Coffee Enemas

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Now why would anyone want to do an enema, let alone a coffee enema? Well. . . 

When we eat devitalized foods such as sweets, white flours, bread, meat, cooked fruits,  processed drinks, and pastas and take in things like coffee, drugs and alcohol our body is stimulated by these products and produces mucous to protect our intestinal tract from the resulting toxins. The more often you ingest these substances, the harder it is on your body and the more layers of mucous are produced. This is one reason why some meals should be all fruits or all vegetables. Mixing fruits and vegetables in the same meal are hard to digest and can give you acid reflux.

One problem with multiple layers of mucous is that the pancreatic fluids which normally keep the mucoid layers stripped and digested off the gut can’t keep up. Over time (years usually) these mucous layers build up and harden making the intestines less effective at absorbing what you eat. One sign of this happening is the presence of vertical ridges on your little fingernails.

Gradually, the body weakens and our digestive processes become slower. When this happens, food starts to rot in our gut a little bit after each meal creating even more toxins and an imbalanced gut flora (and an overgrowth of yeast). Even the muscular walls of the gut weaken and lose tone creating a pot belly, prolapses, diverticuli, polyps, colitis and smelly gas problems. Eventually these disturbances may lead to cancer.

Small bowel pockets and diverticuli are more common than most health professionals realize, and should be taken into account when any low grade infection or decrease in vitality over time are present. Low back pain, menstrual irregularity, ovarian cysts, constipation, bladder problems, heart palpitations, hemorrhoids, tipped uterus, and prostate problems are often a result of a prolapsed (fallen) transverse colon. Fasting and enemas can help these greatly.

Food was meant to pass through the body within 8-18 hours. The longer it is held, the more putrefactive, toxic and gaseous it becomes. When bowel tone and condition are good, we should have a bowel movement after every meal.

Laxatives never solve the problems of poor eating habits, lack of exercise and bowel neglect. Repeated artificial stimulation of the bowels destroys their natural emptying reflex, so that they will no longer move without artificial stimulants. The laxative habit begins innocently enough with the correct belief that bowels should move every day, however, laxatives will cause the evacuation of several days’ worth of stool in a single movement. Impatient for reestablishing stool regularity, the patient takes another laxative, and the cycle begins.

Toxins are released through the skin, kidneys and liver, but the main route for toxins release is the bowels. This process needs to be assisted from time-to-time or the toxins will be reabsorbed back through the intestinal wall. Also, when doing a water or juice fast, the normal bowel movements do not take place because the gut is resting.

Coffee Enemas and Fasting:  Starting a fast with a coffee enema seems to help with hunger pangs and solidifies the beginning of my fast, helping to shut down the digestive system so it can detoxify, repair and rejuvenate. (It also gives you some initial energy.)

The Coffee Enema

Coffee enemas are used routinely in the process of detoxification to stimulate the liver, control pain, nausea, general nervous tension and depression. At first they are given often—as often as up to every 8 hours.

When using coffee enemas as a retention enema, coffee enemas do not go through the digestive system and do not affect the body as a coffee beverage does. Instead, the coffee enema solution stimulates both the liver and gallbladder to release toxins, which are then flushed from the body.

Note.  Although coffee enemas are used more often in the first few days of fasting, cleansing and cancer treatments, I often see people who are overdosing on the enemas. It’s like they have a fixation on getting every last germ out of the intestinal tract. Not possible. Enemas need to be done within reason, or they can also harm the body by taking necessary nutrients and flora out of the body.  Enemas should be used for a purpose, and if you have never done them before you may want to use them under a practitioner’s supervision until your comfort level is satisfactory.

Probiotics: It’s also important to replace poor gut flora with better choices. I don’t advocate capsules of probiotics. They seem ineffective (and expensive). It’s WAY more effective to add in prebiotic foods and probiotic raw foods and ferments. A little each day will greatly increase effectiveness of immunity.

Excess use of coffee enemas over a 6-month period may deplete the body’s stores of iron and other minerals, vitamins and can cause anemia. Do not use coffee enemas for more than four months at a time.

The Coffee Enema Process:

To make coffee enemas (and any other type of enemas actually) the most effective, the patient should lie on their right side with both legs drawn up close to the abdomen. Try to hold the coffee enema in for 5-20 minutes. Some people use a plastic sheet on the floor “just in case” or put a diaper pad where you will lay, but my husband and I had no trouble just retaining the coffee enema. I lie on a beach towel on the bathroom floor while massaging my abdomen.

Do be close to a toilet though, because the coffee enema does cause peristaltic contractions and the results are marvelously effective. The easiest piece of equipment to use in this process is an enema bag. Here’s a photo of that so you know what to get. They are usually on a bottom shelf at the pharmacy or drug store.

Best enema bag for the coffee enema.

Enema bag used for the Coffee Enema.

Always use organic coffee to do a coffee enema.

Why you ask? Well, the coffee enema can really irritate the mucous membranes if you don’t (may cause an exacerbation of hemorrhoids and boils).

Dr. Max Gerson, a raw food diet advocate, recommends using three tablespoons of ground drip coffee (not instant) to one quart of water for a coffee enema.  Let the entire mixture boil for three minutes and then simmer 15 minutes more. Strain and use at body temperature. The caffeine is absorbed from the fluid within ten minutes through the hemorrhoidal veins directly and is then transported directly through the portal veins and into the liver. This stimulates the production of bile, a contraction of the liver and gets that elimination system moving.

If you are allergic to caffeine (many Blood Type B people fit into this category), you might want to use a lemon juice enema instead.

We tried several types of enemas during our 40-day juice fast and we came to the conclusion that the coffee enema was the most effective in cleansing the bowels. If you have to do an enema, we recommend this one!

Helpful Links and References for Coffee enemas: