Can A Cleanse Heal You?

I’m asked quite often about cleanses, and if they can heal health conditions, illnesses, and diseases. I think cleanses are great at kick starting a healthy diet and giving someone a good break from foods that are causing inflammation, imbalances, and disease in the body. But I don’t think a short term cleanse will heal anyone unless they make permanent changes to their diet and lifestyle after the cleanse, and figure out what might be contributing to the problem to begin with.

If you have a health condition or illness and are contemplating doing a cleanse (fasting or a dietary cleanse), I have some suggestions to make it a worthwhile experience. Cleanses and fasting are great, but what’s even better is learning from them – learning more about yourself, and what is contributing to your health, and what is standing in your way.

Two types of foods that contribute to most illnesses and health issues:

Allergenic Foods & Inflammatory Foods

The reason why people feel so great on a cleanse and have such wonderful healing results is because of what is eliminated while being on a cleanse. I like to class these eliminated foods into two groups: allergenic foods and inflammatory foods. Many or all of the foods in these two groups are usually eliminated during a cleanse, and this is why people always feel much better while they are fasting or following a restrictive cleanse

1- Allergenic Food

Allergenic foods are foods that some people have an allergy or a sensitivity to. Examples of these foods or ingredients are dairy or milk products, wheat, gluten, soy, corn, shellfish, tree nuts, food additives like MSG, etc. If someone has an unknown sensitivity or allergy to any one of these foods (or a combination of them), eliminating them will automatically make them feel a lot better! Sometimes just a few days without an allergenic food can have a big impact on someone’s health and help them to start clearing up surface issues like digestive distress, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, acne, skin rashes, congestion, sinus issues, respiratory infections, aches and pains, etc. Later, as someone continues to go without a food they have an allergy or sensitivity to, deeper imbalances and problems like malnutrition, inflammation, and chronic immune response that could be causing other health conditions, diseases, and illness, can start to balance out, and the body can heal.

2- Inflammatory foods

Sugar, alcohol, processed foods, refined foods, artificial ingredients, food additives, chemicals, preservatives, and even an over-consumption of animal products and meats causes inflammation in the body (and so does stress!). Too much of this stuff makes people ill! Like with allergenic foods, once anyone takes a break from inflammatory foods, they always start feeling a lot better, and there body begins to heal.

What to take away from your cleanse

If you do a cleanse and feel fabulous at the end and notice all sorts of healing and an elimination of health issues you’ve been dealing with for years, it’s most probably because there’s at least one thing in your diet that is causing havoc on your health. If it’s already obvious to you what needs to be eliminated so you can continue to enjoy the results from the cleanse, then do so.

If it’s not so clear what could potentially be causing all your health issues, I suggest after the cleanse is done to do an entire month with as little inflammatory food as possible to see if that is the cause of your issues. If after a month, you don’t feel that much improvement like you did when you were on the cleanse, then I suggest experimenting with an elimination diet.

Elimination Diet

An elimination diet I find is one of the surest ways of figuring out what foo...