Thoughts About Colonics from Someone Who Has Never Had One
Colonics always seemed like the answer to everything when I started reading about raw food. Everyone was so obsessed with their colons. It did make perfect sense to me though...all the buildup...all the disease coming from stored toxins down there. And who the hell wants to carry a colostomy bag around with them for the rest of their lives? YIKES....
That being said though, I've never gone through with one. I always tried to clean my colon from the top-down. A high fiber diet and some other products have really made things move for me in the past couple of years. But was everything out? It's like this paranoia...am I fully CLEAN yet???
Ann Wigmore advocated them. So does the Optimum Health Institute in San Diego and Austin, Texas. David Wolfe as well. I'm actually surprised that I never went through with it.
I felt that since I was only 23 at the time, and probably didnt have so much buildup, I didnt need one. I stopped red meat mostly by my late teens, and with all the green smoothies I started to consume, I felt like I was fine.
I did the master cleanse at the beginning of 2005 and took Yogi Tea's "Get Regular" tea every morning for 10 days. That right there was pretty good for me. I also took Oxy-Powder the following summer, and the results were...well...explosive?
Sarma Melngailis mentioned in her book "Raw Food, Real World" that her colonic experience was a big let-down...nothing much coming out and perhaps it seemed that the hydrotherapist was more focused on selling her a 10 session package to make sure everything was out. However, I just read a very entertaining post of hers where she mentions that she still does them once in a while. So...who knows?
Another thing was the cost. I felt super-clean by the time I even started looking into colonics. When I found out the price, I figured I was clean enough. Usually around $100, but maybe less if you look around.
Many say that its completely unnatural to perform colonics and that we are better off working from the top down with a clean diet of high-fiber, high-water fruits, and veggies. Colonics are a big shortcut though, and if I was older and had been eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) for 3-4 decades, I would gladly go in for a cleaning.
There are NUMEROUS blogs about this. People seem to love to take pictures of their "accomplishments" and post them on the web. Just google colon cleansing and prepare to feel your eyes pop out of your head. Strange as it sounds, I would LOVE to see that mucoid plaque come out of me, but maybe its best that it was never there in the first place.
The best advice I can give is to talk to people that have had them done, and find good reputable people that perform these therapies. Ive never had one, and I reached the raw food high without it before, so i dont know how needed it is. Its surely faster than gulping down green smoothies for two weeks.
That being said though, I've never gone through with one. I always tried to clean my colon from the top-down. A high fiber diet and some other products have really made things move for me in the past couple of years. But was everything out? It's like this paranoia...am I fully CLEAN yet???
Ann Wigmore advocated them. So does the Optimum Health Institute in San Diego and Austin, Texas. David Wolfe as well. I'm actually surprised that I never went through with it.
I felt that since I was only 23 at the time, and probably didnt have so much buildup, I didnt need one. I stopped red meat mostly by my late teens, and with all the green smoothies I started to consume, I felt like I was fine.
I did the master cleanse at the beginning of 2005 and took Yogi Tea's "Get Regular" tea every morning for 10 days. That right there was pretty good for me. I also took Oxy-Powder the following summer, and the results were...well...explosive?
Sarma Melngailis mentioned in her book "Raw Food, Real World" that her colonic experience was a big let-down...nothing much coming out and perhaps it seemed that the hydrotherapist was more focused on selling her a 10 session package to make sure everything was out. However, I just read a very entertaining post of hers where she mentions that she still does them once in a while. So...who knows?
Another thing was the cost. I felt super-clean by the time I even started looking into colonics. When I found out the price, I figured I was clean enough. Usually around $100, but maybe less if you look around.
Many say that its completely unnatural to perform colonics and that we are better off working from the top down with a clean diet of high-fiber, high-water fruits, and veggies. Colonics are a big shortcut though, and if I was older and had been eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) for 3-4 decades, I would gladly go in for a cleaning.
There are NUMEROUS blogs about this. People seem to love to take pictures of their "accomplishments" and post them on the web. Just google colon cleansing and prepare to feel your eyes pop out of your head. Strange as it sounds, I would LOVE to see that mucoid plaque come out of me, but maybe its best that it was never there in the first place.
The best advice I can give is to talk to people that have had them done, and find good reputable people that perform these therapies. Ive never had one, and I reached the raw food high without it before, so i dont know how needed it is. Its surely faster than gulping down green smoothies for two weeks.
On A Tastier Note....
Here is a wonderful dish I made while back in Minnesota this summer.
I made the noodles from zucchini and the Spiral Slicer.
I bought my slicer at Live-Live in NY, but many stores sell them online now. For the money, its one of the BEST ways to make the transition if you are a pasta lover.
The sauce was fresh tomatoes from the garden, some sundried tomatoes for extra flavor, oregano, basil, olive oil, lemon, some pumpkin seeds, and a little agave for sweetness. And some sea salt as well if you need it.
I enjoy going to raw restaurants, but I am convinced that when it comes to full enjoyment and satisfaction, nothing compares to making a dish yourself with loved ones and enjoying it at home. I eat out once a month now maybe. And when I do I just go to Pure Food and Wine. Their quality is unparalleled and Id rather go out once a month to a REALLY nice place, then twice a month to two half-assed places. Do you know who is making your food when you go out? Are they making it with love? Did they wash their hands?
Don't get me wrong, we need to support these places though, because of course regular restaurants are selling us stuff from cans and packages, made from highly inferior ingredients that are processed beyond belief. You get what you pay for. I want raw food to become mainstream because it will bring the best out of everyone involved. Raw food should become the natural choice when going out to eat.
Here is a tip...when you go to a raw restaurant, get something complicated. Something you cant make at home without the right equipment and lots of ingredients. I used to go to Caravan of Dreams here in NY, but I realized that paying $19 for a salad that I could easily make at home just didnt make sense anymore. Get the complex items. That's why Pure is truly the best.
That dish pictured above would cost probably $30-35 because it served about 3 people. Think about it. They have to pay the rent though, but still...I am a big advocate of DIY (Do It Yourself), so this is pretty natural for me.
Website for the day: GLIVING! Such a great site and their greenchefs section is beautiful. AMAZING recipes!
Until next time...
(And thanks for all the comments)
I made the noodles from zucchini and the Spiral Slicer.
I bought my slicer at Live-Live in NY, but many stores sell them online now. For the money, its one of the BEST ways to make the transition if you are a pasta lover.
The sauce was fresh tomatoes from the garden, some sundried tomatoes for extra flavor, oregano, basil, olive oil, lemon, some pumpkin seeds, and a little agave for sweetness. And some sea salt as well if you need it.
I enjoy going to raw restaurants, but I am convinced that when it comes to full enjoyment and satisfaction, nothing compares to making a dish yourself with loved ones and enjoying it at home. I eat out once a month now maybe. And when I do I just go to Pure Food and Wine. Their quality is unparalleled and Id rather go out once a month to a REALLY nice place, then twice a month to two half-assed places. Do you know who is making your food when you go out? Are they making it with love? Did they wash their hands?
Don't get me wrong, we need to support these places though, because of course regular restaurants are selling us stuff from cans and packages, made from highly inferior ingredients that are processed beyond belief. You get what you pay for. I want raw food to become mainstream because it will bring the best out of everyone involved. Raw food should become the natural choice when going out to eat.
Here is a tip...when you go to a raw restaurant, get something complicated. Something you cant make at home without the right equipment and lots of ingredients. I used to go to Caravan of Dreams here in NY, but I realized that paying $19 for a salad that I could easily make at home just didnt make sense anymore. Get the complex items. That's why Pure is truly the best.
That dish pictured above would cost probably $30-35 because it served about 3 people. Think about it. They have to pay the rent though, but still...I am a big advocate of DIY (Do It Yourself), so this is pretty natural for me.
Website for the day: GLIVING! Such a great site and their greenchefs section is beautiful. AMAZING recipes!
Until next time...
(And thanks for all the comments)
5 comments:
thanks for writing about that. yeah, i totally feel that if colonics were free i'd bet the first in line but the price makes it pretty much impossible at this point... i've only started getting into raw foods this year and i'm at a point where i got all raw for a week or so and then even as fantastically good as that feels i get to a point where i for some reason crave cooked food, especially crunchy salty things and then go back and forth between weekly stretches of cooked and raw. anyway... keep it coming!
peace, emma
hello! i've just discovered your blog and have been really enjoying reading your posts, so thank you! as far as colonics i cant reccomend them enough! get the right kind though, the gravity method is really the only kind (imo) worth doing. i promise, if you think you feel clean now, you'll be AMAZED after a truly good colonic (not just any one). in nyc i highly highly reccomend gil jacobs!
p.s. that pasta dish looks awesome!
First of all, Great Site. Discovered it about a month ago and is now one of my daily stops. Thanks for this latest post. You really touch on everything that seems to come into play for someone starting to make the transition into a more raw lifestyle. Keep it up!
I've been jumping around your site and I can't get enough of it. I'm a lazy raw person with no funds. So making anything at home is a stretch but thanks for the inspiration.
Its good article yeah its nice knowledge thanks for sharing it
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