Article for 11-2000
Protecting the Body’s Most Important Organ
I’m happy, I’m energized, I’m healthy and it’s all because
- I remembered to take my Siberian ginseng
- I lost ten pounds
- I did a bowel cleanse
Did you pick "C" as your answer? If not, you should have. When it comes to protecting your health, nothing can compete with "the body’s most important organ."
Why is the bowel so important to feeling healthy? The bowel is the last stage for toxin removal. Once the liver, gall bladder and other organs do the preliminary removal of toxins, the bowel’s job is to eliminate them all from the body. If this channel is blocked or not functioning well, toxins will remain and be reabsorbed. This can lead to illness and disease.
Ask any naturalist and they will tell you that all disease starts in the bowel. Herbalists, the really good ones, as the first step to healing will help you to open up the elimination channels of your body. When this is done, most illnesses are resolved. However, the illness will return if the individual continues with the lifestyle that brought on the illness to start with. Lifestyle should be carefully evaluated and modified to help keep the bowel functioning properly.
Today most of us have hectic schedules and it can be hard to find the time to eat healthy. Some of you may find that because of your lifestyle you are forced to use quick-fix meals that are devoid of essential nutrients to preserve time. Unfortunately with this lifestyle, a domino effect occurs. You don’t eat right and toxins build up in the bowel because you haven’t been getting enough fiber or exercising to move the bowel often enough. The result is illness and if not corrected - disease.
Are you "regular?" Everyone at some point in their lives has asked the question. "Am I regular?" What is regular anyway? How many times a day must the bowel move to be considered regular? This is a good question, of which many professionals have varied opinions.
Some believe that once or twice a week is pretty regular. Others feel that once a day is very regular. What do you think? What I am about to tell you, I learned in my herbal studies and it may shock you. If you are moving your bowel once or twice a week, you have a sluggish bowel and you are not regular. The fact is the bowel must move and eliminate toxins three times a day. Yes. Every time you eat a meal, your bowel should naturally move approximately 30 minutes afterward. If it doesn’t, you know that a lifestyle change is needed. More fiber, more water and more exercise.
It can be a real shock to some people to learn that they are chronically constipated. Sticky white flour and refined foods bog the bowel down and allow for feces to adhere to the colon wall. Over time the colon can look like a congested artery. If this is the case, elimination is impaired and nutrition can’t be readily absorbed through layers of plastered on fecal matter. When this happens, wastes or toxins build-up in the body and are reabsorbed.
The medical community would have you believe that a good bowel movement is one that is firm and has a good form to it. This is incorrect. The stool should not be too firm or too loose. It should not be dense or solid. If it is dense and dark in color, the stool has been in the bowel too long and you are not eating the proper foods.
Proper stools are light in color and are easily expelled without straining three times a day. A diet with fiber allows the stool to become soft and is rapidly eliminated. When the bowel is emptying three times a day, you will greatly diminish the chance of getting digestive diseases like diverticulosis, diverticulitis and colon cancer. How? The stool isn’t allowed to rot in the bowel and allow toxins to be reabsorbed. Also, when you consume adequate amounts of fiber and water, you are preserving the natural gut flora in the digestive track, which keep things running properly.
What can you do? The healthiest thing you can do is to recognize the importance of good elimination and to diligently change your lifestyle. Now, I’m not saying to quit your job, move out into the boonies and do the Grizzly Adams thing. What you can do is to read food labels and avoid preservatives, dyes, hydrogenated oils and excessive dehydrating beverages containing caffeine and alcohol. Eat more fresh, raw foods and exercise at least three times a week. If you take care of the bowel, eat the right foods, avoid the mucous producing foods of dairy and wheat, then you will reduce or eliminate waste build-up. (When I say wheat, I mean a diet that uses excessive amounts of wheat, which will promote mucous.)
The bowel needs several things to perform well.
- Plenty of water. Drink at least 2 quarts per day.
- Roughage or fiber. Make fiber your primary food source and not meat.
- Exercise. The bowel won’t move if you don’t.
To give you a helping hand on cleaning the bowel and improving bowel function, you can do a two week bowel cleanse. It isn’t hard and you won’t have turbo bowel, so you can do it even while you work. You can remove excess wastes and toxins like pharmaceutical residues and heavy metals with the proper cleanse. You’ll feel twenty years younger after doing it and you will need to be careful not to congest the bowel with an unhealthy diet. (See "Bowel Cleanse" in the "Herbal Shop".)
One other thing you can do to protect the bowel is to drink green tea. Make sure you use green tea and not black or oolong tea. The green tea contains polyphenols, which help to protect your cells from free radical damage. Green tea is a natural antioxidant like vitamin C and is made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis. The polyphenols will help to protect your digestive track from cancer. So, instead of coffee, drink green tea.
Some lifestyle suggestionsMake sure you get six servings of whole grains, three servings of green vegetables, two servings of yellow vegetables and fruit, two servings of beans and legumes and one of dairy (if you are including dairy in your diet). These are the minimums and you can expand on the portions. Try to reduce your percentage of meat to about 10 percent. By cutting back or eliminating meat, you can avoid the disease-causing bacteria and hormone treatments that are found in most meats.
Your diet affects everything. Your bowel will absorb the nutrients from your food and eliminate filtered toxins for you if you feed it right. Keep the bowel functioning properly and you will be healthier. You are what you eat. So, try some fiber like carrots, brussel sprouts, brown rice, cabbage, buglur (starch), broccoli, beets and various greens in your salad.
As you progress into your new lifestyle, the lists of healthy choices are numerous. You will notice a marked improvement in your health when the bowel is functioning correctly. As you begin to feel better, you will ask, "What else is out there that I don’t know about, and I can do myself to improve my health?" Questions spark the search for answers and you will find them as I have. You will be amazed at how much control you will begin to have over your health and wellbeing by maintaining a clean bowel.
To find out more on how you can protect your bowel and do a thorough cleanse, read "The Power Herbs: 13 Herbs Every Medicine Cabinet Should Have." (See "Books" in the ‘Herbal Shop".)
Article courtesy of Apothecary Herbs, Inc. and Apothecary Herbs Press. http://www.apothecaryherbs.com
Source: This article is an excerpt from "The Power Herbs: 13 Herbs Every Medicine Cabinet Should Have" by Wendy Wilson Cheslak, Apothecary Herbs Press, 2001.
The information contained herein is not intended to diagnosis, treat, prevent or cure any disease. Please seek medical advice from a licensed medical physician before using any herbal products or natural therapies. The information contained herein is copyrighted by Apothecary Herbs, Inc.
Top
of Page
