If you’ve read our page on toxicity in the colon, you already know many of the symptoms associated with a toxic and unhealthy colon. A clogged colon allows foreign substances to leach into your bloodstream, causing a wide variety of health conditions like constipation, joint pain and chronic infections. It can also make you feel tired, weak and unable to concentrate.
Curing these ailments is probably the goal of your colon cleanse, but removing that excess fecal matter has other benefits too. Cleansers report losing weight, feeling lighter and more energetic, even sleeping better. Some cleansers say that they look and feel years younger after cleansing. And that’s before we even start talking about relief from diseases like IBS, Leaky Gut Syndrome and Crohn’s Disease.
Cleansing supports your immune system
Your colon is actually a functioning part of your immune system. How can this make sense? Well, the colon is full of ‘gut flora’ or intestinal bacteria. These break down fibers in plants and vegetables and produce valuable vitamins like vitamin K, Thiamine and B12. They also serve to support your immune system in a few different ways. Firstly, they compete with harmful pathogens for food and space in the colon. Secondly, they produce ‘cross-reactive antibodies’ that boost your ability to react to infection. And lastly, they help to maintain acidity in your gut by producing small amounts of lactic acid (remember, your stomach and intestines need to be acidic to break down food and kill pathogens). A typical colon might contain 90% ‘good bacteria’ and 10% ‘bad bacteria’ and other pathogens, whereas in a toxic colon the proportion of ‘good bacteria’ is far lower.
Cleansing can fix your digestive system
If you have less than one bowel movement per day, that means you’re constipated to some degree. A smoothly running digestive system should see at least one bowel movement per day, maybe even two. A colon cleanse helps to loosen that compacted fecal material that is bloating your colon and preventing waste matter from moving smoothly and quickly through your digestive system. Think of it like unblocking a clogged pipe at home. After you remove the blockage, the capacity of the pipe increases and everything can pass through more easily. In fact, after doing a cleanse many people report more regular and healthier bowel movements.
Cleansing can give you more energy
One of the great benefits of a good colon cleanse is experiencing higher energy levels. This also translates to a better mood, improved concentration and a more effective memory. When you start to detoxify your system and ease the pressure on your backed up colon, fewer toxins are released through your colon walls and into your bloodstream. This means that other vital organs like your liver can spend less time filtering harmful substances out of your blood, and more time doing vital jobs like metabolizing fats, managing hormone levels and supporting your immune system.
Furthermore, if you maintain a healthy colon with a good balance of beneficial bacteria, you will be able to extract more nutrients from the food matter that passes through. More nutrients mean more energy for your body to function. An example is the fiber in plants and vegetables – much of this passes through the stomach and small intestine without being digested, then is broken down by the bacteria in your colon.
Cleansing can help you lose weight
Every person who does a cleanse will lose weight for one simple reason – the removal of the compacted fecal matter that is clogging up their colons. The average 30 year old American is estimated to have up to 15 pounds of this waste material clinging to the sides of their colons, and in many cases it has been there for years. Once this dead weight has been removed, cleansers experience a sense of feeling lighter and more energetic.
There is another way in which cleansing can help with weight loss too. Your liver is the organ that processes the toxins found in your bloodstream, but if your colon is leaking toxins then the toxic load can become too great. When this happens and the liver is overwhelmed, it reacts by storing away the toxins that it can’t process in fat cells. These fat cells become the stubborn fat deposits around your belly, hips and thighs.
Cleansing can improve your skin
What exactly is it that causes acne and bad skin? You may have noticed that after eating junk food your skin and complexion don’t glow like they should for a couple of days. If you eat fast or processed food regularly, you’re probably used to it and have put it down to the effects of aging. Actually, once again it all comes down to the toxic load that you are placing on your body’s organs. Toxins that are not being cleaned out of your bloodstream can spread to any part of your body, including your skin, but cleansing can reverse this process and give you back the glowing skin that you used to have. Regular colon cleansers report brighter, clearer skin and notice that the bags under their eyes start to disappear. Skin rashes, acne and psoriasis begin to clear up in many cases.
Cleansing can prevent disease
A clogged up, unhealthy colon can result in far more serious health problems than excess weight or low energy. A 2003 study by the University of North Carolina found that the risk of colon cancer doubled in those who had less than 3 bowel movements per week. Inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease have also been linked to constipation, as have colon polyps (abnormal growths in the colon walls that can turn cancerous).
Toxins in the foods we eat are most likely the cause of colon cancer, but a few changes to your diet can quickly reduce your exposure to these. Additionally, doing a colon cleanse will remove the compacted fecal matter sitting in your colon, waste matter that is full of harmful substances leaching into the walls of your colon and then into your bloodstream. A 2007 report by the American Institute for Cancer Research on constipation and colon cancer found that “foods high in fiber … can lower risk for colorectal cancer”.
That’s a long list of reasons why you need to be taking better care of your digestive system. A healthy colon and regular bowel movements have been associated with all kinds of health benefits, but you might be surprised to hear that there are parts of the medical industry that would prefer you not to know any of this. The simple fact is that for many doctors and drug manufacturers, it’s easier and more profitable to treat the symptoms of your toxic colon, rather than addressing the underlying problem. Learn more about this in our article What The Drug Companies Don’t Want You To Know About Colon Health.