“In all the cases, treatment would have been interrupted at several points if a conventionally-minded medical confrere had been called in, and allowed to have his own way of treating the cases. Sand– in the shape of food, organic extract, drug, serum or vaccine — would have been thrown into the machine. (In the appendicitis cases cutting out the offended–not offending–organ would have been resorted to.) The result of this officiousness would have been to build text-book complications, all the which are really due to text-book treatment.”.
Formerly doctors as a routine measure actually used to feed up cases of small-pox, cholera, plague, typhoid, diphtheria, measles, etc. Graves, who was one of the greatest of last century orthodox doctors, even requested that the words “He fed fevers” should be written for his epitaph. Then the case mortality during any epidemic was certain to be terrific, and it only declined as the policy of restricting diet was enforced.
The profession, however, has got to go a good distance yet to adopt the ideal physiological requirements insisted on in nature cure practice that nothing but water occasionally sweetened with fruit juice should be allowed until the temperature is normal.
In chronic disease fasting is the most direct way to renovate the system and throw off the disability. Almost miraculous results are obtained in diabetes, gastric ulcer and rheumatoid arthritis by the simple expedient of ordering the individual to live on cold water for a week. Cataract and tuberculosis in their early stages are very amenable to fasting. High blood pressure will drop dramatically on a fast; an excess of 100 mm. will be wiped out in ten days. Cancer has often been cured this way alone.
It also can be relied on to work magically in cases of indolent ulcer, pernicious anaemia, psoriasis and pyorrhoea, and ordinary wounds and injuries heal quicker and without ugly when digestion and assimilation are suspended. In theory there should be no disease which will not yield to fasting; but, of course, it must be remembered that not every person with a disease can be fasted. Advanced cases of cancer, heart disease, tuberculosis and diabetes where much emaciation is present are usually bad subjects, as also are nervous individuals.
Fasting requires a certain amount of moral fibre and determination, and the best results are always secured by those who are strong in those qualities. Arthur Vos. M.D., wrote in Vigorous Health, October, 1935: “I regard the fast as the most powerful therapeutic means in the armamentarium of the physician, for use in both acute and chronic diseases.
Its value is without comparison; for the total abstention from all foods, under the proper conditions of atmosphere, temperature and the right psychology will effect changes in the body economy and prepare the body for a reconstruction of its tissues such as no drug, serum or surgery can bring about”.
DIET.
The next best natural treatment for disease, and to prevent it, is suitable dieting, and it has the decided advantage of not being so severe a method as fasting. It is impossible to overestimate the damage done to the public, not only physically, but also mentally and morally, through faulty feeding habits.
Although at present we are only at the beginning of knowledge on this vital subject, yet the information established as definite fact up to date conveys the most serious warning about the results of eating along conventional lines.
It would be interesting to learn how many mothers and fathers and guardians of childrens institutes are aware that Alfred McCann, an eminent food authority, in his book Science of Eating wrote:.
“In the last four years there died in the United States 1,500,000 children under ten years of age. With their little knives, forks and spoons, with their little hands and fingers they– who were apparently in full possession of their health– they themselves dug their little graves.”.
It would be interesting also to learn the number of fat prosperous citizens of the middle classes who are acquainted with the dictum of Sir Arbuthnot Lane on cancer. That famous surgeon and dietician said:.
“The foundation of cancer is laid in the kitchen and in the dining room”.
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a world recognized authority on nutrition even goes farther, and in his huge volume, The New Dietetics, writes:.
“It is never to be forgotten that we are made of what we eat. What we eat to-day will be walking and talking to-morrow”.
Quotations such as these could be easily centupled. It will be abundantly clear, therefore, that by altering a diet which is causing degenerative changes in the tissues to one which will regenerate them, disease can be made to disappear.
Most people live in such a vile way so far as feeding is concerned that a change of diet usually works wonders. On a reformed diet those who are ailing become well and those who are well begin to enjoy a still greater degree of physical fitness and vitality. Yet many persons through a mistaken impression of what such a diet really a dread the idea of having to make the change.
Such persons will be surprised to learn that there is a wider range of palatable foodstuffs to be found amongst the health giving class than amongst the highly “civilized” fare. In a proper dietary white bread, biscuits and pastries, white rice, white sugar, jam, sweets, chocolate, boiled or pasteurized milk, margarine, fried eggs, fries potatoes, meat or fish or ham that is either fried or preserved, meat extracts, strong tea, coffee, mustard and vinegar are prohibited.
In their stead should appear wholemeal bread and cakes, brown rice, Demerara sugar, treacle, honey, fresh raw milk, buttermilk, butter, cheese, eggs, potatoes– every type of fresh raw fruit, vegetables and nuts, especially apples, organs, grapes, tomatoes, lettuce and spinach. When a person has assimilated that much information he is half way on the road to dietetic perfection. The other half distance mainly consists in intelligently using and combining these natural products.
To make use of natural foods in a proper way it is of the highest importance to note that a large amount of fresh fruit and vegetables regularly are essential. These products are generally what are relied upon to preserve the acid-base equilibrium of the blood. It is, therefore, a practice to be strongly recommended to make one meal a day to consist solely of raw fruits. A protein food such as meat, fish or eggs may loom large in another meal, and the third should comprise the starch element, which in these countries is usually bread.
Gross combinations of starch and protein, such as bread and cheese are inadvisable, as also are combinations of starch and acid fruits. Many authorities also maintain that flesh food is quite unnecessary and that a future stop in our evolution will consists in doing without it. Whether this is true or not is doubtful.
How much to eat is as important as what to eat. It can be stated authoritatively that more than three meals a day under any circumstances are definitely unphysiological. Probably two meals a day are the ideal, and the no breakfast plan is finding favour with greater numbers every year. At any rate no person should eat until urged to do so by hunger.
This feeling of hunger should be deliberately sought after as it appears to be a law in Nature that a species flourishes at its optimum, when its food supply is obtained with a certain amount of difficulty. Needless to remark when one is worried or excited no food should be taken, as at such times hunger is not usually present.
Dieting to cure active disease will vary a lot. If often is necessary to rule out fresh food altogether and to put the patient on a low protein regime. Such a diet would be indicated in cancer, nephritis and arteriosclerosis, and for those who have long and well indulged in meat eating. Occasionally a mono-diet for some time appears expedient. The one article of food which is exclusively consumed in these diets is usually fruit, such as strawberries, oranges or grapes; sometimes it is milk, and sometimes, even flesh meat.
A course of one or other of these peculiar regimens has been found to be very effective in detoxifying the system. There is also the Schroth diet which is very popular on the Continent, and which consists in reducing the fluid intake to next to nothing. For diseases which appear to be connected with a particular vitamin deficiency an extra supply of the vitamin from some natural source will at times be of assistance as an addition to the diet.
For example, cod liver oil will be found to be of considerable benefit for rickets, conjunctivitis, sinusitis and exophthalmic goitre, yeast for gastritis, neurasthenia, anaemia and skin diseases, lemons for pyorrhoea, scurvy and cataract, and so on. Also it may be advisable at times to limit the number of meals of certain individuals to two or even one a day.
The science of nutrition permits of a great number of systems and combinations of food which can be used to suit the different disorders and peculiarities or people. That the last word on the question has not been said it is hardly necessary to add.
