What is a colonoscopy?

A colonoscopy is an examination of the colon using a thin flexible tube with a camera at the end which is inserted into the colon through the anus. It is often a somewhat unpleasant procedure, but it is necessary for the detection of polyps — small growths in the lining of the colon, some of which can develop into colon cancer over time.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for colorectal cancer in adults via a colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, or fecal occult blood test (FOBT), beginning at age 50.

A colonoscopy examines the entire colon, while a sigmoidoscopy covers only the lower part of the colon, also known as the rectum and sigmoid colon.

The colon must be free of all solid material for a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy to be effective. Unfortunately the mainstream preparation for undergoing either of these procedures — fasting and taking a chemical laxative such as NuLYTELY — is time-consuming, often physically uncomfortable, and can cause significant to severe dehydration in many people.

Is colon cleansing via colon hydrotherapy or home enemas a viable alternative to the mainstream colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy preparation?

Yes. Research presented in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine indicates that a colon cleanse to clear the colon of all fecal matter for a cancer screening is a sound alternative to the mainstream approach. In addition to examining the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of a lukewarm saline bowel cleanse as a colonoscopy preparation in comparison with NuLYTELY (a solution of PEG-3350, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and potassium chloride), this study also examined the beneficial role of yoga postures used in conjunction with the colon cleanse.

LEARN MORE:
Efficacy of Bolus Lukewarm Saline and Yoga Postures as Colonoscopy Preparation: A Pilot Study

How can I make sure my colon is prepared for examination without using chemical laxatives?

Colon hydrotherapy (colonic irrigation) sessions and/or home enemas are great tools to remove all of the solid materials in the colon that make a colonoscopy difficult. Colon cleansing via either of these methods simply uses warm water to wash out the solid materials and can be soothing and comfortable, especially compared with a day on laxatives.

Cleanse the colon thoroughly just prior (within 2 hours of) the examination. In order to cleanse the colon thoroughly, you may need either a professional colon hydrotherapy session or a personal consultation with me, Kristina Amelong, CCT, CNC, of the Optimal Health Network, to successfully prepare the colon at home with an enema series.

Using colon hydrotherapy and/or enemas can help you avoid the discomfort of diarrhea episodes, the potential upset of electrolyte balance, and the need to undergo a longer period of fasting.

Consider talking to your doctor about using enemas or colonic sessions in lieu of the mainstream colonoscopy preparation. It can save you time, money, and much discomfort.

What type of diet should be followed prior to the colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy in conjunction with the colon cleanse?

The Mayo Clinic recommends following a special diet the day before the exam. Typically, you won't be able to eat solid food the day before the exam. Drinks may be limited to plain water; tea or coffee without milk or cream; broth; and/or carbonated beverages. Avoid red liquids, which can be confused with blood during the colonoscopy. You may not be able to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before the exam.

LEARN MORE:
Mayo Clinic: Colonoscopy Overview

Labels: colon cancer, colon hydrotherapy, colonoscopy, enema series, sigmoidoscopy

Effects of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets: A Randomized Trial

Lydia A. Bazzano, MD, PhD, MPH; Tian Hu, MD, MS; Kristi Reynolds, PhD; Lu Yao, MD, MS; Calynn Bunol, MS, RD, LDN; Yanxi Liu, MS; Chung-Shiuan Chen, MS; Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH; Paul K. Whelton, MD, MSc, MB; and Jiang He, MD, PhD

Ann Intern Med. 2014;161(5):309-318.
doi:10.7326/M14-0180

Background: Low-carbohydrate diets are popular for weight loss, but their cardiovascular effects have not been well-studied, particularly in diverse populations.

Objective: To examine the effects of a low-carbohydrate diet compared with a low-fat diet on body weight and cardiovascular risk factors.

Design: A randomized, parallel-group trial.

Setting: A large academic medical center.

Participants: 148 men and women without clinical cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Intervention: A low-carbohydrate (<40 g/d) or low-fat (<30% of daily energy intake from total fat [<7% saturated fat]) diet. Both groups received dietary counseling at regular intervals throughout the trial.

Measurements: Data on weight, cardiovascular risk factors, and dietary composition were collected at 0, 3, 6, and 12 months.

Results: Sixty participants (82%) in the low-fat group and 59 (79%) in the low-carbohydrate group completed the intervention. At 12 months, participants on the low-carbohydrate diet had greater decreases in weight (mean difference in change, −3.5 kg [95% CI, −5.6 to −1.4 kg]; P = 0.002), fat mass (mean difference in change, −1.5% [CI, −2.6% to −0.4%]; P = 0.011), ratio of total-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (mean difference in change, −0.44 [CI, −0.71 to −0.16]; P = 0.002), and triglyceride level (mean difference in change, −0.16 mmol/L [−14.1 mg/dL] [CI, −0.31 to −0.01 mmol/L {−27.4 to −0.8 mg/dL}]; P = 0.038) and greater increases in HDL cholesterol level (mean difference in change, 0.18 mmol/L [7.0 mg/dL] [CI, 0.08 to 0.28 mmol/L {3.0 to 11.0 mg/dL}]; P < 0.001) than those on the low-fat diet.

CONCLUSION: The low-carbohydrate diet was more effective for weight loss and cardiovascular risk factor reduction than the low-fat diet. Restricting carbohydrate may be an option for persons seeking to lose weight and reduce cardiovascular risk factors.

Also read the New York Times article: A Call for a Low-Fat Diet that Embraces Fat

Labels: colon cleansing, colon hydrotherapy, low-carb diet, low-fat diet, nutritional therapy, weight loss

In January 2006 I published my book, Ten Days to Optimal Health. Now, nine years later, science is catching up with the reality that "death begins in the colon." A book entitled Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain - for Life, by Dr. David Perlmutter, does a fantastic job explaining what "death begins in the colon" means through cutting edge science and why our microbiome is crucial to our personal and collective health. Dr. Perlmutter also explains the potent interplay between intestinal microbes and the brain, describing how the microbiome develops from birth and evolves based on lifestyle choices, how it can become "sick," and how nurturing gut health through a few easy strategies can alter your brain's destiny for the better.

Dr. Perlmutter's scientific examples include:

• A 2013 report shows that since 1979, death due to brain disease increased 66% in men and 92% in women in the United States, which is connected to an unhealthy microbiome.
• In the ten wealthiest nations, deaths from brain disease - which largely reflects deaths from dementia - have risen dramatically over the past 20 years, which is connected to an unhealthy microbiome. The United States leads the way in dementia deaths.
• Mood and anxiety disorders are on the upswing, which is connected to an unhealthy microbiome. About 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. About 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. suffer from depression.

Do you want to dramatically improve your health? Work through a home nutritional and colon cleanse program using Ten Days to Optimal Health and Brain Maker, with a home enema series process to optimize your microbiome. For support, contact the Optimal Health Network. An excerpt from Ten Days to Optimal Health: "This internal cleansing provides the intestinal tract and the immune system with a fresh start, since the water flushes out tremendous amounts of toxins, bacterial wastes, and decaying particles residing in the colon. Frankly, most people feel so physically refreshed that they are motivated to start eating well for these first ten days, in order to maintain that good feeling."

For a complete explanation, read Chapter 7: Colon Hydrotherapy in Ten Days to Optimal Health.

Your healthy microbiome sustains you. An unhealthy microbiome kills you.

Kristina Amelong

***********************

Buy Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain - for Life

Buy Enema Series Kit

Buy 3-Quart Silicone Coffee Enema Bag Kit

Labels: anxiety disorders, colon cleanse, colon health, colon hydrotherapy, dementia, health begins in the gut, microbiome

Lupus, autoimmune diseases, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, constipation, poor digestion, poor liver health, health problems from taking pharmaceuticals, multiple sclerosis, bacterial infections, muscle problems. This fantastic web series trailer, detailing how the beginning of healing is to clean the colon, features people who have used colon cleansing to heal from this list of symptoms and more.

You will see a 4-foot tapeworm!

You will see a colon hydrotherapy session!

I am thrilled to find a video showing how many health situations are helped by simply putting water into the colon; showing how colon cleansing is a better choice than using GoLYTELY; showing how life changing regular colon cleansing can be.

And, with the resources of the Optimal Health Network, you can now give yourself colon hydrotherapy in your own home.

Even though I do not know the people in the video, I feel as if I do because over the years I have worked with thousands of people, all over the world, who have similar stories to share.

Colon cleansing works and, as the video points out, often has fewer risks than many of the other forms of therapy available for health problems.

View trailer

Labels: colon cleansing, colon health, colon hydrotherapy, colonic irrigation

1. Give yourself space (physically and psychologically) to treat yourself to an enema.

Taking an enema is a time for healing. Do what you have to do to make it yours. I can make some
suggestions in this regard, but this is the most individual aspect to the enema as a therapeutic experience. For some it means setting up a comfortable, protected place, turning off the phone, putting on some music or watching a favorite television show. For others, enema time is a time to share a healing experience with someone as you give each other an enema. There is no right way to set up your enema; however I do believe it is very helpful to calm your mind, relax as much as possible and let your mind work with the healing and cleansing powers of your enema.

2. Take your time.

This is extremely important. The slower you gently add the water to your colon the better. By doing so, you enhance your ability to deliver water farther into the colon - ideally all the way to the cecum. (Remember, the cecum is an area with a very high concentration of bacteria.) If you don’t go slowly enough you will quickly stimulate the rectum and sigmoid colon, which are triggered to evacuate with increased pressure. This tendency is common and its occurrence should not discourage you. In order to avoid this, I highly recommend that you allow only ½ cup to 1 cup of water into your colon per ½ minute to one minute. If your sigmoid/rectal area is stimulated easily, there is nothing wrong with going to the toilet and then starting over again. In fact, each time you add water you will be adding it to an emptier colon and you will be able to get water farther into the colon. Our Smooth Flow Higginson Syringe and Hose Cleansing System really helps with taking in the enema water slowly.

3. Be pleased with yourself.

Deciding to take charge of your colon health is no small thing. Though it doesn't have to be hard to give oneself an enema on a regular basis, or as needed, it can be a bit more challenging to conventional thinking, lifestyles and feelings. You can be proud of this commitment to your health. You are using a non-invasive, non-addictive, economical and effective self-help tool for internal cleansing and healing. Whatever your results, be pleased and know that they will improve with your experience and health.

What does your successful enema experience involve?

Labels: colon health, colon hydrotherapy, enema, healing

The process for this piece of contemplative writing was a bit different in that we were first given the prompt and then we meditated for 10 minutes. Usually, we would mediate and then receive the prompt, putting pen to paper immediately after receiving it. The prompt: Think of an encounter. I immediately thought of a client I had worked with on the colon therapy table earlier that day. As I cleared my mind and focused on "silent awareness," I was suddenly aware of my lower legs and feet: "running" and "not my own."

Again, the prompt: Think of an encounter. Put pen to paper for 10 minutes and write without stopping, without lifting the pen, without editing, without looking back at what your wrote prior.

Hours later, I ran across this piece of almost blank paper with my pterodactyl feet. Well, actually when the page was blank, my dinosaur feet and strong muscular legs, were running under the table, then I jumped up here to the paper. The flowing ink didn't stop me, the line across the page didn't stop me, nothing stopped me. I couldn't see the rest of my body, but I knew I was real and I wondered whether or not he had cancer on his lungs in my little reptilian brain – run, run,brun. There was no such thing as tiredness, no, none.

Would he find out on Wednesday, 36 hours from now, that he had a malignant tumor on his lung? After all, he had coughed up blood a couple of weeks ago. When he was on my colon therapy table today, he cried, "I don't know what to do! I'm so overwhelmed. It seems life gets harder and harder no matter what I do." That last line hit me over my little green head; it did. "It seems life gets harder and harder no matter what I do." How do we climb out of that? Facing cancer after years of work on oneself -- a divorce, quitting the office job to become a Reiki Master, seasonal fasts. And, there were those five beers per night since his son moved in full time in September. Oh, right, yes, he quit smoking years ago, but had smoked for 15 years.

Run. Run. Run.

I am no longer on this piece of paper; now I can feel my feet against the hot sand, my large claws digging in with each step. Now, I am hitting against cooler, more moist sand.

Run. Run.

Would coffee enemas do the trick? Today was day twelve of fasting for him on soup broth and vegetable juice; day twelve of two coffee enemas per day; day twelve of despair, effort, anger. Now, here he was, crying on my colon therapy table.

Run. Run.

Labels: cancer, coffee enema, colon hydrotherapy, contemplative writing, fasting