If you have been in to the clinic recently I may have mentioned the Mediclear liver cleanse to you, as an option for helping to boost your overall well-being and vitality by giving your liver, the most regenerative organ in your body and the one most responsible for its detoxification, some time to repair and restore. In our world today, it is impossible to avoid environmental toxins and those in our food, even when eating a healthy diet. I recently watched the movie “What The Health” on Netflix, and am adding it to my list of films offering inspiration for healthy choices, alongside “The Magic Pill, and “Forks over Knives”. All good thoughts on food.

And, in line with this, as we embark on this year I have been thinking about how to enhance my own health, refine my diet and reinforce some good habits. Choosing to do Thorne’s Mediclear 21-day Purification Program is a great way to accomplish these goals. Not only does this offer the liver a reduced workload for a few weeks, it also brings a chance to press the reset button on some habits and test my own food intolerances, which can change over time. I choose Thorne’s program as a trusted manufacturer of high quality “nutraceutical” supplements and have been turning to their Mediclear program for over a decade. But, there are lots of options for a Liver cleanse.

Many health professionals recommend doing some kind of a liver cleanse at least once a year, and any time from the new year through Spring is a great time to do it. Spring is a time for growth and rejuvenation therefore has a natural resonance with the liver organ, which heals very quickly when given the chance. For me, reinforcing good dietary habits and spending energy on testing my own food intolerances goes well with this time of year, as I am spending more time inside and enjoy doing the extra meal prep and adding in some more self-care.

Any liver cleanse has a couple of basic tenets: eliminate and tonify. Ideally, for a period of 2-4 weeks, you purge from your diet the most common liver challenges, the things that slow detox and require detoxification themselves: fructose, processed sugars, vegetable oils, fried foods, smoking, pollution, pesticides, unnecessary drugs, alcohol, caffeine, toxic personal care products, and chemicals. In addition to the toxins in the world around us, those we put on our skin, in our foods, and clean with, our bodies create their own toxins just as part of the natural metabolic process of cellular metabolism. These can build up in our tissues, especially where there is increased tension and restricted blood flow. Then, there are the everyday drugs used like Acetaminophen (a leading cause of liver failure) and any other drugs to contend with daily. It all adds up to a very hard-working liver that does indeed benefit from some time off.

So, we take out all those toxins that we can (do not eliminate prescription drugs) add light to medium intensity regular exercise (if not already) and increase the nutrients that actually catalyze your liver function. You can stimulate and optimize your liver detoxification enzymes and pathways with the right organic foods and give an additional boost by adding in appropriate supplements.  This is where the Mediclear shakes and Fibermend pre-biotic come into the picture. There are a lot of companies that offer their own versions of supplements that have specially formulated combinations of Vitamin C, carotenoids, magnesium, sulfur, cruciferous vegetables and botanicals that have been shown to support you Liver function. Many are very good.

A liver cleanse is a good idea if you want to:

  •             Jump start weight loss
  •             Reduce depression, anger, irritability
  •             Put a check on reliance on coffee, use of alcohol, or sugar
  •             Reduce recovery time from workouts
  •             Clear eyes of redness or yellowing
  •             Improve digestion and reduce bloating
  •             Reduce spring allergies

You can review the whole guide for the MediClear Detox & Allergy Elimination program by clicking this link from Thorne’s website, and then look to the bottom right of the page.

If I order for you, it is around $130 – $165 for the two shake canisters and the Fibermend pre-biotic that you would use throughout the 21 day program with price depending on the type of shake chosen, either the Mediclear plain, Mediclear Plus or Mediclear SGS (the SGS is flavored chocolate or vanilla and has a mild-ish stevia sweetness).
Details about the differences between these three are broken down on page three of the Mediclear Program guide, linked above.

I will place an order by January 15th (2020) and again mid February, so let me know if you want me to order it for you and avoid shipping costs. You can also order these directly from my (discounted) online dispensary via the Wellevate site from Emerson Ecologics. You may have received an email invitation to create an account with Wellevate, or you can do so anytime by using this link:
https://wellevate.me/dixie-small

Another great resource for determining which foods are most important to choose organic and to help choose other personal care and food products according to their toxic load comes from the Environmental Working Group, check it out:
https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php

Well, that about wraps it up! I hope you are well and off to a good start this year! I am, as always, very grateful for this community and the opportunity to do this work. Thank you! – Dr. Dixie Small