The Liver-Gallbladder Cleanse
by Dr. Mikio Sankey
(excerpt with permisssion from his book Support the Mountain, Nutrition for Expanded Consciousness)
There is one very simple liver/gall bladder flush that I recommend. All the foods you ingest go to the liver. The liver is a filter for the blood. I mentioned earlier that if you were constipated, the toxins would circulate back to the liver causing the liver to work harder. The Chinese have names for stressful conditions associated with the liver such as: liver qi stagnation or knotted liver qi.
This protocol for cleansing the liver-gall bladder is a simplified version of an older naturopathic method that consisted of fasting on freshly squeezed organic green apples (pippin or granny smith) for a week to ten days then ingesting Epsom salts and olive oil at the end. I have done the older method several times years ago, but this newer method is much simpler. Apples contain malic acid that will soften gallstones. The simplified version consists of malic acid in tablet form, rather than having to freshly juice apples several times per day. If you are interested in more detail about a liver-gall bladder flush, then read a book by Andreas Moritz called The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush. The protocol mentioned here is similar to Andreas Moritz’ version and very simple.
It is recommended that you modify your diet for the seven days of this cleanse. Try not to eat dairy, fried foods or heavy meats during this time span. If you feel that you must ingest animal proteins, then small portions of a light fish or organic chicken are acceptable. Try to eat salads, fresh vegetables and drink plenty of good water during this period. For the first six days, you will be taking 1500 mg of malic acid daily with magnesium. The formula I use is from Douglas Labs. Each tablet contains 500 mg of malic acid and 86 mg of magnesium from magnesium hydroxide. You will take three tablets a day in divided doses before meals for six days. Malic acid softens any stones you have in the gall bladder. The magnesium relaxes tense energy and assists the bowels to release.
On the evening or late afternoon of the sixth day after you have finished your third and last dosage of malic acid and magnesium, you must ingest one tablespoon of Epsom salt (Mag. Sulfate) dissolved in water. Use Epsom salt, not sea salt. You can start this procedure around 4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. Wait two hours then ingest your second tablespoon of Epsom salt dissolved in water. The Epsom salt helps to dilate the bile duct. Two hours later, you will ingest your third decoction of the day, olive oil and citrus juice. Mix one-half cup of the best olive oil you can afford (organic, extra virgin, first cold press is the best) with one half cup of freshly squeezed citrus juice. You can use lemon, orange or grapefruit juice. Put the olive oil and citrus juice in a jar or bottle and shake. Then ingest this decoction. Many of my clients have mentioned that grapefruit juice tasted the best. Then go to sleep. It takes at least eight to twelve hours or more for the olive oil-citrus decoction to take effect.
The morning of the seventh day, drink another tablespoon of Epsom salt dissolved in water. Two hours later drink your fourth and last dosage of Epsom salt dissolved in water. You will have taken a total of four tablespoons of Epsom. Some people prefer to dissolve four tablespoons of Epsom salt in two cups of hot water. Then they would take one quarter of the dissolved Epsom salt four times as directed above.
One important thing to remember is that on the seventh day, you have to stay home. You will also need to have quick access to your toilet. You will be on the toilet five, six, seven times or more during the seventh day. Some of the bowel movements may be explosive. There will be no chance of any gallstones being blocked in the bile duct. The malic acid softens stones and the Epsom salts dilate the bile duct. I have been asked what if the stones are large? I reply by asking how does a baby’s head go through the birth canal of the mother giving birth. The body has a magnificent way to allow things to pass through. Besides, the stones passing through the system will initially be soft, and the bile duct will stretch and expand. If you remove the soft stones from the toilet and let them dry out, then the stones become very hard later.
Many of the particles expelled will be bright green, greenish-black to dark brown and black. You may expel oil, cholesterol balls or other particles besides the stones. The main thing is that you are purging the liver and gallbladder. The green color is very interesting and will give those who have studied Chinese medicine a greater appreciation of Chinese concepts. The Chinese say that the color associated with liver system is green. Many people have commented how some of the particles they expelled were a very bright green color.
One last important item of note is that it is best to start the liver-gall bladder flush on or slightly before a new moon. The energetics at that time are the most conducive and beneficial for cleansing that part of your system. Your body will be synchronized with a certain flow and rhythm. If you cannot find the time to schedule in the seven-day flush, you can shorten the time to six days.
In Chinese Five Element Theory, the liver system is the mother of the heart. Purging the liver will help the heart. Energetically, the heart is the ruler of all of our systems.
(End of book excerpt)
HELPFUL TIPS FROM GENTLE STRENGTH ACUPUNCTURE:
From our experience people who have followed this protocol have usually gotten great results. The first time may or may not yield a lot of these stones, but know that the sludge from the liver and gallbladder is being cleared. It may take another one or two times to clear the way for the hardened stones to come out, so there is never an "unsuccessful" cleanse. On the other hand, we have seen great lessening of pain, better bowel movements, less abdominal bloat from one cleanse. It is important to continue to do as many flushes as necessary over a period of time to get all the stones out. That is when the real benefit will be quite self evident in the improvement of health, no matter what problem you have.
The liver plays such an extremely important role in digestion, blood integrity, hormone balance, colon health, detoxification and rebuilding of tissue and especially in strengthening the immune system. Therefore it is only common sense to clean this part of the body first. If you need motivation to continue, we highly recommend you buy a book by Andreas Moritz called The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush.
It is important to make sure you are having good bowel movements before you start the cleanse and after the cleanse. Otherwise, the stones may be pushed out from the liver and gallbladder but can be blocked and therefore lodged in the colon. This may cause problems since the stones are toxic material. In his book, Andreas Moritz recommends getting a colonic to help solve this problem, especially after a cleanse. Another option is to do your own colon cleanse by using a colema board or to do a series of back to back water enemas. If all of these options do not appeal to you, then you can use a product called Colosan, which is a magnesium oxide that utilizes oxygen to clean the bowels. A similar product is OxyPowder. Capsules are probably the easiest to use. In using Colosan, you need to drink some lemon juice or apple cider vinegar in a glass of water when you take the capsules to activate it. OxyPowder does not require this. To make sure you are pushing out any stones that have not come out yet on the 7th day, do not wait longer than 1-2 days after the liver flush to clean the bowels from the options mentioned.
Also, we have heard from some people who do not like the taste of the epsom salt mixture and want another option. But the epsom salt is the most effective and necessary in dilating the bile ducts. We find a helpful solution to this is by first mixing the tablespoon of epsom salt in a large glass of water, at least 20 ounces, seem to dilute it well. Then put some good quality sea salt (never commercial iodized salt) and red or cayenne pepper nearby and immediately take it to chase it down. Then it leaves absolutely no bitter aftertaste!
The oil and grapefruit (6-7 ounces) with maybe some lemon squeezed in is surprisingly not too bad. Most people have no problem in drinking it. However, we highly recommmend that you take some general digestive enzymes (Superdigestaway by Solaray as an example) immediately after you drink the oil mixture down to help it move through the stomach into the liver quicker. This helps if there is a problem with nausea in some few people. Then maybe wait another 20 minutes and take another couple of enzyme capsules. Then just go to sleep immediately and let it go to work.
Overall, once you do one cleanse, it's one of the easiest flushes to do with relatively little effort and cost for the fantastic benefits in health. Even the malic acid is quite inexpensive and we do carry the type mentioned above in the directions.
Happy flushing!