Colon Cleaning

Well, you’ll hear a lot of noise on both sides of this argument. Doctor’s and most of the medical community say that colon cleaning is bad and perhaps even harmful if done incorrectly. How could it be harmful you say? Well, the human body is strong but delicate at the same time and flushing large amounts of liquids into the colon to clean it out can cause an electrolyte imbalance. Some important nutrients that might be lost include calcium, potassium and sodium.  In addition, too much flushing of the system may cause dehydration and low blood pressure. 

Even though the majority of the medical community takes this stance, colon cleaning still remains very popular. The homeopathic practitioners and adherents say that the colon can harbor unprocessed fecal material that can cause health problems. They say an unclean colon can contribute to weight gain, loss of energy, bad skin, and a host of other problems.

 Let’s face, the colon isn’t a pretty sexy organ, its job is to process and move feces through the body. And it works hard at processing our waste, with waste usually processed and leaving the body in three days. Of course, this is an average, if you have health problems this time will vary. This is not a glamorous sexy organ. But it does this job very efficiently and it has since the dawn of man. Does it need help? Again, it depends on what side of the fence you are standing. 

The colon does have some serious diseases associated with it and perhaps this is what motivates people to colon cleanse. After all, colon cancer is no laughing matter. And of course there are the less deadly but still unpleasant conditions such as Crohn’s disease and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). However, there is currently no scientific proof to support the claim that a dirty colon can be held either fully or partially to blame for these diseases.  

One thing that can have a bad effect on the colon is a poor diet. We Americans (and other ever increasing parts of the world) rely too much on processed chemical laden bad food. All this low nutrient, low fiber content food is thought to contribute to diverticulitis. The incidence of diverticulitis has risen quite dramatically over the years as our diets have deteriorated. In 1920, 10% of people had diverticulitis; today 50% of people over 60 years old will develop a case of diverticulitis. And it goes even above 50% as we get older. But this condition of the colon is not caused by the colon or caused by an ineffectual colon but rather by bad food choices.

So are the gross pictures you see plastered all over the internet fake? No, they’re most likely real. This is probably stuff removed with colon cleaning. But what doctor’s say, is that this material would be naturally expelled from the body if the colon had been given it three days to process it. What colon cleansing believer say, is that at worst is minimally harmful and at best, possibly beneficial.

 I think this is a fair view of the pros and cons of colon cleaning and I leave it up to you to decide what is right for you.