The Body Rejuvenation Cleanse

In 1999, I wrote the first draft of The Body Rejuvenation Cleanse (BR Cleanse). At the time, I was working with a number of individuals struggling with a variety of intestinal issues. Candida Albicans was a dominant factor due in part to taking massive amounts of antibiotics for Lyme disease. Lyme was just beginning to be taken seriously in the northeast U.S., and consequently, undiagnosed cases had left individuals with debilitating health conditions. Unfortunately, the antidote for Lyme was large doses of Doxycycline, which brought with it serious digestive side effects. When counseling individuals in making dietary changes, I noticed how we, as nutritionists, held to the standard that going “cold turkey” was the best course of action. Not only was this extremely difficult for the individual to undertake, but it also caused stress to the body as a whole. My intention was to create a program that allowed for a slow transition from stress-causing foods to a balanced plant-based diet. The Body Rejuvenation Cleanse was the result.

The challenge I found was that many people had no experience with preparing whole grains, using natural sweeteners, or living without coffee, alcohol, or bread. In 1999, new “healthy” versions of refined favorites were just beginning to find their way into the marketplace, but we still had a long way to go. I decided to use the BR Cleanse manual in tandem with four live sessions over the course of five weeks. I prepared a full meal for each session demonstrating through delicious food and knowledgeable instruction the process of change. Cooking classes were offered on separate dates, and the BR Cleanse sessions were for learning and sampling new and different foods. In this way, lives were changed, sometimes in miraculous ways, which only confirmed my belief that optimal health is truly “all about the food.”