Healthy Connections » Darlene Holloway

Preventative Care: The Benefits of Detoxification

Darlene Holloway — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:14:10 +0000

Most people seek medical care only when they are feeling bad – a stomach ache, a cold or flu, pain, or other ailment. In addition, the ready availability of over-the-counter medications and online medical sites leads many to self-diagnose. This often leads to misdiagnosis or prolonged unmanaged care. Visiting a health care practitioner before feeling the adverse effects of an illness can be beneficial and may lead to better long-term health.

The preventative medical practice of detoxification can assist in ridding the body of excess toxic minerals and chemicals that may have accumulated. Everything we ingest has an effect on us, and often our digestive systems are not able to effectively handle highly processed and chemical-laden foods. The build-up of toxins in the body can lead to a variety of illnesses including headaches, chronic fatigue, acid-reflux, digestive disorders, arthritis, and even cancer and other degenerative diseases. Darlene Holloway at Alternative Health Center in Cary comments:

Colorectal cancers are the second largest cause of cancer deaths in this country, with the expectation this year of nearly 60,000 deaths out of about 150,000 reported cases. Further, the survival rate for people with colon cancers found early is better than 90 percent—so the great health challenge is to educate people about colon health and encourage appropriate screening.

Colon hydrotherapy is a very effective and therapeutic way to detoxify the body. Warm, purified water is introduced into the colon, where it gently dissolves and removes waste material, such as feces, gas, mucus, and toxic compounds. The result is a cleaner, healthier colon and improved overall health. Periodic cleansing of the colon prevents stagnation and minimizes the exposure of the colon wall to chemicals and other potential cancer-causing agents.

Another effective therapy is ion cleanse detoxification. This process removes excess acid and other toxic substances from the body and helps to neutralize the body’s pH balance. Typically, ion cleanse detoxification is done via a footbath, during which osmosis extracts toxic compounds from throughout the body. Using colon hydrotherapy or ion cleanse detoxification periodically will aid in the removal of excess chemicals and lead to better digestive function and overall health.

By becoming more aware of what we put into our mouths and avoiding processed foods, sugar, salt, and other chemicals, consumers may prevent many digestive and health-related illnesses. Diet is a critical issue. We’re not seeking one ‘right’ avenue of approach, but are concerned chiefly with the function of the body as a complete system.

With the abundance of natural and organic foods available at local farmer’s markets and natural health food stores, consumers have many choices for eating foods that benefit the body. In conjunction with using natural and organic foods, a licensed health practitioner can recommend other ways to detoxify the body. So, instead of waiting until you feel bad enough to visit your doctor, be proactive about your health, and learn how to detoxify with colon hydrotherapy, ion cleanse and other natural therapies.

Darlene Holloway, LMBT, CT, ST, is a nationally certified Colon Hydrotherapist. She can be reached at Alternative Health Center, 919 Kildaire Farm Road in Cary. Phone 919-380-0023.

Article by Megan Cutter

Journey to Recovery with Detoxification

Darlene Holloway — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:56:40 +0000

In her mid-fifties, Eleanor—a real patient with an assumed name—began taking a medication cocktail to deal with strong and unpleasant menopausal symptoms. The results were amazing and consequential.

Over a six-month period, Eleanor lost 70 pounds and more than half of the hair on her head. And she had become allergic to almost everything. “Doctors were baffled—they simply couldn’t figure out what was going on,” she recalls. “I kept breaking out with terrible rashes, and finally I had to wear a mask outside of my home to help curb my sensitivities.”

In this weakened condition, she found her way to Darlene Holloway at the Alternative Health Center in Cary. “I knew almost instantly that I had come to the right person in the right place,” Eleanor says. “It is a healing environment, and she is a healing presence.”

Ms. Holloway, noted for her skill and experience with colonic irrigation and other detox modalities, was, like her professional colleagues, at a loss to quickly explain the physical, mental, and emotional issues presented by her new client. “But I felt certain that a gentle, thoughtful, balanced detoxification program offered the best chance for improving her condition.”

It was a slow journey to recovery, but detoxification—with colonic irrigation, ion cleanse, and manual lymphatic drainage massage— has, many months later, brought Eleanor to a place where she now feels “90 percent normal. After two years, I have my hair back. I’ve regained the lost weight. I care for my grandchildren almost every day. I long ago was able to set aside my facial mask; I can eat regular foods and a balanced diet, and can pretty much engage in whatever activities I like. In other words, thanks to this work and this woman, I have my life back.”

Chemical sensitivities offer a special challenge, notes Ms. Holloway. “If the causative agent is in the interstitial fluids of the body, the organs of the body, or in the colon, if it is not flushed out then healing cannot take place. It simply recalculates. If the colon is not eliminating on a regular, effective basis, the causing agent will simply recycle. And recycling the second time in the liver is more harmful than the first time.

“So even if bowels are moving on a daily basis, if a client has harmful chemicals or reactive medications or pesticides in their system, they need increased bowel movements to eliminate the source of the problem. Often, people take cleansing products, but that does not help flush out toxins from the other bodies and organ systems. Juicing is often helpful, but you cannot prescribe juicing over the phone. Each person is different, each health condition is different, and they each need to be evaluated and treated individually.

“This is, very often, a long-distance run and not a sprint. In my experience, it takes almost ten times as long to heal as it does to get sick. Understandably, everyone is looking for a quick fix, but quick fixes are not healings and we care about healing of mind, body, and spirit. We’re looking at the body as an inter related whole instead of treating a symptom. If we treat a symptom, we can get caught up in a vicious feedback loop: symptom, cause, effect. Our goal is not simply to relieve a symptom. Our goal is to promote true health and healing.”

For more information about colon hydrotherapy and other therapies offered at the center, contact:
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CENTER OF CARY
919 Kildaire Farm Road
Cary, NC 27511
Telephone: (919) 380-0023
Visit our web site: Alternative Health Center of Cary
Read our blog: Colon Cleanse NC

Setting the Stage for Imbalance

Darlene Holloway — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:56:19 +0000

Darlene Holloway, founder of the Alternative Health Center of Cary, has learned in nearly three decades of experience that “colon health and full body health are inextricably linked—you can’t have one without the other.”

She has taken her work as a colon hydrotherapist to the highest level, and was recently recognized as Colon Therapist of the Year by the International Association for Colon Hydrotherapy.

“Balance is a key issue in achieving health for the body,” she notes, “and over time I’ve become ever more aware of the link between the mind, the emotions, and our physical health, and the balancing act that goes on in those three arenas of life.”

Recently a middle-age woman on hormone replacement therapy under the guidance of her physician was referred to Ms. Holloway because of chronic constipation. Under her doctor’s direction, she had been taking laxatives for several months with limited success. “Actually,” says Ms. Holloway, “she was completely out of balance in all parts of her life: no bowel movements, poor eating habits, virtually no exercise, and emotional distress. And she was holding on, refusing to let go.

“So we began the colon hydrotherapy protocol, and our objective was to get her colon moving. In our second therapy session, she began to weep—and she loosened her grip on her personal demons. Years earlier, she revealed, she had been sexually abused. For years she harbored anger, resentment, and shame that she never expressed—not even to herself. But when she very haltingly began to talk about this, she did begin to let go—and her bowels started moving. I’m a great believer in the benefits of colon hydrotherapy, and I also respect and honor the non-physical dimensions of what is often happening in the human body. I referred this woman to a psychologist; we continue to work together, and today she would agree she is much healthier in all parts of her life.

“Our purpose with colon hydrotherapy,” she says, “in terms of physical goals, is to hydrate the system, remove waste, stimulate peristalsis—muscle movement—rehabilitate the nerves, muscles, glands, circulatory, and immune systems that form the components of the digestive system, and to reposition the intestines.

“I certainly would never suggest that colon hydrotherapy helps cure colon cancer or any other disease,” she says, “but it clearly offers significant preventive benefits for many health problems including cancer.

“Everything we put in our mouth touches and effects the walls of the stomach, small intestine, and colon—the large intestine. When these substances or their by-products are toxic—which increasingly is virtually impossible to avoid—they damage the intestinal wall and cells, intoxicate the nerves and glands, and can be absorbed through the walls into the blood and lymph and ultimately to the cells and tissue. And we become seriously out of balance.”

Health care professionals in increasing numbers are recognizing the health benefits of colon irrigation, Ms. Holloway says. “Dr. Robert Young, a respected microbiologist, has a lot to say about colon health in his book, The pH Miracle. He points out in his book that ‘the colon is very sensitive. Any injury, surgery, or other stress, including emotional upset and negative thinking, can change its friendly resident bacteria as well as its general ability to function smoothly and efficiently. Incomplete digestion here sets the stage for intestinal imbalance throughout the digestive tract, and for the colon to become a literal cesspool.’” Dr. Young’s work centers on the need to maintain pH balance in the body between acid and base, principally through the foods we choose to eat.

Many people seek out colon hydrotherapy for relief of a variety of ills, from headaches to arthritis, lupus to chronic fatigue. And, points out Ms. Holloway, “there is a strong emotional-spiritual component to this work, as well. For many, such as the patient I mentioned, a colonic is an opportunity to ‘let go,’ and they have a sense of release that is both physical and emotional.”

Colon Hydrotherapy: Significant Health Benefits

Darlene Holloway — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:31:17 +0000

The large intestine—the colon, a muscular tube that is usually about five to six feet long—is a body part that gets a lot of attention, and for good reason, notes Darlene Holloway of Alternative Health Center of Cary. While she and her colleagues offer numerous healing therapies, Ms. Holloway is best known for her work in colon irrigation— or colon hydrotherapy a safe, effective method of cleansing the large intestine by gently flushing with filtered water.

“Our purpose with colon hydrotherapy, in terms of physical goals, is to hydrate the system, remove waste, stimulate peristalsis—muscle movement—rehabilitate the nerves, muscles, glands, and circulatory and immune systems that form the components of the digestive system, and to reposition the intestines,” she explains. “We certainly do not diagnose illnesses in our practice, and I would never suggest that colon hydrotherapy helps cure colon cancer or any other disease,” she says, “but colonic therapy clearly offers significant preventive and ameliorative benefits for many health problems including cancer.

Many people seek out colon hydrotherapy for relief of a variety of ills, from headaches to arthritis, lupus to chronic fatigue. And, points out Ms. Holloway, “there is a strong emotional-spiritual component to this work, as well. For many, a colonic is an opportunity to ‘let go,’ and they have a sense of release that is both physical and emotional. Occasionally, I work with women who are the victims of sexual abuse—often long suppressed— and in many instances colonic therapy proves to be a ‘letting go’ for them, as well.”

Colon Therapist of the Year

Ms. Holloway is a graduate of the Florida Institute of Natural Health-Florida School of Massage, in practice since 1981, and is licensed in Florida both as a colonic therapist and massage therapist—the only state, she notes, that requires licensing of colonic therapists “offering the most rigorous and highest level of training available in this specialty area.” She also holds the highest instructor-level membership in the International Association of Colon Therapists, and is certified by the National Board of Colon Hydrotherapy. Recently, that organization presented Ms. Holloway with its first Colon Therapist of the Year Award, recognizing three decades of outstanding service to the profession.

“In my training and my work,” she says, “I have come to deeply understand the strong beneficial relationship between massage and colonic therapy. The colon is simply a muscle, and as with any muscle, without proper exercise it becomes lazy and less active. When I work with a client during colon hydrotherapy, gentle massaging of the abdominal area, following the direction of the colon, is an important part of the process. The goal is detoxification— to move toxins out of the system. The colon needs to be actively involved to do that. Peristalsis refers to the muscle motion of the entire gastrointestinal tract that in rhythmic contractions and expansions propels matter from mouth to anus. Peristalsis needs high fluids, plenty of physical exercise, living food, and a harmonious emotional and mental state in order to function properly.”