Stress can trigger attacks, but poor diet is also a culprit. Cohn’s disease is an enlargement, hardening and scarring of the mucous membrane lining the ileum, the last part of the small intestine.

The intestine narrows so that passage of chime is difficult, leading to bloating and pain about an hour after a meal. Cohn’s is usually treated and prednisone or some other synthetic cortical, which can produce dramatic short-term results. Unfortunately, in the long-term, many serious side effects ensue. Hemorrhoids are actually varicosities of the veins in the anal canal, leading to inflammation, protrusion, bleeding and pain on elimination. They are typically treated and stool softener but long term treatment must address the weakness in the veins and muscles surrounding the rectum. Fiber is a catchall term defined as that portion of the diet that is not enzymatic ally digested by our digestive enzymes and thus does not directly serve as a source of nourishment. (Fiber is broken down by a process of bacterial fermentation in the digestive tracts of animals, and to a much lesser extent in the human colon.) The word is misleading because dietary fiber is not fibrous nor long and stringy, and can even be soluble in water. In general, the various types of fiber are polysaccharides; that is, complex chains of sugars. 

The definition includes cellulose and nitrocellulose from Soma Biotics plant walls, pectin’s (part of the “ground” substance of fruits) and mucilage’s and gums, which are non-structural components of plant cells (especially abundant in apples and the white portions of citrus). Cellulose is composed of glucose molecules joined in a chain-like structure (as opposed to starch where the glucose molecules are more loosely joined and can be broken by enzymatic action); hemicelluloses, a component of many vegetables, is composed of sugar units; pectin, a polysaccharide made mainly of chains of galacturonic acid (a derivative of galaxies) units, forms a gel in the presence of sugar and acid, hence its use in making jams and jellies; and gums and mucilage’s have a variety of structures and uses, mainly as food additives like guar gum, agar and carrageen an. Until fairly recently, the medical profession warned against overconsumption of fiber, especially for those suffering from digestive problems. Fiber’s reputation rose and the work of Dennis Burkett in Africa, who proposed that the excellent intestinal health of Africans was due to a diet rich in fibrous grains and tubers. Oat bran became popular and the medical community hopped on the bran wagon, recommending high fiber diets as a way to avoid modern diseases–cancer, heart disease and constipation. 

Results of research on the benefits of fiber have been mixed; many studies do show a correlation between diets rich in fiber and low rates of cancer and heart disease, although these results may simply mean that those who can afford to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, or who make a conscious choice to consume whole grains, have lower rates of disease than those consuming processed food. Those who eat more fiber also tend to smoke less, drink less alcohol and consume more nutrients than the general population. On the other hand, the Harvard Nurses Study, which studied 89,000 female nurses for 16 years, reported no association between fiber intake and the risk of colorectal cancer, a finding that set off ripples of head-scratching in the medical community. It is always difficult to draw conclusions from epidemiological data, but there is one study that should serve as a warning to the fiber brigade. Researchers fed four groups of rats on diets high in alfalfa, wheat bran, cellulose and pectin for six weeks and then examined the jejunum and the mid-colon using electron microscopy. All groups suffered from mucosal surface changes that could interfere and nutritional absorption. Bran provoked the least severe changes, followed by cellulose followed by pectin, followed by alfalfa. Those consuming pectin and alfalfa suffered from severe degeneration of the intestinal villa (Am J Clan Nut 1981 Feb; 34(2):218-28). Humans do not eat alfalfa, but they commonly eat lots of pectin from fresh fruit and cellulose in whole grains. 

This study raises a red flag, especially for those and digestive difficulties. Common whole grain foods and even fresh fruit may have a real downside. The rat study findings point to the wisdom of traditional food preparation methods. Throughout the world, indigenous groups took great care and the preparation of grains, by soaking or sour leavening them for a long period of time. In Africa, grains are made into a sour porridge or a fermented beverage called sorghum beer, processes that take several days and in which cellulose is partially broken down. They also prepare tubers like cassava by throwing them in a hole to ferment. As for fresh fruit, perhaps we should take a cue from Asian cultures who typically cook high-pectin fruits like apples, pears, peaches and plums. Stewed fruit is an old-fashioned dish–who makes stewed fruit anymore? Here is another traditional floodway that should be resurrected. Coconut Oil for Digestion Coconut oil is rich in medium-chain fatty acids that provide unique benefits for the digestive process. They have anti-microbial properties; that is, they fight against pathogenic viruses, yeasts, bacteria and parasites in the gut. These special fats are also the preferred food for beneficial bacteria in the colon. 

For those who have gall bladder problems and difficulty in digesting fats, coconut oil can be very useful because the medium-chain fatty acids do not need to be acted on by the bile salts. And for those who have trouble digesting milk and cream, coconut milk and coconut cream can serve as substitutes. Best of all, the body uses the medium-chain fatty acids for energy and rarely stores them as fat. Coconut oil aids digestion and boosts metabolism–wonderful benefits that come in a delicious package. An Interesting Theory In a fascinating book called Salt Deficiency: The Cause of All Serious Diseases, author Martin J. Lara describes the importance of unrefined salt in providing all the trace minerals the body needs. Lara contends that the result of trace mineral deficiencies is constipation because the body holds the fiber-rich waste in the colon so that it can ferment, a process that releases trace minerals the body needs. While fermentation is taking place, the body continues to remove water from the feces, resulting in hard and impacted stools. Most textbooks now recognize that some fiber is broken down by fermentation in the colon. Lara explains that when a person is deficient in minerals, particularly trace minerals, he does not retain enough of the liquids he drinks–instead of hydrating the body, water is quickly eliminated via the kidneys. 

This is another reason the body retains feces in the bowel, in order to extract as much water as possible. Lara describes a condition he calls partial constipation, which is often unrecognized because an individual and this condition may still have regular bowel movements. However, waste material can remain in the colon several days before it is eliminated, undergoing fermentation and compaction due to the removal of water. One sign of partial constipation is strong smelling urine, especially in the morning. Colonic irrigations can provide temporary relief from this condition, but they do not solve the problem. A strong sphincter muscle (called the inner sphincter) separates the lower part of the colon (called the sigmoid colon) from the rectum. Under normal conditions, feces pass through the rectum only during bowel movements. When the sigmoid colon enlarges after years of carrying large amounts of feces undergoing fermentation, the inner sphincter becomes weak due to the pressure and the feces normally stored in the colon descend into the rectum, a condition that leads to autointoxication. The colon absorbs only water and small compounds like mineral ions, but the rectum is very absorptive, which is why medicines work when given as suppositories. 

Furthermore, the blood that absorbs nutrients from the small and large intestines goes into the liver where toxins can be neutralized. However, since the rectum is not designed to store waste, the blood that leaves this organ does not go into the liver; thus toxins enter the blood stream and are carried to other organs, including the head, heart and lungs. Lara’s solution: always use unrefined sea salt on your food plus take 2 grams of sea salt in a mug of warm water every morning for complete and easy elimination. When it comes to our eating habits, it's clear that we're doing it wrong. We may be in the midst of health crisis, but there are few practical solutions for dealing and it. But now a growing chorus of people is claiming that modern and processed foods are to blame, insisting that we should instead take an "evolutionary approach" to our diets and turn to foods that were eaten by our Paleolithic ancestors. Critics have responded by proclaiming it a misguided step in the wrong direction. Either way, pale eating has become a major lifestyle.