A couple of weeks ago I picked up my dog from the groomer only to find out that the owner after years of pain had to have her entire large intestine removed.
Upon further probing the daughter explained that she was shocked that we
had two intestines, a large and a small….even more earth-shattering was when I replied….yes you have a large colon
and a small colon, to which she replied….holy cow we have 4.
I have thought long and hard on this and it has amazed me over the last 25 years how ill-informed we are as a society
as to the inner workings of our body and what bodily parts we actually have. Believe me, I could fill volumes on my
client’s questions in reference to their bodies.
Normalcy is a major question. All of our lives we are taught if you have one bowel movement a day, a week, every
other week, that is your normal. Not true. The truth is what goes in must come out on a timely basis, for example.
About 45 minutes or so after breakfast you should be eliminating the dinner you had the night before, 45 minutes or
so after lunch you should be eliminating breakfast and after dinner your lunch. If you are not on this schedule than
you are storing not only sugar to turn into fat, but also residual toxins that then build up not only in the colon but also
get transferred to the blood to stream constantly through each and every organ, muscle, and tissue. That is why it takes 10 to 15 to sometimes 20 years to develop cancer, diabetes, heart disease, colon disease, and any other inflammatory condition your body can succumb to.
Peristalsis is such an important function of your colon. The colon being a muscle has a rhythm, it is very slow and it is
constant. We don’t feel this rhythm unless we have eaten something that the body wants to be rid of then we feel the
cramping and sometimes the explosive discharge that ensues. When our colon is loaded beyond its normal capacity
and the fact that it is a muscle this peristalsis slows down and very little waste travels from the beginning of the large
intestine (cecum) to the end which is your anus. Since your colon is a muscle, it has the capacity to expand from front to back and from side to side causing a bloat feeling and tons of discomfort. Relieving this pressure is not only conducive to good health it feels like something most people can’t even imagine. Your whole body can breathe easier
with all this toxin expelled from it.
Your large intestine is mainly a waste receptacle. After our food leaves our stomach as chyme it travels to the small intestine where the fats, starches, proteins are distributed to the various parts of our body to feed our organs, muscles, and tissues. The small intestine or colon is like an ecosystem and it is protected by the ilium so
waste, once it is passed into the large intestine, is not allowed back into the small intestine. That is why it is imperative
that your food is thoroughly chewed in your mouth where digestion starts and is turned into a liquid before you
swallow it. The stomach is not a trash compactor and its job is not to churn your food up, it is a receiver of the chyme
(which is the liquid form of your food) so it can be mixed with all the digestive enzymes that your body produces
from the time the food enters your mouth for mastication (chewing), The chyme then proceeds through the duodenum
into the small intestine where most of the work is done. The small intestine is also home to 85% of our immune system so it is very important that this part of the colon is kept actively alive and in great working order so our immune
system can keep any and all invaders from finding a home within our body. The way this is accomplished is daily
doses of a high potency probiotic to ensure that you are maintaining the correct pH balance in your gut that will keep
your immune system able, ready and willing.
If we maintain our systems on a daily basis then our bodies in turn will take care of us when we have unwelcomed
guests knocking on our door…..pull that welcome mat in and lock it up