Two essential parts of a proper detox are missing from a liquid or mostly liquid cleanse: food and supplement support.

Food!

If you’re not eating, you’re not learning. If you’re not learning, you’re wasting your time. You’re not going to stay on a juice fast forever, right? In the end you’ll go back to your pre-juice fast way of eating. You’ll start to feel crummy again, and you’ll never know exactly why. You won’t know why because you haven’t read labels, cooked meals, or thought about food for the entire length of the juice fast (well, you’ve thought about food (maybe non-stop ), but you haven’t had a chance to shop for it, to prepare it or to chew any! You’ve cleaned up your diet, but how do you keep it up? More juice? That’s not realistic. Eating real, whole foods is realistic, and to make that reality healthier we have to go out there into the grocery stores and farmer’s markets and buy the best food we can find. Then we discover new foods and new recipes that we enjoy and we add them in for good (and maybe we have a wonderful green juice for breakfast once and while, too!). See, you did learn a little something from the juice fast!

Supplements!

Supplements are recommended to facilitate the detoxification process. Without the support the supplements provide, the body may be overwhelmed by toxins released from fat and other body tissues during the 21 days. There is some naturopathic thought that yo-yo dieting decreases thyroid function and slows metabolism because of the negative effect released toxins have on the thyroid during extreme dieting. Supplementing with nutrients that help to support and to protect the liver and provide antioxidant protection to other tissues during detoxification can decrease some of the potential damage that may occur when toxins are released from fat tissue during weight loss.

The recommended supplements help to protect, to support and to stimulate the liver and the colon during the cleansing process. The Perfect Liver Detox Support provides the nutrients and stimulation necessary for the liver to turn the fat-soluble toxins that are released into harmless water-soluble molecules that can be eliminated from the body.  It also stimulates the flow of bile, (which aids in toxin removal), binds heavy metals, decreases inflammation, and provides a range of antioxidant protection to the liver and other tissues.

The antioxidant rich baobab also protects the tissues from these circulating toxins before they are fully transformed and ready for elimination.  In addition, the baobab provides a high source of both soluble and insoluble fiber, aiding in the elimination of toxins from the colon.  The soluble fiber of baobab is composed of fructan, a type of prebiotic.  Prebiotics such as fructan feed the good bacteria in our guts and help them to flourish.  Healthy gut bacteria is a key to good health.

Adequate fiber intake also decreases the reabsorption and recycling of bile acids by binding toxins in the gut and improving the efficiency of elimination (through stool). Although medical doctors consider “normal” bowel movements to range from three per week to three per day, naturopathic doctors define constipation as less than one bowel movement per day. If stool sits in the colon, toxins can be reabsorbed back into circulation. This places additional stress on the liver and reduces the number of toxins that are eliminated from the body. The liquid bentonite clay is not digested, but binds toxins in the colon and ensures that they are eliminated from the body in the stool.  Proper hydration and healthy, regular bowel movements are key components of a detox program.