Table of Contents

Lesson 1 - Introduction To Life Science As A Way Of Life

Welcome! It is my privilege to introduce you to the science of health known by the descriptive term “Life Science.” It is also known as health science, Natural Hygiene, Hygiene, and other terms.

1.1. What is Life Science?

At the outset it is wise to delineate just what Life Science is—just what grounds it covers.

Life as we know it is possible and became possible because certain favorable conditions are and were present. Some of these conditions include favorable temperature, presence of oxygen and other gases and minerals, presence of water, absence of lethal substances, etc. Life Science is the study of all the conditions which make life possible. Because present-day life seems to be losing touch with those conditions which made life possible, Life Science brings us “back to our roots,” so to speak. We should endeavor to meet life’s requisites so that we can lead a joyous existence.

Science is not the cold dispassionate pursuit many of us have been led to believe. Rather, it is personal, and relevant to all that we are involved in. When we turn our studies upon ourselves so that we may have a very personal science, we begin to arrive at the essence of Life Science.

Science as represented today is not the warm practical medium we speak of here. Science that we can’t use and benefit by is hardly science. Life Science is the exploration and elaboration of those elements and influences we can invoke to exalt our lives and being. Certain truths are applicable to our being. Studying and systemizing these truths so that we can be guided by them is our aim here. That which begets correct results is scientific.

That which begets wrong results is unscientific.

Life Science concerns itself with those principles and truths applicable to human life so that we may observe and avail ourselves of them. We are of the firm conviction that only by scientific living can we realize the loftiest joys and the destiny which is our birthright.

Animals in nature are creatures of instinct. Following the guidance of instinct, they are correctly self-directed to meet their needs. Thus they thrive optimally in accord with their environmental possibilities. Inborn guidance is, in effect, Life Science or a science of life for nature’s creatures.

Humans have infinitely more potential for happiness and goodness than nature’s simpler forms of life. We are endowed with immeasurably more sophisticated faculties.

These superior endowments can keep us in a state of euphoria during a long life.

Life Science must be for humans what inborn direction is for animals. We, too, have instincts, but we are far more than these basic impulses of life. Unfortunately, we not only fail to follow our instincts but we often reject them in our living practices. Our instincts have been vitiated and perverted by unwholesome conditioning in a world that is quite berserk by sane standards. When humans act contrary to instincts they are being unscientific. When their practices are in accord with their instincts—with their inherent biological adaptations—they are living scientifically. Life Science is as simple as that.

Obeying our natural instincts is part and parcel of Life Science. We believe nature did not err in instilling in us guiding instincts. We contend that humans, with our as yet fledgling intellects, do the erring that begets our sickness and suffering.

Life Science is an intellectual endeavor. We are far enough along that we can determine what is good and what is bad for us. We are profound enough in our knowledge to construct a science of life that will guide us to realize the happiness and the destiny that should be ours.

Life Science is, therefore, a way of life that rightfully concerns itself with every facet of human life and human well-being. Only such a thoroughgoing philosophy and concern can be a true science of life.

1.2. An Introduction To Life Science

1.2.1 Life Science as a Philosophy of Life

In introducing Life Science as a true philosophy of life thoroughly in accord with the facts of existence, the question arises as to how its validity was determined. The surest way of assessing the correctness of any system is to put it to the test. Does it work? If it works, it must be deemed valid. If it does not work, then it must be unscientific.

Life Science began with success. From its beginnings as a new, but not yet complete, healing science it developed until today it is a full-blown scientific system touching upon everything that relates to human well-being. That it is valid is beyond doubt—Life Science works perfectly!

To capture the essence of the science of healthful living, I feel it appropriate to quote from a most notable hygienist, Dr. Keki Sidwha. He’s been a Hygienic practitioner in Great Britain for almost twenty years.

“In spite of all the great advances in many branches of science, we are still in a period of prehistory, a dark age, in our thinking about health, disease and healing. What the world sorely needs is a new concept of health. A different orientation of thoughts, words and deeds than we have been led to accept for umpteen generations is now urgently called for.

Natural Hygiene, a life science, is that branch of biology which investigates the conditions upon which health depends and the means by which it may be sustained in all its virtue and purity, while we have it, and restored when it has been lost or impaired.

Before physiology developed, the rules of Hygiene were instinctive, traditional, and empirical. Today these rules are based on the growing knowledge of physiology and biology. If we had perfect knowledge of the laws of life and applied them in a perfect system of Hygiene, disease would be impossible and never occur. In this sense Hygiene is the science of intelligent and healthful living.

Natural Hygiene refutes the present-day ideas that disease and ill health are inevitable in people’s lives, depending on chance and circumstances outside their own control and domain. Natural Hygiene is a way of life, a philosophy of living. Health can only be obtained through healthful living; it cannot be bought across the counter of a drugstore, not can it be found in a physician’s office or in a hospital. We contend that healing is a biological process which is continuously going on inside every organism.”

This brilliant expression of the Hygienic stand by Dr. Sidwha deserves immortality. His salutary contributions to the science of healthful living will achieve immortality in our annals. Certainly this statement embodies the essence of hygienic philosophy.

The following is a concise statement of the philosophy, principles and practices of Life Science.

1.2.2 Life Science Philosophy, Principles And Practices

• LIFE SCIENCE holds that life should be meaningful and filled with beauty, goodness and happiness.
• LIFE SCIENCE holds that humans are inherently good, righteous, and virtuous, and that their exalted character will be realized under ideal life conditions.
• LIFE SCIENCE holds that superlative well-being is normal to human existence and necessary to the realization of the highest human ideals.
• LIFE SCIENCE holds that supreme human excellence can be realized only in those who embrace those precepts and practices which are productive of well-being.
• LIFE SCIENCE, which encompasses all that bears upon human well-being, constitutes the only way to realize the highest possible order of human existence.
• LIFE SCIENCE, alone, is in harmony with nature, in accord with the principles of vital organic existence, correct in science, sound in philosophy and ethics, in agreement with common sense, and successful in practice and a blessing to humankind.
• LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that the human body is a fully self-sufficient organism, that it is self-directing, self-constructing, self-preserving and self-healing, and that it is capable of maintaining itself in superb functioning order, completely free of disease, if its needs are met. Foremost among these needs are fresh air, pure water, rest and sleep, wholesome foods, cleanliness, comfortable temperature, sunshine, exercise, constructive work, emotional poise, self-mastery, recreation and pleasant environment.
• LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that humans are constitutionally adapted to a diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds eaten in compatible combinations while in the fresh raw natural state.
• LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that diseases are caused by improper life practices, especially dietary indiscretions. Illness proceeds from reduced nerve energy and consequent toxemia. Insufficient nerve energy arises from dissipation, stress, overindulgence, excess or deficiency of the normal essentials of life, or pollution of the body with substances not normal to it. Accordingly, recovery from sickness can be achieved only by discontinuing its causes and supplying conditions favorable to healing.
• LIFE SCIENCE recognizes that a thoroughgoing rest, which Includes fasting, is the most favorable condition under which an ailing body can purify and repair itself.
• LIFE SCIENCE, which teaches that exalted well-being can be attained and maintained only through biologically correct living practices, is not in any sense a healing art or a curing cult. It regards as mistaken and productive of much grief the idea that diseases can be prevented or overcome by agencies abnormal to our natural being. Consequently, LIFE SCIENCE emphatically rejects all drugs, medications, vaccinations and treatments because they undermine health by interfering with or destroying vital body processes and tissues.

Therefore, LIFE SCIENCE regards the body and mind as the Inviolable sanctuary of an individual’s being. LIFE SCIENCE holds that everyone has an inalienable right to have a pure and uncontaminated body, to be free of abnormal compulsions and restraints, and to be free to meet his/her needs as a responsible member of society.

1.3. An Inquiry Into The Philosophy, Principles, And Practices Of Life Science

1.3.1 The Concept of Innate Individual Worth

Life Science holds that we are born naturally innocent and naturally good. The first two paragraphs of the concise statement we heretofore printed in exposition of Life Science’s philosophy, principles, and practices states this.

Scientific studies of babies and youngsters have pointed to one inescapable conclusion. As gregarious creatures, humans are naturally empathetic, altruistic and moral, i.e., humans are naturally righteous toward one another in keeping with their gregarious instinct.

Humans are woefully perverted by unnatural conditions within the context of civilization. They are made vicious by inhumane influences such as deceptive practices, exploitation, insecurity, and other baneful conditions in a society gone mad.

Individuals usually strive to present the appearance of upright character to others. This bespeaks our innate urge and conviction that we should be righteous. Life Science holds that if a society of assurance exists these innate virtues will assert themselves naturally.

1.3.2 The Concept of Happiness and Ideal Health as Normal

Life Science holds that life was developed to be a long joyous event from birth until a natural death. Happiness and health flow from ideal life conditions. Ideal life conditions ate normal in the environments of our development. However, such is the human intelligence that it has made almost all environments over the face of the globe inhabitable. Many arts, artifices, and artificial environments have been created to satisfactorily supplant the wonders, beauties, and beneficience of a natural environment in many habitats though, in truth, such artifices are never completely wholesome substitutes.

Life Science holds that humans developed to their high state because they adapted so well to the environment and its possibilities. This means that health is normal and natural when the conditions to which we are adapted are met. Superb excellence in humans flows from ideal life conditions and the superlative health begotten of them.

1.3.3 The Self-Evident Concept of Self-Government In All Organisms

Simple observation of the development of complex organisms from the union of sperm and ovum is indicative that the powers of life reside within. Without anything from the outside other than needed raw materials, the organism has the inner direction to fashion itself from a fertilized ovum into a mature adult.

This implies an inherent character that embraces the following capabilities:

• Organisms are self-programmed.
• Organisms are self-directing or self-governing.
• Organisms are self-sufficient when their material requisites are available.
• Organisms are self-constructing in accord with their genetic blueprint.
• Organisms are self-defensive and preservative, defending themselves against all internal and external threats.
• Organisms are self-repairing or self-healing and possess solely and exclusively the faculties and powers to accomplish restoration in event of damage or derangement.

These faculties and powers are self-evident upon the simplest observation of yourself or other organisms. This concept and its axioms should ever be borne in mind when dealing with clients. The confidence needed in dealing with your own problems should you have any, or with the problems of your clients, can be derived and reinforced by referring to these self-evident truths.

1.3.4 Life Science as a New Concept of Healthful Living

Life Science may be said to be a reassertion of the conditions best suited to human life. In pristine nature, humans lived what we now call Life Science because of primal urges—on the instinctual level. They lived as gatherers of fruits from vine, stalk, and tree.

With the development of intellect, humans became ever more versatile in dealing with the forces of nature. But this eventually led to human alienation from both nature and our biological heritage. Though most humans observed much of their pristine endowment well into the civilization of the Christian era, the dark ages of medieval times brought on the renunciation of nature and earthly considerations. Humans became poorer in the observation of the elementary needs of life. Human needs on earth were contravened in the name of religion and salvation.

Fortunately, the dark ages did not wipe out humankind. Near the end of the dark ages the unnatural and inhumane conditions under which European civilization lived decimated the population with plagues. Great plagues were not due to any kind of contagion. The only thing contagious in the times of the bubonic and black plagues was widespread modes of death-dealing living practices.

Hygiene or Life Science as a philosophy and outlook survived the dark ages when the twin human scourges of medical and religious superstition saddled most of what we refer to smugly as the civilized world. In many parts of the world our biological mandate was fairly well maintained, notably in tropical cultures of the Far East and in isolated pockets here and there. It was preserved among many traditions and cultures in part.

Well before the Christian era Pythagoras elaborated a rather extensive philosophy of living on all planes of life. Among them was perhaps the best formulated statement of Hygienic living until this time. While the Greeks, of whom Pythagoras was one, were heavy on fruitarianism, they were also heavy into the incipient practices that begot the modern goliath of medicine.

The philosophy of Pythagoras gave rise to Appolonius and the Essenes, an ascetic culture that was vegetarian/fruitarian in practice. Much of Essenian philosophy and practices were preserved in the New Testament and is quoted in the sayings of Christ. The thin thread of Hygienic philosophy survived and received a modern impetus from the greatest universal genius of all times, Leonardo da Vinci, who was a vegetarian/fruitarian.

Though medical beliefs remained relatively unscathed while the areas of religious domination were receding during the Renaissance, some elements of the Hygienic philosophy survived.

I reiterate that our natural heritage was largely unaffected by the medical outlook in many areas of the world, notably in the Far East. But healthful living as a philosophy of life in the Western Culture did not exist as such.

It was not until the time of Dr. Isaac Jennings in 1822 that Hygiene as a formalized philosophy of life had its beginnings. Not until the consummate genius of Drs. Graham, Trail, Dewey, Tilden, and Shelton did the philosophy and science of health become fully ascertained.

Life Science is not new from many perspectives, although it is relatively new to what we call civilization. But it is totally new for most who learn it the first time. Now it is alien to our culture because of its relative rarity. At this time Life Science, even though in accord with our pristine being, is in eclipse because of medical thinking and a commerce that trades upon pathogenic fare.

It is our hope to teach enough dedicated individuals this science of health to assure that humanity thrives in health and enlightenment. In pursuing this course you are asked to be the torchbearers of a way of life whose time has come.

1.3.5 Life Science as a Broad-Based Science of Life

By no means is Life Science confined to dietary principles as you might gather from association with today’s Hygienists. Few Hygienists involve themselves with the expansive aspects of Life Science as a philosophy embracing every facet of human well-being.

Dietary concerns are but one area of Life Science’s dominion. It also includes mental and emotional well-being, as well as social and economic well-being. It includes environmental factors or ecology and is coextensive with all factors that touch upon human welfare. While this course is nominally on the specific area of nutrition, nutrition is but a small part of the all-encompassing philosophy of Life Science.

1.3.6 The Concept of Self-Healing or Self-Repair

Self-healing is the only healing. Throughout nature we see animals with cuts, bruises, broken bones, and other injuries undergo healing. Obviously this healing is effected by internal faculties and powers, for in nature, animals seek out a quiet secluded spot and rest. They undergo almost no activity. They partake of no food.

Instinctively an injured animal will abstain from all indulgences that detract from the full application of the body’s energies and faculties to the reparative/restorative process. Likewise, humans when placed under the same conditions in keeping with our nature and disposition undergo healing in a fraction of the time that occurs when regular activities are pursued.

Healing is always and ever a biological process. Our task is but to establish the conditions so that the body may conduct the process more quickly and efficiently. The inherent programming, intelligence, and power that developed a fertilized ovum into a wonderfully and beautifully built creature is all the healing power that is needed. Conditions favorable to the exercise of these powers can be established. As a health practitioner/nutritionist it will be your role to know and apply these conditions.

Much suffering and grief result from the idea that the body can be helped by the application of substances, conditions, and treatments abnormal to the body. It will be your role to rescue the victims from harmful practices as well as set them on a right course for health recovery and maintenance.

1.3.7 The Concept of Individual Sovereignty

Life Science holds that everyone is an independent entity unto himself or herself within the context of society. Everyone should be entirely free—fettered in no way—within the context of enlightened self-interest—within the context of our symbiotic mandate on earth.

Every man, woman, and child must be regarded as capable of carrying on life’s affairs for himself or herself. It is not our role to judge or impose ourselves on others but to help if our aid is sought. We should not impose ourselves on anyone no matter how wise or unwise, or how good or bad such imposition is or would be. We must accord to everyone the prerogative of leading their lives as is their bent and capability so long as their pursuits do not impinge upon the birthright of others. The golden rule should be our rule of conduct.

While it may seem unwise to grant the same privileges and prerogatives to both the genius and the relatively unlettered, nevertheless a society is not free in which either are denied their right to pursue opportunities on an equal footing. The capable are bound to succeed and should offer aid to their biologically crippled or less favored brethren.

For all its drawbacks and advantages we must always respect everyone as supremely sovereign. Whatever they do or decide, however good or bad their acts or decisions, in their own interests, we must pursue a role of non-interference. We may, by example, seek to inspire and motivate. But to impose ourselves and our precepts on others is reprehensible.

1.4. Discussion Of The Medical Approach To Health And Disease

1.4.1 The Erroneous Notion of “Cure”

The idea behind medicine is more than 2,500 years old and, like most ideas from behind the dark ages, it’s very unscientific. The premise is that the body is like a machine that can be repaired by outside agencies. The machine goes wrong because of invading entities. In ancient times these entities were evil spirits, demons, and devils which had to be exorcised. By and by these evil spirits became known as little beasties called microbes, germs, bacteria, viruses, and yet other appellations.

Medicine today has the concept of “cure,” a word that has been perverted from the original of “care.” Medicine itself means a curative or healing substance. The idea behind the use of medicine is that the “medicine” acts within the organism, that it seeks out the trouble, routs the invaders and effects in some manner the necessary healing. The medical concept of the modus operandi of drugs which they call medicines is very hazy at best. But medicine is the harmful practices that men do to try to help ailing people.

People go to physicians for medical intervention. They want to get “fixed up.” They’re ailing. Something must be done lest they suffer grave consequences or death. Medical practitioners take advantage of the clients—they play upon their fears. They applaud their clients for coming to them when they did. They flatter them for this bit of “wisdom” and assure them that, if they do not do something soon, grave dangers will ensue. The medical man always has a course of treatment to suggest, invariably a prescription of drugs and tests.

The idea is that the tests will reveal what is wrong and thereby determine what drugs to prescribe or what steps to take, as in surgery.

That their beliefs and practices are, on the whole, precisely contrary to biological science seems never to enter their minds. We’ll treat medical concepts in depth at a later time but here, suffice it to say, there is no healing other than self-healing. All modalities can interfere with healing but none can aid healing.

1.4.2 “Cures” Do Not Deal With Causes

Can you imagine trying to develop a drug to “cure” drunkenness without going to the root of the whole matter, i.e., the drunkard’s drinking habit? How can we deal with drunkenness if the drunkard continues to drink?

This is what happens with the medical approach. They try to remedy effects or symptoms without dealing with causes. In reality they drug, butcher, and purge while almost totally ignoring basic causes of physiological problems. They resort to crippling surgery and treatments running into the thousands of dollars when the problems can be simply and inexpensively solved by a change in life practices.

You’ll learn herein that nothing happens without sufficient cause. You’ll learn that all affections of the body must be caused and the cause is almost always initiated by the sufferer. You’ll learn that unless cause is discontinued the problem will always develop again, ever more serious.

In learning nutritional and health science you’re basically learning to do two things: 1. to remove causes of problems and 2. to establish the conditions of health. Since these two steps are so very easy overall, that is one reason we can confidently bestow upon you a degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the end of the lessons. If you’ve mastered the understanding of cause and effect in nutrition and health—that diseases are suffered because the sufferer has indulged or been subjected to cause and that health results when reasons for health are dominant—you’ll be a mountain among a throng of mole hills called health care professionals.

1.4.3 “Cures” Do Not Furnish the Needs of Life

To be returned to health the body must be provided with its requirements. First, those substances, influences, and practices which beget illnesses and disease must be discontinued. Secondly, it is necessary to bring to the client the essentials of health. Very simply these are pure air, pure water, correct diet, sunshine, exercise or wholesome activity, adequate rest and sleep, emotional poise, security of life and its means and yet other factor elements and influences.

If you reflect upon medical procedures it is obvious they do not try to ascertain causes that are inherent in lifestyle and practices. They do what an auto mechanic does—they try to find out which cylinder is missing and then proceed as if the body can be repaired much in the manner of a vehicle. They rarely advise about practices and beliefs which cause problems. Since most medical men are financially oriented, it is wise that they do not teach correct habits. They’d be out of business if their clients became well.

1.4.4 “Cures” Destroy Body Vitality

Dr. Herbert M. Shelton must be proclaimed the greatest oracle of Hygienic philosophy, principles, and practices unto this day. He has noted that now we have more medical discoveries than ever before; we have more medical practitioners than ever before; medical men enjoy more respect than ever before (at least until recent years) and yet, for all this, we also have more disease and suffering than ever before.

Why is this so?

Because, very simply, drugs destroy. They never build. It is not within the province of drugs to create cells and replace body tissue. Medical men would be the first to tell you this for they’ve studied physiology too. But yet they act as if their drugs perform some kind of magic that will effect healing.

What do drugs, when administered, really do?

In truth, drugs do nothing other than form chemical unions with body compounds and fluids. When these chemical unions occur, the body suffers distress. When the character of a substance is determined as harmful by the body, it goes into a frenzy. When it does this, it is stimulated. Sometimes the body has a reaction of depression in which case it is sedated or narcotized. This means function has been inhibited or paralyzed. In both cases the reaction is one of self-protection against an unwelcome intruder, in this case a poison even though it is called a medicine.

In causing an emergency in the body, drugs are harmful. The body must redirect its energies from the healing process which it is conducting. The symptoms for which the drugs or medicines are administered are evidences of the body’s self-conducted healing process. When drugs are ingested or injected, the body must leave off partially or wholly the cleansing/healing efforts and attend to a greater threat which the drugs represent. When healing efforts are discontinued the symptoms disappear. Physicians interpret the disappearance of symptoms as a “cure” or a healed condition. They thus mistake drug or poison effects for healing effects. In reality the body has more problems than before. For now it has, additional to its prior problems, the problem of expelling a terrible poison too.

1.4.5 Medical and “Healing Art” Approaches Are Deadly And Deadend

We readily recognize that drug addicts take illicit drugs and eventually become physiological wrecks as a result. Also the drug addict loses moral values. Thinking ability is lessened and almost totally redirected to acquiring the addictive drugs and to the spell the body casts when they are taken.

What we also recognize is that physician-prescribed drugs have precisely the same actions. What we do not recognize is that the prescriptions, administrations and treatments of all so-called healers have the very same effects whether the medics be called physicians, homeopaths, chiropractors, osteopaths, herbal doctors, acupuncturists, or whatever. Their modalities devitalize while their ignorance of cause likewise continues to devitalize and destroy. Because treatments are more or less deadly and because causes are left intact by those who treat the diseased, the situation gets progressively worse. Those who get better do not become so because of the treatments. Better health comes from self-healing which occurs despite, not because of, treatments.

Under medical and other care, recovery takes place about 90% of the time. Medical men, just as do herbologists, chiropractors, osteopaths, etc., attribute healing to their intervention. But the unrecognized truth is that witch doctors have a much higher “cure rate” and that Hygienic practitioners have a nearly 100% recovery rate! As a Hygienic practitioner or health professional following the dictates of a true health science, you’ll realize a nearly 100% success rate. Healing always takes place to the extent of residual healing potential when causes are discontinued and the conditions of health instituted.

1.5. What Health Really Is

1.5.1 Delineation and Description of Health

Can we define health?

Yes, we can. Conventionally, a lack of obvious disease is regarded as a state of health. In actuality about 99% of our peoples are diseased in some manner or other regardless of appearances.

Health may be defined as having fullness of function. Health means complete well-being, inner and outer harmony, vigor, strength, mental acuity, in short, total fitness.

Perhaps no better statement of health has ever been made than that of Dr. Herbert M. Shelton. I’m happy to quote his definition:

Health is a condition of perfect development, a state of wholeness and harmonious development and growth, an adaptation of part to part of the organism, or organ to organ, with no part stunted and no part in excess.

In this state of organic development lies the perfection and symmetry of beauty. Beauty is but the reflection of wholeness, of health. It is easy to demonstrate that the forms and proportions of humans and every animal and plant which are in their highest and most useful state are the most beautiful and therefore the most healthy.

When every bone is of the best form and size for its service in the total organism, there is perfect proportion. When every muscle is fully and proportionally developed, with just enough of fat and the cellular tissues to round out the muscles, we have the highest beauty of form. When the texture of the skin is finest, when the circulation of the blood most vigorous, the blood well-nourished and freed of all waste, there is the glow and charm of the finest complexion.

The highest beauty is the expression of the highest health. Partial beauty, fading beauty or decaying beauty—these are but expressions of partial, fading or decaying health.

When we suffer any impairment or impediment we cannot be said to be in a state of health. We can be in a relatively high state of health but to the extent we do not enjoy perfection of body function, we are not healthy.

We live in a nation where disease is the norm of life rather than a rarity. In taking up a health career it is our duty to make health the norm and disease a relative rarity.

I refer you to text material included in this lesson for a fuller discussion of what health is. Therein appear two articles by the dean of health teachers, Dr. Herbert M. Shelton.

1.5.2 Beauty as Reflecting Health

Though our standards of beauty are rather low today, they still, nevertheless, take note of the exceptionally beautiful. Beauty, as a reflection of health and well-being, should be the norm, not the exception. How many women have we seen whom are so lovely and beautiful that we are drawn to them as a magnet? How many men are so wholesome, so fit and handsome that they, likewise, are irresistible to their female counterparts? I daresay such men and women constitute less than 1% of our peoples.

The ability to appreciate beauty is highest in humans. And humans would normally be the epitome of beauty if they lived in keeping with their birthright, that is, their biological mandate. We readily recognize beauty in birds, flowers, and other life in nature. But our fellow humans, whether aged or young, whether nice or disagreeable, are, for the most part, in some way repulsive to our aesthetic senses. Forty percent of our population are repulsively overweight. This is but one impact of the ugliness that characterizes an unhealthy population.

I’ve seen “monsters” transformed as if by magic upon undergoing as little as a month’s Hygienic care. Fatness and ugliness both were overcome with the restoration of a relatively high level of health.

One of the “miracles” you can hold forth to your would-be clients is that of handsomeness or beauty. That quality will be tremendously enhanced in those whom you help to achieve a high level of health.

1.5.3 Fullness of Function as a Barometer of Health

While it is not always true that athletes are superb examples of health, it is true that all in superb health are quite athletic. Suppleness, agility, stamina, strength, and vigor are qualities essential to a state of health.

Physiological function will be ideal in every respect to someone in full health. A sense of euphoria, of joy, and of total well-being is a condition of health. Healthy people usually wear smiles and pleasant countenances. Glumness and a downcast disposition personify inner unhealthfulness. Nothing sabotages beauty, function, happiness, and well-being as a body shot through with the poisons or toxins borne of bad living practices.

1.5.4 The Possibility of Perfect Health for Humans

Life Science holds that perfect health is the norm of life. We hold that all creatures in nature adapted perfectly to the conditions of life under which they developed. They changed to cope with their environment and their food supplies.

In nature, perfect health is the norm of existence. Animals have no knowledge or concept about healthful living. They live healthfully naturally by doing only what their instincts bid them do.

It would seem that with a technological society at the apex of development human health would have kept pace and be better now than ever. The contrary is true. Humans are probably unhealthier now than at any time except the immediate past, that is, the last ten to twenty centuries. In the Dark Ages and Medieval times health was at an overall low.

Technological progress builds upon itself, and it is a credit to the human heritage that we still have, even though in a degenerated state, sufficient intelligence to develop and husband a highly technological society. Even though affected by physical degeneracy, the brain is always the least affected of organs in famine, disease, starvation, and physical debilitation.

Perfect health is possible if the conditions of health are ideal. With our intelligence and extensive technology we can create the conditions for healthful living practically anywhere in the world where humans live.

1.5.5 Health Is Normal and Natural

Over eons of time, organisms have developed to cope with changed environmental conditions and food supplies that varied environments were capable of producing. Environments range from the ideal to the impossible for every creature on earth, even microbial forms of life. Perfection arises from adaptation—from coping with conditions. Adjustments to every vagary of nature created organisms that functioned perfectly.

In humans and animals we witness what is obvious: health is normal and natural. We see animals in nature being born, living their natural life spans and dying naturally without once suffering the infirmities of sickness. And for all our modern pathogenic practices we see humans more or less well most of the time. In view of my Hygienic experience and by my observation of hundreds of others who remain sickness-free under the Hygienic regime, there is but one inescapable conclusion: health is a normal condition of life. It is our birthright.

Life Science is truly a science of life for it is based soundly and scientifically upon our biological requirements for thriving in perfect health.

This is the outlook which you are studying in this course and being asked to advocate and follow in your professional career.

Let us now explore Life Science’s beginnings.

1.5.6 How Life Science Began in Modern Times

Life Science or Natural Hygiene had its awakening in 1822 when Dr. Isaac Jennings, who had a medical practice in Derby, Connecticut, despaired of drugging. In his many years of practice he was distressed to see his patients become worse from the drugging modality. His patients died and many became chronically afflicted. His yearning to help his fellow beings was sincere.

Dr. Jennings noted that as physicians became older they drugged less and less. He did likewise and found his patients were faring better under less drugging. Then he quit prescribing drugs altogether and found that it wrought miracles.

When patients with problems came to Dr. Jennings he would dispense pills of colored flour and vials of tinted waters. He gave strict instructions for their use just as other physicians gave detailed instructions for the ingestion of drugs. But, in Dr. Jennings’ case, he made a prescription that was to launch a great health movement and an infant science. In 1822 at age thirty-four Dr. Jennings gave his patients placebos with instructions to take them at specified hours of the day with a glass of water. His prescription was that no food could be taken, or else the pills would not work. His patients were ordered to do this for a number of days and then return for a checkup. Upon return they would be terminated from the regimen or continued on it “a few more days.”

Under Dr. Jennings’ new modality, his patients invariably became well. While other physicians lost patients by the graveyard full, his thrived. The ailing flocked to him from far and near.

The success of his “no-drugging” system astounded Dr. Jennings as much as it did his patients and colleagues. Wisely, in his initial years, Dr. Jennings did not reveal his “secrets.” Instead he sought the rationale for his success. He called his treatments “the leave alone” method while professing to dispense pills of unnamed composition. They came to be regarded as pills with magic curative properties.

From this rather inauspicious start, Dr. Jennings began to develop a few laws relative to his observations and experience. He called the system that flowed from the employment of these laws “orthopathy,” or correct affection. He formulated many of the “laws” of life and named some of them as follows:

• The Laws of Action and Repose, i.e., the necessity for activity and rest (sleep).
• The Law of Economy which resulted from his observation of the way in which the body managed its vital energies.
• The Law of Physiological Distribution or the way in which the body supplies all its parts and faculties adequately.
• The Law of Stimulation or how the body accelerates its physiological activities at a frenzied level when a toxic material is introduced therein.
• The Law of Accommodation or how the body adjusts to poisons by decreasing its vital resistance and more effectively quarantining itself from the toxins’ baneful influences. The body gradually builds defensive mechanisms much as armies grow to ward off attack as the need becomes greater.
• The Law of Limitation or the conservation of vital energies.
• The Law of Equilibrium or the revitalization of debilitated parts and faculties when normalcy has been restored to an ailing organism.

Dr. Jennings, to his credit, saw disease not as an attack from some malevolent entity but as lowered vital energy or vital energy redirected to other purposes. His new outlook ventured that disease was caused by an ebb of the body’s energy supply. In essence he was correct, but his explanations were quite formative for it remained for successors to build upon the foundations he built. Dr. Jennings may rightfully be ascribed as the father of Natural Hygiene or Life Science, for he is the first to attempt a systematic ascertainment of the physiology of health and disease.

The next illustrious forefather of the science of health was Sylvester Graham. He was born six years after Dr. Jennings in 1794. He was a very sickly boy. Becoming healthy was an obsession with him which led him to study health. He became well versed in anatomy and physiology. Before coming onto the health scene, he was a Presbyterian preacher. In 1830 during the temperance movement, he lectured in Philadelphia on the physiological evils of alcohol. As a firebrand orator he was amazingly effective with large audiences. In Philadelphia he expanded his knowledge of physiology and health and became acquainted with the teachings of a “vegetarian” group who abstained from animal foods and products and many modern ways of preparing foods. This group was known as the Bible Christian Church and based its mode of life on Biblical commands.

In the great cholera “epidemic” of 1832 Sylvester Graham rose to fame. He literally took on the whole medical fraternity of New York City and the interests supporting the medical system. While the medical men were advising New Yorkers to abstain from fruit and to cook their food thoroughly, Dr. Graham was advocating eating more fruits in the raw state. He advocated open windows, more light, and fresh air and other healthful measures which were contrary to medical teachings. It is noteworthy that those who followed Dr. Grahams’s teachings were not affected by the cholera epidemic, whereas those who followed medical bidding died wholesale.

His fame as a health lecturer was well established in 1832 and he, more than anyone else, gave health science a tremendous impetus. He was in demand as a lecturer over the whole Eastern seaboard. He appeared before audiences of several thousand. People flocked to his lectures and listened to them raptly for hours in seeking salvation from disease and suffering.

So effective was Dr. Sylvester Graham in his lectures and writings that books and magazines blossomed presenting the “Graham system.” The first health food stores came into existence to sell foods which he advocated. Special eateries and living facilities were established for those who wanted to follow his system. The name of Graham became synonymous with the Hygienic diet and Hygienic living.

Where Dr. Isaac Jennings approached health and healing from the point of view of helping people regain health, Dr. Sylvester Graham was instrumental in teaching the touchstones of healthful living so that people would not become ill in the first place.

During the 1840’s, Dr. Jennings and Dr. Graham were joined by perhaps one of the greatest geniuses the movement has produced, Dr. Russell Thacker Trall. His was an inquiring methodical mind that ever sought the rationale and scientific basis for the concepts and findings developed by his predecessors. Thus he brought the Hygienic system to a standard that could thoroughly challenge the medical system. Dr. Trall delivered a lecture in the Smithsonian Institute to some of the nation’s highest dignitaries in 1863. The title of the lecture was THE TRUE HEALING ART. It made quite a ripple during the time. Dr. Trail is the originator of the famous challenge which, though oft-repeated, has never been accepted by a single physician unto this day. This challenge is stated below:

1. That the medical system is ENTIRELY FALSE. That it is untrue in philosophy, absurd in science, in opposition to natural principles, contrary to common sense, disastrous in results, and a curse to humanity.
2. That the Hygienic System is TRUE. That it is in harmony with nature, in accord with the principles of vital organic existence, correct in science, sound in philosophy, in agreement with common sense, successful in results, and a blessing to mankind.

The new system of health did not discriminate against women. In fact it encouraged women to participate in the movement on an equal footing with men. Among the notable women in this new movement were such luminaries as Florence Nightingale, Mary Gove, Harriet Austin, Susanna May Dodds, Ellen White (guiding light of the Seventh Day Adventists), and Louisa May Alcott, the famous author whose brother became an M.D. and a Hygienic professional.

In the 1870’s the medical profession adopted the Pasteurian germ theory with a passion. People found it much easier to blame their problems on little mysterious beasties rather than on their mode of living. No matter what they did they were absolved of responsibility for their condition. The germ theory made them unfortunate victims of malevolent entities over which they could exercise little control.

With the ushering in of the “germ era” came about the decline of Hygiene. While the philosophy remains alive and still receives a good following, it has been in continual decline relative to our population. In recent years there has been growth in the ranks of those practicing Hygiene in their lives, but there are yet only a few thousand devoted Hygienists.

The revival of Natural Hygiene in the 1920’s owed much of its impetus to the efforts of Bernarr McFadden and Dr. Herbert M. Shelton. Though there were some great Hygienists in the early part of this century, notably Hereward Carrington, Otto Carque, John H. Tilden, and Linda Burfield Hazzard, Dr. Shelton became the acknowledged voice of Hygiene with the publication of his immortal book, “Human Life, Its Philosophy And Laws”, in 1927. Though Dr. Shelton built upon the shoulders of his predecessors, he produced such a wealth of literature with new findings and thoughts that he added more to the science and art of healthful living than any other person. He had the benefit of new findings, and his fertile mind generated a new body of knowledge based on them.

Today the Hygienic movement still survives though it cannot be said that it thrives. A few thousand Americans practice it conscientiously. A greater multitude pay lip service to it and practice healthier living because of it. But, by and large, Hygiene is almost completely out of the mainstream on the American health scene.

In this lesson we cannot hope to more than summarily deal with Hygiene’s history. Books on the history of Hygiene are practically nonexistent. It must be picked up in fragments here and there from books and magazines that make reference to the past. You’ll pick up the history of Hygiene throughout your studies. Perhaps, someday, a history will be published.

1.6. Questions & Answers

What do the words Natural, Unnatural, Normal, and Abnormal really mean?

Natural or normal is that to which we became accustomed while living in a pristine state of nature and that to which our bodies were adapted. That which is contrary to our adaptations, that is, to our biological heritage, is abnormal and unnatural.

What are biological adaptations?

Biological adaptations is a term to describe the faculties an organism has developed to meet its requirements in the environment in which its growth has occurred. What is natural to an organism depends on its environmental adaptations.

Would you say carnivores are biologically adapted to meat-eating because of the structure of their teeth and other body structures?

Yes, I’d say that. Animals that live primarily upon meat have developed the tools or faculties for securing their food supply and best digesting it for their physiological needs. Animals that have claws and fangs are usually carnivores.

Are we adapting to our present environment?

Probably, but not perceptibly. A social adaptation or accommodation is not physiological and anatomical adaptation. Biological adaptations are slow and often require hundreds of thousands of years to come about. For example, when humans started eating meat, they did not during all their meat-eating days over a period of several thousand years develop fangs, claws, or the concentrated hydrochloric acid solution that characterizes meat-eating animals. You need but look at Eskimos to see confirmation of this. Animals adapt very slowly to changed conditions. On the other hand if there is a failure to adapt or the change is too quick, the danger of extinction exists.

In nature there are checks and balances. Isn’t something like the black plague a natural check on the population?

No. In nature there are no such things as checks and balances in that context. In normal circumstances there are periods of famine and periods of feast. When there’s famine, death overtakes many of the organisms that are victims of the scarcity. When there’s a feast, a rapid multiplication occurs. Organisms in nature live in symbiosis with each other and a balance exists amongst them according to the food chain. For instance, if you study and witness insect hordes, you’ll learn that when they are thriving on abundant vegetation there is a corresponding increase in their predators, that is, birds and other animals that feed upon insects. When the insect population is practically wiped out the predators decline in numbers. These are the only kinds of checks and balances that exist in nature. Nothing can exceed its possibilities.

What you call calamities cannot be in any sense referred to as natural. A plague or any sickness or disease is not natural. It happens because an organism has lived contrary to the laws or principles that apply to its life. When we contravene the laws of our existence, we will incur disease. Diseases or plagues are in no sense checks and balances. If humans live in pathogenic perversions they’ll develop diseases and die amidst plenteousness.

What is your opinion of holistic health?

Those who are striving for something better than the medical system with which they’ve become disillusioned must be admired for both their perspicacity and their courage in undertaking an independent course. We Hygienists may not agree with the course or courses they’ve chosen as an alternative, but we hold they have every right to pursue it as is their bent and persuasion.

The word “holistic” derives from the word “health” which, again, means “whole,” “complete,” or possessing fullness of function. The word “holy” also derives from the word whole or healthy, although we have lost sight of this.

What we call “holistic health” in current society is a catchall of all modalities. The term is a tautology. It’s like saying “healthy health.” But the holistic movement involves M.D.’s, homeopaths, chiropractors, osteopaths, naturopaths, herbologists, acupuncturists, polarity therapists, foot reflexologists, and just about anything else that attaches itself to the movement. The holistic health movement embraces anyone who wants to join it.

Hygienists who bring their philosophy with them are not accepted in the holistic movement. To be accepted into the movement you must be of a “curing” frame of mind, that is, basically medically oriented. This movement is therapy-oriented rather than health-oriented. However, some of the practitioners in the movement, notably the naturopaths, do recognize that we must remove the causes of disease in order to establish a basis for health. Even some chiropractors are enlightened in this regard. There are, in fact, practitioners in all schools that recognize the real needs of the human organism and advise their clients of these needs.

We call ourselves wholistic. To us this means that we embrace every facet or condition that touches upon human welfare. In the sense that we recognize that health is realized only by the length and breadth of the living regime, we’re wholistic. But we do not identify with the current movement that calls itself holistic.

I think you’re wrong about all healing being self-healing. I’ve personally seen a woman who had a leg ulcer for over a year. Topical application of comfrey poultices healed it in less than ten days. How can you deny that?

I do not deny that the leg ulcer healed, and I do not deny that the comfrey poultice was the agency that precipitated the healing process of the leg ulcer. But the body is probably worse, not better for the treatment.

What happens physiologically to cause the ulcer in the first place? Why do they sometimes persist only to heal later? What happens when the agency of toxic materials such as in garlic, aloe, comfrey, or in pharmacological preparations are applied and the ulcer is healed?

The comfrey poultice neither caused nor healed the ulcer. The body created the ulcer in the first place just as it creates a boil, fever, pimple, or other so-called infection. The body creates these conditions as outlets for an extraordinary load of toxic materials. As long as the body is burdened with toxicity that it cannot eliminate through normal channels, it will utilize vicarious outlets, i.e., outlets other than normal. As long as the practices introduce into the body toxic materials and the sufferer’s habits are such as to cause the body to retain its own metabolic wastes, then the body will protect itself against a death-dealing situation by getting rid of its problems any way it can.

An ulcer is created in two ways. First, a lesion can be created by the body through self-autolyzation of its tissues. The body causes the self-digestion of a hole to the surface in the case of a boil or pimple. It is the body that forces toxic materials into the hole it has created to the surface. It is the body that creates the tremendous pressure necessary to keep the pus and debris near the surface in the form of a boil until drainage or expulsion occurs.

Just so it is the body that causes the ulcer in one way or another. Probably the leg ulcer was caused by the body’s collection and concentration of poisons in a given area until the cells and tissues of the area were totally destroyed. Then the body utilizes the open sore as a drainage outlet much as a teakettle will discharge its steam through a blown hole after the hole is blown. When aloe vera, comfrey, or certain pharmaceutical preparations are applied, they do not solve the body’s problems. Herbs and drugs have not the intelligence or power to create cells and new tissue to bridge the chasm or gulf that constitutes the ulcer or lesion.

What happens is that the poultice or drug application applied to an open sore poses a new danger. Absorption of poisons from the outside causes the body to change strategy. Where it had been exuding poisons to keep them low, the body is now absorbing poisons there. To obviate this new threat the body closes up the dumping ground and seals it off from the outside by scarring it over.

Though the body healed the ulcer, it is now worse off than before. It is retaining the toxic material previously expelled through the open sore or ulcer. Either it must now create a new extraordinary outlet or suffer the retention of the toxic materials it previously expelled through the ulcer.

Had the ulcer sufferer fasted, the ulcer would have healed more quickly than with the application of a poultice. Moreover, the body would, under the fasting condition, be free of the input of toxic materials and toxigenesis due to enervating habits. Under this condition it can accelerate expulsion of toxic materials through regular channels. Once the level of toxicity has been reduced below a certain tolerance level, the body will promptly proceed to heal the ulcer. Healing takes place much more quickly under the fasting condition than any other. While fasting, the body can concentrate its energies and its material resources to the healing process, thus affecting healing much more speedily.

So, the comfrey poultice did not do anything other than become a source of irritation. The body “closed up shop,” so to speak, at the ulcer site and did business elsewhere. Keep in mind that all healing is a body process and never that of drugs. And let us not mistake the drug nature of comfrey. It contains pyrrholizidine and allantoin, two quite toxic alkaloids or glycosides.

Are you telling us we’d get along better without doctors and healers? Does not nature furnish natural remedies for our problems?

I just furnished an example of the physiological modus operandi of the body under the influence of toxic materials. I had hoped that would suffice to dispel any ideas that healing can be effected by extraneous agencies.

Yes, we would be better off without physicians, miscalled doctors, and so-called healers. We do need teachers to help people see their errors concerning health. We need teachers to get them on the right biological track so they can lead healthy and happy lives. Nature never developed humans or other animals so that remedies are needed in the first place, and it never created remedies in the second place. These interpretations errant humans have ascribed to disease and healing phenomena are based on illusory appearances. The only remedy for any ailment is the capacity of the body to right itself once the assault upon it has been discontinued.

Aren’t diseases caused by germs and viruses? Surely you can’t mean that millions of physicians the world over are wrong about this?

We’ll get into the depths of these matters in subsequent lessons. But the answer is no: germs do not cause disease. They can, at worst, complicate them secondarily. Bacteria are our symbiotic partners in life. Partners accommodate each other for mutual benefit. Viruses as an entitative existence are a medical myth. If diseases are caused by uneliminated metabolic debris, which is what so-called viruses are, then the medics have a point. But we Hygienists call that metabolic debris retained wastes, not viruses. “Viruses” are nothing more than the proteinacious debris of spent cells.  Their accumulation can precipitate a  healing crisis in the body. When this occurs, the body is likely to transport bacteria to the scene to aid it in cleaning up the mess, but the bacteria did not cause the problem. The habits and practices of the sufferer must be looked to as the real culprits. Once these deleterious habits and practices are discontinued, there will be no further toxic accumulations and thus the need for disease or healing crises will cease to exist. Sickness-free health will exist thereafter.

You say that disease is abnormal. Everyone has been sick at some time or other. Haven’t you ever been sick? If everyone gets sick, wouldn’t you say getting sick is a rather normal thing?

Yes, it is undeniable that disease and sickness are normal in our society. That is one reason there’s a great need for enlightened Life Scientists to be on the scene. We can put an end to this misery.

Let us not, however, confuse what is normal in nature and what is normal in a vitiated society.

Disease is a normal body response to an abnormal toxic condition. But the toxic condition is, let us recognize, abnormal.

You talk about Life Science as a cure-all. Aspirin will cure a headache, at least for a while. Can Life Science cure a headache?

Those practices which, aggregately, we term Life Science, are, indeed, a panacea, a cure-all. Correct diet and health practices build health, not disease. Aspirin does not “cure a headache.” The problems remain as before plus the toxic presence of the aspirin itself. Aspirin merely causes our body to paralyze or incapacitate the nervous system. Just because you remove thermometers does not alter the temperature. The fact that the body finally expels the aspirin from its domain and reinstitutes the processes that give rise to another headache is ample indication that drugs solve no problems.

Under the Life Science regime all causes of headaches are removed. Causes of health are instituted. This is the ultimate solution to the problem of disease and suffering. When there are no causes there can be no disease. When only the causes of health are indulged, only health can result.

Article #1: The Return To Perfection by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

Our word health is derived from the Saxon word for whole. Heal is derived from the same word and means to restore to a state of wholeness, soundness, integrity. Holy comes from the same root and signifies wholeness and purity of mind. Taken in its fullness of meaning, health means completeness and perfection of organization, fitness of life, freedom of action, harmony of functions, vigor and freedom from all stain and corruption—in a phrase, it is “a sound mind in a sound body.”

Condition of Perfection

Health is a condition of perfect development, a state of wholeness and harmonious development and growth and adaptation of part to part of the organism, of organ to organ, with no part stunted and no part in excess. In this state of organic development lies the perfection and symmetry of beauty. Beauty is but the reflection of wholeness, of health. It is easy to demonstrate that the forms and proportions of man and of every animal and plant which are in their highest and most useful state are also the most beautiful.

When every bone is of the best form and size for its service in the total organism, there is perfect proportion; when every muscle is fully and proportionately developed, with just enough fat in the cellular tissues to round out the muscles, we have the highest beauty of form; when the texture of the skin is finest and the circulation of the blood most vigorous, the blood well nourished and freed of all waste, there is the glow and charm of the finest complexion. The highest beauty is the expression of the highest health.

Beauty Fades with Loss of Health

Partial beauty, fading beauty, decaying beauty—these are but the expressions of partial, fading or decaying health. They represent unsatisfactory and painful states of existence. Beauty belongs to glowing health and perfection of organization. It is impossible for us to separate these ideals. We cannot picture health in terms of the conventional, for contemporary man is far short of this wholeness of organization and vigor of function that is health.

A Picture of Health

If we try to picture health what do we see? A form of perfect symmetry and proportion; a clean, smooth, semi-transparent skin, with the red blood shining through, especially in the cheeks and ends of the fingers and toes; glossy hair that is full of life; clear, bright eyes that are full of expression and dance with life; rosy lips that smile with the joys of life; pearly white, sound, even teeth; a breath that is as sweet as that of a flower in the springtime; freedom from disagreeable body odors, indeed, where health is perfect, emitting an agreeable aroma; a body that is filled with activity, delighting in work or exercise; and a happy, courageous, mirthful, and hopeful disposition, and a desire to help others.

Such a picture of health can come only from the orderly, regular and perfect performance of the functions of life—from a sound heredity, a congenial environment and conduct that conforms with the constitutional nature of man. Health is the perfect combination of bodily organization, intellectual energy and moral power in harmonious unity. It means perfect organization of brain and nerves that are as finely proportioned as the bones and muscular system. In a healthy person we would expect to see the symmetry and proportion of head of the Cro-Magnon, not the asymmetry and disproportion of head of modern man.

A Perfect Instrument Perfect in Every Respect

As every organ of the body is essential to wholeness and integrity of structure and vigor of function, no organ can be spared. Not merely must the nutritive and drainage systems be perfectly adapted to the requirements of the brain and body, but the smallest and apparently least important parts of the body must be harmoniously and fully developed. As Dr. Nichols so well expressed it: “The smallest instrument out of tune brings discord into the harmony of life.”

How is such a high state of health to be attained? How may we assure wholeness and fullness of development; vigor of function and freedom from disease and suffering? How may man be returned to that soundness and integrity of structure and vigor and force of life that he knew in the morning of his existence? If contemporary man is so lacking in health that he is but a puny specimen of manhood, how can he be restored to his pristine power and majesty? In a word: How may man be healed?

Living in Accord with Natural Law Produces Perfect Health

It should not require argument to convince the intelligent man and woman that this can be done only upon a basis of law—natural law—specifically, upon a basis of those laws that operate to make human life possible. All laws operate to make human life possible. All laws essential to the welfare of man are written in his own constitution. Every rule of human conduct, to be valid in promoting human welfare and happiness, must be in harmony with his nature. No law, no social custom (convention), no moral precept can have any reality to man that does not accord with his highest welfare. If it is not intimately related to man’s highest fitness—physical, moral and intellectual—it cannot correspond to his highest ideals of truth, duty and enjoyment.

The unperverted instincts of wild animals living in their natural homes are the laws of their lives. There seems to be no reason to doubt that man’s instincts were once equally perfect guides in his ways of life. But if this was ever true, it certainly is not so today. Man’s instincts have been so smothered and buried beneath a layer of cultural baggage that they no longer constitute reliable guides to him in his way of life. They have been “conditioned” until they are misguides.

Health-Sapping Perversions Begin Early In Life

Nonetheless it is true that even now instincts are fairly reliable guides to conduct in the young. But we begin the process of perverting these instincts almost from birth. Instinct does not leave us unwarned when we take our first smoke, but social usage demands that we ignore the warning and suppress the vigorous protests of instinct. We must learn to smoke, even now that we are aware that the end may be death from lung cancer. Today we may get our first smoke second-hand as mere infants. Smoking in the house has become almost universal. Many babies are sickened and even killed by the unintelligent practice of fathers and mothers filling the house with the poisonous fumes of burning tobacco.

We are not left unwarned by our first effort to develop alcoholism. The first drink of beer is obnoxious. Wine both smells and tastes fermented, and it is. The first drink of brandy or whiskey burns and bites, it smarts and stings as it goes down, there is protest every inch of the way. But we ignore these protests, we disregard these warnings, we are determined to “grow up,” and the only way this can be done in our society is to become an addict of one or more kinds.

Bad Practices Produce Human Wrecks

Coffee and tea are reproaches to both our sense of smell and to our sense of taste. They produce a “high” state that shouldnot be mistaken for vigor and well-being; they interfere with sleep, keeping us awake for hours. But we ignore these warnings of the faithful sentinels of life. We suppress the urge to flee from such poisons. We are determined to belong. We want to be “one of the gang” even if we have to wreck ourselves in the process.

We have learned to take the miserable fragments of natural-foods with which the food processors and refiners have flooded the market, fragments that lack all appeal to our gustatory sense, and to add sweetening, colorings, flavorings, etc. to them to make them appeal to the senses of sight, smell and taste in spite of their unfitness to serve the needs of human nutrition. We eat them, little thinking that they do not represent true foods or that they may prove to be actually hurtful. We have found ways to get unfit substances by the guards that stand at the entrance to the alvine canal. We have found ways to deceive ourselves and to wreck ourselves without knowing that we are doing it.

Disciplined Correct Life Practices Will Restore Pristine Perfection

For the evils of ignorance the remedy is knowledge—for the evils of false ideas the remedy is truth. For the source of truth and knowledge we have nature—especially human nature. Only when truth and knowledge are universal can we expect men and women to cease injuring and destroying themselves in riotous indulgence in tobacco, alcohol, and foodless food. In the spread of Natural Hygiene lies the hope of the future.

Article #2: What Is Health?

Health does not consist merely of the absence of symptoms of illness. It is a state of positive well-being that is evidenced by a constant state of euphoria. It is rarely, if ever, experienced by humans today.

Various States of Existence

We could well divide the people we meet into the following categories:

1. People who are definitely sick.
2. People who are on the borderline of sickness.
3. People who are apparently healthy.
4. People who enjoy high-level health.

The first three groups constitute the vast majority of our population. Perhaps only a mere handful of our youth could fall within the last category. Great vigour and the buoyant feeling of well-being are extremely rare in our populace.

Delineating Health

Health is a state of soundness and integrity of organism; vigour and efficiency of function; and excellence of mental faculties. Much of this well-being springs from antecedent heredity but that is merely the base requisite to building and maintaining health.

Health manifests itself by such a feeling of tone in the entire organism that the body fairly glows with it and bespeaks it at every turn. There is cleanliness and sparkle to the eyes, clearness and fine color to the skin, vigor and activity and bounce to the step, and an evident feeling of joy of living that is infectious.

We witness traces of the pristine vigor and well-being in our youngest children. Rarely do we observe exuberant physiological excellence beyond the age of six. If we really want to see vigor we must watch the young of animals.

This vigor is possible to humans throughout most of their lives.

Lesson 2 - The Nature And Purpose Of Disease

Inasmuch as we’re having only one lesson specifically on the subject of disease, I bid you to study hard and absorb it well, for nearly all your clientele will suffer disease in one form or another.

In this lesson we will ascertain what disease is, what brings it about, what purposes it serves, and why it ends at all in view of the fact that it is supposed to be an occasion when malevolent microbial entities have gained a destructive foothold in our bodies. We will explore how a body in descendancy (as it is said to be in disease) and microbes in ascendancy reverse these tendencies.

2.1. What is Disease?

1. Disease, as a word, means very simply not at ease—a person is uncomfortable or suffering difficulties in maintaining energies for the functions he wishes to discharge and in keeping operative those faculties he wishes to exercise.

   In physiological terminology, disease means deviation from normal. That means that the body has deviated from regular functions. In a state of disease the body has rechanneled or redirected its energies so that it has less than usual energy for functions normally engaged in.

2. There are two distinct types of disease. The first type of disease serves a purpose and the second type serves none. Discerning these two types in your clients will be no problem at all. These two types of disease are as follows:
   1. The first type is constructive disease, often called acute disease.
   2. The second type of disease is degenerative. This results from organic impairment in which organs, tissues, bones, or other faculties have undergone destruction, distortion, or irreversible impairment.

Your service to your clients will largely depend on your ability to recognize whether a disease is constructive or degenerative. I repeat: this is not difficult. You will, regardless of these conditions of disease, still proceed by guiding your client into healthful practices, healthful practices being the universal panacea.

If diseases are remediable and reversible as most of them are, it is constructive. When disease can no longer be reversed through body remediable processes, it is degenerative. For instance, an arthritic’s bony deposits can usually be autolyzed and restored to near normal. But when ankylosis has occurred due to destruction of bone and cartilage and subsequent fusing, healthful practices will restore health except for the ankylosis—it is rarely reversible. However, many diseases commonly regarded as degenerative can be corrected by the body, most cases of arthritis being among them.

2.2. Purposes of Disease

Disease affects the whole body, not just a part. Disease serves an important body purpose. The body initiates remedial diseases to accomplish a goal. The goal serves the whole body, not just an organ, area, or part. For instance, we can know we have diseased kidneys. But, in actuality, the whole body is diseased. The fact that the symptoms are noticeable only in the kidneys does not mean that the rest of the body is unaffected—it means that the kidneys are the focal point for the eliminative effort, the point at which toxic matters are put out of the body.

Everything that affects any part of the body affects the whole organism. If we have a bad back, the whole body is affected. We are concerned about the welfare of our toes, fingers, ears, legs, eyes, arms—we defend our whole being because our whole body is a single unit. There are no isolated parts about which we are unconcerned, either at the conscious or unconscious level of intelligence. We defend it all at all levels because it is all of us.

We don’t have a disease here or a disease there. It’s suffered all over. An inflamed appendix has been overloaded with toxic materials because the body is overloaded. Body intelligence puts the overload out through all channels of elimination, but despite this the load is so great the appendix is burdened with more than it can handle. This condition is the same in all remedial diseases where a local organ seems to be the only thing affected.

2.2.1 Disease Is Started by the Body

The body itself institutes the crisis known as disease. Life Scientists call this process a “housecleaning” or healing crisis. Such a procedure by the body is instituted when bodily integrity is compromised or threatened by an accumulation of uneliminated toxic materials. The level of vitality and the extent of the overload determine the type of crisis. Given high vitality as in an infant, a very low level of toxicity is tolerated. In infants, colds are frequent. Given low vitality as in most older people in our society, colds are a rarity. Because so few older people maintain vital bodies, the toxic overload drags them down into chronic diseases, degenerative diseases, and unsuspected pathology that leads to unexpected death or a “sudden onset” of cancer.

The body must be in a toxic state before it will institute a crisis. Neither bacteria nor anything else starts and sustains a crisis. Microorganisms are incapable of unified action; in fact they cannot exist where there is no food (soil) for them, and living cells are not soil for bacteria.

Bacteria are helpless against living cells. An “invasion” by bacteria such as we imagine in contagion never takes place. The bacteria that proliferate in a crisis are with us all the time. We harbor uncounted billions of microorganisms in our intestinal tract, on our skin, in our mouth and nose and other body cavities. Thus, the body is the ONLY, actor in the crisis of elimination or cleansing called a disease.

Bacteria and viruses cannot be blamed for disease.

Blaming disease on viruses or bacteria is an easy cop out. It’s not good business to tell a client that they have caused their own miseries, so the medical profession has blamed suffering on everything but the individual’s own failure in the game of living.

2.2.2 Disease Is an Eliminative Process

The body creates a crisis in response to a body need to free itself of toxic matters and repair damages. Consequently, the body withdraws energy from normal body activities and redirects them to the healing crisis.

I could tell you that I am suffering a disease at this moment. I’m not at ease with my larynx as you’ve noticed in my trying to clear my voice. I ate some cabbage for my evening meal. It was very sharp as it had some mustard oil in it, without doubt. Typically any irritant in the throat, esophagus or windpipe will occasion the flow of mucus which encompasses the irritant for the purpose of ejecting it from the body. In my case now, the body has started a mucus flow to clear the passage of what was regarded as toxic or irritating substance. This is a minor disease or unease. But it is disease and the body reacted to maintain its functional integrity.

The body will reject anything that’s irritating. For example, if dust is put into your nose, the body will secrete mucus to surround and eject the dust irritant. Or you may sneeze. In both cases, the body is acting defensively. Thus, all remedial disease is body-defensive action.

Bacteria do not invade organisms for they’re always within the organism. Even after we’ve lost our intestinal flora after fasting, bacteria are still there. Bacteria can in many cases do what bears and many other animals do—hibernate or become dormant. Pasteur was not the father of bacteriology as many people think. Antoine Bechamp was the father of this science. Bechamp was a scientist in the true sense of the word. He took what he called microzyma from the chalk cliffs of France. He found that, upon furnishing water, warmth and other nutrients, the microzyma proliferated. These microorganisms had been entombed for ten million years in a state of dormancy. So bacteria have certain qualities for survival that most are not aware of.

The celebrated Dr. Lewis Thomas who heads the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute said, “pity not the man who has caught bacteria; pity the bacteria that was caught by the man.” This is to say that humans furnish a very rough environment for bacteria. The body keeps them restricted within certain bounds. The body controls bacteria at all times. The body is master of its domain.

Bacteria do not control the body as medical people have led us to believe.

Following are two paragraphs from a “bible” on Natural Hygiene, Dr. Shelton’s first major work, Human Life: Its Philosophy and Laws.

“For ages the study of disease has progressed. One by one the various systems and system complexes that are presented by the diseased human body have been studied with painstaking care in both living and dead bodies. The study of pathology has reached a degree of perfection unknown to most of the collateral sciences that form what is called the science of medicine. Knowledge of pathology increased by leaps and bounds after the invention of the microscope, until today pathology is one of the most important studies for the medical student. Physiology, anatomy, histology and biology are all made subservient to pathology.

“The study of disease has fascinated the student for ages. Health has received scant attention. Strange as it may appear, health has been considered of so little importance as to be unworthy of investigation. No schools ever existed for teaching the conditions of health. Medical schools existed to train the student in a knowledge of disease and cures. Even today no school exists that has as its purpose the teaching of the conditions and requirements of health. The conditions of a healthy life are but little understood by the various healing professions and still less so by the general public. Health is not in the professional line of the physician.”

The medical world is preoccupied with treating disease with drugs that are currently in fashion. Their seeking out of bacteria and “viruses” as culprits in disease reminds me of a little joke we heard back after the Second World War. It goes like this.

During the Second World War a German civilian worked in a concentration camp. One evening he pushed a wheelbarrow to the exit gate for inspection by a guard. The wheelbarrow was loaded with rags. The guard, very conscientious about his job and the security of the camp and its assets, methodically went through the rags but found nothing. So he waved the worker through the gate.

The very next day the worker came through with a wheelbarrow of newspapers. The guard repeated the previous careful examination. The following day came a wheelbarrow of leaves. Again the same thorough inspection.

The day following this the worker came to the guard pushing a heavy load of dirt. The guard was not going to be fooled. He made the worker dump the dirt and spread it out, then laboriously reload it on the wheelbarrow.

The next workday came another load of newspapers. The guard was very suspicious that the worker was sneaking something out. So, in addition to other procedures, he tapped the handles and other places for concealed material that the worker might be stealing. But nothing was found.

This went on almost every workday for a year. On occasion the guard systematically searched the wheelbarrows but never found anything of value being removed from the camp.

By and by the war was over. A while later the former guard met the former construction worker on the street.

He went up to the worker and stopped him abruptly with this smiling demand:

“Hans, you have to tell me something. I’m no dummy. You were stealing something from the camp. I could never find it. Now that it doesn’t matter, why not let me in on it?”

Hans replied, “Why, dummkopf, you saw it with your own eyes. I was stealing wheelbarrows.”

Such blindness characterizes the medical profession. The purpose of disease is so evident that the medics can’t see it. They are looking for something that doesn’t exist, and they have no idea, after countless millions of man hours of chasing microbes and similar deadends, that viruses as living entities do not exist.

So they have gone into the phenomenon of disease elaborately and have chronicled over twenty thousand different diseases. They name them after the area that is most affected. Sometimes they have multiple names because of the number of organs or organ systems or tissues which art affected.

2.3. Toxemia Is The Universal Cause Of Disease

Actually, there is only one disease, no matter how it manifests itself. And the disease, which we call constructive disease, is occasioned by the body itself and is known as a crisis of toxemia or healing.

2.3.1 The Seven Stages of Disease

There are several stages of disease. The underlying cause of disease in all stages is toxemia. Although toxemia may arise from many sources, it basically exists because of insufficient nerve energy to sufficiently eliminate exogenous poisons and body wastes. Toxemia is not broad enough a term to cover the whole poisoning process for it means poison in the blood. Actually toxicosis exists. Tissues, cells and interstitial spaces are also toxic-laden. In short, the whole body is toxic.

Diseases present many different aspects because they evolve with the progressing deterioration of the organism that suffers them. Disease has seven distinct stages. These stages correspond to the distinct differences of each stage of evolution.

2.3.1.1. Enervation

The first stage is not even recognized by physicians as a disease. Life Scientists call it enervation. Most people call it nervous exhaustion. Enervation is a state in which the body is either not generating sufficient nerve energy for the tasks the body must perform, or the tasks the body must perform may be greater than the normal nerve energy supply can cope with. In any event, the body becomes impaired, and an impaired body generates less nerve energy if the conditions of overwork or under-generation persist. Most people know when they are nervously exhausted.

Enervation can be caused by depletion of nerve energy in any of hundreds of ways. Sleep regenerates nerve energy. Obviously, insufficient sleep will not supply us with our needs. It will not fully recharge our batteries. We need sleep to regenerate nerve energy for the brain and nervous system.

Nerve energy is a form of electricity measurable in millivolts. Sleep laboratories have successfully substituted electricity in place of the body’s own. When this is accomplished it is called electrosleep. It takes only two hours out of twenty-four to fully restore nerve energy in this manner.

Demonstrating that nerve energy is electrical is easy. If you mashed your finger, a message would immediately go to the brain and back would come a command to remove the finger from that which applied the pressure. Moreover, the brain would command the entire balance of the body to cooperate in the extraction of the finger from the offending pressure. Only electricity is capable of such speedy transmission. No chemical process or circulatory process is capable of this dispatch. It occurs only through a network of nerves with conductive abilities, and electricity is the only form of energy it can conduct. If you take a weak voltage and hook up to it while holding someone else’s hand, the other person gets a shock immediately when you touch the live electrical source. I don’t think anyone can doubt that we do generate electricity, and that is the form of energy we use to conduct our physical and mental activities. Sensations are transformed into electrical stimuli and forwarded to the brain. The brain interprets these and sends out commands based upon the interpretation. Thus, if you put your finger to a hot object, the finger is commanded in a flash to withdraw from it.

The foregoing is to demonstrate that the body is primarily an organism that works on the amount of electricity it generates and which it has in its reserves. If this supply is depleted or otherwise insufficient to cope with the needs of the body, then body functions become impaired, including the processes of elimination of both endogenous metabolic wastes and exogenous poisons introduced into the body. This impairment begets further impairment including diminishing the body’s ability to restore depleted nerve energy. The body starts going downhill. The next stage of this decline is called toxemia.

2.3.1.2. Toxemia or Toxicosis

When toxic substances from whatever source saturate the blood and tissues, the lymph system and interstitial fluids, then the conditions of toxemia and toxicosis exist.

As functioning organisms, we generate a tremendous amount of toxic by-products. We generate enough carbon dioxide to kill us within a few minutes. If our lungs failed to function, carbon dioxide buildup and lack of oxygenation would overwhelm us quite quickly. We can accommodate only so much carbon dioxide. And this is but one of many waste products. There are trillions of cells in the human body. Tens of billions of these expire every day. They are replaced by new cells. The old cells are broken down by lysosomes, enzymes that reside in a little organelle within the cell itself. Upon cell death, these enzymes break the cell down into many smaller components for elimination. These components are cell debris. Some of these components such as iron, protein, and amino acids are recycled by the body. Some 95% of the body’s iron needs and 70% of its protein needs are met by recycling. Certain other of the body’s needs are met by recycling as well. This will give you some idea as to the immense providence and wisdom of the body in meeting its needs. Other components of the decomposed cell are the RNA and DNA. These are toxic while in the system. If they accumulate as they do in most humans in today’s society, a condition of intoxication (toxemia and toxicosis) exists. These are what medical people call viruses, and they mistakenly attribute to this dead debris the powers of life and malevolence.

Tissue and blood saturation with toxic materials can be caused by both internally generated wastes and pollutants taken in from the outside which the body has not been able to eject from the vital domain. Intoxication occurs when we overload the body with toxic materials from the outside, or we fail to observe our capacities, and overwork, get insufficient sleep, or are subjected to great stress, or when any number of other factors deplete the body of nerve energy or prevent its sufficient regeneration. For instance, stresses, emotional shocks, or traumatic experiences can drain our bodies of nerve energy very quickly. It’s just like shorting out the battery of a car.

At some level of intoxication we begin to experience the next stage of disease which is called irritation.

2.3.1.3. Irritation

Irritation results from toxic materials being sensed by our nerve network. Most of us pay this stage little mind, and certainly physicians do not pay it heed. When we feel itchy, queasy, jumpy, uneasy, or when we have bothersome but not painful areas, irritation exists. Tickling of the nose is a form of irritation. Collections of mucus along the mucus membranes irritate, although irritation is not painful. It is a gentle prod that moves us to seek comfort, to establish freedom from it. For instance, the urge to urinate or defecate is a form of irritation due to accumulation of wastes greater than the body feels comfortable with. However, the urge is not painful unless it is ignored until it creates too much pressure in its area. Near painful irritation forces us to deal with the problem.

When a person drinks too much alcohol we say that he or she is intoxicated. That’s a good example of exogenous intoxication. While all alcohol intake is damaging to the organism, the body can speedily eliminate a small amount before much damage has occurred. Increase the intake, and the elimination is proportionately less and the damage proportionately greater. The first drink of alcohol occasions only irritation which we also call stimulation. But any toxic material, be it salt, caffeine, or condiments will irritate or stimulate. This is a condition wherein the body sets in force its defensive mechanisms and accelerates its internal activities. This might well be likened to an alarm aboard ship where all hands are summoned. A frenzy of activity results in a bout with enemy forces. Unfortunately, this often makes us feel good or hyper or even euphoric. It is distressing to see a euphoric condition arise out of a situation that is damaging to the organism.

If the causes of enervation/intoxication/irritation remain in force and the body can’t cope with it the body initiates a responsive crisis called inflammation.

2.3.1.4. Inflammation

This is usually the stage in which physicians recognize pathology. It is the stage where sufferers are keenly aware of a problem, for it involves pain. As well, it involves bodily redirection of vital energies. The intestinal tract is closed down. Energy that would normally be available for activity there is pre-empted and redirected to the massive effort to cope with a severe condition of intoxication. Lest the integrity of the organism be dealt a mortal blow or crippled, the body musters its all to the emergency.

In inflammation, the toxicants have usually been concentrated in an organ or area for a massive expulsive effort. The area becomes inflamed due to the constant irritation of the toxic materials. When inflammation exists we are said to have an “itis,” appendicitis, tonsilitis, hepatitis, or nephritis for example. Note that the “itises” just cited are all due to overburdening of four different organs of purification and elimination.

The names of “itises” are usually after the organ or tissue area that is inflamed. Thus if we have a cold we have rhinitis. If we have inflammation of the sinus cavities we have sinusitis. If we have inflammation of bronchial tissue we have either bronchitis or asthma. And so it goes. We have these peculiar pathologies because in each case the body elected to eliminate the extraordinary toxic load through the organ affected. For instance, asthma exists because the body has selected the bronchi as an outlet for toxic materials. The condition is chronic because the toxic condition is unceasing. While the sufferer continues to intoxicate himself or herself, the body continues to eliminate the overload through the bronchi or alveolar tissue.

Inflammation or fever is a body crisis response to a life-threatening situation. The body and the body alone creates the fever. It is an evidence or symptom of increased and intense body activities directed at cleansing and repair. The extraordinary energies employed for a fever are at the expense of energies normally involved in digestion, work or play, thinking and seeing, etc. Fever is a healing activity. The idea of suppressing it is equivalent to hitting a drowning man over the head so he’ll cease his struggles. For instance, if rhinitis or influenza sufferers are drugged it amounts to hitting the body’s healer over the head. Thus, the eliminative effort is suppressed, and the toxicity increases until other organs, usually the lungs, become saturated—not only with the toxicity but the drugs administered as well. When body vitality reasserts itself a condition known as pneumonia is likely to result.

Inflammation is the fourth stage of disease and is the body’s most intense effort to cleanse and restore itself. The next stage of disease is destructive and degenerative. It will result if the causes of general body intoxication are continued.

2.3.1.5. Ulceration

Ulceration means that a staggering amount of cells and tissue structures are, being destroyed. Physiological systems are wiped out due to the body’s inability to live in an unceasing toxic media. Where tissue is destroyed there remains a void. An example is a canker sore of the mouth. Lesions or ulcers can occur in other areas of the body also. These conditions are often intensely painful, for there are exposed nerves.

While the body may use an ulcer as an outlet for extraordinary toxic buildup thereby relieving itself, it will heal the ulcer if causes are discontinued, or if the toxicity level is significantly lowered. This process of repairing the damage is like patching up pants with holes in them. This patching up process is called induration.

2.3.1.6. Induration

Induration is a hardening of tissue or the filling in of tissue vacancy with hard tissue. Scarring is a form of induration. But in this stage of disease, there is direction and purpose in hardening. The space is filled, and the toxic materials that threaten bodily integrity are encapsulated in a sac of hardened tissue. The ulcer and the toxic materials are sealed off by the hardening of the tissue around them. This is a way of quarantining the toxic materials, often called tumor formation. It is this condition that is diagnosed as cancer nineteen times out of twenty when, in fact, no cancer exists.

Induration is the last stage during which the body exerts intelligent control. Should the pathogenic practices which brought matters to this stage be continued, cells and tissue systems go wild. They survive as best they can on their own. Cells become parasitic—living off the nutrients they can obtain from the lymph fluid but contributing nothing to the body economy. They have become disorganized. Their genetic encoding has been altered by the poisons. Thus, they are not capable of intelligent normal organized action within the context of a vital economy. When cells go wild in this manner, the condition is called cancer.

2.3.1.7. Cancer

The endpoint of the evolution of disease is cancer. It is the last stage of disease and is usually fatal, especially if the causes that brought it about are continued. Cessation of causes and indulgence of healthful practices may arrest it, for they can so revitalize the body that they may even destroy the cancer cells. It’s all relative. Cancer cells live in a hostile environment but still divide and flourish as long as nutrients are available to them. Cancer cells may be regarded as cells that have become independent and have reverted to the status of uncontrolled primitive cells—cells that live entirely on their own as do protozoa.

These stages of disease are quite distinct in their characters, yet the lines are more or less arbitrarily drawn. This often happens in attempts at categorization where one form evolves into another. The dividing lines have no clear-cut delineation.

People sometimes ask when cancer begins. Hygienists or Life Scientists say that it begins with the first cold or rash of childhood. The first crisis a baby endures begins the pathological chain that leads to cancer. This evolutionary chain begins then because the phenomenon of life is one constant violation of the laws of life from beginning to end.

2.3.2. Viruses And Bacteria—Their Role In Disease

After reviewing the seven stages of disease it should be obvious that bacteria and so-called viruses do not cause diseases. Viruses do cause diseases if you call toxic waste materials of decomposed body cells viruses. Decomposed cell debris is precisely what virologists and physicians are calling viruses. They regard viruses as living entitities when, in fact, medics have not in all history observed any quality of life they ascribe to viruses. What is called virus is always dead. It’s never been observed to be alive. It doesn’t have the first prerequisites of life, that is, metabolic and control mechanisms. Even bacteria have that. I repeat that what is called viruses are nothing more than components of decomposed cells.

Some people insist that syphilis is caused by bacteria, more specifically spirochetes. Though the term spirochetes has given way to viruses called Herpes these days—that’s today’s fashion—it was easy to demonstrate that spirochetes were never responsible in the first place. When you ask a bacteriologist which comes first, the soil or the bacteria, he will answer that the soil must exist first for bacteria to thrive, for bacteria are presented a deadly environment by living cells. So, bacteria never exist in a proliferating state where there is no food or soil for their propagation. They multiply when there is feast, and they die off when there is famine or adverse environment, hence, bacteria no more create their food supply than flies cause garbage. The garbage must preexist the flies and, on the same order, the garbage or soil on which bacteria thrive in our bodies must preexist their presence and propagation. In other words, they do not cause the condition—they are there because of the condition.

When the body has a highly toxic condition such as inflammation, it will absorb bacteria from the intestinal cavity and transport them to the point where deadly materials have been concentrated. The bacteria then symbiotically assist in breaking up these toxic materials for elimination. Of course, the excreta of bacteria are toxic, too.

Ignorant physicians regard these bacteria not as our symbiotic partners in the process of combating disease, but as the cause of the disease. Koch destroyed Pasteur’s original theories by his four postulates. The first two state that if a disease is caused by a certain type of bacterium, then that form of bacteria must always be present when the disease exists. The other says that the disease must always be occasioned by the presence or introduction of the bacteria said to be responsible. Although these cardinal principles are self-evident, so many exceptions existed as to disprove totally the germ theory of disease-causation. Koch laid down his postulates in 1892; the medical profession never has given them credence. To this day the profession clings to the disproven germ theory except that germs in the form of bacteria are taking a back seat to an even more elusive entity called a virus.

Bacteria exist in a multitude of strains, forms, and metabolic capabilities. Bacteria are versatile and in many cases change forms and lifestyles in keeping with the character of the soil available to them. Round bacteria can become rod shaped and vice versa.

It used to be said that pneumococcus caused pneumonia. But it was noted that this type of bacteria was absent in nearly half the cases. Moreover, administering the bacteria to healthy organisms never occasioned pneumonia. The plain fact that bacteria are in the human body as they are everywhere else is not recognized by the medical profession. Bacteria are symbiotic partners of all creatures in nature. In order to come to exist in nature in the first place, humans had to establish a state of symbiosis with all natural forces.

In the second place, if bacteria invaded organisms and laid them low as they’re supposed to do—if the body could be laid low while in a state of health—then the impetus or momentum the bacteria had built up would become more pronounced and overwhelming as the organism receded in disease. It would be a one-way trip the same as vultures picking the bones of a cadaver. If bacteria and viruses cause disease, once they have overwhelmed the body and actually debilitated it, how does the much weakened body regain ascendancy? If you were to inquire into this deeply and pursue it to its logical conclusions, you’d find that, once a body has lost the battle while in a state of health, it’s going to lose the war after being disabled.

2.3.3 Disease Complicated by By-Products of Symbiotic Bacteria

At their strongest, bacteria complicate disease because the byproducts of bacterial fermentation or putrefaction are deadly poison. In fermentation the by-products are lactic acid, acetic acid or vinegar, and alcohol. Putrefaction involves nitrogenous foods or proteins. The by-products of rotting protein are ammonias, indoles, skatoles, purines, etc. They are toxic within organisms, although the body can normally eliminate these poisons. In fact, our feces and urine are loaded with the by-products of protein decomposition, both from our body decomposition and bacterial decomposition.

You’ve heard of the ideal of living in a germ-free environment. That is an impossibility, of course. Trillions of bacteria are in and on our bodies at all times. If we were free of these minute organisms, we’d soon die. They perform many essential services for us which will be discussed in a later lesson. Suffice it to say that we live symbiotically with bacteria.

Bacteria are wrongfully blamed for our own indiscretions. It’s the rare medic who doesn’t find a scapegoat for his client and remove responsibility for problems from the shoulders of the sufferer.

Medical logic is not very logical. According to medical thinking, bacteria or viruses invade our bodies and destroy our cells. It would seem that our body defenses permit this by their intimations. It would seem that once these invading entities have a headstart they would not stop destroying the rest of the cells of the organism, especially as the first strike has crippled the organism and lessened its ability to defend itself. By medical logic, the bacteria are there in greater numbers, for they proliferate astronomically when they’ve found a feast situation. How can the body reverse this situation and recover?

The medics believe that they administer drugs that kill off the bacteria so that the body can have a chance to recover. Also, they have people believing that medicines are healing agents or that they assist in healing.

When you start asking deep penetrating questions into the causes of disease, the medical theories fall of their own weight. They cannot be sustained in the face of self-evident truths. So we have to find the rational basis for disease causation.

Disease has a sole unitary cause. It is instituted and conducted by the body itself. It is the only organized entity capable of coordinating the various processes of disease. Disease is occasioned when toxic materials that we have generated within or taken in from without are uneliminated due to the body’s inability to cope with them. These debilitate and devitalize the organism until, at a point where it can no longer tolerate the growing toxic load at its mean level of vitality, the body institutes a crisis, redirecting its body energies to the enemy within.

Let’s go back to pneumonia. Physicians worry that when a person has a cold or the flu, it will become pneumonia. It occurs so many times among their patients that they make “heroic” efforts to prevent this. They administer drugs galore. Yet, pneumonia occurs so frequently despite the drugging that doctors feel powerless in the face of pneumonia, one of the primary causes of death in our society. The question arises: what causes pneumonia then? Does pneumococcus survive the drug onslaught and cause pneumonia anyway?

If colds are, as we teach, a cleansing process, how does a body that is in crisis get yet worse? If the body is eliminating toxic materials profusely through the respiratory tract as in colds and flu, then how do the lungs also become contaminated?

All cases of colds and flu recover very quickly if the sufferer goes to bed in an airy room with lots of natural daylight. Almost total rest is called for. Total abstention from food but plenty of pure water is needed. Under these conditions debility ceases in from one to three days. But, if the sufferer refuses to rest and continues to eat the same bad food that contributed heavily to the crisis in the first place, the eliminative effort may be less than the continued toxic buildup, in which case pneumonia may be a concomitant. But, if the sufferer goes to a medic and gets drugged in addition, the body turns its attention to eliminating the drugs. It may cease the cold or flu altogether in face of the greater enemy. The continued toxic buildup spreads to the lungs. The drugs and toxic materials may concentrate so strongly in the lungs as to cause death or to set the stage for cancer. Many autopsies reveal people who have had pneumonia or who have smoked or lived in highly polluted air have tumors, indurated sacs of lung tissue which encapsulate toxic substances in the lungs. Many cases of long fasts have been conducted in which pneumonia had been suffered many years before. The drugs that had been given had been noted to make their exit from the lungs during the course of the fast as the body autolyzed the tumors and expelled their contents.

Yet, despite the obvious causes of pneumonia, medical professionals are still saying that pneumococcus causes pneumonia when, in fact, more than 25% of pneumonia cases never have pneumococcus. Now that medics are getting more and more away from the germ theory of disease causation they’re invoking viruses as the culprits. This is true only if by viruses we mean uneliminated metabolic wastes. But when you start probing into what viruses are and how they cause disease, you might call this the “evil spirit” theory of disease, for the medics imbue viruses with all the qualities of malevolent spirits.

Such blindness characterizes the medical profession. The purpose of disease is so evident that medics can’t see it. Just as with the guard in the concentration camp, they are looking for something that doesn’t exist and they overlook that which they see so plainly all the time.

Medical researchers have chronicled over 20,000 different diseases. They name almost every variation. They have multiple names because of the number of organs or tissue systems that exhibit symptoms. All of this is only one disease. And the disease, which we call constructive disease, is occasioned by the body itself and is known as toxemia or toxicosis.

2.4. Natural Hygiene Or Life Science Care Of The Ailing

2.4.1 The Work of Doctors Tilden, Carrington and Shelton

Just as there is one universal cause of disease there is one universal panacea! In mythology Asclepius had two daughters. Both were goddesses. One was the goddess of health and she was called Hygeia. The other daughter was Panacea. She was the goddess of healing. The name itself, in Greek, means all-healing or universal healing.

While these goddesses are mythological, they do represent valid concepts. Panacea can be achieved by a return to natural practices. Fasting is the quickest way to invoke the universal panacea. Just as the universal disease is a toxic-laden body, the universal panacea is establishing the most ideal conditions under which the body can cleanse itself of the toxicity and repair the damages suffered. Fasting is the answer. It works in all cases of constructive disease, that is, disease where organic damage of an irremediable nature has not occurred.

Some great luminaries have long since rediscovered the Grecian panacea. Dr. Jennings first employed it until Dr. John Tilden elaborated on it in his scholarly book, Toxemia Explained. Dr. Hereward Carrington wrote a few very illuminating volumes about Natural Hygiene. But Dr. Shelton probed deeper and farther afield than did all those before him. He built upon the shoulders of all who went before him and added a touch of his own genius. In our text section some observations of Dr. Carrington are presented. Here is a quote from Dr. Herbert M. Shelton about the nature of disease:

2.4.2 The Hygienic Definition of Disease

“The Hygienic system teaches that disease is a remedial effort, a struggle of the vital powers to purify the system and recover the normal state. This effort should be aided, directed, and regulated if need be, but never suppressed. What is this mysterious thing called disease? It is simply an effort to remove obstructing material which we call toxic materials from the organic domain and to repair damages. Disease is a process of purification and repair. It is remedial action. It. is a power struggle to overcome obstruction and to keep the channels of circulation free.”

Actually disease is really more than this if we view it in all aspects. Dr. Carrington has simplified Dr. Shelton’s presentation somewhat. He says the following:

“Disease is an attempt of the body to free its cells and circulatory system of clogging and toxic materials. It is a desperate body rallying its remaining resources to the task of purgation and restoration.”

We have many illustrious forebears in the elaboration and creation of what we call Natural Hygiene or Life Science. Most notable among our forebears have been some truly great women. While women were spurned in the medical profession, the Hygienic movement was truly an enlightened and unfettered one. It welcomed women with open arms and, if we leave the renegade M.D.’s aside, their numbers almost equal those of male Hygienic professionals.

How many of you have heard of Louisa May Alcott? Yes, all of you have. But how many of you know that she was a Hygienist? That her father was a Hygienist? That her brother William Alcott was a professional Hygienist and was also a brilliant writer?

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Florence Nightingale, who gave new dignity and direction to the profession of nursing. She was a Hygienist.

How many of you have heard of Ellen White? She was a Hygienist who founded the religion we know today as the Seventh Day Adventists.

There are many unsung heroines among women who were Hygienic professionals. Mary Gove, Susan Nichols, Linda Burfield Hazzard and others were a credit to both the profession of Hygiene and to womanhood.

Perhaps the most famous Hygienist of the fair sex was Florence Nightingale. Her daring on the battle fields of eastern Europe still draws our admiration for the courage of her convictions. The British were fighting the Russians and more soldiers were dying behind the battle lines than on them. The physicians and their treatments were killing off the wounded and ailing faster than the Russians.

When Florence Nightingale arrived on the battle scene she really took charge despite the physicians. What she did was a very simple thing: she went to the rooms of the wounded and ailing and opened the windows for fresh air. She would not permit drugs. She gave the patients water which was against medical policy at the time. She rejected heavy feeding and, in fact, for many, any feeding at all. Being confined to a battlefield hospital had been a death sentence before. Now almost all the wounded and sick became well speedily. It’s all history and Florence Nightingale became famous because of her tremendous success employing the mere rudiments of Hygienic methods. This is all the more phenomenal when you consider that Ms. Nightingale lived in a medical age and in a man’s world. She defied the medics and won. She was truly a pioneer Hygienist. The world, despite its poverty on the health scene, is still richer for her having been amongst our forebears.

2.5. The Character Of Disease

In order to understand disease, we must understand health. Health is the enjoyment of full faculties and functioning power. Disease is not the opposite of health but an expression of healthy vitality while under the burden of toxicosis. Disease is a body-instituted and conducted crisis for the purpose of purifying and repairing itself.

Disease is caused by indulging in practices or being subjected to materials and influences not normal to the human organism: that to which we are not adapted will cause disease.

It is a misconception that we have to fight disease. It will not occur unless it is caused. A huge catalog of materials and influences which are abnormal to the body could be given, but it’s not that complicated. We need only to maintain the simple needs of life which build and sustain health. We should consume only pure water as thirst demands and wholesome raw ripe fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds as genuine hunger dictates. We are frugivores, and it is to a diet of fruits as nature delivers them that we are biologically adapted.

Further, we are adapted to pure air, sunshine, rest and sleep, pleasant environment, emotionally balanced companions - in short we are adapted to a harmonious world. We are so constituted that health results when all our physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic needs are met. Thus diseases other than degenerative ones may be said to be body crises for the purpose of restoring health.

The cause, purpose, and nature of disease have now been delineated. Certain questions will be explained below.

2.5.1 Diseases Are Not Contagious

STUDENT: Is it true that diseases are not contagious in any sense?

INSTRUCTOR: That is correct. Diseases are not contagious in any sense simply because they are body instituted. We cannot transfer our toxic load to someone else. That should be self-evident. A Hygienist can go into a sickroom and not suffer a bit for it. Obviously most physicians and nurses and other people go to the sickrooms, even those housing the most so-called contagious diseases. They never contract the disease or suffer even though on occasion medics claim they do. You cannot transfer your toxic materials to another person unless you have it drawn out of you and injected into the person. The medics do, indeed, do that in transfusions. But the contagion here is medically induced rather than occurring within the realm of natural possibilities.

It is said that colds, flu, leprosy, and a number of other things are contagious. As we learn more, diseases become less and less contagious. Asthma, cancer, psoriasis, meningitis, poliomyelitis and a long list of other diseases have come off the contagious list. Measles, chicken pox, and other affections are still on the list of diseases said to be contagious. The only thing contagious about these diseases is medical ignorance. That is the most contagious of all.

2.5.2 How Plagues and Epidemics Develop

The reason that there seems to be “epidemics” is that the true contagion is an epidemic of similar bad habits. We all eat pretty much the same junk, are subjected to the same seasons, the same type of housing and, in many other ways, indulge the same health-sapping practices. It’s no wonder that many of us suffer the same diseases. Like causes beget like effects. Of course this is modified in the human situation by the diathesis of each individual.

Thus we see that, within the context of a given family or group, people have more or less the same bad habits and suffer the same diseases.

This business about incubation periods of germs and viruses is strictly medical mythology. We’ll get into the depths of that and study it methodically in later lessons.

To what are plagues and epidemics attributed? Today’s epidemics are for the most part invented and publicized in America by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a federal service that does yeoman service for the medical profession. When the drug companies want to sell lots of flu vaccine, measles vaccine, etc. they get CDC to release the scare propaganda that stampedes the public into the physicians’ offices for shots. To entertain the thought that vaccines injected into people makes them immune is an absurdity not worthy of serious consideration—it is a species of voodooism.

Epidemics today result, I reassure you, from mass indulgence of the same bad habits and subjection to the same pathogenic living conditions. It’s no accident that almost 90% of the affections labeled generally as colds and influenza occur within a seven-month period of the year.

The reason epidemics occur in winter and not in summer should be obvious. If anything, microbial life is more active in summer just as we are and their functions are depressed in winter. But lo and behold, microbial forms of life are said to be more active and to cause epidemics. That’s nonsense of course. In the winter we eat less wholesome food—we eat more junk. We do not exercise as much. We stay indoors and breathe foul air. In the summer we get more sunshine, more exercise, more fresh air, fresh ripe fruits—in short we live more healthfully in summer and less healthfully in winter. Conditions cause us to so live as to generate our diseases. General conditions cause general ill health. It is not contagion of germs but contagion of pathogenic conditions that create what are termed plagues or epidemics.

2.5.3 Drugs are Dangerous to Both Bacteria and Human Cells

Hygienists or Life Scientists deplore the medical practice of feeding the ailing and drugging them too. When ill, the continuance of feeding alone is enough to thwart the healing forces within. But the addition of drugs so destroys vital powers that the body must often redirect its purification efforts to freeing itself from the more virulent poisons administered. Thus it is seen that medical professionals are death-dealing rather than being life-enhancing.

Yes, drugs kill bacteria. But they’re just as deadly to all forms of metabolic life. That which deranges and destroys the metabolic functions of bacteria usually does likewise to the cells of all forms of life. Even physicians will tell you that drugs have no effect on viruses. Of course they don’t have any effect on what they call viruses because that is dead cell debris that can’t be made any deader.

In conclusion I assure you that disease is not something to fear. That’s like being scared of your own body. If you fear anything fear your disposition to indulge in unwholesome foods and unwholesome living conditions.

2.6. Questions & Answers

Are indigestion and acidosis diseases or just passing little crises?

These are diseases even though usually of short duration. Anything that puts us at unease is disease. While there is no such thing as acidosis because we’d die long before our body fluids reached the acid stage, there is such a thing as hypo-alkalinity. A reduction in alkalinity from a pH of 7.40 to as little as 7.35 is enough to bring on coma and another five to ten points lower may cause death.

Indigestion and what is called acidosis are usually caused by eating foods in incompatible digestive combinations and in eating a predominantly acid-forming diet. These are the primary causes of these complaints.

You said that diseases are not contagious. If so how do you explain away venereal disease? That’s proven to be contagious.

I’ve responded to this in a way before but I’ll go over these grounds again. Conventional thinking has it that gonococcus and spirochetes are transferred from one person to another during the sexual act. The “infected” person will then develop either gonorrhea or syphilis. Even the medical profession is deserting this long held belief today in favor of the herpes virus as causing what is called venereal disease.

First, syphilis is a figment of the medical imagination. Most of what is described as syphilis in the books of yesteryear were effects of mercury and sulfa drugs which the profession administered so liberally. What is described as gonorrhea is no more serious than the canker sores of the mouth. Both are eliminative steps by the body. The ulceration and suppuration represent the fifth stage of the evolution of disease. The so-called contagious factors, bacteria, are there because of the disease, not the cause of it. In fact something like 20% of those who suffer venereal diseases have neither gonococcus nor spirochetes. Saying that a pimple, ulcer or pustule in the sexual area is caused by either bacteria or viruses is like saying boils are caused by the same when it is generally agreed that boils are a result of filth in the body. Both are the same processes but occur in different areas of the body. Besides it must be recognized that the autolysis of tissue and the creation of inflammations and boils are body actions, not bacterial or viral actions.

It is not true that venereal diseases are contagious. The U.S. Navy conducted experiments wherein it was shown that so-called infected persons could not infect healthy persons. When I was with a vice squad in Japan we had cases of so-called infected prostitutes who had been with dozens of GI’s, none of whom contracted the disease. On the other hand there are many who have infections in the sexual area who have not been in contact with anyone, especially in small children who do sometimes have infections in the sexual area.

The concept of contagion is unproven despite appearances. It is a medical scareword that stampedes customers into the offices of medical practitioners. It’s much like insurance companies who like to see fires and pay off for that makes it all the easier to sell insurance.

It seems rather impudent of you to say millions of scientists, doctors, researchers and teachers of medical science are all wrong. Isn’t it just possible that you’re wrong about disease being body action instead of bacterial or viral action? Isn’t it just possible that the medical people who’ve been around so long are really right?

Old myths die hard, don’t they? The older and more revered the myth, the harder it is to dispel. Your question would have done well nearly five hundred years ago when Copernicus presented his heliocentric theory of the solar system. It’s just difficult to believe that everyone can be wrong. But I insist that the whole profession operates on a wrong premise. The fact that fasting will enable an organism to heal quickly in injury or illness and drugging will defer or prevent healing altogether is some indication of the error of the medical school of thought. The very word medicine is a misnomer. The word means healing agent or substance. There is not such an agent or substance. Healing is always the sole prerogative of the affected organism. There’s not enough intelligence and know how in the collective knowledge of the world to effect the knitting of a bone within an organism. Healing is, I repeat, entirely a body process.

The impudence lies not with me but with those who deny the obvious and plainly evident truth. Age does not make beliefs true, and truth never changes with age. The belief that the world was flat was accepted by millions over nearly two thousand years but that did not flatten the world. Likewise if the masses of our people do not accept obvious truths, truths that account for everything in health and disease and are demonstrable when put to the test, then it is those who deny the obvious that are impudent. Should I repeat an old refrain: “I’d rather be right with a persecuted few than wrong with many.”

I know about the swine flu hoax but is the measles vaccination really a hoax too? If children are exposed to the measles they get it; but if they have been vaccinated they don’t get it, right?

It’s general knowledge that the swine flu vaccination was a hoax. It is only a question of time before people will learn of the tetanus hoax, the rabies hoax, the whooping cough hoax, the measles hoax and other medical hoaxes.

If children are exposed to others who have the measles they don’t “catch” it. It is not something that is contagious. What is “contagious” are the food habits, that cause it (any unhealthful living habits, wrong food combinations, stress, etc.). But children usually do not have measles if their system is too drugged and devitalized. And that’s what happens when they’re vaccinated. They cannot conduct the simple eliminative crisis called measles. If they cannot have measles they’ll sooner or later have something worse—like cancer! Measles is a body instituted and conducted crisis to get rid of toxic accumulations. Vaccinal interference destroys the vitality necessary to have measles.

Measles is helpful, not hurtful. The body creates the measles and keeps the process in force until body cleansing has been completed. Contrary to medical myth, the body will not harm itself by conducting this or any other crisis. This is more than can be said for the vaccines, which are poisonous in themselves.

The harm said to be derived from measles is actually from the “heroic” drugging and treatment administered by the medical profession. Measles and other acute diseases are helpful body functions; the body is grappling with an overload of toxic materials. Vaccinations and drugging add to these toxic materials. They are never a “preventive” or an antidote. They can make matters worse but they have no intelligence or ability to help under any circumstances.

If vaccinations don’t give us immunity, how about the antibodies vaccinated organisms produce? Don’t antibodies really defend against a virus as in the case of measles?

This reminds me of a joke that goes like this: An Air Force Colonel who commanded a fighter wing was inspecting his pilots one Saturday morning. He stopped by a Captain and Lieutenant who piloted and co-piloted a plane. He asked the Captain: “What would you do, Captain, if your plane caught on fire and you couldn’t open the overhead canopy?” The Captain repled: “Sir, I’d eject through the canopy.” The Colonel rejoined with “You idiot, you’d be squashed to death in the process.” Then he turned to the Lieutenant and asked him what he’d do. The Lieutenant meekly said, “Sir, I’d go through the hole the Captain made.”

Of such substance is this question. The truth is that the body does not create new defensive faculties in responses to a poison. Rather it has its defensive faculties destroyed. Putting a question that way is like saying that the body creates antibodies to defend against tar and nicotine in cigarette smoking because the body can tolerate ever greater quantities without the same ill effects as with the first cigarette of life. The body can’t tolerate smoke any better after a thousand smokes than after one. The body no longer defends against the pathogenic poisons of cigarette smoke simply because its defenses have been destroyed, not built up.

Medical researchers will tell you that “antibodies” are merely presumed and not something actually demonstrable in the laboratory as a new body faculty. They are presumed because, when vaccines are administered, most recipients no longer get the disease. This is because the body’s defensive faculties are destroyed, not enhanced. The body’s ability to conduct the simple cleansing crisis known as measles is so debilitated by the vaccinal poison that it retains what would normally be expelled. It’s no accident that cancer is now the number one killer of our children. When simple cleansing cannot occur, the body all the more quickly evolves to the next and succeeding stages of disease.

Antibodies are, I repeat, a medical myth, a figment of the medical imagination.

Well, you’ve just admitted that vaccines lower the incidence of measles. Isn’t that a good thing since measles can cause brain damage?

How can I get this across that measles are not a bane but a boon. If the body is filthy inside, a cleansing is a good thing. Measles are a cleansing process. The body conducts the crisis called measles and it is doing so to help itself, not hurt itself. The body never injures itself except where injury is necessary as the lesser of two evils. Brain damage does not occur from a cleansing crisis. Rather, it is the drugs that are administered in such a crisis that are responsible for the damage. Physicians damage many people with their drugs and conveniently place all blame on the body’s noble reparative efforts rather than take responsibility.

How can you prove that a sickness is caused by toxicity rather than germs? Do you base your statement on laboratory proof or on empirical observations?

Were germs the cause of disease there would be no remission. If they had the power to successfully attack living tissue and proliferate enough to lay a person low as is commonly supposed, then the results would be like the effects of rotten apples amidst good ones—they’d all soon be bad. Humans simply would not survive the ordeal and there would be no human race.

Should we fast people who were laid low with a germ-caused disease the fasting would not kill off the germs. Just as a rotten apple can spoil the good ones so, too, the germ proliferation would continue whether we are eating or fasting. Actually people who fast recover health rapidly whereas, if they continue to eat and take drugs, they recover slowly if at all.

Actually there have been fasts conducted under laboratory conditions in many hospitals and university medical centers with controls. It has been proven beyond doubt that the body cleanses itself under the condition of fasting and heals two or three times speedier when fasting than in alimentation and/or drug therapy. Medical experimentation with fasting has been conducted at the University of Illinois in Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. You won’t have to delve much into the literature on fasting to come up with the results observed. All medical research has proven the truth of the toxemia causation of disease regardless of the misinterpretations of the researchers. Researchers usually interpret their data to suit those who are paying for the experimentation, usually drug companies or drug beneficiaries. If the experiments are too contrary to the ends sought they are usually buried quietly. Both laboratory evidence and empirical observations substantiate that disease is a body reaction to intoxication rather than germs.

How can we convince our clientele that they’re responsible for their diseases and that it is not just a bit of bad luck that has befallen them?

Fortunately, you don’t have to lay the load of responsibility on your clients’ shoulders. Your clients will at first be “cure-minded” and want a way out of the dilemma. You can point out the positive way back to health without getting into culpability. You can have them fill out an extensive questionaire which we’ve developed and the answers to which are advance weighted so that you can suggest changes in the customer’s living regime. You can make the process one of adventure and exploration by holding forth the benefits to be obtained by doing this and this and not doing that and that anymore.

Dr. Jennings had people fasting under a deception. He gave them bread and sugar pills, what we’d call placebos, and instructed the taking of water with them four or five times daily. With that he advised bed rest, fresh air, etc. He cautioned against taking anything with the pills other than water, otherwise they would not work. The results his clients realized were nothing short of miraculous. His patients were recovering 100% while his medical colleagues who were into heroic drugging lost patients in epidemic numbers.

You can impute health magic to certain foods or limited diets, even a distilled water diet. But you can assure a healthful outcome only within certain parameters. Hence the client will likely go along with you in the matter of his welfare just as he or she goes along with every charlatan in the medical or other fields of the so-called healing arts.

I reiterate that you can make a game of this, i.e., make it an interesting adventure rather than an onerous chore. The education and whyfore can follow the results. People are interested in results and you are there to show them how. People believe in the magic of nutrition and we’re going to teach it to you as it really is. We’ll teach it to you so that you can guide your clients back to health most speedily, not only in matters of diet but diet within the context of a thoroughgoing health regimen. You can always give instructions that are completely appropriate and straightforward that will enable the client to quickly regain health. Yet you can do it in such a manner as to make it exciting enterprise. You’ll cultivate this confident manner of knowing just what is called for by sympathetic and empathic consideration of your client’s problems as related to you through questionaire and verbal complaint.

I find no fault with the toxemia explanation of disease but it seems too utterly simple to be for real. Do you think our clients will go for this?

I must repeat that your clients aren’t interested in theories or explanations. They’re looking for results, a magic carpet from a state of disease to a state of health. Just wave the magic wand of nutritional salvation before them within the context of a thoroughgoing health regime and they’ll usually follow it religiously. Your expertise will awe them and once word of mouth has gotten around about the miraculous results your guidance makes possible, clients will flock to you.

Article #1: A True Perspective Of Health And Disease by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

We live in a day of sensational discoveries and “miracle medicines.” Remarkable new cures and near-panaceas are frequently announced. Snake venom, artificial fever, frozen sleep, the sulfonamides, penicillin, streptothricin, blood plasma, powerful X-rays and ever more comes before us almost daily—these compete with sports, movies, politics, crime and other publicity for free newspaper space. So much is claimed for this parade of “miracle cures” and so many new discoveries are made relatively that the public is kept constantly keyed up with open-mouthed and wild-eyed expectancy. Perfect health via the medical promises seems always just around the corner.

At long last, “science” is staging a powerful and winning Blitz-Krieg against our ancient and most implacable foe—disease. With remarkable and sensational discoveries crowding so closely one upon the heels of another, the time is surely not far distant when universal health will prevail and disease will have disappeared from the human scene.

Not only is ours an age of remarkable “cures,” it is also a time of equally remarkable preventatives. We now have so much “successful” vaccines and serums that there is no longer any need for anyone ever to suffer from many of the “diseases” that were previously so common. New serums are frequently discovered. We may look forward hopefully to the time when all “disease” will be conquered.

Surgery, too, has made rapid strides. It has grown much more daring. Today it invades physiological precepts which only a few years ago it would not have touched. With the newer advances in surgery added to the new “cures” and the new serums and vaccines, we have an almost ideal combination for the “conquest of disease.” What these three groups of anti-disease weapons lack in power and effectiveness is completely compensated for by the many glandular products (hormones), and by vitamin and mineral combinations that are claimed to do so much for the sick. Surely, there is no reason to doubt that the Golden Age has arrived.

The intelligent and informed reader, however, will notice one very important defect in all these methods of “cure” and “prevention.” He or she will quickly detect a deficiency for which no amount of shouting can compensate. It is this:

None of these methods of “cure” or “prevention” are designed to affect or even touch the basic causes of disease.

Drugs may suspend vital activity such that symptoms disappear but they do not remove cause. They may kill germs but they also kill off patients. They do not clear up the systemic condition that permits bacteria to thrive and grow in parts of the body where they are not normal. “Frozen sleep” may temporarily check the growth of a tumor or cancer, but it does not and cannot remove the causes of cancer. Powerful X-rays may destroy a cancerous growth but they also destroy healthy tissue and cause further cancer while leaving intact the causes of disease. It cannot be emphasized too much that:

If a modality does not remove causes, it does not “cure”.

Serums and vaccines are admittedly capable of doing much harm, but they do not remove the causes of disease. Therefore, they do not enable us to “avoid” diseases, even those for which they are administered. We need to know that:

If they do not enable us to avoid the causes of disease, they cannot prevent disease.

Surgeons may pull a tooth, extract the tonsils, cut out the gall-bladder, excise the appendix, sever and remove the ovaries and seminal vesicles, drain the sinuses, etc. but they do not thereby remove the causes of disease. Mopping up the water from a leaky faucet does not remove the causes of the leak. Removing effects of cause likewise does not remove the cause. It is time for us to understand the following:

If surgery does not remove the causes of disease, it cannot “cure” the disease. There is no “cure” short of removal of causes.

Cutting out an organ, suppressing a symptom with a drug (medicine), destroying a growth, removing a stone—these processes touch effects only. They fail to restore health for three very vital reasons:

1. They do not remove the causes of ill health.
2. They are not the factors out of which good health is built.
3. They produce positive injury to the body.

We must look to constructive natural agencies, forces, and methods for “prevention” of disease and recovery of health. We must cease relying on destructive, unnatural or anti-natural measures, forces, agents and processes. Agents such as drugs that produce disease in the well cannot possibly produce health in the sick. Disease-producing agents and measures are not health-preserving. The popular methods of “prevention” and “cure” neither prevent nor restore health. Witness the ever-growing army of sick and suffering in spite of the ever-increasing size of our army of physicians, nurses and hospitals, and the ever-growing list of “cures” and “miracle drugs.”

To be healthy, do not indulge the causes of disease. Only madness can lead us to attempt to be free of disease by submitting to means which cause yet more disease.

To “cure” disease, remove the causes of disease. It is the worst kind of folly to attempt to cure disease by ignoring its causes and employing modalities which are in themselves causes of disease.

To build health, employ the causes of health. It is absurd to attempt to build health by employing means and measures that are known to impair and wreck health.

For over forty years this writer has helped the sick and suffering back to health and has taught them how to remain well. I have employed a system called NATURAL HYGIENE. For over forty years my health school has been host to over 40,000 people. Dr. Shelton’s Health School has been employing the health-building system of NATURAL HYGIENE with only successful results. At the Health School we have received a great preponderance of people who have suffered for years and “have tried everything” without avail. Our success in building good health in the great majority of these sufferers has been remarkable.

At the Health School we have no “cure” at all. We recognize that only nature (normal forces and processes of life) restores health. We accord to nature the conditions and the opportunity to restore health. We recognize that in nature and nature only exists the power of healing. The forces and powers of nature constitute the true panacea. Ours is a plan of living and a program of education that restores our guests to harmonious living with nature. If this plan of care seems too simple, too easy or not heroic enough, just think this over:

If this plan were ineffectual we would not have succeeded where all others had failed.

I implore you to intelligently consider the preceding statements. Lay aside your previous conditioning and prepossessions. Do some real honest-to-goodness thinking. Then, when you thoroughly understand NATURAL HYGIENE, give it a fair and honest test. Heed the ancient admonition: “Prove (test) all things, hold fast that which is good (true).”

An old adage has it that “the proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof.” The proof of the truth of the principles presented in NATURAL HYGIENE and of the value of the practices built thereon is in making use of it. “The wise will understand.”

Article #2: The Nature Of Disease: Its Cause And Purpose by Dr. Hereward Carrington

Primitive peoples, as we know, believe disease represents the entry into the patient’s body of some evil spirit or entity—which was caused to enter it by some malevolent voodoo man or witch doctor. The unfortunate victim remains so afflicted until he rights a wrong, appeases the witch doctor, or secures the services of another whose “magic” is more powerful than that of the original spell-caster. When once this “evil spirit” has been removed, he is well and strong again; if he fails in this, he dies!

Strange as it may seem, a modified form of this same belief underlies public thinking and constitutes a basic belief of many physicians. True, we no longer believe that an “evil spirit” has entered into the body of a sick person, but it survives in the form of thinking that disease is an “entity” of some sort which is caught and which can be driven out or expelled by suitable medicines— something in a bottle! When this entity has been expelled, the patient is “cured.” Such is the popular conception...

Disease: A Phase of the Healing Process

As opposed to this, the Hygienist believes that so-called “diseases” represent merely the bodily states or conditions, nearly always self-caused which are manifested in a series of symptoms, but which are in themselves the very processes of “cure.” As Dr. Emmet Densmore stated, in his book How Nature Cures:

The hygienic system teaches that disease is a remedial effort, a struggle of the vital powers to purify the system and recover the normal state. This effort should be aided, directed and regulated, if need be, but never suppressed... What is this mysterious thing called disease? Simply an effort to remove obstructing material from the organic domain, and to repair damages. Disease is a process of purification. It is a remedial action. It is a vital struggle to overcome obstructions and to keep the channels of circulation free...

Precisely the same idea was expressed by Miss Florence Nightingale, in her Notes on Nursing, when she said:

Shall we begin by taking it as a general principle that all disease, at some period or other of its course, is more or less a reparative process, not necessarily accompanied by suffering; an effort of nature to remedy a process of poisoning or decay, which has taken place weeks, months, sometimes years beforehand, unnoticed—the termination of the disease being then determined?

So-called disease is, therefore, in the vast majority of cases, merely a curative effort on the part of Nature; it is the process of cure itself—manifested in a set of symptoms. Attempting to “cure” a disease, in the ordinary sense of the word, leads us to a ridiculous paradox: viz., an attempt to “cure” a “curing” process! The disease IS the “cure.” The outward manifestations, the symptoms we notice, represent merely the outward and visible signs of this curative process in action. Any attempt to deal with or smother these symptoms merely retards the process of cure to that extent. Instead of treating symptoms, we should aim at the disease itself—or rather at the causes of the so-called disease. These are really the dangerous factors involved, and those which have brought about the abnormal conditions noted. Once we have removed these causes, the disease (so-called) disappears, and the symptoms vanish. The patient is then restored to health.

Viewed in this light, everything becomes simple! Toxins and waste material of all kinds accumulate in the body, over a period of weeks, months or years—finally reaching the point when they must be expelled or deterioration sets in. This violent expulsive effort on the part of nature produces a series of characteristic symptoms. The body attempts in every way possible to expel these poisonous substances— through the bowels, the kidneys, the skin, the lungs, etc.—with the result that these organs are overtaxed and break down under the load. Clogging and toxemia then set in more seriously than ever, and the patient is really ill. Obviously, the only way to relieve this condition is to stop adding to the waste material the body must eliminate, and assist it in every way possible to dispose of what is already there. Once the body is given a chance to “catch up,” so to say, and cleanse itself to some extent, the violence of the internal upheaval will subside, and as this becomes more normal, the external symptoms will lessen and the patient is then said to be “convalescent.” If this process continues, he ultimately becomes “cured.”

I have used all these terms in a loose sense, because hygienists believe that the so-called “disease” is itself the process of “cure”—as we have seen. What we really mean is that certain causes have been removed, and as they are removed the effects disappear... What are these causes, and how are they removed?

The human body is creating certain poisons within itself by the very process of living. If these poisons were not constantly being excreted we should die. Normally, they are disposed of through the various eliminating organs—the bowels, kidneys, skin, etc. If this balance is maintained, the person remains well. If, however, the poisons accumulate more rapidly than they can be disposed of, abnormal conditions develop. These conditions are the so-called “diseases.”

Now, it should be obvious that the speediest way to regain health, when this condition develops, is to stimulate the eliminating organs, and at the same time introduce no new poisons into the system. The former is accomplished by means of exercise, bathing, water-drinking, etc. But it is highly important to prevent the entrance into the body of material which might further clog and block it. The material is our food, and obviously so; for, aside from air and water, this is the only material we ever introduce into our bodies, under normal conditions.

The necessity of fasting in times of stress thus becomes evident. Food supplies us with essential nutriment, it is true; but if the body is in no condition properly to utilize this food, it merely decomposes, creates poisons and is pushed through the body without really benefiting it. The thing to do, therefore, is to withhold food, so long as this abnormal state lasts, thereby giving the eliminating organs a chance to dispose of the surplus material already on hand, and at the same time rest the internal organs, permitting them to accumulate a certain store of vital energy, which would otherwise be expended in the handling and disposal of this extra mass of food-material. The system thus becomes cleansed and purified. It is the simplest and most effective means known to us—and is the course prescribed by nature when she deprives us, at such times, of our normal appetite.

All Diseases Toxemic In Origin

Practically all diseases thus have a common basis and a common origin. There is a unity and oneness of disease, based on a common denominator. This, in a word, is toxemia. The differing diseases, so-called, are but the various means by which nature tries to expel this poisonous material; and the symptoms noted are the outward and visible signs of such curative action. Naturally developed inherent healing powers alone “cure”—whether it be a cut finger, a broken bone or a so-called “disease.” All that the physician can do is to assist Nature in this remedial effort. Anything which tends to reduce symptoms merely prolongs the effort to that extent. Give Nature a chance, and she will heal in every case. A “cure” will invariably follow—whenever such “cure” is at all possible.

Most drugs so destroy vitality that body efforts as evidenced by symptoms are stopped. Pain is a warning signal—calling attention to a certain local area which is in dire distress. But this condition is merely a localized manifestation of a general condition. As Dr. Samuel Dickson remarked: “Properly speaking, there never was a purely local disease.” Rectify the general body condition, and the local manifestation will disappear. No matter what they may be or where located, they will vanish when the body as a whole is normal.

Drugs do not act upon the body; they are acted upon by the body. The action we perceive is the reaction of the body against the drug. It is the effort on the part of Nature to expel the poison introduced into the living organism... Much the same is true of stimulants. These seem to impart “strength” to the body; but as we know, this is a false strength, denoting merely the waste of the vital energies. If you dig your spur into a tired horse, it will run faster to the corner; but no one thinks that the spur has supplied the horse with fresh energy. It has simply caused the poor animal to expend its reserve energies more quickly. It is the same with stimulants. The false feeling of strength which they impart is fictitious. The same is true of many drugs; and the same is true of food, which also acts as a stimulant, giving us a false feeling of strength when a meal is eaten! It is because of this fact that many people feel “weak” when food is withheld.

The simple, basic idea back of the hygienic system is that practically all “diseases,” so-called, are but the varied manifestations of a single underlying cause; and that, when this cause is removed, the symptoms automatically vanish. This cause is toxemia: waste materials and foreign poisons in the body.

Lesson 3 - Introducing The Life Science System For Perfect Health, Part I

3.1. The Essentials Of Life Listed

Every factor in human well-being is also an element of nutrition. All needs are really nutritive needs. Deprivation of any single need may mean our demise or impairment of our growth, development or health. A single factor insufficiently or incorrectly supplied can lead to disease and suffering.

Most people are aware of the essentials of life. But they lose sight of these fundamentals as being factors and influences that are necessary to well-being within the context of society. Therefore, they’re likely to violate the very laws of their existence and contribute to their own sickness and suffering.

When in a state of disease, most people do not realize they have brought it upon themselves. They are aided in placing blame outside themselves by a profession that takes the stance that they’ve had an unfortunate bit of bad luck or they have been invaded by some microbial enemy. Though the needs of the ill differ from those of well people only in that their conditions must be made favorable to recuperation, both ill people and the medical professionals undertake a course of treatment that compounds sickness. Both the physician and the sufferer enter into an attempt to poison the ailing body back into health. The fact is that drugging only makes a body worse.

The causes of health are very simple. Our needs do not change substantially when we become ill. Even illness itself won’t occur if the needs of our bodies and minds are properly met.

The nineteen factor elements for optimal well-being are listed as follows:

1. Pure air
2. Pure water
3. Cleanliness—both internal and external
4. Sleep
5. Temperature maintenance
6. Pure wholesome food to which we are biologically adapted
7. Exercise and activity
8. Sunshine upon our bodies
9. Rest and relaxation
10. Play and recreation
11. Emotional poise
12. Security of life and its means
13. Pleasant environment
14. Creative, useful work
15. Self-Mastery
16. Belonging
17. Motivation
18. Expression of the natural instincts
19. Indulgence of aesthetic senses.

Let us explore the first two of these needs in detail.

3.2. Pure Air

3.2.1 Air Contents Normal to Humans

Pure air is relatively free of pollutants. It contains only the normal amount of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, inert ozone, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia and particulates, all of which the body is well-equipped to handle.

In other words, there is always water vapor, some carbon dioxide, and a minute amount of carbon monoxide in the air. Carbon monoxide isn’t healthful in any sense, but we are equipped to handle it as naturally found in the air from natural sources. There are also particulates in the air including dust or the debris of decomposing products. Pollens, fragrant emanations and other natural effluvia are also present. There are inert gases in air—free gases in very, very minute percentages. Some may be inorganic and toxic, but many come from forms of life. All of these constituents are not a part of the air’s chemical composition but are held suspended in it. They are known as variable components.

Air is composed of nitrogen (78.1%), oxygen (20.9%) and fractional parts of less than 1% of argon, hydrogen, methane, nitrous oxide, xenon, krypton, helium and neon.

3.2.2 Today’s Air Is Loaded With Pollutants

Humans have adapted to impurities in air over millions of years. Unfortunately, air today is loaded with immense amounts of pollutants not normal to our adaptations. Even those which we are equipped to handle in minute amounts often pervade the air in overwhelming quantities.

For example, carbon monoxide is often in the air in urban areas in amounts sufficient to seriously affect well-being. In these same areas are huge amounts pf lead, hydrocarbons, and other unwholesome substances in quantities that we cannot handle. Today we get only a fraction of the oxygen-rich air we need for good health. Compounded with the problem of the general pollution of outdoor air, we tend to stay in our homes and workplaces where we constantly inhale our own aerial excreta and staggering amounts of pollutants otherwise generated.

3.2.3 Many Americans Pollute Their Homes and Bodies by Smoking

Many Americans subject themselves to lung pollution from tobacco smoke. Smoking is a deadly, poisonous habit, a narcotic addiction that slowly kills. Nonsmokers are harmed by the fumes as well as smokers.

We should get as much fresh air as circumstances permit. The ideal is to live in completely fresh air in a pristine state of nature. If nothing changed in our current circumstances except that we lived in fresh air constantly, life expectancy would rise by many years.

3.2.4 Normal Air Is Continually Cleansed by Forces in Nature

Normal air in nature has its fresh life-giving consistency because it is continually cleansed by the forces of nature. Particulates are continually taken up into the air due to activity in the form of wind and breeze. But, just as constantly, they are dropped down when the air masses become relatively tranquil.

For example, ozone constantly gets into the air but rises to the very top of the atmosphere where it remains. Methane gas constantly rises into the atmosphere from decaying organic matter, but other factors will decompose it back to some other form. Of course, much methane gets trapped within the earth by rock, by liquid overlay, and by other factors. Ozone and methane are both toxic, but it’s rare that a great amount of them assault us at any given time or place.

3.2.5 Air Was Originally Brought to Its Present Consistency By Bacteria

There are certain bacteria called anerobic bacteria. They’ve been around for a few billion years and were the first type of life on this planet. Anerobic bacteria were photosynthetic in the beginning because there was no organic matter for their soil. It is theorized that these bacteria were able to take on the spark of life, utilizing minerals, light and water.

It is not ours to conjecture too much about the derivation of the original form of life, but perhaps it was some kind of anerobic bacteria that could use sunlight as the spark of life. These bacteria began using water, sunlight and inorganic substances with which oxygen was associated. They could synthesize these raw elements into their life needs. One of the by-products of their metabolization was free oxygen. In time the great amount of oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere that gives it the consistency it now has.

Theory has it that life began in the water medium. No oxygen was present in the earth’s gaseous mantle because all oxygen was bound in some compound until the bacteria freed it. The original bacteria evolved into many different forms of bacterial life and into many forms of plant life. All cells are said to be composed of many bacterial cells that united and cooperated for the greater good. Essentially, all life is symbiotic, that is, it is fundamentally in harmony with all other life from the most minute microbe to the largest of the Earth’s creatures.

On a practical level, we are concerned with air quality so that we can benefit from it all the more. We seek means by which to take in plenty of air in its purest form. With knowledge and understanding we’ll be able to help others conduct themselves in their environments so as to be optimally free of polluted air. Anything that gets into the lungs which the lungs have not been equipped to handle efficiently and naturally is a poison. The lungs have a tremendous capacity for expelling particulates and pollutants. But they can be devitalized by the pollutants and stressed by unceasing efforts to remove extraordinary types and amounts of impurities. The lungs will eventually be overwhelmed and lung diseases often result. You may have heard of black lung, brown lung, emphysema, pneumonia and other ailments of those who live and work in polluted environments. This is especially true of those who work in coal mines, who smoke or who live in highly-polluted cities such as Los Angeles or New York. The lint and dust in cotton mills is notorious for destroying the lungs of those who work in them.

You may know, or know of, people who have lung cancer, emphysema and other afflictions because they smoke, work in asbestos plants or work or live in other heavily-polluted environments. While an atmosphere laden with innocuous dust is pathogenic if exposure is unceasing or for long periods, many substances such as asbestos, tobacco tars and poisons are very virulent in themselves. Despite the lungs best efforts at ridding themselves of these poisons, they are always seriously and deleteriously affected.

3.2.6 Air Pollution in the American Home

Most homes in America are very polluted places. They have filthy air. (The words filth, poison and pollution are fairly synonymous terms in this context.) People who smoke deliberately and knowingly are intentionally poisoning themselves. Smokers do not seem to recognize that tobacco smoke is very toxic and is one of the biggest polluters of all. But most forms of pollution are unintentional, even unknown.

Humans must have sufficient fresh air. We often read of people jumping from hotel rooms to their deaths on a sidewalk in preference to the tortures of smoke inhalation and fierce heat. In many cases there is no heat and even no imminent danger of suffocation, yet agony and fear prompts the death jump. Yet, all too often, smoke inhalation alone kills. How many times have you read reports of people who die in homes, untouched by anything but smoke?

Cleansers and detergents are used heavily in almost all homes. All of these substances are poisonous although some are less toxic than others. Some exude almost no odor. They are called biodegradable or ecologically-viable cleansers, detergents and soaps.

There is much carbon monoxide in many homes. Carbon monoxide is one of the primary pollutants which emanates from auto exhausts; it is very deadly in the human system, binding the oxygen in the blood. Carbon monoxide also destroys animal and plant life. Plants cannot assimilate it and it actually causes leaves to wither. In the home carbon monoxide is a by-product of cigarette smoke, heating units, and cookstoves that use anything but electricity—and more.

Air that contains sulfur dioxide is extraordinarily poisonous. It is to be found mostly in the air of industrial areas that burn coal. In these areas homes are very likely to be polluted with sulfur dioxide as well as with the extraordinary aerial pollution to which most American homes are subject under conventional modes of living.

Air pollution is becoming quite an issue, especially in some parts of America. In the East, acid rains are a problem for food raisers of all kinds. They are also destructive of buildings, autos and everything else. In the Los Angeles area rare forests and plant life are dying off due to the highly-polluted air. Many crops in that area are adversely affected. Gardeners as well as growers are just giving up. Los Angeles is becoming an area in which neither plant life, humans nor other animals can thrive healthily.

The purity of air is of great importance. Polluted air is a great source of debility and disease. Pure air is necessary for best health. It behooves us to have the best air possible. Unfortunately, the most polluted air is to be found in the Average American home!

Polishes, waxes and other household items give off a large amount of gases. Whether pleasant or unpleasant they’re usually poisonous. Aerosols and sprays have become widespread in their use in our homes. Even “foods” such as artificial creams, toppings, etc. come in aerosol containers. The vaporizer is usually a fluorocarbon and/or vinyl chloride. Both substances are toxic and a highly toxic material is used to thin these substances to make them aerate or expand when pressure on them is relieved.

Chlorine is a deadly poisonous element. During World War 1 it was used as a weapon. Many fighters succumbed to it. Even though chlorine is dilute in city water, we can still taste it. Most water supplies have been treated with this toxic element. How many times have you run bathwater or showers and gone into the bathroom to be assaulted by accumulated chlorine? In bleaches and in some other compounds that are frequently used in laundering and cleaning, high concentrations of chlorine are usually released.

Most people do not realize it, but certain types of plywood and other products in their homes are bonded with formaldehyde, which is in insulation, plywoods and plastics. Formaldehyde is given off as a particulate in the air. It may be given off for years in homes and trailers. This substance is quite toxic and many deaths have been attributed to breathing it. Formaldehyde is especially likely to be found in new homes, trailers, mobile homes and new rooms where plywoods and bonded plastics are used.

Oven cleaners are particularly toxic. They’re designed to cut grease and to act as solvent for other debris on enamel. Their fumes are particularly toxic.

Cosmetics are a very big source of pollution in some homes, especially where there are hair sprays and products containing fluorocarbons. The substances sprayed are usually very toxic in themselves, for they have copolymer residues of vinyl acetate. These residues are toxic when inhaled. Fumes from cosmetics that are in contact with the air may smell pleasant but they’re also toxic. The only substances that are not toxic in our bodies are pure air, pure water and wholesome food. Anything else in our bodies is toxic and possibly a contributory cause of pathology.

Deodorants are extensively used in America, some one billion dollars worth annually. That’s enough to mask quite a bit of body stench. Healthy people do not use deodorants because they emit relatively non-malodorous smells.

Deodorants and antiperspirants are used in minute amounts and the basic ingredients are quite toxic. They consist of a formulation of drugs designed to inhibit the body’s secretory functions. This inhibition of body functions occurs because the deodorants are so toxic that the body keeps skin pores closed lest absorption of the toxic drugs occur.

Aside from their presence on the skin, deodorants give off particulates and vapors which are toxic to users and to others. They’re particularly poisonous in homes because their pollutants tend to become cumulative. Air in homes, especially in winter, is retained for long periods of time and thus becomes stale as well as accumulating effluvia from the household.

Insect repellents are often used in homes. While they’re not immediately as deadly to humans as to insects, the fact that they are deadly to insects establishes their poisonous relationship to all living things. Insect poisons should never be used in the home except under conditions of nonoccupancy.

As additional camouflage for odoriferousness and for its perfumes, many women use powder. Powders are formulated around a base of dust. There are toxic drugs in the formulation as a rule and the dust itself is also toxic. Its fumes or gases are toxic. Anything that gets into or on the body other than those substances normal to it are usually toxic and occasion irritation or intoxication. Usually their toxicity is on a low order, but they can cause pathology in sufficient concentrations. Added to other pathogenic factors of which there are multitudes in the human system and environment, maladies often develop. Certainly extraneous substances worsen and exacerbate existing pathology.

Carpeting can also be a source of pollutants. Long after the dust and odors that they normally give off may have subsided, the synthetics of which they’re made decompose and pollute the air. The dust, dirt, filth and debris which carpets accumulate and the excreta that results due to their bacterial decomposition assault us. Among the poisons likely to accumulate in our homes from bacterial decompositon are carbon dioxide, methane gas and ammonia. Any decaying substance, whether it’s garbage, meats or other foodstuffs, pollute the air with the byproducts of bacterial activity.

Electric motors in appliances give off pollution. Clothes driers give off carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide if they use gas. All drugs and “medicines,” especially those that are sprayed into the mouth and nose, are toxic.

Preservatives and additives added to foods to enhance appearance, retard spoilage, etc., are toxic. In cooking their gases permeate our household air and are additional sources of pollution.

Volatile oils, especially from polishes; mustard oil, onions, garlic and other pungent herbs; teas and drinks, etc., are not wholesome in the lungs. If you eat an onion or a piece of garlic, the lungs are one of the eliminating organs through which their toxic components are expelled. The oils of frying foods are not only toxic and very carcinogenic, but, when inhaled, they tend to coat the lungs. Heated oils give off acrolein. While it may smell fine, it is really a trojan horse, for its pleasant odor is contrary to its toxic nature.

Cleansers are used almost universally. Most are chemical formulations that have a number of poisonous substances. Ammonias are usually a primary component, and they are very deadly.

It is possible for the airborne grease from frying foods to accumulate in the lungs. Workers in kitchens who fry food, even if they do not smoke, are likely to have lung problems faster than those who smoke. Grease is not easily expelled from the lungs. For example, a person who works in a fried chicken outlet and uses a fry-o-lator several hours each day may develop a chronic cough and even pneumonia from inhalation of aerated grease from cooking oils. (There are also many other causes of lung maladies and coughing.)

Mechanics get a different type of oil and grease on their hands. These oils are akin to the fats in foods. Mechanics do not leave oil and grease on their hands for very long, though many work with it throughout the day. They recognize the dangers because they suffer its irritations. Most mechanics scrub their hands frequently. Yet they suffer many problems, including skin cancer on their hands. Cells and tissues cannot withstand the unceasing assaults of oil toxicity.

Home air pollution occurs from anything that is burned, cooked or heated (except for boiling water). Stoves and heaters that produce heat by combustion within the home are especially heavy polluters. Wood stoves give off a lot of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, tars and other toxic particulates. If you can smell anything, you can be sure that the air is being polluted. However, some gaseous pollution is odorless. Combustion within homes is dangerous on two counts. Some of the pollution that occurs has just been listed. The other count is the partial use of oxygen from inside air. Partially deoxygenized air may not furnish our oxygen needs sufficiently.

Alcoholic drinks give off an effluvia that is unwholesome in the lungs. Of course, it is worse to drink alcohol. Alcohol, like the mustard oil of onions and allicin of garlic, is not used by the body because it is indigestible. The lungs are utilized as one of the avenues of excretion of alcohol. This is obvious because you can smell alcohol on the breath of anyone who has partaken of it. Breathing alcoholic fumes is not healthful and can occasion ill effects, especially for those subjected to breathing alcohol as in breweries.

Condiments, seasonings, spices, sauces and gravies are almost all toxic in the lungs. Black pepper, for instance, is toxic in the lungs, far more so than when in the stomach. All these substances stimulate and irritate when raw. But when heated their toxic components are liberated into the air, and some very toxic effects can result. Most condiments in the intestinal tract occasion irritation, indigestion and other discomfiting effects, especially laxative or diarrheal effects. These latter effects occur because the inflamed intestines rush the noxious matters, including food in the tract, to the nearest exit—the bowels. When condiments are in the air, due to diffusion in the air or due to heating, the irritation to the lungs is similar.

Perhaps you’ve heard of pruritus anus. This merely means itchiness of the anal region. It may be caused by body elimination of toxic materials through the skin in the anal region. However, it is more than likely due to the toxic components of condiments irritating the skin at the exit point. These can be deposited there by fecal matter before it is cleared from the area. Hot peppers and black pepper can cause this but so can any other condiment. The amount of irritation these occasion on the skin and in the anal region is an indication of their toxicity in the intestinal tract.

Cooking, brewing, boiling and baking of foodstuffs, especially as concocted in the average American home, occasions the pollution of home air with gases, particulates, tars and other unwholesome effluvia. Cooking destroys foodstuffs, and much of their substance is passed off into the air during the process. Cooked foods are harmful when ingested. Their aerial by-products are also harmful in the lungs no matter how much we say savor their fragrance.

Americans are inclined to bring all kinds of chemicals into their homes. Chemicals in the home, wherever stored, slowly oxidize and vaporize, unless tightly capped. But sooner or later they are opened for use. Some chemicals are quite common, notably toothpaste, gargles, lotions, cleansers, lighting fluids and antiseptics.

Antiseptics can also be called antibiotics. They’re not in any way anti-septic because the term means “against poison.” They’re actually antibiotics for, indeed, they are destructive of life. They destroy bacteria wholesale. Likewise, antiseptics destroy living cells of skin, mouth and lungs. If any odor can be detected from so-called antiseptics, the substance will be harmful.

If all the foregoing sources of home pollution are not enough, there are human wastes and air usage to be considered. Humans give off toxic wastes from lungs and skin throughout the day and night. These wastes include carbon dioxide, carbonic acid and minute amounts of other exudates. Also, the air expelled from the lungs is oxygen-depleted. In closed homes (as they’re likely to be in winter) the air becomes polluted from our own effluvia and de-oxygenized from breathing. We’re likely to breathe and rebreathe spent air and its load of toxic wastes. All this, coupled with the multitude of other pollutants in homes and the outside air taken into homes makes the average American home a very polluted place.

As a health practitioner, you will want to recognize all the deleterious factors to which humans are customarily subjected. You will be looking for causes of problems from all sources. Knowing that the air quality in homes, outdoors and in factories can contribute to pathology is essential. You may take it for granted that most areas of inhabitation in America are polluted to some extent.

3.2.7 What We Can Do to Insure a Constant Supply of Fresh Air

By now you may be asking: “How can we insure that we get as much pure air as possible into our lungs in this polluted world?” Air that doesn’t have more impurities than normal in nature is automatically pure.

Our message is that it is really impossible to have really pure air in this day and age. We can place ourselves in situations where we have the purest air possible. To get the freshest possible air we should keep our windows open. We should so live and conduct ourselves as to keep our home air free of all those processes and products that pollute it. There is no insurance that we’ll have the best air possible no matter what we do or where we go but, relatively speaking, we can have pure air in the outdoors far from civilization, for nature is constantly cleansing the air.

If we live in colder climates where we must live in closed spaces for energy conservation, we can get heat exchangers. A heat exchanger brings in fresh air from the outside and removes air from the household. Through a dual piping and radiator system, the heat of the outside air is transferred to the incoming air to the point of equalization.

As an example, let’s say the outgoing air is 72° and the incoming air is 32°. The air will tend to equalize at some temperature in between. The incoming air will tend to equalize at a temperature lower than their normal nominal midway point. This means some additional energy must be expended in heating incoming air to the desired temperature.

When you measure the benefits of heat exchangers in terms of health and the energy conserved through their employment, the cost is a good investment. In energy saved they’re worth their cost in a few seasons. In terms of health they pay for themselves many times over very quickly.

Using a heat exchanger is just one thing we can do to insure more fresh air. Most of us can go out and exercise or play in fresh air most days. When we exercise heavily and vigorously in fresh air, we completely oxygenize our systems (in addition to gaining a multitude of numerous other benefits).

Exercise ventilates our entire body. Run, jog or walk. Play an outdoor sport. Any sustained activity that greatly accelerates body function will ventilate your system. Especially important is the oxygenation of our capillary system which results from exercise. Faster and more vigorous blood circulation insures better capillary health due to greater oxygen uptake and rejuvenation of function. Stagnation of the capillary system is a primary contributor to deterioration and disease. The intake of fresh air in conjunction with exercise is of inestimable value.

A device for improving air quality that is becoming popular is the negative ion generator. Research indicates that negative ion generators may have positive benefits, especially in the area of human response. Humans experience euphoria and well-being in ionized atmospheres. But little research has been done to determine whether the effects are beneficial or drug-like. No evidence has been developed to suggest that either negative or positive ions are any more or any less healthful than the other. What has been determined is that negative ions precipitate dust, participates and toxic materials from the air. If so, this is a positive benefit. I seriously doubt that ionized air gives a drug effect. In a very polluted home a negative ion generator might be helpful. Air cleaners that precipitate particulates, dust and other forms of pollutants are of benefit. Filters are also helpful. As health practitioners, you very well might have to live in or near a population center most of which are polluted, in order to reach more people. When we must place ourselves in a polluted environment, we must suffer the consequences. We can reduce the effect by employing all the technology we can in cleaning our air supply in polluted areas. Just as we are apt to close up our homes and pollute our air, likewise we can close up our home and bring in fresh air that has been purified or filtered. Then we should refrain from in any way contaminating our inside air supply.

Most auto pollution is along highways in most of our country and where there are concentrations of autos. In other areas the air is often stagnant and the exhaust pollutants of the auto become cumulative, sometimes until the air is deadly as in the Los Angeles area. The only suggestion we can make for avoiding carbon monoxide poisoning is to stay away from it. But this suggestion is of little value if you live in Los Angeles or New Jersey or similar areas. In low-pressure areas, carbon monoxide concentrates along the ground.

New Jersey, which is called “The Corridor State,” has more auto traffic per square mile than any other state. It also has the most concentrated population. Further, it has heavy concentrations of chemical industries. So polluted is its air in industrial areas and along major highways that it is called “Cancer Alley.” More cancer occurs in New Jersey than in any other state. Cancer among people who reside near highways in New Jersey is three to four times that of the average American.

These facts tend to indicate the dangers of, carbon monoxide. They are indicative that, along with all other causes of cancer, carbon monoxide and its concomitant pollution might be the additional straw that breaks the camel’s back and causes cancer.

3.3. Pure Water

Water deserves treatment equally as much as air. In fact, inasmuch as breathing is an automatic process and drinking is a consciously-directed process, water deserves more attention. Though every aspect of our well-being deserves adequate attention, those areas wherein our health is more likely to be endangered or undermined should receive the most detailed treatment. Getting the water we need is one of those areas.

Besides wholesome foods, only three items should ever be taken into our bodies. These are air (about which we’ve spoken), sunshine (which we’ll speak about in another lesson), and water. We’ll take up this subject next. At this stage suffice it to say that anything in or on the body other than wholesome foods, air, water and sunshine-all essential body nutrients—is unhealth! This stricture may seem severe. But we cannot exceed the limits of our adaptations. To do so is to subject ourselves to pathological consequences.

Your role as a health practitioner is to keep yourself and your clients in a regime of living as free as possible of the dangers inherent within the context of a “civilized” society. The word “civilization” is in quotes, for what kind of society can be said to be civilized if it harbors grave dangers for its members?

As promised, let’s move on to the subject of water. What is water? What is its role in the body? Why do we need it so vitally? What kind or kinds of water should we have? What is the best source for our water requirements? As we get into the subject we’ll endeavor to answer these questions.

The expression pure water is used throughout our treatment of the subject of water. If there’s anything everyone wants, it is pure water. No one wants impure water. Yet, most people drink anything but pure water. Pure water is purely water-only water and nothing but water.

3.3.1 Best Sources for Humans

The purest water is distilled water. Inasmuch as an individual lives as he should he will get all or almost all his water needs from a diet of proper foods. Therefore, very little distilled water will ever need to be consumed. Distilled water should be a secondary source of water. Humans are not naturally water-drinking creatures, for they have absolutely no equipment for it as have natural water-drinking animals. Therefore, the proper diet for humans is necessarily water sufficient. A correct diet must contain the pure water that we require.

Fruits contain the purest water of all and also are the finest foods of all. The water in fruits is completely pure; that is, it is without any trace of inorganic minerals or other matters that are likely to combine with body fluids and clog up blood vessels, cells or interstitial spaces. Most Life Scientists are primarily and almost wholly fruit-eaters. (Bear in mind that many so-called vegetables are actually non-sweet fruits and that, technically, nuts are fruits, too.) Because we were almost exclusively fruit-eaters in a pristine state of nature and because a fruit diet is water sufficient, humans never developed water-drinking mechanisms.

Why does the body need water? What role does water play in the body? Why is impure water harmful to the body?

The primary role of water in the body is as a transport medium. It is also the medium for storage of needed organic compounds and electrolytes within the cells. This is accomplished by the water holding molecules and nutrient reserves in suspension.

Impure water harms the human organism because the impurities are invariably poisons. While our foods contain water, water from non-food sources is not our medium for food or nutrients. Minerals in water are dissolved from soil and rock and have no more virtue in the human body than if the soil or rock itself was eaten. The body simply cannot handle inorganic minerals. Inorganic minerals circulate in the body as poisons. Anything at all in water aside from wholesome foods is, therefore, a pollutant or a poison.

Thus, people who drink water are likely to imbibe a plethora of poisons. Different people drink water for different reasons. For instance, many health seekers drink spring water, well water, sea water and other kinds of water in the mistaken belief that it is healthful.

Let’s take a closer look at water drinking in America and examine certain probabilities in regard to water-drinking.

• Some people, including Life Scientists, drink little water because they are primarily fruitarians. Their diet is water sufficient.
• Some people drink distilled water either because they are health-aware and want pure water or because their regular water supply is unsuitable for drinking. By far the larger number of Americans who drink distilled water do so because their regular water is so bad, not because of any overall health orientation. They may be said to be undertaking a healthful measure in preference to an obviously unwholesome practice. In either of these cases of people who drink distilled water, water drinking is indulged because of a more or less unwholesome diet (a cooked diet containing salt and other condiments). Our natural diet is water-sufficient.
• Some people deliberately drink mineralized waters in the mistaken belief that their bodies need all the minerals they can get. These are usually “health-oriented” persons who do not realize that minerals in water as picked up from soil and water are the very same as the minerals in soil or powdered rock and are not used by the body. They shun chemicalized waters from water systems.
• The majority of people drink whatever water is available—mineralized; chemicalized; from their local water system, wells or springs. These people consume a diet that is either water-deficient or so unwholesome as to require heavy supplies of water.
• Life Scientists sometimes drink distilled water. They may do so because they are fasting and not taking in water from food sources, or they may drink distilled water to supplement the water present in their diet. In the latter case, extra water may be required during particularly hot weather, especially if the individual engages in vigorous physical activity.
• Tens of millions of Americans drink soft drinks, coffee, tea, cocoa and a host of other water-containing concoctions when thirsty. These people entertain and stimulate themselves in the process of getting their liquids. While pure water is, in itself, very satisfying to the thirsty, many seek other gratifications which they get by consuming the kinds of drinks just mentioned. All drinking of anything but pure water is less than ideal and most often is quite unwholesome and disease-producing. For instance, many drink fresh vegetable and fruit juices to quench their thirst. Juices, though fragmented foods, are, nevertheless, foods. They should not be used as substitutes for distilled water.

3.3.2 Chemicals Used in Water “Purification” Are Toxic

Most Americans drink liquids and most liquids taken contain inorganic minerals, fluorine, chlorine and other so-called “chemicals of purification.” Bacteria in water are far less harmful than the chemicals that are used to destroy them. Their presence in water usually indicates that the water contains organic matter, but bacteria in water are no more harmful than those we constantly take in by air or those which populate our intestinal tracts. However, water we drink should be pure. No water system in this country furnishes pure water. Invariably it is polluted in some harmful way.

Drinking tap water is fraught with dangers. The US. Public Health Service released the results of research and surveys of waters from various water systems in the U.S. Over eighty carcinogens were found. Most of these were from the breakdown of chlorine in water systems or its combination with other chemicals. Chlorine itself is a carcinogen. Chemicals from agricultural fertilizers, chemical industries, pesticides and homes pollute our waters. Sulfur, iron, gypsum, calcium, magnesium and other inorganic minerals are toxic in themselves. Purification systems, so-called, do not remove these minerals. They are designed to remove bacteria, which are far less harmful. Purification systems add chemicals rather than remove them (except in some systems where the water supply is deadly at its source). This is especially true of some waters in Louisiana and New Jersey.

Fluorine is added to water, not as a purifier, but as a mass medication. This waste product of the chemical and metals industries has been rammed down our throats, so to speak, in the mistaken belief by many that it will prevent tooth decay. Obviously, it doesn’t work, for tooth decay is just as rampant today as before—in fact, it t is worse than ever. Fluorine is in the water of more than half our population’s water supplies. Inorganic fluorine compounds are carcinogenic and deadly. Poisons are never the basis of health. Our teeth are sabotaged by dietary practices also.

3.3.3 Spring and Well Water

As mentioned earlier, many people think mineral water, well water, spring water or other impure water is just what we need. Spring water, waters from mountain streams and waters to which certain minerals have been added are quite popular. In New York City and in some other places, such waters are the rage. Many people in these places will not touch their city water supply for drinking purposes. But processed waters which have had mineral concoctions added and waters from springs and mountain streams are in vogue. While these waters with their mineral content cannot possibly be as harmful as the mineralized and chemicalized water supplies, they are, nevertheless, very unwholesome. Distilled water is available in New York City but it is relatively neglected in favor of so-called natural waters.

Many waters, especially imported spring waters, are prized for their peculiar tastes. Some waters are carbonated to give them extra attraction. But all such waters are harmful. Pure water is pleasant to drink and has no taste or kick whatsoever. If you’re thirsty, pure water is the most satisfying of all, even without any taste thrill.

Though you should get most of or all your water from your food, you should never try to get anything from water but water.

For the purposes of emphasis and enhanced understanding, we will repeat what has already been stated about water: Anything in water as drawn from tap, well, spring or stream is inorganic and harmful. The body cannot digest or metabolize inorganic substances. Other than air, water, and sunshine, the body cannot utilize anything except organic compounds as found in food. All else is poisonous. Inorganic materials cannot be utilized; they clog up our bodies if not eliminated, and they combine with body fluids, oils, compounds and wastes and form substances that cake our vascular system. They are deposited in our joints and muscles, interstitial spaces, organs and lymphatic system. Both deranged foods, that is, those that have been cooked and processed, and impure water contain inorganic minerals, which are harmful to our organism.

People with the debris of impure water and cooked food in their systems usually do not eliminate all of it. When these substances are in an active state, that is, when they are circulating in the system, the body is in a frenzy. Leucocytes (white blood cells) proliferate, pulse rates increase, and often enough, these people are stimulated. The stimulation usually begins within 15 to 30 minutes after drinking or ingestion and lasts until the materials are eliminated or sidetracked in the system—as in plaques which form in arteries.

Just as impure water contains harmful, non-usable inorganic minerals, so do cooked foods. This topic will be covered in depth in a later lesson.

There are several schools of thought in this country that advocate drinking mineral-containing water such as well water, spring water and mineral water. They say that mineral-containing water is needed because the body requires the minerals from it. In addition, they say that distilled water causes heart attacks and leeches needed minerals from the body, causing tooth decay, pyorrhea and osteoporosis and that distilled water is dead water and fish cannot live in it. They contend that water containing minerals will correct these problems as well as preventing them from happening in the first place.

Proponents of mineral-containing water attribute the superb health of the Hunzas to mineralized water. The Hunzas are one of the healthiest peoples in the world. They supposedly drink a frothy white mineralized water from glacial runoff.

Of course there are valid responses to these arguments. To the implication that we need the minerals in impure water, we point out that, if our diet is proper, we get more than we need of minerals of all kinds. Further, the minerals in water are totally unusable, thus making them a toxic burden within instead of nutritional. Water is needed in the body for itself, not for any incidental impurities it may have picked up from soil and rock.

Rather than distilled water causing heart attacks, it is the other way around. Distilled water does not leave behind any indigestible debris from unusable inorganic minerals. Those who drink mineral-containing water are often found to have heavy plaque in their systems. The rejected minerals which the body cannot use often combine with cholesterol and other fatty substances to form plaque. These block the arteries. The rejected minerals are also likely to be put aside in the body in spaces that exist. Notably is this so in the cranial cavity where the spaces of lost brain cells are filled in by minerals, thus leading to ossification of the brain. This is a cause of senility.

How pure water could leech minerals from the body has received a thorough refutation from physiologists. An important thing to remember about water and everything else put into the body is that it is done unto by the body. It does not do unto the body. Those substances which seem to act on the body, as in the case of unmanageable acids, compounds and chemicals, are poisons. The body is the master of its domain. Following this reasoning, soft water does not leech minerals from the body. The body uses water. Water doesn’t use the body. Water and other foodstuffs are under the control of the body while in the body. The body does what it wants to with water. It excretes the water if it’s not needed. Along with the water it excretes mineral matter that it no longer requires. The kidneys are the final arbiters of what will be excreted and what will be returned to the body economy for use. For instance, the body recycles about 95% of its iron regardless of the water we drink. It also recycles many other mineral compounds or salts. The body is very conservative with its nutrient supplies.

An example is eating watermelon. If you eat watermelon, your urine will be completely clear. There will be almost no mineral matter in it to color it. The very pure water of watermelon that is unneeded by the system is speedily expelled. Very little mineral or other matter will be in it, for the body is doing unto the water. The water does not circulate freely in the body. The body retains or expels the water according to its need.

On the other hand, if you are fasting or under any other condition in which you’re not taking water from food and the body is conserving its water supply, your urine will become very dark yellow because the body is giving up more wastes and more mineral matter relative to the water it is expelling.

What the Hunzas (or North Pakistan) drink is not responsible for their health. Water is a need of life but total health is dependent on healthful living. Water is but one element of many. Travelers who have gone there find that the Hunzas really drink very little water. They’re primarily fruit eaters. The water they do drink is permitted to settle first. As the glacial runoff comes rushing down the mountains it picks up minerals as debris rather than holding them in solution. That is, the water has silt in suspension rather than minerals in solution. This silt is the basis of Hunza health, true, but because it is deposited on their fertile gardens, not because they drink soil and rock in their water. The water itself comes from relatively pure snow. Very few minerals are in solution by the time it has rushed from the heights to their catch basins below. Only a few minutes of time in contact with minerals accounts for the mineral complement of these waters.

Again, how can waters be responsible for a condition of health? If drinking water was the secret for great health, then all we’d have to do is drink the kind of water we need and not worry about food, exercise, sleep or anything else. Water would take care of everything. Healthful living would be unnecessary.

Next let’s examine the argument that pure water is dead water and that fish can’t live in it. As you know, many fish live in the ocean. We can’t drink sea water, for we’d quickly die. It has a heavy complement of minerals - sea water is richer in minerals than any water in the world. Other fish live in rivers, creeks, ponds and lakes. You don’t drink water out of rivers, ponds and other places where fish live. Such waters contain the excrement of fish and other creatures, decaying leaves and other organic matter. In fact, we don’t drink from fishy waters for a very good reason: It’s unfit to drink. Further, water, whether fish live in it or not, cannot be described as living or as dead. In short, there can be no living water, for it is an inert lifeless compound at all times.

It is true fish cannot live in distilled water. Distilled water has no air in it. Neither does it have the food supply a fish requires. Thus it can be seen the argument is without any merit.

To repeat: If we’re eating the diet to which we’re biologically adapted, we do not have to drink water except on those occasions when we must use unusual amounts of it to refrigerate ourselves as in heavy physical labor in hot weather.

Why do most Americans drink so much water and other liquids? Cooked food eaters require copious amounts of water. People who take in so many irritants or poisons as found in heat-deranged foods; in condiments, especially salt and other seasonings; and in unsuitable foods such as grain and animal foods, need this water to help hold toxic materials in suspension so that they offer less harm to cells and tissues.

People who eat a wholesome diet require less water than people who eat an unwholesome diet. On wholesome diets there is usually sufficient water in the foods to meet all needs whereas, on an unwholesome diet, abnormal amounts of water are required to help cope with the irritants, stimulants, excitants or poisons within.

Edema or dropsy, for instance, is a disease of those who eat cooked foods and/or salts and other condiments. The body takes on extra water to hold these toxic materials in suspension. Until the body can dump these they are stored in likely areas, often the feet and legs. A few days of fasting enables the body to catch up on its housecleaning. It thus will expel the waters and purify its fluids and tissues.

This concludes our examination in depth of the first two essentials of life, air and water. In the next lesson we’ll keep up consideration of other of life’s essentials.

3.4. Questions & Answers

With the catalog of things you’ve listed I feel uptight even considering using a bar of soap around the house. Isn’t there anything we can use that is non-polluting with which to clean house, floors, clothes, dishes and our bodies?

Yes, there are products that are relatively non-polluting and which yield excellent results. For cleaning clothes you should consider Basic-L from Shaklee products. For cleaning floors, dishes and even cars a solution of Shaklee’s Basic-H will do wonders. Amway and other companies also produce similar non-polluting biodegradable products.

For your body you need no soap or cleanser. A good fiber brush or washcloth is all you need while under a shower or in a bathtub. If you want to use a cleaner on your body, Shaklee’s Basic-H is fine.

Can’t we use any cosmetics at all?

Of course you can use cosmetics, but keep in mind that not one is healthful. Moreover they are unneeded by a healthy person. They detract rather than add to beauty. And they only compound skin problems for an unhealthy person. Beauty is natural. When in health your eyes and skin radiate their condition, just as they look sallow, pallid and in poor tone when unhealthy. We advise against the use of cosmetics under all conditions. Also, skin creams and oils of all sorts, including suntan oils and lotions only complicate the problem they are used for and cripple the body’s oil producing ability.

I have a friend who smokes a pack and a half of cigarettes daily, drinks beer and eats junky foods. He appears to be in excellent health and is quite active. By all that you’ve said he should be a corpse. How can you explain something like this?

How old is your friend?

34.

Your friend is still, obviously, only a babe relative to potential and is still living on youthful capital. He might continue this pattern for another five, ten or even twenty years, but the penalty for not meeting life’s needs correctly must sooner or later be suffered.

When you read the disease statistics and see the human wreckage resulting from the tobacco, alcohol and junk food habits, you’ll know that most humans exhaust their endowments rather quickly, even in their thirties, and succumb to cardiovascular problems, chronic cough, cancer or other degenerative diseases.

Most smokers know the dangers of their habits but feel themselves to be exempt from them—it’s something that always happens to the other person. All sins against our bodies must be paid. There is no dispensation in nature.

You’ve condemned deodorants. Are they very harmful? What is a person to do to control body odor?

Deodorants are poisonous. Their toxic effects cause the skin pores at points of application to close up so as to exclude their chemicals from the inner sanctum. This prevents body perspiration and exudation. They are properly called anti-perspirants for this reason. A person who has body odor should strive to go to the source of the problem. Body odor is not natural. Healthy persons do not have body odors. Foul smells are produced by a foul system. Clean up the body and it ceases to exude unpleasant smells.

Do you mean that people who have body odors, bad breath and so on are really sick inside?

That is the case. Healthy cells, tissues, fluids and organs do not smell rotten or foul. Obnoxious odors come from decomposing materials.

Just the other day I read that distilled water, because it’s heated in the distillation process, causes leukocytosis just as cooked food does. As you advocate distilled water, what do you say to this?

This is untrue. Leukocytosis, the proliferation of white blood corpuscles, results from poisons entering the bloodstream. The inorganic debris resulting from cooked foods will cause this malady, but distilled water causes no decomposition or poisonous substances. The distilled water was water before, during and after the process of distilling. It was not changed except that impurities it held before distilling have been left behind. The truth is that mineralized water causes leukocytosis. The inorganic minerals of water are toxic and cause a toxic reaction by the body. Leukocytosis is but one of the body’s defensive mechanisms against toxic materials. Those who employ this argument are trying to defend the use of mineralized waters, but there is no defense for using impure waters.

I’ve heard it said that distilled water will cause heart attacks. In fact, this claim was made as a result of a scientific study in England. Do you deny this?

Yes, investigators of the report found that, in a certain English city whose people drank hard (heavily-mineralized) water, the death rate from heart attack per 100,000 was 436 per year. The death rate in a nearby city that had soft water (water with fewer minerals) was 448 per year, just 12 deaths more. This implies that perhaps soft water causes heart attacks and minerals in solution prevents them. But these investigators found the following significant omissions from the report: The soft water drinkers had a lead pipe system throughout the city whereas the hard water drinkers had a copper pipe system for the most part. Lead is much more toxic than copper.

Does fluoridation really make teeth stronger and healthier?

Absolutely not! Fluorides in an inorganic form are toxic. Ingested fluorides have an affinity for calcium. Insofar as they unite with calcium they destroy bone and teeth. The body defends against fluorides by, at first, hardening the bones and teeth. Then they become brittle and break down under ordinary eating. St. David’s, Arizona, has natural fluorides to the extent of about eight parts per million of its drinking water. Perhaps there is no worse example of poor teeth in America than there. About 50% of America’s drinking water has been fluoridated for some 30 years. For all that, America’s collective mouth is still the biggest disaster area of the body! Nearly 99% of Americans have bad teeth. One in every seven have no teeth at all. Inasmuch as almost all of these are adults, that means one in every five adults have no natural teeth.

Article #1: The Importance Of Pure Water by John H. Tilden, M.D

Water is not looked upon as food by laymen, but it should be classed with food. It certainly is fully as important. An individual may live 40 to 100 days without food whereas survival beyond seven days without water is unlikely.

Water should be obtained from normal food sources as much as possible. It is easy enough to get our water needs from fresh fruits and vegetables, as most of these foods carry about 90% water.

The amount of water taken into the system by the average person amounts to from three to four pints daily. This can vary under different circumstances. In the summer more fluid is used than in the winter. Water is utilized by the body as a refrigerant through evaporation and, consequently, we require more in the summer. On the other hand we are more inclined to consume higher water content foods in the summer such as melons, peaches, grapes, tomatoes, etc.

Laborers consume more water, of course, because physical labor generates internal heat that must be reduced through evaporating water from the lungs and skin.

Water Is Actually a Food

Water enters into the composition of every tissue and forms about 65% of the weight of the body. It is obvious that this percentage must vary in different individuals for many reasons.

Water should be recognized as one of the most important foods, for it is essential to the body.

Water Should Be Pure

Rainwater is soft and supposed to be the purest of natural water, though this is doubtful due to widespread air pollution. Few people relish the taste of rainwater, for it has a peculiar taste. The fact of the matter is that most people are accustomed to water with some mineral content that gives it a little taste; but, on the other hand, they will shun waters of heavy mineral content, especially if those minerals be gypsum, sulphur, iron, etc.

Minerals in Water Clog Up Body

What is called “hard water” is in fact water that is heavily laden with minerals. Wells in limy sections of the world furnish water heavily charged with lime. Such water is not good to drink. People in such locales will be troubled with limy deposits in the body if they drink such water.

It is necessary to secure as pure water as possible. It is just as necessary as securing pure food. Nothing should be taken into the body that is not as pure as can be had. Impure water is the source of many diseases and general body degeneration.

Article #2: Are Humans Drinking Creatures? by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

“What a stupid question!” exclaims the reader, “Everybody knows that humans are drinking creatures and always have been.”

It is quite true that universally, throughout history, in all countries, in all climates, at all seasons of the year and at all ages of life, humans have been drinking animals. It is equally true that all the evidence afforded us by protohistory reveals that throughout the protohistoric period, humans were universally drinking animals. Existing so-called savage cultures are commonly looked upon as survivals of prehistory. If this position is a valid one, then the evidence that is afforded us of the practices of prehistoric humans would reveal that they were universally drinking creatures.

Drinking Not Natural to Humans

If we view the animal kingdom, we discover that there are animals that drink and animals that do not drink. Even many desert animals do not drink water. There are also animals that do not inhabit the deserts that do not drink. It has been seriously suggested that by his constitutional nature man belongs to the non-drinking section of the animal kingdom. This is to say, water drinking by man is an acquired and not a native practice. Many have taken this suggestion seriously and have refrained from drinking water for periods of years and have advocated the non-drinking practice for all.

Dehydrated protoplasm is lifeless dust. It seems to be true that where there is no water, there is no life for plants and animals and microscopic beings require Water in order to carry on the functions of life, that they may live. Nobody denies this. The question in issue is not the reed for water, but the source from which it is to be derived and the manner in which it is to be taken.

Evidence Indicates Drinking as Perversion

In 1815 a book by William Lambe, M.D. of London was published under the title Water and Vegetable Diet. In this book Dr. Lambe attempted to show the advantages of a vegetable diet over a flesh diet or a mixed diet and the advantages of pure soft water over hard water. At the same time and in this same book he raised the question: Is man a drinking animal?

Perhaps no one had asked this question before. But the question has been argued both pro and con by numerous intelligent men and women since Dr. Lambe propounded it, and it is still being argued, sometimes rather heatedly. Let us, at this time, consider some of the reasons put forth by Dr. Lambe for considering water drinking an acquired practice.

Historic Attitudes Toward Water

As was the custom of his time, Lambe begins his consideration by quotations from the ancient works attributed to the legendary Hippocrates and reveals the fear of water in acute disease which gripped the profession for so long had its origin at the very beginning of the medical system. He quotes “Hippocrates” as saying: “I have nothing to say in favor of water drinking in acute diseases: It neither eases the cough, nor promotes expectoration in inflammation of the lungs; and, least of all, in those who are used to it. It does not quench thirst, but increases it. In bilious habits it increases bile and oppresses the stomach; and is the most pernicious, sickening and debilitating, in a state of inanition. It increases inflammations of the liver and spleen. It passes slowly, by reason of its coldness and crudeness; and does not readily find a passage either by the bowels or kidney.”

Following the quotation from Hippocrates, he quotes Van Swieten as saying: “While girls are daily sipping tepid water liquors, how weak and how flaccid do they become!” Lambe says: “And the same writer positively affirms that, by the abuse of tea, coffee and similar liquors, he had seen many so enervate their bodies that they could scarcely drag their limbs; and many had from this cause been seized with apoplexies and palsies.”

Thus it will be seen that the evils that flow from drinking tea and coffee are attributed, not to the poisons contained in these brews, but to the water which composes most of the brew. Water and not caffeine and theine and the other poisons of tea and coffee is the evil.

Impure Waters Pathogenic

Lambe next considers popular prejudices and tastes concerning water and its salubrity or lack of it as it is derived from various sources and contains, according to its source, different mineral or organic matter. He points out that many people in many parts of the world are very fastidious in their selection of the water which they drink, preferring water from one well or one stream or one spring and rejecting water from other sources. Lambe examines the drinking of mineral laden waters from marshes and swamps and the drinking of stagnant water and ascribes many evils to this habit. Many of the things he attributes to such water drinking are now known to be due to other causes; but even if he had been correct in all of his guesses, these facts could not properly be used to condemn water drinking. They condemn, not water, but impurities sometimes contained in water and form a basis for the condemnation of drinking, not water, but impure water.

Lambe suggests that the evil effects of water drinking have been the chief cause that has induced man to turn to alcoholic liquors. To escape from the evils of water drinking man plunged into the greater evils of alcoholism. It is not to be doubted that in some parts of the world where the inhabitants drink much beer and wine, there is a strong tendency to refrain from water drinking, not because water is regarded as essentially unhealthful, but because the waters of these areas are regarded as impure and unwholesome. Let us turn, however, to Dr. Lambe’s effort to establish the soundness of his no-drinking plan.

He says:

“Having condemned water and attempted to show experimentally its noxious influence upon the system; having condemned spirits and fermented liquors, from the authority of the most enlightened medical writers and the common experience of mankind, it must follow that there is no species of drinking which I approve. And, indeed, I have already ventured to assert that drinking is an unnatural habit; in other words, that man is not naturally a drinking animal.

“To those who cannot raise their views above the passing scene, who think that human nature must necessarily be in every situation the same as they observe it in their own town or village; to those, in short, who look for knowledge in the prattling of the drawing room, or the gossip of the grocer’s shop, I know that this appears a strange, if not a ridiculous assertion. We say, with great confidence, that water is absolutely necessary both to man and beast. But the strength of the evidence is not equal to the positiveness of the assertion.

“In fact, we know very little about the habits of animals, except of those whose natures we have changed and corrupted by domestication. All that the natural historian can do with regard to the wild species is to describe their forms and such of their qualities as have fallen under observations; these last must of necessity be very imperfect. Imperfect, however, as it is, we know enough to be certain that the assertion of the necessity of the use of water to animals is, to the extent to which it is carried, absolutely groundless.”

Many Animal Species Do Not Drink Water

“ ‘I have known an owl of this species,’ (the brown owl) says M. White, ‘live a full year without any water. Perhaps the case may be the same with all birds of prey.’ There was a llama of Peru shown in London, a year or two ago, which lived wholly without liquids; it would not touch water. In some of the small islands on our coast, on whir-there is not a drop of water to be found, there are, I am told, rabbit warrens. Bruce says, ‘That although Zimmer (an island of the Red Sea) is said to be without water, yet there are antelopes upon it, and also hyenas in numbers.’ To account for this, he suspects that there must be water in some subterraneous caves or clefts of the rocks. This, however, is only supposition. The argali, or wild sheep, from the country in which it is found, it is certain, does not drink. Mr. Pallas says of it, ‘This animal lives upon desert mountains, which are dry and without wood, and upon rocks where there are many bitter and acrid plants.’ He further says of it, ‘There are no deer so wild as the argali; it is almost impossible to come near it in hunting. They have an astonishing lightness and quickness in the chase, and they hold it for a long time.’ How wonderfully, therefore, is this animal deteriorated by domestication, and by being forced to live in situations and to adopt habits unsuited to its nature!”

Humans Have No Natural Drinking Equipment

“Let us, therefore, consider man again, for a moment, as we may suppose him fresh from the hands of his Maker, and depending upon his physical powers only for his subsistence. We must suppose every animal so circumstanced, to be furnished by nature with organs suited to its physical necessities. Now I see that man has the head elevated above the ground, and to bring the mouth to the earth requires a strained and a painful effort. Moreover, the mouth is flat and the nose prominent, circumstances which make the effort still more difficult. In this position the act of swallowing a fluid is so painful and constrained that it can hardly be performed. He has therefore no organ which is naturally suited to drinking. He cannot convey a fluid into his mouth without the aid of some artificial instrument. The artifice is very simple, it is true. But still the body must be nourished anterior to all artificial knowledge. Nature seems therefore fully to have done her part toward keeping men from the use of liquids. And doubtless on a diet of fruits and vegetables there would be no necessity for the use of liquids.

“If it be true therefore that other animals require water, it would not follow that man, whose organization is different, would require it likewise. But we, in fact, know very little about the habits of animals. Our common domestic animals certainly drink. But it appears, as far as my information extends, that common water has the same effect upon them as upon man; and that they are more or less healthy, according to the purity of the water which they use.”

Observations Upon Humans’ Water Needs

Dr. Lambe violates one of the cardinal principles of logic, to wit: Nothing can be used as evidence until it is known, when he predicates his argument for man as a non-drinking animal upon what was not known about the drinking habits of animals. Some of the observations which he records were faulty and these constitute a very insecure basis upon which to found important conclusions. It is now well known that many of the animals which he considers non-drinking animals do drink in the wild state. It should also be noted that animals that do not drink, many of them living upon the desert, do not become dehydrated for lack of drink, whereas man, under the same circumstances, dies from dehydration as certainly as does the cow or horse. His argument that if man were intended to drink, he should have been born with a plastic straw in his mouth or a silver chalice in his hands, is hardly valid. It is true, however, as he points out, that with an abundance of juicy fruits and succulent vegetables in his diet, man can go, under ordinary circumstances, for long periods without drinking. In doing so, he does not go without water, but obtains his water free of organic and mineral contamination, in the form of fruit juices and vegetable juices. It is doubtful that this would suffice on the desert; it is certain that hard physical labor in the summer’s sun will create a demand for water that such eating will not provide. Under such circumstances, one may be able to obtain all the fluid necessary by drinking fruit and vegetable juices between meals, but this constitutes eating between meals and is certainly a greater evil than would be the drinking of occasional glasses of distilled water.

Juices Are Food

Fruit and vegetable juices should be regarded as food, not as drink, and should be taken as part of the fruits or vegetables containing them. Separated from the organic combination in which they occur, they lose much of their value. Drinking fruit and vegetable juices between meals definitely leads to overeating and most certainly disturbs the process of digestion.

It would be folly to try to meet the demand for water in the fever patient by filling him with fruit and vegetable juices. Pure soft water certainly does not have the effect in these cases described by the legendary Hippocrates. Neither does water affect the fasting individual in the manner described in the so-called Hippocratic writings. To condemn water drinking because in certain pathological states drinking distresses the patient is similar to condemning food because in certain pathological states eating causes distress. It is similar to condemning sunlight because in certain diseases of the eye, exposure to light causes distress and pain. The true test, as all Hygienists know, of the value of any substance or practice is its use or its rejection by the healthy organism.

Article #3: Ama Says Fresh Air Bad For You by Frances Adelhardt

In the February issue of Moneysworth appears the headline “Too Much Fresh Air Can Become Health Problem.” The article is based on a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

What ills are attributed to fresh air? Listed in this article are insomnia, nightmares, weakness, exhaustion, heart irregularities, dizziness, numbness of hands and feet, shortness of breath, chest pains, yawning, stomach discomforts, muscle cramps, stiffness and anxiety.

This report is of the same warp and woof of a previous report that was discussed in Issue 3 of Total Well-Being: Medical opinion holds that “oversleeping” is unhealthful. Medical opinion here is that the body will “oversleep” if permitted and that sleep beyond 7 to 8 hours will lead to assorted illnesses—substantially the same ones as fresh air supposedly causes!

We need to breathe and we need to sleep to stay alive, but the medicos are telling us that we mustn’t overdo it! They apparently put breathing and sleeping in the same category as eating, which we must also do to stay alive. We all know that overeating is harmful. But eating is a voluntary action. We are always consciously aware of it. If we would eat only when hungry and stop eating when hunger disappeared, we could not overeat. The body is self-regulating when its instincts are followed. But we eat for other reasons than hunger and genuine need, so our overeating results in health problems.

Now what about sleeping? This normal bodily need and function is also regulated naturally. We become sleepy when sleep is needed. If we don’t fight it off by taking pep pills or coffee, we naturally drop off into a state oi unconsciousness when our bodies need sleep. And we win remain in this state until our nerve energy is sufficiently recovered—unless our sleep is prematurely put to an end by a jangling alarm clock or other disturbing influence. It is impossible to sleep if we do not need sleep. Sleep cannot be “stored up” for future use.

Air is another of the normal needs of life, and breathing is nature’s way of supplying our bodies with air. Breathing is the most automatic and unconscious of all our bodily functions that supply life’s needs from outside sources. We can go for weeks or months without food and for days without water, but going for only a few minutes without air results in death. Air is such a constant necessity that breathing must be done unconsciously while we sleep.

Now medical expertise is telling us in this article that if we breathe too much fresh air we can become sick!

To be sure, there is such a thing as overbreathing. We can do forced deep breathing, but after a few minutes of it the body responds to our folly by cutting off oxygen to the brain. Hallucination and unconsciousness follow, putting an end to the conscious forced breathing, after which normalcy is restored.

This overbreathing is not what the physicians are talking about, for they say, “Hyperventilation—taking in air in excess of that required to maintain normal oxygen levels in the blood—is an unconscious action on the part of the individual...” How do they say we can “over-breathe?” By getting too much oxygen in our air. This is why they claim that too much fresh air is bad for us.

Just what is fresh air? It is the opposite of stale air. Stale air is air that has been breathed and expelled. The life-giving oxygen has been appropriated by the body, and carbon dioxide, a waste product, is given off along with other waste gases of elimination. If one had his head enclosed in a plastic bag that was sealed at the neck and he had to constantly breathe and rebreathe the same air, he would not live long. It would be much the same as trying to live on one’s own feces and urine. Stale air, then, is polluted air. The air that most of us breathe in unventilated buildings and outdoors in metropolitan areas is further polluted by tobacco smoke, factory smoke, automobile exhaust, aerosol sprays and many other contaminants. Fresh air is air that is without such pollutants. Country air is called fresh because plants and trees growing there absorb the carbon dioxide and expel oxygen. What a wonderful symbiosis exists here! Plant life and animal life are constantly supplying each other with the needs of life. The air waste product of one is the necessity of the other.

Are the medicos telling us that nature goofed? Is there too much oxygen in the air for our health? Did nature mess up on her proportions? And should we regulate this imbalance ourselves by making sure that we breathe enough stale polluted air along with our fresh air? Well, they have actually stated that too much fresh air can cause health problems, so they really mean that we can get sick if the air that we are breathing does not contain some pollutants. Now aren’t all the cigarette smokers going to love that! When they blow smoke in our faces or cloud up the offices that we must work in, they can tell us that they are performing a service for us, for haven’t physicians said that air too fresh and pure is a health hazard? And this after the same medical profession has told us that smoking can cause cancer—and made the cigarette manufacturers post a warning on cigarette packages.

Physicians have observed that certain ailments and discomforts follow a person’s change from a stale-air situation to a fresh-air situation, and so, without understanding the nature of these changes or the reasons for them, they conclude that fresh air is bad for us. What they fail to recognize is this salutory physiological principle: When the body’s condition is improved, the body begins improving itself!

Most of us are living at only part of our health potential. Our bodies are clogged up with uneliminated debris and toxins. This morbid matter cannot be eliminated because of lack of vitality, and vitality is lacking because the body is getting insufficient rest, sleep, fresh air, etc.

The body begins a housecleaning when its circumstances are improved. When the body gets more sleep, better food, more rest and more fresh air, its vitality is enhanced. With increased vitality the body is better able to cope with life-threatening toxins. The expulsion of accumulated toxic matters occasions symptoms which are commonly mislabeled disease and recognized as dangerous. If we believed that such symptoms (which are actually healing crises) really were dangerous, then we should also believe that drug addiction is healthful and getting off drugs is a health hazard because the withdrawal symptoms experienced are pains, headaches, nausea and other illnesses. We should also believe that smoking is healthful because smokers who don’t get their accustomed dose of nicotine suffer nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, headaches, etc. Fortunately, we know that drug addiction and smoking are injurious to our health, and we know that it takes a bit of pain and discomfort to break such habits. We also know that it is desirable to do so and not a health hazard.

It should occur to us that polluted air is also a drug—a poison—and most of us are so steeped in air pollution that s it amounts to an addiction. So when we indulge in fresh pure air and fail to get our usual dose of contaminants, we may suffer various discomforts which are actually “withdrawal symptoms” similar to those suffered by the dope addict. In both cases the real disease is toxemia, while the withdrawal pains, which are symptoms of toxin elimination, are a healthful sign.

If we will but suffer through these discomforts and the bodily housecleaning that they indicate, we will soon be more vital than before—just as the dope addict is in better health after he quits his habit.

It should be self-evident that no amount of polluted air could ever be healthful. The kind of illogical reasoning which says that pure air is unhealthy might be expected from those who have dethroned reason and ask us to believe that drugs restore health. It dates back to the previous century when medical advice would have us keep doors and windows shut while sleeping. Remember-the night air was supposed to be bad. At that time it was also popular medical practice to keep doors closed and shades drawn in sick rooms. Patients were denied fresh air and light and left to languish in their own effluvia. When feverish and suffering from thirst, they were denied water. No wonder so many of them died.

Be assured that fresh air is a healthful agency, and the symptoms it begets as noted in the AMA report are evidences of body improvement-not body destruction. Don’t be taken in by error just because such reports are published in a prestigious journal.

Physicians think that they can regulate all our natural functions. They want us to think that they are wiser than the intelligence of the body when they tell us how much we should sleep, how many calorics we should eat, how many glasses of water per day we should drink, and now, how much fresh air we should breathe!

Our own instincts, reason and common sense are far better guides than any such advice that comes from the medical profession. Remember the AMA is a trade association that is in business to make money. Their business flourishes on sick people—not healthy ones. Their advice and their ministrations can make us worse, but they can never make us better (except in the case of mechanical repairs). Under no circumstances can they confer upon us improved health. Only our own practices can lead to health.

So use your own good sense. Sleep when sleepy, drink water when thirsty, eat only when hungry and breathe the cleanest, purest air you can.

Article #4: The Breath Of Death by Prof. Hilton Hotema

Our scientists agree that city air today is a deadly mixture of smoke, soot and fumes, which include carbon monoxide gas, sulphuric acid gas, benzene, methane, sulphur compounds and other dangerous chemicals too numerous to mention.

In addition, city air is saturated with the fumes of motor cars, trucks, buses, gas engines, etc. This exhaust consists of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, lead oxide, lead carbonates, free gasoline and complicated benzene chain compounds of the hydrocarbon series.

Let us consider just one of these many poisonous gases, carbon monoxide, and tell only a small part of the damage it does to the body. Tasteless, colorless, odorless, invisible to the eye, this gas takes and has taken a terrible toll of lives in our cities.

The large cities have a huge smoke-blanket over them that holds down these toxic gases and particulates. Especially is this so in damp weather. It tends to smother the people in it.

U.S. authorities have demonstrated a concentration of 0.62 parts of carbon monoxide per 10,000 cubic centimeters of air at street level in busy sections of cities of 500,000 population or more.

There are few poisons more deadly than carbon monoxide. Air containing as little as 150th of one per cent will cause headache, and 120th of one per cent may cause total collapse.

Dr. L. Burns examined blood specimens of more than 20,000 persons to discover the effect of carbon monoxide gas on the body. He said: “Carbon monoxide gas seeps into the blood through the lungs and mixes with the hemoglobin to such an extent that the blood cannot perform its normal function of carrying oxygen to the rest of the body.”

The hemoglobin of blood has an affinity for this gas about 300 times greater than for oxygen, making the absorption of the gas by the blood very rapid indeed.

The first symptoms of this poisoning are headache and weakness. More serious symptoms appear as the condition progresses. People are told in food propaganda to eat this and that kind of food to offset weaknesses, as that could overcome poisoning effects.

Scientists at Harvard found that the average man can endure carbon monoxide only until his blood is one-third saturated. The danger of the gas was shown by the way it affected one of the scientists. He had just completed some tests requiring a high degree of skill and was feeling no ill effects of the gas when he suddenly collapsed and had to be carried out and revived.

Small concentrations of the gas can soon bring a man to the breaking point. Five per cent of autos and closed trucks on the roads have sufficient concentrations of the gas to be a menace to drivers and passengers. There is no natural nor acquired immunity to the gas. Repeated exposures produce the same effect each time.

The Chicago Health Department reported that in certain sections of that city the sulphuric acid gas in the air rots clothes hung on wash lines and eats away building stone and metal guttering.

These acids and gases in the air corrode and destroy in time everything they touch. They eat up stone and steel; they eat up clothing and metal guttering; they eat up the body by destroying cells and tissue. Many symptoms of the eating process appear as “mysterious diseases unknown to medical science.”

The corrosive acids in the air attack cells and tissues, throat, nose, lungs, brain. They attack the heart, liver, spleen, kidneys and sex organs.

They attack the blood corpuscles and cripple them so seriously that they cannot carry on their normal function. That condition medical art terms “anemia.” And for that they prescribe various iron preparations, vitamin B-12 and other nostrums.

These acids and gases affect the nerves, and the resulting pains medical art calls “neuritis.” As the nerves weaken, paralysis may result in whole or in part. And they have treatments for that while the cause continues. They affect the cells of the muscles, producing dull pains that puzzle medical art, and medical doctors cover up by terming it “rheumatism.”

The acids and gases attack the tissues of the joints and the medical art calls it “arthritis.” They attack the tissues of the air cavities of the cranial bones, and medical art calls it “sinusitis.” They attack the throat, and medical art calls it “laryngitis,” “tonsilitis,” “diptheria,” etc. Hoarseness often follows, and in time one’s voice weakens, or may be entirely lost.

Sulphuric acids and gases attack the cells of the blood vessels of the heart and medical art calls it “heart disease.” They attack the cells of the pancreas, and medical art calls it “diabetes.” They attack the cells of the lungs, and medical art calls it “tuberculosis.”

Names, names—names that mean nothing aside from indicating the part of the body wherein degeneration is most serious and active from the action of the poisons absorbed from the air. Medical art, ruled largely by superstition and guesswork, and being nothing more than an updated version of ancient voodooism, makes a confusing mystery of what it calls disease. They do this for greed and profit, often, and sometimes from ignorance. The problem is readily solved by recognition of a few simple, basic principles.

The air of the Los Angeles area is exceptionally bad. The Los Angeles Herald said: “Heavy clouds of smoke close to the ground, intermingled smarting fumes that make people bleary-eyed and gasp for breath.”

That account stated that “bleary-eyed men” were watching the factory chimneys to discover the source of damaging acrid fumes that killed small animals in the affected areas. During the worst of the “gas attack,” nine out of ten persons on the streets were “bleary-eyed” from the smarting fumes. This black pall of smoke makes a ceiling over Los Angeles from 1,500 to 2,000 feet thick and extends outwards for as many as sixty miles.

John F. Gernhardt, M.D., of Los Angeles, stated that more than 30 persons died in the city of heart attack in 24 hours. Polluted air was the cause. It paralyzes the breathing centers of the brain and breathing stops. That is not heart attack.

The press reported that Southern California has lost about 60 percent of its valuable sunlight due to the smoke pall hanging over that area.

Still air, like still water, grows stale, stagnant and poisonous. Doctors appear not to know much about this. The maladies it causes are still attributed to viruses and germs.

Windstorms, tornados and hurricances are cosmic processes of air purification. And plants continuously detoxify and reoxygenize our air. These are yet other secrets of nature not yet discovered by the medical art.

But the discovery was made by a layman who did some thinking. He wrote a book that was published in 1944. It was titled Floating Air. It is hard to get a copy now, as medical art dreaded the valuable health guidance it contained and high-pressured the Post Office Department to put it out of circulation.

This man first tested his theory on poultry and was able to relieve in a few hours bad cases of croup and kindred respiratory ailments. That was bad news for medical art, and it had to be suppressed. There were no money-making possibilities in prescribing fresh unpolluted air.

In his chicken house this man put an electric fan to keep the air in motion, thus dissipating the foul fumes of poultry droppings, the inhalation of which makes chickens sick. How many poultry raisers know that?

Very simple. Too simple, It’s a deep dark secret of nature the doctors seem not to have discovered. We can be poisoned by the fumes of our own effluvia.

Many who drop dead or die suddenly are not afflicted with heart disorders as doctors claim. The cause of death is foul air.

The annual report of the Bernard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital asserts that city dwellers, breathing polluted air, “develop lung cancer” at a rate three times greater than inhabitants of rural districts.

The Mellon Institute of Pittsburgh issued a report of a two-year survey covering the damaging effect of polluted air on human health. The report said: “The inhalation of polluted air results in a gradual absorption by the body of the poisonous products. The insensible intake results in a condition of slow-poisoning which insidiously eats away at vital tissues.”

Physicians go the other way. They favor still air. They favor the bad and condemn the good. They seem instinctively aware of what’s good for their practice.

This man who knew that what applied to chickens also applied to humans put an electric fan and ventilators in his bedroom. This drew in fresh outside air and drove out the stale inside air.

Most homes and bedrooms are filled with stale air, unfit to breathe. People follow the advice of doctors and keep windows closed to keep out those “deadly drafts” of fresh outside air.

Even the gases and vapors expelled by the body are poisonous and pollute the home and bedroom, regardless of whether from lungs, or bowels, or the pores of the skin. When these facts are known, it is easy to understand why people get up in the morning with cold, sore throat and other respiratory disorders.

They blame the weather; so do the physicians. But it does not affect the animals who live out in it! The actual cause is the polluted air in home and bedroom.

So remarkable were the good results this man obtained that he was inspired to build his “miracle cabinet,” consisting of a bed with enclosed sides and top, well ventiliated and introducing air electrically with a fan through special vents.

He used the cabinet first for patients with respiratory ailments such as colds, hay fever, sore throat, diptheria, asthma, influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis. The good results were amazing, and he was encouraged to treat in the same manner patients with all kinds of disorders: fever, mumps, measles, rheumatism, neuritis, diabetes, etc.

His remarkable success proved that good, fresh air in motion will “cure” the sick who failed under other regimens that left them in the same polluted air. He got patients well after medical doctors had declared them incurable physical wrecks. He proved what a few great Doctors have declared: that there is no disease. There are just two conditions of the body—good health and the lack of it.

The symptoms of bad health the doctors are trained to study, group together and give them names (diagnosis) that mean nothing and term them diseases that are trying to kill the patient.

The scheme is supported by centuries of false teaching by which medical art has created a false psychology. They have taught that diseases are “entities” that attack us and mean to kill us. We enlist their aid in fighting these armies of invaders intent on our demise. For them this is very profitable. And just the opposite for us. Medical art is one of the biggest frauds on earth.

The truth bears repeating: Sicknesses are the body’s cleansing and reparative efforts. They are friends, not enemies. If you would avoid the crisis of sickness, then don’t indulge the causes of sickness. Polluted air is a primary cause of illness and disease.

The surprising results of the man’s work and air shocked the medical art. Drugs, vaccines and serums would become obsolete if people learned of this. Something had to be done.

It was better that one good “man should die for the people,” than that the medical art should perish. So the heat was turned on the Post Office Department and “this man died for the people.” His great work of helping the sick, after medical doctors had failed, came to a sudden and inglorious end.

In such cases big publications carry lying propaganda that a certain quack who was a menace to the people has been cast into oblivion. And the people believe this. Medical propaganda leads people to believe that medical art is trying to rid the world of so-called disease. In truth they are trying to end their competition. Who can be so silly as to believe that any organization or institution is working to bring about its own end?

The reason why people do believe it is because “better schools make better communities.” That is another one of the lies taught in the schools, and people just grow up in it from childhood.

The facts show that all methods not taught in orthodox medical schools, regardless of their value and effectiveness, are banned and crushed by the medical art and their allies, and unorthodox practitioners are usually put in prison—all for the protection of the public health.

This may not be Russia, but many Russian methods are used to dispose of those who interfere with the money-making schemes of big business.

Lesson 4 - Introducing The Life Science System For Perfect Health, Part II

4.1. A Survey Of The Lesson

The first two lessons dealt with the Life Science outlook on health and disease. The third lesson stated the essentials of life and presented in-depth scrutiny of two of these needs, namely air and water.

This fourth lesson encompasses seventeen other essentials of life in summary form. Exhaustive treatment of any single aspect of life’s needs is not intended. Rather, it is intended to acquaint you preliminarily with each life need presented. Subsequent lessons will plumb the depths of the essentials treated in this lesson.

Assuring your body of all its needs might be likened to the care that must be lavished upon highly complex jet liners. Every item of equipment aboard the jet must be in working order and have an adequate supply of its needs in order to operate as designed. The jet may operate with many of its systems knocked out but it is crippled. Crippling of certain systems may send it to its doom. And so it is with the body.

The human body consists of approximately 125 trillion cells which live together harmoniously. Cells live both for themselves and for the welfare of the organism of which they are a part, and they are specialized into tissues and tissue organizations that perform services for every other cell and cell organization throughout the organism.

As a health professional aware of the many faculties of the body and the full needs of the organism, you’ll undertake to assess your clients’ compliances and transgressions of their needs. You’ll endeavor to guide your clients into thoroughgoing compliance with their biological needs and total rejection of their transgressions.

With this purview in mind, we proceed to consider an important essential of life: Body cleanliness.

4.2. Cleanliness Is An Essential Of Life

4.2.1 The Need for Cleanliness

The body operates most efficiently when it is unfettered. Filth on the outside of the body most people will not tolerate. They readily appreciate external cleanliness and most keep themselves impeccably clean. While there is much to be desired regarding the ways in which most people maintain external cleanliness, nonetheless they are imbued with the necessity of a clean body—at least on the outside.

However, more important than external cleanliness is internal purity. Internal filth damages the body in two ways:

1. The mere physical presence of pollutants clogs and interferes with body processes. They hinder operations much as a crowd of people in a street hampers automotive traffic.
2. All contaminants within are poisonous! The body not only objects violently to the physical presence of filth but it also objects to its chemical presence. The body tries to maintain physical and chemical integrity. Anything that alters the consistency of body elaborated fluids and compounds; anything that threatens cell well-being due to its chemical nature is anti-vital, hence poisonous.

Thus we can see that for best performance the body must not be hampered physically or chemically in its operations.

4.2.2 A Clean Body Is Necessary to Health

The sum total of all the processes whereby the body is cleansed or kept pure is called elimination or drainage. Elimination is the sequel of feeding or alimentation. Ideally the body must eliminate the unusable debris from food ingestion, spent cells, the wastes of metabolism and extraneous substances that may be admitted in some manner. The more thoroughly elimination is effected, the purer is the body.

A thoroughly clean body is necessary to realize the highest level of function—to achieve the highest level of health. Inasmuch as the basic cause of disease is body toxicity, we need to realize the importance of keeping our bodies clean internally as well as externally.

4.2.3 Body Elimination Must Be Equal to the Need

Obviously, to remain free of burdensome accumulations, both physical and chemical in nature, the body must have full use of its eliminative faculties. If these faculties are impaired by lack of nerve energy, if they have been disabled by toxic materials or if ingestion of toxic matters exceeds ability to cope, then elimination is likewise impaired. Accumulations further vitiate the elimination process until the body must undertake an eliminative crisis (disease) to free itself of its morbid load.

We Americans are habituated to many eating and drinking practices that fill our bodies with alien materials that must be eliminated. Alien materials always take their toll on the eliminative organs. Nonfood materials are usually inherently toxic, especially the alien substances the average American eats and drinks. A constant load of toxic materials taxes the eliminative faculties. Thus we Americans wallow in toxic materials from exogenous sources and, due to their impairing influences, from endogenous sources, too.

By waste we mean all end-products of all the metabolic activities occurring in every cell and organ of the body. Elimination must equal the processes of supply if balance and health are to be maintained. Just as we can be made sick by living in rooms with our fecal and urinary accumulations, so, too, can we be made sick internally if elimination does not occur apace.

To cope with its eliminative needs, the body must enjoy conditions favorable to elimination. As well, it should not be taxed with toxic materials from without.

4.2.4 The Body’s Daily Cleansing Cycle

Eliminative processes never cease. Every exhaled breath is an act of elimination of toxic gases. The skin exudes some small amount of wastes continuously. But there is one time in each day when the body heightens its eliminative processes. This time is, roughly, from three to four o’clock in the morning until from ten to twelve o’clock noon.

The body’s stepped up elimination during this time is evidenced in many ways. A particularly toxic person may have a furred tongue upon arising. Hunger will not be in evidence. But, if the body is fed just the same, the eliminative processes are depressed though the tongue may still remain somewhat furred.

The body passes through rather distinct cycles daily. These are roughly as follows:

4:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. — eliminative

12:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. — alimentary

8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. — assimilative

In view that few studies of these phases of physiological activity have been made, little is known about them. The information presented here comes from studies made in Switzerland. These cycles are consistent, more or less, with the way things are with healthy humans who observe the natural norm of working days and sleeping nights. Thus we eat when hungry. This is followed by body assimilation and, upon completion, the body turns its energies to elimination of wastes.

4.2.5 A Brief Look at the Body’s Primary Organs of Elimination

You should strive to master physiology and anatomy to understand the body and how it operates. You will learn much about these subjects as called for in each lesson. Nonetheless, it would be wise to consult basic books on anatomy and physiology. Despite its medical orientation, Reader’s Digest publishes some excellent books on how the body works. We advise you to acquire and study them.

The organs of elimination are as follows:

1. Lymphatic system (adenoids, tonsils, appendix, spleen, nodes, vessels, etc.). These chemicalize wastes in such a manner as to render them less toxic in preparation for expulsion. The lymphatic system also plays other roles.
2. Liver. The liver further detoxifies wastes. It is the largest organ and performs myriad nutritive and eliminative tasks.
3. Kidneys. The renal system filters non-utile wastes from the blood and dispatches it to the bladder. The kidneys perform many other functions as well.
4. Lungs. The lungs, like most body organs, perform a dual role as supplier and eliminator. They obtain oxygen from the air and supply it to the bloodstream In addition, they remove carbon dioxide and certain other wastes from the bloodstream.
5. Bowels or colon. The bowels perform few nutritive tasks other than supplying the body with water in emergencies, and electrolytes should the body require them. On the other hand it carries out of the body digestive wastes and metabolic wastes as may be excreted into it by tubes from other organs.
6. Skin. The skin is the most extensive organ of the human body. Among its many functions are protection of the body from outside influences that would disturb homeostasis, temperature maintenance, cooling and warming and elimination of certain wastes in extremely small amounts. In vicarious eliminative processes such as acne, boils, psoriasis, eczema, rashes, measles, poxes, itches, etc. the skin is used as an organ of elimination. The skin performs a nutritive role in receiving sunlight for conversion into vitamin D.
7. The tongue is sometimes used by the body as an extraordinary organ of elimination. This is very noticeable when you have a furred tongue. The tongue is not a regular organ of elimination but incidentally one in vicarious processes of extraordinary elimination.

There are occasions when the body will undertake massive eliminative measures. The respiratory system and mouth may be utilized in vomiting; the bowels in diarrhea; the mucous membranes as outlets from the circulatory systems (lymph and blood); the kidneys are used for diuresis; and the skin is sometimes used for diaphoresis and eruptions.

2.6 Supplementary Organs of Elimination

We have cited the regular organs of elimination. Those nonregular organs through which the body eliminates in crises are called vicarious organs of elimination. As mentioned, the tongue, skin, respiratory system and mucous membranes (internal skin) are pressed into eliminative tasks in emergencies. The body can cause ulcers or lesions for the purpose of elimination, or it may utilize ulcers caused by tissue destruction as an extraordinary outlet. In emergencies the body may press any tissue system or organ into service as a vicarious organ of elimination. These may be the eyes, sinuses, bronchioles, lungs and so on.

2.7 The Liver as an Organ of Detoxification

The liver detoxifies internal wastes and also attempts to detoxify exogenous poisons. It passes these detoxified materials either through tubes to the small intestine for passing on to the colon or back to the bloodstream for forwarding to the kidneys where they will be excreted in the urine.

An example of liver detoxification may be seen in the case of alcohol ingestion or its formation within the body by bacteria due to indigestion. The stomach and intestines do not digest alcohol. Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream as alcohol and circulates until eliminated. The liver detoxifies the alcohol to a great extent and passes it on to the kidneys for excretion. The liver, the body’s foremost chemical factory, varies its chemicals to the need in neutralizing or detoxifying poisons in the blood which pass through it.

2.8 Cleanliness at the Cellular Level

A book we heartily recommend you acquire is Dr. Lewis Thomas’ The Lives of a Cell. Though the cell is generally regarded as the basic unit of life it may not be, for it contains bacteria-like components that act as living entities.

So varied and multitudinous are the functions within a cell that one can spend a lifetime of fascinating study of them. It is said that their operations are more complicated than the most marvelous computer systems—more varied and complicated than the activities in a major city like New York City.

The cells take on supplies and they defecate. It is the lymphatic system, not the bloodstream, that constantly bathes the cells in a liquid medium. From the lymph fluids the cells derive their nutrients by diffusion, pinocytosis and phagocytosis. The cells pass their wastes back into the lymph. Cell wastes are partially detoxified by the lymph organs in preparation for passing them into the bloodstream. The bloodstream, in turn, transports the wastes to the lungs, liver and kidneys for excretion.

Cells are self-cleansing of their metabolic debris. They expel it to the lymph fluids through carriers that, our physiology books tell us, are not yet clearly understood.

2.9 Illnesses as a Cleansing Process

The body keeps itself clean by thousands of different techniques employed by an army of faculties. A hundred trillion cells represents quite a population to be served. It is an unimaginably large aggregation of living units cooperating as an entitative organism for the good of each and every cell and for the organism as a whole.

Due to unnatural practices or influences, humans frequently accumulate toxic substances in their bodies beyond normal capacity for elimination. When the accumulation becomes intolerable within the context of residual vitality, the body will preempt its nerve energy and redirect it to the task of extraordinary elimination or cleansing. When the body does this, disease exists. Acute disease is a body process. The energies normally available for muscular or nervous (brain) activities, digestion, etc. are preempted and redirected. Hence, the sick person has little or no energy for normal pursuits.

When a person is ill, fasting is indicated as a remedial measure. People should also fast periodically even when not ill to help the body effect extraordinary cleansing and healing.

2.10 How the Body Becomes Befouled

There are more ways to accumulate filth in the body than we can chart. Basically, all unwholesome influences and practices debilitate body eliminative faculties and especially lower the body’s supply of nerve energy. The key to keeping the body clean is a way of life that neither distresses nor pollutes it.

2.11 Normal Activities of Life Essential to Internal Cleanliness

The eliminative capacity of the body is truly immense. The body has over-capacity in almost all its faculties. We can live well with one lung, one kidney, etc. The organism thus has safety margins to insure survival.

Most of the world’s people manage to exceed their generous capacity for elimination. Therefore, the necessity for illness or healing crises in order to remove excesses that accumulate. If we live within our capacities as developed in nature, our system will never become befouled in the first place; hence, there is never the necessity for a healing or eliminative crisis—disease.

The living practices that are attuned to our adaptations will not fetter the organism; rather, they will enable us to thrive optimally. Those acts and indulgences which are contrary to human adaptations are bound to interfere with normal functions in many ways, the result of which is to burden the organism with uneliminated toxic materials.

Health depends on internal purity, and this, in turn, depends on practices that promote health rather than practices that result in the retention of morbid matters.

2.12 Fasting as an Extraordinary “Housecleaning” Measure

Whether the organism is befouled or not, fasting is a constructive condition! During the disease process, fasting is imperative to efficiently restore high-level function. In health, fasting rests the faculties, rejuvenates the cells and heightens functions.

Since all diseases have the same underlying cause; that is, body intoxication, there is a nigh universal remedy for the condition. Fasting affords the body the rest it needs so that it may redirect its energies to the task of “housecleaning.” Under the condition of the fast the body will expel retained wastes and impurities. A thoroughgoing rest is, thusly, an almost 100% effective remedial measure.

4.3. Temperature Maintenance

4.3.1 The Need for Temperature Maintenance

The human body has been developed in nature over eons of time to maintain homeostasis, chemical and mechanical consistency and a consistent temperature. The body operates best at a temperature range between 97° and 99°F. Various parts of the body vary in temperature.

Warm-blooded animals have many mechanisms that maintain temperature. Skin, hair and wool act as insulators to help maintain body temperature. Overheating is guarded against by perspiration and respiration. The body, in an intoxicated condition, may institute accelerated function to free itself of unwelcome toxicity. In this case it may also increase the metabolic rate, hence increase temperature. Heightened temperature is called fever.

The body maintains temperature through a basal metabolism controlled by many sensors throughout the body that act as thermostats.

4.3.2 Normal Temperature Is the Best Functioning Temperature

While bodies have been drastically reduced in temperature and overheated greatly and survived, the prevailing view is that serious deviation from normal temperature will cause the body to fail in some way to supply cells with needed oxygen and nutrients, thus impairing them. Notably is this true of brain cells which, if destroyed for any reason, are not regenerated. They are lost forever. It is generally accepted that a brain temperature exceeding 108-110°F destroys brain cells. While cases of overheating beyond this range have been recorded without damage, overheating is to be avoided. Cooling is far less harmful than overheating. At a temperature of 118°F enzymes begin to be destroyed and other body fluids become labile.

Frequenters of turkish baths and saunas sometimes experience surface temperatures of 140 degrees without apparent damage, but it is doubtful if the skin temperature actually ever reaches more than 110-115°F due to the body’s capacity to cool itself. Needless to say, all overheating is unhealthful. Those who live in climates that reach 110-120°F during the day are not in danger, for the body can easily maintain its temperature by its refrigerating faculties, especially in view that humidity is usually low in most areas where such high temperatures are likely to occur. High humidity inhibits evaporation which is necessary to body cooling.

4.3.3 Questions as to What Constitutes Normalcy of Temperature

The generally accepted normal body temperature is 98.6°F. We do not have a uniform temperature at all times. At or near the end of a night’s rest, with lowered metabolism the pulse is considerably lower than when active and the body temperature may be somewhat lower.

When the body has been vigorously active for an extended period, as in sprinting or running, the internal body temperature may rise to 105°F. This is not dangerous, for the body quickly normalizes this temperature when a state of relative rest is resumed. The body creates fevers that have been known to go as high as 108°F. The body will not create conditions that will injure itself.

4.3.4 Keeping the Body at a Comfortable Temperature

It has been observed that, when they are crippled, humans will devise crutches. The use of crutches further cripples the organism. This may be readily observed in individuals who use a crutch because one leg has been disabled. The disabled and unused leg will atrophy while the extraordinarily used leg will overdevelop.

Humans have become dependent on artificial means of temperature maintenance. In nature humans can live at extremes of temperature comfortably in their naked condition. Indians survive temperatures in the freezing range with vigor in many areas of South America.

But, because most of us are not physically able to cope with extreme cold, we must employ clothing to help maintain warmth. Warmth must be maintained lest we suffer functional disturbances due to reduced temperatures.

A comfortable temperature must always be maintained. Deliberate cooling or heating of the body is exhausting of nerve energy and lowers the body’s functional abilities.

4.3.5 Some Problems of Temperature Maintenance

There are conditions under which temperature maintenance is difficult. One such condition is the fast. A person who is fasting must be kept warm. While fasting, a person can easily become chilled. The body’s lowered metabolic rate will not produce sufficient heat to maintain warmth under all conditions. It is, therefore, important that fasters have sufficient clothing and bedding to maintain warmth.

4.3.6 Types of Clothing to Use for Warmth

Clothing should be loose fitting, as a rule. Being bound by tight-fitting clothing is unhealthful. Clothes should be equal to the warming task required. If you live in Alaska, heavy wool clothing may be required, whereas in Texas light cottons do for most of the year.

Cotton, linen and wool are to be preferred over other type of materials though silk and other natural fibers are also very good.

Clothing that is white or light-colored is preferred over dark colors because they admit more light. Natural light on the body (and eyes) is healthful.

4.3.7 Pathological Effects of Clothing

Clothing that is binding, tight fitting or otherwise constricting is unhealthful. Belts, girdles, garters, etc. should be avoided.

Synthetics sometimes cause poisonous reactions in the body. Synthetic clothing and plastics should not come into contact with the skin.

Porous clothing made of natural fibers are always to be used when possible for both wear and bedding.

4.3.8 Temperature as a Factor in Toxin Retention

When the body becomes chilled the skin pores close and other body reactions take place to protect against chilling as much as possible. In these instances, energies being redirected to temperature maintenance may result in temporary neglect of regular chores of elimination. The skin normally respires and the closing of pores throws an additional burden of elimination onto the respiratory system. If the body is already toxic, the added toxin retention may reach a level that will trigger a body cleansing crisis, such as a cold or flu.

4.4. Sleep Is An Essential Of Life—The Role Of Sleep In Life

Inasmuch as there are other lessons devoted specifically to the subject of sleep and its great significance, we’ll touch upon sleep only briefly here.

Sleep is the condition under which the brain generates nerve energy with which to conduct body activities. The deeper the stage of sleep into which the body enters, the more efficiently can nerve energy be generated. There are five stages of sleep if we include the R.E.M stage, popularly called the dream stage, when there are rapid eye movements. Other stages are named after the brain wave frequency. The threshold stage of sleep is the alpha stage and the deepest stage is delta wave sleep.

As nerve energy is the spark of vitality for vigorous activity and high level function generally, adequate sleep is very essential to well-being.

4.5. Food Is An Essential Of Life—The Role Of Food In Health

Several later lessons are devoted to the subject of food. We will not, therefore, treat it extensively here.

In no other area of life practices are our transgressions against ourselves so great as in the food we ingest. Consequently, most diseases of humanity arise largely because of eating wrong foods.

Food supplies us with essential nutrients other than the three inorganic ones we need. Even water, an inorganic food, can normally be obtained in quantities needed from a proper diet.

Correct diet consists of mostly fruits. Constitutionally humans are frugivores or fruitarians. Wholesome ripe fruits contain all the food factors necessary to sustain human life at the highest level.

All our food should be eaten raw as nature delivers it to us. All heating of foods destroys vital nutrients. Suffice it to say that nature did not equip humans or any other animals with stoves.

The essential categories of nutrients we require are as follows: (NOTE! These percentages are relative to total food intake by DRY WEIGHT!!!! Further, they are approximations.)

• 85% to 90% simple carbohydrates for fuel. Simple carbohydrates and monosaccharides such as glucose, fructose (levulose), galactose, etc. If complex carbohydrates are taken, the body must break them down into monosaccharides before absorption.
• 1% to 5% fats, which supply fuel and other needs, especially essential fatty acids (EFA).
• 4% to 8% protein.
• 3% to 5% mineral matter in organic form.
• 1% in vitamins, auxones and other catalytic nutrients.

Like water, fibers in food are a neutral factor. Cellulose, of which fiber is composed, is indigestible and is passed on through the body. Contrary to popular impressions, we do not have to have a high fiber diet in order to have bowel movements. We are not defecating machines—neither are we hay balers. Wastes will be expelled as they accumulate sufficiently to require voiding.

Condiments, seasonings, free oils—in short, anything and everything except whole ripe fruits with some vegetables, nuts and seeds, all in the raw state, should never pass the lips.

4.6. Excersise And Activity Are Essential To Well-Being

Humans live to function and functioning is the very essence of life. That which is not used is abused. Human faculties were developed for use. Disuse results in atrophy and loss of function. Without exercise, well-being ceases.

Abilities, intelligence and every aspect of well-being are greatly enhanced by exercise. Almost every account of exercise speaks of its marvelous benefits to the body. Activities should be daily indulged that bring all the body’s some 700 muscles into play.

The subject of exercise is exhaustively treated in a later lesson.

4.7. Rest And Relaxation Are Essential To Health

In present-day society there are many tensions and stress-producing situations. Relaxation, which also involves rest, should be indulged two to four times daily for periods of from 15 to 30 minutes. The body recoups under rest and relaxation.

If eyes are bleary or the eyelids heavy, relaxation for a few minutes with the eyes closed will accomplish wonders. A nap is even better, for little revitalizes the body as well as sleep.

Sleep should be obtained daily to the extent that sleepiness dictates, whether this be as little as six hours or as much as ten hours. The healthier an individual, the less sleep required (to a point). As a concomitant to sleep the body obtains rest. Rest enables the body to catch up on its eliminative activities and to resupply its stores of body starch (glycogen) for the following day’s energy needs.

While sleep regenerates a fund of nerve energy, rest enables the body to restock physical stores as well as to “clean house.” Relaxation relieves tension buildup. A period of vigorous exercise followed by relaxation will perform even more dramatic results.

4.8. Sunshine Is An Essential Of Health

While it is known that vitamin D is created through the agency of sunshine and ergosterol in the cutaneous tissues, little else is known of the benefits of sunlight. Of late it has been discovered that natural light from the sun is of immense benefit in vision compared to vision debility under unnatural light.

Another lesson will present the subject of sunshine in depth.

4.9. Recreation And Play Are Health Essentials

Just as the body is rejuvenated by rest, sleep, relaxation, fasting and other healthful measures, it is also kept young by constructive games, hobbies and participation sports.

Americans are more likely to dissipate themselves during leisure hours than participate in body and character building activities. The pursuit of sex in an overstimulated society is of a debilitating nature. Watching TV for the most part amounts to adult babysitting.

There are many Americans who swim, run, play ball, enjoy hobbies, participate in drama, attend cultural events, hike, participate in sports, garden, master musical instruments, compete in games that require strength and so on. Unfortunately they are a minority. Most Americans are inclined to spectator rather than participant activities. Even many of the participant activities such as drinking, carousing, etc. are destructive of human faculties.

Recreation and play can further the development of humans. In the fresh air and sunshine we can participate in numerous games of play, sports and exercise that are truly healthful and that promote well-being. Unfortunately, most of our people seek out sensuosity for its sake and suffer as a result.

They bring suffering and inconvenience upon those who make better use of themselves too, for, in society, acknowledge it or not, we are our brother’s keeper more than we realize.

In reviewing your clients’ habits, it is always wise to have a look into their leisure time pursuits. Many may be dissipating and debilitating.

4.10. Emotional And Mental Well-Being Are Necessary To Health

While emotional and mental well-being are born of the physical conditions of the body already cited, they are also vitally dependent upon other influences. While emotional and mental well-being are dependent on physical well-being, physical well-being is also dependent upon emotional and mental well-being.

Our division of humans into a multitude of entities (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) is erroneous. Rather, we are a unitary organism with many aspects to our being. Nonetheless, we use these categorizations for the sake of convenience in communication.

“Feeling like a million” is an emotional and mental condition which is the exhibition and expression of the well-being of our tout ensemble or our faculties in toto. Just as nutrition is dependent upon the condition of all body faculties, so, too, are all body faculties dependent upon nutritive repleteness. The emotional and mental aspects of our lives will be treated in depth in a later lesson.

4.11. Assurance Of Life And Its Means Is Necessary To Health

Humans are creatures of providence almost the whole world over. Equatorial peoples have no need of providing for the future as have northern peoples but are, nevertheless, provident in many ways. On the other hand, northern peoples are often overly provident. They provide against needs, both real and imagined. This has made many northern peoples acquisitive at the expense of humaneness. Of course acquisitiveness in itself is not the sole evil but is a contributing factor to valuing possessions over fellow beings.

Our basic needs are food and shelter and the productive facilities for making them. We have yet other needs which we strive to satisfy plus many pursuits that engender yet other wants.

Ours is a society of abundance. Within the capabilities of our means of production is a surfeit of goods and services beyond our capacity to use and consume them. Our distribution system is not compatible with our productive capacities, hence there are gross inequities in the amount of the goods and necessities various of the world’s peoples receive. Some are almost totally deprived by circumstances attendant upon these inequities while others are surfeited beyond any possible need.

These inequities give rise to anxieties, worries and concerns that seriously impair health. Even many in what would be considered good circumstances are assailed by fears that they will not be able to maintain their circumstances. Qualms, fears and concerns about loss of the requisites of life are a drain upon the mental and emotional well-being of a majority of people. Worry is a disease of our society.

In tropical climes we see tribes and groups of people living “hand-to-mouth” among plenitude. They always have the needs of life at hand. They are carefree, happy and playful. They do not work much, for their style of life does not require much.

The farther north we travel, the more humans become provident and acquisitive until we reach such a harsh environment that almost all endeavors are directed at providing the basic needs of life and little more.

In conducting your professional practice, you may find it wise to delve into your clients’ economic and social concerns as sources of tension, stress and enervation. This will be explored further in subsequent lessons.

4.12. Pleasant Environment Is Necessary To Well-Being

Humans fare better in environments in which the needs of life are abundant. However, these needs are so varied within the context of our culture as to be difficult of ment in this lesson.

Environment means the total context of our setting. It includes not only our homes, grounds, climate, geography, etc. but also our family, neighbors, associates, acquaintances and, indeed, everything and everyone that makes up the social and economic atmosphere in which we live.

Humans are naturally aesthetic and love beauty in everything. Beauty in environment is essential, not only in the physical surroundings, but also in the persons who people it. Happy people beget happiness in the lives of those whom they touch.

Our social environment is far more important than our physical environment. Humans always dream of better physical environments but achieve happiness primarily within the context of their social circle regardless of climate and geography. Inasmuch as human industry creates special environments for living that are pleasing, we can live rather happily while insulated from the harshness and sparseness of clime and geography.

Thus it can be seen that the environment of most concern relates to the social circle in which we situate ourselves.

4.13. Creative Useful Work And Its Role In Life

Naturally and normally humans have within them certain qualities that we regard as virtues. All are naturally imbued to perform those labors that are productive of their needs. This is readily seen in tribal societies. Within complex societies where we lose sight of the products of our productive efforts-where we have been instilled with ambitions to consume without corresponding opportunities to produce, we tend to parasitism upon the productive efforts of others.

Unfortunately, our society legalizes parasitism upon the economic body. That is one of the characteristics of our society that begets inequities that breed crime, ugliness, poverty and other life-sapping features.

Work which we can directly relate to fulfilling a need is most deeply satisfying. If it calls upon our innermost resources and abilities, it is even more satisfying and fulfilling. People most happy and contented are those who have created lovely homes with gardens, orchards and beautiful flowerbeds and grounds.

When our creative urges are elicited, we humans can create wonders, not only for our enjoyment and welfare, but also for the pleasure of those with whom we are associated.

In your relationships with your clients you’ll find that some absorbing pursuit may be suggested that will greatly benefit their health and well-being. In this society creativity is lacking in too many lives. Encourage some creative and productive hobby or pursuit in the lives of those whom you serve.

4.14. Self-Mastery Is Necessary To Best Well-Being

Self-mastery means self-control. It means keeping passional influences within the bounds of propriety. Intelligently guided responses to situations and yearnings that may arise within our vitiated society—a society with inhumane and unhealthful values—is essential to our welfare. Unbridled pursuits in any direction, especially those that have been commercially tied to our appetencies for food, sex and sensualism are usually exhausting of our precious resources, further pervert and vitiate us and beget conditions of disease and suffering.

The joys of self-mastery are unknown to most. Most of our people are apt to act unthinkingly in response to impulse and an aroused appetency for some sensual delight. You might well explore the qualities of self-mastery your clients exert in their lives. Wisdom dictates that you encourage in them self-discipline for their better well-being.

4.15. Gregariousness Is An Element Of Health

Humans are social creatures. To achieve our highest level of happiness and well-being, we must belong to a group or circle. We must be in association with others in some manner. Sheer aloneness or being forsaken is deadly to well-being. Even the mental giants amongst us suffer. There are very few Robinson Crusoes.

Our requirement is for associates with whom we can identify. In this day of specialization we tend to restrict ourselves to circles that run along cultural, occupational or special interests. In rural areas neighbors are the basis for associations even though occupations may be different. In large cities cultural pursuits and special interests may be the basis for associations and, more so, occupational lines.

While people can survive rather well alone if they develop some consuming hobby or pursuit, most people are not capable of this within today’s society.

You’ll do well to probe the social life of your clients. Lack of social life in any form can be a detriment to welfare. Likewise, people of dour dispositions can adversely affect those with whom they associate. It may be a case of “not what’s wrong with you but who’s wrong with you.”

Encourage your clients to participate in social activities in conjunction with friends or acquaintances.

4.16. Motivation: Having Purposes Or Causes To Serve

Few humans are content with feelings that the world will not be a better place for their having been in it. Most of us are imbued with urges to improve and excel. Most humans strive to better both themselves and their environment. Failure to cultivate goals leaves an individual indifferent and most likely a useless drone in life and society, neither good for self or society. People without ambition and objectives are usually dullards and dissipators.

In observing others whom we serve, it is wise to assess their drives and ambitions. If they lack these, the will to live may also be lacking. People who consult others in health matters have a will to live but may not be sufficiently endowed with aims in life to make living a challenge.

Needless to say, the healthiest and happiest people amongst us are those who are striving to fulfill ambitions and meet life’s challenges.

Just as you may be motivated by an urge to help others and receive reward and recognition for it, others are motivated by any of a multitude of objectives. A great artist may thrive on recognition and appreciation while a ditch digger may have pride not only in his service but in some hobby or other constructive activity.

Without purpose in life there is little drive to live it. We Life Scientists hold that life is sacred and should be imbued with meaningfulness.

4.17. Expression Of Natural Instincts Relative To Health

This is rather broad territory. While we have instincts to survive and thrive which have had prior considerations in this and the previous lesson, there is also the instinct to procreate our kind. This instinct must be given voice if we are to realize the utmost well-being. While self-discipline can normally control the mating instinct so that it does not exceed its need, it must, nevertheless, have adequate expression. Few there are amongst us who can sublimate an excessive primal urge to more constructive pursuits.

Next to our transgressions in food indulgence stands our collective dissipation in pursuit of sexuality. Most of this amounts, not to satiation of actual need for sexual expression, but satiety of a sexual appetite aroused and stimulated in a society gone awry. Our society regards sexual sensuousness and indulgence as an end in itself and it is stimulated to overindulgence because of dietary and other factors that represent life-threatening factors. The body responds to these life-threatening factors by bringing to the fore and emphasizing survival mechanisms, the act of reproduction being one of the foremost.

Basically, the instinct to reproduction is for one purpose only—the perpetuation of the species. In animals the sexual act occurs only during that time when the female ova are ripe for impregnation. Only in humans has the instinct been perverted and then only within the context of certain societies, ours being among them.

You, as a health professional, need to recognize the heavy role sexuality plays in well-being. There are many among us who feel inadequate because they cannot enjoy mating as often as they would like. The urge may be for excessive indulgence or it may spring from inadequacy. In any event, the role of unsatisfactory sexual relationships in disease and poor health must be recognized. A return to health always restores sexuality but, in the face of overindulgence, it is not possible to restore health. Reorientation of the client must be made so that limitations in this area are recognized and respected.

4.18. Aestethic Well-Being

Why should a fruit-laden orchard of aromatic fragrance be so lovely and beautiful? Why should a dry barren rocky gulch present such an inhospitable and ugly facade?

Anything that promotes life and its values is appreciated, treasured and deemed beautiful. Anything that is untenable and harmful to life is looked upon as ugly with but few exceptions.

In keeping with this, it would seem that all creatures have standards of beauty. But the greatest capacity for appreciation of beauty is inherent in those creatures that have the greatest capacity for life. We proclaim ourselves undisputed aesthetes among all in the animal kingdom. This is not necessarily true. Almost everything in nature has great beauty. Dolphins (porpoises), whales and other creatures have a very high order of intelligence and likewise appreciate beauty.

That which is fit for food is beautiful to us as it is available to us in nature. That which is poisonous and unfit for food usually has no aesthetic appeal. For purposes of food we do not ascribe beauty to a squirrel. Yet the squirrel fascinates as a lovable and beautiful creature. A peacock is a beautiful and lovely bird. We admire it for its great beauty. Yet it is difficult for us to visualize ourselves breaking its neck, stripping it of feathers and eating it as natural as meat-eaters do—skin, bone, flesh and guts, all raw and uncooked. We can’t do that. The picture is an ugly one. It is in discord with our welfare.

The human sense of beauty is, as far as we know, unparalleled. The visual and sonic arts have been highly cultivated. The development of art has been constructive, healthful and ennobling for humankind.

In assessing your clients’ practices, it is wise to survey their cultural dispositions. Everyone has an aesthetic sense —everyone has a sense of beauty. This is a saving grace, for it is an inroad to inspiring and motivating people. Almost everyone appreciates beauty in themselves most of all! Life Science as a way of life will restore health. Simultaneous with rejuvenation, much beauty is restored.

4.19. About This Survey Of Life’s Essentials

The list of the essentials of life presented here is not complete. These are some of the salient ones. Also, some aspects of life’s essentials presented may be somewhat redundant, for some imply others presented.

But, as you will have noted, the needs of life are simple! Nothing is complicated about it. It seems self-evident that these are the essential means for a happy and healthy life. We can see that the science of health does not come from so-called scientific laboratories but, instead, proceeds from the lap of nature.

As Life Scientists or Hygienists we maintain that these requisites were developed in our sojourn in nature and that, just because we have exceeded natures’s provisions with our own industry, we have not exempted ourselves from need of these basic essentials.

In yourself and your clients you can pursue no wiser course than invest these factors and influences in your life and theirs.

4.20. Questions & Answers

With the catalog of things you’ve listed I feel uptight even considering using a bar of soap around the house. Isn’t there anything we can use that is non-polluting with which to clean house, floors, clothes, dishes and our bodies?

Yes, there are products that are relatively non-polluting and which yield excellent results. For cleaning clothes you should consider Basic-L from Shaklee products. For cleaning floors, dishes and even cars a solution of Shaklee’s Basic-H will do wonders. Amway and other companies also produce similar non-polluting biodegradable products.

For your body you need no soap or cleanser. A good fiber brush or washcloth is all you need while under a shower or in a bathtub. If you want to use a cleaner on your body, Shaklee’s Basic-H is fine.

Can’t we use any cosmetics at all?

Of course you can use cosmetics, but keep in mind that not one is healthful. Moreover they are unneeded by a healthy person. They detract rather than add to beauty. And they only compound skin problems for an unhealthy person. Beauty is natural. When in health your eyes and skin radiate their condition, just as they look sallow, pallid and in poor tone when unhealthy. We advise against the use of cosmetics under all conditions. Also, skin creams and oils of all sorts, including suntan oils and lotions only complicate the problem they are used for and cripple the body’s oil producing ability.

I have a friend who smokes a pack and a half of cigarettes daily, drinks beer and eats junky foods. He appears to be in excellent health and is quite active. By all that you’ve said he should be a corpse. How can you explain something like this?

How old is your friend?

34.

Your friend is still, obviously, only a babe relative to potential and is still living on youthful capital. He might continue this pattern for another five, ten or even twenty years, but the penalty for not meeting life’s needs correctly must sooner or later be suffered.

When you read the disease statistics and see the human wreckage resulting from the tobacco, alcohol and junk food habits, you’ll know that most humans exhaust their endowments rather quickly, even in their thirties, and succumb to cardiovascular problems, chronic cough, cancer or other degenerative diseases.

Most smokers know the dangers of their habits but feel themselves to be exempt from them—it’s something that always happens to the other person. All sins against our bodies must be paid. There is no dispensation in nature.

You’ve condemned deodorants. Are they very harmful? What is a person to do to control body odor?

Deodorants are poisonous. Their toxic effects cause the skin pores at points of application to close up so as to exclude their chemicals from the inner sanctum. This prevents body perspiration and exudation. They are properly called anti-perspirants for this reason. A person who has body odor should strive to go to the source of the problem. Body odor is not natural. Healthy persons do not have body odors. Foul smells are produced by a foul system. Clean up the body and it ceases to exude unpleasant smells.

Do you mean that people who have body odors, bad breath and so on are really sick inside?

That is the case. Healthy cells, tissues, fluids and organs do not smell rotten or foul. Obnoxious odors come from decomposing materials.

Just the other day I read that distilled water, because it’s heated in the distillation process, causes leukocytosis just as cooked food does. As you advocate distilled water, what do you say to this?

This is untrue. Leukocytosis, the proliferation of white blood corpuscles, results from poisons entering the bloodstream. The inorganic debris resulting from cooked foods will cause this malady, but distilled water causes no decomposition or poisonous substances. The distilled water was water before, during and after the process of distilling. It was not changed except that impurities it held before distilling have been left behind. The truth is that mineralized water causes leukocytosis. The inorganic minerals of water are toxic and cause a toxic reaction by the body. Leukocytosis is but one of the body’s defensive mechanisms against toxic materials. Those who employ this argument are trying to defend the use of mineralized waters, but there is no defense for using impure waters.

I’ve heard it said that distilled water will cause heart attacks. In fact, this claim was made as a result of a scientific study in England. Do you deny this?

Yes, investigators of the report found that, in a certain English city whose people drank hard (heavily-mineralized) water, the death rate from heart attack per 100,000 was 436 per year. The death rate in a nearby city that had soft water (water with fewer minerals) was 448 per year, just 12 deaths more. This implies that perhaps soft water causes heart attacks and minerals in solution prevents them. But these investigators found the following significant omissions from the report: The soft water drinkers had a lead pipe system throughout the city whereas the hard water drinkers had a copper pipe system for the most part. Lead is much more toxic than copper.

Does fluoridation really make teeth stronger and healthier?

Absolutely not! Fluorides in an inorganic form are toxic. Ingested fluorides have an affinity for calcium. Insofar as they unite with calcium they destroy bone and teeth. The body defends against fluorides by, at first, hardening the bones and teeth. Then they become brittle and break down under ordinary eating. St. David’s, Arizona, has natural fluorides to the extent of about eight parts per million of its drinking water. Perhaps there is no worse example of poor teeth in America than there. About 50% of America’s drinking water has been fluoridated for some 30 years. For all that, America’s collective mouth is still the biggest disaster area of the body! Nearly 99% of Americans have bad teeth. One in every seven have no teeth at all. Inasmuch as almost all of these are adults, that means one in every five adults have no natural teeth.

Article #1: The Importance Of Body Temperature by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

Warmth is one of the necessities of life. Vital activities are possible only between certain narrowly defined limits of temperature. Cold inhibits and excessive heat suspends them. Body heat is energy. It is employed not just in resisting cold, but also in accelerating cellular activities. Temperature, within certain narrow limits, is so absolutely essential to life that all functions are excited by any attempt at its variation. Animals are roughly divided into two major classes: warm-blooded and cold-blooded. This is according to whether they have means of producing and maintaining their own temperature or are dependent upon the surrounding medium (water or air) to provide it.

The invertebrates, although they breathe oxygen and circulate fluids throughout their bodies, have no red blood corpuscles and are cold-blooded animals. Fishes and reptiles, vertebrates with red blood cells, are also called cold-blooded animals, although they are able to maintain an internal temperature above that of the surrounding water or air. Invertebrates have no heat of their own, but receive their temperature from the surrounding media and adapt to it. Except for fishes and reptiles, whose heat-producing and heat-regulating powers are very limited, we may say that all vertebrates are warm-blooded, having red corpuscles, while the reverse is true of the invertebrates which have no red corpuscles.

It may be suggested that since animals can live without red corpuscles and exist without internal heat, the primary office of respiration is more universal than to provide for the production of animal heat. Using a popular phrase in biology, heat production is only a “secondary adaptation.”

If we look at a large number of lower animals, we find them to be small and living in water. This medium directly and powerfully reduces them to its own temperature, and they are surrounded and permeated with water. In the radiata water actually mingles in large quantities with their digested food, so that they must of necessity remain at or very near water temperature. Even if they possessed sources of heat within themselves, it becomes evident that heat production cannot be the great end of respiration in these animals. Its primary function must be something very different from this.

If we take a second look at these animals, we discover that large numbers of them, especially those that live in fresh water, vary in temperature with the medium in which they live. Often they vary to a great extent, being sometimes near the freezing point and at other times fifty to one hundred degrees above it. Although a particular temperature may be best for each of them, still, many of them can live an active life in temperatures seventy, sixty, fifty and even forty degrees less. It is obvious that the small extent they could raise the temperature of their bodies above that of the water, when it is forty or fifty degrees, would be of no great importance. In their case at least, there must be some more important end for respiration than production of heat.

Heat supplies a necessary condition of vital activity. The activities of cold-blooded animals rise and fall as the temperature goes up or down. The higher the temperature, providing it does not go so high so as to destroy life, the greater the activity. If it becomes very cold, they suspend activity. It is not in inorganic chemistry alone that heat promotes the energy and intensity of action. In “vital chemistry,” that is, in living functions, the same phenomenon is observed. An elevation of temperature accelerates all vital functions, both in the cold-blooded and in the warm-blooded animals. A similar thing is seen in plants.

Acceleration of activity increases with the rise in temperature until the temperature reaches a certain variable optimum, after which any added increase in temperature reduces activity. The rate of activity for some of the lower forms may become so great as the temperature rises that they “live too fast” and wear themselves out.

When temperature is lowered, vital activities are lowered. In the cold-blooded animals, some of which may be frozen for long periods and then revived, all activity ceases after the temperature is reduced below a certain variable minimum. Most of the warm-blooded animals die when frozen, their vital activities ceasing before they reach the state of freezing.

Higher animals are not so dependent upon the surrounding temperature. They are not only equipped with internal sources of heat and mechanisms to control its production and radiation, but they also in most instances have outer coats of hair, feathers or wool to protect them from the cold. They possess means of lowering heat production and increasing heat radiation if the external temperature or their own internal heat due to activity is increased. (By the operation of the same internal heat-regulating mechanism they produce fever when needed.)

Thus, while the very form and habits of the lower orders of life are determined by external surroundings, the forms and habits of life of the higher animals are very largely determined by powers within them. These often prevail over powerful antagonistic forces without.

The lower animals are more or less slaves to the external world; the higher animals make the external world serve them. It should be noted that this independence of the higher animals, this internal energy, is in great measure due to a capacity for maintaining their normal temperatures amid the changes in that of the surrounding water and air.

The uniform temperatures maintained by higher animals promote and secure a constancy, precision and energy in the nutrition of their tissues, and in the vital functions that supply the animal with resources to carry on active life in the face of opposing influences in the world.

A brief glance at the method of maintaining body temperature may be helpful. In the chapter on respiration we learned of the office of oxidation in the production of heat. It is necessary that we understand that the body is capable of both increasing and decreasing its rate of heat production as the external temperature falls or rises. These processes are rigidly controlled by the nervous system and fail only in greatly enervated and diseased organisms.

But the body also increases and decreases the radiation of heat from the body as need arises. While oxidation warms the body, evaporation (as in sweating) cools it. These physiological processes are carried on in relation to vital wants. The human body, to narrow our considerations at this point, is based upon a system of self-regulation and equipoise, and its temperature relations are beautifully provided for. In a cool atmosphere less heat is lost by evaporation and more produced within the body, while a reverse process is seen in a warm temperature.

In all changes of temperature outside the body, some compensatory effort is required. But if our other relations are correct, the internal heat-regulating capacity of the body will be efficient. The maintenance of the heat-making mechanism of the body is an indispensable condition of health. Feeble and sick individuals who find it difficult or impossible to maintain normal temperature in a cold climate need to be kept warm. Chilling inhibits all functions of life and reduces their already greatly reduced stock of energy. The escape to a warm climate is no mere luxury for such persons. Warmth of some degree is certainly a normal requisite of life. But experience and experiment have shown that when the temperature of the surroundings is out of all proportion to the needs of the body and to its capacity to adjust itself, the body must and does suffer. There is not only discomfort, which normally causes us to seek relief from extremes of heat or cold, but there is some expenditure of energy in resisting extreme temperature.

In lands where fogs, frost and darkness cramp the energies of man, as well as in regions where excessive and long-continued heat depresses his vital activities, life is handicapped. By means of clothing, housing and artificial heating arrangements, we are able to live in cold climates. By means of cooling systems and a reduction of clothing, we live more comfortably in hot regions and seasons. But none of these arrangements are ideal. A warm climate serves man best; first-class habits of living enable him to live better in whatever climate he resides.

Article #2: Are You Suited For Health by Mike Benton

Do you dress for success? Are you a fashion follower or a “clothes horse?” Is your clothing bought for style and status or comfort and durability?

Like food, shelter and the other necessities of life, clothing can be as natural or unnatural as we choose. Just as the businessman who orders steak at a luncheon to impress others with his financial success, there are people who wear the latest styles in clothing and name brands to make impressions.

However, from the body’s standpoint, clothing serves two functions only: 1) To protect us from climatic variations, and 2) To protect the skin from injuries. Clothing is not a necessity if we live in an agreeable climate and a non-threatening environment. If we need to cover the body, clothing should be chosen for only these reasons:

1. Comfort;
2. Environmental harmony;
3. Aesthetic pleasure.

Clothing is comfortable if it allows unrestricted natural movement. High-heel shoes are not comfortable. They throw the body out of alignment and place undue strain on the feet and calves. They make a woman’s natural gait into a wiggling, mincing movement which prevents full strides. Neckties are not comfortable. They serve no protective function. Instead, they may restrict circulation about the neck and create tension and headaches.

All tight clothing, be it jeans or pantyhose, prevent natural air circulation over the body. Vaginitis and yeast infections have increased as rapidly as the popularity of the smothering pantyhose. All underwear, especially, should be of light natural fibers that allow the skin to breathe.

Most shoes are made from leather and are tightly-laced or high-topped. Again fresh air is shut off from the skin and fungus and odors result. Belts bind the waist. Brasieres constrict the chest. In fact, fainting was very widespread in the nineteenth century not because of the gentility of the women, but because the corsets they wore were so tight they could not take a deep breath.

The human metabolism depends upon the free flow of air over the exposed skin. Tight, constrictive clothing blocks air and sunshine. We become trapped in an envelope of toxic gases emitted from the skin during its process of elimination.

If we desire harmony with our environment, we must wear clothes made from natural fibers. Synthetic materials do not allow the skin to “breathe” and are responsible for many of the heat rashes experienced in the summer. The plastic diapers used on babies are the culprits behind diaper rash. Our skin is repelled by the synthetic clothes that prevent natural body moisture from evaporating.

Synthetic fibers are also made from non-renewable resources and harm the environment. Such “natural” materials as leather and furs require the slaughter of animals, either directly or indirectly. Wearing leather and furs while espousing a meatless diet makes the ethical vegetarian an unconscious hypocrite.

This leaves us with cotton, linen, straw, and wool as optimum materials for clothing. These are from renewable resources (wool does not involve the killing of the sheep), and they allow the skin to breathe. They require no undue exploitation of the environment or animals.

Aesthetic pleasure is also a valid reason for choosing our clothes. We humans have a deep love of beauty and this love should be expressed in our living surroundings and personal effects. Clothing should be pleasant to the eye, colorful, and pretty without being merely ornamental. Beautiful clothes, of course, cannot hide the ugliness of a diseased body or unhappy mind, nor should beauty be confused with fickle style.

The most aesthetically pleasing clothes are those that are simple and have stood the test of time. Sexual attributes should not be emphasized by clothing, nor should they be hidden, unduly. No piece of clothing in the world is as beautiful as the healthy body. Neither artifice nor deception can improve upon nature’s work.

So, are you suited for health?

You are if you wear clothing made from natural fibers which are comfortable, pleasing to the eye, and simple. Give your body as much freedom from clothes as possible. Nudity, when weather and personal feelings permit, can be an important factor in regaining health. Overdressing is much like overeating—it weakens the body’s natural vitality.

A warm smile, sparkling eyes, healthy hair and a radiant complexion are the best attributes in your wardrobe. The rest is only window dressing.

Article #3: Mental And Emotional Poise by Lee Bauer

You may eat the finest food, get daily exercise, sunshine, fresh air, pure water, proper rest and sleep, live in a near-perfect climate, and yet be miserable and unhappy. Why? Because life is more than bread alone, more than creature comforts, more than well-disciplined physical health procedures. Total health and well-being depends upon so many factors—each important and necessary. Each demands a share of our time and energy. But, unless we watch our mind and emotions at work, our psychological responses, our inner urges and demands, a complete state of health and happiness will surely elude us. This is to say that the physical and mental are tied together as one. They are not separate. But, much of the time we treat them as if they were. Actually, we can only separate them for the purpose of discussion. Since, as Dr. Shelton has remarked, “The human being is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual unit, and not a mere bundle of separate and more or less antagonistic elements. Health is a matter of vital, nutritive and physical hygiene.”

So let’s examine that part of us which is not too often talked about at our conventions, or written about in Hygienic literature. Perhaps this may be because of the complexity, the vastness, and the difficulty usually experienced in trying to explain it satisfactorily. By no means do I consider myself an expert in this field. I am merely a bystander, noticing what is going on with myself, wondering about it, and asking questions which have led me to some rather satisfying answers over the years. I would like to share them with you.

Let’s begin at the beginning. What is it that most of us are seeking? What are we after? Why is it that we often go from one religion to another? Why are we engaged in trying different disciplines, gurus, masters and mystics? Could it be that most of us are searching for a permanent state of peace, happiness, satisfaction, security, or the ultimate: God? Whatever it is, it is described by many names. But, since the name is not the thing, it really doesn’t matter what we call it. Maybe we could simply refer to it as permanent happiness. Before we get involved in the search, as to whether there is such a thing, should we not want to understand the person that seeks this happiness?

Know Thyself!

In order to know the seeker, I must first know myself. I must want to see how my mind works: why I think as I do, react as I do, and so on. No book, no person, regardless of how intelligent, gifted or famous can help me. It’s a do-it-yourself process. I must see it for myself, first hand. No other method that I know of has been found that works unless I step in the direction of knowing myself. If I can see that my mind works as it does, because of my conditioning, I have taken a giant step towards freedom and eventual transformation. Conditioning is the cause of my beliefs, my patriotism, my politics, my attitude towards others, and towards the world. In fact, I am the world! Getting in touch with this knowledge of myself reveals why I think in the particular way that I do. It exposes to me the background of all my thoughts. It enables me to perceive the reasons for my hurts, bitterness, jealousy, and disappointments. It reveals the source of my conditioning, which lies behind all my relationships.

Tracing Our Conditioning

We come into the world, as a baby, equipped to start life as a human being. Within us are all the human characteristics and attributes which have been in existence for over two million years. Along with these, we also inherit the tendencies and instincts of the animal. They go back and back, into the timeless past, perhaps to the origin of life on earth. And, before that, to life in the sea, where it is possible that all life began.

Our subconscious or unconscious mind contains the images and memories that lead to self-preservation, fear and violence. These are gleaned from the lives of our ancestors who have preceded us. From the moment of birth, or even before birth, we begin to gather knowledge through our senses. We learn by observation, imitation and instruction. The conscious mind now makes its appearance. It becomes evident that both subconscious and conscious are one.

History and further study reveals that in spite of some two million years of human life, and 2,000 years of religious training, the animal instinct of even the cream of society is still the driving factor. In the course of time we are cautioned to resist these animal emotions as they come up, and to subdue them or control them. To get this message across to us, we are instructed in various ways. In religion, for example, we absorb the instruction through pictures, sayings, books and in places of worship. Depending on where we grow up, in what part of the world, we learn about Jesus, Allah, Buddha and so on. So that, at an early age the Christian child has no doubts about Christ being the true God. In turn, the Muslim boy or girl will think of Allah as being the only God. And, as a member of a Buddhist family, the youngsters grow up regarding Buddha as the Most Compassionate One. Children of other religions are also brought up in a similar way. Thus, each child is indoctrinated with the faith and beliefs given to him by his parents and teachers. As they grow and mature, most of them stand ready to lay down their life for these beliefs. Conditioning is now well underway. It goes on in every area of our lives, from birth to the grave. It colors our thinking and actions. It touches our lives in so many subtle and obvious ways. It motivates our feelings, our political leanings, our way of speaking, walking, eating, going to the bathroom, and even our dreams.

I Really Don’t Know

As we grow up we begin to take a stand on issues. We gather a few facts and figures and then come to a decision. It’s either right or wrong, so help me God. Our decisions become more solid as we grow older. With some of us, we write them in granite. We become fixed as the stones on which they are inscribed. We defend and justify them, sometimes even to the end. Examples in any field could be used, but since we moved into our conditioning through religion, mentioned before, let’s pursue the matter further.

For instance, some say emphatically that there is a God. Others, just as strongly point out that there is no God. Both cannot be right. If one is true, the other is false. To see the truth, we are not in a position to accept or deny. If we do either, that ends the investigation. To find out for sure, I must admit that I do not know. I really don’t! True research begins from there.

About Listening

Now, how do we go about our search for the truth? Much depends on how we investigate, but even more important is—how do we listen? Say we go to a lecture or talk. The speaker says something. Immediately we tend to agree or disagree. Or, we compare him with someone else, and what he is saying, with something we may have read or heard. Accordingly, we nod and shake our heads. Throughout the talk our mind continues to talk also. Have you noticed how the mind is continually yakking with us? This constant chatter of the mind causes our attention to be divided between what the speaker says and what our mind is saying. If our listening is to put us in touch with the facts, we must give our entire attention to what is being said. In this way, and this way only, do we come to understand the speaker and what he is really saying.

We find ourselves agreeing or disagreeing according to our conditioning. Listening, that is proper listening, demands that we be aware of what is being said without the bias of our conditioning. In other words, being aware, without choice is necessary to get the full impact. I must neither agree nor disagree, as I listen. I must not judge or evaluate to any degree. I must listen, pay attention, be aware, with my whole heart, mind, body, nerves, senses, everything!

If I am able to do this, I see that eventually my mind and its chatter slows down. I listen and watch my thoughts as they pass through my mind, as I would watch a movie. I greet each thought as a friend. Welcome it to my mind. Investigate it. Challenge it. Question it. Pursue it to the very end, without hurry or anxiety. See it for what it is, and then let it move on, pass away, drop dead, to return no more. If I am successful in following each thought from rise to fall, I soon begin to take notice a slowing of the thinking process. This entirely normal way of handling thought is within the ability of everyone. After a period of time, perhaps several weeks, a month or so, depending on your interest and attention, the mind becomes silent. Thinking comes to an end. There is no further chatter to disturb our listening and observing. If, perchance, a thought does enter the mind, see it for what it is, treat it hospitably, and let it die away. These moments of non-thinking will gradually lengthen. The ease of doing this extends itself. This could be called a state of pure listening, pure observing. Pure because there are no thoughts to contaminate the mind while it is listening and attending to the speaker, or the situation at hand.

So far as I know, this is the only way to be in direct touch with a speaker. It works effectively when used in any situation or relationship. You don’t have to use any effort to do this. It happens by itself. There is no method or system to bring it about. One merely listens, watches, observes, becomes aware, gives his complete attention to the thought at hand, to the feeling experienced, and notices its passing. Understanding our thoughts leads to further understanding of ourselves. And, by understanding ourselves, we can better understand the other fellow. Eventually, this culminates in a radical change or transformation within, which radiates outward, and extends to every facet of our life. So that the things we are unhappy about, clear up in the process of daily living. We don’t have to use willpower, control or any tricky stuff. Pure listening and observing without the distraction of thought, puts us in touch, moment by moment, with exactly what is taking place.

There’s More I Must Learn

There’s a lot more to experiencing mental and emotional poise. I must find out who I really am. I must discover that the ego, the self, the “I” is not an entity, but merely my memory. That thinking is great when applied to everyday use, for solving problems, technical engineering, finding my way home, recognizing friends and family...but it gets in the way when we want to observe, be aware and sensitive to life that is going on all around us.

Poise means balance, equilibrium, stability, ease of mind and body. Mental and emotional poise is a normal state of being, in which we experience harmony and ease within ourselves. It does not mean we have no challenges or problems. We are faced with these even in the vigorously healthy state of being at peace. It means we need not be hurt or disturbed in any way by them. It means also that life is a joy, and each moment offers us another opportunity to learn, to love, and to understand.

Lesson 5 - Introduction To Nutritional Science

5.1. What Constitutes Nutrition (Definitions And Concepts)

Conventional attitudes regard nutrition as being almost exclusively involved with foods and feeding, but this is only one facet of the nutritional scene (albeit an important one). At the outset it is prudent to define what nutrition is and, in view of the many misconceptions, what nutrition is not.

5.1.1 Nutrition Is the Sum of All Processes That Promote Growth and Function

Nutrition does not mean food only. Nutrition is the sum of all the processes that supply, develop and sustain an organism’s faculties and functions at the optimal level of existence. In short, nutrition is the total of all that supplies life’s needs. It embraces all requirements for perfect health and supplying these requirements constitutes nutrition.

5.1.2 Nutrition Is Modified By the Entire Spectrum of Life Conditions and Activities

The sum of nutritional processes adds up to our health quotient; that is, our state of health equals the total of the nutritional processes that created it.

Anything that modifies nutrition or the processes of supply and usage also modifies health. Everything we get involved in or do in all spheres of life affects in some way our nutritive disposition, either for the better, for the worse or equivalently.

With respect to foods and feeding, we have specific adaptations for acquiring and processing particular foods to meet our nutritive needs. Anything that changes in the whole process affects our nutrition and, consequently, our health.

Because of its importance, we re-emphasize: Nutrition is largely dependent upon our health and, likewise, our health is dependent on nutrition.

5.1.3 Nutrition Involves the Processes of Growth, Development, Supply and Invigoration

Dr. Herbert M. Shelton has defined nutrition as follows:

Perfect nutrition is dependent on perfect organs, perfect functions and normal health. Each is dependent upon and grows out of the other. All processes and functions are interdependent and interact harmoniously for mutual well-being. They cannot be taken apart and categorized. Every aspect of life is but a part of a unified whole.

This idea of interdependence and interaction leads to the principle that the appropriate way to recover and develop strength and vigor is through the activities and processes that give rise to growth. We recover arid develop strength and vigor in the same way that we keep well, in the same way that a babe grows into vigor and adulthood. The powers and forces that brought us into being, that sustain us in existence, that cause us to grow through all the phases of life to manhood and womanhood, are sufficient to restore us if health becomes impaired.

5.2. Food Is An Element Of Nutrition

As stated earlier, food constitutes only a part of the needs of life. It constitutes some of the raw materials which become part of the overall nutritive processes. When the body receives food, it breaks it down mechanically and chemically into components which can be absorbed and synthesized by the organism into special substances to meet the special needs of the organism.

5.2.1 Food Is an Inert Substance—Merely Raw Materials

Many people believe that foods have different actions in the body. However, this is erroneous. Foods do not act in the body but are, instead, acted upon by the body. To be appropriated the food must lose all its character. It is mechanically crushed, comminuted and mixed with digestive fluids, then chemically reduced to basic components for absorption, synthesis and use.

Let us again review nutrition as Dr. Shelton has expressed it in yet another definition:

Nutrition is a vital process carried on only by a living organism. It is a process of growth, development and invigoration. To eat good food and enough of it, to drink pure water and breathe pure air, in and of themselves, are very desirable, but something more is needed in order to acquire health, strength and vigor. Nutrition is dependent on function. We can have better nutritive function only when we have a capacity for better nutrition.

Food is of value only in its physiological connections with air, water, sunshine, rest and sleep, exercise or activity, cleanliness and wholesome mental and moral influences—in short, all the natural or normal circumstances which we know to be necessary for the preservation of health.

What Dr. Shelton is saying is but a reiteration of what has been emphasized here, that the better your health the better will be your nutrition and the better your nutrition the better will be your health. Every factor and condition of life must be supplied optimally to assure best health.

Again, to highlight its importance, we repeat that food does not use the body or do anything to the body. The body does unto the food and uses it. In creating foods, plant life designed them to be utilized by animals in exchange for a service to the plant. This is symbiosis. Human service to plants is the incidental broadcast of their seeds. Was ever a reward so great for such a small service?

As a nutritionist you must ever keep this in mind: Foods do nothing in the body. They have no powers of cleansing, healing or anything else. Foods have no will or purposes of their own. To be consumed and used is their inherent design.

5.2.2 Food Use Is Subject to the Body’s Ability to Process, Appropriate, Assimilate, Metabolize and Eliminate

A body that is impaired is unable to properly process and use food. To the extent that the impairment causes withdrawal of functional energies from digestive processes, the body is unable to be fed. When the body’s nutritive functions are in any way impaired, and this will usually be evidenced by depressed or lost appetite, make this a standing rule: do not partake of food. Guide clients away from food. Missing a meal or a few meals is most constructive.

If the body is in any abnormal condition, food should not be taken or given. In fever, pain, emotional upset, fatigue, worry, sleeplessness and many other conditions, the body is unable to muster the needed energies for the processes of digestion, appropriation, and assimilation. In such conditions the body does not create the condition of hunger or give rise to appetency.

5.2.3 Food Is But One of Many Needs in Nutrition

Our capacity to receive, process and assimilate food is necessary to the nutritive process. In the absence of functional energies in these areas, feeding results in lowered body energies and the waste of foodstuffs. It is passed on to the bowels and the body is worse off for it.

To appropriately receive, digest and assimilate foods, other physiological needs must also be present. Oxygen, water, digestive fluids, nerve energy and a multitude of other factors and influences must favorably coalesce to effect these processes. Should any impairment in the nutritive faculties exist, the interference may prove insurmountable and result in indigestion.

This leads to this inescapable conclusion which you must ever bear in mind: proper nutrition is dependent upon and is affected by the entire spectrum of the organism’s activities and conditions.

5.3. Physiological Criteria Foods Must Meet

Every creature in nature has become adapted to securing and nourishing itself on particular foods. All natural equipment and faculties dispose to this specialization. Humans are not exceptions to this rule. Because we have developed tools using our capabilities and can supply ourselves with an abundance of anything on earth as food does not in any way alter our physiological adaptations and specializations.

Every creature has basic nutritive requirements. Our biology books detail these rather impartially and correctly for animals. But the books and teachings that concern human nutrition do not deal impartially with the subject. Our educational establishment is the captive of our mammoth industrial complex. This means they prostitute their teachings to cater to the needs of those whose grants support them. Thus, human nutrition as taught in our society is dictated, not by physiological faculties and needs, but by the wishes of those food industries that stand to gain from the miseducation that panders to their products.

5.3.1 Food Adaptations of Various Species

The food specializations of various species are categorized by general designation. Some of these categories are as follows:

• Herbivores (grass and vegetable eaters such as cattle, sheep, goats, deer, horses, rabbits, etc.)
• Graminivores (animals that subsist on grains—birds primarily)
• Insectivores (bats, birds and creatures that subsist on insects)
• Frugivores (fruit-eating animals—primates and anthropoids, humans, orangutans, apes, monkeys, etc.)
• Carnivores (animals that live on the flesh, bone, offal, etc. of other animals—cats, dogs, lions, tigers, wolves, buzzards, hawks, eagles, jackals, etc.)
• Omnivores (animals such as swine (pigs, hogs) that live off a mixed diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, flesh, offal, etc.)

As you’re aware, the bee lives on the nectar of blossoms and flowers and the pollen with which it becomes incidentally contaminated. All the bee’s equipment befit it to seek out flowers, land upon or hover over them, withdraw nectar the flower has secreted especially for the bee, and to return to its hive where it shares its harvest with other bees, the surplus being stored as honey. The bee is excellently equipped to meet its needs amply in this manner. Humans cannot meet their needs this way. Neither can cattle, horses or pigs. They’re equipped in their own special ways to meet the needs of their adaptations.

As a sidelight on the symbiotic relationship of life, we might note that the flower created the nectar for the bee in exchange for a service. The flower or blossom is a step in the plant’s creation of seeds. Before a seed can be formed, fertilization must take place and to insure this fertilization the bee is enticed by nectar. Incidental to the taking of nectar the bee contaminates itself with pollen. At the next flower the bee contaminates the flower’s pistil with this pollen. This incidental fertilization is the service the plant induced the bee to perform with the nectar secretion. Who said plants weren’t smart?

5.3.2 Range of Food Processing Capabilities

Humans are endowed with certain natural capacities and limitations in the acquisition, processing and utilization of foods. Human development (which endowed us with our faculties and capabilities) specialized and restricted our equipment and capabilities for food gathering and processing to certain foods just as in the case of other animals. The faculties of most creatures are developed so as to make disposition of surpluses or to survive scarcities. Surpluses are either stored as reserves or are excreted. Redundancies beyond needs and ability to readily excrete founder humans and other animals that are so unwise as to overeat.

In ascertaining the criteria that a food must have to satisfy human needs, we must be cognizant of the capacities and capabilities of the organism as well as the properties of the food.

5.3.3 Food Adaptations of Humans

Humans are classified as frugivores because they have the equipment to harvest and efficiently process only a class of foods called fruits. Humans are not alone in this class. For millions of years humans subsisted solely, exclusively and only on fruits. That is the way it was expressed by Dr. Alan Walker of Johns Hopkins University, an anthropologist who conducted extensive research into the dietary background of humans. Even though humans have eaten foods outside their dietary adaptations off and on for perhaps hundreds of thousands of years and have eaten some cooked foods for tens of thousands of years, there has been no physiological change that would justify straying from our natural dietary.

Our adaptations are strictly as fruit-eaters as you will see in subsequent lessons.

5.3.4 The Dietary Requirements That Determine Our Ideal Foods

Natural foods for humans must satisfy the following criteria and nutrient needs:

Foods Must Be Non-Toxic

First and foremost the food must be toxin-free. None of the compounds and substances in the food should present a digestive problem. The body must have enzymes adapted to handle every substance within the food. Toxic substances are those which the body cannot use as food. Substances that the body cannot use but which it cannot prevent absorption of (as in alcohol, cholesterol, drugs, etc.) are toxic.

Foods Must Be Edible in the Raw State

The food must be edible in its living or raw state as nature delivers it up for us as food. If we cannot eat our fill of a food in its raw state with relish and make a meal of it that meets all or most of our nutrient needs, then it is not a natural food for humans and should be shunned in favor of foods that do.

Foods Must Have Sensory Appeal

Foods of our adaptation have great sensory appeal. They are a delight to the eye, their aromas tantalize the sense of smell and their substance is an unqualified gustatory delight.

Foods Must Be Digested Easily When Eaten Alone or Properly Combined

Foods of human adaptation undergo practically no digestion in the stomach and humans can absorb the chyme and chyle of their natural foods with very little chemical elaboration in the stomach and small intestine.

Foods Must Be Digested Efficiently

While ease of digestion necessarily also implies efficiency of digestion, this entry relates to another aspect of efficiency. That which is eaten represents a certain amount of energy potential. To derive this energy from food, the body must expend energy to obtain it. The ratio of energy obtained relative to energy expenditure determines the ratio of efficiency.

For instance, we spend a mere 30 calories of energy in the process of appropriation, chewing, absorbing, transporting and assimilating 400 calories of watermelon. On the other hand, we may spend 280 calories in the digesting meat to obtain 400 calories. The efficiency with which we handle foods with monosaccharides versus the inefficiency with which we handle protein foods indicates most emphatically the types of food to which we are naturally adapted.

In processing food for use, we expend two kinds of energy. We expend metabolic energy, which is the chemical and mechanical energies expended, and we expend nerve energy. For instance, we use very little nerve energy in digesting watermelon. But, in processing foods to which we are not biologically adapted, an enormous expenditure of nerve energy is occasioned. Meats may cause nervous exhaustion due to the body’s frenzied activities in dealing with proteins, uric acids and other toxic substances in them. Though we may feel exhilarated while expending nervous energy just as we feel “a pick-me-up” when taking coffee (which really drains nerve energy), the stimulation occasioned by eating unsuitable foods such as meat is an indication of the inefficiency with which the body handles it.

Foods Must Have Protein Adequacy

Our natural foods must supply us with our protein requirements of about 25 grams daily. The less protein eaten down to the point of adequacy, the better. Protein is taken into the body for replenishing amino acid components needed for a multitude of applications. There are three things you should keep in mind relative to protein digestion:

1. the body can recycle up to two-thirds of its proteinacious wastes to meet its needs;
2. protein digestion requires an expenditure of energy equivalent to about 70% of its total caloric content; and
3. neutralization and elimination of the toxins of protein degeneration (putrefaction) uses up vast amounts of nerve energy which, though stimulating at the time, exhausts and debilitates the body.

We must not feel compelled to eat protein foods as such in order to achieve protein adequacy. Almost every food natural to humans has about 4% protein dry weight, an ample amount to supply our needs. Further, most of our natural foods contain the amino acids we need.

Foods Must Be Adequate in Vitamin Content

Some 30 vitamins have been determined to be needed in various quantities in the human diet. The vitamins must be in the diet in an organic context with other nutrients to be useful.

Foods Must Be Adequate in Mineral Salts

Our only source of the minerals of life is from food. Only in food are they in the organic context which we can use. Under no circumstances can the body make use of inorganic minerals as might be ingested with water, supplements or powdered rock (as with dolomite).

Natural Foods Must Supply Our Needs for Essential Fatty Acids

Those food factors which the body requires but cannot itself synthesize are said to be essential. The essential fatty acids are linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic. Essential fatty acids are unsaturated fats. They occur in practically every fruit, nut, seed and vegetable in ample quantities to supply human needs.

Natural Foods Must Supply Our Needs for Caloric Values

The energy we expend must be derived from our food intake. The foods which most efficiently and easily supply our caloric needs are those with high monosaccharide content. Sweet fruits are at the top of the list in meeting these requisites.

Natural Foods Are Water-Sufficient to Meet Our Needs in Most Cases

Foods to which we are biologically adapted normally meet all our water needs. This is obvious, for we have no water-drinking faculties other than suction which is necessary for swallowing food. Fruitarian species normally do not drink water.

Natural Foods Are Alkaline in Metabolic Reaction

We require foods that are alkaline- or base-forming when metabolized. Almost every food of our adaptation is base-forming, even if it has an acid pH in its natural state. Should we eat any acid-forming foods, such as nuts, they should be offset at the same meal with alkaline-forming foods such as green leaves or other vegetable fare.

These are the criteria or requirements for foods that are natural to the human dietary. Only fruits, and especially sugar-containing fruits, meet all these needs ideally. Nothing else meets all these requirements. As further lessons will demonstrate, the requisites of life can be amply met on a totally fruitarian regime.

5.4. Nonfood Nutritional Factors

The first part of this lesson has emphasized the great breadth of the nutritional scope and perspective. This introduction is but a preview of some nutritional factors. In-depth treatment is given to most aspects of nutrition in subsequent lessons.

Among the nonfood nutritional factors are the following:

• Sunlight and natural light
• Fresh air and the oxygen it supplies
• Pure water
• Exercise, play and recreation
• Rest and relaxation
• Sleep
• Emotional poise
• Other requisites of life
• General body conditions

Inasmuch as you’ve already had a glimpse of nineteen essential factors and influences for great health in a previous lesson, and they included the above, the details will not be repeated here. You may refer back to lessons three and four if necessary. The above listing is to emphasize the great dependence of proper nutrition upon other needs of the body (besides food) being appropriately met. Nutrition does not occur in a vacuum. It is not an independent process. It involves the organism in every aspect of its being.

5.5. Discussion Of Conventional Nutritional Teachings

As perhaps you know or may have long suspected, and as was stated earlier in this lesson, conventional nutritional teachings are distorted to accommodate the “food” industries that dominate America. In fact, these distortions and fabrications predominate, not only in America, but also in most of the Western world.

If we follow conventional nutrition, we are bound to end up with malnutrition and toxemia and the pathologies they lead to. As Life Science serves no commercial masters, it has no interests to be served in teaching you false concepts. Further, we do have the benefit of knowing the truth. With respect to conventional nutritionists, it might be said that “It is better to be ignorant than to know so much that isn’t so.”

5.5.1 Do RDAs Represent Our Actual Needs?

The recommended dietary allowances of the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council reflect the many fallacies to which a wrong philosophy of nutrition leads.

First, the RDAs are educated estimates and are sometimes revised upwards or downwards in view of “new findings.”

Second, the board has been very liberal in its allowances. In almost every case, the allowance or suggested daily intake is two to ten times the amount needed by healthy persons. Likewise, they are far in excess of the needs of unhealthy persons, for unhealthy persons usually have impaired nutritive faculties, do not function as efficiently as do healthy individuals and should have a physiological rest in the form of a fast.

Third, the allowances are based on conventional diets which are comprised largely of cooked foods. Not only are cooked foods so deranged that a substantial portion of their nutrients are not usable, but they so vitiate the nutritive faculties as to impair them and lower their efficiency.

Healthy individuals eating a raw diet of proper foods have highly efficient nutritive faculties and thrive on a fraction of the intake on which the RDAs are based for conventional eaters.

5.5.2 The Concepts of the Basic Four Food Groups

The pathology and suffering resulting from the abominable nutritional concept of the four basic food groups is a national disaster! This concept and its promotion stems from a national policy of catering to industrial behemoths rather than to the welfare of consumers. While today’s “food” industries are outgrowths of incorrect eating going back into the past, the justification for them is relatively recent in origin. The concept has been to acclaim as science the eating of “foods” that cover, not human needs, but the gamut of foods produced by powerful food interests.

The basic four food groups are as follows:

1. The milk group, which includes milk and all milk products.
2. The meat group, which includes meat, eggs, fish, legumes and nuts.
3. The bread-cereal group, which includes grains and grain products.
4. The fruit-vegetable group, which includes all fruit and vegetable fare excepting nuts and legumes which are in the meat group because of their protein content.

Eating specified amounts from each of these groups daily is proclaimed “balanced nutrition.” In truth it is a “balanced market” for the commercial “food” interests that share the food market. The selection of foods in the typical American diet has nothing to do with meeting human needs. The typical American diet is gravely pathogenic and is mostly responsible for our deplorably diseased population.

In subsequent lessons you’ll learn why milk and all milk products are unfit for human consumption and the physiological grounds for this unfitness. You’ll also learn why all meats, eggs, fish (and legumes except sprouted) should be rejected as items of diet. Additionally, the relative unsuitability of grains and grain products (compared with fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) in the diet will be highlighted. Bread, cereals and other starchy foods, if included in the diet, are a far less than ideal part of the diet.

To comment on group four, we point out that some vegetables can be added to the human diet with benefit, though their rich content of nutrients is really unneeded if we partake liberally of fresh raw fruits (and abstain from eating unwholesome foods).

Tubers such as potatoes constitute a large portion of the vegetable intake in America. Inasmuch as most tubers are cooked to make them palatable, and cooking significantly lowers the nutritive value of the food, they, like cereal grains, are less than ideal as foods. In addition, many other vegetables, such as onions, garlic, radishes, spinach and others contain toxic substances (such as mustard oil in onions and garlic and oxalic acid in spinach) that make them unsuitable as foods.

So, while certain vegetables (such as lettuce, celery, broccoli, cabbage and others) may supply “nutrient insurance,” many, if not most, vegetables have liabilities that make them less than ideal, even undesirable, as foods. Besides, we can obtain most, if not all, the nutrients we need from fresh ripe fruits, especially if we also include the non-sweet fruits often called vegetables (such as tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, etc.) plus a few nuts and seeds in our diet of fresh fruits.

It bears reiterating that the items of diet to which we are not biologically adapted are, to some degree, pathogenic. Subsequent lessons will probe the ill effects of wrong diet in greater depth.

5.5.3 Eating Practices of Americans

Most of us are keenly aware of American eating practices. A typical breakfast may include every member of the four basic food groups. The typical American breakfast usually includes from the meat group ham, bacon or sausages and eggs, from the grain or cereal group bread (toasted or untoasted) and/or some pastry or perhaps a donut, and a bowl of cereal. From the fruit and vegetable group may be an “appetizer” in the form of grapefruit, an orange, orange juice or cantaloupe. Also from this group may be some fried potatoes and possibly banana or other fruit on top of the cereal. From the milk group there is usually milk for cereal, cream for the coffee, butter for the toast and perhaps a glass of milk on the side. Sugar, salt, pepper and other sweeteners and condiments may be added.

An American lunch usually includes a meat dish with servings of vegetables, tubers or grains on the side. It usually includes bread and may include milk, ice cream, butter and other dairy products. An American dinner is not substantially different than an American lunch except there’s usually more of it.

The typical American diet is heavy on members of the four food groups promoted in America as nutritious fare. There has not been in all history more pathogenic fare than this!

5.6. Discussion Of Human Eating Habits The World Over

Diets vary widely over the face of the globe. We have the Lapps and the Eskimos who live pretty much as carnivores on one end of the spectrum, and we have groups of peoples in the equatorial regions who live as almost total fruitarians at the other end of the spectrum.

5.6.1 The Origins of Paradises and Edens

Up until relatively recent times in human history, humans have been primarily fruitarians. To this day in Java and other Malaysian islands there are enclosures known as para desas where people live among fruit-bearing trees. (The word paradise derives therefrom.)

All over Europe and much of the Far East there were walled enclosures of heavy stone where people resided and tended orchards. These were called paradises or edens. The walls kept out animals, helped capture and retain the sun’s heat and protected against winds and frosts.

Many words with roots of ava, and aval (such as Valhalla and avalon) evolved from terms born of a fruit culture. Valhalla originally meant apple hole or a place where apples were stored. Avalon merely meant the land of apples. The cultivation of fruits had attained scientific status long before formal histories were kept. We know of them through folklore legends and the remains of the incredible stone walls of these edens.

5.6.2 The Origins of Today’s Eating Practices

If humans are natural fruitarians, how have they come to stray from the diet of their physiological adaptation? .

In nature, such animals as gorillas, cattle and horses will die of starvation rather than eat flesh; but chimpanzees and some other fruit-eating animals will rend and eat another animal on occasion.

Humans, in addition to being possessed of a strong survival instinct, possess extraordinary intelligence to employ in support of that instinct. About three to four million years ago humans begin wandering out of their homelands in tropical regions. In time they peopled most of the earth accessible to them. Over the whole globe, according to geological records, climate was hospitable and favored their frugivorous habits. The remains of tropical plants have been found in Alaska and other northerly latitudes.

Due to some cataclysmic event or events that resulted in cold and freezing temperatures and ice ages, humans in northerly climes retreated south. Those that remained had to survive on the fare available to them or perish. For a part, this meant meat and animal products. Humans had to learn providence against the seasons and to survive on the foods available in harsh seasons or disappear from the scene. This led to meat-eating and to the use of non-fruit foods. These dietary perversions, born of necessity, became fixed in many peoples and gradually spread to people who had no necessity to resort to non-fruitarian diets. Despite this, many pockets of people throughout the world never deserted their natural fruit diet and remain fruitarians unto this day.

Even such a harsh seasonal climate as found at the 8,000 foot level in the Himalayas in Northeast Pakistan has a fruitarian culture, that of the Hunzas. While the Hunzas do partake of some pulses and grains, theirs is primarily an ecoculture of orchards, and their dietary consists mostly of apples, apricots and other fruits that thrive in their climate and growing season.

The use of meat and animal products, grains, roots and other non-fruitarian fare has arisen in relatively recent times in human history and undoubtedly originated in the adversity humans faced in certain climates, especially northerly ones. The cultivation of grasses for grain is only a few thousand years old, perhaps less than ten thousand.

5.6.3 A Look at Some Diets over the World

If you were a Mongolian you’d probably be a nomadic appendage to an animal flock. You’d have some vegetables but, for the most part, you’d fare on meats, cheeses, milks and milk products.

If you were among groups of people in tropical Brazil and other tropical cultures, you might live almost entirely on a banana diet, on breadfruit or on some other fruit. The same might be true if you lived on many Pacific islands or Indian Ocean cultures.

If you lived in Southern China you might adopt a diet heavy in fruits, rice and vegetables, whereas in Northern China you might adopt a diet heavy in fruits, soybeans and vegetables.

Eskimos and Lapplanders live almost exclusively on animal fare. With the exception of some areas where fish is consumed extensively, most Asian cultures are vegetarian and fruitarian. Most Asian countries have what is called a rice economy, though some Asian cultures utilize other grains and legumes as staples.

Europeans, immediate ancestors for most Americans, are heavily into grain culture and make it a substantial part of their diet, though they also partake heavily of fruits and vegetables. Meat and animal products form but a small part of the diets of most Europeans. English-speaking people the world over are the heaviest meat-eaters with the exception of Argentinians and Finlanders.

When we look at the world’s healthiest people we observe the Hunzas, Vilcabambians, Abkhasians and other primarily fruitarian cultures. These peoples are healthy for more reasons than just fruit-eating, however. They also live mostly in the outdoors in rather unstressful circumstances.

Wherever you look at cultures and their dietary practices of long standing, you find that people have adopted as foods that which they can most easily cultivate and harvest in their regions. They fare well or poorly in accord with the beneficence or lack of it in their dietary.

5.6.4 Do Different Dietary Habits Change Human Physiology?

Faculties usually require hundreds of thousands of years to develop. Who knows how many millions of years were required to develop human hands to the present stage? In some of our primate relatives the hands have yet to reach the facile stage which humans have attained.

In physiology changes are equally slow in coming about. Humans may eventually adapt to cooked foods and meats just as jackals and buzzards adapted to the roles of scavengers of dead rotting meats. But we might first become extinct! Many creatures have not survived drastic dietary changes. The weakness and diseased condition of most present-day humans is ample warning that our dietary is incorrect and death-dealing with portents of disaster for that part of humanity that indulges in it. The evolvement of adaptations to new foods may not occur at all or so slowly as to be of no good consequence.

In view of the ecological and health benefits of fruit culture and its ease of cultivation, it behooves humans to stay with the diet that developed them into the magnificent creatures that they were, that some are and all can be. By consuming fruits we’ll thrive and, at the same time, place a demand on the marketplace that will spur the development of orchards and even more fruit!

5.7. Negative Nutrition: Harmful Foods And Practices

Foods have varying degrees of beneficence in the human diet. They also have varying degrees of pathogenicity in the diet. Our finest foods are the raw materials of our nutritive processes. Our worst foods are vitality-sapping junk the body must struggle to contend with.

5.7.1 Condiments Are Drugs

Condiments are substances used to enhance or modify flavors and tastes. That could include sugar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, vinegar, onions or anything else added to a dish to alter its flavor. In using the term today, we mean specifically pungent substances that are excitants, not whole foods that we’d eat liberally of for their own sake.

If we cut up bananas and then mix in some diced mango, the flavor enhancement is really stunning. Yet we would, not refer to the mango as a condiment. It is a food that we could make a meal of for its own sake. Likewise, tomatoes and nuts or avocado added to a vegetable salad really give the salad zest. Yet we do not usually call tomatoes, nuts or avocados condiments, for they are whole foods, any of which we can easily eat alone as a meal.

Thus condiments narrow down to those substances that are used exclusively and only to modify flavors. Vinegar, salt, pepper, basil, MSG, mint, sage, garlic and hundreds of other herbs and substances are used only as excitants to the taste buds.

There is one quality about all condiments that make them unfit for the human diet: they are all pathogenic. As excitants or stimulants they are inherently poisonous. The body has thousands of guardian angels. The fact that taste buds and other cells and senses of the mouth, esophagus and stomach are put into a frenzy by certain substances is a warning. Accelerated functions and senses make us more aware of flavors in the foods condiments are combined with, but the excitation is a guardian faculty broadcasting an alarm. If you were trying to eat salt, pepper or vinegar in and of itself, you wouldn’t get very far. They have no food value at all and, in fact, are indigestible! And that’s the key to the body’s objection to them. Body senses can detect the difference between foods and nonfoods. Foods are welcome and those items which the body cannot utilize for lack of enzymes to digest them or because of an outright anti-vital character, the body becomes excited or stimulated as a response. Unfortunately, humans have become so perverted as to seek this excitement as an end in itself. Many, if not most, people are seeking kicks.

Anything which the body treats as an anti-vital substance; anything which it cannot digest and use easily and efficiently; anything that presents problems by making chemical unions with body fluids and cells that excite and stimulate, are to be shunned. They all fulfill the definition of drugs which is another name of poisons. Discontinuance of them by habitues begets “withdrawal” symptoms just as occurs in deprived drug addicts.

Nature seasons foods natural to our palates with all the taste-satisfying nutrients we require. Flavors galore abound in them. Artificial seasonings do not really enhance their taste. Only a perverted palate seeks the kicks and “thrills” that are unnatural to our dietary.

5.7.2 Cooking Is Pathogenic

Cooking creates diseases on several counts. The most salient are as follows:

1. Cooking deranges and destroys nutrients. To the extent that this occurs, we are denied needed vitamins, minerals, proteins, essential fatty acids and other nutrient factors.
2. The deranged nutrients become, via cooking, unusable substances that are toxic in the system. This is readily evidenced by the doubling and tripling of the leukocyte count in the blood in half an hour to an hour after eating a meal of cooked foods. Any poison or drug taken into the body occasions the same body response.
3. The body must expend tremendously of its nerve and other energies to expel the offending substances of cooked foods and to clear itself of their contamination. Cooked food eaters have “hangovers” and “withdrawal” symptoms just as do drinkers of coffee, tobacco smokers or other drug addicts who forego their regular round of stimulation.

The body cannot build really healthy cells and tissues with poor quality materials. That which must be cooked to be palatable is not worthy of the human diet. Cooking makes it less so! Shun cooked foods and guide your clients to raw foods. Living foods of our adaptation are the road to magnificent health, and anything less than the ideal results in development, growth and functions that are less than ideal.

Thus cooked foods as articles of diet are pathogenic in that they poison us on one count and result in deficiencies on yet another count.

5.7.3 Processed, Refined and Preserved Foods

Anything used as food that is not in its original natural state has been tampered with.

Processing is altering or preparing foods or both.

Refining means “making finer” or reduction to a purer state. Thus white flour is refined wheat. Though some chemical processes are used in making it white, essentially the process of refining of wheat flour is mechanically accomplished by milling. Refining sugar is the extraction of sugar from sugar cane or beets and, through cooking and chemical processes, obtaining sucrose.

Preserving involves treating foods so they will be usable for a much greater length of time than is normal in nature.

The processing of foods involves anything that alters foods (including steps that do not alter them significantly or nutritionally). While the shelling and vacuum packing of nuts is processing, these processes do not detract from the value of the nuts. On the other hand, cooking fruits and adding sugar, preservative chemicals such as salt, etc., and then sealing them in cans and jars are very destructive processes. Drying the same fruits alters the fruits so that they can be preserved but does not alter them so significantly that they’re, a liability in the human diet. Most processed foods in the marketplace are unsuitable in the human diet in the first place before any alteration, refining or preserving occurs. Examples of this are processed meats, refined cereals, pasteurized and homogenized milk, etc.

Canned foods have a shelf life of years and years. But they are not acceptable in the human diet even if they were good foods prior to canning. They might be acceptable only against the reality of eating them or starving to death. If canned foods only are eaten, death is rather quick and certain. That happened to many who were involved in the great Alaska gold rush, to those who were involved in the digging of the Panama Canal and to others in similar projects. This contrasts with excellent health that results from a diet of proper foods eaten in the raw state.

Freezing is a method of preserving foods. Frozen foods are not as wholesome as fresh foods. Their primary drawback is that the freezing bursts many cells and occasions degeneration due to oxidation. Freezing does not affect some foods at all, notably foods with low water content or very oily in texture. Dates, dried fruits, nuts and seeds may be frozen and kept fresher. Dried fruits, though not as wholesome as their fresh counterparts, are wholesome. Nuts and seeds are well-preserved by lack of moisture and air in their own shells. Vacuum packing and a nitrogen media do not harm many foods and preserve them with food values intact.

Some foods are coated with paraffin, oils, waxes and other preservatives. If these substances have not penetrated the protective skin or covering and can be readily removed, they are suitable for food if they meet other dietary criteria. Removal may be accomplished by a bath in a mild solution of hydrochloric acid, vinegar, chlorox or even very warm water in some cases. If the solution is warm it will be chemically more active and more readily unite with the oils, waxes or paraffins. Moreover, the warmer the solution the more likely waxes and paraffins are to liquify.

Processing, refining and preserving are done commercially to give foods longer shelf life, to change their structure so as to make them marketable, to make them more palatable, to enhance flavors or for a number of other reasons. However, refining renders foods deficient in one or more ways even if they were suitable items of diet to start with.

But the final insult is in “embalming” foods with preservatives to protect from spoilage, bacterial degeneration or oxidation. Preservatives are, one and all, poisonous. That is the character of a preservative. It must be an antibiotic, an antioxidant or have some quality to maintain appearances of wholesomeness. Needless to say, that which is poisonous to bacteria is likewise poisonous to human cells. That which is poisonous interferes with digestion as much as do deranged portions of cooked foods.

As a rule/steer away from all preserved foods and give preference to fresh ripe fruits with some vegetables, seeds and nuts.

Food processing is also done in the home, as well as commercially, for, as stated earlier, it comprises anything done to alter foods from their original form. Cooking, grinding, chopping cutting, peeling and blending are all at-home food-altering processes. Of these, however, cooking is by far the most destructive of foods’ nutritional value and is, therefore, the primary at-home process to avoid (or keep to a minimum). Even the other at-home processing should be limited to some extent. For example, you may serve juices sometimes but whole fruits (and vegetables) most of the time. Or you may prepare cut-up salads sometimes but, serve whole fruits or vegetables most of the time. A larger portion of the nutrients are left intact in whole foods as a rule. One notable exception to this, however, is sesame seeds. Because they are so tiny, they normally do not get thoroughly masticated, even by very conscientious eaters. Therefore, grinding them and using them immediately may be a beneficial at-home process. Food preparation will be studied in depth in a future lesson.

5.7.4 Foods Not Suited to the Human Dietary

Any food that does not meet all the criteria heretofore cited is not a food of our natural adaptation. Foods of our adaptation meet our needs in every respect. Only fruits meet all our various needs.

Humans would not survive very long on a total meat diet. Shorter yet would be our lives if we ate a meat diet that had been cooked—well-done. We can survive two to three times as long on our fat reserves as we can upon an exclusive diet of meat. The body lives very poorly on a protein diet, being only about 30% efficient in converting proteins into fuels (carbohydrates), our primary need. This compares with about 90% to 95% efficiency in converting the sugars of fruits into energy.

Humans cannot live on condiments and seasonings, raw of cooked. Condiments are used for their poison content, not for their nutrient content. Nor are we physiologically equipped to live on milk or milk products, eggs, fish or other animal products. Also, we are not suited to handle a diet heavy in fats and proteins, even if they are consumed totally raw, something most unlikely in our society because it can abide unnatural foods only if denatured by cooking. We need fats and proteins only in small amounts. Larger amounts are a toxic burden, tax our digestive systems and use up too much vital energy.

Humans cannot live on herbs in the current frame of reference because they, like condiments, are toxic and do not possess food values for the most part. Vegetables or plant fare as leaves, stalks, stems, grasses, etc. cannot comprise the mainstay of the human dietary because we cannot obtain our caloric needs from these types of foods. Few vegetables appeal to the palate as such anyway. Some vegetables, notably lettuce, are prized because of their relative sweetness and texture. Chlorophyll is normally bitter and we’re turned off by bitter substances. Our natural foods appeal to our senses, and none appeal to our senses as do fruits, a sure indication that fruits are our natural preference because of natural adaptation. In the cooked state, vegetables appeal more because of the conversion of their starches to dextrin, a form of sugar.

A diet consisting almost entirely of oily foods is not suited to our needs. We can utilize a small amount of oil with benefit. This need can be met incidental to primarily carbohydrate fare. Oily foods are handled very slowly. (Digestion usually takes four to six hours.)

While oils are highly concentrated sources of calories, the body cannot make use of them with the facility it utilizes monosaccharides. Those who eat heavily of nuts and oily fruits exhibit problems and are not as healthy and vigorous as those on primarily carbohydrate fare.

There are groups of people who practically exist on coconuts. But they are eaten at a stage when the oils have not been formed to any extent. The coconuts are still primarily carbohydrates.

Starches also comprise an incidental part of our diet. We cannot survive on an exclusive diet of raw starches. First, we have a very limited capacity to digest raw starches. In light of this capacity, we cannot meet our needs for fuels and other nutrients on a raw starch diet. Secondly, most starches are contained in microglobules of cellulose that neither chewing nor digestion will break down. Hence we are not naturally equipped to eat raw starches as are birds with craws or animals that have a plethora of starch-splitting enzymes.

Our ability to utilize grains, tubers and other starchy foods relies upon the agency of cooking. However, some of these foods, notably the turnip, rutabaga, sweet potato, carrot and others, can be utilized raw only because of their sugar content. The traditional potato is entirely unsuitable, being repulsive to normal tastes when raw. Raw grains are repulsive to normal tastes for the same reason—we reject starch foods naturally with our natural equipment that evaluates foods beneath a conscious level. We can force ourselves to eat these foods and even pervert ourselves to the point we value them just as we value condiments and drugs. But this is contrary to our nature, not in accord with it.

Humans cannot utilize milk in its raw or cooked state. Raw we do not have the enzymes (rennin which ceases to be secreted in humans at about age three, the proper weaning age) to break down casein with which milk proteins, calcium and other nutrients are bound. At about the same age we lose the ability to secrete lactase, an enzyme that reduces lactose, the milk sugar, to monosaccharides. Therefore, most of our people are said to be “lactose intolerant.” We cannot utilize fermented milk products because lactic acid and putrefaction by-products are toxic to humans just as they are to the bacteria that excreted fermentation by-products as bacterial defecation. There are very few products of bacterial activity that we can use. (Vitamin B-12 is a notable exception.)

Humans cannot live well on exclusive vegetarian fare even if it includes fruits referred to as vegetables (such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, squashes, pumpkins, etc.). Foods that must be cooked are third- and fourth-rate foods and should form no part of the dietary. Only the stark reality of being deprived for inordinately long periods of proper foods should force us to eat foods that are less than ideal in the diet.

5.7.5 Dietary Follies of Health Seekers

Seeking out wholesome organic foods free of unnatural fertilization and pesticides is most laudable. But it is relatively meaningless and ineffective if a person then proceeds to take organic foods and cook them. Much of the advantage is wiped out. Organically grown foods are always superior to their nonorganic counterparts undergoing the same amount of processing, cooking, etc. But it is preferable healthwise to eat conventional produce uncooked than organic produce in a cooked state.

Many health seekers believe food supplements are necessary because we have deficient soils. We do have truly deficient soils, as they would not produce foods that require the minerals in which they’re deficient. We have many soils, even in their virgin state, that are deficient in something or other that makes them unsuitable for certain plants or trees. We have many soils that have lost the capability of growing corn, potatoes, wheat and other staples but which will still grow grasses and legumes. These soils can be built up very quickly if certain minerals are judiciously added (using organic methods). The deficient soil/deficient food complex is fostered among health seekers by fractionated food purveyors who are peddling a synthetic manufactured supplement or so-called natural supplements, both of which are far inferior to whole foods. Supplements can in no way make good any partial deficiency that may exist. The synthetic supplements are not usable in any circumstances, and the body treats them as drugs. It is the stimulus of drug effects that we mistake for health effects. We mistake the energy an exhausted horse shows under the whip as beneficient when, in fact, it is pathogenic. Even if part of the supplements are obtained from organic sources (as a fraction of a given supplement, say 5 to 10% only) so they can be represented as natural, they are still worthless. They’re also worthless if extracted entirely from organic sources. The body uses nutrients in context with other nutrients as a team. The shameful reality is that these supplements are obtained, as a rule, from the same products grown on the same “deficient” soils about which they warn us.

Health seekers often buy waste products that are sold as health products. An example of this is the beer manufacturers’ waste product—brewers yeast. Another example is the waste product of sugar manufacturers—molasses, which is a totally unusable and harmful product. Some health seekers buy or have bought the wastes of other manufacturers, too, especially the wastes of cheese manufacturers and meat processors. Whey, liver, gelatin and other wastes are thought to be healthful when, in reality, they are worse than worthless.

Many health seekers also buy minerals from unusuable sources. Many drink sea water, eat sea salt, drink hard mineralized waters, eat molasses, dolomite and/or take mineral supplements. All these contain inorganic minerals which are not only not usable by the body but which harm it grievously. In seeking health, many people fall victim to pathogenic practices foisted upon them in the name of health.

Many health seekers are likely to (or do) fall victim to alternate schemes of drugging. They are often persuaded to take a multitude of herbs and toxic plants because they are supposed to cure or prevent disease. Molasses and other waste products are also touted as medications. However, the truth is that health is built only by healthful practices. Diseases do not have to be prevented for the body will not initiate and conduct diseases unless the need exists. If everyone discontinued those practices that pollute their bodies, there would be no occasion for disease. In any event, so-called medication can never help and will only cause further harm to the body.

Among the many pernicious plants and herbs touted as healthful because of their toxin content, not their food content, are onions, garlic, comfrey, aloe, cayenne peppers, mints and innumerable others. In seeking health, many concerned individuals end up further polluting their bodies, thus creating more disease.

5.7.6 Drinking Habits Are Damaging to Health

Humans are not naturally drinking animals, for we have no natural equipment for that practice. Drinking is done artificially with the aid of tools. Our natural diet is usually water sufficient.

In addition, drinking as practiced today is almost totally pathogenic. Drinking pure (distilled) water is not pathogenic, but substances which occasion its drinking are usually pathogenic. (Sometimes, of course, extraordinary heat and/or vigorous activity lay the bases for drinking pure water.)

Most drinking is of poisoned drinks. Sugared and flavored drinks are toxic, as are coffees, cocoas, sodas, beers, wines, whiskeys, teas of all kinds, etc. Even fruit and vegetable juices are far less than ideal because they represent fragmented rather than whole foods.

Most drinking amounts to drug habits rather than acts supplying needed water. It bears reiterating that almost all drinking is pathogenic.

5.8. A Survey Of Unconventional Dietic Schools And Their Fallacies

There are many schools of thought concerning the content of the human diet. We have viewed conventional eating which embraces the concept of the four basic food groups. Other schools are called macrobiotic, vegetarian, fruitarian, vegan and yet others. Let’s take a brief look at some of these one by one.

5.8.1 The Macrobiotic School

This school was founded by George Oshawa, a native of Japan. The emphasis is on a so-called perfect diet consisting mainly of cooked rice, along with some cooked vegetables. Such a heavy diet of cooked rice provides primarily fuel (carbohydrates), but carbohydrates from cooked foods also render the toxic by-products of heat degeneration. Very few fruits are included in this diet, and, while the macrobiotic diet is a great improvement over conventional diets on many counts, it is far from ideal.

Even a brief discussion of the macrobiotic diet would be incomplete without the mention of the concepts of yin and yang. These concepts represent many sets of qualities, such as acid & alkaline, sweet and salty, and hot and cold. Without going into the subject, suffice it to say that, in macrobiotics, determinations of wholesome foods are made based on this yin-yang concept.

5.8.2 Supplementation and Special Foods

This might well be called the megavitamin or megafeeding school. Even though the only way to render a deficient diet adequate is to eat a diet adequate in natural nutrient factors, this school goes beyond that.

They say that if it’s a good thing there is no such thing as too much. For example, the RDA for vitamin C may be 60 milligrams daily. People in this school, such as Dr. Linus Pauling, advocate up to 10,000 milligrams daily. If 4,000 international units of vitamin A are the RDA, the megavitamin people advocate 100,000 to 200,000 units daily.

However, the body cannot use more than it needs, and it must excrete that which is in excess of needs. But the massiveness of the dosages is just one aspect of the harm wreaked by the supplementation advocates. The synthetic products that dominate the market are treated as outright drugs by the body! Even if these supplements were extracted entirely from natural sources, they’d still be unusable. The body uses foods, not individual nutrients. It uses them synergistically as nature puts them up, not as extracted or laboratory synthesized and compounded in imitation of nature.

5.8.3 Herbs Used as Alternate Medications

Some health seekers eat poisonous plants daily in the belief that they need “medicines” for health. Entrepreneurs harvest weeds from the wilds and from cultivated fields by the hundreds of tons for people who believe in “natural medicines.”

Herbs are not consumed for their nutrients and none could be consumed as foods in themselves. Death could result from an “overdose” if too much of any of these were eaten as a food. People have died on rather small amounts of some herbs.

5.8.4 The Vegetarians

There are about 25 million people in this country who eat only fruits and vegetables or who consume either what is known as an ovo- or a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. Vegetarians who eat no animal foods whatsoever are called vegans; lacto-vegetarians include dairy foods in their diet; ovo-vegetarians include eggs but not dairy products; and lacto-ovo vegetarians include both eggs and dairy foods in their diet.

Many, if not most, vegetarians are ethical vegetarians, but this is especially so with the vegans, as they refuse to cause suffering to animals. Vegetarians may eat lots of cooked foods, or they may consume an all-raw or almost all-raw diet. Many, if not most, vegetarians use herbs, especially if they are vegetarians for, or partly for, health reasons. Some vegans are Natural Hygienists. The common bond of vegans is non-exploitation of animals.

Vegetarians generally are healthier than the population at large, for, while many of their practices are not healthful, per se, they are less harmful than those of conventional eaters. Some vegetarians will eat just about any kind of non-animal food, even alcoholic beverages (really drugs and not foods) and junk foods (also more like drugs than foods in the system). These people are vegetarians, not for health reasons, but for moral reasons relating to the killing of animals. However, most people who are vegetarians are more health oriented than non-vegetarians.

5.8.5 The Bircher-Benner School

This school is essentially a vegetarian school that is heavy on grains with some fruits.

5.8.6 The Mucusless Diet

The founder of this school, Arnold Ehret, reasoned that anything which results in mucus formation is unhealthy. This reasoning is correct, for anything that causes the system to secrete mucus is an indication that toxic or unwelcome materials are in the organism. Ehret thought that the foods themselves formed mucus, however, when, in fact, the organism creates the mucus in response to unwelcome foods.

Through trial and error Ehret discovered that a diet of non-oily fruits and some vegetables built high-level health and function and did not result in mucus formation. Thus he called his diet the mucusless diet.

5.8.7 The Waerlanders

Ebba Waerland of Sweden spent most of his life studying the touchstones of health. He was greatly influenced by the Bircher-Benner school and advanced their dietary philosophy to include more fresh raw vegetables and fruits. However, though he still advocated the use of various grains, he recommended they be prepared in a more conservative manner.

In many of his teachings Waerland added to the science of nutrition and health and paralleled the teachings of the Natural Hygienists. As a worldwide traveler and a deep student, he undoubtedly was well acquainted with the philosophy and practice of Natural Hygiene and added to his own system those features he liked. Especially did he advocate fasting as a course to follow during illness (and in good health!) as a health measure.

5.8.8 The Fruitarians

There are relatively few raw food fruitarians, but there is much interest in fruitarianism and sentiment for it. Humans are naturally frugivores and there is a sound basis for fruitarianism. But, except for the most ardent of fruitarians, most are likely to eat some nuts and vegetables. Many fruitarians are Natural Hygienists, though many Natural Hygienists are not fruitarians. The primary difference between the fruitarians and the fruit-eating Hygienists is that many fruitarians do not adhere to principles of compatible food combining. Raw food fruitarianism is a fast burgeoning element in our society though, as yet, their numbers are only in the thousands.

5.8.9 The Natural Hygienists

This dietary school embraces many divergent outlooks on dietary fare. All Hygienists advocate a mostly raw diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts, although some advocate the eating of cheese and raw egg yolks. Some Hygienists advocate “complex carbohydrates” as important items of fare. They feel that conservatively cooked rice, squashes, potatoes, yams and other starches are good in the diet if eaten in conjunction with hearty vegetable salads. Likewise, they are often heavy eaters of nuts and avocados if consumed in conjunction with a hearty salad of green leafy vegetables and some fruit fare popularly considered vegetables.

Hygienists originated and fostered the concepts and practices of food combining. Also, they advocate regimes in which diet comprises only a part. As a Life Scientist you’ll also call yourself a Natural Hygienist, for these are identical philosophies. But the dietary score has yet to be settled in practice although many Hygienists are idealistic raw fruitarians. It is our endeavor in this course to present data sufficient to settle this score for you. Even the least healthful Hygienic diet is such a great improvement over conventional diets that those who adopt it must improve their health. Almost no one is so far down the road of life that they cannot improve dramatically upon the adoption of the Hygienic regime, even if they adopt a less than ideal version of it.

As a health professional you must keep in mind that anything less than ideal begets less than ideal results. But, on the other hand, every improvement you inspire in your clients will result in corresponding improvement in well-being.

5.8.10 Foods as Medicines

Like the herbal school which looks upon herbs as medicines, this school tries to employ foods as therapeutic tools. There are those who swear by the use of raw egg yolks; there are those who swear by blended salads, often with egg yolk. Many look upon fruits as cleansing foods. A multitude of foods are taken with the idea that they will prevent or “cure” diseases.

We must repeat that foods are raw materials which the organism acts upon. They have no actions of their own, much less cleansing and healing abilities.

5.8.11 The Juice Therapy School

This school advocates a diet heavy in or consisting primarily of juices extracted from fruits and vegetables. It was founded nearly a century ago, and Benedict Lust was one of its luminaries. Today N. W. Walker is perhaps its most articulate exponent.

Juices are fractionated foods subject to oxidative deterioration. Oxidation occurs quickly. For example, orange juice can lose up to 60% of its vitamin C within an hour after juicing. Iron is oxidized very quickly in all foods. This may be observed visually if an apple is broken open and exposed to air. Oxidation creates toxic byproducts. An example of this is cooking, which is a much accelerated process of oxidation as well as heat degeneration.

Juices are not whole foods. Many valuable nutrients are lost in the pulp. Further, those who “drink” their foods are often guilty of consuming inordinate amounts of it to secure satiety. While we can safely partake of several pounds of watermelon and like amounts of some juices, there are other juices that a few pounds of constitutes far too much food. Carrot juice drinkers are notorious over-eaters.

Nature did not furnish humans with juicers outside of those implicit in chewing.

5.8.12 The Blended Salad Diet

There is a small school that believes that blended salads three times a day are beneficial in the human dietary. While blending involves the whole food, it still has the objection of oxidation and enzymic degeneration.

Blended foods are never as tasty as their whole counterparts, even if eaten immediately after blending because enzymes and oxygen degenerate foods and destroy their goodness so quickly.

5.8.13 Conclusion

As you can see, there are many different schools of thought on diet and nutrition. The macrobiotic school is based on the concept of yin and yang and is rooted in Oriental tradition; vegetarian diets are based either on the ethics of killing animals or on the unhealthfulness of meat (and, for some vegetarians, dairy foods and/or eggs) or both; the mucusless diet is determined by which foods do and don’t result in mucus formation by the body; and the herbalists and “foods as medicines” schools base their diets on the supposed curative properties of foods.

However, the only diet that is totally based on sound physiological principles, that is based on science and not on tradition, is the Natural Hygienic diet, which is the same as the Life Science diet. Some Hygienists are fruitarians, most are vegans and all are vegetarians. Oftentimes individuals adopt and popularize diets that reflect their own individual ideas and experiences with diet, and the best of these diets have some commonalities with the Hygienic diet.

The diet of the Natural Hygienists is the only one that is particularly concerned with food combining, and this aspect of the diet is not only unique, but it is based on physiological principles.

5.9. The Physiological Necessity Of Proper Food Combining

One of the cardinal principles around which Natural Hygiene/Life Science is built in dietary practices is that of food combining when more than one food is eaten at a meal. Humans are capable of digesting with great ease a single food of their adaptation. However, when more than one food is consumed at a meal, the foods thus combined must be compatible in their digestive chemistry.

If the digestion of a meal’s various items requires differing digestive tasks, digestion will suffer. Digestion may be retarded and vitiated whether or not we are aware of it, whether we suffer the discomforts of indigestion or fail to feel them. Indigestion may be suffered beneath the level of awareness for decades before its debilitating effects show up as diseases and symptoms. On the other hand, the sufferer may be keenly aware of distresses resulting from indigestion on practically a meal-to-meal basis.

The ill effects of wrong eating and improper food combining are commonly treated with a raft of drugs, primarily antacid drugs such as Turns, Rolaids, bicarbonate of soda, poisonous aluminium preparations, Milk of Magnesia and so on.

5.9.1 The Chemical Character of Digestion and the Rules It Decrees

Further along in this course a complete lesson is devoted to food combining. The physiology of digestion recognizes that different foods present dissimilar digestive tasks. For instance, protein foods require an acid medium for digestion. Pepsin, the protein digestive enzyme, requires an acid gastric secretion, more specifically hydrochloric acid. Starchy foods, on the other hand, require an alkaline medium to enable the enzymes of salivary amylase (ptyalin) to perform their digestive task. Below a pH of 4.0, starch digestion is totally suspended. Pepsin will not break down proteins at a pH higher than 3.0. Thus starchy foods and protein foods are incompatible in digestive chemistry. From this physiological fact of life emerges this feeding rule: Do not eat a protein food and a starchy food at the same meal.

There are many foods that do not combine with others. It is the practice of many to eat oils and sugars together. Sugars undergo no digestion in the stomach and melons and sweet fruits may stay in the stomach as little as ten minutes or remain for as long as thirty to forty minutes. They are expelled rather quickly and absorbed very quickly from the small intestine. Oils remain in the stomach for several hours for processing before being forwarded to the small intestine for further elaboration. If eaten with fruits they hold up the sugars and fermentation is very likely to occur, thus vitiating the meal.

5.9.2 Differing Digestive Times Dictate Selectivity in Food Combinations

Even different fruits have differing digestive tasks. The body readily digests acid fruits and it also readily digests sweet fruits. But acids must first be changed and become alkaline before absorption can occur. This involves some delay in the stomach. Any delay in the stomach of a sweet fruit may dispose to fermentation. Thus, again, combining foods improperly may vitiate digestion and contribute to physiological problems, immediately and down the road, if unhealthful physiological practices continue.

Sweet fruits have their own digestive characteristics. Watermelon is perhaps the fastest digested of sweet fruits. Other melons are passed through the stomach quickly, too. But bananas, grapes and apples may remain in the stomach for two or three times as long. Hence, if bananas, apples or grapes are eaten with melon, fermentation and upset stomach may result.

5.9.3 Character of Food Determines Suitability in Diet

Humans are adapted to a narrow spectrum of the world’s foods, just as are most other animals. Our anatomy and physiology are highly specialized to handle efficiently the fruit foods of the earth. We have developed limited capacities to digest oils, proteins and starches. But under no circumstances are we primarily protein-eaters, starch-eaters or oil-eaters.

Inasmuch as some 85% to 90% of our diet by dry weight is for the purpose of fueling our body, it behooves us to eat primarily foods that most efficiently furnish our fuel requirements. Inasmuch as foods of our natural adaptation furnish this ratio of fuel values relative to other necessary nutrient factors within their context, we can most healthfully devote ourselves to a raw fruitarian regime.

Many, including a great number of Hygienists, will object to the all-fruit diet and cite supposed dangers that fruits are inadequate in the needs of life, especially proteins, essential fatty acids, mineral salts and vitamins. Thus they advocate green leaves and other vegetables, seeds and nuts and even cheese. They condemn “the more is better school,” yet tend to side with them in practice.

Close scrutiny of our physiological character decrees that we eat sparingly of nonfruit foods. It is erroneous to assume that the fruit diet is deficient in the needs of life, as will be demonstrated in other lessons.

5.10. Nutritional Miscellany

The body supposedly uses eleven calories per day per pound of weight for metabolic purposes only! Hunza men who have superb physiques and perform labor that would exhaust our best on a daily basis have a total intake of only about 1,900 calories per day, about 12 calories per pound of weight! There must be some terribly wrong calculations here or else the needs of healthy individuals for fuel values is far below our diseased average.

In Vilcabamba, caloric intake is lower yet, being only about eight to ten calories per pound of weight per day. The average caloric intake there is about 1,350 calories per day. The Peruvians of Vilcabamba work hard in their gardens and fields, as do the Hunzas.

The work these two groups of people do would require, according to our nutritionists, from 3,500 to 7,000 calories a day! Something is amiss! In dealing with your clients, you’ll keep these facts in mind. The less feeding, down to a point, the more efficient the body is. This is even true if you’re feeding highly efficient fruits rather than very inefficient meats and other high protein/fat foods that dominate in our American diets. Keep in mind that our high-powered dairy, poultry, cereal and meat industries have a heavy bias in having our populace consume as much of their products as possible. Perhaps they have influenced the RDAs so that people are pushed to overeat on their products.

5.11. Questions & Answers

What are our real protein needs and how can we possibly get these from fruits? Fruits aren’t protein foods.

Tests conducted by Professor Chittenden of Yale and others indicate that an average man requires about 25 grams of protein daily. There are people in some South Pacific Islands and elsewhere that live primarily on starch foods, especially cassavas. Their diet is low in protein—only about 15 grams daily. Yet these people are reported to be in excellent health. The body has the capability to recycle most of its protein wastes. Cassava, the main starch food eaten by these South Pacific people, has only about 1/5th of 1% protein, about one sixth of that of bananas. Moreover, these people cook their cassava. They are said to eat six to ten pounds of this food daily.

Our real protein needs are about 25 grams daily. The average fruit contains 1% protein. We should eat 2,500 grams of fruits daily, about five and a half pounds with water content. For an average man, this is not a tremendous amount of food. The average American consumes about seven pounds of food daily and ingests 94 grams of protein. Moreover, this diet is so heavy in fat that about 44% of America’s caloric intake is derived from that source.

True, fruits aren’t protein foods. But neither are we protein eaters as are carnivores. But look at those who do eat protein foods such as meats, cheese, etc. They are a diseased lot. In fact, most Americans are sick and the fact that they daily take in about four times their protein requirements is a contributing factor.

Fruits, we repeat, furnish us amply with our protein needs in an easily used form. This is particularly true if you include avocados and/or nuts, both of which are technically fruits.

You’ve never had one good word to say about drugs. In fact, you’ve knocked them so much and carried the definition so far as to make almost everyone a drug addict of one kind or another. If they were so harmful, surely we’d all be long since dead.

Humans are a hardy lot. They represent an aggregation of some hundred trillion cells with thousands of guardian angels. The impulse to life is great. We have a tremendous capacity for eliminating poisons. Despite this, most of us are diseased. How many assaults of food poisoning from condiments and cooked foods can we withstand? Most Americans have 50,000 to 70,000 bouts of leucocytosis before they die from it in the form of some degenerative disease, usually cancer or cardiovascular problems. We cut our life potential in half. If drugs had any value in the organism they would be foods, not drugs. Drugs are one and all poisonous regardless of their source. Almost every American is hooked on drugs of some kind.

Is there a science of correct feeding? It seems that the term nutrition covers much more than correct feeding.

There are two technical words that have to do with feeding, whereas nutrition covers all processes of supply and elimination and everything that effects those processes. Orthotrophy means correct feeding. Ortho means correct and trophy means to feed. Aristophagy means best eating. In the sense that correct feeding is the best eating, both words mean the same.

Don’t certain types of foods help you get well? Juices and fruits help you clean out. Garlic is well known to help high blood pressure cases. Aloes helps heal wounds and ulcers.

Can you imagine a fruit or a fruit juice with an inborn intelligence and will such that, when consumed, instead of being digested, it goes into the blood stream and promptly starts rounding up toxic materials and putting them out of the body? Let’s emphasize again and again that foods do not act in the body, that all the action is from the organism. Chemical actions may occur from chemicals in ingesta, yes, but any actions other than body actions are toxic actions.

However, fruits and juices are so easily digested and used and introduce so little food debris into our bodies that they do leave the body with extra energy to perform its duties. When freed of the burdens eliminating toxins from polluting foods and digesting unsuitable foods, the body devotes itself to extraordinary cleansing with the extra energies available.

Garlic does not help high blood pressure. In the presence of allicin and mustard oil, two of the toxic substances in garlic, the organism dilates its blood vessels to more quickly circulate blood and expel these toxins. The heart beats faster and leucocytosis occurs, sure signs of the toxicity of allicin and mustard oil. These substances freely permeate all body cells and tissues. They are not digested and used but excreted through the kidneys, bowels, skin and lungs.

After expulsion the blood pressure will be just as high as before if the same regime that caused it remains in effect. The garlic has helped nothing. Rather, it has complicated an already diseased situation. The drug effects of garlic are mistaken for beneficial effects. The problem is not solved by garlic, and high blood pressure is not the problem. Rather, it is but a symptom of the problem. The problem remained even though the symptom was lessened or suppressed.

Aloes applied to ulcers and wounds do not heal them. The toxic material in aloes, aloin, is absorbed by the body when applied to the skin and to open sores (which the body uses as an ejection site for toxic wastes and ingesta). When the poisons begin coming in from the outside the body closes the wound promptly, shutting down eliminative operations at the site. While the poisonous aloes have been the occasion for the body closing the wound, they have not healed the wound but were a source of a poisonous alkaloid. The body does the healing.

I read recently that an 80-pound chimpanzee was so strong that two handlers could not subdue it: Are they so strong? What kind of super foods do they eat?

Chimpanzees in nature have the strength to do acrobatic feats and handle their weight with such ease and facility as to put humans to shame. A four hundred-pound gorilla has about thirty times the strength of a 180 pound man. This attests not so much to the strength of these animals as to the degeneration and weakness of humans. In nature we were equally strong. We can achieve this strength again if we adopt our natural diet and practices akin to those that we developed in our natural habitat.

A substantial part of the diets of chimpanzees and gorillas consists of fruits. This is fruit-power for you.

Will an all-fruit diet cause nervous breakdowns and nervous problems as I’ve so often heard?

You will find no evidence of this among fruitarian societies or among fruitarian animals. Diets that are sufficient in the raw materials we require are the basis of health. They cause neither health nor ill health. Nervous breakdowns can come from nutrient inadequacy and from stressful situations, especially those that constantly drain the organism of nervous energy. In this society, millions have nervous breakdowns. We have only a few thousand fruitarians and they are faring well rather than poorly.

What is wrong with eating starchy foods? Doesn’t cooking change the starch to usable sugars?

We actually use very little of the starch components in starchy foods, as most of the starch is not penetrated by our digestive amylases and thus is not broken down. The starch that is available cannot be digested to a great extent by humans because they quickly exhaust their limited supply of salivary amylase or ptyalin. Thus we fail as starch eaters.

Cooked starches are dextrinized, and more of the fuel values are available to us, yet, on the other hand, much of the food components are degenerated by heat and are, therefore, toxic in the system.

We’re not meat eaters, then why do we secrete hydrochloric acid and pepsin?

Proteins from whatever source (meat or nuts, for example) require the enzyme pepsin and an acid medium in which to be digested. We need only small amounts of protein and we digest it with an efficiency ratio of only about one to two. Animals that live on protein diets have hydrochloric acid solutions so strong that unchewed flesh is readily digested. A tiger’s stomach secretes a hydrochloric acid solution some 1,100% more concentrated than that in humans. Again, proteins form but a small part of the diet of humans in nature, whereas tigers eat heavily of proteins in the meat, bone and offal of their prey.

How do you, as a fruitarian, manage to control your hunger? Fruit meals leave me mostly unsatisfied. Further, I feel empty and ravenously hungry within an hour or two after eating fruits. I have to eat five or six times a day if I’m on fruits just to keep my hunger under control. If I eat some nuts or an avocado right after my fruits I feel satisfied, though.

I’ve eaten a diet of 80% to 90% fruit for many years now. I rarely eat my first meal of the day before noon and I rarely eat more than two fruit meals in a day. Further, I eat about three or four meals weekly with some avocado or perhaps nuts and a hearty salad. I find my desire for vegetables and nuts waning and my desire for fruits increasing with the years. I feel very comfortable after fruit meals whereas sometimes I feel a bit uncomfortable after vegetable meals. I sleep more and feel more sluggish when I’ve had a nut and vegetable meal. I don’t feel as alive, alert and zippy on mornings after vegetable and nut or avocado meals.

On occasion I have eaten a salad and nut meal at noon. As a result I usually missed the evening meal because even the best foods repulsed me—I had no hunger. It’s as if my body closed down digestive operations. That is how “satisfying” vegetables and nuts are to me.

The fact that most people mistake irritation and vital symptoms of recovery for hunger does not mean hunger exists. An emptiness in the stomach means that the food has been passed from it. That is not hunger. Hunger is felt in the mouth and throat just as thirst is. It is not unpleasant and it urges us to eat just as thirst urges us to drink.

What we commonly mistake for hunger that drives us to eat are pathological symptoms not unlike the “withdrawal” symptoms of tobacco, coffee, alcohol, condiments and other drug addictions that drive us to go back for another fix. When the body is without its fix for a while, it begins clean-up operations. These usually involve unpleasant symptoms that drive us to get another fix. Another fix engages the body in activities that depress vital functions, especially eliminative functions. Thus we are satisfied for a while, in fact, quite a while in the case of foods that are not of our adaptation.

The fact that fruits are so easily digested and used permits the body to quickly reassert its vitality and devote itself to the cleansing and eliminative processes. The symptoms are not pleasant as the body restores itself from the effects of a previously unsuitable diet. We thus try to smother those symptoms with another meal. Those symptoms do not constitute hunger. Eating suppresses them in the same way that a cup of coffee suppresses the hangover of previous coffee-drinking.

As a mostly fruitarian I rarely experience any demand for food before noon and I’m satisfied until the evening meal. Sometimes I miss the noon or evening meal and I’m not particularly uncomfortable from the lack of food. I think most of this so-called hunger is psychological and pathological in nature.

You have said that the Vilcabambians of Peru get along well at hard labor on 1,300 to 1,400 calories daily. It’s well known that hard working men need 3,000 calories and more a day. How can that few calories support vigorous work which these people are supposed to do?

Let us think about this. The world’s healthiest and longest lived people eat a primarily carbohydrate diet. They eat very little protein foods in the form of legumes and very little oily foods in the form of legumes and nuts—in fact they consume almost no oily foods. Contrast this with Americans, especially laboring men, who take in 40% or more of their calories as fats and oils and a substantial part of the remainder in protein foods, especially meats, eggs and cheeses. Obviously the human organism isn’t very efficient in dealing with these foods, as the studies indicate.

Further, we must recognize that the average American is a walking pathological museum, requiring far more energy just to deal with the pathology than healthy people. Further, impaired organisms do not operate efficiently, whereas healthy people operate efficiently and make full use of their foods.

How can you build muscle on a total fruit diet?

The average man uses about 75 grams of protein daily. Of this he needs only about 25 grams from the diet. The remaining 50 grams is obtained by recycling wastes. Fruit amply furnishes the 25 grams needed from outside sources daily. The healthier an organism becomes, the better use it can make of its nutrient supply. It is a myth and a delusion that we need more protein than normal to build muscles. It’s like saying that we need more bricks to build a house than the plans call for. Once the structure has been built, replacement and additional bricks are needed but little.

How can we get vitamin B-12 from fruits? Vegetarians are warned about the lack of vitamin B-12 in vegetables and certainly fruits have none of this vitamin.

There’s no vitamin B-12 in grass either, yet cattle have plenty of vitamin B-12. Almost no food in nature has vitamin B-12 in it.

We get our vitamin B-12 needs the same as other creatures in nature. We were not cheated in this regard. We do not have to eat animal products as the meat and dairy industries urge us to do. The bacteria of our intestines create vitamin B-12 which we absorb just as with other animals.

Almost all cases of anemia and B-12 deficiency occur in meat-eaters, not in vegetarians, which, if it happens, is given publicity like you wouldn’t believe.

Shouldn’t we eat locally-grown fruits for best nutrition? Animals in nature must live on locally-grown fruits and, as you have said, they’re very healthy.

Here in Texas that would be great advice and we can do it. Our forefathers did that to a great extent on self-sufficient farms. But, as fruitarians, this is not presently possible. We must get our fruits from subtropical sources during the winter season. Of course we can develop and preserve our fruits, especially by drying and secondarily by freezing.

But fruits do not necessarily make us less healthy if they have been grown in other areas. Tropical bananas properly grown furnish no less nutritive benefits if eaten 2,000 miles away from their growing area as if consumed in that area. Nutritive adequacy is the need. Local produce may and may not be nutritively adequate. A good mix of foods from various soils is more likely to give us adequacy.

Aren’t whole wheat products good to eat? The first Hygienists advocated whole wheat bread and other products. Graham advocated it so strongly that whole wheat flour came to be known as Graham flour. Why has that changed with Life Science?

By the end of the nineteenth century Hygienists had already begun to reject wheat as an unwholesome food no matter how eaten. Dr. Densmore and others began advocating an all-fruit diet with some nuts. Humans can’t eat wheat raw and, even if cooked, the gluten protein component is almost wholly indigestible.

Article #1: The Paradise Diet by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

According to an ancient tradition, when man first appeared he lived in a beautiful orchard in which grew fruits of many kinds and all of which were pleasing to the eye and good for food. For an undetermined length of time he lived in this beautiful area of the earth and satisfied his physiological needs by trees.

According to this tradition, he was expelled from the garden and condemned to live upon the green herbs of the field. The indications of this story would seem to be that herbs are a second choice as articles of diet for man. It is common to scoff at this ancient tradition and label it a fairy tale, but it may possess more truth than poetry.

The noted anthropologist Edward B. Taylor, in Vol. I of his Primitive Culture, stresses a very important psychological fact in relation to traditions, legends, myths and folklore. Questioning the popular belief that man is possessed of a boundless power of creative imagination, he says, “The superficial student, mazed in a crowd of seemingly wild and lawless fancies, which he thinks to have no reason in nature or pattern in the material world, at first concludes them to be new births from the imagination of the poet, the storyteller and the seer.” Then he points out that a more detailed study of such things reveals that there is a cause for each fancy, an education that has led to the train of thought, a store of inherited materials from out of which the fancies and thoughts of poet, seer, storyteller, etc., has taken shape. This is to say, the human mind works with the materials it has on hand and does not create something out of nothing.

In this same vein, the author of the article on the myths of Sumer in the Larousse Encyclopedia of World Mythology says, “Sumerian mythology drew its material from the permanent principles of Sumerian culture. ...The myth and the form it adopted were a function of the society from which it stemmed. It told of creation in terms of human experience. Its very elements were those at the basis of Sumerian society. ...”

This statement, that the myths of a people mirror the ways of life of the people, if applied to all mythologies, should prove fruitful in their interpretation. It should not be assumed that a people gather their myths and traditions from thin air or that they are purely imaginative creations.

If we can accept as valid the principle that the traditions, legends, myths and folklore of a people are reminiscences of past experiences, that they mirror for us actual conditions through which the people have passed, we are practically forced to accept the ancient and well-nigh universal tradition of paradise as a report, blurred, no doubt, by the passage of time, of a period when the human race resided in some favorable locality and lived upon the “fruits of the trees of the garden.” A tradition that antedates the beginning of recorded history and that is possessed by almost all people cannot be lightly cast aside as a figment of the imagination of a poet or of some designing priest-craft.

It is impossible to account for the origin, persistence and widespread existence of a tradition that early man was a frugivore on the basis of the hypothesis now so widely held by anthropologists, that early man was a carnivore and offal eater. Such a being should have left us traditions of swarms of locusts, ponds filled with fish, happy hunting grounds and other rich repositories of their favorite sources of animal foods, with occasional mention of dead elephants or sick horses around which they gathered and feasted. Not fruits, but brutes, not figs, but pigs should be featured in the myths and legends of a carnivore.

It may be objected that tradition and legend constitute a flimsy base upon which to erect a philosophy of human diet. A more scientific basis may be demanded. To this I reply that none of the many scientific bases for correct human dietary practices that have thus far been offered possess as much validity as the paradise tradition. The paradise tradition possesses the virtue of being in conformity with the evident dietetic character of man as revealed by comparative anatomy and physiology. It also agrees in principle with the basic eating practices of man throughout history. Man’s diet throughout the historic period in all favorable regions of the earth has been predominantly fruitarian.

Many efforts have been made by men and women in the present century to live upon a diet composed exclusively of the fruits of the trees. These efforts have not been without success, but they have rarely been completely successful. From South Africa comes the news—the Pretoria News, February 22, 1971—that some research has been done into the effects of an all-fruit diet. Under the headline “Fruit diet worked well,” the News summarized the findings of the researchers in the following words: “A team of research workers have come to the conclusion that pure fruit diets now receiving wide publicity cause weight to level off more or less at the ‘theoretically ideal’ weight for the subject, according to an article in the latest issue of the South African Medical Journal.”

The item does not indicate the time through which the experiment was carried out but does state that the diet consisted of fruit juices, fruits and nuts. It says “a considerable number of the subjects claimed their physical condition improved while they were on the diet. Some were convinced that their stamina increased and that their ability to undertake strenuous physical tasks and to compete in sports improved.”

No doubt, in view of the known nutritive values possessed by tree fruits and nuts, which are also fruits, it is entirely possible to be well and adequately nourished upon such a diet, providing only that one has a sufficient and varied supply of fruits and nuts. If one lives in a climate where the fruit and nut supply is abundant throughout the year, he should have no difficulty in providing himself with adequate nourishment without eating vegetables and without taking animal foods of any kind. Man’s expulsion from his primitive paradise was probably due to climatic change that reduced his fruit supply and necessitated his constant search for means of survival.

Commenting upon the African experiment, in the July 1971 issue of Health For All (London), Dr. Harry Clements says “It is true that such a diet would be possible in a subtropical climate with its abundance of fruits and nuts, but it would not be so easy in a climate like we have in this country, to maintain an all-the-year-round complete fruit diet on indigenous fruits. Of course, we should bear in mind that a limit is set on food by the use we make of it. There is no doubt that the kind and amount of fruit grown in this country could be vastly increased if we saw the need for it and regarded it as an important part of our diet rather than merely as a trimming to a meal. On the other hand, no climate is better adapted than ours for the growth of vegetables and salads which can play so important a part in proper nutrition.”

Dr. Clements further says: “It is interesting to recall that in the latter part of the last century a Natural Food Society existed in this country, its object being stated as follows: ‘The Natural Food Society is founded in the belief that the food of primeval man consisted of fruit and nuts of subtropical climes, spontaneously produced; that on these foods man was (and may again become) at least as free from disease as the animals are in a state of nature.’ The main contention of this Society was that the starchy foods, especially those made from cereals are ‘unnatural and disease-inducing foods and the chief cause of the nervous prostration and broken-down health that abound on all sides.’ ”

The Natural Food Society to which Dr. Clements refers was organized and spearheaded by Dr. Emmet Densmore and his wife, Helen. This society not only promoted fruitarianism but also propagated Dr. Densmore’s no-starch dietary. Dr. and Mrs. Densmore edited and published a magazine devoted to fruitarianism and general Hygienic work. Densmore found that the fruit supply in England was not adequate to meet the nutritive needs of man throughout the whole of the year. After some experimentation, he suggested supplementing the fruit diet with milk and cheese. He even went so far as to endorse the Salisbury meat diet. Because of his frequent shifts of opinion about diet, he gained the reputation of being eccentric. When he returned to America he practically retired from active work in this field. When Mr. Carrington was preparing his work, Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition, he attempted to engage Dr. Densmore in correspondence about fasting and feeding, but Densmore declined to lend his services to furthering this work.

Dr. Clements recalls as interesting the fact that in America Dr. John Harvey Kellogg maintained that fruits, with the addition of nuts (which, I should point out, are also fruits), constitute an adequate diet that will sustain human life for its normal lifespan. He mentions what he calls the therapeutic use of fruit by Dr. Tilden and by Kellogg. Dr. Kellogg, Cajori and Ragnar Berg demonstrated experimentally the biological adequacy of the proteins of nuts. With the exception of the hickory nut, they all contain an adequacy of amino acids to support growth and reproduction.

In the halcyon days before World War I, a professor in a German university, after much thought and study, concluded that the coconut tree is the tree of life, mentioned in the paradise tradition. Professor Englehart (I have forgotten his first name) lectured and wrote on the subject and finally took a group of German men, women and children to a German possession in the South Sea Islands, where they expected to live exclusively upon a diet of coconuts. According to his accounts, the experiment was proving very satisfactory. He wrote very glowingly upon the success of the coconut diet. Dr. Benedict Lust published an English translation of Professor Englehart’s book under the title, Cocovarianism. The experiment was brought to an abrupt end by World War I. Professor Englehart and his group of cocovarians were all pacifists and Dr. Lust told me that when the War broke out the Kaiser’s government had them all shot. In a world dedicated to war, it is dangerous to be opposed to war.

I do not think that there has been a single period of five-minute duration during my lifetime of seventy-six years that there has not been fighting somewhere in the world. There have been five or six major wars in the world during my lifetime and brush fires innumerable. There may be some connection between man’s choice of war as a way of life and his choice of flesh as a diet. In spite of his constant fighting, all the evidence points to the conclusion that man was originally a peaceable being. European man conquered America with considerable ease due to the fact that the original inhabitants of these western continents were, for the most part, peaceable peoples who had not learned the arts of war. Many of the tribes refused to fight, even in self-defense, but permitted themselves to be annihilated and driven westward rather than learn the arts of war. Many so-called primitive people, and not merely those in America, have retained their original peaceable character. War is as foreign to man’s original way of life as flesh-eating.

Someday, after we have abolished social systems that breed war, it may be possible for students of the subject to determine whether or not man learned war at the same time he learned to kill and eat animals. The two practices have much in common, although we do find some flesh-eating tribes, such as the Eskimo, who have remained peaceable. Certainly the fruit diet, with its cultivation of fruit, is incompatible with human slaughter.

It is doubtful that the fruit diet can ever be entirely satisfactory in those regions of the earth where long and severe winters prevail. Man must, it seems probable, continue to rely heavily upon herbs and perhaps grains and legumes for a part of his diet. This is not to say that fruits and nuts are not suitable for a cold climate, but that the supply of these foods in cold climates is not sufficiently abundant throughout the whole of the year, and, except for nuts, cannot be stored and kept in adequate quantities to meet the needs of a large population through the winter months. There is no food factor in vegetable and animal products that is not also available in fruits. Cold climates are simply unsuitable to the cultivation of fruits. Some nuts do thrive well in climates that are cold much of the year. Although a nut diet has been advocated, it is doubtful if such a diet would be ideal. The paradise diet would seem to be an ideal one for a paradisiacal climate.

Article #2: The Elements Of Nutrition by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

Nutrition is the cardinal function of organic evolution and growth. It is the sum of all processes by which raw materials (foodstuffs) are transformed into living structure and prepared for use by the body. It is the appropriation of nutritive material by the plant or animal and its transformation into cell substance and structural units. It is the means by which food is transformed, in the case of plants, into sap, pulp, woody fiber, leaf, flower, fruit and seed, and, in the case of animals, into blood, muscle, bone, nerve and gland.

It is the process by which living organisms develop, grow, repair and maintain themselves, wounds and broken bones are healed, functions are carried on, and reproduction accomplished. It is the process of converting food into cell substance. This occurs in living organisms and nowhere else, and in the case of man, vegetable substances are transformed into human tissues.

Organic existence is perpetual creation (or evolution, if you prefer) and renewal. There is no resting, only continuous activity. Nutrition is the grand process by which creation and renewal are accomplished. Though we can observe the results, we know little of the process.

Let us think of an egg composed of material previously prepared by the nutritive processes of the hen out of which a new bird is to be made: Nutrition is the process by which the simple homogeneous material of the egg is transformed into the complex heterogeneous structures of the bird. But a microscopic speck of the egg, the germ, is alive. It is this germ that begins the work of nutrition by which it grows and becomes two cells, by which the process of cell division is continued and, finally, differentiation, organization and integration are accomplished.

In the seed of the plant a similar process takes place. The germ of the seed is microscopic in size, the remainder of the seed being prepared food. Utilizing the stored food, the plant germ evolves into the complex structure of a young plant. Thus, in the plant as in the animal, nutrition is the process of converting food into cells and organs.

Nutrition is a highly complex process carried on by all living organisms from the smallest, simplest one-celled organism to the most complex organism in nature: man. Food is not nutrition, but the chief material of nutrition. Water, oxygen and sunshine are nutritive materials, while activity, rest, sleep and warmth are vitally important to normal nutritive processes. Vital structures and functional products can be created only out of food, but it is the process of nutrition that builds and maintains organic structure.

Viewing the whole domain of live-vegetable and animal-nutrition is the fountain out of which flow structure, function, capacity, strength, growth, development and reproduction. It is the process of building, repairing and vitalizing organs and organisms. All structure is made by processes of nutrition; all repairs are accomplished by nutrition; it is through nutrition that we come to have organs in the first place; it is only through nutrition that they are constantly repaired; it is through it that we come into being and maintain life.

The tissues of man are woven on a loom that no Eastern rug designers or Western carpet machinery can rival.

Where strength is needed, an iron-like power of resistance is given to man’s tissues, though these strands of fiber are finer than spider’s thread. Yet where elasticity is required, the fibers rival rubber in flexibility.

The size and development of a man’s muscles and the strength and functioning power of his nerves are the products of nutrition. Even his brain is a product of this process. The human infant, like the bird in the egg, starting as a single cell, grows organs and other parts by the process of nutrition, deriving its food supply, water and oxygen from its mother’s blood. After birth, utilizing food, it develops and grows to maturity by processes of nutrition. Reproduction, which is merely discontinuous evolution and growth, is achieved by the process of nutrition.

The digestive system should not be thought of as the nutritive system. The respiratory system supplies the organism with needed oxygen. If it is cut off, even for a very few minutes, the whole nutritive process comes to a halt and cannot be started again.

In man and other higher animals, the many and varied functions contributing to the grand overall process of nutrition are, to a great extent, each performed by a separate organ. In the human system there are a large number and variety of organs, each of which fills a peculiar and appropriate function. In the human sphere the viscera may be regarded as a tree, the digestive system of which represents the roots, the lungs, the leaves, the blood and lymph, the sap. Given the organic structure that circulates the juices, choosing the best food and refining it, we finally arrive at human structure.

As we are primarily interested in human nutrition, I shall attempt to picture in broad outlines by use of the following diagram, the means by which the body appropriates its foods:

Substances Appropriated	Ways of Appropriation	Results of Appropriation
Food	Locomotion	Development
Air (oxygen)	Prehension	Growth
Water	Mastication	Repair
Sunshine	Deglutition	Maintenance
	Digestion	Healing
	Absorption	Reproduction
	Respiration
	Circulation
	Assimilation

The organs and secretions involved in this work of appropriation and the preparation of raw materials for use are: hands, teeth, tongue, salivary glands, esophagus, stomach, gastric glands, small intestines, intestinal secretions, pancreas, pancreatic juice, liver, bile, villi, lacteals, lymphatic system, heart and vascular system, the several ductless glands and their hormones, the nose, bronchioles, lungs, diaphragm, chest walls, long bones and skin.

The long bones, in which the red blood cells are formed may be properly regarded as part of the body’s nutritive system. Millions of these cells are formed daily and are essential in removing oxygen from the lungs to the body’s cells, then carrying carbon dioxide from these cells to the lungs. Without this process in the bones, oxygen could not reach the other bodily cells.

Because the skin is the channel through which we receive the sun’s rays and regulate their uses, this investing membrane may be properly included in the body’s nutritive system.

It will thus be seen that in the higher animals, especially in man, a great number and variety of organs and organ-systems and their functions are subservient to the overall process of nutrition, and all of them converge towards a common center.

Certain functions like digestion, circulation and respiration are common to all types of animals, who must receive, elaborate and circulate the materials necessary to build and sustain their tissues. Locomotion and prehension are essential parts of the nutritional process in most animals. Locomotion is denied to some forms of animal life, and these depend upon water and waves to bring their food supplies to them.

In the final analysis, the whole body is engaged in carrying on the process of nutrition, every part contributing to the whole and no part selfishly assimilating alone. Some parts, however, are more involved than others, especially in the preparatory work. Reciprocity and mutual service characterize the work of the bodily organs. The lungs take in oxygen for the whole body and not for themselves alone; the stomach digest food for the entire organism and not merely for its own food needs; the heart receives and circulates the blood throughout the body, not merely through its own tissues. The living organism is a model of cooperation.

The production of food is a reciprocal process, plants and animals being co-equal partners in the vital synthesis. For this the forests and their myriad inhabitants have been industriously working since the beginning of life on our globe; for this the flowers have been working since they were self-sown from the miraculous garden; for this the bees and birds and wind have been pollinating flowers since the beginning of organic existence; for this the birds and mammals have scattered seed. From time immemorial, for this the soil bacteria and earthworms have labored incessantly throughout uncounted ages; for this the un-cropped earth has rested in the balmiest latitudes, while the great sun, supporter of all life, has poured her tropical spirit upon its unexhausted islands, so that spring, summer and autumn provide us with an abundant supply of tasty green leaves, delicious fruits packed with food values and baited with delightful aromas, delicate flavors and pleasing colors, and with tasty, life-sustaining seed.

Not in the animal alone is assimilation in progress. The plant is the prime assimilator, absorbing the minerals of the soil and the nitrogen and carbon of the air, the fertile soil being the great storehouse of plant food and the source of their many aromas and flavors. The animal returns the soil’s fare, as fertilizer and carbon dioxide, to the original storehouse from which it was taken. In the great workshop of nature we witness progressive assimilation and refinement: The pioneer plants prepare the primitive soil for the advent of the higher plants; the higher plants refine and synthesize food for the animals above; these, in turn, compensate the plants in a variety of services for the goods received.

Through every change, by secret processes, the surface of the planet is steadily fitted for a greater edifice of society. All things normally work together for the good of the whole. Even the wrathful violators of her fundamental law of reciprocity serve her ends.

The mineral kingdom supports the plant kingdom, which in turn supports everything above it. Living plants arise—rich, delicate and lovely from the ground—created from a few simple elements. Through the subtle alchemy of life, disintegrated rock becomes stems and leaves, flowers and seeds with power to reproduce themselves. In the plant this amounts to taking the lifeless materials of air, water and soil and raising them to the status of living structure.

The animal appropriates parts of the plant and transforms them, by the subtle alchemy of animal nutrition, into sentient flesh and blood. As a result of processes of living plants and animals (assisted in the initial stages by bacteria), which we call collectively nutrition, sentient flesh is made from what otherwise would remain inert stone. The oxygen, nitrogen and carbon of the air plus the minerals of the soil are passed through the leaves and trunks of herbs, trees and other growing things. Each enriches its tissues through a division of labor and succession of touches at least as great as the processes employed in the laboratory in the manufacture of synthetic products.

Animals cannot appropriate the raw materials of the soil and air, except for oxygen and water. They cannot utilize the carbon and nitrogen of the air but must receive carbon (carbohydrates) and nitrogen (proteins) from the primary producers: the plants. These elements must be refined and synthesized by the plant and transformed into substances that the animal can appropriate. The earth might as well be bare granite and the atmosphere untinted gas if the vegetable kingdom lacked organic qualities to bestow upon the animal in the foods it turns out in great profusion.

The assumption that plants do not impart to the elements of the air and to water and soil, qualities that they do not possess in their gaseous and mineral states, is a form of ungratefulness in the inhabitants of any land whose fields are laden with fragrance and savoriness each year.

Plants, like factories, feed us and clothe us; they spin out our cotton in their looms and turn out their fruits and juices in profusion. Whether it be fruit and flavor for our bodies, or beauty and symbolism for our minds, plants support us. They yield up their substances to be transformed into new substances by us.

Thus, in the normal course of the nutritive processes of nature, vegetables draw their sap from the underground, from the dark scurf of the mineral kingdom; whereas, the animal takes its nutrient juices from among the children of the air, light and motion, from the succulent tops and fruits of the vegetable kingdom, from the results of an elaborate predigestion in the bosom of the earth and sun-kissed leaves of the plant.

By the marvelous processes of plant nutrition, lifeless matter drawn from air, water and soil has been raised to the status of living structure. Undergoing further refinements, transformations and organization in the animal, it is raised to the status of dynamic structure. The inert and unorganized is now highly organized and alive. The breath of life has been breathed into the structure and it has become a living soul. Such is the marvelous end-result of plant and animal nutrition.

Article #3: Nutrition, A Hygienic Perspective by Ralph C. Cinque, D.C.

The following article by Dr. Ralph Cinque is reprinted from Dr. Shelton ‘s Hygienic Review.

Nutrition has become a popular subject, indeed, a fad. Never before have people been so concerned about being well nourished. The barrage of information that is being promulgated in books, magazines, newspapers, talk shows, etc., about food and nutrients is, of course, commercially motivated. Consequently, the knowledge that most people have about nutrition is a mixture of facts, half-truths, exaggerations and outright fallacies.

Our purpose in this writing is not to discuss all of the intricacies of nutrition. The reader is referred to any of the standard texts on the subject for his information. Instead, our objective will be to investigate nutrition from a Hygenic viewpoint. We want to consider nutrition not as a sequence of chemical reactions but, rather, as a process of life. We want to put aside, for the time being, the specific role of various vitamins and minerals and consider the overall process by which the body attains nourishment.

Strictly speaking, nutrition refers to the processes by which the cells of the body utilize the components of foods. Nutrition does not refer to the processes by which food is eaten, digested, absorbed, transported and circulated. Nor do all of the changes that the components of food undergo metabolically constitute nutrition. Glycogenesis, for example, the process by which the liver and muscle cells convert glucose into glycogen, removes glucose from the circulation and makes it unavailable to the cells. Therefore, it must be regarded not as a nutritional process but rather as a process of food storage. Only those processes by which the cells oxidize foodstuffs for chemical energy or utilize substances to manufacture cellular constituents and secretions can be considered nutritional. All of the processes that precede the actual utilization of nutrients by the cells must, therefore, be considered as antecedents to nutrition. They make nutrition possible. They must occur in order to make nutrients available to the cells. They are vitally important, but they do not constitute nutrition.

Nutrition takes place at a cellular level. It results from the diffusion and active transport of nutrients from the tissue fluid that bathes the cells into the cellular protoplasm. At this point, nutrition begins. It is only here that the body derives any real use from the food eaten. Up to this point, there has only been an expenditure of energy in processing and transporting food in preparation for cellular assimilation. But, at the cellular level, there is finally a compensation for the physiological work done previously in relation to food.

Nutrition is not something that we can directly influence. We cannot force it to happen. If the organs of the body effectively perform their roles in relation to food, then, and only then, will optimal nutrition occur. All that we can do is supply an adequate amount of high quality food under favorable conditions. The rest depends upon what the body does with it. We do not nourish the body; the body nourishes itself. No one is a nutritionist; the body is the only nutritionist because only the body itself can accomplish nutrition.

If we recognize that nutrition takes place at a cellular level and that an elaborate and complicated sequence of events must occur beforehand, it should be obvious that the quality of physiological performance is as vitally important as the quality of food eaten. If nutrition is a distant link on a long physiological chain, a break at any point in that chain will suspend nutrition, partially or totally. Hygienists are well aware that food is of no value until it is digested and absorbed. For example, consider the diabetic, who may be fully capable of digesting, absorbing, transporting and even generating sugar from internal sources. In the absence of insulin, the active transport of sugar is impeded, and, as a result, the abundant supply of sugar is unavailable to the cells. The infant with phenylketonuria (PKU) lacks a specific metabolic enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of phenylalanine into tryosine, and consequently tremendous amounts of phenylalanine and its by-products accumulate in the blood. These disrupt body chemistry and may bring about mental retardation.

Obviously, interference at any point on the physiological assembly line can thwart the final outcome and defeat the ultimate objective, which, of course, is nutrition. Therefore, what can we think of a “nutritionist” who decides that a protein deficiency exists and has the patient take some protein powder dissolved in water every day in order to enhance nutrition? This kind of “shotgun approach” does nothing to enhance nutrition. On the contrary, it disrupts nutrition by adding one more enervating influence to the life of the individual, an influence that stresses various organ functions and biochemical processes.

Our task is not just to provide nutrients but to provide them in a gentle manner that maximize the efficiency of  our organic functioning in order to promote the most effective utilization of food. The manner in which we eat, the conditions that prevail at the time of the meal, the state the food is in and the way in which it is prepared, the abundance of nerve energy, the presence of hunger—these factors have as profound an effect upon nutrition as nutrients, per se. We cannot emphasize too strongly that it is not what we eat, but what we appropriate at a cellular level that determines the state of our nutrition.

Therefore, as Hygienists we must recognize that nutrition involves a great deal more than food, that every aspect of our lives affects the state of our nutrition. This would include the manner in which we eat, sleep, exercise, emote, rest, think, etc. Those who ingest large quantities of extracted and concentrated nutrients have a very distorted view of nutrition and show a lack of understanding of the biological facts of life.

Now that we have defined nutrition, we shall discuss its nature and characteristics. We have already stated that the cells of the body are bathed in tissue fluid and that it is from the tissue fluid that they extract nutrients. The cells also exrete their wastes into the tissue fluid. So there is a constant movement of materials across the cell membranes in both directions. This movement is a continuous, fluid and constant process. It is not sudden. It does not occur in starts and stops. It is happening all the time, at mealtime and between meals, during the day when we are active and at night when we are sleeping. It speeds up under some conditions and at other times slows down, but it never stops. It is completely controlled, determined and regulated by the body.

The body is like a food store with a large cold storage room in back. As the consumers remove items from the shelves, the owner replenishes the shelves with wares from the storeroom. The owner may also be receiving a delivery of fresh goods daily, but these are used to replenish his reserves in back and not to stock his shelves directly. The food that he makes directly available to his customers comes from his storage room, so that if by chance a delivery fails to arrive one day it will have little or no effect upon the availability and selection of foods in his store. His own reserves are more than ample to supply his needs for several days.

A similar situation exists within the body. The body is constantly drawing upon its reserves to maintain the chemical constancy of its tissue fluids so that at no time are the cells subject to being depleted. The body is not directly dependent upon raw materials to accomplish nutrition because it is constantly living upon its reserves. Eating replenishes these reserves. The body is much less dependent on food than most people think.

The common notion is that the only thing that maintains normal blood sugar levels is the frequent ingestion of food. The tremendous magnitude of the body’s ability to make sugar available from glycogen and certain amino acids, and its capacity to rely more heavily on fat combustion, if necessary, is often overlooked. Most hypoglycemics think that the distress that they experience between meals is the result of an inherent need for infrequent meals. They fail to recognize that their symptoms are manifestations of impaired organ functioning, enervation and toxemia. What they require is not more food, but more rest.

It is a well-known fact of physiology that stored food within the body is in a constant state of flux. Fat stored within fat cells, for example, is constantly being consumed and replenished. Obese individuals with vast midrift bulges think that they have been living with the same fat for years. They don’t realize that they have been continually using and replenishing their fat, and that this year’s fat is entirely different from last year’s fat.

If the body is not directly dependent upon meals to accomplish nutrition, what affect does eating a meal have on nutritional processes? We have already stated that the availability of nutrients depends upon the composition of the tissue fluid and that tissue fluid is a filtrate of the blood. Therefore, the composition of the blood and tissue fluid must remain constant in order for the fluidity of nutritional processes to be undisturbed. When we ingest a meal, the products of the meal are obviously markedly different from the composition of the blood. The body constantly seeks to nullify change in its blood chemistry as a result of the ingestion of a meal.

Converting excess glucose into glycogen and gradually releasing it into the bloodstream in response to the body’s constantly fluctuating needs for sugar is one way in which the liver “buffers” the effects of eating a meal. Taking a large quantity of Vitamin C may temporarily achieve “super-saturation,” but the body will immediately go about excreting the excess and re-establishing normal tissue levels of ascorbic acid. This requires usually no more than several hours. The liver also removes excess carotene (provitamin A) from the blood and stores it, but, as we all know, people have varying capacities to do this. Some turn orange after one glass of carrot juice, while others car drink a quart at a time without a noticeable affect. All of the food materials that are absorbed into the blood are first transported via the portal circulation to the liver where they are processed before entering the general circulation. The body seeks to minimize the impact at a cellular level that would otherwise occur from eating food.

Quoting Ian Fowler from his excellent article, “Fundamentals of Feeding” which appeared in Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review in June 1978, “Consuming extracted and artificially concentrated items results in a sudden influx of nutrients which necessitates rapid accommodation and adjustment of blood nutrient levels, of liver metabolism, adrenal, pancreatic functions, and so forth. This is debilitating, inefficient, wasteful and enervating.” This profound and explicitly stated fact of physiology will never be taught by vitamin manufacturers, health food store owners,  “metabolic nutritionists,”  or “orthomolecular psychiatrists.”  All they will ever teach people is how wonderful calcium is and how much Vitamin X the body needs. The fact that taking their products exerts a tremendous stress upon the body, that it is a shock to the system to be suddenly overwhelmed with “megadoses” of vitamins, that taking unnaturally concentrated nutrients tends to disrupt and not enhance nutrition, is not the kind of knowledge that promotes vitamin sales. Even eating whole natural food constitutes a slight stress that requires internal adjustments to restore homeostatis. Why magnify this stress by consuming large quantities of concentrated nutrients? Nutrition is not a matter of violently battering, dosing, saturating or treating the body with nutrients. “Nutritional intensity” is not our objective. Our objective is to gently supply needs. Let the body establish its own blood levels of Vitamin C, calcium, etc. Eat a simple diet of whole natural foods with a preponderance of raw, succulent high-fiber foods. This will minimize the rate at which nutrients are introduced into the blood and thereby minimize what Dr. Alex Burton, a well-known Hygienic practitioner in Australia, refers to as “nutritional shock.” Why not make the process of appropriating nutrients as easy as possible for the body? Why not harmonize with the body’s internal processes instead of trying to thwart them?

We might also consider that when we consume isolated nutrients, we offset rations of various nutrients and that this constitutes an additional stress. It is known, for example, that the body requires ten times as much niacin as it does thiamine or riboflavin. Therefore, when we consume a large quantity of extracted thiamine,  we produce a relative deficiency of niacin. We should note that the proportion of various nutrients in natural foods parallels the body’s needs for different nutrients. Natural foods contain many times more niacin than thiamine, which is in keeping with the body’s needs.

Other important nutrient ratios include: sodium/potassium, calcium/phosphorus, iron/copper, Vitamin E/selenium, zinc/molybdenum and Vitamin C/bio-flavinoids. The proportion of these nutrients within natural foods accurately reflects the body’s needs; thus, the greatest synergy of nutrient utilization is achieved. The body requires many times more potassium than sodium, and this is exactly what we find in natural foods. Processed foods that are loaded with sodium disrupt the delicate balance between these two mineral elements that exists at the neuronal membrane, thereby impairing the function of the nerves. Diets that introduce excessive amounts of phosphorus into the system may produce a relative deficiency of calcium even though an adequate amount of calcium may be consumed. A deficiency of copper prevents a thorough utilization of iron.

The important point to realize is that nutrients are utilized in concert and that it is the total ensemble of the diet that determines the state of our nutrition. Consuming isolated nutrients is more likely to do harm than good. This is true even in relation to proteins and amino acids. It is now known that the body has a limited tolerance for sulphur-containing amino acids and that excesses can be very taxing on the liver. Plant proteins, which contain a lesser proportion of methionine and other sulphur-containing amino acids than do animal foods, are not only less burdensome on the liver but they more accurately supply the body with the proportion of amino acids that it was designed to process.

Understanding the physiology of nutrition will quickly dispel misconceptions that exist about the role of foods. One common misconception is that foods (or nutrients) have specific effects on different organs and tissues. “Vitamins for the hair” are a popular drugstore item, and glandular extracts that supposedly “feed” specific organs are peddled by practitioners of all the various so-called “schools of healing.”

If we consider that the cells obtain nourishment from the tissue fluid and that tissue fluid is a filtrate of the blood, then it should be obvious that all of the different organs and tissues are on a mono-diet of blood. The blood supplied to the kidney is virtually the same as the blood supplied to the big toe, which is identical to the blood supplied to the left elbow. The cells are capable of extracting from the tissue fluid (hence, the blood) nutrients in the proportion that they require, but all of the cells are fed from the same table. The differences that exist in the chemical composition of different tissues come about as a result of active processes of the cells themselves in selecting the nutrients that they require. It does not result from any assumed differences in their food supply. Therefore, eating fish because it is “brain food” or taking adrenal gland extract because “it has the exact proportion of nutrients required to rebuild the adrenal gland” flaunts ignorance of the most fundamental laws of physiology. Health food notions that “beet juice is good for the kidneys,” or “wheat grass juice cleans out the liver,” are equally as ridiculous. All a food or juice can possibly do is contribute to the blood nutrient pool. It can not have specific effects on specific organs. Remember also what was mentioned earlier, that the body constantly seeks to nullify any changes in its blood chemistry as the result of the ingestion of a meal. The rationale of “nutritional therapy” is as much a fantasy as the rationale of any other form of therapeutics. Foods do not act on the body. The body acts upon foods. Nutrients do not act on the body or perform roles within the body; they are used by the body. The body itself is the only active agent in nutrition.

Nutrition is an autonomic function, that is, it takes place below the conscious level. Just as digestion, absorption, circulation, glandular secretion and other autonomic functions take place without conscious perception or awareness, so also do the processes of nutrition (at a cellular level) occur without our direction or participation. Everyone will admit that stomach function will only produce symptoms when it is impaired. No one will deny that under ideal conditions we are totally unaware of the functions of our livers, intestines, etc. These are autonomic functions and they do not produce symptoms.

Nutrition is the same way. It is an autonomic function. Just as the digestion of food does not produce symptoms, the appropriation of nutrients, internally, should not produce symptoms. However, when digestion is disrupted symptoms arise and, likewise, when nutrition is disrupted symptoms arise. Russell Thacker Trail stated in 1871 that “Pure and perfect nutrition implies the assimilation of nutriment material to the structure of the body, without the least excitement, disturbance or impression of any kind that can be properly called stimulating.” Here is a profound statement to come from a man who lived over 100 years ago, before the explosion of knowledge about nutrition and biochemistry began at the turn of the century. Yet he realized then what few people realize today, that any specific effects that occur from the ingestion of foods or nutrients are the results of stress and irritation and are not the result of an enhancement of nutrition. If a person is manifesting the symptoms of a cold, and taking vitamin C aborts those symptoms, this effect can no more be regarded as nutritional than can the effects of taking aspirin. The vitamin C is having a pharmacological effect (that is, a drug effect), not a nutritional effect. If a woman has severe menstrual cramps and taking dolomite relieves her symptoms, it is foolish to think that a need for calcium has been satisfied. The calcium is exerting a pharmacological effect. Crude calcium was one of the first drugs used as an anesthetic in surgery because it impairs the conduction of nervous impulses and thereby reduces sensibility. To call this nutrition is a shame, a travesty, an outright lie. Any food or nutrient that “suddenly gives you pep,” “makes you feel warm all over,” “cures your headache,” “helps you sleep” or has any other specific effect should be avoided like the plague. It is obviously irritating, disrupting and enervating.

Lesson 6 - The Immense Wisdom And Providence Of The Body

6.1. What Constitutes Body Wisdom And Providence?

Introduction

The human body is possessed of an intelligence and order that is incomprehensible to our intellects. While many humans are vain and will not admit to an inability to know and understand, let’s face it—we are all finite in our capacities. We cannot comprehend the concept of infinity and we are mystified by many realities of existence.

From miseducation, ignorance, vanity and authoritarianism amongst our professionals flow arrogance and incorrect action that brutalizes those whom they profess to serve. From intellectual wisdom and understanding flow humility, kindness and other humane virtues. Wisdom recognizes our finite nature and admits to ignorance, an act of humility. Humility does not stifle the innate drive to seek knowledge. Rather, humility is born of a realization that spurs the quest for greater wisdom. True wisdom motivates us to continual exploration and improvement.

This lesson treats an area largely unexplored and uncharted. When we view the vastness of the incredible multitude of faculties possessed by the human body, we must stand in awe of the enormous intelligence displayed in each of the quadrillions of processes conducted within the body daily . We must stand in wonderment at the precision we observe. We cannot help but conclude that the body operates on principles that manifest the reign of law and order within the organic realm. We must observe that we are constituted on such an order as to comply in every act with the universal laws of existence.

We want to charge you with an overwhelming realization of the enormity of innate intelligence—of inherent body wisdom that exceeds by thousands of times the intellectual powers we arrogantly boast of. So vast is this innate intelligence that it is positively staggering. The immensity of inborn intelligence is not an easy subject to present. Very few studies touch upon this subject. However, we can delineate and point out some of the many manifestations of inherent body wisdom.

In this lesson, you will become aware of an internal providence that should be respected. So great are our body endowments that you should adopt this attitude: Never interfere with the vital domain. You cannot possibly help it—you can only harm it. All the knowledge and wisdom of civilization to date does not equal the intelligence exhibited by the operations of a single cell within the body! The best you can do is to order the external environment to make it more favorable for the organism. The only thing you can do for the body is to leave it intelligently alone! It knows what it is doing. You don’t!

6.1. What Constitutes Body Wisdom And Providence?

Providence is the ability to anticipate needs and provide for them. This providence may be instinctual, as in the case of the bear that stores tremendous amounts of fat in preparation for hibernation or the squirrel that stashes nuts, acorns and seeds, or it may be due to acquired wisdom, as in the case of humans who store foods during plenitude in preparation for the season of scarcity.

The body is always provident. All providence exhibits wisdom.

Reproduction of kind is providence. It is provision that the species shall survive. The complexities of reproductive provisions defy human inquiry and intellect in their profundity and detail.

Nutrition and elimination are provisions insuring that the organism survives. Likewise, the complexities and subtleties of these many provisions defy human inquiry and intellect, though compliance is easily accomplished.

The immensity of the wisdom exhibited in all things so staggers the human intellect that many often retreat into the comfort of some all-encompassing outlook that relieves them of the burden of inquiry, assessment and understanding.

As students of this course, you are undertaking to delve into life’s provisions sufficiently to ascertain a valid course for uplifting yourself and fellow beings to the uttermost possibilities.

Wisdom is really a difficult word to assess and define. It can be said to be all-knowing and all-understanding within a given sphere. Wisdom is at once the comprehension of a matter in both depth and breadth and an expertise or mastery that enables the possessor to pursue a correct course of action.

In pursuing this study, we must not confuse inherent wisdom or intelligence with intellect and acquired wisdom. The ability to think is a property of the conscious intellect. It involves wisdom and intelligence of a different order than the wisdom which is the subject of this lesson.

While there are books on body wisdom and its inherent programming, these books have little substance. This sphere of our existence is little explored, though the mechanisms of inherent wisdom have been charted extensively. What we can do here is to, by observation and deduction, invoke your realization of the colossal wisdom of the body.

Body wisdom comprises the multitude of faculties within the body that recognize, communicate and effectively respond. For example, if you bite into a luscious apple, the whole system is coursed with delight. If you bite into an apple that has been injected with a solution of caustic soda, you’ll immediately recognize the danger, begin spitting and sputtering and run for water to dilute and remove the deadly poison that contacted your mouth tissues. Rejection of toxic matters is just as natural as delighting in beneficent materials and influences.

6.1.1 Cell Wisdom and Providence

The wisdom of a single cell is said to exceed all the accumulated knowledge of the human race so far! Each cell is, quite literally, a city in itself. It is a self-contained organism. The membrane is like the wall around a great city. Within are numerous inhabitants, many of them enjoying an existence within the cell on the order as the cell enjoys within the body. These forms of life, called mitochondria, have independent metabolic systems and can thusly be said to operate symbiotically with the cell and in concert with each other. All the components of a cell act for their mutual welfare and for the welfare of the cell as the host organism.

If we marvel at the extensivness and complexity of the cell, then we must be even more astonished with the human body. The human body is said to possess 125 trillion cells, give or take a few trillion. (Some texts say there are 75 trillion and others say there are as many as 300 trillion cells in the human body.)

To say that the cell is a self-contained city in itself is no exaggeration. Cells vary in size from midgets to giants. But even the smallest cell is about one billion times the size of its smallest component! There are thousands of organelles within each cell. These are the cell’s life support system. Among these organelles are mitochondria which appear to be an independent form of life within the cellular context. Mitochondria are analogous to, or like, bacteria in their organization and functions.

A cell seems to be a city of specialized bacteria united into an organic unit to maintain a favorable environment and to more effectively secure the needs of existence.

Additional to its mitochondria, a cell has many organelles (functioning systems within their own membranes) that complement the mitochondria in making the cellular organism self-sufficient in its operations. Thus the cell, like the human body, requires only that its needs be supplied within the context of a favorable environment. Just as humans strive to create favorable environments for themselves, cells have long since ordered their environment by organizing into a super city known as a body. The human body can be said to be the super city.

The wisdom manifested in the faculties, organization and operations of a single cell stun the intellect. By observation we must admit that it is there and regard it with respect, even if we do not know or understand it.

6.1.2 Multicellular Intelligence and Intercellular Relationships

If wisdom characterizes the seemingly infinite faculties of the cell, then think of the wisdom that unites a hundred trillion of them into an organism! Think how great must be the wisdom that guides the destiny of each and every cell within the body complex.

Cells are organisms within themselves. They contain mitochondria which have the characteristics that would earn them the ascription of an organism, too! Thus, if the human body contains over a hundred trillion cells, and each cell contains a complement of mitochondria, then there must, in reality, be several quadrillion organisms within the human body. If a cell is a colony of sophisicated bacteria that have banded together for their mutual welfare, then the body may be said to be made up of sophisticated cells that have banded together for their mutual welfare.

Cells have allied themselves within a unit we call an organism to specialize in functions in complementary coordination for mutual good. If we hypothesize that bacteria have confederated and specialized in carrying on the functions that make the cell a self-contained functioning organism, then cells have likewise affiliated and specialized to better create an ideal environment and to secure the needs of life.

If we observe the life cycle of a tree, we must marvel at its tremendous intelligence. From an acorn that sprouts and slowly grows over the years into a stately oak, we see the unfolding of an intelligence that is beyond our knowledge and understanding. Within the genetic encoding of each and every cell of the acorn and the resulting tree is the knowledge, understanding and operational expertise to secure needs from environment, to fashion them precisely into its specific requirements, to utilize them and to eliminate the wastes.

In making alliances with other cells, a supra-cell coordinator is created to coordinate the activities of the cells. This is called the nervous system or brain in multicellular organisms.

6.1.3 Ascertaining the Intelligence of Physical Phenomena

What kind of intelligence does it require for the body to recognize food and secrete the correct enzymes for its digestion? What kind of intelligence is required to create the enzymes?

When we start asking questions exhaustively, we begin to discover the immeasurable wisdom and providence of every faculty of life.

Below is an excerpt from a physiology text. It is quoted merely to highlight certain body processes so that we might divine some of the body faculties and the intelligence they exhibit:

Often tissues of the body regress to a much smaller size than previously. For instance, this occurs in the uterus following pregnancy, in muscles during long periods of inactivity and in mammary glands at the end of the period of lactation. Lysosomes are probably responsible for much if not most of this regression, for one can show that the lysosomes become very active at this time. However, the mechanism by which the lack of activity in a tissue causes the lysosomes to increase their activity is completely unknown.

Another very special role of the lysosomes is the removal of damaged cells or damaged portions of cells from tissues-cells damaged by heat, cold, trauma, chemicals or any other factor. Damage to the cell causes lysosomes to rupture, and the released hydrolases begin immediately to digest the surrounding organic substances. If the damage is slight, only a portion of the cell will be removed, followed by repair of the cell. However, if the damage is severe, the entire cell will be digested, a process called autolysis. In this way the cell is completely removed and a new cell of the same type ordinarily is formed by mitotic reproduction of an adjacent cell to take the place of the old one.

What this really means is that body parts not in service atrophy and that it is believed that lysosomes are responsible for regression or atrophy. But, whether or not we divine the wisdom of loss of unused faculties, there is an intelligence that creates and regresses faculties involved in pregnancy, lactation and musculature.

In the paragraph that follows, we will study one way in which the body uses lysosomes for special purposes. As you may already know, lysosomes are powerful digestive enzymes the body creates, stores and uses. When a cell is to be scrapped, the old cell is autolysed (self-digested) and the remnants are passed off as wastes into the lymph and then into the bloodstream. The wastes may be recycled in part and excreted in part. The point here is that cells have their own “self-destruct” mechanisms in the form of lysosomes.

The processes described evince tremendous body intelligence in their performance. The vital domain does not tolerate unneeded baggage. Therefore, it disposes of the useless and the surplus to the extent it can. Cells that are crippled are either repaired or replaced. High-level function is the objective of the body. The welfare of the remaining cells decrees that they dispatch crippled cells if not repairable.

The body secretes lysosomes and uses them for special purposes. Let’s examine a boil or carbuncle. The little hole that extends from the body surface to the fleshy interior represents a real body disaster! But the purposes served decree the ravage that the body inflicts upon itself. When there is deadly toxic accumulation that threatens the integrity of the organism—when this toxic accumulation cannot otherwise be eliminated through regular channels of elimination—the body autolyzes a tube, hole, passage, duct or fistula-like opening to the surface. Perhaps a hundred million or so body cells will be destroyed by lysosomes. After the completion of the tube, the body collects the toxic material and forces it to the surface through the specially-created duct. There it is quarantined until drained or detoxified.

In fasting, for instance, lysosomes are utilized in destroying and digesting growths. The materials destroyed are utilized as food. These growths may be breast tumors, cancer cells, warts, cysts, etc.

The order of intelligence involved in sensing errant conditions, communicating them to the brain, assessing the reports, determining a course of action and responding with coordinated orders to all the body cells and systems involved to effect a result is beyond human comprehension. We can only intimate the vastness of the wisdom involved with our limited concepts and expressions.

This is just one of the many kinds of body wisdom that further fortifies the Life Science stricture: Leave the body intelligently alone.

6.1.4 The Brain as the Kingpin Behind the Human Show

For us to comprehend the magnitude of the brain’s dominion and the cooperation of each cell member of that dominion, we’d have to have an intellect infinitely more developed than it presently is. The limits of intellect leave too much that is “not clearly understood.”

In one of the articles used as text material in this lesson, it is pointed out that the body possesses some 125 trillion cells. Each cell consists of a multitude of organelles or life support systems that keep the cell functioning. This article points out that it is difficult for us to conceive a few thousand people getting together and cooperating harmoniously in all things. If that seems difficult, then imagine all the four billion individuals on earth acting in unison. But then, compared with the body, that is nothing! Can you imagine 36,000 earths, each with four billion inhabitants, acting in unison?

Only with such staggering thoughts as these is it possible to grasp some idea how infinite is the, knowledge, understanding and expertise of the human brain. It coordinates the activities of an astronomical number of cooperating cells. We emphasize the word cooperating because all cells are completely subservient to the brain, which, in turn, serves the whole organism. The brain exists as the controller of the body cells collectively. It serves the cells by providing them with needs they cannot obtain on their own.

Sometimes a cell may become “independent” in that its control mechanisms are affected and it either no longer possesses innate intelligence or can no longer focus its innate intelligence to cooperative endeavors. Such a cell becomes a parasite cell in that it draws from organic stores but is so “crazy” it cannot contribute to function. It is called a cancer cell. Its operations disrupt physiological harmony rather than contribute to it. A cancer cell is created by continual assault by toxic substances that eventually derange and destroy its encoded blueprints and intelligence. When such a cell exists, the brain will bring the residual powers of the organism to destroy the errant cell.

The brain, though the creature of its cellular constituents, is nevertheless supreme in the organism of which it is a part. The cells have created it as president to preside over and direct their affairs.

As the supreme faculty of the body, the brain is protected and served by its cell constituency preferentially. The brain thus is treated royally. It receives the best of everything; it is served and kept operational, even if this means the sacrifice of millions upon millions of cells. Thus, we can say the brain is the kingpin behind the human show.

6.2. Cell And Brain Programming

Each cell has a blueprint called genetic encoding. As a matter of fact, each mitochondrion within the cell has its own genetic material, too. This encoding enables the cell to reproduce itself faithfully. Further, it enables the cell to perform chemical, mechanical and electrical activities with exactness. The cell is a chemical factory performing more chemical feats than all the chemical factories in the world combined. Incredibly, it performs them within its membraneous confines, the volume of which is so small as to be undetectable to our eyesight.

The intelligence of a cell does not have to be learned. A new cell comes into existence just as experienced and knowledgeable as the cell that begot it. The intelligence is inherent and is automatically transmitted to progeny. The endless duplication of phono discs might be compared with cell replication. The programming is within.

The brain and central nervous system, likewise, are possessed of most of the knowledge, programming and expertise needed for operating an infinitely complex organism. The programming necessary to internal operations is automatically transmitted through reproduction of genetic codes in the developing organism. We marvel that the blueprint for the whole organism in all its incomprehensible number of faculties and functions exists within a fertilized ovum. Our stupefaction must be thorough when we realize that the microscopic fertilized ovum has all the instructions encoded that will create a grown “human being with 125 trillion cells. A perfectly developed and symmetrically formed organism of 125 trillion cells will result from the blueprint born of the union of sperm and ovum.

Everything about this organism is at all times perfect in faculties and functioning potential. It is faithful in every detail of the blueprint. It carries within all the accumulated experience and knowledge of billions of years of development. It will reliably produce a human being to the highest standard to which humans have developed. The perfect precision with which millions and trillions of formulas, processes and procedures are exactly transmitted and performed (some for just once in the whole life of the forming organism) is truly mind-boggling. (All this presumes no vitiating interference from toxicity or injury.)

We can throw up our hands and dismiss probing into such baffling complexities because of their irrelevance to the practical plans of human existence. Indeed, we can! We can live in bliss and never inquire once into our origins or the intricacies of our being. Humans lived happily unaffected lives in nature, just as animals, long before we plumbed the depths of our bodies and minds. Hence, we do not pursue this course to teach the profundities of the organism. You can procure books on physiology, biochemistry, cytology, anatomy and kindred subjects if you choose to do so. But that will add little to your effective knowledge of how to guide errant humans. That know-how is much simpler and easier, at least insofar as it involves learning.

Our objective is to imbue you with an awareness of the extensiveness of inborn intelligence and an understanding that it is to be trusted implicitly at all times and in all cases. Never be so presumptive or arrogant as to imagine that you can second-guess the body. Neither you nor anyone else can. While we can fathom the vast intelligence within, we cannot begin to substitute for it. We cannot help it a smidgeon. All that we do to the vital domain constitutes morbid interference.

The brain consists of fifty billion cells that are the most highly developed of any known. They have the potential to live for hundreds of years. They do not reproduce as do other body cells—they do not reproduce at all. But even the healthiest of us lose perhaps a hundred thousand of our brain cells daily. At this rate, it would take 150 years to lose 10% of our brain capacity. But humans often squander this precious heritage and become senile in their sixties, seventies and eighties, still in the relative youth of life’s potential, with loss of perhaps more than 50% of their cerebral matter.

On the conscious level, we are babes in the woods. While our intellects have been millions of years in developing, cell intelligence has been developing for billions of years, and our subconscious faculties have been hundreds of millions of years in development. Our infant intellects are at a stage where it can most appropriately be said that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” If the human race survives long enough, we may come to a general intellectual level consonant with Life Science ideals. We may all come to realize that our own well-being is indelibly bound in following nature’s mandates—in living in complete harmony with our fellow sojourners—in total non-exploitation of humans or of other creatures.

6.2.1 Wisdom and Precision of Body Processes

Some 100,000 different proteins are synthesized within the body. The blueprints or formulas for these proteins exist within almost every cell. The exact procedures involved for making these proteins most efficiently are a part of cell encoding or programming.

Likewise, the cells have a wealth of abilities—to store and use all the raw materials they need, to create the compounds they need and will need, to create the energy they need, to create and apply the energy commanded of them in behalf of the organism—the multitude of capabilities of the cell overwhelm the intellect. It is said that if all the processes and capabilities of the cell were to be taken over by a computer, a computer of the dimensions of New York City could not cope with them.

A cell might better be likened to a self-contained universe rather than a self-contained city.

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is the source of energy for most cell functions. Most ATP is created by the specialized organelles called mitochondria. Mitochondria create this complicated molecule, ATP, which “fires” when given a proper signal. When the ATP is used, the resulting spent molecule is recycled or “reloaded” for reuse. The know-how, providence and expertise involved in these chemical processes stagger the imagination.

6.2.2 Cognitive Faculties

At every level of its being, the body has highly-developed sensors that can readily recognize that which is good, bad or indifferent. All our senses coalesce to recognize foods, dangers, pleasurable and enticing situations, unpleasurable and repulsive situations, and so on.

Externally, our conscious faculties and intellect fulfill sensory and cognitive roles. Within the vital domain there are millions upon millions of specialized faculties for sensing the electro-chemical-mechanical nature of everything that enters.

Nerves translate all sensory data into electrical impulses and transmit them to the brain for a coordinated and purposive response that will effectively deal with the situation.

To provide an example, let us propose that many cells are short of an amino acid needed to synthesize a crucial protein requirement. This need is communicated to the brain, which relays a message to cells for inventories of surplus amino acids. Those required for deamination and reamination into the needed amino acids are directed to the liver, where deamination is conducted and the new amino acid is synthesized. The order of intelligence that can perform these immensely complex inventory and chemical activities makes our intellects, as marvelous as they are, look rather miniscule by comparison.

6.2.3 The Body Communications System

The body has some 50 billion brain cells. It has billions of nerve cells involved in message transmission. Messages travel within and around the body with the speed of electricity—nerve transmissions are almost all electrical. There are chemical communications within the body as well.

If we viewed a city like New York with eight million inhabitants, millions of telephones, hundreds of exchanges and thousands of switchboards, we can only begin to understand how intricate and complex are the body communications systems. The body has a communications system that serves at one time the equivalent of 36,000 earths, each earth having over four billion residents! Each of those inhabitants has a telephone.

If you knew what was involved in turning over during the night during sleep, you’d be astonished. An area of the body involving countless billions of cells becomes cramped or distressed in some way. An urgent request goes to the brain—rather, the brain has been monitoring the situation all along. But movement is not initiated as long as matters remain within certain parameters. When the situation threatens the integrity of certain areas, the brain, entirely beneath the level of wakefulness, will mobilize trillions of cells that comprise hundreds of muscle systems and effect a shift of body weight to a more comfortable position.

6.2.4 The Body’s Master Coordinator

We have commented upon the brain as the kingpin in all body operations. The brain is the supreme creation that trillions of cooperating cells have devised to serve them as a master communications and coordinations center. The brain has been developed to administer the many needs within. As well, the brain has been developed to aid the organism to deal with the external world on its own terms.

The thoughts we have on a conscious level are marvels when viewed from one aspect. But our intellects are hardly capable of conducting more than one line of thought at a time. In comparison, the brain conducts millions of processes simultaneously beneath the level of awareness! This service never ceases, going on every second for our entire lifetime. The busyness of the brain in serving the equivalent of 36,000 earths with four billion inhabitants each is unimaginable. We can only hint at it.

For example, one of the brain’s responsibilities is overseeing the maintenance and circulation of the blood—among a few million other things. And speaking of a few million things, while you read this sentence your body has created 10,000,000 new blood cells! That is, it creates ten million blood cells per second! The body has some 25 trillion blood cells, and their average life expectancy is only about thirty days. Blood maintenance and circulation have unimaginable intelligence behind them.

The luxury of abstract thought is possessed by only a few creatures on earth. Some races of humans, notably the negrillo or pigmy, are said to be incapable of mastering abstractions. Yet there are other creatures, most notably whales, dolphins (porpoises) and elephants, who may be able to think in abstractions. Perhaps even dogs and wolves are capable of abstract thought. We don’t really know much about the subject. Certainly no other creatures approach the capacities of humans for abstract thought.

The brain is absolute master of all the cells within its domain. Yet it is totally subservient to its cells and is very responsive to their needs. But the organic order of the body system is such that the brain is at the very apex in importance. While the brain was the last development of the human organism, it is the first in importance. Every cell, tissue and organ system other than the heart are slowly sacrificed, in critical periods such as starvation, that the brain might survive. When the brain can no longer survive, death occurs.

The brain is the prime instrument in establishing, supplying and maintaining the needs and stable environment of the trillions of cells. Each cell has yet other organisms that thrive within its internal environment called mitochondria. The brain exists for every cell in the body and, in turn, the brain’s welfare is dependent upon the well-being of the cellular system it serves.

6.3. Knowledge, Expertise And Resources For Healing Processes

Can anyone doubt, after a study of the countless control mechanisms within the body, after observing what happens with predictable reliability when cuts, broken bones and other injuries are suffered, that the body is completely self-repairing?

Can anyone not see that the body has vast resources, that it is completely self-sufficient and that it is fully capable of coping with internal exigencies that beset it to the exclusion of all other agencies?

Can anyone of average intelligence not see that any intrusion upon the vital domain is grossly wrong? That it obstructs and interferes with processes revealing far more wisdom and expertise than we can ever hope to master?

Can anyone doubt that all body action is intelligent, purposeful action?

Can anyone doubt that symptoms of sickness evince body action in purifying and healing itself? Can anyone doubt that, in conducting disease processes, the body is manifesting wisdom and physiologically correct remedial activities?

Can anyone doubt that an organism with the power to develop itself into a superb human being from a fertilized ovum is less than capable of managing its internal affairs?

Can any person presume a knowledge of internal needs better than the body itself?

It is very unwise, even dangerous, for anyone to presume an ability or knowledge superior to that of the body. Leave the body intelligently alone!

6.3.1 Body Actions Always Are Right Actions

It has been said in jest that “we are our own worst enemies.” The facade of a joke often conceals an element of truth.

What humans often do relative to their bodies reminds me of a story. Two husky men were going down the street. They observed a huge piano apparently stuck in a doorway and two workmen inside trying to move it. They offered their help and started struggling to get the piano into the house while the two workmen inside struggled also. After about half an hour of fruitless efforts, one of the workmen inside yelled for a break so they could get their heads together on this thing. Upon convening, one workman commented that he’d never had such great diffculty in getting a piano out of a house before.

“Getting it out of the house?” asked one of the volunteers. “We been trying to help you get it into the house.”

When we deem our intellects superior to the obvious demands of the body in a crisis, we exhibit gross ignorance. The only way to help the body is to cooperate with it, to meet its needs in accord with its condition. That is the only wise thing to do. This means “leave the body intelligently alone” to do its thing in full confidence that all body action is right action.

6.3.2 Intervention of Intellect in Body Affairs

If you hold your breath or force yourself to breathe in a manner that is contrary to normal breathing, you are interfering in a vital body process. Not many people hold their breaths long nor perform forced breathing (often called deep breathing) such that they underventilate or hyperventilate their bodies and beget hallucinations and acapna.

The body is the best arbiter of its needs. It is autonomous and operates from a cumulative fount of wisdom that we can never hope to emulate.

Often the body will make its demands upon us in some gentle manner, such as in thirst, sleepiness, hunger, etc. But when we figure that wine, beer or soda pop are just fine as ways to satisfy thirst, we are imposing upon the body a health-sapping burden. The body demanded water, and only water, in thirst. To supply it with anything other than water is a mistake.

At some time in our past the current superstition about diseases began. The present idea about disease is the result of a gradual evolution from the ideas of evil spirits and demons. The people who held these ideas admitted that they were wrong by the fact that they changed their minds and replaced them with new ideas. However, the new ideas have the same roots as the old ideas and are, therefore, equally wrong.

The misconception that still prevails in matters of sickness or disease is that the body is being attacked. The misconception further holds that the attacker or attackers must be counterattacked and routed from the body. Under this misconception many people have been harmed (by drugs). Death occurs in some cases. In fact, when physicians go on strike, the death rate usually plummets by 50 to 60%!

One of the prime dicta of the Hygienic philosophy is noninterference in the body. Each cell of the body possesses more knowledge and expertise than the whole of the human race collectively on the conscious level. Our voodooistic rituals with drugs are based on conjectures about what the body should be doing or what it needs when ill.

It bears repeating that sickness is vital body action. It is right action. The body initiates and conducts the disease process to accomplish physiological objectives. To mistake that action as an attack by an invader that must be routed is disastrous in practice.

Refrain always from second-guessing the body—what it needs or what should be done. We’ll repeat over and over: “Leave the body intelligently alone.” Establish the external conditions of health based on the body’s capabilities of the moment and that’s all. That is a simple enough dictum to follow.

6.3.3 Building Confidence in Inherent Faculties

This lesson cannot pinpoint body wisdom any more than have our many researchers and thinkers. We know its there and we perceive how extensive it is when we explore it. But, by and large, most of our population is unaware of their bodies’ tremendous faculties. They violate the laws of their being and then seek “help” when problems arise.

Not only must you build your confidence in the unfailing powers of the organism, but you must establish this confidence in your clients. There are many approaches to accomplishing this. Methods that make a deep impression are to be preferred. Among the educational aids Life Science is developing are graphic presentations depicting the incredible powers within.

When the resources and powers of the body fail to restore health under favorable conditions, then the condition is irremediable. Life Science is the court of last resort for many who have tried everything but healthful living. Many turn too late—they’re already over the hill.

Everyone can benefit by the employment of healthful practices within the context of their condition. As a professional, you cannot promise miracles but you can say truthfully that the methods you propose are the only factors that will enable the body to rebuild health.

6.3.4 A Medical Assessment Of Body Wisdom

Dr. David Reuben, M.D., has authored two best-selling books. One, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition, contains much erroneous guidance. But it also shatters many commercially-fostered myths in the field of foods, feeding and nutrition.

The following quote from the book illustrates the body’s needs and powers:

Look at it this way. A plain old apple contains 191 known chemical compounds, each of which plays an important role in human nutrition. When you eat that apple, over 1,300 chemical reactions occur to break it down into its component molecules. Those molecules are then dispatched to exactly the areas of the body where they are required. The pectin goes to the large intestine, the vitamin C is sent to the skin, the vitamin A goes to the retinal area of the eyes, and so on times 191. You don’t make it happen because you don’t even know it’s happening. There are 160,000 edible plants on this earth—you didn’t put any of them there. But most of them help keep you alive. Your digestive system was designed by God—not by you, not by IBM and not by a government agency. It can take almost any animal that walks by or any plant that springs up in an empty field and convert it into brain, bone, heart, muscle and energy to keep you alive. Even the most arrogant and self-important “scientist” must admit that a Being far wiser than any human must have devised and implemented that will-uncomprehended nutritional system.

So don’t think that the people who make instant breakfasts or imitation orange juice or yucky white imitation bread have the slightest idea what your body needs. That applies as well to those who turn out vitamin pills and nutritional supplements. Those fumbling human brains cannot improve on the Master Design that brought you here and allows you to survive from day to day.

6.3.5 Law and Order Reign Within the Body

Pick up any book on physiology, nutrition, biology, cytology, biochemistry, anatomy and related sciences. Each attests to the multitude of activities the body conducts. Each bespeaks the orderliness and precision with which the activities are conducted; each witnesses the enormous wisdom—the vast know-how and expertise posessed within; each tells of the multitude of faculties and resources within the body.

However, for a person who elects to make a practical application of the world’s most needed expertise, a pursuit of esoteric knowledge would be luxurious entertainment. Most of it is meaningless, for we cannot change nature. It does not need to be changed. We can always rely on it. The multitudinous processes and relationships proclaim the unalterable reign of law and order within. All body wisdom is based soundly upon the immutable physical relationships of matter. Entitative existence depends entirely upon fixed principles and undeviating physical relationships. Bodily survival depends upon taking charge of and utilizing needed natural substances in accord with invariable laws.

The order of intelligence evinced in the mastery of nature’s forces dwarfs our intellects beyond our ability to comprehend. The best we can do is bend our knees in awe and acknowledge our inner wisdom and resources as our master. We must make our intellects totally subservient to our bodily wisdom. Our intellects will thrive ever more if we learn to cooperate with our inner wisdom.

By teaming up with your body intelligence in all matters, you can become a winner in the game of life. You can help others become winners in the game of life, too!

6.4. Programming The Intellect For Exuberant Well-Being

By now you are no doubt persuaded that the body is constructed for perfect operations.

The body is a perfect instrument within the environment of its adaptation when its needs are correctly furnished. Because intellect often misinterprets body processes and actually contravenes its needs—because cumulative institutionalized errors regard the body and its needs incorrectly, much suffering and disease prevail today.

Learn to trust the body implicitly. Learn how to properly supply it and know that it will perform correctly whether in struggle or great health. Struggle is occasioned when the body is incorrectly supplied or interfered with. Lacing our bodies with toxic fare, miscalled food and drink, is incorrect supply, and the administration of drugs, treatments and anti-vital modalities constitutes gross interference.

From wrong intellectual programming flows errors that undermine and destroy health.

The purpose of this course is to present you with ready-made programming you can employ in helping your clients reprogram themselves so that they may enjoy wonderful health.

Clients will seek you out because they want to free themselves of nagging problems and suffering. They are not necessarily looking to change their habits or programming—they want to be made well within the context of their status quo—most are fixed in their habits (programming) and resist changing their ways. Even if they wanted to, most are in situations that do not make breaking habits an easy matter.

To break bad habits, it is wise to take an individual out of the mold in which the habits were forged and indulged and place that person for awhile in an environment where only good habits can be followed. Within a directed or controlled environment, all the experiences are usually pleasant—even happy, memorable occasions. Those who are fasting or living within the atmosphere of a health retreat improve themselves, enjoy fellow guests and enjoy body rest. Frequently they are in a heady state. Tensions that ordinarily beset them within conventional society are relaxed and often nonexistent.

Within the context of a euphoric paradise, clients improve rapidly. Their intellects are largely reprogrammed in support of an inner drive to continue the benefits and happiness realized.

More healthful living has been inspired in Americans at health retreats than any other single way. The great value in establishing a controlled and ideally directed environment for health seekers is thus evident. Nothing reprograms the mind so quickly or so well as living and doing in rapport with others going in the same direction.

6.5. Questions & Answers

If the body has the wisdom you say, then why should it ever get sick?

The body becomes sick because of its wisdom. You must not look upon sickness as a punishment or as a stupid thing. The body always strives to the highest level of well-being as possible. If it becomes loaded with toxic substances due to whatever reason, it requires a lot of wisdom to withdraw energies from many normal channels, redirect it to purification processes and accomplish expulsion of morbid matters. If the intellect insists on unhealthful habits, including stuffing on pathogenic substances, what would happen if the body were equally unwise? Morbid matters would collect until sufficiently concentrated to dispatch the organism.

Isn’t the cell the smallest unit of human life? You have said there are yet smaller forms inside the cell. Please comment on this.

There are other inhabitants within a cell. These are called mitochondria. Each mitochondrion fulfills the qualities of life, i.e., it has its own metabolism, nucleus, genetic material (DNA) and so on. Just as the atom becomes complicated with protons, mesons, electrons and neutrons and becomes even more complicated when formed into molecules, so too, the human body seems to be at least a three-step organization with mitochondria, cells and, finally, the organic whole.

How can you say that everything the body knows is already programmed into the fertilized ovum? Wouldn’t you say a minor detail like 1,500 miles of specialized tubing called blood vessels in our bodies is the result of a far greater wisdom and power than could possibly be blueprinted on a pinhead?

It is as easy to say things one way as the other. Both truth and misconceptions can be reduced to words. However, intellectual honesty bids me to say that what we observe is evidence only of itself. In the matter of reproduction we observe the microscopic fertilized ovum carrying within all the blueprints needed to create a perfectly functioning adult with millions of times more faculties than just the 1,500 miles of circulatory tubing.

Thank you for bringing to our attention an additional aspect of the body’s really immense programming and how that programming is so readily reproducible. Because we cannot understand how the complexity of a human organism can be blueprinted into a fertilized ovum does not mean it is not there. It merely pinpoints another facet of how limited are our intellects. We can see the unfoldment of this blueprint in all its detail as it develops a human being. We cannot see any other agency involved nor can we logically infer it.

You have intimated that the body has infinite intelligence. Is this really the case?

No. The body has very finite intelligence, and that wisdom relates to internal and external matters only to the extent that it must alter its operations of the moment to maintain equilibrium or an ideal internal environment. Relative to our intellect, internal wisdom is infinite in my portrayal only because it is so much more vast, relatively. I would also impress you with this: Despite its imperfections, we must marvel that we have the luxury of the intellect. Intellectual faculties are at the very apex of body intelligence. That they have been vitiated and misdirected does not detract from them.

You’ve said that bacteria have been around for billions of years and that they have evolved to being part of the human body. Aren’t you assuming Darwin’s theory is scientific?

I know of the great controversies of our day on creationism versus evolution. Darwin’s theory is that life forms evolved and developed. This is out of the class of being a theory in view of the many types of plant and animal life humans have developed by guided breeding. Recognizing that development can be guided is also to recognize that it can happen without guidance from the human intellect.

What do you have to support your statement that the death rate goes down 50% to 60% when doctors go on strike?

There were two physicians’ strikes in Israel, one in Holland, one in Belgium, one in Canada and several in the U.S.A. In every case the death rate went down sharply. You have our book, The Myth of Medicine. Why not take time out and read it. You’ll find substantiation in its pages.

How are we going to get people to fast if that is the only way to help them.

Clients will seek you out because they are looking for benefits. Fasting is but one condition under which great benefit can be derived. If the client really needs a fast, it is a procedure to be outlined to him/her in honest terms with the benefits that always accrue correctly portrayed. Not all clients who should fast will do that, but that is their responsibility. You will have done your duty to your client by introducing them to the solution to their problems and by making your best effort to present that solution as a simple, easy and desirable way to go.

Article #1: The Great Power Within You by T.C. Fry

The following is based on the writings of the great Natural Hygienist, health educator and true Life Scientist, Dr. Herbert M. Shelton.

Living organisms are fully self-sufficient and self-governing entities. Supplied appropriately with the needs of life, they thrive in perfect health, completely free of disease.

From conception all living organisms are endowed with a built-in program for a full, fruitful and joyous life.

Living organisms are self-programmed to meet all life’s needs within environments of their adaptation.

All living organisms are self-directing, self-constructing, self-defending, self-preserving, self-maintaining and, in the event of injury or illness, self-repairing or self-healing.

The healing principle is always in the living system itself.

The only power that can heal is the power that repairs; the only power that can repair is that power that produces; the power that now produces is the power that originally and always produced. The power that constructs a full-grown individual from a fertilized ovum is the only healing power!

Healing is, therefore, a continuous, unceasing and exclusively intrinsic power of every organism.

The power that produces an organism and keeps it alive and functioning is the only power capable of governing, maintaining and healing it.

Mastering and relying upon this great power within will yield a life of bliss and goodness with complete freedom from ailments and suffering.

The simple, self-evident truth enunciated in this article embodies a long train of guiding principles that can enable you to avert miseries, woes and suffering.

Knowing your tremendous inner capabilities frees you of many burdensome illusions and provides a key to true life enhancement.

Recognizing the truth and implications of this lesson’s text is the basis upon which you can immeasurably improve your life and its circumstances.

Recognizing the fundamental truth outlined herein sets the stage for fulfilling the obligation you have to yourself and fellow beings, that of reorienting and reprogramming yourself for superlative well-being.

The Need For Reprogramming yourself

Standing in the way of total well-being for all too many who otherwise have the knowledge, the understanding and the dedication to achieve their highest potential are many ingrained bad habits, physiological addictions and erroneous concepts.

“Tis better to be ignorant than to know so much that isn’t so.”

Humans are creatures of habits. Habits are conditioned responses which we rely upon for personal efficiency. We spend many years from infanthood on learning responses to many thousands of situations and circumstances.

With set response patterns we do not have to go through time-loss and trouble in solving problems anew every time we face them—we humans solve our problems once and for all and adopt the solutions as fixed and automatic responses known as habits. When situations reoccur, we unconsciously employ our habit patterns.

That many of these habits amount to error fixation and that our accommodations to many of these habits amount to life-destroying perversions gives rise to the need to reprogram ourselves.

Most of our habits are learned from people who learned from others back into the murky reaches of time. Habits are always adapted and employed in accord with our own peculiar abilities.

Likewise, we learn most of our concepts and misconcepts from others and adopt them in the shape or fashion our individual peculiarities dictate.

Habits are wonderful, for they are the foundation upon which our advanced human attainments have been built. As the most programmable beings in existence, we have more “conditioned responses” to carry us through more and greater complexities than other creatures in existence. By and large, our habits are constructive and get us along in this world remarkably well.

On the other hand, there are many “klunkers” in our personal armentarium that sabotage our well-being.

Thus it follows that we can perform no better than the limitations of our self-programming. Our programming is at the same time our boon and our bane. To the extent that it guides us correctly, it is a boon. Insofar as it locks us into wrong conceptual frameworks, perverted outlooks, unwholesome practices, vitiated and antisocial dispositions and many other self-defeating characteristics, programming is a bar to our well-being.

It is unfortunate that most or all of us are incorrectly attuned to a greater or lesser extent in many of our life programs.

But we are fortunate in that we, like computers, can be reprogrammed for better performance and more rewarding results.

If you want to capitalize upon the colossal potential within yourself, then you must reprogram yourself.

Reprogramming yourself is difficult because you will be burdened heavily by the weight of previous conditioning and the drives, good, bad and indifferent, which initiate and impel your activities.

You’ll have to dispel a lot of myths and superstitions which infest your concepts and burden your thinking processes. What you take for granted is difficult to overcome. But you must and can do so.

To reprogram yourself for a better life on a higher plane of existence, the first order of business is to admit to yourself that you could harbor a lot of beliefs and practices that are responsible for your and your fellow beings’ generally poor condition and overall suffering.

We all know mental anguish and frustrations. These will flow from lives not led in accord with the course our innate nature decrees.

You can reprogram yourself to understand and practice the course you must follow. You can avoid those pitfalls that hamper you from assuming the position on the pedestal that all humans should occupy.

How To Reprogram Yourself For Superlative Well-Being

Following are the steps necessary for the ordinary person to become a Life Scientist, that is, to become an individual who conducts his or her life activities in accord with the dictates of the human biological heritage:

1. You must come to an awareness or knowledge that all is not right in this world of ours, or even with yourself. While almost everyone is self-satisfied that he or she has the answers to life’s and society’s great vexations, the generally deteriorating condition of almost everyone seems to be self-evidence against such smugness. Therefore, you must be willing to admit to holding many erroneous notions. We do not perceive our errors and often reject the truth when faced with it, but we must, first, cultivate an open, receptive mind.
2. You must seek knowledge and understanding with open arms. That you are reading this is in your favor. In seeking knowledge with the perspective of understanding, that is, wisdom, you’ll be dependent upon your ability to master ideas and concepts.
3. You must seek knowledge, nonetheless, if you want to better your life situation. It is essential for correct reorientation. The fundamental principles, if applied on an individual and social scale, will salvage humanity from its depravity.
4. You must master an insight and understanding of what you learn—in your cosmogony you must fit all the parts and pieces of your knowledge such that you have perspective; it all must make good sense.
5. You must become the absolute master of your personal activities and circumstances. You must be willing, to the extent need dictates, to snap all ties with existing habits, intellectual stances and practices, no matter how deeply imbedded or how dear to you they may be.
6. You must be willing to end all fealty to anything that you believe, if need be. Keep in mind that the use of the word believe is a confession of ignorance, for it is not necessary to believe that which you know. To insist upon what you merely believe, may be insisting upon ignorance and misconception. Face up to the fact that many of your beliefs may be nothing more than myths and popularly-accepted superstitions that hamstring you.
7. You must be willing to change your circumstances, if necessary, to effect self-reprogramming and to follow a correct life style.
8. You must undertake and study the conditions of health and well-being. Your greatest task is not the one of learning so much as unburdening yourself of a lot of burdensome intellectual baggage.
9. You must undertake to observe in your practices that which the truths you learn dictate.

Article #2: Life’s Engineering by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

The greatest engineering feat of which we know anything is the building of a complex animal organism from a microscopic ovum. Think, for instance, of the marvels of the human body with its pulleys and levers to perform mechanical work, its channels for distribution of food and drainage of sewage and its means of regulating its temperature and adapting its actions and functions to its varied environments and needs. Its nervous system and the eyes, ears, etc. are constant sources of wonder. We regard the radio as a wonderful invention, as indeed it is, but we are all equipped with more wonderful “sending” and “receiving” sets than any radio manufacturer will ever produce. All human inventions have their protypes in the animal body.

In studying the wonders of the body, its structures, functions, development, growth and its varied powers and capacities, it is well to keep in mind that the building and preservation of all these things is from within. The power, force or intelligence that evolves the adult body from the fertilized ovum is in the body, is part of it and is in constant and unceasing control of all its activities. Whether it is an intelligent power or a blind energy, it works determinately toward the latest results in complexity of structure and function. In development and maintenance, and in health and disease, the movements of life appear to be guided by intelligence more often than the conscious intelligence of man. Indeed, unless we grant that something can come out of nothing, that intelligence can come out of that which has no intelligence, we must believe that the conscious intelligence of man is a subordinate part of that broader intelligence that evolves his body and which inheres in it.

If we view a few of the engineering feats performed by the body in cases of injury and disease, we are forcibly struck with the truth of Sylvester Graham’s remark: “In all these operations the organic instincts act determinately, and, as it were, rationally, with reference to a final cause of good, viz., the removal of the offending cause.” Some of these wonderful feats have been presented to you in previous chapters. We will here present a few of a different class.

To begin with, let us consider the natural healing of a wound, scratch or broken skin. We have become so accustomed to this familiar phenomenon that we have come to regard it as an almost mechanical process. But a close examination of the process shows us the presence of that same marvelous intelligence that built the body from a tiny microscopic speck of protoplasm to its present state.

Whenever the skin is broken or cut there is an exudation of blood which coagulates and forms an airtight scab. This scab serves as a protection to the wound and remains for a shorter or longer time as is needed.

Underneath this scab a wonderful thing occurs. Blood is rushed to the injured part in large quantities. The tissues, nerve and muscle cells, etc. on each side of the wound start multiplying rapidly and build a “cell-bridge” across the gap until the severed edges of the wound are reunited. But this is no mere haphazard process. Everywhere is apparent the presence of directing law and order. The newly-formed cells of the blood vessels unite with their brothers on the other side so that, in an orderly and evenly manner, the channels of circulation are re-established. In this same lawful and orderly manner the connective tissues reunite. Skillfully, and just as a lineman repairs a telegraph system, do the nerve cells repair their broken line. Muscles and other tissues are repaired in a similar manner. And what is a wonderfully marvelous fact to observe, no mistakes are made in this connective tissue, but each tissue connects with its kind.

After the wound is healed, when a new skin has been formed so that there is no longer any need for the protecting scab, nature proceeds to undermine and get rid of it. As long as the scab was useful it was firmly attached to the skin so that it was not easy to pull it off, but when there was no longer need for it, it was undermined so that it fell off of its own weight.

What more evidence than this does one require to know that the same intelligent power that built our bodies is also the power that heals it? What better evidence do we want that the healing process is accomplished in the same orderly manner and by means of the same functions with which the body is built, maintained and modified to meet its present needs.

We get a still more wonderful view of how nature performs her work if we observe the healing of a fractured or broken bone. If an arm or leg be broken, this same marvelous intelligence that has brought us from ovum to adulthood immediately sets about to repair the damage done. A liquid substance is secreted and deposited over the entire surface of the bone in each direction from the point of fracture. This section quickly hardens into a bone-like substance and is firmly attached to the two sections of the bone. Until nature can repair the damage, this “bone ring” forms the chief support whereby the limb can be used. By the same process of cell multiplication which we saw in the healing of the wound, the ends of the bone are reunited. The circulatory channels are re-established through the part. It is then that the “bone ring” support is softened and absorbed, except about an eighth to a quarter of an inch about the point of fracture.

If you strike your finger with a hammer, a very painful bruise is the result. There is an effusion of blood under the surface, with inflammation and discoloration. The tissues are mangled, the cells are broken and many of them are killed. But does the thumb always remain so? No. As time passes, new tissues are formed to replace the dead ones and the dead blood and tissue cells are carried away by the bloodstream. The inflammation subsides, the pain ceases and the bruise is healed and soon forgotten. Thus again is manifested the marvelous intelligence of the power that superintends the workshop which we call our body. Once again we watch its work and see its marvelous efficiency as a workman.

A similar manifestation of the body’s self-healing, self-adjusting and self-repairing powers is seen in the common accident whereby a sliver becomes embedded in the flesh. If it is not removed immediately, nature, or vital force, does a skillful little piece of engineering and removes it for us. Pain and inflammation are soon followed by the formation of pus, which breaks down the tissues, towards the surface of the body. Gradually increasing in amount, the pus finally breaks through the overlying skin and runs out, carrying the sliver along as a souvenir.

A remarkable engineering feat is presented to us in abscess formations. Ordinarily the abscess is limited by a thick protective wall of granulation tissue which prevents the abscess from spreading and prevents rapid escape of the pus into the circulation.

In appendicitis the loops of the bowels around the appendix form friendly adhesions. They adhere together and form a strong wall against further spread of the trouble. Within this enclosure the abscesses form. The line of least resistance normally is into the bowels so that practically every case, if not interfered with by meddlesome doctors, will rupture into the bowels and the pus will pass out with the stools.

Where the ice bag is employed for one or two days prior to the usual operations, there is a noticeable lack of effort on the part of nature to wall off the appendix from the rest of the abdominal cavity. However, where the ice bag has not been employed, a distinct walling off of the acutely inflamed and gangrenous appendix from the general peritoneal cavity is found. So greatly does the ice bag interfere with the curative and protective operations of nature that one of the leading abdominal surgeons of this country declares: “I have entirely discarded the use of the ice bag, and in cases brought to me in which it has been used, I always announce beforehand that I expect to find a gangrenous appendix and am seldom surprised. Clearly the ice bag should never be used in cases of actual or suspected appendicitis.” Nature can do her own work in her own way, and all our so-called aiding of nature amounts to is nothing more than meddlesome and pernicious interference.

Acute inflammation of the liver usually terminates in resolution, but sometimes it terminates in suppuration with abscess formation. This is more apt to be the case in hot climates. The amount of matter discharged from an abscess of the liver is sometimes enormous, and it is wonderful to see in what ways nature operates in getting rid of it.

There are several channels through which the pus may be sent out of the system. The inflammation may extend upward until an adhesion to the diaphragm is accomplished. A dense wall of scar tissue is first formed around the abscess. The abscess then extends through the diaphragm to the lungs, which become adherent to the diaphragm. Liver, diaphragm and lungs form one solid piece. A tight union of these organs prevents the pus from pouring into the peritoneal or pleural cavities. A hole is eaten through the lung and the pus is poured into a bronchial tube and is coughed up, emptying the abscess and leaving a clean hole. The wall of scar tissue thrown up around the path of the abscess grows stronger and contracts until, finally, only the scar remains, it having closed the hole, and the patient is well.

The abscess may be directed downward or to the side of the liver. In such a case the process is the same except the liver becomes united to the stomach, the intestines or the walls of the abdomen by adhesions produced by inflammation. If it adheres to the stomach or intestine, the abscess will perforate into these and the pus will pass out in the stools. If it becomes adherent to the wall of the abdomen, the abscess will “come to a head” under the skin and the pus will be discharged on the surface of the body. In either case cicatrization follows and the patient is well. In some cases the abscess discharges into the gallbladder and passes from there into the intestine. It has also been known to “point” on the back.

It sometimes happens in weak individuals that nature is not able to make proper connections along the line of march and the pus ends up in the pleural cavity, resulting in empyema, or in the abdominal cavity, where it results in peritonitis and, usually, death.

Another daring engineering feat is often accomplished by nature in the case of gallstones that are too large to pass through the bile duct directly into the small intestine. She frequently causes the gallbladder to adhere, by means of inflammation, to the wall of the intestine. An ulcer forms, making a hole through both the wall of the gallbladder and the wall of the intestine. The stone slips through into the intestine and passes out with the stools. The hole heals up and all is well again. In other cases the stone may be sent out through the abdominal wall and skin, on the outside of the body.

An unusual piece of engineering which shows, in a remarkable manner, the ingenuity of nature in her efforts at prolonging life in spite of every obstacle, is recorded by J. F. Baldwin, A.M., M.D., F.A.C.S., in a surgical paper dealing with blood transfusions. He performed an operation on a middle-aged woman who had been having frequent hemorrhages from her bowels for several years. He says:

At the operation I removed a snarl of small bowel, making the usual anastamosis. Examination of this snarl showed that there had been an intestinal obstruction, but nature had overcome it by ulceration between adherent loops of the bowel above and below the obstruction. The ulcer persisted, however, and it was its persistent bleeding that caused her anemia. She made an excellent recovery and got fat and hearty.

It looks like a real intelligence at work when nature causes two folds of the bowels to adhere together and then ulcerates through them in order to make a passage around an obstruction. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the ulcer would have healed, leaving a passage, and the bleeding stopped, had the opportunity been afforded it. Nature probably cried out day after day in unmistakable language for the cessation of feeding long enough for her to complete her engineering feat. But this was never given her. The ulcerated surface was kept constantly irritated with food, and drugs as well.

Abscesses everywhere in the body are limited and walled off by the formation of a thick wall of granulation tissue. Gangrene is also walled off in the same manner. The necrosed portion then sloughs off; nature grows new tissue to take the place of the destroyed tissue and the place is healed.

Encapsulation is the process of surrounding a body or substance with a capsule. A cyst or capsule consists of a cavity lined according to its origin by endothelium (in preexisting cavities of connective tissue—exudation cysts) or epithelium (in pre-existing epithelial cavities—retention cysts) with a fluid or semifluid content.

Those of chief interest to us here are known as distention cysts and are divided into:

(a) Retention cysts, which are due to the obstruction of the excretory ducts of glands. The cavity becomes filled with the secretion of the gland which later becomes altered and circumscribed by a fibrous wall. These may develop in any glandular structure, as pancreas, kidneys, salivary glands, mammary glands, sebaceous glands (wens).

Around a foreign body like a bullet, such a capsule forms. There is first inflammation and perhaps suppuration. But if this fails to remove the bullet, a capsule of tissue also containing fluid is formed, and the bullet is rendered innocuous. A similar thing frequently happens in the lungs in the case of germs. Rausse thought this fluid was a variety of mucus and thought that chemical or drug poisons were enveloped in this same “musus” to render them harmless and that they were then deposited in the tissues. He says with regard to the face that this theory cannot at present be demonstrated:

This theory is founded upon the incontrovertible principle of nature in the alimentary and organic world, that nature operates similarly under similar circumstances. Hence, the theory here offered loses none of its certainty because we are unable to recognize with the unaided eye, on account of their minuteness, the inimical atoms and the minute network around them, and to exhibit them by section.

—Water Cure Manual, p. 92, 1845.

The encapsulation of exudates, excretions, extravasions, disintegrating tissues, germs, parasites, bullets and other foreign bodies renders them harmless. The process and structure it evolves are plainly defensive measures. They once more remind us of the many and varied emergency measures the body has at its command.

The formation of gallstones and other stones is in itself an engineering feat that serves a useful purpose and even extends and saves life. In the lungs, for instance, in those who have tuberculosis, the affected spots are often the seat of the formation of stones. When this takes place, the disease in that part ends. Medical authorities consider that nature employs this means to wall up the tubercle bacilli.

The formation of stones in the gallbladder and kidneys, just as in the lungs, is the end result of inflammation and undoubtedly serves a definite and useful purpose. Sometimes, it is true, they are made so large that they are the source of much trouble, but it is safe to assume that they are never made larger than the gravity of the situation demands. Most gallstones are small enough that they pass out without causing pain, and the individual is never aware that he or she has had them. A large number of people examined at autopsies are found to have gallstones in the gallbladder and were never aware that they had them. They never cause trouble until they go to pass out and only then if they are small enough to get into the gall duct but too large to make the entire passage. A stone that may easily travel through the common duct may be forced, with extreme difficulty, through the small opening of the duct into the intestine. This causes severe pain. As soon as the stone is forced through, the pain ceases. (The sufferer then thinks that it was the last treatment he employed that relieved the pain and “cured” his troubles.)

A thrombus is a small blood clot formed inside a blood vessel. The condition is called thrombosis and the vessel is said to be thrombosed. They are the result of injury and inflammation and may completely plug the vessel.

In the intestines are many small glands composed of lymphoid structure just as are the tonsils of the throat. They are known as Pyer’s patches. In typhoid fever these patches are swollen or enlarged (hypertrophied), and frequently they suppurate. They may slough off. This peeling off may result in a hemorrhage or it may not, depending on whether or not all the vessels in that locality are tightly thrombosed. If they are all tightly thrombosed, no hemorrhage occurs. If the work of sealing the vessel is not complete or perfect, then a hemorrhage occurs with more or less loss of blood before it finally ceases. This is but another evidence of nature’s engineering work. These thrombi may later be swept into the general circulation and carried to some vital spot where they are too large to pass through the artery and may there cut off the blood to parts of the organ, causing it to die of starvation. Starvation would only occur in cases of stopping of an “end artery.”

“Anastamosing” arteries would soon establish sufficient collateral or compensatory circulation to supply the part with blood.

If heat or friction of sufficient intensity and duration is applied to the skin, a blister forms; that is, a watery exudate or serum is poured out of the surrounding tissues and circulation into the “space” between the dermis and epidermis and detaches the dermis from this, raising it up and thus protecting the tissues beneath. The accumulated fluid holds back the heat or, in the case of sunburn, the actinic rays, and protects from the friction. This little piece of engineering work is quite obviously a defensive work. In both burns and sunburn, inflammation and healing follow the blister, and in the case of sunburn pigmentation occurs to protect from future sunburn.

Of a similarly defensive nature are corns and callouses that form on the feet and hands or any other surface of the body that is subjected to constant friction. The clerk who deserts the store for manual labor finds his hands are tender and blister easily when he handles tools. However, before many days have passed, the skin on his hands has become thickened and hardened, ultimately becoming almost horn-like. When this occurs, he finds that no reasonable amount of hard work blisters his hands.

Tumors likely begin in this same manner. They probably begin as hardening and thickening of the tissues at a point of irritation as a means of defense.

Hardening and thickening of the tissues occurs in any and all parts of the body to resist constant irritation. This can be seen in the mouth, stomach and intestines of those who employ salt and condiments. It is seen in the constant use of drugs. Silver nitrate, for instance, if repeatedly employed, converts the mucous surface upon which it is used into a kind of half-living leather. Other organs harden and thicken as a result of toxic irritation. Toxemia, with or without the aid of external irritation, often necessitates, at certain points of the body, the erection of greater than ordinary barriers against it. When the normal cells of a local spot become so impaired that they no longer successfully resist the encroachment of toxins, not only are the usual defense processes brought into activity, but also, since a more than usual condition is to be met, nature calls into play her heavier battalions. She begins by erecting a barrier of connective tissue cells. Then, with a slowly-yielding fight against the toxins, she continues to erect her barriers. This may continue until the tumor becomes so large as to constitute a source of danger itself. Were it not for the erection of this barrier, the causes against which it is erected would destroy life long before they ultimately do. The tumor actually prolongs life.

A process similar to this is seen in plants that have been invaded by parasites. The large, rough excrescences seen on oak trees form about the larva of a certain fly. This fly lays its eggs beneath the bark of the tree. The larva which develop from the eggs secrete a substance that results in the formation of the huge tumorous mass. Large tumor-like masses form on the roots and stalks of cabbages as a result of parasitic invasion. The olive tree also develops tumors from a similar cause, while cedar trees present peculiar growths called “witches’ brooms” as a result of a fungus growing on them. There are many other examples, and they are all quite obviously protective measures. Tumor formation is undoubtedly due to a variation in the complex relations determining normal growth and is of a distinctively protective nature. A tumor is not a source of danger until it begins to break down.

In inflammation of the kidneys due to the impairment of kidney function, the normal constituents of the urine are decreased. They remain in the blood instead of being eliminated. Due to the necessity of removing from the circulation, the salts, etc., that are normally eliminated through the kidneys, and due also to the necessity of keeping these in dilute solution so long as they remain in the body, and to the equal necessity of removing them from the circulation, drospy develops in various portions of the body, particularly in the tissues immediately under the skin. It may also collect in the cavities of the body. When kidney function is restored, the dropsical fluid is gradually absorbed into circulation and eliminated.

An aneurism is an inflated portion of an artery. If the walls of an artery become weak at a given place, they either burst, some of its coats are strengthened or else it becomes bulged out due to the pressure of the blood from within. The body at once sets about to protect itself by forming a vail of new tissue around the aneurism. Should it rupture so that the blood finds its way along between other organs, a wall of scar tissue is thrown up around the aneurism to limit the escape of blood. This is called a dissecting aneurism.

Thus we might continue giving example after example of the wonderful engineering feats of the body and show with what marvelous powers and works it meets emergencies and protects its own vital interests. When we consider the wonderful mechanism of the human body, the certainty with which all organs perform their allotted work, the marvelous ingenuity with which the body meets emergencies, its almost limitless powers of repair and recuperation, we develop a large respect and admiration for the healing powers of the body and learn to view with contempt and disgust the means that people employ in unintelligent efforts to “cure.”

Well did Jennings affirm:

But at every step of her (nature’s) downward progress (in the face of pathoferic causes she cannot overcome), her tendency and effort have been to ascend and remount the pinnacle of her greatness; and even now, in the depth of her degradation, the tendency of all that remains of her, of principle or law, power and action, is still upwards.

Lesson 7 - Carbohydrates - Fuel For The Human Body

7.1. Introduction

Before embarking on a study of carbohydrates—their role in the body, their sources, etc., we will begin by highlighting the importance of carbohydrates, defining what carbohydrates are and learning how they are formed, as well as glimpsing at a brief history of carbohydrates in the human diet.

7.1.1 The Importance of Carbohydrates

As mentioned in the RATIONALE earlier in this lesson, even the process of digestion could not occur without the energy provided by carbohydrates. Without carbohydrates we would not be able to think or move and our heart couldn’t beat.

Whether it be digestion or circulation, thinking or walking, all life activities are dependent upon carbohydrates. When insufficient carbohydrates are available from the diet, the body converts fat reserves to carbohydrates for its use, and amino acids are utilized as carbohydrates instead of being used to make body protein.

7.1.2 What Are Carbohydrates?

As the lesson title implies, carbohydrates provide fuel, or energy, for the human body. These organic (carbon-containing) compounds are an integral part of both plant and animal life, and, as stated above, life as we know it could not exist without them.

Carbohydrates are made up of three elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen—carbohydrates. As you will learn in a later lesson, fats are also comprised of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, but they have less oxygen and more carbon and hydrogen than carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates, along with proteins and fats, comprise the major components of living matter and are used for maintenance of cellular functional activities and as reserve and structural materials for cells. Because they are the primary source of energy for the animal kingdom, carbohydrates are particularly important in a study of nutritional science.

7.1.3 How Carbohydrates Are Formed

Carbohydrates are formed by green plants in the process of photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, plant chlorophyll, plant enzymes, sunlight, carbon dioxide from the air, and mineralized water from the soil combine and, in a complicated process, synthesize carbohydrates. Humans obtain their carbohydrate needs most efficiently from the plant world.

7.1.4 Carbohydrates: Past and Present

In the past and in some parts of the world today, people’s diets consisted largely of carbohydrate foods, especially those growing locally. In most of the Western world today, however, meats and other protein/fat foods comprise a disproportionate part of the diets of many people, and processed and refined carbohydrate products are being consumed in lethal quantities.

While people do survive, at least for a relatively short lifespan, on diets high in proteins and refined carbohydrates, this survival is low-level survival, with suffering from illnesses of numerous varieties being considered the norm. A high-level state of health and well-being is possible only if our needs are met in keeping with our biological adaptation and if destructive practices are removed from our lives. The further we carry this, the healthier and happier we will be, for joy is supposed to be our primary experience in life— not suffering.

During the past 70 years or so, more and more food processing and refining establishments have been created, and they are producing horrendous qualities of highly-refined, highly-processed and highly-chemicalized so-called “foods.” An extremely large proportion of these “foods” are carbohydrates—that is, they provide energy in the form of calories. But they are not real foods because they lack many of the elements from the original food source that make a food a food. For example; the germ and bran are removed from wheat, leaving only starch; and the vitamins, minerals and fiber that need to be with the starch to make the wheat a whole food are missing.  Removing natural food components and then attempting to put them back by adding specified amounts of synthetic vitamins and minerals, by using bran separate from the whole wheat berries, and by taking food supplement pills and powders is the height of absurdity. First of all, it’s not effective, and secondly, it’s expensive, time-consuming and, most of all—UNNECESSARY!

Even physiology texts, which are medically oriented rather than health oriented, say that a casually selected diet of carbohydrates is likely to be poor in the essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Life Scientists/Natural Hygienists recognize the necessity of high-quality carbohydrates in the diet and the need to eschew the products marketed by the food industries; Hygienists advocate a return to a high-carbohydrate diet consisting of whole foods, with fiber intact, that provide our needs for complete proteins, vitamins and organic minerals.

7.2. Classification Of Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, also known as saccharides, are classified according to the number of single carbohydrate molecules in each chemical structure. Carbohydrate compounds having just one carbohydrate molecule are called monosaccharides; compounds with two carbohydrate molecules are called dissarcharides; and those compounds containing more than two carbohydrate molecules are named polysaccharides. All carbohydrates either are monosaccharides or can be hydrolyzed (broken down) into two or more monosaccharides.

For further understanding of these different classifications of carbohydrates, the monosaccharides and disaccharides can be grouped together and compared with the polysaccharides. This can be done because monosaccharides and disaccharides have certain things in common.

For one, they are both water soluble. In addition, they have a sweet taste and a crystalline structure. The monosaccharides and disaccharides are called sugars and all share the suffix, -ose, meaning sugar.

Polysaccharides, in contrast to mono- and disaccharides, are insoluble in water, do not taste sweet and do not form crystals. Also, they do not share a suffix and have no group name (such as sugars, in the case of mono-arid disaccharides). They are sometimes called starches, but this is technically incorrect because there are many other classifications of polysaccharides besides starches (cellulose and glycogen being two and dextrin being another).

7.2.1 Monosaccharides

These are the only sugars that can be absorbed and utilized by the body. Disaccharides and polysaccharides must be ultimately broken down into monosaccharides in the digestive process known as hydrolysis. Only then can they be utilized by the body. Three monosaccharides are particularly important in the study of nutritional science: glucose, fructose and galactose.

7.2.2 Glucose (also known as dextrose or grape sugar)

This monosaccharide is the most important carbohydrate in human nutrition because it is the one that the body fuses directly to supply its energy needs. Glucose is formed from the hydrolysis of di- and polysaccharides, including starch, dextrin, maltose, sucrose and lactose; from the monosaccharide fructose largely during absorption; and from both fructose and galactose in the liver during metabolism.

Glucose is the carbohydrate found in the bloodstream, and it provides an immediate source of energy for the body’s cells and tissues. Glucose is also formed when stored body carbohydrate (glycogen) is broken down for use.

In the plant world, glucose is widely distributed. It is found in all plants and in the sap of trees. Fruits and vegetables are wholesome food sources of glucose. It is also present in such unwholesome (to humans) substances as molasses, honey and corn syrup.

7.2.3 Fructose (also known as levulose or fruit sugar)

Fructose, a monosaccharide, is very similar to another monosaccharide, galactose. These two simple sugars share the same chemical formula; however, the arrangements of their chemical groups along the chemical chain differ. Fructose is the sweetest of all the sugars and is found in fruits, vegetables and the nectar of flowers, as well as in the unwholesome (to humans) sweeteners, molasses and honey. In humans, fructose is produced during the hydrolysis of the disaccharide, sucrose.

7.2.4 Galactose

Galactose differs from the other simple sugars, glucose and fructose, in that it does not occur free in nature. It is produced in the body in the digestion of lactose, a disaccharide.

7.2.5 Disaccharides

Disaccharides, on hydrolysis, yield two monosaccharide molecules. Three particular disaccharides warrant discussion in a lesson on nutritional science: sucrose, maltose and lactose.

7.2.6 Sucrose

The disaccharide, sucrose, consists of one molecule of each of two monosaccharides—glucose and fructose. Sucrose is found in fruits and vegetables and is particularly plentiful in sugar beets (roots) and sugarcane (a grass). Refined white and brown sugars are close to 100% sucrose because almost everything else (including the other kinds of sugars present, the vitamins, the minerals and the proteins) have been removed in the refining process. Maple syrup and molasses are, like refined sugars, unwholesome sweeteners; both contain over 50% sucrose. It almost goes without saying that any foods, so-called, containing significant amounts of refined sugar are high in sucrose.

7.2.7 Maltose (also known as malt sugar)

This disaccharide, unlike sucrose, is not consumed in large amounts in the average American diet. It is found in malted cereals, malted milks and sprouted grains. Also, corn syrup is 26 percent maltose and corn sugar is 4 percent maltose. None of these “foods” is wholesome, with perhaps, the exception of sprouted grains.

Maltose occurs in the body as an intermediate product of starch digestion. (Starch is a polysaccharide.) When maltose is hydrolyzed, it yields two molecules of glucose.

7.2.8 Lactose (also known as milk sugar)

This disaccharide is found only in milk. Human milk contains about 4.8 g per 100 ml and cow’s milk contains approximately 6.8 g per 100 ml. When lactose is hydrolyzed it yields one unit of the monosaccharide glucose and one unit of the monosaccharide galactose. The enzyme lactase is needed to digest lactose, and this enzyme is not present in most, if any, people over age three. This is one of the many reasons why milk is an unwholesome food for people over three years of age.

7.2.9 Polysaccharides

Like the disaccharides, the polysaccharides cannot be directly utilized by the body. They must first be broken down into monosaccharides, the only sugar form the body can use.

Polysaccharides contain up to 60,000 simple carbohydrate molecules. These carbohydrate molecules are arranged in long chains in either a straight or in a branched structure. There are four polysaccharides that are important in the study of nutritional science: starch, dextrin, glycogen and cellulose.

7.2.10 Starch

Starch is abundant in the plant world and is found in granular form in the cells of plants. Starch granules can be seen under a microscope and they differ in size, shape and markings in various plants. The starch granules of wheat, for example, are oval-shaped; whereas the starch granules of corn are small, rounded and angular.

These starch granules are laid down in the storage organs of plants—in the seeds, tubers, roots and stem pith. They provide a reserve food supply for the plant, sustain the root or tuber through the winter and nourish the growing embryo during germination.

Most starches are a mix of two different molecular structures, amylose and amylopectin. The former has a linear structure and the latter has a branched or bushy structure. The proportion of the two fractions varies according to the species of plant. For example, potato starch and most cereal starches have approximately 15-30% amylose. But the waxy cereal grains, including some varieties of corn plus rice and grain sorghum, have their starch most entirely as amylopectin. The starches in green peas and in some sweet corn varieties are mainly amylose.

The polysaccharides, as mentioned earlier, are not water soluble as are the mono- and disaccharides. Though not water soluble, starches can be dispersed in water heated to a certain temperature. The granules swell and gelatinize. When cooled, this gelatin sets to a paste. The jelling characteristics of starches are considered to result from the amylose present, while amylopectin is considered to be responsible for the gummy and cohesive properties of the paste.

7.2.11 Dextrin

There are several “varieties” of this polysaccharide. Dextrins are most commonly consumed in cooked starch foods, as they are obtained from starch by the action of heat. Dextrins are intermediary products of starch digestion, also, and are formed by the action of amylases on starches. They render the disaccharide maltose on hydrolysis.

7.2.12 Glycogen

Glycogen is the reserve carbohydrate in humans. It is to animals as starch is to plants. Glycogen is very similar to amylopectin, having a high molecular weight and branched-chain structures made up of thousands of glucose molecules. The main difference between glycogen and amylopectin is that glycogen has more and shorter branches, resulting in a more compact, bushlike molecule with greater solubility and lower viscosity (less stickiness or gumminess).

Glycogen is stored primarily in the liver and muscles of animals. About two-thirds of total body glycogen is stored in the muscles and about one-third is stored in the liver.

7.2.13 Cellulose

Like starch and glycogen, cellulose is composed of thousands of glucose molecules. It comprises over 50% of the carbon in vegetation and is the structural constituent of the cell walls of plants. Cellulose is, therefore, the most abundant naturally-occurring organic substance. It is characterized by its insolubility, its chemical inertness and its physical rigidity. This polysaccharide can be digested only by herbivores such as cows, sheep, horses, etc., as these animals have bacteria in their rumens (stomachs) whose enzyme systems break down cellulose molecules. Humans do not have the enzyme needed to digest cellulose, so it is passed through the digestive tract unchanged.

7.3. The Role Of Carbohydrates In The Body

Five subheadings follow in this lesson subdivision, but there is actually only one basic role of carbohydrates in the human diet: to supply energy. It should always be kept in mind that carbohydrates or calories alone cannot adequately supply our energy needs, for we must have our carbohydrates in combination with other needs, such as proteins, water, vitamins, minerals, fats, etc. This means that a diet of refined sugar, refined rice, flour products and other “food fragments,” though it supplies calories, cannot satisfactorily comprise the bulk of anyone’s diet. A person on such a diet would suffer many problems, for the organism is not capable of living long or well on bare carbohydrates alone. They must be obtained in combination with the other essential food factors to be truly useful in the overall energy production and nutrition of the organism.

7.3.1 Carbohydrates Supply Energy

The body uses carbohydrates directly from the monosaccharide glucose. Glucose is in the blood and extracellular fluids (lymph) and can be made from glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles and in smaller amounts in the other organs and tissues of the body. Energy is derived from glucose by the splitting of the glucose molecules into smaller compounds and oxidizing these to form water, which frees quite a large amount of energy.

When carbohydrates needed for the functioning of the central nervous system, the muscles and the other body systems and functions are insufficient in the diet (as during a fast or on a weight-loss diet), stored adipose tissue (fat) is broken down into glucose to make up the caloric deficit. Some amino acids, instead of being used to make proteins, are deaminated and used as carbohydrates to supply energy. The formation of glucose from amino acids is called gluconeogenesis. This phenomenon enables one to maintain normal blood sugar levels during a fast.

Practically the entire fat store of the body can be used up without detriment to health. Because of this fact, and the fact that the body can also create carbohydrates from amino acids, fasting is a very safe practice from the standpoint of maintenance of normal blood sugar levels, of normal neurological functioning and of meeting all the body’s various energy needs.

7.3.2 Carbohydrates Provide Fuel for the Central Nervous System

Nerve cells are very dependent upon glucose for their functioning. According to physiology texts, the glycogen in nervous tissues remains constant and is not mobilized for conversion to glucose. When insufficient carbohydrates are consumed to meet the energy needs of the central nervous system, besides the occurrence of gluconeogenesis, another phenomenon occurs during a fast of three weeks or more: The cells of the central nervous system adapt their metabolic apparatus to use ketone bodies in place of glucose. (Ketone bodies are substances synthesized by the liver as a step in the metabolism of fats.) The nerve cells obtain their needed functional energy from these metabolites. This explains why patients with blood sugar problems (diabetes or hypoglycemia) do not suffer ill effects during a fast. In fact, they benefit by fasting. (This topic will be discussed in depth in a later lesson.)

7.3.3 Carbohydrates Provide Fuel for the Muscular System

Carbohydrates provide the major fuel for muscular exercise. Fats and proteins can be used only indirectly—by first being converted into carbohydrates. For this reason, a proper diet should consist primarily of carbohydrates—not primarily of proteins and fats as are commonly consumed in conventional nonvegetarian (and some lacto- and lacto-ovo vegetarian) diets.

The muscles use the glycogen present in the muscle cells and glucose in the bloodstream. However, glycogen from the muscles is more efficiently used than glucose because the breakdown of glycogen for use does not require energy input at the time, whereas a certain amount of energy is used to bring the blood sugar into the metabolic system of the muscles. (It does require energy to build up the glycogen supply in the first place, but this happens during periods of rest when plenty of energy is available.)

If a diet high in carbohydrates is not consumed, tremendous muscular exertion over long periods and/or extreme and prolonged stress (as being stranded for weeks in Antarctica) can result in accelerated breakdown of body protein and stored body fat. The protein breakdown is evidenced by an increased excretion of nitrogen in the urine, and the fat breakdown is evidenced by a rise in the level of ketone bodies in the urine and in the blood. The blood sugar level is simultaneously lower.

The body works much more efficiently from carbohydrate intake than from broken-down body protein and fats because protein and fat molecules, when used as fuel, yield less than their total caloric value in the form the muscles can use. The remaining portion is used for the conversion of these molecules into suitable fuel. This conversion takes place in the liver and adipose tissue, which supply the body’s organs with fuel via the bloodstream.

The fact that the body can and will use body fats and proteins when the supply and stores of blood sugar and glycogen are not great enough to meet the demand for energy exemplifies two facts: 1) The organism is provident. It has many back-up arrangements for survival in emergency situations when sufficient carbohydrates are not available. 2) An appropriate balance between supplying body needs (such as rest and carbohydrates) and expending energy (muscular, nervous or other) should be strived for to attain optimum health and well-being.

It has been found that people who are accustomed to doing prolonged or strenuous work have larger stores of glycogen (and of phosphate esters) in their muscles than those not accustomed to much physical activity. It is, therefore, beneficial to do regular vigorous exercise to increase our storage of muscle glycogen. We will then be prepared to expend energy for longer and more strenuous exercise—whether it be in an emergency or in pursuing pleasure.

7.3.4 Carbohydrates Supposedly Spare Proteins

Physiology textbooks refer to this so-called role or function of carbohydrate in the body as “its protein-sparing action.” However, it is incorrect to attribute action (other than chemical action) to carbohydrates or other inanimate substances. Besides, “sparing protein” is not a function or role of carbohydrates at all. Carbohydrates simply furnish our fuel or energy needs—and nothing more.

What is being said in the textbooks is that proteins consumed will be used for tissue building and maintenance rather than being used as an emergency source of energy as long as the carbohydrate intake is sufficient. This is true, but it is only another way of saying that carbohydrates are the primary and most efficient source of energy or fuel and that it is best not to try to meet our fuel needs from proteins. It is stating the true fact that carbohydrates, not proteins, supply our primary nutrient needs.

“Sparing proteins” is not a separate and distinct function or role of carbohydrates any more than preventing scurvy is a separate and distinct function of vitamin C in the body. Vitamin C supplies body needs, but its role is not prevention of scurvy or of anything else. Viewing nutrients as preventative agents of diseases is another way of saying that diseases are normal, that they are an inevitable part of life that will and must occur unless prevented by the proper nutrients. That is a backwards way of viewing health—it’s the disease approach, or the medical approach. Just as good things happen to us if we think positive thoughts and visualize success, harmony, etc., good health will exist as long as we live healthfully—and that includes consuming the correct amounts of the foods to which we were biologically adapted in nature to eat.

In short, the so-called “protein-sparing action” of carbohydrates is not only not an action, but sparing proteins is not a distinct role of carbohydrates separate from their energy-providing role.

7.3.5 Carbohydrates Supposedly Supply “Dietary Fiber”

“Dietary fiber” is a fairly new term coined to describe the cellulose inside plant cells. Cellulose is known to be indigestible by humans, though it is digested and used for energy by herbivores. The claims made about “the beneficial role of dietary fiber in preventing diseases” are so popular and so widely made that they are practically accepted as fact. However, cellulose, though in fact a carbohydrate because it is utilized as such by herbivores, does not serve the role of a carbohydrate in human physiology. Because it cannot be digested and utilized by humans, it cannot provide us with energy—and providing energy is the only role of carbohydrates in human nutrition.

The above statements may come as a surprise to most readers—but read on and we’ll clarify further.

It has been observed that certain so-called primitive tribes in Africa and elsewhere who consume diets high in fiber are less likely to develop certain colon diseases and metabolic disorders than their kinsmen who live in urban areas and eat low-fiber foods similar to those consumed in so-called developed countries. Based on the high correlation between low-fiber diets and human gastrointestinal diseases, many hospitals and clinics have changed their dietary management of diverticulosis. They are experiencing good results with a diet containing more instead of less cellulose.

We do not deny that high-fiber diets are more wholesome as a rule than low-fiber diets, nor do we deny the fact that people who consume diets closer to nature and therefore higher in fiber (cellulose) have fewer gastrointestinal diseases and a lower rate of bowel cancer. What we argue against is the thinking that the fiber itself is primarily responsible for the prevention of these diseases and disorders.

Since cellulose is indigestible, it cannot be utilized by the body as a nutrient. It is simply passed through with the other wastes. Its presence or absence in the feces is insignificant. What is significant is how much and what kinds of toxins are there (and elsewhere). The ingestion of too many toxins from all sources, as well as the retention of toxic wastes produced within the body, results in diseases. The presence or absence of indigestible plant fibers does not prevent or cause diseases.

Processed, highly-refined, so-called foods (they do contain carbohydrates) do not deserve the label foods because they are not whole foods. Parts of processed foods are missing—they were removed intentionally in the refining process. (Fiber [cellulose] is one of those missing parts.) This makes them incomplete or fragmented foods. Eating fragmented foods results in problems in the body. Therefore, they should not be eaten.

Refined sugar and products containing refined sugar, as well as refined flour products, are the most salient examples of processed food fragments that produce toxic effects in the body. Being devoid of vitamins and minerals in their natural form (the only form they can be used in), these products are like drugs within the body. In addition, calcium and other minerals, as well as B vitamins, must be utilized by the body to metabolize refined products. Because the refined products are devoid of nutrients except carbohydrates, calcium is taken from the bones.

Most “civilized” diets contain cooked foods, foods not normal to humans, refined and processed foods and drugs and medications. Refined sugar, flours, white rice and processed cereals are some of the worst culprits, but there are many, many more sources of toxins in the diet. Also, incompatible food combinations result in the production of toxins in the stomach and elsewhere in the digestive tract, and these toxins also contribute to gastrointestinal disturbances and diseases.

Much more could be said about the sources of toxins within the body that result in disease, but this has been discussed in previous lessons and will also be further discussed in future lessons. For now, it is sufficient for us to explain that low-fiber diets not only lack the natural cellulose which should be left intact in the whole food, but they also contain or give rise to a host of toxins that result in disease conditions. It is not the lack of fiber itself that causes diverticulosis and other gastrointestinal problems but the overall unwholesomeness of the foods ingested in so-called civilized society. (Of course, you should understand that what is eaten is only part of the picture and that how it’s eaten, how much is eaten, the amount of exercise, sleep, fresh air, etc., indulged are also important factors in human nutrition.)

7.4. How Carbohydrates Are Digested And Used By The Body

7.4.1 Introduction to Digestion

Before discussing carbohydrate digestion in particular, let’s give a little attention to digestion in general. Complete and thorough digestion of foodstuffs is extremely important for good health. A tremendous amount of toxin elimination and accumulation puts a great stress and burden upon the organism and results in a large variety and number of diseases. This happens both directly, from the presence of accumulated toxic substances that the body was unable to eliminate, and indirectly, from a decrease in the body’s digestive capabilities due to overworking the digestive system and depleting the body’s supply of vital energy.

It is, therefore, important for us to do everything we can to insure thorough and complete digestion of all foods eaten. This can be done by eating primarily (or only) easily digested and uncomplicated foods such as fruits; by eating compatible combinations of foods; by eating moderate amounts of foods; by eating at well-spaced meals; by abstaining from drinks during or too soon before or after meals; and by refraining from eating while under stress or emotionally upset.

One of two things happens to foods that do not get thoroughly or completely digested: 1) Sugars may ferment or 2) proteins may putrefy (rot). These processes result from bacterial activity which breaks down (decomposes) undigested or undigestible foods in preparation for their elimination from the body. The “trick” to, getting nourishment (nutriment) from the foods you eat is to see to it that they, get digested quickly, before the bacteria (present within every healthy digestive tract) have a chance to decompose them. The results of bacterial decomposition are toxic and do not provide nourishment. Foods that don’t digest relatively soon after ingestion will ferment or putrefy and contribute to body toxicity and disease.

Keeping the above facts about digestion in mind, let’s take a look now at carbohydrate digestion.

7.4.2 Salivary Carbohydrate Digestion

Disaccharides and polysaccharides must be digested before the body can use them, while monosaccharides do not require digestion. For this reason, as well as for other reasons (to be discussed in depth later in this lesson), our best source of carbohydrates is from fruits. Fruits require much less of the body’s energies and render primarily monosaccharides that, as stated, need no digestion.

Digestion is both a mechanical process (chewing) and a chemical process (enzymic actions). The class of enzymes that hydrolyze carbohydrates are broadly known as carbohydrases. We will be concerned in this lesson with carbohydrases known as amylases.

While the digestion of all types of foods (proteins, carbohydrates, fats, etc.) begins in the mouth with the mechanical process of mastication, certain carbohydrates—namely, starches and dextrins—are the only food types whose chemical digestion begins in the mouth. Here an enzyme known as salivary amylase or ptyalin, secreted by the parotid glands, is mixed with the food during the chewing process and begins the conversion of glycogen, starch and dextrins into the disaccharide maltose.

What happens when the starches, dextrin, and glycogens that were not converted to maltose in the mouth and what happens to the maltose when these carbohydrates reach the stomach depends upon several factors—what other types of foods are eaten with the starch, how much food is being eaten and how fast, the emotional condition of the eater and the condition of the eater’s digestive system. If a relatively uncomplicated starch such as potatoes or yams is eaten alone or with nonstarchy vegetables, and no proteins (as meats, cheese or milk, or even nuts or seeds or acids (as tomatoes, lemon or lemon juice or vinegar—as in salads or salad dressings) are consumed with the starchy food, salivary amylase (ptyalin) can and will continue the digestion of starches and dextrins in the stomach for a long period.

For thorough digestion and consequent good health, this continuation of starch digestion by ptyalin in the stomach is a necessity. Therefore, for good health, it is important to consume starchy foods at separate meals from protein foods and acids. (This and other facts relative to the topic of food combining for good digestion will be discussed in depth in later lessons.)

Briefly stated, ingestion of protein foods causes a secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and hydrochloric acid destroys ptyalin; that is, it destroys the amylase activity and substitutes acid hydrolysis. Physiology texts state that “if this acid hydrolysis was continued long enough it could reduce all the digestible carbohydrates to the monosaccharide stage. However, the stomach empties itself before this can take place.”

The acids of tomatoes, berries, oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, pineapples, sour grapes and other sour fruits and the acid of vinegar will, like hydrochloric acid, destroy our only starch-splitting enzyme, ptyalin. Therefore, these foods also inhibit starch digestion. For good digestion and consequent good health, acids should not be eaten at the same meal with starches.

Another factor that can impair salivary starch digestion is the drinking of water or other liquids with or too soon before or after meals. Water or other liquids do not aid in the digestion of foods. On the contrary, they interfere with digestion by diluting the digestive juices and cause them and their enzymes to be passed through the digestive tract too quickly for digestion to occur.

To summarize this aspect of starch digestion, taking proteins, acids, water or other liquids with starches interferes seriously with their digestion by the salivary amylase, ptyalin. This first stage of starch digestion is of great importance because there is a great likelihood that the food will be acted upon by bacteria and ferment before it reaches the intestine where further starch digestion can take place. Digestion, rather than fermentation and its resulting toxic byproducts, is much more likely to occur soon after the food is put into the mouth than further along in the digestive tract.

From the above, you can see why thorough mastication of food is so important when starches are eaten. No one who seeks health should eat starches in a hurry, nor should they have them with a beverage or with proteins or acids, for good digestion of foods is imperative for good health.

A special note should be made here about glycogen—animal starch. Glycogen should not be consumed by health seekers because much disease results from the ingestion of animal flesh and animal products. This will be discussed in depth in later lessons. For the purposes of this lesson, suffice it to say that glycogen ingested cannot be digested in the stomach because, of the hydrochloric acid that will be secreted to digest the protein, which is the primary nutritive component of foods that contain glycogen. Therefore, whatever glycogen that is not converted to a disaccharide by the salivary amylase, ptyalin, must be converted in the intestine. The likelihood of the glycogen reaching the intestine without fermenting before it can get there is small. This is just one of the many hazards of consuming animal flesh and animal foods.

7.4.3 Starch Digestion in the Intestine

Now that we have discussed starch digestion by the enzyme ptyalin, let’s get into starch and sugar (disaccharide) digestion in the intestine.

Whatever carbohydrates make it to the intestine quickly enough to escape fermentation by bacterial action will be acted upon in the first part of the small intestine, the duodenum, by pancreatic amylase. This enzyme, secreted by the pancreas, converts any remaining dextrin and starch to maltose. The reason this amylase can act in the intestine is because of the more alkaline medium which prevails there. As stated earlier, amylase must have a somewhat alkaline medium to do its job and is destroyed by acids.

At this stage in the digestive process, that is, after the polysaccharides (starch, dextrin and glycogen) have been converted to the disaccharide maltose, maltose and the other disaccharides (sucrose and lactose) must be converted to monosaccharides since, as stated earlier, the body can absorb and use sugars only as monosaccharides. This is accomplished by the amylases maltase (to convert maltose), sucrase (to convert sucrose) and lactase (to convert lactose). These amylases are secreted by the wall of the small intestine and are capable of splitting the particular sugars for which they were designed to the monosaccharide stage.

7.4.4 Carbohydrate Absorption

Even though some substances (water, ethyl alcohol, small amounts of monosaccharides) may be absorbed into the bloodstream through the mucosa (mucous membrane) of the stomach, most absorption of the soluble products of digestion occurs in the small intestine. There the absorptive surface is increased about 600 times by villi, which are fingerlike projections in the lining of the small intestine. Each individual villus contains a network of capillaries surrounding a lymph vessel, and each cell on the surface of the villus is made up of smaller units called brush border cells or micro villi.

Substances or nutrients pass through the intestinal membrane through the process of osmosis in one of two ways: 1) diffusion or 2) active transport. Substances and nutrients in the intestinal tract that are in higher concentration than across the membrane in the blood and lymph pass through by diffusion. This is a simple osmotic process in which no energy has to be expended. Fructose is absorbed by diffusion.

Active transport is the osmotic process used when substances or nutrients are absorbed from an area of lower concentration across a membrane to an area of higher concentration. This process requires energy for the absorption, as well as a “carrier” to transport the substance. The carrier substance is thought to be a protein or lipoprotein (a combination of a protein and a fat). Glucose and galactose are absorbed into the bloodstream by active transport. Monosaccharides are absorbed by the capillaries, which empty into the portal vein, which in turn carries them directly to the liver.

7.4.5 Carbohydrate Metabolism

Metabolism is the term used to describe the many chemical changes that occur after the end products of digestion have been absorbed into the body. There are two phases of metabolism: 1) anabolism, which is the chemical reaction by which absorbed nutrients are utilized for replacement of used or worn-out body substances (maintenance) and to create new cellular material (growth), and 2) catabolism, which includes the chemical reactions whereby cellular materials are broken down into smaller units. An example of anabolism is the use of monosaccharides to build up stores of muscle and liver glycogen, and an example of catabolism is the breaking down of these glycogen stores to supply energy to the muscles during physical exersion. Anabolism and catabolism occur simultaneously in the body cells.

7.4.6 Sources of Glucose

The body’s immediate needs determine whether carbohydrates that have been digested and absorbed are used for immediate energy, converted and stored as glycogen or changed to fat and stored in adipose tissue.

Glucose is the principal sugar used by body cells and tissues. It is, therefore, important to know the sources of this nutrient. It may come from carbohydrates or from noncarbohydrate sources. Following are the four primary sources of glucose:

1. From the digestion of dietary carbohydrate. Glucose is formed from the digestion of starch, dextrin, maltose, sucrose and lactose from the foods we eat.
2. From the conversion of fructose and galactose. The three monosaccharides—fructose, galactose and glucose—share the same chemical formula. However, they differ in the arrangement of the hydrogen and oxygen units along the carbon chain. During the metabolic process, the liver cells convert absorbed galactose molecules and some fructose molecules. However, fructose is mainly converted to glucose during its absorption through the intestinal walls, where a metabolic interconversion (mutual conversion) occurs.
3. From the breakdown of glycogen. When the body’s need for glucose is greater than the supply available in the blood, glycogen reserves in the liver and muscles are broken down and converted to glucose.
4. From noncarbohydrate sources. If the body cells require more energy than can be supplied by glucose and glycogen reserves, noncarbohydrate sources can be used to supply glucose. The noncarbohydrate sources used include certain amino acids from protein, glycerol from fat and, indirectly, fatty acids from fat.

7.4.7 Regulation of Blood Glucose Concentration

The liver, the pancreas and the adrenal glands play roles in keeping the blood sugar level at a normal concentration of around 90 mg. per 100 ml.

1. The liver serves as a buffer. As stated earlier in this lesson, absorbed monosaccharides are carried in the portal vein to the liver. This blood in the portal vein may have a very high concentration of sugars, as much as 180 mg per 100 ml of glucose. In the liver, about two-thirds of the excess glucose is removed from circulation. This glucose is converted to glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate for animals (sometimes called animal starch). At a later time, when the blood sugar level is low, the glycogen is split back into glucose and is transferred out of the liver into the blood.

   In essence, the liver serves as a “buffer” organ for blood glucose regulation because it keeps the blood glucose level from rising too high or falling too low.

2. Hormones that regulate the blood sugar level. After a meal is eaten, the increased glucose level in the blood (about one-third of the glucose is not removed from circulation by the liver) stimulates the pancreas to produce the hormone, insulin, which promotes the rapid transport of glucose into the cells, thus decreasing the blood glucose level back toward normal. Glucose cannot enter the cells through simple diffusion because the pores of the cell membrane are too small. Therefore, it is transported by a chemical process called facilitated diffusion (also called active transport), in which the glucose combines with a carrier in the cell membrane and is transported to the inside of the cell, where it breaks away from the carrier.

   Insulin greatly enhances this facilitated transport of glucose through the cell membrane. In fact, only a very small amount of glucose can combine with the carrier in the absence of insulin, whereas, in the presence of normal amounts of this hormone, the transfer is accelerated as much as 3-5-fold. (Larger than normal amounts of insulin increase the rapidity of glucose transfer as much as 15-20-fold.) As you can see, insulin controls the rate of glucose metabolism in the body by controlling the entry of glucose into the cells.

   Three hormones are involved in increasing the concentration of glucose in the blood when necessary: norepinephrine, epinephrine and glucagon. Norepinephrine and epinephrine are secreted by the adrenal glands and glucagon is secreted by the pancreas. These hormones cause liver glycogen to split into glucose, which is then emptied into the blood. This returns the blood glucose concentration back toward normal.

7.4.8 How Energy is Derived From Glucose

Energy is derived from glucose in one of two basic ways: 1) by oxidation and 2) by glycolysis. By far the major amount of energy from glucose is released in a series of reactions in the cells in the presence of oxygen; but some energy from glucose is released by a process called glycolysis. This is an involved process which does not require the presence of oxygen. (A detailed explanation can be found in a physiology text such as Physiology of the Human Body by Arthur C. Guyton, M.D.)

7.4.9 Carbohydrates in Relation to Other Nutrients

Not only are fats converted to carbohydrates for energy when carbohydrate intake is inadequate, but when carbohydrates are consumed beyond need, the excess is converted to fat and stored in adipose tissue. Also, the B-complex vitamins and the mineral calcium are known to play an integral part in carbohydrate metabolism.

1. The transformation of carbohydrate into fat. Fats and carbohydrates eaten in excess of caloric expenditure are deposited in the adipose tissues as fat. It is, therefore, incorrect to label carbohydrates as being “fattening.” Fats eaten in excess of caloric need are also stored as fat. In the diets of many people, however, carbohydrates comprise the foodstuffs most commonly eaten in excess. There are many reasons for this. One reason is because refined sugar and flour are used so heavily and widely in the processing of the foods most widely advertised and distributed to the retail food outlets. Carbohydrates are, as a general rule, less expensive than fat-containing foods (such as cheeses, nuts, many meats, etc.) therefore, they are more likely to be overeaten. In addition, because humans naturally “have a sweet tooth” (because we are biologically frugivores, adapted in nature to eat fruits), we are more attracted to carbohydrates than to fats. The chemical pathway glucose follows on its way to fat is well understood. You may study this in a good physiology text.
2. The vitamin B complex in carbohydrate nutrition. The importance of the B vitamins in carbohydrate metabolism was discovered because of the health problems that resulted from the industrial processing of foods which removed (and still removes today) the B vitamins from their whole food sources where they were packaged by nature side-by-side with carbohydrates. The large-scale introduction of white (refined) rice in the Orient resulted in beriberi, a vitamin B complex deficiency—specifically, a thiamine deficiency. This phenomenon led to the recognition of the existence of this group of vitamins.

   Prior to the widespread processing of foods, humans did not suffer as a result of their lack of knowledge about the existence of the B vitamins because in nature there is a union between the vitamin B complex and carbohydrates in foods. This union was broken by the industrial processing of foods.

   As will be discussed in greater depth in later lessons, taking vitamin B complex supplements or using so-called “enriched” processed food products will not and cannot substitute for whole foods in their natural state. It is, therefore, very important for health-seekers to consume unprocessed foods—also uncooked, as cooking is an in-home method of food processing that is very destructive of the quantity and quality of vitamins and other nutrients in foods.

   B-complex vitamins are also depleted (and/or not synthesized in the body) when various drugs and medications are taken, most notably birth control pills, alcoholic beverages and antibiotics. Other drugs also deplete B vitamin supplies and/or hinder the synthesis of B vitamins in the intestine. A future lesson will be devoted to the effects of various drugs and medications upon nutrition.

   Physiology texts also mention the fallacy of regarding any one B vitamin in the complex as more important than another because of the fact that the normal chain of events, physiologically speaking, can be broken by a lack of any one of the B vitamins. The texts also recommend a dietary supplement containing all the factors to “avoid the evils of modern food refinement.” It is appropriate to make a comment here on this subject: It is fully possible, in fact, easily possible, to “avoid the evils of modern food refinement” much more completely and many times more effectively as far as good (healthful) results are concerned than by eating refined foods and taking supplements. Actually, it is not only easily possible and desirable to completely avoid ever eating refined foods, but it is essential for anyone who wants and expects to regain and/or maintain good health. It is not possible to have truly high-level health while continuing to indulge those very practices which undermine it, and eating processed foods and taking food supplements both undermine health.

   Please make special note of the above, for it is one of the most important facts you need to completely understand and accept if you are to bring yourself and your clients to a high level of well-being.

3. Calcium in carbohydrate metabolism. Like the B-complex vitamins, calcium is essential in the metabolism of carbohydrates. When calcium is present in context with the carbohydrate source (whole foods), there are no problems. But, with today’s high consumption of refined foods, lack of natural calcium in these foods creates a myriad of very serious health problems. Refined sugar and flour, as well as rice, breads, packaged cereals and pastas, have been robbed of the calcium in the plant during processing and refining. Even whole-grain products may completely lack calcium because of the destruction of this mineral during the destructive processes of cooking and baking.

   Calcium is taken from the bones and teeth to meet the needs for this important mineral in carbohydrate metabolism. Dental caries, osteoporosis and other bone diseases result.

7.5. Sources Of Carbohydrates

7.5.1 Carbohydrates Are a Component of Every Food

As mentioned earlier in this lesson, carbohydrates, along with proteins and fats, form the major components of living matter. They maintain the functional activity of the cells and serve as structural and reserve materials. Carbohydrates provide the primary source of energy for humans.

There is not a single living thing—plant or animal—that does not contain carbohydrates in some form. Though the quantity and form of carbohydrates varies, the presence of carbohydrates as an integral component of life is constant. This means that all foods are potential sources of carbohydrates. However, some foods are better sources than others, and this is what we will discuss now.

7.5.2 Carbohydrates Are a Primary Component of Some Foods

Most foods can be readily classified according to the organic compounds (proteins, carbohydrates, fats, etc.) they contain in greatest abundance. These classifications are not only useful for identifying where to obtain the nutrients we need, but they are also invaluable in selecting compatible food combinations for best digestion and nutrition (to be discussed in depth in a later lesson).

7.5.3 Starches As Sources of Carbohydrates

Starch-containing foods can be divided into four classifications:

Starchy Vegetables

All kinds of potatoes are in this classification. Also included are yams, winter squashes (such as buttercup, hubbard and banana squashes), pumpkin, caladium root, taro root, cassava root and Jerusalem artichokes. (Note: Technically, squashes and pumpkins are fruits.)

Mildly starchy vegetables

This classification includes carrots, cauliflower, beets, rutabaga and salsify.

Cereal grains

This includes all cereals, whether they’re whole or refined, raw or cooked. Examples are wheat, rye, barley, rice, millet, buckwheat and oats.

Legumes

This includes peanuts, lentils, peas and beans.

7.5.4 Fruits As Sources of Carbohydrates

Because some nonsweet foods such as nuts, bell peppers, squashes, cucumbers and tomatoes are technically fruits, fruits can be divided into two classifications: 1) sweet fruits and 2) nonsweet fruits. In our discussion of carbohydrates, we will limit our discussion primarily to the sweet fruits, even though the nonsweet fruits do contain some sugar.

For purposes of food combining for digestive compatibility, the sweet fruits can be divided into four groups: 1) sweet fruits, 2) subacid fruits, 3) acid fruits and 4) melons. The fruits in each category and how to combine them for best digestion will be discussed in a future lesson on correct food combining.

7.6. Why Starches Are Less Than Ideal Sources Of Carbohydrates

There are many reasons why starches are less than ideal as sources of carbohydrates for humans.

7.6.1 Many Digestive Steps Use More Body Energy

A larger amount of the body’s limited supply of nerve energy is used up when starches are used for fuel than when fruits are used because starches are, as you know, polysaccharides and must be broken down (digested) into monosaccharides before the body can use them. Fruits contain a preponderance of monosaccharides, which, as you also know, need no digestion at all. Therefore, fruit eating leaves more of the body’s energies available for other activities. This explains, in part, why people feel so “light” when they eat fruits and so heavy when they eat beans or bread.

7.6.2 There Is a Greater Tendency to Overeat on Starches

Because starches usually lack the amount of water content found in fresh fruits, it is much easier, to overeat on them than on fruits. It takes larger amounts of starch foods to get the same feeling of fullness that you get from a fruit meal. When starches are consumed, it is best to use only one kind of starch at a meal, as this helps control the tendency to overeat on starches.

7.6.3 Many Digestive Steps Take Longer and Fermentation Can More Readily Occur

For good digestion (an important prerequisite for good nutrition), not only do foods need to be compatibly combined with one another, but they also need to be digested fairly quickly. As stated earlier, food that remains in the stomach too long will be decomposed by the bacteria that reside there.

The only starch-splitting enzyme secreted in the saliva, as previously stated, is ptyalin, also known as salivary amylase. The available amount of this enzyme is somewhat limited, and it is unlikely that large amounts of starch foods can be completely digested by salivary amylase, even if no proteins or acid foods are eaten with or too soon before or after the starches. Therefore, complete digestion of the starches eaten, especially if more than a very small amount is eaten or if they are eaten with protein or acid foods, is dependent upon the starch-splitting enzymes in the intestine—pancreatic amylase. However, the likelihood of indigested starches reaching the intestine without first fermenting in the stomach because of the action of bacteria there is rather small. Conditions of emotional or mental stress or anxiety, lack of sleep or rest, eating too fast or a digestive system weakened by years of past abuse are some of the reasons why fermentation may occur before undigested starches can reach the small intestine for digestion by the pancreatic amylase.

Fruits, on the other hand, if eaten with other fruits of like character, pass through the stomach very quickly into the intestine, where their monosaccharide content is rapidly and efficiently absorbed. Unless fruits are eaten with slower-digesting foods such as fat/protein foods (such as nuts, seeds or avocadoes) or starches, they are not likely to ferment in the stomach. Their need for almost no digestion makes it possible for the body to pass them through the digestive tract quickly, before fermentation by bacteria can occur.

7.6.4 Starches Are Poorly Digested Raw But Cooked Starches Are Unwholesome

Only very small amounts of raw starches can be digested because of the nature of the starch granule. Even the most thorough mastication of raw starches breaks open only a small fraction of the starch-containing globules, as each of these globules has a thin but strong protective cellulose covering which acts as a protective membrane for the plant’s storage product (starch).

Neither salivary amylase (ptyalin) nor pancreatic amylase can commence digestion of the starch until it is released from its globule. These starch-containing globules are, therefore, not digested at all and must be eliminated from the body as so much debris. Undigested materials such as these are toxic in the body and pose an eliminative burden without providing energy or other value.

Cooking makes starches more digestible. As stated earlier, starches are not soluble in cold water and need to be heated to break down the cellulose coverings that surround starches. Heat also converts some of the starches to dextrins, and the more and longer heat is applied to the food, the greater will be the amount of starch that is converted to dextrins by this method. Undextrinized starches which have been freed by heat from their protective globules will be hydrolyzed (digested) by the salivary and pancreatic amylases. The resulting dextrins are large polysaccharide molecules that yield the disaccharide maltose upon hydrolysis. Maltose is, in turn, hydrolyzed into molecules of the monosaccharide, glucose.

Despite the greater digestibility of cooked starches, cooking is a very unwholesome process for many reasons, some of which were mentioned in previous lessons and more of which will be elaborated on in a future lesson dedicated to this subject. Basically, cooking destroys vitamins, partially or completely, depending on which vitamins are involved and how long and hot the cooking is; it converts minerals from their usable organic state back to their unusable (and therefore harmful) inorganic state; and it deranges (or deaminizes) the proteins present. (Starch foods do contain small amounts of protein, as protein is a component of all living matter.)

To summarize, while cooking might improve the digestibility of the starches in starch foods, it certainly does not improve the usability of the other nutrients and components of the food. On the contrary, it renders the minerals and proteins present at least partially toxic and unusable. Therefore, we recommend that neither raw starches nor cooked starches be included as part of an optimum diet.

In the case of legumes such as lentils and beans, however, there is one alternative: sprouting. The starches in legumes are converted in the sprouting process at least partially to dextrins, which can be hydrolyzed by body amylases into the appropriate sugars. Grains which have not been processed (whole grains, in other words) can also be sprouted, but usually with less success because they often sour before their enzymes can complete the conversion of most of the starches to sugars.

The only starch foods we recommend are sprouted lentils, sprouted mung beans or sprouted azuke beans. A later lesson on food preparation will discuss sprouting in more depth.

7.6.5 Starches Are Usually Unpalatable Raw

Because we are physiologically fruit-eaters, most of us are not especially fond of nonsweet foods, at least not compared with how much we love sweet foods. We are not physiological starch eaters, and this is evidenced by our disinterest in foods such as raw potatoes, grains, beans, etc. Most starches just don’t taste that good in their raw state.

Carrots, sweet potatoes and yams are notable exceptions, however, because these tubers, in addition to containing starches, also contain enough sugars to give them a sweet flavor. The main problem with eating these vegetables is that their sugars are likely to ferment in the stomach while they are held up there with the starches, which digest more, slowly than do the sugars. As stated earlier, sugars are normally passed swiftly through the stomach to the intestine for immediate absorption, but if they get held up in the stomach they ferment because of bacterial action. Carrots, sweet potatoes and yams may be used juiced, as long as they are eaten alone or about a half hour before a meal of compatible foods.

Some of us enjoy certain mildly starchy raw vegetables such as cauliflower and carrots. Eaten in moderate amounts, these vegetables are fine. Grated carrots and/or cauliflower flowerettes are nice additions to vegetable salads, but these salads should not contain nuts, seeds or tomatoes, which are poor combinations with even mild starches.

Remember: Although some starches can be sprouted or juiced, and others may be fine in moderation, especially if they’re only mildly starchy, starches are, as a rule, unpalatable and indigestible raw and unwholesome cooked. As stated earlier, humans are not biologically adapted to starch eating.

7.6.6 Some Starch Foods Also Contain a Significant Amount of Protein

A future lesson on food combining will discuss in detail why it is unhealthful to consume starch foods and protein foods in the same meal. Basically, the two kinds of foods require very different digestive environments and enzymes, starch requiring ptyalin and an alkaline digestive environment, and protein requiring the enzyme pepsin and an acid digestive environment. Both foods cannot be digested simultaneously, and if eaten together or close to the same time, protein digestion will occur, at least partially, leaving the starches and sugars to ferment because of bacterial action in the stomach. Fermentative byproducts interfere with the protein digestion in progress, and protein digestion will most likely be incomplete. Undigested protein will putrefy (rot).

Most foods contain either a predominance of one factor or the other. For example, tubers and grains contain predominately starches, whereas nuts and seeds can be classified as protein/fat foods. But there are some foods which contain a lot of protein along with a lot of starch. Examples of some of these foods are beans of all types, peas and peanuts. Unless these foods are sprouted, which converts their starches to more easily digestible sugars, they are to a large extent indigestible. This is why beans are often referred to as the “musical fruit.” They ferment and putrefy in the stomach and intestine, and this is an unwholesome occurrence because fermentation and putrefaction byproducts are toxins which must be eliminated as quickly as possible so that the body doesn’t suffer great harm from them. Much body energy is used up in toxin elimination, energy that could be much more wisely used for other activities. Also, not all toxins are eliminated before some harm has resulted.

7.6.7 Wheat Poses Special Problems

Wheat is the most popular of the grains used in this country, especially commercially. But this popularity is undeserved because wheat poses special digestive problems that make it unwholesome. Basically, besides the digestive problems that wheat shares with the other starchy foods, the special problem with wheat is that it contains gluten, a protein substance that humans do not have the enzyme to digest. As you know, undigested substances are toxic in the human body and must be eliminated at a great expense of vital energy.

We might add at this point that beets are a mildly starchy root food that have a special problem: They contain too much oxalic acid which the body neutralizes by binding calcium. We recommend that you not use beets as an item of diet.

7.6.8 Grains and Legumes Are Acid-Forming

A later lesson will discuss in depth which foods are acid-forming and which are alkaline-forming and why we should have a predominance of alkaline-forming foods in our diet. Suffice it to say here that most grains and legumes are acid-forming and, for this reason, should be eaten in extreme moderation, if at all.

Grains contain phytic acid, a substance which binds calcium and iron, both in the grains themselves and the body stores of these minerals. This fact only complicates and aggravates the problem of calcium being taken from the bones and teeth by the body in the metabolism of carbohydrates that have been refined and their minerals, therefore, removed.

Anyone concerned about getting enough calcium should not eat grains. People who suffer with nervousness, sleeplessness and/or cramps may already be experiencing some of the symptoms of calcium deficiency. Getting carbohydrates from fresh fruits, and consuming dark green leafy vegetables, possibly along with a few occasional nuts, seeds and/or avocadoes, will insure adequate intake of usable calcium. Consuming grains in addition to the wholesome foods mentioned above is defeating of your purpose and is to be discouraged.

7.7. Why Fruits Are The Ideal Source Of Carbohydrates

Fruits are the ideal source of carbohydrates because they are the foods humans are physiologically and anatomically adapted to eating. (These adaptations will be discussed in greater depth in a later lesson.) Humans have a natural “sweet tooth” because that’s our inherent nature. We’re supposed to eat fruits, mostly sweet fruits. Incidentally, we can enjoy some nuts, seeds, vegetables and sprouts. But sugar-containing fruits should be the primary items in our diet.

The sugars in fruits, being mostly monosaccharides, pass through the stomach and are absorbed through the walls of the intestine without undergoing any digestion. This leaves a great surplus of body energy available for living and all the activities that make living a joy. We should not waste our precious energies digesting complicated, heavy foods unless it’s a matter of life or death. Instead, we should eat simply of our natural foods—fruits—and use our energy for higher-level pursuits of life.

Fruits, except for dates and dried fruits, contain significant amounts of water in its purest and most delicious form. Therefore, they supply most, if not all, of our needs for water. Cooked starches, on the other hand, are water-deficient and make us thirsty, especially if they’re eaten with added salt or soy sauce and/or in very large amounts. Water is an extremely important need of life, and pure water as is in fruits is the only kind we should have. (Distilled water is also acceptable and is, in fact, the only kind of water we should obtain from nonfood sources. The subject of water will be treated in depth in a later lesson.)

Fruits do not have to be cooked or seasoned to taste great. In fact, they should never be cooked, though they can be dried for storage purposes. It is easy to make a meal on fruits, even mono-meals (just one fruit type at a meal), for other foods added to the fruit meal do not enhance it. Fruits are so delicious that they don’t need enhancement and they digest so easily and quickly, eaten with each other or alone, that fermentation and the resulting toxicity of fermentation is unlikely to occur.

Since carbohydrates, quantitatively speaking, are the greatest nutrient need we humans have, it follows that fruits, loaded with sugars, should comprise the bulk of our diet. Fruits, besides being replete with ample carbohydrates, have relatively small amounts of proteins, vitamins and minerals—in just the right amounts for the specific needs of humans. If (anything other than fruits are eaten, it should be small amounts of nonsweet fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts.

7.8. Amounts And Variety Of Carbohydrates Needed By Humans

When most people think about amounts of carbohydrates to consume, they think in terms of calories—units for measuring heat. One calorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water one degree Centigrade. The amount of heat liberated by a complete breakdown of a food into its metabolic end products is expressed in calories.

For purposes of this course, however, calories are unimportant. Obtaining them is important, but numbers are not. Texts say that an average person needs a minimum of 1800 calories per day for just existing and more for any activities indulged. But, as mentioned in an earlier lesson, the variance is so great when it comes to individual needs, and people on conventional high-protein diets that include meat, etc., require so much extra energy to handle the constant input of toxins, causing an additional variance between “norms” and the actual needs of a truly healthy person, that the guidelines in the texts are practically useless. Besides, humans have always been able to get all the calories they need without counting them—and without even knowing about their existence.

So, in this section, we will take a more practical approach to the question of how much carbohydrate we need in our diet.

7.8.1 Amounts

Because protein, minerals and vitamins are present in sufficient quantities in carbohydrate foods to meet our needs for these nutrients, virtually the entire human diet can consist of carbohydrate foods (fruits). Some individuals, for various reasons, may find it desirable to include some protein/fat foods such as nuts, seeds and/or avocadoes and/or nonsweet fruits and/or vegetables in their diet of sweet fruits. However, if these foods are eaten, they should not be consumed with, immediately after or less than four hours before sweet fruits—to insure proper digestion of all foods involved and, specifically, to insure that the fruits pass quickly through the stomach to the intestine for absorption rather than getting held up by slower-digesting foods in the stomach and fermenting.

Whether an all-fruit diet is consumed, or other foods are included in the diet, the fact remains that an all-carbohydrate diet will amply supply not only all our energy (carbohydrate) needs, but it will also supply the proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals we need. (Fats are easily obtained by an occasional avocado, a nonsweet [oily] fruit.)

7.8.2 Variety

As far as food variety goes, foods grown on different soils in various locations will provide the broadest range of nutrients possible. Eating foods from one locale only, if not organically grown, could result in nutrient deficiencies, especially if only one or a few kinds of foods are consumed. This is probably not a concern for most people in the U.S., however.

While a diet consisting of a broad variety of wholesome natural foods may provide interest and a broad range of nutrients and nutrient combinations, it should be remembered that most foods to which we are biologically adapted contain most of the nutrients we need—in varying amounts. People worldwide have been known to live in excellent health on diets consisting of primarily or only one or a few foods. Some examples of such foods are coconuts, dates and bananas. There is much proof that a large variety of foods is not necessary for good health, though there is nothing to be said against variety, as long as the foods are wholesome, raw and correctly combined.

7.9. Disease Conditions Related To Carbohydrate Consumption

The following plus many more diseases are considered, by the medical world and by some lay people alike, to be either caused by or related to carbohydrates of various kinds in the diet. At this place in this course, we will not delve into any depth on these disease conditions, as they will be treated in separate later lessons. Here we will just briefly mention a few of the more common conditions related to carbohydrate consumption.

7.9.1 Lactose Intolerance

Humans, like the other mammals, provide milk for their young from their mammary glands. This milk is perfectly suited for the very specific needs of the developing human infant, but it is not designed to meet the needs of calves or kids or other baby mammals. It is meant for feeding human infants only. While the above statement may seem ridiculously obvious, it is not as obvious to many people that human babies should not receive milk from cows or goats except in emergencies where human milk is simply unavailable. In those exceptions, milk from another species of mammal is preferable to no milk at all.

The reason we introduce the subject of lactose intolerance the way we did in the above paragraph is to show two things: 1) how far we have strayed from nature in feeding cows’ milk to our human babies and 2) that mammary milk is specially created for babies up to three years of age and is not designed for humans above that age.

The idea that we need calcium, fats, proteins or anything else from milk beyond the age of three is not only entirely false and totally ungrounded in fact, but it has caused a tremendous amount of harm and suffering for humans. “How did these ideas get started and popularized so widely, then?” you may ask. The simple but sad answer is that the, dairy industry is primarily responsible. (This entire subject will be treated in greater depth in a future lesson devoted entirely to the subject of milk and dairy products in the diet.) As incredible as it may seem that so many people would actually put profit before human health, it is, nonetheless, true.

The problem of lactose intolerance is very widespread. The fact that from 18% to 100% of various peoples across the globe exhibit symptoms of lactose intolerance exemplifies the extent of the problems of consuming nature’s formula for calves. Large numbers of people experience symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea and flatulence (excessive formation of gas in the stomach or intestines). Many so-called allergies, skin disorders, so-called upper respiratory “infections,” hay fevers and numerous other diseases—in fact, all diseases—are caused largely or to some extent by the toxic substances resulting from the inability of most (if not all) humans over age three to utilize the sugar, lactose, found in milk.

After age three, most, if not all, people do not secrete the enzyme, lactase, which is needed to break down the disaccharide, lactose, into the simple sugars, glucose and galactose. As you know, undigested sugars are fermented in the stomach and intestine by bacteria. However, it is not the bacteria that are causing the problem, for they are doing what their role in nature requires of them. The bacteria simply play their part in preparing the offending substance, in this case, lactose, for elimination from the body. The cause of the problem is the ingestion of food not appropriate for humans over three.

The solution is obvious and simple, but the powerful and influential dairy industry will do (and does) everything it can to keep this information a secret and to try to disprove it. Besides this, governments are on the side of industry, and individuals in government who can’t be coerced to change are removed from positions that enable them to act in favor of human health.

It is a common misconception that the overall health of people is more dependent upon maintaining the jobs and industries that are now in operation than maintaining physical health. Too many people like to think that the connection between eating wrong foods and disease conditions of all kinds is only vague and questionable, when, in fact, the connection is very direct and the solution very simple. People like to think that some vitamin, some drug or some other kind of treatment will “cure” diseases and alleviate symptoms. Then they can go on indulging unhealthful practices and not disturb the status quo. But there is just no getting around the fact that, if we are to have better health, we must change our eating and living practices. No so-called “cures” or other treatments can even approach “making up for” healthful living. To try to do so is a futile effort. Change is really not so difficult if more people could just accept the idea that it is necessary and beneficial to everyone, both in the long run and in the short run.

To get back to the subject of lactose intolerance, can you see why most or all people do not digest lactose? Milk is not a natural or wholesome food for humans over age three; neither are other dairy products. While not everyone exhibits the clinical symptoms of lactose intolerance, the health of everyone suffers in some way as a result of milk consumption—if they drink milk or otherwise use milk or dairy products.

As stated earlier, the problems of milk and dairy products in the diet will be discussed in much greater depth in a future lesson on the subject.

One more item might be added here before we close this subject: Texts say that milk to which the enzyme lactase has been added and fermented dairy products are tolerated by lactose intolerant people. They list foods such as yogurt, buttermilk and cottage cheese. Suffice it to say here that all dairy foods are very unhealthful, including those listed above, and many symptoms other than those of lactose intolerance result from the consumption of unwholesome foods.

7.9.2 Galactosemia

Galactosemia is another disease condition related to milk, or lactose, consumption. This disorder, labeled “an unusual hereditary disorder,” occurs in infants. Galactosemia is among the diseases that supposedly result from “inborn errors of metabolism.” In this condition, a specific enzyme (p-galactose-uridyl-transferase) is lacking, so the infant cannot properly digest the sugars in milk. Specifically, the monosaccharide galactose, which does not occur free in nature but results from the hydrolization of lactose from milk, cannot be converted to glucose.

Infants with this disorder vomit when they’re fed milk and other dairy foods. They become lethargic and fail to gain weight. Their liver and spleen become enlarged (from overwork), cataracts develop and they become mentally retarded. In severe cases, death can occur. The solution to this problem is a milk- (and other dairy products) free diet, according to the texts. What is fed to babies instead of milk is not listed, but we would recommend freshly-made fruit juices in season, perhaps along with (at separate feedings, of course) homemade nut, seed or soy milk, depending upon the infant’s tolerance to these. (The subject of care and feeding of infants and children will be treated in more depth in later lessons.)

7.9.3 Dental Caries

Dental decay is generally attributed to the consumption of too much sugar. However, the sugars in fresh ripe fruits, even in very sweet fruits such as dates and dried fruits, will never cause dental decay. The reason for this is that it is not sugar itself that causes cavities; rather, it is the consumption of refined sugars and other refined foods, such as refined flours and white or polished rice, that results in dental caries. The consumption of meats, dairy foods and other acid-forming foods in great excess of alkaline foods (fruits and vegetables in their raw state) is also an important contributing factor to dental decay.

As mentioned earlier in this lesson, calcium is needed in the metabolism of carbohydrates. Refined foods lack minerals, including calcium. The body is forced to draw calcium from its own reserves, and these reserves are depleted rather quickly if refined foods are eaten more than “once in a blue moon.” If this occurs, the body must then draw the needed calcium from its bones and teeth—hence, cavities!

Meats and dairy foods, as well as whole grains, are acid-forming in the body. Calcium is needed to neutralize the acidity and maintain the normal blood alkalinity of 7.40 pH. After the calcium available in the body is used up, this mineral is taken from the bones and teeth.

As you can see, fruits are to be preferred over grains, meats, milk or dairy foods as sources of carbohydrates. Their sugars will not cause cavities, but fragmented foods (refined products) and unnatural foods (meats, milk, dairy, grains) will! From the standpoint of maintaining body calcium, the best choices of starch foods would be the tubers—potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, and carrots.

No one ever need fear dental decay, even on a diet of sweet fruits. The important factor here is not to eat processed or refined foods or foods that are not suited to our biological adaptations. (The subject of sugar and other sweeteners will be treated in greater depth in a future lesson.)

7.9.4 Diabetes Mellitus

Much could be said about this disorder, but we’ll treat it more thoroughly in a later lesson. At this point, suffice it to say that diabetes mellitus, defined as the insufficient production of insulin needed to metabolize sugar, has in common with dental caries the fact that it is caused by an unhealthful diet containing refined sugars, flours, grains and other unwholesome foods. Depending upon an individual’s condition, special care and provision may have to be made for the diabetic who is going on the Life Science regime. Those using insulin, especially in very large amounts, should consult an experienced Hygienic professional before making very great changes in diet.

7.9.5 Hypoglycemia

This condition is also known as low blood sugar and is often a predecessor to diabetes. It, too, will be treated in depth in a future lesson, so we will say little about it here. True hypoglycemia is caused by the same things as cause diabetes. However, people are often diagnosed as hypoglycemic when, in fact, they just have a case of body toxicity. The symptoms of hypoglycemia are many and can also occur when a person is not actually suffering from this condition—hence, the incorrect diagnoses in many cases.

Contrary to popular opinion, most hypoglycemics can fast and benefit greatly by it. Since so many people suffer with this condition, this is good news indeed!

7.10. Questions & Answers

I was under the impression that the primary nutrient humans need is protein—for the maintenance of body cells. You say carbohydrates are our primary nutrient need. Why this discrepancy?

The discrepancy exists because our protein need has been overemphasized and our carbohydrate need underemphasized. In the field of nutrition, as in other fields, fads come and go. The excessive concern about obtaining adequate protein has so permeated the minds of most people that it has become a very dangerous preoccupation. It is dangerous because too much protein in the diet is very harmful and is the cause of much of the disease and suffering so many people are experiencing.

Why has our need for protein become so exaggerated? Why is our need for carbohydrates underestimated?

The meat and dairy industries, with the support of the government, are largely responsible for the “protein fashion.” Their message has become a part of the public education systems—its textbooks, its universities, everything it teaches. They want us to believe that those foods which are most unhealthful, foods such as meat, fish, eggs, milk and cheese, are the most important part of our diet. Secondarily, carbohydrates from grains and breads are promoted—this mostly for the benefit of the refining and baking concerns that bring us Wonder Bread, Cheerios, Pop Tarts, etc. Fruits and vegetables are given very low priority, as the money to be made from marketing these foods is much less than from the nonperishable “foods” and the animal products.

Why have carbohydrates been underemphasized? For one thing, most people, being naturally attracted to sweet things (we are natural biological fruit eaters), manage to get more than enough carbohydrates in their daily diets. This is especially so when we consider the quantity of sugar (refined sugarcane or beets) in the average diet. Desserts, breads, pastas and cereals are quite popular, though these kinds of carbohydrates cause disease because of their nutritional lack of vitamins, minerals, fiber, water, etc., and for other reasons.

Also, a large number of people in our country are weight conscious, and carbohydrates have been named as the culprit. But excessive proteins are even worse than excessive carbohydrates! While weight may be lost on a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet, the harm being done to the organism is more than the harm from keeping the excess fat. The key is to consume natural carbohydrates in the form of fresh fruits rather than processed products. Anyone desiring to lose weight can easily do so on an all-fruit or mostly-fruit diet—and gain excellent health while doing so. It’s the quality of the carbohydrates consumed that makes the difference. Fresh fruits just don’t cause people to gain weight, even if large amounts are eaten.

One more note on this subject: One physiology text condones the high-protein diet, even though it states in the same chapter that carbohydrates are the most efficient fuel foods. The reasoning for this is that “adequate nutrition is possible ... if the need for calories, essential food factors, vitamins and minerals is met.” Of course, they are referring to the body’s ability to utilize proteins as carbohydrates if the intake of carbohydrates is insufficient. As you know, this is an extremely inefficient, wasteful process that is also harmful. The harm caused by excess protein and animal foods will be discussed in more depth in later lessons.

You spoke of losing weight on a fruit diet, but isn’t it true that a person will gain weight on any kind of diet as long as the calories taken in are greater than the energy expended?

Yes, it is definitely true that a person will gain weight if they consume more calories than they expend. However, anyone who is serious about losing weight must pursue an exercise program of some sort. While a person can lose weight by dieting (or fasting) alone, the loss of excess fat must be accompanied by an improvement in overall health if it is to be worthwhile—and an exercise program is essential to good health, even if it’s taken up after a fast.

Because fresh fruits contain much more water than other sources of carbohydrates, they provide satisfaction and a feeling of fullness after relatively few calories are consumed. (Of course, this is not true of dates or dried fruits, which should either be excluded from a weightloss diet or taken in moderation.) It is almost impossible to consume more calories than you expend on a fresh fruit diet—assuming you are active and get daily exercise. The subject of losing weight will be discussed in depth in a later lesson, also.

Is it possible for a person to gain weight on the diet you advocate?

Yes. Except in rare (relatively) cases where emaciation has occurred, gaining fat is usually not desirable. Many studies have shown that exceptionally lean people have longer lifespans and fewer diseases than people we would consider of “normal” weight. As a rule, lean is best. The important factor is the building of muscle, which can be done with the use of weights, along with a well-rounded exercise program (stretching exercises and aerobic exercises) or to a lesser degree without the use of weights. Body muscle can be developed in any number of ways—from swimming or running (or both) to calisthenics or tennis. Ideally, your program should include some resistance exercises (weights, push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc.), some aerobic activities and some stretching exercises, and should work all the body muscles. A truly attractive body is not one with five or ten pounds of extra fat, but one that is firm and filled out by normal musculature.

For those people who are emaciated and do need to gain fat, this should not be rushed. In addition to obtaining generous amounts of exercise (as outlined briefly above), the excessively thin person should make sure his or her life is not too stressful. Also, he or she should consider a fast if there is a chance that adequate calories have been consumed but the body is unable to use them. A physiological rest may be needed more than tremendous amounts of food in this case.

When it comes to eating, people of all body weights should eat normal amounts of healthful foods. Weight gain or loss is a body activity that will occur naturally if we provide the normal and proper conditions of life. Gaining or losing weight is not something we do; rather, it is something the body does. We just provide our needs, and the organism will normalize itself.

Feeding the people in the United States and in the world would not be possible without the food processing industries. There wouldn’t be enough fresh fruits to feed everyone. The diet you propose is totally impractical. How do you answer to this?

I’m glad you asked that question! The food processing industries are not in business to see that a larger amount of food is available to the world’s people. Rather, they are in business to make money. Everyone would be better fed, even on a diet of grains, which is very inferior to the fruit diet, if they were consumed in their whole form rather than processed. Foods are more nutritious before they are processed, so people would be healthier if it weren’t for these industries.

The food processing industries do not increase the quantity of food available, either. It is the food growers (farmers and orchardists) who insure that people get enough food. The following topic will be discussed in depth in later lessons, but here we will say that fruit culture and organic gardening could feed the world’s population more than adequately if the money and labor now used for food processing (destruction) was instead used for growing fruits and vegetables by organic means. This would, of course, have to happen at least somewhat gradually, but it is possible if enough people agreed to it. The whole world could become The Garden! Wouldn’t orchards and vineyards of fruit and nut trees be more appealing to the senses in every way than food refining plants and factories?

People’s health could improve so much that the drug industry could also divert it’s money and labor to healthful endeavors. Hospitals could be turned into schools, hotels, gyms! As you can see, the possibilities are enormous— and exciting!

No, our natural diet is far from impractical. The earth is perfectly equipped for the growing of fruit and nut trees and vegetables. Food could also be supplied to those areas where little or no food can be grown in some seasons by using money and manpower for effective food distribution. Nuts, seeds, dates, dried fruits and seeds and beans for sprouting all ship and store relatively well.

I and many other people have more regular bowel movements because we include bran in our diet. Would you consider this a fairly wholesome part of some people’s diet because of its anti-constipation effect?

Absolutely not! Bran is a food fragment; that is, it is only part of the whole wheat berry. It has many sharp edges which irritate and cut the delicate tissues within the gastrointestinal tract. Humans require their carbohydrate in the form of usable sugars—not in the form of indigestible cellulose.

As far as regular bowel movements go, you will definitely have them on a diet consisting primarily of the foods of our biological adaptation—fresh fruits. It is not for you, me or anyone else to decide how large or how frequent our bowel movements should be—this is strictly a body process that should remain entirely on a subconscious level. We should never have to think about it at all, let alone talk about it. And on the proper diet, you can be sure that everything is happening as it should within your body, for, as you know, the inherent intelligence of your body is great. Our only responsibility is to provide the normal needs of life—and then just live. The body will take care of its own needs.

I’m hypoglycemic. There’s no way I could ever go on the fruit diet you advocate. I can get my carbohydrates from starch foods, can’t I?

Yes, you can get your carbohydrates from starch foods. Because of the special problems of such starches as grains (phytic acid; their acid effect), beets (oxalic acid, which binds calcium) and beans (also contain much protein, which makes them digest very poorly), you should stick to lightly-steamed potatoes, yams, cauliflower, carrots and sweet potatoes rather than using grains, beans or beets. They can also be eaten raw or juiced if you like. You may include sprouted seeds and beans, such as chick peas (garbanzos), dry peas, mung beans, alfalfa seeds, etc., as well as lots of vegetables and non-sweet fruits and some nuts, seeds and avocados in your diet. However, do not overdo on the oily foods (nuts, seeds, avocados). Rice and millet are the best of the grains, and can be used in moderation, especially with large raw vegetable salads that contain vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, kale, celery, etc., but that do not contain nuts, seeds, avocados, tomatoes or starch foods. (The rice or millet is sufficient starch for one meal.) Other relatively wholesome starch foods you may want to consider to insure more variety (if variety is important to you) are winter squashes, pumpkins, caladium roots, taro roots, cassava roots and Jerusalem artichokes. Rutabaga and salsify are also wholesome starch foods. (You may not be able to obtain some of the foods listed above, but keep your eyes and ears open.)

Keep in mind that starches are not ideal foods for humans, even hypoglycemic humans. Starches remain second-rate sources of carbohydrates. For best results in using them, use just one kind of starch food at a given meal and follow correct food combining rules (as briefly explained in this section, but to be discussed in greater depth in a later lesson) and chew your food well. Also, refrain from drinking anything during or within 2-3 hours after your meals. Understand that you cannot obtain optimum health on a diet consisting of cooked starches as your primary source of carbohydrates.

I recommend that, as soon as possible, you take a supervised fast. Hypoglycemics can and do fast—and with excellent results. Many can return to a normal diet that includes lots of fruits. Most or all can include fruits as a substantial part of their diet, though their intake of the very sweet fruits such as dates, dried fruits and persimmons may be restricted. Some fruits contain much less sugar than others and can be tolerated well by “recovering hypoglycemics.”

Whether you fast or not, if you begin living and eating more healthfully, you will be able to eat some fruits, at least in moderation, right away or very soon. As your body begins to normalize and gets rid of stored up toxins that contribute to your problem, you will be able to consume a larger and larger proportion of fruits in your diet. A hypoglycemic does not have to remain hypoglycemic forever. Health results from healthful living—so live healthfully and you will get well.

Article #1: Carbohydrates by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

The following segment on carbohydrates was written by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton in his book, Orthotrophy in a chapter on food elements.

This is the name given to certain organic compounds of carbon that are produced by plants in the process of growth from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with the oxygen and hydrogen in proportions to form water. In everyday language we know the most important of these carbohydrates as starches and sugars. As will be seen later, carbohydrates are complex substances composed, in most instances, of simpler substances, or building blocks, called sugars. Chief among the carbohydrates are:

Fruits—Bananas, all sweet fruits, hubbard squash, etc.

Nuts—A few varieties—acorns, chestnuts and coconuts.

Tubers—Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, artichokes, parsnips, etc.

Legumes—Most beans, except some varieties of soybeans, all peas, peanuts.

Cereals—All grains and practically all cereal products. (Gluten bread is not a carbohydrate.)

Grains and legumes are classed both as proteins and carbohydrates. This is due to the fact that they contain enough of each of these food elements to be placed in both classes. Nuts, for the same reason, are classed both as proteins and as fats. Milk, commonly classed as a protein, is really low in protein. It may with equal justification be classed as a sugar or carbohydrate. All foods contain more or less carbohydrates, as they all contain more or less protein. Most foods contain some fats, but there is none in most fruits nor in the green leaves of vegetables.

Carbohydrates, like proteins, are composed of simpler compounds known as simple sugars or monosaccharides. According to their composition, these are classed as follows:

1. Monosaccharides: Sugars containing only one sugar group or radical. Among the monosaccharides are grape sugar (glucose or dextrose), fruit sugar (fructose or levulose) and galactose of honey. These are the assimilable forms of carbohydrate. Dextrose is the principle member of the glucose group and much less sweet than cane sugar. It is known as grape sugar and is found in fruits, some vegetables and honey. Glucose occurs in both plants and animals and is formed by the action of heat and the ultraviolet rays upon starch in the presence of an acid. Corn syrup is commercially known as glucose. Glucose may also be made by treating starch with sulphuric acid in the presence of heat. Fructose and levulose are derived from fruits and honey. Galactose is a crystaline glucose obtained by treating milk sugar with dilute acids.
2. Disaccharides: Sugars containing two simple sugars, or that can be broken into two monosaccharides. The ordinary cane sugar or sucrose of commerce is a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose. Invert sugar found in honey is a mixture of glucose and fructose. Maltose of malt sugar is composed of galactose and glucose. Maple sugar (sucrose) and milk sugar (lactose) are also disaccharides.
3. Trisaccharides: Sugars containing three sugar groups or radicals. Beet sugar is the best known example of this sugar.
4. Polysaccharides: Colloids or noncrystalizable organic substances known as starches. There are three main groups of polysaccharides: 1) starches; 2) glycogen (animal starch) and 3) pentosans. Pentosans are numerous and include the cellulose or woody fibre of cotton, linen, walls of plant cells, etc. They are usually indigestible, although, in tender cabbage and other very tender vegetables, they are digestible. Galactose found in sugar, seeds, and algae; pectins found in unripe fruit and the gummy exudate on trees and plants are also pentosans.

Starches and sugars are well known to everyone, as they are found in all fruits and vegetables. Sugars are soluble carbohydrates with a more or less sweet taste. When heated to a high temperature they form caramel. Sugars are crystalloids; starches are insoluble and are colloids. Glycogen and milk sugar are the only carbohydrates of animal origin and even these are derived originally from the plant. Animals are incapable of extracting carbon from the air and synthesizing carbohydrates.

While the sugars are all soluble, raw starch is insoluble. Boiling will render part of it soluble. This, however, hinders its digestion. Starch is converted into a disaccharide in the mouth, and this is converted into a monosaccharide in the intestine.

The body cannot use starch. It must first be converted into sugar before it can be utilized by the cells. This is done in the process of digestion and begins in the mouth. Disaccharides and polysaccharides are converted into monosaccharides in the process of digestion, as carbohydrates can be absorbed and assimilated only as monosaccharides. Starch must first be converted into sugar, and the complex sugars must be converted into simple sugars before they are absorbed. The body’s need for sugar may easily be supplied without eating commercial sugars and syrups or any form of denatured carbohydrate. Child and adult alike should eat only natural sweets and starches.

Sugar is the most important building material in the plant world. A characteristic difference between plants and animals is that, whereas the animal is built up largely out of proteins, the plant is built up largely out of carbohydrates. Plants may be truly said to be made of sugar. They contain various minerals and some nitrogen, but practically the whole fabric of the plant or tree is composed of sugar in some form. Sugars are essential constituents of all plants without which they cannot exist. Indeed, sugars are the most important and most abundant building materials in plants. Out of the immature or sap sugars, plants build their roots, stems, flowers, fruits and seeds. The finished plant is almost literally made of sugar.

Nature produces sugars out of three gases—carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen and hydrogen in proportions to form water are taken from the water in the soil. Carbon is taken from the carbon dioxide of the air. Out of these gases, or out of this fluid and gas, the plant synthesizes sugar, a thing the animal cannot do. The green coloring of plants is due to the presence of a pigment known as chlorophyll. This pigment takes part in a chemical process known as photosynthesis, by which carbon dioxide (or at least the carbon in the carbon dioxide), with the aid of sunlight, is united with water to form sugar. Recent experiments have shown that enzymes contained in the leaves of the plants are the chief agents in the production of this sugar. Some plants can produce sugar in the absence of light.

Not only the starches of plants, but also the pentosans, the woody fibers, cellulose and gums are made of sugar and may be reconverted into sugar. When carbohydrates are stored for long periods, they are stored as starches. When they are used, they are reconverted into sugars. Corn, peas, etc., are sweet (full of sugar) before they mature. The sap of the corn is also sweet. The sap of the cane plant is very sweet. In the matured state corn, cane seed and peas are hard starch grains. In the germinating process the starch is reconverted into sugar. As starches these seeds will keep for long periods of time; as sugars they would not keep until the following spring. It will be noticed that the enzymes in seeds do not require ultraviolet rays and acid to bring about this reconversion, any more than do the enzymes in digestive juices.

Fruits are ready for immediate use and, if not used soon after ripening, tend to decompose rapidly. Grains are intended for storage. It is significant that fruits are composed of insoluble starches and are usually rich in acids before they ripen. In this state they are usually avoided by animals. The starch is reconverted into sugar in the ripening process. This arrangement protects the seed of the fruit until it is matured and ready for dispersal. Then the fruit is ripened and made ready for food.

The animal, like the plant, builds its carbohydrates out of sugar. All starch foods must be converted into sugar (in the process of digestion) before they can be taken into the body and used. Animal starch (glycogen) is made from sugar. It, like the starch of grains, is a storage product. Like the starch of grains, it must be reconverted into sugar before using. The sugar in milk may be made from starches.

The matured fruit sugars of plants, especially those of fruits, are particularly appropriate for food. They are never concentrated and are always well balanced with other nutrients. They are built up out of the immature sugar and impart to both fresh and dried fruits their delicious flavors. Matured sugars in flowers are collected by bees and made into honey. Fruit sugars are, in truth, export products produced by plants.

All the sugar the body requires may be obtained from fresh ripe fruits. This is especially so during the summer months. During the winter months when fresh fruits are not so abundant, dried (but unsulphured) fruits are excellent sources of sugar. These should not be cooked. Owing to the absence of water, dried fruits are more concentrated foods than fresh fruits and should not be eaten in the same bulk.

Just as fruits are savoured with their matured sugars, so vegetable foods are savoured with the immature juices (saps) of the plants. In the plants, as in the fruits, the sugars are combined with vitamins, mineral salts, fiber and other elements of foods.

It is essential to emphasize that sugars constitute but one of the ingredients of plant life and are never put up in their pure state. In fruits and plants they are always combined with and balanced by other ingredients, particularly with salts, vitamins and water. Man, not nature, produces concentrated sugars. Man, not nature, separates the minerals from sugar. Sugars should be eaten as nature provides them.

Commercial syrups and molasses are concentrated saps. Besides being concentrated, usually by the use of heat in evaporating the water, they are deprived of their minerals and vitamins and have preservatives, artificial colors and flavors added and are often bleached with sulphur dioxide, with which they become saturated. Commercial sugars—maple, cane, beet, milk—are crystalized saps. They, too, are unbalanced, commonly bleached and thoroughly unfitted for use. So concentrated are these syrups and sugars, so denatured and so prone to speedy fermentation in the digestive tract, that it is best not to employ them at all. If they are used, they should be used very sparingly. The same rule should apply to honey. This food of the bee contains all the other nutritive elements in very minute quantities, being largely water and sugar with flavors from the flowers. If it is eaten, it should be taken sparingly.

What a difference between eating sugar cane and eating the extracted, concentrated and refined sugar of the cane! It is said that it takes a West Indian native an hour to chew eighteen inches of cane from which he derives the equivalent of one large lump of sugar—less than the average coffee-drinker puts into a single cup of his favorite poison. (The boys and girls of Texas and Louisiana can chew sugar cane faster than the West Indian native, it seems.) In thus securing his sugar, the cane eater secures the minerals and vitamins that are normally associated with sugars—he does not eat a “purified” product.

Sugar is regarded as an energy food, but it is a remarkable fact that the heavy sugar eater prefers to watch athletic games to taking part in them. We, of course, have reference to the heavy eater of commercial sugars. They seem to stimulate and then depress the muscular powers.

It has long been the Hygienic theory that the catarrhal diseases are based on carbohydrate excess—sugar excess, as all starches are converted into sugar in digestion. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that the British Medical Journal for June 1933 carried an article discussing “the relation of excessive carbohydrate ingestion to catarrh and other diseases,” in which it was pointed out that during World War I, the incidence of catarrhal illnesses was reduced seemingly corresponding with the great eduction of sugar consumption. The writer of the article concludes that “restriction in the use of sugar would result in improvement in the national health as regards catarrhal illness, as well as in other directions.”

Article #2: Digestion Of Foods by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

Foodstuffs as we eat them constitute the raw materials of nutrition. As proteins, carbohydrates and fats, they are not usable by the body. They must first undergo a disintegrating, refining and standardizing process (more properly a series of processes) to which the term digestion has been given. Although this process of digestion is partly mechanical, as in the chewing, swallowing and “churning” of food, the physiology of digestion is very largely a study of the chemical changes foods undergo in their passage through the alimentary canal. For our present purposes, we need give but little attention to intestinal digestion but will concentrate upon mouth and stomach digestion.

Enzymic Limitations Necessitate the Combining of Compatible Foods

The changes through which foods go in the processes of digestion are affected by a group of agencies known as enzymes. Due to the fact that the conditions under which these enzymes can act are sharply defined, it becomes neccessary to give heed to the simple rules of correct food combining that have been carefully worked out on a basis of the chemistry of digestion.

Long and patient effort on the part of many physiologists in many parts of the world have brought to light a host of facts concerning enzymic limitations, but, unfortunately, these same physiologists have attempted to slur over their importance and to supply us with fictional reasons why we should continue to eat and drink in the conventionally haphazard manner. They have rejected every effort to make a practical application of the great fund of vital knowledge their painstaking labors have provided. Not so the Natural Hygienists. We seek to base our rules of life upon the principles of biology and physiology.

What Enzymes Are

Let us briefly consider enzymes in general before we go on to a study of the enzymes of the mouth and stomach. An enzyme may be appropriately defined as a physiological catalyst. In the study of chemistry it was soon found that many substances that do not normally combine when brought into contact with each other may be made to do so by a third substance when it is brought into contact with them. This third substance does not in any way enter into the combination or share in the reaction; its mere presence seems to bring about the combination and reaction. Such a substance or agent is called a catalyst and the process is called catalysis.

Plants and animals manufacture soluble catalytic substances, colloidal in nature and but little resistant to heat, which they employ in the many processes of splitting up of compounds and the making of new ones within themselves. To these substances the term enzyme has been applied. Many enzymes are known, all of them, apparently, of protein character. The only ones that need interest us here are those involved in the digestion of foodstuffs. These are involved in the reduction of complex food substances to simpler compounds that are acceptable to the bloodstream and usable by the cells of the body in the production of new cell substance.

Bacterial By Products Poisonous

As the action of enzymes in the digestion of foodstuffs closely resembles fermentation, these substances were formerly referred to as ferments. Fermentation, however, is accomplished by organized ferments—bacteria. The products of fermentation are not identical with the products of enzymic disintegration of foodstuffs and are not suitable as nutritive materials. Rather, they are poisonous. Putrefaction, also the result of bacterial action, also gives rise to poisons, some of them very virulent.

Digestive Enzymes Extremely Specialized

Each enzyme is specific in its action. This is to say, it acts only upon one class of food substance. The enzymes that act upon carbohydrates do not and cannot act upon proteins nor upon salts nor fats. They are even more specific than this would indicate. For example, in the digestion of closely related substances such as the disaccharides (complex sugars), the enzyme that acts upon maltose is not capable of acting upon lactose. Each sugar seems to require its own specific enzyme. The physiologist, Howell, tells us that there is no clear proof that any single enzyme can produce more than one kind of ferment action.

Digestion a Step-By-Step Process

This specific action of enzymes is of importance, as there are various states in the digestion of foodstuffs, each state requiring the action of a different enzyme and the various enzymes being capable of performing their work only if the preceding work has been properly performed by the enzymes that also precede. If pepsin, for example, has not converted proteins into peptones, the enzymes that convert peptones into amino acids will not be able to act upon the proteins.

The substance upon which an enzyme acts is called a substrate. Thus starch is the substrate of ptyalin. Dr. N. Phillip Norman, Instructor in gastroenterology, New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital, New York City, says: “In studying the action of different enzymes, one is struck by Emil Fischer’s statement that there must be a special key to each lock, the ferment being the lock and its substrate the key, and if the key does not fit exactly in the lock, no reaction is possible. In view of this fact, is it not logical to believe the admixture of different types of carbohydrates and fats and proteins in the same meal to be distinctly injurious to the digestive cells? If, since it is true that similar but not identical locks are produced by the same type of cells, it is logical to believe that this admixture taxes the physiological functions of these cells to their limit?” Fischer, who was a renowned physiologist, suggested that the specificity of the various enzymes is related to the structure of substances acted upon. Each enzyme is apparently adapted to or fitted to a certain definite structure.

Chewing Is First Digestive Step

Digestion commences in the mouth. All foods are broken up into smaller particles by the process of chewing, and they are thoroughly saturated with saliva. Of the chemical part of digestion, only starch digestion begins in the mouth. The saliva of the mouth, which is normally an alkaline fluid, contains an enzyme called ptyalin, which acts upon starch, breaking this down into maltose, a complex sugar, which is further acted upon in the intestine by maltase and converted into the simple sugar dextrose.

The action of ptyalin upon starch is preparatory, as maltase cannot act upon starch. Amylase, the starch-splitting enzyme of the pancreatic secretion, is said to act upon starch much as does ptyalin, so that starch that escapes digestion in the mouth and stomach may be split into maltose and achroodextrin, providing, of course, that it has not undergone fermentation before it reaches the intestine.

Some Enzymes Destroyed By Acids and Alkalines

Ptyalin is destroyed by a milk acid and also by a strong alkaline reaction. It can act only in an alkaline medium, and this must not be strongly alkaline. It is this limitation of the enzyme that renders important the manner in which we mix our starches, for if they are mixed with foods that are acid or that provide for an acid secretion in the stomach, the action of the ptyalin is brought to an end.

Some Factors That Inhibit Digestion

Stomach (gastric) juice ranges all the way from nearly neutral in reaction to strongly acid, depending upon the character of the food eaten. It contains three enzymes-pepsin, which acts upon proteins; lipase, which has slight action upon fats; and rennin, which coagulates milk. The only one of these enzymes that needs concern us here is pepsin. Pepsin is capable of initiating digestion on all kinds of proteins. This is important, as it seems to be the only enzyme with such power. Different protein splitting enzymes act upon the different stages of protein digestion. It is possible that none of them can act upon protein in stages preceding the stage for which they are specifically adapted. For example, erepsin, found in the intestinal juice and in the pancreatic juice, does not act upon complex proteins, but only upon peptides and polypeptides, reducing these to amino acids. Without the prior action of pepsin in reducing the proteins to peptides, the erepsin would not act upon the protein food. Pepsin acts only in an acid medium and is destroyed by an alkali. Low temperature, as when iced drinks are taken, retards and even suspends the action of pepsin. Alcohol precipitates this enzyme.

Just as the sight, odor or thought of food may occasion a flow of saliva, a “watering of the mouth,” so these same factors may cause the flow of gastric juice, that is a “watering of the stomach.” The taste of food, however, is most important in occasioning a flow of saliva. The physiologist, Carlson, failed in repeated efforts to occasion a flow of gastric juice by having his subjects chew on different substances, or by irritating the nerve endings in the mouth by substances other than those directly related to food. In other words, there is no secretory action when the substances taken into the mouth cannot be digested. There is selective action on the part of the body and, as will be seen later, there are different kinds of action for different kinds of foods.

In his experiments in studying the “conditioned reflex,” Pavlov noted that it is not necessary to take the food into the mouth in order to occasion a flow of gastric juice. The mere teasing of a dog with savory food will serve. He found that even the noises or some other action associated with feeding time will occasion a flow of secretion.

It is necessary that we devote a few paragraphs to a brief study of the body’s ability to adapt its secretions to the different kinds of foodstuffs that are consumed. Later we will discuss the limitations of this power. McLeod’s Physiology in Modern Medicine says: “The observations of Pavlov on the responses of gastric pouches of dogs, to meat, bread and milk have been widely quoted. They are interesting because they constitute evidence that the operation of the gastric secretory mechanism is not without some power of adaptation to the materials to be digested.”

Digestion Proceeds Intelligently

This adaptation is made possible by reason of the fact that the gastric secretions are the products of about five million microscopic glands embedded in the walls of the stomach, various of which secrete different parts of the gastric juice. The varying amounts and proportions of the various elements that enter into the composition of the gastric juice give a juice of varying characters and adapted to the digestion of different kinds of foodstuffs. Thus the juice may be almost neutral in reaction or it may be weakly acid or strongly acid. There may be more or less pepsin according to need. There is also the factor of timing. The character of the juice may be very different at one stage of digestion from what it is at another, as the varying requirements of a food are met.

A similar adaptation of saliva to different foods and digestive requirements is seen to occur. For example weak acids occasion a copious flow of saliva, while weak alkalies occasion no salivary secretion. Disagreeable and noxious substances also occasion salivary secretion, in this instance to flush away the offending material. It is noted by physiologists that with at least two different types of glands in the mouth able to function, a considerable range of variation is possible with reference to the character of the mixed secretion finally discharged.

An excellent example of this ability of the body to modify and adapt its secretions to the varying needs of various kinds of foods is supplied us by the dog. Feed him flesh and there is a secretion of thick, viscous saliva, chiefly from the submaxillary gland. Feed him dried and pulverized flesh, and a very copious and watery secretion will be poured out upon it, coming from the parotid gland. The mucous secretion poured out upon flesh serves to lubricate the bolus of food and thus facilitate swallowing. The thin, watery secretion, on the other hand, poured out upon the dry powder washes the powder from the mouth. Thus, it is seen that the kind of juice poured out is determined by the purpose it must serve.

Humans Ate Correctly In Nature

As we previously noted, ptyalin has no action upon sugar. When sugar is eaten there is a copious flow of saliva, but it contains no ptyalin. If soaked starches are eaten, no saliva is poured out upon these. Ptyalin is not poured out upon flesh or fat. These evidences of adaptation are but a few of the many that could be given. It seems probable that a wider range of adaptation is possible in gastric than in salivary secretion. These things are not without their significance to the person who is desirous of eating in a manner to assure most efficient digestion, although it is the custom of physiologists to gloss over or minimize them.

There are reasons for believing that man, like the lower animals, once instinctively avoided wrong combinations of foods, and there are remnants of the old instinctive practices still extant. But having kindled the torches of intellect upon the ruins of instinct, man is compelled to seek out his way in a bewildering maze of forces and circumstances by the fool’s method of trial and error. At least this is so until he has gained sufficient knowledge and a grasp of proved principles to enable him to govern his conduct in the light of principles and knowledge. Instead, then, of ignoring the great mass of laboriously accumulated physiological knowledge relating to the digestion of our foodstuffs, or glossing over them as is the practice of the professional pysiologists, it behooves us, as intelligent beings, to make full and proper use of such knowledge. If the physiology of digestion can lead us to eating practices that insure better digestion, hence better nutrition, only the foolish will disregard its immense value to us, both in health and in disease.

Article #3: Starches Are Second-Rate Foods by Marti Fry

Have you noticed how often we state that fruits are the foods to which we are biologically suited? We rank them as first-class foods and we rank starchy foods such as tubers, legumes and grains as second- or third-class foods. One reason for this, as you may know, is that most starchy foods have to be cooked to make them tasty. Of course there are exceptions to this:

1. Some people like potatoes, yams, etc., raw.
2. Some mildly starchy vegetables such as carrots, peas and cauliflower are palatable in the raw state to most people.
3. Many legumes can be sprouted instead of cooked.

But despite these exceptions, starchy foods are not ideal for humans. Unlike sugars from fruits, which pass almost directly from the stomach to the small intestine for absorption, starches must be converted to sugar for the body to unlock their energy potential.

Most animals secrete starch-splitting enzymes called amylases, derived from the Latin word meaning—you guessed it—starch-splitting. In humans, starch digestion begins in the mouth: Our saliva contains an amylase called ptyalin, from the Greek word ptyalon, meaning saliva. Ptyalin, also called salivary amylase, changes starch chemically into maltose, a complex sugar.

Many other animals, such as pigs, birds and other starch eaters, but not humans, secrete other additional amylases to insure complete starch digestion. To be sure bf adequately digesting the starch we humans consume, we must chew our food very, very thoroughly so it becomes well-mixed with saliva.

The starch that’s converted to maltose by salivary enzymic action is further broken down in the small intestine by the enzyme maltase into the simple sugar, dextrose, for the bloodstream can absorb only simple sugars, never starches or complex sugars. (Dextrose is dextrorotatory glucose.)

Only 30 to 40 percent of the starch eaten can be broken down by ptyalin in the mouth. If starches are eaten with (or close in time to ingestion of) acid fruits (citrus fruits or tomatoes) or with protein foods, the ptyalin in the saliva that’s swallowed with the food cannot further break down the starch into simple sugars.

This is because ptyalin can only act in an alkaline environment and the stomach environment becomes acid when proteins are consumed. The acids in fruits will also inhibit the secretion of ptyalin. Hence, you should take care to eat starchy foods (if you eat them at all) with vegetables and not with acid or protein foods to insure the best possible digestion.

We do secrete a pancreatic amylase in our intestine to digest starches not handled by salivary amylase (ptyalin). But starches, often partially decompose in the stomach before they get to the intestine.

In addition, there’s a problem relative to human starch digestion and this is another reason why starches are usually cooked or sprouted (besides for taste):

According to The Textbook of Medical Physiology by Arthur C. Guyton, M.D.:

Most starches in their natural state, unfortunately, are present in the food in small globules, each of which has a thin protective cellulose covering. Therefore, most naturally-occurring starches are digested only poorly by ptyalin unless the food is cooked to destroy the protective membrane.

If cooking can destroy the protective membrane around the starch cells, what is it doing to the food’s value? Cooking changes the minerals and proteins into unusable forms and destroys most vitamins!

Chewing only partially damages the protective covering of starch globules and so raw starches can only be partially digested. While undigested foods cause pathogenic problems in the human body, the toxins ingested when we eat cooked foods (deranged vitamins and minerals) cause even greater problems.

In light of how the human body uses starches by changing them to simple sugars through a complicated and only partially effective process, why not consider getting all your carbohydrate needs from fresh fruits which are already in the form of simple easily-digestible sugars? We don’t need starches at all and can thrive more healthfully without them.

This article is reprinted from The Health Crusader, Better Life Journal’s predecessor.

Article #4: The “Staff Of Life” by Marti Fry

We have stated many times that wheat and bread are unwholesome foods for several reasons: Wheat, the seed of cereal grass, is a starchy food that the body cannot digest properly and fully because we secrete only a limited amount of ptyalin, the enzyme that starts digestion of starches, and we secrete no enzyme to break down gluten. Also, wheat and breads are almost always eaten with sugars and/or proteins, all of which then end up in producing indigestion and pathogenic conditions inside the body.

Unless you sprout whole wheat berries, wheat must be cooked to be eaten; and cooking renders the food’s nutrients mostly unusable and quite toxic. Whole wheat flour, even if freshly ground, lacks in nutritional value because of the great loss of nutrients due to oxidation of the burst food cells.

Despite these convincing reasons why we shouldn’t eat bread at all let’s talk about bread a bit further. The wheat bread sold in stores is likely to be only 25 percent wheat, the other 75 percent of the flour being bleached white flour. But you can’t tell this by just looking at the bread, for it may be colored with caramel to make it look darker like 100 percent whole wheat bread. The label has to say “whole-wheat flour” or else it’s only partly whole wheat.

This is bad enough but there’s worse news: The high-fiber breads that are becoming so popular these days contain powdered cellulose, a cheap byproduct of the paper industry. Even nonhygienic minded “health” writers warn against consuming artificial fiber.

The paper mills are selling this powdered cellulose to food processors as a “bulking agent” for cookies, cakes, pastas and breakfast cereals, as well as for bread. The human body wasn’t designed to digest this waste product of the paper industry. Your best bet is still to stay away from products which contain “bulking agents,” sugar or honey, salt, preservatives, colorings and wheat.

Article #5: What’s Wrong With Wheat by Marti Fry

Most people think that whole grain breads are the “staff of life”—that we need to eat bread to be healthy. However, this has been found to be untrue. Even 100 percent whole wheat is unhealthful. Many doctors have their patients merely eliminate grain products (including whole wheat bread) from their diets because this helps many people lose weight.

Medical research has proven that wheat is one of the causes of colds. Families were asked to give up bread and grains for one year. What happened was that no one in these families suffered any colds that year. Another study has shown that wheat is a main contributor of eczema, hives, migraine headaches and various “allergies.”

Of course we know wheat is an indirect cause of diseases; that is, it is usually cooked and otherwise processed such that it contributes to body toxicity. This starchy food is almost always combined improperly; that is, it is eaten with honey, sugar or fruit as in breads, pies, fruitcakes, cereals, etc., or with protein foods such as meat, cheese, milk, yogurt, nuts, seeds, etc.

Consequently, poisonous byproducts of indigestion are created in the stomach. The toxins resulting from fermentation (starch) or putrefaction (proteins) accumulate with other toxins and bring toxemia, the sole cause of disease.

A research undertaken by Dr. Alvarez of the Mayo Clinic states, “Bread can pass though the whole of the small intestine without being digested at all!” Also, wheat interferes with the absorption of other foods, as does salt. Life Scientists know that years of eating wrong combinations of wrong foods gradually impair the body’s digestive abilities.

When people eat a lot of bread they get filled up. Thus they eat less of the fruits and vegetables that have the proper nutrient and vitamin contents. So, as J. I. Rodale says in his book, The Complete Book of Food and Nutrition, “This whole thing about the importance of bread as the staff of life leaves me cold. I think the average person is better off to entirely restrict the use of bread.”

Mr. Rodale also stated, “What is the best program for a person who wishes to live to 120? I say don’t eat bread. It is the worst form of starch ... It is not an edible starch.”

Article #6: Fruit - The Ideal Food by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

Tradition has it that man’s original diet was fruit. While we have no written history of a period when man lived on a fruit diet, there is plenty of evidence to substantiate the view that he once did so. We do know that fruits have historically constituted an important part of man’s diet in most parts of the earth from remote times. Only within recent centuries, and then only in certain parts of the earth, has the notion that fruits have little food value come about.

Most fruits are abundantly supplied with sugar and it is quite possible to gain weight on a fruit diet. Some fruits, like the avocado and most nuts (nuts are also fruits, technically speaking) contain considerable fat. While few of the pulpy fruits are abundantly supplied with protein, some of them do contain a higher percentage of protein than mother’s milk. Practically all nuts are rich in protein of high biological value. One does not have to eat animal foods in order to supply himself with an abundance of all the amino acids required.

In the last century a veritable fruitophobia arose both in Europe and America and people refrained from eating fruits because they supposedly caused disease. Fruits were accused of causing various diarrheal diseases, even typhoid and cholera. It is a fact that a large excess of fresh fruit will result in loose stools, but this is not an objection to fruit eating. One has only to cease taking the fruit in excess to have the bowel looseness cease.

The body does not have to contend with sepsis or poison when an excess of fruit is eaten as when excesses of proteins or starches are taken. Excesses of all types are harmful, but an excess of fruit is far less harmful than an excess of bread or flesh. The prejudice against fruits, however, arose not so much out of the results of excess, as out of the faulty combinations in which they were eaten. Fruits are best taken at a fruit meal and should not be combined with starches or with foods rich in protein or fats, including nuts.

In the last century the idea arose that certain diseases such as rheumatism, gout, lumbago, arthritis, etc., were acid diseases. Acid fruits were forbidden on the ground that they helped to produce these diseases. This error about fruits is as dead as are those who promoted it, and it is somewhat surprising to have it revived at a time when our knowledge of foods is so much greater than it was in the last century.

Under the promptings of this revived notion, when people are told that their gastritis, arthritis, etc., arises out of acidity, many mistake this to mean that they arise out of taking acid fruits. They especially reject oranges, grapefruit, lemons, pineapples and similar acid fruits, lest these produce arthritis in them or aggravate the arthritis from which they already suffer.

The fact is that fresh fruits and vegetables, whether burned in the air or metabolized in the body, are alkaline. On the other hand, a diet of flesh, oils, sugar and denatured starches (white flour, polished rice, etc.) provides an excess of acids—sulphuric, etc. Even such acid fruits as oranges and grapefruit are alkaline when metabolized in the body. When fruit is cooked and sugar is added, the fermentation that follows gives rise to acids that add to the acidity of the body. (All canned fruits have been cooked and most have been sugared.)

As important as water is in the processes of life you do not need to drink large quantities of it. Under the usual circumstances of life the water in fruits and salads will supply all the water needed or nearly enough, if these are eaten as they should be. The pure water of fruits and vegetables is much better for physiological purposes than the water supplied by the water systems of our cities and towns.

Fruits appeal to the eyes, the nose and the mouth. Their beauty of color, their richness of aroma, and the deliciousness of their flavors make them ideally suited to man’s gustatory delight. There is a rich variety of them and they ripen at various seasons of the year, so that there is but a small part of the year in which they are not abundant. Beginning with the many varieties of delicious berries in the springtime and progressing through the varied assortments of cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, figs and mangoes of the summer season, to the apples, pears, persimmons, oranges and grapefruit of the fall and winter season, nature provides us with a pleasing assortment of delicious foods that may be enjoyed by everyone and that are easily digested by even the most sensitive stomachs. By the exercise of a little intelligent care in selecting and combining these foods, one may be assured of better health.

Article #7: Are Humans Starch Eaters? by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

In his efforts to establish, to his complete satisfaction, the normal diet of man, Dr. Emmet Densmore pursued a line of reasoning that we may consider with profit. First, he noted that animals in their natural state live upon foods which are spontaneously produced by nature and require no cultivation. Man, on the other hand, he noted, lives upon foods that are produced by cultivation. Man does not live upon the spontaneous products of nature, but lives artificially.

The thought then occurred to him that, if nature has provided a natural food for all the animals below man, perhaps she has also provided a normal food for man. He assumed that nature has produced foods that are as normal to man as grasses are to the herbivore, or as flesh is to the carnivore. This was certainly no unreasonable assumption but is based on the principle of the unity of nature. It is based upon the fact that man, as much as the lion or the deer, is a child of nature and that, like these animals, his normal requirements are found in nature.

If man, like the other animals of nature, is constituted for a certain type of food, what is that food or what is that type? What, in other words, is the normal food of man? He sought for his answer in several directions. Scientists were agreed that man’s original home was in a warm climate, either in the tropics or the subtropics. Without tools and without fire, he must have lived in a part of the world where the spontaneous productions of nature could be obtained by him with only the “tools” with which he is physiologically equipped and could eat without artificial preparation.

“If man first lived in a warm climate,” he reasoned, “and, if like other animals, he subsisted on foods spontaneously produced by nature, these foods must have been those which grow wild in such a climate, quite probably such foods as are still spontaneously produced in such localities. The woods of the south, as is well known, abound in sweet fruits and nuts.”

It will be seen at a glance that this line of reasoning led straight to the fruits of the trees as man’s normal diet. But man does not live on a fruit diet. Indeed, the greater part of his diet has long been cereals and animal foods. Let us, then, see what Densmore found about cereals.

“It is taught by botanists that wheat is an artificial product developed from some grass plant not now known. Moreover, cereals are the product of the temperate zone, not of those regions where there is no winter, and it was, therefore a necessity of man’s sustenance when he was without agriculture, without tools and without fire, and had to depend upon foods spontaneously produced by nature, that he live in a region where his natural foods were produced at all seasons of the year. This narrows or confines the inquiry to two articles of diet—fruit and nuts.”

He next noted that these foods need no additions, no sweetenings, no seasonings, no preparations, to appeal to the olfactory and gustatory senses of man. “If the dishes that are set before a gourmet,” he said, “those that have been prepared by the most skillful chefs, and that are the product of the most elaborate inventions and preparations, were set beside a portion of the sweet fruits and nuts as produced by nature, without addition or change, every child and most men and women would consider the fruits and nuts quite equal if not superior in gustatory excellence to the most recherché dishes.”

Analysis showed that these foods contain the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and minerals that are essential to human nutrition. Subsequent analysis has shown them to be abundant in the various essential vitamins. Sugar, he noted, is the chief carbohydrate of fruits and nuts. In what way does this diet differ from the diet of civilization? Let us see how Densmore viewed this.

“Instituting a comparison between sweet fruits and nuts on the one hand, and the diet of civilization on the other, I soon detected an essential difference. I saw that bread, cereals, and vegetables are the basis of the diet of the present day and that starch is the chief element of these foods. Scrutinizing the component parts of fruits and nuts, I saw that these fruits contain very little starch, and hence I perceived that I had brought to light a fact that was not unlikely to bear an important part in the solution of the problem before me.”

Thus, by a simple process of reasoning upon well-known facts of nature, he had arrived at the conclusion that, while man’s normal diet as represented in the spontaneous products of nature contains little starch, the cultivated food plants of civilized man were abundant in starch. This led to the question: “What are the effects of starch upon the system?” “Wherein,” he asked, “Does a diet that is without starch differ physiologically from one in which starch is the predominant element?”

Seeking a reply to this last question, he noted first of all “that the two foods (fruits and starch or cereals) involve a different process of digestion.” “Sweet fruits are composed largely of glucose, with a fair proportion of nitrogen ...” cereals are composed largely of starch, with a higher proportion of nitrogen. The carbohydrate in nuts is largely sugar. If fruits and nuts constitute man’s normal diet, as his reasoning had concluded, the starch diet is not his normal diet.

But he was met by one of the most convenient arguments that the evolution hypothesis has supplied its votaries. “Since man, by artificial contrivance and agriculture,” it was reasoned, “has developed and employed cereals and starchy vegetables as the basis of his diet, he has reversed what appears to be the natural order.” Densmore examined this contention in the light of anatomy and physiology and found that man’s digestive organs have undergone no alterations in structure and function to adapt him to the starch diet. “The orangutan and the several species of long-armed apes, which have, apparently since time began, fed upon nuts and fruits to the exclusion of cereals and starchy vegetables, have today the same digestive apparatus in substantially the same proportion of parts as man, after his thousands of years of cereal eating. This fact is undeniable evidence that man’s organs have not undergone essential modification or change by these centuries of unnatural diet.” Evolution just didn’t evolve so readily.

Analyzing the various mono-diets that were then popular and for which much was claimed in the way of their benefits to the patient, Densmore noted that the Salisbury meat diet, the grape diet, and the milk diet each were nonstarch diets. They were simple and, at the same time, they met another requirement of a diet—ease of digestion. “At the foundation of these diets,” he said, “I was gratified to find the same basic fact that the diet is essentially nonstarch and one in which bread, cereals and starchy vegetables are reduced to a minimum.” The Salisbury diet was, to quote Densmore, “entirely free from starch.” He says of the Salisbury diet that it was “a uniform diet.” It was usually considered that a variety of food is necessary both for the invalid and the robust. The triumphs of the mono-diets fly in the face of this commonly received axiom.

Can it be true, then, as Densmore contended, that invalids, and especially those suffering with digestive disease, are invariably benefitted by being placed on an exclusively nonstarch diet?” If man’s digestive organs had undergone the modifications suggested by the defenders of the starch diet,” he reasoned, “starch foods would naturally be those best adapted to man’s restoration; but if, as we contend, the race has been, during all these thousands of years of cereal eating, perpetually straining and overcrowding the powers of the second stomach (the duodenum) and thus deranging the digestive apparatus—and if man is seen to be at once benefitted by discontinuing that diet, and by taking a food which is digested in the first stomach—these facts tend to confirm the view that the adoption of a nonstarch diet is in conformity with man’s physiological structure and needs.”

What he denominated food fruits consisted chiefly of sweet fruits—dates, figs, bananas, raisins, prunes, apples, nuts. Fruits and nuts, with the addition of green vegetables, constitute an adequate diet, furnishing all the food-factors needed by man’s organism, and whoever eats a diet of this kind will be better off than he who eats a great variety of foods, from soup to nuts, from all the kingdoms of nature. It is not sufficient comment upon the abnormality of the modern diet that fruit is relegated to the last place on the menu and is all too often used merely for ornamental purposes?

Prior to Sylvester Graham, the medical and conventional view of fruit was well expressed by a noted British physician thus: “for decorative purposes fruit equals flowers.” Fruits were thought of, also, as relishes, but were not supposed to have any food value. “Bread and meat” were symbolic of nutriment, and those who could afford to do so often sat down to meals consisting of several types of flesh foods. Puddings, porridges and similar articles of diet were classed with bread.

“The ordinary dried figs of commerce,” said Dr. Densmore, “contain about 68 percent glucose, which, when eaten, is in the identical condition that the starch of cereal food is converted into after a protracted and nerve-force-wasting digestion.” He correctly observed that the sugar of fruits is predigested. Many of them require no preparation at all to render them ready to enter the bloodstream; others have to be reduced to simpler sugars, a process that takes place in the intestine. There is certainly good common sense in his thought that foods that are “predigested by nature” and are ready for absorption and assimilation upon ingestion and place less tax upon the digestive system than those foods that are prepared for assimilation only after a complicated and laborious process of digestion.

But, as man is equipped with ptyalin in the saliva and with starch-splitting enzymes in the intestine, it may be urged that starch may be thought of as constituting a normal part of his diet. It was the thought of Dr. Densmore that man’s normal starch-digesting equipment is just sufficient to enable him to digest the small amounts of starch that normally exist in the fruits and nuts that constitute his normal diet. This thought is that, while man is equipped to digest a certain amount of starch, a predominantly starch diet such as is eaten in much of the world today is not normal to him, and that the best form in which he should secure his carbohydrates is sugar.

In this connection, sugar means the sweet fruits produced by old mother nature herself, not the processed sugars of commerce. Sugars, whether in the form of sugar (crystals-brown or white) or in the form of syrups that have been separated from their associated nutrients and that have been concentrated and changed, do not constitute ideal foods for man or beast. The maple sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar, milk sugar and fruit sugars of commerce and the syrups and molasses that are freely eaten, whether from cane or maple sap, do not constitute really good foods for man. Honey, even when pure and unchanged, is not a good food for man for much the same reason, and for added reasons. It is a fine food for bees.

It was believed in Densmore’s day and it is still believed that toasting starch, as in toasting bread, dextrinizes it, thus rendering it more easily digested. Although the toasting of bread spoils much of the food value that remains in it after the first baking, and converts part of it into charcoal, precious little dextrinization occurs. Densmore, accepting the dextrinization of bread by toasting, said: “the sweet fruits are removed a step beyond. If there was some method by which a piece of toast could undergo a second transformation and the dextrin be converted into glucose, it would then in all probability be substantially as easy of digestion as the sweet fruits for the simple reason that it would already be glucose; in a word, no digestion would be necessary.”

Certainly, as he contended, sweet foods would be far better for the weakened individual and the invalid, with lowered digestive powers, than would be a diet of starches. If there is one starch food that may be regarded as an exception to this rule, it would be the potato, as its starch is more easily and speedily converted into sugar than the starch of cereals, legumes, etc. But Densmore goes further than a consideration of the interests of the invalid when he says, “it would seem plain that a human being in apparently robust health is much more liable to remain so upon a food that is adapted to his organism and that is of easy digestion, than upon one that is a foreign body and that must undergo a protracted and difficult digestion before being of use to the system.”

Lesson 8 - Proteins In The Diet

8.1. Introduction

The role of protein in the diet is often an emotional issue. If you wish to confirm this, try to take a steak away from a meat-eater. “But I need my protein” he cries. Tell your friends you are a vegetarian. They may look worried, disturbed—“Where do you get your protein?” they ask, as if you might drop dead at any time.

Perhaps never have so many been so confused over a subject about which they know so little. Much of the information the general public receives about protein comes from special interest groups such as the meat-packing and dairy industries. Consequently, the average person believes that eating large quantities of meat, eggs, milk, cheese, etc., is desirable. They may be full of poisons; they may cause cancer: they may cause heart disease—but, they all furnish that magical substance called protein.

If we are to separate emotion from reason, and propaganda from facts, we must educate ourselves about the true need of the body for protein. We must discover how much protein we actually need, how we can best get it and, after all, just what it is.

8.2. Why We Need Protein

Protein is needed by the body for only two reasons: I) growth and 2) tissue repair and replacement. Protein is not necessary for muscular energy, increased activity or as a source of fuel.

8.2.1 Growth and Tissue Repair

Proteins support normal growth and maintenance of the body tissues.

8.2.2 Growth

Perhaps the role of protein in growth is best exemplified in the development of babies and newborn animals. A relatively high amount of protein is found in the milk of lactating mothers to insure healthy tissue growth in the young child. The protein needs are highest when growth is the fastest. For instance, compare the protein content in mother’s milk after the first six months of birth:

Time After Birth	Percent Protein
From the 8th to 11th day	2.38
From the 20th to 40th day	1.79
From the 70th to 120th day	1.49
At the 170th day and later	1.07

Notice that the highest protein contents occur during the earliest stages of growth to allow for rapid development of the baby. As the growth of the child begins to slow, so does the protein content found in the mother’s milk. It is also interesting to note that the percentage of protein found in mother’s milk is approximately the same as the protein content of most fruits and vegetables. For example, grapes have a 1.3% protein content, raspberries 1.5%, dates 2.2% and so on.

We can also find a relationship between the protein content of the milk of lactating animals and the growth rate of their young by studying the following chart:

	Number of Days for Newborn to Double Its Weight	Average Protein Percentage In Mother’s Milk
Man	180	1.6
Horse	60	2.0
Calf	47	3.5
Kid	19	4.3
Pig	18	5.9
Lamb	10	6.5
Dog	8	7.1
Cat	7	9.5

The highest need for protein in the diet occurs for most animals during the above periods when the newborn is doubling its birth weight. It is important that we realize the protein content in mother’s milk, the optimum food nature has provided for rapid growth of the young, is far below the usual foods that are recommended because of their high protein content (such as meat, nuts, legumes, grains, etc.). Protein is indeed important for growth, but we might well question the alleged necessity for concentrated, high-protein foods.

8.2.3 Tissue Repair and Replacement

The second role of protein is in the repair of tissues or replacement of worn-out cells. After an organism reaches its full growth (usually between 18 and 22 years for humans), protein is needed only to supply the loss incidental to tissue waste. Cell degeneration and waste occur primarily because of toxicity in the body. If we adopt a lifestyle and diet that introduce a minimal amount of toxins into the body, then tissue waste will decrease significantly. As a result, actual protein needs will also diminish.

After an individual reaches adulthood, the only protein needs are for the repair and replacement of tissues that have deteriorated, due largely to body toxicity.

8.2.4 Not As A Fuel Source

Protein is not used directly as fuel for the body or for muscular activity. In muscular work, excretion of nitrogen as a result of protein usage increases only very slightly. Instead, it is the excretion of carbonic acid and absorption of oxygen that increase. These changes indicate that an expenditure of energy is derived mainly from non-nitrogenous foods (such as carbohydrates and fats) and not, from protein.

It is true that the body can use protein to generate fuel for physical activity, but it does so by breaking the protein down into a carbohydrate form. Protein is used as fuel only when there is either an excess of proteins or a lack of carbohydrates. When this occurs, the body splits off the nitrogenous matter from the protein molecule and uses the remaining carbon contents to produce fuel. This process not only involves a net loss of energy, but it also places an unnecessary strain on the liver, kidneys and other organs to eliminate the unusable nitrogenous wastes.

It is for this reason that the popular high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets result in weight loss and also why they are dangerous. Since the body has to expend so much energy in converting the excess protein into the needed carbohydrates for fuel, a net loss occurs in the body and the dieter loses weight. At the same time, he also places a heavy burden on his kidneys to eliminate all the uric acid generated by this protein breakdown and simultaneously overworks an already exhausted liver.

If more physical activity is anticipated, it is only necessary to increase the carbohydrate intake of the diet. Proteins are very poor in fuel-efficiency and do not aid directly or efficiently in muscular activity.

8.3. How Much Protein Do We Need?

No other area of nutritional needs has been surrounded by so much controversy as the daily protein requirements. Nutritionists and scientists have made protein allowance recommendations that have varied as much as 600%. To arrive at a realistic estimate of our protein needs, we first need to understand how some of the current protein standards were derived. We then need to study the actual protein intake requirements of healthy human beings following a traditional diet that has been in effect over several generations. In this manner, we can see how many of the protein allowances today have been inflated beyond normal health needs.

8.3.1 Background of Current Protein Recommendations

In the late nineteenth century. Baron von Liebig was the first person to separate foods into proteins (nitrogenous substances) and carbohydrates/fats (non-nitrogenous substances). Since the muscles are composed chiefly of protein. Liebig concluded (incorrectly) that proteins supply muscular energy and the amount of protein consumed must be related to bodily activity. In fact, it is actually the non-nitrogenous foods that supply the best fuel for muscular activity.

Liebig was one of the first scientists to make a recommendation for protein intake. He determined the body’s protein requirements by measuring the actual amounts of protein consumed by a group of men engaged in physical activity who ate a heavy diet. He reasoned that by measuring the protein intake of men who ate more than average and worked harder than usual, he could arrive at a safe recommended allowance of protein for all people. Such a technique for establishing a standard is somewhat akin to clocking race car drivers in order to establish a safe speed for schoolzones.

Anyway, based on this experiment Liebig determined that about 120 grams of protein daily would satisfy the needs of a moderately active adult. To obtain 120 grams of protein, a person would need to consume about 17 eggs or a pound and a half of meat or twenty ounces of almonds per day.

Following Liebig, Voit in 1881 performed a series of experiments on dogs and likewise determined that we should consume between 100 and 125 grams of protein a day. Doubtless, dogs can safely consume 125 grams of protein per day. The protein requirement for a growing puppy is five times as great as that for a growing baby. Voit, unfortunately, did not adjust his results to account for the differences between humans and dogs.

From the very beginning, we can see that protein requirements were artificially determined and excessively high. As early as 1887, experiments in Germany showed that 40 grams of protein was a sufficient daily amount about one-third of the current recommendations. The old standards of Liebig and Voit, however, were already firmly fixed in the minds of the medical establishment, and the belief persisted that a high-protein diet was conducive to health anyway, so why lower the recommendations?

After many more experiments proved that a daily protein intake of 30 to 40 grams was entirely sufficient, the establishment finally revised its recommendations down to 60 or 70 grams. Although only one-half of the early estimates, this figure is 50% too high, even by conservative nutritional standards. Today, with the support of the meat, dairy and egg industries, the protein allowances still remain around 70 grams per day. It should also be noted that a typical American meat-eater consumes about 93 grams of protein daily—more than anyone else in the world on the average.

8.3.2 True Protein Needs

Perhaps a more reasonable way of establishing true protein needs is to study the daily protein intake of groups of people who: 1) maintain a reasonable level of good health and 2) have followed a traditional diet over a long period of time. Even this method tells us little about what amount of protein a person must have, but it is an interesting case study that probably has more validity than laboratory experiments on dogs, etc.

For instance, in Japan there are farming districts where dietary habits have been established for hundreds of years (unlike most Western diets which have fluctuated and changed rapidly over the past eighty years or so). In these districts, a primarily vegetarian diet was followed, consisting of many greens, plums, wild fruits, roots and occasionally fish in small amounts. These farmers were in excellent health and performed heavy manual labor all through the day. They consumed an average of 37 grams of protein per day, about half the official recommendation.

On various islands in the Pacific are tribes of people who have followed the same diet for dozens of generations—fruits, roots and tubers. They enjoy excellent health and consume about 15 grams of protein a day.

Finally, a study was done by Dr. Jaffe of the University of California at Berkeley on the effects of a non-meat diet over several generations. He studied several generations of fruitarians, ranging from young children to adults whose diet consisted principally of all raw fruits, supplemented by occasional nuts and some honey. Their diets supplied them with about 24 to 33 grams of protein a day. None exhibited any signs of protein deficiency, nor of any other nutrient deficiency. In fact, he discovered all of them to be in exceptional health.

Obviously, if large groups of people around the world are existing in good health on 15 to 35 grams of protein a day, and have done so over several generations and hundreds of years, then protein recommendations of 70 grams can only be deemed excessive.

During the last sixty years, several researchers (Rose, Boyd, Berg, et al) all independently proved that between 3.7% and 4.65% of the total food intake was all the protein necessary to maintain good health. These percentages are equivalent to about 24 to 30 grams of protein.

Careful investigations by Dr. Max Rubner, director of the Hygienic Institute of the University of Berlin, showed that only 4% of the entire caloric intake had to be in the form of protein. On a 2,500 calorie diet, this is about 100 calories of protein or about 28 grams.

Although Natural Hygiene and Life Science do not endorse gram-counting, calorie-counting or a preoccupation with minimal daily requirements, it seems that a reasonable estimate of the protein needs of an adult is probably in the 25 to 30 grams daily range — or about 1 gram per five pounds of body weight. If a person eats a varied diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts, he is assured that he will meet this protein requirement, along with all the other nutrient needs.

8.3.3 Excessive Protein Is Harmful

It is important that we have a realistic idea of the body’s true protein needs because of the damage that may occur when we eat far beyond those needs. Almost every American consumes an excessive amount of protein, even by highly-inflated government standards. A protein-deficient diet is rare in this country, although nutrient-poor diets are the norm. Protein poisoning from an excessive amount of protein is more common than a true deficiency.

When protein is consumed in greater amounts than can be processed by the body, toxicity results from the excessive amount of nitrogen in the blood. This extra nitrogen accumulates as kinotoxin in the muscles and causes chronic fatigue.

Proteinosis, or acute protein poisoning, causes headaches and a general aching. Various symptoms of protein poisoning, such as a burning of the mouth, lips and throat, rashes, etc., are very similar to the symptoms attributed to allergies. In fact, many so-called allergies may be cases of protein poisoning instead.

A high-protein diet eventually destroys the entire glandular system. It overworks the liver and places a heavy strain on the adrenals and kidneys to eliminate the toxins it creates.  In many people, symptoms of arthritis have disappeared after they adopted a low-protein diet.

8.3.4 Protein Supplements are Harmful

It is for these and other reasons that protein supplements should never be used. Protein supplements, by supplying the body with an excessive amount of nitrogen, throw it out of balance and can actually contribute to other nutritional deficiencies. The body must try to eliminate the protein it cannot use that is found in these supplements, and an additional burden is placed on the body.

Also, protein supplements are made from fragmented foods such as soy powder, dried egg whites, powdered milk, etc. When foods are eaten in a processed and fragmented state, they tend to oversupply the body with some nutrients while creating a deficiency of other nutrients. Consequently, protein supplements, besides supplying an excessive and harmful amount of protein, also disrupt the body’s nutritional balance.

Brewers yeast, a popular high-protein supplement, contributes to uric acid formation in the body. It is a waste product of the brewing industry, resulting when the barley is turned into malt. The industry then has no use for it. It is a “dead” food, because it’s heated before marketing to destroy the yeast organisms. Dried egg whites result in constipation; soy powders have enzymes which actually inhibit the absorption of some of the amino acids; using powdered milk results in the formation of mucus (to aid in its removal from the body), and so on. All of these commonly-used protein supplements will be discussed in later lessons. None of them is ever necessary and they should never be included in the diet.

8.4. What Are Proteins?

We know now why we need protein in our diet, but what actually is protein? If you ask the average person what is the first thing that comes into his mind when you say “protein,” he will most likely respond with “meat.” Is protein simply meat or eggs or nuts?

Protein is one of the three categories for all foods, the other two being carbohydrates and fats. Proteins are highly complex compounds of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and small amounts of sulphur or iodine. They are present in the protoplasm of every living cell and are involved in every organic activity of an organism.

8.4.1 Principal Proteins and Their Chemical Compositions

There are many different types of proteins within the bodies of animals and plants. For example, all plants have at least two different types of protein, and within the human body are over 100,000 different kinds of proteins. Although all of these proteins differ in their molecular structure, they all have approximately the same chemical composition of 53% carbon, 22% oxygen, 17% nitrogen, 7% hydrogen and 1% sulphur, iodine, etc.

The principal vegetable proteins are albumin (found in fruits and vegetables), gluten (in wheat and cereals), legumin (in peas and beans), globulin (in nuts) and mucleo-protein (in peas and beans), globulin (in nuts) and muco-protein (in seeds). Some of the animal proteins are casein (found in milk and dairy products), gelatin (in bones and tendons), fibrin (in blood) and myosin (in the flesh of animals).

All of these proteins are composed of amino acids. An amino acid is simply a substructure of a protein compound. You can think of protein as being chains of amino acids that are linked together to form one structure.

For example, a protein compound known as globulin exists in pumpkin seeds. It is composed of the following elements:

Element	Number of Atoms in the Molecule
Carbon	292
Hydrogen	481
Nitrogen	90
Oxygen	83
Sulphur	2

Within this globulin protein molecule are chains of amino acids that make up the compound.

In the following example, an amino acid called isoleucine is contained within this protein molecule. It is composed of the following elements:

Element	Number of Atoms in the Amino Acid
Carbon	6
Hydrogen	13
Nitrogen	1
Oxygen	2

8.4.2 Amino Acids Are the Building Blocks

You can see that many amino acids are necessary to form one protein compound. In many cases, several different types of amino acids are in the same protein molecule. It is these amino acids that are important to the body, and this is what the body uses protein for.

When you hear the word “protein” now, you should think of “amino acids.”

8.5. The Importance Of Amino Acids

Many different proteins are known, but all of them are constructed from 23 principal amino acids. These amino acids are the building blocks of all vegetable and animal protein. A molecule of protein may contain as many as several hundred or even thousands of these amino acids. These amino acids are linked together within the protein molecule in a unique fashion known as peptide linkage. A specific protein contains a variety of amino acids linked together in a sequence specific to that protein.

The body cannot use or assimilate protein in its original state as eaten. The protein must first be digested and split into its component amino acids. The body can then use these amino acids to construct the protein it needs. The ultimate value of a food protein, then, lies in its amino acid composition. It is the amino acids that are the essential nutrients. The proper study of the role of protein in nutrition can only be done with a thorough understanding of the amino acids.

8.5.1 Sources of Amino Acids

8.5.1.1 Exogenous Protein

Amino acids are the end products of protein digestion. When protein is eaten, enzymes in the stomach and small intestine begin to break the linkages within the protein molecule and produce shorter and shorter chains of amino acids. Eventually, the amino acids are in a simplified enough chemical form so that they can pass through the intestinal walls into the bloodstream. They are then carried by the portal vein to the liver for elaboration and passed on to the blood, lymph and cells. The cells synthesize the amino acids into proteins as required.

This simplified description of the digestion and assimilation of protein applies to exogenous protein. Exogenous protein is the term for protein obtained through the diet or from outside of the body.

8.5.1.2 Endogenous Protein

Protein may also be obtained from within the body. This is called endogenous protein. Endogenous protein does not come directly from the foods we eat, but from the synthesis of proteins from within the body.

Obtaining protein from the diet is common knowledge. The fact that the body can synthesize protein from its own proteinaceous wastes, however, is not widely known.

As the body’s cells undergo their natural catabolic processes, they produce proteinaceous wastes in the form of spent cells and other by-products of their own metabolism. These proteinaceous products enter the lymph fluid.

Other cells in the body are able to ingest these spent proteins and to digest them in vesicles (“stomachs”) of their own formation. The body’s cells are thus able to break these proteinaceous wastes down into amino acids and use them to synthesize their own protein.

Endogenous protein (or protein from within the body) is an important source of amino acids that is often overlooked by conventional nutrition writers. Many times, up to two-thirds of the body’s total protein needs are supplied through endogenous protein and not from exogenous dietary sources.

8.5.2 The Amino Acid Pool

From the digestion of proteins in the diet and from the recycling of proteinaceous wastes, the body has all the different amino acids circulating in the blood and lymphatic system. When cells need these amino acids, they appropriate them from the blood or lymph. This continually-circulating available supply of amino acids is known as the amino acid pool.

The amino acid pool is like a bank that is open twenty-four hours. The liver and the cells are continually making deposits and withdrawals of amino acids, depending upon the concentration of amino acids in the blood.

When the number of amino acids is high, the liver absorbs and stores them until needed. As the amino acid level in the blood falls due to withdrawals by the cells, the liver deposits some of the stored amino acids back into circulation.

The cells also have the capacity to store amino acids. If the amino acid content of the blood falls or if some other cells require specific amino acids, the cells are able to release their stored amino acids into circulation. Since most of the body’s cells synthesize more proteins than are necessary to support the life of the cell, the cells can reconvert their proteins into amino acids and make deposits into the amino acid pool.

Between the deposits and withdrawals by the liver and cells, there is a continual flux of amino acids in the blood and plasma. This circulating source of amino acids, as well as the potential availability of the amino acids stored within the liver and the cells, makes up the important amino acid pool. This pool of amino acids is very important in understanding why complete proteins are not necessary in the diet and will be discussed later in this lesson.

8.5.3 The Specific Amino Acids and Their Functions

8.5.3.1 Specific Amino Acids—Descriptions and Sources

The following descriptions of the amino acids include their most important functions and some of the food sources in which they are found.

ALANINE — Is a factor in regulating the adrenal glands and insuring healthy skin, particularly the scalp. It is found in almonds, alfalfa sprouts, apples, apricots, avocadoes, carrots, celery, cucumbers, grapes, lettuces, oranges, strawberries, sweet peppers and tomatoes.

ARGININE — Is used in muscle contraction and the construction of cartilage. It is essential in the functioning of the reproductive organs and in controlling the degeneration of the body cells. Arginine is found in alfalfa sprouts, beets, carrots, celery, cucumbers, lettuces, parsnips, potatoes and turnips.

ASPARTIC ACID — Is used in cardiovascular functions and in the retarding of tooth and bone destruction. It is found in almonds, apples, apricots, carrots, celery, cucumbers, grapefruits, lemons, pineapples, tomatoes and watermelons.

CYSTINE — Is used in the formation of red blood corpuscles and is involved in hair growth and the functioning of the mammary glands. It is found in alfalfa sprouts, apples, brazil nuts, beets, brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, currants, cauliflower, filberts, kale, pineapples and raspberries.

GLUTAMIC ACID — Is used in maintaining blood-sugar levels. Anemia will not occur if this and other nutrients are obtained and used. Glutamic acid is also a factor in the secretion of gastric juices. It is found in brussels sprouts cabbages, carrots, celery, green beans, lettuces and papayas

GLYCINE — Is a factor in forming muscle fiber and cartilage and in regulating sex hormones. It is found in alfalfa sprouts, almonds, carrots, celery, okra, oranges, potatoes, pomegranates, raspberries, turnips and water melons.

HISTIDINE — Is used in manufacturing glycogen and in the control of mucus. It is a component of hemoglobin and semen. It is found in alfalfa sprouts, applet, beets, carrots, celery, cucumbers, endive, papayas, pineapples and pomegranates.

HYDROXYGLUTAMIC ACID — Is similar to glutamic acid and is a factor in controlling digestive juices. It is found in carrots, celery, grapes, lettuces, plums, raspberries and tomatoes.

HYDROXYPROLINE — Aids in liver and gallbladder functions, in emulsifying fats and in the formation of red blood corpuscles. It is found in almonds, apricots, avocadoes, brazil nuts, beets, carrots, cherries, cucumbers, coconuts, figs, grapes, lettuces, oranges, pineapples and raisins.

IODOGORGOIC ACID — Is a factor in all glandular functions. It is found in carrots, celery, lettuces, pineapples and tomatoes.

ISOLEUCINE — Aids in the regulation of the thymus, spleen, pituitary and the metabolism. It is also a factor in forming hemoglobin, lsoleucine is found in .avocadoes, coconuts, papayas, sunflower seeds and almost all nuts.

LEUCINE — Counterbalances the isoleucine amino acid and is found in the same food sources.

LYSINE — Aids in the functions of the liver, gallbladder and pineal and mammary glands. It is also a factor in fat metabolism and in preventing cell degeneration. Lysine is found in alfalfa sprouts, apples, apricots, beets, carrots, celery, cucumbers, grapes, papayas, pears and soybean sprouts.

METHIONINE — Aids in the functioning of the spleen, pancreas and lymph glands. It is a constituent of hemoglobin and tissues and is found in apples, brazil nuts, cabbages, cauliflower, filberts, kale and pineapples.

NORLEUC1NE — Balances the functions of leucine. Synthesized within the body if needed.

PHENYLALANINE — Is involved in the functions of the kidneys and bladder and in eliminating wastes. It is found in apples, beets, carrots, pineapples and tomatoes.

PROLINE — Involved in manufacturing white corpuscles and in the emulsifying of fats. It is found in apricots, avocadoes. almonds, beets, brazil nuts, carrots, cherries, coconuts, cucumbers, figs, grapes, oranges, pineapples and raisins.

SERINE — Aids in the tissue cleansing of the mucus membrane and in the lungs and bronchial. It is found in alfalfa sprouts, apples, beets, carrots, celery, cucumbers, cabbages, papayas and pineapples.

THREONINE — Aids in the balancing of amino acids. Threonine is found in alfalfa sprouts, carrots, green leafy vegetables and papayas.

THYROXINE — Involved with the activity of the thyroid, pituitary and adrenals and in metabolic functions. It is found in carrots, celery, lettuces, tomatoes and pineapples.

TRYPTOPHANE— Involved in the generation of cells and tissues and in the pancreatic and gastric juices. Tryptophane is also a factor in the optic system. It is found in alfalfa sprouts, beets, carrots, celery, green beans and turnips.

TYROSINE — Is a factor in the development of the cells and tissues and in the generation of red and white blood corpuscles. It is also found in the adrenals, pituitary, thyroid and hair. Food sources of this amino acid are alfalfa sprouts, almonds, apricots, apples, beets, carrots, cucumbers, cherries, figs, lettuces, sweet peppers, strawberries and watermelons.

VALINE — Involved in the functioning of the mammary glands and ovaries. It is found in apples, almonds, beets, carrots, celery, okra. pomegranates, squashes and tomatoes.

8.5.3.2 Functions of Amino Acids

We can say that, generally, the amino acids serve five functions in the body:

1. They furnish the material from which proteins are synthesized by various cells.
2. They are used by the cells in manufacturing enzymes, hormones and other nitrogenous products.
3. They are used in constructing blood protein.
4. They may furnish a source of energy, with some of the amino acids being transformed into glucose and glycogen.
5. They aid the body in performing many functions as described in their individual descriptions.

8.5.4 Amino Acids—Essential and Non-Essential

8.5.4.1 Essential Amino Acids

Of the 23 amino acids, eight are termed essential. These are isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophane and valine. It is also said that a ninth amino acid, histidine, is essential for infants.

An “essential amino acid” is an amino acid that the body cannot produce by reduction (oxidation) from another amino acid. In other words, an essential amino acid must be found in a food source and cannot be produced within the body.

8.5.4.2 Non-Essential Amino Acids

The remaining 15 amino acids are termed “non-essential.” but this term is somewhat misleading. They are essential to our health and well-being, but it is not essential that they be present in the foods we eat (provided that there is an adequate supply of the essential amino acids in our diet).

8.6. “Complete Proteins”

Now that we have an understanding of the amino acids, we can intelligently discuss one of the biggest myths in nutrition—the necessity of eating complete proteins.

8.6.1 Definition

A complete protein is usually defined as* a single or combined protein source which has all eight of the essential amino acids. Meat, for example, is said to be a complete protein, and so are eggs, dairy products, soybeans and many nuts. It has been suggested by some individuals and groups that a complete protein (or a combination of proteins that will provide certain proportionate amounts of the eight essential amino acids) be eaten at every meal to make sure that we obtain all eight of the essential amino acids, preferably in certain proportions.

8.6.2 Are Not Essential In the Diet

This idea of a “complete protein” has been so heavily advertised by special interest groups, such as the meat and dairy industries, that the average person believes he must eat meat (or at least milk and eggs if a “vegetarian”) or at the very least prepare protein combinations such as grains and beans or take protein supplements in order to get enough high-quality protein. All of these beliefs are false and. in fact, may lead to practices which increase the toxicity in the body.

This is an important concept in understanding protein needs: It is not necessary for all eight of the essential amino acids to be present in one food or even within one meal in order to obtain our full protein needs. As we have discussed, the body has its own amino acid pool to draw from to supply amino acids which may be missing from dietary sources. Needed amino acids may be withdrawn from those already in circulation, or the necessary amino acids may be released by the liver or other cells into the circulatory system. The amino acid pool thus acts as the supplier of the essential amino acids missing from incomplete proteins. This fact is proven by observing patients after lengthy fasts who exhibited not a protein deficiency, but a restored protein balance.

Only the carnivorous animals in nature eat “complete proteins.” Most of the vegetarian animals eat grass, tubers, fruits, grains, etc. and often of a limited variety. Yet they never exhibit signs of protein deficiency. In fact, protein poisoning from eating high-protein foods is far more common among Western man than is protein deficiency.

The “complete protein” idea also falls apart if we realise that the amino acids in many of the so-called complete protein foods cannot even be fully used by the body. Meat as eaten, for example, is usually only the muscle meat of the animal, which is particularly low in some of the essential amino acids. The soybean has an anti-enzyme factor which blocks or inhibits the assimilation of some of its essential amino acids. Proteins which have been cooked or heated (such as meat. fish, eggs and most dairy products) may lose-up to 50% or more of their essential amino acids due to the creation of enzyme resistant linkages caused by the cooking. So we can see that many of the so-called “complete proteins” are not even completely used by the body.

8.6.3 Are Present In Wholesome foods

If you are truly concerned about eating a food that has all eight essential amino acids which are in a form easily used by the body, we would suggest some of these wholesome foods.

All contain the eight essential amino acids:

Fruits	Nuts	Vegetables
Bananas	Almonds	Alfalfa Sprouts
Tomatoes	Coconuts	Bean Sprouts
Dates	Filberts	Carrots
	Sunflower Seeds	Eggplants
	Walnuts	Sweet Potatoes
	Brazil Nuts	Broccoli
	Pecans	Cabbages
		Corn
		Okra
		Squashes

There are many other foods suitable for the human dietary which also contain all eight essential amino acids.

It should be emphasized, however, that it is not necessary for one food or one meal or one day’s intake of food to contain all eight essential amino acids. We do not need to eat meat, cheese or soybeans to obtain complete protein, nor do we need to mix grains and beans or milk and cereals to get a complete protein in one meal.

A varied diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts can furnish us with all the essential and non-essential amino acids, along with all the other nutrients we need. And, it can do so in the most wholesome foods suitable for the human diet and in a form most readily and efficiently used.

8.7. Protein And The Optimum (Life Science) Diet

So far we have discussed what protein is, why we need it and how much we require. Now it is time to examine the optimum diet for obtaining all our protein needs. A diet consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts can furnish us with the highest quality protein in a form that is readily digested and assimilated.

The protein in this diet is best for the human body for the, following reasons:

1. It is consumed in its raw state;
2. It is free from toxins and poisons that accompany many other protein sources;
3. It is present in wholesome foods along with other needed nutrients;
4. It is easily digested and assimilated by the body; and
5. It is of sufficiently high quality and quantity to meet all the body’s requirements.

8.7.1 Raw Protein Is The Best

The Hygienic or Life Science diet includes proteins only in their raw form. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts do not require cooking to increase their palatability or digestibility.

When proteins are subjected to high heat during cooking, enzyme-resistant linkages are formed between the amino acid chains. Consequently, the body cannot break these amino acids down for its use. What the body cannot use, it must eliminate. The cooked proteins then actually become a source of toxic matter within the body.

When wholesome protein foods are eaten raw, the body can make maximum use of all the amino acids without the accompanying toxins of cooked foods. It should be noted that some high-protein foods, such as soybeans and lima beans, have naturally occurring toxins which are said to be neutralized by heat. It is best not to eat these types of proteins since the cooking process does not totally remove the toxic effect these foods create.

8.7.2 Wholesome Proteins Are Non-Toxic

Proteins consumed in the Hygienic diet are also free from the poisons and toxins that often accompany other protein sources. We have already mentioned the toxins present in many legumes (which, incidentally, are best neutralized by sprouting the legume instead of cooking it). Similarly, most grains (with the exception of young fresh corn) cannot be digested when eaten raw. The cooked grains, however, still contain the toxic by-products from inhibitory enzymes present in the grains. Although legumes and grains are not a proper part of the Life Science diet, they are not nearly as toxic or poisonous as the other traditional protein sources:. meat, milk, dairy products, fish and eggs.

Not only do meat, milk, dairy products, fish and eggs contain naturally-occurring toxins injurious to the body, but they are also often poisoned during the producing and selling of them. Since the unsuitability of these foods is discussed elsewhere in this course, only a few facts about their drawbacks as protein sources need be mentioned:

1. Meat and fish contain naturally-occurring toxins due to decaying cell nuclei in the flesh as well as toxins the animal itself releases when it is killed.
2. Meat has many pesticides and additives, including but not limited to the following: methoxychlor, chlordane, heptachlor, toxaphene, lindane, benzene, hexachloride, aldrin, dieldrin, DDT, sex hormones, stilbestrol, nitrates, nitrites, etc.
3. Meat, eggs and dairy products contain over ten times as much pesticide as commercially-sprayed fruits and vegetables.
4. Eggs are usually produced on a high chemical-hormone diet and are totally nonconsonant with the human digestive physiology.
5. Milk is poorly tolerated by the majority of the world’s population and contains the hormones that are produced in the cow as a result of the artificially induced and prolonged lactation. This writer personally knows a young girl who began lactating due solely to a diet that was heavy in hormone-laden dairy products.
6. Meat, fish, eggs and dairy products are the major contributors to cholesterol problems.

8.7.3 Wholesome Protein Foods Contain A Wide Variety of Nutrients

Proteins consumed in the Hygienic diet occur in wholesome foods which contain a wide variety of needed nutrients. Many of the traditional high-protein foods such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, grains, etc. are usually poor in many vital nutrients.

For example, meat is an exceedingly poor mineral source; cow’s milk is so iron-poor that a growing baby must use its own stored iron supplies in the spleen for normal growth; grains are so low in sodium that people add salt to them for palatability.

On the other hand, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts are rich sources of all the minerals, vitamins and enzymes we need, besides being a source of high-quality protein. The Hygienic diet provides us with a totally balanced supply of all vital nutrients as they naturally occur within whole foods. For instance, for efficient protein use, an adequate amount of carbohydrates must be present. Otherwise, the proteins are converted to carbohydrate fuel for the body and the protein is not used for its original purpose. Meat is so poor in carbohydrates that much of its protein must be used as a secondary and inefficient fuel source for the body. Fruits, vegetables and nuts, however, have a large supply of natural carbohydrates so the body can use all the protein contained within these foods for its original purpose and not create toxic byproducts through unnecessary protein conversion.

8.7.4 Wholesome Protein Is Easily Digested and Assimilated

Protein in the Hygienic diet is easily digested and assimilated, The Life Science diet stresses the importance of eating compatible foods for ease of digestion. Since protein digestion is the most complex gastric process, it is important that protein foods be eaten in proper combinations with other foods.

For instance, naturally occurring high-protein foods such as nuts, seeds and avocadoes should be eaten with non-starchy and leafy green vegetables for the best results. Salad vegetables aid in the digestion of concentrated proteins and “also supply high-quality amino acids of their own.

In a typical diet, proteins are often combined with starches: meat and potatoes, grains and beans, milk and cereal, and so on. Starches and proteins require completely different digestive environments and enzymes, and when eaten together, neither is fully digested or used by the body. As a result, most protein eaten in a conventional diet which ignores proper food combining is not fully digested by the body.

8.7.5 Protein in a Hygienic Diet Meets All Our Needs

The protein in a Hygienic diet is of sufficiently high quality to meet all the body’s requirements. All essential and non-essential amino acids may be obtained from a diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts.

A varied diet of these wholesome foods eaten in their natural state can provide all our protein requirements without concern for the exact number of grams of protein consumed. It is not necessary when eating a natural diet to be preoccupied with obtaining any specific nutrient. They are all supplied in abundance, including protein. Simply for the sake of scientific validity, and not as a regular practice, we have chosen some examples of Hygienic menus in order to analyze their protein contents.

All of these menus and suggestions have been devised to furnish 30 grams of protein to an adult weighing 150 pounds. This is equivalent to one gram per five pounds of body weight. More or less protein may be required, depending upon body weight, metabolism, body toxicity, etc.

8.7.6 Daily Menu Suggestions To Supply 30 Grams of Protein

Food	Ounces	Grams of Protein
Breakfast
Grapefruit	14.0	2.0
Lunch
Persimmons	7.0	1.6
Pear	3.5	0.7
Dates	7.0	4.4
Dinner
Vegetable Salad	11.0	7.4
Kale	4.0	6.0
Squash	3.5	1.1
Avocado	9.0	6.8
Total prams of Protein		30.0
Breakfast
Oranges	16.0	3.8
Lunch
Almonds	3.0	14.0
Celery	8.0	2.0
Dinner
Bananas	18.0	6.5
Dates	6.0	3.7
Total Grams of Protein		30.0
Breakfast
Figs (fresh)	16.0	5.4
Lunch
Avocado	9.0	6.8
Tomato	8.0	2.5
Broccoli	6.0	7.1
Lettuce	4.0	1.7
Dinner
Apricots	12.0	3.0
Cherries	12.0	3.5
Total Grams of Protein		30.0

Of course, we do not suggest that food be weighed or eaten in ounces; nor should we eat according to predetermined menus. These are only suggestions as to what one person might desire to eat in a day. If he did so, he would obtain 30 grams of protein with all the essential amino acids.

It is better to eat according to hunger and body need and not according to grams, ounces or nutrient charts. When presented with a variety of wholesome foods, the body naturally selects the foods it needs to satisfy its particular requirements at that time.

8.8. Questions & Answers

When I stop eating high-protein foods I feel weak. Doesn’t this prove we need these foods?

Actually, just the opposite. High-protein foods create an enormous amount of toxins in the body. When we stop eating those foods for a period of time, the body has an opportunity to eliminate those toxins. It is the elimination of the poisons from the body caused by a previous high-protein diet that causes this weakness—not a lack of protein. It is best to fast (for short periods of time or one longer fast) and allow the body to rid itself of these toxins. Then, you will feel quite strong eating those foods normally thought to be low in protein.

Is protein combining harmful. I read a good book about it.

Unfortunately, most books on protein combining suggest eating two or more concentrated protein foods together at the same time. Different proteins require different digestive processes, and combining two heavy foods, like grains and beans for example, makes the body work too hard. Some protein combinations, like milk and cereals, for example, are so indigestible that little if any good can come from eating them. Quite simply, the ideal protein combinations are those that require the same digestive processes. Nuts and leafy greens, for example, complement each other’s ammo acids and at the same time are agreeable food combinations.

I can’t digest nuts and seeds. Can I still get my protein from this diet?

Most definitely. Nuts and seeds are concentrated proteins—all the foods in the Hygienic diet contain protein. If you eat a calorie-sufficient diet of fruits, vegetables and sprouts, you can obtain all the amino acids that you require. Avocadoes are sometimes better tolerated than nuts and seeds, and they too have a high concentration of protein. In time, as your health improves, you will probably gain greater digestive abilities and you will be able to eat moderate amounts of nuts and seeds.

Shouldn’t we eat a high-protein breakfast?

I can’t imagine why. The idea behind a high-protein breakfast is that it will give us “energy” throughout the day. Actually, it has the opposite effect because protein digestion is the most complex digestive process of all. If you want energy in the morning, eat a high-carbohydrate breakfast of fruits. Better yet give your body a rest from food in the morning. Soon you will be able to function at a higher level of energy than when you ate a heavy breakfast.

I’m a weight lifter, and I feel that I need protein supplements. Aren’t I an exception?

Weight lilting and other strenuous physical activities primarily call for an increase in the consumption of natural carbohydrates for muscle fuel. While it is true that protein is used in building muscle tissue. I must refer you to the gorilla or the elephant. These are well-muscled animals. They eat no high-protein foods, take no protein supplements and drink no special protein drinks. In fact, they build their musculature from greens and fruits. If you feel that you need concentrated protein. I suggest seeds or nuts in moderation. Athletes who eat a very high-protein diet (as is the ease with weight lifters) often develop gout later in life and experience severe kidney problems.

Article #1: The Question Of Proteins By Arnold DeVries

The following is an excerpt from a book by Arnold DeVries called Fountain of Youth.

The building blocks of protein consist of 23 amino acids. Eight of these have been proven to be essential for the support of life and growth. A few others are “convenient” in the sense that animals thrive better if they get them. Proteins which contain all of the essential amino acids as well as the convenient ones, are called complete or first class. A food which contains complete protein will support life and growth if used as the sole source of protein in the diet. The foods which contain incomplete protein will not in themselves support life and growth.

It is often claimed that the difficulty of obtaining complete proteins on a fruitarian diet makes such a diet dangerous except when in the hands of an expert. But this is really not so. A child living upon the fruitarian diet could hardly keep from getting sufficient complete protein if he simply used the plant foods according to his own instinctive desires. After all, there is an abundance of plant foods which supply us with complete proteins of the highest biological value. The researches of Cajori, Van Slyke and Osborn have known conclusively that the protein of most nuts is of the very finest type and contains all of the essential and convenient amino acids. Among the nuts possessing complete proteins are butternuts, pecans, filberts, Brazil nuts, English walnuts, black walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, chestnuts and coconuts.

In addition to being complete, the protein of most nuts is of high biological quality. Investigations at Yale University and the research work of Dr. Hoobler of the Detroit Women’s Hospital and Infant’s Home both demonstrate the superiority of nut protein. The methods of research used by Dr. Hoobler provided a most delicate biological test of the protein of food, and it showed that the protein of nuts not only provides greater nutritive efficiency than that of meat, milk and eggs but that it is also more effective than a combination of the animal proteins.

Coconut globulin is perhaps the best of the nut proteins. Johns, Finks and Pacel of the Protein Investigation Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that this protein produced supernormal growth in young rats when used as the sole protein in the diet. In other words the rats grew more rapidly than when given cheese, meat, eggs, milk or any other high-protein food. McCandish and Weaver have also found that the protein of coconuts is superior to that of other foods and claim that coconut meal is of greater value than soybean meal. As the soybean is equal in biological value to any of the animal proteins, this would mean that the coconut protein is in a class by itself and is perhaps the finest protein known.

No fruitarian need have any worries over his protein supplies. Any well-balanced selection of plant foods should meet the body’s protein needs very well; in fact, it will meet them far better than the omnivorous diet, for it supplies the protein in just the right amounts.

All available evidence indicates that a low-protein diet composed of plant foods is most conducive to the best health. In the 19th century two great German scientists, Justus Freiherr von Liebig and Karl von Voit, carried out experiments to determine how much protein the body requires each day. Liebig assumed that, because muscle is composed largely of protein, we should use a diet which is very rich in this dietary factor. Later Voit carried out experiments with dogs, the result of which led him to believe that the daily human requirement is 118 grams.

It is now known that the conclusions of Liebig and Voit are not accurate. Muscles can be built from plant foods, which are relatively low in protein content better than from animal flesh. And the experiments with dogs carried out by Voit can hardly be applied to human beings, for the protein requirements of dogs and other carnivorous animals differ from those of the frugivorous animals.

The most accurate present day estimates of the body’s daily protein requirement vary from about 22 to 30 grams. These estimates are based upon experiments with humans. Prof. Henry Sherman of Columbia University places the daily requirement at 30 to 50 grams, but it is probable that the other estimates, which include those of the Swedish scientist Ragner Berg, are more nearly correct. However, even 30 to 50 grams of protein is not much. It could easily be supplied by a diet of plant foods.

Dr. Mikkel Hindhede, of Denmark, made the first mass application of a diet very low in its protein content to an entire nation. During World War I this doctor was made Food Administrator of Denmark. In an effort to prevent food shortages, he greatly lowered the production of livestock and fed the plant foods to the human population rather than to the animals. As an average of only 10 percent of the value of plant foods is recovered in the milk, eggs and meat of the animals, it is obvious that this involved a great saving from the standpoint of nutrition. But Hindhede eventually discovered that the diminished use of animal foods meant far more than that. Within one year’s time the death rate had decreased 40 percent. In addition, the Danish people experienced less disease. When thousands of people throughout Europe suffered influenza, Denmark was not affected. The other nations, using their high-protein diets consisting largely of animal foods, suffered greatly and their people died by the thousands.

Nuts are rich in protein, but they are not used to such an extent in the fruitarian diet that the body receives an excess of this material. The normal desires of the fruitarian call for a wide variety of plant foods with no particular dependence upon nuts. Fruits are the chief foods used and the desire for nuts is in accordance with the body’s need for protein. Meat, eggs, milk and cheese are all unneeded high-protein foods. Their excessive protein acts as a burden to the body and favors the development of disease.

Article #2: Protein by Ralph Cinque, D.C.

The following article is from The Health Crusader.

“Pro-tein: any of numerous naturally-occurring extremely complex combinations of amino acids that contain the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, usually sulfur and occasionally other elements (such as phosphorus or iron); an essential constituent of all living cells; is synthesized from raw materials by plants but assimilated as separate amino acids by animals.”

Most of what was in the past believed to be true about the body’s need for protein has, in recent years, been shown to be false. This is true particularly in regard to the amount of protein the body requires.

The first well-publicized study of protein needs was done by the German physiologist Voit at around 1890. Voit studied healthy, young, physically active German men who were eating their conventional diet. He found that they maintained “nitrogen balance” on a diet containing 120 grams of protein daily. For years this was accepted as the standard.

Urinary nitrogen (in the form of urea, uric acid, creatinine and other substances) is derived almost wholly from protein metabolism. Voit assumed that the amount of urinary nitrogen excreted reflected the body’s needs. He observed that when the German males reduced their protein intake significantly, they initially excreted more nitrogen than they consumed, a state he referred to as “negative nitrogen balance.” Had he continued his experiments longer, he would have discovered that these same subjects would have re-established a nitrogen balance at the lowered intake level.

Today we know that it is not valid to determine needs on the basis of excretory levels. The body excretes the residues from materials it has merely disposed of. Whatever amount of nitrogen we consume in the form of protein must ultimately be eliminated. When an enormous excess of nitrogen enters the system, the body merely deaminizes the amino acids, converting the amino radicals into ammonia, urea and other by-products of protein breakdown. The remaining ketogenic or glucogenic acids then undergo combustion in the same manner as the fats and carbohydrates, rendering calories.

High-protein diets actually accelerate the turnover of proteins in the body, causing a metabolic bonfire that may mistakenly be regarded as a state of well-being. When one reduces the amount of protein consumed, it takes time for the body to re-adjust its metabolism, to reset its thermostat, so to speak. This is why a state of negative nitrogen balance may temporarily ensue.

During World War I the Danish government hired a physiologist by the name of M. Hindhede to study protein needs. The hardships of the war had made animal foods scarce and prohibitively expensive. A people who had been accustomed to eating lots of meats, eggs and milk were forced to rely upon grains and vegetables, especially potatoes, to sustain themselves.

Hindhede’s task was to determine how little protein people could consume and still maintain health. He did extensive studies on young and old alike over a period of several years and concluded that 60 grams of protein a day was more than adequate to meet the body’s needs. Even the lowly potato, Hindhede said, contained enough high-grade protein to supply body needs (assuming that total caloric intake was adequate).

The orthodox scientific community vilified Hindhede. (He is even left out of the 1963 Encyclopaedia Britannica, while Voit is in it and his discoveries praised.) Imagine, cutting the Voit standard for protein need in half! More recent studies, however, based upon verified patterns of enzyme synthesis, collagen turnover and muscle metabolism have drastically reduced the Hindhede figure. Guyton’s Physiology (considered the standard in the field) maintains today that 30 grams of protein a day is fully adequate. Other respectable sources cite figures in the 20s, but even Guyton figure of 30 grams is significantly lower than the daily allowance of 70 grams recommended for active adult males by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council. This 70 grams includes a considerable “safety factor” (to allow for some degree of malabsorption).

Many if not most Americans are consuming in excess of 100 grams of protein a day despite the much lower recommendation. Eliminating the by-products of this protein overload places great stress upon the body. The liver and kidneys bear the brunt of the punishment. Fats and carbohydrates burn clean, leaving a residue of only carbon dioxide (which is relatively innocuous and is readily excreted by the lungs) and water (which is hardly a waste product). Protein metabolism, on the other hand, leaves non-oxidizable waste products such as urea, uric acids, etc. It is a much greater burden for the body to process great surpluses of protein than to process excesses of fat or carbohydrate. It behooves all of us to consume no more protein than we need so as to prevent premature aging and the deterioration that comes from organ abuse.

Another mistaken concept regarding protein needs has to do with protein quality. For decades it was held that only animal proteins contained a full complement of all eight essential amino acids (those we cannot synthesize from other amino acids) to meet the body’s needs. Although most natural foods do contain all eight essential amino acids, the claim was that the proportion of one amino acid to the others was not right. It was observed that animals grew and matured more rapidly on animal proteins than on vegetable proteins, so vegetable proteins were declared to be inadequate. Speed of development and size were considered to be a direct reflection of nutritional thoroughness.

Today we know that weight and size are not necessarily the best indicators of health and well-being, that gigantism is just as pathological when spread throughout a population as it is when it occurs in an isolated individual. We know that an individual’s body is not immediately dependent upon the content of his meals in order to maintain nutrition. Referring again to Guyton’s Physiology, radioisotopic studies have shown that at any given time protein synthesis utilizes two-thirds endogenous amino acids (from the blood circulatory pool) and one-third exogenous amino acids (as derived from meals). In other words, in regard to protein, the body is always living upon its reserves and the purpose of eating is to replenish those reserves. It matters not whether a given meal provides the exact proportion of amino acids because the body is fully capable of withdrawing from reserve sources whatever amino acids are needed to balance out the dietary supply.

Frances Moore Lappe stated in Diet For a Small Planet that one must combine different proteins at the same meal or otherwise preclude the possibility of utilization. Ms. Lappe said that consuming single vegetable proteins would not provide adequate nutrition. This idea, however, has been shown to be false, not only by physiological calculations, but also by the empirical evidence gained from observations of countless numbers of people around the world who live and thrive on simple vegetable diets. The experience of Hygienists in this country also provides proof of the sufficiency of simple combinations of non-animal foods.

Many common foods that we don’t generally regard as sources of protein actually supply substantial amounts. The case of the potato has already been cited. Even more impressive are green leafy vegetables, which supply 3-6% protein of high-biological value, on the average slightly more than cow’s milk and several times more than mother’s milk. Eating a large raw vegetable salad every day can alone supply most of the protein the body needs. Eating a variety of whole natural foods that supply an adequate number of calories would, by necessity, supply an adequate amount of protein. The problem isn’t how to get enough protein, but how to avoid getting too much.

Another widely-accepted but incorrect idea is that athletes and hard physical workers require more protein than less active people. Actually muscular activity entails no increase in the rate of protein catabolism (breakdown). Urinary creatinine is considered a reliable indicator of muscle breakdown, and it has been found that physical activity does not significantly increase creatinine excretion. Nor does it significantly increase the excretion of urea. What physical activity does entail, however, is a rapid utilization of muscular glycogen. It is carbohydrate replenishment that vigorous activity calls for, not protein.

The average American consumes two to four times as much protein as he needs, and cancer (which is characterized by runaway protein synthesis) is killing one person in four. Cutting down total protein in general and animal protein in particular is a desperate need. It is important to realize that all of the marvelous amino acids contained within flesh foods were derived from the animals diet. Other animals are just as powerless to synthesize the essential amino acids as we are; and we are just as capable as they of deriving our amino acids directly from the only producing source: plants.

Article #3: The Superiority Of Plant Foods by Ralph Cinque, D.C.

This category could also be designated the detrimental effects of animal foods. All animal products (with the exception of mother’s milk) have certain negative features which make their dietary use questionable. Consider, first of all, the effect that animal foods have upon protein consumption. Even modest use of meat, fish, eggs and dairy foods tends to create a protein overload, and this is one of the most dangerous dietary excesses.

Research has shown that high-protein diets actually promote aging and early degeneration. Too much protein exerts a tremendous burden upon the liver and kidneys. It also leaves acid residues in the blood and tissues which must be neutralized by sacrificing indispensable alkaline mineral reserves.

The process of aging is characterized by the transfer of calcium from the bones to the soft, tissues, that is, to the arteries (arteriosclerosis), to the optic lens (cataracts), to the ureters (kidney stones), to the skin (wrinkles), to the joints (osteoarthritis), to the valves of the heart (producing valvular stenosis and insufficiency), to the tendons and ligaments (producing frozen shoulder) and to other sites. This, of course, leaves the skeleton osteoporotic, leading to the development of stooped posture, a kyphotic spine, spontaneous fractures and other maladies that are so common to the elderly. High-protein diets (due to the accumulation of phosphoric, sulphuric, uric and other acids) accelerate this demineralization of bone and bring about calcific deposits in the soft tissues.

One could argue that nuts and seeds contain as much protein as meats, eggs, etc., and therefore they are as likely to create an excess. However, most people are easily satisfied eating a few ounces of nuts or seeds every day, whereas few people will eat just a few ounces of yogurt. Restaurants serve up to a pound of meat at a sitting, along with other foods. Cottage or ricotta cheese is eaten in huge quantities, even by many so-called vegetarians. The simple truth is that animal proteins tend to promote overeating more so than do plant proteins.

The relationship between high-protein diets and cancer has been clearly established by studying both animal and human populations. Remember that cancerous cells are characterized by runaway protein synthesis and rapid cellular division. Protein synthesis is accelerated by increased protein intake, so it is not surprising to discover that cancer bears a close tie to excess protein. There is a direct correlation between the amount of protein in the diet and the incidence of cancer on a worldwide basis. Americans, Australians and West Europeans, who ingest the largest amounts of protein, also have the greatest incidence of cancer, whereas the rural Chinese, the East Indians and native peoples of Latin America have the lowest cancer incidence. This is no casual relationship and it cannot be written off by blaming it on the “stress of modern life.”

Animal products are loaded with the worst kind of fat—saturated, cholesterol-laden animal fat. A mountain of evidence has been accumulated relating high animal fat intakes with the development of cardiovascular disease (which is characterized by the deposition of saturated fat and cholesterol in the intimal layer of arteries), and many different malignancies including breast cancer, colon and rectal cancers, and cancer of the liver. Even such diverse conditions as multiple sclerosis and diabetes have been related to the consumption of animal fats. As we have already stated, heated animal fats have been shown to be even more carcinogenic, and considering that Americans take all of their flesh, milk and eggs well cooked, it’s no wonder that one in four eventually succumbs to cancer. Paradoxically, those people who subsist on low-fat, low-protein, largely vegetarian, unrefined diets experience very little cancer. The incidence of cancer, cysts, tumors and heart disease among American Seventh Day Adventists is approximately half the national average. This is quite remarkable considering that only about half of this group are thought to be vegetarian.

Flesh, fish, yogurt and cheese contain various putrefactive products resulting from their bacterial decomposition. Putting partially-spoiled food in the body can hardly be considered a Hygienic practice, despite the arguments of the fermented food enthusiasts. Flesh also contains considerable quantities of the end products of metabolism (like uric acid) which are held up in the tissues at the time of death. These wastes are poisonous, irritating and burdensome to the body. Considering also that animal products tend to be reservoirs for pesticides, herbicides and various other drugs and inorganic contaminants, there are many good reasons to avoid using them.

Excerpt from an article by Ralph C. Cinque, D.C., entitled “Hygienic Considerations in the Selection of Foods,” which was published in Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review.

Article #4: The Question Of Protein by Dr. Ralph Bircher Benner

“Believe those who seek the truth; suspect those who have found it.”

—Andre Gide

Gide’s admonition seems to me nowhere more applicable than in the controversy over protein. In pertinent research literature, which it has been my duty to examine critically and without bias for the last 40 years. I have seen the most respectable kind of work and such a shameful pile of ignorance, much of it written by the most respected authors, as I have never seen in any other scientific field. The conclusions contradict so fantastically that the reader finds himself holding his head in despair. The textbooks, though, naturally don’t reflect these contradictions. They merely repeat the results of agreements, and a lot doesn’t appear in them for the simple reason that “what may not be must not be!”

First the basic question: “How much protein does a human being need to stay healthy and perform well? What is the daily requirement, the minimum, the optimum, for a standard body weight of 70 kg?”

At the turn of the century, the respected opinions were those of Rubner and Voit: we need 120-160 grams per day. But Chittenden showed in human experiments that best performance and health were possible on 50 grams, and Hindhede set the figure at 30. Forty years later. A. Fleisch, president of the Swiss Wartime Nutrition Commission, wrote in his book Nutritional Problems in Times of Shortage (Basel, 1947) “No quantity in the physiology of nutrition is so uncertain and finds such extreme advocates as the need of the human organism for protein.” Today, after a quarter century during which mountains of pertinent research have been published every year, the situation is exactly the same. Or worse.

In Russia, Jakolev set up a minimum requirement of 141-163 grams. Kuhnau saw an optimum of 200. Kofranyi of the Max Planck Institute proved that complete nitrogen balance and performance ability could be maintained on 25 grams, and Oomen and Hipsley found a population that develops not just full health, but magnificent muscular structure and corresponding physical performance, on a mere 15-20 grams. Elvehjem insists that the optimum is near the minimum.

In the meantime, the American Research Council’s Food and Nutrition Board agreed on a daily requirement for adults of 70 grams. This number is. in fact, found in their tables. Sherman, a member of the Board, described the way this figure was arrived at. The evidence pointed toward a much lower amount, somewhere a round 35 grams. But if the protein requirement had been set so low, there would have been a public outcry. And so a corresponding “margin of safety” was adopted, and “70  grams” was  published. Because the scientific basis for this was non-existent, the word “recommendation” was used instead of “requirement.” But who knows how this recommendation came into being? And it was publicly interpreted as the requirement, in fact as the minimum. Thus, not long ago Stranskky and Krucker in the Therapeutische Umschau (Therapeutic Review) expressly listed 70 grams of protein per 70 kg of body weight as the “minimum  dosage  ... which is indispensable for the maintenance of vital  biochemical processes.” Sherman had good reason for writing about the “high-protein mentality” of nutritional specialists. It’s not unusual for a doctor to prescribe three eggs and yogurt for breakfast, plus meat at each meal, and patients often fear a protein deficiency if they’re asked to stay away from meat for a few days.

No less confusing is the matter of evaluating protein quality and whether animal or plant protein is preferable. According to the textbooks, vegetable protein is inferior. At least a third, preferably half, of the protein intake supposedly should be from animal sources, and the public unconsciously thinks “meat” when it hears “animal,” though, of course, milk and eggs are also “animal sources.” The presumed inferiority of vegetable protein lacks binding scientific proof. If scientists had studied the geography and history of nutrition as well as they conducted their chemistry and animal experiments, they would never have fallen into this dogma. There have been and there are now populations numbering in the millions in various parts of the world, it is known from penetrating research, that have lived and developed enviable health and strength for centuries and even thousands of years on a purely vegan diet.

The quality and requirement of protein depend on several factors, for instance on healing, which can considerably lower the quality of the protein. The usual heating of meats results in a significant decrease in essential amino acids. The same is true of drying and preserving. It probably isn’t acceptable to eat raw meat to avoid these degenerations; but eating other raw foods contributes no small amount to reducing the total need for protein.

Raw food decreases the need for protein in yet another way: the usual, everyday diet requires 6-8 grams of protein per day for the synthesis of digestive juices. But raw foods are easily digested, thanks to the enzymic content, thus economizing on digestive enzymes. Vitamin A has a “decisive relationship to protein metabolism.” Protein deficiency damage is extensively conditioned by vitamin A deficiency. An everyday diet using margarine is as a rule deficient in vitamin A. It is similar to vitamin K, which like provitamin A is most richly present in fruit and is best assimilated in a raw diet with full-value oil.

We could go on, and repeatedly come back to the central question of protein economy.

Protein economy begins with the feeding of babies. In the early 50s nature failed the test of American medicine. It was found that breast milk contains 60% less protein than the infant needs. A “formula” was created with 2 1/2 to 3 times the protein plus added salt. Today we know that it wasn’t nature but science that flunked: The devastating consequences soon appeared: kidney damage, hyperacidity with osteoporosis, dangerously high phenylalanine and tyrosine content in the blood, poor protein metabolism and increased acceleration with consequent stressful disparity of physical and mental growth. An attempt has been made to transfer advertising concepts of growth and weight gain rates to actual human beings—and it fell through. There was a harmful habituation to the wear and tear of a high-protein diet. The frugal use of protein was not learned. From birth on, the child was being burdened with both “stress conditioning factors” (Selye), high protein and salt. Important developmental phases were shortened by accelerated growth and this, according to Portmann, works against the development of the “super-type” (Wellek), that human type which is most needed in our timer who is not just able to analyze but also grasp the whole of a phenomenon in its form and essence.

To return to stress theory: “It is a matter of experience,” wrote A. Fleisch, president of the Swiss Wartime Nutritional Commission, in his book Nutritional Problems in Times of Shortage (Basel, 1947) “that increased protein consumption also lowers the number of calories taken in.” The stimulating qualities of protein—especially meat protein—lead to over-estimation and over-consumption, which are not justified by nutritional physiology because they lead to “luxuriant combustion”—an inefficient “burning off” of excess. There must be another, especially stimulating, irritative effect of eating meat above and beyond the irritative effects of excess protein (specific-dynamic effect) and the extractive and general products of roasting. This irritative effect, which has since been isolated, is caused by uric acid, a very strong irritant on the sympathetic nerves. And so in meat we have a strongly hypermetabolizing three- to four-fold irritative effect.

This has contributed to its reputation as “strength food,” far above its actual nutritive value. (“Meat broth” means the same as “strength broth” in German.)

Our contemporary situation demands the mobilization of our best powers to overcome the crisis of existence in our culture. I believe we have reasons for reconsidering our use of stimulants, which has become continuous and excessive. Continuous prickling of the ergotropic nervous system, which seems to be a vital necessity in these times, is no sign of strength. It stands in the way of the regenerative work of the trophotropic nervous system. This is the main reason why we renounce all stimulants including meat. Regeneration demands detoxification and metabolic economy. This is also true in athletics, where the last degree of performance must be extracted. This refers not only to alcohol, about which the French learned bitter lessons at two Olympiads, and nicotine and other stimulants—it is just as true of meat, and this is proved by the proportionally unheard-of string of international athletic records set by vegetarians. The advantages show up with special clarity in high mountain exercise. Some typical consequences of conversion to a protein-economical, full-value diet are a 10-20% reduction in oxygen requirement and a 30% lower calorie requirement with correspondingly improved performance, recovery and adaptation ability. I personally was surprised to find this out while climbing 17,343 foot high Ixtacihuatl. Indian populations living at 13,000 feet in the Andes highlands hold stubbornly to their ancient carbohydrate diet “in spite of the well-meaning advice from the!” World Health Organization Council. They race bicycles at that altitude for distances of 150 miles at an average speed of 25 mph. Similarly the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico run 90 miles at seven mph, with no heart expansion or shortness of breath. Experience has taught this highland people to stick to carbohydrates. Even rats that were taken to high altitude’s suffered deficiencies in nutritional utilization on a high-protein diet, but not on lower-protein fare. The luxuriant combustion and hypermetabolizing effect of an excess-protein diet occur at sea level too, but they have immediate practical significance in the high mountains.

A further turn was taken in the protein question with the recent rise of amyloidose research. Schwarz, a professor of physiological pathology in Frankfurt, described the storing and slowly destructive effect of the penetration of tissues and organs by amyloid. This is a waxy, fatty protein mixture considered “the most important and perhaps decisive cause of decline with age,” in so-called diseases of old age and specifically, atheromatosis. Katenkamp and Stiller called this amyloidosis “extraordinarily pervasive in every kind of deposited tissue.”

In amyloidosis must lie the key to healing of those diseases of old age which have previously been casually unclarified. It is clear that amyloid consists exclusively of degenerate protein reduction by productions which could be the result of excess protein. Excess protein must be quickly burned, but cannot be sufficiently eliminated. Amyloid contains rich amounts of the amino acids tryptophane and tyrosine. Five to ten times as much tryptophane and five to seven times as much tyrosine are found in the dry substances of meat as that of vegetable protein sources. It remains to be investigated whether other sulphurous amino acids play a similar role, and what the amyloid situation is among populations living on protein-frugal diets. All the essential amino acids, especially the sulphurous, can cause damage in overdoses, through creation of poisonous substances or other disturbances. On 70 grams of protein a day containing all the essential amino acids, there can be excessive intake of some amino acids. The connection between amyloidosis and excess protein is easily proved by animal experiments. It is produced with special ease in case of high cholesterol intake and intestinal poisoning (pathological microorganisms in the intestines create amyloid-dissolving antigens). Amyloid is created, according to Katenkamp and Stiller, in wrongly nourished mesenchyme cells with increased protein production and formation of “pathologically fine fibrillary sclero-protein”; here we should remember that regeneration of the mesenchyme as well as that of pathological intestinal flora are best accomplished by raw diet.

In this connection it should be mentioned that in investigations at Harvard, an excessive amount of the aromatic amino acid methionine was discovered to favor the formation of nearly insoluble protein bodies, and hardening of the inner surface of the arteries. The human need for methionine, which is found most abundantly in meat, egg and cheese protein, and which is three times as abundant in cow’s milk as in breast milk, has been set much too high (at 930 mg/day) by the F.A.O. according to Kofranyl and is actually just 273 mg/day. Excesses of the amino acid tryptophane—which, as mentioned, is seven to ten times more richly present in meat and eggs than in plant sources—are, as proved on radioactive molecules, eagerly, consumed by cancer cells, which produce serotonin from it, block tryptophane metabolism and have been demonstrated to lead to a strong increase in cancer-producing ortho-aminophenols.

Bone atrophy (osteoporosis) is extraordinarily widespread among us; it begins in childhood, is almost considered a normal accompaniment of aging and is conceived as quickly increasing. Extensive scientific literature deals with the possible causes. Wachmann and Bernstein of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University investigated all previous research results in the Lancet and arrived at the considered conclusion that a protein-rich, and especially meat-heavy diet plays the strongest role in the genesis of osteoporosis, more so even than denatured carbohydrates and fats. It is caused when the function of the bone system as a reservoir of basic minerals is continually overstrained. This corresponds to the fact that athletes who eat much meat are especially susceptible to arthrosis. Helas found among 20 professional football players who were observed for 18 years, 100% incidence of ankle arthrosis and 97.5% incidence of knee arthrosis. A negative lime balance is easily produced in experimental animals by increased protein supply, and they then die of disease associated with lime deficiency. The Walker group found in investigation among the Bantu tribe, that on an almost purely plant-source, low-protein diet there were no signs of calcium deficiency and no weakening of the bones.

Further work during recent years makes Ragnar Berg’s acid-base theory, once set aside, again pertinent. The eminent importance of potassium and magnesium is emphasized by several authors. These two basic mineral substances are known to be deficient in an everyday diet rich in meat, eggs, cheese, fat, sugar and grains, but richly present in a full-value diet rich in vegetables and raw foods. One-sided chemical fertilization and refinement detract from these good effects. Also, animal protein-rich diet and alcohol consumption both hinder the absorption of magnesium from the intestine and correspondingly raise the magnesium requirement. The “magnesium deficiency syndrome.” which has been prevalent now for 20 years, includes arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, migraine, eclampsia, the leaching of calcium from teeth and bones, liver damage and disturbance of the neuro-muscular vessel system (Holtmeyer).

Strangely enough, the old Haig uric acid theory is also making a comeback. It seemed at one time to have been rendered invalid when no raised uric acid level was found in the diseases listed by Haig, except for gout. But now it has turned out that the reason for this was simply the introduction of new medicines for rheumatism, and that the evaluation of all uric acid tests on blood must be preceded by at least eight days during which anti-rheumatism medicines have been omitted. Uric acid has again assumed a position among the chief factors causing arterial blockage diseases—including rheumatism, kidney disease and cancer, as well as the amyloid formation, discussed above.

Naturally, the kidneys a re deeply involved in all the above factors from birth on in the child, and this has been especially true since the early ‘50s, when protein and salt-enriched baby foods were introduced. No wonder athletic medicine services in the U.S.A have had to treat an extraordinary number of kidney injuries and kidney breakdowns after athletic competitions and that the American Heart Association arrived at the conclusion that “almost all instances of these diseases”—arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure and coronary disease “are significantly related to the kidneys,” and that, therefore, “more than half of the population die of kidney disease.”

Only two more subjects still deserve a short mention, since they make the protein question particularly topical at this time.

First, environmental pollution. The individual has no or insufficient, effect on changing this situation. But what he can do is to put the defense and detoxification organs of his own organism in the best possible condition first by detoxifying his body, and then by making it more powerfully reactive by dietary economy and raw food. Not everyone can supply himself with unsprayed and rationally fertilized food, but he can and must consider that meat and eggs have been far more contaminated since the 1960s than plant products—a result of conversion to industrial production. Anyone who fully understands the extent to which, for example, meal is treated will certainly forego these products. Besides pesticides, meat is treated with tetracycline, chloramphenicol, estrogen, tranquilizers, preservatives, plus metabolic toxins of the fattening process.

Second, and finally, what Sherman wrote two decades ago now applies to a much greater extent. “Feeding grain and potatoes to animals represents an enormous waste of nutritional production potential; and more than that, every person with a social and international sense of justice must become most deeply conscious of the fact that our excessive meat and egg consumption is a leftover from the times of colonial exploitation habits. If we ourselves do not see the provocative injustice in this situation for poorer classes and peoples, they themselves will certainly feel it with increasing intensity.”

This article is reprinted from Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review. The Review, in turn, reproduced it from The Hygienic Practitioner, the Journal of the British Natural Hygiene Society. Winter, 1974.

Lesson 9 - Vitamins: The Metabolic Wizards Of Life Processes

9.1. Prologue

9.1.1 The Role Of Vitamins In Human Nutrition: A Hygienic View

9.1.1.1 Misconceptions About Vitamins

The role of vitamins in nutrition is one of the most widely misunderstood subjects in a study of nutritional science. Today, in this age of technology, industry, food products, pills, powders and potions, vitamin supplementation is considered essential for good health in most circles—from the medical circles to the holistic groups and naturopaths. Some advocate a multiple vitamin each day from the drug store; others promote several bottles of a variety of vitamin tablets from the natural foods stores or distributors. Some say we also need to get a balanced variety of minerals in our supplementation program, and others say we also need a protein powder supplement. Both of the latter emphasize the need for a “complete” nutritional supplementation program and not just vitamins alone.

The cons of using food supplements and why they are harmful and unnecessary will be treated in greater depth in a later lesson. Here we will only note that the current preoccupation with vitamins is totally inappropriate and that, while vitamins are necessary, they are amply supplied in natural raw foods of our biological adaptation.

Keep in mind, also, that foods are not to be prescribed in place of supplements as “cures” for symptoms that people often interpret as vitamin and other nutrient deficiencies. Foods should be consumed as much for their carbohydrate (calorie) content as for their vitamin, mineral or protein content. Also, the importance of the water and the undiscovered nutrients in whole fresh foods should not be underestimated. At all times foods should be considered in their entirety and not as specific sources of specific vitamins and other nutrients.

In the following lesson, foods particularly rich in each vitamin will be listed, but this is not so you or your clients can eat certain foods to obtain certain vitamins; rather, it is just to show you how the foods of our biological adaptation (fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) provide adequate amounts of all the known vitamins that we need.

9.1.1.2 The Quantity of Vitamins We Need Is Small

In a national bestseller, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Nutrition, Dr. David Reuben pooh poohs our preoccupation with vitamins by pointing out that if we took all the vitamins we need in the quantities recommended (which is much higher than actually required), a whole year’s supply would not fill a thimble!

For further perspective as to the minuteness of our quantitative needs, let’s look at vitamin A. It is recommended that the average adult get 5,000 international units daily to meet needs. One IU weighs one microgram, or one-millionth of a gram, and there are 28 1/2 grams in an ounce. Therefore, 5,000 IUs of vitamin A equal one 5700th of an ounce. If 5,000 IUs were supplied in the diet every day, it would be more than fifteen years before we would have consumed a single ounce!

Or look at vitamin D. This vitamin is formed by the interaction of sunlight and ergosterol in the skin. Our needs are met by so little sunlight that Dr. Reuben has pointed out that while a vitamin D deficiency could occur to a black nun living in Norway, it is an unlikely occurrence in most cases.

Dr. Reuben has observed that, despite the atrociousness of most diets, it is difficult to keep from getting enough vitamins. We can’t avoid repleteness of some vitamins even if we try. Let’s examine vitamins B-12 and K as examples. Scientists who tried to test for these deficiencies could not create them. Why? Because bacteria in the gut formed an ample supply of these vitamins.

Or examine vitamin C. A single ounce will meet our needs for about 2 years. Despite a denatured diet of deranged and depleted foods, most Americans get enough vitamin C from vegetable salads, slaws and fruits to meet needs. Scurvy hasn’t been observed in ages, though some symptoms of vitamin C deficiency have been noted in smokers.

Americans think in terms of deficiencies when, as Dr. Reuben says, almost no American physician has ever witnessed a case of beriberi, pellagra, rickets, scurvy or other disease due to vitamin deficiency.

9.1.1.3 Toxemia, Not Deficiencies, Causes Most Diseases

We Hygienists recognize that deficiency is not the problem nearly so much as is toxemia. The reason why toxemia and not deficiency is the cause of symptoms is twofold. First, some vitamins are depleted because they play a role in the body’s detoxification of harmful substances within. Vitamin C is a notable example of this. Secondly, drugs and drug-like substances, such as coffee, teas, colas, aspirin, medications, junky foods, sugar, alcohol, birth control pills and, in fact, all non-food substances, interfere with the body’s absorption and/or utilization of vitamins and other nutrients. Also, certain foods contain toxic substances and should not be consumed. Notable examples of this are foods containing mustard oil—onions and garlic.

The causes of symptoms of ill health that are blamed on vitamin and mineral deficiencies are really drugs and drug-like (toxic) substances ingested—and not vitamin or mineral deficiencies at all! This is a key fact to keep in mind. So, instead of prescribing food supplements or recommending certain foods containing large amounts of certain vitamins (or minerals), which is legally outside the purview of non-physicians anyway, the Hygienic practitioner will simply have the client eliminate the causes of toxemia and consume a wholesome natural diet that contains no toxic substances. Not only will the real causes of disease symptoms be removed and health be regained, but also a natural diet of all or mostly raw foods of our biological adaptation will supply ample amounts of all the vitamins we need—without the expense or harmfulness of supplements.

Let’s look at vitamin B-12 as an example. Its insufficiency results in pernicious anemia. Most sufferers are meat-eaters who obtain B-12 from their diets. So what gives?

Toxemia has impaired the body’s ability to absorb vitamin B-12. The body has numerous substances that are engaged in active transport of nutrients from one medium to another through separating membranes. The transport mechanism for vitamin B-12 is called intrinsic factor. It is loss of this factor that accounts for B-12 deficiency and anemia. Pernicious anemia is due to toxemia, not deficiency. A fast will restore the lost faculty in almost all cases, and the anemia disappears even before the end of a fast! Such are the powers of the body when liberated from the baneful influences of toxicity.

Vitamins are absolutely essential in our diet—make no mistake about that. But, if we’re on a proper diet of mostly fruits with some vegetables, nuts and seeds, we do not have to worry any more about vitamins or other nutrients than we have to worry about each heartbeat, the secretion of bile, or millions of other physiological processes.

9.1.2 Hygienic Perspectives On Vitamins Compared With Medical Perspectives — Marti Fry

As this is a course not just in nutritional science, but also in Natural Hygiene, or Life Science, it is appropriate that we point out how the Hygienic perspective on the subject of vitamins differs from the generally accepted conventional perspective.

9.1.2.1 Attempts To Be Scientific

Thanks to scientific research and experimentation, we have learned a great deal about vitamins (and other nutrients). In fact, thanks to the efforts of “science,” we have “discovered” the existence of vitamins. We are now able to make a large variety of statements about vitamins—their functions in the body, approximate amounts needed and many other interesting facts.

However, it should be kept in mind that “science” or technology is also responsible for the refining and processing of foods that led to the discovery of vitamins. What the texts fail to note overtly is that many humans (and animals) have suffered (and, in some cases, still suffer) because of the tampering with foods by food industries, who are usually in intimate association with the scientific laboratories. Oftentimes the scientific studies done relative to nutrition are done in laboratories and research centers owned, operated and/or supported by the food processing and refining firms.

The point is that “science” does not always do the favors for humanity that they lead most of us to believe they do. Much suffering has stemmed from “scientific meddling” in the regular order of nature. This is not to condemn the efforts of scientists as much as it is to enlighten students of nutritional science of certain realities. We are not saying that scientists should stop studying phenomena, but that their approach and motives ought to be changed so that humans are truly benefitted by their efforts instead of allowed to believe they are benefitted while much suffering and harm is done. A shockingly high portion of scientific study is done to discover new drugs (poisons) to “cure” diseases, when, in fact, diseases cannot be “cured.” The causes of disease must be removed and then the body will spontaneously heal without interference by drugs, medications, herbs, colonies or anything else.

9.1.2.2 The Scientific Approach to Vitamin Study

A look in physiology and nutrition texts shows that, while many facts about vitamins have been discovered, much more is unknown than is known. Not only that, but much of what is “known” is based on studies in which many animals and some humans have had to suffer. The rationale is that, in the long run, a greater number of living creatures, especially humans, will suffer less due to the greater store of knowledge.

However, this rationale is to be seriously questioned because the reality is that humans suffered less disease before “science” became so advanced and before technology started refining rice and flour and sugar and marketing these products, along with milk and other unwholesome foods, to the people of the world. In other words, humans, in their pristine state, do not need the supposed benefits of so-called “science” to maintain radiant, sickness-free health. Fresh, untampered-with raw foods of our biological adaptation, not from the food industries, but from the garden and trees, will amply provide all our needs without the need for scientific studies. We certainly do not object to studies that uncover interesting information for our entertainment and use, but we do object to the thinking that we are dependent on and forever grateful to “science” for making it possible for us to live healthfully. We can live much more healthfully without science—at least the way science’s priorities stand today.

This is the basis of Natural Hygiene. It involves a simple, wholesome lifestyle and diet that is in full harmony with our needs. Diseases will not occur if the simple, basic laws of life are not violated. If orchards predominated our lands instead of cattle, drug industries, food industries, chicken farms and dairy farms, etc., it would be a lovely and healthful world!

Life Science is, however, scientific. The basic laws of life and principles of Life Science are all provable in scientific laboratories. Many have already been proved. There is absolutely nothing unscientific about Hygiene. In fact, the attempts of so-called “scientists” to discover drugs to “cure” diseases is unscientific in that these efforts are not based on the laws of life. As stated earlier, the ingestion of drugs and medications can result in only harm and can lever, under any circumstances, bring about true health.

As stated in Lesson 5, a tiny cell has more intelligence than a team of scientists seeking “cures.”

9.1.2.3 The Deficiency Approach to Vitamin Study

Perhaps the most revolting aspect of the medical/scientific approach to vitamin study is the preoccupation with deficiencies, and especially with deficiency diseases. The grotesque photos in texts of people suffering with various “deficiency diseases” graphically illustrate the distorted perception the medical scientists have of the role of vitamins—“to prevent horrible deficiency diseases.” That whole concept of “prevention” is erroneous, as has been stated in earlier lessons. Deficiency diseases are not normal or natural and do not have to be “prevented.” We have only to live in accord with the laws of life and nature, and we will be healthy—as nature intended.

A conventional/medical study of vitamins, as presented in textbooks, leads people to think in terms of deficiencies when they think about vitamins. But the study of vitamins should not be a study of deficiency diseases; it should be primarily a study of their role in human nutrition. In fact, identifying individual vitamins and naming the deficiency, disease connected with the lack of each is totally unneccessary. All we really need to know is that they are present in sufficient quantities in natural foods and that we will meet our needs for them on a natural diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, sprouts and seeds. It is also well to realize that food processing, storage and preservation destroy Vitamins in foods and that drugs and drug-like substances deplete vitamins in the body and interfere with their absorption and utilization.

9.2. Introduction

9.2.1 Definition of Vitamins

Vitamins are organic compounds which the body needs to function normally. They cannot be manufactured by the body (with few exceptions); therefore, they must be supplied by food. In their absence, disease will develop.

9.2.2 Discovery of Vitamins

The first vitamin was discovered in 1897 by a Dutch biologist named Eijkman. He found that when bran was removed from rice, people consuming the refined rice developed beriberi, a serious disease. Eijkman also observed that when people ate the rice with the bran intact, no beriberi resulted. This finding directed Eijkman and other scientists to chemically analyze rice for the substance which, when not present in adequate amounts, resulted in the development of beriberi. Thiamine, named vitamin B1, was discovered to be this mystery substance.

In the following years, scientists found that there are many chemicals in food which are necessary for maintenance of health. One by one, as they were discovered, names were given to these chemicals As a group, they were named “vitamins.”

9.2.3 Sources of Vitamins

It is crucial to understand that scientists have not isolated every substance in food that is essential for normal functioning of the body. Thus, we must depend on food, not vitamin pills, for good nutrition. There is no vitamin pill that contains all the vitamins the body needs.

9.2.4 Function of Vitamins

Vitamins function in the body as coenzymes. To understand this function, consider an analogy. Suppose you were trying to build a house. The size of the house is strictly limited by your budget. You begin the process by buying the major raw materials: cement, wood and outdoor siding material. Once you have laid the foundation and framed the walls, you go to the store and buy all the windows you need. The number of windows is obviously limited by the spaces you have built in the walls for windows. For proper function of the house, you need windows.

Vitamins are like the windows in the house. Your body has a need for vitamins (windows) when it is trying to manufacture something: new tissue, energy, etc. (a house). Your body determines the exact amount it wishes to produce and brings together just enough raw materials for the purpose of construction (cement, wood, etc.). The body manufactures the necessary amount of apoenzyme (window frame) to combine with the vitamin coenzyme (window) to form an active enzyme. The active enzyme then makes a chemical reaction progress quickly (it catalyzes the reaction) leading to the formation of the desired end-product.

9.2.5 Vitamins Are Inert

“Vitamin function” is a commonly used phrase, as is “vitamin action.” Yet these expressions convey a misconception Vitamins cannot act, since they are inert chemical substances. In any and all physiological processes, it is the body that acts. Vitamins are used by the body for many purposes. Usually, vitamins combine chemically with other substances, thereby fulfilling the mandate of the body. It is crucial to remember that it is the body that acts on the vitamin, not the vitamin that acts on the body.

9.2.6 Vitamins Work Together and With Other Nutrients

Although this lesson discusses vitamins exclusively, it is important to realize that vitamins do not function alone or in a vacuum within the body. Vitamins work together; for instance, production of energy by the body when food is burned in the cells depends not only on vitamin B1, but also on vitamins B2 and niacin.

Furthermore, vitamins work together with all other nutrients such as fats, carbohydrates and proteins. For instance, vitamin B6 is needed for the normal metabolism of protein. So, even though this is a lesson on vitamins, don’t think of vitamins alone when you consider the functioning of the body. Vitamins are only one small part of the metabolic machinery of the body.

9.3. A Study Of Each Individual Vitamin

The discovered vitamins will be studied one by one. You will learn about their discovery, measurement, chemistry, physiology, functions, requirements, sources, effects of deficiency and effects of excess.

9.3.1 The Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins can be categorized according to their properties. The two basic groupings of vitamins are the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) and the water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins).

Certain common characteristics distinguish the fat-soluble vitamins from the water-soluble vitamins:

1. Fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed into the body as fat and with fat and are soluble in fat solvents (alcohol and ether), whereas water-soluble vitamins are soluble in water.
2. Fat-soluble vitamins are excreted mainly by the fecal pathway, whereas water-soluble vitamins are excreted via the urinary pathway.
3. A text which states that the fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body but that water-soluble vitamins are not goes on to state in a later chapter that vitamin C, a water-soluble vitamin, can be stored. They state, “It has been shown that human beings are able to store some vitamin C; healthy, well-fed subjects store about 1500 mg. On vitamin C deprivation diets, these stores are used at an average rate of three percent of the existing reserve (pool) per day and supply the body with vitamin C for a period of about three months.” As you can see, significant amounts of this vitamin can be stored in the body.

9.3.1.1 Vitamin A

1. Discovery. This fat-soluble vitamin was discovered by McCollum and Davis of the University of Wisconsin and by Osborne and Mendel of Yale University in 1913. They found that rats on a diet with lard as the only source of fat developed eye problems and failed to grow. It was later found that a shortage of carotene, the yellow pigment of plants, led to the development of these problems. Carotene is converted into vitamin A within the organism.
2. Measurement. Vitamin A is measured in international units. A complicated formula exists whereby micro-grams (1/millionth gram) of vitamins are converted into international units (IUs). Amounts of vitamin A in foods and requirements for this vitamin are expressed as IUs.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin A is relatively stable to heat but is easily destroyed by ultraviolet radiation (as in sunlight). Chemically, it occurs in many forms: retinal, retinol and retinoic acid.
4. Physiology. Most dietary vitamin A is in the form of carotene, the yellow pigment of plants. About half of the carotene consumed is converted into vitamin A in the body and the other half is utilized as a hydrocarbon. Because vitamin A is fat-soluble, if the diet is devoid of fat, or if too little bile is secreted by the liver (bile is needed to digest fat), or if too little thyroid hormone is secreted, there will be poor absorption of vitamin A in the intestines. This vitamin is stored in the liver.
5. Functions. Vitamin A is used by the body in many important ways. The body needs it to maintain normal vision in dim light. Vitamin A is also needed for synthesis of mucus, a secretion the body uses to maintain the health of membranes lining the eyes, mouth and gastrointestinal, respiratory and genitourinary tracts. When enough vitamin A is present, when other nutrients are sufficient, and when the body is not toxic, these membranes will be in a high state of health. However, if there is not a vitamin A deficiency, taking more of this vitamin will not protect the body from diseases nor “cure” diseases. This is a myth that has been scientifically disproven many times.

   Vitamin A is also needed for normal skeletal and tooth development, for formation of sperm, for the normal progression of the reproductive cycle of the female, for formation of the adrenal hormone cortisone from cholesterol, and for maintenance of the stability of all cell membranes.

6. Requirements. Male adults need 5000 IUs, female adults 4000 IUs, pregnant or lactating females 5000 IUs and infants about 1/10th the adult requirement of vitamin A per day. Infant needs are easily supplied by breast milk.
7. Sources. Healthful sources of vitamin A include dark green leafy vegetables (lettuce and other greens), green stem vegetables (broccoli, asparagus), yellow or orange vegetables (carrots, etc.) and yellow or orange fruits (peaches, cantaloupe, etc.).
8. Effects of deficiency. A deficiency of vitamin A is rare in the U.S. and is usually only seen in chronic diarrhea from colitis and other such diseases, liver disease or use of mineral oil. A deficient person manifests night blindness and degeneration of membranes (eye, nose, sinuses, middle ear, lungs, genitourinary tract).
9. Effects of Excess. Intake of excess vitamin A results in toxicity (poisoning), causing a loss of appetite, increased irritability, drying and flaking of skin, loss of hair, bone and joint pain, bone fragility, headaches and enlargement of liver and spleen. An overdose of this vitamin is about 50,000 IUs per day in adults and 20,000 IUs in infants.

9.3.1.2 Vitamin D

1. Discovery. Vitamin D was chemically isolated in food in 1930. For hundreds of years previous to the 20th century, people had used cod liver oil to supply, a factor which the body needed to maintain normal bone structure. Scientists in the 1900s were able to identify vitamin D as the necessary substance.
2. Measurement. Vitamin D requirements and the amounts present in foods are expressed in international units. One international unit (IU) of vitamin D is equal to 0.025 meg (a meg is one millionth of a gram) of vitamin D.
3. Chemistry. Chemically, vitamin D is very stable. Neither heat nor oxygen will destroy this substance. Vitamin D is produced when the skin (or flesh) of animals is exposed to ultraviolet light.
4. Physiology. Like vitamin A, vitamin D is fat-soluble. Therefore, bile salts are needed for absorption. Vitamin D is stored mainly in the liver. Significant amounts of this vitamin are formed by the skin of human beings exposed to sunlight.
5. Functions. The body needs vitamin D to maintain normal calcium and phosphorus metabolism in the body and to maintain the health of bones and teeth. With adequate D, the body is able to regulate the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from the intestines and the amount of phosphorus eliminated through the kidneys.
6. Requirements. Men, women and children need approximately 400 IUs of vitamin D per day. Moderate exposure to sunlight allows the body to produce all the vitamin D it needs. In the summer the body produces excess vitamin D and stores it in the liver. In the winter, when there is less sunlight, the body draws upon the stores of D in the liver to maintain normal vitamin D metabolism.
7. Sources. Clothing prevents formation of D in the skin with sunlight exposure, and window glass, fog and smog may also interfere. There is no scientific evidence, however, that sunlight exposure will not allow the body to produce sufficient vitamin D if the skin is exposed to light for enough time. One-half hour per day in the warm months should suffice.
8. Effects of deficiency. A deficiency of vitamin D will, result in rickets in infants and osteomalacia in adults. The body cannot maintain normal bone structure when too little vitamin D is present. Rickets is characterized by soft and fragile bones, especially in the legs; curvature of the spine; enlargement of certain joints; poor development of many muscles; irritability and restlessness; poor dental structure; and abnormality of the blood. Osteomalacia also is characterized by soft bones, plus leg and lower back pain, general weakness, and fractures that occur without significant trauma.
9. Effects of excess. Excess vitamin D results in nausea, diarrhea, loss of weight, frequent urination, all in mild cases; kidney damage, calcium deposits with damage to the heart, blood vessels and other tissue, in severe cases. A dose of vitamin D approximately 100 times the amount needed will cause poisoning and the above symptoms.

9.3.1.3 Vitamin E

1. Discovery. Shortage of another organic compound which dissolves in fat solvents was discovered in 1922 to result in destruction of the fetus in the uterus of animals. In 1936 vitamin E was chemically isolated as this substance.
2. Measurement. Amounts of vitamin E are expressed as international units (IUs). One IU is equal to 1 mg (1/1000th gram) of vitamin E.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin E is relatively stable but will break down on exposure to ultraviolet light and when exposed to rancid fats, lead or iron.
4. Physiology. Since vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, bile salts are needed for absorption (see under vitamin A). Most vitamin E is stored in muscle and fat tissue.
5. Functions. The body uses vitamin E mainly as an antioxidant. It chemically combines with oxygen, and, as a result of this, other organic compounds are not destroyed by oxygen. Scientists think that vitamin E is also needed for production of certain essential tissues, especially red blood cells.
6. Requirements. The amount of vitamin E needed for normal body function is about 15 IUs per day. Fortunately, one of the richest sources of E in nature is un-saturated fats (oils, as found in seeds and nuts). This vitamin is also found in fruits, vegetables, sprouted grains and sprouted legumes.
7. Effects of deficiency. Symptoms of deficiency in animals continue to baffle scientists. When E is in extremely short supply, disease in many areas of the body results. There is breakdown of the reproductive system, muscular system, nervous system and vascular (blood vessel) system. But the conditions needed to produce such destruction in animals involve such extreme deficiency that scientists think no such problems develop in human beings from a dietary deficiency of vitamin E. Therefore, impotence, infertility, heart disease and other such problems in people are not from vitamin E deficiency and will not be helped by taking excess vitamin E.
8. Effects of excess. Excess intake of vitamin E, long thought to be harmless, has now been implicated in the causation of cholesterol deposits in blood vessels, elevated blood fat levels, interference in the blood-clotting process, enhanced growth of lung tumors, interference with vitamin A and iron, disturbances of the gastrointestinal tract, skin rashes, interference with thyroid gland function and damage to muscles. Megadoses of vitamin E are certainly not to be considered harmless.

9.3.1.4 Vitamin K

1. Discovery. Vitamin K was discovered in 1935. A doctor in Scandinavia found that this substance was necessary for normal clotting of the blood.
2. Measurement. Amounts of vitamin K are expressed as micrograms, one millionth of a gram.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin K is the fourth of the fat-soluble vitamins (others are A, D and E). It is easily destroyed by light but is stable to heat.
4. Physiology. Vitamin K is a vitamin that does not need to be supplied in food. Bacteria which live in the human intestine are fully capable of producing the vitamin  K needed  for normal  functioning of the bloodclotting apparatus. Vitamin K, being fat-soluble, is absorbed with fat and as a fat and therefore requires the presence of bile salts.
5. Functions. The liver produces certain organic compounds needed for the bloodclotting process. Vitamin K is required by the liver for production of these compounds.
6. Requirements. A dietary requirement has never been set for vitamin K because it is supplied by intestinal bacteria. A deficiency of vitamin K is unknown.
7. Sources. Dietary sources of vitamin K are kale and other green leafy vegetables, cabbage and cauliflower.
8. Effects of deficiency. A deficiency of vitamin K results in failure of the bloodclotting system, resulting in hemorrhage. This is found only in premature infants of mothers taking anti-bloodclotting drugs, in people with intestinal malabsorption and patients on sulfa drugs and antibiotics (which kill the intestinal bacteria that produce vitamin K). Intestinal malabsorption can occur as a result of liver or gallbladder disease, severe diarrhea, colitis and some other conditions; it can result in deficiency of any essential nutrient.
9. Effects of excess. The effects of excess vitamin K are unknown.

9.3.2 The Water-Soluble Vitamins

9.3.2.1 Vitamin C

1. Discovery. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, was isolated chemically in 1932 at the University of Pittsburgh. Feeding this organic compound was found to prevent scurvy. Almost 200 years previous to the chemical identification of vitamin C, Dr. James Lind, a British physician, found that scurvy would not occur if citrus fruits were consumed.
2. Measurement. Amounts of vitamin C are expressed in milligrams, 1/1000th of a gram.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin C and all the B vitamins dissolve in water but not in fat as with A, D, E and K. Vitamin C is more easily destroyed than any of the other vitamins. Heat, light, copper, and iron are especially destructive.
4. Physiology. Most forms of life synthesize the vitamin C they need and thus do not need a dietary source. However, humans do not synthesize this vitamin. When vitamin C is supplied to the body, the tissues quickly become saturated and excesses are eliminated in the urine.
5. Functions. The body uses vitamin C in many important ways. The main one is in the formation of connective tissue, the underlying structure of bone, cartilage, blood vessel walls and most other tissues. Without vitamin C, the body cannot rebuild injured tissue.

   There are many other important roles of vitamin C: It is needed for normal cellular metabolism and enzyme function, for the normal metabolism of iron and folic acid (a B vitamin) and for the formation of adrenal gland hormones.

6. Requirements. There is much controversy about the requirement for vitamin C. The recommended dietary allowance is no more than l/10th of a gram, yet Linus Pauling states that we need 100 times that amount. Scientific evidence clearly states that l/10th of a gram,  100 milligrams, is more than enough. Some evidence indicates that slightly more than this amount may be desirable. On a Hygienic diet, with its great abundance of raw fruits and vegetables, it is easy to get over 500 milligrams per day. There is certainly no need for supplements, despite the allegations of Dr. Pauling.
7. Sources. Vitamin C is supplied in fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits, tomatoes and bell peppers. Other foods also contain small amounts of this vitamin.
8. Effects of deficiency. A deficiency of vitamin C results in poor connective tissue structure. Symptoms include joint pain, irritability, growth retardation, anemia, shortness of breath, poor wound healing, bleeding of gums and pinpoint hemorrhages. If the diet contains enough vitamin C and these symptoms still develop, causes other than vitamin C deficiency must be searched for. Taking large amounts of vitamin C for diseases which are not the result of a vitamin C deficiency may alleviate symptoms but will not remove the cause of the problem.
9. Effects of excess. Excess vitamin C, even though water-soluble and so not stored in large amounts in the body, can be harmful to your health. Problems include destruction of red blood cells; irritation of the intestinal lining; kidney stone formation; interference with iron, copper, vitamin A and bone mineral metabolism; interference with the reproductive tract, causing infertility and fetal death; diabetes; and, believe it or not, scurvy. Intake of excess amounts of vitamin C, as with most vitamins, is only possible when pills or crystals are taken.

9.3.2.2 Vitamin B1

1. Discovery. The existence of vitamin B1, also known as thiamine, was first theorized in 1897 by a Dutch doctor who found that eating polished rice would result in a serious disease called beriberi. When unpolished and unrefined rice was eaten, however, beriberi did not develop. In the 1920s and 1930s, thiamine was chemically isolated from rice bran.
2. Measurement. Amounts of vitamin B1 are expressed in milligrams (mg), 1/1000th of a gram, or micro-grams (meg), 1/millionth of a gram.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin B1 is readily destroyed in the cooking process.
4. Physiology and functions. This important vitamin plays a crucial role in the body’s energy-producing processes. In the body, when glucose is burned in the cells, energy is produced. This energy is stored when an organic substance named ATP is produced. Vitamin B1 is needed for the formation of ATP.
5. Requirements. The requirement for vitamin B1 is approximately 1/2 mg daily for infants and children, 1-1.5 mg daily for adults.
6. Sources. If mainly fruits and vegetables are eaten, as we recommend, significant amounts of vitamin B1 will be supplied. Other sources are nuts,  seeds, sprouted legumes and sprouted grains. When grains are refined, much of the vitamin B1 (and other vitamins) is lost.
7. Effects of Deficiency. A deficiency of vitamin B1 results in serious breakdown of cellular metabolism. Manifestations of this breakdown include fatigue, emotional upsets, appetite loss, weakness, vomiting and abdominal pain, heart failure and nervous system destruction (generalized weakness and/or paralysis occur). Again, it is essential to note that there are many other causes of these problems. If the diet contains enough vitamin B1, these problems will not be helped by getting more of this vitamin.
8. Effects of excess. The problems which develop when excess vitamin B1 is consumed have not been investigated. We can be sure, however, that problems will result when “megadoses” are ingested.

9.3.2.3 Vitamin B2

1. Discovery. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, scientists discovered a substance in food which the body needed for normal nervous system function. This substance was chemically identified and named riboflavin, also called vitamin B2.
2. Measurement. As with thiamine, amounts of riboflavin are expressed as milligrams or micrograms.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin B2 is more stable to heat than vitamin B1, but it is easily destroyed by light.
4. Physiology and functions. The function of vitamin B2 is much the same as B1, although neither vitamin can substitute for the other. Riboflavin is needed for the synthesis of ATP.
5. Requirements. The requirement for riboflavin is about the same as for thiamine. About 1/2 mg daily is needed by infants, and 1-1.5 mg per day is needed for older children and adults.
6. Sources. Riboflavin is supplied by green leafy vegetables, seeds and nuts.
7. Effects of deficiency. Symptoms of a vitamin B2 deficiency include the eyes becoming sensitive to light, easy fatigue of the eyes, blurred vision, itching and soreness of the eyes, cracks in the skin at the corners of the mouth, purplish red appearance of the lips and tongue, and eczema.
8. Effects of excess. Symptoms of excess intake of riboflavin have not been clearly elucidated.

9.3.2.4 Niacin

1. Discovery. Niacin deficiency disease, called pellagra, was written about hundreds of years ago. It was not until the 20th century, however, that this disease was related to a dietary deficiency. This took place when a researcher placed subjects on a diet identical to that which caused pellagra-type symptoms in certain groups of people in the South. When these symptoms occurred in the experimental subjects, the researcher concluded that pellagra is a deficiency disease. Soon after, other scientists found that niacin was the missing link.
2. Measurement. Amounts of niacin are expressed in milligrams.
3. Chemistry. This important B vitamin (called B3 by some nutritionists) is more stable than most other B vitamins; it is not easily destroyed by heat, light or exposure to oxygen.
4. Physiology. Not all the niacin needed by the body need be supplied as niacin. Tryptophan, an amino acid (subunit of protein), is easily converted by the body into niacin. Therefore, to have a niacin deficiency, the diet must be deficient in both niacin and tryptophan.
5. Functions. Niacin is intimately involved in cellular metabolic reactions which release energy from the oxidation (“burning”) of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. In this function it is quite similar to vitamins Bl and B2, but niacin cannot substitute for or be replaced by other B vitamins.
6. Requirements. The requirements for niacin are about 5-10 mg per day for infants and children and 15-20 mg per day for adults.
7. Sources. There are many sources of niacin in the diet: green leafy vegetables, potatoes, nuts arid seeds, to name a few.
8. Effects of deficiency. Deficiency of niacin leads to development of pellagra. This disease involves the gastrointestinal tract, skin and nervous system. Common symptoms include fatigue; headache; weight loss; backache; appetite loss; poor general health; red sore tongue; sore throat and mouth; lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach (which results in anemia from vitamin B12 deficiency); nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; red, swollen and cracked skin; confusion; dizziness; poor memory and, in advanced cases, severe mental illness.

   If the diet contains sufficient amounts of niacin, and if a person suffers from any of the aforementioned symptoms, taking extra niacin will have no beneficial effect.

9. Effects of excess. Intake of excess niacin has been found to cause liver damage, high levels of blood sugar, unsafe levels of uric acid in the bloodstream, and gastrointestinal distress (“stomachache”).

9.3.2.5 Vitamin B6

1. Discovery. A deficiency of vitamin B6, or pyridoxine, was first produced in animals in 1926. In. 1938, this vitamin was isolated from food and identified. In 1939, scientists synthesized it in the laboratory.
2. Measurement. Amounts of vitamin B6 are expressed in micrograms or milligrams.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin B6 is easily destroyed by light but is somewhat stable to heat.
4. Physiology and functions. Vitamin B6, sometimes referred to as pyridoxine, is deeply involved in the metabolism of protein. When amino acids (subunits of protein) are converted into other substances (such as tryptophan to niacin), vitamin B6 is often needed. Also, when non-protein substances are converted into amino acids, vitamin B6 is often needed.
5. Requirements. Infants and children require about .5-1 mg of vitamin B6 per day. Adults need about 2 mg per day.
6. Sources. Vegetables are the main source of vitamin B6 in the diet.
7. Effects of deficiency. Deficiency of vitamin B6 leads to problems in the skin, nervous system and blood in animals. It has been difficult for researchers to produce any deficiency in adult humans. In extreme experimental situations, skin disease has resulted in adults from a vitamin B6 deficiency.
8. Effects of excess. Generalized symptoms of toxicity (poisoning) have been recorded in rats upon intake of excess vitamin B6. Future research will certainly find damage in human beings from intake of excess vitamin B6.

9.3.2.6 Pantothenic Acid

1. Discovery. Pantothenic acid was first isolated in 1938. Two years later researchers synthesized this vitamin in the laboratory.
2. Measurement. Pantothenic acid is measured in milligrams.
3. Chemistry.  It is relatively stable, yet significant amounts are lost in cooking.
4. Physiology and functions. Pantothenic acid is part of coenzyme A, an organic substance which plays a critical role in many cellular metabolic pathways.
5. Requirements. Four to seven mg of pantothenic acid per day will fulfill the body’s needs in both adults and children.
6. Sources. Sources of pantothenic acid include fruits, vegetables, sprouted legumes and grains.
7. Effects of deficiency. A deficiency of pantothenic acid has been observed only in laboratory animals. This vitamin is widely available in common foods so that deficiency outside of the laboratory is unlikely. Symptoms of deficiency include vomiting, fatigue, a feeling of generalized sickness, pain in the abdomen, burning cramps, personality changes and blood abnormalities.
8. Effects of excess. Diarrhea is the only symptom thus far shown to result when excess pantothenic acid is taken.

9.3.2.7 Biotin

1. Discovery. The discovery of biotin was made when large quantities of raw eggs were fed to animals before World War II. Scientists found that raw egg whites contain avidin, a substance that inactivates biotin. The diet high in raw eggs therefore led to development of deficiency symptoms in animals.
2. Measurement. Amounts of biotin are expressed in micrograms.
3. Chemistry. This vitamin is stable to heat and light but is sensitive to oxygen.
4. Physiology and functions. The body uses biotin as coenzymes needed for normal metabolism of protein, carbohydrate and fat.
5. Requirements. The requirement for biotin is about 150 micrograms per day for adults.
6. Sources. Nuts and seeds are high in biotin. Another excellent source is sprouted legumes.
7. Effects of deficiency. Biotin deficiency is produced only when many raw eggs are consumed. Symptoms which develop include skin problems, fatigue, muscle pain, lack of appetite, nausea and blood abnormalities.
8. Effects of excess. The effects of excess biotin have not yet been described.

9.3.2.8 Vitamin B12

1. Discovery. Vitamin B12 was not identified until 1955. Long before, in the early 1920s, foods high in this vitamin (such as liver) were used in cases of pernicious anemia.
2. Measurement. Amounts of this vitamin are expressed in micrograms.
3. Chemistry. Vitamin B12 is not damaged by heat, but it is inactivated by light. Very little is lost in cooking.
4. Physiology. The physiology of vitamin B12 is complex. To be aborbed into the bloodstream, vitamin B12 must combine with an organic substance secreted by the stomach called intrinsic factor. The resultant complex can then be absorbed only at the far end of the small intestine, the terminal ileum. Disease of the stomach often results in deficiency of intrinsic factor. This condition, not a dietary deficiency of vitamin B12, is called pernicious anemia.
5. Functions. All cells in the body need vitamin B12 to function normally, but certain tissues need more of this vitamin than do others. These include the gastrointestinal tract, nervous system and bone marrow (where blood cells are produced).
6. Requirements. Infants and children need about .5-2 meg of vitamin B12 per day, with the larger amounts needed in later years. Adults need about 3 meg per day; 1 meg additional is recommended for pregnant and lactating women.
7. Sources. Vitamin B12 should perhaps be called the “vegetarian’s nemesis,” since standard nutrition teaches that it is only present in animal foods (meats, eggs, dairy products) and that none is found in vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, sprouted legumes or sprouted grains. Yet vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria that are so widely prevalent in nature that many or most vegetarian foods contain small amounts of vitamin B12. Also, scientific evidence has shown that bacteria in the human intestine can produce vitamin B12. Although vegetarians often have low blood levels of vitamin B12, there has almost never been a well-documented case of a vegetarian who was sick from a dietary vitamin B12 deficiency. Therefore, there is no need for the subject of vitamin B12 to be a “vegetarian’s nemesis.”
8. Effects of deficiency. When the body has a poor supply of vitamin B12, pernicious anemia will result. Fewer red blood cells are formed in the bone marrow. Advanced cases of vitamin B12 deficiency show nervous system disease characterized by “pins and needles” sensations in the hands and feet, poor balance and mental depression.
9. Effects of excess. The effect of taking too much vitamin B12 has not been described.

9.3.2.9 Folic Acid

1. Discovery. An unknown organic substance, distinct from all other vitamins, was found in the early 20th century to be necessary for animal health. In the 1940s the chemical structure of folic acid was described. The name comes horn folium, Latin for leaf, since folic acid is present in such great amounts in green leaves.
2. Measurement. Amounts of folic acid are expressed in micrograms.
3. Chemistry. Folic acid is not stable to light and heat so that large amounts are lost in cooking.
4. Physiology and functions. Folic acid is needed for the normal functioning of the genetic material in cells (DNA), for metabolism of protein and some other organic substances.
5. Requirements. Adults need about 400 micrograms of folic acid per day. In pregnancy, an additional 400 meg are needed, while in lactation, an additional 200 meg will suffice: Needs in infancy, as with all vitamins, are much lower, about 50 mcg per day.
6. Sources. Folic acid is best derived from green leafy vegetables and sprouted grains.
7. Effects of deficiency. A deficiency of folic acid will lead to anemia. If anemia is from vitamin B12 deficiency and folic acid is given, the body will be able to correct the anemia. The nervous system disease from vitamin B12 deficiency, however, will not be affected by giving folic acid.
8. Effects of excess. Effects of excess folic acid intake have not been described.

9.4. Questions & Answers

Is the conventional American diet generally deficient in vitamins, and is this the major health-destroying aspect of this diet?

No. While the conventional American diet has been shown to be deficient in vitamins in many cases, this is not the major problem with this diet. The major problems result from excess intake of toxins, calories, fat, protein and sugar. Taking vitamin pills will have no beneficial effect on the problems resulting from the excesses in the American diet.

Should I take vitamin pills?

A person eating a diet of whole, unrefined foods, mostly uncooked, has no need for supplements.

When the necessary amount of vitamins is supplied in the diet, will additional vitamins help?

Definitely not. The body can use only a limited amount of vitamins as supplied in food. Excess vitamins often cause damage to the body.

Are extra vitamins needed because of stress, smoking and pollution?

Yes, and the extra amounts are easily supplied from food.

A deficiency of a vitamin will lead to development of a certain disease, for instance night blindness and vitamin A. If the diet contains enough vitamin A and a person still develops eye disease, will additional vitamin A solve the problem?

No. Taking vitamin A will only correct a vitamin A deficiency and the problems associated with such a deficiency. There are multiple causes of eye problems and all the other symptoms that develop when there is a vitamin deficiency.

I know that too much of vitamins A and D can be harmful, but I heard that you cannot take too much of the water-soluble vitamins like vitamins C and B. Is this true?

No. Although excesses of vitamins C and B will be eliminated rapidly from the body, there will be damage to the body before and during their elimination.

Article #1: Caution: Megavitamins May Be Dangerous To Your Health by Dr. Alan Immerman, D.C.

Surprising as it may sound, vitamins—especially the fat-soluble ones—when taken in unnaturally large quantities, can be dangerous to your health. In fact, megavitamin therapy carries risks similar to those of other drugs. Just as with other medications, the taking of large amounts of vitamins can cause side effects and other more serious health problems.

For years I took large daily doses of many vitamins. I read many of the magazines which are sold in health food stores and I believed what I read. I was convinced that large doses of vitamin C would “prevent” and “cure” colds and that some of the B-complex vitamins would calm my emotions “naturally” with no side effects. I believed that large amounts of vitamin E would prevent heart disease and delay the aging process. Fortified daily as I was, I was certain that I was doing myself a world of good, even though I didn’t feel better while I was taking the supplements in such large doses.

Then it happened: I put down my health food store paperbacks long enough to read a few scientific textbooks and journal articles. I studied the biochemistry of vitamins (I have a B.S. in chemistry) and I read scientific studies which investigated the possibility of side effects from taking vitamins. I was more than a little surprised by what 1 found.

First, what is a “megavitamin”? I consider it to be a level of dosage that one could never get from food. For example, if you ate a large amount of fruits and vegetables, you could get 500 to 1,000 milligrams (.5 to 1 gram) of vitamin C per day from food. Although the RDA (recommended dietary allowance) is only 60 milligrams, it is possible to get ten, even 20 times this amount from foods. Therefore, in the case of vitamin C, I would use the term megavitamin to describe something in the neighborhood of 2 grams per day. While this may seem extraordinarily large, bear in mind that some self-appointed authorities recommend that we take 5-10 grams of vitamin C per day.

In large doses, vitamins act like drugs, not nutrients. If you eat more than the amount required, your body won’t be able to use them. In its wisdom, the body will try to eliminate the excess, but too much of an overload may cause the excess to remain in the bloodstream, causing drug-like effects.

Megavitamin proponents argue that the requirement for vitamins differs from one person to another (biochemical individuality). This is true. But the conclusion that some people must, therefore, take megadoses of vitamins is false. Taking the recommended dietary allowances of vitamins fulfills the body’s needs since the RDAs have been formulated with full awareness of biochemical individuality. The RDA compensates so well for the fact that some people need more of a certain vitamin that it has even been occasionally criticized for being too generous, for instance in the RDA for vitamin E.

Megavitamin proponents claim that large amounts of vitamins are used as nutrients. A nutrient is a substance that is used in normal physiological processes and causes no harm to the system. Other chemicals, such as drugs, are not used by the body and do cause harm. Scientific studies have shown that megavitamins can cause harm to the body. Therefore, I classify them as drugs.

Our bodies are capable of using nutrients supplied in the proper amounts. But when a nutrient is supplied in too great an amount, havoc is the result. We have all heard of the rare cases where someone has drunk too much water and died. The same is true with vitamins: too much of a good thing is harmful.

Experiments such as the following have often been repeated. Megadoses of vitamin B3 (niacin) were given to large groups of experimentees for a number of weeks at a time. Before and after the dosage period, blood was drawn from the subjects and analyzed for many chemicals. At the end of the experiment, scientists found that up to 45% of the subjects had liver damage, 50-66% had abnormally high levels of blood sugar, 62-78% had unsafe levels of uric acid and 20-40% had “gastrointestinal distress” (stomachaches). Though it may be hard to swallow that our old friend niacin is harmful in large doses, swallow it we must if we want to align our beliefs with reality.

Niacin has been recommended in large doses to lower blood cholesterol levels and to control schizophrenic symptoms. I suggest that better ways be found to deal with these problems (such as eating less meat and eggs to lower cholesterol).

Megadoses of vitamin C are also potentially harmful. Consider the following side effects: destruction of red blood cells; irritation of the intestinal lining; kidney stone formation; interference with iron, copper, vitamin A and bone mineral metabolism; interference with the reproductive tract, causing infertility and fetal death; diabetes; and something called rebound scurvy. Scurvy is vitamin C deficiency disease. If you take large amounts of vitamin C for a long time (many months, at the least), your body will increase its level of elimination of vitamin C (more evidence that your body doesn’t want it around). If you then decide suddenly to stop taking vitamin C cold-turkey you will become deficient in this vitamin because it takes a period of time (many weeks sometimes) for your body to adjust downward its level of elimination of vitamin C. Does this sound safe? I would rather have a cold any day than the possibility of the side effects of megadoses of vitamin C. Besides, a cold is actually a detoxification process that shouldn’t be interfered with by use of anything, even  it is a supposedly friendly vitamin.

The third vitamin that has been investigated in depth is vitamin E. Megadoses of this vitamin (over about 100 IU per day) have been found to cause deposits of cholesterol in blood vessels; elevations of blood fat levels; interference with the bloodclotting process; enhanced growth of lung tumors; interference with absorption of vitamin A and iron; gastrointestinal disturbances; skin rashes; interference with thyroid gland function; and damage to muscles. Thus, megadoses of vitamin E also function as drugs, complete with side effects.

All nutritionists recognize the hazards from large doses of vitamins A and D: Megadoses of vitamin A have been known to cause the following negative effects: fatigue; generalized feeling of sickness; stomach discomfort; bone and/or joint pain; severe headaches; insomnia and restlessness; night sweating; loss of body hair; brittle nails; constipation; irregular menstruation; emotional instability; dry scaly and rough skin and other effects. Megadoses of vitamin D can cause nausea, diarrhea, weight loss, kidney damage and other problems.

I have no argument with those who claim that megadoses of vitamins will change the way you feel. They may, although in most cases there is no solid scientific proof that they will. But the way you feel is not in itself a valid criteria with which to judge megavitamins. If it were, then we could endorse drugs as completely beneficial. Both drugs and megavitamins may change symptom patterns. If you take vitamin C, there is a slim chance that you may experience a reduction in cold symptoms due to an antihistamine (not nutritional) effect. If you have arthritis arid take cortisone, you will experience a reduction in joint pain. But both these substances have side effects; and neither of these substances are getting at the cause of the health problem, just the symptoms. In fact, both are causes of other problems!

And there is even more: By treating yourself with vitamins, you may mask a serious disease until it has progressed to the point of no return. For instance, if you are anemic from vitamin B12 deficiency and you take folic acid, the folic acid will correct the anemia but you will have continuing subtle nervous system damage from the B12 deficiency.

Megadoses of vitamin C interfere with tests for sugar in the urine (a common indicator of severity of diabetes) and for blood in the stool (a test for cancer of the large intestine, among other things).

Once you find out what your problem is, I have one bit of advice: Don’t try megavitamins for a solution. If they give you any relief, it will only be symptomatic: the cause of your problem will remain untouched. And the megavitamins may cause even further disruption of your health because of the many harmful side effects they can have.

Article #2: Vitamins And Disease Causation By Marti Fry

Conventional medical practice attributes disease causation to: 1) bacteria or viruses; 2) hereditary or genetic disorders; or 3) deficiencies of vitamins or other nutrients. They do not blame disease causation on the habits and lifestyles of people who get diseases—except in the cases of deficiency diseases. Food supplements are supposed to solve the problems (“cure” the diseases) resulting from nutrient deficiencies. Sometimes nutrient-rich foods are also or instead recommended. For example, oranges or tomatoes may be recommended in cases of vitamin C deficiency or carrots or other orange foods for vitamin A deficiency, etc. However, with the popularity of food supplements today, especially among “alternative health groups,” but also among conventional practitioners, pills are more often prescribed or recommended.

The error made by conventional medical and “health” practitioners is even worse than prescribing or recommending vitamin pills. They do not recognize that the true cause of diseases in most cases is not bacteria, viruses, hereditary or genetic disorders or nutrient deficiencies—rather, diseases result from enervation and toxemia; that is, lowered nerve energy, retention of toxic metabolic wastes, and consumption of toxic substances (wrong foods, drugs, etc.).

Even the “alternative healers,” though many recognize that diseases are body-created processes for elimination of toxins, think more in terms of nutrient deficiencies and food supplements than of removing the true causes of most diseases—body toxicity. Supplying the normal needs of life as recommended by the Life Science health system while simultaneously removing the causes of diseases is the only way health can be restored effectively and permanently.

The idea of getting more vitamins, protein or other nutrients to prevent or overcome diseases is erroneous. Most diseases are not deficiency diseases as so many people believe today. Also, vitamins are not specific detoxifying substances that assist the body in eliminating its pathogenic toxic load. In massive amounts they are like drugs that add to the body’s toxic load and must be expelled. In normal amounts as supplied in wholesome, raw foods, they play many varied roles. It is really foolish to tamper with normal body functioning in any way, including the use of vitamin supplements which do not go to the root—do not deal with the cause—of disease any more than do drugs or medications.

Article #3: Why RDAs Are Too High by T.C. Fry

Before entering into a discussion of how RDAs are set, it is appropriate to distinguish between Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and Minimum Daily Requirement (MDR). These are not the same, though MDRs are usually set unduly high, as are the RDAs.

RDAs are set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council. Minimum Daily Requirements are mandatory on labelling of processed foods. They are required by the FDA, who has published the MDRs. MDRs generally closely parallel the RDAs. Supposedly the minimum requirement is the least amount you can ingest and adequately meet need. RDAs are recommended as intake to be on the safe side. RDAs are, therefore, higher than MDRs.

In setting RDAs, the NRC has criteria for each nutrient, vitamin or mineral. For instance, it figures vitamin C need based on what is required as a minimum. Say this minimum is set at 15 milligrams daily, which is the generally recognized minimum in much of the world. The NRC figures there is perhaps a 30% difference between individuals in their vitamin assimilation abilities. Thus they add on 30% to this minimum.

Further, the NRC gives a biologic value of about 2/3 to dietary vitamin C (could this be due to cooking or due to synthetic C or both, making 1/3 not available?) Instead of 19.5 mg, we now have 30 mg. As a margin of safety, the recommendation allows an extra 100%.

Thus, a man of say 154 pounds is said to need 60 mg of vitamin C daily. This is the RDA when, in point of fact, the needs of a healthy person are amply met on an intake of 15 to 20 mg daily. But, as this water-soluble vitamin in its natural form is easily excreted, there is no great danger in an intake of 60 mg daily. In fact, a natural diet furnishes 200 to 500 mg daily.

While establishing an RDA some four times in excess of what a healthy individual really needs is not harmful in the case of natural vitamin C, in other cases the RDA is positively pathogenic! This “generosity” amounts to recommended overfeeding. In people’s minds the RDA becomes a mandatory minimum and they add on perhaps another 100% just to be sure! In the case of protein this is a great contributing cause of widespread disease!

As a Hygienist, be ever cognizant of those principles that go like this: The healthier you are, the more efficient your body becomes up and down the line. On a proper diet the biological value of nutrients is at or near 100%! The food will not be deranged by cooking or processing. Further, it will be 100% in accord with human digestive adaptations and capabilities. The healthy person will have about 100% uptake of dietary intake up to an optimum point and nearly 100% usage. Hence most RDAs are some 200% to 1,000% too high at the least!

Why get into a meaningless numbers game when all that we need in nutrients to repleteness is amply furnished with a great margin of safety by a modest diet consisting mostly of fresh fruits with some vegetables, nuts, seeds and perhaps some dried fruit. All, of course, must be eaten in the raw or live state to assure nutrient integrity on the one hand and non-toxicity on the other.

Article #4: Vitamin B-12 And Your Diet By Dr. Alan Immerman

If you do not eat animal foods of any kind your fears about dietary deficiency in this highly publicized vitamin will be allayed by this report.

Do we get enough vitamin B12? This is a major concern to people who consume no animal foods (vegans). Much of their worry arises from the wide publicity given to statements like the following which appeared in the prestigious journal, Nutrition Reviews: “Strict vegetarianism in western countries is a form of food faddism which can have serious consequences” due to the possibility of a vitamin B12 deficiency. What are the facts?

First of all, it cannot be said that vegans consume too little vitamin B12 unless it can be shown they have a definite deficiency of this vitamin. Therefore, in order to understand the facts, we must decide how we will determine who is deficient. To be diagnosed as having a dietary deficiency of vitamin B12, all the following five criteria must be fulfilled:

1. Intake of less than the minimum daily requirement of vitamin B12.
2. Abnormally low blood vitamin B12 level.
3. Normal absorption of vitamin B12.
4. Presence of sickness specifically associated with a vitamin B12 deficiency; a specific type of anemia (megaloblastic) and/or nervous system degeneration.
5. Elimination of the signs and symptoms of such sickness following consumption of a small amount of vitamin B12-containing food.

The finding of a vitamin B12-deficient state without fulfillment of every one of these criteria cannot be blamed solely on the diet. This is because all of the following can also cause a vitamin B12 deficiency: stomach disease (interferes with production of intrinsic factor, a chemical necessary for normal absorption of vitamin B12), intestinal disease (may interfere with normal absorption), kidney or liver disease (may increase loss of vitamin B12 from the body), use of alcohol or tobacco, use of some drugs such as neomycin and oral contraceptives and a multitude of other problems. Unless these problems are ruled out by fulfillment of the five criteria, a dietary cause of a vitamin B12 deficiency cannot be diagnosed.

Let’s take a few examples. Say a 58-year-old man on a vegan diet goes to his doctor with signs of nervous system disease. It comes out in the history that this person is a vegan so the doctor presumes that the disease is from dietary vitamin B12 deficiency and prescribes large doses of vitamin B12 supplements. But, without investigation of this person’s ability to absorb vitamin B12, his disease cannot be said to come from dietary deficiency alone. He could have pernicious anemia—deficiency of the intrinsic factor needed for absorption.

Or consider the vegan who has routine blood analysis done and it is found that his vitamin B12 level is low compared to the standard American range. The doctor would probably warn this individual of the grave consequences of continuing on his diet, even though this person feels fine. This individual cannot be classified as vitamin B12-deficient, however, because he has no symptoms of the diseases associated with a vitamin B12 deficiency.

As a third example, let’s consider the most complex case: a vegan with a vitamin B12 deficiency-associated illness, normal absorption as reflected by use of routine absorption testing (the Schilling test) and disappearance of symptoms after ingestion of vitamin B12 supplements of routine dosage. Wouldn’t this be a clear case of dietary vitamin B12 deficiency? Not necessarily—it could be a case of poor absorption not revealed by routine testing. A case like this occurred where the fault in absorption was not detected until sophisticated methods were used.

Short of sophisticated testing available only in research centers, the only way this fault in absorption, and probably many other similar faults, would be discovered is by experimental oral administration of small amounts of vitamin B12, as opposed to the large amounts routinely used. For this reason, fulfillment Of criterion No. 5 (positive response to consumption of small amounts of vitamin B12) is essential for a diagnosis of dietary B12 deficiency.

As simple and full of common sense as are these five criteria, we see many cases in the medical literature in which one or more of them have not been fulfilled. For example, Smith in 1962 investigated twelve vegans and found vitamin B12-associated illness in three of them.

He did not, however, check to see if they were able to absorb vitamin B12 efficiently; thus his diagnosis of dietary vitamin B12 deficiency is unconvincing. There are even cases presented as dietary vitamin B12 deficiency in which no accurate diet history is reported to show that no vitamin B12-containing foods have been eaten.

Verjaal, et al., in 1967, presented the case of a vegan with nervous system disease which the researcher attributed to the diet without checking absorption or the response to small amounts of oral vitamin B12. Connor, et al., in 1963, discussed two cases in which he also failed to investigate absorption.

In preparing this article, I have reviewed every article discussing cases of reported dietary vitamin B12 deficiency, and I can say that lack of fulfillment of all five criteria, as in the articles just described, is the rule, not the exception.

On the other hand, many studies have reported vegans with normal vitamin B12 status and complete health. Hardinge, et al., in 1954, studied 26 vegans and found them to be healthy. Ellis, et al., in 1970, studied 26 vegans and found the same.

Roberts, et al., in 1973, investigated 322 Indian vegans during pregnancy. All but one were perfectly healthy and this one was not studied to determine whether she could normally absorb vitamin B12. Sanders, et al., in 1978, studied 34 vegans and found no sickness.

The conclusion must be that the vast majority of the studies which have reported abnormal vitamin B12 status in vegans have not been thorough enough to prove the problem was from the diet only, and that, on the the other hand, many studies have found normal vitamin B12 status in vegans. Though this is hard for a western nutritionist to accept, no Indian doctor would have the slightest problem with it.

Indians, for the most part, are not pure vegans, as they consume small amounts of dairy foods. These amounts, however, fall far below the amounts that would be needed to supply adequate amounts of vitamin B12 if western dogma is valid.

Yet, in India, vegetarians have lived for ages and have begotten and reared healthy children who, in turn, have never eaten fish, fowl or meat. There is no evidence to suggest that such a vegetarian population consuming adequate lactovegetarian food is any way different from the non-vegetarians.

As Dr. David Reuben points out, the news that an almost-vegan diet is dangerous “will come as a surprise to 500,000,000 Hindus, most of whom don’t eat any meat or animal products at all from the moment they are born until the moment they die (with the exception of mother’s milk for a while). The Hindu religion has been around for over 10,000 years, or about 98 centuries longer than modern American medicine.

But how do vegans get their vitamin B12? Since it is produced only by bacteria, and vegans don’t eat the animals that had the bacteria growing in their second stomach (rumen), what is the source of this vitamin B12?

There are no definite answers to this question, but the fact that most vegans are healthy shows one of the following answers must be applicable: Absorption of the vitamin B12 routinely produced by bacteria living in the intestine (supposedly they live in a area where the vitamin cannot be absorbed, but an adaptation may occur in vegans); no loss of vitamin B12 from the body, thus no need for additional dietary vitamin B12; ingestion of vitamin B12 in water (from the well or the distiller) due to bacterial contamination; accidental ingestion of insects or bacteria containing vitamin B12; presence of vitamin B12 in root vegetables due to absorption of vitamin B12 from the soil where it was produced by bacteria; presence of vitamin B12 in soil on poorly washed root vegetables; presence of vitamin B12 in seaweed (all but green) and/or contamination of plant foods with vitamin B12 produced by bacteria.

It is true that vitamin B12 is produced only by bacteria, but these bacteria are almost everywhere, and for this reason vitamin B12 has been found in some samples of many vegetables.

A vegan diet, therefore, does not have “serious consequences” as threatened by Nutrition Reviews; it is quite the reverse, as contrariwise it has such “beneficial consequences” as vegans not having to fear any risk of ever suffering cardiovascular disorders or colon and breast cancer. The low fat intake of vegans minimizes the chance of these diseases. The threat of a vitamin B12 deficiency is more often than not hypothetical rather than actual.

It is important to emphasize that deficiency may be present only if a person has low blood vitamin B12 levels plus illness associated with vitamin B12 deficiency. Indications of a low vitamin B12 level by itself will not interfere with attaining a long and healthy life with full capacity for normal reproduction. The contrary has never been proven to be so, unless the deficiency is accompanied by illness as discussed above.

Article #5: Do We Need To Take Vitamins? By Alan M. Immerman, D.C.

A few months ago I picked up a copy of a promotional magazine in a health food store. This magazine, Better Nutrition, contained an article entitled “The Care and Feeding of Vitamins,” which addressed itself to the need for taking daily vitamin supplements. Since this is a subject about which I get many questions, I thought I would discuss this issue. The article on vitamins was in a question and answer form; I will give an alternative opinion in the same form.

I eat a good diet, why should I lake vitamins or other supplements?

ANSWER: The Better Nutrition article (to be referred to as BN) stated that “your idea of a ‘good diet’ may not include all the essential nutrients” and that with pollution, stress, chronic illness, drugs and food of low nutritional value (presumably from conventional farming methods), it is reasonable that “a number of distinguished nutrition experts” believe that we should take supplements.

MY ANSWER: It is no doubt true that many peoples’ idea of a “good diet” is inadequate. The nutritional orthodoxy believes that enriched flour is entirely adequate even though many nutrients are removed by processing and only a few are replaced by enriching. But this does not mean that supplements should be taken, but rather that proper foods should be chosen! Also, there is no proof that pollution and stress increase vitamin needs. If drugs increase vitamin need, the obvious answer is to discontinue their use if at all possible. Drugs have many harmful side effects besides increasing vitamin needs.

Also, the mention of nutritional values of foods grown with today’s conventional farming methods brings up an important point. Plants synthesize all the vitamins they need from carbon dioxide, water and sunlight. Therefore, foods grown conventionally will have the same amounts of vitamins as those grown organically.

Finally, in all respect for the “distinguished nutrition experts” who believe that supplements are needed, it would be far preferable to choose the proper foods; many equally distinguished experts support this position.

How much do I need of vitamins and minerals?

ANSWER: (BN) Official recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) ... are for perfectly healthy 22-year-old men and women ... anyone not perfectly healthy and not 22 years of age may need more.

MY ANSWER: This statement in BN poorly reflects the intent of the National Research Council in establishing the RDAs. The RDAs are for the vast majority of people, not for a small group. In setting these figures, the National Research Council estimated the requirements of the nutrients and then established recommended intakes in excess of requirements so as to “exceed the requirements of most individuals.” The RDAs have even been criticized as too ligh in some cases! In any case, it is quite easy on a properly chosen diet to far exceed the recommended intake of vitamins. There is no need for nutrients in pill form.

Isn’t it possible to get too much of vitamins or minerals?

ANSWER: (BN) Not if you take reasonable amounts ... there is no record of any damage from large amounts of vitamin E. Vitamin C and the B vitamins, being water soluble, are excreted harmlessly if you happen to take more than you need.

MY ANSWER: False again. Although there probably is no direct harm from taking small amounts of vitamins, there is indirect harm. For one, many who take supplements tend to be less cautious with their diet because they feel protected by the pills. This is false security, as there are many substances needed by humans which are not yet in vitamin/mineral tablets. Some substances known at the present time include vanadium, nickel, tin and silicon; also, as any research biochemist will admit, there are probably many vitamin-like substances which will be discovered to be essential as the years go by, and they are not yet in supplements, even the supposedly “natural” supplements from food sources. So the threat of deficiency remains unless care is exercised in choice of foods.

Also, to state that there is no danger from large doses of vitamins E, C and the B complex is to display ignorance of present scientific knowledge. Megadoses of niacin (B3) may damage the liver, raise the blood sugar and uric-acid levels and cause other problems. Megadoses of vitamin C may cause: irritation (leading to diarrhea), kidney stones, problems with mineral metabolism (iron, copper, calcium and phosphorus), and possibly infertility and fetal death. Large doses of vitamin E may elevate the blood fats (high blood fat levels are associated with heart disease), interfere with vitamin A and iron metabolism, interfere with thyroid gland function and cause severe fatigue, perhaps due to muscle damage.

I have heard that some vitamins are incompatible with others and will cancel out their good effects, so they should not be taken together.

ANSWER: (BN) Basically, take your supplements and don’t worry about it.

MY ANSWER: When one tries to provide proper nutrition by extracting nutrients from food and taking them in various proportions and quantities, there is indeed a risk of creating imbalances. The best way to supply vitamins to the body is to eat them as nature provided them: in foods.

Should old people and children take vitamins?

ANSWER: (BN) “To produce strong bones, teeth, muscles and perfectly functioning organs,” children should take vitamins. “Old age is stress ... so taking supplements is even more important.”

MY ANSWER: Both groups definitely need vitamins. But is it too old-fashioned to suggest that they get their vitamins