Bowel cleanses are not recommended for weight loss, disease prevention, or to keep your digestive system healthy. There is no evidence that they help and some cleansing products and diets may even have negative side effects.
Some people use laxatives, enemas, and other methods of colon cleansing to lose weight. However, you only lose about 12% of your entire caloric intake from laxative use. That's not a lot! Calories are primarily absorbed in the small intestine.
Colon cleansing has the potential to aid weight loss; some people claim to have lost up to 20 pounds over the course of a month. The average human colon weighs about four pounds empty and can hold up to eight meals' worth of food before digestion finally occurs.
This is a rough way to do it, but yes, you will have a very temporary weight loss of one to three pounds typically. But, just as with your bowel habits, these few pounds will return as well once you resume your normal diet.
What comes out during a colonic? Fecal matter and the water used during the cleanse is flushed back out of your body after the procedure. Proponents also say the procedure can help rid you of parasites, microbes, and toxins.
Preparing for a colonoscopy requires clearing the bowel with fasting, a laxative drink and, in some cases, an enema. While such preparation can alter the microbiome, the rich array of microbes that are present in the gut, research suggests that the microbiome bounces back in about two to four weeks.
Don't stop until it's gone. The goal of the prep for colonoscopy is to completely rid your body of food particles. Your bowel movements will be watery and clear or light yellow. It is still important to continue drinking your prep until it is completely gone even if your stool has become clear.
During a colonic, the water goes all the way through 5 feet of the colon. Laxatives are irritants and leave behind impacted toxins and waste on the walls of the colon.
After your colonic treatment you can expect to feel lighter, brighter , less bloated , cleansed and have more energy. It is not unusual sometimes after a really good evacuation to feel tired for about a day or two post-treatment.
Proponents of colon cleansing believe that toxins from your gastrointestinal tract can cause a variety of health problems, such as arthritis and high blood pressure. They believe that colon cleansing improves health by removing toxins, boosting your energy and enhancing your immune system.
The average person's colon can often hold 8 to 25 lbs of accumulated fecal matter.
The frequency of colon cleanses can vary depending on the individual's needs and health status. It is generally not recommended to do a colon cleanse more than once every few months.
In a prospective evaluation of the effect of bowel preparation for 50 colonoscopic examinations, patients lost an average of 2.1 pounds.
Bowel preparation could affect the quality and production of the protective mucus layer in the colon and cause diarrhea or constipation [22]. After a colonoscopy, minor complications including abdominal discomfort, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, and constipation can occur.
Eat a diet rich in prebiotics. These are foods like fruits, vegetables, oats and whole grains that are high in fiber and feed probiotic bacteria. Avoid processed foods, wheat products, sugar, hydrogenated fats, alcohol and high fructose corn syrup for several days after your colonoscopy.
You may not have a bowel movement for several days after a colonoscopy. You should, however, pass gas normally after a colonoscopy.
It is clear that the bacteria count in the gut drops dramatically (31-fold) after the preparation, and that the types of bacteria in the gut change in the weeks following a colonoscopy. I suspect that it isn't the total number of bacteria, but rather their type that has the greater effect on bowel movements.
A typical colon cleansing usually lasts 40 to 60 minutes so as to achieve effective colon cleansing without causing electrolyte and hydration imbalances. In most cases, a patient should expect to undergo six (6) sessions if he or she wishes to cleanse the entire length of the colon.