The digestive tract is actually just a long tube that runs from your mouth to your anus. Foods that are sugary, like fruit, start breaking down in the mouth. Proteins, like meats, don’t really finish digesting until they are in the stomach.

Along the lining of the intestines are little hair like structures, called villi, that absorb the nutrients as they float past. When a person eats a lot of junk food, like processed carbohydrates, starches, and cheese or refined sugars, and doesn’t drink enough water to wash it through, a “gunk” tends to build up on the villi. Then the villi can’t absorb the nutrients.

When that happens, you can eat and eat and eat and still feel hungry because your system is no absorbing the nutrients, known as a malabsorption problem. When the intestines get gunked up, the liver will also be backed up, as it is the body’s sewer system. The gall bladder is the back-up generator for the liver. It processes bile from fats. The kidneys and bladder process liquid waste, so they will malfunction, too, if the liver is overloaded.

It takes 70 percent of the body’s energy to digest foods. So the harder the body has to work at digestion, the less extra energy the person has to do things like fight off a cold or sinus infection. So now fatigue sets in, and at the extreme level of toxicity, exhaustion, disease, and finally death can occur, if the situation is not corrected. That’s why Bernard Jensen, MD coined the phrase, “All death begins in the colon.”

If you’re tired all the time, your liver is probably toxic. And guess what? All those pharmaceuticals you’re taking will actually cause more buildup in your liver. Ask your doctor. There are several ways to clean out the body and restore proper functioning. If you’re my age, you probably got enemas as a kid. The practice has fallen away, but it is still a valuable tool to restore natural vigor. Colon hydrotherapy is like a “turbo-charged” enema, performed by a colon hydrotherapist. The laws are changing. Check those in your state. You may need a doctor’s prescription.

Another detox method is to take one of the many herbal detoxes available. The herbalist in my office, Sam Rodgers, is very knowledgeable. He sells Nature’s Sunshine products and Isagenix. The people at Cost Plus Nutrition in San Antonio are also be very helpful.Some foods, like celery and cabbage, actually help the body detox. Scrubbing your dry body with sea salt will detox the skin, the largest organ of elimination.
Of course, drinking the right amount of water for your body is very detoxifying as well. If you don’t know the formula: Take your weight and divide by two. That’s how many ounces of pure water your body needs every day.

And the cheapest and best form of detox you can do daily is to BREATHE DEEPLY. There are some excellent articles about detox and how to do it at www.about.com. Search under colon cleanses or detoxifying the body. Or you can also visit one of my favorite medical website, www.mercola.com. How do you know if you need to detox? Here are typical symptoms:

1. Exhaustion

2. Belching or gas

3. Body odor

4. Bad Breath

5. Skin rashes

6. Headaches

7. Brain Fog

8. Fat belly, bloated.
Sound familiar?

Most people think gas is just a natural byproduct of the foods they eat. Nothing could be further from the truth. Methane gas is a byproduct of the fermentation process. When food is rotting in your stomach, gas is produced. When your digestive system is functioning correctly, no fermentation occurs. Want to feel better, have more energy, fewer wrinkles, get rid of allergies and sinus problems, have a naturally clean smell and think more clearly? Try cleaning up your act-- your digestive ACTion, that is.