What a Years Restored Detox Program is Like

My business partner and coauthor of the cookbook, Mercy Ballard, just held one of her busiest detox programs last month. I hardly heard a peep from her, except for maybe an occasional text every few days, which is pretty unusual for us. Because of the book and the tortilla project, there is hardly a day that goes by that we don’t speak at least once. And even without the projects, we still talk a lot. But when it is detox time, I plan on not hearing from Mercy, because she is BUsy.

I went to my first detox program at Years Restored in January of 2016. The programs always begin on the third Sunday afternoon of odd months. They end 10 days later, on a Tuesday. When I arrived at Sacramento airport on Sunday afternoon, Mercy’s husband, Anthony, was there to pick me up. We drove an hour and a half to Brownsville, CA, a remote town where their property is located. Their German shepherd, Nickie, was there to greet us, as were some other clients, and of course, Mercy, who already had dinner ready. I don’t have pictures of our dinner, but the meal we had is now in our cookbook; it’s called the “Potato Layer Fiesta”. Mercy served it with salad, raw crackers and a creamy sauce made from sunflower seeds. It was our last meal before the detox.

Mercy and Anthony live on around 40 acres. They have two homes on the property. They live in the smaller one and they use the larger one for programs every other month. It’s a pretty rustic setting. For instance, their homes are heated with wood stoves. I love the heat the stoves produce; it is warm without being too dry, and it just warms you to the core and it is a favorite gathering place for the attendees.

Every morning of the program we would take our vitals: weight, blood pressure, pulse, and blood sugar. On the first morning, we had a drink that had magnesium sulfate. We had to drink a liter in an hour or so. This was followed by a series of herbal extracts, teas, drinks of clay, charcoal, and other healing ingredients that Mercy called “poultice drinks”, and juices. Everything, including the drinks, was on a schedule that was given to us with a binder that had notes and recipes in it. We had a lectures in the morning, afternoon, and evening, time to exercise, time to get into the infrared sauna, and time to get out into the sun.

We also had a daily enema. Now I realize that there are some of you who might try to avoid a place that recommends enemas. Some of the clients were very anxious about doing an enema for the first time, but we all got the hang of it very quickly. Nancy came to another program that I helped at a year later and she was kind enough to give me an interview.

Interview with my friend Nancy, at Years Restored

The first four days of the program involved just drinking the healing herbs and poultice drinks, but we were learning everyday how to prep and cook food that would be safe and anti-inflammatory for our own specific needs. We learned how to soak and sprout seeds and we began sprouting broccoli and alfalfa seeds on the very first day. We also soaked and sprouted buckwheat.

On Friday we began eating again. Here are some pictures of our breakfasts.

This is a chia seed pudding with raw crackers and fruit.

Granola with crackers and fruit. Coconut and other milks and seed butters not pictured.

This is a favorite: buckwheat waffles with berries, honey, coconut milk, and various fruits

After breakfast, all the drinks, enemas, exercise and sunshine, it was time for lunch. Here are some pictures of meals we had for lunch.

This was a salad with sprouts and a sauce on a very yummy cracker.

The red and white dish below is made with raw cauliflower and numerous other vegetables. Kale and zucchini chips are in the above right, and of course a large salad.

This was a raw veggie wrap filled with avocado and other veggies. We also had crackers and a large salad on the side.

This was a veggie lasagna made with sliced zucchini instead of pasta. It was one of the most popular dishes!

At the end, we all got a certificate of completion at a graduation ceremony.

If you go to Mercy’s website at Yearsrestored.com, you can watch some of the video testimonials of people who have attended. Hopefully this blog gives you an idea of what you can expect if you decide to attend a program. I don’t think you will regret it; it has changed a lot of lives!