Practical detox guide: Intensive and maintenance

by for the Ageless Team October 12, 2025

After 8 weeks of calming the gut (step 1 in weeks 1-4), balancing the liver (step 2 in weeks 5-6), and cleansing your kidneys (step 3 in weeks 7-8), the intensive detox of week 9 (step 4) is a short, focused push to mobilise and remove stubborn, fat-stored toxins without overwhelming your system.

From week 10 onward, a simple maintenance (step 5) keeps you feeling lighter, steadier and more resilient.

Warning:

• Don't start here! These final steps only work when your exit routes are open: calm gut, flowing bile and well-filtering kidneys.
• If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, underweight, living with advanced liver or kidney disease, taking multiple prescription medicines, or have a history of eating disorders, skip the intensive week and work with your clinician on a personalised maintenance plan.
• Binders, such as activated charcoal and clays, can reduce drug absorption. Leave a clear gap of at least 2-3 hours between binders and any medicines.

Step  4 - Intensive detox (week 9)

Think of it as the final tidy-up after the deep prep work of weeks 1-8. You’ve reduced gut permeability, supported liver conjugation and encouraged kidney drainage. Now a short, plant-forward phase, supported by binders and fibre, helps what’s been loosened to leave the body cleanly, not to be reabsorbed.

The strategy is to mobilise, move, bind and eliminate toxins:

1. Mobilise by sweating and nourishing

You can sweat with the gentle heat of a sauna or a hot bath. Large studies link regular sauna use with better heart health, and reviews show sweat can carry small but measurable amounts of metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, especially when one stays well-hydrated.

Plants rich in polyphenols, such as green tea or berries, support circulation and the body’s own cleansing processes.

2. Move by moving and hydrating

Once compounds are mobilised, circulation is key to moving them through the body. Light, regular activity such as walking or gentle leg exercises helps the blood and lymph keep flowing, while hydration prevents things from slowing down. A short cool shower or rinse at the end can feel revitalising and may give an extra boost to circulation.

3. Bind toxins at the right time

As mobilised compounds circulate, binding them reduces the risk of reabsorption. Activated charcoal, chlorella or natural clays and minerals can serve this role when used carefully. Activated charcoal is best known for its use in emergency medicine, while chlorella and certain clays and zeolites have shown binding activity in smaller studies. These should always be spaced away from regular meals and medicines, and used with care to avoid depleting nutrients.

4. Eliminate with fibre and fluids

Finally, we need to ensure that bound compounds actually leave the body. This depends on your capacity for steady elimination: enough dietary fibre, adequate fluids and regular bowel habits. Soluble fibre (oats, beans, apples) and insoluble fibre (wholemeal wheat, bran, vegetables) both help bulk and speed transit, while bile flow is one of the body’s natural ways to pass certain compounds into the gut for exit. Keeping to these simple habits makes the whole detox process more effective.

5 practical ways to do this

1. Eat plant-forward meals

Build meals on colourful vegetables, pulses and whole grains: these supply fibre for elimination and a wide range of polyphenols that support the body’s natural defences.

To maintain a moderate digestive intake, aim for approximately 25 kcal per kg of body weight per day. For example, this translates to about 1,500 kcal/day for someone who weighs 60 kg.

2. Have a green juice daily

A simple green juice once daily (spinach, cucumber and parsley) brings chlorophyll, potassium and hydration in one go, helping to keep things moving.

Chlorophyllin has human data showing reductions in aflatoxin biomarkers (toxic compounds produced by certain moulds), just one reason ‘green' is helpful.

3. Visit the sauna or take a hot bath

A daily 20-minute sauna or hot bath, followed by a brief cold rinse, encourages circulation and promotes comfortable sweating.

Sauna sessions and hot baths should feel comfortable; exit or decrease the temperature if you feel light-headed.

4. Rotate binders

Alternate between activated charcoal, bentonite clay, chlorella and zeolite. Always space them well away from medicines and meals. Avoid products without certificates of analysis. 

5. Hydrate generously

Aim for up to 4 L/day if using the sauna and hot bath with heavy sweating, with ¼ tsp of sea salt and lemon per litre to help maintain electrolyte balance. Drink to thirst and aim for pale straw-coloured urine. The NHS advises 6-8 cups as a baseline.

Meal plan (example day)

Time	Meal, drink & movement	Why it helps
08:00	Warm water with a slice of lemon; gentle breath work or stretching	Rehydrate and wake lymph circulation slowly
08:30	Porridge with oats, ground flaxseed and berries	Soluble fibre, gentle slow-release energy and omega-3 precursors
10:00	Green juice: spinach, cucumber, parsley, small apple	Hydration, potassium and chlorophyll for liver support and mobilisation
13:00	Warm lentil and roasted vegetable salad with turmeric and lemon	Pulses for protein, veg for polyphenols and fibre
16:00	20-minute walk; sip water	Movement encourages micro-circulation before heat
17:00	Sauna or hot bath 15–25 minutes (comfortable) + brief cool rinse	Gentle mobilisation through sweat and circulation
18:30	Baked white fish or tofu, steamed greens and quinoa	Easy evening meal that supports digestion and repair
Throughout	Sip filtered water; aim for pale-straw urine	Maintains kidney flow and dilutes mobilised compounds

Plants supply polyphenols and fibre that help keep bile moving and “sweep” the gut, while lighter meals reduce the load on the bile and kidneys, so mobilisation never outpaces elimination.

Supplement & binder plan

Final thoughts

Detox done well is not turbo measures or extremes, but daily care and maintenance for the organs that quietly keep you alive and thriving. When the gut is calm, the liver clear, and the kidneys filtering well, the body finds its own balance and natural rhythm again. 

At for the Ageless, we’ve learned this through years of listening to customers, experts like Dr Pizzorno, the practitioners in our network, and by living it ourselves.

The body isn’t a machine to fix, but a living system that also carries burdensome emotions, which like toxins, can be processed and released. Treat it with patience and respect: real food, water, movement, rest and honest self-care will always do the deepest cleansing.

Now you're ready to incorporate targeted supplements like bioregulators, which support deep repair of particular organs and systems, including the liver, kidneys, and the stomach.

We conclude here the Practical Detox series, which you can revisit once or twice a year to keep in top form:

1. Gentle gut cleanse (Weeks 1-4)
2. Targeted liver cleanse (Weeks 5-6)
3. Kidney support (Weeks 7-8)
4. Deeper detox (Week 9)
5. Maintenance (Weeks 10+)

---

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

---

Also in Ageless Buzz - Healthy living blog