Eliminative Health
One of the greatest principles of physical health is “GET THE GOOD IN and GET THE BAD OUT.”
Now we will address getting rid of toxins in our bodies—”getting the bad out.” The bowel is the key to health, and if bowel health is not maintained, then inflammation leads to leaky gut, which leads to toxicity, which eventually leads to declining health and sickness.
In 1994, the colon-rectal cancer was the No. 1 cancer for men and women as a combined group. Why? Some reasons are obvious. Stressful lifestyle. Poor nutritional health. Poor digestive health. Poor assimilative health. Poor eliminatory health. Lack of exercise. Intake of refined sugar, animal fat and processed food. Not enough fiber, and high levels of non-manageable stress. It all adds up to a gastrointestinal health crisis, which leads to a total health crisis.
We’ve already established leaky gut as a major cause of toxicity and sickness—the opposite of the wholeness which God gave us. One of the most common causes of leaky gut is constipation. Many people don’t think they have this problem; they say, “I go every day.” But some of the world’s most healthy primitive tribes move their bowels 2-3 times a day with no straining or effort. Their bowel matter is loose, easily passed and fully digested. That’s quite a difference from the average American, who moves his bowels between once a day to once a week. And for most Americans, there’s too much effort used to eliminate this material. After all the energy is put forth, the end result is either a) a very hard mass that appears to be wrapped in cellophane, b) one that resembles multiple pea- and marble-shaped pellets, or c) a solid, low-water content stool which is hard to pass.
What’s the difference between the optimal health of primitive tribes and the average American? The tribes have a primarily vegetarian diet, lots of exercise (10-12 hours per day), and much less stress. We have learned that to be normal in bowel health, you should have one bowel movement after every meal, none of them being the slightest bit hard, or wrapped, or marble-like.
Here’s a closer look at the bowel:
As food goes down the intestinal tract, nutrients are being absorbed and if a leaky gut is present toxins are also being absorbed. Eventually, the food arrives at the rectum. Then you try to move your bowels, but they don’t want to move because of a backup similar to a traffic jam, which results from not moving your bowels with each meal. As pressure and backup build up, fecal material is pushed from inside the lumen into the diverticula, or bowel pockets. Even a person who has 2-3 bowel movements per day may still have a lot of old toxic fecal material stored in these bowel pockets. This same person can go to a gastroenterologist, have a complete enema program before a lower GI series, and hear the doctor say it’s all OK—when in fact, they have pounds of old fecal material stuck in them. The average person is walking around with 7-21 pounds of impacted fecal material inside of them and their diverticula, causing resorption of this toxic matter. There have been autopsies of patients who had three bowel movements a day, but still retained 40 pounds of impacted fecal material. This is a result of the narrowing of the bowel lumen and diverticulosis, which causes many bowel movements but narrower, longer, fecal material.
The Merck Manual, the medical standard text for diagnosis and treatment of disease, includes some information about these filled bowel pockets, or saccular herniations, that protrude through the wall of the colon. The incidence of diverticulosis (filled bowel pockets) has been steadily rising over the last 40 years. The manual states that in 1950, 10 percent of adults over age 45 had this disease; in 1955, 15 percent; in 1972, 30 percent; and in 1987, almost 50 percent. The 1996 edition of the manual states that the incidence increases rapidly over the age of 40, and that every adult in this country will have enlarged/filled bowel pockets or diverticulosis. (see chart next page).
To combat this escalating problem, we need to clean, stimulate and tone all the organs of elimination, starting with the bowel. How do you know if you have a bowel problem? Let me say it simply and clearly: You do. The question is how bad is it?
See how do you do on this checklist of optimal bowel health:
1) I have a bowel movement after every meal, two to three times per day.
2) My bowel movements are normal, soft, formed, and easily passed without effort.
3) I am on the toilet no longer than 5 minutes during bowel movements.
4) My feces are formed and soft. It doesn’t discolor the water when flushing. It isn’t marble-like or hard, nor does it appear to be wrapped in cellophane.
5) I don’t see undigested food and mucous-like material in the toilet bowl.
6) The bathroom does not have a bad odor when I leave it.
7) I don’t feel cramped or colic when it is time to have a bowel movement.
8) I have never eaten meat, chicken, fish, or other parasite containing foods.
9) I have had a recent food sensitivity test to know what foods are irritants or inflammatory forming for my intestinal tract, and I have eliminated all these stresses from my diet.
10) I have never been on antibiotic therapy.
11) I do not ever get constipated or diarrhea.
12) I have not had a cold or flu in the last three months.
13) I do not get more than one cold per year.
14) I chew my food 25 times per bite.
15) I take vegetable-based digestive enzymes with each meal.
16) I do regular enema or other bowel cleanse programs at least four times per year.
17) I eat fiber food with every meal vegetables, sprouts, and whole grains.)
18) I don’t eat processed, refined food, or starches.