Dr. Christopher’s main goal with any illness, condition, disease or patient was to go to the cause and not just mask or treat symptoms. He stated that “Our program is to go to the cause and rebuild the areas of the body that are not functioning properly and let the body do its own job of its own free will.“

So where do we start? Well the colon of course since “Improperly working bowels are the cause of over 90% of all disease on the face of the earth.” Dr. Christoper says “there are two ways of working on the bowel in order to clean it up. One is to use pure or strong laxatives to force the issue. This procedure is a habit-forming one and not well accepted by the body itself. This principle will work on the effect and give temporary relief by removing some of the compacted and congested fecal matter that is causing griping and pain. By using this procedure, we are only working on the effect and it can never give anything except temporary relief–because we are not going to the cause. Another procedure is to use regular enemas and colonics to give relief, and these can also become habit forming. As one patient said to me, ‘I get two bowel movements every day – two enemas – two bowel movements.’ In other words no enemas – no bowel movements. This again is merely working on the effect – and not going to the cause.”

In order to get the organs back into a smooth working and healthy condition, Dr. Christopher created his Lower Bowel Formula. As there are no two people alike in age, size or physical construction (and the bowel itself will differ in persons as much as do the fingerprints), most cases will start with two capsules three times a day, and then regulate the dosage from there on. If the stool seems too loose, then cut down; but if it is difficult to get a bowel movement and the stool is hard and takes much effort, then increase the amount accordingly. In order to reach the condition of a free-easy flowing movement in very difficult cases, one could take up to 40 or more capsules a day, for these herbs are only FOOD and can do no damage. Then after the hard material has broken loose and is eliminating, it will gradually decrease (these are hard incrustations of fecal matter that have been “stored” in the bowel for many years that are breaking loose and soaking up the intestinal liquids). Do not taper off the lower bowel tonic dosage so much at this point that you lose this advantageous momentum and continuity of elimination. In most cases, the improper diet has caused the peristaltic muscles to quit working, and it will take six to nine months with the aid of the lower bowel tonic for the average individual to clean out the fecal matter and to rebuild the bowel structure sufficiently in order to have the peristaltic muscles work entirely on their own. 

Most people have pounds of old fecal matter that is stored in the colon which is toxifying the system and keeping the food from being assimilated and because of this putrified condition, most people engorge themselves with many times more food than the actual body requirements. In the process they wear out their bodies trying to get nourishment and yet are still always hungry. On the other hand, when the bowel has been cleaned, the food is readily assimilated and a person can sustain himself on about one-third the quantity of his former food consumption and have some four or five times more power, vitality and life. Now the clean body is able to normally assimilate the simple food values through the cell structure in the colon, instead of it being trapped in a maze of waste, and inhibited by the hard fecal casing on the intestinal wall. For then, or earlier, the largest part of the nutritional substance had been pushed on and eliminated before it could do much good. When the body is completely clean, these herbal aids will no longer be necessary – because the food will be medicine, and your medicine will be your food. As long as you stay on the program properly, this should only be used when needed after the bowel is once cleaned. 

Dr. Christopher’s methods were always to get the body into a condition where disease couldn’t exist. Cleansing the colon was the first step. When the colon is in good working order, many symptoms throughout the body will disappear. His methods hold true today.

Jo Francks is a Master Herbalist working at the School of Natural Healing.