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Foods to Help Clean a Colon

Colon cleansing pills and enemas have been gaining in popularity recently, but you can also keep your colon in good health simply through the foods you eat. Your colon is the primary organ through which waste leaves your body. If it is not functioning properly you may experience health problems. Here is a list of foods that will naturally promote colon functioning.

  1. Fiber

    • The average American only gets about 12 to 15 grams of fiber per day, according to the University of Michigan Health System. This is about half as much as is recommended for good health. Fiber helps push digested food through the colon and can help prevent pockets of waste called diverticula. Foods high in fiber include legumes, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. Replace refined white flour in your diet with whole grain flour, which usually contain about twice the fiber content. Eat brown rice instead of white rice, whole grain cereals, oatmeal and barley. Lentils are an especially good source of fiber, and increasing fruit and vegetable intake is beneficial to your overall health.

      Increase fiber in your diet slowly, so that you do not experience gas and bloating. Drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water daily as a way to push the fiber out of your colon. Minimize the amount of meats (especially red meats) and dairy products you eat, which are difficult for your colon to process.

    Food Laxatives

    • If you are constipated, increasing water and fiber intake are also the best natural cures. You can also drink prune juice or eat prunes, consume caffeine or ingest garlic and spicy foods. Add essential fats with omega-3 and omega-6 supplements if you are on a no-fat diet (taking in no fat at all can cause constipation by keeping your liver from producing bile). Avoid refined flour, which can stick to the walls of your colon.

    Probiotics

    • Taking probiotics such as the ones found in live yogurt cultures could help prevent colon cancer, according to Karen Collins of the American Cancer Research Institute. Many refined foods and medicines such as birth control pills and antibiotics can cause an increase in the number of unhealthy bacteria in your colon. By adding back healthy bacteria such as bifidobacterium you can reduce bloating and increase regularity. Good probiotic food sources include fresh yogurt, kefir, miso, sauerkraut and acidophilus milk.

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