Colonista: One Woman's Search for the World's Best Colon Cleansing

How to Stay Away from Toxins Caused by Pesticides

So you know how yucky pesticides are--but what can you do to eliminate them from your diet? Follow these tips:

• Grow your own food using organic growing techniques.
• Stay away from chemical-based mosquito repellents of pesticides in your home or yard.
• Clean your intestinal tract with oxygen two to three times weekly to help prevent the accumulation of these toxins in your bloodstream.
• Visit www.ewg.org for a full list of foods containing pesticides.
• Simply avoid those crops that contain the highest levels of pesticide residue, or only buy organic foods. These include:
• • peaches
  • apples
  • strawberries
  • nectarines
  • pears
  • cherries
  • grapes
  • sweet bell peppers
  • carrots
  • celery
  • spinach

But what about washing and peeling your fruits and veggies? While that does help to eliminate some of the toxic pesticides, it's no guarantee that you'll be rid of all of the leftover residue.

(Picture Credit: The Zeitgeist Movement)

Pesticides: Scary Stuff

Pesticides are used to rid an area of "pests" including fungi, weeds, or insects. Pesticides are commonly used on crops to kill "pests," and they can leave behind traces of their existence there. Here are some disturbing facts about pesticides, brought to my attention by Dr. Edward F. Group III's book The Green Body Cleanse.

• According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Web Site, "Most of the food produced for human consumption is grown using pesticides."
• Many times, industrial contaminants, natural contaminants, and microbial contaminants can also be found in our food, according to the USEPA.
• In 1994, 62% of food samples that were tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Pesticide Data Program (PDP) had "detectable levels of at least one pesticide."
• Between 1994 and 1996, 25% of food samples had "detectable levels of carcinogenic pesticides", and 34% had "detectable levels of neurotoxic pesticides," according to PDP data.
• Children who eat non-organic foods "can retain as much as eight times as many organophosphates and this overload can cause birth defects, childhood leukemia and other cancers, brain tumors, neuromuscular damage, metabolic impairment, asthma and other bronchial disorders, digestive difficulties, and a variety of developmental delays."

Scary stuff, huh? Come back tomorrow for tips on how to eliminate toxins from pesticides.

(Picture Credit: Kimo International)

The Definition of Organic Foods

You may be saying, "Okay, Colonista. You keep telling me to eat organic foods and organic foods only. But what in the world does that mean?"

Well, I'm here to explain to you exactly what organic foods really are.

The United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program defines them as the following: "Products produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act. The principal guidelines for organic production are to use materials and practices that enhance the ecological balance of natural systems and that integrate the parts of the farming system into an ecological whole. Organic agriculture practices cannot ensure that products are completely free of residues; however, methods are used to minimize pollution from air, soil and water."

Is that a little clearer to you now?

(Picture Credit: More Than Just Veggies)

8 Ways to Eliminate Toxins from GMO Foods

Last week, I shared with you the toxins that may be present in foods with GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Now it's time to share with you how to avoid toxins from these foods.

1. Only buy organic foods.
2. When eating soy, only eat organic fermented sources such as fermented soybeans, miso, tofu, tamari, or tempeh.
3. Stay away from cottonseed oil and canola oil. Instead use organic sources of coconut oil, grapeseed oil, or olive oil.
4. Stay away from non-organic corn and popcorn.
5. Stay away from all foods containing aspartame.
6. Stay away from non-organic yellow squash and zucchini.
7. Only buy range-fed, organic, hormone-and antibiotic-free meat and dairy products.
8. Be active! Send letters to local grocery store chains asking them to stop carrying GMO foods.

(Picture Credit: Meeting Lunch)

New Technology Detects Colorectal Cancer Sooner

I was doing my regular scan of the news, trying to see if there was any updated info regarding colon health, and I came across a fantastic article on ABC News.

Colon cancer kills approximately 50,000 people annually, and early detection is key to beating out the cancer. However, there's good news: a new tool has been introduced that make colonoscopies more accurate.

The Third Eye Retroscope gives doctors a better view of the colon, helping them to find polyps that would otherwise be extremely difficult to detect. According to the article, traditional colonoscopies can miss between 12 and 24% of colon polyps. This new technology increases colonoscopy effectiveness by 25%.

That ain't bad.

(Picture Credit: Canada.com)

Where Did All the Nutrients Go?

Yesterday we talked about how so-called "healthy" foods can turn into "dead" foods because of the processes that we put them through.

Think about it. Healthy soil has bugs. When those bugs die, the plants and crops that reside there use the corpses for nutrition. But farmers are now using pesticides that not only kill the bugs but also add toxins to the foods.

Additionally, land needs time to rest. In the olden days, farmers rotated their crops for just this reason. Nowadays, farmers rarely rotate their crops. Instead, they use chemical fertilizers to force the land to produce crop after crop.

Furthermore, there are now loads of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that come from plants or animals that have been genetically modified to achieve desired results. For example, giving chickens growth hormones to ensure that they will grow larger breast muscles.

Another great example is the FlavrSavr tomato that came out in 1994. Even though FDA-employed scientists warned that genetically altered products such as the FlavrSavr could create toxins or trigger allergies, the FDA approved the tomato. And this is all even after a study showed that 7 out of 40 rats died within two weeks of ingesting the tomato.

Come back next week to see how you can eliminate toxins from GMO foods!

(Picture Credit: Master New Media)

What?! There are Toxins in My Food?!

It's true. There are toxins in the food you consume, even if you're not on a strict fast food diet.

Even the fruits and veggies that you always thought were healthy can have toxins due to irresponsible farming that incorporates pesticides, hormones, and chemical fertilizers. When toxins are introduced to foods, those foods become toxic, and our bodies respond to those foods as if they are dead.

According to Dr. Edward F. Group III, author of The Green Body Cleanse, "The energy or life force in food is the key to maintaining a healthy body." So how do we ensure that our foods have high life forces?

Eat raw. Raw veggies, fruits, seeds, whole sprouted grains, and nuts are great examples of "living" food. On the other hand, there are those dead foods. Dead foods have had their nourishing ability robbed from them through various procedures they are put through including pasteurization. Pre-cooked foods are perfect examples of dead foods.

Charles de Cot-Marsh, author of Prescription for Energy, agrees with this point: "By eating live foods you create a live body. Live foods contain essential nutrients the body needs to create and maintain energy. Dead foods advance age, decrease ability, and decrease energy."

Come back tomorrow to learn more about how so-called "healthy" foods are becoming more like "dead" foods.

(Picture Credit: The Candida Blog)

How Does the Colon Even Work?

If you're new to colon cleansing, you may not even be totally clear on the important part your colon plays in keeping your body healthy. So I've decided it's my job to fill you in.

Before waste even reaches your intestines, the liver and kidneys do their best to filter out as many toxins as possible.

Your small intestines are in charge of produces digestive enzymes. When waste leaves your small intestine, it journeys into the ascending colon, which moves the waste upwards to the transverse colon. The transverse colon then carries that waste down the sigmoid colon and out of your bottom through the rectum.

Most of the time, the nutrients and vitamins that our bodies need have already been absorbed by the small intestines before they even reach the colon. The colon's main job is to absorb leftover water and condense any soft waste products into solid waste. Gross.

The colon also absorbs water-related nutrients such as electrolytes. But what happens if there are still toxins leftover in the waste? Well, it only goes to prove that the colon can also absorb dangerous toxins. This is why colon cleansing is so important.

(Picture Credit: Skarpathian's Soapbox)

Ulcerative Colitis Webcast on July 28!

If you suffer from ulcerative colitis, you probably want to be as informed about the disorder as possible to better understand what you are going through. This is your chance to get informed from some of the leading experts on ulcerative colitis.

The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation will be hosting an informative webcast/teleconference focused entirely on ulcerative colitis on Wednesday, July 28th at 1:00 p.m. EST entitled "Ulcerative Colitis: The A to Z of Treating UC".

The event will be hosted by associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Thomas Ullman. Ullman will cover current as well as emerging treatment approaches for the disorder, long-term disease maintenance, care options, and more.

What do you think? Will you be listening in to the webcast? If you're interested, register now at www.ccfa.org/webcasts/treatinguc.

(Picture Credit: STLToday.com)

Celiac Disease: Hard to Diagnose

Last month, I shared with you some information about celiac disease. Today, I was surprised to see the condition mentioned in the news.

 

The article focuses on the struggles that Tara Streno and John Askey have had trying to diagnose their condition. Streno said, “I was basically told that I was crazy, like I had all these symptoms, and I brought them on myself.”

 

Not so—it was celiac disease!

 

After just one year of experiencing symptoms, Streno was correctly diagnosed. Askey wasn’t nearly as lucky. He went through over four years of symptoms before finally being diagnosed with celiac disease.

 

This is just one huge reason why we all need to be aware of the various conditions that exist!

(Picture Credit: Herbal Granny)