Diet, Nutrition and Colon Health

Eat Right and Stay Regular To Prevent Colon Disorders

As stated in the section on colon cleansing, many doctors believe keeping your colon as clean as possible is a good idea, but most think there's no need to use commercial colon cleansers to do it. Eating healthy, fiber rich foods that are low in harmful fats and other destructive substances should be sufficient for most people.

Of course, fruits and vegetables top the list of foods you should eat to keep things clean and moving through your colon.

There are plenty of diets and nutritional plans available that promote colon health while helping you lose weight (just click on Amazon.com and you'll see dozens of them). Among those that have generated a lot of interest and much media coverage lately is Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live program.

Eat To Live is mainly a diet and weight loss plan, and does not promote itself specifically as a colon health or cleansing program. But Dr. Fuhrman's recommendations are congruent with dietary guidelines advocated by many other doctors, nutritionists and health organizations for achieving colon health.

I began following the Eat To Live program after my wife saw Dr. Fuhrman on PBS and also on several commercial TV programs like Dr. Mehmet Oz's show. We'd also seen news reports of celebrities like Alanis Morissette who tried the Eat To Live and enjoyed success with it. We decided to try it together, so we bought Dr. Fuhrman's book from Amazon.com.

I wrote a review several weeks later detailing my results, which were extremely satisfying. To see the review, along with additional information, click here.

Dr. Fuhrman's plan centers on the principle of "nutrient density." He believes (and he backs it up with research) that certain foods have a high nutrient-to-calories-consumed ratio. Foods that are high in nutrients but low in calories pack the most "bang for the nutritional buck." When you eat these foods, especially those in the green leafy vegetable class, your body gets the nutrients it needs faster. This means you'll eat less.

Low nutrient foods, which tend to include a lot of calories, don't give your body the nutrients it needs as quickly, so you have to eat more of them. This is what packs on the pounds. Animal-based products, especially red meat, fit in the low nutrient density category.

On page 118 of Eat To Live, Dr. Fuhrman offers an extensive list of common foods and assigns a score between zero and 100 to each of them. Eat more foods at the higher end of the scale and you'll get the nutrients you need faster while consuming fewer calories. Eat the foods closer to zero on the scale, and you'll need to eat more to fill your body's needs. This is what packs on the pounds.

But besides weight loss, there are also direct benefits to the colon in the Eat To Live plan. The foods Dr. Fuhrman recommends generally contain a lot of fiber and fluids. Fiber and fluids are extremely important for keeping things moving in your colon. Regularity also helps cleanse the colon naturally because there's less chance for harmful substances like toxins, germs or other "gunk" to accumulate. 

To get more information about Dr. Fuhrman's books, programs and recipes, click on Eat To Live, Eat To Live Recipes, and Dr. Fuhrman's Member Center

You can also get Dr. Fuhrman's books on Amazon.com.

Finally Dr. Fuhrman offers free articles on a number of topics related to diet and nutrition, including an Article on Best/Worst Foods and an Article on Vegetarian or Vegan Diets.