Vitamin C Flush

Determine your body's needs for this critical vitamin

The vitamin C flush is an easy and safe way to determine how much of this important vitamin your individual body needs.

First step is to buy the vitamin C (also called ascorbic acid) in powder form.

It's fairly inexpensive, so buy a bigger bottle so you don't have to worry about running out.

Just keep in mind most vitamin C brands are made from GMO (genetically modified) corn. For vitamin C tablets and crystals that aren't GMO, see best vitamin C.

Start out by taking 2500 mg (usually 1/2 teaspoon) and mix it in a few ounces of water or juice. I like juice better because the ascorbic acid is quite sour by itself. Orange and grape juice work well.

Mix until the powder is absorbed and drink it right down.

Repeat every 15 minutes until you have watery diarrhea (not just gas).

Hey, I said it was easy - I didn't say it was fun!

No worries though - once you stop taking the vitamin C drink, the diarrhea soon goes away.

Still, I wouldn't try this the same day you're hosting a dinner party. Try it on a day when you have nothing going on. After the first time, you'll know how it effects you and you can plan accordingly.

Keep track of how much you had to take because this will determine your individual vitamin C dosage needs. Take half of this dosage divided a few times a day every day to get the maximum vitamin C benefits.

Here's an example:

Say 10 grams will give you diarrhea (although most people would need a lot more).

You should take half of that per day (5 grams). Since vitamin C is used up quickly by the body, it is best to split that dose up and take it several times a day instead of once a day.

So if 10 grams is your threshold, you'd need 5 grams a day. You could take two grams in the morning, one gram in the afternoon, and two more grams at night.

You might be surprised how much you really need. In fact, if you want to use it as a natural body detox or if you have a weak immune system, you should consider doing the vitamin C flush once a week for a month or two. Those in relatively good health can opt for once a month flushes.

Week by week, you should notice a slight increase in dosage required for the saturating effect (i.e. when the diarrhea hits), but then a sharp decrease as your body heals. It's great to see these immune system vitamins at work.

And for those worried about taking too much vitamin C, check out these vitamin C side effects.