How a coconut cleanse cured my fatigue

Coconut water is believed to boost the immune system

STANDING in Sao Paulo airport at 6am, I am wondering whether I'm going to survive the next eight days.

 

I've come to Brazil with six others to see whether a period of fasting can boost my immune system and build up my strength.

Starting now, for the next eight days we will drink only coconut water. In the evenings, we will have a bowl of vegetable and miso soup, taking in 400-600 calories daily. I'm achingly aware of every food stall and coffee shop we pass. We still have two flights and a two-hour drive to our final destination, the village of Cumuruxatiba in Bahia.

Our host is Dr Dermot O'Flynn, a London-based GP who treats patients with chronic health issues. I met Dr O'Flynn after I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The cancer, thankfully now clear, is one of many health problems I've had over the last two decades. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid, in 2009.

I come back 11lb lighter and full of energy

Polycystic ovary syndrome, irregular heavy bleeding, insulin resistance, chronic sinusitis, polymorphic light eruption, arthritis, calcific tendonitis, long-standing anaemia and actinic lichen planus are all part of my life. I have seen at least a dozen types of specialists and I'm very tired.

After gulping down lots of coconut water we arrive at our destination, a beautiful house above a stunning stretch of beach. This is our playground, Dr O'Flynn explains. For the cleanse to work we must exercise moderately for at least four hours a day, anything that will keep us moving.

We are so exhausted the first day that we drink our soup and head to bed. We gather at six the next morning for coconut water and then we're off into the sunshine, exploring the beach and ocean. We climb the steep hill home and I gasp with exhaustion. This is not working.

 



Leaky gut releases cytokines and interleukins and can cause depression, fatigue and bloating



"Be patient," Dr O'Flynn tells me on day three, as I watch the others bounding around. He says it takes a while, usually until day seven, for things to change. So I continue to swim, to enjoy the daily massages and to lie in a hammock in the sun.

It is a curious thing to realise I am not hungry but I do notice the absence of feeling full. I begin to think about how often I reach for food merely because I like the fullness in my stomach. It helps to be distracted. We go paddleboarding and whale watching. This is a holiday, a 'cleanscation' as the genial Dr O'Flynn jokingly calls it.

By day six something starts to shift. I wake up alert. I swim for two miles. I bound up the steep hill that made me gasp the first day. What is happening to me?

 



For the cleanse to work, moderate exercise is required for atleast four hours a day



Dr O'Flynn explains our small intestines are host to 40 per cent of our immune cells. Different food molecules affect them in different ways. Food passes through the microvilli, the hairy guardians, of the intestine and is broken down, changing shape before it is allowed to pass through. Yet for many of us the tight junctions of our intestinal cells have come slightly apart, allowing fragments of food molecules such as gluten to go through to our underlying tissue, inciting our immune cells to react.

That "leaky gut" releases cytokines and interleukins and can cause depression, fatigue, bloating, skin rashes, anxiety, headache, aches, constipation and allergic reactions. By fasting for a week or more we "dial down the noise" in the immune system, allowing it to recover and, over time, to reset.

I come back 11lb lighter and full of energy. Every day I swim for an hour or walk for two. Tests taken before and after the cleanse show a dramatic change. I'm no longer anaemic and my liver enzymes, raised for many years, are normal.

 

Maha is now healthier having done the cleanse

My erythrocyte sedimentation rate, which measures the inflammation in my body, has gone down considerably and my red blood cells, which have always been too small, are a regular size.

This will continue if I eliminate those foods which I learn, through trial and error, are affecting my small intestine, says Dr O'Flynn. I may have to reboot every once in a while with another fast. "I'm not on a beautiful beach any more," I protest. "How can I possibly keep this up in London?"

"That was the Tropical Cleanse. There's an Urban Cleanse too (involving a low-allergen diet of white fish, potatoes, fruit and avocados)," says Dr. O'Flynn.

He suggests I start straight away for some weeks. I can't decide whether I want to punch him or hug him. So instead, I go home to drink a glass of coconut water.

• For information on The Cumuru Cleanse see thecumurucleanse.com