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BASIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALING
The basic principles upon which modern medicine is based are twofold: poisoning and cutting. While in training, every physician and nurse is taught that every drug is poisonous. Two primary types of poisons are used: chemical poisoning and radiation poisoning. The other method is cutting. If something is wrong with an organ, instead of letting it heal, cut it out.
In great contrast are the natural healing principles, which work with the body's own efforts to restore health. Here we find rest, generally brief liquid fasts, light meals, enemas, water applications, fresh air, sunshine, avoidance of harmful substances, and trust in divine power.
Here is a clarifying passage which is outstanding in its simplicity and breadth of understanding, written by a pioneer in natural remedies, Ellen White. Paragraph headings have been added to focus the points made:
The solution is to teach the people: "The only hope of better things is in the education of the people in right principles. Let the physicians teach the people that restorative power is not in drugs, but in nature."
The true nature of "disease." It is a cleansing process: "Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health."
What we should do when a person is sick: "In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and to reestablish right conditions in the system."
Here are the eight natural remedies: "Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power,—these are the true remedies."
Everyone should be taught how to use these remedies: "Every person should have a knowledge of nature's remedial agencies and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training that will enable one rightly to use this knowledge."
The use of natural remedies requires thought and work, but is well worth it: "The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature's process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow . . But in the end it will be found that nature, untrammeled, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the reward in health of body and health of mind."
Prevention is better than treatment: "Too little attention is generally given to the preservation of health. It is far better to prevent disease than to know how to treat it when contracted."
There are important laws of life which govern every part of our bodies, our diet, and our behavior: "It is the duty of every person, for his own sake, and for the sake of humanity, to inform himself in regard to the laws of life and conscientiously to obey them."
We need to learn about these laws and how they govern the parts (anatomy) and function (physiology) of our bodies: "All need to become acquainted with that most wonderful of all organisms, the human body. They should understand the functions of the various organs and the dependence of one upon another for the healthy action of all. They should study the influence of the mind upon the body, and of the body upon the mind, and the laws by which they are governed."
Health is not the result of chance, but of obedience to law: "We cannot be too often reminded that health does not depend on chance. It is a result of obedience to law."
Athletes understand this principle better than many of others: "This is recognized by the contestants in athletic games and trials of strength. These men make the most careful preparation. They submit to thorough training and strict discipline. Every physical habit is carefully regulated. They know that neglect, excess, or carelessness, which weakens or cripples any organ or function of the body, would ensure defeat."
Failure to understand and practice these principles, and obey these laws of nature,—can have effects which reach far into the future: "How much more important is such carefulness to ensure success in the conflict of life. It is not mimic battles in which we are engaged. We are waging a warfare upon which hang eternal results. We have unseen enemies to meet. Evil angels are striving for the dominion of every human being."
When we weaken our health, we weaken our mental and moral powers: "Whatever injures the health, not only lessens physical vigor, but tends to weaken the mental and moral powers. Indulgence in any unhealthful practice makes it more difficult for one to discriminate between right and wrong, and hence more difficult to resist evil. It increases the danger of failure and defeat."
Everyone can be a winner, if he will determine to control himself and practice right principles: " `They which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize.' (1 Corinthians 9:24). In the warfare in which we are engaged, all may win who will discipline themselves by obedience to right principles. The practice of these principles in the details of life is too often looked upon as unimportant—a matter too trivial to demand attention. But in view of the issues at stake, nothing with which we have to do is small. Every act casts its weight into the scale that determines life's victory or defeat. The scripture bids us, `So run, that ye may obtain.' "
If we would have success, we must obey the law of God: "The foundation of all enduring reform is the law of God. We are to present in clear, distinct lines the need of obeying this law. Its principles must be kept before the people. They [the moral law of Ten Commandments and the physical laws of nature] are as everlasting and inexorable as God Himself. One of the most deplorable effects of the original apostasy was the loss of man's power of self-control. Only as this power is regained, can there be real progress."
The mind must control the body, or the mind will lose control of itself: "The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character. Hence it is that the adversary of souls directs his temptations to the enfeebling and degrading of the physical powers. His success here means the surrender to evil of the whole being. The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under the dominion of a higher power, will surely work ruin and death."
The power of the will must be exercised to bring both body and mind under the control of God: "The body is to be brought into subjection. The higher powers of the being are to rule. The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in our lives."
We must urge upon men and women the vital importance of self-mastery, in controlling the appetites and passions, and keeping the body in good health: "The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience. Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling habit. They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of mind and body are the gift of God, and are to be preserved in the best possible condition for His service."
Only in the enabling strength of Christ can this be done: "Apart from divine power, no genuine reform can be effected. Human barriers against natural and cultivated tendencies are but as the sandbank against the torrent. Not until the life of Christ becomes a vitalizing power in our lives can we resist the temptations that assail us from within and without."
Each of us can have strength to bring our appetites and passions under control: "Christ came to this world and lived the law of God, that man might have perfect mastery over the natural inclinations which corrupt the soul. The Physician of soul and body, He gives victory over warring lusts. He has provided every facility, that man may possess completeness of character."
A surrendered life makes obedience a delight, not a drudgery: "When one surrenders to Christ, the mind is brought under the control of the law; but it is the royal law which proclaims liberty to every captive. By becoming one with Christ, man is made free. Subjection to the will of Christ means restoration to perfect manhood."
Obedience to God is freedom to be happy: "Obedience to God is liberty from the thralldom of sin, deliverance from human passion and impulse. Man may stand conqueror of himself, conqueror of his own inclinations, conqueror of principalities and powers, and of `the rulers of the darkness of this world,' and of `spiritual wickedness in high places.' "
The above quotations were taken from Ministry of Healing, pages 127 to 131, by Ellen White. The book was first published in 1905, yet the health and healing principles in it are needed as much today as then. (Single copies of Ministry of Healing may be obtained from Harvestime Books, for $3.00 a copy, postpaid in the U.S. See order sheet.)
RECOVERY FROM DISEASE
Introduction: You will find, scattered throughout this present volume, the J.H. Kellogg, M.D., formulas for natural healing. Each one is identified as such in the indexes, so you can easily locate them. They deal primarily with water treatments. In addition, John Kellogg also used a variety of other natural remedies.
Another major figure in the natural healing movement was John H. Tilden, M.D. (1866-1940). He was a pioneer in natural remedies; and, along with Trall, Jackson, White, and Kellogg, he made immense strides in providing us today with a systematic regimen for natural healing.
Dr. Tilden had a medical practice in Denver, Colorado, where he operated a 200-bed natural healing hospital; and, on the premises, he conducted the Tilden Health School. For over 25 years, he published a monthly magazine which did not close down until a year before his death at the age of 90, in 1940.
From his writings, and from those of others who have used his methods, the following information has been gathered.
These principles, which are little understood by many in our time, should be taught to every grade school student. A special required two-semester class should be taught in every high school in the land!
The principles you will learn here, if followed, can help you and your loved ones for the rest of your lives. That is how important they are!
Here is a brief summary overview of the Tilden method of natural healing:
Importance of proper care and diet: Flowers, fruits, and vegetables, which are grown in good soil will always be superior to those grown on depleted soils. Every experienced farmer knows that proper nourishment of livestock and crops is vital to good production. People who raise show dogs are very careful to give them balanced nutriments, supplemented by significant amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Yet basic scientific knowledge of human nutrition is almost completely ignored in the everyday feeding of children, as well as the diet of teenagers and adults.
Good health can be built, and disease prevented, by eating right and taking proper care of the body. The mind will be vigorous and achieve its greatest development when the body is well.
The body's self-healing mechanism: It is a remarkable fact that, with the help of God, the body can heal itself. It is normal for a person to be well, eat the right food in the proper amount, and have the energy to work hard. The body has built-in ways to process the food into the needed energy.
But when that individual becomes ill, the body also has built-in ways to produce healing. (We say "built-in," yet this is not entirely correct. It is only the power of God which can make us well and keep us well. Indeed, it is God who not only made us but also the good natural food we so much need!)
The human system is subject to wear and tear; but, when disease strikes, the regular functions are temporarily set aside and the body goes to work to regenerate itself. Instead of using energy for food digestion and muscular activity, it switches over to cleansing, repair, and rebuilding.
When a person becomes sick, his organs have become weary and overloaded with toxins. The word, "Dis-ease," is what the word says: The body is no longer at ease. Disease is actually an effort of nature to cleanse the body of the toxins; let the body rest awhile, and rebuild the organs. Disease is meant to be a friend, not an enemy.
It is at this time that we must help the body cleanse the system of impurities and restore itself to health.
When the sick person rests in bed, while receiving only a minimum of the most nourishing, most digestible food, his body turns its attention to carrying on the healing process. Results can be amazing. What the sick need is pure air, wholesome food, gentle help by attendants, rest, and pure water.
The medical route: But, before explaining how that is done, let me answer a question you may have at this point: How is the method used by the medical association different? Rather than cleanse the system of impurities, it tends to do just the opposite: Chemicals, known to be poisonous, are placed into the body. Yet the body seems to get well! What has happened here?
The body has, as it were, shut down or reduced all extra functions so the healing can take place. You feel weak, you cannot handle much food, you want to lay in bed and rest your mind and body. The healing function is in progress, and it needs help in order to succeed.
But, instead, a poisonous drug is introduced into the body. Immediately, the body is aroused. "Hey, I must stop the natural healing process—and fight that poison!"
Everything is now changed. The sickness may apparently end or you may get sicker some other way. Perhaps surgery will be the next step.
But true healing did not take place. Additional poisons are now in the body, which will only weaken it for years to come. They can be very tenacious and are frequently lodged in the body, to bring you grief at a later time.
Let us now return to the natural method of bringing about the healing process. If the condition is serious, we do well to begin with a liquid fast, followed by a juice diet, and then by light meals. We will discuss all of these in this chapter. If the situation is not too serious, we may begin with a light juice diet. Let us first consider that:
The Juice Diet: Wholesome food for the person who is impaired in health consists of fresh, raw, fruit juices and fresh, raw, vegetable juices. This is a juice diet.
Three or four times a day, a glass of fresh, raw, juice is given. It may be fruit juice or it may be vegetable juice. Sometimes it may be a fruit-vegetable juice.
The best fruits are citrus or pineapple. The best vegetables are carrots, beets, and/or celery. These are "salad vegetables." The best fruit-vegetable combination juice is carrot and apple.
When a person is distressed physically, mentally, or emotionally, this juice diet will bring him back to normal far better than the taking of drugs.
The ordinary staples, such as nuts, bread, cereals, etc., are set aside for a period of a few days to a few weeks (depending on the nature and severity of the condition).
Sometimes, a longer cleansing program is needed and a rotation diet is maintained for a time: (1) This may involve several days of liquid fasting, followed by several days of juice diet; back and forth. (2) It may be several days of liquid fasting, followed by 1-3 days of light meals. (3) Or it may be several days of juice diet, followed by light food for 1-3 days, followed by a liquid diet again.
It is obvious that thoughtful attention must be given to the matter at each step. When in doubt, pray and proceed carefully.
Such a program enables the body to cleanse itself of retained wastes instead of allowing those wastes to remain and cause the organs to deteriorate. When drugs are introduced, this only accelerates the deterioration process! Too much unnecessary food clogs the system; eating and drinking junk food, colas, smoking cigarettes, and drinking liquor only adds to the eventual misery. Taking pills and drugs to reduce the stomach trouble, headaches, sleeplessness, and minor ailments which result—does not help the situation. Disaster is sure to result.
Before excessive medication and drastic surgery are considered, it is generally better that a rest and juice diet cure be tried for several weeks.
A person who is ill needs blood cleansing and tissue cleansing. This is done by means of rest and fresh, raw, fruit and vegetable juices. Sick people frequently have little or no appetite. This is normal! Work with nature instead of against it.
At such times, we should not use force-feeding by intravenous methods. Such desperate measures do the sick more harm than good. It is true that, at times, the physician must make use of intravenous nourishment—but this is primarily in cases of coma, insulin-shock, or accidental loss of blood. (A similar mistake is made when post-operative cases are fed the same foods that, in a measure, made them sick in the first place. Faulty food is a basic cause of the chronic diseases. Faulty food affects the digestive structures by irritation, inflammation, ulceration, and neoplastic changes, as well as the entire biochemistry of the body.)
We should, instead, let those who are sick rest and get well. Here is how this is done:
Every home should own a food liquefier and juice extractor. A food blender is good when you are in health, but an electric juicer (juicing machine) in needed both in times of health and illness. A glass of freshly made raw carrot, beet, or celery juice will help the well remain well and the sick get well. This is not fruit and vegetable pulp, but juice.
In some hospitals, fruit juices are given in addition to the regular menus of the day. This cannot work. An individual who suffers from an inflammatory disease process, such as hypertension, bronchial asthma, arthritis, nephritis, or endocarditis can be helped in a really curative manner only when systematically treated by means of raw fruit and raw vegetable salad juices. They provide an ideal combination of staple food to meet the needs of the sick, so they can regain their health.
Lemon-water fasting: We have looked at the fruit and vegetable juice diet. But there is also the fast. A "healing crisis" (which see) often occurs at some point in an illness. If the person is experiencing an infection, a healing crisis generally occurs near the beginning of the sickness while there is a fever, etc. In most cases, a fast should be given during this fever and/or during the healing crisis.
This fast generally consists of water with lemon juice or grapefruit juice, unsweetened, taken by the sick person as often as it can be enjoyed without forcing.
This is a water-lemon fast. It is not a strict water-only fast, which is not as beneficial. Remember that: A water-only fast is generally not the best.
In some cases, it is well to have the fast continue for one to three or more days. This is especially needed during the healing crisis (which is usually about three days duration, but sometimes as long as seven).
At other times, it is best to alternate between fasting and a juice diet, rotating between a day or two on water and lemon juice fast, a day or two on juices, then back to the water and lemon juice.
Sometimes it is best to give only juices for several days. But, at times, it is best to alternate between a juice diet for a day or two, followed by light meals for a day or two.
As a general rule, it is best not to give light meals until after the primary symptoms (fever, etc.) are past, the crisis is over, and the person is ready to start recuperation.
Fasting provides physiological rest for the organism. It provides the body with its best chance for throwing off the retained impurities plaguing the body cells. Organs and structures throughout the system are able to regain, as much as is possible, their former strength. No chemical, cutting, or radiation can provide that healing; only the body's own resources can do it. —And the body will try to do it, if permitted! Work with the body, not against it.
Nature is a wonderful healer and physician. Soon after an individual is put on a fast, the system begins to oxidize (burn up) materials from the tissues of the body. These are used for basic life functions (basal metabolism) while the healing continues.
Obviously, fasting must be used thoughtfully and skillfully. It is not a stereotyped method, to be applied equally to all. One individual may be able to fast with complete comfort while another may become very distressed on one fast—and perhaps not on another. A person who is mildly ill will actually feel better on the fast. But one who is quite sick, or has some organs in poor shape, may feel worse during a first attempt at fasting.
A person who is normally very thin, may not be able to fast as long as a person who has average or excess weight. If it is a chronic condition, requiring longer fasts, he may need a three-day fast, alternated with three days on light fruit meals or light meals (both are described below).
Fasting alternated with light fruit meals: A variation which works quite well is to alternate a fast with light fruit meals. The light feeding consists of fresh, raw, fruits—mostly oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, and their juices while the fasting consists of water and lemon juice only. The fast on lemon juice and water gives the whole organism the most effective opportunity to cleanse itself of its accumulated and retained wastes.
But this fasting cannot go on too many days, without the possibility of organic or functional damage. Fasting (living on water and lemon juice) is low-level starvation. So one must be careful and not overdo it.
Do not overdo it! Think, pray, and ask God to help you know what to do next. When in doubt, you may need to move him from a fast to a juice diet for a meal or two. Perhaps a light meal is needed before returning to the fast. Thoughtful desecration is needed.
During the fasting process, the body consumes some of its stored chemicals, including calcium, iron, phosphorus, and various other tissue components. The one who is fasting is very weak, even while lying comfortably in a warm bed. He may get severe palpitations of the heart when he tries to sit up or walk to the bathroom. While on a fast, he needs an experienced helper, nurse, or physician. He needs to be observed very carefully. The fast must only be carried to the point where he can take it with psychological comfort.
When in doubt, put him back on additional nourishment. This may be a light fruit meal; it may be best to put him on the juice diet of fresh, raw, fruit and vegetable juices. Or he may need a light meal (described below).
If he is in the midst of a healing crisis which frequently does not require more than 1-3 days before the fever breaks, it is best to keep him on the water-lemon juice fast, with possible rotation back and forth to fruit and vegetable juice. Remember, if he can remain on the water-lemon fast during the crisis, he will recover more quickly. But you must watch him, and do what is best in the situation.
But if the crisis is extended longer than three days, you may need to give him a meal of rotational juice or food.
Extra warmth: While the person is fasting, he needs extra warmth. The extremities (the feet and hands) generally get cold during the fasting period. It is therefore necessary to apply one or two electric pads, or an electric blanket, day and night in order to keep him comfortably warm.
Although important, this is often not done, even in the hospitals.
The avenues of elimination: At this juncture, we should consider another aspect of physiology. The body is constantly producing wastes. It tries to throw them off through the "organs of elimination," which are primarily these: the bowels, the kidneys, the lungs, the skin, and spitting.
If too much waste is produced (because of overeating, wrong eating, overwork, and a lack of rest, exercise, and fresh air), then the body becomes overburdened, and sickness and organic breakdown occur.
During natural healing, the system goes into high gear in its efforts to eliminate these poisons. It must be aided in its efforts.
We must "open all the organs of elimination"; that is, we must help the body throw off toxins through the four avenues by which it can do it:
The bowels - Daily enemas or colonics must be given.
The kidneys - The sick person must be given an abundance of fluids to drink. (This also helps the other avenues of elimination function better.)
The lungs - There must always be a current of fresh air in the bedroom of the sick person.
The skin - Daily baths must be given.
To the above four, we can add a fifth. This is spitting. Both the blood and lymphatic system carry waste away from the cells to the organs of elimination. The lymphatic system empties part of its load, through the right thoracic duct, into the back of the mouth, so the phlegm can be spit out. Try to do this rather than swallowing it. At a time when your body is trying so hard to cleanse itself, do not endlessly recycle phlegm!
And we can add a sixth: cell and tissue cleansing. Like the other five, drinking plenty of water and juices helps here also.
Water is the best way to cleanse the system of impurities. Apply it internally, by drinking water, diluted fruit juices, and raw fruit and vegetable juices. Apply it externally in baths and water treatments.
Drinking fluids to cleanse: In order to cleanse the blood and lymph of impurities, one has to drink fluids. This consists of water-lemon fasts or fresh fruit or vegetable juices;—never a water fast alone. Keep in mind that water alone does not cleanse as well when it is not accompanied by juice. The vitamins and minerals in the juices aid directly in the cleansing and rebuilding process.
Enemas and colonics to cleanse: During a fasting period, two daily enemas (or colonics) should be given. (Instructions on how to make a colonic apparatus are given in the back of the author's book, The Water Therapy Manual. See order sheet.) Each enema or colonic consists of plain water mixed with the juice of a lemon. Up to 3 pints should be given to the person as a matter of routine—while he is fasting.
At any other time in the healing process that he is not having proper bowel movements, he should also be given enemas or colonics. This is important. But never put soap suds in the water! You may wash the skin with soap, but do not put it in the body. Remember the basic rule: Never place poisons in the body.
Medical knowledge has it that a person does not need a bowel movement when he is not eating. Yet this is not true. During the healing process, toxic substances are being drawn from the tissues. They need to be eliminated from the body, and this cannot be fully done by the kidneys, lungs, and bathing.
(In the disease sections of this encyclopedia, various herbal enemas will be mentioned. They can be used in place of the water-lemon juice enema formula. An enema, with added catnip tea, works well for children.)
Wastes accumulated in the colon must be washed out once, twice, or even three times a day. During a fast, enemas or colonics must be used for this purpose. If this is not done, wastes are absorbed into the blood stream and carried throughout the body.
Baths to cleanse: If the person is in the healing crisis, give him a sponge bath once or twice a day while he is in bed. If he is able to do so, give him a couple showers or a tub bath each day. However, tub baths are often too taxing and may cause fainting or weakening of the one who is quite ill.
As a rule, water placed on the skin enables the skin to throw off more poisons than it would otherwise do. Yet water on the skin also has other uses:
• If a person is in a fever, you will need to cool his body with sponging or other methods.
• If he has an inflammatory condition, you will want to apply one or more water treatments.
Light exercises: When a sick person is in bed, he is obtaining the extra rest he so much needs. But a little movement is also required from time to time, to help his lymphatic elimination. The lymph only moves by muscular activity.
Encourage him to move lightly every so often. This may be simply a matter of shifting and flexing the arms and legs. If the person is on a lengthy program of overcoming a chronic disorder, he needs to taught to regularly extend, flex, and rotate each muscle every so often. This includes the arms, hands, legs, feet, abdomen, shoulders, and neck. Although this may seem complicated, it is not. It is just a matter of some simple body movements. He may do this while laying down or sitting on the edge of the bed.
Summary to this point: Let us summarize the typical regimen.
• Water-lemon fast—First comes the fast of water and lemon juice, with no sweetening. Continue this until the fever crisis (typically 1-3 days) is past. Give him as much water-lemon as he wants, as often as he wants it.
• Rotation fast-juice—If the need for a fast is longer, you may find it best to alternate it with a juice diet of fresh fruit and vegetable juices; perhaps a glass of fresh juice once a day.
• Rotation fast-light meal—If the fast is unusually long, as in the case of very chronic diseases, you may alternate it with light meals; perhaps fasting for 3 days, followed by light meals for 3 days.
Always give 1-2 enemas or colonics every day when fasting.
• Juice diet—Then comes the juice diet. If the illness is not severe, you may omit the fast and only place him on the juice diet.
Three or four times a day, a glass of fresh, raw, juice is given. It may be fruit juice or it may be vegetable juice. Or it may be a fruit-vegetable juice.
• Light meals—Next comes some solid food. Let us consider that next:
Light meals: Sometimes a light meal is given alternately with a juice diet (a day of one, followed by a day of the other, etc.)
But, when the crisis from a fever or other inflammatory illness is past, a light diet should be started. The person is now recuperating. Healing is still going on, but he definitely "is on the mend." Or perhaps he is recovering from severe arthritis, will continue receiving care for an extended period, and needs to eat light meals alternated with a juice diet.
Such foods should include some solid fruits, raw rather than cooked; raw vegetables in the form of a salad once a day; and steamed vegetables once a day. A protein food once a day may be included.
The kind of protein food will depend on the type of ailment, the age of the person, his weight, and other factors. For example, one who has hardening of the arteries should necessarily be fed a lighter protein diet than one who is suffering from a milder problem.
No meat should be given to the person who is cleansing or recovering! No junk food! No processed, white-flour, fried, greasy food! No caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, or hard drugs! And, if at all possible, no medicinal drugs! And, after he is well again, he does well not to return to such things.
It is true that eggs have blood-building properties (cf. Counsels on Diet and Foods, by Ellen White). Yet eggs, if used at all, must be used judiciously. People with a tendency to malignancy or actual malignancies must not be given any eggs. Those with skin diseases cannot handle eggs. Eggs have a sulphur-containing protein, so they cannot be given to anyone with a degenerative disease.
Meat contains a variety of substances which weaken and infect the body.
Milk has its own dangers, including contamination. Every public health officer knows that meat and milk are two of the most dangerous foods.
Yet for those who feel they need milk, it is more easily handled by those convalescing from chronic diseases than by those who are very ill. However, the very chronic types of inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, bronchitis, and sinusitis, react unfavorably to milk and milk products.
Starchy foods and sweet foods are handled much better by the chronically sick than are protein foods. The invalid needs first to have been prepared for a mixed (building-up) diet by having undergone an initial fast, followed by a juice diet. Then he will be able to properly digest starches and sugars to gradually gain body weight and energy.
What are the most easily digested starches? Two are baked potatoes and steamed brown rice. But they must be prepared without salt, butter, oil, or grease. The third is toasted bread, ideally zwieback. Zwieback ("twice-toasted" in German) is made by taking whole-grain bread; and, after it has been baked, toasting the slices in the oven until it is firm throughout. (A toaster does not do this as well.) This helps dextrinize the starch and render it more digestible. The heat converts the starch into intermediate dextrines.
The light diet includes a mixture of starchy foods and raw fruits, along with the raw vegetable juices, raw fruit juices, some palatable salads, and those raw vegetables which can be palatably chewed and enjoyed. A certain amount of fat (in the form of unhydrogenated vegetable oil) can be added to the starchy foods to make them more palatable; but this must be added, not to the cooking, but to the food on the plate as it is served.
Thousands could be helped who would follow this healing procedure of water-lemon fasting; fresh, raw, fruit and vegetable juice fasting; and the above light meals for a time.
Someone may ask, exactly how many days on this and on that? Each case may be different. Yet if you will pray for help, think, watch, and be ready to make a changeover to a different diet when the need arises, you can have success.
Pointers to keep in mind: Fasting removes cellular wastes from the skin and mucous membranes. A sufferer from the irritation and inflammation of hay fever or asthma can get great relief by a properly managed fast of 7-10 days, followed by a correct diet. (But it may require a month for the wheezing to stop and 4-6 months on this careful program for the problem to be overcome.) A deep-seated disorder, such as arthritis or inflammation of the joints, may require a longer period of fasting for relief.
Individuals with poor kidney elimination may be troubled by mild or severe symptoms of uremic poisoning during a stringent fast, because urinary wastes thrown off by the tissues are more poisonous than bowel wastes. They may irritate the kidneys or bladder. Adding colonic irrigation to the water-lemon juice intake, helps eliminate those toxins more rapidly.
It is remarkable what can be done. In the hands of a person skilled in caring for people, using these methods and obtaining the full cooperation of their patients, here are some of the things which have repeatedly been done:
• Placed on a natural healing program, a drug taker can generally stop his medicines and tobacco/alcohol users can be released from those addictions. After several days of fasting, the tobacco user loses his taste for the tobacco and the coffee drinker loses the craving for caffeine. The alcoholic can lose the craving more quickly and thoroughly by means of fasting than in any other way.
• Skin ailments of prolonged duration, such as psoriasis and other forms of eczema, have responded very well to fasting methods.
• Bronchial asthma in individuals who had been sick for over a decade, were cured by a few fasting periods, alternated with a properly chosen diet.
• The chronic disease complex, called arthritis, even when many joints are immobilized and deformed, responds well to the fasting method.
• Skin ailments of prolonged duration, such as psoriasis and other forms of eczema, have responded well to the fasting method with very good results.
• The younger the person, the quicker the healing occurs.
• There are some conditions which, through long years of abuse, are entrenched. They may require many months of care, sometimes a year. Yet any other approach would require many years of treatment with drugs, as the condition keeps getting worse.
• In some cases, diabetes mellitus requires some insulin during the fast, especially for juvenile diabetics. Short fasting periods are safer and more effective for such people. But, in most other cases, medicinal drugs are not needed on a fast.
• If a child has a cold, he should be placed on a short fast; he should not be given food "to feed the cold to death."
• Children would never have dangerous complications, such as mastoid infections or middle-ear diseases, if they were quickly placed on a short fast to stop the infection at its inception.
• Raw vegetable salads can be given, in extracted juice form, to a stomach-ulcer case. This works quite well.
• In the late stages, the fight to control cancer is difficult. The one with cancer has much to gain by body-cleansing treatments which include fasting. Early stages of the disease are marked by fatigue, weakness, and skin eruptions such as eczema and warts.
• In the late stages of cancer, the body actually shrinks. It loses weight, despite the jellos, puddings, meat, gravy, and canned fruit given to the patient in the hospitals. The cancer sufferer may lose 100-150 pounds. This occurs because the body cannot regenerate itself on ordinary food.
• If those individuals were, every day, fed 3-4 glasses of raw vegetable juice and also freshly made fruit juice, their bodies would not suffer from starvation and cachexia.
The extent of the malnutrition is so serious that, in very late stages, spontaneous fractures of various bones occur. This could have been prevented by feeding several glasses of raw vegetable juice every day.
The post-recovery diet: What should I eat after I am well again? Read the section, Maintaining Health. If you are really serious about keeping well—and not slipping back into a diseased state—then your future can be much brighter.
Fasting, as a method of preventing disease, should not be ignored. It is as important for people in good health as it is for those who have succumbed to, or been overwhelmed by, disease.
Once or twice a year, an adequately managed fast of 3-10 days can do wonders for the man or woman who has reached the age of 35 or 40. Because your body is not as filled with morbid wastes, you will feel more comfortable while on the fast than will a person who is sick.
Fasting once or twice a year is a powerful tool to help the body cleanse itself of accumulated wastes. Fatigue, constipation, premature aging, and sclerotic changes of the arteries, nerves, and heart could be prevented by occasional fasting periods, followed by correct dietary programs. Everyone over 35 should do this.
But if you are very thin, it is best to have not more than 3 fasts a year, with only 3 days on each fast. Some individuals do best by skipping only a single meal and going to bed during that time.
If properly done, tumors, in their early degenerative condition, may be reabsorbed by bodily reconstructive changes; chronic ear, nose, and throat conditions can be cleared up.
Remember to always take enemas during a fast. Follow the instructions given elsewhere.
SIX TILDEN FORMULAS
We are here dealing with a subject which is not commonplace to many people. All that some know is drugging, tubes, and surgery. So it would be well to amplify on the above Tilden principles by giving several examples of how he used them in giving his treatments. (Cross references to these examples are in the main disease sections of this encyclopedia.)
COMMON COLD
Put the person, whether an adult or young child, to bed right away. Do not feed a cold. Give an enema. Purgative or laxative may take as long as 10 hours before the cleansing effects occur, but an enema will do it in just 10 minutes. During that 10 hours, much toxic absorption from the bowels into the bloodstream can take place.
Follow the enema with a heat application of one or two heating pads or an electric blanket, to warm up the body parts which are chilled. Cold feet and hands are often found in people with a "head cold." They need to be warmed up quickly. This removes excessive amounts of blood from the congested head and chest areas. Turn the heat down only to the degree that the limbs become warmed.
Give him some fruit juice with water (half a grapefruit in half a glass of cold water or juice of half a lemon in half a glass of cold or hot water, unsweetened). Do not give food, milk, coffee, regular tea, etc. The body cannot properly digest even good food, much less junk food, while fighting an infectious inflammation. One to 3 days on lemon juice and/or grapefruit juice and water is quite safe.
Give only fruit juice and water until the nose has ceased to discharge watery or thick material. Keep him in bed and quiet.
If a headache is present, place a cold moist towel or icebag on the forehead or on top of the head. When the headache is caused by congestion and nerve strain, it will clear up quickly without any medicines if the person is allowed to rest quietly in bed, even if he cannot sleep.
Convalescing from a cold requires one week, possibly two, to properly build up strength to resist a future cold. Why so long? Because the whole body is being cleaned out. This is, in reality, a wonderful process. Let it work itself out properly, and your life will be more pleasant, freer from later crippling disease, and you will live longer. If you try to stop the process too early, especially by taking drugs, then the problem has been stifled, not eliminated—and years later more serious diseases will result.
Diet during this recovery period will depend on the person's weight and appetite. It is always safe to give a raw fruit diet for several days: lemonade, sweetened with honey and fresh, raw, fruits for breakfast, dinner, and supper.
After 3 days on a fruit diet, the noon and evening meal may include steamed vegetables and a small raw salad with some almonds or pecans or a baked potato. Chew it well.
By this time, the bowels should be moving normally and enemas are no longer needed. The cold will have been eliminated without the use of drugs.
ASTHMA
Using the Tilden method, the wheezing may be relieved within 4 weeks, but the complete problem will not be eliminated for 2-6 months or more. Asthma tends to be entrenched, and it takes time before it is eliminated.
Breakfast: Juices of two fruits and some solid fruit, for which there is an appetite. The fruit juices are diluted with hot or cold water. A small amount of honey may be added to diluted lemon or orange juice. Asthmatics can eat fresh or stewed fruits, but only in small portions. Cooked fruit must not be sweetened with sugar. Half of the above breakfast is eaten first thing in the morning and the other half in mid-morning.
Lunch: a raw salad is given about noon, as much as he has an appetite for. This salad may be 1/6th of an average head of lettuce, a grated raw carrot, 1/4th of a pear or avocado, some raw celery, and a little orange juice to season it all. No oil or cream dressing. In addition, 2 steamed vegetables (1 green and 1 yellow) may be given instead of bread. No crackers, milk, or cake.
Rest and sleep after this meal, for 2 hours until he is well.
3 or 4 p.m.: Fruit and fruit juice, same as at breakfast.
Supper: An early supper, same as lunch.
No food before bedtime.
No social life, except for a radio by the bed for the first 6 months.
PERNICIOUS ANEMIA
Here is a sample case; remember that the care and diet can vary according to the individual. This person had a good digestive system, did not have a healing crisis, and needed to solve an ongoing problem. So a fuller diet was given to him.
He was given a fresh glass of grapefruit juice first thing in the morning. An hour later, breakfast of fresh, raw, fruits in season. It consisted of 2-3 kinds of fruit, and he was told to eat one kind only every hour. In addition to the fruit, he was also given a glass of freshly made raw vegetable juice consisting of celery (leaves and stalks), beet tops, raw carrot, lettuce and parsley, and some almonds (to be chewed slowly and well), 2 slices of whole-wheat bread and a little vegetable oil on the bread. He was told to eat the nuts and fruit at one time and the bread and some sweeter fruit an hour or two hours after the nuts. Thus his breakfast was divided into 2-3 periods. In his case, he needed to build his blood.
Noon meal: One glass of raw vegetable juice (same as for breakfast); raw salad materials to chew; 2 green, average-portion, slightly steamed vegetables, lentils, and a few almonds (to be chewed well).
Mid-afternoon: Glass of freshly made orange juice and glass of raw vegetable juice.
Evening meal: some almonds (chewed slowly and well), raw green salad (lettuce, cucumber, celery), 2 servings of steamed vegetables (1 yellow and 1 green), and raw fruit for dessert.
No drugs of any kind, liver, or liver extract were given. The patient was given showers or sponge baths instead of tub baths which are more debilitating. He was given enemas when the bowels did not move naturally.
After the first 3 weeks of treatment, instead of the nuts at noon, the patient was given a baked potato twice a week with the noon meal, alternating with brown rice or buckwheat once or twice a week.
Because eggs are needed to build up the blood, his breakfast was modified to include 2 eggs every morning. But the evening meal remained the same.
After 5 weeks, he was strong enough to take his own tub bath and walk around outside.
DIABETES
Here are some helpful hints for treating this condition: Raw, fresh, vegetables are the safest foods for the diabetic. Salads, freshly made of raw cabbage, lettuce, celery, radishes, and tomatoes, seasoned only with lemon juice. Do not give him cooked vegetables, meats, bread, etc. He should eat raw salads for breakfast, dinner, and supper.
Raw fruits which are low in sugar can also be used. This would include grapefruits, apples that are not too sweet, peaches, and pears. The sub-acid and acid fruits help burn up excess sugar from the blood and tissues. The raw salads provide alkaline mineral ash, which tends to soak up cellular wastes, and help prevent diabetic gangrene and other complications.
Feeding him a breakfast of sour fruits, such as slightly diluted lemon juice, grapefruit, and raw apple helps reduce sugar in the blood and urine to an impressive degree. Before insulin was discovered, Dr. Da Costa used lemon juice as a medicine to oxidize excess blood sugar in the body of the diabetic. This is still very useful. The diabetic relishes pure lemon juice. And it quenches thirst very well, because it burns up excess blood sugar without causing insulin shock.
Fasting is very helpful in treating diabetes. It is given alternately with raw salad and raw fruit feeding. During the fast, only give slightly diluted lemon juice. The juice of 4 lemons is placed in a glass, then filled with water. The diabetic takes this as often he can, without forcing. (Remember not to "chew" lemon juice; swallow it, so as not to injure the teeth.)
Two enemas are given each day (2-3 pints water, plus juice of a lemon).
When he is ready for food other than raw fruits or vegetables, give him slightly cooked leafy green vegetables, without seasoning.
Be very careful about giving him any fats, because he cannot metabolize fat as a normal person can. In him, fats break down in the blood into more severe poisons than excess sugar. Many diabetics are overweight. But if the one you are working with is thin, you must still give him some oil, but only a small amount. Give him a little avocado.
For proteins, give him a few nuts.
Starchy foods must be used in great moderation by diabetics, especially the young, but also older folk. But young people, participating in energy-consuming activities, must have some starch.
Insulin may be needed, especially for juvenile diabetics. But, on this diet, they will require small amounts of insulin. (The less insulin taken, the less likelihood of complications or blindness in later years.) It is much easier to regulate older diabetics without having to give them insulin.
TONSILLITIS
Inflamed and infected tonsils can be treated by putting the patient to bed and keeping him there, on a diet of oranges, grapefruits, fresh raw pineapples, and two raw vegetable salads per day. (Anyone, child or adult, can live on such a diet while resting in bed quietly for a month to six weeks.) Within a relatively short time, the tonsillitis problem will be gone. Such a treatment is superior to surgery for diseased tonsils. The bowels must be evacuated twice a day, using enemas if necessary.
ALCOHOLISM
The food intake during the first three days consists of freshly made orange juice, grapefruit juice, and lemonade (the latter sweetened with a little honey). These are given to the person at 2-hour intervals. At his beside is always one or two glasses of fruit juice with an ice cube or two in it. Cold drinks are not only soothing, but also a good substitute to satisfy the craving for liquor.
The bowels are cleansed once or twice a day with an enema or colonic.
After 3 days on this program, a building program is begun. By this time, there will be a good appetite for a full breakfast: a slice of toast, a small dish of cereal with almond nut milk on it. Fresh fruit is kept by the bedside, to be eaten whenever desired.
For lunch, a steamed vegetable, baked potato or rice, and a glass of raw vegetable juice.
In the evening, a raw salad, sprinkled with ground nuts (or a small handful is given to be chewed well), steamed vegetables, and a glass of fresh fruit juice.
In concluding this brief overview of one of the giants of 19th and early 20th century natural healing, it is intriguing to note that Trall, Jackson, Kellogg, or Tilden never used vitamin/mineral supplements. Their nutritional importance was only beginning to be discovered during Kellogg's and Tilden's last years. Nor did those men work much with herbs. Nearly all their remarkable healing work was done with fasting, simple diet, rest, and water therapy.
Therefore, with the additional nutritional information available today (and much of it is included in this encyclopedia), we should all the more easily be able to resist and overcome disease.
But the counterpoint fact is that, today, we have far more poisons in the air, water, soil, plants, processed foods, and animal kingdom than they had back then. In addition, far too many of us pay for high-priced poisons which we regularly take for our many ailments, brought on by the other poisons in our environment and food.
There is no doubt that we need all the help we can get. So, when we become ill, let us not swallow or inject an additional load of toxic substances.
THE KELLOGG FORMULAS
In 1866 the Battle Creek Sanitarium opened its doors; and, in 1875, it was placed under the directorship of John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. He was one of the foremost natural healing experts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Many of his multiple treatments for disease are given in this encyclopedia, and are identified as "Kellogg Formulas," both in the index and at the beginning of each article.
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