diseases 223
- Eat apple puree, rice, pureed vegetables, and all easily digestible foods
(see chapter 4) while the healing process is taking place. - Eat pineapples and papayas for extra digestive help; include aloe vera
juice as a drink to prevent any harm to the stomach walls. - Take one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar daily in half a cup of apple
juice. - Food intake should be slow, unhurried, and calm. Chewing should be
thorough and slow. Eating without talking can be helpful initially.
f If a major cause of the ulcer is stress and worry, take chamomile
fl ower tea to feed and calm the nervous system. Valerian root will be
invaluable in the short term.
f Daily meadowsweet leaf and gentian root will help to soothe and bal-
ance stomach acids and general digestive enzymes.
f Besides bacterial infection, the cause of gastric ulcers can be nerve-
related, so nerve soothers and feeders will be useful. Try equal amounts
of chamomile fl ower, wood betony leaf, skullcap leaf, and wild lettuce
leaves. On a short-term basis, take valerian root.
f To heal the ulcer, use powders of slippery elm inner bark, marshmal-
low root, licorice root, and chamomile fl ower. These powders can be
mixed with aloe vera gel and eaten as a mush sweetened with honey
several times a day. These herbs will coat, heal, allow tissue regrowth,
and sustain a lubricated seal between incoming food, stomach acids,
and the painful ulcer.
~ Liver and bowel cleanses will be vital (see chapter 6).
~ Exercise, sing, dance, and meditate to relieve any stress.
gastritis
Gastritis literally means “infl ammation of the stomach.” It may have a
number of causes. Very often it is not so much an infection as a condition
brought about by the fi erce acidity of the digestive juices (which is usually
enough to kill most bacteria). Often, poisons have been
swallowed — sometimes in the form of bacteria on food or from
improperly prepared or preserved foods. Alcohol, aspirin, and even tar
from cigarettes are other causes of gastric infl ammation.
- Fasting is recommended in this situation to give the stomach as little
to work on — or to revolt against — as possible. It is best to drink water
at room temperature (that is, neither hot nor cold). - The fi rst foods should be onion and garlic soup, alternated with slip-
pery elm inner bark powder stirred into water or a ripe banana. (Or
try the herbal formula of powdered slippery elm inner bark, marsh-
223 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition