Healthy Eating
Dec 25Not only will these foods help protect your gut—they all happen to be delicious and nutritious additions to your diet. Check out these wonderful foods that cleanse your colon.
What does your colon do, anyway?
Though your small intestine does the heavy lifting when it comes to digesting food, the colon’s function is to suck all the moisture out of that food, says Michael A. Valente, DO, a colorectal surgeon at Cleveland Clinic. “Your colon draws the water back into your system to hydrate you,” he adds. And yes, it also stores and helps eliminate waste—a good reason to seek out these foods to cleanse your colon.
Your diet matters
Just like your food choices impact your heart, brain, and muscles, they also affect your colon. “In order for your colon to be healthy, you need to put the right foods in,” says Dr. Valente. Read up on 7 lifestyle habits that can help prevent colon cancer.
Here’s why your colon needs care
Colon cancer is on the rise in young people—for the first time ever, notes the American Cancer Society. While experts aren’t exactly sure why, “we think the environment, including a worsening diet, is playing a role in this increase,” says Dr. Valente. Check out the foods that GI doctors avoid.