realize their food allergies or sensitivities. (read here)

The most accurate way to diagnose a food sensitivity or allergy is by using an elimination diet. This article from the Encyclopedia of Children's Health briefly describes an elimination diet. One basically needs to discontinue eating the food for a period of time so the body can be cleaned out of what it is reacting to, and then (if its not a horrible allergy that could send them to the hospital) reintroduced into the diet. Once the body has been cleaned out and it is reintroduced, the reaction will be more pronounced than before, and you will "know" if you're sensitive or allergic. It is important to keep a food diary, though, to record your daily mood, feelings, and mental and physical symptoms. Multiple foods can be eliminated, and reintroduced one food at a time every three days.

I had originally made a plan to reintroduce in the following order: eggs, gluten, corn, wheat, yeast, dairy, which seemed most logical because... wheat contains gluten, but so do many grains; yeast products usually contain wheat, and dairy often harbors yeast. So, someone with a yeast allergy may reintroduce dairy and think they are reacting to dairy when they are actually reacting to yeast.

I'm pretty concerned about my son having a food allergy or food sensitivity. The good news is, these can be reversed! For children, because their bodies are growing and healing so fast, it may take 2-6 months to clear up, whereas for adults it takes 1 - 1 1/2 year as our bodies are slower to heal. It simply requires eliminating the offending food, and the sensitivity or allergy may heal itself and it can be reintroduced with no reaction. (All this and above info. come from my Certified Naturopath/Midwife)


One downside to a new diet is: you don't know what to eat! So, I found two diets with menus:

• The Whole Life Nutrition Elimination Diet 28-day detox (see phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, and challenge phase. Recipes are compiled in the Whole Life Nutrition cookbook available through Sno-Isle libraries) or

• Another option is this elimination diet with a 7-day menu plan.

Rotating Your Diet

The main thing to be learned is that we need to vary our diets! Food intolerances can be to anything we're eating too much. Common food allergies are to wheat, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, staple foods. Anything we're eating as a staple is likely to become a problem. You could even become allergic to garlic if you're eating it everyday. A good rule of thumb is to not eat any one kind of food more than once for at least every four days. For example, limiting wheat and fish to Monday, oats and pork to Tuesday, Barley and Beef to Wednesday...it all seems kind of challenging to me, so this will be an adventure. Its kind of against the conventional wisdom "eat 48 grams whole grains, 4 glasses of milk, a day."

We'll be trying an elimination diet soon, hopefully, after the New Year, so the holidays don't interrupt. It will be challenging, relieving to know that my family is eating food that doesn't give them reactions.

Candida Yeast cleanse

Due to the overuse of antibiotics, many of us have an overgrowth of candida yeast in our system. This upset of the natural flora and fauna in our system releases toxins into our bloodstream, resulting in a myriad of symptoms.

Jeffrey S. McCombs claims to have the best plan to combat and cleanse from candida yeast, superior to other methods that have failed. However, the six steps must all be followed strictly, or don't even start he states. One of the steps is sweating 6 times a week, so this is going to take some dedication! Its a sixteen-week+ cleanse, too. He says its simple, though. It includes:

1. the diet
2. a sweating regimen
3. water consumption
4. anti-fungal supplement (Candida Force)
5. detox supplement (Detox Essentials, basically vitamin C), and
6. acidophilus supplement (Flora Prime 5 capsules 2 times a day 20-30 minutes before meals)

Above are his recommendations for supplements, which he gets no moneys from but are available through his web site.

It has performed miracles for people that felt hopeless and were labeled by doctors as "hypochondriacs." The saunas are not optional, and remove lots of symptoms and toxins from deep within the tissues. Can't wait to do that.

My question is, since he states we have over 500 naturally occuring symbiotic bacteria in our system, 300-400 living in the gut, how are we to restore all 500 after they're wiped out by antibiotics?

Update Nov 5, 2010:
Read the whole book, and while his cleanse is highly recommended by Kevin Trudeau, author of "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About," McCombs has some pretty strange health philosophies and theories.

My doctor said the basic cleanse (if it doesn't contain the wormwood) from the RENEW plan would be okay during breastfeeding, as would the liver cleanse, and saunas. The heavy metal cleanse she recommended not doing, as when you're detoxing, the toxins can exit through the breast milk. So, why would I want to do any? Also, its okay to use probiotics and acidophilus supplements during breastfeeding, but not the pills that actively destroy the yeast overgrowth. I was a little concerned, as with all three children I will have been on antibiotics for strep B during labor, which upset the balance of bacteria in the gut and could lead to a yeast overgrowth.

RENEW

I had to go to the library to check out a whole bunch of books using the subject keyword "detox diet" to find out more about detoxing. I've learned we're all toxic, its deep in our tissues and especially our fat, and I wanted to know how to get rid of it; particularly heavy metals. The book "The Detox Strategy: Vibrant Health in 5 Easy Steps" by Brenda Watson, C.N.C., with Leonard Smith, M.D., gives the most specific advise, and I felt like she knew what she was talking about.

Her five step plan to RENEW is to:
1. Reduce exposure to toxins in your environment. She explains a few ways we get toxins in our systems, from water systems, chemicals we clean with, and chemicals in our clothes and bedding. Once educated, we can try our best to avoid them.

2. Eliminate Toxins in your body. The body has natural toxin elimination processes, mainly through the liver, but also in six other channels of elimination: the lungs, the liver, the colon, kidneys, skin, blood, and lymph.

3. Nourish your cells and systems. She tells what to eat and drink.*

4. Energize your body, mind, and spirit. (Exercise)

5. Wellness-putting it all together.

On page 100 she tells of four specific cleanses that are recommended, using supplements found in health food stores.

Step One: Total-body basic cleanse (duration: two weeks) (always start with this, then move on to advanced if you want)

Step Two: Total-body advanced cleanse (duration: thirty days)

Step Three: Targeted liver cleanse (30 days, optional)

Step Four: Targeted heavy metal cleanse (30 days, optional)

To aid in the cleansing process she recommends other helps such as digestive enzymes, supplements, dry brushing, saunas, whatever you can do. Too bad I can't do any cleanses while I'm pregnant or breastfeeding. Can't wait. See also the candida yeast cleanse.

These cleanses, she claims, are now widely available. Look for these ingredients on your cleanse:

Total-body basic cleanse
morning formula ingredients:
artichoke
blessed thistle
burdock root
dandelion
echinacea
feugreek
garlic
green tea
hawthorn berry
horsetail
kelp
milk thistle
mullein
nettle
oatstraw
oregano
parsley
red clover
turmeric
wormwood
yarrow
yellow dock
Total-body basic cleanse evening formula ingredients:
buckthorn
flaxseed
marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)
rhubarb
slippery elm
triphala (An ayurvedic formula)

Total-body advanced cleanse
Morning formula:
artichoke
ashwagandha
beet
burdock root
bupleurum
celandine
chlorella
cornsilk
dandelion
hawthorn berry
larch
mullein
milk thistle
red clover
turmeric
Evening formula:
cape aloe
fennel
ginger
magnesium hydroxide
marshmallow
rhubarb
slippery elm
triphala

Liver Cleanse
Morning formula:
alpha-lipoic acid
artichoke
dandelion
green tea
methionine
taurine
milk thistle
N-acetylcycsteine
phosphatidylcholine
selenium
turmeric
Evening formula:
Andographis paniculata
Belleric myrobalan
Boerhavia diffusa
Eclipta alba
Picrorhiza kurroa
Tinospora cordifolia

Heavy metal cleanse ingredients:
Morning
biotin
boron
calcium
chromium
copper
folic acid
magnesium
manganese
molybdenum
selenium
vanadium
vitamin C
vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12
zinc
Evening:
alpha-lipoic acid
bladderwrack
chlorella
cilantro
garlic
kelp
ceucine
N-acetylcysteine
sodium alginate

*antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids (EFAs), probiotics, enzymes, fiber supplements, lots of water, raw superfoods, green juicing, fruits and nonstarchy vegetables, whole foods vs. processed, wild fish, avoid dairy, avoid salt, limit coffee and tea, and eat 80 percent alkaline and 20 percent acid-forming foods.

Clean Up Your Diet

This book by Max Tomlinson is full of beautiful pictures of fruits and vegetables, discusses how to avoid contaminants in our bodies, and offers four detox diets, all in either a weekend, one-week, or four week plan. For each diet there's a menu plan and recipes, so its all ready to try. I'm pretty excited. Just need to replace the blender we broke this month.

It also offers ailment plans. I found mine: Hay Fever. I don't know how strictly I'll have to stick to this diet, it sounds pretty rough. It says 1. avoid typical allergens, such as wheat and dairy, 2. eat more organic fruits and veggies high in antioxidants, vitamins A, C, and E, and the mineral zinc, 3. avoid inflamatory foods such as red meat and eggs which contain arachidonic acid, and perhaps also tomatoes, egglplant, bell pepper, chili, white potato and tobacco (all also inflammatory), and 4. eat local honey so I get used to local pollen.

Detox

In the past I've had the philosophy "A little dirt won't hurt," ie., what doesn't kill me will only make me stronger: Bring it on! All my learning about the poisons we're exposed to, and how they affect our health, though, leads me want to detox. I Googled it briefly, and this is what I found.

How to detox:

Our body naturally detoxes using: 1. Pee 2. Poo 3. breathing (deep breathing exercises?) 4. sweat (as in exercise or using a hot sauna) - That's good news. So, drinking a lot of water helps detox. Unfortunately, pure water is hard to come by, unless filtered or distilled from fluoride, chlorine, and other heavy metals. Fiber naturally helps move bowels. There's also pills to help (Dr. cleanse, nutura) and enemas. See the Gerson coffee bean enema used on cancer patients.

5. Using a special diet of commonly non-allergenic foods and lots of organic fruits and vegetables. We don't want to add anything new (pesticides, herbicides) to the body to add to the burden, and get the nutrients in from fruits and veggies to aid in detox. Using a green leafy vegetable can be a detox. (Also good news. Easy enough. Sounds kind of whimpy, though, if the government already recommends 3 a week.) See which vegetables are green leafy.

Here's a few diets:
Maximized Living-developed detox diet
Metacafe
MSG detox diet to see if you're sensitive to MSG.Video Jug
Clean Up Your Diet by Max Tomlinson (see below)

Here's two videos on detoxing (very good) by the psychtruth clinic from Dr. Bellonzi (describes how and why to cleanse) plus a second video. Avoid extreme detox plans out there!

Additionally, in the case of mercury or lead toxicity there's chelation therapy.

Once we are detoxed, in order to prevent wrecking what we've just achieved, its good to kind of stay in this range of eating, close to these diets. But detoxing is usually a short-term diet that you can come off of. Its also important to avoid use of heavy chemicals in cleaners, on our lawns, in our cookware, wherever they're found.

6. Many toxins are excreted from our body to our tongue, so scraping the tongue when one first gets up with a wooden popsicle stick helps to detox.

My landlady says that ion foot bath detox works, as do specific brand of shoe inserts (see 1, 2, 3). Sounds crazy, huh? Her daughter in law was relieved of back pain and fatigue. Then, there's pure organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar, and lemons, too.

What am I specifically looking to detox from? The environmental toxins aluminum, lead, mercury, cadmium, fluoride, MSG, aspartame, pesticides, herbicides, industrial solvents, food dyes, and excessive vaccinations (see end of Behavior and Nutrition video). "All of these play an important role in brain toxicity, brain function, and your behavior" says Dr. Blaylock. I don't know if just a diet will expel all of these, or if it takes chelation therapy in the case of heavy metals. Additionally, estrogens in the environment are difficult to avoid; I doubt they're able to be removed, just avoided. We have lots of estrogens introduced to our environment through modern production such as BPA, PCBs, and pthalates.

Of course besides bodily detox, its also vital to spiritually detox. (See video)
Kevin Trudeau states that the words we say, the things we watch on TV, all contribute to our ability to combat disease. These things can build up more toxins in our system. Many times stress relief can be a very effective cure, even for cancer.

Update: July 3
I didn't even realize while writing this that I had a detox diet plan right on my shelf. This book is wonderful, complete with a daily menu and recipes for detoxing over a weekend, in a week, or doing a one-month diet, for either a digestion, energy, ailment, or overall cleanse. Clean Up Your Diet by Max Tomlinson is available at Neill Public Library.

Update July 9, 2010:
Kevin Trudeau in his book "Natural Cures" lists seven cleanses to do:
1. a colon cleanse (start with this)
2 a liver/gall bladder cleanse (then this)
2. a kidney/bladder cleanse
4. a heavy metal cleanse
5. a parasite cleanse
6. a Candida yeast cleanse (read Lifeforce or visit www.lifeforceplan.com)
7. a whole body cleanse
Find out about these cleanses by visiting the local health food store or searching the internet.