Colon Cleanse: How to Clean The Colon Naturally

While the concept of detox remains the same, there are quite a handful of methods and procedures for detox available today. In this article, we would evaluate one detox method called colon cleanse.

Does colon cleanse offer an effective, long-changing improvement to your health? Are the typical colon cleanse procedures necessary, or can you achieve the same result with whole natural foods? What is the safest way to do a colon cleanse? You will find answers to the above and more in the following sections of this article.   

That said, let’s get started.

What is the Colon?

The colon, also known as the large intestine, is an organ responsible for absorbing water and salts from the indigestible residue of food and getting rid of any waste product.

Imperatively, the concept of colon cleansing hinges on fostering the activity and overall health of the colon, including reducing risks of constipation, irregular bowel movements, and possibly, cancer.

What is Colon Cleanse

Colon cleansing, sometimes called colon irrigation or colonic hydrotherapy, involves a strategic method of flushing the colon with fluids to foster the removal of digestive waste/toxins and improve the digestive system. There are three ways to cleanse the colon.

Methods of Colon-Cleansing

Colon-Cleansing Supplements: Powdered and liquid colon-cleansing supplements can be ingested by mouth or through the rectum. These supplements mostly pose constipation-relieving properties, and examples include  laxatives, herbal teas, magnesium, and enzymes.  

Colon Irrigation: There are two methods of colon irrigation: enema and colonic machine. Enema describes inserting liquids into the rectum (lower part of the colon) via a long tiny pipe to empty the bowels. Some of the fluids used in enema include water, coffee, bisacodyl, or other laxatives. Colon irrigation with a colonic machine, on the other hand, involves using a low-pressure pump or gravity-based reservoir to flush several liters of water (sometimes at different temperatures) via a small tube inserted into the rectum. 

Colon Cleanse with Foods: Constipation-relieving foods like high-fiber diets, juices, smoothies, probiotics are a natural, cost-saving, and highly effective method of cleansing the colon. You can combine these foods with lifestyle changes like fasting, exercise, increased hydration, and more to improve the effectiveness.   

Five (5) Benefits of Colon Cleanse

Improved Digestive System

The foremost benefit of colon cleansing is improved overall digestive activities. That is because colon cleansing fosters pushing down of waste through the digestive tract, preventing constipation and buildup of toxins from accumulated waste that causes hemorrhoids and rectal prolapse. So, it is safe to say that colon cleansing is an important detoxification method or, at least, an essential way of aiding the body’s natural detox. 

Increased Absorption of Vitamins and Nutrients

A cleansed colon allows easy absorption of water, nutrients, and vitamins into the bloodstream, making these essential nutrients available for the body. More so, by aiding the release of toxins from the body and making nutrients readily available, colon cleanse helps to rejuvenate energy levels. In fact, being a detoxification method, colon cleanse allows for better blood circulation, improved sleep, and better overall health.

Aids Weight Loss

It is worth mentioning that increasing your number of bowel movements doesn’t aid weight loss because your body absorbs calories from food before they reach the large intestine. However, colon cleanse; specifically, colon cleansing with natural foods, offers a unique approach to kick-starting weight loss. By acting as a natural detox, removing toxins that make you fat, colon cleanse fosters weight loss. Still, this effect wouldn’t be permanent if done standalone without proper lifestyle and dietary changes.  

Increased Fertility

For women, cleansing can be an integral approach towards preparing their entire body system to conceive. Like weight loss, colon cleanse doesn’t work like magic, instantly giving you all the proposed benefits. Albeit, it sets your body in the proper physical and mental comportment to conceive.

Excess estrogen-based fat before pregnancy can trick the body into thinking it’s already pregnant and would suppress ovulation. So, cleansing set the tone right for proper digestion and improved overall health. It also helps to reduce fat-triggering toxins and would indirectly enhance your chances of conceiving.

Stable Blood PH and Improve Overall Well-Being

Constipation-causing foods are mostly acidic. Asides from inflaming the colon, preventing water, nutrient, and mineral absorption in the blood, they also distort the overall PH balance of the bloodstream. Distorted blood PH from constipation-causing foods causes acidosis (excessive acids), which links to fatigue, nausea, and vomiting, among other symptoms.

All in all, from the above benefits mentioned above, we can all agree that colon cleanse improves one’s overall health and wellbeing.

Is there a risk?

Well, as with every health practice, colon cleanse poses some risk, and it is best to talk to your doctor before venturing into it. Below are some of the risks/side effects of colon cleanse.

• Vomiting/Nausea
• Mineral imbalance
• Dehydration
• Dizziness
• Electrolyte imbalance
• Bowel perforation
• Bacterial imbalance/infection

Five (5) Natural Ways to Cleanse Colon

Hydration

Drinking water is the easiest way to cleanse the colon naturally. Water moistens stools, gives them bulk, and allows for quick passage through the colon. Thus, prevent constipation or blockage of the colon, toxin buildup from these wastes, and the risk of colorectal cancer.

Every ingested liquid adds to the overall fluid in the body. Interestingly, some persons add a little table salt to plain water to relieve constipation and cleanse the colon. Howbeit, plain water is ideal because it contains no calories. If you must include calories, it is best to go for healthy options like broth, tea, or smoothies.

Hydration differs by person, but the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine recommends 2.7 liters of fluids daily for women.

High-Fiber Foods

High-fiber foods offer numerous health benefits, including fostering bowel movements and eradicating toxin buildup. Interestingly, both fiber types: soluble and insoluble fibers, provides a unique method is improving bowel activity.

Precisely, soluble fibers, like those found in legumes and fruits, interact with gut bacteria to soak up the moisture in foods and make stools soft. On the other hand, insoluble fibers like nuts and grains bulk ups tools to allow easy push down of the stools via the colon.    

There are also fiber supplements like psyllium, methylcellulose, and polycarbophil tablets. These supplements equally offer enough healthy fibers to cleanse the colon.

(You can find lots of healthy fiber recipes here)

Fruits and Vegetables

Vegetables and fruits provide two effective approaches to triggering bowel movements and cleansing the colon. Foremost, both food sources are rich in fibers, which are natural laxatives. Even more, they are equally a healthy source of magnesium. Magnesium functions as an osmotic laxative; meaning, it can draw water into the intestines to soften and increase the size of stools, making them easier to pass.

Eating fruits and vegetables with large amounts of water cleanses the bowel rapidly, causing watery diarrhea.

Lastly, you can consume fruits and veggies for colon cleanse by themselves or in juice or smoothies.

(Check out awesome veggie smoothies and soups here)

Fermented Foods

Fermented foods like kefir, pickles, miso, tempeh, kimchi, yogurt, and more contain high levels of probiotics. Probiotics are live microorganisms made up of bacteria and yeast. These live bacteria add to the gut microbiome to promote activities of the digestive tract.

Though the focus of this article is colon cleanse, we can’t get a holistic view or approach towards natural colon cleanse without touching base with gut bacteria. That is because colonic activities result from what goes on in the gut, including the actions of gut bacteria.

Imperatively, fermented foods, in the most basic sense, adds to the number of healthy bacteria in the gut. The effects include aiding digestion and evacuating undigested foods quickly and easily via the colon. In fact, some research suggests that probiotics can help prevent and possibly treat cancer.

Resistant Starches

As the name suggests, resistant starches refer to a group of carbohydrate-rich foods that are difficult for the body to break down. They include sweet corn, white bread, rice, sugar beets, vegetable stems, green bananas, and more.

When ingested, resistant starch foods will remain undigested, creating bulk in stools. Thus, allowing quick stimulation of the bowels and cleansing the colon.

Final words

For colon cleanse, the minor dietary and lifestyle changes count in the overall picture of removing toxins from your body. Although a lot is being said about colon irrigation with machines, I do not see it as a necessity because the body has a self-running system that can achieve even long-term change in your overall colon health if supported with the right dietary and lifestyle changes.

Finally, natural colon cleanse with foods is an important practice that helps the body remove waste and toxins from the colon easily. However, I recommend you follow a good detox program to reboot your body’s detox organs to full functionality. Alternatively, you can start with this free 3-day mini cleanse guide.