There are two general types of people with so-called stomach trouble (really bellyache.) The two types are those who are constipated and those who are not constipated. We shall consider the non-constipated type first.
With the plain type, gas, alone, is the disturbing factor. A gas distended abdomen is a distinct discomfort. The amount of gas pressure determines the degree of discomfort. Extreme distention becomes painful, and a degree of pain, if long continued, be-comes the source of many diseases.
The plain gas bellyacher becomes that way because he, or she, does not like, or does not eat enough sour foods. This comes as a distinct shock to most of you people who read the statement. But it is the truth. You, who are bothered with gas, belching, head-ache, and the other so-called stomach disturbances, know this to be a fact, when you stop to think how little sour food you really eat.
Some of you may have decided a particular sour food hurts you and have quit eating it. But for whatever reason, the fact remains: You Do Not eat enough sour foods. Again, many people firmly believe that so-called stomach trouble comes from an. ACID STOMACH, and that eating sour, acid foods makes more acid. Therefore, they avoid any food of an acid nature.
How wrong you are ! However, you can not be much blamed for this false idea, when every stomach remedy manufacturer, and by far too many physicians, talk of acid stomach, sour stomach, and all bosh of that nature. You, naturally, fear eating acid foods of any kind and thereby make yourself worse.
Know this! Your stomach digestive juice is supposed to be acid. Your system exudes hydrochloric acid into the stomach so that the enzyme digestive; agent, pepsin, can handle meat, cheese, eggs, beans, and other protein foods, and change them to products that your body uses for repair of worn tissues. In fact, the pepsin of the stomach cannot change, or digest, protein foods unless it has enough acid to perform its task.
The above is a statement of truth which ninety percent of you readers know from your high school days of chemistry. Or again, most people should know from a common sense standpoint. You can add a mild acid to an acid without trouble. Why should you think that you cannot add the acid of lemon, grapefruit, or vine-gar to the hydrochloric acid of the stomach? The answer is: you can, and you know it, if you but stop to think.
Then, you should know that it is NOT TOO MUCH acid in your stomach, but Too Little Alkali in your intestinal digestive tract which causes most stomach trouble. And, it is not stomach trouble, but colon trouble. Your stomach can always handle an acid, but your colon cannot contain a putrifactive acid without blowing up.
You must MAKE more alkali. You make more alkali by eating more acid food. That is why the writer is able to say you bellyachers do not eat enough sour foods. If you did, you would not have bellyache; you would not have colon trouble; you would not have so-called stomach trouble; you would not have ANY digestive trouble. PERIOD !
It may be a funny idea to you, that you must eat an acid to make an alkali. These two are directly opposite in nature. But you DO know that the west coast fruit growers spend millions of dollars each year to tell you that their tart foods are alkalizing foods. They are right !
Ninety-five percent of ALL people need more alkali than they make. Would YOU rather take it as a remedy, or make it by eating enough sour food? The answer is yours. It is your belly which aches!
You may want to know why you need more alkali than acid for digestive use. Just one type of food products needs an acid mixture for digestive aid; the proteins. But there are two types of food needing an alkali mixture; fats and carbohydrates, commonly known as grease and starch.
However, you need much more alkali than acid because the greater amount of foods consumed belongs to the fat and starch branch. Is it not reasonable to say that it is not TOO MUCH acid, but TOO LITTLE alkali which causes colon trouble (stomach trouble to most) ?
Then, when you say you have gas and so-called stomach trouble, you are also saying that you do not like, or do not eat, enough sour foods such as vinegared slaw, lettuce, spinach, and the tart fruits.
Let us see how much of a bellyacher you are. Then show you how you get out of the gas bloated class, and STAY OUT ! We will make a mathematical problem out of the explanation. Not that you will be the exact figure of the problem, but that you can see and convince yourself that you can overcome your stomach trouble by proper eating.
Let us say you only eat enough alkalizing foods, tart foods expecially, to make fifty cents worth of alkali a day. If it takes thirty-five cents worth of alkali a day to handle your starches through the necessary changes, and it takes forty cents worth of alkali to change your fats into usable products, you can see that you are twenty-five cents worth of alkali short each day.
Here is your problem set up in figures:
DAILY DEBIT DAILY CREDIT
Needed Alkali for starch 35c Usual amount of alkali made Needed Alkali for grease 40c per day 50c Total alkali needed per day 75c Total alkali made 50c Loss of alkali per day 25c
SAVE ALKALI PER DAY No fried potatoes No potato chips No pie crust No gravy No bread Alkali saved 15c Alkali made 10c Balance 60c Balance 60c
MAKE ALKALI PER DAY per WEEK (One Qt. grapefruit juice (One doz. medium oranges
Alkali saved 15c, alkali made 10c equals 25; equals loss 25c.
Whenever you balance your alkali bank account against your alkali needs, you are preventing the cause of so-called stomach trouble, or colon bloat. Not only that, but you will benefit bowel movement and general health.
Why turn yourself from left to right? Try raising your digestive alkali instead of reducing your stomach acid. Put the horse before the cart and you will run your wagon smoothly.
Of course, if you have figured out how you can spend seventy-five cents a day and only make fifty, you have something the world would like to know. And, even if you should eat the quantity of tarts suggested above, and make ten cents extra per day, we still do not know how you can spend seventy-five cents worth of alkali per day as you must, if you over eat the starch and fat combinations.
So, what are you going to do about it? Evidently, beside making ten cents worth of alkali per day, you must save fifteen cents worth of alkali if you would balance your loss of twenty-five cents per day. You have found out how can you make the ten cents a day, but how are you going to save the fifteen cents worth deficit?
Because it takes more alkali than you make to handle any food made with both grease and starch, there are four foods which you can quit entirely and save your expense account. These foods are, as you will note in the problem above, or the chemical eating chart; Fried potato, or potato chip, and three other foods; gravy, pie crust, and bread.
You may say that you would try eating enough sour foods to make up the entire twenty-five cents worth of alkali per day which the figures say is your loss. Do not do it. Too great a quantity of tart foods, after a few days, could, and possibly would, cause a certain amount of nausea.
Again you may say, why not cut out starches and greases in order to save too much use of alkali? Do not do it. You need starch to furnish you with quick energy. You also need fat to furnish you with energy, stored reserves, and lubrication. In other words, do not go hay-wire, by either eating too much of the same type of food, or doing without them.
You can now see why starches are not eaten with fat; it takes too much alkali for both at one time. You must also remember that you can only make enough alkali when sour foods are eaten with protein or fats. Sour foods will partially stop starch digestion when eaten at the same meal. Now you can understand the chemical eating chart and notice that it separates the types of food which cannot be eaten together, if you wish to overcome bellyache.
You will ask yourself the question, why your neighbor is able to eat anything and everything and yet, does not have either stomach trouble or constipation. The answer is just because he DOES EAT EVERYTHING; sour foods, greasy foods, protein foods, and starch foods; all kinds and all types. He has never run his alkali down below par; you have. That is why you are a bellyacher and your neighbor is not.
Thousands of preparations have been placed upon the market as patent remedies to neutralize the acid of the stomach. Such items may give a “burp” relief, but can only cover up temporarily, and, in the long run, make the condition worse. You must maintain the strength of the stomach acid so that protein foods may be digested. When you reduce stomach acid, you may cause a different type of indigestion.
Patent medicine kings could be forgiven their various remedies, because they are sold only as a relief. But, when medical science comes forth with a scientific neutralizer, like Aluminum Hydroxide, to reduce the hydrochloric acid of the stomach, it is high time some-one wrote you people a line, or two, to expose the error of their way. All such remedies are temporary.
Yes, even science can make a mistake. And, when a glorified patent remedy is introduced as a scientific method of reducing stomach acid and stopping gas, that is one of the mistakes of science. Because, ninety percent of all gas is not stomach gas, but colon gas, caused by putrifaction of foods in the colon.
Let your stomach acid alone. Do not weaken it. You need it. Build up your alkali to meet your needs. Make your own alkali as nature intended you to do. And then, do not be so liberal in spending your alkali. Your bank account will grow larger in alkali and your bellyaches smaller and fewer.
Now for a bout with you scientific boys who will attack this book by saying that there is no such thing as being too little alkali, or the person will produce a case of acidosis, or acidemia, which progresses from air-hunger (lack of oxygen) to mental sluggishness, drowsiness, apoplexy, coma, and death.
Stand by, you readers, while we take a fall out of any such scoffer!
Nature has supplied us with First things First, as a protection against systemic unbalance, unless we poison, or, break down organic function. Therefore, nature itself, prevents the use of systemic alkali as a store house for the digestive alkali.
We have at no time claimed the lack of systemic alkali as a reason for lack of digestive alkali. The former is maintained by functional processes within our body; the latter is our daily need for the digestion of starches and fats, and we must supply it daily, or suffer putrifactive acid gases to blow up our intestinal machinery. Science should know the difference.
Thank you folks for standing by; we will now continue the why and wherefor of your digestive troubles.