The benefits of colon cleansing, where do I start? Before I get into all the great benefits that colon cleansing can do for you, I must say that thinking back, just starting to look at colon cleansing and detoxification was the beginning of a journey to greater health in my life. Originally, I looked to do a colon cleanse because I wanted to change my health for the better and rid myself of some common ailments I had at the time (allergies especially).

I realized over time though, that internally cleansing your body once in a while is powerful in itself, but the key to staying healthy and feeling great all the time was keeping it that way. I don’t mean to say that colon cleansing, or detoxifying your body is something that you should always be doing, but should be doing more regularly.

Also, once you begin to consciously acknowledge that you need to cleanse your body and begin to do it by taking action and seeing concrete results, you will become more conscious of your body’s internal processes and realize that you do need to take more care of you body on a regular basis, and this has many factors involved and aspects to it, for example your daily diet and beverage intake.

Some other factors involved as to why you need to internally cleanse and detoxify your body more often are the thousands toxins and chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis, whether at home, at work, on the road. Also the air you breathe (especially if you live in a city) is far from fresh in our post-industrial era. Our water supply, high consumption of processed, artificial foods and lets not forget the un-natural over the counter and pharmaceutical drugs many of us take that cause harmful side effects, have a very deep and profound impact on our bodies that manifest in outward physical symptoms.

It’s a bit overwhelming when you think about it, but also it is very powerful to know that you can do something about it. You will feel empowered that you can make a conscious decision to have better health and colon cleansing is a great place to start. Also most of us are unaware of why we may have skin problems, or allergies, or constipation or whatever ailment in the first place, even though we usually know it’s something in our environment that’s causing it. We just want to feel better.

I find it interesting that will live in a society that is very conscious and fixated on keeping an outward appearance of cleanliness, yet we ignore cleansing the very things inside of us that help keep us that way. For example, most people shower everyday (several times a day even), shampoo their hair, brush their teeth, wear deodorants and colognes/perfumes to smell and look good, yet ignore how well their internal system and organs are functioning. And yet, it is your internal body that will become unbalanced and diseased long before you see the outward physical symptoms. So detoxification and internal cleansing is crucial to a healthy looking outward appearance.

Colon cleansing and detoxification are a great way for us to not only feel better but to get to the root of the problems we are having as opposed to just masking them like a lot of people do by taking temporary ‘fixes’ like synthetic drugs and unnatural medications. Not only that but cleansing and detoxifying your body can be the first step for most of us to claim personal responsibility for our health. We really need to do this now I believe more than ever with the increase in chronic diseases cropping up more than ever it seems.

Okay so what are the main benefits of colon cleansing? Here is a list I compiled of some of the great benefits you can expect with a regular cleansing program (please note that this is not an exhaustive list):

• Greater energy levels
• Ridding your body of harmful toxins
• Healthy weight loss
• Clean breath
• Clearer skin
• More efficient digestive function
• Better sleep patterns
• Possible solution to allergy problems
• Relief of constipation and gas
• Regulation of bowel movements
• Increased immune function

I have read of people experiencing even more dramatic changes in their health that goes beyond this list. Every person is unique, but I think everyone can experience positive change no matter what as long as they stick to a proven colon cleansing and detoxification program and have some patience and resolve to make lasting healthy change in their lives.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Janus

Homemade colon cleanses are a great way to both start cleansing and detoxifying your body if you never have yet as well as keeping you internal body clean once you have initially done a cleanse already. I personally feel that if you are new to colon cleansing and body detoxification though, that you purchase a quality herbal colon cleansing product. The reason I say this is because purchasing a ready made product and program to follow is much easier than putting all of the herbs together in the right amounts and following your own program when first starting out.

But if you are determined enough and want to save yourself some money, going the way of making your own homemade colon cleanse is a great option. There are many different homemade colon cleansing recipes. I will list the most effective herbs to take to cleanse and detoxify you colon. Actually, the herbs I will mention will go beyond a simple colon cleanse helping to detoxify other vital organs in your body. But first I want to mention some of the key guidelines to adhere to while doing your homemade colon cleanse.

For starters you want to purchase the highest quality herbs available that are preferably organic. It goes without saying (but I will say it anyway) that you should avoid any artificial or chemical ingredients which are unnatural and harsh on your internal system. You should also avoid irradiated herbs since the potency of the herbs is greatly reduced making them almost useless.

Finding your herbs to make your homemade colon cleanse is almost half the battle and actually is easier said than done, but hopefully you can find an herbal retailer near you. If not shop around online and you can order what you need from an online herb shop, or you can visit your local health food store and they can point you in the right direction.

The second colon cleansing recipe I will provide you can buy most of the ingredients at your local health food store.  If you want to buy the herbs on the first list I provide, you will have to look harder to find those.  I buy mine through the mail from a company called Pure Herbs, Ltd. out of Sterling Heights, MI. The great thing about this company is that the herbs come in liquid form and in the correct ratios so I do not have to do any calculations as to how much of each herb to take.

Okay so some other important factors you need to know and stick to is that during your cleanse you should follow a cleansing diet that will help your body to flush out the toxins in your body and that is light on digestion. This usually will consist of live fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, and fresh juices (preferably organic).

Avoid all heavy foods that take a lot of energy to process and digest such as meats, dairy, processed and refined foods, etc. If you really want to accelerate your cleanse you can do a juice fast. I talk about the benefits of fasting combined with colon cleansing elsewhere. See my article ‘Colon Cleansing and Fasting: Is it Safe?’ for more information on that.

Also drinking a lot of pure fresh water (preferably alkaline in nature) is a definite must. Your colon will be flushing out and ridding itself of a lot of built up waste matter and toxins due to the cleansing herbs you are taking so drinking plenty of pure water is vital in aiding this flushing process. So unless you are doing a juice fast during your colon cleanse, the only things you should be drinking should be pure alkaline water and fresh fruit/vegetable juices.

I also highly recommend mixing wheatgrass and barley grass juice powder with your water/juices to assist in the detoxification process. Okay, so what herbs should you be taking when doing your homemade colon cleanse? Well considering the fact that most of us are not herbalists and even if you know what herbs to use, putting them together in the right amounts and ratios is a whole other ball of wax. Ideally though, the herbs listed here are the ingredients for a great homemade colon cleanse:

Buckthorn, Turkey Rhubarb, Cascara Sagrada, Fennel, Greasewood, Alfalfa capsules, Psyllium Seed Husk capsules, Senna, Marshmallow, Butcher’s Broom, Barberry, White Oak Bark, Bitter Orange, Angelica, Sweet Root.

But since you are not an herbalist and unless you can get these herbs premixed, I recommend this simple list of herbs you can buy in capsule form to do an effective homemade colon cleanse:

Psyllium Husk Seed capsules, Alfalfa capsules, Cascara Sagrada capsules, Garlic capsules, Flax Seed, Cayenne Pepper & Senna. (Wheat grass & Barley grass juice powder is optional but highly recommended). Taking these herbs with freshly squeezed apple, carrot and celery juice (apple juice taking up the majority) with a little lemon juice added in works great.

These herbs coupled with a light vegetarian diet, pure water and freshly squeezed juice consumption (remember store bought prepared juices do not have the ‘live’ enzymes your body needs) mixed with are a powerful combination. You can add in a probiotic like acidophilus to restore good bacteria in your system. You will see great results I guarantee it, just make sure to give your homemade colon cleansing program at least 3 days. An optimum time frame to do your colon cleanse for would be 5-7 days for better results.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Janus

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Janus