Activated Charcoal 101: Top Benefits And 5 Creative Recipes

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Activated charcoal is everywhere. It’s in your medicine cabinet, on your beauty shelf and in your food.

Menu items like charcoal ice cream, charcoal lemonade and charcoal latte are becoming the norm at health-conscious cafes around the world.

While this trend is fairly new to the Western wellness and food worlds, it’s been used as a natural treatment for a variety of health concerns in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine for a VERY long time.

So what is activated charcoal and what why is it one of the buzziest ingredients in 2018? 

In this post, we make activated charcoal digestible (pun intended). Here are our favorite activated charcoal benefits, along with 5 ideas for creatively adding activated charcoal to your plate (or mason jar).

WHAT IS ACTIVATED CHARCOAL?

Activated charcoal is pure carbon created through a specific process of burning wood, bamboo, coal or coconut husks without oxygen to create char. It is then activated, and the result is an extremely porous, tasteless and odorless powder.

HOW DOES ACTIVATED CHARCOAL WORK?

Activated charcoal is highly adsorbent (not absorbent!), which means that it binds other chemicals to its porous surface. Wait, but what does that mean exactly? It means that it’s basically a magnet for toxins. When ingested or applied topically to the skin, it adsorbs toxins (up to 1000 times its own weight!) and flushes them out of your system. Pretty cool, right?

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ACTIVATED CHARCOAL?

1. Detoxifies

Activated charcoal can be used both to assist your body in detoxification, and in emergency detox situations, such as certain kinds of poisoning.

Growing up in Russia, we would often use charcoal tablets to cure food poisoning and indigestion. Whenever my digestion felt off as a child, my mom would give me one charcoal tablet for every 10 kgs of body weight, and it would miraculously clean out whatever was bothering me.*

Activated charcoal works like a magnet going through your gut and clearing out the toxins and heavy metals. The World Health Organization even includes activated charcoal as an “essential medicine” for treatment in emergency detox situations. It’s a great idea to always have activated charcoal capsules with you when traveling.

*Please note, this is my personal experience and not a guideline. Activated charcoal should only be used for short-term detoxification and should be consumed with a lot of water to assist the cleansing process. Consult a physician if you’re on prescription medication and for any further questions.

2. Improves digestion

Taking 1/4-1/2 teaspoon activated charcoal after a meal can help with gas and bloating. You can also have it first thing in the morning with your lemon water. Make your own lemon elixir, or stock up your fridge with a pre-made functional lemon charcoal drink like Dirty Lemon. We love the Dirty Lemon charcoal drink for low sugar (less than 1 gram per bottle) and a smart combination of functional herbs, electrolytes and minerals brought together to gently cleanse and bring our your natural glow. 

3. Purifies skin

Beauty starts with radiant health from within, that’s why we prefer to use charcoal first and foremost for internal detoxification. But the fact is, it works just as well used externally as it does internally. Activated charcoal’s porous structure remove toxins and other impurities from the skin. Simply add it to your DIY face mask – it’s easier than you think!

There are so many more benefits to using activated charcoal. But let’s switch gears to charcoal-fueled functional (and edible!) eye candy.

Here are 5 creative uses of charcoal in food. 

Our favorite charcoal powder (that doesn’t have a chalky texture like some other powders) is this one.

1. Chia pudding

Chia seeds are already known for their cleansing properties, and when combined with charcoal, you get a digestion-boosting powerhouse and a fun-looking black pudding. Neither ingredient has flavor, so we recommend pairing your charcoal chia pudding with fresh berries and maple syrup. 

Make this basic chia pudding recipe, and add approximately 1/2 teaspoon activated charcoal, depending on how dark (and effective!) you want it. It’s always best to start introducing charcoal in very small quantities and increasing as your body gets used to it. You can also get playful and mix and match layers with and without charcoal, like we did in this custom breakfast parfait for THINX: 

2. Smoothie

Not ready to give up your morning smoothie? There’s no need to! Just add 1/2 teaspoon charcoal to your go-to smoothie recipe. The color will dramatically change, but the flavor will be barely affected. We love this recipe by Loni Jane: 

@lonijane was one of the very first people I followed here on IG, and I love her ebook #feelthelean & tips like this charcoal one 🌋 👉🏼 “Charcoal is not designed to be consumed daily or even very regularly, you use this as a detox medicine for once in a while when you feel you may need it. When you consume charcoal you need A LOT of good water after it for 24-48 hours. Charcoal can take up to a few days to do its job at cleaning. You may get a slight headache and feel low on energy but just go with it your body is very busy cleaning. You will know when its done when your poos are no longer black haha. Drink plenty of water and intake high fibre foods like my Superfood Burcha which help clean the walls of the entire digestive tract and help push all the adsorbed waste that charcoal has collected. If this has been informative please give it a like so I know to put more effort into sharing info like this :) CHARCOAL SMOOTHIE RECIPE 2 Cups of Frozen Blueberries 1 frozen banana 1-2 teaspoons of Activated Charcoal (start with 1 or less and work your way up) 500 ml of water Blend on high until smooth” 🤟🏼

A post shared by Ksenia🗽 | #BREAKFASTCRIMINALS (@breakfastcriminals) on Jan 9, 2018 at 3:35am PST

3. Lemonade

Ask anyone who’s into healthy lifestyle about their number one tip for radiant health. Most people will say it’s as simple as drinking plenty of lemon water! But if good old lemon water isn’t exciting enough, add 1/4 teaspoon activated charcoal and you’ve got a digestion-boosting, functional elixir.

4. Latte

Don’t get us wrong: we love matcha lattes and beet lattes. But there’s something uniquely artistic in the grey hues of a charcoal latte. Simply steam your favorite milk with 1/3 teaspoon of activated charcoal and a sweetener of choice. If you’re ready to get fancy, make this maca coconut charcoal latte. 

5. Toast and Pancakes! 

Our favorite use of charcoal? As paint in edible art. Who needs to use highly processed food paint filled with sugar when we’ve got superfoods that are just as rich and intense in color?

We mixed activated charcoal with coconut oil and with almond cream cheese to create these statement toasts for a Fashion Week event at Instagram HQ in New York.

We also love the idea of adding charcoal to your favorite pancake recipe, like our friend Sappho Hatzis.

 

Black sesame & charcoal pancake stack by my talented friend @_sappho_😍🖤 Did you know that 1 spoon of sesame has more calcium than milk? 🥛 Topped with homegrown mango & pomegranate, banana, & orange & clove infused honey syrup✨ Recipe by @_sappho_: 1 tbsp black sesame, toasted & ground (in nutribullet or specs grinder) 2 tbsp oats ground 1/2 tbsp rice flour 1/2 tsp charcoal powder Vanilla 1 egg 1/4 cup almond milk Optional 1 tsp sweetener Mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients, mix wet into dry, and cook in coconut oil. #breakfastcriminals

A post shared by Ksenia🗽 | #BREAKFASTCRIMINALS (@breakfastcriminals) on Jul 12, 2017 at 9:51am PDT

Try our favorite Dirty Lemon charcoal drinks with CBD and collagen on dirtylemon.com.

Disclaimer: This post is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice. Please consult a physician or another qualified health professional about regarding your specific health-related questions.