|
|
|
The Key to Excellent Health: Cleansing the Colon
RICHARD ANDERSON, N.D., N.M.D.
Nothing has changed since Dr. John Harvey Kellogg said a century ago that “90% of
diseases are due to improper functioning of the colon.
There is much talk today about the importance of colon cleansing, but how does having
healthy intestines actually improve your health?
It has always been an axiom of naturopathic medicine and most forms of natural healing
that the digestive system is the foundation for good or bad health. As naturopaths, we
routinely assume that most people are constipated, no matter how many times a day they go.
In fact, nothing has changed since the great natural healer Dr. John Harvey Kellogg,
founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, declared nearly a century ago that
“90% of the diseases of civilization are due to improper functioning of the colon.”
In 1987, I developed a four-phase, four-week colon cleansing protocol using herbs,
electrolytes, probiotics, and nutrients. Since then, an estimated 70,000 people have done
the self-care colon cleanse.
The benefits of cleansing are numerous. One user stated: “The main improvements I
have noticed are energy levels, vision, hair, skin, mental attitude, ability to cope with
stress situations—generally I’m a much happier and healthier person.”
Other benefits typically cited by users are cessation of menstrual pain, migraines, and
joint pain, fewer colds, resolution of lifelong sinus congestion, skin problems, and
breast cysts, weight loss, and improved concentration, among many others.
Consider the following cases from our patient files:
Lisa, 55, had suffered from a skin rash for 35 years. She had consulted numerous
physicians but nothing had reversed this problem. When the intestines are clogged and
toxic, and the liver, too, is overburdened, toxins start backing up into the skin for
elimination from the body.
By the time Lisa completed the colon cleanse, 95% of her skin symptoms had disappeared.
We find Lisa’s experience replicated often; cleansing the colon frequently yields
softer, more beautiful skin, with long-standing blemishes removed permanently in many
cases.
Traces of an earlier illness often remain in the intestines as potential seeds for a
recurrence. During a cleanse, it is not unusual to reexperience the symptoms of the former
illness as these traces are purged from the body.
Lil, 42, who suffered from chronic bronchitis, could not exercise or even walk up
stairs without wheezing. During the cleanse, she had a ten-day fit of coughing and
wheezing, then it abruptly stopped and never returned. By emptying her intestines of old,
putrefied matter, Lil had purged her body of the seeds of her recurrent bronchitis.
Margot, 47, had been beset by intense hip pain for seven years, such that she needed a
cane to walk. X rays showed that the cartilage was worn off the head of the femur (thigh
bone connecting to the hip bone) and the nerves in that area were pinched. Margot had
tried numerous alternative therapies but was still relatively crippled.
Margot reported that on the second day of the cleanse, 50% of her pain disappeared and
she no longer needed her cane; on the third day, she was able to perform gentle stretching
exercises; and over the next several months, Margot’s pain continued to diminish
leading her to declare: “For the first time in seven years, I’m seeing the
reversal of the downward spiral.”
What happens in a colon cleanse to produce these benefits?
Merely consider three facts about the intestines. First, if stretched out to their full
length, the large and small intestines together would measure 25 feet long. Second, the
total surface area in the intestines (made larger by myriad folds) capable of absorbing
nutrients is the size of a tennis court.
Third, the intestines can store a vast amount of partially digested, putrefying matter
(as well as drugs and other toxic chemicals)—for decades even. Some intestines, when
autopsied, have weighed up to 40 pounds and were distended to a diameter of 12 inches with
only a pencil-thin channel through which the feces could move.
That 40 pounds was due to caked layers of encrusted mucus mixed with fecal matter,
bizarrely resembling hardened blackish-green truck tire rubber or an old piece of dried
rawhide. I call this mucoid plaque. This mucoid plaque, when it is removed during an
intensive colon cleanse, often shows ropelike twists, striations, overlaps, folds, creases—the
shape and texture of the intestinal wall.
Mucoid plaque may vary considerably, depending on the chemical conditions in a person’s
intestines. It may be hard and brittle; it may be firm and thick; tough, wet, and rubbery;
soft, thick, and mucoid; or soft, transparent, and thin; it can range in color from light
brown, black, or greenish-black to yellow or grey, and sometimes emits an intensely foul
odor.
One client I know, in the course of a month-long colon cleanse, passed a single length
of mucoid plaque 15 feet long; another client excreted a total of 11 pounds of mucoid
plaque during a cleanse. It is not unusual to pass a total of 35 to 45 feet of plaque,
often in the last week. In our clinical experience of monitoring thousands of intensive
colon cleanse programs over the last 14 years, most people pass a staggering amount of
this strange substance.
I coined the term mucoid plaque, meaning a film of mucus, to describe the unhealthy
accumulation of abnormal mucous matter on the walls of the intestines. Conventional
medicine knows this as a layering of mucin or glycoproteins (made up of 20 amino acids and 50% carbohydrates) which are naturally and appropriately
secreted by intestines as protection from acids and toxins.
However, mucoid plaque is different from the mucosal lining (mucosa) of the
gastrointestinal tract. The latter acts as a necessary buffer to the gastrointestinal wall
and as a lubricant for peristalsis; it is also responsible for the secretion of mucins
which comprise mucoid plaque. The cells of the outermost layer of the mucosa (the
epithelium) stay fresh and vital, renewing themselves every four to seven days.
It sounds paradoxical, but medical research indicates that mucoid plaque is a normal
self-defense measure—natural protection from unnatural toxins.
Evidence indicates that mucoid plaque, with the possible exception of that found in the
stomach, is unnatural to the healthy body and is found only after the body has moved away
from perfect health and into a diseased state. The theory goes that if you were completely
healthy, your system would produce no mucoid plaque because it wouldn’t need to.
When the body has been chronically subjected to (or put under attack by) drugs (such as
aspirin or alcohol), salt, heavy metals (including dental mercury), toxic chemicals,
parasites, harmful microbes and their toxins, and circulating immune complexes (immune
cells locked onto undigested particles or foreign substances in the bloodstream), it
produces mucoid plaque to protect itself.
The trouble is once the mucoid plaque is created, for whatever biologically important
reason, it is not routinely excreted from the intestines. Instead it lodges in the
numerous folds and crevices of this large organ and can remain there for many years. Over
time, the mucoid plaque grows thicker, firmer, and more widespread—colonizing, as it
were, the tennis court–sized interior of the intestines. Old feces adhere to the
plaque and are not removed during a normal bowel motion.
The plaque slows down intestinal action, both waste excretion and nutrient absorption.
It can harbor pathogens, including bacteria and parasites, which actually hide underneath
the plaque; it may block the normal outflow of lymph and mucin drainage. It binds toxins
to itself and contributes to bowel toxicity, slowly emitting toxins into the bloodstream.
Finally, plaque creates a friendly environment for disease, in some cases for colon cancer
and gastric carcinomas.
Gradually your immune system is weakened as the chronically toxic bowel environment
destroys useful bacteria. Your liver becomes overburdened by the unprocessed intestinal
toxins, and nerve meridian points in the intestines related to hundreds of other parts of
the body are compromised.
A toxic bowel results in toxic blood and lymph, toxic organs and cells, and toxic function. The bowel
“feeds” every organ, tissue, and cell in our bodies, so when the quality of
feeding from the digestive system is contaminated or of poor quality, the cells and organs
elsewhere in the body will be compromised and grow sluggish and inefficient.
So while mucoid plaque is “natural” in that the intestines produce it, it is
most unnatural in that the presence of a large amount of it indicates a high degree of
intestinal ill health. When the intestines are ill, you will be ill.
Here is a concise review of the essential elements you need:
Assess Your pH—This is a chemical measurement of your body’s acidity
or alkalinity and, to a certain degree, your level of toxicity. The simplest way to assess
your pH is by
moistening a specially prepared (litmus) paper with your tongue; the color it turns
correlates with pH values.
Reduce Your Eating—Generally, as you move further into the program you
should eat less. This enables your body to focus on clearing out the toxins and old fecal
matter without the distraction and energy output of digesting new foods. Each successive
stage in the program involves stricter dietary controls and a higher intake of supplements
and fresh juices with a correspondingly deeper cleansing.
Herbal Laxative—You need a formula to soften and break up toxic waste
material while detoxifying cells. An herbal combination that works well for this (when
mixed in the proper way) includes plantain, cascara sagrada, barberry, peppermint, sheep
sorrel, fennel seed, ginger root, myrrh gum, red raspberry, rhubarb root, goldenseal, and
lobelia. This herbal formula prepares the mucoid plaque for removal and neutralizes stored
intestinal toxins such as pesticides, drugs, and heavy metals. It also helps cleanse the
liver and other body tissues.
Herbal Nutrition—At the same time, you need to bolster your system’s
ability to detoxify. An effective herbal formula for this works as a vitamin supplement
and includes alfalfa, dandelion, shavegrass, chickweed, marshmallow root, yellowdock,
rosehips, hawthorn, licorice root, Irish moss, kelp, and two digestive enzymes, amylase
(digests carbohydrates) and cellulase (digests plant fiber).
Bentonite—Liquid clay derived from volcanic ash, bentonite taken orally is
highly effective in absorbing toxins from the intestines and removing them from the body.
Psyllium Husk Powder—This fibrous bulking agent forms a gel when mixed with
water. While the herbal laxative and nutritional formulas loosen the mucoid plaque, and
bentonite pulls out and absorbs toxic debris, psyllium helps push the toxins and waste
materials out of your body.
Probiotics—Your intestines need certain “friendly” bacteria
(probiotics) to perform all of their functions, including the suppression and elimination
of pathogenic microorganisms. Probiotics can also help restore alkalinity to an acidified
intestinal tract thereby assuring that electrolytes
will not be lost because of intestines overrun with acidic bacteria. A particularly
helpful probiotic is Bifidobacterium infantis.
Electrolytes—Your body depends on the essential alkaline minerals
potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium to remove toxic acids, maintain fluid balance in
cells and the bloodstream, and control pH, hormone secretion, nerve conduction, and other
functions. An effective way to deliver alkalinizing electrolytes is via dehydrated juice
of beets, celery, and carrots, combined with goat milk whey concentrate, fig powder, and
lecithin.
Antioxidants—As the intestines begin to purge themselves of old matter and
mucoid plaque, large amounts of toxins and free radicals are released. It is prudent to
take an antioxidant
formula while doing the colon cleanse to help your system clean up these released toxins.
Good antioxidants to include are milk thistle, curcumin (from turmeric), Ginkgo biloba,
grape seed extract, pine bark extract, vitamins C, E, and B6, bioflavonoids, lipoic acid,
coenzyme Q10, zinc, and chromium.
Dietary Changes—First, I generally encourage people to not eat meat in
order to reduce acid-forming dietary input. Second, I suggest people reduce grains,
potatoes, yams, and sweet potatoes for 30 days after they have completed the colon
cleanse. Third, I recommend a raw foods diet maintained whenever possible, ideally based
on home-grown organic fruits and vegetables. A raw foods diet is rich in digestive enzymes and
encourages the body to continue detoxifying.
Is there a connection between old emotions and colon cleansing?
Yes. You will find that in many cases a colon cleanse will purge old emotions and
attitudes stored in the intestines.
Consider this case: Jessie, 20, was a vegan yet was bothered by digestive problems and
candidiasis. Candidiasis, or the overgrowth of Candida
albicans in the intestines, is a condition often reversed by an
intense colon cleanse. During the first two weeks of the cleanse, Jessie began feeling
better, but the turnaround came in week three. Jessie passed what looked like three white
cotton balls (presumably Candida masses lodged in her colon), and thereafter had no
more candidiasis symptoms.
In addition to her physical improvements, Jessie had an emotional benefit as well. She
felt an increase in will power, a clarity in her feelings, a new desire to be of service
to others, and a release of long-held resentments.
These points highlight an important aspect of colon cleansing. Many people, after
completing a cleanse, feel energized, uplifted, and freed of old patterns, thoughts,
feelings, and memories that have held them back. When a person is on a course of personal
growth and wants to change their consciousness but is stuck in old negative patterns of
thinking and feeling, there is nothing that will get them unstuck and change them faster
than a colon cleanse.
In my observation of many individuals doing the colon cleanse, a negative state of
consciousness is often, at an energy level, at the root of whatever physical problem they
suffer from. Every thought or feeling we have has the potential of moving from the mind
into the physical structure of the body where it can provoke illness. I estimate that
about 70% of those doing the intensive colon cleanse will experience long-forgotten
memories and buried emotions.
Often the memories and emotions surface into awareness with all their original charge
and soon afterwards you pass a large section of mucoid plaque. As it passes out of your
body, so go the emotions. In most cases, you don’t reexperience those particular
emotional memories.
Here is what I think happens. It is as though you can magnetize proteins or undigested
food left in the intestines with certain thoughts and feelings. These proteins hold onto
the feelings for as long as the proteins remain in the intestines, and the old emotions
and thoughts continually radiate through the body and mind.
They remain literally—tangibly—stuck in your body, somehow bound up with the
mucoid plaque and contributing, though not often usefully, to the personality. Both the
individual’s biochemistry and psyche are continuously negatively affected by these
residues of emotionally magnetized matter.
Let’s say you were 13 and had a traumatic or deeply embarrassing experience. At
some level, every cell in your body was affected by the emotions of that event. It is
conceivable that some intestinal matter imprinted by that experience remains in your
intestines, wrapped inside mucoid plaque and bearing the memory of the original pain (even
though you are now 45 and barely remember the episode).
The personality and one’s operating belief system, after all, are controlled
mainly by a massive accumulation of past thoughts and feelings. To a large extent,
intestinal matter helps hold these feelings in place. The colon cleanse, by purging the
intestines of the mucoid plaque, flushes out this accumulation of old negative thoughts
and feelings.
Dr. Anderson is the founder of Arise & Shine Herbal Products, a
company that produces the Cleanse Thyself Program a colon cleanse and
full body detoxification system. Dr. Anderson is also the author of Cleanse
and Purify Thyself , Books One and Two (Christobe Publishing, 1998). More
information can be found on his website at
www.cleanse.net
Books by Richard Anderson
About Richard Anderson (Biography)
|
As a leader in natural medicine research and
writing, Dr. Richard Anderson holds a special place in the alternative
health world. With his first Book, Cleanse and Purify Thyself, he awoke
tens of thousands of people to the physical and spiritual benefits of
internal cleansing. He has developed one of the most profound internal
cleansing systems ever made known and available to the public. Through
extensive research, Dr. Anderson has expanded his Cleanse and Purify
Thyself series to the exceptional offering of spiritual inspiration and
science that it is today. Dr. Anderson continues to devote himself to
research, writing, lectures and spreading his message of health and
love.
More information can be found on his website at
www.cleanse.net |
|
|
|
