If you're eating...well, anything, now would be the time to put it down. Consider yourself warned that the following topic makes many uneasy and some even queasy... But it's an important discussion and easier to discuss on the Vine than, say, face to face. It's about cancer...more specifically, colon cancer...more specifically, poop.

In 2009, there were 146,970 new cases of rectal and colon cancer diagnosed. Boy, not much worse than finding out you have cancer - unless it's a cancer of your butt. Pretty hard to purposely reach for sympathy when you have to talk about your butt - more specifically, the inside of your butt.

I am not going to bore you with facts and figures. I am going to ask you to consider the magnificent function your body has of expelling toxins and waste from your body - what an amazing process! How lucky are we that we don't have to allow nasty waste products, gunk, and sludge to build up in our bodies. Nope, our body packages it and sends it out of us. AH! It's refreshing really....

Everyone knows that to flush those nasty things out of our bodies we need fiber (20-35 gms though in some countries they consume up to 77 grms daily!) and water (enough to ensure that fiber doesn't turn to paste, I shudder to say 8 glasses, what a cliche!). Fiber w/o water - water w/o fiber is like a hand w/o fingers.

But more importantly, once you consume your fiber and water, you need a place to expel those toxins once nature calls. Many people work in places where there are only public bathrooms. If you have manners, you probably hold it in until you get home. tsk, tsk, tsk. Meanwhile, those solidified toxins are sitting in your intestines, doing who-knows-what to the lining (where the cells begin to morph into cancer). At best, holding it in causes constipation (mild or severe). At my one office, I fought hard to have new bathrooms built that had walls between each stall (floor to ceiling), music playing, and plenty of ventilation - so no excuses for my co-worker to allow their body to be poisoned!

Most Americans have no idea how good it feels to have their toxin removal system functioning well. You feel light, energetic, clean, less grouchy, and did I say light? Your intestines will be clear to absorb vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

It's not fun to talk about, it can be downright embarrassing, but it is important. You wouldn't hold your breath, you don't carry your garbage in your purse all day - why hold toxins and garbage in your body?

So, try it today, get some extra fiber, drink some extra water, and get rid of it all as soon as you need to - it will change your world. I don't know if it will prevent you from getting colon cancer, but it might - and it definitely won't cause you to get colon cancer.

So, go ahead.... Fiber + Water + a clean, private bathroom = a happy butt

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_1x_what_are_the_key_statistics_for_colon_and_rectum_cancer.asp
http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Erg-Foo/Fiber.html