Start off with ¼ teaspoon of chlorella daily (1 gram) and work your way up. I personally take 1 heaping tablespoon, or about 12-15 grams, twice a day. Everyone is different, so take it slow and increase gradually. It is important to start off slowly when introducing chlorella into your diet to let your body become accustomed to this new food and its rush of nutrients. Because of the fact that chlorella has detoxifying effects, starting off slow and gradually increasing the dose will reduce the chances of getting a healing crisis. A healing crisis is when your body, while detoxifying itself, dumps the toxins into your blood steam, temporarily overloading it. Because of this, you may experience amplified symptoms of your ailments, whether it is headaches, dizziness, fatigue, soreness, etc. This is something we want to avoid as much as possible. Detoxification isn’t the most pleasant thing to experience, so no need to make it worse than it has to be! In any case, detoxing may have temporary unpleasant side effects, but you will feel much more alive and healthy once those toxins are eliminated from your system.
Should I Take Chlorella Tablets or Powder?
Chlorella powder is the best way to go because swallowing the equivalent amount of pills to reap to benefits is pretty tough. Over time, ideally you should aim to take at least12-15 grams a day in order to obtain the most benefits of chlorella. That’s around 1-1.5 tablespoons of powder, which is the equivalent of taking 60-75 chlorella tablets. It’s way easier to just chug a glass of water mixed with chlorella. You’re supposed to have a glass or two of water with it anyways to assist the detoxification process so it’s hitting two birds with one stone. Beyond detoxifying your body, hydration is so important for supporting health. As an added bonus to the convenience of taking chlorella powder, it is also significantly cheaper than tablets and your body absorbs it better/faster. It’s a win-win for efficiency as well as cost! Stick to the powder.
Dosage Suggestions
(Start Slow!) *Start SLOW! Build up over the course of a couple weeks.
CAUTION: About 30% of people may have digestibility issues with chlorella but not to worry — If you experience some digestion discomfort, take chlorella with the plant enzyme cellulase, which will help break it down and should solve the digestion issue.
Beginning – 1-5 grams
(To see if there are any adverse reactions to it. Work your way up over couple weeks)
Maintenance – 5-12 grams
Therapeutic – 12-36 grams
Athletes – 36-60 grams
*1 teaspoon = 4 grams of chlorella
*A nutritionally oriented physician or a certified clinical nutritionist ideally should monitor the specific dose and application of chlorella.
Chlorella Side Effects
“In all my travels and research, I haven’t found a single case where…chlorella is contraindicated. I have seen improvement in every patient of mine who used it. I am not talking about a cure. I look for foods and supplements that will take care of the whole body so that the body will cure itself” — Dr. Bernard Jensen, Chlorella, Jewel of the Far East, p. 88
When first starting chlorella, you may feel some temporary discomfort in your stomach. Try again with less, with the addition of cellulase, although it may not be necessary. There is no upper limit on how much chlorella you can have, but be gentle on your body and start with the beginning dose. Observe how your body reacts to it. Personally, I had some digestion discomfort initially but it went away, without even needing to add cellulase to my diet. Strange… I was taking tablets at the time as well, although I don’t attribute the discomfort to that. Be sure to drink one or two glasses of water after taking chlorella. It will aid in the detoxification process and lessen any discomfort.
Diarrhea may be a temporary side effect, but this is just your body getting accustomed to chlorella, as well as clearing out your gastrointestinal tract. Make sure you stay hydrated and drink lots of water. The majority of people are in some state of dehydration whether they know it or not. By simply keeping hydrated, it can prevent numerous ailments, as well as reducing hunger cravings.
As chlorella detoxifies the body, you may feel symptoms of a healing crisis as your body is in the process of getting rid of toxins that were stored within your fat and tissues. Just remember to start slowly so that your body gets accustomed to assimilating it. If you do experience an increase in symptoms, you can tone it back a bit, but you do need to increase the amount consumed over time. Some doctors advocate taking more chlorella, for it will mop up more of the toxins, assisting your body in eliminating it. They claim that you should take more because in smaller doses, your body releases more toxins that it can eliminate, unlike in higher doses.
Either way, like I mentioned several times before, be sure to start off slow and gradually increase the dosage. Just observe how you feel each day and over a week or two, increase the amount consumed. Except for the first time taking the tablets years ago, I never had any other side effects associated with chlorella, nor has anyone that I know personally. Everyone is different, but it really is an awesome super food! I’ve had many positive experiences with chlorella and I hope you do as well! It will bring you one step closer to being Naturafied!