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A Rejuvenation Cleanse
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There’s nothing more fundamental to attaining the heights of human health pursuant to happiness than cultivating the combination of knowledge and discipline needed to include what heightens and fortifies it while also excluding what diminishes it. For ‘health’ is a word that means more than can be overstated. It means how you feel, what you’re capable of, and literally what you’re composed of, and how well all the complex biological components comprising your physical person are functioning relative to your full potential.
“The Essential You” is about just that: including what’s ESSENTIAL to human health, and excluding everything inessential to and compromising of that health. For most of the conventional food supply is tragically based upon not only the inessential, but very low quality and gluttonous quantities of artificial ‘foods’ which grossly degrade the quality and longevity of human life (but which just happen to enrich primary caregivers and Big Pharma).
Version 1: Focused upon a digestive reset (mostly liquid):
For anywhere from a week to two months, depending upon your state of health and the need for healing (and you can go longer; this can become a lifestyle, as it, again, is about ESSENTIAL dietary components in the pursuit of the essential-most you), consume ONLY:
(1) Purified water – as clean a source as possible, also used in the tea that you may consume (next on list). Many municipal water supplies contain elements that gradually interfere with the gut microbiome.
(2) Organic Tea – both black and green, though green is more recommended, and black should more be relied upon in the morning, especially for those going into this with a caffeine dependency upon coffee. Many cleanses command an outright caffeine exclusion, as caffeine is a stimulant that can be demanding of the body, and one of the primary purposes of the cleanse is to reduce such unnecessary demand so that the body is better able to focus on cleansing/healing. I’d also recommend including medicinal plants in your teas – a rotating, experimental menagerie of medicinal herbs and spices, like fresh ginger, turmeric, rosemary, lemon balm etc.
(3) Select Organic Juices – no sugar added juices from select trustworthy sources only, without any additives whatsoever, and always non-pasteurized, as pasteurization destroys many of the nutrients and enzymes that offer the greatest health returns. It’s recommended that a wide variety of different juices be included in order to receive the benefits of a wide variety of micronutrients. As even non-sugar-added juices can spike blood-sugar levels, consume juice in moderation. (My favorite is Uncle Matt’s Ultimate Defense).
(4) Organic Kombucha – the lower sugar brands are recommended here (I like the GT/Synergy brand). The probiotic boost offered by kombucha is conducive to the gut healing process that, per Hippocrates, is paramount to every well-designed cleanse/healing process.
(5) Essential Amino Acid powder OR Select Wild Seafood – to make the cleanse sustainable, and thereby extend its benefits (and even the possibility of it becoming core to your full-capacity lifestyle), you’ll want to avoid the protein deficiency that comes with most extended fasts and cleanses. Without meeting the minimum protein requirements, your body may start to eat muscle mass. To avoid this, you’ll need to intake a sufficient supply of the nine essential amino acids at the minimum (your body can produce the rest itself, given sufficient calories), which means either consuming one of the rare trustworthy brands offering such EAA powders (WITHOUT additives like inflammatory maltodextrin, or any unnatural preservatives, and/or anything grain-or-dairy-based) OR consuming an equally trustworthy WILD seafood source, like Wild Planet’s canned pink salmon. Personally, this means consuming approximately 65 grams of protein daily, based upon the goal of reaching and maintaining 180 pounds of body mass (multiply weight in pounds times 0.36). For me, that equates to consuming two cans of the aforementioned product daily, which also helps with satiety (feeling full). Vegans/Vegetarians will lean towards the aforementioned EAA or ‘plant-based protein powders’ to meet this point in the strategy.
(6) (Optional) Fish or Algal Oil – also with sustainability of this strategy in mind like the last point, long-term cleansing diets can be deficient in fats that are necessary for many critical biological processes, and for protecting brain/neurological health. Unbeknownst to many, it’s the aquatic PLANT LIFE (algae, seaweed etc.) that’s the actual source of the health-boosting Omega 3 fatty acids, so you can consume an ‘algal oil’ (an option for anyone, especially the vegan/vegetarian) or a fish oil. But, again, always be super selective as to source, and always avoid additives.
Version 2: Focused on longer-term sustainability (more filling, lower glycemic):
ROPAWS: Raw Organic Produce and Wild Seafood
The only things permitted on this diet, in addition to those in version 1 above, are raw organic produce and wild seafood, with only salt, herbs, spices, vinegars and VERY select, non-inflammatory, oil-free sauces allowed for seasoning (like coconut aminos and fish sauce). This is essentially an ultra-exclusive ‘Pesca-Paleo’ approach; meaning that it not only prohibits consumption of everything prohibited by Paleo, but strictly prohibits all conventional animal foods (anything ‘raised’ and fed an unnatural diet; as the fat in all conventional animal foods is highly inflammatory and inducing of cardiovascular disease and increased cancer risk) and all added oils (which also tend to be inflammatory, throwing the Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio of consumption WAY out of balance, as well as representing ’empty calories’ free of nutritional benefit). ROPAWS is TRUE PALEO, as Paleo eaters obviously didn’t eat conventionally raised or grown animal foods or crops (both of which present major health risks), didn’t add oils, grains, dairy, sugar or processed foods of any kind to their diets, cooked very little, if any, of their food (which denatures it, increases inflammation and reduces its nutrient density and bioavailability) and relied mostly on waterways (rivers, lakes and the ocean) to source their animal products (i.e. to source wild seafood).