How to maintain your health and vitality through internal cleansing:
Each year the average American consumes 150 lbs of sugar and 566 cans of soft drinks (“liquid candy”)(1). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that is equal to “52 teaspoonfuls of added sugars per person per day.”(2) Can you imagine yourself sitting at the kitchen table gobbling down 52 teaspoons of white sugar – every single day? Well, that’s exactly what most of us are doing without even realizing it!
Why is every other American chronically ill?
Junk food consumption has increased drastically in the last few decades. Compared to 1981, in 2001 the average American consumed in one year: 45 large bags of potato chips - up 78%; 120 orders of French fries - up 130%; 190 candy bars - up 80%; 120 pastries or desserts - up 95%; 150 slices of pizza - up 143%(3)
What long-term effects may we expect from such progressive dietary degeneration? A new movie called Super Size Me documents precisely what physical and psychological changes take place when one consumes too much junk food. Last February, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock decided to become a human guinea pig by eating three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald’s. The film centers around the impact this had on his health and life. As reported by the New York Post on January 22, 2004.:
“Scores of cheeseburgers, hundreds of fries and dozens of chocolate shakes later, the formerly strapping 6-foot-2 New Yorker - who started out at a healthy 185 pounds - had packed on 25 pounds. But his supersized shape was the least of his problems. Within a few days of beginning his drive-through diet, Spurlock, 33, was vomiting out the window of his car, and doctors who examined him were shocked at how rapidly Spurlock's entire body deteriorated.
It was really crazy - my body basically fell apart over the course of 30 days, ’ Spurlock told The Post. His liver became toxic, his cholesterol shot up from a low 165 to 230, his libido flagged and he suffered headaches and depression.” (4)
Toxins “stimulate neurons to death”
Junk foods and soft drinks contain dangerous additives, chemicals, and many are laced with excitotoxins “found in such ingredients as monosodium glutamate [MSG], aspartame (NutraSweet®), cysteine, hydrolyzed protein, and aspartic acid”. Excitotoxins are “substances added to foods and beverages that literally stimulate neurons to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees.”(5)
No one’s put it better than nutritionist, Carol Simontacchi, in her best-selling book The Crazy Makers:“Food industries wantonly destroy our bodies and our brains, all in the name of profit.”
As our environment and food are increasingly saturated with chemicals, the body’s detoxification system becomes overburdened. The constant circulation of toxins taxes the immune system which must continually strive to destroy them.
Since the body is incapable of eliminating all the accumulated poisons on its own, it needs assistance in detoxifying. We can help this process along through the regular use of natural internal cleanses and targeted detoxification programs.
Cleansing/detoxification process is the missing link in Western nutrition and one of the keys to real healing. “Understanding that our quality of life is determined by our daily choices, we have the power to improve our health and wellbeing one step at a time. Optimum nutrition is a key factor, but our health depends not only on what nutrients we eat, but how much of those nutrients are absorbed and how well and regularly the body’s waste products are eliminated. With the proper use of cleansing and detoxification we can maintain health and vitality, even as we age
Where to start
Any cleansing program should begin in the colon, the last portion of the digestive system. The colon’s job is to compact the chime, absorb water, and receive B-vitamins that are produced by healthy intestinal bacteria. One of the most renowned nutrition experts in the world, Dr. Bernard Jensen, D.C., Ph.D.,
author of many popular health books, states: “In the 50 years I’ve spent helping people to overcome illness, disability and disease, it has become crystal clear that poor bowel management lies at the root of most people’s health problems. In treating over 300,000 patients, it is the bowel that invariably has to be cared for first before any effective healing can take place.”(3)
We could actually compare the function of the colon in our bodies to a sewer system in a large city. Just imagine for a second what would happen if the sewers in our area became clogged by some debris. Undoubtedly, within a short time our whole neighborhood would be filled with filth and an unbearable stench. This is the same process that occurs in our bodies when the elimination system is not functioning properly. When the colon is clean and healthy, we experience an overall wellbeing. When it is congested with stagnant waste, poisons back up into the system and pollute the inner environment. This is called autointoxication or self-poisoning.
Signs of self-poisoning
Summarizes the symptoms of self-poisoning.
“If you experience any of the following symptoms, you may be experiencing autointoxication (a process whereby you are poisoned by substances produced by your own body as a result of inadequate digestion and elimination), and therefore you might want to consider some type of internal cleansing program:
· Allergy or intolerance to certain foods
· Bad breath and foul-smelling gas and stools
· Constipation, diarrhea, sluggish elimination, irregular bowel movements
· Frequent congestion, colds, viruses
· Flatulence or gas and frequent intestinal disorders
· Frequent headaches for no apparent reason
· General aches and pains that migrate from one place to another
· Intolerance to fatty foods
· Low energy; loss of vitality for no apparent reason
· Lower back pain
· Lowered resistance to infections
· Needing to sleep a long time
· Pain in your liver or gall bladder
· Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), breast soreness, vaginal infections
· Skin problems, rashes, boils, pimples, acne
If you have severe symptoms or any serious disorders, seek the attention of a competent health care provider. The above list is only meant to indicate some of the symptoms of autointoxication. Anyone who has been on a Standard American Diet for more than two years would benefit from periodic cleansing, especially if you live in an urban area.”(4)
Every cell of our body is affected by self-poisoning. When the toxins accumulate in the nervous system, we feel irritable and depressed. We feel weak if they back up into the heart, bloated if they reach the stomach and our breath is foul if they reach the lungs. If the poisons try to escape through our skin, rashes and blotches develop, or we look pale and our skin appears wrinkly. If the toxins make it to the glands, we feel fatigued, lethargic, our sex drive may cease and we appear to look much older than our actual age.
“Lingering demise”
The 20th century’s most recognized colon expert, the legendary Dr. Norman Walker, D. Sc., Ph.D. writes the following: “The elimination of undigested food and other waste products is equally as important as the proper digestion and assimilation of food. In fact, I can think of nothing more significant and vital than preventing the danger of inevitable effects of toxemia and toxic poisons that are a result of the neglect and failure to expel feces, debris, and waste matter from the body. Few of us realize that failure to effectively eliminate waste products from the body causes so much fermentation and putrefaction in the colon that the neglected accumulation of such waste can, and frequently does, result in a lingering demise!”(5)
The most common sign of a toxic colon is chronic constipation. Constipation is commonly defined as a condition where the fecal matter is so tightly packed together that bowel movements are infrequent and incomplete,
The most common sign of a toxic colon is chronic constipation. Constipation is commonly defined as a condition where the fecal matter is so tightly packed together that bowel movements are infrequent and incomplete, causing much difficulty and straining, and producing dry, hardened feces. The accumulation of this old, hardened feces sticks to the walls of the colon, inhibiting its proper function of absorbing the remaining nutrients. Instead it is forced to absorb the toxins from the build-up and fight the parasites that make this debris their breeding ground. The passage through which the feces are forced to travel is also greatly reduced in diameter so the stools become much narrower, even as thin as a pencil sometimes. In our society, bowel movements of the chronically constipated may be looked upon as normal. It is not uncommon for doctors to tell their patients, “It’s okay to move your bowels only once a week. That must be normal for you.” This, by the way, is a complete fallacy
Diverticulosis and Diverticulitis
Many people have small pouches in their colons that bulge outward through weak spots, like an inner tube that pokes through weak places in a tire. Each pouch is called a diverticulum while the condition diverticulosis. About 10 percent of Americans over the age of 40 have diverticulosis. The condition becomes more common as people age. About half of all people over the age of 60 have diverticulosis. When the pouches become infected or inflamed, the condition is called diverticulitis(8) The main cause of diverticular disease is a low-fiber diet.
Indispensable fiber
This widespread problem begins with our unhealthy Western diet that is deficient in plant fibers. Fiber is indispensable in maintaining a healthy colon. A person with a healthy colon should in fact have two to three bowel movements per day, shortly after each meal. With the help of fiber, elimination should be complete, fast and easy. (See transit time graph.) The stool should be light brown in color, long and large in diameter, fluffy in texture and floating on top of the water. There should be no offensive odor and it should break apart with the toilet flushing.
Going to the bathroom once every few days, sitting there straining for half an hour and passing black, hard pebbles that drop to the bottom is not only abnormal, it is also serious trouble waiting to happen.
Dietary fiber plays a crucial role in the proper function and maintenance of the colon. For colon cleansing it is best to use a fiber supplement designed specifically for this purpose. Good-quality supplements contain both soluble and insoluble fiber and are formulated to loosen the stool, absorb and sweep away fat and toxins, reduce transit time, and make elimination effortless and complete
The role of fiber
Binds toxic chemicals preventing their absorption
Binds bile acids lowering serum cholesterol levels
Increases bulk and softness of feces, reducing pressure on colon walls
Decreases transit time of feces
What to expect during cleansing
When we start using an effective fiber supplement, we can expect some startling occurrences within a few days. The fiber goes to work immediately by loosening the hardened feces on the walls of the large intestine and gradually sweeping it out of the body. If we are not repulsed to look at what’s leaving our body, we’ll be surprised to see a lot of mucus and all the different colors of debris. It’s hard to believe that all these things could actually be lurking inside us. What’s even more shocking is that among the different colors people often notice various forms of parasites.
This is unfortunately a lot more frequent than most would like to believe. According to United Nations data: “Overall, about 1.5 billion people have roundworms, making it the third most common human infection in the world. Whipworm infects 1 billion people… More than 1.3 billion people carry hookworm in their gut, and 265 million people are infected with schistosomes.”(6)
It is true that most of these infections occur in developing countries, but the rate of parasitic-related disorders but the rate of parasitic-related disorders in North America is skyrocketing. An astounding number of people would test positive for parasites. This is from the Parasitology Department of the University of Cambridge, England: “Pinworm. An extremely common nematode infection, particularly in temperate areas such as Western Europe and North America… It has been estimated that the annual incidence of infection is over 200 million, this probably being a conservative figure. Samples of caucasian children in the USA and Canada have shown incidences of infection of 30% to 80%, with similar levels in Europe.”
Humans can actually play host to more than a hundred different types of parasites, ranging from microscopic ones to tapeworms that are several feet long. Contrary to popular belief, parasites are not restricted to our colon alone, but can be found in any other part of the body - in the lungs, the liver, in the muscles and joints, in the esophagus, the brain, the blood, the skin and even in the eyes!
“Parasites are the missing diagnosis in the genesis of many chronic health problems, including diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and endocrine system. Most individuals would be truly amazed if they knew the extraordinarily high number of Americans who are unknowingly infected by parasites…” – Dr. Hermann R. Bueno, Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene of London
It is extremely easy to come in contact with parasites. Contaminated water, undercooked meats, improperly washed fruits and vegetables, are just some of the common sources of infections. Transmission from pets or other infected persons is also quite common. Overuse of antibiotics further adds to this problem as this can interfere with normal intestinal flora and lower the body’s resistance.
What are some of the symptoms of parasite infection?
One of the most popular books ever written on the topic of parasites is Guess What Came to Dinner by the well-known nutritionist, Ann Louise Gittleman. In this book she explains what parasites are, why they are harmful, and how they are spread. This is what she says: “Over half of all Americans will at some point in their lives become hosts to parasites, according to health experts. Since the effects of infection reach far beyond the gastrointestinal tract, it behooves all of us to be on the alert for the wide array of bodily symptoms that signal the presence of parasites. Signs and symptoms may come about during initial exposure, shortly after that exposure, or many months later.
What many of us are attributing to old age, stress, or plain old poor health may, in fact, be due to an uninvited guest.”
She explains that the symptoms of parasitic diseases are often mistaken for other common health conditions: “The warning signs for parasites are also symptoms of other common illnesses. For this reason, parasitic infections are often misdiagnosed and ensuing treatment does not result in the alleviation of symptoms or disease. When symptoms continue even after a course of treatment, parasite-screening procedures should be initiated. The following are warning signs for parasites:
CONSTIPATION
Some worms, because of their shape and large size, can physically obstruct certain organs. Heavy worm infections can block the common bile duct and the intestinal tract, making elimination infrequent and difficult.
DIARRHEA
Certain parasites, primarily protozoa, produce a prostaglandin (hormone-like substances found in various human tissues) which creates a sodium and chloride loss that leads to frequent watery stools. The diarrhea process in parasite infection is, therefore, a function of the parasite, not the body's attempt to rid itself of an infectious organism.
GAS AND BLOATING
Some parasites live in the upper small intestine where the inflammation they produce causes both gas and bloating. This situation can be magnified when hard‑to‑digest foods such as beans and raw fruits and vegetables are eaten. Persistent abdominal distention is a frequent sign of hidden invaders. These gastrointestinal symptoms can persist intermittently for many months or years if the parasites are not eliminated from the body.
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
Parasites can irritate, inflame, and coat the intestinal cell wall, leading to a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms and malabsorption of vital nutrients, particularly fatty substances. This malabsorption leads to bulky stools and steatorrhea (excess fat in feces).
ANEMIA
Some varieties of intestinal worms attach themselves to the mucosal lining of the intestines and then leach nutrients from the human host. If they are present in large enough numbers, they can create enough blood loss to cause a type of iron deficiency or pernicious anemia.
JOINT AND MUSCLE ACHES AND PAINS
Parasites are known to migrate and encyst (become enclosed in a sac) in joint fluids, and worms can encyst in muscles. Once this happens, pain becomes evident and is often assumed to be caused by arthritis. Joint and muscle pains and inflammation are also the result of tissue damage caused by some parasites or the body's ongoing immune response to their presence.
SKIN CONDITIONS
Intestinal worms can cause hives, rashes, weeping eczema, and other allergic‑type skin reactions. Cutaneous ulcers, swellings and sores, papular lesions, and itchy dermatitis can all result from protozoan invasion.
ALLERGY
Parasites can irritate and sometimes perforate the intestinal lining, increasing bowel permeability to large undigested molecules. This can activate the body's immune response to produce increased levels of eosinophils, one type of the body's fighter cells. The eosinophils can inflame body tissue, resulting in an allergic reaction. Like allergy, parasites also trigger an increase in the production of immunoglobulin E (IgE).
GRANULOMAS
Granulomas are tumor‑like masses that encase destroyed larva or parasitic eggs. They develop most often in the colon or rectal walls but can also be found in the lungs, liver, peritoneum, and uterus.
NERVOUSNESS
Parasitic metabolic wastes and toxic substances can serve as irritants to the central nervous system. Restlessness and anxiety are often the result of systemic parasite infestation.
SLEEP DISTURBANCES
Multiple awakenings during the night, particularly between 2 and 3 a.m., are possibly caused by the body's attempts to eliminate toxic wastes via the liver. According to Chinese medicine, these hours are governed by the liver. Sleep disturbances are also caused by nocturnal exits of certain parasites through the anus, creating intense discomfort and itching.
TEETH GRINDING
Bruxism ‑ abnormal grinding, clenching, and gnashing of the teeth ‑ has been observed in cases of parasitic infection. These symptoms are most noticeable among sleeping children. Bruxism may be a nervous response to the internal foreign irritant…
CHRONIC FATIGUE
Chronic fatigue symptoms include tiredness, flu‑like complaints, apathy, depression, impaired concentration, and faulty memory. Parasites cause these physical, mental, and emotional symptoms through malnutrition resulting from malabsorption of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and especially vitamins A and B‑12.
IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION
Parasites depress immune system functioning by decreasing the secretion of immunoglobulin A (IgA). Their presence continuously stimulates the immune system response and over time can exhaust this vital defense system, leaving the body open to bacterial and viral infections.”
Fiber supplements help to get rid of parasites, but they are not enough. We need to use specific herbal formulas to deal with this issue. Some of the most potent herbs for parasite cleansing include .
