A New Look at Colon Hydrotherapy

[Guest guest]

Here is that great article by Loren Lockman on Colonic Irrigation. Those

of you who are doing colonics or considering them may want to take your

time and really study this article. Hope it helps.

 

Roger

 

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A New Look at Colon Hydrotherapy

by Loren Lockman

Published in JEAA, Vol. 2, #3

 

One of the benefits of eating a good raw diet is that the digestive

tract starts to function as it should. Ideally, we eat a meal, and

within hours have a bowel movement, eliminating the previous meal’s

waste. When the system is healthy, we’ll have one or two meals in the

digestive tract, but no more than that.

 

Unfortunately, the average American has a 96-hour transit time from the

mouth to the other end. This means that the average person carries 4

days worth of waste in their colon. Unless one eats less than once every

four days, the average colon is constantly full of waste. For most

people eating cooked food diets, the waste is toxic. We’re seeing the

ramifications of this in society now.

 

When we smoke for years, constantly taking toxic particulate matter into

the lungs, we’re very likely to develop lung cancer (shocking news for

cigarette industry executives). If we chew tobacco for years, we’re

likely to develop mouth cancer of one sort or another. If we drink

alcohol excessively for years, we’re likely to develop cirrhosis of the

liver.

 

The collective evidence shows that anytime an organ of the body is

constantly in contact with toxic material, that part of the body is

likely to become diseased. Given this fact, is it any wonder that colon

cancer is the fastest growing form of cancer in the US? Allopathic

(western) medicine tells us that along with ulcerative colitis,

irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, and other lower GI

tract diseases, colon cancer has nothing to do with what we eat.

 

This conclusion is counter-intuitive, illogical, and further evidence of

the enormous problems with our “healthcare” system. Though the

industrial-medical complex doesn’t get it, (or perhaps simply doesn’t

want us to), these diseases are directly related to what we eat.

 

Eating almost any kind of raw diet is likely to eliminate any risk of

colon cancer. However, most of the other lower GI tract diseases can

still occur, or continue, on a poorly planned raw diet. Eating excessive

amounts of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, or even food that has been

dehydrated, can often lead to constipation. This in turn, can lead to

headaches, tiredness, and an overall lack of well-being. IBS, Crohn’s

disease, and ulcerative colitis may continue on a raw diet containing

vegetables with a high cellulose content, nuts, seeds, corn, or raw

grains.

 

Even eating an ideal raw diet consisting of high-water content fresh

fruits and leafy greens may not resolve digestive tract problems as

quickly as we’d like, especially if we’ve previously made poor diet and

lifestyle choices. Many have heard of the dreaded “mucoid plaque” said

to be the lining of most people’s intestines. Clearly, carrying excess

waste in the colon — new or old — does not contribute to health. What’s

less clear is what to do about it.

 

There are, of course, many remedies available today. The choices are

only limited by our ability to believe in the miraculous powers of maple

syrup, cayenne pepper, cassia, assorted herbs, and the various other

substances that make up the intestinal cleansing “systems” and products

on the market today. These remedies continue to be popular, not because

of any efficacy, but because they offer us what we really want: an easy

solution that requires no real effort or change on our part.

 

It’s the extremely toxic nature and irritating effect of these

substances that creates the increased elimination by the body. These

substances do not act on the body. Rather, the body, in its infinite

wisdom, seeks to eliminate the source of irritation and toxicity as

quickly as possible.

 

Consuming something toxic in order to force the body’s actions assumes

that we know the needs of our body better than it does. This is a poor

assumption. Our bodies have infinitely more wisdom about their needs

than we do, and are always doing the best they can, given the

circumstances and conditions we provide.

 

Many people consider enemas and colonics indispensable for cleansing the

colon. Colon hydrotherapy certainly has a long history, with over 2000

years of documented use. Much more compelling, however, is that colon

hydrotherapy often makes people feel better. And like the “miracle”

cleansing formulas, colon hydrotherapy has the added advantage of being

done to us with little, if any effort required on our part Also, we do

not need to make any long-term lifestyle changes. This is certainly a

winning formula, and today you can find colon hydrotherapists practicing

across the United States and the world.

 

All of this seems to present a compelling case for colonics and enemas.

However, things are not always what they seem to be.

 

“If it’s been around for 2000 years, it must work,” the popular argument

goes. But given the unconscious tendency we have toward blindly

believing and following our authorities, this is an extremely flawed

philosophy. In spite of the work many have done to educate and affect

real change in healthcare, people might one day use this argument to

defend some of today’s more insidious allopathic medical practices.

Longevity does not equate to validity.

 

More important than it’s longevity is the fact that colon hydrotherapy

frequently brings the relief that people seek. In other words, we feel

better. This inconvenient fact greatly confounds our ability to

accurately understand what’s happening within us.

 

Though I certainly understand the desire for relief, I wouldn’t wish it

for myself or anyone else if it interferes with real healing and

cleansing. And this is what I believe is actually happening here. If

this surprises you, remember that most forms of treatment and therapy

can only effect symptomatic relief. Many forms of treatment make us feel

better, but some may actively interfere with the body’s ability to do

so.

 

Might that be the case here? I think so.

 

Conventional wisdom says that when waste sits in the colon, toxins are

reabsorbed into the bloodstream, which in turn makes us feel bad. Let’s

assume that this is what’s actually happening. If we then use an enema

or colonic to flush this waste from the colon, that’s all we’ve done —

flush the waste from the colon. We’ve done nothing to eliminate the

toxins that are reabsorbed back into the bloodstream. But it’s the

toxins in the bloodstream, not the colon, that make us feel bad.

 

To put this into terms that most of us can relate to, we don’t feel

drunk immediately after having a drink. Or even several in a row. This

is because we’re not intoxicated until the alcohol is absorbed into the

bloodstream. Once it’s absorbed into the bloodstream, only time can help

to dissipate it from our system.

 

So if the toxins in the bloodstream are unaffected by the enema or

colonic, how can these therapies make us feel better? It occurs to me

that there are only two ways to eliminate the pain of detoxification:

the first, as mentioned above, is to allow enough time. An addict of any

kind (tobacco, alcohol, heroin, caffeine, etc.) will experience painful

withdrawal symptoms until the body has had a chance to eliminate all

traces of the poisonous substance from the system. The second way to

eliminate the pain of detoxification is to intoxicate the body all over

again. This is the reason why the addict craves his poison; taking more

makes the pain go away.

 

With colon hydrotherapy people see their accumulated waste being washed

away, they feel better, and they understandably, if mistakenly, conclude

that the latter happens because of the former. This is understandable,

but not necessarily correct. The fallacy here is that if A follows B, B

must be the cause of A. To illustrate, I notice that every time I wash

my car (not very often) it rains. Therefore, washing my car causes it to

rain. Obviously not, though it follows the same logic.

 

The large intestine is shaped like an upside-down “U.” One leg of the

“U” is called the ascending colon because it rises from the ileo-cecal

valve to where the large and small intestine meet. The middle part of

the colon is called the transverse colon, and the descending colon, or

the other leg of the upside down “U,” ends at the rectum.

 

The descending colon and rectum are the only parts of the digestive

tract that are not designed to absorb anything.

 

It’s not that they don’t, it’s just that absorption doesn’t seem to be

necessary here. Virtually all of the valuable materials from the

digested foods (vitamins, minerals, fatty and amino acids,

phytonutrients, and excess water) will have been absorbed prior to

reaching these last parts of the colon. Both the descending colon and

the rectum are primarily waste pipes, and though they certainly absorb

toxins if exposed long enough to them, the likelihood of absorption is

much less here than in any other part of the colon.

 

As soon as we add water to the colon, any accumulated waste is washed

backwards through the large intestine. By increasing the volume of

water, we greatly increase the surface area of the most absorptive parts

of the colon in contact with any toxins.

 

The result is that now we begin to reabsorb these toxins in a big way.

As soon as the toxins are reabsorbed into the bloodstream, the pain of

detoxification stops. We feel better and conclude that it’s because

we’ve eliminated the waste.

 

In order to get any toxic residues out of the body, the tissues where

they reside must be broken down, thereby releasing them into the

bloodstream. Though this process is likely to produce some discomfort,

there is no other way to eliminate the toxins from the body.

 

The more frequently heard arguments against colon hydrotherapy are that

the bowel pH is altered, and that beneficial bacteria are flushed from

the colon. With frequency of use, muscle tone is lost and a weakened

peristalsis becomes insufficient to properly eliminate normal wastes.

While these arguments are all valid, I believe that the most important

factor here is simply that colon hydrotherapy is just one more way of

providing symptomatic relief while actually impeding true health and

healing.

 

Whether one fasts or feeds the body lightly and intelligently,

ultimately allowing the body’s wastes to move along at their own pace is

the best way.

 

Herbert Shelton and some of his early 20th century contemporaries

conducted their own experiments with fasting clients and found that

invariably, those that used colon hydrotherapy did not fare as well in

the long run.

 

My own experience at the Tanglewood Wellness Center is that given the

opportunity, every colon will eliminate when it needs to, and that water

fasting will further expedite this elimination.

 

To avoid constipation and other lower GI tract problems, be sure to eat

a diet rich in high-water content fresh fruits and soft leafy greens.

You should also avoid dried and dehydrated foods, excessive quantities

of nuts, seeds, animal products, and overeating.

 

Loren Lockman is the founder and director of the Tanglewood Wellness

Center, a fasting retreat located on 18 forested mountaintop acres in

Maryland.

 

For more information, go to: www.TanglewoodWellnessCenter.com

or call 301-898-8901