Guide to a Youthful Digestive Tract

Sheila Yonemoto with Dr. Richard Gorris at a nutrition lecture.

My friend, Dr. Richard Gorris, from South Dakota was gracious enough to give a nutrition lecture at my office. He used to be an oral surgeon, but developed mercury poisoning as a direct result of his work as a dentist. He left dentistry to return to his love of nutrition and became a counselor/teacher/promoter of good nutrition.

His experience as a radio talk show host, a guest on TV talk shows, and a lecturer around the country made it easy for him to extend his usual 90-minute presentation to almost three hours at my office, and the audience wanted more. A second lecture had to be scheduled for the following week.

Dr. Gorris believes all degenerative disease begins in the colon, and there are only two reasons for degenerative disease: lack of nutrients absorbed into the body, and accumulation of debris such as toxins and waste material.

Dr. Gorris believes all degenerative disease begins in the colon.

Your mouth is the gateway to health or disease. Our digestive tracts are designed to process food in two days or less. Foods that can be processed within this time frame include fruits, vegetables, fish, and poultry.

Foods that take longer to process provide opportunities for toxins to be reabsorbed into the body and should be kept to a minimum or avoided entirely. Lamb takes four days to process, beef five days, the typical fast- food American diet seven days, and pork/cold cuts nine days.

Here are his guidelines:

• Maintain and rejuvenate your GI tract with probiotics and glutamine.
• Before swallowing, all food in your mouth should be in a paste form. Drink your solids. Chew your liquids. Digestion begins in the oral cavity as you mix your food with saliva.
• Your first bowel movement should occur within approximately one hour after arising, or less. Youthful people will have an additional bowel movement within approximately 30 minutes after the main meal of the day.
• Assume the correct anatomical position prior to each bowel movement: Sit up straight, knees higher than your hips, relax and eliminate your bowel mass in less than 30 seconds.
• Bowel movement observations which are very good indicators of the proper ratio of bacteria, water, waste, fiber, and bowel activity include elimination that is quick and effortless.

Feces formed and in one length like a coiled snake, golden in color, and odorless. It should float at first, then begin to disintegrate within about 30 seconds. When you wipe, there should be very little, if any, debris on the toilet paper. Respect your colon daily, faithfully, and eternally. Do a thorough bowel housekeeping and cleaning early each spring.

Make every day a multisensory one. It’s the adventure of your lifetime. I hope this helps to give you some guidelines for better health.

And one last quote to share with you from Dr. Gorris:

“He who has health has hope. He who has hope has everything.” – Arabian proverb.