INTERNATIONAL NATURAL HYGIENE SOCIETY newsletter - INHS Hygienic Review - Year 2004 -

Issue # 2

INTERNATIONAL NATURAL HYGIENE SOCIETY or INHS is web-based & volunteer-based, a

low-cost non-profit organization, started 1-1-2004. Membership is free, and it is easy to signup—
just follow the instructions at www.naturalhygienesociety.org.
The theme of this issue is WHAT IS HEALTH? - Which are the factors of health? What is
health, what is a healthy human being?
We are relying heavily on Dr. Herbert Shelton's prolific writings.

FACTORS OF HEALTH

What
decides how
healthy you
are at birth?
What was the connection Is "stimulation" - e.g. a cup Your genes
between Fritos corn chips and of coffee - really beneficial or the health
Dr. Shelton's Health School? and strengthening? of your
mother - or both?
click here click here
click here

Inside this issue:

Health of man - Our Primitive Standard
What is Health? - Factors of Health by Dr. Shelton
Factors of Health - Sunshine: The Light of Life
Factors of Health - Exercise
Factors of Health - Rest & Sleep
Relax with Music by Dr. Fielder
Factors of Health - Energy
The Stimulant Delusion by Dr. Shelton
Factors of Health - Water
Factors of Health - Food
The Supplementation Fallacy by Dr. Fielder
The Healthy Body Laughs at Viruses by Dr. Shelton
Continued interview with Dr. Vetrano
What is The Insulin Mechanism? - Blood Sugar
NH History - The Fight Against Superstition
GARDEN CORNER:
"WHY I GROW A BIG VEGIE GARDEN" by
Steve, our Tasmanian/American expert
gardener....
click here
PRIMITIVE HEALTH
Dr. Shelton: We marvel at the strength,
speed, endurance & agility of animals and
primitive man. Attainable for us? click here
WHAT IS HEALTH?
Which FACTOR OF HEALTH can strengthen
Everybody his own doctor by Dr. Trall
Spiritual Viewpoints by Drs. Bass, Cursio, Goldberg muscles and lift depressions? And improve
Garden Corner by Steve Solomon your eyesight? click here

President's Column
Since our inception early this year it could well be said, in
aeronautical terms, that we "have been flying by the seat of our
pants", as we have continued in our quest for "the truth" as
enumerated in our banner, "Let us have the truth though the
heavens should fall". In this quest what has become most
obvious is our desire to have defined for us "the truth" with
regard to diet and nutrition.

Allow us to pause here momentarily to remind ourselves that

diet and nutrition are, in their true and wholistic sense not limited
to the food we put in our mouths. It has a much wider application
if we are to view it in it's wholeness. It also involves the way
those foods are grown, which in turn effects their nutritional
quality. It also involves the water we drink, whether it is
physically clean, that is unpolluted by rotting vegetable matter
and excrement both human and animal, as well as free of chemicals, both industrial and
chemical, and those added to so-called "purify" it. Very much the same criteria can be applied
also to the air we breathe, for we may readily survive for a number of days without water, this is
reduced to a matter of minutes without air, and clean air at that. And of course we must not
forget to mention sunlight for without sunlight, in conjunction with air and water there would be
no life on this planet earth.

It can readily be seen then that in our quest for "truth" regarding diet and nutrition, we must, of
necessity look to a much wider paradigm than just that of food to supply our nutritional needs.

In this quest for the "truth" I would like to insert another

"Diet and nutrition also
involves the way those
foods are grown, which
effects their nutritional
quality - In our quest for
truth, we must look to a
much wider paradigm"
aspect. One which has its basis in physics and quantum
mechanics. And that is that in diet and nutrition there
probably is not an " absolute truth", there is only a relative
truth. A truth which is relative to each one of us as
individuals at this moment in time. Which in fact may not
necessarily be so at the next moment. The philosophy of
pragmatism as applied in quantum mechanics says, "
whether or not something is true is not a matter of how
closely it corresponds to the absolute truth, but of how
consistent it is with our experience"

If you should feel that I have led you out on a limb, allow me now to take you to the furthest twig
by saying "complete understanding of reality lies beyond the capabilities of rational thought", to
take a further quote from quantum mechanics. Which in its turn brings us to the point that "the
truth" for each of us will be relative, instinctual, and ever changing. Back to flying by the seat of
our pants.

"Simply speaking it
means the taking
 So what do I hear you saying? You are not going to leave us out on
this twig are you? And my reply is, "no that was not my intention", for back of our power,
just as much as quantum mechanics may well appear to have done and taking
this to us, it has at the same time given us the answer in-so-far as it responsibility for
tells us that the answer is based upon "us". " And what does that
mean in Hygienic terms", you say?. Simply speaking it means the
our own actions."
taking back of our power which we have been giving away to
systems and tables (fables), and taking responsibility for our own actions. For the answers are
within us if we will but listen.

Before continuing further, let us briefly look at how our brain works. The left side of our brain
perceives the world in a linear manner, it functions logically and rationally. The right hemisphere
by comparison, perceives whole patterns. Both literature and mythology associate the right hand
(left hemisphere), with rational, male and assertive characteristics. Our entire society reflects a
left hemispheric bias (it is rational, masculine and assertive) It gives very little re-enforcement to
those characteristics representative of the right hemisphere (intuitive, feminine, and receptive).

The answer as given in quantum mechanics is therefore to "let the feeling flow freely through
you and do not try to understand it". You will find that you "do understand" but in a way you will
not be able to put into words. And as Gary Zukav said, "Trust the process".

As we have continued to progress in so many ways in spite of, or it could possibly be, because
of "flying by the seat of our pants", and your most invaluable input, each and every one of you, I
would like to send you my very own personal thanks, along with those of the rest of the board,
for enabling this to occur.

Thank you and Bon Voyage

John L. Fielder,DO,DC,ND(Adel)
www.iig.com.au/anl

THEME: WHAT IS HEALTH? - HISTORY

HEALTH OF MAN - OUR PRIMITIVE STANDARD

by Herbert M. Shelton

True happiness depends upon the

health of the whole man. We have all In the beginning man
but forgotten the importance of the was a splendid animal,
principles expressed in the ancient possessing all the
words: "mens sana in corpore sano" desirable animal
(a healthy mind in a healthy body).
qualities of health,
Indeed, modern man has accepted strength, endurance,
disease as a norm of existence. Our grace, agility and poise.
culture fosters weakness and
disease. Instead of preparing us for a life of health, it devotes a large
share of its resources and much of its energy and skill to caring for a
growing army of sick men, women and children. Under the tutelage of
the medical profession, we have become convinced that disease is
inevitable and health impossible....
The normal state of man, as of plants and animals, is one of uninterrupted health. A healthy birth, a
robust and happy infancy, a joyous youth, a vigorous maturity, a calm old age, and a painless death
are the normal state of man. It is the existence man is fitted for by anatomy and physiology. It is in
harmony with all nature around him. Every pain we feel, every distress we suffer is evidence that
some law of life has been violated.

Unaccountably, we refuse to think that man should be as healthy as are wild animals. Yet, why
shouldn't he be? Indeed, since he is a more highly organized animal with a more complex structure
and greater resources at his command, why should his standard of health not be much higher than
that of the healthiest of wild animals?

We marvel at the strength, speed, endurance and agility of lower animals; we even marvel at these
same qualities in exceptional civilized individuals. We marvel at an Indian running a hundred miles a
day; we think that he must be very swift of foot and as enduring as the strongest animal, that be may
thus outrun the swiftest horse. But the obvious fact is that our standard of health is so low that we
have lost the strength and endurance, grace and agility, that we so much admire in others. The Indian
has no special qualities. There is no reason why civilized man may not have the health, strength, and
endurance of the savage.

In the beginning man too was a splendid animal, possessing all the desirable animal qualities of
health, strength, endurance, grace, agility and poise. If civilized man is half dead, even when be
thinks that he is enjoying good health, this is not the fault of his original constitution. Conditions and
factors he has imposed upon himself are inimical to health and life.

We have no means of knowing in full mankind's primitive standard of

health. How strong, how vigorous, how resistant, how long-lived were
our primitive ancestors? We cannot use ourselves as a standard or a
measuring rod by which to judge the health of our primitive ancestors.
An occasional specimen of present-day man may provide us with a
gleam of light, but its radiance is dimmed by factors absent from the life
of our primitive forebears.

The health of modern primitives may

provide us with some insight into the The evolution of
health of the past, but this is but a civilization has taken
flickering and evanescent indication of us away from the
what may have been mankind's sources of vigor - and
original state of physiological
excellence. Myth and tradition may provide a glimpse into the past, has brought us to our
but this, too, is faint. Even animal life has suffered from the steady present state of
encroachment of civilization upon its domains. It presents us with a weakness and
faded picture of the vigor and health that belonged to our pristine sickness.
modes of existence.

The evolution of civilization has taken us away from the sources of vigor and the means of health -
and has brought us to our present state of weakness and sickness.

Unless we can again learn to select our foods, prepare and eat them in ways that provide us
with adequate sustenance, unless we can find ways and means of providing our long-suffering
bodies with sunshine and and fresh air, and unless we can adjust our physical activities to the
normal requirements of healthy existence, we shall never again have the health and vigor that
must have been common among our primeval ancestors.

Herbert Shelton, Health for the Millions, 1968

the more we work with mother nature the less we have to depend on lady luck
(w. wade)

THEME: WHAT IS HEALTH? - HISTORY

Here is one interesting key to the worsened health today, from archaeology:

Farming Away Fitness

The change to the agricultural diet created many health problems for early man.
The fossil remains tell us that in preagricultural times human health was
excellent. People were tall, lean, had well-developed, strong, dense bones,
sound teeth with minimal, if any, decay, and little evidence of severe disease.
After the advent of agriculture and a change in this diet this picture of robust health began to
deteriorate. Postagricultural man was shorter, had more brittle bones, extensive tooth decay, and a
high incidence of malnutrition and chronic disease – a health picture similar to that of the Egyptians.

The remarkable thing about this generalized decline in health is that it occurred throughout the world.
From the eastern Mediterranean to Peru, whenever people changed from a high-protein to a high-
carbohydrate diet they became less healthy.

In fact archaeologists consider this health disparity so predictable that when they unearth the skeletal
remains of a prehistoric society they classify the people as hunters or farmers by the state of their
bones and teeth.
 If the teeth are excellent and non-decayed and the bones strong, dense and long, the people were
hunter-gatherers;
 if the teeth are decayed and the bones frail and deformed, scientists know the remains are those of
agriculturalists.

Drs. Eades: Protein Power, 1996, drbass.com/eades.html

without health life is not life,

it is only a state of langour and suffering
(rabelais)

THEME: WHAT IS HEALTH? - FACTORS OF HEALTH

FACTORS OF HEALTH
by Herbert Shelton, 1928

HYGIENE is that branch of biology that relates to the

preservation and restoration of health.
The hygiene of health and the hygiene of disease is one.
However, for convenience, we divide it into
 Preventive Hygiene, or the hygiene of healthful
maintenance, and
 Remedial Hygiene, or the hygiene of health
restoration.

Whether you have a good organism at birth will depend

partly upon heredity and partly upon the nutrition you
received from your mother.
What that organism will become after birth, that is,
whether it will reach up to its highest potentiality, or fall
far short of its inherent possibilities, will depend upon
how you live. Of course there will be social factors that
are not subject to individual control that may mar your life
to a certain extent, but for the most part you and your
parents and teachers will determine your life.
You cannot change your heredity. You cannot
change your past. You cannot make society over. But
you can work for the betterment of these things for
the future. …

When we come to consider the means best suited to

maintain life and health, youth, strength and beauty, it is
obvious that THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE STANDARD
MUST BE ACCEPTED. How, then shall we live?

 CULTIVATE POISE AND CHEER. Do not attempt to see the world through the rose-colored
glasses of a sentimental Pollyana but learn to take joy and sorrow, good fortune and
misfortune with the same calmness and equitableness. Avoid worry, fear, anxiety, excitement,
jealousy, anger, self-pity, etc. Control your temper, passions, and emotions.

 EXERCISE DAILY. Daily physical exercise, preferably in the fresh air and sunshine, and, as
often as possible, in the form of play, is essential to both mental and physical health. Avoid
the strenuous life, however. Do not make the Rooseveltian mistake and imagine that a
strenuous physical life can offset gluttony.

 SECURE PLENTY OF REST AND SLEEP EACH DAY: Learn to retire early. Learn to relax
and let go." Earn your sleep by honest work and avoid stimulants and sleep will come easily
and naturally. Do not turn the night into day. Time is never wasted that is spent in
recuperation. Retire soon after dark, and arise with the first rays of morning light; and this is
equally applicable to all climates and all seasons, at least in all parts of the globe proper for
human habitation, for in the cold season, when the nights are longer, more sleep is required."

 KEEP CLEAN: This refers to both body and mind. Keep clean clothes, clean beds, clean
houses. Keep the mind clean. Avoid lustful thoughts and desires. Do not become covetous,
deceitful or corrupt. Nature penalizes you for all these things with hardening of the arteries
and a shortened life. Keep your body clean but do not indulge in too frequent and prolonged
bathing. Soap should form no part of the average bath.

 BREATHE FRESH PURE AIR: Keep your windows open. Have your living room, bed room,
office or workshop well ventilated. Get out of doors as much as possible. If you live in the city
 take advantage of every opportunity to get into the country.

 SECURE AS MUCH SUNSHINE AS POSSIBLE: This means that your nude body, or as
much of it as circumstances will permit, should be exposed to the direct rays of the sun. To
merely sit by the window, or take a walk in the sunshine heavily clad, or clad in dark clothing
will be of no benefit in so far as the sunshine is concerned. Get your sun-baths in the morning
or evening when it is not excessively hot.

 EAT MODERATELY OF WHOLESOME FOODS: What are wholesome foods? All true foods
that are fresh, pure, unadu1terated and that have not been processed, refined, and cooked
until their food value is largely destroyed, are wholesome foods. All foods that, in the process
of refining, manufacturing, pickling, canning, preserving, and cooking, etc., have been
deprived of their mineral elements and vitamins or that have been adulterated and poisoned
by bleaching, coloring, flavoring, seasoning and by preservatives, are more or less
unwholesome.

 BE MODERATE IN WEARING CLOTHES: It may be stated that, as a general rule, the less
clothes one wears the healthier he will be. The materials should be light, porous and white or
of light colors. No tight bands, belts, corsets, garters, etc., should be allowed to interfere with
the circulation nor cramp up the organs of the body. Shoe heels should be absent or, at most,
very low. Shoes should fit the feet and the feet not made to fit the shoes. Some day sandals
and a string of beads will be our chief articles of clothing.

 HAVE AN INTEREST IN LIFE: A purposeless life is marked for early dissolution. A

purposeless life is not worthy of preservation. That man or woman who has no purpose in life
is driven about from place to place; from discontent to despair.

 GET MARRIED [today = have a loving nurturing relationship]: Build a home. Rear a family. Statistics
show that married people live longer on the average than single people. Childless couples die
before those with children. Home and children stabilize life.

 AVOID ALL POISON HABITS: Coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, tobacco, alcohol, opium,
heroin, soda fountain slops and other drugs. These all weaken, poison and destroy the body.

 AVOID ALL EXCESSES: Build your life on the conservation of energy, not upon its
dissipation. Don't waste your forces in useless and needless expenditures. Be moderate and
temperate in all things. If you waste your forces you impair your functions and build toxemia
and impaired nutrition. Avoid sexual excess. Conserve these powers.

 DO NOT BECOME ONE-SIDED IN YOUR MANNER OF LIVING:

You cannot remain or become well and strong through exercise alone, or through diet alone,
or rest and sleep alone. Fresh air and sunshine alone are not enough. Do not imagine that by
breathing alone you can reach the heights. Life must be lived as a whole.

Do not get the idea that you are an exception to laws of life. There We must realize that
are no exceptions. The laws that govern life, health, growth, self-control alone leads
development, disease and death in your body are the same laws to strength and
that govern these same processes in the bodies of your neighbors. happiness. Self-
Physiological laws and processes are the same in Jones as in
Smith. Both Jones and his neighbors are injured by the same indulgence leads to
harmful indulgencies, practices, habits, agents and influences. misery and destruction.
Both are helped by the same factors.
Paste this in your hat. YOU ARE NO EXCEPTION.

We must learn to view life as a struggle between self-control and self-indulgence and must come to
realize that self-control alone leads to strength and happiness. Self-indulgence leads to misery and
destruction…. Self-control is the world's greatest need. Self-discipline is the only saving force. Our
pleasure-mad and over-stimulated age is almost wholly lacking in self-control.

Dr. Shelton: Human Life, Its Philosophy and Laws, 1928

SUNSHINE

THE LIGHT OF LIFE

Hygienists in America and the Nature Curists in Europe fought a
long and difficult battle against not only the ignorance and
ingrained prejudices of the people, but against in of the organized
opposition of the medical profession to get the value of sunshine
recognized and induce people to take sun-baths. Millions now
sunbathe more or less regularly who have not the faintest idea of
the intensity of the struggle that made it possible for them to enjoy
and profit by this practice.
This same thing is true of a whole collection of Hygienic
improvements that people of today enjoy. They are ignorant of the
very names of the thinkers and heroes who made life better for
them. …

The influences of the sun on human thought and actions are only
less appreciable than those upon the growth of the melon vine, because it affects man through many
media. …
There would seem to be a very intimate relation between the sun and digestion. Digestion and
assimilation become weak and imperfect if either man or animal is denied sunshine for a lengthy
period. Indeed, these processes are carried out with the highest efficiency only if sunshine is secured.

The body should be exposed to the direct rays of the sun every day. This should be an integral part of
the way of life. Truly did Oswald declare: "Life is a sun-child".

Herbert Shelton, Health for the Millions, 1968

ABOUT SUNLIGHT
SUNBATHING STRENGTHENS MUSCLES
The Romans made use of the sun in training their Gladiators, for they
knew that sunlight seemed to strengthen and enlarge the muscles.
A study of the results of combined sunlight an exercise, showed that a
group that was getting the sunlight treatments with exercise, had
improved almost twice as much as shown by their electrocardiograms,
as had those who only exercised, even though both groups were on a
general health resort treatment program.

SUNBATHING HELPS DEPRESSION

Why winter makes you depressed? Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) hits around 100,000 people
and develops into severe depression as daylight decreases in the winter. If SAD sufferers get out and
get some sunlight during winter, they will relieve their depression.

SUNLIGHT HEALED PATIENTS UNDER SURGERY

Using sunlight instead of light from surgical lamps healed soldiers undergoing surgery faster during
WW II, writers Carl Hoffminster. Injured soldiers healed and survived much better when their open
wounds and broken bones were exposed to sunlight.

WITHOUT SUNLIGHT YOU WILL DIE

"Without sunshine, there would be no life possible on earth," writes Dr. Edwin Flatto. The sun provides
the basis for all life on earth. The sun is the source of energy for all plants, and indirectly, for all
animals. Sunlight purifies water, air and the surfaces of objects. … Feed two animals the same diet
but keep one in a dark closet and allow the other to be out in the sunshine. The animal that's kept in
the closet will be weak, stunted and die prematurely.
FOR BEST RESULTS WHEN EXPOSED TO SUNLIGHT, DO NOT USE EYEGLASSES,
SUNGLASSES, SUNSCREENS, SUNTAN LOTIONS OR TANNING PILLS

Dr. Keki R. Sidhwa, The Hygienist 1997, www.drsidhwa.com

SUNBLINKING
Gazing towards the sun is beneficial for your
eyes if practised like this: - only as the sun is
rising above the horizon and commenced
with one blink - after which it can be slowly
increased to more . It should not be
practised at any other time of the day, nor for
more than 3 or 4 blinks.
Dr. John Fielder
SUNDIPPING
The sunlight invigorates every part of your
retina. As you walk from work to the parking
lot, pause for a moment, close your eyes
and make a short smooth circlet around the
sun. Open your eyes and proceed. Greet the
sun as you would a dear friend on the street,
momentarily but thoroughly.
Janet Goodrich, Ph.D., Natural Vision Improvement

EXERCISE

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Life is activity. Sedentary occupations have become a sort of "second nature" to the man and woman
of today. This is particularly true in the higher latitudes, where civilization has reached its greatest
complexity. We are suffering in a variety of ways from our lack of physical activity. When we realize
that the outdoor life is both a prevention and a remedy of respiratory disease, we begin to grasp the
significance of our hot-house existence.

Health and vigor are synonymous. A vigorous people are a healthy people.
The normal condition of creatures of the wilderness and plains is muscular
vigor. We should expect the same to be true of man. Accounts of long-lived
individuals commonly state that they were, to the last, physically active. …

The influence of exercise in controlling nutrition and function is universal,

applying as much to bones as to muscles and other tissues of the body.
Bones duly exercised receive active nutrition, so that they acquire greater
dimensions, strength and stability. If they are not used, they do not receive
greater nutritive supplies, do not develop and are not strong. Extensive
experience has shown that inaction diminishes the size of a bone, injures its
structure and deprives it of hardness to such an extent that it may be cut with
a knife. Bones subjected to strenuous use become harder, tougher, larger and less liable to injury.

Not only do unused parts atrophy and grow weak, but we lose the support they normally give the rest
of the body. We lose the appearance that normal development provides. We become defective and
deformed as the result of loss of structure. By disuse, muscles become emaciated, bones soften,
blood vessels become obliterated and nerves lose their characteristic structure.

There are no less than 400 muscles in the body, all of them in need of regular exercise. Not only do
unused muscles waste and weaken, but all functions which depend upon the actions of the muscles
are also greatly weakened.

Herbert Shelton, Health for the Millions, 1968

REST & SLEEP

RELAXATION AND REST

In that wonderful workshop we call the living organism, two
simultaneous processes keep operating. On the one hand, are
processes of growth, development and replenishment; on the other
hand, processes of wear and tear. The two processes, waste and
repair, never cease. They are collectively designated metabolism.

 CATABOLISM: To the process of "tearing down," the term

catabolism is applied. It is dominant in periods of activity. Action uses up, wastes, exhausts; it is
nature's great exhaustive process.
 ANABOLISM: To the process of "building up," the term anabolism is applied. It is dominant during
rest and sleep. Rest and sleep are periods of repair and replenishment. Respose is nature's great
representative process of recuperation and restoration. If by our habits of life, we can lessen the
waste and make more vigorous and satisfactory the process of repair, we shall enjoy health and
strength.

There is need of rest to recover from the exhausting expenditures of the day, and stimulation cannot
substitute for rest. The demand for rest will enforce itself, if stimulants are not taken, as there is an
irresistible desire to lie down and cease activity.
We divide rest into four kinds:

 Physical rest, which is procured by ceasing physical activity, going to bed and relaxing;
 Sensory rest, which is secured by quiet and by resting the eyes;
 Mental rest, which is secured by poising the mind, ceasing to worry and cultivating mental
equilibrium; and
 Physiological rest, which is secured by reducing physiological activity.

All of these forms of rest are at their best during sleep. …

There is a right way of living, and be who finds and pursues it will not be
made sick by what he calls overwork. When he becomes tired, he will rest. If
he tries to go on, and mental weariness will compel him to rest and sleep.
But if he lashes himself with stimulants, he will overtax himself. … Rest is a
condition necessary for the replenishment of exhausted nutrients.

In football it is the custom to take "time out" for a period of rest. Then play is
resumed. Certainly, such "time out" from work will provide better preparation for more work the coffee
break. …
Invalids who resort to stimulants and tonics instead of taking more rest and sleep, deprive themselves
of all possibility of recovery.

Herbert Shelton, Health for the Millions, 1968

FASTING — PHYSIOLOGICAL REST

Fasting had its origin in the dim uncertainties of the long forgotten past Fasting is the
when the first wounded animal found that it had no desire for food. oldest of all
From that time to this both animals and man have instinctively resorted
to fasting when sick. Ancient physicians well understood the value of methods of
abstinence from food in acute disease. treating disease.
Much older than
The conception of fasting as a means of purging the human race
the soul is found in all the ancient religions and is itself.
practiced in many religions even to this day. This
is particularly true in India. … Moses, the Hebrew
lawgiver, prescribed and employed fasting. He fasted for forty days upon one
occasion. Elijah, the Hebrew prophet, fasted forty days. Jesus, another great
Jew, fasted forty days. On one occasion, in explaining to his disciples why they
had failed to cast out a devil (overcome hysteria) from a patient, he said: "This
kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." Luke, one of his faithful disciples
and himself a physician declared: "I fast twice in the week."

The cure of disease was not the aim of every fast undertaken by these religious devotees. But we
may very properly assume that they were intended to accomplish some great good. Were this not so,
the great self-control and denial a fast entails would have prevented them from resorting to this
procedure so frequently and giving so much prominence to it. ….

Fasting above all other measures can lay claim to being a strictly natural method.
There can be no doubt that it is the oldest of all methods of treating disease. It is
much older than the human race itself since it is resorted to instinctively by sick and
wounded animals.

In the human realm the same rule prevails to the extent that we permit. One of the
first things Nature does to the person with acute disease is to stop all desire for food.
…
Nature indicates both in animals and man that in acute disease no food but water
should be consumed, while, in chronic disease, the amount of food eaten should be much less than
that consumed in normal health. If this rule were adhered to by all, an untold amount of suffering
would be avoided and many would be saved from an untimely death.

Dr. Shelton: Human Life, Its Philosophy and Laws, 1928

RELAX WITH MUSIC

Extracted from the article The Effect of Music on Physiology by Dr. J. Fielder
 Everything in our universe is in a sense of vibration. Matter is made up of certain
types of waves or pulsing vibration. Chemistry expert Dr. Donald Hatch Andrews
puts it, ―we are finding that the universe is composed not of matter but of music‖.

Why is it that when we listen to certain types of music we respond with goose-
pimples and others we simply ―turn off'? The elicitation of limbic function by the
abstract sounds of music somehow relates to the human brains capability of
processing operations even if they are of no immediate need or survival value (but
crucial to overall human performance).

The Effect of Music on Pain

As Chiropractors it is easy to forget that many patients in the waiting room may be in pain. Music has
been used in hospitals for years often as an adjunct to local anaesthesia. ... Rusca fitted his patients
with a set of ear phones during spinal anaesthesia. Thus the patient heard only music chosen to suit
his tastes. Not only was the operation painless, but it became associated with a pleasurable
experience. Burdick' found that if music is played during the induction of anaesthesia, it is
accomplished with less resistance.
A 1990 study into the effect of music on infantile colic showed that all infants showed a substantial
decrease in excessive crying of about 75% of the initial baseline.

Anxiety
Many studies have supported the concept of the effect of music on anxiety and some work has been
done in the dental setting.
A 1989 French study of Electro-physiologic recordings of certain neurovegetative manifestations
produced by a sonic environment in the dental office, demonstrated and evaluated the stressing and
relaxing power of music or noise. The high speed drill and the telephone represent the most stressing
elements in the dental office and show an intense electrodermal activity and respiratory disturbances.
On the contrary, slow, regular, melodious and harmonious music such as J.S. Bach's Aria, induce a
subjective and relaxing climate with neurovegetative reaction characteristic of a state of physiological
relaxation.
Cherry and Pallin used popular classical sections in their dental office and demonstrated decreased
anxiety. Music included Beethoven's Moonlightsonata, Wagner's Evening Star and Debussey's Clair
de la Lune.

What Music Do You Play?

A few minutes a day of listening to Baroque music and listeners in Lozanov's
―superlearning classes‖ began to report not only expanded awareness and
better memory but also a repertoire of health benefits. They felt refreshed,
energized and centred. Tension and stress disappeared. Headaches and
pain went. Their physiological variables also improved: lowered blood
pressure, reduced muscle tension, and slower pulse.
Composers of Baroque music were trained and made to use particular
numbers and patterns for harmony, counterpoint, rhythm and tempo in music.
This mathematical Baroque music was supposed to affect us by aligning,
harmonizing and sychronising our minds and bodies to more harmonious
patterns.

Conclusion
There is no doubt that music can have powerful effects on the human body. This literature review has
revealed positive effects of soothing music via the limbic system on many neurophysiological
reactions.

John L. Fielder,DO,DC,ND(Adel)
Osteopath& Lifestyle Consultant
Academy of Natural Living
www.iig.com.au/anl
ENERGY

HOW MUCH ENERGY DO I HAVE TO SPEND?

The amount of energy available to use from moment to moment depends upon the quality of the
blood, lymph, nerves and energy pathways (called meridians).

 These in turn are dependant upon the presence of (a.) all

necessary substances in the body, such as minerals, trace
elements, proteins, vitamins, fats, carbohydrates, etc.

 and (b.) the correct amount of these, neither excessive or

deficient.

 There need to be (c.) sufficient clearness and purity of blood

and lymph circulation free from obstruction, such as metabolic
body toxins generated from activity, and foreign unusable
chemicals introduced from without - such as tobacco,
pollution, drugs, etc.

 Finally (d.) there must be sufficient rest and sleep, the indispensable and most important time
wherein the body recharges itself with the eternal undifferentiated energy, as well as the
energy contained in the food consumed earlier. Whatever energy is absorbed from food is
transferred only during the state of sleep, never directly during the act of eating.

If energy could be absorbed directly by the process of eating, then all we

would have to do whenever we are tired is to eat, and the more food we eat
the stronger we would become, thus making sleep unnecessary. But actually,
the reverse is true. The more we eat, the more exhausted and sleepy we
become. Any energy we experience immediately after eating (such as
sweets), or the lift we get from drinking coffee, or the expression of
strong emotions - is using our energy reserves, - and is the expenditure
of energy, not its accumulation.

Energy is always felt and experienced in its expenditure.

Its accumulation is rarely felt, since this occurs during periods of rest and mostly during deep
dreamless sleep, when the mind is inactive.

Dr. Stanley S. Bass -- Read the full article at drbass.com/energy.html

Dr. Shelton: "Most people now know that the world is round and not flat, but how many of them know
that "stimulants" take away the power they appear to give?"

THE STIMULANT DELUSION

Perhaps in no other field

Perhaps in no other field of "medicine," archaic or modern,
have greater blunders of this nature been made than in the of "medicine" have
delusion that "stimulation" is a beneficial or strengthening
thing. We know of no portion of the human race in any age or
greater blunders been
in any part of the world that has not been misled by the made than in the
Stimulant Delusion. delusion that
"stimulation" is a
No greater delusion ever possessed beneficial or
the human mind than the stimulant
delusion. Like the ancient idea that
strengthening thing.
the earth is flat and the heavens a
great chandelier-studded canopy stretched over it, the stimulant delusion is
based on appearances. Man lives in the appearance of things until
ratiocination (logical reasoning) dawns, after which he attempts to get back of the
scenes and find out what it is that makes the wheels go around. It is then
that he makes the, at first, shocking discovery that the real is opposite from
the apparent. Most people in civilized countries now know that the world is
round and not flat, but how many of them know that "stimulants" take away the power they appear to
give.
Just as vital action against the so-called stimulant has been mistaken for the beneficial actions of the
"stimulant" upon the body so, also, has there been much misunderstanding of what stimulants are and
of different kinds of stimulants. ...

The deceptive power of all excitants is the same. They appear to give us strength. In reality they take
away the strength we have. They appear to increase our capacity to perform work. They really
diminish this power. They deteriorate the functional results of the organs they affect. Eggs may be
stimulated so that they hatch earlier than normal but the birds or reptiles thus hatched are short lived
and the earlier they are forced to hatch the shorter lived are they. Both the young of plants and
animals may be stimulated so that they grow faster or larger than normal, but those so stimulated are
short lived and more subject to disease than plants and animals of normal growth. Condiments excite
the stomach, but they impair digestion. Sweat cabinets increase sweating but decrease elimination.
Purgatives and laxatives excite bowl action but build chronic constipation. When one is sick excitants
may hasten the exhaustion of the fund of life.

Here I am reminded of Trall's remarks anent the death of Prince Albert:

"The story comes to us in the English newspapers, that Prince Albert was 'kept
up on stimulants' for five or six days. No one suspected any danger. Physicians
did not regard the complaint as anything serious. But, all at once, the patient
became prostrated. The typhoid set in. His system refused to 'respond' to any
further stimulation.
Why did his system refuse to respond? Because his vitality had all been
stimulated away. His system needed quiet, repose; but he was kept in a feverish
commotion, in an inflammatory excitement, in a constant commotion with
alcoholic poison." - True Healing Art.

In those cases where stimulants appear to do the most good they do the most harm. The harm they
actually do is proportioned to the amount of energy they cause to be expended. ... The weaker the
patient the greater the need to do nothing, and yet it is precisely at such times that all cults seek to do
the most.

Herbert M. Shelton: The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene, 1934

WATER
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
AMOUNT
It is said that water is the life-supporter and that more should be taken than
thirst demands. But no good reason has yet been offered for the implied
principle that thirst is an unreliable guide as to how much water is needed.
Dr. Trail stated: "Only a very small quantity of water is necessary as a drink,
provided our dietetic and other voluntary habits are physiologically correct.
The vast quantity usually taken into the stomach is called for by the feverish and inflammatory state of
the system produced by concentrated food, flesh, salt, spices etc." There is no fixed quantity of water
that one must drink during the day. The amount needed is determined by a variety of factors. Age,
sex, temperature, activity, and the character of food eaten are the chief factors that determine the
amount of drink required. It is therefore stupid to lay down any hard and fast rule (such as one must
drink six glasses of water a day) about the amount of water needed. When it is hot and we sweat
more, we drink more; when it is cold and we sweat less, we drink less. If we are active and thus
sweating more, we need more water than when we are inactive and sweating less. Thirst guides us in
drinking as hunger guides us (or should) in eating. …

LIQUID FOODS
It should be understood that milk is not a drink, but a food. We get milk from animals who have
prepared it for the nourishment of their young. Fruit and vegetable juices are also foods, not drinks.
Liquid foods should be understood as such, and should not be thought of as drinks. Soups are also
liquid foods. Coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate beverages, soft-drinks and similar beverages should be
understood to be, not drink, but poison.
It is possible to drink too much water and it is possible to take too little. Both
extremes are hurtful.

RULES FOR DRINKING

A few simple rules for drinking:
 Never drink with meals. Water and other fluids taken taken with a meal inevitably
dilutes the digestive juices and alter their pH. This retards the process of digestion.
…
 Water remains in the stomach such a short time after ingestion that it may be taken five to ten to
fifteen minutes before a meal without interferring with the digestive process. The other liquids (which
are either foods or poisons) are not so quickly expelled from the stomach. …
 On the other hand, water should not be taken for some time after a meal. The old rule of drinking
two hours after a meal resulted in the flooding of the stomach with water at a time when the digestive
juices were present in greatest abundance and digestion was proceeding with maximum efficiency.

Herbert M. Shelton, Health For The Millions, 1968

CHANGED VIEWS FROM

SHELTON:
THIRST DOES NOT GUIDE
US
At the outset, to be thirsty is
not an indication of
dehydration. It only becomes
such when the thirst is not
assuaged over a long period of
time. Dr. John Fielder
DON'T RELY ON THIRST
Thirst is not an indicator for dehydration. In other words,
many people can get dehydrated and were not thirsty at all
prior. Thirst is not a warning sign for dehydration. So in
speaking of the amount of water a person should have,
while climate, activity, etc. are important considerations,
they should not rely on thirst letting them know if they are
getting dehydrated. madelyn hill
FOOD

COOKING
There are many cook books whose literary excellence is
not to be questioned; but we cannot regard them as
anything more than promiscuous medleys of dietetic
abominations. In the words of Trail, the greatest effort of
the cookbook writers seems to be to "mix and mingle the
greatest possible amount of seasonings, saltings, spicings,
and greasings into a single dish; and jumble the greatest
possible variety of heterogeneous substances into the
stomach at a single meal."

BLACK ART OF SPOILING FOOD SUBSTANCES

Cooking is the application of high temperatures to food. It
may be properly defined as "the black art of spoiling food
substances". The practice probably had its origin in what is called primitive magic and was probably
an effort to impart to food some of the powers and properties (spirits) of fire to the food so treated.
The ancient craft of Prometheus, the magi who stole fire from the gods, endowed fire with many
spiritual qualities which could be imparted to it touched.

SUN=GOD, FIRE=DEVIL
Heat destroys the physical structure and chemical arrangements of the food that the sun has been so
useful in building up. There may be more truth than we know in the notion of certain tribes that the
sun represents God, fire the Devil.

CHEMICAL EFFECTS
The chemical effects of cooking have been thoroughly studied, and it is well known that cooking is
destructive of food values. Cooking coagulates proteins, deaminizes some amino acids, caramelizes
sugars, breaks up fats into free fatty acids, destroys vitamins and enzymes, chemically renders
mineral salts non-usable, leeches substances from foods, makes most foods less digestible, and
alters their taste. How repulsive and unpalatable would be such products except for their artificial
flavorings and sweetenings.

Man alone, of all creatures on earth, resorts to the black art of cookery to spoil the products of
nature before he introduces these into his digestive tract.

Herbert M. Shelton, Health For The Millions, 1968

CONTRARY VIEW:
PRIMITIVE COOKING
While there is a growing consensus today that eating raw food is healthier, the fact is,
throughout history all cultures have modified, "cooked" or altered the energy field of their foods
in some way. This is one of the 11 fundamental Characteristics of Traditional Diets, based on
extensive research on so-called primitive cultures throughout the world by Dr. Weston Price in
the 1930s. Even the most primitive tribe discovered in our time, The Tasaday of the Philippines,
who had no wheel or weapons, did have fire, which they started with wooden sticks and used
to roast wild yams and other foods. ...
Many people with poor digestion don't handle raw foods very well .... The higher proportion of
nutrients in raw food is useless if the food can't be digested, absorbed and assimilated. N.
 Bentley & Dr. Mercola mercola.com/2004/apr/28/raw_food_diets.htm

TEMPORARY COOKING
Dr. Bass: In other words, now you're advocating the use of cooked foods, when someone HAS damaged
the flora? [Note: the cooked vegetables act as a very favorable culture media to restore the growth of the flora which have been
damaged.]
Dr. Cursio: That's right. In the cases that had this particular situation.
Dr. Bass: And then once they had restored the flora, they could go back to the raw - with better results?
Dr. Cursio: That's it! With better results. ........ Dr. Bass drbass.com - With 3 Generations

Do not try to get your vitamins and minerals from a jar or bottle - the only reliable source is natural
foods & lifestyle! Dr. Fielder explains why below.

THE SUPPLEMENTATION FALLACY

By Dr. John Fielder, D.C., DO., N.D.

Today more than ever before we are becoming aware of the necessity of making
sure that all the essential elements we need are being supplied to us through
the food we eat In nearly every so-called health magazine we are being told of
the necessity of ensuring that we have adequate supplies of the essential
nutrients required for the efficient functioning and subsequent well being of our
body, be they vitamins, minerals, or whatever. Now all this is well and good and
of vital necessity if we are to attain that high level of health towards which we
are all striving. But to endeavour to achieve this through supplementation, is, so
I believe, fraught with a great deal of danger.

In a recent article in a leading health magazine we find these two quotations

side by side:
―But for those of us who don't have an exemplary diet and lifestyle, or who
simply can't get fresh foods, supplements are probably necessary for the best
health that is possible under the circumstances.‖
(They then go on to say:)
―One fact of which we are absolutely certain, and which cannot be over-
emphasized, is that vitamins and mineral supplements cannot properly
compensate for poor diet, or consuming a lot of junk foods. To think otherwise is
to delude ourselves.‖ [italics mine]
In addition they then give a list of all the vitamins and minerals and their food
sources.

It is my contention that these can only be reliably supplied through the

foods we eat and the lifestyle we live, including sunlight, fresh air,
exercise, rest, and positive attitude. This is where our emphasis should lie, as
there are good scientific grounds to validate this belief in so far as the fact that
all synthetic vitamins are only the so-called chemical equivalent and not the
vitamin. In actual fact we must admit that we really do not know what constitutes
a vitamin, for our chemistry is a limited science, when it is all boiled down.

To illustrate this point further we could consider the classic experiment of the
duplication of sea water. The scientists claimed it was chemically equivalent.
Unfortunately, the fish did not agree — they died when placed in it.
We must also consider the chemical law, ―The Law of the Minimum‖, which briefly states that for the
utilization of any element, be it vitamin, mineral, or such like, the presence of certain other variables is
required, which, at the most, we can only guess at. And this symbiosis is only to be found when the
vitamins and minerals are supplied in their natural state, through our foods.
We may go still further and say that even though our bodies may accept these ―food supplements‖
and their effect may appear to be beneficial, in the long term they will be harmful to our well-being, as
is the case with cooked foods. In either case, the major long-term effects will not be observable for
many years to come.

In conclusion, let me say that it is only through placing the emphasis where it should be — on
growing, or obtaining, whole fresh raw food, organically grown at all times, and practicing as natural a
lifestyle as possible, wherever we may be — can we be ensured of that top level health devoid of the
so-called, mineral and vitamin deficiencies.
For those who live in cities who find it hard to purchase fresh supplies on a regular basis, it is well to
remember that we can grow all our needs in the way of greens in boxes (window, if need be) if we live
in a flat or town house, along with sprouts, thus supplying a guaranteed organic source for most, if not
all, of our mineral and vitamin requirements.

John L. Fielder,DO,DC,ND(Adel)
Osteopath& Lifestyle Consultant
Academy of Natural Living
www.iig.com.au/anl

no man should be regarded as educated

who is ignorant of the general laws
that govern life and activity
(herbert shelton)

THEME: WHAT IS HEALTH?

THE HEALTHY BODY LAUGHS AT VIRUSES

by Herbert M. Shelton

Who, aside from Natural Hygienists, studies health and its conditions? Who,
other than they, considers the normal conditions of healthy life?

Prior to Sylvester Graham it seems not to have been thought that

mankind ought to be healthy; it seems to have been accepted that The conditions of
a state of sickness is man's normal state. Disease was accepted as health are few and
inevitable, as it is yet by most people and by physicians. ... simple. They are in
accordance with man's
Health and disease are products of nature and are, therefore,
dependent upon and controlled by natural laws. These laws may unperverted instincts.
be discovered and applied to the certain production and They may be learned
maintenance of health. There can be no recovery of health these from the animal
necessary conditions of healthy life are supplied. ... kingdom.
Both vegetables and animals are subject, as the very condition of
their integrity of structure and healthy existence, to particular laws called vital or organic. He only is
healthy who orders his life in accordance with the laws of life; ...

The conditions of health are few and simple. They are in accordance with man's
unperverted instincts. They may be learned from our nearest kin in the animal
kingdom. From the beast of the field and the bird of the air we may learn many
valuable lessons. If we study them in their natural state, in the exercise of their
instinctive ways of Life, they will teach us more than we can ever learn from the
experimental productions of pathological conditions in the laboratory. We need to
study life as it is in nature, not as we upon animals in our pens.....

Unconsciousness of action is the true test of perfection of organic function. If you

are conscious of your stomach, your heart, your bowels or some other part of your
body, there is something wrong. Even in genuine hunger, we are not conscions of the stomach. There
is no pain or other unpleasant symptom in the gastric region when genuine hunger is felt. It is a
mouth, throat and nose sensation, not unlike that of thirst and is not an organic distress. Indeed,
hunger may be a very delicious sensation, rather than an uncomfortable feeling.

Who, aside from Natural Hygienists, studies health and its conditions? Who, other than they,
considers the normal conditions of healthy life? Who, other than Natural Hygienists goes back of the
abnormal activities of the sick organism and seeks to remove causes that have impaired them? ...

Genuine health is an active vigorous state of the body in which all the structures are sound
and unimpaired, all its functions efficient, and in which, by reason of its own vigor and energy,
the body can wade through all the common emergencies of life with flags flying and banners
streaming.

Germs! Viruses! The healthy body laughs at them! Vaccines and serums! It has no need for these
abominations.

Herbert Shelton, Health for the Millions, 1968

SPRING HUMOR
Sitting with her cat an old woman was polishing a dusty lamp she had found in the attic, when a genie
popped up and offered her three wishes. Thinking quickly she said "I'd like to be rich, I'd like to be
young and I'd like my cat to turn into a handsome prince." There was a puff of smoke and the woman
found herself young and surrounded by riches, the cat had gone and a gorgeous prince stood beside
her holding out his arms, she melted into his embrace. "Now" he whispered "aren't you sorry you had
me neutered".
Dr. Keki R. Sidhwa, 1995 ANHS Convention
CONTINUED INTERVIEW WITH DR. VIRGINIA VETRANO - 2
(continued from issue #1)
So I got on the plane from Paris and I got to New York, but I didn't
know where to go, so I went straight to the Pennsylvania station
and got a ticket to go home to Texas. But we had to wait about 11
hours. So we waited in the ladies restroom, where there happened
to be a cot. Tosca slept all day til the train left. Because we were
all night on the plane, she hadn't gotten much sleep.

It took two days to get home on the train. Nobody knew I was
coming home, I didn't tell anyone, since I just had to run. When I
got to Houston, mother wasn't home, so I called my aunt and she
came to pick me up. It was a joyous meeting. She was so happy.
She cried and took me home and by that time mother was back.

So anyway, I got home with my little baby girl, it was 1953 – Tosca
was about 2 ½ years old. And then she was introduced to her cousins, my sister's four children and
she tried to talk French to them. So she said "poupet" and stamped her
foot, and they didn't know what she was talking about. Poupet is a doll.
And this made her so mad, so she refused to talk French anymore to
me, and she just started listening to them and before long she was
speaking English.

Next I decided I wanted to go to California. There I had Tosca in a child

actors' school. She was learning to tap dance, to act, to do everything
in show business from a beautiful lady who knew Betty Grable, and had
grown up with her. But had gotten MS, and had to quit show business. I
wanted to stay there, and be in show business in Los Angeles, and
some wanted me to be in their act, but I didn't know if I wanted to make
an act yet or not. Instead I was going to go to Las Vegas, to get into the
chorus and see if I wanted to be there. A
chorus girl is a dance girl in the Las Vegas
shows. But it is hard to go to a chorus when
you've already had 2 or 3 of your own acts.
So I decided not go there after all.

Instead Shelton's letters brought me back. He was a good writer, a

professional, because he had done it for all the army boys during the war.
They would pay him to write love letters to their girl friends. So his letters
brought me back to Texas.

In San Antonio Tosca was brought up as a hygienist. Once in second

grade the teacher found out that I tried to teach Hygiene to Tosca and wouldn't let her have cakes and
pies and candies. So the teacher told all the kids: "Please give Tosca candy and cakes now, anytime
you have anything leftover from lunch, because her mama won't let
her have it." So the
kids gave her all
this, and she'd get a
cold every
weekend, and I
would have to fast
her. Tosca said that
the teacher would
set her at a long
table at the back
with half a dozen to
a dozen different
pastries, and she'd sit there and watch her eat them. Honestly. And then later on when she found out
that Tosca didn't eat meat, she tried to get the kids to give their meat-dishes too.

I had to take her out of that public school and instead put her in a private school that Dr. Shelton told
me about, and was close to where he used to have his first health school. And he knew these people
and they knew about hygiene, so they didn't force anything on her, and they understood her diet, so
she ate properly.

We didn't have problems with vaccinations. Vaccinations were not

mandatory in Castle Hill where we lived, as it was in San Antonio.
They hadn't passed it, and it was a separate city. So it didn't worry
us there and it didn't bother the little private school.

Dr. Herbert Shelton lived inside the city of San Antonio where he
had his health school. Over the years he had several. He had this
place on Woodlawn, that I remember – but now he was already out
of there and on North Loop Road, which was out Highway 281, 5 or
10 minutes outside
of San Antonio.
That was perhaps
his 3rd place. He
moved them because he wanted to get a better
location out in the country-side. Also, if a place started
growing and got too big, he moved.

At the new health school out in the country, he was

persecuted. He would put his big sign up, "Dr.
Shelton's Health School", but the local people would
come and shoot that sign up or knock it down. All the
time. Greg's father (Tosca's father-in-law) just told us that
people used to talk about this weird place out there, it
was all over San Antonio. Because Dr. Shelton was carried into court every month, every single
month, for practicing medicine without a license. Every month he was putting the
sign back and putting it back – finally he just put it down. So he never had a sign,
instead he just had to tell people how to get there. He usually picked everybody up
at the airport anyway when they arrived. But anyway, he didn't have a sign
anymore – he use to say: "well, if you build a better mousetrap people are going to
find you anyway". And they found him.

We used to go out there and visit at the

health school and talk to the people, and at
that time I used to teach Tosca how to ride
a bike on a country road. This was approximately where some
of the runways of the airport stand right now, so the place is
torn down. Dr. Shelton had to move further north, out San
Pedro Road.

The last health school he had was big pretty white building that I helped him with the design of. Some
of the money to build it came from Elmer Charles Doolin, the man who started the Frito company.
Elmer C. Doolin invented Fritos corn chips. He fasted at Dr. Shelton's Health School, and while he
was fasting he thought up the idea of making and marketing Fritos. He bought the recipe from some
little Mexican man who was making them for his bar and restaurant, and who would have Fritos there
for people who came in.
After he had fasted Doolin bought the recipe and started making them and packaging them in his own
home in San Antonio (in 1932). And he became wealthy with his Frito idea, and he was grateful, so
years later he was instrumental in Dr. Shelton having enough money to build his big health school. He
gave him 50,000 dollars. But the Frito-Lay people don't have that in their history, and they don't want
to have it. Tosca emailed them once saying: "did you know that this happened?" And they said: "no
we think you have your history wrong. Mr Doolin did this and this and this – we'll send you a whole
packet on the Frito-Lay company."

However the movie about Natural Hygiene that was made by Jack Dunn Trop – the Greatest
Adventure – has a picture of Mr and Mrs Doolin sitting at an ANHS convention, eating all these fruits
and vegetables on a plate with everybody else, so we know that he was into Natural Hygiene. But
Jack didn't put much of Shelton in the film because he didn't approve of it. Too bad, Jack should have
done it anyway. Jack Dunn Trop was a hygienist who was in the movie business in Hollywood, he
produced e.g. movies about Hopalong Cassidy.
Dr. Shelton's book Rubies in the Sand is dedicated to Elmer C. Doolin. Also, it is now being re-
printed in French, I sent them the book recently.
(to be continued)

2001 interview by A. Nelson

Visit Dr. Vetrano's website:

vetrano.cjb.net or www.roylretreat.com

Food may be the most powerful drug you will ever come in contact with.
(barry sears: enter the zone)

WHAT IS THE INSULIN MECHANISM? - INTRODUCTION

The insulin mechanism has been touched on several times on the discussion board.
Here is a quick introduction.
Dr. Bernstein, one of the world's foremost experts on blood sugar and insulin, started
his research in 1969, and published his first book in 1980. Being a diabetic he
measured his own blood sugar 5 times a day for decades (www.diabetes-normalsugars.com).
In Natural Hygiene, Dr. Stanley Bass initiated study of the insulin mechanism
(www.drbass.com).

BLOOD SUGAR - GLUCOSE

Our dietary sources of blood sugar (glucose) are carbohydrates and proteins.
One reason the taste of sugar - a simple form of carbohydrate - delights us is
that it fosters production of neurotransmitters in the brain that relieve anxiety
and can create a sense of well-being, or even euphoria. This makes
carbohydrate quite addictive to certain people whose brains may have
inadequate levels of these neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers with
which the brain communicates with itself and the rest of the body, or
peripheral nervous system.

When blood sugar levels are low, the liver can, through a process we will
discuss shortly, convert proteins into glucose, but very slowly and inefficiently.
The body can not convert glucose back into protein, nor can it convert fat into sugar. Fat cells,
however, with the help of insulin, do transform glucose into fat.
The taste of protein doesn't excite us as much as that of carbohydrate - it would be the very unusual
child who'd jump up and down in the grocery store and beg his mother for a steak instead of cookies.
Protein gives us a much slower and smaller blood sugar effect, which, as you will see, we diabetics
can use to our advantage in normalizing blood sugars. ...

INSULIN RELEASE
Let's take a look at how the average nondiabetic body
makes and uses insulin. Suppose that Jane, a nondiabetic,
arises in the morning and has a mixed breakfast, that is, one
that contains both carbohydrate and protein. On the
carbohydrate side, she has toast with jelly and a glass of
orange juice; on the protein side, she has a boiled egg. Her
basal (i.e., before-meals) insulin secretion has kept her
blood sugar level steady during the night, inhibiting
gluconeogenesis.
 Shortly after the sugar in the juice or jelly hits her mouth,
or the starchy carbohydrates in the toast reach her saliva,
glucose begins to enter her bloodstream. The rise in Jane's
blood sugar is a chemical signal to her pancreas to release
the granules of insulin it has stored in order to prevent a
jump in blood sugar (see figure). This rapid release of stored insulin is called phase I insulin
response. It quickly corrects the initial blood sugar increase and can prevent further increase from the
ingested carbohydrate.
 As the pancreas runs out of stored insulin, it manufactures more, but it has to do so from scratch.
The insulin released now is known as the phase II insulin response, and it's secreted much more
slowly. As she eats her boiled egg, the insulin of phase II can cover the sugar that's slowly produced
from the protein of the egg.

WHERE DOES THE BLOOD SUGAR GO?

1. Insulin acts in the nondiabetic as the means to admit glucose fuel - into the cells. It does this
by activating the production of glucose "transporters" within the cells. These specialized
protein molecules emerge from the nuclei of the cells to grab glucose from the blood and
bring it to the interiors of the cells. Once inside the cell, glucose can be utilized to power
energy-requiring functions. Without insulin, the cells can absorb only a very small amount of
sugar, not enough to sustain the body.

2. As Jane's blood continues to accumulate sugar, and the beta cells in her pancreas continue
to release insulin, some of her blood sugar is transformed to glycogen, a starchy substance
stored in the muscles and liver.

3. Once glycogen storage sites in the muscles and liver are filled, excess glucose remaining in
the bloodstream is converted to and stored as fat.

GLUCAGON RELEASE
Later, as lunchtime nears but before Jane eats, if
her blood sugar drops too low, the alpha cells of
her pancreas will release another pancreatic
hormone, glucagon, which will "instruct" her liver
and muscles to begin converting glycogen to
glucose, to raise blood sugar. When she eats
again, her store of glycogen will be replenished.
This pattern of basal, phase I, then phase II insulin secretion is perfect for keeping Jane's blood
glucose levels in a healthy range. Her body is nourished, and things work according to design. Her
mixed meal is handled beautifully.

Richard K. Bernstein M.D: Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, 1997, www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/

 DEATH BY SUGAR --- WHY ARE BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS SO IMPORTANT?
The importance of this minute-by-minute regulation level of sugar in the blood is underscored
by the fact that without either one of these hormones we would be dead in a matter of days or
perhaps even hours.
 Without insulin the blood sugar would skyrocket, causing profound metabolic disturbances,
dehydration, coma, and death.
 An absence of glucagon would allow the blood sugar to fall rapidly, bringing on brain
dysfunction, somnolence, coma, and then death, because the brain requires blood sugar to
operate properly.
Because of this critical need to maintain the blood sugar in a narrow physiological band, the
body doesn't really much care about the secondary activities of these hormones as long as
they keep the blood sugar where it's supposed to be. And that's what gets us in trouble..
Drs. Michael & Mary Eades, Protein Power, 1996

theories, no matter how pertinent,

cannot eradicate the existence of facts
(jean martin charcot)
(cited in Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution)

NATURAL HYGIENE HISTORY

THE FIGHT AGAINST SUPERSTITION

PIONEERS OF HYGIENE
Unacquainted with the structures and functions of the human body and
incapable, for the most part, of tracing the evolution of disease and, at the
same time, steeped in the grossest superstition, ancient and medieval
peoples had built up a system of "medicine" or more correctly, several
systems of "medicine," all of them having much in common, that had no
relation to life. It was inevitable that, as knowledge of physiology and
anatomy increased, a time would arrive when an effort would be made to
establish a system of body-mind care, both in health and illth, upon the laws
of physiology, and to abandon the superstitious practices that had grown
out of ancient magic. This effort resulted in the creation of the Hygienic
System.

Superstition that is The men who founded the Hygienic System attempted to build upon
so old, honored & the bedrock of natural law and their success in doing so attests to
well organized as their good judgement. Superstition that is so old, honored, well
medicine does not organized and that had become a vested interest, as was medicine, is
not, however, easily destroyed and it does not willingly lie down and
willingly lie down die. Rather, it fights for its existence with every weapon at its
and die. command. The fact, therefore, that the old system still exists and still
retains a firm grip on the public is not half so surprising as are the
efforts of its professionals and theoreticians to prove that it is established upon a physiological basis.
It is always a dangerous thing to serve as midwife at the birth of a new truth or a new movement.
Courageous men who defied the gibes and jeers of the mob; honest men who spoke and lived the
truth as far as they understood it; determined men who let nothing stand in the way of their efforts to
bring new life to the world; sincere men who knew no compromise with ancient error; self-sacrificing
men who worked themselves to death for the truths they had discovered; brilliant men who would
have been classed as genuises had they devoted their powers to popular causes, brought the
Hygienic System into being. Such were the men and women who labored that the world might have
light and life, that the people might have health and happiness and be freed from the fear of disease.
So successful were their labors that today millions profit by practising part of the things they
acvocated without ever having heard of them and their labors. They did not labor in vain and someday
the world will confer upon their names the honors they so richly deserve.
....
MEDICINE ADOPTS HYGIENE TO DESTROY
The adoption by the people (in the 1800's), in the face of dogged opposition by the medical profession, of
exercise, sunbathing, ventilated homes and offices, better modes of clothing, fruits and vegetables in
greater abundance, raw vegetables in the face of the medical threat of typhoid, has gained for
hygiene a leading place in the lives of our people. Hygiene became so popular and the popular
distrust of drugs became so great that as Shyrock says, allopathy adopted enough Hygiene to save
itself. When it became no longer safe to ignore or despise Hygiene, they adopted it in part, although
perverting it and mixing it with their drugs and serums. They not only succeeded in fooling the people,
most of whom now think that the medical profession promoted hygienic living, but in fooling the
Hygienists, themselves.

Shortly after the death of Trall the story ran through Hygienic
Hygiene became so publications that the medical profession had reformed. It had
popular and the accepted Hygiene. There seemed to be no longer any reason for
them to carry on their fight. They rested on their oars. This was
popular distrust of an almost fatal blunder. Medicine can never reform. It first
drugs became so great denounces everything and then claims everything, but it adopts
that medicine adopted only to destroy. It seeks always and only to preserve itself.
enough Hygiene to
save itself. I shall permit Shryock to testify further to the influence the
Hygienists have had in changing the mode of living and the
entire outlook of the people of America. He says: "A century after
Graham first made his appeal, his preachments have begun to be practiced and today, at least part of
the population, apparently eat less and select their food with greater care than did their fathers.
People nowadays are seekers after roughage and the whole grain in cereals. They worship fresh air,
and sun-tan, and the bath-room has become the very symbol of American civilization. Verily
Americans have become physiologically reformed."

Herbert M. Shelton, The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene, 1934

FLOODED WITH SICKNESS

A soap-box lecturer was once entertaining a crowd on Broadway in New

York City. He told the following story:— "The superintendent of an
institution for the feeble-minded sent an inmate into the basement to mop
up the water from a faucet that accidently had been left running. Later in
the day the man was found mopping with the water still running full blast.
'You darned idiot, why don't you turn off the faucet,' shouted the
superintendent. The simpleton grinned and replied: 'Nobody's paying me to
turn 'er off. I'm gettin' two bits an hour to mop 'er up."
When the roar that greeted this jibe at the medical profession had
subsided, the speaker continued: "The land is flooded with sickness, which
flows from ignorance of nature's laws. Proper instruction would shut off
 disease at its source, but if doctors turned off the tap, they would put
themselves out of a job." Nobody pays the medical profession to "turn 'er
off," they get "two bits an hour to mop 'er up."

Dr. Shelton: Human Life, Its Philosophy and Laws, 1928

EVERYBODY HIS OWN DOCTOR

The following remarks made by Dr. Trall in the 1860's to one of his lecture classes is indicative of his
passionate desire for a disease-free and doctor-independent world:

"I cannot forbear a word in allusion to the prospects

"When you become before us in a business point of view. The system which
physicians, you will we advocate naturally and necessarily destroys the
be continually professional business and emoluments (income) of the
practitioners. If we cannot practice the healing art with a
teaching the people higher motive than to get a profitable trade out of the
how to do without ignorance and falsities and infirmities of society, it would
you." be well for us, and better for the world, if we should seek
some other vocation. We cannot practice our system
without educating the people in its principles. No sooner do they comprehend them, then they find
themselves capable of managing themselves, except in rare, and extraordinary cases, without our
assistance. Not only this, but our patrons learn from our teachings, examples, and prescriptions, how
to live so as to avoid, to a great extent, sickness of any kind.

When you become physicians, you will be continually teaching the people how to do without you. You
must, therefore, continually extend your field of practice by making new converts, or your occupation
will soon be gone.

And whenever the world becomes so intelligent as to adopt our system in all of its parts, to the
exclusion of all others, they will be their own doctors.
They will not need us; indeed, there will then be no practitioners of medicine in demand, or in
existence, except male surgeons and female midwives."

R.T. Trall M.D., The Greatest Health Discovery

he who has health has hope

and he who has hope has everything
(arabian proverb)

THEME: WHAT IS HEALTH? - SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT

HEALTH IS TRUE WEALTH

This human body is so complex, that if you were to analyze its
activities at any given moment you will find millions of enzymes in If this power within
operation, each performing a different task, as well as trillions of stopped its automatic
cells busily engaged in their individual activities, all contributing to labors, it would be the
their common cause of maintaining your body in a normal balanced end of all surgery,
state of health called homeostasis. And all this is done constantly
without conscious direction on your part. We know how difficult it is because all healing
to do two things at a time successfully, but imagine that you had to would stop.
supervise only a small fraction of these activities, say 20,
consciously for even a few minutes, you would feel as if your brain would explode from the strain. All
these activities are supervised by a wisdom residing in each body, which we variously call Innate
Intelligence, Nature, the Soul, God, etc.

If this power within stopped its automatic labors, it would be the end of all
surgery, because all healing would stop, and all accidents involving bleeding
would terminate fatally.

The power that made you has the power to heal you! It is the only power
that exists and it is divinely guided by the Creator, who, working through the
laws of Nature, inhabits every cell in your body at every moment, creating
new cells, maintaining order and removing wastes interminably. The body
indeed is a holy temple, maintaining a God within, and we are put in charge
of its destiny. We have the power to cooperate with its needs, as outlined by
the Creator in accordance with the laws which govern human life, or to defile
its machinery by giving it harmful, excessive, or obstructive materials.

Our most urgent duty is to learn what its requirements are and live in
accordance with the laws governing its optimal function, so that we can get on with the business of life
in the most efficient manner possible and thus fulfill our destiny on this earth, while in a state of joyous
health. For, without health, nothing is worthwhile, life is a drudge and all earthly possessions pale into
insignificant bonds, which only seem to increase our problems.

Health is the true wealth and cornerstone of our happiness. It should be preserved at all costs
and pursued above all other goals, when once lost.

Dr. Stanley S. Bass, from Introduction to Selected Talks of Dr. Gian-Cursio, 2003
www.drbass.com

A Philosophy To Live By - You Are Never Alone

When you are ill, you are not alone; you are supported more by the power that made you than you
ever were before, because in sickness the forces of life marshal themselves in whatever direction
is needed to save you. But oftentimes we fail because we simply don't understand and appreciate
this presence. We fail to attune our consciousness, and acts, to cooperation with the healing
process and the forces of life.

Dr. Christopher Gian-Cursio, Selected Talks of Dr. Gian-Cursio

WHY HAVE BETTER HEALTH?

Our motivation for attaining physical health and long life through proper nutrition and a Hygienic
Lifestyle should not be only to look more youthful, have greater freedom from pain, more strength,
mental clarity, sexual appeal and vitality. These are worthy goals, but should not overshadow higher
objectives.
Our endeavors toward attaining better health would be misguided were they not to have a higher
purpose. Our lives on this earth are not just for the building of big biceps. I have witnessed numerous
young people over the years become singly focused on their physical appearance, strength and/or
athletic pursuits. Their days become devoted to hours in the gym, running miles, lifting weights,
admiring themselves in the mirror, stuffing their bodies with excessive food to build more muscles.
They become addicted to the seeking of what they perceive to be physical perfection.

There is a serious downside to this fixation. The body eventually degenerates

and returns to the earth no matter what steps we take. For the person
centered on physical perfection and strength, eventual disappointment is
guaranteed. As the physically obsessed person ages with inevitable loss of
youth, physical beauty, vitality, and strength, they will be at a loss. There will
be depression, withdrawal, and great frustration.

This need not be the case. The wise individual takes appropriate measures to
safeguard health, and prolong vitality, while maintaining balance in their lives. They focus on service,
spiritual development, and intellectual growth. By achieving a balance, the transition into middle and
old age can be a smooth one. What is lost in physical strength and appearance is gained in inner
strength, wisdom, love, and the satisfaction of making a positive contribution to the earth and its
inhabitants.

The best motivation for achieving good health and building a strong, healthy, disease
resistant, body is to allow us to better serve others and pave the path for spiritual growth. We
should never wait until the day that we have good health to get started serving others.... the time is
now.

A body racked with pain has difficulty pursuing life's higher callings for service and personal
development. Freedom from disease allows us to better pursue perfection of our spirits which are not
tied to physical decay. When efforts to improve physical health are appropriately focused, they
contribute to fulfillment in our lives and make us capable of being of greater service to others.

Dr. Paul Goldberg, www.goldbergclinic.com/questions.html

Our most urgent duty is to live in accordance with the laws governing its
optimal function.
For without health, nothing is worthwhile, life is a drudge and earthly
possessions
only seem to increase our problems.
(Stanley S. Bass)

the gift of life

the gift of life is ours today

to mold and shape like blocks of clay
 each day unveils an open door
that wasn't open there before

the gift of life is ours today

to use before it ticks away
like sand within an hour glass
for this day too is soon to pass
our yesterday's have all been spent
they can't be saved or sold or lent

the gift of life is ours today

to love, to work, to laugh and play
the hours pass so quickly by
we sometimes laugh and sometime cry
there is so much we need to do
if we would have a dream come true
before it fades into the past
our time is precious, come what may
the gift of life is ours today

by clay harrison

Why poems in a health magazine? Many have asked this question of me. My answer -
creativity is good for your health.
Poems are expressions of the life force within.
Dr. Keki R. Sidhwa, The Hygienist, Spring 2004

GARDEN CORNER

Why I grow a big vegie garden

by Steve Solomon

When I was younger I probably would have started this

section with the title, ―Why you should grow a big vegie
garden.‖ But at the stage of life I’m at now, with a few stale
crumbs of wisdom under my belt, I rarely presume to tell
anyone why they should do anything in particular. But I am
fully qualified to tell you why I do something. Then it’s up to
you to please yourself.

I have three reasons for growing a vegie garden that is

several times larger than almost any other I have seen on
Tasmania: (1) saving money; (2) I love to do it for its own
sake; and (3) my own health and longevity. In this brief
article I will say nothing further about (2); hopefully what I
have to say about points (1) and (3) will inspire you to
develop a greater affinity for the act of gardening in and of and for itself.

Saving money: In 1980 I did a thorough study of the monetary value of my garden. I
measured (roughly) the amounts harvested during an entire year and then valued my
vegetables at the prices of those same industrially-grown items in the supermarket at the
time I harvested them. Supermarket prices generally were at their lowest point for the year at
the same time I was harvesting because my garden was more or less in synchronization with
the local market-gardeners. So what follows is a lowest-possible estimate of my garden’s
apparent monetary worth.

The average supermarket value of my garden’s output in 1980 US dollars was $1.00/square
foot of growing bed. Now, translate that sum to current adjusted-for-inflation dollars and I
reckon it comes to a minimum of $3/square foot for a full year’s intensive production on
raised beds—if you don’t include low-economic-value space-wasters like sweet corn or
winter squash. Thus the average family’s average size 1,000-square-foot backyard vegie
garden may have a gross production of as much as $3,000. Deduct from that figure
something for the cost of irrigation water and also deduct a generous $300 for supplies like
seed and fertilizer and the occasional replacement of a tool or accessory.

Reckoned purely on obvious economic terms, your home-garden vegies are actually worth a
great deal more than that sum. The gardener doesn’t first have to earn a salary or create
business or investment profits, and then pay income and social insurance taxes, and then,
finally, spend after-tax dollars to buy food. For many, not deducting tax off the top makes
your own garden vegies worth at least 1/3 more. Then, if you wish to be really precise,
include the many costs of driving to the supermarket and back—twenty five to thirty cents a
mile is a typical business deduction for car expenses.

Health from the garden: You’ve probably seen so much pro-organic-food propaganda that
you’re stifling a big yawn right now and preparing to skip this section. Please don’t! What I
have to say is quite a bit different from what you may have learned about organic food from
those who cling to the idea of organic like a religion.

Vegetables (and all foods for that matter, including meats) will have a lot more nutrition in
them if raised on soil that is in
(1) good heart, meaning it has a reasonable amount of humus in it; and
(2) if that soil also offers the plants close to an ideal balance of mineral nutrients (which does
not necessarily happen simply because some ―right-thinking‖ organic grower has put a lot of
compost and/or manure in their soil). How much more nutrition? Perhaps three or four times
more; certainly double what is commonly found in supermaket offerings. If you’ll grant that
this figure is more or less correct, then home-garden vegetables grown with nutrition in mind
can be worth far more than the denatured foods found at the supermarket.

If you can accept my contention, then I reckon comparing garden vegetables equally, pound-
for-pound, with supermarket vegetables is not quite fair. The garden’s output might really be
worth quite a bit more than double $3/sq. ft. Or maybe treble.
 The most basic difference between your
garden food and supermarket food is
very elementary—freshness. Even if
hydrochilled within minutes after cutting,
the majority of vegetables still lose
around half their vitamin content (and
other highly important food values
connected with living enzymes) within 48
hours of harvest. And these losses can
happen even more rapidly if chilling is
not started immediately upon harvest.
How many days after harvest does the
food arrive on your supermarket’s
produce counter? Don’t you know? I
don’t know either, but I assume that on
the average three or four days if not a
week must pass between harvest and
sale at the supermarket. But I can know
with absolute certainty that the home-
garden salad I am eating for lunch today
was cut during the early morning’s
coolness and still contains virtually
everything nutritious it started out with
when that salad was living, growing
plants just a few hours before.

Then comes another difference that is

equally if not more important than simple
freshness, especially when you consider
the value of foods we don’t eat fresh—like cereal products. Not all food of the same type
starts out with the same nutritional content. Can you recall those statistics in the backs of
some books on health and nutrition, huge tables confidently stating that 100 gm of broccoli
contain exactly so many milligrams of vitamin B6 and so forth? These statistics are not truth.
They are, in fact, a form of sophisticated lying—the worst kind of lying there is—lying
accomplished by statistics. What is not said about those impressive tables is that the
numbers they offer are averages of a great many samples taken at different times of year,
analyses of produce from different soils, and using different varieties. Had you been shown
the range of possibilities for how much vitamin B6 a broccoli head might or might not contain
you would see that one broccoli sample might contain ten or twenty times more B6 than
another.

Well, would this difference really matter? Doesn’t it all average out in your stomach over a
year’s time? No! Sorry. The creation of health or disease doesn’t work quite like that.
Intaking ―average‖ levels won’t cut it. To be superbly healthy you need to eat the highly
nutritious sorts of samples and shun the poorer ones.

All bodies—human, bovine, rabbit, bird—all, have the same nutritional problem. The
nutrients a living organism has to acquire and assimilate are packaged with calories that they
need to burn off. It is very easy for nature to create calories, even on depleted soil, perhaps
especially easy on depleted soil. Foods low in vital nutrients are usually calorie-rich foods.
That’s because calories are carbohydrates, mainly comprised of carbon (from carbon dioxide
gas, which is available in unlimited quantities in the air) and hydrogen (which is available in
unlimited quantities from water.) As far as a growing plant is concerned, there are never any
shortages of carbon or hydrogen. But there are often major shortages of some of the soil
nutrients needed to build plant proteins and vitamins and enzymes—the very same
nutritional factors we need to intake in huge quantities if we are to be healthy.

When plants suffer shortages of vital soil nutrients, then instead of making proteins, vitamins
and enzymes, they will switch over to making calories. The two areas tend to work in
opposition. When nutrition goes up, then calories tend to go down accordingly.

Take for example two potatoes of exactly the same size, very similar in weight and
appearance, but one grown so as to contain maximum nutrition, the other grown for profit.
The high-nutrient spuds may contain around 11% protein; the other sort, the supermarket
sort, the mass market frozen chip by the 50 pound bag processor sort, offers the consumer
around 8% protein. The 11% protein spud is also going to contain far more of all the
important minerals, vitamins and so forth we need to build health compared to the 8%
potato. The 8% protein spud is also going to contain about 25% more calories by weight
than the 11% protein one will provide.

And the overall yield of low-nutrient high-calorie spuds will be about 25% more bushels to
sell at market, making the grower even more than 25% more profit, because the fertilizers
needed to produce those high-carbohydrate low-protein spuds are the cheaper ones.

Suppose you are a potato farmer; which choice are you

going to make? Even if you are an organic potato farmer
"When plants suffer
would you choose much better? Are you going to
shortages of vital soil intentionally grow 25% less bushels of more nourishing
nutrients - instead of potatoes or are you going to use your organic fertilizing
making proteins, materials in such a way as to produce the largest possible
vitamins and yield at the lowest possible cost of production, probably not
even realizing that by operating with "sensible" economic
enzymes, they will
rationalism you are simultaneously lessening the nutritional
switch over to value of your supposedly-superior organically-grown food.
making calories."
Now suppose we were a poor people, eeking out survival
much like Irish cottagers around 1830, and we lived on spuds—plain spuds, roasted, baked
and boiled spuds—spuds all day, every day. And suppose that without becoming
enormously obese we could digest and burn no more than 2,000 calories per day. We could
eat 11% protein spuds or we could eat 8% protein spuds, either way, ending up with our
2,000 daily calories. Now imagine how much less real nutrition we’d get from 8% spuds. I
can assure you that if we lived on nutritionally-poorer potatoes, we’d be shorter—shorter in
height, and shorter in lifespan—and overall, less healthy while we did live.

I’ve invented a little mathematical equation to express this, which goes:

HEALTH = NUTRITION ÷ CALORIES

Average mass health of a whole people equals the total of all the nutrition they can obtain
from the entire dietary intake divided by the total number of calories that have to be eaten to
obtain it.

If we can get 2,000 units of nutrition contained within our daily 2,000 calories, then our health
comes out to be ―1‖ but if we get only 1,000 units of nutrition in our 2,000 calories/day, then
our health comes out as ―one-half.‖
Perhaps this seems too simplified to be true, but it is true. And it is that simple. This simple
viewpoint may not serve as the explanation of your particular health problem; it is however
the explanation for overall social health versus overall degeneration. If a group of people ate
such that their nutritional intake was high compared to the calories they were consuming,
then that group would be incredibly healthier if compared to what people consider ―normal‖
health these days.

In the 1930s an American research dentist named Weston Price did some
amazing studies in nutritional anthropology. He found groups of
extraordinarily healthy people [still] in fairly large numbers on Earth. All of
them lived in such isolation that they had to eat only the natural foods they
produced, hunted or gathered themselves and had no access at all to
common foods of our then-developing industrial food system. In their
homes one could not find marmalade, sugar, white flour or any tinned food,
etc.

These groups of people were described by Price (with lots of photos) in a

classic book called Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 1939, which is still kept in print
and offered for sale by the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (www.price-pottenger.org).
Price has been dead for over 50 years so his book is now public domain material in Australia
and can be read in its entirety at a free public online library that I create called The Soil and
Health Library (www.soilandhealth.org). Find Price’s book in the Longevity section. I hope
you will read it.

This whole idea might seem clearer if you will consider how a few particular foods fit the
formula for health. Take white sugar. It is comprised of nothing but calories and offers no
nutrition at all. None! Every single calorie we eat as refined sugar reduces our total
nutritional intake because it prevents us from eating foods that do contain the nutrition we
need.

Eat very much sugar and you start losing teeth and having other health problems. The teeth
aren’t lost because sugar rots the teeth; the teeth are lost because the sugar doesn’t allow
the body to obtain enough nutrients to maintain proper body chemistry, so the whole
chemistry of the mouth and jaw goes array and then decay organisms begin to flourish there.
Caries is the first result, and then loss of teeth through bone recession follows.

Aren’t natural forms of sugar healthy? No way. Honey and less-refined forms of cane sugar
do contain small amounts of nutrients, but their ratio of nutrition to calories is nearly as poor
as white sugar.

Next up on the list of ―baddies‖ come most sorts of fats. Fats are very high in calories but
only a few of the better sorts contain a bit of essential nutrition. Every calorie of refined fat
we intake reduces our ability to consume foods that do contain the nutrients we need. And I
am not at all certain about how much unrefined high-quality fats should be included in a
health-producing diet—but I suspect not very much.

Ask yourself, please, what proportion of the total caloric intake of most people these days
comes in the forms of processed fat and/or sugar. Half? More than half? For most people a
generation ago it would have been less than 25%. I am sad to report here that American
agrifood-business led the way down this path. This industrial food system virtually took over
the USA a few decades ago and is now conquering the rest of the planet.

And what is the worldwide reputation of American health? Everyone immediately associates
the word ―fat‖ with the word ―American.‖ When I first came to Australia in the mid-90’s, I
almost never saw a very obese Australian. A bit of beer belly yes, here and there, but
nothing nearly as obese as is commonly seen on the streets of America. But these days I
see many ―big‖ Australians, and its getting to be more so every year as international fast-
food operations open in our larger towns and cities. That’s what today’s kids mostly eat.

So if sugar and fat are the ―baddies,‖ then what’s at the healthy end of the food spectrum?
The best single food I know of, the one that offers the most nutrients for the number of
calories it provides is a raw, green leaf grown on highly fertile soil. Why, it would seem that
you would have to spend half your entire day chewing in order to achieve your caloric limit
from a diet of only raw dark green leaves (lettuce, kale, spinach, escarole, chard, etc). You
would have to chew until your jaw got sore and still you might lose weight. But you would
certainly become a well-nourished long-lived scarecrow.

Yes, it is true that occasional people are gifted with such a strong constitution that they can
live long and be healthy on a diet of whisky, over-cooked red-meat and white bread. But for
most of us to have a long, enjoyable life we must eat a broad mixture of whole, fresh foods
that have not been devitalized (some nutritional elements removed). Our foods must not be
adulterated (mixed with other things that are not desirable). And most importantly, our foods
must be grown on soil we have intentionally made properly fertile so that the produce from
those soils comes out to be maximally nutritious.

I view my own garden as a resource from which I can

provision my own table with at least half the food my family
"I view my own
eats. My own garden is where I can do it as right as I wish to.
garden as a Where I can make sure that at least half my food is about as
resource from nutritious as it can be. And then I can take a bit of care about
which I can purchasing the rest of our diet so as to maximize the
provision my own nutritional content of that, too. With the money I save by vegie
gardening I can afford to buy the highest-possible quality in
table with at least
what I don’t produce myself.
half the food my
family eats." In my articles to come in futures issues of the INHS online
magazine, I am going to show you how I accomplish this. I do
not grow my vegies along the traditional lines of organic gardening, fertilizing only with
manures and composts in large quantities. To get the highest nutritional outcomes I must
also use other organic or natural substances because Tasmania’s manures and composts
come from Tasmania’s depleted soils. I believe Tasmania's soils are not all that different
from soils found in any region supplied with abundant rainfall such as those districts where
the largest populations live in the USA and in Canada and in Europe. (The soils of semi-arid
areas may be quite a bit more fertile and the manures and composts made from vegetation
produced on semi-arid soils may be far superior). Because I live on leached-out soil in a
state where most of whatever fertility may have initially existed has been farmed out, I have
to be bit smarter than simple compost-gardening to get a result one might have gotten far
more easily a century ago. Still, highly nutritious vegetables can be grown without chemical
fertilizers and certainly can be grown without chemical pesticides. In coming articles I will
show you exactly how to.

Unfortunately, having a social life involves social eating. Which means one is almost forced
to compromise one’s dietary aspirations. But the Universe is kind in this respect and does
not require absolute obedience to its health laws. In other words, we are allowed to sin a little
bit without paying the piper. But only a little bit.
 I believe that I (and most others too) can enjoy quite good
health if the combined nutrition in all the foods I eat amounts to "I believe that I can
at least 75% of ideal. But this small amount of slack can only
be taken by people whose good diet began early enough in a
enjoy quite good
lifetime to fully shape the overall body into its proper structure. health if the
Correct eating best begins with our mother’s nutrition long combined nutrition
before our conception. Then, barring traumatic injuries or in all the foods I eat
gross spiritual disorders that snap back on the body’s health, amounts to at least
or just plain bad luck, a reasonably well-nourished person can
have a lifetime of perfect teeth, will likely experience little or no
75% of ideal."
degenerative disease, and can look forward to a long and
physically pleasant lifespan exceeding four score years. In old age we can still possess
intelligence. We can die of plain old age, all accomplished without great pain or suffering.

That’s why I am virtually forced to grow a big food garden. There have been times when I’ve
wished to give up my garden, to travel, to adventure, to be irresponsible about my nutrition in
the way I see most of my fellow humans behave, to eat and drink what I want when I want it
and as much of it as I fancy because its flavor or appearance or drug-effect appeals to me,
but every time I’ve tried it my health has soon suffered.

There’s an old saying about this:

If you wish to be happy for a day, buy a new car. If you wish to be happy for a
weekend, get married. If you wish to be happy for your lifetime, be a gardener.

Steve Solomon, April 2004

www.soilandhealth.org

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