The Little-Known Substance That Can Help You Detox

In an ideal world, you would be eating perfectly natural unprocessed foods all the time, just from the tree or off of the ground. There would be no pollution. The air and water would be pure and free from chemicals.

But we don’t live in an ideal world, and it's obvious that our food chain, water supply and air have been poisoned and are not of the best quality. Environmental toxins and heavy metals have been shown to affect human health. So it’s important to cleanse our bodies to stay healthy to prevent disease.

Activated Charcoal

There are many ways and methods to rid your body of toxins and they often work best in combination. Today I'd like to share one safe, cheap and extremely effective method that can make a tremendous difference in your health: activated charcoal.

Activated charcoal adsorbs (binds to and helps eliminate from the body) poisons, chemicals and intestinal gases that have thousands of times more weight than it has, making it very effective in detoxing and eliminating toxins and poisonous substances from the body.

The action of activated charcoal actually involves adsorption, not absorption, of toxins. Adsorption is the electrical attraction of toxins, but not beneficial nutrients, to the surfaces of the fine charcoal particles. The charcoal itself is not absorbed into the body, so the toxins attached to the charcoal particles exit via the bowels. Don’t be surprised by black stools. Black stools can actually be a good indicator of how long it takes for your food to be fully digested and eliminated. Take notice of the time when you first take the charcoal.

How to use it

Although some detox protocols suggest up to 20-35 grams of charcoal per day, even 1 gram does an amazing job. Due to how porous it is, just 1 gram of activated charcoal has a surface area about one tenth the size of a football field. In my detox protocol, the recommended amount is 1-2 grams per day. It’s best to consume it in-between meals.

Caution! If you’re taking prescription medication, activated charcoal might treat it as poison and reduce its effectiveness. So make sure to take it at least 2-3 hours before or after taking your medication. You should consult your doctor, if you’re taking medication.

It is also important to drink lots of water when you’re taking activated charcoal. As charcoal passes through the gastrointestinal tract, it's constantly picking up toxins, either those that have entered the body through ingestion, breathing, or skin contact, or those resulting from the body’s metabolism. While charcoal grabs onto these toxins, your body still needs help to move the mass along until it is all eliminated from the body. That is where water and fiber intake is so vital.