Title: How to Cleanse and Maintain your Colon Word Count: 701 Summary: Discover the benefits of having a healthy colon. This article covers the purpose of the Colon and what can be done to cleanse and maintain a healthy digestive system. Keywords: colon Article Body: Before we talk about the benefits of a Clean Colon, we first need to properly define what the Colon is and what it does. Understanding the role of the Colon is extremely important as it will certainly help you to decide what approach you will take to cleanse your colon of undesirable toxic build-ups. The Colon, an Overview In simple terms, the Colon is a part of the intestines, and is often referred to as the Large Intestine or Large Bowel. It measures approximately 1.5 meters in length, and apart from playing a major role in the digestive process in humans, it’s main functions include: storing waste, reclaiming water from partially digested foods, maintaining the water balance in the body, and absorbing some vitamins, such as vitamin K. The Colon plays out the last major step in the digestive process – the step that delivers fecal matter to the rectum which is responsible for defecation. During this step, it unfortunately becomes a repository for built-up ‘compacted’ fecal matter which can contain many undesirable toxins. Most people have anywhere between 5lbs to 40lbs of fecal matter in their colon at any given point of time. Of this, much could possibly be undesirable compacted matter, and according to many studies around the world, if it is not flushed out, it can lead to chronic symptoms of constipation and some believe even bowel cancer can be contributable to such a build-up. The Solution : Colon Cleanse A colon cleanse is simply the act of cleaning the colon of built-up fecal matter. There are many ways to flush the Colon of the unwanted compacted fecal matter. Some are very basic, some require extremely intrusive and uncomfortable measures, and some require the consumption of various plant or mineral remedies. The different remedies can be narrowed into 5 categories: Change in Diet A simple change in your dietary habits can assist in flushing the colon and maintaining regularity. Consuming large quantities of fresh fruit and steamed vegetables, as well as fiber-rich cereal and brans significantly help the colon to function correctly. This can help to flush out 'some' of the compacted matter, but usually requires the assistance of one or more of the following other remedies.. Colon Hydrotherapy and Enemas Both of these techniques require the insertion of an apparatus into the anus and water being forced into the colon to help dissolve some of the fecal matter in the lower end of the colon. Colon Hydrotherapy differs in that is uses more water than an Enema and should always be administered by a professional healthcare worker. There are some DIY Enema kits available, but truth be known, both are uncomfortable, intrusive and can be very embarrassing. Herbal Remedies The majority of Herbal Remedies use herbs such as psyllium husk to act like a sponge as it works it's way through the bowel. The husk swells when it comes into contact with water and typically results in an emptying of the bowel, but there is no substantial evidence to support that it effectively dissolves any of the compacted matter resting in the colon. Laxatives Laxatives are a temporary measure for constipation (they are not a true colon cleanser) and have been said to have many side-effects. A laxative simply clears the bowel, and like herbal remedies, the laxative does nothing to cleanse or dissolve the compacted matter. Oxygen Based Cleansers Oxygen-based colon cleansers are arguably the only way to properly melt away that compacted matter is through an oxidation reduction reaction. They typically use specialized ozonated magnesium oxides to reduce the solid toxic mass into a liquid or gas form. It works in the whole system, not just the large intestine as the other forms of constipation treatments. It cleans the entire intestinal tract and delivers much needed oxygen along the way--all without the side effects of laxatives and discomfort of enemas and hydrotherapy. No matter which method you use to clean your colon, you should definitely take a look at your dietary habits. Changing your diet is the simplest way to ensure correct functionality of the Colon. It can also help to reduce the frequency of needing to flush it of undesirable compacted focal matter in the future.