Weight Loss Fads - Part 3 - What is Colon Cleansing?

<< Part 2 – What Are Acai Berries? <<

I’m sure at some point in your life that you’ve heard about or read about colon cleansing. It doesn’t sound that appealing does it?

So why do people cleanse their colon? Doesn’t your body already naturally cleanse your colon when “nature calls”? And what’s the actual process of colon cleansing?

It’s not exactly a topic you’d bring up at the dinner table, is it? You’ve probably already made up your mind that you’d rather eat acai berries, but let’s get right into it.

What is Colon Cleansing?

When you cleanse your colon, your aim is to clear out toxins and fecal waste from your colon and intestines. Sounds like something you already do on a daily basis, doesn’t it?

There are two ways to cleanse a colon.

You can perform colon hydrotherapy or a colonic, where you use an enema to inject water that’s sometimes mixed with herbs and other liquids. Your body is pumped with many gallons of water, through your rectum, and then you let it flush back out through another tube. You usually have a doctor perform this for you and it sounds a bit gross. This isn’t the method we’re going to be focusing on, because it’s not the latest fad.

People want a quick and easy method for everything and, even when it comes to colon cleansing, they get it! The other way you can cleanse your colon is by using supplements that are mostly taken orally, although some are inserted in the rectum. The supplements usually contain herbs, enzymes or laxatives.

The result from both methods is supposed to be the same: the toxins are cleaned out of your colon. Popping a pill sounds a little more appealing, doesn’t it? The end result isn’t too appealing to me, so why do people do this?

Everything we eat and drink passes through our colon. There’s an ancient belief, that’s still believed today, that the food we eat causes a build up of mucus in our colon, which then produces toxins. The toxins are then believed to enter the blood stream and poison our bodies.

It’s what they call “auto-intoxication”. Some believe that the symptoms of auto-intoxication include things like:

• Fatigue
• Headache
• Low Energy
• Weight Gain

With all the different junk foods and other things we put in our bodies, some might quickly believe this theory. This is why people are taking it upon themselves to give their body a hand and clean out their colon themselves.

They aim to clean out all the supposed toxins that are stuck to the walls of their colon. They believe that it’ll help their body function better and that they’ll feel a lot better.

The reason why I, like many others, am not eager to cleanse my colon is because:

• There are already natural bacteria in our colons that detoxify food and drink as it passes through the colon.
• The mucus in your colon keeps toxins from reentering your bloodstream.
• The liver also helps to detoxify your body.

But you do feel pretty bad when you’re not having regular bowel movements, don’t you? Hmm.

I’m not exactly sold on the idea myself, but let’s not get too hung up on this right now. Let’s move on.

>> Continue Reading Part 4 – What is Hoodia? >>