14 Acidic Wastes: The Real Culprit
out regard to vitamin and mineral content; he also pointed at individual
differences in the size and shape of organs, even the microscopic organs
(organelles) within the cell. He concluded that these structural differ-
ences were inherited, and along with diet they had a profound effect on
physical and mental health. Williams, then, recognized two biological
truths that continue to be given short shrift by the medical establish-
ment: the needs of the body’s metabolic machinery for quantities of vita-
mins, minerals, and amino acids that cannot be obtained from processed
foods, and the connection between variability in organ structure and
function and the individual’s state of health. He also came to the conclu-
sion that individuals who are susceptible to disease have, because of their
biochemical individuality, distinctive patterns of nutritional needs.
Williams, however, did not explore this issue further. He simply
hypothesized that the nutritional requirements of individuals were
determined by either susceptibilit y or resistance to disease. W hen Wil-
liams conducted his research (from the 1930s through the 1960s), little
information was available on individual differences in metabolism and
how they determine dietary requirements. As a result Williams viewed
diet only from the perspective of disease prevention and treatment. For
example, he recommended the I. M. Stillman diet for anyone who was
overweight (lean meat, poultry, fi sh, seafood, cottage cheese, low des-
sert, and almost no carbohydrates and fat) without regard to individual
differences in body structure and biochemistry.
Dr. Max Gerson, an immigrant from Nazi Germany, used diet and
detoxifi cation in the 1940s and 1950s to heal advanced cancers. In his
book A Cancer Therapy, Gerson described fi fty “terminal” cancer cases
that he cured.^5 Like Williams, he recommended a single diet for the
cure and prevention of illness. He stated that 75 percent of the diet
should consist of fresh raw, juiced, or stewed fruits and vegetables that
“contain all the necessary nutritional substances in their proper quan-
tity, mixture, and composition.”
In the 1970s Dr. William Donald Kelley, a dentist and nutritionist,
was one of the fi rst health-care professionals to recognize that indi-
vidual variation in autonomic nervous system function created different
food metabolisms. The nerves of the autonomic nervous system are
composed of two branches, the parasympathetic and sympathetic, each
regulating a different set of organ systems. The parasympathetic nerves
ensure the survival of the internal body environment by accelerating