The type and location of skin eruptions tells us a lot about how our body is functioning - the areas of congestion, nutritional deficiencies, etc.
Forehead acne of any type is due to liver congestion. The liver and bile ducts are clogged with stones and bad fats. Time for a couple liver flushes or comprehensive liver cleansing focusing on ridding the liver of fats, which means Bupleurum, Lecithin, Malic Acid, Carrot Juice or Carrot Cleansing Salad - or both, and fat burners like blueberries, Taurine, Arginine, or Nutritional yeast flakes.
Whiteheads are due to overall congestion from the bowels to the lymphatic system, so good and thorough bowel management is necessary. Pungent therapy is essential.
Large acne, cystic acne, no matter where it is and especially if it is attacking the chest and back in addition to the face, means you really should do the stomach acid test and start drinking apple cider vinegar (see recipe for Cleansing Drink) 3x a day. You should also follow the candida diet (low sugar) and perhaps supplement with acidophilus/kefir, altho some people break out in reaction to acidophilus due to leaky gut. Usually that's just temporary.
Acne around the mouth, especially if you get bumps or cracks at the corners of your mouth, is Vitamin B deficiency and wonky hormones. Liver management and avoiding estrogenic foods will help with this. Wheat germ oil, eggs and nutritional yeast are excellent sources of B vits. See recipe for protein shakes.
Acne along the cheek or under the eyes involves the kidneys. You're dehydrated and must do some kidney management. The Cleansing drink will cleanse the kidneys.
Acne on the chin is usually due to toxins being stored in the reprodutive system. Comprehensive liver and bowel management, plus avoiding estrogenic foods, Zinc and the rest of the Skin Food will help with this.
Acne along the jawline, if not iodine overdose, is usually kidneys/lymph congestion.
If your skin is prone to goosebump sized acne (check the back of your upper arms), you have a Vitamin A, EFA, zinc deficiencies, and a very low metabolism. If you tend to feel cold, need lots of sleep and have a hard time waking up in the morning, you should get checked for hypothyroidism and anemia. Get plenty of Skin Food and take the thyroid self-test.
If you suddenly break out in a rash of goosebump sized acne like bumps that are very close together on your face, you overdosed on Iodine. Stop supplementing it or eat less of the clam bake next time. ;)
If your skin is slow to heal, you're low in Skin Food, especially Zinc, and possibly low thyroid.
If you tend to break out in hives on back and chest, particularly after meals, you have allergies, a lack of digestive enzymes, acidophlus and stomach acids and are probably sensitive to sugar. You should do a rotation/elimination diet and self-allergy test to find out what your allergies are. Basically, go on a very simple diet of Kichadi and the other essential recipes. Then once a day every-other day introduce a new food. Take your pulse before and after this food. If it increases more than 10% or you get other symptoms like fatigue, yawning, chances are you're allergic. You should follow a pitta-pacifying lifestyle.
In general, acne is due to these deficiencies: Vitamin A, Vit B2, Vit B5, Vit B6, Vit C, Vit E, manganese, chromium, magnesium. Nutritional yeast flakes, wheat germ oil, Emergen-C and a teaspoon of Epsom salts will make up for these deficiencies.
One must also take into account the cleanliness of the entire digestive tract, and digestive power. If stomach acids or digestive enzymes or friendly microbes are low, Ama will result, and Acne is most often due to Ama. Any acne protocol should begin with a diet that is conducive to digestive power and should include comprehensive digestive and bowel management.
Yep, your farts can tell you a lot about what's going on with your digestion! Didn't you just know that I'd get around to making you smell your farts? ;)
Okay, to review a bit, remember that it is normal to have a bit of gas when you pass feces. But passing gas in between feces is not good, it means too much fermentation is going on and over time that can lead to IBS, Crohn's and systemic candidiasis.
Foul-smelling gas and feces is usually due to poor protein digestion. Since protein digestion starts in the stomach and is continued in the small intestine, it's usually a combo of low stomach acids, pancreatic enzymes, particularly protease, and sometimes low bile salts since protiens are usually combined with fats. Eat smaller portions and follow the guidelines for digestive power, such as not drinking a lot of fluids or eating a lot of fruit with a high-protein meal. A bit of cooked fruit sauce is okay, like the way we have cranberry with turkey, or pineapple with sweet and sour chicken, or lingonberry with swedish meat balls. But don't follow a meat meal with a huge raw fruit dessert! Especially if you have company! ;) If you have chronic foul-smelling gas, best to take the acid stomach test.
If eating fats causes nausea, burping, sudden feelings of illness like you're about to vomit or actual pain, and then you have smelly gas or slick floating stools or a visible oil slick in the toilet bowl, that's all poor fat digestion. Fats are digested by bile, which is produced by the liver and held at the ready by the gallbladder, and also lipase from the pancreas. It could be due to not enough pancreatic enzymes, bile salts or heavily contaminated bile salts due to eating things like margarine, deep-fried foods, commercial salad dressings, and a low-fiber diet or low-fat diet that caused a bunch of stones. Liver and bile cleansing is in order, which means carrot juice, carrot salad, liver herbs, stone dissolvers and perhaps liver flushing.
If you have lots of gas with no odor really, you're not just lucky, you're probably having problems digesting carbohydrates. For that, lactic acid is the best response. Lactic acid is found in fermented cabbage (cortido, kim chee, sauerkraut), or you can actually buy lactic acid tabs. Digestive enzymes are also good, as are organic salts which can be found in Bieler Broth, or zucchini and celery.
If milk and milk products give you diarrhea, gas and bad breath, you are lactose intolerant and should avoid milk unless it is hot milk simmered with spices (see recipes in FAQ) or cultured milk/kefir, and even then only in small amounts, rarely. Digestive enzymes will help with this too.
These are the foods that are most likely to cause gas:
beans, especially when combined with sugar and ketchup. When they are soaked overnight and then slow-cooked with carminitive spices (cumin, turmeric, garlic) they are much less likely to cause gas to form.
vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, onions, artichokes, and asparagus, especially if raw. Eat them cooked or fermented.
fruits, such as pears, apples, and peaches. Eat them cooked with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg.
whole grains, such as whole wheat and bran. Bran is very hard to digest, one of those foods that we think is good for us but in fact is not great. Best to get the benefits of bran from wheat germ oil.
soft drinks and fruit drinks. High in sugar, the sugars bypass the stomach, hit the small intestine and ferment, especially when combined with other foods.
milk and milk products, such as cheese and ice cream, and packaged foods prepared with lactose, such as bread, cereal, and salad dressing.
foods containing sorbitol, such as dietetic foods and sugarfree candies and gums.
Undigested food particles in the stools means not enough stomach acids. Add lemon juice to your meals, or HCL Betaine. Chew foods thoroughly or use a blender/food processor to grate them up for you. Stop drinking fluids with your meals, especially iced drinks. Some foods will always appear undigested: tomato skins, garlic skins, sesame seeds, green peas, whole flax seeds.
Burning stomach immediately upon eating means not enough stomach acids. Take a teaspoon of organic Apple Cider Vinegar and see if that helps, or peppermint tea. If they help, you don’t have enough stomach acid.
Burning stomach hours after your last meal means too much stomach acid. Take a pinch of baking soda in warm water.
Feeling full for a long period of time after a meal and lack of hunger in general means low stomach acids and digestive enzymes, low bile production too. Do pungent therapy (garlic, ginger tea, peppermint tea, cook foods as curries) and other things to increase digestive fire and stomach acidity.
Feeling burning in the general abdominal area due to stress or lack of sleep is actually the liver, not the stomach. Do liver management.
Nausea and/or abdominal pain that shoots up to the shoulders, shoulder blades and/or upper arms is a gallbladder/liver attack. Take therapeutic amounts of Gold Coin Grass, Lecithin, Apple Cider Vinegar, and do a castor oil pack.
General nausea means a backup in the works. Drink peppermint tea and take a mild laxative such as a bulk fiber mixed into prune juice.
Flatulence means fermentation in the small intestine. Avoid eating fruit or sugar with your meals, they should be a meal by themselves. Use more carminative spices like cumin, turmeric. Don’t have fruit desserts.
Diarrhea means the body wants to get rid of something bad for you. There may be a bacteria war going on with your colonies of microbes or an allergic reaction. Eat simple foods that are slow to digest like applesauce, bananas. Drink kefir to replace friendly microbes. Determine which food/water caused the diarrhea and avoid it for three months.
If you have someone close to you who has a history of stroke, or is getting along in years and their family history includes stroke, this is good stuff for all family members to know. Keep a bottle of cayenne pepper tincture so you can treat them while you're waiting for emergency services to arrive. If all goes well, by the time they get there, you won't need them!
This test is of course to be adminstered by you to the person you think may be experiencing a stroke:
First, ask them to answer a simple question. Can be anything, like what day it is, what their last name is.
Second, ask them to smile. Strokes tend to be very localized, which means only one part of the brain is affected. Since the brain is in halves, with each half running one side of the body, if a half is compromised we won't be able to smile with both sides of our mouth. So if the person in question can only manage a half smile, go on to the third part of the test right away.
The third part is ask them to raise both arms above their head. Strokes usually impair full arm movement on one side of the body. If they cannot raise both arms the same height, chances are they're having a stroke.
If they test positive to two or more, call 911 and then administer 3-5 drops of cayenne tincture. Wait five mintes, re-do the test, adminster 3 drops more if no improvement is seen. Don't administer more cayenne pepper tincture after that.
When should you administer the test? When a person is a known risk of stroke and you see them stumble, or they start slurring their words, seeming to fall asleep or doze inappropriately, or seem to be drunk without cause.
Every morning for a week, immediately upon awakening and before you get out of bed, take your temperature with a regular thermometer.
Take your temperature again after you've been active, like right before lunch. Best done on an empty stomach as digesting meals will affect temperature.
Calculate the average for each reading - the morning average and afternoon average.
Your afternoon average is your 'normal' temperature. 98.6 is the nation's average, now you've found your personal average.
The morning average temperature shows your resting metabolic rate. If it is more than 1.5 degrees lower than your active average chances are good that you're hypothyroid. Best to get this checked.
It's fun to re-do this average after cleansing and after adding the Cleansing Drink to your diet to see how much your metablism has increased.
Dark spots on the lips may mean parasites. Constant chapping and peeling means weak immune system, particularly the spleen. Avoid raw, cold, sour foods except for citrus and accent sweet, warming foods and treatments such as pungent therapy, detox baths, massage, trampoline.
Look at the space between the eyebrows. People tend to get vertical frown lines there. If you have them, not just faint lines but deep, you have toxins and anger stored in the liver. Watch them disappear as you do liver management, it’s quite fun to see them disappear without the aid of special expensive creams or plastic surgery!
Look at your forehead. Do you have deep horizontal lines? These are worry lines. It means you worry about things too much.
Look at your eyes. Are the whites clear and bright? That’s good liver health. If they’re bloodshot, dry, itchy, you’re toxic, acidic. Do bowel and liver management, change diet. If the whites are yellow, that’s liver congestion. The liver is unable to exit toxins, it’s a plugged up filter.
Are your pupils tiny, even in the dark? That often indicates an inflammatory or arthritic condition.
Do your tears leave residue, or crunchies? That’s because of an acidic system, not enough fluids to help the kidneys do their job properly. Drink more fluids, eat more veggies, drink the Cleansing Drink and avoid phony acid forming foods for several days.
Do you have bags under your eyes? This is due to impaired kidney function and sometimes too many bad fats/mucous in the lymphs. So drink lots of water, take some fresh squeezed parsley juice to act as a mild diuretic and replace necessary minerals. Then do some lymph management such as a detox bath and trampoline. If your face seems swelled with edema anywhere, you must do kidney and lymph management.
Check your entire face for dark brown spots, or liver spots. This is not aging, this is congested, toxic liver. Do some liver management, take care to make the body more alkaline, especially if you have moles.
Do you have whitehead acne anywhere? Then you need to cleanse the bowels, liver, lymphs and avoid all mucous-forming foods such as refined sugar, refined wheat flour, milk, cheese, baked goods and gluten grains. Do the stomach acid test, most acne/hives are due to low stomach acids.
Dark circles under the eyes can mean bruising, dehydration, but if you're very symptomatic then it's liver and bowel congestion to the point of toxic blood.
The shape, color, frequency and behavior of our stools is a wonderful indicator of health. The ideal stool is at least two inches in diameter and twelve inches long, but of course it depends on how much fiber we eat. Some foods have a very fast transit time so the stool stays very thin, this is not a bad thing if you know that foods are causing this. If you are prone to thin stools no matter what you eat, then that indicates a colon with strictures preventing the formation of thicker stools.
Stools should be formed but loose, mostly uniform in color, and sink to the bottom of the bowl but slowly.
If you can tell what you ate by looking at a stool, it wasn’t digested completely and this causes many complications over time. Some foods never do digest completely, including whole flax seeds, sesame seeds, and corn as a protein-starch combo food is tough to digest, and salad greens. So don’t worry if you see these occasionally. Think about chewing your food more thoroughly, cooking the foods rather than eating them raw, or putting them through a blender.
A stool that totally floats on the surface is either mostly vegetable fiber that is full of trapped air, or full of undigested fats. Fat floats, as does wood. A sign that it’s fat making the stool float is a slick, shiny coated appearance. This proves that the fats you ate were not completely digested. This could be due to eating too much at one time for your digestive power; eating fats with something that prevented their emulsification such as fruit or starch; having a congested liver that doesn’t produce enough bile; having bile that is full of fat so it is ineffective as a dissolving agent. Digestive enzymes, lecithin, carrots, apples, beets and liver management are called for. If it was a one-time deal due to enjoying some treats, don’t worry about it.
A stool that is very compact, hard, indicates that not enough water is being drunk. If the stool is thick then the feces were very slow in transit so that all of the fluids had time to be absorbed. If the stool is grainy, or shaped into little balls, you have eaten very badly and should do an enema or fiber plus laxatives to get it all out of you properly, as the little balls can clog the appendix and cause appendicitis.
Stools should be rather brown, or red-brown, or dark brown. Gray colored stools indicates a severe lack of bile due to a stone or gunk clogging the bile ducts. This should be attended to immediately.
Other colors such as green or orange represent the foods or which microbes went to work to fully digest the foods and aren’t a worry. Green is sometimes bile full of cholesterol that moved so fast it didn’t have a chance to turn brown. Yellow indicates various toxins and a very fast transit time. Certain foods will color stools, beets and carrots especially. Carrot juice will cause orange stools. A lack of toxins such as after a liver flush will also cause orange stools temporarily.
Dark, tarry stools, black stools, indicates blood in the feces. Bleeding can be due to Crohn’s or parasites or lack of good microbes.
If bright red blood is seen, this is a recent bleeding in the rectal area and can be due to hemorrhoids or old fecal matter coming off the intestine like a scab that comes off before the skin is healed. Avoid fiber for 1-3 days, enjoy a liquid diet, and let your intestines heal. Aloe Vera juice is very healing in this case.
Stools are often accompanied by a bit of gas; this is normal and to be expected. If the flatulence happens more often, such as in between bowel movements, and you haven’t eaten any vegetables rich in organic sulphur such as broccoli or cabbage, then the gas indicates poor digestion and fermentation. Foods that are not completely broken down by chewing or the stomach’s gastric juices go into the intestines in large enough pieces that your microbes have to do a lot of work to break them down further. The food then ferments as it is eaten by yeast and propagates more yeast. This creates gas. Eating a fruit dessert after a high-fat/meat meal causes this problem.
It helps to get to know your average transit time. For instance, if you eat breakfast and dinner and don’t have a bowel movement until the next morning, your average transit time is 12-24 hours -the number of hours since your last breakfast and dinner. This should be your slowest transit time, your bowel movements should be at least once a day unless you’re fasting.
For larger people who consume 2,000 to 3,000 or more calories a day, you should be having two bowel movements a day. If you’re not, you need to take a look at your diet. You may not be eating enough good raw oils, grains, vegetables - fiber - or foods with fast transit times. The ideal diet has a mixture of fast and slow foods. You may not have a strong liver or colon.
You should not have to strain to void a stool. Straining is very hard on the rectum and can cause hemrrhoids. It is better to do an enema or, ahem, go digging, rather than strain. Use a glycerin tab as a suppository, available next to the Fleet enemas at the drugstore.
If you find yourself constantly having to wait for the bowel movement to the point that you read the entire magazine rather than just a paragraph, you’re either eating badly or have a prolapsed colon or both.
Sitting upright is not the best position for a bowel movement and doing so our whole lives long can cause weakness. Use a stool or a commercial stand that is designed to go around the toilet bowl so you can crouch over it rather than sit. Or use a training potty on the ground. There's a yoga asana where you pretend to be sitting in a chair - this exercises and strengthens the muscles that support the colon and is a good aid to constipation.
When you begin bowel management, you may see things come out of you that are pretty amazing. I never had mucoid placque myself, but plenty people do. If you had a long history of constipation or eating the standard American beef diet, chances are good that you have mucoid placque. Even if a colonoscopy didn’t turn up anything, you could have it in your small intestine.
The columnar epethelium tissues that make up the intestines are lined with villi so that the surface area, although scrunched up to fit into your abdomen, is huge. The mucous layer is where the microbes live and is the first line of defense against toxins getting into the bloodstream, while allowing the good nutrients and water to enter. The mucous layer, once compromised by undigested foods or poisons, gets thicker in order to protect the epethelium and blood supply. After awhile, this layer of mucous gets so thick that it is “shed” and left to form a kind of striated rope. Over time, it will harden until it looks like tire treads. So if you see mucous that still looks mucosy it’s a pretty recent shed. The darker and dryer it is, the older it is.
This is the same thing as with the sinuses. Mucoid placque is like having intestinal boogers. ;)
For tongue analysis, only look at the front of the tongue, the part used for speech, not at the back of the throat. If you stick out your tongue, the part that is easily visible is used in tongue diagnoses, basically.
A pale tongue indicates anemia, depletion.
A coated tongue indicates toxins. If the toxins are towards the back of the tongue, the toxins are mainly in the colon. Middle to front means small intestine and stomach. Whitish toxins indicate mucous/Kapha derangement. Drink ginger tea and the Cleansing Drink to burn the toxins up. Yellowish indicates too much bile in the gallbladder and small intestine. Redish/yellowish coat is too much heat/toxins due to weak digestion, oftentimes constipation. Take steps to get things moving and plan on cleansing the liver.
Dark brown or black tongue is Vata type weakness/cold, often diarrhea. Plan on doing some warming, moist and soothing therapy – marshmallow tea or tincture, slippery elm.
Teeth impressions means edema and poor absorption, mostly in small intestine and possibly some undigested foods in the intestines.
Froth means bronchitis. Cleanse the lungs, stop smoking.
Thready spit means candida, mucous or overly acidic system. Drink more fluids.
A single line bisecting the tongue represents the emotions stored in the spinal column. If this line is crooked or jagged, chances are there is a spinal subluxion or scoliosis. The line should be very thin. If it is wide and deep, get B12 shots right away and start taking a supplement of all the B's. If you have other kinds of furrows get a series of B12 shots.
Jagged cracks indicate usually diarrhea, irritated, inflamed intestines that need soothing, mucilaginous herbs. It’s very common to have this when cleansing/detoxing and practicing bowel management. Take a break from the cleansing and switch to marshmallow/slippery elm.
Bright red spot at the middle/near front of the tongue indicates heart issues. Increase circulation with cayenne, rosemary, consider fasting and correct your fats. No more phony fats; lecithin, cod liver oil, olive oil and other good fats are called for.
Raised areas means irritation in various organs or intestines.
Over-production of saliva (do you drool a lot in your sleep?) means a lack of salt and sometimes parasites.
Tongue ulcers, cankor sores, means pH imbalance, often due to too few friendly microbes. Consider supplementing with probiotics; definitely use a safe toothpaste – no gels, low sudsing action, just plain baking powder is best. Avoid tropical fruits and overdosing on Vitamin C.
The tongue should have tiny protrusions on it that can look feathery. If it is slick, no protrusions, there’s a serious lack of B vitamins and zinc.
Your goal is to have a clean tongue immediately upon waking. Check it before you brush. Is it coated? You ate the wrong foods, or ate too much, or ate pasteurized dairy, or just ate something you could not digest. Here is a list of ways you can adjust your diet so the coating goes away. You can do just one or a combination:
Skip breakfast entirely and drink ginger tea or India Spice tea all morning.
Take fiber supplements.
Drink the Cleansing Drink for breakfast.
Eat whole grain cereal with rice milk not cow milk.
Eat as usual but smaller portions with plenty of heating spices like cayenne, cumin, garlic, basil, cinamon.
Eat Kichadi.
Eat only fresh-squeezed veggie juices, with ginger.
Eat the cleansing salad.
Take digestive enzymes both with meals and before bed on empty stomach.
Do some thorough bowel management (enemas, colonics) if the coating is persistent and tends to be towards the back of the tongue.
One of the most common deficiences, and one that will really make you miserable, is Zinc. Zinc is an essential mineral that is really only stored in large amounts in the eyes, where it is needed to give us good color and night vision.
The Zinc Taste Test is for determining whether you need to take Zinc. You can also use kinesiology, of course.
This test is best done with liquid zinc, but you can also use chewable zinc lozenges, preferably ones without any flavor besides peppermint.
Zinc is a metal and so tastes very metallic. Put a teaspoon in your mouth and swish it around for one minute, OR put the lozenge in your mouth and start chewing. Does it taste metallic right away, or does it take more than 30 seconds for you to taste the zinc? If it does, you are very low on zinc and should supplement it.
Zinc is best taken 2x a day. It takes about 3 months to really alter the cellular levels of zinc, so plan on supplementing therapeutic doses (50 mg a day 4-5x a week) for 3 months minimum, then just be sure to get the RDA.
If you are prone to anemia, be sure to take the zinc apart from your iron sources, as you can only absorb either iron or zinc. Same with calcium. You can also supplement Iron and Calcium to be sure you get your needs met.
This is a very simple test to be done while you're adjusting your diet to ensure that you're getting plenty of skin food (oils, A, E, B's, C, zinc, essential aminos, gelatin/collagen).
Simply feel the back of your upper arms. The skin above your elbow should be smooth and moist.
If there are bumps, dryness, then you're not getting enough oils. Drink the protein shake with extra eggs, take in coconut oil, use butter and olive oil as liberally as you can digest.
Then pinch a bit of skin on the top of your hand, pull it up and release. Check the elasticity. It should spring back and leave no mark.
Compare with other people of various ages to get an idea as to how elastic your skin really is.
If the skin seems slow to return to its original shape or leaves a mark, you may be deficient in collagen, gelatin, E, C, B's.
If you have obvious, jagged vertical ridges on your nails, you have poor absorption in either the stomach or small intestine, or both. Slight vertical ridges easily buffed off are normal.
If the nails are weak and bend/break easily, then you are low on essential minerals and possibly gelatin. Emergen-C and Calcium and Oatstraw Tea will help with this. Use gelatin as a thickener in gravies or just swallow empty gelatin capsules.
If you have a "hump" on your nail, you have severe deficiencies. Go on a tonifying/rebuilding protocol right away - start including super-foods in your diet regularly and digestive enzymes so you can absorb nutrients.
White spots do not mean what people think they mean. They are signs of acute stress that interrupted your digestion and elimination. They do not mean consistent deficiencies of any kind.
The symptoms of an underactive stomach closely match those of an overactive stomach, and therefore care must be taken to choose the correct treatment. Low levels of hydrochloric acid (HCL) are associated with a number of disorders such as anemia, allergies, hives, acne, osteoporosis and skin problems.
Underactive Stomach Test
Here's a way to determine if you need more stomach acid:
When you have indigestion, drink water with 1 tsp cider vinegar in it. If it makes the indigestion go away, you are likely not producing sufficient stomach acid (hydrochloric acid -- HCL).
An underactive stomach is the result of a shortage of HCL in the digestive chamber, which causes proteins or fat to digest too slowly and remain in the stomach too long. This causes discomfort from the fermentation and gas that is created. These symptoms will be even worse if sugars are trapped in the stomach at the same time. Making the mistake of taking an antacid neutralizes and further reduces the already inadequate amount of stomach acid and causes the contents of the stomach to be dropped into the small intestine, where it continues to ferment, generating intestinal gas. Nothing is improved -- stomach gas has been turned into intestinal gas.
A better long-term solution for low stomach acid is to strengthen the stomach's natural HCL production capability as much as possible. This can be achieved by cautiously using supplements such as vitamins, minerals and digestive enzymes, and learning how to combine foods for effective digestion and maximum nutritional benefit. Organic salts (zucchini, celery), Vitamin B6 and electrolytes help the body produce HCL. Iced drinks numb the stomach and reduce HCL production.
Underactive Stomach Recommendations:
Many people who have bloating, gas and/or indigestion assume that they have too much stomach acid when they probably have too little. The symptoms of an underactive stomach are very similar to those of an overactive stomach.
A symptom of an UNDERactive stomach is discomfort (bloating, burping, gas and burning) IMMEDIATELY after meals, whereas if you have an OVERactive stomach the discomfort usually begins anywhere from 45 minutes to 5 to 6 hours after the meal, or even in the middle of the night, whenever hunger strikes. Discomfort caused by and OVERactive stomach may be relieved by a snack or by drinking a bit of milk, while symptoms of an underactive stomach will not.
Other possible symptoms of underactive stomach (low HCL) are a full, heavy feeling after meals, rectal itch, constipation or diarrhea, food allergies and nausea after taking vitamin or mineral supplements. You may be able to clear up your problem simply by making some dietary changes.
We usually secrete less HCL as we age. Most young people can eat just about any combination of food without suffering digestive discomfort, but as we age most of us need to be more careful of how we combine foods. Proteins and fats are much harder to digest when eaten in the same meal with sugars. A small amount of meat eaten at a meal that ends with cake, pie, ice cream or fruit might digest reasonably well, while the same meal with a larger amount of meat (a steak or hamburger, for instance) may create an uncomfortable digestive problem for you.
Protein and fats stay in the stomach up to four hours, while carbs are digested in the intestines and should pass through the stomach in only minutes, which they do, if eaten independent of proteins and fats. However, eaten together, proteins, fats and sugars stay in the stomach too long, causing gas to form, which results in intestinal discomfort.
If you want to eat fruit or a dessert, or drink fruit juice you should do so at least ½ hour before your main meal, or wait at least one hour (preferably two to 3 hours) after you've finished your meal. This keeps the sugars from being trapped in your stomach with the slower digesting proteins and fat, and thus avoids the cause of gas formation. (Note: this does not include most non-starchy vegetables or more astringent fruit like apples, which actually aid digestion.)
If you have digestive difficulties, it can be both instructive and interesting to carefully observe your body's responses to food, because your body will tell you when you've exceeded your power of digestion. For instance, combining eggs (protein) with orange juice (fruit) for many people is a sure formula for digestive discomfort. Simply taking more care with your combinations of food or eating less may solve your digestive problems. Always eat food slowly and chew thoroughly.
If you continue to have digestive problems, take a good enzyme supplement after your biggest meal. A broad spectrum digestive enzyme (one that includes fruit enzymes) will help in digestion of carbohydrates as well as digestion of proteins and fat. People who suffer from diabetes or hypoglycemia often need to supplement with digestive enzymes, since both involve the pancreas.
If you don't think you need digestive enzymes, you can buy a betaine HCL supplement separately. You can take one or more at each meal, but as you pay closer attention to your body's responses you will discover which meals (and which types of meals) require the digestive supplements. You may only need a digestive supplement with a meal that is high in protein and/or fat.
Too much HCL Betaine will give you a warm, burning feeling in your stomach, and you will know to cut back. If you take more than one capsule, take them throughout your meal.
After taking the digestive supplements for a few months, you will likely notice you are secreting more digestive juice on your own, and you can then cut back.
As an alternative to a digestive enzyme supplement, try drinking a bit of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice just before a meal. Do not take a digestive enzyme supplement and do not drink vinegar if you have any inflammation of the stomach lining.
Being low in stomach acids means you’re not likely to absorb vitamin B12 from non-meat sources, and this can cause major problems further on. So be sure to eat good sources of B12 (eggs, liver) and consider supplementing for a short time. A spectrum of all the B’s will also help the body produce stomach acid. B6 is especially important.
Plant-based enzymes also help the stomach to produce more stomach acids.
This is a more formal way of testing for low stomach acids. Here are the steps:
Purchase HCL Betaine capsules or tablets, preferably 500 mg or 650 mg (10 grains).
Day One
Immediately upon waking, take one dose. Wait at least an hour before taking any other supplements, wait 30 minutes before eating breakfast. See if you experience burning pain within those 30 minutes. If you do not, go on to step two, day two. If you do, then you are not low in stomach acids and need only follow the digestive guidelines and perhaps use a tad bit of lemon or vinegar with your larger meals, take fiber shakes for a few days, and avoid sulphur veggies for a week (onions, cabbage, garlic).
If you feel pain but it is more than 30 minutes since you took the dose and you simply did not eat any breakfast, this pain does not count. You should eat breakfast or at least drink milk to counter-act the acids after 30 minutes or you may feel pain even if you are really deficient.
Day Two
Same as day before but take 2 doses this time. See if you experience burning pain. If you do, 1 pill is the proper dose for you. If you do not, go on to step 3, day 3.
Day Three
Same as before but now take 3 doses. See if you experience burning pain. If you do, 2 pills is your correct dose. Stop here, more than 3 pills is not a safe dose. See a physician for a more advanced test.
Do not do this test while taking antacids, aspirin, Aleve, ibuprofen, Midol. Tylenol is okay.
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Symptoms of Low Stomach Acids
Bloating, belching, and flatulence immediately after meals
Indigestion, diarrhea, or constipation
Soreness, burning or dryness of the mouth
Heartburn
Multiple food allergies
Feeling nauseous after taking supplements
Rectal itching
Weak, peeling and cracked fingernails
Redness or dilated blood vessels in the cheeks and nose
Adult acne
Hair loss in women
Iron deficiency, B12 deficiency, anemia
Undigested food in the stools
Chronic yeast infections
Low tolerance for dentures
Certain health conditions may cause or be the result of low acidity. These include Addison's disease, anemia, chronic autoimmune disorders, depression, asthma, eczema, gallstones, hepatitis, chronic hives, osteoporosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, rosacea, vitiligo, dermatitis herpetiformis, and thyroid disease.
Most cancers can be linked to low stomach acids, especially stomach, small intestine and pancreatic cancers.
H.Pylori infection starts out due to low stomach acids, and further decreases stomach acids. There is a high correlation between people who have been infected with H. Pylori later getting cancer.