Over the many years that I’ve studied nutrition, herbs, cleansing, and detoxification, I’ve learned that health is not only about what you put into your body. It’s also about what you can get out. Toxins, metabolic waste, and the load of harmful bacteria, yeast and other unwanted guests, like parasites.
Yes, it’s important to focus on nourishing your body with green juices, organic vegetables, superfoods, superherbs, and minerals. Yet the other side of the equation is just as important. You need to focus on getting out the bad actors that impact inflammation, digestion, weight gain, mood, and more.
We’ve tiptoed around this topic before (here and here), and maybe even stomped a little (here), but today we explore why I created the parasite cleanse, Remove Unwanted Guests, and why its ingredients in combination make it so effective.
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I like to joke that it’s RUG, like a bug on a rug, but the concept behind it is serious.
RUG grew directly out of the detox programs I was already leading. As I talked about the traditional herbs used for removing unwanted guests, people naturally wanted to put the information to work for them. So they asked where they could buy the herbs, what they should look for, and how they were supposed to bring all these different ingredients together.
Eventually I thought, You know what? We’ll make it.
That was the beginning of Remove Unwanted Guests. Instead of asking everyone to track down a collection of separate herbs, we could bring the key ingredients together into one formula.
While I wanted to make parasite cleansing easier to bring into the larger detox program, I also didn’t want to throw 15 or 20 herbs into a bottle simply to make it look impressive. I wanted only those herbs that traditional and personal use proved would be the most effective. They also had to make sense within the larger detox process.
The result? Remove Unwanted Guests contains three foundational herbs: cloves, black walnut hull, and wormwood. Those are the core three. Then, I also incorporated chanca piedra, milk thistle seed extract, and digestive enzymes — the enzymes, in particular, have always been an important part of how I think about cleansing.
Each ingredient brings something different to the table. A good formula starts with the core cleansing herbs, then incorporates the additional support that makes sense. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
If you’ve followed me over the years, then you’ve probably heard about the importance of clove for cleansing. Clove, Syzygium aromaticum, is much more than the fragrant spice we associate with kitchens and holidays. One of its major plant compounds — eugenol — contributes heavily to clove’s familiar aroma and biological activity.
Researchers have investigated both clove essential oil and eugenol against a number of microorganisms. In one laboratory study involving Giardia lamblia, the protozoan responsible for giardiasis, clove essential oil and eugenol interfered with parasite growth, viability, attachment, and cellular structure.
We took a deeper look at the plant chemistry and research in Herbal Thursday. Here, the important point is simpler: clove is not an afterthought in RUG. I consider it the first member of the foundational trio.
Next comes black walnut hull, from Juglans nigra.
Black walnut has been used for generations in herbal parasite protocols. As we discussed in this Herbal Thursday, the hull contains a number of plant compounds, including juglone and tannins, that have attracted scientific interest for antimicrobial and antiparasitic activity.
Juglone is especially interesting. It is a naturally occurring naphthoquinone that helps the walnut tree interact with — and sometimes suppress — other organisms in its environment. Modern researchers have examined that chemistry for antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic activity.
Still, I’d rather use black walnut hull as part of a formula rather than treating this one herb like a magic bullet. In RUG, black walnut sits alongside clove and wormwood — a classic trio.
The third member of the foundation is wormwood, Artemisia absinthium.
The entire Artemisia family is extraordinary. Its most famous member may be Artemisia annua, or sweet wormwood, which is important in modern malaria treatment. RUG, on the other hand, contains Artemisia absinthium, common wormwood.
That distinction matters because different Artemisia species contain different concentrations and combinations of plant chemicals. We explored those differences more fully in this Herbal Thursday.
Researchers continue to study Artemisia species for activity against gastrointestinal parasites. A recent review found effects on several parasite stages across laboratory and animal studies, including egg hatching and larval development. The results also varied by plant species, preparation, dose, and parasite. So it’s a good reminder that “Artemisia” is not one single medicine.
For me, wormwood remains one part of a team. Clove brings its chemistry. Black walnut brings another. Wormwood contributes something different again. That’s how I think about herbs: not merely as isolated chemicals, but as complex plants working together.
Once we move beyond the classic trio, we arrive at one of my additions: chanca piedra, Phyllanthus niruri.
Its famous nickname is “stone breaker,” a reference to its long traditional association with the urinary system and kidney stones. We explored that history and the broader research around this plant in Herbal Thursday.
Why put a plant best known as “stone breaker” into RUG?
Because I have never viewed cleansing as a simple war against something you dislike. The body’s internal environment matters. Digestion matters. Elimination matters. Hydration matters. The organs that process and remove waste matter.
So Chanca piedra was added to my foundational parasite-herb trio. It’s not a replacement for one of those herbs. A well-designed cleanse should support the terrain while you are cleaning house.
And speaking of supporting the terrain, the liver needs added support during a detox. This bigger picture helps explain milk thistle seed extract, Silybum marianum.
Milk thistle seeds contain a complex of flavonolignans commonly known as silymarin. Unlike many traditional cleansing herbs, milk thistle has also accumulated a substantial amount of human research, specifically on the liver.
The liver is one of the great processing centers of the human body. It transforms compounds, handles nutrients arriving from the digestive tract, participates in metabolism, and helps prepare many substances for eventual elimination. So it’s an important part of an effective cleanse.
Recently, in a 2024 meta-analysis, researchers reviewed 26 randomized control trials involving over 2300 participants with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). They found that silymarin supplementation helps to regulate energy metabolism while supporting liver function and limiting liver damage.
Our earlier Herbal Thursday on Milk Thistle goes much deeper into the plant and its research.
Its presence in RUG reflects a principle I return to again and again: when you think about cleansing, don’t focus only on what you want to remove. Also support your body and the organs that do the heavy lifting along the way.
This brings us to one of the less obvious features of RUG: the enzymes.
The foundational formula contains seven digestive enzymes. At first glance, that might seem like an unusual addition to a formula built around herbs such as clove, black walnut, and wormwood. But they make much more sense when we stop thinking of parasite cleansing as a single-target attack and start thinking about what’s happening throughout the digestive system.
Digestion is an enormous chemical process. Proteases help break proteins into smaller components. Amylases act on starches, lipases on fats, and enzymes such as cellulase help break down plant material that our own human enzymes do not digest efficiently. Bromelain comes from pineapple, while papain comes from papaya. Each has a different role, yet together they support the basic task of breaking food into smaller pieces the body can work with.
That’s important because the gut is not simply a tube through which a parasite formula passes. It’s an ecosystem. Food is being broken down, microbes are interacting, nutrients are being absorbed, and material is constantly moving toward elimination.
When your digestion struggles, then the entire environment changes.
This is why the enzymes belong in the larger RUG philosophy. The herbs are there because of their traditional place in parasite cleansing — to remove unwanted guests — while the enzymes support the digestive tract where that process takes place. Rather than turning RUG into just a collection of herbs, I wanted the formula to address more than one part of the cleansing experience.
No, digestive enzymes don’t kill parasites. But they do support the digestive system while the cleansing herbs do what they were included to do.
In my detox work, parasite cleansing goes along with changes in eating and drinking habits, support for elimination (think enemas and colonics), and lifestyle changes. So I don’t want you to walk away with the idea that swallowing capsules while changing nothing else makes for the best cleanse ever. RUG is one (very important) tool inside a larger cleansing strategy.
Activated charcoal became important in my detox system for a very different reason. Its highly porous surface grabs onto compounds in the digestive tract to help draw them out of the body. Of course, that means being careful what you take with Kohlbitr or any other activated charcoal, including RUG.
Here’s how they go hand-in-hand:
RUG impacts parasites and other harmful organisms in the digestive tract, killing off the unwanted guests at different stages of their lifecycle. Activated charcoal comes along like a vacuum, grabbing weakened or dying matter and the toxins they excrete.
A thoughtful cleanse is not about taking every cleansing product you own at the same moment. It is about understanding what each tool does, when to use it, and when to give it room to work.
Another part of my approach is that I do not view antiparasitic herbs as everyday tonic herbs.
There are herbs and foods I use daily for nourishment and long-term support. Yet parasite-cleansing herbs belong in a different category. These are best used periodically, which, for me, is once every quarter or change of the seasons.
For years, I’ve done a cleanse four times a year, aligning with the solstices and equinoxes. I like the rhythm of seasonal transitions. Nature changes. Our food changes. Our routines change. For me, those moments provide a natural opportunity to reassess what our bodies have accumulated and what we may need to release.
A cleanse is not an exercise in proving how much discomfort you can manage. In fact, one phrase has guided my detox work over the years:
Slowly is Holy.
I have a pretty strong stomach and digestion. I can handle herbs and cleansing practices that would be too intense for many people, especially someone just starting out. If you’re new to cleansing or to taking these powerful herbs, then start slow: just one or two capsules with food for a few days at first. As you become familiar with how your body responds, then you can build gradually, taking another capsule or two with food each day until you reach your recommended intake.
This is true of any new supplement you want to try. There is wisdom in learning your own body.
Just as you want to understand how an herb or supplement impacts your body, you also need to understand the difference between using an herbal cleansing formula and treating a diagnosed parasitic infection.
If you believe you have an parasitic infection, particularly if you have persistent gastrointestinal symptoms, unexplained weight changes, fever, blood in the stool, recent high-risk travel or exposure, or other concerning symptoms, then speak with your trusted healthcare provider.
Testing and medical care can help. Different parasites require different diagnostic methods and treatments.
An herbal cleanse should not become a reason to avoid finding out what is actually happening.
Remove Unwanted Guests came into being to fill the need of my community — and my own cleanses. Now, you can find several parasite supplements on the market. But I began this journey when just saying the word “parasite” online got you censored.
And clove, black walnut, and wormwood also aren’t the only herbs that are effective against parasites, but they possess excellent antiparasitic compounds and team well together. Then chanca piedra, milk thistle, and enzymes make the formula more complete.
RUG is simply one tool within a bigger philosophy:
Sometimes health is not only about what we put in; it’s about what we get out.
We clean our homes. We change the filters. We take out the trash. We remove what no longer belongs. I believe the human body deserves the same attention: cleaning house and creating a better terrain.
Nourish yourself with the good things. Support the body’s natural processes. And discover the best tools to help you remove what doesn’t belong.
That’s the philosophy behind Remove Unwanted Guests.
Explore Remove Unwanted Guests (RUG) here.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information and any related products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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