FOR THE LOVE OF CLEANSING ...

 Have you made your New Year's Resolutions?
Did they include tenacity and inner strength?
I would suggest you consider seeking something else called SISU!
There is not a word in the English language that can fully express the meaning but when you research it and how it has been exemplified in history, you might add it to the top of your New Year's Resolution List!
What is SISU? Well, Wiki says:
Sisu is a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness and is held by Finns themselves to express their national character. It is generally considered not to have a literal equivalent in English.​  "Sisu is a grim, gritty, white-knuckle form of courage that is presented typically in situations where success is against the odds. It expresses itself in taking action against the odds and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity, in other words, deciding on a course of action and then sticking to that decision, even despite repeated failures. It is in some ways similar to equanimity, with the addition of a grim kind of stress management.
"Gutsy" is a fairly close translation that uses the same metaphor (found in more languages than Finnish and English), as the word derives from sisus, which means "interior" and "entrails, guts". A concept closely related to sisu is grit, which shares some of its denoting elements with sisu, save for "stress management" and passion for a long-term goal. Sisu may have an element of passion but it is not always present..."

But that really does not do the concept justice. You would have to be Finnish to truly understand. I learned of it on my last trip to Portland as I flew home. I read on the flight an article written by someone who knew true history. He described what happened to the Finns when Nazi Germany took over and how the Germans thought it would be an easy win which turned out to be very costly to the Germans and took much longer. It became known as the Winter War.  SISU describes the heart and soul of the Finnish people during that time, but it is a character trait rarely seen today. It takes cultivating and is not easy to attain.  Those overcoming alcohol, tobacco, drugs, food addictions, any addiction or negative habit will need SISU to win for life. Even if you don't have an addiction, life is tougher than ever and we all need it to succeed in the coming years ahead. As I launch our wellness program here in Taos NM to strengthen people, I chose to call our wellness retreat "SISU Wellness".  Even though it can not be achieved in just 10 days, the goal of our center is not to detox or cleanse but to make life long changes and set you off in the right direction where you are stronger and continue getting that deep inner foundation that nothing or no one can shake.  I welcome your thoughts on SISU and will keep you posted as we begin our first SISU program this month!  More than a "Happy New Years", I wish you true peace and all God's blessings in 2019.  Gutsy Hugs - Rebecca Harder. Owner of Colon Care, LLC in Portland and the new Taos Hyperbaric and Sisu Wellness, LLC in Taos NM.  Website to share our new SISU Program coming very soon.

 What You Should Know When Seeking Colonics (aka... Colon Hydrotherapy).

Cleansing the colon with water has been done for thousands of year falling in and out of vogue. Today we refer to professionally administered colon cleansing as Colonics or aka... Colon Hydrotherapy. It is a safe, effective and natural way to cleanse your body. This short blog is not about why you should do colonics or what colonics are,  but specifically, about the colonic industry and what you should know when you seek colonics.

So how do you find a good place to cleanse? Well, its not about a place or a system. What matters is the therapist. The short answer is to schedule with a I-ACT Certified Therapist. The higher the credentials the better and if you can find one that is National Board Certified, that is the best.  

So here is what you should know about the Colon Hydrotherapy Industry. Get ready to be shocked...

Did you know the colonic industry is NOT regulated? Personal Trainers are required by the state to be licensed and so are massage therapists and hair stylists. But not colon therapists. Except in Florida, there is absolutely ZERO oversight or requirements to cleanse someone’s colon with water. There is no one making sure that the therapist does it safely or that the therapist has any proper training (will get to “proper” in a minute) nor is anyone checking on the cleanliness of the the place or the maintenance of the systems. Absolutely nothing. You are completely trusting in the therapist to know what is right and to do it right each time.

There are 3 major things to look for when looking for a therapist. Notice I said therapist because the “place” that you choose does not give them. Colonics are given by therapists at a place. You really want to look past the website and the building and ask  WHO is the person in charge of the colonic protocols? What should you look for?

Probiotics, Colonics and the Gut Biome by Rebecca Harder

Have you heard that colonics wipes out your good bacteria, also called intestinal flora or “probiotics”?

I wish that were true. Then the colonic would be wiping out all the bad bacteria as well and we could easily reintroduce the good guys. It just does not work that way. For example,  Richard Sprague experimented with his gut biome using a uBiome test to monitor his gut with doing cleansing expecting to wipe out the gut flora, but what was interesting was how the gut recovered very quickly. He wrote the following:

“Your gut microbiome changes constantly in response to everything from diet to exercise, so when looking at multiple uBiome test results side-by-side it can be complicated to figure out what caused a particular change. What if you could radically alter your microbiome with a cleanse and just track that, along with precisely what you eat afterwards? What could you learn?
I recently tried exactly that, using a colon cleanse – the kind you do before a colonoscopy screening. By flushing most of the bacteria from my system and carefully watching them grow back with side-by-side uBiome tests, I learned a few things that might interest you as well:

My gut microbiome recovers pretty quickly. Unlike antibiotics, which are known to cause long-term (and possibly permanent) changes, losing bacteria this way seems only to affect the total numbers, but they sprout right back just like a haircut. In two weeks I was as good as new.   This is an overall view of how my gut biome changed:

Amounts and ratios changed, but not the specific organisms. Of course I lost a bunch of bacteria – that was the point – but surprisingly I didn’t seem to gain anything really new, even after an aggressive attempt at re-seeding. I didn’t gain or lose a single phyla. Other than amounts and ratios, I had to dig down to the Class level of the biological hierarchy to find anything that was permanently lost, and even at the very fine-grained Genus level, only two taxa that had been regularly present beforehand were now extinct. (Holdemania and Methanomassiliicoccus). 1

It seems that probiotics are "all the rage" right now, but most of the "scientific" community, (I call them the "high priests of science-ism") state that probiotics do nothing such as in this article by Gut Science: "“There’s no evidence in humans, however, to support taking probiotics just to generally improve your gut health.” 6

It all comes down to who are you going to believe?  (In all such tests, I question what was the lifestyle of the person they were testing? and what were the probiotics? Not all probiotics are equal). 

So what do colonics have to do with probiotics?
The Colon Hydrotherapy Association is very clear about what a colonic does. They state just a few things and I-ACT is emphatic that it’s members not make any claims or give benefits to what colonics do. So I have to be very careful in what I say on record. The organization makes no claims that the colonic will change your gut biome, neither for wiping out the bacteria or improving the bacteria. They simply state that  “Colon hydrotherapy irrigates and cleanses the colon. It is an extended and more complete form of an enema utilizing gently infused warm,  filtered water into the rectum which hydrates the colon, softens and loosens waste and results in evacuation through normal peristalsis” 2.  When people call in and ask for the benefits of colonics I tell them “none, absolutely none other than it hydrates, lubricates, reshapes and strengthens the colon peristalisis.” Now these are not what people are looking for. They want to fix their constipation, gas and bloating, parasitic and candida overgrowth and general IBS and SIBO.  Although hydration, lubrication and peristalsis are a part of making that happen, people want a more direct answer and direct solution. So basically, I say  "I can tell you no benefits” other than the hydrate, lubricate, strengthens and reshapes the colon.…. but you might want to check out these excellent articles from Medical Doctors on the subject. You might want to get my book “Gastra Girl, Saving America One Colon at a Time” which has these articles in it.

So in such articles what do physicians say that a probiotic does? The word "probiotic" is a compound of two Greek words: "pro," to signify promotion of and "biotic," which means life. Their very definition is something that affirms life and health. Dr Kevin Passero, ND gives us the most important thing that good bacteria / gut flora / probiotics do for us when he states that “Most people don’t know that 60-70% of their immune system is located in the gut as a vast network of lymph tissue referred to as GALT (gut associated lymphatic tissue). The probiotics in our gut are constantly interfacing with the GALT and essentially priming the immune system for contact with other bacteria.” 3  (GALT is very important but rarely talked about today’s popular and famous physicians.) What you will find is more along the lines of what the wonderful Dr Julian Whitaker, MD says on his website. “Probiotics reduce antibiotic-associated diarrhea, they’re helpful for constipation associated with  IBS and for ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, and other inflammatory bowel diseases. Probiotics have a positive effect on insulin sensitivity where some researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes have different gut bacteria than those without diabetes.  When your gut bacteria are out of balance (dysbiosis), it can affect your mood. For example, anxiety gives us butterflies and stress ties our stomach in knots. Thanks to the gut-brain connection, Lactobacillus and perhaps other strains appear to tone down the stress response and improve anxiety and depression. Your brain, skin, and immune system are all physiologically intertwined, mediated by gut bacteria”. 4 

Would you believe probiotics affect your WHOLE BODY as researcher Ann Louis Gittleman, pHD directly states? In her book “Gut Flush Plan”, she states the probiotics in your gut protects your whole body, including your bones. “Research now shows that osteoporosis can be connected to a lack of probiotic bacteria in your colon. Scientists at Baylor University found that probiotics boost calcium absorption. Other research shows that the acidic environment created in the colon by probiotics and fermented foods plays a big role in calcium assimilation.  Without an acidic colon, calcium absorption slips and your chances for both osteoporosis and colon cancer, linked to poor calcium metabolism, may subsequently rise.  When you bolster your probiotic population, you are also boning up on calcium”. 5.

So it is no wonder why people want to protect and “bolster” their probiotic levels.  Therefore, the single most asked question of concern with doing colonics is “will it wipe out my gut flora?”  How do people come up with these concerns about colonics being harmful and wiping out the good bacteria… aka..Probiotics? Spend a few minutes searching the internet and you will find countless articles stating that it will be harmful because it might disturb your gut flora as I wrote in the prior blog. (CLICK HERE).  The reason they say that is based on personal opinion (pharmaceutical bias/conflicts of interest) and not true scientific research. And if you were to really research it by talking with colon hydrotherapists “off the record”, you would hear countless stories of their personal observations with their clients on how colonics improved the client’s gut biome so that their gut flora would flourish, and normalize gut functioning and overall health. But on record, I could never say such a thing. You certainly wont hear me say that over the phone when clients call asking, “Are there any benefits to doing colonics?”

Richard Sprague went on to test whether probiotics were effective at changing the gut biome and he found them not to be. He found virtually no changes in his gut biome when testing with uBiome Testing. I would strongly agree with him and I do not doubt his testing because most probiotics don’t do anything for you. Most probiotics are not going to work in most people because they can’t overcome the the mutiny of bad bacteria, parasites and yeast/fungus they war against in the average gut biome of today, and they cant colonize/thrive in the excessive waste and mucus environment. I refer to both these issues to address with the “intestinal terraine” but the popular term for this is now the “gut biome”. *

Probiotics do not attach to poop and excess mucus which is the problem with most people. (Even if they “go everyday” they are likely constipated and don’t know it.) Probiotics colonize in a healthy colon, upon healthy colon tissue. Which is why fiber and colonics can really help clean things up so that probiotics can thrive. Cleansing the colon of excess waste and mucus via colon hydrotherapy and at the same time getting adequate hydration, eating truly nutritious whole food with lots of fiber, proper exercise, good sleep, stress and pain management, along with an ample does of happiness, all contribute to creating a gut biome that will flourish with good bacteria.  Yes, there is a time for natural antimicrobial actions, but the focus must always be in improving the terrain or gut biome. Otherwise, bad bugs will just come back. Getting “great guts” is not accomplished just by taking a probiotic pill. Wouldn’t that be nice!  Introducing good bacteria via fermented foods or a fermented plant based organic probiotic such as the one I endorse for 15 years, works in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle. To say it another way, even the very best most expensive probiotics won’t work if you have an unhealthy lifestyle that includes alcohol, tobacco, high stress, poor sleep, medications like pain killers, psychotropic meds, sleep aids, antibiotics, steroids, and lots of processed foods, sugar and dairy. Oh dairy is terrible for your gut and in another blog I will share why. So is meat. Both of which deserve a full blog.

What is the probiotic I love? It is food based, plant based, organic, and not found in America but all the way from across the earth - Australia. This brand uses a fermented probiotic culture that is fully tested for heavy metals and radiation which is a problem with “organics” because organic labeling does not test for them.  Although the probiotic source I suggest has been private labeled here in the US under Donna Gates probiotics, and once upon a time when Jordan Rubin used it in his Primal Defense, and best brought to the American public by the dynamic and super talented Tamara Yapp in her Real Foods Real Life probiotic line (RFRL), I will be bringing it here from the company “Probiotics for Everyone”.  The Australian company that makes the exclusive fermented probiotic base that others use in their formula’s is AGM Foods (Grainfields) and don’t let that name fool you. It hides the true power of the probiotics which is an exclusive fermented culture that is over 30 years old and predates the wicked Round Up Ready (glysophates) and GMO crops and is incredibly resilient surviving radiation with shipping and is super effective. People NOTICE a difference with these food based fermented probiotics.  I found Probiotics for Everyone when Real Food Real Life  (RFRL) decided to retire and Probiotics for Everyone is a very close second to RFRL, if the company can get it shipped properly since they have the worst customer service I have ever experienced. But because they do make, at this time, the best probiotic on earth, I have hung in there and hope to get the brand “Probiotics for Everyone” in time for launching the Gastra Girl 2018 Spring Cleanse. These fermented probiotic products are predigested naturally fermented grain based superfoods.  Unfortunately, “grain” has become a dirty word thanks to propaganda by the meat and dairy industry. Folks, think about, what fueled most of civilizations for 6000 years? It was not meat as the popular doctors are promoting. It was healthy grains! The problem is our modern grain supply is poisoned with glysophates and GMO and mold. But there are healthy grains, properly grown, harvested and prepared and these are what Grainfields use to make the best fermented probiotic base (beneficial bacteria) on earth.

Are they the only probiotic that is effective? No, they are just the probiotic base in 3 different private labels  I have used over the last 15 years and had great results with. If you find another that you think is just as good, oh PLEASE share with me. I welcome your thoughts and research. The thing I look for in probiotics is that they are  PLANT BASED, FOOD BASED, ORGANIC, TESTED FOR MOLD, RADIATION AND HEAVY METALS, AND THE OLDER THE CULTURE, THE BETTER. There really is a health revolution going on! It is up to us to find the truth behind the hype and marketing more now than ever since the allopathic physicians have sought to take over holistic health and wellness.

1. (https://ubiomeblog.com/2015/12/10/experimenting-with-a-gut-cleanse-by-richard-sprague/)
2. (International Association of Colon Hydrotherapy or I-ACT.org)
3. (http://www.vitabase.com/articles/digestive-health/probiotics-friendly-bacteria.aspx). 
4. https://www.drwhitaker.com/little-known-health-benefits-of-probiotics
5. Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD: The Gut Flush Plan p. 96
6. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gut-week-do-probiotics-work-are-they-good-for-me/
(To be covered in another blog, the gut biome/intestinal terrain includes neurotransmitters and your third nervous system but just sticking to talking about the microbial mutiny and slimy sludge in impairing your gut flora for today).
** You can get the book "Gastra Girl: Saving America One Colon at a Time" now at Colon Care, LLC Portland OR or through the upcoming health coaching site:  www.GastraGirl.com April 2018.