« Blog Home
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...

I was on a sensitive mission as I snuck into my local Dis-Chem and whispered discretely into the ear of a store assistant. “Hey Vusi,” she shouted down the aisle filled with pre-Christmas shoppers, “show this gentleman the enema buckets”.

Vusi bounded up to me with a glint in his eye, a skip in his stride and a toothy, knowing smile. “I’m a Zulu … we know everything about enemas, man,” he proclaimed loudly in one of those Pythonesque nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more moments that brought a flush to my cheeks.

Vusi ambled down the aisle, reached for a package and started to unwrap it before me and several other by now interested customers. With the skill of a blindfolded Selous Scout re-assembling an AK47, he had the equipment primed for action in matter of seconds. After some brief instruction he sent me on my way with my package, a meter of red tubing dangling behind me like an inflamed and angry serpent.

My name is Bruce and I am an enema virgin. Well I was until two weeks ago; now I’m a pro. Inserting hard plastic objects up my bum and trickle-feeding warm liquids into my colon feels, well, almost natural, like brushing one’s teeth or driving a car.

My interest in the health benefits of enemas was sparked recently after I started researching liver detoxification, which I believe we all need as we get older and our bodies accumulate increasing concentrations of environmental poisons. The liver plays a key role in the detox process and a good gallbladder/liver cleanse helps keep the body’s detox weaponry battle-ready.

You might wonder what enemas have to do with the liver. After all, the usual reason for an enema is to flush the colon. Well it turns out that there’s a special kind of enema that is said to be highly effective as a liver/blood detoxifier: coffee enemas.

If you haven’t heard about the benefits of rectal espressos or anal Arabicas or any other cheap/snide metaphors for this interesting therapy, sit back and relax, much is revealed below:

The effectiveness of the coffee enema is thus:

1. It stimulates bile flow from the gallbladder which carries toxins out of the liver. You may have tried milk thistle or dandelion to achieve such a detox, but these are herbal lightweights when compared to the kick of coffee. The herbal remedies, while stimulating some bile production, do not prevent the bile and its toxins from being reabsorbed by the body the way coffee does (the body recycles bile several times). It’s claimed that coffee enemas will move up to 98% of bile toxins out of the body.

  • 2. Two acids found in coffee (cafestol palmitate and kahweol palmitate) stimulate the glutathione s-transferase (GST) enzyme system, one of the most powerful detox mechanisms that captures and removes many kinds of carcinogens and poisons from the blood stream and then escorts them safely out of the body.

    Gar Hildenbrand, a specialist in the field, says that under the influence of a coffee enema the GST system will increase its activity by 600% to 700% above normal. “No materials other than coffee are known to stimulate it as much.”

    Hildenbrand works for the Gerson Foundation, which use coffee enemas as part of its natural treatment regime for cancer. The therapy was pioneered by Dr Max Gerson in the Thirties and his work continues today though Gerson clinics established by his daughter Charlotte in the USA, UK and Mexico. (You won’t be surprised to hear that Gerson and his coffee enemas have been pilloried by the medical establishment).

    If all this talk about the detox benefits of coffee has you thinking you can simply drink more lattes or espressos and get the same result, alas the reverse is true: drinking coffee generally ensures the re-absorbtion of toxins.

    Coffee enemas are not a quick fix. Years of toxic build-up just cannot be removed overnight, so be prepared to make them part of your lifestyle; In 2009 I’m planning on doing them at least once a week.

    Check out these websites:

    http://gersonhawaii.us/gersonarticle4.html

    http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersontherapy.html




  • Related Posts

    7 Responses to “My New Year’s resolution: Many more enemas”

    Good luck with that; I’ll stick to my standard regimen of a double espresso enjoyed orally. More bodily filters against impurities in the substance, and all that…

    (Report abuse)

    Espresso addict on December 27th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    I am waiting for a full report back on the process.

    This will confirm that you are not winding us up!

    Good luck.

    (Report abuse)

    Oscar on December 27th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Bruce, I trust you are not being serious!
    “If all this talk about the detox benefits of coffee has you thinking you can simply drink more lattes or espressos and get the same result, alas the reverse is true: drinking coffee generally ensures the re-absorption of toxins”

    Apart from the highly questionable ethics and lack of scientific validity in promoting the entire concept of ‘purging toxins’ from the body, Dr Garson’s claims are fallacious.

    By his own admission, Dr Gerson claims that:-

    “Drinking coffee causes the following problems: increases reflex response, lowers blood pressure, increases heart rate, causes insomnia and heart palpitations, over stimulates the adrenals, irritates the stomach, and leaves a ‘toxic residue’ [whatever that is] in the body.”

    Nowhere does Dr. Gerson bother to explain how, physiologically and pharmacologically, absorbing caffeine, or anything else in coffee directly (by enema) into the hemorrhoidal veins, to the inferior mesenteric vein and then to the portal vein is any different than absorbing such substances from the small intestine, to the superior mesenteric vein and then to the portal vein…i.e. by just drinking the stuff.

    Absorption may be by via different veins in the beginning, but it all ends up in the portal vein heading for the liver (as does all the gut vasculature)

    In any case there really is no physiological reason to suspect that it would make any difference whether anything in coffee is administered orally or by enema.

    Please tell me: once these ‘miracle’ substances have been absorbed, how do they remember where they came in, and how do they talk the various organs into doing something different?

    I suspect that the fascination with enemas stems from a deep subconscious Freudian fixation arising from some long forgotten childhood ‘enforced cleansing’ experience… with possible psychosexual dimensions.

    Anyway it’s a free country and I have no problem so long as ‘detox’ (mal)practitioners do not start expecting their ‘services’ to be covered by Medicare.

    (Report abuse)

    Perry Curling-Hope on December 29th, 2008 at 11:32 am

    This is either another round of quick-fix quackery, or perhaps more charitably, a narrowly focused view of what Dr Gerson proposed.

    Quoting from the doctoryourself link:
    “Max Gerson cured cancer. He did so with a strict fat-free, salt-free, low-protein, essentially vegetarian dietary regimen, based on great quantities of fresh vegetable juice, supplements, and systemic detoxification.”

    So was it the coffee up the bum that cured the cancer, or was it living a more healthly life that made the greatest difference?

    Perhaps the best answer for detoxing is to not to put the toxs in. Not a fashionable view I’ll grant you…

    (Report abuse)

    Dave C-W on December 29th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    […] My New Year’s resolution: Many more enemasThought Leader, South Africa - Dec 27, 2008My interest in the health benefits of enemas was sparked recently after I started researching liver detoxification, which I believe we all need as we get … […]

    (Report abuse)


    It sounds like you’re creating problems yourself by trying to solve this issue instead of looking at why their is a problem in the first place

    (Report abuse)

    Leah on March 12th, 2009 at 12:38 am

    What Really Helped Me Is Eating A Lot Of Fiber Rich Food..

    (Report abuse)

    karina Caroll on March 17th, 2009 at 11:14 pm

    Leave a Reply

    All comments must be approved by our editors, click here to read the editorial guidelines for comments. Please allow some time for our editors to approve your comment after posting.

    Send me the Thought Leader daily newsletter

    We have put a word limit of 250 words on all your comments


    words left

    profile
    Starting on the Rand Daily in the Seventies, Bruce spent over 20 years in print and digital media, several of them with the Weekly Mail/M&G. He was involved in the early phases of the Internet, producing the first online editions of the M&G.

    He went on to help establish M-Web and was a strategist for the Naspers group focussing on internet opportunities in BRIC countries.

    In 2004 he embarked on a new career in complementary health and is currently CEO of Absolute Organix.
    Tell a Friend Technorati RSS
    Bruce's links
    more posts
    Do you defrag? Really? Do you watch while you defrag? Like a teenage voyeur behind the picket fence gasping as Sally steps into her bath? I have it...
    As the election draws near I am reminded of a throw-away scene in a frivolous little movie called Confetti, a mockumentary about a wedding competition...
    I am of the opinion that you can tell a person's character by the default homepage they keep. As your web browser increasingly assumes the role of a T...
    Im betting that Carl Niehauss cortisol levels must be through the roof as the relentless stresses of being an ex-spin doctor on the ropes and on the...
    'Tis the season of goodwill and forgiveness. And I'm in the spirit and 100% ready to forgive Terror Lekota for being a truly shite Cabinet minister an...
    latest activity
    Blog Statistics
    Total reads 17641
    Total comments 270
    Bruce's tags
    advertisement
        Mail & Guardian Online Headlines
    • National
    • Business
    • Africa
    • World
    • Sport
    All material copyright of the author, or the Mail & Guardian, unless otherwise specified
    Author Login
    Afrigator