Frederic Patenaude's Blog, page 41
June 11, 2012
The Mistakes of Natural Hygiene: Part 3: Fruitarianism
Have you missed the first two parts of this series? You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.
One of the key concepts of natural hygiene, almost universally embraced by all of its pundits, is the fruit-based diet. Some hygienists have taken this idea to its seemingly logical conclusion by promoting fruitarianism — a diet of ONLY fruits, or something very close to it. While I agree with the former group, this article is about the mistake of the latter.
Fruitarianism: a Short History
Early hygienists like Silvester Graham and Dr. Kellogg mainly focused on the restorative properties of a healthy diet and an overall “clean lifestyle.” Other hygienists, such as Edward Hooker Dewey (who innovated with his no-breakfast plan) and Dr. Isaak Jennings (who can be credited for inventing modern fasting), mainly focused on fasting. Some of these hygienists were pure vegetarians while others were not. Most of them did not recommend a fruit based diet, probably because such a diet was not really possible at that time due to the infrequent supply of fresh fruit year round to the United States in the last century.
Dr. Shelton was the man who did the synthesis of all these hygienic theories and came up with the term “Natural Hygiene.”
Shelton not only promoted fasting and natural living, like his predecessors, but took the diet further by eliminating grains and replacing them with fruit. The famous “ideal” Shelton diet consisted of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds — a common sequence of ingredients that has been used ever since by raw vegans to describe their diets. Although Shelton made some concessions and even used fermented dairy products at times, he was adamant that all grain products (like bread or rice) should be avoided and fruit should be the basis of the diet instead.
Shelton did not come up with that idea on his own. The concept of fruitarianism probably came from Dr. Emmet Densmore, an English doctor who published in 1890 a book called “The Natural Food of Man.”
Densmore drew on the knowledge of previous, now forgotten doctors — proving that fruitarianism has a concept has a long history.
Densmore was a sick man, and could not find relief to his lingering lumbago problems in a pure vegetarian diet. So he adopted a diet of fruits, nuts, milk, eggs, and cheese.
The book mostly contains rather anecdotal evidence on the harm of grain products, as evidenced by some of the quotes I pulled out below from the book.
“If cereals are so difficult to digest that they must not be used in illness, it will surely be a good idea to see how a non-starch diet will work after recovery.
It is quite true that many individuals reach middle life habitually using bread and cereals, and in apparent good health; but the race must be run before anything is proven. In my childhood I knew a neighbouring farmer who used to make daily trips, in the severely cold winters of northern Pennsylvania, to a village a half-dozen miles away, without any coat and without other clothing than the shirt he wore in summer time.
The team which he drove hauled heavy loads of wood, and this necessitated a slow pace, and the teamster followed at a slow walk. He laughed at the foolishness of his neighbours who coddled themselves in coats; and, strangely enough, he got on for years in seeming good health. Ultimately he lost his health, and died in middle life; but, while in seeming vigour, his case was no proof that his habit was not injurious; it was proof only that the powers of his system were able for a time to overcome, and not at once die from exposure.
All farmers and horsemen are aware that, while their horses are kept the year round in a stable, and fed largely on dried grains and dried grass, they are very liable to be constipated; but it is also quite universally known that as the same horses are turned out to grass, in fact as soon as they are put upon their natural food, the constipation vanishes.”
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Ultimately, Densmore was famous for publishing the following table, which has been used, often without credits, by many natural hygienists since.
Comparative Anatomy. The Anatomical Differences Between Flesh-Eating And Fruit-Eating Animals
The Carnivora.
The Anthropoid Ape.
Man.
The Omnivora.
Zonary Placenta.
Discoidal placenta.
Discoidal placenta.
Non-deciduate placenta.
Four-footed.
Two hands and two feet.
Two hands and two feet.
Four-footed.
Have claws.
Flat nails.
Flat nails.
Have hoofs.
Go on all fours.
Walks upright.
Walks upright.
Go on all fours.
Have tails.
Without tails.
Without tails.
Have tails.
look sideways.
Eyes look forward.
Eyes look forward.
Eyes look sideways.
Skin without pores.
Millions of pores.
Millions of pores.
Skin with pores.
Slightly developed incisor teeth.
Well-developed incisor teeth.
Well-developed incisor teeth.
Very well-developed incisor teeth.
Pointed molar teeth.
Blunt molar teeth.
Blunt molar teeth.
Molar teeth in folds.
Dental formula:
Dental formula:
Dental formula:
Dental formula:
*5to8.1.6.1.5to8.
5.1.4.1.5.
5.1.4.1.5.
8.1.2103.1.8.
5to8.1.6.1.5to8.
5.1.4.1.5.
5.1.4.1.5.
8.1.2t03.1.8.
Small salivary glands.
Well-developed salivary glands.
Well-developed salivary glands.
Well-developed salivary glands.
Acid reaction of saliva and urine.
Alkaline reaction saliva and urine.
Alkaline reaction saliva and urine.
Saliva and urine acid.
Rasping tongue.
Smooth tongue.
Smooth tongue.
Smooth tongue.
Teats on abdomen.
Mammary glands on breast.
Mammary glands on breast.
Teats on abdomen.
Stomach simple and roundish.
Stomach with duodenum(as second stomach).
Stomach with duodenum(as second stomach).
Stomach simple and roundish, large cul-de-sac.
Intestinal canal 3 times length of the body.
Intestinal canal 12 times length of the body.
Intestinal canal 12 times length of the body.
Intestinal canal 10 times length of the body.
Colon smooth.
Colon Convoluted.
Colon convoluted.
Intestinal canal smooth and convoluted.
Lives on flesh.
Lives on fruit.
Homo sapiens vegetus -Lives on fruit.
Live on flesh, carrion, and plants.
* In this formula the figures in the centre represent the number of incisors; upon each side are the canines, followed to the right and left by the molars.
“Man is neither carnivorous nor herbivorous. He has neither the teeth of the cud-chewers, nor their four stomachs, nor their intestines. If we consider these organs in man, we must conclude him to be by nature and origin, frugi-vorous, as is the ape.”
Fruitarianism Spread
In one of his books, Shelton reproduced the table by Dr. Densmore and presented his case for a fruit-based diet, using somewhat more scientific arguments. Mainly, he argued that man is not designed by nature to live on a grain-based diet, as evidenced by his anatomy and physiology.
Grains are generally acid-forming, and their consumption only as old as agriculture itself. Before that, man lived on a fruitarian diet, in a sort of “Garden of Eden.”
Although Shelton admitted that it was possible to live on fruit and nuts alone, provided you could find foods of good quality, he never promoted a pure fruitarian diet as a diet plan for life.
Instead, Shelton insistent on the importance of eating a large salad every day.
The concept of a fruit-based diet, however, became increasingly popular over the years. Most of the Natural Hygiene movement embraced it.
After a few decades, some students of Shelton wanted to improve on Shelton’s diet, complaining that his diet was too difficult to follow.
My early mentor, Albert Mosséri, discovered that most people could not digest the 4-5 ounces of nuts that Shelton recommended to eat every day. So he dropped the nuts out of the diet, became less strict about a pure raw food diet, and instead recommended a diet of fruits and vegetables (raw or cooked). This nut-free version of Shelton’s fruit-based diet gave better results and was surprisingly easier to follow.
T.C. Fry’s Fruitarian Diet
The person who took over as the voice of Natural Hygiene after Shelton’s forced retirement through Parkinson’s disease (and eventual death) was T.C. Fry.
Fry not only wanted to eliminate nuts out of the diet, but also all greens! He started out with Shelton’s diet, but eventually refined it to the point where he eventually believed and promoted a pure fruitarian diet.
In Fry’s pure fruitarian diet, he also included some vegetables that are technically fruit, botanically speaking (like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers).
T.C. Fry’s arguments in favor of a fruitarian diet can be summarized as follows:
* Humans are physiologically fruitarians. Every animal has a natural food and our natural food is fruit.
* The idea that “more is better” is a fundamental flaw of modern nutrition. It’s not necessary to eat a “large salad everyday” to meet our nutritional needs.
* Fruits contain more vitamins and minerals than we could possibly need. We don’t need vegetables.
* Vegetables, especially some greens, contain some toxic substances that can be identified by their bitter taste.
Even though Fry’s arguments were flimsy, and that his diet was so unsustainable that he could not even follow it himself (as evidenced by many reports that came out after his death) he nonetheless convinced a lot of people to go fruitarian.
The fruitarian diet was mostly a failure, because most people simply could not stick to it. But a few determined people managed to summon enough willpower to do it, and many of those individuals ended up with serious health problems. T.C. Fry himself diet at the age of 69 after a series of mysterious illnesses. His diet also was severely deficient in vitamin B12 and he did not supplement.
The Main Fruitarian Argument Demolished by Modern Anthropology
It’s not possible to promote a pure fruitarian diet based on nutritional facts alone. We know enough about nutrition today to ascertain that fruits generally don’t contain enough minerals to sustain a healthy life in most people.
That’s why all modern fruitarians recommend eating large quantities of greens everyday to compensate for what’s missing in fruit.
But there’s one argument that still captures the imagination of wannabe fruitarians: the concept of humans as fruitarian creatures, who once lived on a diet of fruit.
When we look at modern Apes like the Chimpanzee, we find that the more genetically related the ape is to humans, the more fruit it eats. For example, gorillas, which are not that close to humans, eat mostly vegetables, while chimps prefer fruit.
Chimpanzees (and especially bonobos) live in the wild on a fruit based diet, although they also include other food items such as ants, vegetation, and sometimes meat.
However, fruit is by far their favorite food and they would probably eat it exclusively if they could get their hands on a plentiful, quality year-long supply.
Because we share a lot of genes with Chimpanzees (we’re told it’s close to 96%), it’s easy to think of humans as “more evolved chimps.”
The temptation is to think that we could go back in time, millions of years ago, to find a band of humans living in their original diet of perfect fruit, and think that we’ve somehow lost our way since then by adopting a modern diet.
Most people think of evolution as a ladder, which in their minds looks like this:
Chimpanzee ===> Neanderthal Men ===> Humans
In reality, evolution is more like a tree with branches going out in all directions!
We did NOT evolve from Chimpanzee. Rather, humans AND chimpanzee both share a common ancestor. According to modern findings, that was about 6 million years ago.
Evolution looks more like this:
Pre-human ancestors ====> Modern Apes
====> Extinct Humanoid Races
====> Modern Humans
That is a rather rough way of explaining it, but the bottom line is we have been humans properly for only 200,000 years.
Before that, there were many different types of human ancestors, some which would look similar to us. We evolved from some of them, and the rest died off.
Modern apes are fairly ancient creatures that have NOT significantly evolved for millions of years.
*But here’s the kicker: as long as humans have been “humans,” we’ve never actually lived on a fruitarian diet, or anything close to it.
Work by anthropologist Nathaniel Dominy shows that humans have mostly evolved as humans consuming fairly large quantities of starchy foods, such as large tubers that are no longer cultivated today in most parts of the world.
We’ve actually adapted to this diet, so that our ability to digest starch is MUCH better than that of a chimpanzee.
However, we still come from a line of creatures that were definitely fruitarians, such as the same ancestors we share with modern apes, as well as many creatures that came after.
In other words:
You could not go back in time and find a tribe of ancient humans living on a pure fruitarian diets. Instead, you’d have to go back so far that the creatures you’d encounter could no longer be qualified as “homo sapiens.”
The concept of man as a fruitarian creature that once lived in the Garden of Eden is just a myth.
Our Fruitarian FrameworkThere’s no doubt that our digestive tract is very similar to that of other fruitarian creatures, like the chimpanzee. But it is not exactly the same. For example:
* Humans produce several times the amount of amylase, a starch-digesting enzyme produced in the saliva.
* Chimpanzees can consume fruits that would be impossible for humans to digest. These fruits are way too astringent or sour for most people to eat. If humans tried to live on the wild chimpanzee diet, they would suffer from a permanent case of indigestion.
Yet, there’s no denying that we evolved from fruitarian creatures. That’s at least one argument in favor of eating more fruit, but not in favor of a pure fruitarian diet.
As I explained in my last article, there are many reasons to eat more fruit. However, no convincing argument can justify a pure fruitarian diet for everyone.
May 29, 2012
10 Good Reasons to Eat More Fruit
A few weeks ago I came back from a trip to Hawaii. I hadn’t taken a real vacation in a long time, so this was something I really needed. When I left to Hawaii, it was the end of April and the weather was still fairly miserable in Canada.
My wife and I arrived in Honolulu on a bright sunny day and we were greeted at the airport by my good friend Shelli, an awesome personal trainer I first met in San Diego almost 15 years ago.
Shelli brought us some pineapples and papayas so we would have something to eat right away until we could shop the next day. When I got to the hotel, I proceeded to devour an entire pineapple! I was so thirsty from flying that I needed something juicy.
In my entire time in Hawaii, I ate on average one pineapple a day. I brutalized my tongue with an onslaught of the delicious acid fruit, but fortunately Hawaii pineapples were ripe and not too acidic. I also did not eat them all at once but throughout the day.
This, of course, was in addition to all the other fruit I ate when I was there!
When I’m in the tropics, I find it easy to eat massive quantities of juicy fruits. When I’m in a colder climate, I crave heavier fruits, like bananas, and also temperate climate fruits, like apples, pears and cherries.
I’ve been eating fruit in massive quantities since 1997 and I believe it’s only helped my health. All the health troubles I suffered in my years as a pure raw foodist were not caused by eating fruit, but rather by eating:
- Too much fat
– Too much dried fruit
– Oil
– Complicated raw food recipes
– Insufficient quantities of fruit
15 years later, my diet consists mostly of carbohydrates like fruit. My teeth are doing great (no cavities), I’m getting in better shape every year, and fruit is still the food that I love the most — as long as it’s ripe and delicious.
To all the naysayers that say fruit is evil, fruit is bad for you… consider these 10 good reasons to eat more fruit:
Fruit is the best carbohydrate — The human being is meant to live primarily on a diet of carbohydrates. That’s what all long-lived populations in the world eat, such as the Okinawans in Japan (sweet potatoes), the Costa Ricans of the Nicoya Pininsula (corn tortillas, beans, rice and fruit), the healthier Asian populations (rice), the Hunzas (fruit), and the best athletes in the world. Fruit is the best carbohydrate food because it is alkaline forming (grains are slightly acid-forming, and animal foods are very acid forming). It’s rich in vitamins and minerals and packed with nutrients.
Fruit doesn’t require any seasonings — Fruit is probably the only food that people love to eat in its natural state without any seasonings. It’s perfect on its own. Who wants to add salt and pepper to a papaya? A pineapple doesn’t need any dressing, and a banana is perfect as it is.
Fruit is low in sodium — Fruit is naturally low in sodium and because it doesn’t require any seasonings, eating more fruit will help you lower the overall sodium content in your diet. The more calories you get from fruit, the less sodium-rich your diet will be. This will in turn lower your blood pressure and keep you healthier.
Fruit is low on the glycemic index — It’s a myth to think that fruit quickly raises blood sugar. In reality, fruit is low on the glycemic index. While a piece of white bread has a glycemic index of 95 (high), a banana is 54 (low), a peach is 42 (low), and grapes are 46 (low). Only a few fruits, such as dates, have a high glycemic index (103 for dates). The reason why fruit is so low on the glycemic index is that fruit contains a combination of sugars: fructose, sucrose and glucose. Each sugar is assimilated at a different rate. Fruit also contains plenty of fiber, which slows down the assimilation of sugar. In this sense, fruit is the perfect energy food. It contains some sugar that is assimilated immediately, giving you instant energy, and some that are assimilated slowly, giving you long-term energy.
Fruit is hydrating — Fruit is so full of water that it’s not only a food in itself. It’s a drink! Many fruits are over 90% water.
Fruit is fast food — Fruit can be easy and quick to eat. What could be easier than peeling a mango and eating it? Or biting on a ripe peach? Almost all fruits are conveniently packed, wrapped in their own mother-nature containers we call peels, and ready to be consumed. There are a few exceptions though, such as the spiky durian, or the giant jackfruit, whose skin is full of a sticky substance similar to glue!
Most long-lived cultures eat fruit — The Hunzas, who for a while were reputed to be some of the longest-lived people in the world, probably ate more fruit than most cultures in the world. Although fruit can be a delicacy in many cultures, most long-lived cultures in the world today and long-lived people anywhere typically eat a lot of fruit. For each centenarian we can find that smokes constantly and eats a junk food diet, you’ll find many more that eat plenty of fruit.
Fruit is packed with antioxidants — Fruit is packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants — so much that many companies are trying to concentrate this goodness into expensive fruit juices and pills. Almost all of the anti-aging compounds that are the most effective are found in fruit. Think of the reputed richness of antioxidants in blueberries, pomegranate juice, açaí berries, and the tropical mangosteen. Colored fruits are almost always packed with healthy compounds we are only beginning now to research and understand.
Fruit keeps you lean — Fruit is the perfect weight loss food. Just eat a large apple before any meal, and it will fill you up and prevent you from overeating at the table. Fruit is filling because it’s filled with fiber and water, yet it is low in calories. Fruit, on average, contains 250 calories per pound. On the other hand, bread contains 1200, starches are 500, and nuts are 2800! Only vegetables have a lower caloric density than fruit. That means you can fill up on fruit and be certain to never get fat!
Fruit Makes You Beautiful — David Wolfe, who published my first book The Sunfood Cuisine, used to say that beautiful people eat a lot of fruit. Research has shown that certain compounds in fruits and vegetables, like carotenoids, help the skin look more vibrant and beautiful. One research even showed that people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables are considered more attractive because the carotenoids gives the skin a healthy natural “tan” look. (http://www.psypost.org/2011/01/carotenoids-attractive-skin-tone-3547). Just make sure you don’t drink too much carrot juice though, otherwise your skin might turn orange!
You don’t have to become a fruitarian to get the benefits of fruit. Start eating more fruit today, beginning with your favorite one! My favorites include pineapple, white peaches, Hawaiian papaya, Rainier cherries, just to name a few.
What about you?
May 23, 2012
Questions and Answers on the Raw Food Diet: Does Fruit Sugar Make You Look Old?
Here are answers to some of the questions I’ve received lately.
Loose Stools on a Raw Food Diet
QUESTION: I, and a number of my friends have made an effort to use much more raw food in our vegetarian diet. But there is a serious problem that I have not see mentioned or dealt with before. When eating more raw foods, I and most of the people I know have had a BIG PROBLEM with VERY LOOSE STOOLS – which has stopped after eating less raw food. None of these people have a medical problem. This problem has persisted over time. Dave
ANSWER: Before I answer your question, I would like to ponder why big or loose stools would be a problem in and of themselves? In general we tend to compare our health to an artificial norm. Our health can be outrageously good but because it differs so much from the norm, we may start to see it as bad. “Abnormal” may simply mean “outside the norm.”
In the case of digestion, it’s a simple fact that if you get most of your calories from fruits and vegetables you’re going to be ingesting a tremendous amount of soluble and insoluble fiber. On top of that, fruits and vegetables are full of water.
Our digestion is also affected by our previous diet. So when you embark on a mostly or completely raw diet, it’s pretty normal to see a significant difference in your stool composition. Loose stools are not necessarily a problem — they can be simply a sign that you’re eating a very large amount of fiber.
Compact and almost dehydrated stools are the norm in a diet that is almost devoid of water and fiber. A raw food diet is very different.
People that are prone to constipation may find themselves to have normal or “average” stools when eating this way. Other people, more prone to diarrhea, may have more loose stools.
I’ve pondered this question for a long time and I’ve come to the conclusion that as long as other signs of health are there and that your overall digestion is good, stool composition is not much of an issue. It also takes some time for your body to adjust to a new diet.
People eating a raw food diet also tend to have more bowel movements and constipation goes away completely. Going to the bathroom for number one or number two takes almost the same time — as digestion is efficient and there are no dry stools to pass.
Another possible cause for loose stools is insufficient quantities of vegetables in the diet. Fruit contains mostly soluble fiber (meaning that the fiber is “soluble” in water, forming a gel-like substance). Soluble fiber tends to be passed quickly during digestion. Vegetables, like greens, contain more insoluble fiber. This type of fiber passes through the stools close to its original form. Therefore it can help form more “normal” looking stools and slow down your digestion a bit. A combination of fruits and vegetables is best for health.
Should I Replace Oats with Legumes?
QUESTION: Hello Fred, I’m Sam, I’m a guy from London, UK.. Firstly, I am in transition to becoming a raw ( vast majority) vegan, I’m already a vegan and since I’m 18, I believe the benefits are greater if started at a young age!. Well, I am doing extremely well…However, I have been eating oats for my last meal of the day and this is playing on the back of my mind but I feel I must have a shelf stable plant food always available and I am still in transition which I’m sure you understand the mental barriers. I do not eat any junk what so ever only wholefoods…but I am considering moving from oats ( grains ) to legumes, but would like your views on whether this would be of better benefit…it just seems more right in my mind for some reason. So if you could give me your view, I’d greatly appreciate it!
ANSWER: I do not see the consumption of oats as a big problem. Oat (such as steel-cut oatmeal) is quite nutritious and easily digestible to most people. Especially for someone of your age, it may be difficult to get all of your calories from just raw food. If your current program works for you, I would keep it up for a while. There is no rush to go 100% raw right away.
Legumes are in a completely different category as oats. Legumes are rich in protein, should never be eaten raw (as they can be poisonous that way), and in general most people should not eat more than 1 cup of day, if they eat them, because of the protein content. Oatmeal, on the other hand, is a source of calories. If you find that your current program works for you, keep it up. If overtime you find that cutting down the oats gives you better result, you’ll have to add extra fruit calories to make it work.
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Did Meat Make Us Smarter?
QUESTION: Hello. I’m an avid follower and would appreciate your opinion and assistance. I am a raw foodist and recently was learning under Eric Rivkin and am considered a “raw foodist” however I just say I eat a whole foods, plant based diet. Question – without going into much detail -: my 25 yr old nephew was starting to eat a more plant based diet, with shakes/green smoothies and greens and really feeling more healthy, etc. but recently watched a movie as cited above, re cooked meat made us “smarter”. He feels the evidence of eating cooked foods are more “believable” and make more sense than the argument of “raw” foods. Unfortunately, I can not open the movie (yet) to watch it, and want to know if you have heard of it and have any points that could help me to defend a plant based diet is better than an all meat diet. Have you heard of this movie? Any musings you could offer would be appreciated.
ANSWER: The author you’re referring to is Richard Wrangham, who wrote the book “Catching Fire.” I wrote a post on the topic at: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/blog/?p=283
Bottom line: cooked foods undeniably played a huge part in human evolution and may explain better how the human brain developed. However, in our modern world, we have the opposite problem: calories are too easily available. That’s why raw foods work as they are low in calories. In a survival situation, there’s no doubt that a “raw food tribe” would not have thrived for very long as opposed to a “cooked food tribe,” because cooked foods make it a lot easier to get more calories from foods that can be kept a long time. So it’s very doubtful that humans ever lived on a pure raw food diet.
However, in the modern world, raw foodists can thrive because we have access to a year-long supply of fruits and vegetables imported from all over the world.
Physical Appearance of Raw Food Authors
QUESTION:
I am interested in giving Frederic’s raw diet a try, but I was concerned when I saw him interviewing Dr. Douglas Graham on YouTube.
This dr. has been raw for over 30 years so I would have thought he would look more vibrant. I found out he is 58 but I really would have guessed him to be older. I have seen many people who are that age who look younger and healthier than him even though they are not raw foodists, vegans, or even vegetarians. I am a vegan and as I mentioned am considering trying raw foods, but now I am discouraged after seeing how this Dr Graham does not have any kind of healthy vibrancy to his appearance. I wonder if this is what too much sugar does. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks, Mary
ANSWER: It’s easy to criticize someone’s appearance because they look different than our image of perfect health. Everybody ages slightly differently. Some factors that will affect your appearance when aging are:
- Genes determining hair loss or the appearance of white hair
– Lifetime exposure to sunshine which may age the skin faster
– Overall genetics
Some people may appear very healthy in appearance but are completely unhealthy under the surface. To give you an example, my own father died last year at almost 64 of a sudden heart attack. He had a full head of hair and very few gray hair for his age. I don’t seem to have inherited from that gene as I had more gray hair than him! But in spite of his appearance that made him look perhaps a decade younger, he was extremely unhealthy and died without a warning sign.
The problem is really that our culture is obsessed with youth. In fact, it’s probably one of the defining factors of the last few decades in the Western world. We judge people based on their youthful appearance and we value youthful beauty above any other factor.
In the case of Dr. Graham, I personally think he looks quite good for his age. Maybe my criteria are different, but I can confirm from having spent a lot of time with him that he’s extremely physically fit and in fact in much better shape than most people 30 years younger than him!
It’s important to look beyond the surface in order to find out what true health is.
Fructose Malabsorption
QUESTION: I have recently bought several products from Frederic and really liked his information and recipes! However, I found that I often have indigestion, particularly from certain fruits high in fructose. My doctor says I may have fructose malabsorption and has recommended not to eat any fruit for some time to ease my symptoms and then gradually include small amounts again. Since then I have been eating mostly raw or steamed vegetables and small amounts of cooked whole grains to keep my energy up. I wonder whether Frederic has already made any suggestions to people with this condition (apparently it is quite common with something like 30% of people having fructose malabsorption). I don’t want to eat fat and I don’t get enough calories from just vegetables. I can eat half a cup of blueberries and one banana a day, otherwise I get stomach ache and intestinal cramps and really bad gas.
ANSWER: Fructose malabsorption may be a real condition but I think the term is thrown out there without much evidence. I recommend to follow a raw food diet that is nutritionally sound. This may not be a 100% raw food diet. The diet I recommend is also not completely fat-free. Make sure to include SOME fat in your diet, such as a few ounces of nuts per week. Bad digestion can have multiple causes and may not automatically mean fructose malabsorption. However, if someone truly suffers from fructose malabsorption then it is not possible to eat a raw food diet, because without fruit a raw food diet cannot be healthy. However, in my 15 years of experience I’ve never met such a person and I think the term should only be used if one has enough diagnosis tools to prove it.
Do I stand by The Raw Secrets?
QUESTION: Hello Frederic. I read your ebook recently” raw secrets”, do you still stand by what you wrote in that book today? you said we eat way too much oils/fats and protein and now you are positive on Amazon about the book Brandon Frazier wrote where he uses a lot of protein powders and oils/fats? how come? If you changed your mind of got new insight, please feel free to share…
ANSWER: I wrote a long essay on things that I have changed since my book The Raw Secrets was published in 2002. This will be released in a future book coming out this year. However, my brief answer to this is that I stand by most of what I wrote in Raw Secrets. The only difference is my sense of proportions and priorities. For example, in Raw Secrets I strongly came out against all seasonings such as garlic and onion. Now, although I still think it’s more optimal to eat your food bland (for health), I don’t think that using some seasonings is such a big deal.
May 3, 2012
How to Get Fit Without Quitting
Before I get started with today’s ezine, I need to apologize about something first.
Last Tuesday, I was traveling from Hawaii to Vancouver and I sent out my last ezine with my friend Roger Haeske’s article on fitness. I gave you a coupon code for his program to save $20, but unfortunately I gave you the wrong link so the coupon code didn’t work on the page I sent you.
Roger sells his Lighting Speed Fitness program on a number of websites, and I got confused and sent you to the wrong page where the coupon didn’t work.
I’m really sorry about the mistake!
Night flights and sending ezines don’t seem to mix well together for me…
The good news is I managed to fix the issue and talked to Roger, who’s agreed to extend the promo. So here’s the revised information:
———–
Check out his website where he’s set up special for his Lightning Speed Program, just for my readers, at:
Use coupon code: LSFPCOUPON
Normal price is $47 and Roger has dropped it down
to $27 for my subscribers with the coupon.
————-
How to Get Fit Without Quitting
For me, exercise and fitness have always been a struggle. When I was younger, my brother was the active kid, involved in sports of all kinds, while I was the book worm. When we would go on skiing trips, I preferred to stay warm inside to read books with my grandma while my mom and my brother went out skiing!
I wasn’t a lazy or overweight kid. I just didn’t like sports. And to be honest, I still have very limited interest in most sports!
During the summer, spring and fall, I got lots of exercise by riding my bike everywhere as my sole mode of transportation.
When I first got into raw foods at the age of 20, I became aware of the importance of fitness. I knew that getting fit and staying fit was absolutely necessary for optimal health.
Just eating raw foods wasn’t enough. I needed to exercise.
Yet, exercising was not my natural state! Over the years, I found it extremely difficult to stick with any exercise program.
I tried various types of exercise, like weight lifting, running — but I never stuck with them for very long. Something would always get in the way of my routine.
As I progressed in my twenties, I always tried to figure out another way to renew my commitment to exercise. I would give it up for months at a time, and then try again. It felt like a constant series of failures! But without realizing it, I was making progress nonetheless.
When I dramatically changed my raw food diet in 2005 to eat an 80-10-10 approach of mostly carbohydrates (fruit) and limited fat, I became even more desperate to make fitness work in my life.
I was impressed by the shape of some long-term raw foodists like Dr. Doug Graham, and I ended up studying with Dr. Graham and attending all of the live programs he did, like his annual “Health & Fitness Week.”
Year after year, I accumulated more information about exercise, but I still had trouble finding a routine that worked in my life.
I would go through periods of committing to a workout schedule, and then as soon as my routine was perturbed — for example by traveling or lack of sleep — my entire program would fall apart and I would revert back to a sedentary lifestyle.
As I became older and moved through my thirties, it became clear that I needed to find a better approach.
Now at 36, I find that I’m the best overall shape I’ve ever been in!
After lots of trials and errors, I’ve finally identified why so many people, like me, can’t commit to workout schedule and get so out of shape as they get older.
My insights are a combinations of things I already knew, but finally was able to integrate at a deeper level.
Here’s how to get fit — long-term —without quitting, and get amazing results.
Get fit slowly
This is a basic idea, but a very important one.Realize this is a long-term process. Abandon hopes of quick results. The fitness industry would like you to believe that you can get fit quickly. On the cover of every single fitness magazine is the promise of quick results. The truth is that there are no quick results if you seek a fundamental change in your body. Building cardiovascular capacity or muscular strength is something that takes time. So enjoy the ride! See it as a long-term commitment.
Don’t wait too long
As we get older, it becomes more and more important to stay fit and maintain muscle mass. Most people exercise a massive physical decline in their overall fitness in all categories: flexibility, cardio ability, coordination and muscular strength.
This decline generally begins between the ages of 30 and 35, and gets worst with every year.
If you’re young and you find it hard to exercise and stay fit: realize you better get going now and find something that works because it’s only going to get worst with time.
If you’re older and you haven’t stayed fit, start now and think of it as the most important thing you’ll do to keep your body young as you get older.
At first, try lots of different things. In my twenties, I would attempt different disciplines but fail to stick with any of them for a long period of time. I tried running, ashtanga yoga, weight lifting, interval training, and many other things.
However, I’m glad I did because it allowed me to discover what I liked best and what I needed to work on.
If you’re not sure what to do, go with your instinct and try something new. In fact, try many different fitness activities and eventually you’ll find what works best for you!
Pick an exercise you love
Dr Graham taught me that “the best exercise for you is the one that you’re willing to do!”
It’s critical to pick activities that will motivate you. For me, running has always been something that I enjoyed because I enjoyed being outside, getting fresh air and I also love the runner’s high!
Focus on your weaknesses too
When I say to pick something you love, I don’t mean to pick something you’re just naturally good at.
If you just focus on things you’re good at, you’re not going to make progress in areas of fitness that really need work.
For me, running is a great exercise because I’m not particularly good at it, so I get a lot out of it — but I also enjoy it enough to do it on a regular basis!
My friend Shelli Stein is an awesome fitness instructor and trainer in Honololu (see her website http://www.joyinmotion.com. On a recent visit to Hawaii, she laughed as she told me that “most women who go to yoga classes have no business being there.”
What did she mean by that?
Many women, who are extremely flexible to begin with, take yoga classes — you know, the skinny ones who make everyone else feel uncomfortable about being there! They get an ego boost out of being able to do all the pauses with ease.
But at their level, do they really need to sit through an entire hour of yoga?
“I mean, how flexible do your hip flexors have to be!” My friend Shelli jokes.
The yoga chicks love their yoga classes because it makes them feel good about themselves. However, they could probably maintain their flexibility in just a few minutes a day of targeted moves, and instead spend the extra time working on things they should really focus on, like strength training or cardio.
Don’t overly complicate things
The more information I accumulated about fitness, the more I tried to complicate things. I wanted the perfect mix between cardio, strength, endurance and flexibility! I was trying too hard to create the “perfect” exercise program, but failed to implement it.
So instead, I just relaxed and focused on a few things at a time.
It’s almost impossible to improve every single aspect of your fitness at the same time. So focus on just doing one or too things, and then improve as you go along.
Beware of the experts
Just like in the field of nutrition, fitness expert often bring more confusion to the table than useful information.
Nowadays, all sorts of theories are floating around in the fitness world, such as:
- All forms of cardio (like running) are bad
– Only bodyweight exercises are good
– The only way to built muscle is through high intensity training
– “Hot” yoga is the best form of exercise
– Interval training is the most natural way to do cardio
Although not all of these ideas are 100% wrong they are often too advanced or complicated for the average person. And in many cases, experts are totally wrong!
Many people are afraid to run because they’ve heard that long-term endurance runners are not healthy. Many women are reluctant to lift weights because they’ve seen pictures of “She-Hulks” and are afraid of looking like them!
But the truth is… Are we really talking about running ultra-marathons on a regular basis here, or just moving your body? Almost, everybody can benefit from running, but that doesn’t mean that everybody should become an ultra-marathon runner.
Most women have really pathetic muscular strength and would dramatically benefit from lifting some weights. And there’s no way they will start looking like those women on the cover of body building magazines anytime soon! That would require a particular kind of training, and I can assure you won’t risk inadvertently doing it!
It would be like a 300-pound man saying that he’s afraid to go on a diet because he will then starve himself and look like the survivor of a concentration camp. So instead, he’d rather play it safe and keep the weight on, that way he can make sure looking like this will not happen to him!
Set realistic goals!
By far, this is the most important thing I’ve learned over the years about making a fitness program work.
For many years, I had the goal in mind to be like some of my fitness heroes, like Dr. Doug Graham. I tried to exercise for an hour a day, and have the perfect combination of cardio, weight training and flexibility.
But it just didn’t work!
My program was too difficult for where I was at, and I couldn’t stick with it.
Last year, I was fed up with my mediocre progress so I decided to just start running four times a week and not worry about anything else!
Once I did that, everything became easy. I could focus on one thing at a time, and keep it simple. Before I knew it, it was easy to add other activities like bodyweight exercises, into my routine.
A few minutes a day are enough. You don’t need much to get started with an exercise routine. A few minutes a day are enough! Consistency is key.
Some people get great results by walking 10,000 steps a day consistently.
If you think you don’t have the time to get started, you’re wrong!
My friend Roger Haeske is a great example of that. In his forties, he looks better than most guys in their twenties, and he only exercises about 20 minutes a day!
He’s created a program based on bodyweight exercises you can do anywhere, called Lightning Speed Fitness. You can even get started with just 5 minutes to spare. To find out more, go to:
Use coupon code: LSFPCOUPON to save $20
March 2, 2012
My Dream of Moving to the Tropics
Growing up on the East coast of Canada, I've always secretly hated the winter — the never ending winter!
It was a reality of life that I grudgingly accepted, and I was always disappointed at the fleetingly short summer.
However, it was not until I became a raw foodist that I started seriously thinking about moving to the tropics!
I think every raw foodist has had this daydream. They envision living in a warm country. They can almost smell the fresh breeze of fresh air coming down from the mountains. They can almost feel their toes in the warm water and sand of the ocean. But most importantly: they can almost taste the delicious tropical fruits that grow there year round!
I was not only fascinated with the tropics, but I wanted to move there!
When I lived in California, I loved it, but didn't think it was tropical enough. I dreamed of jumping into waterfalls and enjoying truly exotic fruits that can't be easily found elsewhere.
Almost all my favorite fruits are tropical ones.
I'm not just talking about bananas and mangoes, but exotic treats like jackfruit, durian, mangosteen, lichis, dragon fruit, custard apple, and so many others!
It seems like nature never ran out of ideas to design those amazing tropical fruit.
[image error]For example, the fruit called "rolinea" tastes like lemon meringue pie! You can find it in tropical parts of Australia, and some other tropical countries.
And the amazing black sapote, that tastes like chocolate pudding, but better!
What about the "sapote mamey," which tastes like cooked pumpkin pie, with all the seasonings!
And let's not mention the durian, which can be the most foul thing in the world, or the best thing you've ever tasted. You just need to get a good one!
I was sad that all the best fruits in the world are just not available in most supermarkets. If those fruits were available everywhere in their peak state of ripeness, I feel I could almost live on fruit.
Many people, like me, have dreamt about living in the tropics. For most, this will only stay in the realm of fantasy.
But I was determined to take action. I really wanted to try living in a tropical paradise!
In 2002, I visited Costa Rica for the first time, and I was blown away. I stayed there a month and visited the entire country, and the entire time I asked myself how I could move there one day.
I kept reading on the topic of moving abroad. And every time the winter dragged on, such as right now in March… I kept thinking about it even more.
Finally, in 2006, I had the opportunity to move to Costa Rica as part of a retreat center project. I stayed there for over six months, but unfortunately, due to some complex personal matters, the entire project fell apart and I was forced to return back home.
Although I realized the project I had started was not a good idea, I had not abandoned my dream of living in the tropics.
So every year, I kept going back to Costa Rica. Every winter, I stayed there a minimum of three months, sometimes up to five!
I read everything I could on the subject. I met so many experts on matters of residency, etc.
I'll tell you the rest of the story in my next email, but now I just want to say that after all this time in Costa Rica, and all this experience, I've decided to release a book on the subject!
In fact, I've been secretly working on this, and the book will come out next week.
The book is called:
So You Want to Move to Costa Rica – My Quest for the Ultimate Tropical Paradise
It will be available next week in a print and eBook format.
I'm quite excited about it, because this is not a book like anything that has been done before. It's a raw story, very funny at times, about my tumultuous experience of trying to move to the tropics. It covers everything you need to know about Costa Rica, but also other tropical countries I considered.
The main difference about this book, versus other books on the topic, is that it's really about this "ideal" of wanting to move to the tropics. Through all my experience, I give you my uncensored version of what it's really like, and in the end I give you lots of practical advice for anybody who would like to make the move, or for those who want to do what I do, which is to spend a few months a year in the tropics. It's also for those who are just curious about it!
I'm quite excited about this new book, and to launch it I will be doing something very special, just for my subscribers.
If you worry about the price… don't. This book will be priced to sell! I'm making it affordable for everybody, because I just want to get it out there.
But for my subscribers, I'll be offering you something special.
I'll also be giving a way two free copies of the book! Just comment below and get a chance to win! I'll select someone from the posts below to win. Just tell me what you think of this project!
February 29, 2012
The Mistakes of Natural Hygiene, Part 2: Garlic, Onion, and Other Forbidden Foods
In my last article, I explained how Natural Hygiene developed in the United States, and also explained why some of its philosophy should be revisited in light of today's science.
Let's continue this exciting journey!
——–
Update from Frederic
I'm writing a new book! In fact, I'm writing a series of new book. In 1-2 weeks, I will be releasing a new book on my experiences trying to move to the tropics! Stay tuned, this will be pretty cool!
————
Natural Hygiene as an Influential Movement
Most people don't know what Natural Hygiene is, but many have been enjoying its benefits without realizing it.
Back in the 19th century, many doctors carried the medieval belief that bathing and fresh air were damaging to health. When patients had a fevers, many doctors thought they were doing the right thing by giving the poor sick person hard liquor, denying her any water, and closing the windows to prevent any fresh air from coming in the room.
Early Natural Hygienists of the past century fought hard to promote rationality in medicine and especially the importance of bathing. Now the medical community claims that they were the ones to promote the concepts of bathing and hygiene to the masses, when in fact this was done by rogue, outcast doctors who were ridiculed by the medical community at the time.
Let's not forget than just 50-60 years ago, doctors recommended smoking as "healthy," and that white bread was considered a health food.
Hygienists were way ahead of their time, and their influence is still felt today. If you can go today to a store like Whole Foods and purchase organic fruits and whole grain products, you can thank Silvester Graham and his friends for that. Unfortunately, these names have been forgotten from the history books, as we only want to teach about the heroic figures like Louis Pasteur.
So when I'm pointing out some of the mistakes of Natural Hygiene, I don't want to sound overly negative. I just want to bring these great ideas to the forefront, shake them up a bit, and remove the few wrong concepts that just don't stand up to scientific scrutiny.
It's important to mention that Natural Hygiene is essentially a philosophy of health. Modern Hygienists have vastly different ideas on what is the best diet for health, but all agree on the methods for healing the sick.
Fasting
Fasting is an integral part of Natural Hygiene. Unfortunately, in spite of the amazing benefits that can be derived from supervised water fasting, most of the medical community is particularly clueless about it.
Although fasting had been practiced by humans throughout all recordable history, it really became a true method of healing with the Natural Hygiene movement in the 19th century. That's why it was called "water cure" at the time.
Fasting is true physiological rest. It's not just the act of not eating that works, but it's also everything that accompanies a proper fast, such as complete rest in bed.
Fasting works because:
1) It removes the cause. Most disease are caused by our lifestyle — mainly what we put in our mouth. By not eating for a while, you are certain to remove any dietary cause of disease.
2) Fasting is digestive rest. Digestion takes a huge energy toll on the body. Not eating redirects those energies towards healing.
3) Fasting itself is a physiological process that leads to healing and recovery. Most animals fast in times of stress and disease. This is no coincidence. After a few days of fasting, the body starts burning its fat reserves and goes through a complex set of physiological changes that enhance healing.
It's a shame that water fasting has not gained yet the popularity it deserves. I've got nothing to criticize on the topic of Hygienic fasting, except that it has to be conducted by a competent doctor with extensive experience with it. (A good place for undertaking a water fast is the True North Health Center in California).
The Appeal to Nature
One of the areas where Natural Hygienists got some of their philosophy wrong is what we could call the "appeal to nature." This, by the way, is not just a mistake made by Hygienists, but also by raw foodists, environmentalists, and pretty much any person in natural health.
The appeal to nature is this concept that the wild state of nature, or perhaps the way humans were living thousands of years ago (presumably: in nature), should be a main guide for telling us how to live our lives today.
Let me give you some examples:
- Humans should not eat any food other than fruits, vegetables and nuts, because those are our natural foods (why? look at our modern cousins, the chimpanzees, who live in "nature").
– We should never take drugs, under any circumstances, because they are not natural.
– We should not eat foods that we can't make a meal out of, because obviously, in nature, we wouldn't be able to do that
– We should never process our foods in any way
– Human progress and civilization is wrong, because it takes us away from our natural state, where we would probably be healthier and happier
Let's make it clear that the appeal to nature argument is not only used by natural hygienists. For example:
- Paleo diet promoters will claim that we should eat meat, fruits and vegetables, and avoid all grains because those foods have only been part of our natural diet for the past 10,000 years. On the other hand, meat and produce have always been part of our natural diet.
– People who refuse to eat fruit because it has been "hybridized" and therefore is not natural (because in nature, wild fruit would be different, presumably much better for us).
The Appeal to Nature is a subtle underlying philosophy that has actually been with us since the dawn of civilization.
Ever since humans started making progress to improve their lives, there have been people that have tried to halt that progress and claimed that life was better in the past.
The problem with the Appeal to Nature is that it's fundamentally wrong.
Whether something is "natural" or not could be debated endlessly, but what actually matters are the results on human life, whether they are positive overall, or negative.
It's wrong to assume that we used to live in a state of pristine nature, and that somehow everything got ruined as humans marched relentlessly towards civilization.
Although we could go into a big argument about this, for the sake of staying within topic, I will just say that one of the reasons the Appeal to Nature is wrong is that it can be taken in very contradicting ways.
Where do you draw the line between what is natural and positive, and unnatural and negative?
Obviously humans have eaten meat throughout their history. But does that fact mean that meat eating is automatically a positive thing for human health in our current circumstances?
Obviously wild foods are more nutrient dense than cultivated foods, but how can we forget the fact that most wild foods also contain toxic alcaloids and generally lack in calories, making them unsuitable to be stables in most human diets?
Obviously drugs are not natural and all dangerous to some degree, and many people abuse them, but can't we deny the millions of lives that have been saved through the use of anesthetics and surgery, or antibiotics in some cases?
Obviously living in nature sounds great on paper, compared to life in an apartment building, but why don't we mention the fact that many tribal people have bodies full of parasites, and rarely lived beyond the age of 45?
Obviously when we think of civilization, we can think about the millions of lives that have been lost through worldwide conflicts like WW1 and WW2, but can't we overlook the frightening statistics that in tribal societies, the 30% of males died before the age of 35 due to tribal warfare? When we put that in perspective, our day and age seems relatively peaceful.
The Appeal to Nature is tempting, but wrong. Instead of arguing about what is "natural" versus what is not, we should try to evaluate the value of anything based on the results that it brings us. A food doesn't have to be "natural" to be healthy. It just has to keep us healthy. If we have evidence to support that, we don't care how natural it is.
Forbidden Foods: Mushrooms, Garlic, Onion, and Other Unnatural Items
Natural Hygiene forbids a lot of foods. Generally, animal products are off the table (that's a good thing). Cooked foods are frowned upon. But so are all seasonings!
Shelton rejected all spices, garlic, onion, seaweed, and even mushrooms.
I must say that I followed that philosophy for a long time. By the way, this idea is not entirely original. Many Asian health philosophies eliminate garlic, onion and strong spices, finding them too "stimulating."
The reasoning is quite simple. Garlic and onion are simply too strong. You could never make a meal out of them. They contain toxic mustard oil that irritates the digestive track.
Mushrooms are not human foods. They contain almost no nutrients, and are largely indigestible.
Seaweed is pond scum. Would you salivate in front a pile of seaweed? I didn't think so. Makes sense because it's not that natural to eat plants growing in the ocean.
This reasoning sounds good on paper, but the problem is that science is actually showing that some of these foods are good for us!
For example:
* Some evidence is mounting up concerning the possible anti-cancer properties of mushrooms. Although we're not talking about a magical cure, there's evidence to show that when people eat mushrooms on a regular basis, they may lower their risk of cancer. (link). Even the American Cancer Society, although not recommending them specifically, acknowledges their possible benefits (link)
- The National Cancer Institute, looking at the evidence, recognizes garlic as one of the vegetables with potential anti-cancer properties (link). In several studies, higher intake of garlic were associated with lower mortality from cancer.
- Research is showing that onions (along with other vegetables of the same family, like shallots and garlic), are not only good for cancer, but also against arthritis! (link)
I know, I know…
Natural Hygienists will say. These foods are drugs! They act like drugs, and that's why you see those results. But not so fast.
We know about drug side effects. But is there even one piece of evidence showing that consumption of onions, garlic or mushrooms is bad for you in any demonstrable way? The same cannot be said for true drugs.
In epidemiological studies, it could be that people who tend to eat a lot of garlic and onion also consume a lot of vegetables, which is healthier. But science is also now showing how specific compounds of these foods have positive effects for health.
At the very least, these foods are not the devil. You can probably eat them and be okay. Most likely, you'll even enjoy some health benefits in the process.
So you can avoid these foods because they are natural, or you can eat them. So far, science says that if you eat them, you'll get healthier. It may not fit with the Hygienic philosophy, but at least we don't have any evidence that eating these foods would be bad for you. In fact, ALL the evidence we have points to the contrary.
That being said…
Although I avoided onions and mushrooms for a long time, I now eat them occasionally. I must say, I'm not a big fan of some mushrooms. And I don't really like most raw mushrooms. I just didn't develop a taste for them.
Likewise, I don't like raw garlic except in small quantities in hummus or guacamole. But I don't mind cooked garlic or onion. I do like some red onion on my salads. As for seaweed, I'm not a big fan either. That's just my personal taste. I don't mind nori in a recipe, but I don't enjoy eating seaweed in general.
In my next article, I will cover fruitarianism and food combining!
February 23, 2012
The Mistakes of Natural Hygiene: Part 1: Drugs and the Germ Theory
Natural Hygiene is one of the health philosophies that influenced me the most. I first discovered the raw food diet through the writings of Albert Mosséri, who was a disciple of Herbert Shelton, who's considered the grand-father of the modern Natural Hygiene movement.
When I first got into Natural Hygiene, I viewed it as quasi religion. It was such a paradigm shift that completely changed my world. I ended up accepting it completely after studying it carefully.
In my first few years as a raw foodist, I became extremely sick and it was only the Natural Hygiene concepts that saved me and helped me regain my health. (I told the full story of what happened in my book Raw Food Controversies.)
I consider Natural Hygiene a great health philosophy that can have a tremendous, positive influence in your life. But because this health philosophy has been created by doctors and researchers that lived 50 to 150 years ago, it's no longer fully up-to-date with modern science and research, and what we've discovered about the human body.
In this series of articles, I'll be looking at the concepts of Natural Hygiene and dissecting them, one-by-one. Some of these concepts are still very accurate and healthful. Others are incorrect but still lead to positive results when applied. And finally, some concepts of Natural Hygiene are downright wrong.
What Is Natural Hygiene?
To understand Natural Hygiene, we must look at its history and how it came about. Natural Hygiene is essentially a health system that was developed in the last part of the 19th century by medical doctors who became disillusioned with the practice of medicine at the time.
Although Natural Hygiene had inspiration from European writers, it's essentially an American system developed in the United States.
Natural Hygiene was known at the time as "Nature Cure" and later as "Orthopathy."
Around the year 1850, medicine had made some great progress but was still very primitive compared to what it is today.
Doctors at the time had very little clue about what causes disease. Many harmful practices were common, such as:
1) Bathing infrequently due to the false belief promoted by some doctors that bathing too often was bad for health. (http://orthopathy.net/history.html)
2) Recommending sick patients to eat a rich diet of meat, butter and other rich foods to "regain their strength."
3) Bleeding and blood letting as a cure to disease remained popular (http://rosemelnickmuseum.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/19th-century-doctors-in-the-us/)
4) Heroin was routinely prescribed for the common cough (http://www.cracked.com/article_15669_the-10-most-insane-medical-practices-in-history.html)
5) Many doctors did not wash their hands before performing surgery
The first doctors that formulated the ideas behind Natural Hygiene were all very disillusioned with the practice of medicine in their times. Many had been sick themselves and unable to cure themselves through the "science" they had learned.
Those doctors included:
Dr. Issac Jennings (1788-1874)
Jennings is considered to be the father of Natural Hygiene. His trick was simple. He started giving his patients sugar pills as "placebos" and discovered that all of them recovered much faster than usual! He then developped the theory of "orthopathy" or "letting the body heal itself" through fasting. It also says something about the dangers of medicines at the time, when the word "placebo" wasn't even well known.
Silvester Graham (1794-1851)
Graham was one of the most influential early hygienists. He was one of the first public figures to advocate vegetarianism and what he called "temperance." We may remember him as the inventor of the graham cracker, but his contribution was much greater. His followers practiced the brushing of teeth, vegetarianism, sobriety, and eating whole foods (such as whole wheat bread instead of white flour)… all practices that we take for granted today, but were very controversial at the time.
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943)
You may remember this guy for inventing the "Kellogg Corn Flakes." He was a devout Seventh Day Adventist who advocated a strict, sober, healthy life and fasting, which was called "water cure" at the time.
Herbert Shelton (1895-1985)
There were many more early natural hygienists part of that Nature Cure movement in the 19th century. But the movement was not unified until Herbert Shelton came along.
Shelton was born in 1895. In his youth, he became a passionate student of the writings of early Hygienists, and proceeded to consolidate all their theory into a unified philosophy he called "Natural Hygiene." In his thirties, he wrote his giant book "Human Life, Its Philosophy and Laws."
He then operated a health center in Texas where he practiced fasting and a clean, mostly raw food diet.
All of the modern Natural Hygiene movement stems from Shelton, although it gained even more popularity when T.C. Fry came along and later, when the book "Fit For Life" was released in the 1980s. All serious promoters of Natural Hygiene today are students of Shelton, who wrote more than 50 books.
The Natural Hygiene System
The basic principle of Natural Hygiene is self-healing.
Although Natural Hygiene has later been hijacked by authors such as Harvey Diamond who cherry-picked some ideas such as food combining, the basic principle of Hygiene has nothing to do with diet.
Here are the main concepts of Natural Hygiene, followed by some practical example.
1) Self-Healing: The body has the ability to heal itself, when you get out of the way and provide it with what it needs. Suppressing symptoms is not treating the body. For example, while traditional doctors may provide a special "immunity enhancing diet" during a flu, or some drugs to suppress the symptoms, a Natural Hygienist will probably advise to simply rest as much as possible, don't take drugs, eat as little as possible, possibly fast, and let the body recover naturally.
2) Less Intervention. Although Natural Hygiene would not claim that it's always wrong to intervene (for example, if someone breaks his leg), in general, for most diseases, they recommend to avoid giving drugs or natural treatments that are meant to suppress symptoms.
3) Fasting. Fasting is a key component of Natural Hygiene because it is the ultimate physiological rest. The purpose behind fasting is to let the body heal itself by shutting down all the energy that goes into digestion and redirecting it towards healing. During a fever, or other acute diseases, Natural Hygienists would probably advise fasting as opposed to interventions or medicine, even if body temperature is high.
4) Simplicity in eating. Natural Hygienists recommend a diet that's as simple as possible. While not all agree on the details (such as eating 100% raw or not), most recommend simple vegetarian meals devoid of salt, condiments and spices.
5) Fruitarianism. Almost all Natural Hygienists recommend fruit as the most pure, biologically-appropriate food one can eat.
How Do You Know If You're a Natural Hygienist?
Some people call themselves Natural Hygienists, but in reality they are naturopaths. How do you know the difference?
This goes back to the principle of self-healing and non-intervention.
If you suffer from a common cold, a naturopath will probably recommend some kind of herb or tincture to "boost your immune system."
A Natural Hygienist will instead recommend that you fast if you can, get as much rest as possible, drink water, and not take any particular remedy, whether natural or not.
A key principle of Natural Hygiene is to look for the cause and remove it, instead of suppressing symptoms with medicines, even if those come from natural sources.
Modern Natural Hygienists
As a movement, Natural Hygiene has essentially disintegrated. Hygiene saw a resurgence of interest after the publication of the book Fit For Life in the 80s, and many doctors at the time became modern Natural Hygienists. These doctors, such as Dr. Alan Goldhamer from the True North Health Center in California, still practice fasting but don't necessarily identify themselves as "Natural Hygienists."
The raw food movement, especially the 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham, is also strongly influenced by Natural Hygiene. But now, there is no longer a true Natural Hygiene movement that is clearly identifiable. Many authors, myself included, have been influenced by Natural Hygiene, but don't accept all of its philosophy blindly without question.
Where Natural Hygiene May Be Wrong
It would take a lot of time to go through the philosophy of Natural Hygiene. This was just a brief overview to attack the more specific issues.
Natural Hygiene, as a basic health philosophy, is very appealing and in my experience, works a lot of the time.
Where I think Natural Hygiene is wrong is in applying these principles no matter what, and never consider the state of science in 2012.
Natural Hygiene Mistake #1: Drugs
One principle of Natural Hygiene, as explained by Dr. Shelton in his book Natural Hygiene: Man's Pristine Way of Life, is the idea that all drugs are toxic, and that's why they work.
The classic example is that of the constipation drugs, even their herbal equivalent.
Shelton's reasoning was as follows: drugs don't really have an effect on the body. Why? Because if you'd give them to a dead person, nothing would happen.
It's the BODY that has an effect on drugs. The body reacts to the drug given, and the result is our own interpretation of this principle in action.
Let's say someone suffers from constipation. The drug given will actually provoke a mild form of diarrhea. Is it the drug that's acting on the body? The drug in itself, Shelton explained, does nothing. You have to give it to a living organism.
However, because it's a drug and it's toxic, the body cannot use it as nutrition. It wants to get rid of it. In the process, several things can happen.
In the case of the constipation drug, the body wants to eliminate it through stools, and that's why users of this drug find relief.
Did the drug cure them of their constipation? No. Instead, it was a toxic substance that the body wanted to eliminate. In the process, it caused diarrhea and eliminated it along with the stools.
That's a simplistic explanation, but you get the idea.
Shelton believed that ALL drugs were toxic and did not have a specific effect, chemical or other, on the body. In fact, it was always the body reacting to the drug, and in the process eliminating a symptom or another.
Although Shelton was right to say that all drugs are toxic to some degree, he was wrong in his simplistic explanation of their action on the body.
Many drugs actually work through complex chemical and hormonal reactions in the body. Here are some examples:
1) Aspirin. Pain is something that is felt in the brain. Aspirin works by inhibiting an enzyme that produces prostaglandins, substances similar to hormones that trigger inflammation in the body. Aspirin binds itself to the enzyme, changing its chemical structure and blocking the reaction that produces the prostaglandins.
2) Prozac. Many anti-depressants like prozac will work due to their effects on serotonin levels. Low serotonin is associated with depression and anxiety. Due to a complex process, Prozac works by increasing the amount of serotonin that can be delivered to the cells. That's why Prozac is part of a class of drugs called "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (or SSRIs).
We could go on an on with more examples, but you get the idea.
Yes, drugs are toxic.
But no, they don't ALWAYS work through the simplistic idea that the body is working in some manner to "eliminate" or "reject" them. In some cases, they can literally alter complex chemical reactions taking place in the body.
Natural Hygiene Mistake #2: The Germ Theory
Another area where Natural Hygiene is dead wrong is the belief that contagion of disease is essentially a myth.
Even though Shelton and others always claimed that diseases like the flu were essentially the body's efforts to detoxify itself, I was never fully convinced.
Even T.C. Fry had some interesting discussion on viruses and why he believed that they could not cause disease and were essentially "a scam."
I was never fully convinced because my own experience, like that of most people, contradicted with this teaching of Natural Hygiene.
Everybody has had the experience of coming in contact with someone with a common cold and then contracting the disease or ailment shortly after.
Typically the pattern is always the same:
- You haven't been sick for a while
– People around you may be sick, but you're not.
– After spending time in a crowded area where lots of people are sick, someone around you, like your wife/husband or roommate, comes down with the cold
– A day after, you get the cold yourself.
I remember when I was living in Costa Rica in 2006, working at retreat center I had tried to purchase. We had a little community of people living onsite, and one day people started getting sick with the stomach flu. It was amazing to see everyone get sick, one after the other, with the exact same symptoms.
I naively thought I would be immune from this, but I also ended up being bed-ridden for 2-3 days. Granted, at the time I was under tremendous stress and my immune system was probably greatly compromised, but there was no doubt that the disease was contagious and of viral nature. In fact, during that time, a significant percentage of the town where I lived got sick with the same stomach flu.
Generally, I agree with Natural Hygiene in their treatment of viral diseases. It's much better to recover while fasting, resting and drinking plenty of water, than the usual treatments.
However, their explanation of disease as always being an attempt for the body to "heal itself" through some sort of crisis is flawed, to say the least.
I don't think I want to go into a big debate about the Germ Theory, since viral science is quite complex. Times have evolved since Shelton's days, and we now know more about viruses and their action on the body.
A Personal Experience
A great book to read on the topic of immunity is Dr. Fuhrman's recent Super Immunity. In this book, you'll discover exactly what you can do to increase your immunity natural.
After reading Fuhrman's book, I realized that I had not gotten sick for a long time. I could not even remember the last time I had a cold!
When I was traveling around the world, there were a time or two that I felt I was almost coming down with symptoms of the cold, but after a day or so it was over, and I did not even get a runny nose or anything.
So recently I started bragging about the fact that I could not remember the last time I had a cold. Then my wife made an interesting observation. She said:
"Fred, you work at home. You don't come in contact with large crowds of people. You mostly work at home or in an office downtown where you don't shake hands with anybody. When most people get sick, during the winter, you stay in the tropics. You rarely take public transportation and you don't touch communal areas. Maybe that's part of the reason why you never get the cold."
I thought that was interesting, but I didn't think about it too much.
Then recently, my wife and I attended a health conference in California with 250 people in the room. I should have paid attention when I heard lots of people coughing in the room. But because I felt fine and I was with supposedly "healthy" people, I didn't think about it twice.
I shook hands with lots of people that weekend. And guess what? As soon as I got back home, my wife got sick with the cold. Then I started feeling symptoms of the cold myself! I got a sore throat and felt tired. Typical common cold, except that I got almost no mucus compared to most people.
This was over quickly, but I'm quite certain that coming in contact with this many people and getting the cold was no coincidence.
Let me just go through some practical tips and ideas.
1) You Can Increase Your Immunity Naturally. Natural Hygiene is not totally wrong on viral diseases. You can certainly increase your immunity naturally by eating a diet composed mostly of fruits and vegetables and avoiding processed foods.
2) If You're Healthy, Symptoms Will Be Milder. If you do get sick, you'll likely experienced a much more suppressed form of the disease than most people. And it will likely be over sooner.
3) You Don't Need Drugs to Recover. To recover from most viral illnesses, you don't need drugs. Natural Hygiene is right to recommend for the disease to "follow its course" and for you to simply provide the right environment to allow for maximum healthful recovery.
4) Fasting May Help. In some cases, fasting may help you recover from viral illnesses.
This is the first part in a series of articles on Natural Hygiene. Stay tuned and please post your comments below!
The Mistakes of Natural Hygiene: Drugs and the Germ Theory
Natural Hygiene is one of the health philosophies that influenced me the most. I first discovered the raw food diet through the writings of Albert Mosséri, who was a disciple of Herbert Shelton, who's considered the grand-father of the modern Natural Hygiene movement.
When I first got into Natural Hygiene, I viewed it as quasi religion. It was such a paradigm shift that completely changed my world. I ended up accepting it completely after studying it carefully.
In my first few years as a raw foodist, I became extremely sick and it was only the Natural Hygiene concepts that saved me and helped me regain my health. (I told the full story of what happened in my book Raw Food Controversies.)
I consider Natural Hygiene a great health philosophy that can have a tremendous, positive influence in your life. But because this health philosophy has been created by doctors and researchers that lived 50 to 150 years ago, it's no longer fully up-to-date with modern science and research, and what we've discovered about the human body.
In this series of articles, I'll be looking at the concepts of Natural Hygiene and dissecting them, one-by-one. Some of these concepts are still very accurate and healthful. Others are incorrect but still lead to positive results when applied. And finally, some concepts of Natural Hygiene are downright wrong.
What Is Natural Hygiene?
To understand Natural Hygiene, we must look at its history and how it came about. Natural Hygiene is essentially a health system that was developed in the last part of the 19th century by medical doctors who became disillusioned with the practice of medicine at the time.
Although Natural Hygiene had inspiration from European writers, it's essentially an American system developed in the United States.
Natural Hygiene was known at the time as "Nature Cure" and later as "Orthopathy."
Around the year 1850, medicine had made some great progress but was still very primitive compared to what it is today.
Doctors at the time had very little clue about what causes disease. Many harmful practices were common, such as:
1) Bathing infrequently due to the false belief promoted by some doctors that bathing too often was bad for health. (http://orthopathy.net/history.html)
2) Recommending sick patients to eat a rich diet of meat, butter and other rich foods to "regain their strength."
3) Bleeding and blood letting as a cure to disease remained popular (http://rosemelnickmuseum.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/19th-century-doctors-in-the-us/)
4) Heroin was routinely prescribed for the common cough (http://www.cracked.com/article_15669_the-10-most-insane-medical-practices-in-history.html)
5) Many doctors did not wash their hands before performing surgery
The first doctors that formulated the ideas behind Natural Hygiene were all very disillusioned with the practice of medicine in their times. Many had been sick themselves and unable to cure themselves through the "science" they had learned.
Those doctors included:
Dr. Issac Jennings (1788-1874)
Jennings is considered to be the father of Natural Hygiene. His trick was simple. He started giving his patients sugar pills as "placebos" and discovered that all of them recovered much faster than usual! He then developped the theory of "orthopathy" or "letting the body heal itself" through fasting. It also says something about the dangers of medicines at the time, when the word "placebo" wasn't even well known.
Silvester Graham (1794-1851)
Graham was one of the most influential early hygienists. He was one of the first public figures to advocate vegetarianism and what he called "temperance." We may remember him as the inventor of the graham cracker, but his contribution was much greater. His followers practiced the brushing of teeth, vegetarianism, sobriety, and eating whole foods (such as whole wheat bread instead of white flour)… all practices that we take for granted today, but were very controversial at the time.
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943)
You may remember this guy for inventing the "Kellogg Corn Flakes." He was a devout Seventh Day Adventist who advocated a strict, sober, healthy life and fasting, which was called "water cure" at the time.
Herbert Shelton (1895-1985)
There were many more early natural hygienists part of that Nature Cure movement in the 19th century. But the movement was not unified until Herbert Shelton came along.
Shelton was born in 1895. In his youth, he became a passionate student of the writings of early Hygienists, and proceeded to consolidate all their theory into a unified philosophy he called "Natural Hygiene." In his thirties, he wrote his giant book "Human Life, Its Philosophy and Laws."
He then operated a health center in Texas where he practiced fasting and a clean, mostly raw food diet.
All of the modern Natural Hygiene movement stems from Shelton, although it gained even more popularity when T.C. Fry came along and later, when the book "Fit For Life" was released in the 1980s. All serious promoters of Natural Hygiene today are students of Shelton, who wrote more than 50 books.
The Natural Hygiene System
The basic principle of Natural Hygiene is self-healing.
Although Natural Hygiene has later been hijacked by authors such as Harvey Diamond who cherry-picked some ideas such as food combining, the basic principle of Hygiene has nothing to do with diet.
Here are the main concepts of Natural Hygiene, followed by some practical example.
1) Self-Healing: The body has the ability to heal itself, when you get out of the way and provide it with what it needs. Suppressing symptoms is not treating the body. For example, while traditional doctors may provide a special "immunity enhancing diet" during a flu, or some drugs to suppress the symptoms, a Natural Hygienist will probably advise to simply rest as much as possible, don't take drugs, eat as little as possible, possibly fast, and let the body recover naturally.
2) Less Intervention. Although Natural Hygiene would not claim that it's always wrong to intervene (for example, if someone breaks his leg), in general, for most diseases, they recommend to avoid giving drugs or natural treatments that are meant to suppress symptoms.
3) Fasting. Fasting is a key component of Natural Hygiene because it is the ultimate physiological rest. The purpose behind fasting is to let the body heal itself by shutting down all the energy that goes into digestion and redirecting it towards healing. During a fever, or other acute diseases, Natural Hygienists would probably advise fasting as opposed to interventions or medicine, even if body temperature is high.
4) Simplicity in eating. Natural Hygienists recommend a diet that's as simple as possible. While not all agree on the details (such as eating 100% raw or not), most recommend simple vegetarian meals devoid of salt, condiments and spices.
5) Fruitarianism. Almost all Natural Hygienists recommend fruit as the most pure, biologically-appropriate food one can eat.
How Do You Know If You're a Natural Hygienist?
Some people call themselves Natural Hygienists, but in reality they are naturopaths. How do you know the difference?
This goes back to the principle of self-healing and non-intervention.
If you suffer from a common cold, a naturopath will probably recommend some kind of herb or tincture to "boost your immune system."
A Natural Hygienist will instead recommend that you fast if you can, get as much rest as possible, drink water, and not take any particular remedy, whether natural or not.
A key principle of Natural Hygiene is to look for the cause and remove it, instead of suppressing symptoms with medicines, even if those come from natural sources.
Modern Natural Hygienists
As a movement, Natural Hygiene has essentially disintegrated. Hygiene saw a resurgence of interest after the publication of the book Fit For Life in the 80s, and many doctors at the time became modern Natural Hygienists. These doctors, such as Dr. Alan Goldhamer from the True North Health Center in California, still practice fasting but don't necessarily identify themselves as "Natural Hygienists."
The raw food movement, especially the 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham, is also strongly influenced by Natural Hygiene. But now, there is no longer a true Natural Hygiene movement that is clearly identifiable. Many authors, myself included, have been influenced by Natural Hygiene, but don't accept all of its philosophy blindly without question.
Where Natural Hygiene May Be Wrong
It would take a lot of time to go through the philosophy of Natural Hygiene. This was just a brief overview to attack the more specific issues.
Natural Hygiene, as a basic health philosophy, is very appealing and in my experience, works a lot of the time.
Where I think Natural Hygiene is wrong is in applying these principles no matter what, and never consider the state of science in 2012.
Natural Hygiene Mistake #1: Drugs
One principle of Natural Hygiene, as explained by Dr. Shelton in his book Natural Hygiene: Man's Pristine Way of Life, is the idea that all drugs are toxic, and that's why they work.
The classic example is that of the constipation drugs, even their herbal equivalent.
Shelton's reasoning was as follows: drugs don't really have an effect on the body. Why? Because if you'd give them to a dead person, nothing would happen.
It's the BODY that has an effect on drugs. The body reacts to the drug given, and the result is our own interpretation of this principle in action.
Let's say someone suffers from constipation. The drug given will actually provoke a mild form of diarrhea. Is it the drug that's acting on the body? The drug in itself, Shelton explained, does nothing. You have to give it to a living organism.
However, because it's a drug and it's toxic, the body cannot use it as nutrition. It wants to get rid of it. In the process, several things can happen.
In the case of the constipation drug, the body wants to eliminate it through stools, and that's why users of this drug find relief.
Did the drug cure them of their constipation? No. Instead, it was a toxic substance that the body wanted to eliminate. In the process, it caused diarrhea and eliminated it along with the stools.
That's a simplistic explanation, but you get the idea.
Shelton believed that ALL drugs were toxic and did not have a specific effect, chemical or other, on the body. In fact, it was always the body reacting to the drug, and in the process eliminating a symptom or another.
Although Shelton was right to say that all drugs are toxic to some degree, he was wrong in his simplistic explanation of their action on the body.
Many drugs actually work through complex chemical and hormonal reactions in the body. Here are some examples:
1) Aspirin. Pain is something that is felt in the brain. Aspirin works by inhibiting an enzyme that produces prostaglandins, substances similar to hormones that trigger inflammation in the body. Aspirin binds itself to the enzyme, changing its chemical structure and blocking the reaction that produces the prostaglandins.
2) Prozac. Many anti-depressants like prozac will work due to their effects on serotonin levels. Low serotonin is associated with depression and anxiety. Due to a complex process, Prozac works by increasing the amount of serotonin that can be delivered to the cells. That's why Prozac is part of a class of drugs called "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (or SSRIs).
We could go on an on with more examples, but you get the idea.
Yes, drugs are toxic.
But no, they don't ALWAYS work through the simplistic idea that the body is working in some manner to "eliminate" or "reject" them. In some cases, they can literally alter complex chemical reactions taking place in the body.
Natural Hygiene Mistake #2: The Germ Theory
Another area where Natural Hygiene is dead wrong is the belief that contagion of disease is essentially a myth.
Even though Shelton and others always claimed that diseases like the flu were essentially the body's efforts to detoxify itself, I was never fully convinced.
Even T.C. Fry had some interesting discussion on viruses and why he believed that they could not cause disease and were essentially "a scam."
I was never fully convinced because my own experience, like that of most people, contradicted with this teaching of Natural Hygiene.
Everybody has had the experience of coming in contact with someone with a common cold and then contracting the disease or ailment shortly after.
Typically the pattern is always the same:
- You haven't been sick for a while
– People around you may be sick, but you're not.
– After spending time in a crowded area where lots of people are sick, someone around you, like your wife/husband or roommate, comes down with the cold
– A day after, you get the cold yourself.
I remember when I was living in Costa Rica in 2006, working at retreat center I had tried to purchase. We had a little community of people living onsite, and one day people started getting sick with the stomach flu. It was amazing to see everyone get sick, one after the other, with the exact same symptoms.
I naively thought I would be immune from this, but I also ended up being bed-ridden for 2-3 days. Granted, at the time I was under tremendous stress and my immune system was probably greatly compromised, but there was no doubt that the disease was contagious and of viral nature. In fact, during that time, a significant percentage of the town where I lived got sick with the same stomach flu.
Generally, I agree with Natural Hygiene in their treatment of viral diseases. It's much better to recover while fasting, resting and drinking plenty of water, than the usual treatments.
However, their explanation of disease as always being an attempt for the body to "heal itself" through some sort of crisis is flawed, to say the least.
I don't think I want to go into a big debate about the Germ Theory, since viral science is quite complex. Times have evolved since Shelton's days, and we now know more about viruses and their action on the body.
A Personal Experience
A great book to read on the topic of immunity is Dr. Fuhrman's recent Super Immunity. In this book, you'll discover exactly what you can do to increase your immunity natural.
After reading Fuhrman's book, I realized that I had not gotten sick for a long time. I could not even remember the last time I had a cold!
When I was traveling around the world, there were a time or two that I felt I was almost coming down with symptoms of the cold, but after a day or so it was over, and I did not even get a runny nose or anything.
So recently I started bragging about the fact that I could not remember the last time I had a cold. Then my wife made an interesting observation. She said:
"Fred, you work at home. You don't come in contact with large crowds of people. You mostly work at home or in an office downtown where you don't shake hands with anybody. When most people get sick, during the winter, you stay in the tropics. You rarely take public transportation and you don't touch communal areas. Maybe that's part of the reason why you never get the cold."
I thought that was interesting, but I didn't think about it too much.
Then recently, my wife and I attended a health conference in California with 250 people in the room. I should have paid attention when I heard lots of people coughing in the room. But because I felt fine and I was with supposedly "healthy" people, I didn't think about it twice.
I shook hands with lots of people that weekend. And guess what? As soon as I got back home, my wife got sick with the cold. Then I started feeling symptoms of the cold myself! I got a sore throat and felt tired. Typical common cold, except that I got almost no mucus compared to most people.
This was over quickly, but I'm quite certain that coming in contact with this many people and getting the cold was no coincidence.
Let me just go through some practical tips and ideas.
1) You Can Increase Your Immunity Naturally. Natural Hygiene is not totally wrong on viral diseases. You can certainly increase your immunity naturally by eating a diet composed mostly of fruits and vegetables and avoiding processed foods.
2) If You're Healthy, Symptoms Will Be Milder. If you do get sick, you'll likely experienced a much more suppressed form of the disease than most people. And it will likely be over sooner.
3) You Don't Need Drugs to Recover. To recover from most viral illnesses, you don't need drugs. Natural Hygiene is right to recommend for the disease to "follow its course" and for you to simply provide the right environment to allow for maximum healthful recovery.
4) Fasting May Help. In some cases, fasting may help you recover from viral illnesses.
This is the first part in a series of articles on Natural Hygiene. Stay tuned and please post your comments below!
The Lies of Natural Hygiene: Drugs and the Germ Theory
Natural Hygiene is one of the health philosophies that influenced me the most. I first discovered the raw food diet through the writings of Albert Mosséri, who was a disciple of Herbert Shelton, who's considered the grand-father of the modern Natural Hygiene movement.
When I first got into Natural Hygiene, I viewed it as quasi religion. It was such a paradigm shift that completely changed my world. I ended up accepting it completely after studying it carefully.
In my first few years as a raw foodists, I became extremely sick and it was only the Natural Hygiene concepts that saved me and helped me regain my health. (I told the full story of what happened in my book Raw Food Controversies.)
I consider Natural Hygiene a great health philosophy that can have a tremendous, positive influence in your life. But because this health philosophy has been created by doctors and researchers that lived 50 to 150 years ago, it's no longer fully up-to-date with modern science and research, and what we've discovered about the human body.
In this series of articles, I'll be looking at the concepts of Natural Hygiene and dissecting them, one-by-one. Some of these concepts are still very accurate and healthful. Others are incorrect but still lead to positive results when applied. And finally, some concepts of Natural Hygiene are downright wrong.
What Is Natural Hygiene?
To understand Natural Hygiene, we must look at its history and how it came about. Natural Hygiene is essentially a health system that was developed in the last part of the 19th century by medical doctors who became disillusioned with the practice of medicine at the time.
Although Natural Hygiene had inspiration from European writers, it's essentially an American system developed in the United States.
Natural Hygiene was known at the time as "Nature Cure" and later as "Orthopathy."
Around the year 1850, medicine had made some great progress but was still very primitive compared to what it is today.
Doctors at the time had very little clue about what causes disease. Many harmful practices were common, such as:
1) Bathing infrequently due to the false belief promoted by some doctors that bathing too often was bad for health. (http://orthopathy.net/history.html)
2) Recommending sick patients to eat a rich diet of meat, butter and other rich foods to "regain their strength."
3) Bleeding and blood letting as a cure to disease remained popular (http://rosemelnickmuseum.wordpress.co...)
4) Heroin was routinely prescribed for the common cough (http://www.cracked.com/article_15669_...)
5) Many doctors did not wash their hands before performing surgery
The first doctors that formulated the ideas behind Natural Hygiene were all very disillusioned with the practice of medicine in their times. Many had been sick themselves and unable to cure themselves through the "science" they had learned.
Those doctors included:
Dr. Issac Jennings (1788-1874)
Jennings is considered to be the father of Natural Hygiene. His trick was simple. He started giving his patients sugar pills as "placebos" and discovered that all of them recovered much faster than usual! He then developped the theory of "orthopathy" or "letting the body heal itself" through fasting. It also says something about the dangers of medicines at the time, when the word "placebo" wasn't even well known.
Silvester Graham (1794-1851)
Graham was one of the most influential early hygienists. He was one of the first public figures to advocate vegetarianism and what he called "temperance." We may remember him as the inventor of the graham cracker, but his contribution was much greater. His followers practiced the brushing of teeth, vegetarianism, sobriety, and eating whole foods (such as whole wheat bread instead of white flour)… all practice that we take for granted today, but were very controversial at the time.
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943)
You may remember this guy for inventing the "Kellogg Corn Flakes." He was a devout Seventh Day Adventist who advocated a strict, sober, healthy life and fasting, which was called "water cure" at the time.
Herbert Shelton
There were many more early natural hygienists part of that Nature Cure movement in the 19th century. But the movement was not unified until Herbert Shelton came along.
Shelton was born in 1895. In his youth, he became a passionate student of the writings of early Hygienists, and proceeded to consolidate all their theory into a unified philosophy he called "Natural Hygiene." In his thirties, he wrote his giant book "Human Life, Its Philosophy and Laws."
He then operated a health center in Texas where he practiced fasting and a clean, mostly raw diet.
All of the modern Natural Hygiene movement stems from Shelton, although it gained even more popularity when T.C. Fry came along and later, when the book "Fit For Life" was released in the 80s. All serious promoters of Natural Hygiene today are students of Shelton, who wrote more than 50 books.
The Natural Hygiene System
The basic principle of Natural Hygiene is self-healing.
Although Natural Hygiene has later been hijacked by authors such as Harvey Diamond who cherry-picked some ideas such as food combining, the basic principle of Hygiene has nothing to do with diet.
Here are the main concepts of Natural Hygiene, followed by some practical example.
1) Self-Healing: The body has the ability to heal itself, when you get out of the way and provide it with what it needs. Suppressing symptoms is not treating the body. For example, while traditional doctors may provide a special "immunity enhancing diet" during a flu, or some drugs to suppress the symptoms, a Natural Hygienist will probably advise to simply rest as much as possible, don't take drugs, eat as little as possible, possibly fast, and let the body recover naturally.
2) Less Intervention. Although Natural Hygiene would not claim that it's always wrong to intervene (for example, if someone breaks his leg), in general, for most diseases, they recommend to avoid giving drugs or natural treatments that are meant to suppress symptoms.
3) Fasting. Fasting is a key component of Natural Hygiene because it is the ultimate physiological rest. The purpose behind fasting is to let the body heal itself by shutting down all the energy that goes into digestion and redirecting it towards healing. During a fever, or other acute diseases, Natural Hygienists would probably advise fasting as opposed to interventions or medicine, even if body temperature is high.
4) Simplicity in eating. Natural Hygienists recommend a diet that's as simple as possible. While not all agree on the details (such as eating 100% raw or not), most recommend simple vegetarian meals devoid of salt, condiments and spices.
5) Fruitarianism. Almost all Natural Hygienists recommend fruit as the most pure, biologically-appropriate food one can eat.
How Do You Know If You're a Natural Hygienist?
Some people call themselves Natural Hygienists, but in reality they are naturopaths. How do you know the difference?
This goes back to the principle of self-healing and non-intervention.
If you suffer from a common cold, a naturopath will probably recommend some kind of herb or tincture to "boost your immune system."
A Natural Hygienist will instead recommend that you fast if you can, get as much rest as possible, drink water, and not take any particular remedy, whether natural or not.
A key principle of Natural Hygiene is to look for the cause and remove it, instead of suppressing symptoms with medicines, even if those come from natural sources.
Modern Natural Hygienists
As a movement, Natural Hygiene has essentially disintegrated. Hygiene saw a resurgence of interest after the publication of the book Fit For Life in the 80s, and many doctors at the time became modern Natural Hygienists. These doctors, such as Dr. Alan Goldhamer from the True North Health Center in California, still practice fasting but don't necessarily identify themselves as "Natural Hygienists."
The raw food movement, especially the 80/10/10 Diet by Doug Graham, is also strongly. influenced by Natural Hygiene. But now, there is no longer a true Natural Hygiene movement that is clearly identifiable. Many authors, myself included, have been influenced by Natural Hygiene, but don't accept all its philosophy without questioning it.
Where Natural Hygiene May Be Wrong
It would take a lot of time to go through the philosophy of Natural Hygiene. This was just a brief overview to attack the more specific issues.
Natural Hygiene, as a basic health philosophy, is very appealing and in my experience, works a lot of the time.
Where I think Natural Hygiene is wrong is in applying these principles no matter what, and never consider the state of science in 2012.
Natural Hygiene Lie #1: Drugs
One principle of Natural Hygiene, as explained by Dr. Shelton in his book Natural Hygiene: Man's Pristine Way of Life, is the idea that all drugs are toxic, and that's why they work.
The classic example is that of the constipation drugs, even their herbal equivalent.
Shelton's reasoning was as follows: drugs don't really have an effect on the body. Why? Because if you'd give them to a dead person, nothing would happen.
It's the BODY that has an effect on drugs. The body reacts to the drug given, and the result is our own interpretation of this principle in action.
Let's say someone suffers from constipation. The drug given will actually provoke a mild form of diarrhea. Is it the drug that's acting on the body? The drug in itself, Shelton explained, does nothing. You have to give it to a living organism.
However, because it's a drug and it's toxic, the body cannot use it as nutrition. It was to get rid of it. In the process, several things can happen.
In the case of the constipation drug, the body wants to eliminate it through the stools, and that's why users of this drug find relief.
Did the drug cure them of their constipation? No. Instead, it was a toxic substance that the body wanted to eliminate. In the process, it caused diarrhea and eliminated it along with the stools.
That's a simplistic explanation, but you get the idea.
Shelton believed that ALL drugs were toxic and did not have a specific effect, chemical or other, on the body. In fact, it was always the body reacting to the drug, and in the process eliminating a symptom or another.
Although Shelton was right to say that all drugs are toxic to some degree, he was wrong in his simplistic explanation of their action on the body.
Many drugs actually work through complex chemical and hormonal reactions in the body. Here are some examples:
1) Aspirin. Pain is something that is felt in the brain. Aspirin works by inhibiting an enzyme that produces prostaglandins, substances similar to hormones that trigger inflammation in the body. Aspirin binds itself to the enzyme, changing its chemical structure and blocking the reaction that produces the prostaglandins.
2) Prozac. Many anti-depressants like prozac will work due to their effects on serotonin levels. Low serotonin is associated with depression and anxiety. Due to a complex process, Prozac works by increasing the amount of serotonin that can be delivered to the cells. That's why Prozac is part of a class of drugs called "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (or SSRIs).
We could go on an on with more examples, but you get the idea.
Yes, drugs are toxic.
But no, they don't ALWAYS work through the simplistic idea that the body is working in some manner to "eliminate" or "reject" them. In some cases, they can literally alter complex chemical reactions taking place in the body.
Natural Hygiene Lie #2: The Germ Theory
Another area where Natural Hygiene is dead wrong is the belief that contagion of disease is essentially a myth.
Even though Shelton and others always claimed that diseases like the flue were essentially the body's efforts to detoxify itself, I was never fully convinced.
Even T.C. Fry had some interesting discussion on viruses and why he believed that they could not cause disease and were essentially "a scam."
I was never fully convinced because my own experience, like that of most people, contradicted with this teaching of Natural Hygiene.
Everybody has had the experience of coming in contact with someone with a common cold and then contracting the disease shortly after.
Typically the pattern is always the same:
- You haven't been sick for a while
– People around you may be sick, but you're not.
– After spending time in a crowded area where lots of people are sick, someone around you, like your husband or roommate, comes down with the cold
– A day after, you get the cold yourself.
I remember when I was living in Costa Rica in 2006, working at retreat center I had tried to purchase. We had a little community of people living onsite, and one day people started getting sick with the stomach flu. It was amazing to see everyone get sick, one after the other, with the exact same symptoms.
I naively thought I would be immune from this, but I also ended up being bed-ridden for 2-3 days. Granted, at the time I was under tremendous stress and my immune system was probably compromised, but there was no doubt that the disease was contagious and of viral nature. In fact, during that time, a significant percentage of the town where I lived got sick with the same stomach flu.
Generally, I agree with Natural Hygiene in their treatment of viral diseases. It's much better to recover while fasting, resting and drinking plenty of water, than the usual treatments.
However, their explanation of disease as always being an attempt for the body to "heal itself" through some sort of crisis is flawed, to say the least.
I don't think I want to go into a big debate about the Germ Theory, since viral science is quite complex. Times have evolved since Shelton's days, and we now know more about viruses and their action on the body.
A Personal Experience
A great book to read on the topic of immunity is Dr. Fuhrman's recent Super Immunity. In this book, you'll discover exactly what you can do to increase your immunity natural.
After reading Fuhrman's book, I realized that I had not gotten sick for a long time. I could not even remember the last time I had a cold!
When I was traveling around the world, there were a time or two that I felt I was almost coming down with symptoms of the cold, but after a day or so it was over, and I did not even get a runny nose or anything.
So recently I started bragging about the fact that I could not remember the last time I had a cold. Then my wife made an interesting observation. She said:
"Fred, you work at home. You don't come in contact with large crowds of people. You mostly work at home or in an office downtown where you don't shake hands with anybody. When most people get sick, during the winter, you stay in the tropics. You rarely take public transportation. Maybe that's part of the reason why you never get the cold."
I thought that was interesting, but I didn't think about it too much.
Then recently, my wife and I attended a health conference in California with 250 people in the room. I should have paid attention when I heard lots of people coughing in the room. But because I felt fine and I was with supposedly "healthy" people, I didn't think about it twice.
I shook hands with lots of people that weekend. And guess what? As soon as I got back home, my wife got sick with the cold. Then I started feeling symptoms of the cold myself! I got a sore throat and felt tired. Typical common cold, except that I got almost no mucus compared to most people.
This was over quickly, but I'm quite certain that coming in contact with this many people and getting the cold was no coincidence.
Let me just go through some practical tips and ideas.
1) You Can Increase Your Immunity Naturally. Natural Hygiene is not totally wrong on viral diseases. You can certainly increase your immunity naturally by eating a diet composed mostly of fruits and vegetables.
2) If You're Healthy, Symptoms Will Be Milder. If you do get sick, you'll likely experienced a much more suppressed form of the disease than most people. And it will likely be over sooner.
3) You Don't Need Drugs to Recover. To recover from most viral illnesses, you don't need drugs. Natural Hygiene is right to recommend for the disease to "follow its course" and for you to simply provide the right environment to allow for maximum healthful recovery.
4) Fasting May Help. In some cases, fasting may help you recover from viral illnesses.
This is the first part in a series of articles on Natural Hygiene. Stay tuned and please post your comments below!
February 9, 2012
Interview with Thor Bazler (formerly known as Stephen Arlin)
Interview with Thor Bazler (formerly known as Stephen Arlin)
* Founder of Rawpower.com
* Co-founder with David Wolfe of the first raw-food company, formerly known as Nature's First Law
* Author of the books "Raw Power!" and "Nature's First Law: The Raw-Food Diet" (co-author)
INTRO by FREDERIC
I first met Thor in 1997, when I showed up as a scrawny raw foodist in California, looking to get involved in the raw food scene in any way possible. Back then, Thor was known as Stephen Arlin, and together with David Wolfe, he started the biggest company in raw foods. In no time, I became their first "employee" and we even started a magazine together, Just Eat An Apple. That was before I started my own business in 2000. Thor eventually left the company he started with David to start his own. Over the years, we stayed in touch on and off by email, and I finally convinced him to offer this exclusive interview. Enjoy !
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Fred: First, Thor, could you let us know about your background and how you got involved in the raw food movement?
Thor: Sure, I got involved with the raw-food diet back in 1994, when there wasn't really much going on with the "raw foods movement" and the Internet was still in its infantile stage. I grew up in San Diego and my neighbor and best friend, David Wolfe, had found an old out-of-print book about eating all raw foods in his parents' house one day and decided to read it. He lent the book to me and I read it and was fascinated.
I then read Jay "The Juiceman" Kordich's book on juicing and raw foods. Dave and I (and Dave's cousin, RC Dini) all went raw together and started promoting the diet to pretty much every person we came into contact with. We would set up tables in malls, parks, festivals…anywhere, and put out baskets of fruits and vegetables and eat and talk to passers-by about raw foods all day, then go home and have raw food and juicing parties with whoever would show up. One party we had was a watermelon juice party at RC's place (RC stands for "Raw Courage"). I think we went through about 30 big watermelons! Massive Abundance, we called it.
We had the first raw food web site on the internet which consisted of a single page of "health axioms" plus our email address and phone number at the bottom of the page. From there we published our first raw foods book in 1996. Our first week of selling books was rather interesting… Steve Jobs was actually one of the first ten people who ordered our book online, then later that week, another customer ordered a book and had us send it to Charles Manson, in prison. We were like, "Whoa, this is gonna get interesting…"
Before long, we started a full-time, full-service raw food business, the first of its kind, with all the resources anyone would need to adopt the raw food lifestyle. We also had the first Facebook-like web site for raw foodists long before Facebook was even invented. It was called, "The Premier Raw-Foodists of the World" and each raw food advocate had his or her own web page with their philosophies and contact information.
The main page was a big grid that had clickable thumbnail pictures of everyone on the site. We were also the first to bring many raw/organic foods to the US market and raw food community, including goji berries, hemp protein, coconut oil, cacao products, maca, truly raw cashews, pure raw olives, and many others.
David Wolfe, Thor and Raw Courage on a TV Show in the Early Days
Fred: You've been at the forefront of the raw food movement by co-founding one of the biggest "raw food" businesses in the world. After all that time, what has been your overall impression of the raw food movement?
Thor: Our goal back in 1995 was to help popularize the raw food diet to the point where every household on Earth would know about it and know that it is an option (like everyone pretty much knows what a vegetarian diet is). So, one positive impression I have is that the raw food information has gotten out there into the mainstream and a large percentage of people know about it, and eat more raw foods now.
On the negative side, one thing that we never considered would happen was that there would be such a division and difference of opinions amongst raw foodists (or, more appropriately, "raw feudists"). It's just so ridiculous, and counter-productive, you know? I mean, one person says we need to be eating salads, another says bananas, another says celery or goji berries or whatever, and they'll be online ARGUING about it or creating videos bashing each other, instead of actually getting out there in the trenches and educating regular people who are smoking cigarettes, eating fast food, drinking soda, polluting the planet, getting sick, and dying of unnecessary, self-inflicted diseases.
Obviously there are lots of positive things about the raw food movement as well, but that's my overall impression. It's turned into a growing number of people fighting over a fictitious finite piece of the pie, when the original goal was, at least for us, to help humanity get back on course. It all needs to stop, or the raw food "movement" will keep spinning its wheels while humanity plunders into the abyss.
With Jay Kordich, Aka "The Juiceman"
Fred: When and why did you leave Nature's First Law and what happened for you since?
Thor: I had been considering leaving Nature's First Law, which I co-founded with David Wolfe in 1995, for a few years and finally left in September of 2006 (Dave left a few years later). There were a few core reasons why I left but mainly it was because my day-to-day experience there was no longer something I wanted to continue. In the early years, when we were building the business, we had a lot of fun…as you know! You were there in what, 1997/1998? Anyway, during those early years, we were more grass-roots and we did everything together. We answered the phones, packed orders, went to the post office, made copies–all the normal business stuff, and also traveled to events and retreats…you name it.
As the years passed and the company grew, and got very busy, we sort of just fell into specialized roles. Dave was great at PR and public speaking and my specialty was running and growing the business. As anyone who runs a good-sized business with lots of employees can tell you, it wears you down, big time. And since Dave was gone most of the time, we were no longer on the same page day-to-day, and our visions for the company's future went off in different directions. And when we did re-connect and have meetings, it was difficult to agree on numerous things.
I'm not against conflict at all, in fact I think you have to have conflict in a creative relationship to have success. If people get along too well and don't challenge each other, you don't get the same results–the conflict is really what creates the magic. I'm a "slow and steady wins the race" kind of guy and I think our life paths diverged to a point where it was no longer possible to bridge the gap and have the required amount of mutual agreement that is crucial in a business partnership.
Dave and I are like brothers. We grew up together–we met when we were 10-11 years old–we were best friends through high school, and roommates during our college years. We have a very brother-like relationship. You know how it is, sometimes you feel like you just want to strangle your brother, but you would also fight to the death for him if anybody ever messed with him.
Another big reason for leaving Nature's First Law was that our success had attracted countless vultures, and I don't know about you, but I don't take kindly to people of this sort. Instead of a once fun and exciting job, it had turned into a Groundhog Day for me of dealing with lawyers, insurance agents, governmental authorities, and frivolous lawsuits. During my last year with the company, there was a very positive article written about us in the business section in the local newspaper, in fact, we made the front page, and boy did the vultures come out in droves after that was published.
There was a lawsuit filed against us by a powdered milk company called "Nature First" because they said our company was causing customer confusion. We were like, "Uh, we're a vegan company. We have NOTHING to do with milk, ok? In fact, we carry a book called Milk: The Deadly Poison!"
Another of the many absurd lawsuits brought against us during that time was by a handicapped "advocate" who would go around to businesses and count the number of parking spaces around that business and if the ratio of handicapped spaces didn't meet the letter of the law, he'd file a lawsuit and DEMAND MONEY!…not ask a business to paint another space to meet the local code, but full-on shake businesses down for cash. We had about ten parking spaces in front of our business, all within 20-25 feet of the front door, and three quarters of them were always available.
We had a really great core group of like-minded people working there, so another thing that sort of took the wind out of my sails was when the company started hiring "regular" people–people that weren't raw, weren't vegan, weren't vegetarian, some of them smoked cigarettes, called in sick, etc.
Dave and I had always been contrary to society, we worked on Christmas, fasted on Thanksgiving, all that stuff, and it was a big let down, for me at least, when the company grew to a point where we had to hire more and more people, most of whom would be in shock if they were told "we work on Christmas and Thanksgiving because everyone else doesn't."
I remember once telling a new employee, "Inside these walls, we're in the Nebuchadnezzar, outside is The Matrix, it's all false. See that school across the street? It's 100% false. It's a babysitting service, an indoctrination center, and those kids are doomed. But eating raw, organic food and getting off all the poison they eat can unplug them from The Matrix and they can begin to think on their own." Some of those employees would get it and change their ways, for others it was just a paycheck and they would continue to take their cigarette breaks, talk about their television shows, and eat fast food for lunch, although we had a strict rule of no non-vegan food in the building.
So, really, having to deal with these kinds of things on a daily basis facilitated my departure from the company. I have a saying I have lived my life by for many years: That which disturbs your soul you must not suffer. If something disturbs me, I have to mercilessly purge it from my life. It's my duty to myself. I would have liked to stay at that company for many more years, but I guess, as the saying goes, "The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long."
To answer the second part part of your question, what happened after NFL is that I built a new web site, Rawpower.com, as well as completely re-wrote my Raw Power book, to bring it up to date. There's a lot of new info in there now, more than 100 pages, based on my experiences with raw foods, superfoods and strength training over the last several years. I've really enjoyed this Raw Power business, sourcing and selling the quality foods my family and I enjoy ourselves, working with cool, down-to-earth employees, having the family around and being part of the business.
Fred: What's the funniest moment you remember from those Nature's First Law days?
Thor: Wow, that's a tough question since there were so many. I'd have to say it's a tie between the time when a raw food bodybuilder employee of ours, Scott Brodie, after many months of being driven crazy by the ice cream truck's daily drive-bys (like a bunch of raw foodists were going to stop their work and go buy an ice cream!) stopped the ice cream truck, got down on a knee and asked the ice cream man to marry him!
The other time was when we were putting on a big raw food event at our warehouse and Dave's band Healing Waters was playing and there was this girl who showed up who had a little bit too much of a crush on Dave, so the band started playing their song Stalker Girl and she went nuts, rolling around on the warehouse floor for several minutes, just totally absorbed in the music and in her own little world, she was getting filthy from the floor and it was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. I was laughing so hard, my ribcage hurt.
Book Signing in the Early Days
Fred: You changed your name to Thor Bazler, tell us about that.
Thor: Yeah, I legally changed it back in the year 2000. My mother's maiden name is Bazler and I was always real close with the Bazler side. They were the family I related to and spent the most time with. I married Jolie in 1999 and we had our first child later that year. One day, out of the blue, we came to the conclusion that we should change our family name to Bazler. And I changed my first name to Thor while I was at it. It just felt like the right thing to do for our new little family. Some people thought I was crazy though. I had built up a successful business, authored books, and met thousands of people with my birth name and was pretty well known. So, I had to deal with some things I hadn't considered prior to changing my name.
Fred: That's interesting. Like what?
Thor: Well, one thing was when I published my Raw Power book, a couple people contacted me and accused me of ripping off Stephen Arlin's book! So I had to go through the whole, "No, that's me. I'm the same person. I just changed my name." Then other people would think, "Why would he do that? He must be hiding from the government, or he must be in some kind of trouble." Geez, women change their names all the time, so when a guy does it he must be a criminal? Hey, I may change it again someday, you never know!
Fred: Are there some things the raw food "gurus" don't want us to know and that we should be aware of?
Thor: The thing I've learned about these self-appointed "raw food gurus" is that most are either too open-minded, or too closed-minded. It is, of course, a good thing to keep an open mind to new ideas, but if the flood gates are always all the way open, one becomes susceptible to believing in anything. "Stand for something, or fall for anything," the saying goes. And on the other end of the spectrum, it can be just as bad to not be open to new ideas and just staying with an outdated and unrealistic dogma.
Fred: What is some bad advice that you've seen others give about the raw food diet?
Thor: An easier question to answer would be, "What is some *good* advice that you've seen others give about the raw food diet?" because I could fill several volumes of books giving examples of "bad advice." I believe that to live a healthy lifestyle and eat a healthy diet, all one must do is follow a simple set of guidelines. The moment the information begins to get complex, or when you start hearing 15-letter, scientific or Latin words, is when one begins to see bad advice. My simple set of guidelines goes something like this:
1. Eat a diet high in raw, organic, vegan foods (Make it fun with lots of smoothies and salads!)
2. Water: drink only purified water (every water source on Earth is contaminated except possibly frozen fresh water in Antarctica)
3. Exercise every day (Exercise guru Jack LaLanne once said, "Going one day without exercising is like committing suicide." Now, I wouldn't take that too literally, but Jack did have a point. The Law of Inertia states that a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body in rest tends to stay in rest. Even on my days off from weight training, I like to stay active.)
4. Breathe clean air (if you need to move to a place with clean air…move) (I actually had a guy call me once and start complaining that he didn't feel good and he asked me what he should do. I asked him where he lived. He said, "In an apartment in New York City." I said, "Sir, you're basically living in a polluted, negative void and you're wondering why you feel like crap every day? If I were you, I'd hang up the phone, collect a few of your favorite things, walk out the front door of your apartment and never go back. And don't stop walking until you've reached a place that makes you smile and feel amazing.")
5. Associate with positive people
6. Get outdoors in fresh air and the sun and experience nature
7. Think powerful thoughts
8. Delve into the mysteries of life
9. Avoid mass media, television and other time- and mind-wasters
10. Live in a place that is conducive to good health (fresh, clean air, low crime rate, local recreational opportunities, etc.)
11. Have (or find) a really cool, balanced partner to share life with
Your life is either a chore or a celebration. The choice is yours.
Fred: Can you give me an example of some of the big issues that raw foodists face in the modern world?
Thor: Good question. Like everything which becomes successful, big, greedy corporations have infiltrated and are now taking over the raw and organic food industries. Wal-Mart even has an organic food section now. And what happens when these corporations get involved is these foods become more available, yes, but quality takes a big hit, and before you know it, raw and vegan diets, which started as salads, fruits, veggies, etc. have become less and less fresh and more and more dehydrated packaged snacks, raw chocolate bars, and the like.
I think the raw snacks are fine additions to a high fresh raw-food diet, but they shouldn't be the primary foods in someone's diet, and they shouldn't be the first thing someone thinks of when they think of the raw food diet. The cooked vegan food industry is even worse, way worse.
My wife has been vegan for over 20 years, and she told me, in the past, being vegan meant salads, fruits, and veggies, mainly being pretty raw, and definitely about whole foods. Now, there are vegan "meats," vegan "cheeses," vegan everything, and most of it is not what I'd consider to be part of a healthy diet. One can order vegan at Taco Bell! There are now 300-pound vegans who don't eat any raw fruits or vegetables, how the heck is *that* healthy?
Fred: Do you think a 100% raw food diet is for everybody?
Thor: A person doesn't need to eat 100% raw all the time to achieve tremendous results. For the vast majority of people, 100% raw just isn't a realistic way to live. It took me a while to finally realize that, but it is the truth. Most people do well on a high-raw diet. If one aspires to and thrives on a 100% raw diet, then great for them.
For years, I just couldn't understand why the vast majority of people were not able to stick with it for an extended time (no matter which raw diet they were eating). There seems to be, for the most part, a revolving door of people who experiment with it for a time, then move on. I think it's a great thing for people to try. It really teaches people about their bodies, and they'll never think of food the same again.
Fred: Do you think most people who follow a raw food diet are actually healthier that way?
Thor: Yes, however, one key principle of health I've found to be undeniably true over the years is that more important than what you're eating is what you're *not* eating, especially in today's world of quick and easy convenience foods. In fact, the best thing about eating raw, organic foods is not that they are "magical," but that you are not eating the junk that the majority of people are eating! Raw foods are special, yes, but they are not a cure-all. Eating raw food all by itself won't completely improve your life, but it's a great start. The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.
Fred: Tell us about your family. I worked with you and Jolie all those years ago, and you had one baby then. I understand you two have four sons now!
Thor: Yes, I met my wife Jolie on Maui in 1998. We were both working for companies sponsoring the first "raw-food retreat." Now it's almost fourteen years later and we have four awesome sons (ages 12, 10, 7, 5). As any parent can testify, it's challenging, but also very rewarding. Jolie homeschools the kids and does a great job (I help with the math!). And they have the healthiest diets of any kids I've ever known. "Mom, can we have a snack?" means a big plate of raw/organic fennel, celery, purple cabbage, carrots, radishes, etc. We have a fun family. The kids and I put together a video to show you and your readers what's it's like around here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6oqIZe4wRU
Fred: Is there anything you would like to share about raising children on the raw food diet? What is the reality versus idealism?
Thor: Raising kids 100% raw vegan from birth is tricky and not something I would recommend to parents. We tried it for the first few years and there were definitely some paradigm shifts for us (and for many families, I've since found out). However, with that said, our kids still eat more raw vegan foods than anyone we know, and have super healthy diets, have never been to the doctor for an illness, have zero cavities, have never eaten junk food, candy, soda, etc. I recommend to new parents that they feed their kids a high-raw diet, strive for all organic, and make healthy choices with everything else, and definitely stay away from all the junk out there.
Fred: What is your take on supplements?
Thor: I think the majority of them out there are a complete waste of money and actually harmful to your health. Most are fractured, synthetic, commercial, cheap garbage. The "supplements" I personally take don't resemble anything like this. They are simply concentrated, 100% raw, organic food. One example is a wild dried berry from the Amazon called camu camu. Camu camu berries contain hundreds of times more vitamin C than oranges, by weight. So, I don't take a vitamin C supplement, I just put a teaspoon of camu camu berry powder in my smoothie a few times a week.
A couple more examples of the "supplements" I eat daily are Raw Power Protein Superfood Blend, and Thor's Hammer cold-pressed, high-protein tablets, both of which are made entirely from 100% raw, organic, pure, vegan food. The "Godfather of Fitness," health guru Jack LaLanne once said, "I am a huge believer in vitamins and minerals, and even though I eat right, I take supplements as an insurance policy. I take everything, from A to Z, and it's all from natural sources." So, I would agree with Jack on the insurance policy comment and take it one step further and say all supplements should be in the form of 100% raw, organic, pure, vegan food.
Fred: What about cacao?
Thor: Cacao (the main ingredient in chocolate) is ok to use in small quantities, if you're using it as a flavor (like vanilla beans, or cinnamon). I've never been a chocolate person, so I rarely eat cacao. If you do, always use raw, organic, and very clean cacao from a reputable source. When cacao is heated above a certain temperature, such as in the process of roasting, the heat produces acrylamide in the cacao, a compound that has been shown to be both neurotoxic and carcinogenic. Also, cacao beans are notorious for being a food that is commonly contaminated with molds.
Peanuts are another food you need to real careful of when you source them. There are two big cacao farms I know of that go the extra mile in making sure their cacao is 100% clean, and they even wash the beans in a purified water and food grade hydrogen peroxide solution to make sure they are 100% clean. The cacao (and all other food items) that we carry at Rawpower.com have been meticulously tested, and for over ten years have been found to be the cleanest products on the market. We have tested dozens of other companies' products and have sometimes found that they are teeming with contamination. One popular brand of cacao nibs we tested came back with a microbe reading of TNC, which means "too numerous to count." Scary!
Fred: Do you consider yourself a raw foodist? What do you eat on a daily basis?
Thor: Well, I consider myself a husband and father, because when it is all said and done, that's how I'd like my success as a human being to be measured. I don't like to define myself based on what I eat, however for the sake of this interview, yes, I've been 90%+ raw since 1995 with long periods of time at 100% raw. Some of the raw foods I eat on a regular basis are: green-leafy vegetables, olives, celery, avocados, purple cabbage, berries, bananas, citrus fruits, green juice, sea vegetables, lots of smoothies with Raw Power Protein blend, Thor's Hammer tablets, and various raw superfood powders.
Fred: Tell us your thoughts on "superfoods."
Thor: As I say in my book, some people don't "believe" in superfoods. But you know, it doesn't have anything to do with belief. It is a *fact* that some foods are vastly superior to others in terms of purity, density of nutrients, degree of mineralization, etc. A superfood is a food which contains unique (and even medicinal), health-promoting properties. These are foods which are more nutrient-rich, or concentrated, than normal foods and typically have higher levels of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, etc. than commonly-consumed foods. Superfoods allow us to eat less, but take in more nutrients at the same time. I strive for eating the most unharmful, most nutrient-rich foods possible. This is what eating superfoods is all about.
After 17 years of eating raw foods and trying different approaches, my conclusion is that the best diet is one in which a combination of fresh, organic raw foods and concentrated low-temperature dried, organic superfoods are eaten. For more and more people, supplements are being replaced by raw, organic superfoods, which I think is great. For years, the pharmaceutical companies have been taking plants and superfoods and extracting the medicinal qualities out of them—-and making medicine to sell people at exorbitant prices. Now, everyone has access to these real, raw, superfoods. So, heed what Hippocrates (the father of Western medicine) once said: "Our food should be our medicine, and our medicine our food."
Fred: What's the one secret to health and success that you really don't want to share?
Thor: That's a funny question because I remember watching a bodybuilding documentary from the 1970s called "Pumping Iron" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In that film, Arnold was explaining how he used to give people the wrong advice so he'd always have an edge over them! I thought that was hilarious, and I even did a little bit of that over the years myself. Not anymore though, I'm more into sharing info these days as compared to years' past. Answering your question, I don't think there are really any "secrets" to health and success, but there are a few important guidelines, like the ones I listed previously.
Fred: I remember interviewing you ten years ago for "Just Eat An Apple Magazine." That article was called "Interview with a raw-food bodybuilder." Are you still into weight-lifting?
Thor: Yes, even more so now than ever. I still lift weights 5-6 times a week and I developed a new weekly routine, and takes just 45 minutes per day and is the most effective routine I've ever practiced. It's outlined in detail in the new Raw Power book. With it, I've built up my strength to bench press 30-rep sets of 100-pound dumbbells. Some say that's the equivalent of bench pressing 225 pounds on the barbell for sets of 30 reps, which is on par with NFL football player strength. I live in the mountain forest of Northern Idaho now so I also get a lot of exercise hiking and exploring, chopping wood, moving snow, maintaining the property, playing sports with my kids, etc.
Fred: You created a line of Raw Power raw protein powders. Can you tell us a little more about what went into the creation of this product?
Thor: Yeah, the Raw Power Protein/Superfood blends were created several years ago out of my wife and I wishing such a product existed for our own use. We would talk about how it would be great if there were a 100% organic, 100% raw, 100% vegan, 100% clean, 100% HEALTHY protein powder out there, with no fillers and no average ingredients, strictly the best high-protein raw, vegan ingredients planet Earth has to offer. After a few years of trying dozens of different ingredient blends, I finally got it just perfect. My wife, kids and I make it a part of our morning smoothies.
Fred: Many raw foodists claim they can build muscle on just fruits and vegetables as long as they eat enough calories. Do you think it's necessary to get extra protein when body-building, and why?
Thor: Well, sure people can build muscle on just fruits and vegetables. The question is, how much? I have a chapter on this in the Raw Power book called: Protein: How Much is Enough? In it, I write, "A raw-food, vegan diet is fantastic for slimming and overall health but, to build super strength and muscle mass, extra protein is required. There will undoubtedly be people in the raw-food community who will tell you differently, but it's usually a guy who weighs a-buck-thirty, or a guy who can run a marathon, but has the physique of a thirteen year-old boy." People have to decide what they want.
Personally, I'm not interested in being thin and running marathons or cycling on a tiny seat for hundreds of miles. I'm talking about building large muscles and attaining NFL-football-player strength eating raw and vegan, something that a very, very small percentage of people on this planet ever attain. Completely different. If one desires to be an endurance athlete, lean and fit…great, then they can do the 6% protein thing.
If you want middle linebacker size and strength on a raw vegan diet, it ain't gonna work on 6% protein. Here are some things I've found to be essential for the person seeking this kind of size and strength on a raw vegan diet: eating enough calories and protein daily, consistent exercise with weight-bearing exercises, a strong and level-headed mind, staying properly hydrated, getting enough sleep, eliminating stress, getting sun on the skin, etc. Protein intake should be 1/2 gram (or more) per pound of desired body weight per day.
Fred: Besides those who want to have extra muscle, who typically purchases your Raw Power Protein products and why?
Thor: Mostly just anyone who is looking to add clean, usable nutrition and premium-quality, raw, vegan protein to their diets. Our customers also include NFL football players, national fitness competitors, models, personal trainers, yoga practitioners, lots of bodybuilders, and lots of moms and dads wanting to give their family the best.
Fred: What do raw vegan bodybuilders eat?
Thor: In addition to the normal raw-food diet fare of salads, fruits, veggies, smoothies, nuts, seeds, sea vegetables, etc., all of them I know of add some sort of extra high-protein food sources, or "supplements." I prefer the Raw Power Protein blend for its quality, taste, and versatility. Another fantastic raw, organic bodybuilding product I take every day is such an important part of my diet, I named it Thor's Hammer, after the Norse god Thor's powerful weapon of choice. It has a 70% protein content and comes in the form of 100% raw, cold-pressed tablets, containing only pure ingredients, with no fillers or binders. I eat handfuls of them at a time, up to 300 per day, which provides me an extra 50 grams of protein per day. My kids all take the tablets daily, so do my employees and many of my friends. I also eat a 100% raw, organic Protein Bar on most days, which contains 22 grams of protein per bar.
Fred: Any new projects in the works?
Thor: As I mentioned, I recently re-wrote my Raw Power book. It details all my strategies to gain super strength and muscle eating a diet of raw foods and superfoods, based on over 15 years of my experiences with a raw-food diet. The book also includes all my unique personal workouts, raw-food recipes and lots of other stuff. I was never really that happy with the first three editions (1998, 2000, 2002), as they were more "thrown together." With this new edition (2011), I took my time, stripped the old edition down to the bare essentials and then added in over 100 pages of new information. The new workouts I came up with were inspired by a raw foodist I met who out lifted the combined efforts of 10 people. You can read about this amazing story in the new Raw Power book as well. Another book is in the works as well as a workout video. Stay tuned at Rawpower.com!
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NOTE FROM FREDERIC: By popular demand, we now carry Thor's book and a few of his products at www.rawvegan.com
Make sure to also check out his website: raw power.com
Fred, Jolie and Thor in 1998
The Fake NFL Band: Thor, David and Fred
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