Naturally Getting Pregnant

I’m tired and weak. But then I knew this is how I would feel today.
Last night, immediately before bed, I voluntarily drank 1/2 cup olive oil mixed with 3/4 cup grapefruit juice. Disgusting? Not really. Nausea inducing? Absolutely.

So the hundred dollar question: Why? Why would I subject my body to this - twice? (In December of last year and again now.) All in the name of flushing my gallbladder and cleansing my liver, of course.

Yes, I too think this is a totally crazy and questionable thing to do. But what if it helps me have a baby? I have yet to come across any direct scientific evidence that this is going to boost my fertility, but - and here is the big but - it might.

Zita West (a midwife, nutritionist, and acupuncturist specializing in fertility) in her book,  Fertility & Conception, spells out just why the liver is so important for reproductive health: “The hormonal balance needed for fertility depends on good liver function. Your liver detoxifies many substances…It chemically alters excess or used hormones for recirculation.”

Zita recommends cleansing the liver – not like I did last night – but with a 10-day liver detox diet that includes foods that are good for the liver or those that do not make the liver work hard to digest. This is something I’ve already tried though, and, unfortunately, it did not clear my skin of acne, balance my hormones or make my cycle regular (symptoms potentially related to poor liver function). No, I needed something more.

So, for the past several weeks I’ve been drinking herb tinctures (from sensiblehealth.com) and following a restricted diet. Then in the week before the flush I drank a liter of apple juice spaced between meals throughout the day (as recommended by Andreas Moritz in his book, The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse). Last night came the “grand finale”, as Richard called it, when I drank the tasty concoction of olive oil and grapefruit juice.

If you never drank this before, I can tell you that it’s followed by the most overwhelming urge to, well, vomit. And the first time I did this cleanse, I gave in around 2:00 a.m. to this urge – my wood floor still reminds me of this. This time, though, I was awake half the night with nausea but was able keep the contents of my stomach from reappearing.

In the morning, I got up and drank Epsom salt – and here is where the results are supposed to be apparent. You succeeded in flushing your gallbladder when you actually pass gallbladder stones. Now this is a totally controversial topic because there seems to be no scientific evidence that the pebbles that come out are really gallbladder stones nor have I found evidence that this really cleanses the liver. But what I did find is that there is no indication that this is harmful to your health. Even those sources that feel the cleanse is not effective believe the worst case scenario is nausea.

So, I was hoping that I would pass stones like the ones pictured in Andreas Moritz’s book or be able to write an infertility testimonial like the ones on sensiblehealth.com. But there were no stones to be seen. And, yes, I checked thoroughly (except for when I went to the bathroom once in the middle of the night: I was too nauseas to look very long so I just gave it a quick once over). I also can’t say that I feel any different or notice any observable health improvement.

So well, that’s it. Can’t imagine doing it again – but, then again, I said that last time. Really though, I’m done. I suppose the effects could still surface, like if my cycle were regular this month or my acne cleared up. But since I’ll be moving on to other treatments it would be tough to truly attribute anything to this treatment.

For me, the liver cleanse is what I consider a wildcard. It’s a treatment that has not been scientifically proven or disproven. And since I didn’t feel it endangered my health, I was willing to try it. Maybe it works for other people, maybe one day it will come under scientific scrutiny, but until then, I’m done with it. For me, it seems to have been a dead end. I’m heading back into the realm of more founded methods. I’m turning my attention back now to a nutrition plan, a fertility diet.

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