Cayce meant in his discourse 2002-1 when he said disease has changed little, but classifications, much.
2
The Anatomy Involved
Most everyone with a reasonable amount of education knows we have a mouth that leads into the esophagus, which in turn leads into the stomach, and from the stomach, the intestinal tract, and finally the large intestine, or colon. That’s about it. And in most cases, that’s all that’s necessary to get on in this world as far as digestion is concerned. With a little bit of luck, this sequence of anatomical structures, which constitutes the alimentary canal, will serve us faithfully, if not abused over a long period of time.
But when something goes awry in any of these sections, repair begins at once and can range from natural healing to open surgery, depending on the nature of the problem. This is nothing new. But what may be considered new to most people is how these organs are put together. The cellular structure that makes up the body is mind-boggling. Since we are concerned primarily with the small intestine, let’s focus on this tube that stretches from the lower end of the stomach to the ileocecal valve that leads into the five-foot-long large intestine (the colon) and through the sigmoid colon and rectum, where the residue of digestion exits the body.
Fig. P2—The Normal Digestive Tract
Fig. P3—Where the Leaky Gut Begins
The Digestive Process
Food, partially digested, moves out of the stomach after it has been processed to a certain degree by enzymes and acids, and enters the first section of the small intestine known as the duodenum. Here it is further acted upon by body chemicals and passes on as chyme into the next section of the small intestine, known as the jejunum, where most of the transfer of nutrients takes place. The chyme then moves on into the ileum, the longest section of the small intestine, where more transfer of nutrients takes place and residue that is not absorbable mixes with water and waste products of digestion and moves into the large intestine (the colon) for evacuation from the body.
The entire length of the small intestine is approximately twenty-two to twenty-eight feet. Add to that the length of the colon, five feet, and you have an intestinal tract that is over four times the height of the average individual. If the small intestine were not designed to twist and turn and have numerous convolutions, it could never fit into the abdominal cavity.
If you take a small piece of the jejunum, the second part of the small intestine, and section a piece of it and put it under a microscope you will find innumerable structures known as intestinal villi that sway to and fro, like a sea of grass or an ocean wave. Their purpose is to receive nutrients from the food and drink you ingest, but they also act as a barrier for unwanted materials. Nutrients are very small (micromolecules) compared to the waste products (macromolecules) such as fat, yeast, undigested protein (peptides), germs, bacteria, etc., which are considerably larger. So the intestinal villi have a two-fold function: as a “guardian at the gate” preventing the large macromolecules from breaking through the barrier, and, at the same time, allowing the helpful nutrients, micromolecules, to pass on through to be absorbed by the lymphatic system and transferred into the bloodstream. The nutrients are then carried by way of the blood circulatory system to every cell of the body for nourishment, growth, and repair. Thus the cycle of life continually takes place.
Now that’s the best case scenario. What I did not mention was that a lot can happen to that twenty-two to twenty-eight feet of intestine that is most undesirable to the living organism known as homo sapiens. It is my purpose to bring to your attention just one of those conditions affecting mankind, the knowledge of which could save him/her from ailments whose origins, heretofore, have been categorized as “unknown.”
In spite of the magnificence of the structure and function of our intestinal tract, it is not immune to certain conditions that render it compromised or simply damaged. I refer to a condition known in medical circles for many years; but it is rarely given credence and is therefore often overlooked. That condition, to which any one of us is subject, is known as Intestinal Permeability, or the Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS).
We stated earlier that the jejunum is the primary section of the small intestine where most of the nutrients pass through the walls of the intestine and enter the bloodstream, which in turn nourishes every cell (sixty trillion!) of the body. Damage to this section of the small intestine, however, will allow the larger molecules of toxins and irritants of one kind or another to pass through as well. These destructive elements pollute the bloodstream and are carried to the myriad of cells to every organ of the body where the blood goes. In other words, where the blood goes, so go the pollutants. In some cases, permeability of the large (toxic) molecules takes place while permeability of the small (nutrient) molecules is prevented, causing malabsorption and malnutrition.
So, a person may develop diabetes, for instance, because the cells of the pancreas (Islets of Langerhans) become affected by the poisoned blood. This can apply to any organ of the body, as well as the joints (arthritis), the brain (schizophrenia, mental depression), and the skin (psoriasis, eczema), among others. Admittedly this is theory—but is it really so farfetched? I think not.
If it is true that a leaky gut is the basic cause of many diseases, especially those that are degenerative, it seems to me that healing the walls of the intestines is the most logical step to follow. Can this be done? I state without reservation that it can be and has been done!
Remember that the macrovilli and microvilli of the inner wall (lumen) of the intestines number into the millions and billions, respectively. It is estimated that there are twenty thousand villi and ten billion microvilli in one square inch of intestinal lining! The attack (for lack of a better word) comes from the inside—or the inner wall of the intestinal tube. The way to approach a possible remedy is, consequently, from the inside. Admittedly this is not an earth-shattering concept. It’s just plain common sense. The next question is: How does one do that?
The answer is twofold. First, we can put a halt to the irritants causing the problem, i.e., yeast, viruses, bacterial overload, etc., by destroying or removing them. Second, we can provide soothing, ingested remedies whose function it is to heal the inner walls of the intestines. This is the key to the healing of the disease, which is covered in Part II of this book.
The Gastro-Intestinal (GI) Tract
Without a healthy GI tract, you are always sick in one way or another—or you die! Your death may be the result of a slow, insidious process, but you will be just as dead as you would be from a speeding bullet! Therefore, it is helpful to know a little about the GI tract and how it functions. The following are the primary functions of our GI tract:
1. It digests food.
2. It absorbs small food molecules which supply the fuel and energy of the body.
3. It carries nutrients, like vitamins and minerals, which are attached to what are called carrier proteins across the gut wall into the
