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Colon cleansing is a must for good health. Unfortunately colon cleansings are not generally covered by medical insurance. For some individuals the cost associated with the colon hydrotherapy sessions is simply too steep. Luckily, there is a methodology that may be followed in the privacy of your home that may not provide the exact same results as hydrotherapy, but which comes fairly close in its goal to cleanse the colon of harmful toxin and accumulated waste products.

Supporters of at home enema colon cleanses understand that any food substances that have not been evacuated from the body within 20 hours begin to putrefy and leak toxins that are taken up by the bloodstream and thus by the various organs. If you are not sure if your colon is in good working order and rids your body of food quickly enough, pay attention to your bowel movements: you should have one after each meal! This is of course not the reality for the majority of Americans, and thus the need for an enema colon cleanse is glaringly obvious.

While the how-to of a self administered enema would appear to be a common sense approach, the fact that the topic appears taboo in so many families contributes to the lack of understanding of even the simplest dynamics. Here is a step by step approach to a properly administered at home enema for colon cleansing:

1. Purchase an enema bag and tubing. These kits are available at most pharmacies and general merchandise stores.

2. Follow the directions for connecting the tubing, fill the bag with lukewarm water, and hang it from the towel rack or any other place in your bathroom that is slightly higher than you when you are seated on the toilet.

3. Place some newspaper or other absorbent material around the toilet and then straddle the toilet, bending at the waist. Gently insert the tube into your rectum and permit the water to flow into your lower intestine. Do not permit more water to enter your rectum than you can hold comfortably!

4. As the water is present, gently apply light pressure to your lower abdomen in an effort to manually loosen the fecal matter. Sit on the toilet and release the liquid and whatever matter is ready to evacuate.

5. Repeat step number four six or seven times (or however long it takes to gradually flush your colon with about one and one half to two gallons of water), kneading your lower abdomen a little harder each time, working your way from the left to the right.

Ideally, this process should be repeated twice a day for about a week, in conjunction with a high fiber diet. Interestingly, there is a lot of lore that has sprung up about enemas in general, and in connection with colon cleansing in particular, and it is important to differentiate the reality from the hype. To this end, do not use the commercially available fleet enemas since the substance is toxic and does little to contribute to the healing of your colon! Stick to saline and oil.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Colon Cleansing.

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Tags: Colon Cleansing

Have you ever heard of anthraquinone? Unless you work in the chemical field, the odds are good that you have never head of this compound. Yet, if you have a colon cleanser in your medicine cabinet that touts its natural ingredients on the label, the odds are good that you have it in your possession! Anthraquinone is famous for its laxative properties, and since it naturally occurs in a variety of plants it is not surprising that it has found its way into colon cleansers that are made up of natural ingredients.

Examine the label of your colon cleansing product and see if contains aloe derivatives, senna, and cascara sagrada which is also known as buckthorn bark. Virtually all of the natural colon cleansers currently on the market contain one or more of these substances and thus the levels of anthraquinone are quite frequently much higher than you would anticipate. In the chemical field, the substance is used as an additive to seed shells which is supposed to repel eager birds looking for food. Similarly, paper production companies rely on this derivative of various plants for both its coloring properties as well as its ability to move the chemical process along.

While the laxative properties of this substance cannot be denied, it is the fact that the reason why bowel movements and the evacuation of excess fecal matter is accomplished so quickly may be found in the fact that anthraquinone is actually an irritant that causes the gut flora to react to a perceived disturbance. This can lead to sometimes severe cramping, discolored urine, a sudden onset of uncontrollable diarrhea and also a loss of the beneficial bacteria that reside inside the gastrointestinal tract and which protect the colon from the attacks of dangerous bacteria. In addition to the foregoing, the gut flora ensures the proper absorption of nutrients. If it becomes irritated it may decrease digestion of nutrients.

Furthermore - and this probably will not apply to you, but nonetheless it is important to know - the abuse of colon cleansers as quick diet supplements has created an underbelly in the alternative health care industry. As such, it has become well known that an abuse of colon cleansers containing anthraquinone has been linked with a serious electrolyte deficiency that expresses itself in uncontrollable muscle spasms and twitches. Granted, this is only associated with abuse of the substances and is in no way considered to be a valid side effect of the proper use of a natural colon cleanser; yet it is imperative to realize that such an ingredient may be traced back to a number of sources, and if your natural colon cleanse is manufactured with one or both eyeballs on the bottom line, the odds are good that you will have more substances contained therein that ensure a laxative effect, thus a higher dose or anthraquinone. It is logical that it takes a lot less of this colon cleanser to constitute abuse of the substance, even if it is only an accidental overdose due to a misreading of the instructions.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Colon Cleansing.

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Tags: anthraquinone, Colon Cleansing

If you have been shopping for a healthy, gentle, and effective colon cleanser, you will have undoubtedly read many labels. While the labels of natural supplements all begin to look the same after awhile, you might be wondering why may have suddenly stumbled across one that proclaims the benefits of oxygen. Why would you want to pay for something that is free? The fact is, oxygen is a very important component of a colon cleanse, and if you really want to understand whether a colon cleanser containing oxygen is full of hot air, consider the effects of oxygen on your bloodstream.

Oxygen is needed by your body to live, and the release of it into the bloodstream will nourish your organs and permit them to function. Could they get the same kind of oxygen from your breathing? Yes, they can. Yet when you are undergoing a colon cleanse the fact that you will be changing your food intake and also hastening along the bowel movement will affect the way you move, exercise and thus breathe. This, in turn, may starve some of your organs of the life giving compound, which, when supplemented, will take away the fatigue so often associated with a colon cleanse regimen. Furthermore, the oxygen contained in some colon cleansers will aid the chemical reactions that lead to a gradual evacuation of the fecal matter you are seeking to void. Other chemical reactions produced by supplements that do not utilize oxygen will produce results more quickly, yet at the same time they will be more painful, harsher on your system, and very often damage the delicate balance of bacteria inside your intestines.

Granted, if you are undergoing a colon cleanse to counteract constipation, you most likely do want things to move along a bit quicker. Yet if you truly consider the effects of rushing your bowel evacuation, remember that it is not the time spent between downing the concoction and having that first bowel movement, but instead it is the impact - or lack thereof - on your body as a whole that makes a colon cleanse a success or a failure. Even the harshest laxative will provide bowel movements like clockwork, yet are the cramps, the pain, the buildup of gas, the nausea, and the bloating really worth it? Would it not make more sense instead to gently clear out the colon, even if it will take longer and require more patience?

The ultimate goal of a colon cleanse is to reduce the toxic fecal matter accumulated in your intestines. Gentle cleansers will minimize the negative impact on your body while at the same time help your body to reap the benefits of the procedure. If your cleanser is harsh and causes internal interruption, your body will first need to heal before you will be able to feel the increased energy and other positive effects of a normally functioning colon. Thus, it is a fallacy to assume that only speed of fecal evacuation matters. Instead, the oxygen generated inside your intestines will enable you to rid your body of accumulated waste naturally, gradually and gently over time, mimicking the natural function of the gut and colon.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Colon Cleansing.

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Tags: Colon Cleansing, fatigue