# Constipation and the Colon ## What it is Constipation has a double meaning in these sources. In the broad sense, Ehret says *all* disease is "constipation" — a clogging of the whole body (see [[one-disease|One Disease, Many Names]]). But there's also the **literal** sense: the bowels and colon, which Ehret considers the body's central reservoir of waste and "the basement of the human temple" — the place from which the whole system is re-poisoned. The claim that anchors this topic: Ehret asserts the average "healthy" person carries several pounds of old, retained feces, and that the colon walls can be encrusted with hardened waste "like the inside of a filthy stovepipe." Having "one good stool a day," he says, means nothing — it can coexist with deep constipation. A dedicated book in the set, *The Definite Cure of Chronic Constipation*, develops this with Ehret's student **Fred Hirsch**. ## Why ordinary laxatives "fail" Ehret's explanation of how laxatives work is characteristically contrarian: - A laxative is mildly **poisonous**; the body floods the gut with water to dilute and flush the poison out, dragging some feces along with it. - So the effect is really the body defending itself, not the drug "cleaning" you. - Worse, repeated laxatives **overstimulate and then paralyze** the intestines, so you need ever more — which he calls "slow but sure suicide." ## The real cure: change the food The fix, predictably, is dietary: the modern "diet of civilization" is sticky and gluey (flour, rice, potato make paste; meat and dairy make glue), so it cakes the intestines. The [[mucusless-diet|mucusless diet]] of fruit and starchless vegetables contains no such paste, and its fruit acids and mineral-rich juices *dissolve* the old encrustation. Ehret frames these foods as **"nourishing laxatives"** — they cleanse and rebuild at the same time. He also notes that when a heavy starch- or meat-eater suddenly eats a lot of sweet fruit, the resulting "revolution" (gas, fermentation, diarrhea) is the old waste being stirred up for removal — uncomfortable but, in his telling, the cleansing working. This is why it must be paced via the [[transition-diet|transition diet]]. ## Helpers: gentle laxatives, enemas, and "Innerclean" While the diet does the real work, the sources endorse temporary mechanical help, especially early on and during [[fasting|fasts]]: - **Botanical (herbal) laxatives** are "the least harmful." Ehret marketed his own herbal formula, **Innerclean**, meant only as a temporary aid to clear out the worst old feces — not for permanent use. - **Enemas** of warm water to wash out the lower colon. Spira notes that modern practitioners often use lemon-water enemas with a 2-quart enema bag and treats this as routine hygiene rather than a drug. He distinguishes this from store-bought chemical enemas, which Ehret would not endorse. - Internal/colon cleansing is one of the four "physical adjustments" Ehret lists to *enforce* elimination — see [[physical-culture|Physical Culture]]. ## Where the sources agree and differ - **Agreement:** Ehret, Hirsch, and Spira agree on all the essentials — chronic bowel constipation is real and widespread, chemical laxatives are a trap, and the mucusless diet plus enemas is the answer. - **Difference of degree:** Spira normalizes regular enema use as general hygiene for practitioners and gives practical modern instructions, where Ehret framed it more as a therapeutic aid. The constipation book also pairs Ehret's text with Hirsch's more practical "Overcoming Constipation Naturally," adding recipes and juice suggestions (prune, coconut, citrus). - **Reality check.** The vivid "pounds of impacted feces in everyone" and "encrusted stovepipe colon" claims are not supported by modern gastroenterology; the colon is not normally caked with old waste, and "autointoxication" from retained stool is not an established cause of disease. Routine enemas carry some risk if overused. Dietary fiber from fruit and vegetables genuinely does help ordinary constipation — that part is uncontroversial. ## Related articles - [[one-disease|One Disease, Many Names]] — constipation as the model for all disease - [[mucusless-diet|The Mucusless Diet]] — the "nourishing laxative" foods - [[fasting|Fasting]] — where enemas and laxatives support cleansing - [[physical-culture|Physical Culture]] — internal baths among the physical adjustments - [[transition-diet|The Transition Diet]] — pacing the bowel "revolution"