How to do a Fertility Cleanse
From juicing to water fasts, if you type the word "cleanse" into google you’re bound to get tons of conflicting information. Some people claim that we are all carrying around up to ten pounds of extra toxins in our guts and some people claim that it doesn’t matter what we eat, double bacon cheeseburger or not, our bodies are still detoxing all the time.
I find that like most anything, somewhere in between the extremes is the truth. Yes we have organs designed to detoxify our bodies, like our kidneys and livers. And yes, no matter what we do our kidneys and livers will still do their jobs. But how well? The liver is to our body what an oil filter is for our car. If we regularly change our oil and keep it somewhat high quality we won’t wear out those filters and our engine (digestive system) will function properly. If we never change our oil, instead only topping it off with old stuff filled with sediment, it will eventually clog our filters and affect the functioning of our engine.
Why is it important to cleanse?
No matter where you are with your hormones it’s always a good idea to nourish yourself with a variety of high quality foods and habits hat help your body’s detox organs function at their highest level. However, preparing your body to conceive is proably the most important time to consider a cleanse, both for you and your partner. Not only will this help support healthy sperm and eggs, it will also help the liver filter out any excess hormones that could affect you getting or staying pregnant. Fertility cleansing also cleanses and tones the uterus, where your baby will living for the first nine months of their life.
If you have ever eaten a poor diet, smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, used conventional birth control, beauty and house products, chances are you have chemicals in your fatty tissues that need to be detoxified. Not only is this important for the health of your future baby, but it will also help your own body lighten its toxic load and build up a healthy store of vitamins and minerals to sustain your energy through pregnancy and breastfeeding.
While a general body cleanse (if done gently) can be a great way to boost your health, a fertility cleanse focuses specifically on liver and womb health. It is also done with your cycles in mind, so if you don’t already use the fertility awareness method this could be a great time to start. While we are all aware that we bleed and ovulate each month most of us aren’t that familiar with the four stages of our cycles and hormones and how there are really only four days of the month that we are fertile.
So what exactly is a fertility cleanse?
1. Healthy Diet: Check out my blog post on the fertility diet as well as supplements and vitamins to support healthy hormones. This is the best place to start. Work on optimizing your diet and supplementation for about a month prior to cleansing, just to build up your body’s stores of nutrients. If you’re ready to dive in, the simplest way to to assure you're eating well is to avoid processed foods, drink lots of clean living water and try to eat the rainbow with very meal. Every time I eat, I check out my plate. How colorful is it? Can I add more? Then I usually go through the fridge and add a fermented food or some seeds to spice things up. Colorful fruits and vegetables are full of antioxidants, vitamins and fiber, all which encourage healthy cellular function and gentle detoxification.
2. Love your liver: Most health food stores have an herbal tincture or tablet to help liver function. Book a consultation with me or chat to your local herbalist or health food store clerk. Look for herbs like dandelion root, burdock, yellow dock, turmeric, mild thistle and ginger. Go with your instincts on this one. All these herbs will support liver detoxification. Take your liver cleansing herbs right after your period. Your body is already cleansing when you bleed and we don’t want to add extra burden. Continue these herbs through your follicular phase until after you ovulate, usually around day 15 of your cycle (day 1 being the first day of your period and day 28 being the day you start to bleed.) Another great cleansing protocol is using a castor oil pack on your liver.
3. Enhance Elimination: Or in other words, make sure you're pooping! Our bodies are always trying to rid themselves of excess toxins, and if you aren't having a bowel movement first thing in the morning, every day, you are probably constipated and not eliminating well enough. Start your day by drinking a big cup of warm lemon water followed by a natural fiber supplement from the health food store. Drink lots of water during the day, at least half your body weight in ounces. I struggle with this, so sometimes I add ice cubes with tiny pieces of cut up fruit in them, a few sprigs of mint or a wedge of lemon. Whatever works for you, just get that water down! For additional support if you still aren't regular, try slippery elm powder.
4. Nurture your womb: After you ovulate start taking herbs to support circulation and tone your uterus. There is a great tea blend from mountain maus that combines damiana, dong quai, goldenseal, peony and raspberry leaf. Or do some reasearch on this and make your own blend! These herbs tonify the uterus, bring more circulation to the pelvic area and encourage a healthy balance of estrogen and progesterone. Besides drinking this tea, use a castor oil pack on your womb 2-3 times a week during your luteal phase. In the same way that heat and castor oil stimulates liver function, it does the same to the uterus, helping to break up adhesions and clear blocks in the fallopian tubes.
5. Exercise! Take it easy during your period, but keep it moving for the rest of the month. Try to work up a sweat at least three times a week by walking, dancing, doing pilates or any other workout that you enjoy. Sweating is detoxifying and it also keeps the lymph fluid moving, which moves toxicity into the lymph nodes to be purified and excreted.
6. Dry brushing: So yeah, about that lymph. There is another great way to move the lymph fluid and keep the skin soft and supple. Dry brushing includes taking a natural fiber brush and starting at the feet brushing the skin up towards the heart. Brush the same spot 4-5 times in upward strokes, you can google this and find tons of images illustrating how. I do it before or after a shower which takes anywhere from 3-4 minutes. Sometimes I add a couple drops of some lymph supporting organic essential oil to my brush, like frankincense, peppermint or rosemary.
How long should I cleanse?
Doing this cleanse for 1-3 months prior to trying to conceive will support cleansing your body of any excess endocrine disrupting chemicals. It will also support the functioning of your reproductive system and get your body nourished and ready for the long journey of pregnancy and motherhood. It’s not extreme or harsh and can easily be incorporated into your current daily routine. It’s important NOT to do this cleanse if you are pregnant or actively trying to conceive. Stimulating your uterus and liver during pregnancy (even at the early) stages is not a good idea and you don’t want extra toxins moving through the body at that time either. Good luck!
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