choose natural health newsletter: the large intestine + digestion

one of our vendors, pure herbs (who makes can-sol, the herbal tincture to help control candida yeast overgrowth), puts out delightful and very informative newsletters every month. with permission from their writer, jeri spencer, i've decided to share some of the best ones with you all, in hopes that you can gain more knowledge about how your body works, and how to best optimize the one you've got! we want to empower you to understand and take charge! any sS'er knows how important digestion is to eliminating the body's toxins. toxins that build up within the body often times manifests in the skin (as acne, or rashes) and extreme cases can induce (or be indicative of) more complicated underlying imbalances, like candida yeast overgrowth. read this and let us know what you think! take a close look at the ingredients of "know your ingredients" - it's surprising to discover what's in products that are marketed as healthy (the product is disclosed at the end of the newsletter). and i personally love the joke of the month! :) --

Choose Natural Health Newsletter April 2017

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The large intestine is the topic of this newsletter. It has been said you are what you eat. I believe it goes further to: you are what you eat, absorb, assimilate and don't eliminate. Often allopathic doctors when questioned say as long as it is regular there is nothing to worry about even if you are only having regular bowel movements once every couple of days, weeks, or months, If this is the case why does the CDC rate Colon/Rectal cancer as the #2 cause of death in America? If you have ever had a baby and think back to when they were newborns, they would sleep, eat and poop. When the baby finished eating you could wait a little while and know you were going to have to change the diaper. As children age, they often get too busy to stop and take the time to eliminate creating a lifelong habit of holding bowel movements in. In addition, the abusive use of antibiotics destroying the good bacteria of the microbiome adds to the development of lifetime constipation. It is very important to remember the ways of the newborn's elimination process is the way it should continue throughout life. For every meal eaten, there should be a bowel movement the next day. It takes approximately 24 hours for food to digest and pass the entire way through the digestive system. Know Your Ingredients cultured grade A reduced-fat milk, sugar, water, fructose or fruit sugar, modified food starch, less than 1 percent milk protein concentrate, modified corn starch, kosher gelatin, agar, guar gum, lactic acid, calcium lactate, vitamin D3 and sodium citrate Recipe of the Month: Want a way to warm up the digestive system and burn excess fat at the same time, try drinking the Melt Away Tea a couple of times a day. Morning and Afternoon Melt Away Tea

1 Tbsp fresh ginger puree (peel and chop ginger, add water in blender, blend until pureed; store in fridge)
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Dash of Cayenne pepper
Very warm water.
Stevia or Xylitol to taste

Large Intestine Function The major function of the large intestine is to absorb water from the remaining indigestible food matter and transmit the useless waste material from the body. Joke of the Month: Who’s In Charge? One day the different parts of the body were having an argument to see which should be in charge. The brain said, “I do all the thinking so I’m the most important and I should be in charge.” The eyes said, “I see everything and let the rest of you know where we are, so I’m the most important and I should be in charge.” The hands said, “Without me we wouldn’t be able to pick anything up or move anything. So I’m the most important and I should be in charge.” The stomach said, “I turn the food we eat into energy for the rest of you. Without me, we’d starve. So I’m the most important and I should be in charge.” The legs said, “Without me we wouldn’t be able to move anywhere. So I’m the most important and I should be in charge.” Then the intestine said, “I think I should be in charge.” All the rest of the parts said, “You?!? You are just the garbage dump! You’re not important! You can’t be in charge.” So the intestines shut down. After a few days, the legs were all wobbly, the stomach was all queasy, the hands were all shaky, the eyes were all watery, and the brain was all cloudy. They all agreed that they couldn’t take any more of this and agreed to put the intestines in charge.

The Large Intestine Anatomy Food and liquid pass through the stomach into the small intestine to the large intestine or colon. The average length of an adult colon is 5 feet long. Its largest diameter is at the cecum (about 3") and narrowest in the sigmoid (around 1"). Fecal matter passes through the ileocecal valve from the small intestine into the cecum, the first part of the large intestine. It then needs to work against gravity and climb up through the ascending colon, around the hepatic flexure (curving area near the liver) across the transverse colon and around the splenic flexure (left side of the body) to the descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectum, anal canal and then is eliminated. . The large intestine is lined internally by a layer of mucosa. This mucosa contains tiny indentations called the crypts of Lieberkühn. These contain various glands and goblet cells that help in secretion and absorption of fluids. There is also a large amount of lymphoid tissue that helps in maintaining an immune barrier. Antibody Production The lymphoid tissue contained in the large intestine help in the production of antibodies. These antibodies are produced in part to protect against harmful bacteria and helpful in protecting against infections. Vitamin Absorption The good bacteria or probiotics, sometimes called commensal bacteria, residing in the large intestine play an important part in the continuation of the digestive process. These bacteria are also responsible for the production of large amounts of vitamins if the intact of nutrient dense food is lacking. A person eating a typical American diet whose body depended on the formation of vitamins by commensal bacteria may become vitamin deficient; especially if they have a history of drug use like antibiotics which kill the commensal bacteria.