In 2015, around one in six of the deaths around the world were linked to pollution of some kind. According to the journal The Lancet, around nine million deaths in 2015 were connected to pollution. Toxins like lead, mercury, arsenic, asbestos, cadmium, and the pesticide DDT are found in many agricultural, industrial and household products in Australia. Dirty air conditioners, a lot of beauty products, plastic wrapping, new clothing, air fresheners and new furniture can be a source of toxic chemicals. Exposure to these toxins can cause immediate illness and/or long-term disease and the cause may go unrecognized.

Red Blood Cell Cycle

The lifecycle of red blood cells is 120 days (4 months), this is an important cycle in the body as red blood cells carry fresh oxygen to your cells and remove the waste product of metabolism; carbon dioxide. Red blood cells are susceptible to damage from heavy metals and cannot protect themselves as well as other cells. Thus the 120-day cycle of your red blood cells is an opportune time to do a cleanse. It is ideal to do the Cleanse up to 3 times per year as the red blood cells are renewed, to promote better energy levels and health. This helps toxic chemicals to be eliminated from the body before they can be stored in deeper tissues such as fat and bones and cause damage. It is beneficial to do the 15-day Cleanse three times a year as it’s an excellent way to reset your body, ensure adequate liver function, keep your immune system strong and keep inflammation at bay.

The Sleep Cycle

It is recognized that adequate and deep sleep is essential to chemically detoxify your brain. This was shown through research done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Brain cleansing occurs during sleep because a plumbing system called the Glymphatic system opens up spaces and allows fluid to flow rapidly between the brain cells. This fluid removes toxic molecules which have accumulated – it is equivalent to an internal brainwash. This is an amazing process whereby the spaces between brain cells increases by around 60 per cent. We need sleep for many reasons and one of the most important is because it cleans up the brain.

This is one reason why helping your body to eliminate toxins at night during sleep is a good idea. Avoid excess alcohol, sugar and stimulants at night to facilitate the brain cleansing process.

The Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) becomes leaky if its tight junctions become loose or broken; this causes the BBB to be excessively permeable, allowing harmful substances to leak into the brain. Harmful toxic chemicals and proteins can damage the brain leading to inflammation; in other words, a leaky BBB causes an inflamed brain which is less capable of detoxifying itself.

The stomach and intestines contain a protective lining similar to the blood-brain barrier, and the factors that cause a leaky gut (such as toxins and unhealthy microbes) can also create a leaky BBB. A leaky BBB is usually associated with a leaky gut. The Gut Health powder is designed to reduce leaky gut and also contains an excellent probiotic. This powder is available as part of the 15-Day Cleanse or as a maintenance powder and is best taken at night within 2 hours of retiring.

A timely and regular cleanse will prevent your body from getting too badly out of balance, which makes it harder to go back to a healthier state. You have probably heard of the theory of critical mass; this refers to a size or state of something that becomes self-perpetuating – in other words, it can start to grow more quickly by itself. For example, if an obese person keeps gaining weight, they will eventually reach a critical mass; this causes their hunger and fat storing hormones to become permanently elevated, inevitably causing them to gain weight more easily.

When talking of total body toxin accumulation, this can reach a critical mass (level) where the detoxification systems of the body become overloaded and no longer work efficiently. The high level of toxins causes weight gain (they become obesogens) and inflammation (they become inflamogens). We want to avoid getting to a critical mass state in our body when it comes to fat and toxin accumulation. A regular cleanse will prevent this and make it much easier for you to maintain the better level of health you achieved after your first cleanse.

The second time you do my 15-day Cleanse, I also recommend you combine it with intermittent fasting. The easiest way to do this is to miss breakfast for 15 days. In other words, you could do the most common method of fasting; the 16:8 method. This means you fast for 16 hours of the day and eat during the remaining 8-hour period. This doesn’t give you permission to feast during this time, rather it generally means having two main meals and avoiding snacks. Many people like to fast between 8pm and 12pm; in other words, they choose to skip breakfast and only eat lunch and dinner. During fasting, no food is allowed, only black coffee, water, green tea, black tea and herbal teas. if preferred you can miss breakfast and lunch every second day; remember to drink plenty of water. Intermittent fasting is good to do regularly because it is an effective way to get your cells to self-cleanse. During fasting, the levels of insulin in your body drop dramatically and this stimulates a process called ‘autophagy’ in your cells – basically, this means that your cells get rid of all their old worn out parts and replace them with bright, shiny new parts.