Warning: This post contains TMI. If you have a weak stomach, please go to another Frugal Farmer page or tune in next time for my post on the Worst Financial Advice I Ever Received. If you’re brave enough, strong enough or daring enough, read on for the hows and whys of the dreaded liver cleanse. 🙂

*Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. The advice in this post is strictly my own opinion. Always consult your physician or chiropractor before conducting a liver cleanse.

Whew! Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the nitty gritty behind a liver cleanse.

Why Should I Consider a Liver Cleanse?

The liver cleanse, technically called a liver/gallbladder cleanse, helps release gallstones and other not-so-good stuff from your liver and gallbladder. The liver, among other things, is the garbage disposal of the human body. It stores toxins that can’t be broken up and released by the bowels/colon.

The gallbladder is a smaller organ that stores bile until that bile is released into the small intestine.  Small stones, and sometimes larger ones, called gallstones, often build up in the liver and the gallbladder. Gallstones can be caused by a variety of factors, from a poor diet high in bad oils such as canola and corn oil/processed foods, and gallstones can also be caused by unresolved emotional stress. Unresolved emotional stress or unforgiveness inhibits the body’s ability to cleanse itself of toxins properly and naturally.

If you’ve ever heard of someone having emergency surgery to have their gallbladder removed, it’s likely because they had a large buildup of gallstones in their gallbladder that was causing serious abdominal pain and cramping. From what I’ve heard about gallbladder attacks, they are NOT fun – highly painful.  The body will try and remove gallstones naturally, and if a buildup of stones, especially larger ones, exists in the gallbladder and/or liver, extreme pain can result as the body tries to remove these stones to get rid of the overload.

Recommended Reading: The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush

This is where a liver/gallbladder flush comes in.  The liver/gallbladder flush that I use softens up the stones naturally through the consumption of a high amount of apple juice (malic acid), and helps the stones to pass more easily through the digestive system. Here’s a link to the process that I use for the liver cleanse:

Liver Cleanse Instructions

 

It’s important to note that during the six days of the liver cleanse, your diet should be free of all animal products, cold beverages, and medicines and supplements should only be taken if absolutely necessary. A diet too high in fats and animal products can make a person nauseous if combined with a liver cleanse.

What to Expect as You Complete the Cleanse

This is the TMI part, my friends. The Epsom salts or magnesium citrate will make you poop. There, I said it. Similar to the preparation for a colon cleanse before a colonoscopy, you will be cleaning out your bowels.  This is why it’s best to make sure days 6 and 7 of the cleanse are days when you can be at home, as you and the toilet will become fast friends. My kids call the liver cleanse “the poop cleanse” for this reason. 🙂

The following morning, on day 7 of the cleanse, there’ll be more poo. If you have stones in your body, they’ll start to be released through your BM’s thanks to the olive oil/juice mixture. Older stones that have been in there awhile will be a darker green or turquoise – quite pretty at times, I’m embarrassed to say. The newer stones will be a lighter green color. You can also find tan stones and a white, tan-ish chaff-like stuff floating in the toilet.

It’s important to note that if you do pass stones, it means you should continue cleansing once a month until you have two consecutive cleanses with no stones present. Leaving a half-cleansed liver can can pain and discomfort.

What I experience AFTER completing a liver cleanse:

• more energy
• clarity of mind
• less pain, discomfort, fatigue
• less bloating/irritability

If you google liver/gallbladder cleanse, you’ll find a plethora of websites and articles, some singing the praises of the cleanse, and others warning of imminent danger from the cleanse. This is why I say consult your physician or chiropractor before doing a liver/gallbladder cleanse – to cover my own tail, and yours too.

I myself have had nothing but good results from doing these cleanses, and I consider it a vital part of my plan to be physically self-sufficient. I also have friends who do the cleanses regularly and have had the same good results. Many of the bad reviews I read about the cleanse added statements like “I didn’t follow the directions exactly/didn’t drink the apple juice/didn’t avoid animal products and fats/didn’t avoid eating on day 6 after 1:30” etc.  This is why the directions are there, folks, to help you to conduct the cleanse properly.

I’m a firm believer in using the foods that God gave us to help keep the body healthy and clean. The liver cleanse is one way I help keep my body functioning at optimum level, as is my use of the macrobiotic diet.

Have you ever done a liver/gallbladder cleanse? Do you believe in natural healing?