When you type “colon cleanse diet” into Google, you will see numerous ‘get clean quick’ gimmicks and fads. Dr. Oz’s 48-Hour Weekend Cleanse, overpriced “detoxification” supplements, colon-cleaning foods lists, etc., just to name a few.

Yet, the REAL colon cleanse diet is, and always has been, Prof. Arnold Ehret’s Mucusless Diet Healing System. Not only did he create one of the oldest modern-day plant-based healing systems, he was one of the first to emphasize the necessity of clean colon to Western audiences. The Mucusless Diet as a Healing System uses an approach to cleansing that is far superior to any 48 hour, 2-week long, or 21-day cleanse.

To put Ehret’s writings into context, take a look at my review of a video featuring colonscopy footage of colons before and after a camouflaged mucusless diet.

Spira Reviews Colonoscopy Videos: The Mucusless Diet Healing System is the REAL Colon Cleanse Diet

As I mention in the video, Ehret was one of the first to talk about colon health. He explained:

Your constitutional encumbrances throughout the entire system are the source of every disease; the greatest and most harmful source of lowered vitality, imperfect health, lack of strength and endurance, and any and all imperfect conditions. All disease has its source in the colon, never perfectly emptied since your birth. Nobody on earth today has an ideally clean body, and therefore perfectly clean blood. What medical science calls “normal health” is in fact a pathological condition. (Annotated, Revised, and Edited Mucusless Diet Healing System)

Consider the follow excerpt from the Annotated, Revised, and Edited Mucusless Diet Healing System:

How It Looks in the Human Colon

It is of utmost importance that through our diagnoses we must learn as much as possible the general appearance of the inside of the human body. Our diagnosis therefore consists in finding out the degree of quantities of individual waste matter of the patient.

Experts in autopsy state they have found that from 60 percent to 70 percent of the colons examined have foreign matters such as worms and decades-old feces-stones. The inside walls of the over-intestines are encrusted by old, hardened feces and resemble in appearance the inside of a filthy stovepipe.

I had obese patients that eliminated from their body as much as 50 to 60 pounds of waste, and 10 to 15 pounds alone from the colon—mainly consisting of foreign matters, especially old, hardened, feces. The average so-called “healthy” person of today carries continually with them, since childhood, several pounds of never-eliminated feces. One “good stool” a day means nothing. A fat and sick person is in fact a living “cesspool.” A distinct surprise to me was that a number of my patients in such condition had already undertaken so-called “nature cures.”

Pictures above and below are from Bernard Jensen’s Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management. It is the fetid waste eliminated through colon irrigation. Although Jensen was a huge fan of Ehret’s work, the diet suggested in his book is very problematic. But the pictures are priceless.

Colon Cleanse Diet

In Ehret’s system, it is advised to not eat most fruits with most vegetables. He is a proponent of fruit-only meals being separated from steamed vegetable and salad-based meals, although there are certain exceptions that are discussed in the book (see the Mucusless Diet for details). However, Ehret often talks about certain food combinations that create an “intestinal broom.” He explained “the entire effect or benefit from raw food is the rough fiber of uncooked vegetables which relieves constipation and acts as an ideal ‘mucus broom’ in the intestines.” Essentially, Ehret’s food choices, preparations, and combinations are designed to act as an intestinal broom in the colon.

Internal Baths (aka Enemas)

Ehret was a strong advocate of colon irrigation, primarily enemas. Enemas, also called “internal baths” by Ehret, are discussed in several different contexts throughout Ehret’s literature. During fasting, it is highly recommended, perhaps emphasized as mandatory, to regularly do them. In Rules during the Fast in the Mucusless Diet, Ehret says to “Clean the lower intestines as well as you can with enemas, at least every other day.” During the “Transition Diet,” he said “if you do not experience a regular bowel movement before retiring, always help with an enema, a laxative, or both.”

Colon Cleanse may also be a great tool, although consistent lemon juice enemas have been found to be better than only a few colon cleanses.

Some modern-day mucusless diet practitioners do lemon-juice and distilled water enemas everyday (for detailed lemon juice enema instructions, see Spira Speaks: Dialogs and Essays on the Mucusless Diet Healing System. Although Ehret does not say the words “everyday,” he also makes a larger general statement in the section Internal Baths:

During the transition period, even though you have regular bowel movements, it is advisable to wash out the lower colon. The sticky waste, slimy mucus, and various poisons which Nature is attempting to eject should be helped along as much as possible. A small-bulb infant syringe can be used after the regular bowel movement, but for a thorough cleansing, two to three quarts of water should be used. . .(Annotated, Revised, and Edited Mucusless Diet Healing System).

This statement suggests a general usage that is akin to regular hygiene, like brushing one’s teeth. And keep in mind that the transition diet, as long-term mucusless dieter Brother Air has said, might take more than 30 or 40 years. Some people also view practice the mucusless diet as if it is one long, perpetual, and transitional, fasting period. And as pointed out above, Ehret explained that enemas are vital for fasting periods.

Don’t be frightened by the prospect  of doing an enema everyday if you are new to them. At the minimum, I would do them during periods of fasting or initial attempts at being mucus-free. When you crave really bad foods, like meat or dairy, taking an enema instead can be a lifesaver. If it helps, the idea of “regular” colon irrigation may be easier to understand. But to see the benefit from them, they have to be done regularly for a period of time systematically combined with the mucusless diet.

• Fun Fact: The first place I’ve seen lemon juice recommended for enemas is in Johanna Brandt’s (a student of Ehret’s) “Grape Cure” (it’s unfortunate the diet outside of grapes in this book is lousy). Brother Air is the person that found benefit from exclusively doing lemon juice enemas during his “transition diet” and fasting periods (which ends up being everyday).

Innerclean Herbal Formula

Finally, Ehret did offer a herbal formula in the Mucusless Diet designed to be a G.I. Broom. Following a list of herbs and their amounts for the formula, Ehret explains “The ‘Intestinal Broom’ is easy to use. Usually a small amount, about the quantity that fits on half a teaspoon or less, swallowed with a glassful of water, is sufficient for adults. It may be increased or decreased according to your own reaction.”

Although the formula is referred to as “Ehret’s Intestinal Broom” in the Mucusless Diet, it was marketed by Fred Hirsch as “Innerclean.” Versions of this formula can still be found on the market today, although the ingredients are sometimes a bit different.

Conclusion

In light of the above, I submit to you, gentle reader, that Prof. Arnold Ehret’s Mucusless Diet Healing System is the truly the real colon cleanse diet. In closing, I leave you with a message from Ehret:

After careful and intelligent study of the foregoing lessons, you now know that disease consists of an unknown, decayed, and fermented mass of matter in the human body, decades old—especially in the intestines and colon. You likewise know how unwise and ignorant it is to think that knowing what to eat is, alone, a complete diet of healing.

None of the recognized authorities know the tremendous importance of a thorough and deep cleansing of the human “cesspool.” All are more or less “fooled” by nature when they advise eating of fruits, with stomach and intestines clogged up by mucus and decomposed protein foods, eaten from childhood onwards right into adulthood and beyond. (Annotated, Revised, and Edited Mucusless Diet Healing System).