how to Heal the stomach

Consider reading the Cardinal Principles of Healing article in this blog.

From the mouth, the chewed food, well-mixed (we hope) with saliva, descends down the esophagus. At the top, behind the mouth at the beginning of swallowing, there is both conscious and autonomic control. As the smooth muscle of swallowing commences its peristaltic action, the epiglottis covers the trachea (wind pipe) to prevent food and liquid from entering. Below this junction the esophagus changes quickly to pure smooth muscle with little sensation other than spasm (as is the case with all smooth muscle). Normally, the food descends over the next few seconds or up to a minute as the esophagus peristaltic action (muscle contractions of a tube that push things in one direction) moves the food to the upper sphincter of the stomach and then through that sphincter (a sphincter muscle is a ring that can close tightly to prevent things from going through. We have this at the bladder and the anus to prevent flow when we do not wish it. We have many sphincters throughout the digestive tract.).

The action of the stomach actually starts in the mouth. The mouth will allow sampling of the food while you chew and prep the stomach for the specific food that is coming. The stomach makes specific secretions which then enter the bag (made from three layers of smooth muscle and lined with mucus membrane and glands that secrete enzymes and acid and factors [such as intrinsic factor] which help digest specific foods) before the food even arrives. The food arrives and the process begins. Meanwhile, the rest of the digestive tract begins to prepare for the contents of the stomach. Protein is broken down in the stomach. B 12 is connected with a facilitating molecule called "intrinsic factor" and many minerals (notably iron and calcium) are ionized to get them ready to absorb. Water is also ionized in the stomach and made acidic so that it can be used properly. Obviously, may symptoms may appear from the kidneys, to the blood, to general hydration, to thyroid function, to energy levels, to food reactions, to undigested protein, or bloat due to poor processing or sampling at the stomach.

The stomach is a crock-pot where heat and vitality is infused into our food to help make it part of us, full of vitality and a gift to every cell. It is designed to work with raw ingredients, primarily plant ingredients. It "cooks" the items taken in in very real ways and from the mouth and stomach the body takes samples to determine how to prepare and extract nutrients and how best to use what is there. It is a selective kind of cooking because it is preparing whole nutrients to be broken down appropriately. It is highly intelligent and is measured throughout the body.

Having the stomach work like an intelligent crock pot, hot and selectively preparing nutrients for the next phase of digestion is so very essential. It will activate many other systems, brain function and thyroid and liver function. These can become deranged and the thyroid can become very low functioning if the stomach does not work. Many people who struggle with obesity are simply eating stimulating food to keep the stomach going because the system is intolerable without this. Ironic then that we cut the stomach out to help the obese person lose weight. The stomach needs to work, to process food and to have vitality between meals. If this is never resolved, or if a person has gastric bypass surgery, over time, a person can adapt to a very low intake of food or only raw fruits and vegetables, which will digest pretty well lower down in the digestive tract.

Meals are better utilized when they are simpler and raw. The more complex or cooked a food is, the more problems it presents. Processing food in chemical ways makes it impossible for the body to understand or wisely utilize. It is stimulation and force acted upon the body without nourishment and balance and medicine. It is just a drug and will deplete the body, not feed it.

Just cooking will destroy micronutrients, oxidize minerals, destroy enzymes, proteins and water soluble vitamins. These cannot be made up by supplementing, we do not even know with what to supplement and the supplement does not provide the needed items where they are needed when they are needed at the microscopic cellular level. It is whistling in the dark. It is hopeless desperation to solve a problem which cannot be solved on that premise.

The stomach preps things in general ways, like with acid. It preps things in specific ways, such as with key enzymes. The human body is not designed to provide all the enzymes needed to break down food. It is not designed to provide all the hormones it needs or micronutrients or vitamins. We are so shallow and infantile in our understanding of nutrition at this point. Numerous studies for 100 years have shown that we are designed to be raw food, plant-based eaters. We tolerate animal products best (that is to say, we can use it with benefit) when raw or fermented. We do not tolerate cooked muscle meat at all.

The book "Nature's First Law" by Arlin, Dini and Wolfe is a good read to understand the philosophy and importance of a raw plant diet and something about why, even when raw, animal products shorten life. They may preserve life at times and they may be clinically useful at times, but they do simultaneously shorten life. Nature gives longer life to creators and takes life from killers and consumers. Plants exist symbiotically with us so that we may be nourished without taking, but as part of the creative cycle.

This is supposed to be an article about healing the stomach, but it is part of that discussion to understand that we need lots of raw plant food. You do not need to be a dogmatic raw foodist or a vegetarian or an unstable flag-waving vegan to get your stomach healthy, but you cannot do it without a significant percentage of your food as raw plants (primarily fruits and vegetables and some seeds and nuts and also grains, but grains must be treated with care due to generations of severe abuse of grains).

This is because the kind of metabolic acids that humans need to be sane and calm (brain), flexible and strong (kidneys), have good digestion without food reactions (stomach and gut), have a healthy immune system, resistant to viruses (immune tissue, lymph, lymph nodes, some endocrine glands) and to have healthy skin that keeps infection away from mucus membranes and injuries, only come from certain acids found in plants and fermented plants.

Most notably two acids are helpful: acetic acid (vinegar) and lactic acid (sauerkraut, kim chi, yogurt, sourdough, real fermented pickles) but also including malic acid (in the rose family, grapes and other fruit). There are at least 5 acids found in honey. Citric acid is one of them and is not helpful for metabolic acid levels as it digests highly alkaline, but the rest are helpful contributors. Garlic and onions have some sulfur-based acids which are helpful. Animal fat also contains helpful metabolic acids (think butter, fish oil, organ meats). The blueberry family is helpful for metabolic acids and acid building blocks.

I have long used Cal Amo for each of the systems above. It is comprised of common minerals bound to highly acidic molecules. The formula has changed of late and is not as effective, prompting the need to advance discussion on all helpful metabolic acids. In addition to adding vinegar and sauerkraut, I also use phosfood now as a supplement as well.

Some things are acidic but leech out useful metabolic acids. These are lean protein, refined sugar and flour.

Source acids is one key part of stomach health. A healthy microbiome provides vitamins, enzymes, nutrients of many kinds and lots of metabolic acids as mentioned above. If we ate wisely and avoided things that kill the microbiome, we might have few if any modern diseases. People who have gone crazy are using antimicrobial soaps and cleaning everything to the point of trying to sterilize their environment and will not let their kids run around barefoot (and maybe they shouldn't, considering what they have been spraying on the lawn) and they bathe in their chlorinated water...these folks are destroying their microbiomes which would produce the acids which would prevent disease and would make them sane again. We need to think this over sometimes.

Another key part of stomach health is circulation. It has to have blood supply and not be physically stressed. When we hold our breath we get quite a bit of physical stress on the stomach. Belly breathing is one way to release that stress.

The magic bullet for stomach health is cayenne pepper. Just a pinch in warm water 15 minutes before each meal will make the stomach digest food again instead of reacting to it. This should be done with plenty of raw fruits and vegetables in the diet to insure that protein needs are met (protein needs will NEVER be met...CANNOT be met by eating cooked animal products. None of that protein is usable!).

Very helpful is a splash of apple cider vinegar (raw of course) in a large amount of water (a quart or two liters). This should be just enough to make the water taste sweet...not strong. This will be the only drink all the time. This will nourish and restore the stomach over time until it works properly.

So up to this point, we have the following instructions:

1. Raw apple cider vinegar in our drinking water, just a splash but all the time.

2. A gut full of sauerkraut, meaning add a little sauerkraut to each meal and make sure that each meal is 51% raw or more and especially eat things that will make sauerkraut in the gut or vinegar in the gut. So, carrot, cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, onions, garlic, turnips, radishes, snow peas, sprouts, broccoli, etc. Some leaves are okay with this, (lettuce, etc), but the mainstay should be to make a pot of sauerkraut in the gut at all times). The most helpful fruit is the rose family (apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries) which readily ferments to make acetic acid, and the blueberry family and organic, seeded grapes. Add something to prompt growth in the gut, including sauerkraut, kim chi, real raw dill pickles. Normally, I feel dairy (except butter) is ill advised since it neutralizes stomach acids, suppresses thyroid and brain function and congests the body generally. However, if a person will make their own raw milk yogurt and sour it for a full 24 hours so it is very sour, this would be acceptable.

3. A pinch of cayenne pepper in warm/hot water 10 minutes before each meal.

4. Optional: eat some ripe fruit 20 minutes before each meal to prompt digestion.

5. Chew your food well and let the stomach have a chance to prepare for what you are eating.

6. Eat lots raw (or all raw) and very simply for optimal benefit from your food. (You do not need to worry about combining proteins, it is a myth if you are eating healthfully and raw you will be fine...better off than those eating rice and beans and meat)

7. Some foods are helpful for restoring metabolic acid levels: butter, coconut oil, fish oil, honey.

8. Some supplements are very helpful: cal amo, phosfood and zypan from standard process.

In addition to the above 8 items, some supplements are helpful for the stomach, such as comfrey, alfalfa, red clover blossoms, wheatgrass (especially the juice), sweet spices (ginger, fennel, cinnamon, anise, caraway, cardamom, etc), many mints (peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, wood betony, catnip, marjoram, oregano, rosemary), marshmallow root and top, licorice root, animal stomach, raw liver (can buy desiccated in tablets), mullein, chickweed, burdock and dandelion root. There are others and each of these work in their own way.

Comfrey leaf, alfalafa, chickweed and peppermint tea is a formula of my design. Drink it at about 140 degrees, sweeten with honey and just a splash of raw apple cider vinegar. This will restore the stomach and promote weight loss for those who struggle. Should be done over time and at least a pint of the tea should be drunk with each meal. In this context and quantity there is not any concern about comfrey, it will only help and bless you.

There are some things to be utterly avoided if you have a need to heal the stomach. These are: Caffeine, refined sweeteners (corn and cane and beet sugars), dairy (except the exceptions noted above), processed food of all types, flour products, corn products, very cold drinks with meals (alone is okay, but never with food), white vinegar (which is a corn product) and lean protein.

Organic cane sugar is somewhat problematic and should not be consumed regularly or in great quantity. While it can be made raw and in a cave with no special equipment, it does seem to bother the stomach somewhat and will promote bloating until such time as the stomach is working well. Small intestine problems are unsolvable without fixing the stomach first.

To those who want to worry about all the "sugar" in fruit, I am sorry, you are wrong. The issue with sugar is its usability. Honey and ripe fruit is immediately usable and does not load up the blood nor cause any problems with insulin. Maple syrup has sugar that is not readily usable but it also breaks loose from the minerals very slowly, causing it to raise sugar slowly and the body can easily manage it. White sugar, corn sweeteners, flour...these are the serious problem and we eat way too much of them to our detriment. Dairy protein greatly impedes sugar uptake by its nature and slows pancreatic function. The only possible value in avoiding fruit would be to break a carbohydrate addiction. I am not sure how effective this is, but one could make a case for it.

I have written many articles in many places on plant verses animal foods. I wish we would quit inventing reasons not to eat animals. People deserve to be and should be and are best when they are guided by the truth. Trying to drive them with lies is not helpful.

Feed lots may be bad for the environment, but free range and particularly intensive grazing of the land by animals is very good for the soil microbiome and no single factor is more important for the long-term health of our planet than a healthy microbiome of the soil. This is not just an assertion. I have significant evidence for this statement and I think it is easily noted by anyone paying attention unless you bought into a bunch of lies on the subject.

Such is also true for the human body. We can tolerate a lot of pollution going into our bodies if the microbiome of our gut and skin is really healthy. But if pollutants also kill that microbiome, it is a serious threat. Chemtrails are the biggest single threat to the planet health because they kill the microbiome. Pesticides and antimicrobial products in our food supply and all around us are probably the single biggest threat to the human organism health for the same reason. They kill our microbiomes.

Animal products are a problem for humans because they leave a residue that we are not equipped to remove. Further, we do not do well at all with muscle meat, which nature gives to carrion birds and maggots. Predators will eat almost exclusively organ meats unless driven to the muscle by hunger.

It is certainly true that eating a carnivore diet (but, as I stated above, we really should call it a carrion diet or a scavenger diet if we are eating muscle meat) will eliminate sugar (which eating the processed form of in such great quantities has left us sensitive to) and flour (ditto the last parenthetic statement, though it appears that countries not poisoning their grains and using heirloom grains can eat flour without major health damage and inflammation). At this level, many people get benefit from a carnivore diet. But it does not take much thought to realize that this is not a healthy diet for humans and it darkens their awareness and leaves them resonating at a much lower frequency. It makes them aggressive, fearful and angry. It loads up their system. They may enjoy a respite from inflammation--a genuine benefit and possibly even healing--but they will not experience ideal health in any case. It is easy to see and understand. We need not invent problems with animals. The planet is not hurt, but is helped by healthy grazing of animals. The idea that methane gas is a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming is just about the stupidest, most thoughtless idea that was ever fed to foolish and uninformed people with no knowledge of how things really work and are. Imagine 100 million bison plus many other animals filling up north America at the same time that many people burned wood and coal in their dirtiest forms and forest fires went completely uncontested...really? You are blaming cattle farming?

None of this has to do with the stomach, though. Except there is a relationship between the microbiome and the stomach. But you cannot heal a sick person by working on the microbiome alone. You have to focus on the stomach first or concurrently.