178 Achieving pH Balance to Treat Specific Ailments
think it is but acidity. This is usually the result of acidic waste from
undigested food debris. But it can also be caused by abnormally large
quantities of stomach acid—an unbalanced digestive metabolism.
How this problem is resolved depends on your metabolic type. I
learned recently from an Indian naturopathic physician that in India
lime juice in water is recommended for acid indigestion. This makes
sense because almost all Indians have grain-eating metabolisms and the
high acid content of lime juice would help overcome the grain eater’s
natural defi ciency in stomach acids. My experience confi rms the value
of this remedy as a sleeping potion. I’ve recommended it to a number
of grain eaters who tell me it is an excellent sleep remedy. I’m sure it
works by curing indigestion. Lime juice solves two problems at the
same time. In normalizing inadequate acid levels in the stomach, any
remaining undigested food in the stomach is broken down, a condition
that induces sleep.
Meat eaters who have insomnia need an alkaline rather than an
acidic remedy like lime juice because of their overload of digestive acid.
Raw potatoes work very well for meat eaters. Chewing the crunchy
potatoes to a pulp creates starchy alkaline juice that neutralizes the
excess acid, whether it’s an overload of hydrochloric (digestive) acid or
acidic waste from incomplete digestion. Sleep is rarely a problem for the
meat eater who uses the raw potato digestive remedy. An ice pack on
the stomach of grain eaters and meat eaters who are in the throes of
indigestion, along with the natural food remedy appropriate to the
metabolism, is an effective means of bringing on sleep.
While the wrong foods are the prime cause of sleeplessness, there is
another reason for insomnia related to the sleeping-waking timetable
in our bodies. The gland that controls this biological clock is the pineal,
located in the middle of the brain. It is thanks to the pineal gland that
we have an internal link to the environment outside the body. The
pineal synchronizes our lives with the alternating cycle of night and
day. It puts us to sleep at night by secreting melatonin and wakes us up
in the morning by stopping its fl ow. A defi ciency in this hormone can
prevent us from sleeping. This can be taken care of with melatonin
supplements.
We think of hibernation in terms of animals spending the cold win-
ter months in a deep sleep, but in fact we hibernate every night in the
sense that while asleep, our organ functions slow and fall into disrepair.