Digestive Ailments 49
sulfur notwithstanding—is evidence that foods high in acidic minerals
are not the cause of degenerative disease; on the contrary, they have
great curative value.The Preventive Role of Whole Grains
Many studies show that whole grains are an effective remedy for an
ulcerated stomach. Where unrefi ned wheat is the dietary staple, for
example, in northern India and China and parts of Africa, ulcers are
rare. On the other hand, in Japan, where white rice has replaced the
traditional brown rice as a dietary staple, peptic ulcers, once almost
unheard of, have become common.^4 No one knows just what fi ber does
to heal ulcers. One theory is that it reduces gastric enzymes, which the
medical establishment claims is the cause of acid refl ux and ulcers. If
this were the case, eating fi ber-rich food would worsen ulcers, for it
takes a lot of gastric enzymes to break down the fi ber in grain.
The theory that fi ber toughens the stomach lining has more merit,
since the rough texture of fi ber acts as a broom, sweeping away the
irritating acidic debris lodged in the lining of the stomach. However,
according to Frank I. Tovey, a surgeon and ulcer researcher at the Uni-
versity of London, the fact that ulcers have skyrocketed everywhere in
the world since 1900—along with the rise in coronary heart disease—
when the removal of the husk covering the grain became widespread,
suggests that some of the benefi ts of fi ber come from the nutrients it
harbors, particularly vitamins E and B, in addition to the fact that it
moves waste matter along the intestinal tract.^5
Because meat eaters (parasympathetic dominant) don’t digest grains
well, they have to satisfy most of their fi ber requirements with raw fruits
and vegetables, which don’t have the quantity of B and E vitamins that
grains have. This makes vitamin E and a multiple B supplement—pref-
erably in the form of whole-food complexes—a necessity for those with
a meat-eating metabolism who suffer from acid indigestion and ulcers.The Mucilage in Bananas, Plantains, and Cabbage Juice
Bananas and plantains—especially green plantains—and raw cabbage
juice heal ulcers by thickening the mucous lining of the stomach. Dr.
Ralph Best, a British pharmacist at the University of Aston in Birming-