Raw Science: Colon Cleansing and your Friend Mucus

Add a Comment

Comment by Alex Kasdan on May 14, 2009 at 5:11pm

Anja1, i am really interested in the "YEAST" factor. My mother gets yeast infections like nobodies biz.... and she was told her body is producing too much yeast. Can colonics or a fast help her? she says she went to have a colonoscopy done and the Dr. told her she didnt need one, that her colon walls were clean, is that possible? Thanks

Comment by Anja1 on May 6, 2009 at 8:51pm

I am a licensed colon hydo therapist and there will always be information out there to support which ever view you choose. My experience has been that if you are not prone to normal bowel movements increase your greens and fruits, along with plenty of water. Having a colon cleanse periodically will help to flush excess yeast, old fecal matter, and mucus. Any activity in excess can be harmful. Having excess plague in the body is not good.

Comment by Ken on May 6, 2009 at 7:58pm

kinda curious where this information came from.

I guess if the message is just: different strokes for different folks at different times..then that is fine. but this seems pretty much like opinion combined with imagination to me.

I don't know how you define popular, or industry, but the lack of attention to internal environment (not necessarily needed to be facilitated through specific cleansing practices - but certainly knowledge of what kind of diets actually DO cleanse) is actually the reason why most folks go back to old diets and habits. Some end up getting very ill with these mindsets that any old raw diet will take care of these issues.

Comment by Joel on May 6, 2009 at 7:01pm

Are the cilia caked into the layer and "deactivated"?

Comment by Wayne Martin on May 6, 2009 at 6:03pm

So you see correlations between things...... OK check out the group, Life science:
http://www.giveittomeraw.com/group/conditions4wellness

Comment by Mellifera on May 6, 2009 at 5:27pm

Hey Scott, if you have more info I am open! I do know, as a biologist, that mucous membranes are definitely living and present in everything I have dissected for school, including healthy wild animals that died in accidents.

Here is an exampled "Muscularis mucosa of the distal oesophagus of the opossum contains nerves which release acetylcholine and substance P(SP)-like material on field stimulation."

Maybe the opossum was SAD?

For SAD eater, the damage from colon cleansing could be much worse...leaky gut syndrome with molecules from dairy and gluten. Leaky gut is absolutely made worse by damaging the mucosa.

""an increase in permeability of the intestinal mucosa to luminal macromolecules, antigens and toxins associated with inflammatory degenerative and/or atrophic mucosal damage"."

But the odds that you, as a raw foodist, are eating anything truly damaging is much lower.

I'm not going to concede the importance of living mucosa, but thinking about your herbal cleanses reminded me that there is some evidence that wild animals use herbs for purging.

Hey, all I'm saying is gut mucosa belongs there and has a purpose and you should be careful. Mucosa absolutely can be infected too (I had chronic salmonella). I'm open to the idea that cleansing is a good behavior. If your goal is to get rid of things it may be great, if your goal is to repair your battered system (IBD patients or celiacs), maybe it's not so great.

"Bearing animal self-medication in mind allows us to uncover research-leads from
anecdotal observations. Many cattle farmers report that their livestock dig down to
sub soils, and it is commonly assumed that the cattle are attempting to rectify a
mineral deficiency. However, North American ranchers have long known that their
sick cattle will travel many miles to find and lick at clay—and that after doing so they
usually recover. Recent studies of free-ranging cattle in the Venezuelan highlands
confirm that these cattle dig down to sub soils primarily for the fine-particle clay
rather than for any particular mineral (Manhaney, et al., 1996). Clay can deactivate
toxins, and adsorb pathogenic bacteria and viruses—among them bovine rotavirus

nd coronavirus—and is thus an excellent remedy for gastrointestinal malaise (Clark
et al., 1998). The health benefits of geophagy (earth-eating) have been quantified in
laboratory rats, which eat clay as an illness-response behaviour—especially in
response to gastrointestinal malaise. More interestingly, they will eat clay when only
conditioned to feel sick. Despite the medicinal benefits of clay for many species, it is
poorly understood and, therefore, under-utilized as a safe organic self-help remedy"

Animal self-medication and ethno-medicine: exploration and exploitation of the medicinal properties of plants.
Huffman MA.
"Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are known to swallow whole and defecate intact leaves. The habit has been shown to be a physical means of purging intestinal parasites."

"Some 39 species have been observed eating soil, which soaks up toxins in the gut and allows the animals to eat poisonous plants without getting sick. Another trick used by chimps is to swallow bristly leaves whole, which irritate their stomachs and induce diarrhoea, flushing out tapeworms and other gut parasites. "

"A lot of that evidence comes from studies on chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. When they get infected, they will sometimes devour leaves and other vegetation they otherwise never touch. In the case of one plant, the chimps have to first peel away an outer covering that is lethally toxic. They go to these lengths, it appears, because eating these plants can cure them of their ills. Some plants can flush parasites out of the gut and others actually fight the pathogens themselves. In fact, when researchers study the plants chimpanzees eat, they discover new compounds that kill bacteria and other pathogens. They look promising as medicines for people. (pdf)."

"A lot of that evidence comes from studies on chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. When they get infected, they will sometimes devour leaves and other vegetation they otherwise never touch. In the case of one plant, the chimps have to first peel away an outer covering that is lethally toxic. They go to these lengths, it appears, because eating these plants can cure them of their ills. Some plants can flush parasites out of the gut and others actually fight the pathogens themselves. In fact, when researchers study the plants chimpanzees eat, they discover new compounds that kill bacteria and other pathogens. They look promising as medicines for people. (pdf)."

Comment by Scott Anthony on May 6, 2009 at 4:37pm

i would like to respectfully disagree with most of the concerns addressed in this post...

first off, mucosa is not a living organism...it is secreted naturally along the intestinal tract as a thin layer of protection when one eats something the body would rather not digest, including COOKED foods...with poor diet, this mucusa can build up and thicken, turning into what is know as mucoid plaque...the herbal cleanses help to loosen this thickened plaque and release it from our body...the thin protective layer of mucosa will easily return if needed...

a more important protector of unwanted bacteria and pathogens is the hydrochloric acid that saturates broken-down food (chime) before it enters the intestines (where the plaque resides)...a strong HCL is dependent on pH levels and minerals, especially sodium...to suggest that mucoid plaque is our most important defense against unwanted pathogens is missing the importance of HCL and maybe even over-exaggerating the role of mucosa...

i also disagree that there is any danger in living without gut mucosa...it is known to harden and build upon itself over time, as well as being a safe hiding place for parasites...when thickened, it can inhibit the uptake of desired nutrients...

also, to claim that "one is vulnerable" (to what?) by removing mucosa, if that were even possible while still eating cooked food, contradicts everything i have learned about this subject through study and personal experience...i have done several herbal colon cleanses...so i guess i have become vulnerable to being extremely healthy and never getting sick anymore?....

there are other points i could argue against, but i'm hot and i'm going to jump in the pool...

ps...if anyone decides to do an herbal colon cleanse, or an extended fast, be sure your pH levels are adequate before embarking...this can be accomplished by dosing up on food-based minerals during the weeks prior to your cleanse...

Comment by Sara on May 6, 2009 at 3:49pm

Bravo!! I totally agree. No extreme cleansing going on over here.

Comment by Mukti on May 6, 2009 at 3:41pm

thank you for this, it was divine timing. I am starting a blessed herbs colon cleanse today, and I really don't want to strip out that protective layer. But it is necessary to do the parasite cleanse after wards, which is what this is all about. I think I have a really bad fungal overgrowth or maybe something worse/bigger, and this is the only way I know how to knock it back for real. it was really important for me to be reminded about how I eat afterwards until the layer of mucus re-establishes itself.
mukti