Before the end of the long holiday season, I always receive a lot of text messages and emails from people asking the same question: “What is the best detox diet?”

COMPLETE DIGESTIVE CLEANSE *

All disease begins in the gut.” -Hippocrates, Father of Medicine

Before the end of the long holiday season, I always receive a lot of text messages and emails from people asking the same question: “What is the best detox diet?” It was challenging to answer more than 100 emails a day, so I decided to do a complete detoxification program. Detoxification is the real start of true health for life, because only a detoxified body has the potential to heal, prevent or control chronic diseases.

The holidays dump unnecessary strain and stress on your body’s natural detoxification process. Refined foods such as processed meat, simple sugar, simple carbohydrates, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, synthetic medications, pesticides and herbicides found in non-organic vegetables, and accumulation of all these toxins slows down the body’s immune system, burdens the liver, heart, kidneys, pancreas and colon and puts you at risk for various diseases. NOW is the time to completely detoxify your digestive system.

Over the last 26 years of studies, research and practice, I have found the digestive system to be the source of immense suffering throughout the body. Yet, when we cleanse the digestive system, so many symptoms, especially allergies and auto-immune diseases, amazingly disappear or heal.

Getting to Know the Digestive System

Science magazine called it “The Inner Tube of Life.” The digestive system is a group of organs working together to convert food into energy and basic nutrients to allow the entire body to function, grow and repair itself. Food passes through a long tube inside the body known as the alimentary canal or gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The alimentary canal is made up of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestines, and large intestines. Added to it are several important accessory organs that help our body digest food: teeth, tongue, salivary glands, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. Our digestive health determines which nutrients are absorbed and which toxins, allergens and microbes are repelled. Overall, it is directly linked to the health of our entire body. Most of us (including most doctors) do not recognize or know that digestive problems wreak havoc in the entire body, leading to allergies, arthritis, autoimmune disease, rashes, acne, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, autism, dementia, cancer, and more.

Here are the six primary processes of the digestive system:

Ingestion of food
Secretion of fluids and digestive enzymes
Mixing and movement of food and wastes through the body
Digestion of food into smaller pieces
Absorption of nutrients
Excretion of wastes
A healthy digestive system means the optimal digestion, absorption and assimilation of food. Therefore, it is essential that we cleanse and heal this critical system in our body, the inner tube of life, if we want to achieve optimum health.

BIG JOBS OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM . . .

(1)Keeps our ecosystem of microorganisms BALANCED. An ecosystem of 500 species, 3 pounds (1.4 kilos) of friendly bacteria and 100

trillion microorganisms form a HUGE chemical factory to help digest our food, regulate hormones, provide protection from infection, regulate metabolism, excrete toxins and produce vitamins and other healing compounds that keep our digestive system and body healthy. Many diseases that seem unrelated to the digestive system like eczema, psoriasis and arthritis are actually caused by digestive problems.

(2) Protects our immune system. Filtering out the good from the bad molecules and therefore protecting your immune system is another crucial factor in health. Two-thirds of our immune system centers around the digestive system to expel and kill foreign invaders. Our entire immune system and body are protected from the toxic environment by a lining that is only ONE cell thick– the epithelium. If spread out, this lining would take up a surface area the size of two tennis

(3) Nourishes our “Second Brain.” Technically known as the enteric nervous system, the second brain consists of sheaths of neurons embedded in the walls of the long tube of our gut or alimentary canal, which measures about nine meters end to end from the esophagus to the anus. The second brain contains some 100 million neurons, more than the brain in the head according to Dr. Michael Gershon, chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, an expert in the field of neurogastroenterology. The intestinal nervous system is wired back to our brain, and messages travel between the two. When those messages are altered for any reason in any direction — from the brain to the gut or the gut to the brain — our health will suffer.

(4) The digestive clean up crew rids our body of toxins produced as byproducts of metabolism, which our liver dumps into the bile. If we are backed up or constipated, our system will become toxic and our health will be affected.

(5) Feeds our whole body. Healthy digestion helps our system process all foods into their individual components, sort out vitamins and minerals, and transport everything across the epithelium and into our bloodstream to nourish our whole body.

Meanwhile, here is the Green Secret’s “Gut Balance” juice. (Make sure to scrub and wash all ingredients well before juicing). It is a MUST to use organic ingredients only.

1?2 fennel bulb or 1 small daikon radish
1 cucumber, small
3 calamansi or one lemon (juiced)
1 handful mint leaves
1 inch ginger
3 stems malunggay
2 celery stalks
1?2 cup pineapple
Juice all ingredients in your masticating juicer. Stir and serve at room temperature or chilled, as desired

Let us remember that a well-functioning digestive system is the foundation of optimum health, beauty and longevity. The next issue will cover the complete digestive cleanse and healing the inner tube of life. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on “Ask Dr. C at www.greensecret.com.ph” Our deepest gratitude to IAJ WELLNESS CORPORATION for making this information public. For more information or questions, email me at [email protected].

Christine E.V. Gonzalez is a doctor of naturopathic medicine and holds PhDs
in holistic nutrition and natural medicine. LLM (MS Environmental Laws & Labor)
©Wellness Institute International (632) 656-WELL (9355) • (046) 483-0115 (0917) 888-HEAL
• (0920) 958- HEAL (4325)