My Gut Healing Protocol

I was back home in Alaska for the Thanksgiving Holiday and went to see a bodywork healer that both of my parents go to on a regular basis. Her name is Lorna and she is an absolute wealth of knowledge and so intuitive in her skill. You know when you meet those people and you just KNOW they are doing the exact work they are meant to do? Lorna is one of those people. I started telling her about the gut health issues I have had for years and the poor circulation I have always experienced. She immediately started giving me a healing protocol to follow that would help with the symptoms I had been experiencing. I was happy to be back in Alaska to see family and friends and enjoy Thanksgiving at home for the first time in 4 years, but I also couldn’t wait to get back to Seattle to implement the advice Lorna had given me.

I flew back the Monday after the Holiday and actually started my protocol that morning before I left. This meant no airport food, no airplane snacking, and no champagne or sparkling beverages on the plane. I don’t prefer the first option anyways, but I do like to eat and have a beverage or two while traveling. I was committed though and I found it interesting how I was much more willing to follow this protocol because she had told me to. It was basically drinking bone broth for 3-5 days, which is something I have recommended to people as a Health Coach in the past. It made me truly understand the importance of being a Health Coach and Nutritionist. People can read all the health and wellness information out there and maybe even know what they need to be doing, but sometimes it’s hard to implement unless you have a coach of some sort who acts as your accountability partner or authority telling you this is what you need to do in order to feel better and watch your symptoms disappear.

So I started my “cleanse” off by drinking 24 ounces of warm beef bone broth in the morning. Since I wasn’t able to go through security with broth, I knew I would have to wait until I was back in Seattle to have anything again. I have read that it’s good for your digestive system to fast while traveling anyways, so I figured it wasn’t the worst situation to be in. As soon as I landed back in Seattle, I dropped my bags off at my apartment and went down the street to Whole Foods to grab the last, yes the VERY LAST, bag of beef bone broth they had. I came home, sauteed some onion, garlic, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and cilantro and then added the broth and let everything simmer for about 30 minutes. I ended up finished the whole bag (24 ounces) of bone broth that night with the added vegetables.

The next 2 days I started my mornings with 12 ounces of warm lemon water (a half of a lemon juiced into 12 ounces of water), 16 ounces of pure celery juice (one whole bundle of organic celery juiced), and had about 36 ounces of bone broth throughout the day. The last 12 ounces of bone broth of the day would have added vegetables; celery, carrots, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and cilantro. I also ate a spoonful of papaya seeds with one teaspoon of honey every day. This helps to kill off any harmful bacteria and parasites in the digestive system. I had experienced two parasites this year; one after I spent 2 weeks in Bali and one after I spent about 9 days in Spain. I had been on a protocol to get rid of the parasite, but I figured since I was giving my digestive system a rest, it wouldn’t hurt to take extra measures to make sure the parasite was completely gone. I also ate the small papaya I got specifically for the seeds because they happen to be very easy on the digestive system and act as a natural digestive enzyme to help break down and assimilate your food.

I felt amazing on day 2 when I first woke up, but definitely felt the desire to have a real meal by the end of that day. My energy was great overall and I never felt faint, light headed, or dizzy. I told myself that while doing this, if I ever felt any of these things, then I would add in a regular meal. I had done a juice cleanse in the past and felt absolutely terrible while doing so. I was shaky, very light headed, fatigued, and really anxious. I absolutely love juicing, but I know doing a juice cleanse is not beneficial for my body. I think one of the reasons this bone broth healing protocol was better for me is because I was still giving my body substance (each 8 ounce cup of broth has 10g of protein) and was listening to the way I felt and went into the process knowing very well that if it wasn’t feeling right for my body, I would stop.

At night I would add in my homemade cashew mylk that consists of only cashews, filtered water, dates, and cinnamon. I mixed it with a superfood cacao mix called, Cacao Bliss, that my mom gave to me that has no added sugar and various other healing superfoods. This was my night cap and something that really helped me get through the 3 days.

I didn’t exercise while on this protocol because I wanted to give my body some rest and didn’t wan’t to overexert myself. I did make sure I walked a good amount and drank lots of water to help flush out any toxins that might have been stirred up. I also took an epsom salt bath on day 3 with essential oils to help restore minerals in my body as well as help my body to detox. Overall, the process felt very healing and like something my body really needed. I believe it gave my digestive system the break it needed and helped to increase circulation and decrease inflammation in my body. Another big thing I noticed was that when I did add in simple foods, I ate much more mindfully and wasn’t craving bread and salty foods like I normally do. After having an allergy test done 9 years ago and finding out I was gluten intolerant, I have mostly cut it out, but this past year I’ve let myself have it quite a bit more frequently than I used to. I know that gluten puts stress on my body, causes inflammation, upsets my digestive system, and taxes my adrenals and thyroid. I’m so thankful this break gave my body a much needed reset and gave me the ability to regain a better relationship with food once again.

If you have any questions about the cleanse I did, why I did it, and/or if it would be good for you , please feel free to reach out to me at ashley@ashleycarlson.co ! As always, I would love to hear from you.

With love,

Ashley