The purpose of this cleanse is to empty the bowels and cleanse the liver and gallbladder of built-up fat, bile and other substances congesting these organs. This in turn helps lower the levels of congestion in many other body tissues. Most people report a noticeable change in abdominal distention and a change in their facial skin (brighter tone, smaller pores, shallowing of center-brow and forehead wrinkles). These changes within 48 hours are clues that you’ve reduced the toxic debris load, especially in the digestive system. This reduction in toxin load also decreases swelling from water retention in the upper abdomen. Don’t use this cleanse if you have any liver disease other than mild-to-moderate fatty liver.
Instructions for the Cleanse
Purchase Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) at a grocery or feed store. It’s widely available. Choose a day to stay home, since you should expect to have diarrhea, and you don’t know how long it will take for your bowels to empty and resume producing normal, formed stools. Take the Epsom salt with water on an empty stomach. If you use method 1 below, you can chase it with a little pure fruit juice if you want to get the metallic taste out of your mouth. Taking it first thing in the morning works best. Don’t eat or drink anything or take any meds or supplements for two hours. Then, eat your first meal with supplements and meds and resume your normal regimen for the day. One exception: for this day, be sure to skip any doses of stool softeners, senna, magnesium or other stool-loosening or high fiber pills, powders or teas you take. Stay close to a bathroom until your bowels empty completely, which is usually 8 to 24 hours the first time you do this. You may still have some mildly loose stools the following day.
Two Ways to Take the Epsom Salt
1) Stir 1 Tbsp. Epsom salt into a cup or more of water and drink it. This is the easiest way, but some people don’t like the metallic taste. You can cut an orange in fourths and bite into the quarters to suck the juice out (swallow the juice, don’t eat the pulp) just after taking the Epsom salt. Or just drink a few sips of orange or other fruit juice. This takes the taste out of your mouth and helps prevent any nausea.
2) Scoop 1 Tbsp. Epsom salt into about twelve size 00 gelatin capsules. Empty gelatin capsules can be purchased at a natural foods grocery or health food store, but they’re a bit expensive. Take the capsules with one cup (8 oz.) of water. If you still have a faint taste of the salt in your lower throat, use fruit juice as suggested in method 1.
What to Watch For
There are many patterns of response to this cleanse. It depends on such things as how your bowels usually work, your body’s magnesium status, the volume of digested and undigested food in your bowel, etc. You may have your first bowel movement in two hours, before or after eating breakfast. This will usually be diarrhea or loose stools, but it may not. In some cases, such as with pronounced magnesium deficiency or severely congested liver or gallbladder, you may not have any response of loose stools or diarrhea at all. You may also feel a little shock-y or sweaty with some of your bowel movements if there is a significant release of congested material from the liver or gallbladder.
If your liver, gallbladder and bowel are fairly uncongested and/or you’re not seriously deficient in magnesium, you’ll likely have your first loose stool in only 2-3 hours. But if these organs have a lot of backed-up waste materials, or if you’re very deficient in magnesium, it could take as long as 1-2 days or may not happen at all. If it takes longer than just a few hours for the first bowel movement, repeat this regimen again in 2-3 weeks, using the same or a slightly larger dose of Epsom salt (try 4 tsps. Epsom salt instead of 1 Tbsp.). Consider repeating this cleanse every 2-4 weeks, until the bowels move within about 2-4 hours of taking the Epsom Salt.
I generally recommend you don’t do this cleanse more often than every two weeks over a period of a few months, or every couple of months on a long-term basis. Everyone is different, so listen to your body and to the health care professionals whom you trust. They may have lab test results, symptom indications or muscle testing results that indicate your liver or gallbladder are not in great shape to do this cleanse. If you are ill or feeling depleted or weak, don’t do this cleanse until you feel stronger.