Cleanse and Detoxify Naturally

Achieve a flatter tummy

Cleanse and Detoxify Naturally

Most people are not aware that the intestines play critical roles in the body's immune and detoxification systems.  Understanding these roles can help a person grasp the connection between good diet, good digestion and good health.  According to Dan Lukaczer, N.D., in an article called "Gastrointestinal Health and Disease" published in December 1996 issue of Nutrition Science News, "A substantial body of research has shown that incomplete, imbalanced and dysfunctional digestive processes may be associated with a wide variety of serious diseases ranging from colitis and cancer to asthma and arthritis."

Digestion begins in the mouth.  Chewing food well is undoubtedly the easiest way to improve digestion.  The process continues in the stomach.  It's important to remember that not all food is digested in the same place, or with the same enzymes.  This is why the concept of food combining, an awareness that teaches how to reduce the simultaneous ingestion of foods that are digestively incompatible, can be very helpful to persons who have digestive problems.  Ultimately that will be most of us, as our production of digestive acids declines with age.

After leaving the stomach, partially digested food enters the small intestine, where the majority of digestion and absorption takes place. Bile, manufactured by the liver, the body's primary organ of detoxification, and stored in the gallbladder, is secreted through the bile duct into the small intestine and begins to break down fats into small components.  Hormones in the bloodstream are activated by the entry of food into the small intestine and stimulate release of pancreatic enzymes into the small intestine.  These enzymes break down proteins into amino acids, carbohydrates into sugars and fats into fatty acids.  At this stage in a healthy body, food has become molecules small enough to be properly absorbed into the bloodstream through the intestinal wall.

Because an autoimmune condition can then wreck havoc on an individual's endocrine system, which regulates the function of the entire body, resolving the health problems that can result from yeast infections and leaky gut syndrome can be complex.  A licensed holistic health care practitioner is definitely warranted.  (see Finding allies in health care.)  In the meantime, a personal detoxification program can minimize the load on an individual's liver and thereby help improve immune function.