The colon is also called the large intestine. The ileum (last part of the small intestine) connects to the cecum (first part of the colon) in the lower right abdomen. The rest of the colon is divided into four parts:
• The ascending colon travels up the right side of the abdomen.
• The transverse colon runs across the abdomen.
• The descending colon travels down the left abdomen.
• The sigmoid colon is a short curving of the colon, just before the rectum.
The colon removes water, salt, and some nutrients forming stool. Muscles line the colon’s walls, squeezing its contents along. Billions of bacteria coat the colon and its contents, living in a healthy balance with the body.
Colon Conditions
- Colitis: Inflammation of the colon. Inflammatory bowel disease or infections are the most common causes.
- Diverticulosis: Small weak areas in the colon’s muscular wall allow the colon’s lining to protrude through, forming tiny pouches called diverticuli. Diverticuli usually cause no problems, but can bleed or become inflamed or infected.
- Diverticulitis: When diverticuli become inflamed or infected, diverticulitis results. Abdominal pain, fever, and constipation are common symptoms.
- Colon bleeding (hemorrhage): Multiple potential colon problems can cause bleeding. Rapid bleeding is visible in the stool, but very slow bleeding might not be.
- Inflammatory bowel disease: A name for either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Both conditions can cause colon inflammation (colitis).
- Crohn’s disease: An inflammatory condition that usually affects the colon and intestines. Abdominal pain and diarrhea (which may be bloody) are symptoms.
- Ulcerative colitis: An inflammatory condition that usually affects the colon and rectum. Like Crohn’s disease, bloody diarrhea is a common symptom of ulcerative colitis.
- Diarrhea: Stools that are frequent, loose, or watery are commonly called diarrhea. Most diarrhea is due to self-limited, mild infections of the colon or small intestine.
- Salmonellosis: The bacteria Salmonella can contaminate food and infect the intestine. Salmonella causes diarrhea and stomach cramps, which usually resolve without treatment.
- Shigellosis: The bacteria Shigella can contaminate food and invade the colon. Symptoms include fever, stomach cramps, and diarrhea, which may be bloody.
- Travelers’ diarrhea: Many different bacteria commonly contaminate water or food in developing countries. Loose stools, sometimes with nausea and fever, are symptoms.
- Colon polyps: Polyps are small growths. Some of these develop into cancer, but it takes a long time. Removing them can prevent many colon cancers.
- Colon cancer: Cancer of the colon affects more than 100,000 Americans each year. Most colon cancer is preventable through regular screening.
Keeping your colon in balance affects your brain’s ability to stay in balance. A colon backed up is a brain that is in turmoil and if the brain is in turmoil ….. so is your world.
I have been a colon therapist for over 30 years. I have watched people in every health challenge reverse that challenge simply by cleaning out their bodies.
Let’s use this analogy. When you are born life usually is simple, food in food out. Then we start to grow up and until usually its time to potty train we start learning to hold our bodily releases until we are sitting on the toilet. Then we get into school and we sometimes hold it all day till we get home, this is when we start training our bodies, sadly, in the wrong way. Years go by and most of you don’t know how to eat according to your blood type. Let’s discuss that for just a moment because this plays a very big part in keeping a balance in your body.
Dr. Peter D’Adamo authored several years ago his now infamous book Eat Right For Your Blood Type. He has spent his career as a doctor promoting the idea that certain foods for certain blood types will either heal your body or cause it more health challenges due to inflammation.
Several years ago I was a teacher in 3 different massage schools in Michigan. Being new to the whole “holistic” approach I wasn’t ready to hear the administrator say to me….”your students will listen to what you are teaching if you were a vegetarian” I was dumbfounded to say the least however she must know more than me, she owns the school.
At the time I was 95 pounds, had energy, hormones balanced, I was happy and in great shape. I along with my 2 kids became vegetarians. Within 4 months I had gained 45 pounds, I was tired all the time, I was a hormonal a wreck, I had pain throughout my body, I was into the chiropractor all the time. Then one day a client walked in and said…’here I bought this for you it just hit the shelves….Yep!!! Dr. D’Adamo’s newest book Eat Right For Your Blood Type. As my client go ready I looked quickly through the book and after she left I sat down and could not believe what I was reading.
My kids went to their dad’s for the weekend and I went shopping and then I cleaned out the refrigerator and the cupboards….you see I am a Blood Type O and I had been eating a Blood Type A diet.
When my kids came home my daughter opened the refrigerator stared into it and then yelled…..’are we storing someone’s food’ …. the shelves were filled with organic meats, cheeses that were on the Blood Type O lists, veges, fruits all that were listed on the side of the book as medicine to the body. (A little side note my kids were ecstatic…dinner time every night was a step closer to all out mutiny)
Within the next 4 months I lost all the weight, I regained my energy, my hormones balanced out and all the pain left my body.
A Blood Type O is high protein, meat regenerates us, keeps our bodies strong. Grains, like oats, rice, barley etc., creates inflammation and inflammation deteriorates our bodies, it ages us and turns us into pain factories. Only certain dairy will agree with us, mozzarella cheese, feta and goat’s cheese, eggs are all medicine to our systems. The book is amazing and I have followed it for years. Yes, some people debunk it and that is alright, they are still constipated, full of gas, overweight, full of acid and don’t feel good ever.
Now that I have digressed let’s get back to BALANCE. We have to have a Phbalance in our gut of 7.3 – 7.45 to maintain a friendly flora, with this flora large gas bubbles won’t be able to form and block our stool from passing effortlessly. The more we train our bodies to hold our waste the more our colons (large intestine) will stretch to accommodate. As we grow up and become adults we form a routine of maybe every day, maybe every other day, maybe once a week…..however we are eating 3 meals a day and snacks so we start the build up. When we are young most often we can push through this and not really feel any ramifications…..and then one day the body says…. ENOUGH….
We start our endless trek to the doctors for acid pills, digestion pills, anxiety drugs, sleeping pills…..it goes on and on.
Then one day they hear about colonics and they start investigating, they start talking to people, they start hearing how people reversed their health challenges….they started seeking out someone who does this odd thing.
Someone gives them this analogy….here is your garage and every day you put a sack in that represents breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Now you go out to the garage and take one sack out that represents your bowel movement. Now visualize this every day 3-4 sacks in 1 sack out and after 20-30 years as your body slows down with its ability to produce digestive enzymes and the gas easily forms and we have put food into our systems that we can’t digest….well you have a pretty good picture you are far from being in BALANCE.
Then they find me…..then their journey begins and they are amazed at how much old impacted fecal matter comes out, they come back and tell me I have never slept so well, they get another treatment and more comes out, they start to lose weight, their headaches go away, their skin starts to clear up, they are able to get off their meds….they start to become like a newborn….food in food out….and that is BALANCE.