Natural Parasite Cleanse: The Ultimate Guide

by Dr. David Minkoff May 24, 2018 6 min read

Athletic male doing Tai Chi on the beach near the water.

Complete Parasite Cleanse Protocol

Parasites are remarkably difficult to diagnose. They drag your health and well-being down and down and down. They manifest as symptoms as diverse as fatigue, brain fog, and even bad breath, just to name a few of the dozens of possibilities.

They disrupt the balance of your microbiome and wreak havoc on your gut, which in turn affects nearly every aspect of your health and daily energy levels.

And these aren’t just some antiquated health concern for developing countries with inadequate sanitation. This is a modern silent epidemic.

Awareness is important. We focused on the how and the why in a previous article. Here we want to focus on what you can do to get rid of them naturally, without relying on toxic anti-worming agents or other powerful chemicals.

We’ve condensed everything down into an easy 4 step process so you can clear your system in just 5 weeks.

Step 1: The Anti-Parasite Diet

The single most important action you can take to ridding yourself of parasites is to take away their food supply – and that means sugar in all its forms:

No processed foods
No carbs
No grains
No alcohol
No sugar… including fruit

Essentially, you need to go on a Paleo-Diet only without any fruit. We recommend you stay on this diet for at least 5-6 weeks.

By cutting out their food supply, you stop them from multiplying. Your body’s defenses have a chance to begin eliminating and flushing them.

However, parasites are resilient and crafty, and it helps to have some help breaking down their defenses.

Step 2: Enrich Yourself with Anti-Parasitic Foods

One of the easiest ways to amplify the effectiveness of your antiparasitic diet is to incorporate more antiparasitic foods.

At the top of this are garlic and onions. Remember how these repelled blood-sucking vampires in legends and movies? Well, it works the same in your gut. Both are rich in anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and antifungal compounds. Plus, garlic is one of the best sources of prebiotics, which feed the healthy bacteria of your microbiome, which will help restore balance to your gut.

Speaking of a balanced gut, probiotic fermented foods also help to restore your gut health balance. These include sauerkraut, kefir, and miso. Be careful with kombucha, however, because of its sugar content may actually make the parasites stronger.

Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are also excellent for nourishing your body while knocking out the parasites. You can sauté them with apple cider vinegar, which has many benefits for your gut and health, including regulating your pH, which parasites often make slightly acidic.

Coconut Oiland MCT Oil are both useful here as well. They nourish your digestive tract and help break down the cellular walls and biofilms of many parasites. This helps your immune system clear them naturally. Use these for cooking.

For herbs and spices, use thyme, oregano, cinnamon, clove,and ginger as often as possible. Thyme is particularly effective as it contains a compound called berberine sulfate which has potent anti-parasitic action.

And as a snack, have a handful of pumpkin seeds. These little seeds are one of the most effective anti-parasitic foods out there. One study in China found them to be highly effective against a wide range of parasites, in some cases eliminating over more than 89% of the parasite load [1].

By combining these foods and spices with a strict no-sugar, no-carb diet, you will be most of the way to being naturally parasite-free. Now that you have cut off the food supply and are nourishing your body with the right foods, we can get into the more powerful natural supplements to knock these suckers out.

Step 3: A Special Regimen of the Top 6 Natural Supplements for Clearing Parasites

There are many plants with strong antiparasitic actions, but here we will focus on the 6 most effective plant extracts for eliminating parasites. Many of these extracts can be found combined into an antiparasitic tincture or capsule product at your local health store.

Because the parasite lifecycle includes dormant stages where it can exist as eggs or cysts, we recommend going 2 weeks on, 1 one week off, then 2 more weeks on while on the diet to make sure you clear all of them. This gives the dormant eggs a chance to hatch and then be cleared by the second round of anti-parasitic supplements.

Here are the 6 most potent herbal supplements for clearing parasites:

Black Walnut
Wormwood
Olive Leaf
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Papaya Seeds
Oregano Oil

Black Walnut is an old herbal remedy for killing parasites. One of the things that makes parasites so hard to kill is the biofilm they create around themselves. It renders them invisible to the immune system and unharmed by other toxic agents.

Black Walnut contains special compounds that break down biofilms to help your body’s natural defenses “see” them and amplifies the effectiveness of other natural antiparasitics. [2].

Wormwood is the famous herbal addition to Absinthe, the notorious psychoactive liquor intoxicating Van Goh when he cut off his own ear. Fortunately, as an herbal medicine, all its effects are profoundly immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory instead of psychoactive. It has long been used for healing gut conditions, among other maladies. Modern research shows it to be rich in flavonoids, terpenes, and steroids, which translate to anti-cancer, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-parasitic properties [3,4].

Like wormwood, Olive Leafhas a wide variety medicinal applications. It contains compounds that increase production of powerful cytokines that kill off invaders and has been shown to be particularly effective against Leishmania, one of the most notoriously difficult parasites to clear. [5,6].

Grapefruit Seed Extractis proven to be effective against a very wide range of microbes while simultaneously being totally safe for human consumption. One study found it to work against over 800 different strains of bacteria and over 100 strains of fungus! [7] It destabilizes their membranes, which contain certain components not shared by us or our healthy gut flora, which makes it a powerful aid in your parasite cleanse.

In tropical climates, Papaya Seeds are a common remedy for virtually any digestive issue. They are rich in a certain type of fatty acid that disrupts a parasite’s life cycle, helping you to eliminate them naturally. These are relatively easy to find, and you can always just throw them into a smoothie. [8]

This last herbal remedy Oregano Oil is not to be taken lightly. This is extremely potent and very spicy. It is a broad spectrum anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-bacterial [9] and if taken over a period of time, it will likely disrupt your microbiome balance, so be sure to follow a course of this with probiotics. Just make sure you’re using an oil certified for internal use and not contaminated with toxic solvents.

Step 4: Support Your Liver

One thing you won’t hear many people tell you about is how this process affects your liver. Not only are anti-parasitic herbs taxing on your primary detox organ, but when the parasites begin dying off, they release a tremendous amount of toxic debris into your system.

And it all ends up in your liver.

If you haven’t had a clean diet for a while, the anti-parasite diet can actually compound the problem. Without the usual supply of sugar, carbs, and/or alcohol your body may be accustomed to, the rest of your tissues may also begin to detox.

This all adds up to an overtaxed liver in need of some support.

In addition to water, here are two other easy recipes you can use to support your Parasite Cleanse.

2 Drinks To Support Your Cleanse

Morning Parasite Cleanse:

12 oz Water
1-2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
Lemon
10-15 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract
1 tsp Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth

As we mentioned above, apple cider vinegar and grapefruit seed extract both help to weaken parasites and establish balance in your gut environment. Diatomaceous earth is a fine silica powder made from the skeletons of prehistoric diatoms. It is harmless to you but helps to break down the biofilms and cellular walls of parasites.

Anti-Parasite Tea:

1 Tbsp Pao d’Arco
Steep 10-15 min in hot water

Pao d’Arco is a remarkable South American plant with a host of beneficial immunological effects – not the least of which is anti-parasitic. It has a pleasant, mild taste, so you can sip this throughout your day while cleansing your system.

Quick Recap of a Complete Parasite Cleanse Protocol:

Go on a strict Paleo-style diet, strictly eliminating all carbs and sugar.
Enrich your diet with anti-parasitic foods, spices, and herbs.
Use extracts of powerful anti-parasitic plants in a parasite cleanse product found at your local health store. Remember: 2 weeks on, 1 week off, 2 weeks on.
Support your liver with lots of water, herbs or products.

If you follow this protocol, you are certain to knock out any hidden parasitic offenders!

References:

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.