Ayurveda and Cleansing of Toxins (Ama)
The Fosube Shake is highly nutritive and tonifying; it is primarily composed of “dense” nutrients, including flax oil, royal jelly, whey protein, and bee pollen. These concentrated foods are slightly balanced by the addition of berries, which are lighter, however, the main action of the Fosube Shake is designed to build and tonify. If one’s digestion is sluggish (and if one’s digestive fire is weak) then the powerhouse foods of the Fosube Shake will not be fully digested, or assimilated, and they will leave a thick residual toxin, called ama. The presence of ama slows the operation of one’s whole system and further dampens the digestive fire, which leading to more ama (if a person continues to eat heavy, rich foods). So, if you eat the Fosube shake (which is a “heavy” dense food), while there are large amounts of toxic ama in your system, you will not realize the benefits of the shake and may even create more toxins. (This would also be the case true people following the Budwig Protocol, and eating large amounts of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese). If one’s digestion is low, and if ama is present in one’s system, then skimming the cream off the milk (and using low-fat cottage cheese) would be helpful. To use an analogy: if you have a weak fire, just barely going, and you add a lot of nice logs to it, then you will not get any heat. The logs will not burn and eventually you will just have to remove them. However, if you have a nice fire going, and then add logs, those logs will provide a good amount of beneficial heat.
The body must be free of ama and the digestive fire must be sufficient to fully transmute nutrients into useful energy. Before using the Shake Protocol in earnest (or any protocol which includes the use of heavy, oily, and nutritive foods, such as cottage cheese, flaxseed oil, or meat) the following steps should be taken:
1. Determine if toxic waste or ama is present in your system. This waste dampens your whole system, slows the efficacy of every organ, and blocks the proper flow of energy through the bodily channels. It also weakens the digestive fire, blocks the proper digestion and assimilation of food, and leads to an ever-increasing build-up of more ama. You can determine if amount of ama present by various signs: a) if your digestion is weak, if you don’t feel strong hunger, or if you feel bloated after a meal; b) if there is a white coating on your tongue, especially in the morning; c) if you have had a habit of over-eating, or eat large amounts of sugar, processed wheat, or processed dairy products you likely have ama.
If your digestive fire is strong and if ama is not present, then you can take the Shake, in large amounts, with predictably good results. If ama is present (and/or if the digestive fire is low) then you must correct these conditions before you can realize the full benefits from the Shake.
1. Go on an anti-ama or anti-mucus diet. This consists of light and cleansing foods rather than heavy and nutritive foods. The fastest way to clear out toxic waste and improve digestion is to go on a short fast (which is consistent with your constitution) until the digestive fire is rekindled, however this is not possible for most people. The same results can be obtained, over time, using a light diet and herbs.
2. To improve the digestive fire, take herbs (such as a combination of dry ginger, black pepper, and cayenne), or the Ayurvedic formula trikatu, and improve eating habits (by eating light, easily-digested foods, by avoiding heavy, processed foods, and by not overeating). Avoid foods which depress the digestive fire or clog the system especially wheat, processed dairy, large amounts of meat, etc. You can also take a full-spectrum digestive enzymes, and liquid HCL for interim assistance.
3. Cleanse the digestive systems of toxins using herbs and enzymes (such as Okra-Pepsin, Diatomaceous Earth, and/or herbal formulas, such as triphala). Bulking agents, such as psyllium seed husks, are heavy and can further lower the digestive fire. Taking N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) may help liquefy the mucoid toxins making it easier for removal. Colonics do not clean the entire digestive system but they may be helpful in helping clear out non-binding toxins. If digestion is low, always use heating herbs after taking a colonic. Sweating therapies, such as near-infrared saunas, or steam boxes, may be helpful. The Ayuvedic program of panchakarma is perhaps the best way to cleanse the system of ama, and restore digestive power, yet this method may be expensive (unless you are in India) and fully qualified practitioners are not easy to find.
Western vs Eastern Detoxification
Western cleansing methods are often different in modality than most Eastern methods. The Western approach is to clean the digestive tract through the physical removal of obstructions. The colonic, which washes out toxins from the large intestine, is one example. The use of Okra-Pepsin was highly recommended by great cancer doctor, William Kelley. When asked, “If you could only use one supplement what would it be?” Dr. Kelley replied Okra-Pepsin. This product “digests” the mucous coating off the walls of the small intestine and makes way for a much more efficient absorption of nutrients. Diatomaceous earth, which is comprised of millions of fossilized, microscopic sea creates, which are very hard and sharp, and can slowly scrap toxic build-up off the walls of the small and large intestine (without effecting live tissue). It also kills parasites. Cleansing methods in Ayurveda are generally more energetic in their action, designed to remove excess ama, or constitutional elements (such as air, fire, or water-earth) from the tissues and organs. (A primary physical methods used for the removal of toxic build-up in the stomach is emesis, or therapeutic vomiting. This is the fastest and most effective way to remove large amounts of toxic residue from the stomach. However, without the help of an Ayurvedic doctor this procedure can be difficult. For most people, a slow, gradual cleanse, through the use of digestive enzymes and herbs in the preferred).
Q & A
How large should my shake be? What is the optimal dose?
It all depends upon your digestive capacity and the amount of ama present in your system. Ama is the sticky, undigested food waste clogging up your system. If the digestion is good, if you have a healthy hunger, and little ama, then you can take the shake as a meal, with one-two cups of milk. If your digestion is sluggish, you might want to skip breakfast altogether and only drink lemon water (with ginger juice), distilled water, and/or some kind of digestive tonic, in order to try and increase the digestive power—and then have a small shake, using only one cup of milk.
I know people on cancer protocols who taking tons of nutrients and eating all day, with the hope of building up the body and compensating for vital deficiencies. Is this contra-indicated?
If your body is saying “no” to it—which means that you do not have a healthy appetite—then yes, it is contra-indicated. Most of those essential nutrients will be unassimilated and turn into waste. So, you may take two steps forward while taking three steps back. First cleanse the toxins (clear the channels), improve the digestive fire (which is essential for most food digestion and alchemy. “Food alchemy” is the essential change in vibration and other modalities which aligns the food with the “higher vibration” of the human body and allows it to be assimilated. Without the digestive fire (called agni) this vital transformation is not realized or remains sadly incomplete. All the nutritive foods you take will remain undigested and turn into sticky waste products—which the body must then labor to get rid of. Only after the restoration of agni, and the clearing of toxins, can the body can be built-up and “tonified”; at that point you can you use large amounts of tonifying substances—like milk, whey, bee pollen, nutrient-rich foods, etc. This is the right order of things. This is what we call dharma—and action is alignment with the natural course and rhythm of the universe.
>> More Information on the Management of Ama
The Fosube Shake is highly nutritive and tonifying; it is primarily composed of “dense” nutrients, including flax oil, royal jelly, whey protein, and bee pollen. These concentrated foods are slightly balanced by the addition of berries, which are lighter, however, the main action of the Fosube Shake is designed to build and tonify. If one’s digestion is sluggish (and if one’s digestive fire is weak) then the powerhouse foods of the Fosube Shake will not be fully digested, or assimilated, and they will leave a thick residual toxin, called ama. The presence of ama slows the operation of one’s whole system and further dampens the digestive fire, which leading to more ama (if a person continues to eat heavy, rich foods). So, if you eat the Fosube shake (which is a “heavy” dense food), while there are large amounts of toxic ama in your system, you will not realize the benefits of the shake and may even create more toxins. (This would also be the case true people following the Budwig Protocol, and eating large amounts of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese). If one’s digestion is low, and if ama is present in one’s system, then skimming the cream off the milk (and using low-fat cottage cheese) would be helpful. To use an analogy: if you have a weak fire, just barely going, and you add a lot of nice logs to it, then you will not get any heat. The logs will not burn and eventually you will just have to remove them. However, if you have a nice fire going, and then add logs, those logs will provide a good amount of beneficial heat.
The body must be free of ama and the digestive fire must be sufficient to fully transmute nutrients into useful energy. Before using the Shake Protocol in earnest (or any protocol which includes the use of heavy, oily, and nutritive foods, such as cottage cheese, flaxseed oil, or meat) the following steps should be taken:
1. Determine if toxic waste or ama is present in your system. This waste dampens your whole system, slows the efficacy of every organ, and blocks the proper flow of energy through the bodily channels. It also weakens the digestive fire, blocks the proper digestion and assimilation of food, and leads to an ever-increasing build-up of more ama. You can determine if amount of ama present by various signs: a) if your digestion is weak, if you don’t feel strong hunger, or if you feel bloated after a meal; b) if there is a white coating on your tongue, especially in the morning; c) if you have had a habit of over-eating, or eat large amounts of sugar, processed wheat, or processed dairy products you likely have ama.
If your digestive fire is strong and if ama is not present, then you can take the Shake, in large amounts, with predictably good results. If ama is present (and/or if the digestive fire is low) then you must correct these conditions before you can realize the full benefits from the Shake.
1. Go on an anti-ama or anti-mucus diet. This consists of light and cleansing foods rather than heavy and nutritive foods. The fastest way to clear out toxic waste and improve digestion is to go on a short fast (which is consistent with your constitution) until the digestive fire is rekindled, however this is not possible for most people. The same results can be obtained, over time, using a light diet and herbs.
2. To improve the digestive fire, take herbs (such as a combination of dry ginger, black pepper, and cayenne), or the Ayurvedic formula trikatu, and improve eating habits (by eating light, easily-digested foods, by avoiding heavy, processed foods, and by not overeating). Avoid foods which depress the digestive fire or clog the system especially wheat, processed dairy, large amounts of meat, etc. You can also take a full-spectrum digestive enzymes, and liquid HCL for interim assistance.
3. Cleanse the digestive systems of toxins using herbs and enzymes (such as Okra-Pepsin, Diatomaceous Earth, and/or herbal formulas, such as triphala). Bulking agents, such as psyllium seed husks, are heavy and can further lower the digestive fire. Taking N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) may help liquefy the mucoid toxins making it easier for removal. Colonics do not clean the entire digestive system but they may be helpful in helping clear out non-binding toxins. If digestion is low, always use heating herbs after taking a colonic. Sweating therapies, such as near-infrared saunas, or steam boxes, may be helpful. The Ayuvedic program of panchakarma is perhaps the best way to cleanse the system of ama, and restore digestive power, yet this method may be expensive (unless you are in India) and fully qualified practitioners are not easy to find.
Western vs Eastern Detoxification
Western cleansing methods are often different in modality than most Eastern methods. The Western approach is to clean the digestive tract through the physical removal of obstructions. The colonic, which washes out toxins from the large intestine, is one example. The use of Okra-Pepsin was highly recommended by great cancer doctor, William Kelley. When asked, “If you could only use one supplement what would it be?” Dr. Kelley replied Okra-Pepsin. This product “digests” the mucous coating off the walls of the small intestine and makes way for a much more efficient absorption of nutrients. Diatomaceous earth, which is comprised of millions of fossilized, microscopic sea creates, which are very hard and sharp, and can slowly scrap toxic build-up off the walls of the small and large intestine (without effecting live tissue). It also kills parasites. Cleansing methods in Ayurveda are generally more energetic in their action, designed to remove excess ama, or constitutional elements (such as air, fire, or water-earth) from the tissues and organs. (A primary physical methods used for the removal of toxic build-up in the stomach is emesis, or therapeutic vomiting. This is the fastest and most effective way to remove large amounts of toxic residue from the stomach. However, without the help of an Ayurvedic doctor this procedure can be difficult. For most people, a slow, gradual cleanse, through the use of digestive enzymes and herbs in the preferred).
Q & A
How large should my shake be? What is the optimal dose?
It all depends upon your digestive capacity and the amount of ama present in your system. Ama is the sticky, undigested food waste clogging up your system. If the digestion is good, if you have a healthy hunger, and little ama, then you can take the shake as a meal, with one-two cups of milk. If your digestion is sluggish, you might want to skip breakfast altogether and only drink lemon water (with ginger juice), distilled water, and/or some kind of digestive tonic, in order to try and increase the digestive power—and then have a small shake, using only one cup of milk.
I know people on cancer protocols who taking tons of nutrients and eating all day, with the hope of building up the body and compensating for vital deficiencies. Is this contra-indicated?
If your body is saying “no” to it—which means that you do not have a healthy appetite—then yes, it is contra-indicated. Most of those essential nutrients will be unassimilated and turn into waste. So, you may take two steps forward while taking three steps back. First cleanse the toxins (clear the channels), improve the digestive fire (which is essential for most food digestion and alchemy. “Food alchemy” is the essential change in vibration and other modalities which aligns the food with the “higher vibration” of the human body and allows it to be assimilated. Without the digestive fire (called agni) this vital transformation is not realized or remains sadly incomplete. All the nutritive foods you take will remain undigested and turn into sticky waste products—which the body must then labor to get rid of. Only after the restoration of agni, and the clearing of toxins, can the body can be built-up and “tonified”; at that point you can you use large amounts of tonifying substances—like milk, whey, bee pollen, nutrient-rich foods, etc. This is the right order of things. This is what we call dharma—and action is alignment with the natural course and rhythm of the universe.
>> More Information on the Management of Ama