Cleansing the Colon, RICHARD ANDERSON, N.D., N.M.
The Key to Excellent Health: Cleansing the Colon
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?
RICHARD ANDERSON, N.D., N.M.D.
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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:
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Is there a connection between old emotions and colon cleansing?
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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.
For More Information
Richard Anderson, N.D., N.M.D., Arise & Shine, 401 Berry Street, P.O. Box
901, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067; tel: 800-688-2444 or 530-926-0891; fax:
530-926-8866.
Dr. Anderson is the originator and director of Arise & Shine, a company that
produces the Cleanse Thyself Program™ colon detoxification system.
Dr. Anderson is also the author of Cleanse and Purify Thyself
(Arise & Shine, 1998).