When we think about keeping ourselves healthy we probably don't thin too much about our colon, but in fact this organ is vital to the health of your whole body. One major thing you can do to insure good colon health is to eat a healthy diet. Avoiding red meats, white bread and sugar can go a long way to keeping your colon clean.

Unfortunately, most western diets are heavy on foods that can clog up your colon and ruin your health. White bread is something that most of us were raised on and is probably one of the worst things for good colon health. White bread contains little or no fibre and has large amounts of gluten, a very sticky wheat protein. Our digestive system was not designed to handle these refined foods and is constantly under strain to expel it from the body. In many instances this "gunk" ends up sticking to the colon wall.

Over the years, the walls of your colon can become impacted with this ?gunk? which can severely hamper your health in several ways. When your colon becomes coated with dried fecal matter the following can happen:

1. Your body cannot absorb nutrients. The colon is where the nutrients from your food gets absorbed into the body but if the walls of the colon are full of sludge, guess what? No nutrients can get through! Lack of nutrients affects all bodily functions and can lead to illness and disease.

2. Interferes with the absorption of water. Much the same as nutrients, water is absorbed into the body through the colon and if the walls are blocked you will not be able to absorb all the water needed for good health.

3. A clogged up colon interferes with the bodies ability to expel fecal matter. This can cause your waste to remain in the body for extended periods of time and the body to absorb toxins from the waste.

How Do You Keep Your Colon Healthy?

One way is to eat a healthy diet. Avoid all foods that lack nutrition which is basically anything that has been processed. Typically these are the foods in the aisles of your grocery store - anything that comes in a package. Eat mainly fruits, vegetables, whole wheat breads, brown rice, lean meats, fish, and legumes.

If you think your colon is already clogged up, you might consider a colonic to flush it out so you can start your new healthy eating with a clean slate. Most people would be shocked at what actually is expelled from a "healthy" person during a colonic. You might see brown mucous, lumpy strings of gunk, rock hard disks and even tape worms. That's all stuff that was stuck inside your colon!

If you are considering a colonic, make sure you do some research and pick a colon hydrotherapist that has experience and knows what they are doing. This process should be painless if you choose the right person. You should plan for several sessions as it may take several times to flush out all the impacted fecal matter, depending on how much you have, and each session will last about 45 minutes.

During the session, the colon is filled up with water via a tube that is attached through a speculum to your rectum at one end and a machine at the other. The expelled matter goes through another hose back into the machine. An experienced hydrotherapist is vital for this as they will know just how much water to use so that you remain comfortable at all times.