Cleanse the Colon for Optimal Health
Pollution. Its become a fact of life in our modern world. Unlike the less-industrialized times of years gone by, everything we come into contact with bears the brunt of pollution. The food we eat is processed and is laden with chemical. We breathe air that is full of toxins and pollution. Even the soil that yields our crops is tainted with chemical pollution. Our livestock are fed growth hormones, chemical and drugs, and that in turn is passed on to us in the food supply. Our bodies absorb chemicals from colognes, deodorants, hair products, cleaning supplies, our cars, and our pets. Our fragile bodies are constantly exposed to pollution, whether we realize it or not. This pollution ends up in your cells, is transported throughout your unsuspected body, and ends up in your colon.
The colon was designed probably billions of years ago when pollution was not an issue. These toxic man-made pollutants provide a challenge for an uninformed colon to expel. The effect is that a lot of these yucky toxins become lodged in the colon, seeping into tiny nooks and crannies, and eventually, this intestinal garbage forms a layer on the inside of your colon, known as mucoid plaque. This offensive mucoid plaque makes your body work harder to absorb vital nutrients and little by little, it poisons your body.
This slowly accumulating layer of toxic refuse may take many years to build up, but you can guarantee that is it there. You may experience some of the symptoms of mucoid plaque that you attribute to other causes. You may start experiencing frequent tiredness, frequent headaches, a weakened immune system that causes you to get sick very easily, and you may get skin problems. A dirty colon may manifest itself through unexplained and unsightly weight gain, or a bloated feeling accompanied by painful gas. Your abdomen may show signs of protruding, and your vision may start to be effected. Most people just dismiss these symptoms as signs of aging — but these symptoms and others are actually signs of a typical colon in distress and in dire need of a serious cleansing!
Many physicians and other health care professionals swear by colon cleansing, not only for relief of these symptoms, but also for overall optimal health and well-being. Poisonously toxic impacted fecal matter may be the culprit behind many of your common maladies as you age, and colon cleansing can do wonders to restore your former vitality and it makes your entire body function better.
Not only is impacted fecal matter (possibly years or even decades old) being stored in your colon, but many people are surprised to find that colon cleansing also reveals parasites that have been living in their colon, feasting on vital nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that your body needs. There are thousands of sickening parasites that thrive in the human colon. When a colon is weakened or is not in its optimal health, these dirty little buggers can cause serious damage and eventually make you very sick. Science estimates that a staggering two pounds or more of parasites and worms make their home in the average person’s body. These spitefully malevolent parasites may be the cause of some symptoms that you simply write off as normal signs of growing older.
Good colon cleansing systems that use psyllium fiber will flush out most of these foul and revolting parasites as well as the mucoid plaque, but may leave behind more robust parasites and unhatched eggs that may number into the thousands. You can opt for a Psyllimax based product which is leaps better than just plain psyllium fiber, and that will typically be the sign of a premium colon cleansing product.
The best colon cleansing systems will go a step further and add a defense product that will support the cleanser and help to rid parasites on an ongoing basis. This product is generally taken with meals and makes a huge difference in the effectiveness of the colon cleanse.
You will see the many benefits of cleansing your colon in the days and weeks following your initial cleanse. You skin will begin to look and feel more vibrant, youthful, and rejuvenated, as cellulite, fluid retention, and bothersome blemishes begin to disappear or fade. The whites of your eyes will begin to recapture their clearness. You may see improvements in your memory. You will see some weight loss as your body is rid of unneeded waste and your systems start to function more properly and efficiently. You will feel better from the inside out as you regain your former energy. The cleansing process should make you feel like a new person, full of life and vigor.
Susan Chadwick
http://www.articlesbase.com/wellness-articles/cleanse-the-colon-for-optimal-health-516253.html
Detox Diet Benefits
What to Expect when Detox Dieting
All detox diets are a little bit different. Some restrict food down to almost nothing while others allow for mostly veggies, beans, fruit, and rice. There are a few things that you should expect when beginning a detox diet, so that you can receive the full detox diets benefits.
Your body is significantly used to adjusting to toxins and poisons running through your body. One of the greatest detox diet benefits, naturally, is that you will rid your body of these toxins and poisons. There are side effects of receiving these detox diet benefits. If you are particularly used to that steaming cup of caffeinated beverage in the morning, you will experience caffeine withdrawal. While it may not seem like it while you are experiencing caffeine withdrawal, this is one of the detox diet benefits. Once your body has adjusted to the absence of caffeine, you should find that you have more energy.
Constipation is considered a leading cause of lethargy and fatigue. One of the detox diet benefits is the cleansing of the colon, which can cure even long term constipation. I had a room mate that was on narcotic pain relievers for over a year due to a severe injury. The narcotics kept her chronically constipated. The day she was finally through with her narcotic pain relievers, she went through a detox diet. She found that the detox diet benefits included relieving her body of the narcotic dependency as well as relieved her chronic constipation. She now regularly cleanses and detoxifies her colon when she is having difficulty going to the restroom, with obvious detox diet benefits as she returns from the restroom with a pleased grin on her face instead of the anguish she used to live in.
Even with the detox diet benefits, some people report feeling a bit weak about one week into the detox diet. Most detox diets do reduce food consumption, which can have an effect. The basic key is knowing how to elongate the effects of the foods you do eat. Those who really struggle with the lowered food consumption report that splitting the lunches into 2 meals works better for them than eating just the suggested breakfast and lunch. This still gives them the detox diet benefits but doesn’t introduce additional foods into the scenario. Most detox diet experts state that provided you are not adding additional foods to the diet, segregating the meals into smaller snacks is perfectly acceptable.
The excessive water consumption associated with the detox diet is going to encourage your system to flush, which means you will be visiting the rest room much more often. This is a positive detox diet benefit. The more water that flushes your system the more toxins that will exit your body when you excrete it, and excreting it often will enhance the productivity of the entire process.
One of the little known detox diet benefits is the regeneration of the liver that can occur while following a detox diet. Milk thistle is typically recommended as part of the supplementation of the detox diet. Milk thistle aids in the liver’s ability to regenerate. It’s not a cure for liver disease, however it can help in the prevention of a liver disease, along with other changes to your lifestyle.
What Not to Expect when Detox Dieting
Detox dieting is designed to alleviate the ailments associated with large quantities of toxins that are built up in the human body. Detox dieting is not a "cure" for every disease. While most people experience great relief from every day annoying symptoms, detox dieting does not eliminate diseases that are already in the system. For instance, you can not rid you body of cancer cells by detox dieting. The cancer cells, for starters are not an actual toxin. They may have been caused by toxins, but the cells themselves are not something that can be flushed away.
Most people drop several pounds when detox dieting. There are those who drop a significant amount of weight when detox dieting. This is normal, and while some of it can be contributed to the flushing of fat cells, water weight, and calorie reduction, there is some permanent weight loss happening provided you do not return to eating habits that are probable for weight gain. This means that if you were prone to eating potato chips and cookies prior to detox dieting and you return to eating potato chips and cookies after detox dieting, you will gain the weight back. This may seem obvious, but there are plenty of foods that people believe contain a low calorie and low fat content but in reality they contain quite the opposite. An avocado for example contains nearly three times the amount of fat and calories as a measured serving of enriched white rice. While detox dieting, learn to recognize the foods you are putting into your body and what they actually do once they enter your gullet.
Detox dieting is not a cure for serious emotional or mental conditions, such as clinical depression. While many people admit to feeling less "depressed" during and after detox dieting, there is a difference between situational depression and clinical depression. Clinical depression requires medication. Detox dieting can not take the place of medication that is necessary to function on a day to day basis. Situational depression may be alleviated through detox dieting simply because you are taking control of your body, your health, in essence, your situation. These two depressions are significantly different.
How is Detox Dieting Different from Other Diet Plans?
Diet plans are a dime a dozen. There are grapefruit diet plans and the Atkins diet plan and the green tea diet plan and the national chain diet plans. An individual can spend countless hours and thousands of dollars "trying on" various diet plans. Some will work while others will ultimately fail. Why? Because not all diet plans will work for everyone. Does detox dieting work for everyone? Yes. Why? Because losing weight is a by product of the goal. The goal is to clean the body of the various toxins and wastes which have accumulated over the years. This is a process of ridding the body of the ailing chemicals we introduce it to on a daily basis while eliminating the build up of residual toxins. Weight loss occurs as a result of numerous factors, but weight loss in not the primary goal of a detox diet plan.
Keep in mind that not all detox diet plans are the same. Some detox diet plans are put together by professionals who understand the body’s ability to cleanse itself of these harmful chemicals. While diet plans are typically put together by an entrepreneurial spirit, the detox diet plan was actually something that originated by a naturopathist, an individual who studies the various body types and how they process things on their own unique level. Since the detox diet plan was developed, there have been a remarkable number of "knock off" detox diet plans that have shown up on the market. These are all plans that suggest you stop eating and drink only diluted juice for several days (beyond twenty four hours this becomes unhealthy) and then limits food intake so dramatically that people find it impossible to stick to. If you’re going to try any diet plan at all, it would simply make sense to start at the beginning. The beginning of healthy weight loss is a healthy body.
The dramatic detox diet benefits is that people who tried to detoxify their bodies using the original detox diet plan found themselves losing weight as a welcome surprise. Detox dieting has grown in popularity due to its dual effect. Detox dieting cleanses the body of the toxins and as a result, weight loss occurs. There simply isn’t another diet plan that can match that no matter what they claim.
We live in a cluttered and chemically enriched society. Compare our lifestyles, our food products, and our basic need for heat and eat meals to the lifestyles and foods of people in remote and natural regions such as the Pacific Islands. People in natural regions are healthier overall. They eat natural foods that haven’t been laced with chemicals and they live natural lives that don’t revolve around the constant breathing of polluted air. Their bodies are not only healthier, but they are naturally thinner. They have fewer health complaints such as headaches and toothaches and stomach cramping.
The detox diet plan can help you jumpstart your body toward a healthier state of being. Naturally, effective detox dieting requires an effective detox diet plan. You really shouldn’t just linger out there in cyberspace hoping the right detox diet plan will pop up into your browser. There are very few detox diet plans that I would dare put my stamp of approval on. However, one in particular I have found has excellent reviews by some actual detox dieters. Finding an authentic detox diet plan that is effective, safe, and of course reliable shouldn’t be left to luck.
Safe And Natural Ways To Detox And Cleanse The Body
All across America, harmful toxins including hair spray, lawn fertilizers, food preservatives, dry cleaning, and flea repellant are exposing us to more chemicals and toxins than ever before. They are present in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water that we drink. These products that we depend on daily expose us to literally tens of thousands of chemicals and contaminants each day, making the question clear, how do we detoxify? With the hundreds of detoxification products ranging from one simple supplement to complicated regimens, how do we choose the best product for us?
Detoxification, which is the elimination of poisons or toxins, includes a wide variety of treatments that aim at getting rid of the body’s toxins and improve health. Although we have a natural detoxification system in our body such as our liver, lungs, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and skin all work to eliminate the toxins we take in, the huge amount of contaminants and toxins in today’s environment presents too challenging of our job for our body to handle on its own. This results in a dangerous accumulation of toxins in our body. When toxins are found in the food we eat and the water that we drink, sometimes they can not be destroyed by the digestive enzymes, detoxified by the liver, or eliminated by the immune system, causing them to build up and affect every part of our body, slowing our metabolism, taking our energy, reducing our immunity, possibly leading to serious chronic illness.
Since most detoxification supplements only focus on the liver and colon, the only way to make sure that detoxification is truly successful is to cleanse the whole body, which demands detoxification of the blood and lymph also. If toxins are present in the blood and lymph, this means that every organ, tissue, and cell will be exposed to these toxins, even if you are currently undergoing detoxification. The blood and lymph fluids need detoxification too, for your body to perform its best.
Many detoxification programs are complicated and hard to follow, even with instructions. If you can’t understand what you need to do, the chances are that the detoxification program will not work very well. Be wary of which product you choose because some programs contain ingredients that are so ineffective and useless that they are a waste of money, while others contain products that are known to harm your health. Avoid programs that are based on senna and cascara, which are laxatives that often create bowel dependence, deplete vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, and leave you feeling drained and fatigued. Enemas and colonics place a large demand on bowel health and, although helpful, should not be used at home, but rather under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner.
When choosing a whole body cleansing program look for something that is based on safe, effective, all-natural herbs and nutrients. It should be a gradual and gentle program that works with your body’s own detoxification ability and normal patterns of elimination. The two-week initial phase should scrub your intestines naturally, stirring up and freeing stored toxins, bind the freed toxins with fiber for excretion and elimination, restore power to the liver, purify the blood, and cleanse the lymph.
Magnesium hydroxide, which is one of the most effective yet gentle laxatives available, draws water into the intestines, which causes its contents to soften and swell. It then scrubs, loosens, and cleanses the intestinal walls. Herbs such as Slippery Elm Bark, Marshmallow Root, and Peppermint Leaf extract, coat irritated mucous membranes, draw out toxins, and soothe the lining of the intestinal wall, help white blood cells seek and destroy disease-causing germs, increase the bow of bile, relax intestinal muscles, and reduce cramps and gas that may occur during detoxification.
After stirring up toxins and scrubbing them from intestinal walls, they must be grabbed onto with natural detoxification fibers. Upon entering the intestines, the fiber expands and soaks up the toxins and waste minerals, preparing them for elimination through the intestines. The safest fibers to use during detoxification are oat bran, pectin from citrus fruit, psyllium husk, and guar gum. However, even the best detox fibers can’t cleanse the colon if they can’t absorb and eliminate toxins. The most effective fibers are designed to be thoroughly dispersed throughout the entire colon.
With the use of milk thistle, the best known herb for the health of the liver, liver cells injured by toxins can be regenerated and toxins can be blocked from entering the liver in the first place. However, not all milk thistle products are the same. Only milk thistle that is standardized to contain 80% silymarin and formulated with phosphatidylcholine are capable of preventing liver damage in persons suffering from alcoholism or hepatitis and improving the way the liver works in people with cirrhosis of the liver. When milk thistle is combined with artichoke extract, licorice, and dandelion, the result is healthy bile production and a better flow of bile into the small intestine.
Because blood nourishes every organ as it flows through our body and transports oxygen from the lungs, nutrients from the small intestine, hormones from glands, and immune cells to fight infection and reduce inflammation. It also takes toxins to the liver and transports waste to the kidneys. However, if the liver is unable to detoxify as it should, the toxins will remain in the bloodstream, influencing every cell, tissue, and organ. Burdock, one of the most effective natural blood purifiers and cleansers, helps the kidneys filter impurities from the blood more quickly and helps to cleanse the respiratory, lymphatic, urinary, and circulatory systems also.
Since lymph is the fluid of health, the lymphatic system is the first to alert the body that there are toxins within it. One of the most effective herbs for lymph detoxification is red clover extract because it is able to keep harmful toxins out of the lymphatic system, while keeping the liver strong and stimulating bile production.
Although most people will have excellent results from the whole body cleansing program, there are additional nutritional supplements that help detoxification needs. Humifulvate, which reduces lead and cadmium levels in people who have been exposed to highly toxic metals, binds harmful metals in the intestinal tract, without draining the body of the healthy minerals it needs. Following a cleanse with a high potency pancreatic enzyme supplement will help to keep intestines parasite-free, while helping your body to produce digestive enzymes, immune secretions, and beneficial flora. Oregano, thyme, peppermint, and goldenseal are also important in keeping the body from growing bacteria, viruses, candida, and fungi after detoxification. An inulin and oligofructose supplement can help our immune system fight bacteria and viruses and improve the strength of our heart, while keeping our digestive tract healthy. Finally, a probiotic supplement can help to deliver helpful bacteria to the intestine, where the previous beneficial bacteria had been depleted due to retained intestinal toxins.
When deciding to use a detoxification program, one must know that it is safe for most people. However, pregnant or nursing women should not use any detoxification program, even if they are designed to be extremely gentle. It is also recommended that a person does not detox more than four times in the same year, unless it is recommended by a health care provider. While on a detoxification program, it is important to drink at least 64 ounces of water every day. With a good detoxification program, the whole body will be cleansed gently and gradually, while working with your body’s own detoxification ability and patterns of elimination. All the above mentioned herbs and vitamins are available at your local vitamin store as well as internet vitamin stores.