Throughout the years that I have been in practice there are trends that have emerged when it comes to people's health and the issues they present with. I tend to see a lot of Vit D deficiency indicators toward the end of Feb after a winter of spending time indoors, B12 deficiency indicators tend to show up toward the end of Aug after a summer of long days and busy weekends, and right now is the time of year I see people presenting with gallbladder signs, symptoms, and indicators.
I like to think that nature in its cycles provides us with the rhythms that we need to stay healthy. We've got the simplest of cycles in day and night to longer cycles with the seasons and annual events and finally the longest of cycles birth to death and eventual renewal. Many writings from farmers to medicine men talk about the value of eating the currently available foods (seasonal foods) to maintain a healthy constitution.
One of those foods are apples. Apples are tied to the gallbladder, through a compound called malic acid and since apples are in season right now I thought I would take the hint and talk about a couple of methods to flush out and renew this vital organ. And, don't worry if you have had your gallbladder removed, the bile system extends into your liver so you can still do the program and reap the benefits.
Let me start out by saying that if you have been diagnosed with gallstones, you should only do this under the supervision of a qualified health care professional - especially if those stones have calcium deposits in them and can be seen on x-ray.
There are two methods for working on clearing the gallbladder. The first is a slow and steady method that was published some time ago in the Illinois Chiropractic Society's magazine, and is better suited for those with sensitive gallbladders or those with cholesterol based stones/sludge in their gallbladder The second is more of a fast and furious approach for those who have already done a previous flush or don't have any current gallbladder signs/symptoms.
The slow method takes about a month to complete and can be performed with your regular diet or you can do a Clear Change or Shake-a-day Program with it.
For two weeks you will take one serving (one capsule) of Heather's Tummy Tamers about 15 minutes before each meal.
Then, for the next two weeks you will take one serving(three capsules) of Dandelion Root with each meal. The timing of the dandelion root is not as crucial as with Heather's Tummy Tamers.
That's it for the slow method. You can follow it up with the fast method if you want a more complete flush but it does work well on it's own.
The fast method lasts for just a week. This can be completed with your regular diet or you can do a medical food fast to prepare for the flush.
Each day you will drink 2 cups of apple cider (NOT apple cider vinegar), one cup(8 fl oz.) in the morning and one cup in the evening.
On the 6th day, you will eat only citrus fruit for breakfast and lunch.
Three to four hours after lunch, you will drink 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil followed by 1/2 cup lemon juice (NOT lemonade). Some people cannot stomach the full 1/2 cup of oil. For those people, I recommend doing 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of lemon juice, then waiting 15-30 minutes, and doing the remaining 1/4 cup of each.
After about an hour you will mix 2 Tablespoons of epsom salt in room temperature water and drink that.
Now you just wait for the flush to happen. This may take anywhere between 2 and 14 hours to occur, depending on your own constitution. When the flush happens you will have diarrhea for a while and there will likely be a bunch of green balls that you pass. This is bile soap and is evidence of the gallbladder emptying.
Now you've got a cleaned out system and you are ready for the holidays.