This post gathers my kidney flushing routines and class videos in one place. For the full picture of what is happening in the kidneys and a loose healing plan, start with my Kidney Disease information sheet.
From Light to Intense
Kidney flushing runs from a light daily or seasonal flush all the way to an intense flush used to lower rising blood pressure, dissolve kidney stones, and help the renal system clear edema. It is part three of the Incurables Routines, and it goes hand in hand with liver flushing: every week of liver flushing should be followed by a week of kidney flushing, so the body can stay on top of the healing.
Light: Hot Lemonade every day, Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support, and plenty of distilled water.
Moderate: a full Kidney Flushing week, alternated with liver flushing weeks.
Intense: the Ultimate Kidney Flush, also known as the Stone Dissolve Routine, below.
Kidney Flush Class
Download the handout from the Kidney Flushing Class here:
Using the Hot Lemonade as a daily kidney flush is an excellent idea. Those who have suffered through kidney stones will want to keep up with this routine to keep new stones from forming. In a 16-ounce glass of hot water: 1 teaspoon cayenne, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and fresh lemon juice and maple syrup to taste.
Learning to Use Cayenne: Hot Lemonade
The Ultimate Kidney Flush & Stone Dissolve Routine
So many of the great healing truths I have discovered have come from our members. The idea of using the Kidney Stone Dissolve Routine as an extreme kidney flush came from one of our brightest members, whose blood pressure was ticking up without a real reason. She understood that clogged kidneys, full of pus or sediment, make the heart work harder to force the blood through, and she wanted an intense flush. What a brilliant thought: an ELF* for the kidneys! (*ELF = Emergency Liver Flush.) It quickly clears excess sediment from the filters, and when the kidneys are free and clear the heart does not need to work as hard. All flows more freely.
This routine does not take the place of the daily Hot Lemonade for preventing new stones, but it quickly flushes the kidneys so they can filter better. Uric acid crystals dissolve quickly. Small calcium gravel and plaque dissolve faster than one large stone. Whatever the size of your crystal and rock collection, if you have or even suspect sediment, gravel or stones in your kidneys or bladder, it is time to get to work.
98 ounces organic, freshly juiced apples (use the tartest available, such as Granny Smith)
10 ounces organic, fresh-squeezed lemon juice
10 ounces organic, fresh-squeezed lime juice
10 ounces organic, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
8 ounces of dry Kidney/Bladder Tea (unbrewed)
A 2-ounce bottle of Kidney Support (added after the dry herbs are strained out)
The routine takes 3 days and can be repeated.
Day One: Combine everything except the Kidney Support in the gallon jug. For a stronger brew, run it all through a blender to break down the herbs. Let it steep at room temperature for 24 hours, shaking for a minute or two every couple of hours.
Strain through a stainless steel strainer, or squeeze it through a clean cotton T-shirt. Add the 2-ounce bottle of Kidney Support. Keep the strained brew in the refrigerator until it is gone.
Days Two and Three: Drink 4 ounces every waking hour, each followed by a glass of distilled water (or an ounce every 15 minutes). At 4 ounces an hour over a 16-hour day, you will drink about 64 ounces a day, so the gallon lasts almost two days.
Drink up to 64 ounces of distilled water a day along with it. Only distilled water, the emptiest water, is allowed. It acts like a vacuum, the universal solvent for unwanted mineral deposits. Just drinking distilled water regularly helps dissolve stones and keep new ones from forming; added to this routine, you have a real winner. Repeat at one-week intervals if needed; one large stone dissolves more slowly than many small ones.
Hydrangea, the gravel remover. There is much disagreement about hydrangea’s stone-dissolving properties. Most authorities agree it removes stones, but not all consider it a solvent. Dr. Butler affirmed that it relieves the pain of passing stones. Dr. Shook explained that the sharp pain of gravel comes from the crystal’s sharp points piercing the kidney or ureter; when those points are even partly dissolved, the pain, bleeding and inflammation subside and the stones often pass with just a stretching of the tubes. He asked how else to account for stones that x-rays showed with sharp points, yet passed smooth and round after hydrangea. His clinical evidence, he said, proved hydrangea a true stone solvent.
Kidney Infections
If you have back pain and are not sure whether it is your kidneys, try my three drinks (Echinacea, Herbal Aid 1 and Hot Lemonade), explained on the Kidney Disease sheet. If you determine you have a kidney infection, the Infection Program has proven very helpful in aiding the body to clear it.
Infection Program: Light to Intense
Feeding the Kidneys and Salve Packs
Care and Feeding of the Kidneys
A hot herbal fomentation brings healing herbs right into a struggling kidney, but it is messy and time-consuming, and few people will set one up. A salve pack does the same work without the hassle: spread the salve on flannel, lay it over the kidneys, and cover it with plastic wrap, a towel and a moist heating pad. For the Kidney Salve herbs, proportions and how to make it, see A Salve Pack for Struggling Kidneys.
Topical Application: Herbal Salve Overview
When to Get Medical Care
Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get prompt care for fever and chills with back or side pain, blood in the urine, being unable to pass urine, stone pain that is severe or comes with vomiting, or swelling with shortness of breath. These routines are not for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure.
Infection, Inflammation, Gravel & Stones, and Failing Kidney Function
Understanding the Condition
Dr. Christopher called the kidneys “the filters of the blood,” and that is exactly what they are. Every drop of blood in the body passes through them many times a day, roughly 45 to 50 gallons of blood filtered every 24 hours. Each kidney holds about a million tiny filtering units called nephrons. In each one, a little knot of blood vessels (the glomerulus) strains the blood, and a long, thin tubule then takes back the water, minerals and nutrients the body needs to keep. What is left, the waste, acids and excess fluid, becomes one to two quarts of urine a day.
The kidneys do more than make urine. They keep the body’s water, salt, potassium and acid balance steady; they help set the blood pressure; they make the hormone that tells the bone marrow to build red blood cells; and they turn vitamin D into the form the body uses for strong bones. When the kidneys struggle, all of these jobs slip, which is why kidney trouble can show up as tiredness, anemia, high blood pressure, swelling, cramps and weak bones long before anyone thinks of the kidneys.
How It Develops
Kidney disease is seldom one sudden event. It is usually a slow wearing-down of the filters, and it tends to move through stages (see the picture below):
Overload. The most common beginning is simply not drinking enough water, combined with a heavy load for the filters to handle: lots of animal protein, salt, soda, coffee, alcohol and processed food. Urine becomes dark and concentrated, and minerals and uric acid begin to settle out as fine sediment.
Irritation and infection. Sediment and concentrated urine irritate the delicate tubules. Bacteria, most often climbing up from the bladder, find a home there. The tissue swells and heats, bringing the deep back ache, fever and burning that go with a kidney infection (pyelonephritis). Inflammation of the filters themselves is called nephritis; the old books call long-standing nephritis Bright’s disease.
Gravel and stones. Left in place, crystals grow into gravel and stones. Their sharp points tear at the lining of the kidney and ureter, which is where the terrible pain and the blood in the urine come from. A stone can also block the flow of urine, backing pressure up into the kidney.
Scarring and lost function. Each round of infection, inflammation or blockage leaves some nephrons scarred. Nephrons do not grow back, so the ones that remain have to work harder. Over years the kidney can shrink and lose function. This is chronic kidney disease (CKD). The two biggest causes today are diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which damage the tiny blood vessels of the filters; long-term use of some pain relievers and other drugs is another.
The hard part is that, as Dr. Christopher said, “our kidneys cannot talk.” Chronic kidney disease is usually quiet until much of the function is gone. Early signs are easy to brush off: tiredness, a dull ache across the lower back, restless legs and night cramps, puffy eyes or ankles, foamy or very dark urine, getting up often at night, itching, and blood pressure that creeps up for no clear reason. The simple blood and urine tests a doctor runs (eGFR, creatinine and urine protein) show how well the filters are working, and they are the best way to measure your progress.
How kidney trouble builds. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.
A real kidney stone, passed by Dara’s husband in 2013, beside a dime and a ruler: about 3/8 inch across, with rough, jagged edges. Photo: Dara Dietz, H.E.A.L.
The Emotional Side: the Energy Work
Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together. When one part is neglected, the other two cannot find complete healing. A person can follow a perfect herbal program, but if she stays in a life that keeps wearing her down, or never makes time to care for herself, the body will keep losing ground. Healing the body often means facing what is happening in the heart and spirit as well.
The body and the heart are not separate. The kidneys sort what we keep from what we let go, and feelings we hold on to instead of releasing can settle here too. Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, ties kidney trouble to old hurts, disappointment and anger that never got cleared out. Letting those go is part of the flush.
Kidney problems: criticism, disappointment and a sense of failure; shame; reacting to life like a hurt child. Turn it around: Everything happening in my life is working toward good, and good comes from every experience. It is safe for me to grow up.
Kidney stones: hard lumps of anger that were never dissolved. Turn it around: I let go of past problems easily.
Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House).
Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing
The kidneys sit high in the back, tucked under the lower ribs on either side of the spine, with the adrenal glands resting on top of each one. Two thin tubes, the ureters, carry urine down to the bladder. Look at the picture below and notice what sits around them: the liver over the right kidney, and the colon lying in front of both.
Where the kidneys sit, and their neighbors. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L. (not to scale).
Why the neighbors matter. The kidneys never work alone. The liver breaks down poisons and hands much of that waste to the kidneys to carry out, so when the liver is cleansed, the kidneys get extra work. That is why every week of liver flushing should be followed by a week of kidney flushing, so the body can stay on top of the healing. The bowel matters just as much. A backed-up colon sends its waste back into the blood the kidneys must filter, and a full, heavy bowel presses on the ureters and bladder. Keeping the bowels moving is part of every kidney program.
Opening the Way: Flow, Circulation and Warmth
Water first. Fluid is what keeps the filters open and keeps sediment floating so it can pass. Steam-distilled water was Dr. Christopher’s choice, and HEAL’s; it is “empty” and picks up mineral deposits on its way through. A common guideline is at least half your body weight in ounces each day; Dr. Christopher recommended up to an ounce per pound. Let Kidney/Bladder Tea carry much of that amount. (This sheet is not written for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure; see the box below.)
Kidney Salve pack. Parsley root, juniper, marshmallow, ginger and burdock in a salve, spread on doubled flannel, laid over the kidneys on the back, covered, and warmed with a heating pad for 45 minutes to an hour at bedtime, then left on all night. It does the work of a fomentation without the mess. Alternatives: a hot fomentation of strong Kidney/Bladder Tea, or fresh cabbage leaves laid over the kidneys overnight.
Hot and cold. Hot and cold showers two or three times a day bring circulation through the back and pelvis. For the pain of a moving stone, hot fomentations over the kidneys (wet hand towels heated in the microwave, wrung out, laid over the kidneys and changed as they cool) give the most relief. It needs nothing special; you can put it together in a motel room that has a microwave. In Dara’s practice, people rolling on the floor in agony from a stone have been comfortable within 15 minutes. When urine is held back, alternating hot and cold fomentations over the kidneys and groin can help break up the blockage.
Keep the bowels moving. Lower Bowel Formula (LBF) and plenty of fiber, so the colon is not adding to the load.
Feeding the Kidneys and Helping Them Clear
Kidney Support and Kidney/Bladder Tea. The foundation. Kidney Support (juniper, uva ursi, parsley root, corn silk, goldenrod, horsetail, pipsissewa, burdock root and seed) is food for the whole renal system. Add ½ teaspoon to each 8 ounces of Kidney/Bladder Tea, hot or iced, and drink freely. The tea adds hydrangea and gravel root to discourage stones, and marshmallow to soothe.
Hot Lemonade. In a 16-ounce glass of hot water: 1 teaspoon cayenne, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and fresh lemon juice and maple syrup to taste. Once or more a day. It keeps the urine from becoming a breeding ground for stones and gets circulation moving.
Parsley. Fresh parsley, parsley tea and parsley in green juices; one of Dr. Christopher’s greatest kidney herbs.
Marshmallow root. Soothing and coating for raw, burning or inflamed tissue, and it helps gravel pass smoothly. Slippery elm does the same job.
For active infection. Herbal Aid 1 is the formula Dara uses for kidney infections; it works best for clearing them. Use it on the schedule from the HEAL Infection Program: 1 teaspoon in hot water every three waking hours for a mild infection, every two hours for a moderate one, and every hour for a serious one. Add 1 ounce of Echinacea in a mug of hot water once a day (once or twice for a serious infection), garlic paste on the feet as needed, and an ELF every few days, or five nights in a row for a serious infection. Keep Kidney Support and the tea going alongside. If you have taken antibiotics again and again for the same infection, expect the clearing to take anywhere from two weeks to three months.
For gravel and stones. Hydrangea root and gravel root, used in HEAL’s Stone Dissolve Routine (Ultimate Kidney Flush). Fresh juices: carrot and cucumber, celery and parsley, or watermelon.
For a Kidney Pain Attack: Dara’s Three Drinks
Kidney pain often feels like a stiff, aching back, so bad you hold onto the furniture to get around. But the kidneys sit at the same level as the lower back, so an ache there can be hard to place: is it the kidneys, or the back itself (or, for a woman, her monthly cycle)? These three drinks answer the question. Drink them one right after the other. As the fluid filters through, it calms spastic kidneys: if the kidneys are the trouble, the ache will be gone within about an hour. If it does not let go, the trouble is most likely in the back, and you can turn to back support instead.
Echinacea: 1 ounce of Echinacea in 16 ounces of hot water.
Herbal Aid 1: 1 tablespoon in 16 ounces of hot water, with honey.
Hot Lemonade: a 16-ounce glass, made as above.
Pain with fever, blood in the urine, or pain that won’t let up still needs medical care (see the box below).
Taking Away the Burden
Careful with rock-based minerals. Most ordinary calcium supplements are ground-up rock (limestone, oyster shell) that weak kidneys cannot handle. Dara’s kidneys went into spasm within four hours of a single capsule. Dr. Christopher’s herbal Calcium extract has given her the calcium she needs with no kidney trouble.
Keep animal protein low, cut out soda, sugary drinks and junk food, go easy on salt and coffee, and avoid alcohol. Ask your doctor about long-term use of over-the-counter pain relievers, which are hard on the kidneys.
When to Get Medical Care
Kidney disease can become serious quickly. Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get prompt care for: fever and chills with back or side pain; blood in the urine; being unable to pass urine; stone pain that is severe, does not let up, or comes with vomiting; a sudden drop in how much urine you make; or swelling with shortness of breath.
Not for dialysis or kidney failure. This sheet is not written for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure. Their care is managed by their medical team.
Level of Commitment
How much work kidney healing takes depends on how long the trouble has been building and how much function has been lost. Be honest about where you are:
Gentle support. For a tired, achy back, dark or cloudy urine, a history of bladder and kidney infections, or simply keeping weak kidneys strong. Daily Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support, Hot Lemonade, plenty of distilled water, a salve pack when the back aches, and taking away the burden foods. Most people can live on this for good; Dara has for over 30 years.
Focused cleansing. For gravel and stones, recurring infections, swelling, or blood pressure creeping up. Add a full Kidney Flushing week (the Kidney Flushing Schedule: the Kidney Flush Drink three times a day, Detox Formula, and 16 ounces of Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support every three hours, on fresh juices). Alternate it with liver flushing weeks so the body stays on top of the healing. For stones, add the 3-day Stone Dissolve Routine.
Incurables Program. For diagnosed chronic kidney disease, nephritis, or kidneys that are failing. The full program: a flush every morning for the first 30 days, alternating a week of liver flushing with a week of kidney flushing; up to six cups a day of Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support; the cold sheet treatment at least weekly; salve packs nightly; and a clean, plant-based diet. This level is done hand in hand with your doctor and your lab work.
More Is Not Faster
These doses are set to what the body can clear. Taking more stirs up more than the bowels, liver and kidneys can carry out, and that is when cleansing starts to feel like poisoning. Healing the body requires steady, consistent nutrition and action, not a bigger dose.
People are different, and now and then someone reacts poorly to a particular herb. If that happens, stop it. What I offer here is a guideline. You are the one living in your body, so work with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom the Lord has given you to apply these supports in the best way for your life.
A Loose Healing Plan
Weeks 1–2: Build the foundation. Start your Foundational Program (Superfood, Echinacea, Vitamin C, bowel cleansing with LBF). Begin Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support every day and work up to your fluid goal. Hot Lemonade each morning. Drop soda, junk food and most animal protein. Kidney Salve pack at bedtime if the back aches.
If there is infection: start Herbal Aid 1 right away on the Infection Program schedule, with Echinacea and garlic paste on the feet; use the three drinks for a pain attack, add marshmallow root tea for burning, and keep the fluids up. If there is fever with back pain, get medical care the same day.
Week 3: Kidney Flushing week. Five days on the Kidney Flushing Schedule, on fresh juices if you can, with hot and cold showers two or three times a day.
Weeks 4 onward: Alternate. A week of liver flushing, then a week of kidney flushing, for as many rounds as your level of commitment calls for, with gentle-support weeks in between.
For stones: do the 3-day Stone Dissolve Routine. Repeat at one-week intervals if needed; one large stone dissolves more slowly than many small ones, and some cases take two or three rounds.
About 3 months: Check your progress. Have your kidney labs and blood pressure rechecked so you can see what has changed, then settle into gentle support for life.
Stories from the Work
Dara: A lifetime with weak kidneys
Kidney infections were part of my life from childhood. By sixteen, an infection and high fevers put me in the emergency room in convulsions, and I lived on antibiotics for the next fifteen years. When I discovered herbs, I finally began to clear the infections from my renal system completely. Kidney Support in my Kidney/Bladder Tea, along with my hot lemonade, have been my daily supports ever since. I haven’t had a kidney attack or kidney pain in over 20 years. I know my kidneys are a weak spot, so I keep animal proteins very low, and I have no soda, sugary drinks or junk food. The body just doesn’t need that stuff.
Dara: Ground-up rocks and my kidneys
Regular calcium supplements are nothing but ground-up rocks, and my kidneys cannot take that at all. A friend told me about a high-quality calcium supplement that would never affect my kidneys. Within four hours of taking only one capsule, I could not even walk straight; my kidneys were completely spasmed. I had to drink emergency kidney teas and hot lemonade to clear the congestion and calm it down. I never touched those capsules again. Then I discovered Dr. Christopher’s Calcium extract. My mentor at the time talked me into making it, as I was very leery. It has been amazing: no kidney issues.
Dara: My husband’s kidney stone on the road
On a weekend trip to a class in Tennessee, my husband had a kidney stone attack. He had felt a little discomfort before we left, and the lack of fluids on the four-and-a-half-hour drive likely set the stones off. One of the worst things you can do with kidney stones is let yourself get dehydrated. The vessels in the kidneys are lined with nerve tissue; when the fluid falls off, the vessels collapse around the stones and the rough edges rip and tear as they pass. Staying hydrated keeps the stones floating in the center, with much less tearing. Hot fomentations over his kidneys were what really eased the pain. He said they were the only thing that truly helped. He has given birth to many, many stone children over the years, and the stone pictured on this sheet is one of them.
Dara: Kidneys or my back?
During this time of my life, when my back began to ache there were three possible reasons. One was my cycle, which was easy to rule in or out. The other two were trickier. In 1985 I was in a car accident that fractured my lower back. I could go long periods without any discomfort, then out of the blue it would begin to spasm. Since the fracture was in my lower back, right at the same level as my kidneys, I needed to figure out which one was talking to me. When my back began hurting I would do the three kidney drinks. Within an hour, if it was my kidneys, the discomfort would be gone. If it did not go away, I knew it was my back, and I began using the BF&C formula for my back along with Lobelia for the spasm. We were not yet making salves, so my only relief was hydrotherapy and the extracts.
Dara: Hot fomentations for stone pain
I have had people rolling on the floor in agony from a kidney stone who were comfortable in 15 minutes or less with hot fomentations over the kidneys. They are so helpful.
Dara: The night at the cabin door
One night my husband’s boss showed up at our cabin door in severe kidney stone pain. His nephew was on the way to take him to the emergency room, but it would be over an hour before he arrived. I was setting him up for hot fomentations when he threw up blood all over my bathroom. I gave him an ounce of fresh-squeezed ginger root juice and an ounce of Cayenne extract. His stomach settled and the bleeding stopped. I left the mess, got him into bed and put the hot fomentations on his kidneys. About 15 minutes later he had fallen asleep, relaxed and exhausted from the pain. When his nephew arrived, he drove him, now comfortable, to the emergency room, where they could find no hole in his stomach lining and no internal bleeding at all. He later told me there was no way he had thrown up blood in my bathroom; I assured him I’d had to scrub the proof off the walls and floor. For as long as I knew him, he joked that I had tried to kill him with that ounce of Cayenne. It was the only part of the whole night he remembered. It worked.
Dara: A member’s bright idea, the Ultimate Kidney Flush
So many of the healing truths I have learned have come from our members. A member called to order a Kidney Stone Dissolve Kit. When I asked if her stones were coming back, she said no: her blood pressure was ticking up without a real reason, and she knew that clogged kidneys full of sediment make the heart work harder to push the blood through. She wanted an intense kidney flush. What a brilliant thought, an ELF for the kidneys! The stone routine quickly clears sediment from the filters. When the kidneys are free and clear, the heart doesn’t need to work as hard, and everything flows more freely.
From Dr. Christopher’s files: The marshmallow root
One of Dr. Christopher’s students had a teenage son who teased her for studying herbs. One day he was brought home from football practice doubled over in pain, unable to pass his urine. She ran out to the irrigated field and pulled up marshmallow plants, root and all. Too desperate to wait for tea, he asked for a washed root and began chewing it. Within seconds he straightened up, went to the bathroom, and was relieved. He never teased her about herbs again.
Not everyone can swallow a handful of capsules, and the herbs in a good lower bowel formula are bitter. Here is a simple way around both problems: make the powder into coconut oil squares. The coconut oil masks the bitter taste, and small chunks go down easily with a swallow of juice.
A dear doctor friend of mine, who practiced well into her nineties, made these squares for all of her patients who needed a lower bowel formula. She bought the powder 30 pounds at a time.
What You Need
1 pound of lower bowel formula powder (see Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again for what goes into it), 1 cup of coconut oil, and a foil-lined cookie sheet.
Making the Squares
Melt the coconut oil and pour it into the powder.
Whisk until it is completely smooth, then pour it onto the foil-lined cookie sheet and spread it evenly.
Chill it just until it is firm enough to hold a knife line but still soft: about 4 to 5 minutes in the freezer, or 15 to 20 in the refrigerator. Then score it into squares. I always did 14 cuts the long way and 10 the short way. Whatever size you choose, cut it the same way every time, so every square holds the same amount.
Put the pan back in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. The squares will break apart evenly along the score lines. Store them in the dairy compartment of your refrigerator.
Taking Them
Build up just as you would with capsules: 1 square the first day, 2 the second, 3 the third, and so on, until your bowels are moving well. Once you know how much you need, you can cut future batches to suit your own dose.
Don’t try to swallow a whole square; it can get stuck in the throat. Cut each square into small chunks with a paring knife. Put a spoonful in your mouth and wash it down with a swallow of Superfood or juice. They float right down, and you will hardly taste the herbs.
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
Heavy metals and other pollutants get trapped in our systems from the world around us and from what we put into our bodies. Clearing them is not a quick job, but it can be done. It takes an herbal combination that draws the metals out, a routine of hot mineral baths, and a bowel that is open and working so the metals have a way out of the body.
That last part matters more than most people realize. The bowel vacuum, the absorbing fiber blend in A 911 for Vomiting and Diarrhea, should be used the entire time you’re working to clear heavy metals. People using it found their hair samples showing a decrease in heavy metals within a few weeks.
What a Good Heavy Metal Formula Contains
A good heavy metal formula might contain these three herbs:
Bugleweed, 3 parts. The lead herb, long used to draw out minerals, drugs and other pollutants trapped in the system.
Yellow Dock Root, 3 parts. A strong blood purifier that helps the liver and bowel carry the waste out.
Lobelia, 1 part. Relaxes and opens the body, and carries the other herbs where they need to go.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 3 ounces each of Bugleweed and Yellow Dock, and 1 ounce of Lobelia.
It is paired with a Chaparral extract. Chaparral is one of the strongest blood-cleansing herbs there is.
Putting It Together
The heavy metal extract: Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.
The Chaparral extract: Make it the same way, but use a 50-50 mix of 80-proof vodka and apple cider vinegar instead of straight vodka. A few herbs respond better to that mix, and Chaparral is one of them.
How to Use It
The tea: ½ teaspoon of the heavy metal extract and 1 teaspoon of the Chaparral extract in a cup of hot water, three times a day.
The baths: every other day, soak in a tub of hot water with 1 to 3 pounds of Epsom salts. Keep up the baths for three weeks, then rest from the baths for a week while you keep taking the tea. See The Detox Bath.
The bowel vacuum: keep it going the whole time, with your lower bowel formula alongside it so the bowels keep moving well.
Two or three cycles of baths is a good place to begin. How many you need really depends on how bad things are, and on whether you’ve cleaned up your life so the cleansing is actually working.
Lay the Foundation First
Before beginning the baths, the foundational work should already be in place:
The food program, with Superfood and fresh juicing to give the body the massive nutrition it needs to clear waste and rebuild. See Superfood: Raw Material for Healing.
Then, all the way through the program, do at least one ELF liver flush a week. It keeps the liver cleared so the waste can move out freely, and leaves the liver free to pull toxins effectively.
Everything we eat that the body can’t use has to leave through the bowel. When the bowel is sluggish, that waste sits. If you hold a cesspool in your middle, the blood that travels through every part of you picks up that poison and carries it throughout your entire system. What can you expect but to develop issues in every part of the body? Supporting the body to remove its waste every day is one of the most basic, most important things we can do for our health.
Over the years I’ve come to rely on two bowel formulas. The first is fashioned around the formula Dr. Schulze used to make. The second I put together for myself nearly twenty years ago, fashioned around Dr. Christopher’s lower bowel formula. So many people have come to love it that it’s made right alongside the first.
What a Good Lower Bowel Formula Contains
A good lower bowel formula might contain these eight herbs:
Curacao and Cape Aloe, 2 parts. A strong bitter that wakes up the muscles of the bowel wall and gets things moving.
Cascara Sagrada Bark, 2 parts. Tones the muscle of the bowel and helps it find its own natural rhythm again.
Senna Pods, 1 part. A dependable bowel stimulant, the gentler part of the senna plant.
Senna Leaves, 1 part. Adds the stronger push of the senna leaf.
Ginger Root, 1 part. Warms the bowel and eases the cramping that can come as it starts to move.
Barberry Root Bark, 1 part. Stimulates the flow of bile from the liver, which is the body’s own natural laxative.
Garlic, 1 part. Cleanses and fights the bacteria and parasites that thrive in a sluggish bowel.
African Bird Pepper, 1 part. Brings fresh circulation and carries the other herbs where they need to go.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 2 ounces each of Aloe and Cascara, and 1 ounce each of the rest. Powder the herbs, mix them well, and fill capsules.
With or Without the Cayenne
I make this formula two ways, with the African Bird Pepper and without it. If you find you need more than five capsules a day, the cayenne can upset your stomach or burn a bit. It can feel like acid reflux, especially if you take the capsules without food in your stomach. For anyone who needs a larger number, leave the pepper out.
An Extract for the Very Sensitive
Some people can’t swallow capsules, and some bowels are so sensitive that even a small amount of the powdered herbs sends them into cramps. For them, the same formula without the cayenne can be made into an extract.
I had a woman who could not move her bowels, but even a quarter of a capsule would rip her up. She’d be in horrid cramps. We made the extract, and she needed only one or two drops a day. Without that little bit of help her bowels were just too tight, but with it she was fine.
Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid. Start with a single drop a day and adjust from there.
A Second Formula: Heavier on the Cascara
Senna has been given a bad name over the years, and some people find it harsh. Some simply respond better to a different set of herbs. For them, a good alternative formula might contain these five herbs, with no Senna and no cayenne:
Cascara Sagrada Bark, 4 parts. The heart of this formula. When I built it for myself I tripled the Cascara, because that was what my body responded to. It appears a good many other people like it too.
Barberry Root Bark, 1 part. Gets the bile flowing.
Ginger Root, 1 part. Warms the bowel and eases cramping.
Curacao and Cape Aloe, 1 part. A bitter that wakes up the bowel wall.
Turkey Rhubarb Root, 1 part. Moves the bowel, then gently tones it afterward.
By weight, that’s 4 ounces of Cascara and 1 ounce each of the rest.
How Much and How Often
Both formulas are used the same way. Take 1 capsule with dinner the first day, 2 the second day, and 3 the third day. Keep adding one capsule a day until you find your number, the amount that gives you good, easy movements.
The average person lands between 3 and 5 capsules a day. There are a few poor souls who need 10 or more. I need many times the average myself, and my body is grateful for every one. There is no limit. The goal is to support your body in removing its waste, however many capsules that takes.
Working Alongside the Fiber Blends
These formulas get the bowel moving. Fiber gives it something to move. In a bowel cleansing program, a lower bowel formula is always established first and kept going, so the bowel keeps moving well while an absorbing fiber blend, the bowel vacuum, does the heavy cleansing work. For a healing fiber blend, see A Fiber Blend That Heals While It Works, and for the bowel vacuum itself, which doubles as a 911 for vomiting and diarrhea, see A 911 for Vomiting and Diarrhea.
This tea goes back to the 1920s, when the Canadian nurse René Caisse learned a blend of four herbs from a patient, who had it from an Ojibwe medicine man. She spent years refining it and named it “Essiac,” her own last name spelled backward. Newer six- and eight-herb versions have appeared since, but the original four-herb version remains the standard, carried forward through nearly a century of use.
It is one of the best-known blood-cleansing blends in herbalism, a combination of roots and bark that supports the body’s own cleansing through the blood, the lymph and the digestive system. Many members use it as part of a broader healing program, including through a serious illness and alongside other treatments.
What Essiac Contains
The four herbs work as a team. Burdock Root and Sheep Sorrel do the heavy lifting of cleansing the blood and lymph. Turkish Rhubarb Root supports digestion and elimination, moving the waste out instead of letting it circulate back. Slippery Elm soothes and protects the digestive tract while the other three do their more stimulating work.
Burdock Root, 6½ cups (cut). A blood cleanser and digestive aid, and the largest share of the blend.
Sheep Sorrel, 1 pound (powdered). The herb most closely tied to the original formula, with a cooling, cleansing action.
Slippery Elm Bark, ¼ pound (powdered). Dr. Christopher said it is so nutritious it will sustain life itself. It coats and calms the digestive tract.
Turkish Rhubarb Root, 1 ounce (powdered). A small amount to stimulate digestion and keep elimination regular.
This makes 8 quarts of dry mix, enough for 2 gallons of tea; cut everything in half for one gallon. Mix the herbs well and store the dry mix in a glass jar in a dark, dry place.
Brewing the Tea
Use stainless steel or cast iron to cook it, and glass or ceramic to store it. Use 1 ounce of the dry mix for each quart of distilled water.
Put the herbs and water in the pot and simmer, covered, over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes.
Take it off the heat and scrape any herbs on the sides back down into the liquid.
Let it sit for 12 hours.
Bring it back to a simmer.
Strain into hot, sterile jars, and keep the tea in the refrigerator.
How Much and How Often
For general cleansing and immune support: 2 ounces once a day.
For more serious or long-standing conditions: up to 3 ounces, three times a day.
Warm the tea or add it to hot water before drinking. Like any deep cleanse, it does its best work as part of a fuller healing approach: as much whole, organic food as possible, sunshine, and stepping away from the toxic food, household products and habits that may have helped bring on the trouble. Using the tea while keeping the same habits that caused the problem isn’t the way to get the most from it.
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
This formula has two jobs. Its bitter herbs stimulate, cleanse and protect the liver and gallbladder, and its strong herbs rid the body of parasites. It is a core part of my liver flushing program, and it rarely works alone; most of the stories I hear back are of it working alongside the digestive tonic for fast relief of an upset upper digestion.
Bitter herbs get the digestion going and encourage the liver to release more bile, and that flow of bile is what cleans both the liver and the gallbladder.
What a Good Liver and Parasite Formula Contains
A good formula for the liver, gallbladder and parasites might contain these ten herbs:
Milk Thistle Seed, 8 parts. The main ingredient by far. It coats and protects the liver while supporting its own healing.
Oregon Grape Root, 3 parts. A bitter root that supports the liver’s cleansing work.
Gentian Root, 2 parts. One of the classic bitter roots, stirring up digestion and the flow of bile.
Wormwood, 2 parts. A bitter herb long used for its strong action against parasites.
Chaparral, 2 parts. A desert shrub long used as a strong internal cleanser.
Black Walnut Hulls, 1 part. A classic parasite herb, alongside Wormwood.
Dandelion Root and Leaf, 1 part. A classic bitter liver tonic.
Garlic, 1 part. For its own action against parasites and its cleansing.
Ginger Root, 1 part, and Fennel Seed, 1 part. Warming, soothing support for the digestion.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 8 ounces of Milk Thistle, 3 of Oregon Grape, 2 each of Gentian, Wormwood and Chaparral, and 1 each of the rest.
Putting It Together
Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.
How Much and How Often
With a liver flush: ½ teaspoon every 3 hours.
For reflux, gas and bloating, or an upset stomach: 2 teaspoons together with 2 teaspoons of the digestive tonic. The digestive tonic post walks through each situation.
Of everything I use, this tea might be what I drink most faithfully. It’s a cleansing tea, fifteen herbs that support the blood, the liver and the kidneys, but it genuinely tastes good, hot or cold. I don’t treat it like medicine I have to choke down. It’s simply my daily beverage of choice, and it has become that for many of our members too.
I think of the herbs I use in three groups. The strongest are the detoxing herbs. Next come the nutritional formulas that target one system. The gentlest are what I call Herbs for Life: food-type herbs taken every day as a habit, not because something is wrong. This tea belongs with those, the same way I take my apple cider vinegar, maple syrup and Cayenne every day.
What a Good Daily Cleansing Tea Contains
A good everyday cleansing tea might contain these fifteen herbs:
Dandelion Root, 2 parts. A classic bitter root for the liver and gentle daily cleansing.
Burdock Root and Pau D’Arco Bark, 1 part each. Blood and internal cleansers.
Juniper Berries, Uva Ursi Leaf, Horsetail and Parsley Root, 1 part each. Support for the kidneys and urinary tract.
Ginger Root, Cinnamon Bark, Clove Bud, Cardamom Seed, Fennel Seed and Black Peppercorn, 1 part each. Warming spices that aid digestion and make it a delicious tea. Black pepper also helps the body make better use of the other herbs.
Licorice Root and Orange Peel, 1 part each. Natural sweetness and a bright citrus note.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 2 ounces of Dandelion Root and 1 ounce each of the other fourteen.
Brewing the Tea
The overnight way: put 1¼ cups of the dry tea in a pot with a gallon of cold water and let it soak overnight. In the morning, heat it just to boiling, take it off the heat and let it steep at least 15 minutes. Strain, and pour over ice or drink it hot.
My coffee-maker shortcut: grind the dry herbs to a fine powder and keep the powder in the freezer. About 2 tablespoons brews a full pot in a drip coffee maker; use the strongest setting if yours has one. In a reusable single-serve pod, fill it only about half full, since the herbs swell. I run the same herbs through twice, and the two cups over ice make a 2-quart pitcher.
How Much and How Often
Drink it freely through the day. Most of the members who have made it a habit keep a pitcher in the fridge.
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
When the blood carries too heavy a load of toxins and waste, it shows up all through the body: in the skin, in the joints, and in that overall run-down, unwell feeling.
A good blood-cleansing formula brings together a whole team of alterative herbs, the herbs that help the body clean its own blood. Each brings its own strength, from cleansing to circulation to gentle elimination, and together they clear the buildup, keep the bowels moving it out, and feed the organs that do the clearing.
This is a formula I reach for during a cleanse, and as a second blood and liver cleanser for two groups in particular: those who are allergic to nuts, and those dealing with an active skin condition. Both benefit from extra help clearing the blood.
What a Good Blood-Cleansing Formula Contains
A good blood-cleansing formula might contain these eleven herbs:
Red Clover Blossoms, 2 parts. The lead herb, a classic blood purifier and the traditional base of blood-cleansing blends.
Chaparral, 1 part. A Southwestern desert herb long counted among the strongest blood purifiers there are.
Burdock Root, 1 part. One of the best-known blood purifiers and skin-clearing herbs.
Sarsaparilla, 1 part. A blood purifier and tonic, rich in minerals.
Oregon Grape Root, 1 part. A liver and blood cleanser, similar in action to Goldenseal.
Stillingia Root, 1 part. A Southern alterative long used for the skin and the blood.
Poke Root, 1 part. A cleansing herb for the lymph and the blood.
Cascara Sagrada, 1 part, and Buckthorn Bark, 1 part. Bowel tonics that keep elimination moving, so the waste being cleared actually leaves the body.
Prickly Ash Bark, 1 part. A circulation herb that carries the formula through the bloodstream.
Licorice Root, 1 part. Soothing and gentle alongside the stronger cleansing herbs.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 2 ounces of Red Clover and 1 ounce each of the other ten.
Putting It Together
Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.
How Much and How Often
2 droppersful (about 70 drops) four to six times a day, for a week. This is the amount I use during a 5-day cleanse.
Mix it into a few ounces of grape juice to make it easier to take.
Drink 64 to 128 ounces of liquid a day while you’re using it, to carry the waste out.
This formula carries one of my favorite pieces of history from this tradition. After one of Dr. John Christopher’s arrests, he was told never to use the word “cancer” again. Not long after, in a private conversation about Red Clover, Dr. Schulze told him, “I just can’t help myself. Red Clover is the antidote for cancer.” Chaparral carries the same kind of reputation, long credited as one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants. I share these exactly as they have long been told within this tradition, as historical claims and not medical guidance. But they’re part of why this formula has the reputation it does.
This is the strongest blood and lymph cleanser I use, built on the same tradition as the famous Hoxsey Formula and Dr. Christopher’s Red Clover Tonic. Everyone on our 5-day cleansing program takes it, and it’s the core of the program for the most serious cases, where its whole job is to support the liver in clearing disease and built-up toxins out of the blood.
What a Good Blood and Lymph Cleanser Contains
A good formula for a deep blood and lymph cleanse might contain these twelve herbs:
Red Clover Blossoms, 2 parts. A core blood cleanser, prized in the old-time cleansing tonics.
Chaparral, 2 parts. A desert shrub long used in the Southwest as a strong internal cleanser.
Burdock Root, 1 part, and Burdock Seed, 1 part. Classic blood-purifying herbs, used for centuries alongside Red Clover.
Yellow Dock Root, 1 part. A liver and blood herb common in old-time cleansing blends.
Oregon Grape Root, 1 part, and Goldenseal Root, 1 part. Bitter roots that support the liver’s own cleansing work.
Poke Root, 1 part. Supports the lymph.
Bloodroot, 1 part. One of the historic herbs of the Hoxsey tradition this formula draws from.
Garlic Juice, 1 part. For its own cleansing and immune support.
Lobelia Seeds, 1 part. A relaxant that keeps the whole system moving.
Cayenne, 1 part. For circulation, carrying the other herbs through the body.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 2 ounces each of Red Clover and Chaparral and 1 ounce each of the rest, with the garlic juice stirred into the extract.
Putting It Together
Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.
How Much and How Often
For serious illness: ½ teaspoon every 3 hours.
For general cleansing: ½ teaspoon three times a day.
These herbs are strong, and strong-tasting. They are cleansers, not a gentle daily tonic, and they do their best work with a real cleanse: plenty of water, fresh juice and herbal teas through the day to carry out what they loosen. If you feel some nausea or an upset stomach, that can be the body’s cleansing response; back off the amount and give the body time to catch up.
Cayenne moves the cleansing out through the skin as well. If the skin is already carrying an extra load, as with eczema or psoriasis, or if you have a nut allergy, the eleven-herb blood cleanser is my second choice. It’s the same class of cleanser, without the Cayenne.
For Lymph Congestion
Because it cleanses the lymph, this formula is also my internal support for lymph congestion and blockage, such as lymphedema. For a swollen area, pair it with the Mullein and Lobelia salve laid on as a pack. I wrote more about that in Understanding Lymphedema.
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
