I’m going to make a statement that may shock you if you haven’t heard it before: all disease begins in the gut. The gut meaning your intestines, AKA your bowels. But wait, you may be thinking–isn’t heart disease the number 1 killer in the United States?  And how about cancer? Who said that disease begins in the gut?  Well, that statement has been attributed to the father of modern medicine – Hippocrates. I ask you to think about it. Heart Disease, the number one killer in the USA  as stated by the American Medical Association is caused by atherosclerosis–the blockage of arteries by hardened plaque. Plaque is made up mostly of fat and cholesterol. This condition comes about through poor diet, lack of exercise. Note that poor diet is the first and main cause. But since food is digested in the stomach and intestines, heart disease takes root in the intestines–not the heart nor the arteries.

Let’s take a look at that. The food you eat is broken down in your stomach and moved along your digestive system to your small intestine. Here, the nutrients in your food–proteins, carbohydrates, and others are absorbed into your bloodstream.

The waste material from your digestion in your small intestine is then moved into your large intestine–your colon–as waste. The large intestine changes that mixture of food and digestive fluids from the small intestine–called chyme,  into the fecal matter, or stool, to be pushed out of your rectum in a bowel movement.

Now, this describes a healthy digestive process. But when you eat too much and too often and you don’t give your intestines time to fully digest your food before the next meal enters the intestines, or eat packaged food possessed with widely-used chemicals such as potassium nitrate, benzoic acid, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and many others, or too much meat, you will become constipated.

A simple definition of constipation is when the transit time of food entering the colon to exiting the body is slow. During constipation, the chyme from the small intestine meant to be moved along the large intestine–the colon–takes so long to digest that it putrefies. That is it because poisonous. When this undigested chyme stays too long in the colon it may become hardened fecal matter that remains stuck to the walls of the colon. This hardened plaque constricts the colon’s ability to further digest and is also poisonous. So constipation is where the poisoning of the body begins. And the longer and slower the transit time of this poisonous or toxic waste to exit the body, the longer this waste putrefies your body and possibly be reabsorbed into it. This poisoning, called auto-toxemia, may cause fatigue, colds, cancer, and a rise in blood pressure which can give rise to congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, and acute coronary disease.  Constipation can also create heartburn, migraines, and lead to and aggravate arthritis, poor sleep as your body’s digestive system is constantly overwork, and lower back pain as your gut adds weight to your abdomen straining your back muscles.

It is vital that you have at least three bowel movements every day. Even with one bowel movement a day, you’ll still have the toxins from your two or three other meals putrefying in your body. As mentioned, some of the undigested fecal matter in your colon adheres to the colon walls. This is called mucoid plaque.  Most Americans have layers of mucoid plaque in their colons. This causes poisonous gas which enters other parts of your body like your other vital organs and your joints.

Your digestive organs are in a sense your body’s sewer system, meant to eliminate, and not hold onto wastes.  A poor diet constipates you and leads to self-poisoning or auto toxemia. But also, after decades of poor dietary habits, the bile in your intestines and liver, and gallbladder become thickened and less effective. Your digestive system is then less effective. This is part of the reason that as you age, it’s harder to digest. Another reason is that your body produces less digestive fluids as you age. Your constipation can be cured through cleansing, which will not only clean your colon but can and will remove the hardened plaque stuck to your colon’s walls which may have been there for years. Upon elimination, this plaque may be rubbery and in the shape of your colon as it was stuck there for so long that it formed an impression of it. I eliminated plaque like this much more on my first cleanses. As my diet has become so much healthier and I cleanse regularly, there is little or no plaque to remove.

Eating better is key. Healthy foods eaten in good proportion won’t constipate you. Vegetables–especially raw–have the fiber to move along your digestive tract in good time so toxemia doesn’t occur. They also contain many digestive enzymes that help your digestive system do its job more efficiently and effectively.

But through cleansing, then changing to a healthier diet, you can clean your digestive system and arteries. This is really magic!