I am planning to do the Medical Medium Liver Rescue cleanse again.
I will start by saying that I don’t do cleanses, historically-speaking. I believe in my body’s ability to take care of itself in terms of detoxification, and I am not one for juice fasts or intermittent fasts or anything else. They may have many merits, I don’t know. I just don’t really do them, and so the fact that I did this nine day cleanse was a pretty monumental event. The fact that I want to do more of it is pretty telling of how great it was.
I also don’t do dieting or restrictive eating beyond the SCD diet I have been on for my health for the last 16 years, that is gluten, grain, seaweed, chemical, soy and sugar free. (more on the diet is HERE)
That said, because of eating no grain and a lot of other things for over a decade, I leaned into more dairy, plus more healthy fats for richness. I love to eat, and I never feel deprived. That said, over the last few years I started to feel less sparkling and energized.
It was nothing dramatic, just a slow slow-down, an extra cup of tea, a need for more moisturizer, feeling a little less cellular thrill.
I watched friends and family turn their health around doing the Anthony William’s Medical Medium Thyroid program this Summer, and as they touted the joys of celery juice and their newfound love of herbal teas like thyme and lemon balm, raw honey and lots of fruit, I was intrigued by the power of these simple additions to every day.
I added celery juice to the mornings for a few weeks and felt really good. I dropped dairy for a month and felt even better. I drank huge wild blueberry-filled smoothies every day.
Nothing was extreme but it made a noticeable difference— more energy, more lightness, more hydration.
So, when the Medical Medium Liver Rescue book was ready for release, I had it on pre-order.
I also have to say, I am not a doctor, nor am I a healer or anyone dispensing medical advice… and, I’m not being compensated to write this.
In our countdown to the New Year and all the Home and Life De-cluttering to create more magic feelings every day, it felt like a great time to share my detox experience that I plan to do seasonally, since round one was such a revelation.
Even if you don’t ever do the nine-day program, there’s a lot I’ve learned that was extremely sensible, and continues to make me feel radiant and quite spectacular.
When my book arrived a few weeks ago, I was already ready to give it a go. The liver, it explained, performs over 2,000 functions for the body, and many of them are naturally detoxifying. After reading this book, and all the indications given of a sluggish liver (pretty much everything I’d been gradually experiencing), I was even more excited to see what would happen.
While I’m not going to share the details, because there’s a giant book you can read (you can get it HERE) that explains it in depth, and you’re meant to read it all in full before you begin, I can share with you a few of the really incredible things that made it feel very sound and harmless to me, someone who won’t starve or diet–
You eat a ton. I mean, you really eat so much it’s nearly impossible to be hungry. Hunger is discouraged. I was eating nearly 10 cups of super-nutrient-dense salad some days, not to mention smoothies, veggies, incredible blended soups… and I think I ate 45 or 50 apples in 9 days (*including juiced ones!)!
My shopping cart was so overflowing with food, I was asked twice (2 full shopping carts of greens, apples, veggies, more fruit…) if I opened a juice bar!
There’s only one supplement to get. I couldn’t find fresh pink pitaya that costed less than $10 per fruit, and I couldn’t find it frozen either, even though I’d seen it before, because I think a lot of LA was doing this Liver Rescue when it first came out! So, I bought raw, freeze dried pink pitaya powder for about $20 and I still have leftovers to add to smoothies now to turn them fuchsia!
There’s nothing too rigorous to-do. Everything was really basic. In fact, I wondered if anything would change from this cleanse because it seemed so basic.
I was hungry at first and craving things intensely. I wanted a jar of organic peanut butter. I wanted a ton of olive oil. My body had grown accustomed to way more protein and healthy fat than I had realized. That feeling passed by Day 4, and I just wanted a bigger salad. I wanted more tomatoes. I wanted more hibiscus tea. Who was I becoming?!
I was dehydrated to start. Very dehydrated. My fingers were shriveled like prunes when this began, all the way through day 5. I was really alarmed, then I started to drink more and more. It took three liters of water to get hydrated every day on top of all the fruit, veggies, tea and lemon water. I had no idea how much water I really needed.
I was eating 1000% more fat than I realized. This craving of fat was shocking. I understood for myself how my body became sluggish when by Day 6 I got a wild burst of energy that hasn’t gone away. I will never eat the kind of incredible amounts of fat I was, back when I was liberally dousing salads, roasted vegetables and more in piles of oil and grass-fed butter. I still have plenty of fat, but not the heaps of it I was having before without realizing it.
I had a big salt fixation. If there’s one thing that became clear, I wanted more and more salt prior to these nine days, and I am glad to have taken it down to human proportions.
Vegetables and fruit can be luscious. Who knew how much I’d grow to love and crave blended spinach soup and herb-filled salads.
I purged a lot of negativity. A lot of it. A lot. I complained through days One, Two and Three. I felt… deprived. But, I wasn’t deprived of food. It was a realization that I’d deprived myself of a lot of deeper self-love and care that was all coming to the surface. I got a sense of how I had to reorganize so that I was living my dream life and not just my dream career. This was a massive distinction.
I started to eat earlier. I had no idea that my late dinners so impacted my sleep. I started craving big lunches and less for dinner. I started having different cravings, too, because my way-too-much protein took a toll.
Suddenly, I was super-bright. And two weeks (including one big Thanksgiving) later, I still feel it.
This selfie on a rare day when I got 4.5 hours of sleep (!!!) had no filter applied (just extra light used on a foggy day), right before teaching a three-hour, full of high vibes session of The School of Intention Professional Feng Shui program. The only makeup I have on is mascara and some smudged-on eye shadow and liner and vitamin e oil on my lips. I’m still definitely tired looking but, OMG, two weeks before this I would look totally asleep and would have felt like hell if I slept so little. (I took a nap after teaching!)
Even if I’m a little tired, I’m excited.
My eyes are whiter and lighter hazel than they have been in 10+ years. My skin keeps getting brighter, slowly but surely. This is how I looked after 9 hours of sleep 5 weeks ago, minus the lighter eyes!
Also, I’m not hungry in a blood-sugar-crashing way. I’m not struggling after a three hour sprint of teaching. I’m not moody. I’m not mentally striving at all because I feel mentally lighter.
I’m more creative. It’s amazing what some deep renewal did for my creative spirit. Everything feels so much easier and lighter and more clear, like my eyes do to me when I look in the mirror!
I know when I need more balance. It’s easier to make plans. It’s easier to take breaks. It’s easier to be full-present. The mind-clearing results have lasted for weeks, so I know that for me, it’s not been a “fluke.”
If you do the Liver Rescue program, there are a few tips I’ll share—
- Use tons of salt free natural spices. It makes each oil-free salad multi-dimensional.
- Blending applesauce every day with dates was totally life-changing and I discovered this raw applesauce (*explained in the book) a few days into the program. It made it a snap to eat 3 or 4 raw apples at once, and it tasted like the best apple pie ever!
- If you have a high-speed blender, you can blend up the salad ingredients into a soup!!!
- Prepare in advance before grocery shopping. If I had really prepared strategically, I would have saved myself extra trips to the Farmer’s Market.
Food is more fun and even more colorful!!!
These ideas of non-dairy and less fat and more vibrance have translated into a deeper food exploration. I made THIS killer blueberry pie that was demolished on Thanksgiving, so I’m making another today. I’m craving THIS Asparagus Soup so I’m grabbing the stuff for it. I’ve heard rave reviews of THIS vegetable quiche when made with almond flour, so it’s my experiment today for dinner.
My sister Nicole is getting so masterful at these types of dairy/grain/gluten-free lusciousness that I think we’re bringing FOOD-Shui back in the months ahead, expanding it further after this artful adventure. Plant-based, budget-friendly, planet-friendly and super-rejuvenating food is more exciting than ever to share!
I didn’t know how decluttering this nine day immersion would be, but I can see the door-opening effects in my life in a big way.
Even if you never do this program, the ideas of hydration, drinking more herbal teas, adding more veggies and fruit, lightening up on even “healthy” fat and getting excited about energizing, nourishing plant foods are all extremely awesome ideas!
And… they all make more space in life for growth and flourishing.
!!!
Here’s to glowing more every day!
xoxo
Dana
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