I saw something on Facebook yesterday that a friend of mine posted entitled “Six people who need to shut the f*ck up!” The piece is from FunnyOrDie.com, and among the people who need to shut up are “People on a Cleanse”.
Challenge accepted.
I hadn’t told anyone but one close friend (different friend than posted the funnyordie piece) that I am on a cleanse, but I am. My goal is basically to give my liver a break.
I am doing this at the suggestion of my favorite low-carb gurus, the Drs. Eades. Yet another friend — yes, I have several — suggested The Six-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle to me, and once I saw the Drs. Eades had written it, I knew I should pick up a copy. (You may recall that they also wrote the book on the health benefits of low carb eating, Protein Power. Or you may not recall it. Either way, they did.)
So, yeah, there are 6 weeks to this plan, and I will probably run through the whole 6 weeks at some point this summer — that bit of extra fat around my middle is just so stubborn — but I felt it was just a good idea right now to give my liver a rest, because I hadn’t done that for so long.
Why give the liver a break?
The liver is all about removing toxins from the blood. We tend to consume toxins in the form of caffeine, alcohol, ibuprofen, food additives, and more. The liver interacts with all that, keeping the blood in our system relatively clean so the rest of the body doesn’t get contaminated, and at some point it seems like a good idea to give it some time off, allow the liver to clean itself out, regenerate.
So that’s what I’m doing.
The basic cleanse rules are
- no alcohol,
- no caffeine,
- no unnecessary medications,
- 3 low-carb shakes, and
- 1 low-carb meal each day (meal plans are in the book)
Let me say here that the Drs. Eades are not generally averse to coffee and wine. In fact, Dr. Michael Eades has his own YouTube video about how to make an Americano (my favorite way to enjoy coffee).
Today is Day 5 for me. I had only planned to stay on it for a week, but I am feeling good, so I may go through next Friday.
The book suggests, btw, that at the end of the cleanse I donate blood and let it take the toxins with it (don’t worry, it’s still good blood). I may do that. Haven’t given blood in a while, but that’s primarily because it’s not convenient. They used to come to my workplace to get it, but now that I work at home…. Still, I think there is a place down the street.
Anyway, check out The Six-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle for the details. Maybe it’s time you gave your liver a break, too.