Here at Perfect Origins, we love to eat. We try to eat healthy, wholesome foods like fruits, vegetables and lean meats most of the time… but, we enjoy plenty of “cheat” foods too.

After all, who wants to completely give up spaghetti with meatballs, chocolate cake, ice cream sundaes, lasagna, cheeseburgers, fried chicken and other not-so-good-for-you favorites?

Not us!

If you eat like we do, every once in awhile you’ll probably want to detox your digestive system.

Detoxify your body and you could feel more energetic, more focused, clear headed, less bloated — and you can even accelerate weight loss.

There are lots of ways to detox. But, one of our absolute favorites is with a tasty Activated Charcoal Detox Lemonade.

What Is Activated Charcoal?

We’ll give you a super-simple recipe for Activated Charcoal Detox Lemonade in just a sec. But first, you might be wondering: what IS activated charcoal?

Let’s be clear. Activated charcoal is NOT the same kind of charcoal you toss on the grill for a summer cookout.

Medical-grade activated charcoal is made when you burn a carbon source such as wood, peat or coconut shells at extremely high temperatures (1,700 — 1,800 °F).

This creates char. The char is then heated in a furnace at even higher temperatures in the presence of steam.

The charcoal is “activated” because this process causes it to have a very fine particle size. These ultra-fine particles are peppered with millions of tiny pores.

And these pores are the secret to activated charcoal’s amazing detoxifying properties.

How Does Activated Charcoal Work?

When you eat a food your body has a tough time digesting, gas begins to bubble and boil in your digestive system. This leads to bloating, stomach cramps, and a backside that blows more air than the wind section of the New York Philharmonic. 🙂

Activated charcoal relieves these symptoms through a process called “adsorption” — a chemical reaction where elements bind to a surface.

Here’s how it works:

Activated charcoal is peppered with millions upon millions of microscopic pores that trap, or, “adsorb”, intestinal gasses, poisons, heavy metals, and other toxins that compromise your health.

If you’ve seen the way a magnet attracts and holds a paper clip, then you have an idea of how activated charcoal binds gasses, poisons, and toxins not only in your digestive system, but throughout your entire body.

When you use a high-quality activated charcoal it can act like a “toxin magnet” that snatches up the junk that makes you bloated, gassy, sick, and tired!

Because the human body can’t metabolize activated charcoal, it passes through the digestive system like a million microscopic magnets, grabbing toxins as it goes, and harmlessly passing this toxic payload out of your body when you use the restroom.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Activated Charcoal?

You’ve read how activated charcoal works as a “toxin magnet” to rid your system of all sorts of nasty junk.

In fact, activated charcoal is such a potent detoxifier it’s used by doctors in emergency rooms around the world to treat and save the lives of poison victims!

But detoxification is just one of the health benefits of activated charcoal.

Activated charcoal has also been shown to:

1. Relieve gas and bloating. If you worry about eating your favorite foods because they trigger painful gas and bloating later, here’s some good news.A study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found that activated charcoal can “significantly reduce” gas, bloating and stomach cramps in people after they’ve eaten a gas-producing meal. [1]

2. Reduce high cholesterol. In one study, patients with high cholesterol took 8 grams of activated charcoal three times a day for a month. At the end of the study, patients’ total cholesterol decreased by 25 percent, “bad” LDL-cholesterol decreased by up to 41 percent. [2]

3. Prevent premature aging. We live in a highly toxic environment. And all of these toxins in the foods we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, even our cosmetics and clothing can cause cellular damage that makes us look and feel years older than our true age. Activated charcoal can help flush these age-accelerating toxins from your system.

Can you see why we’re BIG fans of activated charcoal around here? And we’re not the only ones. Even Gwyneth Paltrow calls activated charcoal one of the “best juice cleanses”.

The recipe below is an easy way to include an activated charcoal detox in your life. Yes, the murky black color is a little — how shall we say? — unsettling at first.

But because activated charcoal is tasteless and odorless the recipe below tastes like good old fashioned lemonade.

Activated Charcoal Detox Lemonade

Prep time: 5 mins                  Serves: 6

============================

Ingredients:

• 5 cups purified water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 cup organic lemon juice
• 4 capsules of activated charcoal

Directions:

1. Combine the water and honey in a large pitcher. Stir until the ingredients are blended.
2. Squeeze 3/4 cup organic lemon juice from 6 – 8 lemons. For best results, roll the lemons on your kitchen counter before you cut them. This will make it easier to maximize your juice yield.
3. Carefully untwist a capsule of activated charcoal over the pitcher. Empty the capsule and stir the activated charcoal into the liquid. Do this with all four capsules.
4. Enjoy immediately! You can store what you don’t drink in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Ready to put activated charcoal to work for you?