Support Healthful Weight Loss with Enemas
Enemas as a Weight Loss Support Tool
How To Take an Enema Series
DISCLAIMER: Optimal Health Network offers the following therapeutic home protocols to support your weight loss program under the supervision of your medical doctor. We make no claim or guarantee for cure or relief of any specific symptom, medical condition, or disease when using any of these products or protocols. Consult with a licensed healthcare professional before altering or discontinuing any current medications, treatment, or care, or starting any diet, exercise, cleansing, or supplementation program, or if you have or suspect you might have a health condition that requires medical attention.
Can an Enema Help Me Lose that Stubborn Extra Weight for Good?
Losing that stubborn extra weight takes decision and will — the kind of decision and will that is akin to a spiritual practice, a way of turning to your sacred body and saying, "I envision a healthier future self, and I am going to do what it takes."
For some people, therapeutic enemas can assist in achieving healthful weight loss. Below I outline the benefits of enemas as a weight loss support tool.
A therapeutic enema is a gentle infusion of a therapeutic solution delivered into the colon (large intestine) via the anus. An enema series consists of three therapeutic enemas, taken one after the other, each with a different solution. I recommend the enema series as the most optimal way to cleanse your colon and broadly support your health, including a healthful weight loss journey.
When I became a colon hydrotherapist 20 years ago, enemas were losing their reputation as a broader health tool. To this day, the bad name of enemas surprises me, because their beneficial uses are multi-faceted. In addition to relieving constipation, enemas are routinely and successfully administered for numerous valuable medical purposes including control of fever and seizures, delivering anesthesia in children, diagnosing and treating acute abdominal problems, supporting a healthy birth and delivery, and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) and ulcerative colitis.
Beyond the diverse practical applications of enemas listed above, exciting scientific evidence is emerging that targeted therapeutic enemas may help facilitate weight loss, prevent obesity, and generally support health by altering your gut microbiome (the population of microorganisms in your digestive tract) in beneficial ways.
Therapeutic Enemas Help Support Healthful Weight Loss in 4 Important Ways:
- Therapeutically prepared enema solutions target the gut microbiome.
According to a recent publication by The National Institutes of Health (NIH), "The human body is host to a vast number of microbes, including bacterial, fungal, and protozoal microorganisms, which together constitute our microbiota. Evidence is emerging that the intestinal microbiome is intrinsically linked with overall health, including obesity risk.
"Obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders are characterized by specific alterations in the composition and function of the human gut microbiome. Mechanistic studies have indicated that the gastrointestinal microbiota can influence both sides of the energy balance equation, namely, as a factor influencing energy utilization from the diet and as a factor that influences host genes that regulate energy expenditure and storage. Moreover, its composition is not fixed and can be influenced by several dietary components.
"This fact raises the attractive possibility that manipulating the gut microbiota could facilitate weight loss or prevent obesity in humans. Emerging as possible strategies for obesity prevention and/or treatment are targeting the microbiota to restore or modulate its composition through the consumption of live bacteria (probiotics), nondigestible or limited digestible food constituents such as oligosaccharides (prebiotics), or both (synbiotics) or even fecal transplants."
IMPORTANT: Water or saline enemas on their own don't target the microbiota. Enemas with therapeutics such as butyrate (butyric acid) and certain essential oils do target the microbiota. I outline my recommended therapeutics in the following Enema Series guidelines.
▶︎ HOW TO TAKE A THERAPEUTIC ENEMA SERIES
- Enemas help to clear toxins from your body. Toxins in your body inhibit cellular respiration, which can affect your body's ability to lose weight.
Cellular respiration is a set of metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of organisms to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and then release waste products. If cellular respiration is burdened by toxins in the body such as heavy metals, fundamental metabolic processes can be slowed or otherwise altered. Broadly speaking, a slowed or altered metabolism can have some bearing on your ability to lose weight.
If you wish to identify which heavy metal toxins you may be challenged by and at what levels, consider a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA). In addition to alerting you to any toxic metal levels in your body, an HTMA also ensures that you have adequate amounts of essential nutrient minerals and that their relationships to one another (ratios) are correct.
▶︎ HOW TO TAKE A HOME ENEMA
- Enemas can play a crucial role in safe and healthful weight loss because studies have shown that environmental pollutants trapped in fat cells are released back into circulation when you lose weight. Working to flush these released toxins from your bloodstream and other tissues as promptly as possible supports optimal health during a weight loss program.
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are chemicals that don't break down easily. Once they enter the body, they are often difficult to fully remove. Environmental POPs include pesticides, fungicides, paint, and building materials.
According to a literature review on POP burden during weight loss, "17 studies were identified with 2061 participants. Data from 5 of the studies with 270 participants were used to assess the change in blood levels of POP in percent per kilogram weight loss. Weight loss in the included studies varied from 4.4 to 64.8 kg. In all studies, the majority of POP concentrations in blood were found to rise following weight reduction. Blood concentrations following weight reduction were elevated by 2-4% per kilogram weight loss for most POPs examined. The increased POP levels were still elevated 12 months after intervention."
- An enema may have the immediate effect of dislodging and clearing out up to several pounds of constipated stool, resulting in direct weight loss at the time of your enema.
IMPORTANT: This type of weight loss should be considered a secondary outcome of an enema program to relieve constipation and/or to broadly support health, rather than your primary intention when administering an enema.
Therapeutic Enemas: A Potential Support Tool For Healthful Weight Loss
In summary, enemas can play a key role in successfully losing weight for some people (beyond dislodging constipated stool). Firstly, therapeutic enema solutions can target the microbiome, which has been linked to metabolic disorders and obesity risk. Secondly, enemas help to clear toxins that may affect your ability to lose weight. Thirdly, enemas support optimal health during your weight loss program by flushing released toxins from your bloodstream.
Video Overview: Support Healthful Weight Loss with Enemas
Kristina Amelong, CCT, CNC outlines the three primary ways in which therapeutic home enemas can support you in a healthful weight loss journey.
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What Is a Safe Rate of Weight Loss?
Whether your goal is to lose a few pounds or a 100 pounds, therapeutic enemas can play an important role in supporting a successful weight loss journey. Whatever tools you use to support your weight loss, it is essential to lose weight at a safe and steady pace. If you lose weight gradually and steadily, you are more likely to be able to maintain the lower weight you reach. Losing weight slowly also comes with far fewer health risks, such as nutritional deficiencies or losing critical muscle mass.
Depending on initial body weight, a reasonable rate of loss for overweight adults is 1 to 2 lbs (up to 1 kg) per week, or 5 to 10% of body weight over 6 months. Example: For a person weighing 250 pounds (113 kg), a healthful 5 to 10% weight loss over 6 months would be 12 to 25 lbs (5 to 11 kg).
