16 Acidic Wastes: The Real Culprit
some people the cells burn (oxidize) food too fast while in others, cells
burn food too slowly and that either imbalance, if too pronounced, can
cause mental disorders. He used diet and nutritional supplements to
normalize the rate at which fuel (energy) was used (burned up) in the
cells to heal such mental illnesses as chronic depression, bipolar disor-
der, hyperactivity, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
Watson’s and Revici’s theories on the relationship between imbal-
ances in cellular metabolism and disease fi t neatly into Kelley’s meta-
bolic typing theory based on the imbalance of the autonomic nervous
system. To take one example, an individual who is parasympathetic
dominant—that is, has excessive digestive stomach acids—is usually
also overactive in terms of generating new cells (according to Revici)
and burning up fuel (according to Watson). Thus a diet designed to
bring about a better balance between the parasympathetic and sympa-
thetic nerve branches also normalizes the speed of oxidation and the
regeneration and death (anabolism/catabolism) of cells. In other words,
balancing the autonomic nervous system by way of a diet appropriate to
the individual’s metabolism also takes care of the cellular malfunctions
that Revici and Watson contend are the underlying cause of disease.The Metabolic-Type Diet
Kelley reversed the course of many chronic diseases, including cancer, by
lessening the difference between the rate at which the parasympathetic
and sympathetic nerves digest food. His choice of diets and nutritional
supplements were made on this basis. Since parasympathetic-dominant
individuals digest too fast (they have too much stomach acid), Kelley
recommended foods such as beef, lamb, pork, and venison because the
body breaks them down slowly. This slows the function of organs con-
trolled by the parasympathetic nerves, bringing them closer in line with
the rate at which the organs controlled by the sympathetic nerves
function.
For the sympathetic-dominant individual, that is, those who digest
food too slowly (they have too little stomach acid), Kelley recommends
grains as the dietary staple. Grains are broken down fast, forcing the
sympathetic nerves to accelerate the body’s slow rate of digestion.
Those individuals whose parasympathetic and sympathetic nerve