Cleansing

No, this isn't a blog post about one of my favourite things - bubble baths and Epsom salt baths!  Yes, I love my bath tub but not enough to blog about it.   Well, maybe once I run out of ideas for my blog, I may decide to blog about the tub but today, I’m going to tell you about my newest project. 

Last night, as I was perusing my bookshelves for a new read (sadly, my bookshelves are filled with books I purchased but never read), I noticed a trend (you'll be happy to know that I didn't prepare a chart!).  No, my bookshelves aren’t filled with books about romance (ugh!), nor are they filled with books about the theory of relativity, the chaos theory or numbers, nor are they filled with erotica sci-fi or mysteries or recipe books (okay, quite a few recipe books!).  Yes, there’s a plethora of books on dieting healthy eating but I noticed my newest trend is…wait for it…cleansing (the dieting books are a life-long trend while cleansing is a more recent trend!).  

Since cleansing is on my mind, why not write a blog post about cleansing…sounds like fun, right?  Don’t worry, I’m not going to write about cleansing the outside of my body (I cleanse the outside of my body on a daily basis...okay, almost every day!), although I must admit that I wouldn’t mind telling you about my new skin brush!  Today’s blog post is going to focus on cleansing the inside of our body…now that sounds like fun!

Getting sick with Bell’s palsy (I’m getting much better…almost 100% recovered!), made me realize that I need to change my life (not all of my life…just the part that makes me sick!).  Less than a week after getting sick, I started a 7-week course on acupressure, which I had registered for months in advance, and I now recognize that the timing is no coincidence!  In the past 6 weeks, I’ve learned more about my body than I ever knew (we have so much to learn from traditional Chinese medicine!!!).  I even went out and bought an illustrated book on the human anatomy (ugh!).   I couldn’t believe how little I knew about my own body!  How could I not know where my liver was located or its size?  How could I not know that one kidney is higher than the other?  How could I not know how the digestive system works?  How could I not know that chewing my food 50 times would actually improve the digestion of my food and make the process easier on my body?  How could I not know the spleen’s role in my body?  How could I not know the negative effects of sugar, cold drinks and cold food on the spleen and stomach?  How could I not know all the bits and pieces of the reproductive system (at least the woman’s!)?  Had I known how my body worked, would I have abused it so much?  How could it have taken me 39 years to start loving and appreciating my body?  Well, here am I…in total awe of my body!!!

Now that my energy level is back up, I’ve decided to follow a liver and gallbladder cleanse that Dr. Acupuncture recommends to her patients.  The cleanse was created by Andreas Moritz who has written many fascinating books.  Okay, I must admit that I haven’t read any of his books yet but I’ve skimmed the few books that Dr. Acupuncture has in her waiting room, and I’m hooked.  Yesterday, I ordered three of his books online (I know, I know!). 

I know I already have too many books on my shelves so what’s three more?  Earlier this year, I bought and read (shocker!) The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse by Debbie Ford .  The book focuses on cleansing  your soul or as described on the back cover – empowers you to let go of toxic thoughts and destructive behaviours and discover the deep peace that resides within.   I know, I know, it sounds suspicious but I decided to give this book a try since it had received rave reviews (not necessarily by reputable people nonetheless it got rave reviews!).  The book is designed to be a 21-day cleanse so there’s an exercise a day (non-physical exercises…the best kind!).  The book is divided into three parts:  Past, Present and Future. For example, on day 2, the focus was on self-awareness so I had to make a list of all the undigested experiences that were still creating toxicity within my body and mind, while on day 4, the focus was on forgiveness.  I’m not sure how much I cleansed during that 21-day consciousness cleanse but I thought it was a great exercise that didn’t take up much time every day yet allowed me to get to know me (the real me…bumps and all!).    While reading the book and going through the exercises, I thought there may be some ridiculous interesting blog posts that would come out of those daily exercises but no such luck.  I guess the cleansing of my innards was not for public consumption!  

Another cleansing book that I found on my bookshelf which has yet to be read (surprise!) is Juicing, Fasting and Detoxing For Life by Cherie Calbom.  Do you remember my obsession with the juicer?  Well, the juicer has been R.I.P. for many months now (I went through two juicers in 4 months!) so I don’t think I even opened this book yet but in all fairness, it does seem like an interesting book and at the very least, will probably teach me more about my body so I might read through it today (now that the dust has been lifted from it!).  Another cleansing book on my shelf is The Fast Track Detox Diet by Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman.  She also wrote The Fat Flush Plan which is an interesting book (of course I have that one on my shelf too!).  I’ve done the detox diet a few times and really enjoyed it.  It’s an 11 day “flush” with a one-day fast on Day 8.  There’s a 7 day prequel to prepare for the fast then there’s a 3 day sequel to make sure your body gets what it needs after the fast.   On the fasting day, you get to drink the “miracle juice” which consists of pure cranberry juice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and freshly-squeezed orange and lemon juice.   Drinking that juice somehow gets you through the day without craving food (well, almost!).  Dr. Gittleman seems to have done quite a bit of research and has made sure that the food you eat prior to fasting strengthens your organs in preparation for the fast.  It’s important to note that cleansing or flushing or detoxing can sometimes do more harm than good so you really need to do quite a bit of research (instead of releasing the toxins from your body, the toxins can be released into your body if you don’t do it properly so be careful!).  I’m not afraid to admit that cleansing seems to be a fad but if done properly, it can be very beneficial. 

Cleaning isn’t just about the mind, body and spirit….

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about needing to clean out my closet and this week, I managed to clean out the bottom of my closet (I still have the clothes to sort through and the top shelf but I’m happy with my progress!) which resulted in three bags of paper getting thrown out and a bag of goods ready to be donated.  Unfortunately, I did not find my camera battery charger!  Cleaning out my closet could be considered a form of cleansing…closet cleansing for the soul!    

While I was perusing my book shelves, I decided to do some book cleansing.  No, that’s doesn’t mean I was cleaning my books (although most of them had a layer of dust that needed to be cleansed!) but rather, I took the time to sort two bookcases in the basement so now I have two boxes full of books which will be donated to the second-hand store this weekend. 

A few other things that come to mind when I think about cleansing (besides my bath tub!) include dancing in the rain which I’ve written about in previous blog posts (I guess that’s a cleansing of the soul more than anything!), organizing my inbox (I love it when I have the time to hit "delete"!), sorting all of the “beauty” products in the bathroom, getting rid of toxic men, organizing my filing system, jumping in a lake fully-clothed (it somehow feels like a cleanse), and for some, eating black licorice or prunes is a form of cleansing  :P

Strangely, there’s been lots of cleansing going on in my life!  From my closet, to my inbox, to my mind, to my soul, to men, to my bathroom, to my bookshelves, and to my body!  

On Monday, I started Andreas Moritz’s liver and gallbladder cleanse.  It’s been pretty easy so far because I’ve simply had to avoid eating meat, dairy products and eggs, and had to drink 1L of apple juice every day.  The big challenge will be today when I have to stop eating by 1pm and have to drink, later tonight, water with Epsom salts, and a glass of EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil) and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.  Then the fun begins…my liver and gallbladder will start releasing stones (possibly hundreds!) which will pass through me over the next 24 hours (yum!).  It sounds like a great way to detox the body by starting with the organ that is responsible for detoxing our body.  Did you know that the liver is the heaviest organ in the body and is one of the largest? It's located in the upper right part of your belly under the ribs and is responsible for functions vital to life. The main functions of the liver are to process nutrients from food, make bile, remove toxins from the body and build proteins.  All of the blood in the body will eventually pass through the liver (did you know we have approximately 5.5 L of blood in our body and 1/4 of our blood volume is in our liver at any given time?).  This is important because the liver needs to pull out any bad things in the blood, such as toxins, and remove them from the body. Some of these toxins are drugs, like antibiotics and Tylenol, alcohol, and other toxins are things that the body needs but is done with, like damaged cells, proteins and old hormones. The liver prepares all of these types of toxins to be removed from the body. However, when the liver is damaged, these toxins can't be removed and they start to accumulate in our body, thus creating problems.   As for the gallbladder, well, my understanding is that it is a storage container for the bile that is produced by liver, and while the bile is stored in the gallbladder it becomes more concentrated and more potent so the bile can be most effective. 

Here’s a photo of the liver and gallbladder (top left-hand corner) that I took from my new favourite book, Atlas of the Human Body by Takeo Takahashi:

The gallbladder is green and the liver is the large organ right above it

It's important to note that I'm not writing this blog post to promote cleanses.  I'm writing this blog post as a challenge to you: what will you do this week to get to know your body?  Once we get to know how the body functions, we start to treat it with more love and respect.   This is a serious challenge...it might change your life!  It's also important to note that I’m doing the cleanse under the care of Dr. Acupuncture so I’m not suggesting you go out and attempt to do this cleanse on your own based on the information I’m posting in my blog (that’s why I’ve chosen not to post all of the information about the cleanse but I’m sure you can find it online).  I recommend you purchase or borrow (get reacquainted with your public library!) Moritz’s Gallbladder and Liver Cleanse so you get all of the information about the cleanse then you might want to speak with your doctor if you have any questions or concerns (that’s my disclaimer!).  I know many people who have completed the cleanse successfully many times (it is highly recommended that you repeat the cleanse until you are no longer passing stones) so I will let you know how it goes and I might even post a photo of those bright green, pea-sized stones (if you’re lucky!).  

Since I’m going to be fasting from 1pm until tomorrow morning, I think this is a great opportunity to have a silent retreat without the distraction of the television or computer or iPhone.  I will spend the rest of the day starving reading, meditating, resting, drawing, writing and possibly organizing.  An afternoon of peace and quiet for me to focus on me (actually, that sounds like most of my weekends!). 

Let the shitting cleansing and silence begin…