Fresh cilantro occupies a specific and highly targeted role in the Primal Diet. It is not primarily a flavoring herb or a general nutritional food, it functions as a powerful chelating agent, meaning its primary purpose in the diet is to attract, bind with, and mobilize free-radical metallic minerals and heavy metals stored throughout the body. Aajonus consistently placed cilantro in a separate category from general green juicing vegetables like parsley or comfrey, explicitly warning that its action is so strong that it must be used carefully, in small quantities, always accompanied by raw fat, and never as a casual nutritional staple.

Aajonus described cilantro in his newsletter as follows: "Another food that offers our bodies nutrients to attract and contain free-radical metallic minerals is cilantro. It is best always to consume raw fat when eating cilantro or drinking cilantro juice. Also, consider that eating or drinking too much cilantro can cause our bodies to detoxify old storages of free-radical metallic minerals. The result of a too-aggressive metal-detoxification is irritability, fatigue, constant nausea, vomit, diarrhea, headaches, joint pain, and other symptoms. Therefore, I suggest that cilantro be eaten or drunk in very small quantities, no more than 2–3 tablespoons daily."

He also noted that cilantro "pulls the metals out very rapidly and does not allow for binding with it" when used without proper fat support, which was a key clinical observation that shaped how he integrated it into protocols.

Cilantro is also identified by Aajonus under its alternate name: he notes "Cilantro does, I mean, you call it, coriander does that", indicating that what he calls cilantro is the fresh leaf form of the coriander plant, and that this fresh plant moves into the neurological fluid and lymphatic fluid to bind with poisons unlocked in areas beyond the digestive tract.

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The central and defining property of fresh cilantro in Aajonus's framework is its ability to chelate heavy metals and free-radical metallic minerals from the body. He described this action in considerable detail across multiple seminars and written materials.

Aajonus said: "Cilantro causes a lot of mineral detoxification, heavy metal detoxification, so that's not the best one to use to get your chlorophyll." This is an important distinction, he did not recommend cilantro as a chlorophyll source, which parsley serves better, but as a targeted chelating agent.

The specific metals he associated with cilantro chelation include the heavier, more toxic metals, tin, aluminum, lead, mercury, and related heavy gray and black metals. He elaborated that cilantro "pulls the metals out very rapidly," which distinguishes it from slower-acting chelators in his system. This speed is the very quality that makes it both powerful and potentially dangerous when used without fat.

He explained the mechanism in more detail: "If the cilantro starts pulling heavy metals out of the glandular tissue or soft membranes in the body, then you want to have the fat there to bind with so it doesn't cause you a problem." This indicates that cilantro specifically acts on glandular tissue and soft membranes, not just the digestive tract, drawing stored metals into circulation, where they require a fat medium to bind with them and carry them safely out of the body.

He also described coriander/cilantro moving "into the neurological fluid and into the lymphatic fluid to bind with those poisons that are unlocked in other areas other than the digestive tract." This is a significant statement: cilantro's reach extends beyond the gut into the neurological and lymphatic systems, making it systemically active and therefore requiring proportionally greater caution.

Aajonus described a specific synergistic relationship between vinegar and cilantro: "The vinegar, when it's taken with the cilantro, will actually draw a lot of loosed metals out of the liver, out of the organs and glands." This suggests that vinegar amplifies or assists the cilantro in extracting loosened metals specifically from the liver, organs, and glands, a more targeted action than cilantro alone.

He also explained that once cilantro and vinegar have mobilized and loosened heavy metals, dark berries help attach to those metals so they are not reabsorbed into the blood and neurological system: "The berries will help attach to those so they're not reabsorbed into the blood and neurological system and they'll pass." This positions fresh cilantro as one element of a broader chelation system that includes vinegar, fat, and dark berries working in sequence.

Aajonus was explicit that cilantro, like all vegetables, is poorly digested without juicing. He stated that if you simply eat it, "you are not going to digest much of it... you are only going to digest 2 or 4 percent of it. But that 2 or 4 percent could mean a benefit to you." However, when properly juiced and stored correctly in vegetable juice with a tiny bit of honey and allowed to sit in the refrigerator for 10 hours, digestibility increases: "Then you are going to digest maybe 10 percent of it. And that is it."

This means even at optimal preparation, only 10% of the cilantro's compounds are available for absorption. Despite this low percentage, Aajonus considered even that amount meaningful for its chelating function.

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Aajonus was unambiguous that cilantro must be used fresh and juiced to be effective. He stated: "Yes. Cilantro. But you have to juice cilantro." This means dried cilantro, cilantro tablets, cilantro powder, or any processed or dehydrated form is not acceptable in his framework for therapeutic purposes.

He contrasted cilantro specifically with chlorella to make his point about dried vegetables: "You can't juice chlorella. In a tablet you won't digest any of it. The sealers and binders that keep making it into a pellet, you can't utilize it. Powder okay. But any of your algae, all of those, they are dried. They are hard dried vegetables. You can't even break it down when it is fresh. What makes you think you are going to break it down when it is dried and hard?" While this was directed at chlorella, the comparison was made in the direct context of discussing cilantro juicing, reinforcing the necessity of using it fresh and in juiced form.

He also specifically stated that cilantro must be the leaf form, juiced. When a participant raised the question of whether cilantro leaves could just be eaten raw, the concern raised was that "the leaf doesn't have any juice or anything, right? It doesn't taste good if it's raw." Aajonus's solution was always juicing, not steaming or any form of heating.

When added to vegetable juice, cilantro's therapeutic compounds become part of the overall juice medium and, with the proper 10-hour refrigeration period and honey addition, achieve improved bioavailability. This is the operative form for all therapeutic protocols Aajonus described.

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Aajonus described cilantro being juiced alongside other vegetables in the standard green juicer setup. He referenced the Green Star or Green Power juicer as his preferred equipment. His standard juicing method for mixed vegetable juices including cilantro involved juicing the celery, parsley, carrot, and cilantro together, often with cucumber purée added separately (the cucumber being blended rather than juiced due to its high water and pulp content).

He described the sequence: "You peel the cucumbers, slice them, put them in the jar. The juice that you've just used from the carrot, the celery, the parsley, the cilantro, and the zucchini and all that, you pour that into the jar with the slices of peeled cucumber. You blend it all together and then you pour that into smaller jars and you have 1, 2, 3 a day of those."

Aajonus gave specific instructions for maximizing the digestibility of cilantro in juice: "What you can do is you can take it, put it in vegetable juice, with a tiny bit of honey in it, and let it sit in your refrigerator for 10 hours. Or put it in all of your vegetable juices and let it sit until you are ready to use it. Then take it out and let it sit out and get room temperature before you drink it. Then you are going to digest maybe 10 percent of it."

The steps are precise: 1. Juice cilantro with other vegetables 2. Add a tiny bit of honey to the juice 3. Refrigerate for a minimum of 10 hours 4. Before drinking, remove from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature 5. Drink at room temperature, not cold

This protocol maximizes the available digestive benefit from cilantro's compounds, moving from a baseline of 2–4% absorption (when eaten raw without preparation) up to approximately 10%.

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This is one of the most consistently and emphatically repeated points Aajonus made about cilantro: raw fat must always accompany any consumption of cilantro or cilantro juice. This is not optional, and he gave detailed biochemical reasoning for why.

He stated in his newsletter: "It is best always to consume raw fat when eating cilantro or drinking cilantro juice."

He explained the reasoning: "If the cilantro starts pulling heavy metals out of the glandular tissue or soft membranes in the body, then you want to have the fat there to bind with so it doesn't cause you a problem."

The problem that occurs without fat: the metals that cilantro pulls into circulation from the glandular tissue and soft membranes have nothing to bind with. Without a fat medium to capture these mobilized metals, they remain free in the bloodstream and neurological fluid, where they cause the symptoms of aggressive detoxification: "irritability, fatigue, constant nausea, vomit, diarrhea, headaches, joint pain, and other symptoms."

Aajonus gave specific fat recommendations depending on the context and the degree of toxicity being addressed:

Dairy cream: His most frequently mentioned fat for cilantro in vegetable juice. He said: "When you do cilantro, you have to have some fat in the juice, so have about a half a tablespoon of cream, cow's cream, in the juice." In another instance: "Put a teaspoon to a tablespoon of dairy cream to protect the nerves."

Coconut cream: He described coconut cream as an appropriate fat to buffer cilantro's metal chelation action, particularly when the detoxification response is becoming too rapid or overwhelming. He described "starting to suggest that people eat one to two tablespoons of raw cr[eam]" (the full quote is cut off but context makes clear it refers to raw cream or coconut cream) after observing that people were experiencing "overly rapid detoxes" when using cilantro in their juice.

He specifically stated: "For people who are very toxic and using, let's say, cilantro in their juice for detoxification, maybe not, except for a tablespoon of coconut cream before the juice." This means the fat should ideally be consumed before the cilantro juice, not simultaneously or after, so that it is already present in the system when the cilantro begins pulling metals.

Egg in vegetable juice: For high-mercury situations specifically, Aajonus recommended adding an egg directly into the vegetable juice containing cilantro: "You put an egg in there in your vegetable juice and you put a teaspoon to a tablespoon of dairy cream to protect the nerves." The egg provides additional fat and protein to chelate with the mercury as it is being pulled. He said: "You need something to chelate with those metals, especially mercury when the cilantro is pulling it out."

Butter: Butter is mentioned as another pre-juice fat option: "Is it fine if they have butter before the juice? And cream is more cleansing." He indicated that cream is the preferred fat for this specific purpose because it is "more cleansing," while butter also works.

Aajonus distinguished between having fat before drinking cilantro juice versus having fat in the juice itself. For people of normal size and without severe metal toxicity, fat in the juice is adequate. For very toxic individuals, he recommended having fat before the juice in addition to fat within it: "a tablespoon of coconut cream before the juice." He noted: "For a person your size, it's fine. You don't need cream or butter... for your juice. If you're skinny, you do. Or you're going for a metal detoxification, you need a fat before you drink the juice."

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No topical applications of fresh cilantro were described in the source passages. Aajonus's topical beauty and body care formulas in the sources use ingredients such as raw cream, raw butter, coconut cream, lime juice, ginger juice, honey, and royal jelly, but fresh cilantro is not listed among them.

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Aajonus gave a clear, explicit upper limit for cilantro consumption: no more than 2–3 tablespoons daily when eaten or drunk as cilantro juice. He stated this in the newsletter context: "I suggest that cilantro be eaten or drunk in very small quantities, no more than 2–3 tablespoons daily."

In his Q&A correspondence, he gave an even more conservative limit for juiced cilantro consumed therapeutically: "no more than 1 T. daily."

These two figures represent the range, 1 tablespoon as the conservative therapeutic dose in correspondence, and 2–3 tablespoons as the upper daily maximum in newsletter guidance.

In juice formulas, Aajonus consistently placed cilantro at 5–10% of the total juice volume for standard protocols, with a maximum of 15% reserved for high-mercury cases only.

• 5%, appropriate for mild general detox, introduced alongside other juicing vegetables
• 7%, used in specific individual protocols for moderate toxicity
• 10%, the standard maximum for most people
• 15%, reserved only for individuals with confirmed very high mercury burden (identified by iridology), and in this case an egg must also be added to the juice

He was emphatic: "I do suggest that they eat no more than 10% ever of cilantro." (Speaking of most people, not high-mercury cases.)

If detoxification symptoms arise, irritability, fatigue, constant nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, or joint pain, Aajonus indicated these are signs of too-aggressive metal detoxification triggered by cilantro, and the appropriate response is to reduce quantity. He did not recommend stopping entirely but rather pulling back to a lower amount and ensuring adequate fat accompaniment.

For the vinegar-cilantro combination: if detoxification becomes overwhelming, he suggested reducing consumption of raw apple cider vinegar and lime juice to 1 tablespoon each daily.

Cilantro appears in protocols that involve it on the days when green vegetable juice is consumed, not on every single day of the week. In rotating protocols, green vegetable juice (containing cilantro) alternated with carrot juice or fruit meals every two days. This implies that cilantro is not necessarily consumed daily in all protocols, it is tied to the green juice days specifically.

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Aajonus included 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro in the Ceviche recipe:

Ceviche, Version 1: - 5 to 8 ounces fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish - 3 to 4 ounces fresh lemon or lime juice - ½ to 1 diced fresh tomato - 4 to 6 tablespoons flax oil, or stone-pressed olive oil - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro - 1 tablespoon chopped red onion (optional) - 1 slice minced fresh garlic (optional)

Method: Dice fish and marinate in lemon or lime juice for 20 minutes to 24 hours in a jar or bowl. Stir oil, onion, and garlic together for 1 minute. Pour off lemon or lime juice from fish. Pour oil mixture over fish. Top with diced tomato.

The same recipe appears in two locations in The Recipe for Living Without Disease, once in the White Meat Meals section and once in the Seafood/Fish section, with identical or near-identical formulas.

• 1 slice minced fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh red onion
• 1 tomato
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 cup sour cream

Method: Slice a deep and wide cut in tomato. Gently squeeze tomato in hand over a bowl to remove juice and seeds. Drink tomato juice when thirsty. Chop tomato [then combine all ingredients].

This recipe uses 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro, within the 2–3 tablespoon daily maximum Aajonus specified as safe.

In his recipe book and DVD, Aajonus showed cilantro being used in what he described as showing "how to put the foods in there in what order to get the [juice]." This was in the context of juicing demonstrations on his recipe DVD, where the sequence of ingredients in the juicer matters for efficiency and yield.

Aajonus also noted that "cilantro is not delicious", particularly in fruit contexts. He specifically said: "Cilantro is not delicious. It's an option, but it's not delicious with fruit." This suggests he viewed cilantro primarily as a therapeutic inclusion rather than a flavor-first ingredient, with lime juice serving as a more palatable alternative for fruit-based metal handling.

From his general juicing guidance: "A third cucumber purée, peeled cucumber. A third carrot juice and a third celery. And 10% parsley. That's a good basic." And separately he noted: "In the book I talk about cilantro can help you remove heavy metals from the body, other vegetables do other things."

For juice proportions with cilantro included, the basic structure he described was: - Celery as the dominant base (often 20–80% depending on the protocol) - Parsley at 5–15% - Carrot at 5–30% - Cilantro at 5–15% - Cucumber purée as needed (blended separately and added) - Optional zucchini (mentioned as less radical than cilantro for those sensitive to its action)

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Aajonus referenced coriander seeds in the context of the South African Frikkadel Glaze recipe as "freshly ground coriander seeds", a spice distinct from fresh cilantro leaf. He treated coriander seeds as a culinary spice, not as a therapeutic chelating agent. The Spice Paste recipe in the book includes coriander seeds alongside cardamon, fenugreek, clove, cinnamon, allspice, peppercorns, and other spices.

In the therapeutic context, Aajonus specifically noted "Cilantro does, I mean, you call it, coriander does that", confirming that the fresh leaf (cilantro) is the active form for metal chelation, not the dried seed (coriander).

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Aajonus acknowledged a period of community-level concern about cilantro use: "There was much discussion online for a while about using cilantro in tiny quantities in juice, but people complaining about overly rapid detoxes." His response to this was to reformulate his guidance, recommending raw cream or fat before the juice to provide a binding medium for the mobilized metals. This reflects a genuine clinical evolution in his protocol based on observed adverse outcomes.

In written Q&A correspondence regarding an article about coriander's antibacterial properties (specifically related to fighting food poisoning), Aajonus engaged with the tension between cilantro's benefits and the risk of concentrated coriander oil destroying beneficial bacteria. His position was characteristically against concentrated oils and in favor of whole juiced forms:

"The problem with most people is not that they have bad bacteria, which rarely, if ever, causes food poisoning, but the industrial chemicals which store in the stomach and intestines. When certain bacterial janitors clean the stomach and/or intestinal walls, they will have detoxification symptoms. When they take any concentrated oil, the janitorial as well as the digestive bacteria are destroyed. For some people that is a big relief, however they grow weaker and more toward advanced disease resultantly. However, juicing some cilantro and consuming it can be very beneficial to tissues, but in very small amounts: no more than 1 T. daily."

This response draws a clear line between the whole fresh plant juiced (beneficial, within limits) and concentrated coriander oil (harmful to the bacterial ecosystem of the gut). It also reflects Aajonus's broader framework that microbes are not pathogens to be eliminated but partners in bodily maintenance and cleansing.

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