The digestive system is at the centre of everything that relates to our health. As this is so, gravely ill persons generally also have gravely compromised digestive systems. I would go as far as saying that everyone suffering from any kind of chronic or degenerative health problem has impaired digestion. And the more severe the health disorder, the more compromised the digestive system is likely to be.
Furthermore, I would also go as far as saying that it is usually the dysfunction of the digestive system that comes first, and that it is the consequences of this dysfunction which, over time, lead to more serious complications, and more severe health disorders. Therefore, the most important and most fundamental in the healing process is the healing of the digestive system. This must always come first, before anything else, and everything else in the healing process can only but flow from it.
The proposed protocol is therefore intended for anyone suffering from any kind of chronic and/or degenerative disease condition, from the most gravely ill to those suffering only mildly, with the assurance that, given the absence of pharmaceuticals and invasive medical procedures, and the reliance on solely natural or naturally derived foodstuff, only benefits can come from it, and, as I strongly believe, immense potential for healing and recovery.
An obvious difficulty comes from the fact that in order to promote healing of the bodymind, it is necessary to provide it with the best, most appropriate nutritional support. But since everything that we may provide through eating or drinking goes through the digestive system in order to become available to the organism as a whole, when the digestive organs are compromised, this process is similarly compromised.
So, how do we do it? We do it by minimising as much as possible the work that the digestive system needs to do to extract the nutrients from what we consume, while at the same time providing the digestive system with what it itself needs for healing: We minimise digestive stress and maximise intestinal healing.
The two most crucial elements in digestive health are the intestinal flora, and the integrity of the lining through which absorption occurs from the intestine into the bloodstream. The two most damaging elements are antibiotics and chemicals that destroy the flora, and chronic intestinal acidosis and the accompanying inflammation and malabsorption that ensue, eroding and damaging the lining. It is therefore these two fundamental issues that must be addressed by replenishing the flora and alkalising the gut.
Probiotics to replenish the flora
The organism depends intimately and completely on the trillions of bacteria and other micro-organisms that populate and live in our gut; they outnumber our own human cells 9 to 1. This symbiotic relationship is as old as life itself. Most do not know this. And those who have heard it, probably tend to forget about it, but it is truly essential, because without this relationship, without these bacteria and micro-organism on which our life depends, there would never even have come into existence complex living entities, let alone humans. This is where we start the healing process.
For this, what we need to do is quite simple: we must supplement with the best, most effective and most biologically appropriate probiotics, intensely at first, and then less so, until the gut flora is perfectly established, at which point it will sustain and maintain itself without the need to supplement on a daily basis.
I know of two excellent probiotics on the market, both of which have demonstrated excellent results. One of them is soil-based (Prescript-Assist), and the other is spore-based (MegaSpore Biotic). I personally take Prescript-Assist, which I like very much, but am very interested in trying the other, which I will at some point soon.
Whichever one you chose, you cannot make a mistake. Read the information the manufacturers provide on their web site, get the one you feel more inclined to, and start taking one capsule three times per day: morning, noon and night. Do this for 4 weeks. After that period, you can decrease to two capsules per day, morning and night. Do this for as long as the healing process lasts, probably 3 to 6 months. Once you have recovered, take only one capsule in the morning to ensure a daily replenishing and maintenance of the gut flora. You can never go wrong by taking more probiotics: if they are not needed in the gut, they won’t have a noticeable positive effect, but it is sure that they will never have a negative effect.
Green juices to alkalise
Juicing and drinking green vegetables and grasses is the most effective way to provide the digestive system and the organism a wonderfully rich array of micronutrients of all kinds—minerals and vitamins, amino acids and enzymes, innumerable phytonutrients, and lots of chlorophyll—all of them immediately and easily absorbable, and made available in the bloodstream to the whole body literally within minutes: maximising nutrients, minimising digestive stress.
Juicing and drinking green vegetables and grasses is also the most effective way to alkalise the digestive system, the blood, and over time, all the tissues of which the bodymind is made. This is extremely important for everyone, but it is truly vital for the gravely ill. It is only by alkalising the digestive system that it can begin to recover for the state of chronic acidosis, and subsequently begin to repair itself to eventually heal. This must be crystal clear:
I firmly believe that there is no way to heal any degenerative chronic disease condition, no matter what it is, without healing the digestive system. And there is no way to heal the digestive system without alkalising it deeply and thoroughly, day after day, month after month, and in fact, year after year.
The reason for this is very simple: pathogenic intestinal microorganisms in general both thrive in and promote a highly acidic environment, whereas beneficial intestinal microorganisms much prefer but also promote an alkaline environment; pathogenic intestinal microorganisms thrive and depend on simple sugars that allow them to multiply and proliferate but also to produce ever increasing amounts of lactic acid from the anaerobic oxidation of the sugars that fuel them, whereas beneficial microorganisms do not.
Coconut oil to heal and nourish
Coconut oil is a miracle of nature: it is the richest known source in nature of lauric acid (about 50% of it), which is a natural and powerful anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-baterial, proven to be so in the lab on a wide variety of common pathogens. At the same time, lauric acid is exceptional in terms of nutrition because it is a medium chain fatty acid that does not require bile to be emulsified, is easily released from the triglyceride structure of oil in the liver, and is then free to circulate throughout the body in the bloodstream to be used as cellular fuel, without being stored in fat cells as other longer chain fatty acids are.
If this was not enough to amaze and convince you that coconut oil is indeed a miracle of nature, it has been shown that coconut oil is great for thyroid health, naturally regulating down hyperthyroidism and regulating up hypothyroidism; great for cholesterol metabolism in regulating up or down lipoprotein production and balance; great for inducing and maintaining nutritional ketosis even when insulin-stimulating carbs are not completely eliminated, which is very helpful and beneficial for all those that must remain in this state of ketosis for their treatment of epilepsy and other kinds of nervous system disorders with seizures, but who would like to have some carbs sometimes; and finally, coconut oil (and the ketones derived from it) has been shown to help stop and reverse plaque formation in cerebral arteries, as well as degeneration of brain cells in Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
These properties of coconut oil (and lauric acid) make it the absolute best oil to consume in general, for most of your needs in the kitchen, but most importantly for what concerns us here, the absolute best in promoting healing of the digestive system, while nourishing the body by providing the ideal cellular fuel.
Putting it all together
As explained above, to maximise global healing potential, we must maximise the healing of the digestive system. For this, we must replenish the intestinal flora with probiotics, while nurturing an intestinal environment that is beneficial to health-promoting micro-organisms but hostile to acid-forming and disease-causing micro-organisms. This is done my alkalising the intestinal tract, eliminating digestive stress, and maximising micronutrient supply and absorption by the intestines with green juices and coconut oil.
Therefore, this healing protocol in its most effective and also most radical form, relies on drinking only green juices, optionally augmented with a powdered superfood blend, to which is added a table spoon of melted coconut oil, blended into the juice, at least twice per day, but three or four times if necessary or preferred. Since the juice itself is both alkalising and alkaline, the oil can be blended smoothly into it perfectly well.
Adding the coconut oil enhances the benefits of the green juice by ensuring maximum absorption of all minerals and anti-oxidants that depend on the presence of fat in order to make it into the bloodstream. This is established for minerals and anti-oxidants, but it very likely also the case for other micronutrients: the concentration of these healthful micronutrients in the blood, appears to be more or less proportional to the amount of fat in the digestive tract.
A slightly less radical form would include eating of crunchy and watery vegetables like cucumbers, celery, kohlrabi with salt for snacks, and avocados as more filling, meal-like food.
The protocol
This programme that can be followed for a few days, a week, two weeks of more, up to several months, adjusting coconut oil intake to supply more fat energy if required. (People can sustain water healing fasts for up to 45 days, so this protocol can be sustained for months). You can also drink more mineralised water at any time.
There are minimal amounts of protein, and zero animal protein or fat. These are both important for human health, and therefore should be part of everyone’s diet. But they are also both highly acid-forming and the cause of digestive stress, especially the protein. This healing protocol excludes these to maximise alkalisation, cleansing and healing. It is nonetheless important that both animal fats and protein should be reintegrated into the diet afterwards, but always in relatively small amounts, particularly the protein of which we should not have more than about 25-30 g in one meal, and not more than 50-80 g per day, in two or three servings.
If you are interested in doing this for a long period of time lasting several weeks to several months, you should, after the first week or two, add more calories, still mostly from fat, but also from protein, by including a can of coconut milk in two servings, late morning and late afternoon, to make it sustainable on the longer term. Naturally, all these adjustments depend entirely on your condition, aims, and maybe most importantly, on your motivation and discipline. Here is the protocol:
- Around 7 or 8: Wake up and put on magnesium oil on legs, arms, belly and back, and keep on for at least 30 minutes before showering (see Why you should start taking magnesium today for details).
- Then slowly drink 1 litre of water with 10 drop of Concentrace minerals. Take the one capsule of probiotics, one capsule of tulsi extract for adrenal support, and optionally 5 small pellets of chlorella and 3 large pellets of spirulina for maximising detox and regeneration.
- Around 10: Green juice with coconut oil (and superfood blend). Make about 400 ml of juice using a combination of cucumber, fennel bulb, celery with the leaves, lots of chard and/or kale, and/or lettuce, some parsley if you want, a little piece of ginger if you want, and one kiwi with the skin (you can brush off the hairs if you want). When its done, add 1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil (I exclusively use Dr Goerg’s), and blend for a few seconds.
- Between 11 and 12 (optional): some crunchy and watery vegetables with salt.
- Around 13: Green juice with coconut oil (and superfood blend), probiotics, tulsi, chlorella and spirulina
- Around 16: Drink (slowly) 1 litre of water with 10 drop of Concentrace, the juice of two pressed lemons, half a teaspoon of salt, some stevia to sweeten, and two teaspoons of psyllium husks. Rinse your mouth with plain water between glasses of lemonade.
- Around 18: Green juice with coconut oil (and superfood blend), probiotics, chlorella and spirulina, but no tulsi because it will probably keep you up at night, calm but awake.
- Between 19 and 21 (optional): Crunchy vegetables and/or avocado with salt.
- Before bed: Magnesium oil and keep for at least 30 minutes before showering.
B12 is vital
Finally, and extremely importantly, any and every healing protocol for the gravely ill, but also for the not-so-gravely ill, must absolutely include high-dose B12 supplementation that in the most extreme cases should be administered through daily (one week), then weekly (2 months) and then bi-weekly (as long as needed) injections of 1 mg hydroxocobalamin or methylcobalamin (better), but not cyanocobalamin. Alternatively, methylcobalamin patches can be used for fast and effective replenishing of B12 stores. Lastly, a high-dose (2000 microgram/day) methylcobalamin sublingual supplement can also be taken. There are zero known negative side effects of high-dose B12 supplementation.
Blood concentration of B12 should be brought up to between 1000 and 2000 pg/ml and maintained at that level until full recovery is achieved (or as close to it as can be hoped for). You can read more about it in B12 for absolutely everyone.
Final words
It is obviously not necessary to be ill in order to incorporate these healing tools into your daily routine. On the contrary, it is by doing so that we can prevent disease conditions from ever developing, nurturing the bodymind to optimal health.
My wife, our son and myself, for example, drink green vegetable juices with melted coconut oil, lemon water with salt, stevia and psyllium husks, green powdered superfood blends, and take probiotics, tulsi, chlorella and spirulina, together with a few other supplements including B12, on a daily basis. The difference is that in this protocol, all highly acid-forming and damaging sugars and starches are strictly eliminated, but also all other solid foods, all of which require at least some work, and in particular also highly acid-forming complex proteins that require intense work on the part of the digestive system. This is done in order to really maximise the benefits of the deep alkalisation and the state of partial fasting with powerful nutritional support and zero digestive stress.
Naturally, I strongly encourage everyone of you to also incorporate these elements of natural healing into your life, no matter how old you are or how healthy (you think) you are, but also to go further, and try following the strict protocol for 1, 2, 3 or even 5 or 7 days, every once in a while. You will really feel the difference.
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This is awesome… Thank u for this. In previous posts, u have suggested coconut milk instead of coconut oil. For what reasons is the coconut milk pudding replaced with oil in juice?
Also, i wanted to clarify… U mention juice, but then u say to blend the ingredients…. Is this something that is made in a juicer (no fiber) or in a vitamix, with the whole kiwi/veg/oil blended (fiber included)?
Lastly, how much salt is good to put on the veggies? It’s easy to go overboard. :)
Great post… I shared it with a lot of my friends
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Hi Stacy: The coconut oil is the miracle healer. The milk just contains a lot of it, but also a little sugar and protein. I want to completely eliminate the sugar and protein, using only the pure oil. For the blending, it is just the melted oil that is blended in the juice when it is done, to emulsify it in the juice instead of having sit at the top of the glass. And the salt, don’t worry about how much is too much: just trust your taste, it has to be pleasant. If after a while you find it too salty, then don’t have any more; while you are finding it good tasting, have some more. That’s it. You will be drinking plenty of water and green juices so that you don’t have anything to worry about in terms of taking too much salt for the amount of water. Take as much salt as you have the taste for; you’ll see what I mean. Thanks for sharing the post: I know it would be a fantastic programme for possibly everyone out there.
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We minimise digestive stress and maximise intestinal healing.- by eating raw eggs and honey, the protein and fats in eggs are liquid so the body doesnt need to expend energy digesting. raw honey provides the enzymes to digest protein and fats better and makes it more fun to eat.
intestinal acidosis – to my knowledge and experience the digestive tract is acidic and the bacteria in the gut feeds mainly on acidic foods. We can became a digester of vegetation but that will emaciates us slowly but surely.
lining- you can create a mucus lining combining fats and protein, eggs and raw milk or raw kefir are the best for that
replenishing the flora and alkalising-the bacteria in raw animal foods will replenish intestinal flora gradually and at the same time nourish,
for alkalasing the digestive tract to my knowledge, we need just the opposite alkaline blood and acidid tract. An alkaline tract will not absorb proprerly the protein and fats in foods and the body will gradually demineralized and defat(this can sound good, but we need the good fats in and the bad fats out) The only way to change the oil in the body is with good saturated fats from raw animal foods. With an alkaline tract the fat passes through rapidly without proper absorbtion.
Coconut oil to heal and nourish- you will heal, but not nourish. Any vegetable oil must be used in very small amounts so does not create imbalances, if you want to nourish you need more stable fats: raw dairy cream, raw coconut cream(twin gear juicer will extract the cream from the coconut meat).
a powdered superfood blend-I had been buying supplements for almost 10 years and this is a complete fallacy. First of all to created a powdered from raw foods you must elevated the temperature to a degree that is not longer a raw food a Second when you dehydrated any veggies or green foods what´s left is the fiber, and we don´t need fiber to heal the tract, we need raw fats. Fiber are like razors in our tract and we surely dont want that, you´ll be all day pupping and accelerate the transit of the food in the tract which hinders assimilation.
psyllium husks-the foremost experts on digestive health agree this is not the best for the tract. I will stay away from it.
In my opinion in a internet article I would not recommend such minimalism, I´d rather left that for a book, which is more pleasent. The data and knowledge and research is outsading, It´s very contrary to the ancient diet of human evolution, what brought us here: raw animal foods and raw vegetables when in seasoned. Sorry for the mistakes, and for a different point of view.
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Hello Guillaume,
I always enjoy your thought-provoking essays here.
About water, and timing of drinking: apart from by understanding the mechanisms, and running your own self-experiments, or relying on the book you cite, how do you arrive at your water-drinking protocol?
Specifically, do you know of any reliable studies that support your idea of drinking water 30 minutes prior to eating, and then not again until 2 or more hours later? I’m trying it out for myself, although have no particular observations or conclusions to report.
Thank you, and cheers!
Patrick
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Thank you Patrick:
I’m very glad you enjoy, learn and apply what you read on this blog. The answer to the question if I know of reliable studies that support this idea, is no, I know of none whatsoever. All this stuff about understanding the physiological role of water in digestions comes primarily from Dr Batman’s book Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, that inspired two early articles Why we should drink water before meals and Water, ageing and disease both under Water, Salt and Hydration.
Then, I spent about a year, on and off, studying how the kidneys work, which brought on a deeper understanding of the tight relationship between salt and water, which I wrote about in How much salt, how much water, and our amazing kidneys, and then more specifically on kidney function in The kidney: evolutionary marvel.
In the end, I want to have such a clear understanding of how something works that I don’t need to rely at all on studies. So many studies are flawed either by construction because there are two many factors that contribute to effects that then cannot be linked to a particular cause, by analysis because the scientists running them don’t know how to correctly analyse data, or by the erroneous conclusions that are drawn in light of the results simply because this is what the scientists wanted to find. And this is without considering the influence of financial interests in the whole thing, which is maybe the most important. This last point is also certainly what explains that very few studies that have no financial incentive behind them are ever done. Who could ever gain something from showing that it is optimal for humans to drink 500 ml of water 30 minutes before eating?
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Hello Guillaume Belanger. I highly appreciate your erudition and insights, all while showing us how we can easily incorporate what you’ve learned. I’ve been deeply into the ‘health field’ for a long time, but in a September 2011 post, there were 2 articles you recommended for your readers entitled “Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects” by Ron Rosedale, MD, and “The Skinny on Fats” by Mary Enig, PhD., which crystallized some crucial things for me. Now at this time in my life, ‘I get it’. Its interesting that I didn’t ‘get it’ before. I followed you from your post on http://www.30bananasadaysucks.com‘s website, which is a site I’ve hardly visited. There was a ‘resonance’ I felt from what you were writing and how you were writing it, and happily I found you here. I’ve been going through all of your posts, but just felt compelled to mention my thanks for your website and these 2 articles. I think that you and they have changed my life as well. Be well and please continue to write…
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Thank you very much Kola for expressing what you have expressed in this comment. It is exactly for this reason that I am writing, and it truly makes me very happy to learn that you have been able to learn and benefit from the articles on this blog that you have read. It is statements like yours that motivate me the most and show me that every minute of the numberless hours of work I put into it is worth the effort. And so, you are very welcome, and once more, thank you very much for posting this comment.
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Dear Guillaume,
I would very much appreciate your advice regarding my experience with Prescript-Assist. I’ve been taking 2 capsules per day for more than 6 weeks now. Since then I started not being able to get a good-night’s sleep, because of frequent trips to the washroom. Do you believe the probiotic may be causing this? I have to point out that at 64-yrs. of age, my prostate health may not be perfect (no diagnosed irregularity so far, but family history of prostate complaints). I’m also fasting each week for 24 hours on distilled water only (as per Paul Bragg’s books on fasting) and I have shed about 6 kg in the last 45 days.
Thank you for the wonderful job you are doing helping so many people!
Regards,
Vlad
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Dear Vlado,
I am very happy to hear you have started your health transformation. Probiotics are really essential and 24-hour fasts are really good to get the metabolism back in shape. I don’t believe the probiotics are the cause of your going to the bathroom at night (I’m assuming you are talking about peeing at night.)
However, instead of telling you what I think you need to do, I would like you to read these two articles, and tell me what you think is happening before we further explore this issue together. They are both very important: The kidney: evolutionary marvel, and How much water, how much salt, and our amazing kidneys.
Once you have read them carefully, write again to tell me what you think is happening. You could also tell me what you eat and drink on a daily basis.
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Thank You very much Guillaume!
Have a nice week,
Vlad
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Dear Vlado, you didn’t get back to me. How are you doing? Have you made adjustments to your drinking and eating since last time?
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Dear Guillaume,I’m so sorry for the delay… I read the two articles, they are very well written, like the rest of the content on “Healthfully” – Thank you!A quick update: I feel fine. I’m now on one per day Prescript-Assist. I’m continuing my 24-hr. fasting one day each week. I am trying to drink more water. I am still having my morning coffee, though, and that’s something I’d be reluctant to change (as of yet anyway). My bladder is still preventing me from being able to get a whole night’s sleep, but the same is true of my friends around my age (64), so I’m not too concerned. (I had my prostate checked with the Family Doctor and it’s okay). At home we eat a fairly healthy home-cooked diet, nothing processed – except stuff like Dijon and Tabasco! :-) and trying to keep carbs at a minimum.THX again for your time and great help.Regards,Vlado
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Hi Vlado:
I’m happy you appreciated the articles. Water intake must be matched by salt intake: if you don’t drink enough, you get dehydrated; if you drink a lot of water without salt, you also get dehydrated; and if you eat a lot of salt and not enough water to match this, you get dehydrated. Therefore, the only way to ensure good hydration, and thus what we should do, is to drink a lot of water/lemon water/green juices and eat plenty of salt. This is particularly important when we fast, in which case you have to drink and eat salt throughout the day (or dissolve salt in the drinks). The rule of thumb to remember is 3-4 litres per day for 2 teaspoons of salt (always unrefined). If you do this, and stop drinking by 19:30, you will most likely not have to get up at night.
I recommend that you try fasting on green vegetable juices and lemon water instead of just plain water. This will bring a whole new dimension of alkalisation, healing and regeneration from the amazing health benefits of the green juice, in addition to the many benefits of fasting alone. You can get yourself a slow juicer (Hurom), start juicing, and you’ll see and feel the difference quickly, especially if you do your weekly 24h fasts on green juice (which is also, by the way, far easier than water-fasting). And don’t forget to take psyllium husks to help flush out the toxins from the intestines.
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Hi Guillaume,
Thank you for your reply, I always find your advice most helpful and I’m trying to follow it as much as I can. At home we haven’t had much success with the green juices, although we tried both juices (Omega juicer) and smoothies (Blendtech blender). Apparently it’s preferable to use the whole vegetable/fruit (as in a smoothie) as opposed to juicing whereby the fiber is lost. Anyway, today we tried spinach, celery and cucumbers (imported from Spain no less!) with coconut water in the blender, with some olive oil, apple cider vinegar, sea salt and some chia and hemp seeds. Turned out okay. I’ll get some Psyllium asap.
Thank you very much!
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Hi Vlado,
There are a lot of things being said by a lot of people that don’t always know what they are talking about. I don’t know everything, but I abstain from making comments about things I don’t understand well enough to feel comfortable doing so. This is unfortunately not the case for most.
Juices are very different from smoothies. The point of juicing is to remove the fibre in order to make all the nutrients most easily absorbed without any work by the digestive system, and thus without digestive stress. Fibre is important for keeping the intestine clean, and this is why I take psyllium husks and/or chia seeds on a daily basis, but this does not mean that it is better to drink smoothies than juices. On the contrary! Fibres usually make it more difficult to absorb nutrients, as some tend to bind to the fibre and leave the digestive system with it in the stools. This is also why I think we should take fibre supplements on their own, without mixing them with mineral and micro-nutrient rich foods, with water on an empty stomach, or with coconut milk in pudding form. The nutritional benefits of coconut milk is the coconut oil for which absorption is not impeded by fibre as it is for minerals.
Therefore, I strongly recommend green juices either instead of or in addition to smoothies, but I believe juices are definitely more important than smoothies. If you are to eat the fibre, you might as well eat the vegetable whole so that you get the benefit of chewing and exercising the whole chewing apparatus comprising all the teeth, jaws, bones and muscles stimulated in the process. Additionally, I would recommend having juice without protein either (no chia seeds), only with fat like coconut milk or melted coconut oil blended into the juice. This is to have the greatest alkalising effect on the digestive system and blood, which is one of the most important benefits from having green juices, but also to avoid incomplete protein breakdown due to the alkaline environment promoted by the green juice. You should also read Understanding digestion.
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I have an omega juicer. It is said the juice lasts 72hrs of kept air tight in the fridge. Is it ok to make 2-3 days worth instead of having to juice daily?
Also, thoughts on freshly juiced wheat grass?
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Hi Stacy: No matter how long it is said to last, I would never do anything other than make the juice and drink it within a few hours at the very most. So, I really don’t recommend juicing large amounts in advance, just because the nutrients simply degrade with time. Freshly juiced wheat grass is considered by many to be a powerful healing agent, and I believe this too. I find it too strong to have straight (it makes me gag). So, it is best to mix your 1 oz wheat grass shot with water, or even better, with your large fresh celery/fennel/cucumber-based green juice. Having said that, I don’t consider myself an expert on these matters. I just read things from people I trust and try different things to see what works best.
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When I drink fresh green juice, I get weird reactions like tachycardia, sob, irritability. If I make it the day before, these reactions don’t really occur as much. Any ideas?
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What do you put in it? Try making the juice with fewer ingredients and investigate the reactions you may have to different things you put. Start with a very basic juice with just celery (not that many leaves), fennel bulb, cucumber and yellow pepper. Then add one thing at a time: spinach, chard, kale, parsley, ginger. Also, I always blend in some coconut cream in my green juice to make the minerals and antioxidants more absorbable and the drink smoother.
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I cant tolerate celery… It burns my throat oddly
I do cucumber, romaine, chard or spinach, few sprigs of parsley, and 1-2 carrots with the green tops. I eat something with fat (like nut butter/coconut butter with spirulina and rice protein pioneers and himalayan salt on top of an organic rice cake) a short while later, which helps with the absorption of the juice.
Do u have any low carb smoothie recipes? Maybe I’d tolerate that better bc the fiber might slow down my reaction… Perhaps it’s too much for my body to handle?
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I would try making the simplest green juice with minimal leaves or any kind, see how this feels, then add things one at a time to figure out which one(s) cause a negative reaction. Smoothies are fine, but I don’t do it: either you juice to get the nutrients without fibre for max absorption and min digestive stress, or you eat the veggies whole for chewing and working the entire digestive apparatus.
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Dear Guillaume,
Thank you very much for your reply. Very good point about the Green juices. Our problem at home is that we tried juicing kale, swiss chard and dandelions (not all together) mixed with coconut water, and it inevitably turns out tasting terrible. The only tolerable combination so far is cucumber+celery+spinach. Green juices certainly take some getting used to…..
Best to you,
Vlado
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Hi Vlado,
Every morning I make green juice for my wife, our son and me, and it is great. Try this for three people: 6 large celery stalks, 1 small to medium size fennel bulb, a small cucumber, a small yellow pepper, a 3-inch chunk of ginger, a large handful of spinach, and a couple of large chard leaves (there are only huge chard leaves here, so I don’t know how to measure if they are small like baby chard) with the stalk. Make it to get about 700 ml of juice, add a can of coconut milk and blend with a hand blender. Add a little water to yield 1.5 litres and you have 500 ml per person. I guarantee that you will find it very good. Well, at least, we all find it very good, and my son is 15 :) Drink it slowly, like over 30-45 minutes; remember that this is highly concentrated nutrition, and that it is, without any doubt, the true breakfast of champions! I also sometimes add a teaspoon per person of a green superfood blend. The best I’ve tried so far is from Food Matters.
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Hello Guillaume, I wrote to you recently about my problems stemming from very high levels of cadmium, and high levels of lead and uranium. I have since seen a naturopath in Montreal and am following a protocol which he has set up. At the core of it is a product called Bio superfood. But that is not my reason for writing today. I am interested in your thoughts on the toxin BT which is being found increasingly in the blood of people. This toxin attacks the guts of those creatures whose guts are alkaline. Previously I was convinced by those who said these pesticides were safe that these pesticides only had detrimental effects on caterpillars because they were the only animals with alkaline guts. But now I wonder if this toxin will not have adverse effects on all of us and especially on those of us who are striving to make our bodies alkaline. Coincidentally, my naturopath and the Dr. Kiriac the fellow who developed the product called Bio Superfood both encourage everyone to follow a diet very similar to the one which you recommend. Thanks again for your insights.
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Dear Guillaume,
Thanks for the recipe! My sis Toni is the chef in the house, and some time ago she got Victoria Boutenko’s book “Green For Life”, tried a few recipes, but we haven’t yet found there one that we all like. The other day she tried your recipe, and it turned out very nice indeed! So that’s a good start. Somewhere in your posts there were, I think, also recipes for pudding and coconut milk desserts (we are big on desserts!), I’ll try to find them (we put together a 3-ring binder with your articles on each topic printed for future reference).
Thanks again! All the best,
Vlado
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Hi Vlado. How are things going? Could you please share your experience of the changes you have implemented and felt in your health on the page for health transformation stories? It’s really helpful for people to be able to read inspiring stories to give them the motivation to do it for themselves.
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I think my reactions with green juice is from oxalates. So I’m tryibg to decrease my intake of high oxalate foods, which many dark greens are abundant in, unfortunately. Oxalate issues coincide with dysbiosis bc there is a certain strain of oxabacter (I’m sure I spelled it wrong, I apologize) that degrades oxalates. Unfortunately, there is no probiotic that can supply this strain and once it is gone, it is very difficult to bring back in adequate numbers. I would love to see a post on your thoughts on oxalates…. Its been linked to numerous chronic health issues, not just kidney disorders
Also have u heard of mms/Cd? Kerri rivera, Dr kalcker, and Dr klinghardt are big proponents of it in order to irradicate parasites and heal chronic diseases ranging from autism to autoimmune and dysbiosis. I would love your take on this as well, for it is quite controversial, but those whom benefitted have achieved miraculous results.
Thanks for the great info. I’ve been struggling a lot with my health still and plan to try a green juice and veg broth cleanse for a few days leading up to a Colonoscopy, then incorporating coconut milk Kefir and Kraut for the probiotics. I also bought prescript assist and hope to trial this as well. Do u believe fermented foods are healing? My ND also suggested doing iv nutritional therapy (aminos, minerals, vitamins, and glutathione)… Do u agree? It would help restore my low levels and bypass the gut, which is my nemesis at the moment lol
I’ve been increasing my salt, but feel like I’m retaining water by the end of the day.
Lastly, have u done salt water flushes before?
Many thanks
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Guillaume, I received this in an email; could you please give your opinion as to its accuracy? It’s from ivlproducts.com:
THE LEMON PH DEBATE
There is a lot of misinformation about the relative acidity and alkalinity of foods. Many other books have acid/alkaline food charts; however, these charts tend to contradict one another. One chart will list a food as being highly acidic, while another chart will state that the same food is highly alkaline. This can be very confusing to the reader who is trying to use this information to make intelligent choices.
For example, some people claim that lemon juice and apple cider vinegar can be used to alkalinize the body because, once eaten, they turn alkaline in the body. As a result, they can be used to counteract or treat over-acidity. This is not so. Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar are actually very acidic because their alkaline mineral content (such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium) is extremely low. Thus, these foods have no internal buffering from minerals to bring up their own pH and thereby counteract their naturally high acid content.
When you consume them, they do become much more alkaline in the body. But that’s only because all acidic foods have to be buffered by your body’s own pH-regulating system to maintain the slightly alkaline pH of your blood. This occurs partially at the expense of your bones, which will release and deplete their own alkaline minerals to keep your blood pH slightly alkaline.
The following chart compares the pH and mineral content of lemon juice and apple cider vinegar with other common flavorings. The more-alkaline choices have a pH of 5 or higher, because they are internally buffered by their own higher content of alkaline minerals.
FOOD PH CALCIUM MAGNESIUM POTASSIUM SODIUM
Lemon juice 2.2–2.6 2 mg 1 mg 15 mg 3 mg
Lime juice 2.2–2.4 1 mg 1 mg 17 mg 0 mg
Cider Vinegar 2.4–3.4 0.8 mg 3 mg 14 mg trace
Blackstrap molasses 5.0–5.4 137 mg 52 mg 585 mg 19 mg
Tahini >6.0 64 mg 14 mg 110 mg 17 mg
Ground flax >6.0 35 mg 63 mg 120 mg 7 mg
Kelp NA 156 mg 104 mg 753 mg 42 mg
Many thanks from a new subscriber,
John
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Hi John: I would like to be able to answer immediately to your interesting question, but I can’t. I have read in many different places how good lemon water to help the body excrete acid, and have also applied and recommended drinking lemon water for a few years now with confidence. Because it is difficult to discern what’s what from equally convincing arguments of opposite views, what I will do is perform some experimenting on myself with lemon juice and urinary pH. When I have conclusive results, I will write about it. I hope you find this satisfactory.
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A most honest answer! That’s what I appreciate so much from this blog, total honesty. By the way, I’m into my second week of green juice, coconut milk and lemon juice/salt and enjoying it. I find I actually crave the green juice/lemon/salt combo – the unrefined sea salt is almost addicting; I have never been a person that uses much salt at all in the past. Very much enjoy the blog and comments.
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Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that you are trying this for real! Few people have the guts or motivation, even when their body is breaking apart and decomposing from the inside out. Good for you and please feel very welcome to write in the testimonials your experience of this when you are through. It might be useful to keep a journal so that things (feeling, perceptions, tendencies, reactions, etc) don’t get forgotten.
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Hello Guillaume!
If you get a minute could you respond to this here on your page maybe?
I don’t understand why the author doesn’t see that, since blood pH is essentially at the top of the body’s physio-regulatory hierarchy, putting excessive stress on it through being to alkaline or too base and making more “work” for it could be damaging.
Anyway I’m interested in your thoughts.
Also he remarks that the intestine immediately neutralizes the incoming food from the stomach. Is this true? Don’t carbs and fat pass straight through without picking up the acid anyway? I’m still trying to assimilate and systematize all this stuff.
Regards,
Daniel
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Hi Daniel: I plan to address this in a post. The short of it is that it is impossible for the food and drinks we ingest NOT to affect the pH of the blood. It is so obvious that I find it amazing that some people deny it. I am occupied with many other things at the moment, including my work duties and astrophysics research preparing a conference in a few weeks, so it might take some time (like a month or so). In the meantime you should read Why we should drink water before meals and Understanding digestion.
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