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Chapter 2
Refined Foods
and Constipation
(Don't Wait For
Constipation To Kill You)
To most people,
constipation is simply a matter of a slow-moving or lazy bowel. To these people,
it is a matter of little import whether their bowels move once a day or once a
week. Yet, as the following will confirm, constipation is an extremely serious
malady, one that cannot be ignored for a day or even for an hour.
When food remains in
the colon for an extended period of time, it begins to putrefy. In other words,
germs invade the food and it begins to rot within us. As always, this
putrefaction process results in the production of toxic waste. If this toxic
waste remained in the colon, the situation would not be too serious. The
reality, however, is that much of this poisonous matter is taken up into the
bloodstream. What this means, in effect, is that constipation actually gives
rise to a process of self-poisoning. In medical terms, this process is referred
to as auto-intoxication.
`Auto-intoxication is
the process whereby the body literally poisons itself by maintaining a cesspool
of decaying matter in its colon. This inner cesspool can contain as high a
concentration of harmful bacteria as a cesspool under a house. The toxins
released by the process of decay are drawn into the bloodstream and travel to
all parts of the body. Every cell in the body gets affected, and many forms of
sickness can result. Because it weakens the entire system, auto-intoxication can
be a causative factor for nearly any disease.' (Robert Gray, The Colon Health
Handbook, p. 13, emphasis my own)
According to the
well-known author and researcher, Dr Bernard Jensen, auto-intoxication is always
attended by misery:
`I believe
auto-intoxication is currently the number one source of the misery and decay we
are witnessing in our society and culture today. Through it comes the host of
uncleanliness, with its entourage of imbalance, derangements, perversions,
sickness and disease. Auto-intoxication becomes a powerful master over the body,
robbing the inhabitant of clear thinking, discrimination, sound judgment,
vitality, health, happiness and loved ones. Its rewards are disillusionment,
bitterness, disappointment, financial chaos and failure.' (Dr Bernard Jensen,
Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management, p. 4)
With the above in
mind, let us consider the direct impact that auto-intoxication has upon the
system. First of all, because the bloodstream is loaded with toxins, tremendous
strain is placed on the liver as it attempts to purify the blood. Secondly, the
organs of elimination, these being the kidneys, the lungs, the skin and the
bowels, will be seriously burdened as they endeavor to expel the toxic waste
from the body. This process of self-cleansing will also sap much of the body's
available energy resources and, with time, it will lead to a continual feeling
of weakness and debility.
The tragedy, however,
is that in the case of constipation, the source of self-poisoning is ever
present - meaning that there is no respite for the affected organs. Night and
day, toxins are taken up by the bloodstream and, night and day, the body is
forced to engage in a life and death struggle against this deadly and persistent
invasion.
The symptoms of this
battle will manifest themselves in any of a multitude of ways. The less serious
of these would include sneezing, coughing, sinusitis, skin rashes, fever, and
diarrhoea.
Dr. I. H. Moore tells
us of some of the more serious ailments that can come about as a result of
auto-intoxication.
`The colon is a
sewerage system, but by neglect and abuse it becomes a cesspool. When it is
clean, we are well and healthy. Let it stagnate and it will . . .
-
distil the poison of
decay, fermentation, and putrefaction into the blood, poisoning the brain and
nervous system so that we become mentally depressed, melancholic, irritable
and restless.
It will poison the heart
so that we are weak and listless,
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poison the lungs so that
the breath is foul,
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poison the digestive
organs so that we are bloated, belching and distressed with gas pains,
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poison the blood so that
the skin is sallow, blotched and unhealthy.
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In short, every organ of
the body is poisoned. We age prematurely. We look and feel old. The joints are
stiff and painful. Neuritis, dull eyes, and a sluggish brain overtake us. The
pleasure of living is gone.' (Northwestern Medicine, vol. 5, 1926).
Most people would
never dream that such serious ailments could come about as a result of
constipation, yet much of the physical suffering in our present world can be
traced back to this serious oversight. With this in mind, therefore, let us
consider the following most carefully.
If constipation gives
rise to auto-intoxication and auto-intoxication, in turn, gives rise to ailments
such as nervousness, depression, heart disease, digestive problems, skin
problems et cetera, then how should we go about treating these ailments? Should
our first priority be to
cleanse the bowels and to detoxify the system, or
should we, as the case may be, prescribe drugs for the nervousness,
tranquilizers for the depression, pills for the heart, powders for the stomach,
and ointments for the skin?
Clearly, in the above
case, our first priority must be aimed at flushing the colon and helping the
system to detoxify itself. By so doing, we will be removing the root cause of
our nervousness, depression, heart problems, stomach problems, and bad skin.
If, on the other
hand, we choose to ignore the state of the bowels and the toxic state of the
system, and we treat the above-mentioned ailments, not as symptoms of a deeper
cause, but as though they are isolated diseases in themselves, then all that we
can look forward to is life-long dependence on medicinal drugs.
In years gone by the
first question that would be asked of any sick person was `are your bowels
working?' Yet today, for some strange reason, this all-important matter seldom
receives the attention that it deserves. As a result, we suspect that millions
of people are spending millions of dollars on the `treatment' of a multitude of
serious ailments that are nothing other than symptoms of constipation.
As one well-known
Naturopath tells us . . .
`Constipation is not
regarded as a disease, yet it is a direct or indirect cause of many diseases,
its evils can scarcely be overstated. Its foul brood includes appendicitis,
piles, fistula, colitis, ulcers, tuberculosis, gastric catarrh, biliousness, bad
breath and body odour (both of which are shamelessly exploited), to all of which
may be added kidney degeneration, and diabetes. The condition of constipation is
either entirely ignored, or it is treated as only an unimportant incident ...
and yet constipation is an ominous condition that forebodes tremendous physical
and mental evils.
`On the authority of
many eminent men we learn that constipation is in the history of every case of
disease, especially of the stomach and bowels. If people would eat those foods
that induce natural bowel activity, they would run but slight risk of cancer.
Internal growths need have no terrors for the man who eats intelligently,
thereby avoiding bowel stasis [slow movement of the bowels] with all its
attendant miseries.' (George Teasdale, Nature Heals!, p. 36)
In the statement
following, Major General Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, M.D., a physician who was
knighted for his medical work, confirms the fear that constipation is the
underlying cause of many diseases. He also suggests that there is a strong link
between constipation and cancer.
`Indigestion and
constipation are the starting causes of the diseases of civilization. If you
wish to produce cancer with a fair degree of certainty, supply constipated
patients with plenty of meat and endeavour to deal with their constipation by
means of irritating, purgative drugs.' (The Diet System, p. ll)
The reason why Sir
Arbuthnot Lane mentions meat in particular is because meat contains no fibre
whatsoever. As such, when meat is not eaten together with fibre-rich foods, or
when it is eaten in excess, it is a highly constipating food.
Interestingly, Dr
Bernard Jensen actually makes mention of the work of Sir Arbuthnot Lane. He
suggests that . . .
`Those who doubt the
direct relation between the colon and the functioning ability of various organs
in the body should consider the daring work of Sir Arbuthnot Lane, in England.
He proved the relationship because when he [surgically] removed the lower bowel
from certain patients, their symptoms of arthritis, rheumatism, etc.,
disappeared within weeks. Thyroid enlargements responded immediately;
tuberculosis was relieved; amputations were prevented. Even in the case of
Raynaud's disease where there was gangrene of the fingers, the hands were
restored to perfect condition a short time after removal of that cesspool of
infection, a toxin-laden bowel.' (Bernard Jensen D.C.,N.D.,
The Science and
Practice of Iridology, p. 312)
Dr John Harvey
Kellogg suggests that most people have defective colons, and that most of us,
especially those of us whose bowels move less frequently than once a day, are
seriously constipated and subject, therefore, to the ills attendant on the
condition of auto-intoxication. Says Dr Kellogg . . .
`It must be
remembered that the colon serves the body as a waste receptacle or sewer, and
like every other sewer, means must be provided for flushing. A stagnating sewer
soon becomes an intolerable nuisance. Unfortunately, the average human colon in
civilized lands, if not already a menace and a torment, is liable at any moment
to become such.
`It is now known that
every person whose bowels move but once a day is constipated and suffering from
general poisoning of the whole body. If the bowels do not move well [at least
once or twice a day], the colon soon becomes a reservoir of putrefying food
residues. The so-called `well-formed stool' is certain evidence of constipation.
Normal stools are soft and almost wholly free from odour, and occur after each
meal.
`A firm, `well-formed
stool' always means constipation. Its significance is that the colon is packed
full like a sausage and the faecal matters have been so long retained that they
have been compacted by the absorption of water. The whole colon is filled, and
the bowel movement is the result of the pressure of the incoming food residues
at the other end. When the body wastes are promptly discharged as they should
be, the colon will never contain the residues of more than two meals, and at the
after-breakfast bowel movement it should be completely emptied.' (How to Have Good Health
Through Biologic Living, pp.394-399)
When we normalize our
food intake by including more fresh fruits, raw salads, steamed vegetables, and
whole grain products into our diet, there are a few interesting changes that
will take place. As Dr Kellogg tells us, we will notice that our stools will
become . . .
(1) soft,
(2) almost wholly free from
odour, and . . .
(3) will occur after every
meal.
In his book, The Missing
Link in the Medical Curriculum, Dr Hoffman also suggests that healthy stools
should be . . .
(4) light-colored,
(5) airy,
(6) should float on water,
and . . .
(7) should leave the body
under minimal pressure.
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Lunch in stomach, breakfast passing into colon
Figure 3a |
Bearing in mind that
our regularity, and the state of our stools, are usually very good indicators of
the general state of our health, these are signs worth striving for and worth
watching for.
Figures 3a and 3b are
diagrammatic representations of the various organs that make up the digestive
tract. Figure 3a illustrates a digestive tract that is functioning naturally.
You will notice that lunch is presently in the stomach and that breakfast is now
passing through the ileo-cecal valve into the large bowel or colon. The
remainder of the digestive tract is having a good rest in preparation for the
arrival of the next meal.
Figure 3b is an illustration of
the state of the colon of the average person who tries to survive on a diet
consisting primarily of a combination of refined foods, greasy foods and flesh
foods. In this case, the colon is packed with the residues of many meals, all in
varying states of putrefaction. As Dr Kellogg tells us, the only reason anything
passes out of the one end of the large intestine or colon is because more food
has been forced in at the other end.
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This colon contains the residues of many meals
Figure 3b |
Unless a drastic
change is made, this situation will persist year in and year out for decades.
The individual may not understand why he never feels too happy, why he has
ever-recurring colds and other infections, why he has bad skin, why his breath
is never too fresh, and why he has such a desperate need of underarm deodorants.
Yet an enlightened physician would tell him that because of his unnatural diet
and lifestyle, the state of his colon has resulted in a polluted bloodstream
and, until such time as he changes his eating and living habits, and he assists
nature to cleanse his system and to regulate the functioning of his digestive
organs, he will never feel too well, and he will never overcome his
ever-recurring illnesses.
Nature demands that
every muscle in our body has some time of rest. Even the muscles in our heart
have a rest in-between each beat. In the case of a colon that is `packed full
like a sausage,' however, the muscles in the colon never rest because the colon
is never emptied. The inevitable result is that these muscles start to collapse.
This, in turn, will give rise to bulging in some areas of the colon and
contraction in other areas.
Figure 4. gives us some idea of
what prolonged constipation eventually leads to. The colon represented here was
encrusted with hard faecal matter with only a small hole through the centre as
large as a pencil. Research revealed that the encrustation could well have taken
more than 20 years to develop. This means that this encrustation included the
residues of meals that were eaten twenty years previously?
On numerous occasions
this writer has been able to assist people who have unsuccessfully sought relief
from all manner of ailments by simply recommending that they flush the colon and
regulate their diet. One lady who had suffered with back pains for more than six
months, and who had vainly sought help from all quarters, obtained almost
immediate relief after taking three enemas in a row. The problem in her case was
that the colon had distended in the area of her lower, middle back to such a
degree that it was putting sufficient pressure on the spine to cause discomfort.
The tell-tale sign that led us to suspect that her colon was the problem was her disclosure that, for
some reason unknown to her, her stools were as thick as a pencil.
The material that builds up in
the colon is referred to as post-putrefactive matter - implying that it has gone
beyond the process of putrefaction. The following reports give us some idea of
just how bad this build-up can become.
`One autopsy revealed
the colon to be 9 inches [22,5 centimeters] in diameter with a passage through
it no larger than a pencil! The rest was caked up layer upon layer of encrusted
faecal material. This accumulation can have the consistency of truck tire
rubber. It's that hard and black. Another autopsy revealed a stagnant colon to
weigh in at an incredible 40 pounds! [18 kilograms]. Imagine carrying around all
that morbid accumulated waste.' (Dr Bernard Jensen, Tissue Cleansing Through
Bowel Management, p. 27)
The renowned
herbalist, Robert Gray, tells of another autopsy. This one revealed a specimen
that was even larger than those mentioned above.
`There is an autopsy
on record wherein the colon was removed and was found to weigh sixty pounds [27
kilograms]. It will take far longer than the typical two to three months to
cleanse such a colon.' (Robert Gray, The Colon Health Handbook, p. 67)
One can only imagine how
miserable these poor people must have felt in the years preceding their death?
Earlier we noticed
how, around the turn of the century, Sir Arbuthnot Lane removed the entire colon
from his patients and how they recovered from various ailments as a result.
Today specialists in this area have developed less drastic methods of dealing
with the same problem. Robert Gray has developed a special herbal formula that
breaks up the post-putrefactive matter in the colon. It is this treatment that
he is referring to in the statement above when he speaks of a two to three
month time period.
Dr Jensen, on the
other hand, has developed a very effective treatment that involves feeding his
patients a special diet and subjecting them to a continuous type of enema -
which he refers to as a Colema. On completion of his seven-day treatment, the
entire mass of encrusted faecal material is dislodged and passes out of the
body.
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Figure 5a |
Figure 5b |
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Figures 5a and 5b are
reproductions of actual photographs that were taken of this post-putrefactive
matter. As we saw earlier, it is as black and as hard as truck tyre rubber.
Notice how this matter has taken the shape of the intestinal walls.
A Major Cause of Infection
Figure 6a is a photograph showing the condition of the ankles of one of Dr
Jensen's patients on the day that the post-putrefactive matter was removed from
his colon. Figure 6b shows how the same patient's ankles had cleared up just
seven days later. Now who would ever associate infection of the ankles with the
state of the colon? Yet here is all the proof that we need.
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Figure 6a |
Figure 6b |
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As Dr Jensen tells us . . .
`The bowel is probably the
root of most of our trouble and it is there we can almost always find the
greatest amount of toxic material. The bowel seems to be the centre of
importance in the body and when it is clean and in a healthy condition other
organs are, as a rule, healthy. A toxic intestine acts as a seat of infection,
throwing out its toxins into the blood stream, and thus infecting other parts of
the body. Infection in the body can be fed directly from the intestinal tract.'
(Dr. Bernard Jensen D.C.,
N.D., The Science and Practice of Iridology, p. 143, emphasis my own)
Should a physician
examine the colon through a scope, he will not by this means be able to detect
the presence of toxins because they are microscopic in nature. Even if his
examination reveals that there is no post-putrefactive matter present in the
colon, this is no guarantee that the bowels are not acting as a seat of
infection. The all-important factor, therefore, is not the visible state of the
contents of the colon, but the length of time that this matter has been present
in the colon.
Sometimes, and
especially in cases where the person has a long history of constipation, some of
the sacculations in the colon can become quite distorted - even to the point
that they form pockets. The food waste that lodges in these pockets will not be
visible through a scope but, with time, it will most certainly become a major
source of toxic matter and misery.
The point we want to
emphasize, however, is that the bowels can be a major source of infection, and
that this infection can manifest itself in any organ in the body.
Most people have
never dreamt that fermenting food residues in the bowels could give rise to
infection in such remote organs as the ankle or the ears yet, once we understand
how fermentation in the colon leads to a poisoned bloodstream, we can appreciate
just how easily this can come about.
Bearing in mind that
the bowels could be the seat of our infection, we need to ask ourselves how we
should deal with an infection of this nature. Should we focus on the infection,
as though it were an isolated entity, or should we focus primarily on the
bowels, and seek to remove the offending matter that is polluting the
bloodstream and giving rise to the infection? Obviously, whatever treatment is
prescribed, we simply cannot ignore the condition of the bowels - for by so
doing we will be ignoring the root cause of our infection.
The standard
treatment for ear infection is a fine example. For this ailment antibiotics are
usually prescribed and often a grommet is used to drain the offending fluid from
the ear canal. So far, so good, but what of the offensive matter in the colon
that probably gave rise to the infection in the first place? The antibiotics may
have killed the infecting bacteria, the grommet will have helped to remove some
of the offending material from the ear canal, but if the treatment ends there,
we have done no more than suppress symptoms, while the patient returns home with
his bowel as primed as ever it was to wreak havoc in some or other organ in the
body. The organ infected is usually the weakest organ in the body in that it
will offer the least resistance to nature's effort to expel the toxic matter
from the system.
I do not suggest that
we should use laxatives as a crutch, nor should we view laxatives as a means
that will enable us to continue with our wrong habits of eating, for our goal
must always be to regulate our diet so that laxatives will not be necessary.
Nevertheless we, as a family, are typically human, and sometimes we are tempted
to eat the wrong things. When, as a result, we start to cough or to sneeze, we
take a mild herbal laxative, prune juice, or an enema. Further to this, we make
sure that we get plenty of water, sunshine, exercise, and fresh air, and the
coughing and/or sneezing soon abates. When any of us develop that characteristic
itch in the ear or in the back of the throat, the type that typically gives
warning of worse to come, we flush the bowels and very soon the irritation
disappears. Whether we have a cold, flu, skin problem, or whatever, we always
focus on cleansing the bowels and always with the same gratifying results.
The all-important
message, therefore, is this: Never discount the possibility that constipation
could be a causative factor in any ailment. The uninformed will usually be
sorely tempted to treat what can be seen or felt of an ailment, but so often we
need to look beyond what is seen or felt in order to find and to remove the true
cause of our malady.
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What You Should Do
Primarily your daily diet should be made up of
fruit, vegetables, whole grains and a few nuts. Because flesh foods contain no
fiber, they should be used sparingly - if at all.
Because most processed foods are produced from
refined ingredients, you need to start making use of health foods that are
produced from genuine, unrefined flours - preferably stone-milled fours. These
should include cereals, porridges, breads, pastas etcetera. Even many "whole
wheat" (brown) breads and pastas that are available in supermarkets are not
produced from the real thing and they will not promote natural bowel function.
Bread, cakes, muffins and cookies can be made at
home using 100% whole wheat flour (Nature's Choice Pastry Flour). For recipes
etcetera, please visit the
Nature's Choice website.
If your bowels do not work well (without
straining) at least once a day, or if you suspect your colon needs a good
cleanout, you will find a useful and enlightening article by this author on
Overcoming Constipation at the
Nature's Choice website.
If you would like to know how to
self-administer an enema, please
click here.
Remember, laxatives work by irritating the colon
- even the milder herbal preparations. The body reacts to this irritation by
drawing fluids into the colon, and these fluids aid in the expulsion of the
irritant via the flushing of the bowels. So while the use of laxatives is
sometimes unavoidable, it is not wise to use laxatives except in emergency
situations. Laxatives can also be habit forming.
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