I have been medically supervising patients through individualized  cleanses for a few years now. Recently, the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine has opened our Take Charge cleanse to the community. It has been quite a success so far. Our next Take Charge group cleanse will be held at the Agape Center. We will meet for 4-consecutive Thursday evenings from 7PM-9PM.  Here’s a sneak peak of my article which will be included in Akasha’s upcoming newsletter.

A cleanse is an exciting and healthy way to transition into a new season. Whether you live in Los Angeles or in a city where the seasonal changes are more distinct, committing to a cleanse allows us to enter the new season with increased health, vitality and awareness of how the environment affects our health.

A 3-week Cleanse gives our bodies a break by minimizing the toxins going into our bodies while providing support to enhance the natural detoxification process. The body’s natural detoxification process is always working to promote a cleaner internal environment. Our bodies have six “avenues of elimination”: liver; colon; skin; lungs; kidneys and lymphatics. These avenues of elimination are constantly working to detox the solvents, chemicals, and pesticides we are exposed to at our work and home environment. By decreasing our body’s toxic burden and supplementing with extra nutrients, we facilitate our body’s natural detoxification process.

Akasha’s 3-week Take Charge program incorporates dietary changes, supplementation and lifestyle modifications to promote detoxification. The Take Charge diet is cleansing, anti-inflammatory and hypoallergenic and involves eliminating such foods as gluten, diary, soy, coffee, sugar, alcohol and all processed and refined foods.  In general, we do not put a limit on portion sizes. One of the goals of cleansing is to reconnect you with your body’s natural hunger and “full” cues. Our body has wisdom, and when given a pure, whole foods diet, it will let you know clearly when it has had enough. Learning the tools to listen to our bodies is also part of the 3-week cleansing process. Doing so helps diminish the urge to overeat and eliminates sugar cravings.

Our nutrient and herbal supplementation provides support for our body’s natural detoxification process. In addition to diet and supplementation, we include experts in exercise science, yoga, meditation, psychotherapy, skin health and dental care who illustrate how to deepen further the cleansing experience.  After completing the cleanse, participants experience more energy, clearer thought, greater hormonal balance, weight loss, more restful sleep and less bloating and gas.