NaturalNews) If you want to experience your best health, an essential requirement
is keeping your colorectal region clean and healthy. Keeping your colon and rectum clean
and healthy provides a number of health benefits, the main ones being:
1. A lowered risk of developing colorectal cancer, the second or third leading type of
cancer in most industrialized countries.
2. A lowered risk of experiencing irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation, and
chronic diarrhea.
3. A lowered risk of developing hemorrhoids.
4. Less objectionable gas production.
5. More efficient absorption of water and minerals.
6. A feeling of lightness, comfort, and well-being in your abdominal region.
Your colon and rectum are collectively referred to as your large intestine, which is the
last part of your digestive
tract.
A Journey Through Your Large Intestine
After food passes through your stomach
and small intestine, the remaining material, mostly waste products in liquid form, move on
to the first part of your large intestine -- your colon.
Your colon is approximately 6 feet long and serves primarily to dehydrate liquid waste
material.
Your colon begins at the lower right hand corner of your abdomen, where it is called your
cecum. Attached to your cecum is a twisted, worm-shaped tube called your appendix.
From your cecum, your colon travels up the right side of your abdomen, where it is called
your ascending colon. When it reaches your lower right ribs (just below your liver), it
turns to travel across your abdomen
to just below your lower left ribs; here, it's called your transverse colon.
Just below your lower left ribs, it makes another turn and travels down the left side of
your abdomen -- this portion is called your descending colon.
Your colon then makes one last turn toward the middle of your abdomen, forming an
"S" shaped segment that is called your sigmoid colon.
Your sigmoid colon empties waste materials into your rectum, which is like a storage pouch
that holds onto your feces until contractions in your large intestine stimulate a bowel
movement.
In order to understand how to keep your colorectal region clean and healthy, let's go over
a few key details on how your large intestine works.
Large Intestine Physiology
Movement of Waste Material
After you eat a substantial meal, your stomach expands enough to trigger a reflex that
causes a contractile wave (called a peristaltic wave) to travel through your small
intestine and push any liquid waste material (chyme) that is sitting in the last part of
your small intestine into your large intestine.
Once enough liquid waste material accumulates in your cecum (the first part of your large
intestine), the waste material begins to move up your ascending colon.
Movement of waste material through your colon is facilitated by something called
"haustral churning". Your colon is divided along its length into small pouches
called haustra. When a haustrum is filled with substantial waste material, its muscular
walls contract and push the waste material into the next haustrum. The contractile reflex
that allows haustral churning is regulated by your enteric nervous system, which is a
division of your autonomic nervous system.
On average, your colon experiences anywhere from about 3 to 12 moderate waves of
contractions every minute. After every substantial meal, your colon experiences a much
larger contractile wave, called "mass peristalsis". Mass peristalsis serves to
push waste materials from your transverse colon all the way to your rectum. In most
people, mass peristalsis occurs about three times a day.
Water and Nutrient Absorption
The mucosal lining of your large intestine is lined with tiny pits that open into long,
tube-like intestinal glands; these glands are lined with specialized cells that absorb water, and other specialized cells
(goblet cells) that release mucous into your large intestine to lubricate your stools and
to protect the lining of your large intestine against acidic substances and noxious gases.
The specialized cells that absorb water from your waste materials are responsible for
about 10 percent of the water that you absorb from the foods and beverages that you
ingest; the remaining 90 percent is absorbed by cells that line your small intestine.
This 10 percent of water absorption in your large intestine amounts to anywhere between a
pint and a quart of water in most people, and represents a significant portion of your
body's daily intake of water. As water is absorbed from the waste material in your colon,
so are some nutrients, mainly minerals like sodium and chloride.
It takes anywhere between 3 to 10 hours for your large intestine to absorb enough water
from waste material to turn it into solid or partially solid stools. Your stools consist
mainly of water, mucous, fiber, old cells from your intestinal lining, millions of microorganisms, and small
amounts of inorganic salts.
When your rectal pouch is distended with enough feces to trigger a contractile reflex,
your feces are pushed out through your anus. When you consciously contract your abdominal
wall, your diaphragm moves downward and helps open up muscles that line your anal
sphincter.
Your rectum is lined with three horizontal folds, called your rectal valves; these valves
are what prevent stools from passing through your anal sphincter when you pass gas.
If you choose not to release stools when you experience an urge to do so, your reflex
contractions may stop, in which case you likely won't have a significant bowel movement
until the next mass peristalsis occurs.
Diarrhea and Constipation Explained
When waste material travels through your digestive tract too quickly for sufficient water
absorption to occur, your stools will be runny and more frequent than normal.
Three main causes of diarrhea are:
* Undesirable microorganisms
* Food intolerances (like lactose intolerance)
* Stress
In the first two cases listed above, it makes sense that your body would want things to
move quickly through your system; your body doesn't want to spend time digesting foods
that it cannot properly extract nutrients from or that are laced with disease-causing
microbes.
Stress can cause transit time to shorten by messing with your enteric nervous system;
please recall that your enteric nervous system controls the reflex contractions that mark
"haustral churning". Your enteric nervous system is a part of your autonomic
nervous system, and your autonomic nervous system regulates your physiological responses
to emotional and physical stress.
When waste material travels through your colon more slowly than it should, so much water
is sucked out of your waste material that your stools become hard.
Five main causes of constipation
are:
* Eating sporadically, or eating meals that are too small to illicit mass peristalsis.
* Not going when you feel an urge to go
* Lack of a healthy intestinal lining that is capable of producing enough mucous to
properly lubricate your stools (vitamin
A deficiency is a potential cause of this situation)
* Insufficient intake of water, water-rich foods, and/or fiber-rich foods.
* Stress
Natural Ways to Keep Your Colorectal Region Clean and Healthy
Please note: A number of the following ways to keep your colon and rectum healthy are tied
to preventing chronic constipation.
Chronic constipation is the single greatest cause of having an unclean and unhealthy
colorectal region because over time, constipation causes your bowel walls to face
excessive pressure -- pressure that is created by you straining to go and by your colon
walls creating stronger contractions to help eliminate hard stools.
Excessive pressure on your colon walls can cause little pouches called diverticuli to
form. Sometimes, small bits of waste material can get lodged in diverticuli.
Eat substantial meals; don't nibble on small amounts throughout the day
Each time you eat a substantial meal, you stimulate stretch receptors in your stomach that
are responsible for triggering normal and mass peristaltic waves throughout your small and
large intestines, ensuring regular movement of waste material through your colon and
rectum.
Also, eating substantial meals allows significant "chunks" of waste materials to
travel together through your colon, turn into well formed stools, and get eliminated from
your body in an efficient manner.
Don't suppress the desire to go
If you regularly suppress the urge to have a bowel movement, waste materials spend more
time than is optimal in your colon, causing excessive dehydration of waste materials and
formation of hard stools.
Ensure adequate intake of water and/or water-rich foods
Water helps to move waste materials along, and is absorbed throughout the entire length of
your colon. Insufficient water intake can cause stools to form far before waste materials
reach your rectal pouch, which can cause constipation.
This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to drink several glasses of water per day. If
you eat plenty of water-rich plant foods, then you can rely on your sense of thirst to
dictate how much water to drink. For more guidance on this issue, please view:
(http://drbenkim.com/drink-too-much-wate...)
Eat fiber-rich foods regularly
Fiber adds bulk to the boluses of waste material that travel through your large intestine,
and this bulk is essential to your colon's ability to turn waste materials into well
formed stools.
A diet that is rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains ensures high fiber
intake.
Ensure adequate vitamin D status
Adequate vitamin D status significantly lowers your risk of developing all types of
cancer, including colorectal
cancer.
When you aren't able to get regular exposure to sunlight, enough to tan without getting
burned, look to ensure adequate vitamin D status by eating healthy foods that contain
vitamin D, such as wild salmon and a high quality cod liver oil.
Ensure adequate vitamin A status
As mentioned above, glands that line the mucosal lining of your colon are responsible for
releasing mucous that is needed to lubricate your feces; vitamin A is needed to maintain
the health of these specialized cells
that release mucous.
It's best to ensure adequate vitamin A status by eating healthy foods that contain vitamin
A. For a list of healthy foods that are rich in vitamin A, view:
(http://drbenkim.com/nutrient-vitamina.html)
Ensure adequate intake of healthy
fats
All of your cells, including those of your large intestine and nervous system, require a
constant influx of undamaged fatty acids and cholesterol to remain fully functional. If
you don't ensure adequate intake of healthy fats, your nervous system and the smooth
muscles that surround your digestive passageway -- both of which are responsible for
creating peristaltic waves throughout your digestive tract -- may deteriorate in function.
Also, intake of healthy fats is necessary for optimal absorption of fat-soluble vitamin A,
which, as mentioned above, is critical to building and maintaining the mucosal lining of
your colon.
Healthy foods that are rich in healthy fats include: avocados, organic eggs, olives,
extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, coconuts, raw nuts, raw seeds, and cold-water fish.
Build and maintain large colonies of friendly bacteria in your
digestive tract
Large populations of friendly bacteria
can keep your digestive tract clean and healthy by:
* Promoting optimal digestion, thereby preventing build-up of toxic waste materials
* Taking up space and resources, thereby helping to prevent infection by harmful bacteria,
fungi, and parasites
The easiest way to build and maintain healthy colonies of friendly bacteria in your
digestive tract is to take a high quality probiotic.
Work at feeling emotionally balanced
As mentioned above, stress can interfere with your ability to clean your colon through its
effect on your enteric nervous system. Most people who have come to me over the years with
a chronic colon-related health issue have had significant emotional stress in their
lives.
If you have a challenge with colon and rectal health, I encourage you to take a careful
look at ways that you can more effectively manage emotional stress in your life.
Here's the bottom line on this topic: Your body is well designed to keep your colon and
rectal regions clean and healthy. If you follow the steps outlined above, you can rest
assured knowing that your lifestyle choices are minimizing your risk of having
colon-related health issues.
About the author
Ben Kim is a chiropractor and acupuncturist who lives in Ontario, Canada with his wife and two sons. He provides information on how to experience your best health as you age at his website, http://drbenkim.com.
(naturalnews, 10.08.2008, Dr.
Ben Kim (see all articles by this
author)
Key concepts: Health, Water
and Large intestine
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