Digestive Health Restorative Plan

Our digestive system is so important to our overall health and often times we don't even realize it.  

Digestive health is the ability to break down, absorb and use nutrients, and to eliminate waste products from our food and beverages in a way that optimizes health and vitality.  The better your digestive health is, the better your overall health is.  It is your first line of defense against toxins and infections from harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites.  It is a critical part of our immune system.  Not to mention that when our digestive system isn't functioning properly we experience heartburn, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, constipation/diarrhea and other symptoms that are uncomfortable, unpredictable and embarrassing.  A fellow Shaklee friend shared this information at her blog and I thought it was well worth repeating.

While, as you follow the plan outlined below, you should begin seeing some fairly immediate improvements, you should commit to following this plan closely for at least 6 months in order give your system an opportunity to significantly begin to heal.

First, here are a few DON’Ts:

** Immediately eliminate all fried foods, period. Absolutely none during this healing time.

** For the time being, avoid dairy products, including milk, ice cream, and soft cheese. You MAY eat real high quality butter and hard cheeses.

** Immediately eliminate all high gluten foods – wheat, barley, rye, and oats. No bagels! No cookies. No boxed cereals. No breads. No oatmeal. You MAY eat rice and millet. At the end of 6 months, it may be possible for you to occasionally eat gluten foods. But only try them out gradually and occasionally until your digestive system is completely healed.

** Eliminate all processed simple carbohydrates and sugars. No cookies, cakes, pies, or the like for the time being. No soft drinks or processed/packaged fruit juices. You MAY eat limited amounts of raw honey and fructose.

[You can buy granulated fructose in many grocery stores these days and most health food stores.] No “high fructose corn syrup” which is mostly sucrose.

DOs:

** Do eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, cooked or raw. [Hold off on very much raw initially until you digestive system gets calmed down enough to handle the fiber. Increase raw fruits and vegetables gradually.]

** Do eat good soups, especially good home made vegetable soups. Home made soups with real chicken or beef broth made from boiling down the meat and bones, plus fresh vegetables cooked down in the broth, are rich in good fats, essential fatty acids, and fat soluble vitamins that are restorative to the digestive track.

** Do eat good Biblically-clean fish – salmon, perch, cod, etc. These are rich in omega-3 fatty acids that are essential to the healing of the intestines and colon. No scavengers (like catfish) or shellfish.

** Do rest and get adequate (or extra) sleep during this healing period.

** Do laugh as much as possible. This release endorphins into the blood stream that are natural relaxers and pain relievers. [Endorphins are complex hormones that are 10 times more powerful than morphine.] Endorphins are also involved in the regulation of contractions of the intestinal wall.

** Do get unstressed exercise several times per week, like walking, swimming, bike riding.

** Do listen to lots of uplifting worship music and meditate on faith-building scriptures. This has a natural relaxing effect on the digestive track.

** Do drink plenty of pure water.

We’re going to start off very gently and build up over the course of several days.

This is your basic regimen:

• 1 Herb-Lax
• 1 Optiflora capsule
• 1 EZ-Gest
• 1 OmegaGuard
• 1 Stomach Soothing Complex
• 1 teaspoon of Liqui-Lea
• 5 Alfalfa

Go to http://LisaW.myshaklee.com/us/en/ to see these products.

• On the first two days, take this basic regimen one time each day – such as at supper time.
• On the third and fourth days, take the basic regimen two times – such as in the morning and at supper.
• Beginning on the fifth day, start taking the basic regimen three times per day – morning, noon, and night – and continue at this level for at least 60 days.
• If you are not seeing significant improvement by the end of the first 2 weeks, you may need to add a fourth round of the basic regimen each day for a while – morning, noon, supper, and bedtime.
• At the end of 60 days, if you have made significant improvement, try cutting back by one round per day – that is, try cutting back from 3 rounds to 2, or 4 rounds to 3, depending on what you are doing.
• Also, at the end of 60 days, now that your digestive system is healing and getting stronger, I’d like to see you start using the basic health building program – Energizing Soy Protein and Shaklee Vitalizer along with your digestive regimen – if you are not already doing so.

What the supplements do:

Herb-Lax

– Gently stimulates the natural muscular activity of the intestine and colon which moves food and waste along its course. It simply increases the natural action of the system and is not a laxative in the normal sense.

– Draws toxins out of the liver, the lymphatic system, and blood stream and helps eliminate them.

Optiflora Probiotic

– Delivers live culture of the “good” bacteria directly to the colon.  The unique triple coating insures live delivery to the colon.

– Helps eliminate the “bad” bacteria and viruses from the body, like candida, e-coli, etc.

– Boosts overall immunity.

EZ-Gest

– Provides natural plant-derived enzymes necessary for proper digestion.
– Helps eliminate digestive stresses like lactose intolerance and legume sensitivity.
– Improves overall digestion.

OmegaGuard

– Provides essential fatty acids that are calming and healing to thendigestive track.

– Reduces inflammation through the digestive track.

Stomach Soothing Complex

– Naturally relaxes the bowels.

– Calms nausea, heartburn, indigestion, morning sickness, and motion sickness.

– Soothes and calms irritation in the stomach, intestine, and colon.

– Helps eliminate gas and move it out of the system.

Liqui-Lea

– Provides nutrients important to the healing and restoration of the digestive system, especially vitamins A and D and the entire complex of B vitamins, in a very easily assimilated form.

Alfalfa

– Contains live digestive enzymes.

– A rich source of trace minerals important to health.

– Helps neutralize excess acidity in the body.

– Soothes and helps heal the digestive system.

– Reduces inflammation.

– Detoxifies.

– Helps deodorize the body and bowels.

– Contains vitamin U and other nutrients that are healing to the stomach and intestinal lining.

What to expect:

Expect your body to begin a general house cleaning. As the body is pulling toxins out of the liver and fatty tissue of the body, those toxins can cause temporary effects like headaches, low energy, minor aches, etc. Keep in mind that the body is trying to eliminate the garbage. When the “bad” bacteria begin to die off, they release methane gas. Also, the ginger in the Stomach Soothing Complex helps the bowel to release built up pockets of gas. So if you experience increased gas and flatulence, this is a sign that good things are happening. Expect gas and bloating. It will eventually decrease and disappear. Expect foul-smelling bowel movements.

If you are not already using the following, at the end of the first 60 days, you should add (if you are already using them, continue):

** Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein

** Shaklee Vitalizer strips

** Shaklee Liver DTX

The protein and Basics strips will help you build up your overall health and immunity.

The Liver DTX will help restore normal liver functioning and bile flow.  It will further detoxify the liver and remove excess bile, which will help the gallbladder.

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