Exploring Liver Flushing with Elizabeth Wells

Connect with Olivia Haas:

https://www.gallbladderdiet.com

https://www.instagram.com/gallbladder.nutritionist/

For More Gallstones, Poor Gallbladder Function and Save Gallbladder Support:  https://gallbladderdiet.mykajabi.com/offers/qLGJ6JCY

Connect with Elizabeth Wells:

https://www.instagram.com/naturallywells/

Naturally Wells Liver Flushing Program:

https://calendly.com/naturallywells/yeast_flush_method?month=2025-09&fbclid=PAVERFWANCLGpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp31I75dY7wkTmD3Cn5wDm8rmsJW_saj6LFbIPx_yaea0-2W5_8YUqCncb8Yp_aem__0s8AJ06jpEE2Xva74bX1g

In this episode of the Gallbladder Diet podcast, host Olivia Haas and detox coach Elizabeth Wells delve into the interconnected topics of liver flushing, gut infections, and gallbladder health. They share personal experiences with health challenges, particularly focusing on the impact of candida on overall well-being. The conversation emphasizes the importance of bile flow in detoxification and the role of liver flushing in addressing chronic gut infections. Listeners are provided with insights into preparing for liver flushing and the significance of nutrition in supporting liver and gallbladder health. In this conversation, the speakers delve into the complexities of gallbladder health, liver flushing, and the individualized approaches necessary for effective treatment. They discuss the importance of understanding each person's unique health situation, especially in cases of gallbladder attacks, pregnancy, and histamine issues. The conversation emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to liver health, addressing not only the physical aspects but also the emotional and psychological factors that can impact digestive health. The speakers also clarify common misconceptions about liver flushing and provide insights into the process and benefits of a structured liver flush program.

Transcript

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Welcome back everyone to the Gallbladder Diet podcast. Today's episode is going to be a deep dive into kind of three powerful topics that are often overlooked but deeply connected and that's liver flushing, gut infections uh and gallstones. um I'm joined by Elizabeth who's a detox coach and nutritionist from the UK who has spent most of her life immersed in the world of nutrition. And she specializes in liver, gallbladder health, bioflow, gut dysbiosis, including conditions like SIBO and Candida, and brings a wealth of experiences conversation. So obviously you're listening to the Gallbladder Diet podcast. You may have heard about gallbladder liver flushing. um It is well known in the liver gallbladder flushing as a method to try to get rid of gallstones. um Elizabeth is specifically an expert in liver flushing. And so she's going to be telling us a little bit more about the power of liver flushing beyond gallstones. But we're going to incorporate in a little bit of gallbladder health as well in case you are in your uh journey of your gallbladder trying to save your gallbladder and you're ready to dabble into liver gallbladder flushing to try to save your gallbladder. So welcome, Elizabeth. We're so happy to have you here today. Thank you so much, Olivia. Thank you for inviting me. Yes, of course. And Elizabeth has spoken in the past in my Gala Savior Sighting membership. She's a wealth of knowledge. um And so I know she's going to bring a lot to today's episode as well. So to get started, can you tell the listeners a little bit more about you and why you became so passionate about liver flushing? Sure. So um I guess my story starts with personal experience. I was chronically sick from quite an early age. um I just had quite a poor immune system. I was always sick. um And then I started to react to certain foods, including gluten and sugar. And I had a lot of mental and emotional symptoms as well that were connected to this. And, I grew up in the eighties, you know, my mom cooked a mainly whole foods diet, but processed and ultra processed foods did start to kind of creep into the diet around this time. So, you know, I maybe had, you know, more sugar than I should have. I probably also, I think had repeat antibiotics for various things, ear infections, chest infections, and Um, yeah, I was always kind of hungry, always had kind of, um, quite extreme food cravings. So I kind of discovered through my mother really, who also had candida overgrowth, that that's what we had. And she put us on a candida diet and really from the age of 15, it sort of snowballed and, I had to, you know, stick to this candida diet, which was quite a, a kind of new approach. to a dietary approach to sort of healing intestinal issues at that time. There wasn't a wealth of information that we have now. um And I just felt that as I grew up, you know, and I, you know, developed periods and things um that my candidus symptoms kind of got worse and worse. And eventually it led to, you know, a degree of sort of burnout and uh yeah, it kind of blighted my life. It sort of, you know, um dictated what I could and couldn't do. um I also kind of had adrenal fatigue. And so it just led me down a rabbit hole trying to solve, you know, my health issues for a long, long time. And, you know, I tried this diet and that diet, like you do with candida. You know, most kind of approaches to do with candida are to do with, you know, going on a candida diet, a low carb diet and treating your symptoms with antifungals. But ah I just, tried all the diets. I tried all the antifungals. I kind of was immune to all of them. So nothing really sort of moved the needle for me. ah And then a chance encounter with a remark on CureZone, which was this website that people used in the early 2000s to kind of research natural approaches to health. talked about liver flushing and I realized that I'd just been trying to kill an organism that was there to clean up the waste that was in my body and I had a sluggish metabolism and I needed to kind of tackle it from that point of view. So that's what I started to do and I made huge strides in my health. It wasn't always easy. I had many setbacks, which was kind of how I came to be in this field because I had to really hack the process time and time again. But yeah, liver flushing was a real game changer for me and I became very passionate about it and passionate about helping other people. I kind of retrained, became a nutritionist and started to kind of enter the detox space of coaching. And that's where I am today. Yes, and it's pretty cool if you ever, which I recommend following uh Elizabeth on Instagram and Naturally Wells because she has so many photos of liver flushing and its effects with gallstones or even getting rid of yeast. And it's just amazing to me. And I relate so much to your story with Candida too, because my gallbladder journey started with Candida and it started with doing candida protocol, adrenal fatigue, dealing with all those symptoms. And I was put on an ancestral-based diet. But a problem that a lot of practitioners don't address when you go on an ancestral-based diet or like a high-fat diet to get rid of the candida, is the idea that it'll starve the bacteria. Your biliary system, your liver, your gallbladder are sluggish. It will really slow things down. And that's what happened to me is I went on this like ancestral higher fat diet to try to get rid of candida. And fast forward six months, I was constipated. So I was causing all these toxin buildup in my body because I was doing these kill protocols. And then I started getting gallbladder attacks and um it was just like very eye-opening to me. And I still to this day, I'm like, oh, when I'm done with my postpartum years, I'm going for sure get into, I miss liver flushing. I only got to do one before having my first son, but it is definitely something that I want to dive into. And I've done Elizabeth's liver flush program. And it's on a different level from what you would read on the internet. There's just a lot of preparation into it, a lot of thought out process to make sure that your drainage and detox pathways are optimized before so you have success. So when you go on her page, it's just amazing to see the type of flushing that's done. And usually anyone that's had dead flushes, I usually send your way because I'm like, she knows what she's doing. You just got to do it. So. When it comes to candida and liver flushing, and Elizabeth will talk further about this, but this is where liver gallbladder health really come into play with getting rid of gut infections like candida. And I wish I had known this about my journey a long time ago, but it took me struggling with gallbladder issues and gallbladder attacks to be like, this is a big piece to this puzzle that needs to be fixed. So it's quite fascinating. ah Now, your history with Candida, can you talk a little bit about, some listeners are not necessarily familiar with Candida. what are, can you give us a little bit of background about it and some symptoms that typically people kind of manifest when they're struggling with it? Sure. So candida is part of the ecosystem of a healthy gut. So there's never a situation you can get to where you have zero candida and there's different types of candida as well. Candida albicans is the most common one. So that's what we're really talking about when we refer to candida, but it is, you know, it's basically, you know, a commensal yeast in the sense that it has kind of, um you know, a place in the ecosystem along with, you know, bacteria. phages, for example, and um it plays a role in eating up waste, the body's natural recycling of dead tissue, et cetera. There's various things that can make candida more aggressive. Usually the number one cause is antibiotics. um Along with that, can be chronic stress, anything that damages the gut. um It can be to do with perhaps a very um extended or aggressive vaccination schedule. ah If you have any kind of immune suppression, that is another big one. So for me, I had kind of adrenal fatigue as well. So I think I had kind of a weakness in that area. um And it essentially can kind of grow out of control. The thing is, is there's a lot of kind of talk out there about, you know, the terrain and, you know, the fact that, you know, parasites are, you know, only there to sort of clean up the waste and that they don't in and of themselves necessarily cause any harm. But candida is actually not like that. It can actually become very aggressive in the right, given the right circumstances. And it does actually change the intestinal um environment quite quickly. um And if you add into that, like your situation you're talking about, if you add into that deficiency of digestive secretions, for example, what I call the gatekeepers of digestion, everything from your saliva to your stomach acid to your pancreatic bicarbonate to your biliary system, if that is clogged, ah if that is insufficient, if that is just not working optimally, if you've got inflammation that's affecting the kind of viability of those secretions, then candida will kind of get the upper hand. It also doesn't stay in one place. So it was originally thought that it sort of just inhabits the colon, but it doesn't. It kind of migrates upwards, up the digestive, you know, kind of canal as it were into the small intestine. And from the small intestine there, from there it can colonize the biliary ducts. um And so it can be very aggressive and it changes the intestinal environment to favor its growth. So given the right conditions, um it can mutate into what's called its filamentous form, which is where it sort of has these tentacles. It can penetrate um the intestinal wall and that's how it kind of mutates. It kind of poos out a lot of toxins and that's what can also um kind of increase your inflammatory response and that can further exacerbate leaky gut. So, you all the toxins tend to, you know, go through the leaky gut wall into the bloodstream and from there they can cause brain fog. They can also cause a feeling of feeling drunk. So they produce all sorts of toxins, mycotoxins, ammonia, acetaldehyde. The yeast uses these toxins to alter the pH in its environment, so it will be more alkaline um and then it further allows it to colonize. um So it can cause anything really from digestive issues like uh poor um digestion, bloating, gas, fermentation. So it will slow down the digestion of food through the intestinal tract. um It can cause skin issues, rashes, a lot of um genital and urinary tract infections. So anything from thrush, jock itch, to UTIs, to the common athlete's foot, for example, or fungal toenails. um It's very, very unpleasant. It can um cause problems with uh your period. ah It can mimic estrogen. So in a way it raises estrogen and can make you more estrogenic and it can alter the hormonal cycle in that way. And so that of course exacerbates uh gallbladder issues and makes you estrogen dominant. um It can make you crave, you know, sugar, absorbed carbohydrates. uh to kind of feed it. um And that in itself causes a lot of misery because sometimes it can feel like people have an insatiable hunger. They don't know how to sort of satiate it and that can lead to sort of binge eating. And then of course there's all the kind of neuro-inflammatory m sensations or symptoms like brain fog. cognitive function issues, it's even been related to things like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. So it has far reaching effects and it's unfortunate that doctors tend to sort of minimize its effects because actually when your biliary ducts become blocked with this stuff, it's really difficult to just route it out through diet alone. And most people I see along the liver flushing journey, whether they've been diagnosed with Candida or not, will start to see Candida in their flushes because it's in there causing issues, it just hasn't been diagnosed. Yeah, it's so interesting. I'm dealing with obviously gallbladder clients and then having a history of Candida myself. um I see it all the time. And it's, I would say it definitely gets worse in individuals without a gallbladder. And it can often be a big culprit for a lot of post-colloctesectomy symptoms. And the thing is, is that Candida can also really impact your liver gallbladder health. And this was something I learned. on my journey too with postpartum being diagnosed with fatty liver. So can you talk a little bit about how this can impact the biliary system too? Yeah, so it will cause mitochondrial damage um and it can cause uh liver sort of inflammation and biliary duct inflammation. It causes a lot of free radicals. know, Candida produces a toxin called acetyldehyde, um which increases production of free radicals. um It could also use up your antioxidant system. So for example, things like, you know, glutathione. You have an increased demand for these antioxidant enzymes, increased demand for nutrients such as zinc, example, selenium, manganese. em And so when it starts to colonize the, say the small intestine, and it produces these toxins, these toxins then travel back through the gut wall into what we call the enterohepatic circulation, which means they are reabsorbed through the hepatic portal vein back into the liver. So the liver really has to work extra hard in order to mop up what's happening in the gut. And when the liver ends up slowing down or becoming inflamed or clogged up with these mycotoxins, it's a chicken and egg situation because then it stops being able to produce so much bile. The bile is literally not getting through the sludge and the gallstones and the intra hepatic stones. And therefore, it's not able to do the job that it should of controlling the microbial overgrowth. Because essentially that's why people who have a gut overgrowth tend also to have gallbladder and liver problems is because there is a kind of reciprocal relationship between the gut and the liver. And so the liver becomes like a satellite gut. It has to mop everything up. And you you've got liters of this stuff of these endotoxins, lipopolysaccharides, mycotoxins, going through the digestive system many times a day because the body is very conservative at recycling bile. So it's being recycled 12 to 15 times a day. And so, you know, unless this bile is being eliminated and being pulled out of the body in the form of a stool, it's just getting reabsorbed. So, you one of the first things you have to do to help out the liver is just look at what's, you know, how well the colon is functioning, for example. So what can we do to open drainage so that the liver is not constantly being burdened by these, these micro toxins, because everything that happens there means the liver gets compromised. Um, so yeah. Yeah, it's definitely interesting. So one of the things that you had found with your journey of doing liver flushing and why it was so crucial to come over uh or get over chronic gut infections, Candida, was through bio flow stimulation. And so any listeners that aren't familiar with when we're saying bile, bile is a substance produced by your liver and it stores and concentrates in the gallbladder, if the gallbladder is present. And the bile is used to help us digest down fats, but it's a form of detoxification and drainage from the body. And this is one thing that Elizabeth keeps referring to is that bile helps us move those toxins out um as long as we're having frequent stools. So you found that through liver flushing, because liver flushing stimulates so much bioflow and it clears up the biliary system between the liver, gall butter, um, and moving sludgy bile out that it helps you overcome gut infections after years of struggling. So can you explain a little bit about bioflow and why you really found it to be a crucial step to overcome chronic gut infections? Cause I really feel like this is a big piece that a lot of people miss when they're struggling with a lot of digestive issues is not addressing their digestive output and specifically bile, stomach acid. and it makes a huge difference. It really does. Yeah. So I think it's, I think it's because we've sort of pursued this narrative for many years to say, well, you know, we have to sort of kill off the candida. We use, you know, we kind of use these terms like killing it off or starving it or whatever. and I don't know, it's like the two pieces of the puzzle are not kind of meeting in the middle in the kind of mainstream narrative around it because We understand what bile does in terms of being this very important digestive fluid, but its role as the body's kind of antimicrobial, you know, cleanup system seems to, I mean, it's there, you know, if you go digging around in the literature, you know what you're looking for, you can find it. But for some reason, it's just not part of the narrative around candida. Like I passionately believe that our bodies are designed to take care of overgrowth ourselves. That's why we have these amazing digestive secretions. But when they break down and when you've also got a pathogenic overgrowth at the same time, it's like you have to move both things at the same time. You can't just do one or the other. um And biofilms, for example, are one of the main reasons why candida overgrowth is so hard to beat. So, you know, if you just use conventional antifungals, um you can't always reach those places where candida has sort of, you know, evolved this protective kind of solution to avoid the immune system. But the thing is, bile is brilliant at being able to sort of move through the entire digestive system. and just, you know, wash these microbes out and it will wash out whole colonies uh of, you know, pathogens. know, Candida has evolved a very strong defense system, for example, em to enable it to adhere to the gut wall. um I think it's called Candida lysin and, you know, bile just comes in and when you've got enough bile, it just literally peels this stuff off the gut wall. And so we have, you know, liver flushes that are the kind of the main method that we can use to start kind of escorting this waste out of the body. But in between doing liver flushes, you can't obviously liver flush every day because it's, know, otherwise you'd end up in a state of enormous depletion. So what I guess I've evolved is just, you know, and you as well in your practice, what we emphasize is the bile stimulating this amazing digestive fluid in your body is something that needs to be done daily, because it helps everything. It helps you digest your food, it helps you break down your food, it helps you absorb fat soluble nutrients, it helps you go to the toilet and it helps escort excess hormones, excess environmental toxins, excess internal metabolic waste out of the body. So that's what I teach, I know that's what you emphasize as well, that bioflow is the missing piece for a lot of people. Once they start focusing on that, they make big leaps forward in their health. Yep, definitely. And we'll talk about some strategies to support bio flow. Sometimes it goes beyond just diet, lifestyle change. It's trying to understand why is the liver producing oversaturated bile? Why is the gallbladder not contracting, releasing out the bile? Sometimes in individuals that have more gallstones and gallbladder dysfunction. that bioflow can be impaired. And that's why it opens the door for gut infections like Candida and SIBO. And you see this all the time. That's why sometimes I always tell people it's like, you know, when you look at trying to consider gallbladder surgery or not, it's helpful to look at what type of symptoms you're experiencing because sometimes it's very common when you have history of gallbladder problems, whether it's gallstones or gallbladder dysfunction, because of that impaired bioflow. there's a high chance some of your other digestive issues may or may not be necessarily related to the gallbladder itself, but the poor bio output has opened the door for things like SIBO and Candida. And these issues unfortunately don't go away post-surgery. this is a big thing I work with a lot of my safe gallbladder clients on is like, what are our symptoms? Is there other signs of gut dysbiosis going on because of the impaired bioflow that's occurring? So it's definitely interesting and it is a big, it was very eye-opening to me even in my journey learning this more and more and learning about like having my history of uh failed gut protocols because I had a poor functioning gallbladder the whole time, but it was never addressed. So it's really, really important that when you talk about chronic gut infections that we're assessing your liver gallbladder health too. So. um Anyone that's listening that isn't, we talk about liver gallbladder flushing um and some people are very familiar with it because fortunately we have the internet at our fingertips now. um Can you give, just as we segue a little bit into more specific gallbladder, can you give a little brief overview of what liver flushing is for any listeners who aren't familiar with it? So liver flushing is, we think it's probably based on an old Ayurvedic protocol, but nobody seems to be quite sure. It was popularized by Haldaclar and Andreas Moritz in the 1980s and used by them. And then Andreas Moritz wrote a book about it, which you can still get. And if anyone is serious about, you know, looking further into liver flushing, that's always where I suggest you start. And it's called The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush. by Andreas Moritz. um And essentially it is a protocol that uses a source of malic acid like apple juice or apples or something like that to soften up uh the cholesterol deposits in the biliary ducts. um And uh then you do that for a few days. You eat a kind of non- liver-congesting diet. uh And then on the sixth or seventh day, you kind of fast for part of the day. And then you take Epsom salts. Epsom salts help to open and relax and dilate the liver ducts so that any stones can be passed painlessly and without um getting stuck. ah And then you drink um olive oil, mixture of olive oil, grapefruit and lemon juice um in the evening. and then you lie down and relax and these stones and sludge and kind of billiardy obstructions pass in the night. um And that's kind of it. There's more to it than that, but um that's essentially the protocol. Yes, and Elizabeth has a ton on her Instagram. Like I said, she's got a wealth of testimonial photos if you're open to looking at that about people releasing out the yeast and gallstones. It's quite interesting. So if someone wants to do liver gallbladder flushing to whether they're trying to work to save their gallbladder or possibly they have history of chronic gut infections and can relate to a lot of your history, What do you suggest they do to start prepping? Okay, um the most, the kind of key first step, if you like, is to just kind of look at your diet and take out potentially kind of inflammatory foods or foods that kind of place a sort of extra burden on the liver. So kind of top of the list would be, for example, uh fried foods, particularly kind of foods high in kind of seed oils or inflammatory oils. Sugar, refined sugar is a big one. Any kind of ultra processed foods, white flour, example, gluten can be a problem for some people. Dairy can be a problem if they've got a gut infection, can be an issue. They might not need to take it out for good, but they might need to take it out kind of temporarily and just kind of concentrate on, you know, as far as they can kind of a whole unprocessed diet. Lagoons can be helpful if they can tolerate legumes and beans, just because they're a brilliant kind of edible binder that really helped to kind of mop up toxic bile and carry it out of the gut. And then they can start with, you know, gentle kind of bile flow methods. So just, you know, incorporating bitter and sour foods into their diet. um And then I kind of have a range of, you know, different teas, different drinks. um So you would introduce something kind of rich in malic acid. So you could eat apples. Drinking apple juice is not a popular one, especially if you're dealing with people who have candida overgrowth. So tart cherry juice is an example or unsweetened cranberry juice are both very high in malic acid. And then you can start with things like bitter teas, chancapiedra, dandelion, fenugreek, um what we call kind of cholagogues. and choleretics, kind of things that help the liver to make more bile and the gallbladder to sort of empty, empty bile. So we work on those and there are various different things that you can include to sort of help digestion. And then just like looking at little kind of, you know, opportunities to kind of rectify any kind of stop gaps or kind of, sorry, roadblocks in the digestion, for example. So what's happening with the stomach acid. you know, is somebody getting bloated very quickly? You know, how can we improve digestion um so that the liver, so the body can start to break food down more efficiently and then the liver has less work to do when it comes to doing a liver flush. So it's just kind of preparing the way for better, to optimize digestion and just start, you know, breaking down those deposits in the liver so they can be passed more easily. Yes, definitely. And doing things to support the bioflow, like you said, really helps before for many reasons. One is to help with getting our bowels moving, which if you deal with liver gallbladder issues, sometimes we can lean more constipated and that puts a lot of pressure on the liver gallbladder. I know firsthand I've had a lot of gallbladder pain and attacks because I was constipated. So bitter foods, like you said, are a big game changer. I have two herbal teas uh from gall butter formulas, one that's a gallstone tea that's combined shankapyadra with coleretics, colagogues, and one that's specifically a bioflow tea that are great to kind of incorporate in within the diet um with bitter foods, like you suggested. Bitter foods, I'd say, were a game changer um on my journey to save my gall butter. And now it's interesting because I crave them, and I can usually tell when my liver or gall butter is talking, but... they really, really help with a lot of symptoms and you mentioned soluble fiber too. So beans, legumes, if you're able to handle those, those are great things to start to bring into PrEP. Yeah, they really, really do. A lot of times we don't consider nutrition practices, but I do think m getting in the foundation within the nutrition piece is very helpful before. diving into liver gallbladder flushing because it almost becomes a lifestyle in my opinion versus it just being like an overnight fix. So do you find it, do you usually recommend that people jump into liver flushing or liver gallbladder flushing on their journey? um Or do you suggest they take some of these like prep steps beforehand? So it depends and it can be, it's all kind of on an individual basis because if somebody, for example, has um gallbladder, an irritable gallbladder and they're prone to gallbladder attacks, you have to, there are some parts of the prep you can't necessarily do straight away. So, for example, different sort of things like fats or using phosphatidylcholine, you have to be a bit careful. Because you want to promote bile flow, you don't want to trigger a gallstone attack. So you might have to just work on adding in bitter and sour things, using something like apple cider vinegar if they tolerate it. um Or kind of maybe introducing digestive enzymes. Vitamin C is also correlated with kind of reduced, better bile flow and fewer gallstones. So any kind of nutritional deficiencies that they might be presenting with. And then, you know, there are some people who don't have those issues, um have, you know, candida symptoms, but they might not have traditional kind of gallbladder, you know, the kind of common gallbladder symptoms. And they're sometimes people who just want to, you know, get started fairly quickly, I would say. And then there's a third category of people who are very, very sick, very sensitive, um and who may also feel very overwhelmed easily. And they're sometimes the client who has lots of things going on, like so many different things going on, and they have a lot of brain fog. And of course it's difficult because the brain fog, you know, is often coming from their gut. but you have to work with what you've got um and you can't overwhelm people. So some people are really ready to go, they're like, what do I need to do? They go away and they do it and they just get going. Some people you will work with for weeks and you might just need to work on the nervous system because actually they've got so much stress going on um and so many kind of negative thoughts, negative habits. you kind of need to work on those a bit. So I really like working with EFT as well, like tapping, energy techniques, just to kind of calm down the nervous system. Because of course, you you and I both work with and understand how stress impacts the gallbladder as well. And when you've got, you know, a really stressed out person, that digestive system is going to respond. And sometimes, you know, you could do a liver flush with them. and know that they're not necessarily going to respond very positively or they're not going to have very good success. And then also there are some people who present so strongly with uh candida or SIBO dysbiosis issues that you need to work with them on a kind of uh bioflow protocol and also start introducing some kind of kill protocol because sometimes people just can't flush successfully because they've got too much biofilm or yeast in their liver duct. And so that was the case with me. That's why I had so many dud flushes. And that's why I developed, you know, whole emphasis on kill protocols, working alongside liver flushing so that you can really empty the, you know, loosen whatever's blocking the ducts and then flush it out. And those two things work really well together. Yeah, that makes sense. em I have a couple of questions from the community about liver gallbladder flushing that I want to kind of ask you. We chatted a little bit about this. um If someone is symptomatic with gallbladder attacks, in the past, I've always kind of been cautious about segueing them into liver gallbladder flushing right away. I usually try to bring down the inflammation first. but you have seen uh liver gallbladder flushing effective in certain situations like this to break down the inflammation faster, correct? did have a, so I had a client who was a frequent traveler and he was flying all around the world having gallbladder attacks and this was really causing him such distress. And he'd be, you he would contact me and he'd say, well, I've got to fly here. I know I'm going to have a gallbladder attack. And he was having gallbladder attacks in his hotel room and really trying to avoid having to go to hospital, you know, as an emergency patient. And we got him through it. It was amazing really. We just kind of worked on, you know, quite, I suppose, quite a limited low fat diet. um of apples, you know, lots of beets, lots of bitter foods, fairly low fat. um And then just, you know, did that to just kind of reduce the kind of hair trigger nature of these gallbladder attacks, introduced lots of beans as well. So he was eating beans all the time. And then. he would just flush and I think he was flushing, you know, once every few days, which is not a normal situation, but he knew that if he didn't, he was going to have another attack. So he just kept hitting it hard and eventually the gallbladder attacks just stopped and he was able to enjoy the rest of his time. He had to still be vigilant, but sometimes when people have got having repeat gallbladder attacks, it's because there's an enormous amount of sludge and stones. that's there and the flush will move some of that out, but it's not going to move all of it in one go. So you've just got to keep, sometimes more frequent flushing works better than just letting somebody suffer for weeks, waiting for some arbitrary timeframe where actually they're in a lot of discomfort. So for acute symptoms like that, you can actually flush more frequently, get through the hump and then you can sort of relax a bit and Yeah, it's individual really, but yeah. makes sense. What about with pregnant and postpartum moms? I know we get asked this quite a bit. Yeah. Dabble in liver flushing. No, not really. It's really tricky. think my rule of thumb is also because it's such a kind of delicate stage of life and it's so important to be nutritionally replete, be filling yourself full of nutrients. If you're breastfeeding, for example, and your fat soluble vitamins and things like that, you don't really want to be discharging a lot of bile. And also if you're pregnant or you're breastfeeding postpartum, you're going to release a lot of toxins after a liver flush. And yes, we work with binders, we work with water enemas, we make sure we try and get as much toxicity out, but it's inevitable that some of it's going to recirculate. And so you don't really want that happening when you're either carrying, you're pregnant or you've just given birth. I would say my rule of thumb is if you want to do it and you're breastfeeding, you wait until the baby is a bit older. Your hormones have settled down, you know, at least six months really after birth. And if your baby will take a bottle for sort of 24 or 36 hours, there are ways around it, but I can't sort of, you know, recommend it. And I would say kind of, you know, the usual caveat supply is it's not suitable. for pregnancy or immediate postpartum, has to be after a period of recovery. Yeah, that makes sense. Especially during the postpartum period, it takes a bit for the body to recover. Exactly. So it is good to hold onto it. What about, you know, dealing with a lot of gallbladder clients, you see a lot of histamine and mast cell um be big issues. And this can all be related back to the bioflow and gut infections. Do you find the liver, and I know you've had a history of this as well. So did you find the liver gallbladder flushing healing in that way? Yes, I mean, it can also flush out. you know, I've always, I'm always trying to sort of be transparent about the process. It is not without side effects. you know, you will, you do have to go through a bit like, you know, sort of uh a geologist, of going through sort of a rock face. You know, you've got like, the rock face will tell you about the history and will reveal to you what's happened in a particular time. When you liver flush, you're essentially revealing layers of your own history and you have to sort of relive those to a certain extent. So the liver flush will also sometimes flush out toxins that can cause a histamine reaction. And so for some clients it's quite difficult. So if they have a really kind of serious em MCAS type problem and they can't have citrus, em that is quite tricky. And there are some kind of aspects of the prep that won't be suitable for them. Sometimes there are ways around it or sometimes they will just do the lemon juice and the grapefruit juice for the flush, but they won't do it for the prep, for example. So it depends how severe it is, but it's chicken and egg because the thing is, if you don't do it, and you're really miserable suffering with this MCAS issue, you're not necessarily going to get over it unless you do fly. Yeah, it's really hard. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Have you worked with any overactive or underactive gallbladders? So what we call like biliary or gallbladder dyskinesia when it comes to flushing. Um, yes, I'm sure I have. I don't know whether they all have kind of official diagnoses, but yes, I'm pretty sure that most of my clients, you know, will have some of those issues. We've also, you know, we also have clients who've got a bile acid malabsorption, for example. So they have, you know, this problem where their guts are very inflamed. And they've got, you know, maybe a kind of bile acid diarrhea situation going on, but usually that's connected to an inflamed microbiome. Flushing is not going to make that situation worse. So, I mean, it's, it's, it's like in the short term, it can cause a little bit of irritation because you're taking up some salts and you've got all this bile flushing, but it's not long-term going to ah make that situation worse. If anything, it always improves the microbiome. it always starts to, because it changes the microbial composition of the gut. And we have to remember that the microbiome is responsible for changing primary into secondary bile acids, and that if you don't have the right kinds of gut bacteria, you might find that you're not able to transform bile acids into secondary bile acids. And that can be problem because they are really important for all sorts of processes in the body, including absorption, metabolism of uh nutrients. um And that is essentially a step in your microbiome, a healthy microbiome. So over time, when you do liver flushes, you will flush out the waste. more sensitive or more vulnerable bacterial species can start to repopulate the gut. And then a lot of those issues with, know, bile acid malabsorption or bile acid diarrhea start to calm down. Yeah, it's a long-winded answer for your question, but... No, I see it all the time because the bile acid dietary is one of the top things I help with with post-surgery and it really is connected to that. So it's definitely interesting. um There was one question from a community member just asking like, so typically when you do a gallbladder liver flush, you're taking Epsom salt um as you, when you actually go into flushing. Are there other magnesium options or other alternatives over doing something like Epsom salt? Yes. So if you can't tolerate Epsom salt, because maybe you've got some kind of sulfide bacterial issue, so sulfide, sebo, hydrogen sulfide, sebo, then Epsom salt can be a problem. In which case you might want to use something like natural vitality car magnesium, which is a magnesium citrate. Most people could tolerate that. It's not quite as effective as Epsom salt. But often what I see is that people who can't tolerate lepsin salt on their journey may need to start out with magnesium citrate or natural vitality calm, but eventually are usually able to make the switch. Okay. Interesting. um Do you find there's certain mistakes people make when they start diving into liver gallbladder flushing that they should try to avoid before they go on this journey? Gosh, yes, so many mistakes. um I mean, and it's totally understandable as well because, you know, it's quite uh a sort of um intricate process with, you know, a number of different steps. So it could be something really simple. So sometimes people don't stick to the guidelines about when to drink water, for example. So they might drink uh too much water and they might dilute the Epsom salt and then the liver flush doesn't work. Sometimes they don't do enough colon cleansing and then they can make themselves feel quite sick. um One big thing is that people give up before they get to the good stuff. they might do, because it also doesn't help that the book by Andreas Moritz says that most people only need around 15 to 30 flushes. I don't know where he came up with that number. but I think it's difficult. It's quite, it's a little bit misleading. It may be that because he wrote it in the time that he did and he had a very clean lifestyle, I think people's livers are more in trouble now than they were maybe 30 or 40 years ago. So it was a book for that time. But uh Yeah, so a lot of people give up because they read that book and they say, okay, well, I did 15 to 30 liver flushes. I don't feel, you know, I haven't resolved my problems. Some of my problems came back. Like what's going on? um And that's a shame that they kind of think that the protocols not work for them, whereas really, depending on how sick you've been, how old you are, whether you're male or female, it can take a long time to get to the really of deep-seated toxic material. Like I was flushing for about four years before I started to see any candida leave my body, which is crazy. um And I spent three years eliminating candida from my liver. So had I given up before I reached that point, I would never have made the gains that I have. Yeah, totally. What do you usually suggest like when someone does their first flush? I mean, obviously this has to be individualized, but how often should they be doing that flush in that year? Because I think there's a misconception that they do one flush and they see stuff come out and they're like, oh, my gallstones are gone, but they actually aren't. we'll talk a little bit about that myth. But what do you usually suggest people do when they start to dive into flushing? Like how often? Generally, I suggest that people aim for once a month. That seems to be a good ballpark figure. Andresma suggests that you don't leave it more than six weeks before you do a follow-up one. In that time, most people's congestion, which is what we call the sludge and the stones and the flukes and all the kind of waste in the gallbladder and the liver starts to kind of move down and they get the pressure sometimes. you may get some of your symptoms coming back and so people will want to flush again. Sometimes people need to flush before that time. If you have got an underactive kind of gallbladder and you haven't released much in your first flush, the volume of releases is so different. I work with people who have tremendous releases early on and then other people like myself who just have these tiny little smattering of sesame seeds. sized stones and they may get symptoms quicker because their liver is very, very congested. There's a lot of pressure in there and the bile starts to move all the congestion and that puts pressure on the liver and so therefore their symptoms come back sooner. So I would say, you know, a good rule of thumb is, you know, aim for between every two weeks to every month. Um, and just, you know, see how you feel if you recover well, there's no reason why most people can't flush every two weeks. It seems to be a sweet spot for most people. I didn't know that often. So it's definitely interesting. um There's a big myth with when it comes to flushing and gallstones. And there's a myth that when you actually do liver flushing, you're not releasing any gallstones. And I have seen this with a lot of clients where they're like, oh, I released so much, but then they go in and they do ultrasounds and the gallstones are still there. So can you talk a little bit about this myth that's in our medical community and what you've seen from your experience working with clients? So I think it took me a long time to work this out as well. you know, when we understand the liver's physiology, then you understand why you see repeat stones again and again and again. I mean, I've done 300 and nearly 300 and I have done 370 flushes. I still get stones, right? So the liver is always moving. It is filtering the blood and it's filtering the waste of the body, you know, all the time. every second of every hour that you're alive. ah the gallbladder stores the fluid and it makes gallstones as well. When you flush, you don't necessarily release all the gallstones. In fact, Andreas Moritz says that because they're so heavy, some of them will never be released, but you're not necessarily aiming for that. You're aiming for the gallbladder to function better. But The liver has intra-hepatic stones and it has a lot of calcified waste in all the ducts. It has thousands of ducts, right, that if you lay them end to end would probably stretch, you know, hundreds of miles. And so when you flush, are, yes, you're getting rid of, you know, existing waste, but then when bile flow stops again, so when you're, when you've released everything, Your bile flow then gradually goes from being sort of abundant and flowing really well to then starting to start stagnate again. And then you will make new stones. so flushing is a combination of eliminating your lifetime's worth of, you know, liver congestion and, you know, probably making new stones in the process. And so say you flushed for eight years, which is where I am. You know, I will also see newer stones that have probably been formed along the way on those eight year, that eight year journey, as well as the really old stuff that's still coming out. So the liver isn't a static organ. It's not holding a specific amount of gallstones that once you release them, it's never going to make any more. And also some of those gallstones aren't going to move. And some of the bigger ones, they may take months to break down. You know, you may need to dissolve them with the malic acid and the bile thinners and the cholagogues before they start to break down into smaller stones. So it's tricky. It's not a linear process. It's more like a sort of spiral and your liver will continue to filter the body's toxicity all the time and to encapsulate those toxins into stones. um And also, When your liver is freer, your cells start to detox, right? They start to dump. They start to dump into the lymph. So when you have more energy, it's like the classic case that when people are, you know, they've done a detox or a cleanse, right? Or they've gone on holiday and they've gone somewhere really nice and relaxing. And then, you know, after a day or so, they feel terrible. It's like, well, what's going on? Well, your body's taken that opportunity. to start dumping more toxins. And so those toxins are then going to dump into the lymph and then they're going to go back to the liver. ah And the liver's got to deal with that. So the liver is the cleanup operator of the whole body. It's not just what's in the liver, it's what's in the body. Yeah, it's definitely interesting. Yeah, I usually just suggest to clients when they start to go on a liver gallbladder flushing journey, because usually I have them start in different phases in my Gallbladder Savings Dieting membership. am like, okay, phase one is diet, lifestyle, we're cleaning up. Phase two is we start to introduce a lot of like gentle detox strategies. And then phase three, is if you want to move into flushing. Not everybody does. There's concerns about it. But um if they want to move into flushing, then I just always emphasize, like, make sure you do your updated scan once you're done with your series of flushing because there is that misconception. Sometimes they get so excited, like, I got rid of my gallstones. Yeah. But they're still there. And it's a big misconception when you deal with having, like, specifically history of gallbladder issues, gallstone sludge. liver problems, like that stress and toxins just sit in those organs. And this is a lifestyle. And I think a lot of people forget that when they're on journeys trying to save their gallbladder. There's no quick fix. It really is a lifestyle, but it can be a beautiful lifestyle that changes your health in so many ways. And you found that through liver flushing. And I can tell you, I'm like, every aspect of my health changed drastically when I was diagnosed with gallbladder issues in a positive way. Yeah, it's sucked in the beginning with frequent gallbladder attacks, but over time, really, like every aspect from my skin to my metabolic health to my hormone health, like I've learned the power of the liver and so have you. And so it's uh definitely liver flushing can be a powerful tool when you're on a journey to work on your liver. gut infections, if you're trying to save your gallbladder, the liver gallbladder go hand in hand. m So thank you for sharing all this knowledge with us. Now you work specifically with people through a liver flush program. And I've actually done it, but had to stop because I got pregnant. um But it's quite very thorough and you go through specific steps to make people have effective flushes from your years of experience. You have a liver flesh program. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Because I know you have one up. Sure. So, um yes, I have one that's upcoming. I kind of run it several times a year and it's a six-week program and it takes you through, I guess, sort of all the essential aspects of a detox journey in six weeks. And so they're repeatable steps that you can then do, you know, for yourself. So it kind of aims to give you like a really solid foundation of everything that you'll need to sort of continue your detox journey. um gives you agency over that. you know, we cover, for example, diet and supplements, soluble fiber in week one, hydration, fasting, all those kind of nuances. And then in week two, we look at supporting the other organs of elimination so that the liver flush can be more successful and it can just be, you know, really safe and there's kind of nothing to kind of impede that. So we look at colon cleansing, kidney cleansing. kidney, know, teas. um And again, we look at eh binders, psyllium husk, different types of fiber. Then the third week is the nervous system because as I said before, if you're really stressed out, if you're living with habitual chronic stress, that's going to impact your biliary system and keep it contracted. So we work on just, you know, daily. um, exercises to help, uh, the nervous system kind of unlock. And that includes sleep. That includes daily function. That includes what I call energy snacks that you can do throughout the day. So a lot of people that I work with are busy, you know, moms, for example, um, or they've got busy jobs. They've got kids, they've got lives. They can't be, you know, devoting an hour in the morning to meditation and hour at night. So, you know, doing kind of this, these kind of snack types. energy exercises means they can just do them throughout the day as they need to. It just helps to bring down levels of stress and cortisol, for example, just helps them relax and unlock. And then we cover liver flush prep in all its glory. Then we cover the whole liver flush week, all the step-by-step prep that you need to do, supplements that you need to buy, when you need to take them, how you take them, what you eat during that week. And then we cover kind of post-flush ah support, the gut, probiotics, prebiotics, ah all different types of binders like I said before um and where to go from there and also just immune support and just drinks and recipes to keep your immune system working well whilst you're on a flushing journey. Yeah, it's really, really awesome program. I said anyone that is, obviously I used to work with more gall butter clients, you're listening to this gall butter diet podcast. If you're on the journey to save your gall butter and you're ready to start advancing more into liver gall butter flushing to try to save your gall butter, I definitely would recommend Elizabeth's program. I've had a lot of members do it and I've personally walked through doing it as well. So I'll share the link for her liver flush program that she has. She runs it live a couple of times a year. um So it's a great way to uh bring in extra tools on your journey to save your gallbladder. So thank you, Elizabeth, for today and for sharing your history and knowledge and everything about liver gallbladder flushing. If anyone's interested in contacting Elizabeth, you can find her on Instagram mostly at NaturallyWells or NaturallyWells.com. She's got a lot of BioFlow Candida resources too. So that's probably the best way to get in contact with her. And then I'll share her information below and information about our liver flesh program. But thank you so much, Elizabeth, for your time today. And if you have any further questions, please let us know. And I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thank you, Olivia. Thank you so much. Thanks to everyone who listened. Thank you for tuning in to the Galbatter Diet podcast. As a reminder, the information shared here is for educational purposes only. So please consult with your medical provider prior to executing any supplement and dietary recommendations. And if you're looking for additional support on your Galbatter journey, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can connect with me on Instagram at Galbatter.Nutritionist or visit my website at www.GalbatterDiet.com. Be sure to check the show notes for more details on free master classes and other support options. Thanks again for listening and I hope you enjoyed this podcast.