BEST FOODS FOR COLON CLEANSING
Gastrointestinal problems are prolific in today’s society, and this is largely due to the fact that the way most people eat and the food items we buy are greatly lacking in the nutrients required for healthy digestion. On top of that fact, we are overloaded with toxins from vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides.
The good news is that chronic digestive upset does not have to rule your life, as simple dietary changes can help significantly improve and even cure most digestive issues.
Colon cleansing is a GREAT WAY to help improve your body’s overall health and wellness, and can even reduce your risks for colon cancer. Ridding the colon of waste and toxins by releasing layers of colon buildup can lead to feelings of lightness, strength and overall good health.
This diagrams show where your meals go after you eat them, and how they back up in the colon when fiber is not consumed.
Kick-Start Weight Loss
The average human colon weighs about four pounds empty and can hold up to eight meals’ worth of food before digestion finally occurs. A colon cleansing can result in significant weight loss and kick-start your metabolism, as well as refocus your attention on better food choices and whole-body wellness.
Foods lacking fiber move through the digestive tract much more slowly, around one-quarter of the pace that high-fiber foods do. Meals lacking fiber back-up in the gut and this slow-moving food produces excess mucous that sticks to the intestinal walls, and weighs the intestinal tract down with POUNDS of TOXIC decaying fecal matter.
Colon cleansing has the potential to boost weight loss tremendously, and some people have been able to lose up to 20 pounds over the course of a month.
Improve Digestion
As the colon is cleansed, it pushes undigested waste through your system, clearing the way for good nutrient absorption, and boosting weight loss tremendously. If waste remains in the body for too long, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and illness. A clean colon from a colon detox allows undigested
How Meals Should Move Through The Colon
A colon that has been cleansed only allows water, vitamins and nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream, rather than releasing toxins and bacteria through the colon walls. When the colon is detoxified, it clears the way for essential nutrients to filter into your body unobstructed.
It also ends constipation, especially when it’s chronic, which is what causes a sluggish digestive response, and leaves waste in the system longer than it should be. This causes weight gain and many other issues, such as the increased toxins released into the bloodstream. It is also a cause of other illnesses and irritations, such as hemorrhoids and varicose veins.
Maintains pH Balance
Foods that cause colon blockages are acid-forming, especially high-protein diets without enough fiber. This leads to discomfort in the body, and causes the tissue of the colon to become inflamed & diseased, reducing the colon’s ability to do its job. If yeasts, molds, fungus, bacteria, parasites or fecal material enter the bloodstream and connected tissue, the body’s pH will be thrown completely out of balance. Conventional medicine ignores pH balance, while holistic doctors recognize that our bodies are continually striving for this balance, and that chronic imbalance leaves us susceptible to disease. Acid-alkaline balance is easy to regulate, and by making very simple changes to your diet, you can improve your body’s pH balance within hours.
The body’s pH balance strongly influences the risk for many serious health issues like osteoporosis, sarcopenia (muscle loss), fractures and kidney stone formation, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, thyroid problems, cancer and other insidious conditions.
When the body becomes too acidic, minerals are pulled out of the bones and tissues to compensate, which leads to thinner bones and lower muscle mass. Overly acidic tissues also make one susceptible to inflammation which is a known risk for many chronic diseases, impaired enzymatic reactions in cells and overloading the lymphatic system, therefore impeding the body’s natural detoxification process.
Decreases Risk of Colon Cancer
Everyone needs to understand that all the toxins that you eat, drink, breathe in and absorb through your skin end up being processed by your gastrointestinal system and liver. If they are not forced out of the colon and liver as quickly as possible, they can wreak havoc on your body’s systems. By releasing body waste rapidly, you reduce the causes and the risk of polyps, cysts and cancerous growths in your colon and gastrointestinal tract.
Increases Energy
Releasing the toxins from your body is rejuvenating because it refocuses the energy usually used for forcing waste through your intestines to other parts of your body. People who have undergone colon detoxification say they have better blood circulation, more restful sleep and a boost in energy.
Improved Concentration
Poor diet and ineffective vitamin absorption can cause you to become distracted and lose your concentration. The buildup of mucous and toxins in your colon can keep your body from getting what it needs to function, even if you eat a consistently healthy diet. Cleansing the colon with a detox diet can be the difference between feeling alert and not being able to focus. This has far-reaching ramifications for work, your relationships and your overall health.
Increases Fertility
Colon cleansing, as well as increased fiber intake and healthy food choices, improves regularity and helps keep your weight under control. Fat is estrogen-based, and if too much is present, becoming pregnant becomes more difficult. A colon that is weighed down by years of buildup can also press on the uterus and surrounding reproductive organs in women, causing strain. Colon cleansing rids the body of many chemicals and toxins that affect the egg and sperm. Many naturopaths recommend that both partners undergo colon cleansing before attempting pregnancy.
Foods That Help to Cleanse the Colon
A Colon Cleansing Diet is simply a well balanced and nutritious meal plan that includes foods that cleanse the colon. By including more organic fruits and vegetables in your diet, you add lots of fiber, and a good quantity of fiber helps to regularize bowel movements, and it helps to make the stool soft so it is much easier to pass.
Fruits, vegetables and plenty of water also help to keep the digestive system and body hydrated throughout the day, which also helps to remove all the wastes that stick to the walls of the digestive system. Avoiding fatty, refined, processed and fried foods, is also imperative, as these foods speed up the accumulation of toxins within the body and slow down the colon. Consistently consuming more of the foods below into your daily meals will cleanse your colon quickly and easily while helping you detox, fight chronic conditions, aid weight loss and even hinder the aging process.
Fermented Foods
The human digestive system is composed of a vast network of beneficial bacteria that are responsible for digesting food, absorbing nutrients, battling harmful bacteria, and eliminating toxins. When these bacteria get thrown out of balance, digestive health can suffer and the longer this bacterial balance is out of whack, the more severe the damage that can be.
To help offset the damage to your gut flora caused by environmental and food chemicals, antibiotic drugs, processed foods, and other factors, it is important to supplement with probiotic bacteria and eat plenty of fermented, probiotic-rich foods. These include cultured vegetables like kimchi, tempeh, Greek yogurt, sauerkraut and fermented beverages like kombucha tea and kefir.
Dark Leafy Greens
Consuming green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale will help to clean the colon and protect the digestive tract from different ailments. Green fruits and vegetables are rich in chlorophyll to promote healthy digestion and daily colon cleansing. Fat-soluble chlorophyll adheres to the lining of the intestinal wall and retards bacterial growth, removes putrefied bacteria from the colon, and helps heal the mucus lining of the gastrointestinal tract.
Along with spinach & kale being optimal choices, green olives, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, collard greens, sea vegetables like seaweed, leeks, peas, and Swiss chard are all high in chlorophyll, which means they can help cleanse your digestive tract and detoxify your liver.
Cruciferous Vegetables
These items are known to be beneficial for aiding digestion along with cleansing the colon and the liver. In order to have a healthy body, and a beautiful physique, we need a healthy digestive system, and one of the most basic ways to do that is by eating more fiber. The good news is that cruciferous vegetables contain 25-40% of your daily fiber requirement in only around 100 calories. That is enough to erase any naughty food decisions you happen to make. Eating your cruciferous vegetables daily promotes detoxification even when you are not on an official cleanse!
Further, with over 600 research studies and counting, the verdict is clear that cruciferous vegetables are some of the most powerful cancer-fighting agents you can find. They help with combating colon, bladder, breast, ovarian and prostate cancers, and quite honestly, there isn’t much these vegetables can’t do. Their activity is not only attributed to their high antioxidant and fiber content, but more importantly to their glucosinolates (phytonutrient) content, which is unavailable to the same extent in any other known food group. As an added bonus, because these items contain extremely high levels of antioxidants, they also help to keep you young both inside and out.
Garlic
This spice is not only tasty in foods, but this pungent ingredient is beneficial for cleansing the colon. This root herb has antiviral, antibacterial and anti-parasitic properties, which help to remove toxins, pathogens and parasites from the digestive tract, particularly from the colon. Garlic also acts as an antioxidant helping to reduce inflammation for improved digestion, absorption of food nutrients and elimination of wastes and toxins.
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera juice can be used to treat a myriad of conditions, including improving digestion, helping to detox the body, and treating skin conditions. It can be an important all-natural supplement to a healthy lifestyle when used correctly. Aloe vera juice has anti-inflammatory properties, which means it can help with a host of conditions and diseases, relieving symptoms brought on by excessive inflammation in the body.
Many symptoms are brought on or worsened by inflammation, including arthritis and even cancer. If you want to keep your inflammation in check, aloe vera can help, it comes in many different varieties, and each manufacturer makes it a little different. Look for organic brands of aloe vera juice that are in concentrated form.
Apples & Apple Cider Vinegar
Many colon-cleansing techniques include either whole apples, apple sauce, apple juice, or apple cider vinegar (ACV) because this fruit is a powerful cleansing food. High in fiber to promote healthy digestion, apples are also rich in pectin, a carbohydrate compound that acts as a thickening agent inside the gut. When taken in therapeutic doses, pectin can help root out built-up toxins in the colon and strengthen the intestinal lining. Pectin, which is also found in bananas and in the rinds of citrus fruits, helps remove heavy metals and other toxins from the body
Flax & Chia Seeds
Unique in their nutritional profiles, both flax and chia seeds possess fats and fiber that help promote healthy digestion and a clean colon. Both are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, for instance, which have been shown to stabilize cell walls and reduce inflammation. Flax and chia also contain their own unique blends of soluble fiber, which bind with food to optimize the digestive process.
Whole Grains
Whole grain food items like bread, pasta and flour are rich in fiber, low in calories and cholesterol. They enable colon cleaning and aid in better digestion.
Beans & Lentils
Lentils, legumes and beans are known to aid digestion and cleanse the colon, but are also a fountain of youth anti-inflammatory food because they are bursting with antioxidants and phytonutrients as well as being one of the richest sources of fiber on the planet. Adding just ½ cup of beans or legumes to your diet daily will dramatically boost your fiber intake by approximately 8 to 11 grams. Beans and legumes are also incredibly nutrient-dense and a nutritional storehouse of vitamins and minerals including B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, potassium and protein! Unlike conventional animal food sources of protein such as beef or milk, beans and legumes are packed with hormone-free, steroid-free and antibiotic-free ultra “clean” plant protein.
Diets rich in resistant starch help remove toxins from the body, and because this resistant starch is a prebiotic fiber, it promotes “good” bacteria and suppresses “bad” bacteria. It also helps normalize bowel function and supports a healthy digestive system in general. Having more good-for-you bacteria in your digestive system will improve your immune function and make it easier for your body to fight disease and promote colon health.
Green Tea
If you wish to detox, cleans as well as lose weight, you need to consume green tea. Green tea contain lots of antioxidants and are great for cleaning the colon and improving bowel functions. Green tea is especially popular as it is high in antioxidants as well as vitamin C, which helps to remove toxins from the body. In general, peppermint tea, senna leaf, flaxseed or other type of herbal tea will work just as well as a colon cleanser.
Fruit
One needs to make fruit a part of their daily routine as it helps cleansing the colon with their rich content of fiber and antioxidants.
Lemon
Citrus fruits like lemon are good for cleansing the system because lemons can rid the large intestine of waste matter build up and act as an antiseptic, which hinders the growth of microorganisms. A simple glass of lemon & water every morning will help to detoxify and cleanse the system.
Avocado
This beneficial fruit is rich in omega-3 fatty acid and oils that help to lubricate the walls of the intestines. That in turn prevents the toxins from sticking to the walls and they get flushed out.
Reprinted with permission by thescienceofeating.com
from: http://spiritofmaat.com/magazine/july-2015-the-power-of-love/best-foods-for-colon-cleansing/
