Wheat bran serves a valuable medicinal purpose in the stomach and in the alimentary tract. When introduced into the stomach, its cell structure fills with water, and it increases from four to eight times its size in its dry state. It excites both stomach and intestinal peristalsis, thereby preventing stomach indigestion, and by carrying the water along down the intestinal tract, it prevents intestinal congestion, or what is commonly called constipation. Wheat bran may be properly called an intestinal broom or cleansing agent. Man, in the process of preparing his food, has invented expensive and complicated machinery for removing all cellulose and roughness from his diet. He has suffered both stomach and intestinal congestion just to the extent that this refining process has been carried on. Bran puts back into the diet not only what modern milling methods have taken out of it, but that which civilized habits of refining have eliminated from our food. It therefore naturalizes the diet, promotes digestion, cleanses the mucous surfaces of both the stomach and the intestines, and prevents congestion in the ascending colon, which is the primary cause of appendicitis, so called. BRAN MEAL Bran meal is the product of the entire wheat, ground coarsely, and mixed with a certain per cent of wheat bran. It makes an excellent bread. Bread made from bran meal acts on the digestive and the alimentary organs, the same as the pure bran, only in a milder capacity. It also aids the stomach in the digestion of other foods. It is more nourishing than wheat flour, for the reason that it is better balanced, containing all the carbohydrate and the proteid elements of the grain. Bread made from bran meal is better in the form of gems baked in small gem rings. This meal requires neither baking powder nor soda, and should not be sifted. CHOICE OF MENUS Wherever two menus are given, choice may be exercised, but whichever menu is chosen, it should be taken in its entirety. In other words, do not select articles from one menu and combine them with articles mentioned in another menu. Neither should any article of food be eaten with a particular menu, other than that which is mentioned therein. By observing these suggestions, the proper combinations of food are observed, which is equally as important as the selections. NOTE: In this volume there are some menus which contain combinations of food classed as No. 3 in Lesson XII, "Tables of Digestive Harmonies and Disharmonies," pp. 609 to 617 inclusive. This is explained by the fact that said "tables" are laid out for the normal person, while the menus were prescribed for the treatment of some special disorder, or for the purpose of removing some offending causes. NORMAL MENUS The following menus are intended for those possessing normal digestion and assimilation of food; that is, for those having no digestive disorders. INTRODUCTION TO NORMAL MENUS