Free Internal Health Check

There are many different health tests that can be administered today. Blood tests, saliva tests, cardiovascular tests just to name a few. Often these tests are expensive, need a skilled practitioner to process them and take time to get the results back. Fortunately this site was designed to cost you nothing while in your pursuit of optimal health so I am going to share a method that can tell you how good both your internal and external health is. It costs nothing, and hopefully you're already doing it so wont detract from your already limited time.

Before modern technology one of the most common ways for tribal doctors to ascertain health was through digestion. Yep, I am going to get you to test your poop, but don’t worry, you don’t need to reach for the rubber gloves and magnifying glass just yet. How well your body completes the process of digestion is an excellent reflection of how healthy your internal environment is at any time. And since the external reflects the internal you can often easily correlate your findings.

How important is digestion? In the U.S.A, $3 million dollars is spent on laxatives each day! That’s a lot of money being spent in the hopes of having a poop. The situation is so bad that the criteria for constipation had to be changed so that hospitals wouldn’t go broke dispensing laxatives. Digestive irregularities are one of the most common causes of low back pain in modern societies. Blockages (constipation) cause the colon to spasm in pain, which in turn causes dysfunction in the muscles of the low back (the colon shares pain receptors with the back muscles). Plus, if your breath stinks or you have nasty body odour, then there is a strong likelihood that your system is backed up and all that waste material is making you stink. So if you smell you probably are full of crap! Finally, digestive problems are a major cause of paunch belly (see Abs For Life! - Part 2!).

So how do you identify healthy bowel movements? According to renowned Holistic Health Practitioner, Paul Chek, they should be something like this:
You should pass about 12 inches of poop every day. Preferably in between 1-3 goes.
Movements should be easy and pleasurable
Poop should have earthy smell, not be putrid
Poop should be well formed and hold together

If you bowel movements do not adhere to the above guidelines then either something is going into your mouth that your digestive system does not like, or you are so stressed out that your digestive system has shut down and closed for business.

What to do

The main culprit for digestive problems are processed foods. This includes items such as pasta, bread, alcohol, milk, refined sugar and flour and everything else that comes in a packet. Eliminating processed foods from your diet is the best way to improve your digestive system, lose weight and improve your overall level of health. Stress also plays a major part in poor internal health.

How I manage my digestion

My digestive awareness began when I was in a sort of bodybuilding phase. I was using protein shakes to supplement my diet with extra protein. And not knowing any better I assumed that diarrhea was a completely normal part of the process…even though it smelled exactly like the chocolate shakes I was consuming!
After several months of this I began to learn more about natural health and so decided to stop eating anything that was processed. Lo and behold! My diarrhea cleared up almost immediately – if only I had put the two together earlier.
I had some time off around then and dropped a few kilograms (which is panic time for a mirror athlete), so I decided to gain a few quick pounds by getting back on the protein shakes. The results were instant and spectacular.
Diarrhea was once again my friend a few times every day. Fortunately it was the only thing that I had resumed eating that was processed so I was able to cut it out straight away.
I have since learned that I am intolerant to dairy foods (as I suspect most people are. Every client I have had tested has been intolerant to pasteurized dairy – check out Do We Need Dairy?) and that the dairy based whey protein was assaulting my colon every time I drank a shake.
Within a few months of discontinuing dairy again my skin cleared up, I lost a few percent body fat and my body odor became much reduced.

2 years down  the track I am still dealing with the many years of abuse that I put my poor digestive track through as a child and young adult (I don’t blame you mum and dad…). I still experience quite strong reactions to many foods that I would like to eat and so cannot. But on the whole, I am happy and regular!

Ryan Prigg