Remember Mary, who had many of the symptoms associated with gluten and dairy intolerances and how we were able to link her symptoms to congested lymph issues? Her chronic lymphatic congestion was directly linked to her food sensitivities, rashes, migraines, achiness and moodiness. Once we were able to remove the stagnation from her lymph, the litany of health concerns she had carried for years began to finally resolve. In this chapter, I want to share the lymph therapies that I used with Mary that are often required to eradicate the symptoms of wheat and dairy intolerance.
As you may recall, the lymphatic system starts inside the intestinal tract as lacteals within small finger-like projections called villi, whose function depends on the health and environment of the intestinal skin.
The intestinal skin and lymph are designed so that large proteins and fats are pulled off the intestinal tract into the lymphatic system, where they are processed by the immune system and lymph nodes that line the lymphatic system. Large, undigested proteins like casein and gluten, as well as fat-soluble environmental pollutants and toxins can also be pulled into the lymphatic system, like we saw with Mary.
If your lymphatic system is overwhelmed with large proteins (say, from gluten) and fat-soluble toxins, the lymph will congest and your immune system can become hypersensitive and overreact. This overreaction, or overzealous immune response, can result in something as simple as an allergy or something as complex as an autoimmune condition. In between these two extremes, we see a host of possible symptoms associated with lymphatic congestion as a result of improper digestion and the absorption of toxins into the lymphatic system. Lymphatic congestion can also back up the lymph flow from the brain. This congestion has been scientifically linked to inflammation, auto-immunity, depression and mood alterations.5-9
Classic lymphatic-related symptoms are joint pain, swelling, hives, eczema, inflammation, headaches, brain fog, stiffness in the morning, achiness, gas, bloating, digestive discomfort, anxiety, depression and chronic fatigue. Mary experienced almost all of these lymph-related concerns.
Everyone’s physiology is unique; we are all born with a unique blueprint, with its strengths and weaknesses. On top of that, our home, family and society contribute their influences that either further strengthen or weaken the digestion and the lymphatic system. It’s important to take some time and reflect upon what internal and external stressors you have been influenced by, and contemplate when these began—perhaps it was even stressors from in utero or childhood.
How you are digesting your food may be intricately connected to how you are digesting your life experiences and vice versa. In Chapter 14, entitled “Mind over Batter,” I will discuss these concepts further.
There is also new science that suggests our DNA has many switches attached to chromosomes, and they are either switched on or off.450 Researchers are now finding that these switches can be flipped on or off during our lifetime based on stress, as well as behavioral and environmental influences.451 So it’s important to be mindful of your lifestyle choices, as they are actually directly impacting your health and the way you digest.
The lymphatic system is a primary site for free radical damage, degenerative diseases, and accelerated aging. In addition to the blood, antioxidants like vitamin C, selenium, blueberries, pomegranates, and the long list of food-based antioxidants worked their anti-aging magic in the lymphatic system.
Groundbreaking research has linked accelerated aging to the breakdown of lymphatic vessels of the body. In particular, the lymphatic vessels that were linked to the degeneration and aging of the body were the mesenteric lymphatics, which line the intestinal tract. These lymphatic vessels are responsible for the lion’s share of the body’s immunity and are now shown to determine the speed in which we age.452
Both the gut-associated lymph on the outside of the large intestine and the mesenteric lymph that lines the small intestine is very vulnerable to toxicity. These lymphatics are also sensitive to stressors from inside the intestinal tract, which can express through conditions such as leaky gut or irritable bowel syndrome.
In this chapter, I will discuss the role of many lymph-movers and cleansers— antioxidant foods and herbs that will support optimal function of the lymphatic vessels lining the intestinal tract.
Let’s discuss the importance of hydration. Lymph congestion has been linked to states of dehydration and a host of gastrointestinal issues, including inflammatory bowel syndrome. Science is pointing to the congestion of intestinal lymphatic vessels that predispose the body to intestinal irritation and inflammation.215, 254
About 2/3 of the population are dehydrated, and the lymphatic system seems to be most affected by proper hydration levels.254 This is because the flow of fluid from inside the cell to outside the cell and into the lymphatic system all depends on osmotic pressures that are based on proper hydration.
The first lymphatic therapy technique is what I like to call “Hot Sips.” To accomplish this, boil purified water and carry a thermos throughout the day, drinking 2–3 sips of the plain hot water every 10–15 minutes throughout the day. Continue this for about 2 weeks. Once in a while, you can squeeze a little lemon into this water. You can still drink other beverages such as tea and juice. During the day, just make a point of sipping hot water as much as possible.
This is an Ayurvedic cleansing therapy that has been used for thousands of years to help improve lymphatic function and help the body detoxify. Sipping hot water has a vasodilation effect that helps to increase the circulation and the ability for the lymphatic lacteals to function. Hot water is said to help detoxify the body better, and in the same way you would use hot water to clean a pot or dish, cold water simply does not have the same effect. In addition, hot water seems to increase the molecular activity in and around the cells that have come in contact with it. It is said that if you were to pour cold water onto dehydrated leather, the water would simply run off of it. If you were to pour hot water onto dehydrated leather, it would soften, hydrate and clean the leather. I have used the Hot Sips therapy clinically for more than 30 years and still use it today because of its great effectiveness.
I always tell my patients to simply try this technique for 1 day. If you do not find yourself craving this hot water at the end of the day, you are likely not dehydrated. Most people find themselves craving the hot water. Of course it sounds terribly boring, but you would be amazed at how good it tastes and how good you feel when you start this rehydration therapy. Remember to use good quality, filtered and purified water.
In one study, sipping hot water was compared to cold water, and they found that hot water increases the speed in which the mucus passes through the respiratory tract. The cilia that line the respiratory tract contract about 20 times per second, and there are at least 200 of them per cell. It is the cilia’s job to keep impurities from infecting the lungs. With hot water sips, the cilia transport impurities up from the bronchioles and sinuses more quickly, to be either coughed up and out of the body or swallowed. Smaller toxins or bacteria that slip through the cracks of the cilia are picked up by the lymph that line the respiratory tract and are carried to lymph nodes to be purified. The hot water may also dilate the upper respiratory lining and support the efficiency of the lymph drainage there as well. The conclusion was that sipping hot water may be an effective tool to manage upper respiratory infections.453
Sipping hot water compared to cold water also helped folks with indigestion and difficulty swallowing as a result of slow esophageal contractions. If you suffer from indigestion or have difficulty swallowing and usually drink an iced beverage with your meal, you might consider switching from drinking cold water to hot water, herbal tea or even try room temperature water instead.454
The second part of the Rehydration Therapy called your “Daily Ounces” is to drink 1/2 of your ideal body weight in ounces of water each day for the 2-week period of time. The hot water that you drink counts toward your ounces of water (room temperature is best) that you drink each day. This formula usually puts you a little higher than the recommended 6–8 glasses of water per day. It is important during a lymphatic therapy to keep the body well-hydrated.
The final aspect of Rehydration Therapy is to rehydrate the lining of the stomach. One of the most common causes of tummy aches for children is that they are dehydrated. The stomach is lined with a bicarbonate layer that is designed to buffer the acids in the stomach. This bicarbonate layer is 95 percent water by weight.455 If the body and stomach are dehydrated, the stomach will simply not produce the acid required to break down and digest hard-to-digest foods like gluten and casein, as well as other hard-to-digest proteins.
This technique requires drinking about 12 ounces of room temperature water 15–30 minutes before eating a meal, which counts toward your Daily Ounces. This will allow the water to flood and then hydrate the buffer layer of the stomach. Then, when you start eating your meal, the stomach is prehydrated and completely willing to produce the needed acid required to digest just about anything. In one study, mentioned in Chapter 6, this technique was shown to improve digestion and increase weight loss and body mass index, simply by drinking water half an hour before you eat your meal.323
This technique is not to be confused with drinking copious amounts of water right before or with the meal. If you drink too much water either with the meal or right before the meal, you run the risk of diluting your stomach acid and actually weakening your digestive strength. The idea with regard to water before or with the meal is to drink just enough to create a soup-like consistency of the food inside the stomach. Again, much like the three little bears, it shouldn’t be too much and it shouldn’t be too little—the amount of water you drink has to be just right.
Rehydration Therapy is one of the most simple and profound ways to increase your digestive strength. It’s quite amazing how water can increase the production of your stomach acid, help break down hard-to-digest proteins in wheat and dairy and, in turn, stimulate the production of bile in the liver and digestive enzymes in the pancreas and duodenum. It is a requirement that all of these functions be coordinated, so that the proper digestive microbiology can flourish, wheat and dairy can be digested properly, and environmental toxins and pollutants can be broken down that would otherwise find their way into our blood, fat, lymph, and brain.23-27
Plants that were historically used as dyes—such as berries, cherries, beets, saffron and turmeric—were commonly used to stimulate the lymph, and are loaded with antioxidants. Blueberries,456 raspberries,457 and strawberries458 are all traditional dyes and well-documented antioxidants that support lymph function. The general rule of thumb is that if the food stains your fingers while eating it, it is likely a lymph-mover.
• Year-round, nature is providing foods that support lymph flow. In the spring, we see cherries, berries, and leafy greens harvested in abundance to support a natural spring cleaning in our bodies. The fluorescent green that consumes most landscapes in the spring reflects greens rich in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a powerful mover of the body’s lymph. Chlorophyll-rich spring greens are also required to repopulate the gut with a fresh source of beneficial microbes that impact most of the body’s functions.66
• These spring foods are predominately alkaline, which also supports the lymph flow of the body. Root veggies and herbs like turmeric (Curcuma longa), red root (Ceanothus americanus), manjistha root (Rubia cordifolia), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), nettles (Urticaria dioica), cleavers (Galium aparine), astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) and others, are all spring-harvested and are powerful cleansing herbs for the lymph. Red root, for instance, has been traditionally used by native people to support healthy lymph flow and to help reduce inflammation and swollen glands.459 Spring is the best season to alkalize the body with seasonal greens, and choosing alkaline foods during this season makes perfect sense.
• In the summer, there are more leafy greens and a variety of lymph-moving green veggies that are documented to increase lymphatic flow. Citrus fruits are loaded with vitamin C and flavonoids that support the integrity of the lymph vessels.460 Other summer harvest fruits like apples, berries, cherries, grape skin and seeds, are loaded with lymph-moving procyanidins.461
• In the fall, nature’s lymph-moving bounty includes pomegranates, beets, and cranberries, as well as another harvest of turmeric, dandelion, red root, and manjistha, queen’s root (Stillingia sylvatica) and ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) for a final lymph flush before winter. Spices like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, and black pepper are all great lymph-movers as well, as are seeds of flax and chia—but my favorite lymph-moving seed is fennel. These fall foods sustain us into winter, when nature’s growing season is mostly dormant because of the cold weather.
Eating fennel and drinking tea made from fennel seeds and nettle are traditional ways to move the lymph. As a tea, fennel is effective for gas and bloating, and also supports the function of the intestinal lacteals, which help absorb nutrients— and particularly fats.462 Fennel has also been shown to increase the white blood cells in the lymphatic system, thus supporting healthy immune function, and has been shown to be a powerful antioxidant and free-radical scavenger as well as an antimicrobial agent, protecting the gut against the proliferation of harmful bacteria and fungi.462
As I already mentioned, green leafy vegetables are highly alkaline, which support lymphatic drainage. A study in the journal Nature Immunology measured the effect of the proteins in leafy greens and cruciferous veggies on the innate lymphoid cells of the digestive tract, and found that they encouraged healthy lymphatic movement.463 (This is of note, because most people don’t usually think of green veggies for the importance of their proteins.) Innate lymphoid cells (ILC) are the immune-boosting cells that line the digestive tract and are responsible for protecting the body from allowing “bad” bacteria to proliferate. ILCs also help prevent undigested foods and toxins like gluten from passing through the intestinal wall into the lymphatic system.
These lymph cells that line the entire digestive tract are also believed to play an important role in controlling food hypersensitivities, unwanted weight gain, internal swelling, and the unhealthy proliferation of cells in the gut, so eat those greens!463
As I mentioned before, apples as well as other lymph-moving antioxidant-rich fruits like berries, cherries, cranberries, grape skins and seeds, and pomegranates are high in procyanidins. In one study, apple procyanidins were found to reduce or prevent immune disorders such as allergies and autoimmune diseases through the lymphatic system.461
Beets are a powerhouse of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-laden, liver-protective and anti-cancer agents that support healthy lymphatic function.452, 464
The combination of apples and beets make a great lymph-moving treat. These two, as we will see in the next chapter, are also my favorite bile-movers and bile-decongestants.
Enjoy this simple family favorite recipe of ours (kids love it!):
Apple-Beet Salad Recipe 
Ingredients:
• 1 organic red beet
• 1 organic apple
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
Directions:
1. Wash, peel and grate 1 organic red beet
2. Wash and grate 1 organic apple
3. Add the juice of 1/2 organic lemon
4. Toss thoroughly
5. Enjoy!
• Perhaps Ayurveda’s premier herbal lymphatic support is a root called manjistha (Rubia cordifolia, meaning “red root”). Classically used as a red dye, like its lymph-moving cousins mentioned above, manjistha is an herb I have been using clinically with great effectiveness for more than 30 years.
• In one study, manjistha was found to provide powerful liver support when the liver was exposed to higher levels of toxic chemicals. One mechanism by which manjistha was shown to do this was through boosting the production of glutathione levels. Glutathione is perhaps the body’s most powerful antioxidant.465
• In two other studies, manjistha was found to be a potent antioxidant, and in one study it even out-performed some classic antioxidants, including vitamin E.465, 466 Remember, antioxidants generally work their health-enhancing magic within the lymphatic system. Manjistha has also been shown to protect the good fats in the liver and lymph from lipid peroxidation, which is when good fats become bad fats within the body.465
• Turmeric, which is a well-known cooking spice, possesses an important but less well-known quality of lymphatic flow support, and has been shown to markedly reduce swollen lymph glands.467
• Turmeric also supports healthy lymph flow and has been found to significantly decrease the risk of cancer-related metastasis. The lymphatic system is the body’s highway for the immune system, and as we now know, many of the symptoms of gluten and dairy intolerance are simply due to congested lymph flow and an immune system stuck in traffic.468
• Turmeric also has been shown to increase bile flow from the liver and gallbladder, as well as maintain the integrity of the bile ducts that transport bile from the liver and gallbladder to the intestines, thus supporting our digestive ability.469 See Chapter 10 for more in-depth coverage of turmeric. Turmeric also supports healthy intestinal skin.
• Brahmi, otherwise known as Centella asiatica or gotu kola, is perhaps one of the most unique herbs for supporting healthy lymph flow and microcirculation as related to the classic signs of gluten and dairy intolerance. Most well-known for its support of cognitive function, new research has discovered lymph vessels that drain toxins from the brain that may explain why this herb is so useful for the brain fog and cognitive issues related to wheat and dairy.5
• Brahmi supports the health and repair of the skin cells that line the veins, lymph vessels and stomach, meaning not only is it helpful for balancing cellulite-related issues, it also supports healthy circulation of the blood and lymph, and healthy digestion to boot.470, 471
• Did you know that brahmi was traditionally used to increase the circulation of the brain? Now with the research pointing to the myriad ways it supports lymph drainage, cognitive benefits, and even the health of the skin of the stomach, it looks like it would be a great choice to boost digestive strength and resolve lymph-related symptoms that are so common in wheat and dairy intolerances.5, 470, 471
Tip: Brahmi is also a powerful herb for the skin, on both the outside and inside of the body; most importantly, the intestinal skin.
When I did my Ayurvedic training in India, we used to peel the white pith from oranges and pomegranates and dry and grind them. It was used as an Ayurvedic medicine for blood pressure. Healthy blood pressure depends greatly on good microcirculation and lymphatic drainage, or else pressure in the arteries can build up.
New research is showing that a flavonoid called diosmin—found in the pith or white part of the peel of certain citrus fruits like oranges—has a strong effect on moving and decongesting the lymphatic system. In fact, diosmin seems to affect all the circulatory drains of the body, supporting the healthy function, strength, and competence of the lymph, capillary and venous systems, and perhaps most notably affecting cellulite levels.460
Diosmin has been shown to support and prolong healthy venous tone when impacted by stress chemicals such as adrenaline or epinephrine,472 as well as support the circulatory system’s antioxidant systems.473-476 Further, placebo-controlled human trials support the use of diosmin for the maintenance of healthy metabolism, microcirculation, fluid balance on a cellular level and lymph system function, which are all linked to congestive conditions such as cellulite and many of the concerns related to food intolerances.477-481 With all these great health benefits, now there’s even more reason to eat your citrus—to support lymphatic health!
Tip: These lymph-moving herbs can be taken after meals, 3 times a day. The standard dose is 500mg or 1 standard “0”-size capsule.
Apple cider vinegar—often called “sour wine”—is created by a natural lactic bacteria fermentation process. When allowed to ferment naturally, as in most natural store-bought ACV, it is rich in acetic acid, yeast, and other beneficial bacteria that support our health and well-being. It is a classic pre-meal drink to increase the stomach’s HCl production and a great way to boost digestive fire. (More on this in Chapter 10.)
As a lymphatic tonic, ACV has been shown to stop the oxidation of fats and cholesterol in the body, as well as function as a powerful antioxidant for the lymphatic system.482 In one study, mice were fed a high-cholesterol diet, and the mice that took apple cider vinegar saw greater levels of blood and lymphatic antioxidants like vitamins A and C, as well as glutathione and other free radical scavenging agents. Other studies suggest it is useful for lowering blood sugar, beneficial for the heart, reduces infections and protects the gut wall from tumor formation.483
Add up to 1 tablespoon of raw, unfiltered, organic apple cider vinegar to a large 12 ounce glass of water 15–30 minutes before meals for best results. It will boost stomach acid production and bile flow while supporting the protection of the intestinal wall and better lymphatic circulation. Make sure you buy organic apple cider vinegar with the “mother,” which is a combination of natural yeast and acetic acid bacteria that have much to do with its medicinal properties.483 Braggs is one national brand of unfiltered organic apple cider vinegar we can recommend.
Many folks find that when they take ACV before a meal, they tolerate gluten better. And if they are feeling the effects of a gluten reaction, many report that ACV is a great remedy for those symptoms. Once again, an ounce of ancient wisdom with a pound of science makes a pretty awesome remedy.
The intent of nature was for us to eat more of the foods that are in season, as I described in Chapter 6. When there are obvious symptoms of lymph congestion related to the poor and incomplete digesting of wheat and dairy, emphasizing more of the alkaline foods on the list below, in conjunction with seasonal eating, is imperative. Eating more alkaline foods is scientifically linked to a reduction in inflammation, the boosting of immunity, increased energy, balanced digestion, and balanced weight.484-486
A good goal to strive for is to eat a diet that is 2/3 alkaline, based on nature’s changing bounty. The majority of alkaline foods are harvested in the spring and summer, while the acidic foods—more commonly the brown foods—are typically harvested in the fall for winter eating. Acidic foods warm the body and help rebuild and store some fat during the winter months. To accommodate the natural ebb and flow of seasonal foods and their respective microbiology, emphasize the alkaline list of foods in the spring and summer and the acidic food list in the winter.
While most experts agree we should all be eating a diet of 2/3 alkaline foods, this may be a difficult task for many people. As we heal and repair the intestinal skin and strengthen the upper digestion, it will become easier to be satisfied on lighter, more seasonal alkaline foods. In addition to the list below, please modify your seasonal food choices based on the seasonal grocery lists found in Appendix A.
|
ALKALINE FOODS |
ACIDIC FOODS |
||
|
VEGETABLES |
FRUIT |
MISC |
|
|
Alfalfa sprouts |
Apples |
Alcohol |
|
|
Beets & greens |
Apricots, fresh & dried |
Aspirin |
|
|
Broccoli |
Avocado |
Chocolate |
|
|
Brussel sprouts |
Bananas |
Coffee |
|
|
Cabbage |
Blackberries |
Eggs and dairy |
|
|
Carrots |
Blueberries |
Honey |
|
|
Cherries |
Niacin |
||
|
Celery |
Dates |
Mustard |
|
|
Collard greens |
Figs, fresh & dried |
Pepper, black |
|
|
Corn, fresh |
Grapefruit |
Meat, all |
|
|
Cucumbers |
Grapes |
Nuts, all |
|
|
Dulse |
Lemons |
Seeds |
|
|
Green beans |
Lychee nuts |
Soft drinks |
|
|
Green limas |
Limes |
Tea, black |
|
|
Green peas |
Mangoes |
Vinegar - distilled |
|
|
Green soy beans |
Oranges |
BEANS |
|
|
Kale |
Pineapple |
Chickpeas |
|
|
Kelp |
Nectarines |
Legumes |
|
|
Leaf lettuce |
Peaches |
Lentils |
|
|
Mushrooms |
Pears |
Soy, Tofu, Tempeh |
|
|
Mustard greens |
Raisins |
GRAINS |
|
|
Okra |
Raspberries |
Barley |
|
|
Onions |
MISC |
Bread |
|
|
Parsley |
Lima beans |
Cake |
|
|
Peppers |
Millet |
Cereals, all |
|
|
Potatoes |
Cider |
Corn flour |
|
|
Parsnips |
Maple syrup |
Corn starch |
|
|
Radishes |
Molasses |
Grains, except millet |
|
|
Rhubarb |
Oatmeal |
||
|
Sauerkraut |
Pasta |
||
|
Spinach |
Rice |
||
|
Squash |
Soda crackers |
||
|
Turnip greens |
Wheat bran |
||
|
Tomatoes |
Wheat germ |
||
|
Watercress |
Wheat products |
||
|
FRUIT |
Cranberries |
||
|
Plums & prunes |
Fruits - canned |
||
|
Yams |
FRUIT |
||
|
Cranberries |
|||
|
Plums & prunes |
|||
|
Fruits - canned |
|||
Every spring and fall, nature delivers foods that naturally support a healthy detoxification. In the spring, lymph-movers and antioxidant-rich foods like bitter roots, leafy greens, and some berries and cherries are harvested. These spring foods force the body into a natural fat-burning state and instigate a natural, timely detox. The spring harvest is naturally low in fat, which forces the body to burn its own fat. Since the body is inclined to store fat-soluble toxins from chemicals, preservatives, and the environment in our fat,23-27 the spring harvest presents the very best time for such a detox.
In the fall, at the end of summer, the body has accumulated an excess of summer’s heat and nature has designed a seasonal detox to help the body dissipate any excess seasonal heat. Antioxidant-rich berries and fruits are in season, as are root veggies like turmeric, dandelion, ginger, and others. Apples, pomegranates, and watermelons are all extremely cooling foods, as well as blood- and lymph-cleansing, making them the perfect seasonal antidotes to the accumulation of the end-of-summer heat.
In nature, if the heat is not dissipated from the body, it will turn into dryness. Come winter, the cold temperatures help offset the heat, but any dryness left over from un-dissipated summer heat is only exacerbated by the innate dryness of winter. Excessive dryness in the winter can cause the respiratory mucus membranes to dry out, and if neglected, the mucus membranes will compensate by producing excess reactive mucus. Both dry mucus membranes and excessive reactive mucus can compromise immunity, congest the respiratory lymph, and predispose the body to bouts of the cold and flu.
Eating as close as possible to the seasonal harvest offers natural protection from the ebb and flow of nature’s seasonal shifts, plus delivers seasonal microbes that help connect us to nature. The spring and fall are great times to help the body detoxify the lymph and liver with a home cleanse. Because of the sedentary nature of our modern culture, it is more important than ever to help support this seasonal cleansing process whenever possible. See Chapter 12 for instructions on how to perform a 4-day, self-guided, seasonal lymphatic and liver detox with a digestive reset at home.
Perhaps the most effective lymph-mover is exercise. An abundance of research tells us that the lymphatic system—which transports the immune system, processes toxins and delivers nutrients—moves primarily when we sleep,5 and when we move and exercise.487, 488 It is becoming clearer that toxins drain from the brain and central nervous system in the spine through tiny lymph vessels when we sleep.5 Yes, these lymph vessels are very small, which is why they have only recently been discovered, but that does not mean they are not important. In fact, they may be more important than ever thought.
These brain drain lymphatic channels, called glymphatics, have been found to drain up to 3 pounds of toxins like beta-amyloid plaque and other toxins from the brain each year. This is the equivalent of the entire weight of the brain in toxic waste every year.5, 489
When you combine the fact that the majority of humans are very sedentary compared to our hunter-gatherer ancestors who walked some 6–9 miles per day, according to Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman, author of The Story of the Human Body,257 modern humans are not getting adequate activity during the day to support the needed lymph movement for optimal health.
Even in the last 50 years, activities such as washing clothes, dishes, and numerous other physical activities have become automated. We, as a culture, have been moving less and less, and this trend towards less activity has only been compounded in our current informational computer age, where millions of people spend hours each day sitting perfectly still in front of a screen of some kind.
As a result, there have been less lymph-moving muscular contractions and physical activity going on, and our natural removal of toxins via the major lymph channels has been severely compromised. Our daily exercise-induced toxin and lymph detoxification then falls upon the micro-toxin lymph drainage that takes place during our sleep—and to compound matters, many of us are not getting adequate amounts of sleep.
These microscopic lymph vessels that drain the brain and nervous system while we sleep are not designed or qualified to keep up with the demands of our modern, sedentary lifestyle. The sleep cycle of lymph drainage was meant to detox toxins from the brain, not the body.
These microscopic lymph channels can easily become overwhelmed, and new studies have linked autoimmune conditions, inflammation, anxiety, depression, and many of the symptoms related to gluten sensitivities to the congestion of these microscopic lymphatic vessels.5-9
It is interesting to note that the largest circulatory system of the body, and the one that is emerging as the most important—the lymph16—pumps primarily via muscular contraction and exercise. This is one of the reasons that exercise supports cardiovascular health.490 Exercise has been shown to increase lymph drainage from the legs by 83 percent, suggesting that the key to taking the toxic stress off the lymphatic system is to exercise.491
Movement, exercise,487, 488 and deep sleep5—all of which our modern culture has trouble with—are the major lymph-movers of the body, and almost all of the gluten-related symptoms can be traced back to weak digestion, resulting in lymph congestion. Lymphatic fluid is not pumped from the heart like blood in the arteries and veins. Because the lymph drains back to the heart from the fingers and toes, flowing opposite the downward force of gravity, exercises that incorporate jumping are excellent for the lymph.
Lymph Tip: Jumping on a trampoline or mini-trampoline for just 10 minutes a day can have a profound effect on the lymph. Inverted yoga postures or anti-gravity hanging devices are also very effective for lymph flow.
The founder of Iyengar yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar, who lived vibrantly into his 90s, said that if he could boil all his success down to one yoga pose, it would be the headstand.492 Curiously, it is one of the most effective lymph-moving yoga postures, as are all the inverted yoga postures—forward bend, legs-up-the-wall, or other safe inverted postures can be effectively used for lymph-moving benefits. My favorite series of yoga postures that move lymph while boosting digestive strength is Surya Namaskara, or the Sun Salutation. I describe its profound benefits in Chapter 13, and you can find Sun Salutation instructions, with optional modifications designed for everybody, in Appendix D.
There is much more to discuss regarding exercise, the lymph, and how proper exercise can help reset your digestive strength. This is such an important topic that I have dedicated Chapter 13, “The Eat Wheat Workout,” to this topic.
Let’s recap all of the ways that we can support healthy lymphatic flow for optimal health and digestion.
• Sip 2–3 sips of hot water every day for 2 weeks, every 10–15 minutes.
• Drink half of your ideal body weight in ounces of room temperature water for 2 weeks.
• Drink 8–12 ounces of water 15–30 minutes before each meal.
• Look at the seasonal grocery lists in Appendix A and circle the foods for each season that you love. Give yourself permission to eat more of those foods.
• When trying to decongest the lymph, emphasize the alkaline foods and reduce the foods from the acidic foods list.
• Emphasize berries, beets, and colorful roots like turmeric, leafy greens, and seeds like fennel, chia and flax. Citrus fruits, including their pith, make great lymph-moving foods.
• Consider supplementing with herbs like manjistha, nettles, dandelion, turmeric, ocotillo, queen’s root, astragalus, red root, brahmi (also known as Centella asiatica or gotu kola), and fennel and nettles as teas.
• All exercise is good for the lymph. Rebounding and safely-performed inverted yoga postures are particularly beneficial for the lymph.
• See Chapter 13 for your lymph-moving, digestion-rebooting Eat Wheat Workout.
• Cleansing the lymph is Step 1 towards being able to digest wheat and dairy again. Step 2 is to reboot the upper digestion, which is the topic of Chapter 10.
Now that we have discussed how to support our lymphatic systems for optimal health and digestive function, let’s explore in Chapter 10 how to turn on the upper digestive system and start digesting wheat and dairy once again!