Yes that was exactly my concern and the reason of my thread, I am not sure if and in which measure this could interfere with my flora and bowels health. I mean, once a month should likely be fine, if I take kefir afterwards, but better check it out.
Is it a good idea to clean bowels before a 5 day fast?
margot17
#22
Thatās the thing, it never has for me, I take my poop al the way to the end, suffering headaches for no good reason.
margot17
#23
Thatās a good point, then again my body would rather not fast. How do I know? because itās hungry.
Brenda
(8 year Ketogenic Veteran)
#24
Fasting is a natural process of the human body. We wouldnāt have survived as a species through history if we werenāt able to naturally fast. An enema is not natural.
David_Stilley
(Full Metal KETO AF)
#25
To me this is crazy. Yes, poop is natural, but itās far from safe. If you want to talk about infection letās talk about E. coli and other toxic and dangerous bacteria that are in the colon. Heard of vegetable recalls? Why do you think people washing after going to the bathroom is commonly accepted as a safety measure against making yourself and others ill. Itās not because poop is safe. You may not have fecal matter in your bowels but you still accumulate toxins during a fast there.
I was hospitalized a few times in the last ten years. I got several enemas given to me, self administered. If it was dangerous or could cause injuries do you think that a hospital would let me do this myself. Iām not sure where you get the idea that a water cleansing is dangerous or can cause an infection.
All in all I am not convinced that you have a valid point.
David_Stilley
(Full Metal KETO AF)
#26
Neither is brushing you teeth, cutting your hair and shaving, trimming your nails, driving a car, eating factory produced foods or living in a modern metropolis breathing in pollution. Iām not implying that these are good or bad, just not what our Neanderthal brothers and sisters did, these are modern practices. However there is a long history of ayervedic medicine. Fasting and colon cleaning is part of a normal health regimen.
margot17
#27
I just read in a fasting forum that having a loose bowel movement right the first day of refeeding is actually considered a good thing, which makes sense as that is a way a lot of the toxins dislodged during the fast will be expelled, and the earlier the better. To this end they suggested to begin refeeding by drinking the juice of half a lemon with water, then wait a couple of hours. Curiously, I did by chance something similar as I ate berries first thing when refeeding, that are sour and full of vit. C as well as lemons, and then waited some time before drinking my kefir. So maybe that was what caused my loose bowel movement the first day of refeeding.
cw2001
(Cindy)
#29
Poop is natural and safe when it STAYS inside your body. Itās safe when itās YOUR poop. Weāre all used to our own bacteria and flora in our bodies. Itās when weāre exposed to others bacteria and flora that thereās a risk. Yes, your body is using poop (and urine) to flush out toxins and chemicals, but in NORMAL situations, you donāt need to help that along other than drinking plenty of water. Your body will do the rest.
And certainly saying that just because a hospital let you do enemas so it must have been safe is pretty irrational. How many people die in hospitals? How many times do doctors and nurses make mistakes? How many doctors still believe in the LFHC diet? But still, the safety of enemas refers to the fact that youāre now inserting both a foreign object and a foreign substance into the colon. Iām not saying that all enemas are dangerousā¦just that there should be a better reason to do them when itās not needed for fasting.
Colon cleansing, to me, is one of those alterntive type thingsā¦sounds good, but no real science to back up the need for them. A bit along the lines of essential oils and such. But to each his own.
anon2571578
#30
Intentional colon cleansing to me sounds like inducing yourself to vomit. Youāre taking what your body does naturally as a way of purging things but forcing it to do it on your terms. I remember when I had accidental colon blow from the sugar free gummy bears, hands down one of the worst feelings in my life. I have no idea what people value feeling like theyāre completely empty.
margot17
#31
Not really, as we poop every day while we rarely vomit. Also if you vomit it means something has gone wrong, while if you poop itās all going as it should.
I donāt really value cleaning the bowels per se, of course itās rather unpleasant, although definitely not so unpleasant as what you describe. But the other times I fasted for more than 3 days, I felt miserable. While this time that I cleaned the bowels I have felt amazing throughout the 5 days. No, to be more accurate the first day it was fine until the evenng when I had a horrible headache, thatās where I decided to take the epsom salts. And as soon as I went to the bathroom I felt fantastic, and the day after I was all bouncy in a way that I canāt even remember last time I felt so good and energetic.
kandescent
#32
Last (and first) time I fasted, last month, my bowels cleansed themselves by themselves like it was their job (which it is).
margot17
#34
And if they donāt, you stay with your headache and suck it up? maybe feel miserable for 5 days because god forbids I interfere?
kandescent
#35
Not likely to happen to me. For headaches, I take salt. And with enough salt and water, things will flush out. Iām not a laxative taker.
You donāt need our permission to do what you want to do. You inquired and we are giving you our experiences and preferences. No need to argue with me. Take your laxative if that works for you. You do you.
margot17
#36
I wasnāt arguing with youā¦ you had one fast total, not worth arguing lol! btw sure, electrolytes are good to check first, but if itās an electrolyte problem it likely arises at the end of the fast not at the beginning. Besides I was already supplementing with minerals.
Yes I inquired with this thread but the answers I got have been something like, āno, itās a bad idea, itās not naturalā, and thatās it. As I donāt find anything unnatural in enemas or epsom salts, and know that practices like this are the backbone of very ancient and ānaturalā healing systems, that answer is just puzzling to me. I was hoping for a little more in-depth explanations, or at least answers that made more sense to me. And itās ok, I am not pissed to the least. Probably they donāt even exist, also in this other fasting forum I visited they were just divided. One pro-enema group vs an anti-enema group. The anti-enema mainly so because they held on to the views of old Shelton and the other hygienists, that with all respect are views as old as dirt. Anyway, itās all good. Peace.
kandescent
#37
Iām fasting right now and didnāt take a laxative. I fasted before and didnāt take a laxative. I donāt have the bowel troubles you have. Simple as that. For me, itās not a good idea.
Your question was:
People responded. They gave you their thoughts.You donāt like their answers. Also, not everyone disagreed with your approach, by the way.
You are, in essence, arguing with me. You (rudely) discounted my experience. If my one water fast (I have done other types of fasts in my lifetime) didnāt count, Iām not sure why you responded to me. Youāre attributing what I say works for me as something Iāve said you need to do, when I said nothing about what you should do with your own bowels:
Just because you find something beneficial for you doesnāt mean everyone will find it beneficial or even appropriate for themselves. This concept is a part of ancient and ānaturalā healing systems as well. The mere existence of doshas and different prescriptions for each tell you that.
If, on the other hand, you wanted to have a philosophical or scientific discussion about it and not just have peopleās personal thoughts, then perhaps your original question should have been different.
Idk, your responses directed toward me seem unnecessarily agro. Iām not even feeling sensitive today.
Janie
(Jane)
#38
Me, neither. My experiences are similar to yours on EF (> 48 hrs). The electrolytes I take does a sufficient job of clearing my bowels naturally when I fast and would never take a laxative unless I planned to stay near the toilet all day long!
Iām glad it helped the OP and perhaps it will help others whose situation is similar to hers.
cw2001
(Cindy)
#39
I really dislike it when people think that, just because 2 things happen around the same time, one is the cause of the other. Correlation does NOT equal causation. Your headache might have gone away because the Epsom salts gave you more magnesium. You just ignored that the first time I mentioned it.
It wonāt really matter for what you do. As in, if fasting gives you a headache, so you take Epsom salts and the headache goes away, the diarrhea is simply a side effect. The problem is that, if you think itās the bowel evacuation that was the key, and not the magnesium, youāll advocate for other people to ācleanseā before or during fasting. But if it was the magnesium, then youāre recommending the wrong thing (diarrhea vs electrolytes).
Another potential problem is that many people donāt drink enough fluids. Without eating the carbs, ketoers automatically have less water stored and tend to need more minerals. So if youāre intentionally causing diarrhea for some perceived health benefit, youāre also dehydrating yourself MOREā¦so need even more fluids. For some people, that can mean dehydration for no proven good reason.
And let me put this one other way. If the supposed toxins in your colon arenāt causing you headaches all the OTHER days, why would they suddenly cause a headache when youāre fasting? They were there before so nothing changed. What DID change was your dietary INTAKE, whether it was less caffeine, or less water, fewer minerals, or you just woke up with a headache. Your bowel toxins didnāt somehow get more potent.
margot17
#40
I did answer to you, saying I have been supplementing with magnesium for years and was supplementing with magnesium also during the fast, so I can reasonably exclude I needed more of it. Besides, if you eat magnesium and right after you go poop, guess where the magnesium goes? thatās why itās usually important to get the doses right.
And I drank water, eventually the risk there is to drink too much. Go check the miracles of dry fasting (which I didnāt do).
Why when you fast your sense of smell is so much sharper? why do you need to sleep less? etc. because things are a little different in fed state and in fast state. If they werenāt different we wouldnāt even care to fast, right? and for this reason I think my body prefers to get into a fast without having to deal with something I can easily unburden it of. That was never actually in question as I acknowledge my positive experience. It was more about, what if I do that every month, in terms of flora and intestinal functionality? I was spooked by the movements I had the very first fed day. But along the thread I also got a piece of info (coming from another forum) that explained perfectly what had appened and that it was a good thing. I posted on that, you can look it up in case.
Anyway guys, Iām out of here, thanks. What I took out of this thread is that it is subjective. Whoever is interested in checking it out, can check out which alternative works better, for their own body. No fixed position on this. Those who are fine without checking, they can go on doing what they do, I am sure happy that anyone is free to do what they want.