activity and may be used in treatments for
arthritic and rheumatic conditions.
 QCautions  Only take under professional
supervision. Do not take during pregnancy or while
breastfeeding. The plant can cause contact dermatitis.
Cedrus spp. (Pinaceae)
Cedar
Description  Cedar of Lebanon ( C. libani ) is a
majestic flat-topped tree growing to 130 ft (40 m).
It has dark green needle-like leaves and oval cones.
African cedar ( C. atlantica ) grows to 115 ft (35 m).
Habitat & Cultivation  Cedar of Lebanon
is native to mountain forests of Lebanon, Israel,
and southwest Turkey. Atlas cedar is native to
the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, growing from
4,600–7,200 ft (1,400–2,200 m) above sea level.
Parts Used  Leaves, wood, essential oil.
Constituents  The essential oil of Atlas cedar
wood contains mainly alpha-pinene (up to 79%).
History & Folklore  Cedar of Lebanon is
thought to have been used in building Solomon’s
Temple and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The oil has been used for thousands of years in
incense, perfumes, and embalming.
Medicinal Actions & Uses  Cedar of Lebanon
is antiseptic and expectorant, acting to disinfect the
respiratory tract. Cedarwood essential oil has been
used for thousands of years for perfumes and for
embalming. It is most commonly distilled from Atlas
cedar and eastern red cedar ( Juniperus virginicus ).
The oil is strongly antiseptic, astringent, diuretic,
expectorant, and sedative. Diluted and massaged
US_180-201_Brassica_dictamnus.indd   185 26/02/16   12:47 pm
186Cephaelis ipe C a C uanhaother medicinal plantsand possibly supporting the liver as well as improving
resistance to infection. The seeds have been used as a mild laxative for children. A decoction of the leaves is used to treat rheumatic complaints.
Related Species  Greater knapweed (C. scabiosa)
formed part of the medieval salve, an ointment applied to heal wounds and to treat skin infections.
Self-help Use  Conjunctivitis, p. 310.
Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Rubiaceae)
Ipecac
Description  Small shrub with a slender stem
growing to 1 ft (30 cm). Has a few oblong leaves,
small white flowers, and purple-black berries.
Habitat & Cultivation  This herb grows mainly
in Brazil. Cultivation has been attempted in Southeast
Asia with limited success. The root of 3-year-old plants is unearthed when the plant is in flower.
Parts Used  Root, rhizome.
Constituents  Ipecac contains isoquinoline
alkaloids, tannins, and glycosides. The alkaloids are expectorant and, at a larger dose, cause vomiting and diarrhea. They are also strongly amebicidal.
History & Folklore  Ipecac came to Europe
in 1672, and achieved fame as a cure
for dysentery. But the cure was not without controversy. It appeared to work well in some cases but to have no effect in others. Now it is possible to see why. There are two types of dysentery—amebic and bacillary. While the herb is strongly amebicidal, it has little effect against bacilli.
Medicinal Actions & Uses  Though a highly
effective emetic (even moderate doses of ipecac will stimulate vomiting until the contents of the stomach are cleared), it is now rarely used in conventional medicine as safer substitutes have been developed. Ipecac continues to be a common ingredient in patent over-the-counter cough medicines, as its strong expectorant action helps to clear phlegm and ease irritable coughs. It is used in the treatment of bronchitis and whooping cough. Ipecac is also still used for amebic dysentery.
 QCautions  Do not use the root or rhizome.
T ake formulations containing ipecac carefully and only as instructed on the label. Several deaths have resulted from overdose.climates; it is said to “want sight of the sea.” It is cultivated for its fruit, and harvested in late summer or autumn.
Parts Used  Fruit, bark.
Constituents  The fruit contains up to 70%
sugars, fats, starch, proteins, vitamins, and tannins.
History & Folklore  In ancient Egypt, carob
pods were combined with porridge, honey, and wax as a remedy for diarrhea. They also featured in recipes for expelling worms, and treating poor eyesight and eye infections.
Medicinal Actions & Uses  Carob pods are
nutritious and, due to their high sugar content, sweet-tasting and mildly laxative. A decoction of the pulp can be used as an antidiarrheal, gently helping to cleanse and relieve irritation within  the gut.
Iceland moss is used
to ease coughs and treat congestion. It also has a soothing and bitter tonic effect on the digestive tract.Carob seeds were used to weigh gold and gave rise to the word “carat.”
Helonias root was chewed
by Native American women
to prevent miscarriage.Cetraria islandica (Parmeliaceae)
Iceland Moss
Description  Y ellow-green lichen growing in
undulating, leathery tufts up to 3 in (8 cm) across.
Habitat & Cultivation  Iceland moss is native
to northern and alpine areas of Europe. It flourishes
in sub-Arctic and mountainous regions on rocks and on the bark of trees, especially conifers. It is harvested throughout the year.
Part Used  Whole plant.
Constituents  Iceland moss contains lichen acids
(including usnic acid) and about 50% polysaccharides. Usnic acid and the other lichen acids are powerfully antibiotic. The polysaccharides are antiviral.
History & Folklore  Iceland moss has been
used since ancient times as a cough remedy, and has also been used in European folk medicine as
a cancer treatment.Medicinal Actions & Uses  Strongly demulcent,
Iceland moss soothes the mucous membranes of the chest, counters congestion, and calms dry and paroxysmal coughs, being particularly helpful as a treatment for elderly people. Iceland moss is also very bitter and, within the gut, has both a demulcent and bitter tonic effect—a combination almost unique in medicinal herbs. It is thus of value in all kinds of chronic digestive problems, for instance irritable bowel syndrome.
Chamaelirium lutea (Liliaceae)
Helonias,
False Unicorn Root
Description  Herbaceous perennial growing to
3 ft (1 m) with large, green leaves forming a basal rosette from which emerges a tall spike of green-white flowers.
Habitat & Cultivation  Native to North
America, helonias grows in low, moist, well-drained ground east of the Mississippi river. In view of its rarity in the wild, it is best to use alternative herbs such as black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, p. 79) and wild yam (Disocorea villosa, p. 91).
Parts Used  Rhizome (lifted in autumn).
Constituents  Root contains steroidial saponins
(up to 9%), including chamaelirin and diogenin.
History & Folklore A traditional Native
American medicine, Helonias was prized as  a woman’s herb and used to treat a range of gynecological problems. There is some confusion about its precise use since several herbs share the same (or similar) name. Seeds
Ceratonia siliqua (Fabaceae)
Carob
Description  Evergreen tree growing to a height
of 30 ft (10 m). Has compound leaves, green flowers, and large violet-brown fruit (bean pods).
Habitat & Cultivation  Native to south-
eastern Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, carob flourishes in poor soil in warm temperate
US_180-201_Brassica_dictamnus.indd   186 26/02/16   12:47 pm187Chelidonium majusother medicinal plantsMedicinal Actions & Uses  In Western
herbal medicine, helonias has been valued as a key
remedy for conditions affecting the uterus and
ovaries. It is thought to have a “normalizing” effect
on the female reproductive system. It is thought to
regulate the release of hormones by the ovaries
and encourage a regular menstrual cycle. It has
also been used to treat conditions such as
endometriosis, ovarian cysts, and menopausal
problems. As it is now an endangered species,
other herbs (notably black cohosh) are routinely
used in its place.
Caution  Do not take during pregnancy.
Chamaemelum nobile syn.
anthemis nobilis (Asteraceae)
Roman Chamomile
Description  Aromatic perennial growing to
20 in (50 cm). Has feathery leaves and daisy-like
flower heads.
Habitat & Cultivation  Native to western
Europe, Roman chamomile is now cultivated
across Europe, and


 Macfadden. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of
Physiological Therapeutics, (D.P.). Bernarr Macfadden was a successful business man who
owned a publishing company that included a newspaper,
The New York Evening Graphic.
 After
graduation Dr. Shelton wrote a regular column on health care, in that paper. In the publishing
world, he wrote several books but only as a “ghost” writer. His writing skills were already
developed and well known.
He graduated from the American School of Naturopathy (1922) whose founder and president
was the illustrious Dr. Benedict Lust. He later taught at the school.
During his life, Dr. Shelton wrote almost forty books dealing with all aspects of health, disease
and healing. After graduation, he was the editor of
How to Live
 magazine and teacher of “Dietetics
and Naturopathic Principles” at the American School. Later he was editor and publisher of
Dr.
Shelton’s Hygienic Review,
 a monthly magazine devoted to teaching Hygiene and exposing the
many fallacies, dangers and errors of the conventional medical system. That publication had a
unifying influence on all doctors, throughout the world, who had an affinity with Hygienic
principles and practices. During this time several outstanding Hygienists, among them, Drs.
Christopher Gian-Cursio, William Esser, Gerald Benesh and, latterly, Dr. Virginia Vetrano joined
him in his educational work and contributed regular articles that appeared in the
Hygienic Review.
Today, there are many people teaching and practicing Hygiene. All of them are indebted to Dr.
Shelton’s legacy, whether or not they acknowledge or even concede their acquisition of the basic
principles which were assembled and logically presented by him. Although Dr. Shelton, himself,
always gave due credit to those who preceded him in the history of Hygiene, this demonstrates the
enormous impact that he had through his teachings. The International Association of Hygienic
Physicians was formed some years after his death with the intention of establishing a genuine
organization of appropriately educated practitioners, who would faithfully pursue the basic
principles established.
Over the years since the early 20th century when Dr. Shelton commenced his work much of the
knowledge that he amassed and the claims he presented have been validated by scientific studies
over and over again. In fact, even in the popular media, more of the tenets of Hygiene are
becoming commonplace.
8I first encountered the writings of Dr. Shelton in 1949, the same year the Hygiene Society was
inaugurated and when one of his very important works was published:
The Basic Principles of
Natural Hygiene.
 What a refreshing experience it was to awaken from my delusions about health,
disease and healing to a vision of health care that was gentle, positive and gave control to the
sufferer. It had been my habit then to read, assiduously, as many health books as I could find in the
libraries. Those were both medical and non medical. I had been exposed to a demanding medical
education for three years and felt uncomfortable in the therapeutic nightmare in which I lived.
Shortly after my richly deserved revelation, interesting text books began to appear, opening
cracks in the secure edifice of medical science. The first was the initial volume of Dr. Meyler’s
Side Effects of Drugs
 (1952) followed soon after by Dr. Robert H. Moser’s
Diseases of Medical
Progress
 (1959). It seemed even then that in the discipline of health care any change is progress!
Even today, according to the
Journal of the American Medical Association
 for December 2006,
medicine is now the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and
cancer.
One of his major works,
Human Life Its Philosophy and Laws,
 a copy of which he gave me on
my first visit to him, was written when he was just past thirty years old, a monumental work of
scholarship and erudition. His final chapter, “A Criticism of the Hypothesis of Therapeutics” had a
profound and lasting impact on me.
In introducing the reader to
Fasting Can Save Your Life,
 it is important and appropriate for me
to stress that fasting, the subject of this work, is not a “therapy.” It is not a treatment, nor is it a
cure; although it is often described as all of these. The word “therapy” is clearly defined as “a
treatment of or pertaining to the remedial treatment of disease.” This is a conceptual error of the
most fundamental type. Animals fast, some for considerable periods of time. Fasting is a part of
life and has always been so. Health and disease are aspects of the same biological continuum; they
are processes in continuous operation. Fasting is merely a period of abstinence from food. It may
be viewed as a type of rest, a cessation of eating. It has nothing to do with treatment or therapy. It
is not what the fasting does but what the body does while fasting. Fasting provides the body with
the opportunity for its remedial processes to perform more efficiently and effectively. Fasting
removes obstructions to recovery.
The living body is self-constructing, self-defending and self-repairing. The whole effort and
focus of Hygiene is to enhance and facilitate these processes. Whenever action occurs, it is action
of the body and not some extraneous material or influence. Fasting per se has really nothing to do
with disease. It is not a cure, treatment or therapy. It merely affords the body an opportunity to
perform its remedial functions more effectively. When we get sick, one of the first symptoms to
appear is anorexia, loss of appetite. This is not, of course, invariable, but it is common. Should we
not respect what the body is indicating to us?
One of Dr. Shelton’s unique qualities that always impressed me was his ability to exploit
Ockham’s Razor in any argument or serious discussion. This principle that goes back to Aristotle
(384-322BC), was made famous by William of Ockham (1285-1347), a Franciscan monk who
studied and taught philosophy at Oxford University. This principle, also known as the law of
economy, states, “Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.” Its application in medicine
recommends that if diagnosing a given illness or disease, a doctor should try to look for the fewest
possible causes, the simplest which will account for all the symptoms. The counter argument is
“Hickam’s dictum” which simply states that, “Patients can have as many diseases as they damn
well please.” Ockham’s Razor was the unique cognitive context in which Shelton appraised health
philosophy and exposed the rigorous precision he used when examining arguments. Truly
9Aristotelian!
Dr. Shelton also had a keen interest in politics with a leaning towards socialism which has
never been dominant in the USA. He was motivated to run for President in the 1956 elections.
From what he told me, he spent much of his time travelling around the country delivering powerful
speeches on Hygiene. On reading the magazine,
Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review,
 one cannot help
but perceive the philosophical roots of his political convictions.
Following the giants of medical reform of the 19th century including Drs. Isaac Jennings,
Russell Trail and Robert Walter, Shelton coined many terms to meaningfully reflect the biological
relationship between the organism and the environment, materials, agents and influences, upon
which its health and life depend. “Orthopathy” was one such term, coined by Jennings, from the
Greek,
Orthos
 meaning correct, upright, and
pathos
 meaning disease, suffering, implying that
disease is right for the extant conditions. Another important term was “biogony,”
bios
 meaning life,
agony
 meaning struggle. Disease represents a struggle for existence, for recovery; it is an energy
expensive process.
Dr. Shelton has gone but his writings remain. They are safe for future students, scholars,
historians and researchers to peruse and examine. Since my college days at University in London,
there is not a day goes by without my awareness of the substantial intellectual debt I owe Dr.
Herbert M. Shelton. I shall miss him and his penetrating mind often disguised by an entertaining
sense of humor.
I would like to finish with a few of his words.
He has no enemies, you say,
My friend your boast is poor.
He who has mingled in the fray,
Of duty that the brave endure
Must have made foes,
If he has none,
Small is the work that he has done.
He has hit no fraud upon the hip,
He has struck no cup from perjured lip,
He has never turned the wrong to right,
He has been a coward in the fight.
Alec Burton, M.Sc., D.O., D.C.
Director, Arcadia Health Centre
Sydney, Australia
10A
Introduction
s sensational as it may seem, fasting can save your life.
For those facing a major health crisis or medical treatment that involves significant risk of side
effects, fasting, under the care of a physician trained in fasting supervision, may be a safer and
more effective alternative. This is because the traditional medical approach of treating the
symptoms
 of a disease with medicine and surgery does not remove its
causes.
 Left unchecked,
such causes will continue to harm the individual in time to come. By contrast, therapeutic fasting,
followed


 sliced
Mayonnaise or mustard
Spike or salt-free seasoning
Place vegetables in steamer, covered, over boiling water for 5-7 minutes,
or until tender when pierced with tip of sharp knife. Combine in large
bowl. Sprinkle with a little safflower oil or olive oil and lemon juice, if
desired. Heat tortillas in hot dry skillet, one at a time, until soft but not
crisp. Place in covered casserole or between two plates with small pat of
butter, if desired, on each. Place sprouts or lettuce and avocado in two
small bowls. Assemble tortillas at table, with condiments and seasoning.
Each person can come up with his or her own combination. Serves 2-3.
DAY FIFTEEN—MONDAY
BREAKFAST:
Same as Day One.
LUNCH:
Fresh fruit or carrot juice (optional)
Energy Salad (see page 149) with 1 slice buttered whole-grain toast, or
cottage cheese, if desired
DINNER:
Fresh Vegetable Juice Cocktail, if desired (see page 152)
Carrot-Leek Bisque*
Marinated Pasta Salad *
French Green Salad (see page 154), or Dilled Cucumbers (see page 185)
A FOUR-WEEK EXAMPLE OF THE FITNESS LIFESTYLE • 191 CARROT-LEEK BISQUE 30 Min.
5 cups water
5 cups carrot slices
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small white onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 large leeks, sliced in rounds and soaked to remove sand
2 teaspoons dried basil
V* teaspoon dried sage
lA teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon miso, red or white, or 1 vegetable bouillon
1 tablespoon sweet butter
Garnish:
3 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped chives (optional)
In a soup kettle, bring water to a boil. Add remaining ingredients, except
butter and garnish, in order given. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer 20
minutes or until vegetables are soft. Remove Vi cup carrots with slotted
spoon. Puree remaining soup in two increments in blender. Return to
heat. Add carrots and butter. Reheat and serve. Garnish with dollop of
sour cream and chopped chives, if desired. This bisque is also excellent
cold. Serves 3.
MARINATED PASTA SALAD 45 Min.
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups asparagus, sliced on the diagonal
2 cups zucchini, sliced
Prepare the vegetables.
Place broccoli, asparagus, and zucchini in vegetable steamer, covered,
over boiling water for 5-7 minutes until just tender when pierced with tip
of a sharp knife. Broccoli will take several minutes longer than asparagus
and zucchini, so put it in steamer first. Remove vegetables from heat and
reserve.
192 • FIT FOR LIFE 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Prepare the mushrooms.
In large skillet, heat oil. Add shallot and mushrooms. Saute until mush
rooms turn glossy but retain crispness, 3-4 minutes at most. Squeeze
lemon juice over mushrooms, and set aside.
Marinade:
lA cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
Vi teaspoon dried oregano or 2 teaspoons fresh oregano
Vi teaspoon dried basil or 2 teaspoons fresh basil
Vi teaspoon sea salt, seasoned salt, or salt-free seasoning
Fresh ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, halved or minced
Prepare the marinade.
Combine oil, lemon juice, oregano, basil, sea salt, pepper, and garlic in
measuring cup. Mix well. Combine vegetables and mushrooms in large
bowl. Add marinade, and toss gently. At this point vegetables can be
refrigerated several hours or overnight.
Vz pound De Cecco whole-wheat pasta or fresh vegetable fusilli
Vf cup thin red pepper strips or thin sun-dried tomato strips
Vi cup arugula, fresh parsley, or fresh cilantro, chopped
V* cup Greek olives, rinsed (optional)
Prepare the pasta.
Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large kettle. Add pasta and simmer,
uncovered, until just al dente, 2-3 minutes for fresh vegetable fusilli,
10-12 minutes for dried pasta. A tablespoon of olive oil may be added to
water before boiling. When pasta is ready, add a cup of cold water to
kettle to stop cooking. Drain immediately, and toss with marinated vege
tables. Add peppers or tomatoes. Add olives and toss. Sprinkle with
arugula, parsley or cilantro. Toss gently. Serves 3-4.
Freeze 2 bananas, peeled, for tomonow's shake before going to bed.
A FOUR-WEEK EXAMPLE OF THE FITNESS LIFE-STYLE • 193 AN ALL-FRUIT DAY FOR MAXIMUM WEIGHT
LOSS!
DAY SIXTEEN—TUESDAY
You have now detoxified to the point where an All-fruit Day will be comfort
able and energizing. Pace your fruit intake however you like. Have 1 or 2 large
fruit meals during the day, after juice in the morning (it is easier to stay on
fruit all day if you consume nothing but fresh juice in the morning), or eat
smaller amounts of fruit at regular intervals throughout the day. Eat only when
you are hungry. Since fruit supplies the body with the fuel it needs without a
great energy expenditure, you actually may not be particularly hungry. You
will unquestionably feel light and energetic.
BREAKFAST:
Fresh juice
LUNCH:
Fruit
DINNER:
Date or Strawberry Shake, * and more fruit, 1 Vi to 2 hours later, if
desired. You may substitute a Vegetable-fruit Platter (see page 156) for
the shake, if desired.
DATE OR STRAWBERRY SHAKE 3 Min.
1 cup Fresh Almond Milk (see below)
2 frozen bananas
6 pitted dates or 6 fresh or frozen strawberries
Place almond milk and fruit in blender. Blend until thick and creamy. If
you like a thinner shake, use Wi bananas. Makes 1 large shake.
NOTE: From now on, if you like these shakes, keep frozen bananas on
hand in freezer.
These shakes are nutritious and an excellent substitute for ice cream
shakes or protein drinks. Children love them.
194 • FIT FOR LIFE FRESH ALMOND MILK. 10 Min.
V* cup raw almonds
1 cup cold water
2 teaspoons pure maple syrup (optional)
Nut and seed milks were used for centuries in Europe, Asia, and by the
American Indians, and they are still used throughout the world as easily
digestible substitutes for cow's milk. Those made from almonds or sesame
seeds are excellent sources for easily assimilated calcium and they are deli
cious!
Blanch almonds by adding them to large skillet containing Vi inch boil
ing water, allowing them to sit in water as it boils for about 30 seconds.
The skins will loosen noticeably. Drain and pop skins off. Place blanched
almonds in blender with 1 cup cold water. Run blender at high speed for
2—3 minutes until a thick white milk has formed. If you are going to
drink almond milk straight, strain it through a fine sieve. If there is a lot
of pulp, you have not blended long enough. If you are going to use the
milk in a shake, there is no need to strain.
Shakes are an ideal "smoothing out" food after an All-fruit Day. We do not
recommend having a shake on any day when you are also having cooked food.
DAY SEVENTEEN—WEDNESDAY
BREAKFAST:
Same as Day One.
LUNCH:
Fresh fruit or carrot juice (optional)
Energy Salad (see page 149), or Nuts and Cukes (see page 162)
DINNER:
Fresh Vegetable Juice cocktail, if desired (see page 152)
Tortilla Soup*
New York Goodwich (see page 159), or Perfect Corn on the Cob (see
page 180)
Grandma's Coleslaw *
A FOUR-WEEK EXAMPLE OF THE FITNESS LIFESTYLE • 19! TORTILLA SOUP 55 Min.
8 cups water
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 large white onion, chopped
2 large carrots, cut into Vi-inch slices
1 large carrot, finely grated
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
2 cups cauliflower, chopped, or 2 cups fresh or frozen corn
4 broccoli stalks, peeled and cut into!/2-inch cubes (optional)
2 cups banana squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cups cabbage, sliced
1 large zucchini, sliced
1 vegetable bouillon
Vi teaspoon sea salt, seasoned salt, or salt-free seasoning
Fresh ground black pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper
lA teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
4 corn tortillas
V* cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Barbecued Onions (see below)
Prepare the soup.
In a soup kettle, bring water to a boil. Add celery, onion, carrots, and
potato


 e know that men suf fering heart
attacks w ho bel ieve that their w ives love them do better than  those whodon’ t, a nd a simple monthly phone call from a caring cardiac nurse can
double t he survi val time of a heart patient. Even studies with animals have
found th at tende rness and af fection can reduce their risk for disease. In an
intriguing study from Ohio State University, two groups of rabb its were fed
a high-cholesterol diet. In one group the rabbits were regularly petted and
cuddled by the animal technicians. Rabbits in the other gro up, fed the
identical diet, did not receive any petting. At the completion of the study,
the rabbits that were treated tenderly had only 10 percent as much fat
deposited into their blood vessels as their touch-deficient peers. Love is
metabolized into physiology and can make the dif ference between health
and sickness, life and death.
These sc ientific reports do not surprise most of us. W e have a ll known
the e xuberance and vitality that we experience when we feel loved. Most of
us a lso know t he anguish and despair that come from sep aration and
rejection. People  suf fering the lo ss of love have changes in the c hemistry of
their brains that influence ev ery cell in their body. The se changes
substantially inc rease their risk f or a wide range of illnesses, from cancer to
heart disease. Similarly, the exhilaration, enthusiasm, an d comfort
generated by love create life-af firming transformations that enliven both
emotional and physical well-being. Love makes us feel good because it
creates the biology of delight,  joy, and safety. Love is healing, love is
nourishing, love is good for us.
Love transforms biology.
What Is Love?
Knowing that love transforms o ur physiology in the direction o f improved
health and vitality, we are ready to address a fundamental question: What is
love? Poets, philosophers, and songwriters since time immemorial have
waxed e loquent on this perennial subject. No word in any language is
embraced as personally as love. It elicits in each of us a lifetime ofmemories and desires, weaving  together the innocence and pas sion of our
bodies, hearts, and souls.
For most people, love is an emotion, a sentiment, a feeling that can
consume your thoughts and molecules. Falling in love is an altered state of
consciousness, in which your perceptions, interpretations, and choices are
transformed. Wh en you are in love you become carefree and open to new
experiences. Y ou become vulnerable and invincible at the same time. Y ou
become renewe d, exhilarated, and joyful. Love detaches you from your
usual mundane and trivial conce rns and opens your awareness to the magic
and mystery of life. Love reminds you that you are alive.
Love ins pires you to do great things. Through the power of love you tap
into your primordial ener gies an d become a mythical being. L overs aspire
to epic undertak ings to demonstrate the power of their love. Love connects
you with archetypal lovers. Y ou  relish reenacting the recurrent love stories
that precipitate out of the myth ological realm of the human su bconscious.
Every c ulture te lls its love stor ies. From Cupid and Psyche to  Rama and
Sita to Romeo and Juliet to Sp encer T racy and Katharine Hepburn, these
romantic stories reenact the hell of separation and the heaven of reunion
that hum an beings experience through love. These perennial love stories are
the keys that open the door to universal love.
Personal Love as Concentrated Universal Love
The great spiritual traditions from every culture inform us that unity is the
ultimate truth of all existence. T he one undivided Spirit partitions itself into
infinite beings. Once having fra gmented, however, the parts are driven by
fundamental forces to reestablish unity. Atoms endeavor to become
molecules. Celestial bodies seek  to join solar systems. Human beings strive
to mer ge with their beloved. Love at its essence is the quest for spirit, and
the longing for communion. The need to fulfill that longing for oneness
resonates deep in our personal and collective memory. Through all the
striving to find fullness outside ourselves, we know at some preconsciouslevel tha t the only true source o f love is the infinite, unbounded ocean of
spirit within our own being. The more in touch with spirit we are, the more
loving we feel and behave.
Most people are not directly  in tune with their spiritual essence.
Therefore, Natu re, in her compassion for human beings, has p rovided the
opportunity for us to fall in love  with each other. This provides us a glimpse
of th e transformational power o f spirit. Personal love provides us with a
taste of universa l love, but desp ite how grand we feel when we are in love,
it is not enough. W e are eterna lly driven to experience more love, more
intimacy, more wonder because our soul is driven to experience the ultimate
reunion with spirit.
When you recognize that love a nd spirit are the same, you will see your
longing for love as a hunger for more awareness, more communion, more
connection with  the universal i ntelligence that underlies the world. Every
act of love is an act of divinity, an expression of spirit.
Make a commitm ent to see ever y act of love as an expression of  spirit. A
sweet look from a child, giving money to a homeless person, helping a
stranger change  a flat tire, bringing a spouse flowers, volun teering at a
hospital—each of these acts is b oth personal and spiritual. They bring you
greater j oy by helping expand y our concept of who you are. Every act of
love loo sens the shackle of ego imprisonment. Every act of love  gives you a
taste of spirit and brings you a step closer to integrating the t imeless into
time-bound existence. Love creates the experience of present-moment
eternity, and the more we experience eternity the younger we  grow. The
deeper we tap i nto and express our core, which is spirit, the more loving
and liberated we feel.
Think about love. T alk about love. Seek out love. Encourage love.
Commit yoursel f to expressing l ove in every interaction of your  life. This is
the way your soul remembers its perfection. All lessons in life are lessons in
love. Liv ing a spiritual life means seeking out love in every situ ation. Make
love the most im portant thing in your life and you will grow y ounger and
live longer.Love at its essence is the quest for spirit.
Communicating Love
Love is spirit in motion. Love m oving from one heart to anoth er generates
the biology that reverses aging. Love has to be expressed in order for it to
serve yo u and those you love. Y ou can express your love for another person
in three basic ways:
Y ou listen attentively to what they are saying.
Y ou express in words or actions your appreciation for them.
Y ou touch them lovingly with af fection.
Each of these demonstrations o f love happens spontaneously when you
fall in love. Lo ok at any couple smitten with love. They hang on each
other ’ s every word. They wax poetic about the things they find attractive,
brilliant, and exceptional in ea ch other. They express their a ppreciation
through objects of love, from flowers to jewelry to homemade cookies.
Finally, they cannot keep their hands of f each other.
Whether you are in the first stages of a new romance, have b een in a
committed relationship for years, or are visiting an old friend from college,
these three faces of love are important. Show your love by being fully
present. Express  your appreciation in words and deeds. Be af fectionate.
Consciously practice these principles of love. As a result, you  will grow
younger and live longer.
Love, Sex, and SpiritSexual e ner gy is  the primal cre ative ener gy of the universe, an d all things
that are alive arise from sexual ener gy. In animals and other life forms,
sexual ener gy expresses itself exclusively as biological creativity. Animals
beget more animals. In human beings, sexual ener gy can be channeled into
creativity at all levels—physical, emotional, and spiritual. In any situation
that makes you feel attraction, arousal, alertness, passion, interest,
inspiration, excitement, creativity, or enthusiasm, sexual ener gy is at work.
All these dif ferent manifestation s of sexual ener gy express themselves in
your phy sical body as sensations. Whenever you are sexually aroused, there
is an accompany ing feeling in y our body. Whenever you feel enthusiastic,
inspired, joyful, ener gized, or passionate, there is also an acc ompanying
feeling—a certa in physical sensation. The common thread in each of these
experiences is a feeling of expansion. At times the expansive feeling may
be so strong tha t you feel you are bursting out of your skin. Y o u are filled
with en er gy. The medical term for this state of fullness is tumescence.
Although it is usually applied to states of


 beauty and
glamour for thousands of years; archeologists have found many remains of precious ointments,
lotions and other cosmetics in ancient royal sites and temples.
However, today’s cosmetics are vastly different from the natural substances used in ancient
Babylon and Egypt. They contain an astounding number of ingredients, many of which, e.g.
the wide range of parabens, are toxic. So are sodium laureth sulphate, used in industry to clean
garage floors and degrease engines, dioxins, suspected of being carcinogenic, and formaldehyde,
a highly irritant toxic substance, to name just a few. Since all toxins help to break down the body’s
defenses, it stands to reason that all sources of toxicity must be eliminated from our daily lives,
and that includes toxin-rich cosmetics.
The fact is that up to 60% of all substances sprayed or rubbed into the skin are promptly
absorbed and travel straight into the blood stream. Orthodox medicine makes use of this with the
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 4 1Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comapplication of various patches, which deliver substances, mostly painkillers, into the blood stream.
By the same token powders, creams, ointments, sprays and perfumes also enter the organism at
speed. Some estimates suggest that women absorb around 2 kg of chemicals through toiletries
and cosmetics every year. Worse still, whatever is absorbed through the kin bypasses the body’s
normal metabolic system and doesn’t get broken down or neutralized. This includes carcinogenic
substances, too. (We always say to our women patients, “If you wouldn’t eat or drink it, don’t put it
on your skin or lips!” However, we make one tiny concession: eyebrow pencils are permitted.)
One of the riskiest “grooming” substances is the underarm deodorant. Almost all brands
contain aluminum, which is seriously harmful, especially when we remember that there are many
lymph glands in the underarm area, which pass on absorbed toxins to the lymphatic system. Even
those creams and sticks that are genuinely free from toxic materials and claim to be organic have
to be avoided, because they interfere with the body’s attempt to eliminate poisons by the simple
act of perspiration! Patients on the intensive therapy often experience night sweats, representing
the body’s effort to detoxify when at rest. Brainwashed into thinking that perspiration is not
“nice,” they may reach for the deodorant cream, spray or stick; healthy people perspiring on a
hot day or during physical exertion may want to do the same. But in either case this would be a
serious mistake. When the body attempts to detoxify through the sweat glands, the process must
not be stopped or hampered.
Blocking the underarm passages with a deodorant will force the toxins back into the
lymphatic system around the chest and shoulders and increase the risk of breast cancer—also in
men. Since male grooming aids have become widely used, the incidence of male breast cancer
has been increasing. We may assume that much of this development is due to men’s routine use
of underarm deodorants.
So how to deal with the problem of perspiration? The first rule is to avoid toxic, i.e., non-
organic foods and drinks, so that the body doesn’t need to work hard to get rid of the residues.
Soap and water are the best cleansers. Healthy perspiration is odorless and requires no chemical
weapon to eliminate it.
Talcum powder should also be banned. Besides blocking the pores, it has been shown to
cause lung cancer in babies when it is inhaled, and ovarian cancer in women who apply it to the
genital area.
Another highly toxic item used by both men and women is the wide range of hair dyes. The
scalp is thoroughly “vasculated,” i.e., rich in blood vessels close to the surface, so that whatever
is put on it gets quickly absorbed into the blood stream. Most hair dyes are highly toxic. Even the
more recent types, containing mainly non-toxic vegetable materials, introduce an alien substance
into the organism. This is why Gerson patients are not allowed to use hair dyes of any kind, and
may only use the mildest shampoos. They are also advised to avoid perfumes, which contain
synthetic aromatics, but may use diluted pure glycerin (without rosewater) to moisturize dry skin.
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 4 2Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comMen patients in turn have to do without after-shave lotions and aerosol shaving creams.
There are some gentle, non-toxic cosmetics and grooming aids on the market, made from
natural raw materials that can be used by recovered patients and those not on the therapy. You
may have to search for them diligently, and read the tiny print on the containers before buying,
but when it comes to safeguarding your health, no trouble can be too much.
Immunization—Vaccination
 Vaccines can be lifesavers. They can also be lethal. Their story goes back to the work of
British physician Edward Jenner, M.D. (1749-1823). He observed that milkmaids, who contracted
cowpox, only suffered a mild form of the disease and were subsequently immune to smallpox.
From this he concluded that a mild form of the disease produced immunity to a more deadly form.
The assumption was correct, but in later attempts to obtain the same results it was not taken into
consideration that the milkmaids were young and presumably healthy; thus their immune systems
were able to respond.
 Since then, many generations of children have been vaccinated against smallpox, and by the
1980’s the medical authorities declared that smallpox had been wiped out.
 However, for years American children have been receiving the DPT (Diphtheria-Pertussis-
Tetanus) vaccination at an ever-younger age. The late Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, (1926-1988),
one-time head of the Pediatric Society of the US and of the Chicago Pediatric Hospital, never
stopped warning against the immunization of babies, reporting on the many children who were
permanently injured, including cases of extensive brain damage. Eventually he was able to
demonstrate that some 85% of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) occurred within 48 hours
after a DPT injection; the rest of the deaths came within 2 weeks after immunization. In due course
the US Government had to guarantee the safety of the DPT injections, since the pharmaceutical
companies producing them were faced with so many lawsuits for damage and death caused by the
shots.
 The DPT shots are still being used in the US. Their use is actually unscientific, since a small
baby does not yet have its own immune system and is therefore unable to respond. A baby is
born with about 6 months’ worth of its mother’s immunity, yet pediatricians continue to start
immunization against DPT with babies at 2-3 months of age. Clearly, this interferes with the
natural development of the child’s immune system at a later stage.
 In Britain controversy has been raging over the safety of the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR)
vaccine, routinely given to babies, and claimed by some doctors to have the potential of causing
autism and bowel disease—claims vigorously rejected by medical authorities. In the US, the
presence of Thimerosal (ethyl mercury) in vaccines administered to babies and small children has
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 4 3Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comcaused much heated debate, linking the toxic mercury to many cases of autism, speech delays and
ticks in youngsters, and contributing to mental and immune disorders in a significant proportion
of the population. By now all routinely administered pediatric vaccines are being manufactured
either in Thimerosal-free or Thimerosal-reduced forms.
 All in all, many questions concerning routine immunization remain unanswered.
All too often what seems a valuable medical innovation turns out later to have considerable
drawbacks. Generally speaking, powerful chemical interventions, whether by food additives,
drugs or environmental toxins, weaken the body’s natural defenses and thus open the way
to serious disease. Hence the need to restore them the Gerson way, as we shall set out in the
following chapters.
Electro-Magnetic Fields
Every living thing is surrounded by its own electromagnetic field, an invisible but measurable
layer of radiating energy. For millions of years these fields existed undisturbed, until the late 19th
century, when the first incandescent filament light bulb was invented in Britain, and somewhat
later in America. With that invention electricity became a vital part of everyday life and its use
has grown exponentially, until today all populations on Earth are exposed to varying degrees
of electromagnetic fields. Lamps, TV sets, radios, refrigerators, regular and microwave ovens,
computers, and latterly


 what you  have been doing, watch every word and
make it conform to  what you  wish to bring  into your life.  Eventually, you
will have  faith that what you  are stating, though there  is no outward  evi-
dence to support it, is a  fact in consciousness and  will shortly project itself
so that you  may experience it in the  outer. Knowing  that God actually be -
came  you because  He is I AM, you  must realize that you  are using  your
power  to create  every time  you use that Name.
Choice – Free Will
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenCreation is finished  and you have free will to choose  the state you will oc -
cupy. Therefore, it is important to determine  the ideas from which you
think. Any concept that is accepted  as true  will externalize itself in your
outer  world. Choice of what you  will focus your attention upon is the  only
free will that you  can exercise. Once a  thought is accepted  and charged
with feeling, the  creative  power  within proceeds to externalize it. Whether
your assumptions are  conscious or unconscious, they direct all action to
their fulfillment. It is a  delusion that, other  than assuming  the feeling  of
the wish fulfilled, you  can do anything  to aid its realization. Your own
wonderful human imagination determines the  means it will  use to bring
your assumptions to fruition.
Each of us is subject to a  sea of ideas. We  listen to the  radio, watch the
news on television, or hear some  gossip. If what we  observe  calls forth an
emotion, we  have reacted  and, thereby, planted  a seed which will sprout
at some  future  time. Thoughts do  not recede into the  past. Rather, they
advance into the  future  to confront us so that we may see that which we
have planted,  either  wisely or unwisely.
It is a  worthwhile  exercise  to awake  in the  morning  and imagine  yourself
at the  end of your day, having  accomplished  all that you  wanted  and feel-
ing happy and  contented. If there  is a situation that you  will encounter
later in the  day that is of concern to you, spend   a few moments imagin -
ing the outcome  you wish to experience. These  imaginal activities will now
advance into your future  to reveal the  harvest you  so wisely planted.
Desire
Desire  is a gift of God. Man is required  to do nothing  more than accept
the gift by simply giving  thanks for the  unseen reality before  he observes
it in his outer  world. Through  desire, God  beckons us to lift our awareness
to higher  and higher  levels of consciousness. During  our journey through
this dream of life,  it is necessary to experience all possible states so that
we may return as God, the  Father, but enhanced  by having experienced
both good  and evil. The  desire  to do more,  to be more,  and to have more
than you  are presently  expressing  is the  urge for expansion.
You may question whether  a desire  to kill or injure  someone  can be  in-
spired  by God. The  answer is that no man actually desires to kill or harm
another. He  may wish to be  free from that seeming  other  and, through his
limited  understanding, he  feels that the  only way he  can achieve  such
freedom is by destroying  the other. Man does not realize that the  desire
for freedom contains within itself the  power  and the means to fulfill itself.
Because  of his lack  of faith, man distorts these  gifts from God. He  does
not realize that God, the  wisdom and  power within him, has ways that
he, as man, knows not of and  those  ways are  past finding  out.
Learn to be  grateful for the  desires you  have been given. They already ex -
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenist and  are ready for embodiment in your world. You  are not called  upon
to do anything  to aid  their realization except to free your mind  of any
doubt as to how  they will come  about and  completely accept them as you
would  a gift from a  loved  one.
Be Observant
The importance of objectively observing  your thoughts cannot be stressed
enough. It is easy to slip  into thought patterns that can hinder  us in
achieving our desires. It then  becomes easy to blame  others or attribute
our frustrations to second  causes.
Being  a rather  impatient person, I am usually anxious to get home after
work and I particularly dislike  waiting  in lines. I began to notice that no
matter  what time  I chose  to pick up a few items at the  market, I would
encounter  problems at the  check  stand  such as price checks needing  to
be done,  people  writing  checks who had  trouble  locating  their identifica -
tion, and  various other  kinds of delays. I found  myself dreading  these  oc-
casions, and  I wanted  to do something  about this annoying  situation. As I
began to observe  my thoughts, I found  that, while  standing  in line,  I
would  say to myself, “I always have  to wait.”  Then I realized  that those
statements made over  and over again had  created  that which I did  not
wish to experience. I consciously changed  that statement to, “No matter
when I stop  at the  market, I never  have to wait.”  Of course  that new
statement has worked  just as well as the  old negative  one.
As you  begin to observe  your thoughts, do not be  discouraged  if you find
that your inner  conversations do not match the  way you  would  feel if you
you have achieved  your goal. You   must first become  aware  of what you
are doing  with your creative  power  before  you can begin to change  it. I
ask you to go down to the  “potter’s house” and  see what he  is doing. If
the vessel is spoiled,  then rework  it into the  kind of vessel that will please
you.
As you  begin observing  your thoughts, you  cannot avoid  the realization
that you  alone  are the  cause  of all that comes into your world. You, alone,
can change  it.
Appearances
That which is confronting  you in your world  now is the  result of your past
thoughts, beliefs, feelings and  imaginal activity. These  appearances will
continue  in being  as long  as you  give them life  through your conscious
awareness of them. You  must disregard  the evidence of your senses as it
pertains to any undesirable  condition in your life. You  must imagine and
feel that you  have already attained  that which you  want to experience
rather than that which you  do not want to continue  in being. This may ap -
pear difficult, yet you have  probably exercised  this principle  unconsciously
to produce negative  results.
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenWhen I was in my early twenties, I found  myself in a  situation that was
very unpleasant to  me and I wanted  to get out of it. After  attending  a lec-
ture by Neville, I waited  to speak  to him afterwards.  I briefly told  him of
my unhappy circumstances and  was hoping  he would  offer some  advice as
to how  to change  them. He  smiled  at me  and said, “Don’t accept it.”   At
that time  in my life  I did not fully grasp  what Neville  had been teaching. I
thought he had  misunderstood  my question, and  I tried  to clarify my
problem by stating  that I had  already made the  choice to be  in the  situa-
tion I now  found  so unpleasant. Neville  again  smiled  and said, “Don’t ac -
cept it.”  I left his presence quite  frustrated, thinking  he had not under -
stood  my problem. I continued  to read  the two books I had  by Neville. I
gradually  understood  that regardless of the  circumstances which sur -
rounded  me, I did  not need  to accept them as final. I began to imagine
what I wanted  rather  than focus my thoughts on  my negative  surround -
ings. An event took  place two weeks after  I began my imaginal acts that
was instrumental in bringing  about my heart’s desire  five months later -
that of a  brand  new home.  Meanwhile,  the situation that had  been so de -
pressing  to me  improved, and  I spent the  next five  months planning  what
I would  do in my new  home.
Think  about some  past disappointment you  may have  had. Perhaps you
were looking forward  to attending  a special event with someone.  In your
anticipation of it, did  you think,


	the	consciousness	created	by
the	brain	disappears	completely.	You	are	no	more.
There	is	a	good	deal	of	cultural	overlap	here	as	one	tradition	feeds	into
another.	The	Muslim	vision	of	eternity	as	a	paradise	garden,	complete	with
the	sexual	attractions	of
houris
	and	exotic	fruits,	owes	its	existence	in	part	to
the	Garden	of	Eden.	Spirit	worlds	are	common	all	over	the	globe.	The	ancient
Greeks	expected	to	meet	the	shades	of	the	departed	across	the	River	Styx	in
Hades,	but	filtered	through	time	and	Christianity,	Hades	became	a	punishing
hell	presided	over	by	Satan	while	the	Greek	place	of	blessed	spirits,	the
Elysian	Fields,	became	heaven.
There	are	invisible	spirit	worlds	found	in	the	ancestor	worship	of	Japan
and	China.	In	a	prehistoric	age	aboriginal	peoples	drifted	from	South	Asia	to
Australia	and	the	islands	of	the	South	Pacific,	bringing
their
	spirit	worlds	with
them.	With	them	also	came	a	kind	of	“dream	time”	that	infused	ordinary	time,
in	which	material	events	could	be	seen	as	depending	upon	spiritual	events.
But	spirit	worlds	didn’t	hold	in	India,	where	the	dominant	belief	gathered
around	three	other	afterlives:	transcendence	(rejoining	the	sea	of
consciousness),	awakening	(discovering	that	one’s	true	nature	is	Atman	or	the
soul),	and	transmigration	(the	eternal	cycle	of	rebirth).
Being	born	in	a	certain	culture,	however,	doesn’t	always	determine	where
your	soul	finds	itself	after	“crossing	over.”	Eternal	life,	it	turns	out,	is	alsovery	personal.
Expanded	Awareness
The	standard	assumption	is	that	no	one	really	knows	what	happens	after	we
die.	But	the	rishis	asked	the	question,	Why	don’t	we	expect	to	know?	Instead
of	being	unknowable,	perhaps	the	afterlife	is	something	we	haven’t	looked	at
hard	enough.	And	if	so,	why	not?
For	one	thing,	the	mind	is	addicted	to	repetition.	We	pursue	the	same
desires	today	that	we	had	yesterday.	Even	our	thoughts	today	are	generally
about	90%	the	same	as	the	thoughts	we	had	yesterday,	according	to	some
studies.	Habit	rules	our	actions;	a	fixed	roster	of	likes	and	dislikes	governs
our	taste.	If	you	are	afraid	of	being	poor	today,	it’s	likely	that	you’ve	had	that
same	fear	since	childhood.	If	you	think	about	losing	five	pounds,	it’s	likely
that	this	reflects	a	bodily	obsession	that	goes	back	years.	On	the	positive	side
psychologists	point	out	that	the	pursuit	of	pleasure	and	the	avoidance	of	pain
motivate	us	every	day,	and	generally	to	good	effect.	We’re	reassured	by	what
we	know.	In	fact,	the	Vedic	rishis	declare	that	habit	is	what	makes	a	person
feel	real.	(In	the	business	world,	when	someone	suddenly	loses	his	job,	the
loss	can	be	psychologically	devastating—not	to	mention	that	a	sudden	layoff
greatly	increases	a	person’s	risk	for	heart	attack,	cancer,	and	stroke.)
At	the	same	time	that	it	reassures	us,	repetition	has	a	deadening	effect.	By
keeping	out	what’s	new,	it	forces	reality	into	the	straitjacket	of	the	old.	Each
of	us	lives	behind	a	wall,	beyond	which	lies	the	infinite	potential	of	the
unknown.	Only	the	smallest	gates	are	built	into	the	wall,	and	we	stand	guard
at	these,	allowing	one	experience	to	enter	but	excluding	another,	calling	this
experience	good	and	that	one	evil.	As	long	as	we	keep	on	taking	in	reality	so
selectively,	freedom	is	a	remote	possibility.
In	this	regard	death	is	a	great	gift,	because	it	throws	open	all	the	doors	and
windows.	Dying	forces	us	outside	the	wall.	Instead	of	seeing	the	familiar
things	we’ve	assiduously	collected	and	labeled	as	reality,	we	must	start	over.
However,	the	rishis	assert	that	we	don’t	enter	the	Akashic	field	empty-handed.
Whatever	our	dream	is	right	now,
that	dream	continues
.	Consciousness	is	tied
by	thousands	of	threads	to	old	memories,	habits,	preferences,	and
relationships.
Whenever	someone	really	presses	the	issue	of	what	happens	after	we	die,
my	response	comes	in	the	form	of	a	question:	“Who	are	you?”	You	have	to
know	where	you	are	right	now,	in	order	to	know	where	you	will	be	tomorrow,
and	the	afterlife	is	just	a	special	kind	of	tomorrow.
Here	are	the	things	necessary	to	knowing	“Who	am	I?”:
1.
What	is	your	story?
	Your	story	is	more	than	just	a	list	of	the	events	inyour	life.	It’s	about	your	self-image,	how	you	see	yourself,	what	shaped	your
mind,	which	memories	imprinted	themselves	on	you.	Taken	altogether,	your
story	tells	you	where	you	are	in	the	cycle	of	life.
2.
What	are	your	expectations?
	Expectations	are	seeds.	Once	planted,
they	manifest	into	those	things	we	gain	from	life,	or	lose.	When	you	become
aware	of	your	own	expectations,	you	discover	the	unspoken	limits	you	have
set	on	yourself.	There	is	a	huge	difference	between	those	who	expect	great
things	and	those	who	don’t.
3.
What	is	your	purpose?
	This	is	the	meaning	you	are	trying	to	find.
Purpose	runs	deeper	than	the	superficial	things	we	hope	to	get,	which	mostly
center	on	money,	possessions,	status,	and	comfort.	If	you	know	your	purpose,
you	know	the	deeper	project	to	which	your	life	is	dedicated.
4.
What	is	your	destination?
	This	is	about	fulfillment.	Human	goals	are
endless;	they	unfold,	not	like	a	road	that	has	an	end	but	like	a	river	that	flows
to	join	the	sea,	merging	with	ever	larger	possibilities.	If	you	know	your
destination,	you	can	envision	your	highest	fulfillment.
5.
What	is	your	path?
	Having	identified	your	purpose	and	your
destination,	there	must	be	a	way	to	get	there.	“Path”	has	been	adopted	as	a
spiritual	term,	but	in	fact	everyone,	spiritual	or	not,	follows	certain	ways	to
get	where	they	want	to	go.
6.
Who	are	your	adversaries?
	Forward	motion	is	never	without	obstacles.
On	your	path	you	will	find	yourself	blocked.	At	times	the	adversary	is
external,	but	if	you	examine	yourself	deeply,	you	will	find	it	is	always	internal
as	well.
7.
Who	are	your	allies?
	We	all	bring	others	with	us	on	our	journey.	Just	as
your	adversaries	did,	you	may	identify	these	allies	as	external,	but	they	only
reflect	your	own	inner	strength,	just	as	an	opponent	reflects	your	inner
vulnerability.
None	of	these	questions	asks	anything	about	the	afterlife.	They	don’t
touch	on	your	beliefs	about	heaven	and	hell	or	about	your	soul.	That’s
because	what


 do you have? You’ve done this your entire life. Plus, these
stored impressions build on each other. Now that you have a stored
rattlesnake impr ession in there, you can easily get scared by the sound of a
baby’ s rattle. In fact, if the disco mfort is bad enough, you may choose not to
be around babies. That’ s a personal preference, and this is where all
personal prefere nces come from. Once you create preferences, they will
dominate your entire experience of life.
These impressio ns that stay stuck in the mind are called samskaras in
yogic science. They are discussed in the ancient Upanishads texts. How
could people know about this thousands of years before Sigmund Freud
discussed his theories on suppression? It is because they were meditators.
They didn’ t need someone to teach them about this—they saw it going on in
their own minds. If you are quietly centered in conscious awareness, you
can see what is passing before you. You are the ultimate experie ncer of your
mind; you’re just not paying attention.
Instead of paying attention, you’re getting so uptight about wanting
butterflies, and not wanting rattlesnakes, that you’re losing your centered
awareness. Whe n the world around you comes in and hits, or activ ates, your
stored patterns, you can no longer observe reality objectively. Your
consciousness gets drawn into the activated samskaras, and everything
becomes distorted. This is the foundation of the psyche, your personal self.
What is the psyche? It’s something you build inside of the mind that’s
about you: “I’m the one who doesn’ t like rattlesnakes. I’m the one who likes
butterflies.” You just built a self-concept. Someone else doesn’ t have that.
They have a psyche built around thunderstorms, dogs that bite, and kittens
that snuggle. Everyone has had different experiences, and therefore,
everyone is building a differen t personal mind inside. No one is doing itpurposely; it’s reactive. It happens quite naturally because you’re not ready
to openly experience life. The highest state is to be comfortable learning and
growing from life’s experiences. But if you’re not comfortable with some
experiences, you use your will to resist them. That merely means you’re not
evolved enough  in that area. There is physical evolution and there is
spiritual evolutio n. They both involve adaptability to your environment. The
former for your body, and the latter for “you” in there, the soul.
When events come in, they are meant to be experienced by you. If you
have trouble experiencing them, that’s the whole purpose of learning to
accept. What right do you have to either cling to or resist reality? You didn’ t
make reality, and you weren’ t here for the billions of years that created it.
We’re back to, “Do you like the fact that Saturn has rings?” Your answer
was, “It’s none of my business.”  That’ s the correct response for every bit of
reality that took billions of years to end up in front of you.
The real questio n is not whether you like things, it’s why are you not
okay with them? The reason is actually quite simple: becaus e you can’t
digest them. It’s hard to let some experiences just pass through without
residual disturba nce. But you need to learn how to do it. You learned to play
tennis. You learned to play the piano. You’ve learned all kinds of things,
maybe even calculus. You didn’ t know how to do these things to start with.
They were surely uncomfortabl e until you learned to be comfortable with
them. The soul can learn. You in there, the consciousness, can learn to
experience reality. In order to do so, you must not resist. Other wise, you’re
going to immediately push reality away. That’ s what acceptance is:
nonresistance. It is having the commitment to fully allow reality to pass
directly into the highest part of your being. In the end, all you are
surrendering is your resistance to reality. You learn to let it come in, even if
it is not comfortable as it pours into you.
The same thing is true with positive experiences, like the butterfly.
Somebody you like comes up to you and says, “You know, I really like you.
You’re very attractive to me, and I enjoy being with you.” That is such a
nice experience that you immediately cling to the beautiful things they said.
They go back to what they were doing, but you can’t. You can’t focus on
your work because the impressi ons left in your mind keep distracting you.
This is the oppo site of Be Here Now;  you’re practicing Be There Then.  You
just had a beautiful experience, and you ruined it. You ruined it by holding
on to it, like the butterfly. You ruined it by creating a preferenc e about oneof life’s experiences. Now every time the phone rings, and it’s not the
person who said the nice things, you get disappointed. Be aware that you
did this. Somebody said someth ing nice to you, and you couldn’ t handle it.
You couldn’t just let it be a nice experience. Instead, you clung to it in your
mind, and it actually messed you up.
Whether you use your will to resist or cling, these leftover impressions
will stay in your mind. You’ve now created an entire layer of mind that’s
holding your samskaras, your unfinished patterns from the past. You will
come to see that these acts of clinging and resisting determine the quality of
your life. These impressions distract your consciousness from the reality of
the current moment. What is more, if you are constantly distracted by these
samskaras in your mind, you’re never going to experience who you really
are.
There is a vast difference betw een memory and a samskara. Just as
your computer has memory storage capability, so does your mind. It is a
natural function  of the mind to store compressed versions of what was
received by the senses in its long-term memory. These stored memories can
be retrieved with the slightest intent. You learn a person’ s name, meaning it
is stored in long-term memory. When you see them again, the name
normally comes  up into the forefront of mind without any effort, though
admittedly, sometimes we have to apply willful effort to bring the memory
back. These are fairly normal ways memory is stored and recalled.
In drasti c contrast to normal memory, if you experience an event that
you have trouble handling when it renders in your mind, you use will to
either consciously or subconscio usly suppress it. You don’t want it in your
mind at all, not presently or long-term, so you try to push it out of the mind
completely. Whe n you do this, you are resisting the entire event: what came
in throu gh the senses, what you felt emotionally, and what your thoughts
were about it. This resisted “package” of the experience cannot pass through
you in the normal fashion—bec ause you won’ t let it. The entire energy of
the event is locked inside of your mind, and it does not sit there quietly.
Because it keeps trying to release its blocked energies, it can distort your
memories of the past as well as disturb your experience of the present.
Blocked energies in the mind are like a computer virus that distorts both the
conscious and subconscious minds. In later chapters we will deeply explore
how these blocked energy patterns, samskaras, also block your natural
energy flow.When you comm it to spiritual growth, you work on letting go of the
stored blockages from the past and not storing any more from the present.
This does not mean the mind’ s normal memory storage proce ss does not
take place. You are not willfu lly forgetting life’s experiences. You are
simply not resist ing or clinging to the experiences, and thus not storing them
as samskaras. They remain harmless, objective memories.
Let’s take an example very close to home for some people. You have
an ex-husband: “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to talk about him ever
again. I don’t even like it when someone says his name. It makes me
uncomfortable, even years after the divorce!” This is not object ive memory
talking—it is definitely a samskara. You say you divorced your ex-husband,
but you really didn’t. He’s still inside bothering you. You don’t even want to
go to a party if you think he might be there. You have  kept these
impressions blocked in your mind, and ultimately you have created an
alternate univer se in which you are still dealing with your ex. Normal
memory is not like this; it is well behaved. Like a computer ’s memory, it
does not pop up by itself. It does not have blocked energies that need to be
released. Normal memory is there when you need it—it does not haunt you
throughout your life.
Fortunately, most things you encounter in life are neutral to you. They
pass through unblocked and are available for recall when appropriate. You
have driven by white lines on the road many times, but they don’t come
back up by themselves at inopportune times. Neither do


 gluons, and other exotica of the quantum
domain shift from being vir tual to being intact in our physical
universe. Goin g from nothing to something is happening in your
hand and in every other physical object all the time.
So t he pivotal i ssue isn’t that solid physicality is an illusio n. No
one can  dispute this—we couldn’t exist without buying into the
psychological security blanket that the world won’t vanish
tomorrow in a puff of subatomic mist. The pivotal issue is whether
consciousness, and particularly human consciousness,  is the
creative force behind “something from nothing.”
Being human unfolds in time and space. Your birth certificate
attests t o the date of your birt h and the town you were born in. No
one’s birth certificate says, D ate of Birth: Eternity; Place o f Birth:
Everywhere. The commonsense assumption is that time and space
simply exist “out there” as part of the natural world. To e volve to
metahuman, h owever, we need to stop thinking of creation in
fixed te rms. Reality must be rebuilt to account for the role
consciousness plays. There ar e only two levels of reality. One level
is unbounded pure consciousness, which is a field of potential. The
other le vel is consciousness in  its excited state (to borrow a phrase
from particle physics), which we call the universe.
All excited states vibrate with  energy. Matter is vibrating with
physical energy, the mind with mental energy. The body is an
excited state; so is the brain,  being part of the body, and so is the
mind as thinking goes on. Even when a rock looks like a rock and a
neuron like a neuron, which makes them seem totally dissimilar,
both are excited modes of consciousness.
This is practical knowledge. When you know, for example, that
time is just an excited state o f consciousness, you see why time is
so m alleable. It has no choice  but to be as fluid and flexib le as the
mind. W e manipulate time to conform to our human needs. Some
time fra mes ar e long, like the  life of the universe, while some are
short, like the milliseconds it takes for a signal to jump from one
nerve cell to th e next. These time frames can be extremely stable:
hydrogen atoms are likely to exist until the death of the universe,
while a  thought is stable onl y for its duration, which is transient
and evanescen t. The fact tha t mental activity flies by so fast canlead to a mistake. We might suppose that consciousness is on a
time schedule— it isn’t. Consciousness can be fast or slow, large or
small, random or predictable, and so on.
Being t he sour ce of “something from nothing,” consciou sness
isn’t bound by its own creation, just as a person with a vocabulary
of thirty thousand words i sn’t tied down to thirty thousand
thoughts. Com bining and re-forming all the time, consci ousness
dictates to itself whether to b e as tiny as a quark or as immense as
the universe. This fact help s dispel one of the most obstinate
objections to consciousness-based reality. We don’t see our minds
create trees, mountains, pla nets, and stars. The scale is wrong,
skeptics will say. When you are afraid and your heart starts to
pound, a mental event—your fear—sets chemicals in motion in
your body. The scale is molecular, meaning very small. Moving a
mountain with your mind, however, cannot happen, beca use it is
too large.
This ob jection is invalid, however, because consciousness
doesn’t respect limits of scale. Imagine that you wake up  from a
nightmare, and you tell a fr iend that a hundred men w ith guns
were chasing you down the st reet. What if your friend repl ied, “I’d
buy it if one m an were chasing you down the street, but a h undred
is t oo many t o be believable.” Such a comment would show
ignorance about how dreams work. Dreams are not bounded by
big and small. A mouse cha sing you down the street during a
nightmare is the same as the Red Army invading your town. In a
dream a blade of grass c an tremble, followed by a planet
exploding.
We accept these anomalies i n dreams because we are us ed to
waking up and returning to t he physical world and its constraints.
Consciousness is set up so that some things are free to move
around just by thinking, like brain chemicals that move around in
sync with our thoughts, while other things aren’t movable by
thinking. That’s the setup in a human universe. We don’t know the
limits of the setup until we test them. One has to ponder  if Jesus
had a similar understanding  in mind when he declared  to his
disciples, “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be
taken u p and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart,but beli eves that what he says  is going to happen, it will be  granted
him” (Mark 11:23).
Whether you accept those words as gospel or metaphor, literal
truth or  a vivid teaching exam ple, the notion of moving mountains
with your mind sounds supernatural, therefore irrelevant to
everyday life. The problem isn’t that supernatural = impossible.
The problem is that, so far, science cannot explain what we call
“natural.” Leaving consciousness out of standard s cientific
explanations dooms them to failure. The mind cannot be
explained by juggling brain chemicals around, and when science
declares that there is no other explanation, we are no longer in the
realm of credibility—we are in the realm of “things that must be
so.”
Once vi rtual reality has been dismantled, however, there is no
going b ack. Yo u cannot see th rough an illusion and believe in it at
the same time. A magician can’t sit in the audience and be fooled
by his own tricks. However, that’s exactly what we do. We place
our fait h in the physical world while knowing full well that it is
illusory.
Instead of passively accep ting the commonsense w orld,
metareality gives us an alternative—seeing everything  in the
universe as shifting modes of consciousness. A tree, for example,
is tailor -made to fit our human response to it. Any quality of a tree
can be taken out of its ass igned slot and reassigned to fit a
different, nonhuman framework. The tree’s color doesn’t exist for
someone with complete color-blindness. The solidity of a tree
doesn’t exist for a neutrino, a subatomic particle that can whiz
through the Earth as if passin g through outer space. The w eight of
the tree doesn’t exist if you t ransfer it to the International Space
Station. The life span of a tre e vanishes when viewed from the life
span of the pr otons in the nucleus of every molecule, wh ich take
billions of years to decay.
Everything acquires its “ realness” from the mod e of
consciousness applied to it.  In sleep the entire physical world
disappears and  no longer exists for you. It still exists collectively,
held in place b y the rules of virtual reality. But in sleep you  opt out
of v irtual reality by experienc ing a different world, which isn’t the
blank unconsciousness most people assume sleep to b e. It ispossible to experience deep sleep as pure awareness without
excitations—indeed, that’s how centuries of swamis, yogis, and
other versions of metahuman experience it. The Buddhist concept
of Nirv ana is closer to deep  sleep than to the ordinary waking
state, because Nirvana reconnects a person with pure awareness.
Dreaming is a mode of consciousness in which mental
excitations are subtle. This is yet another world, one where the
rules of virtual reality don’t apply. In dreams, objects magically
defy the ordinary laws of physics—a locomotive can fly, the
Empire State Building can va nish in a puff of smoke. There is no
reason to demote those two modes of consciousness, sleeping and
dreaming, to an inferior pos ition compared with being awake. If
we can look a t the world a s a lucid dream, why cons ider the
dreams you experience at night as any less real or unreal?
People blindly follow the assumption that hard physical things
are mo re real than subtle things like thoughts, imagination, and
dreams. But your subtle impulses determine how your personal
reality operate s. I’ve given on e example—phobias—where a person
who can lift hu ndred-pound weights at the gym may be u nable to
lift a spider in his hand; fea r freezes up his muscles. It  doesn’t
matter how light the feared object is. But we also need positive
examples of how a person’s subtle intentions can alter personal
reality.
Think back to our earlier ex ample of using VR apparatus to
simulate the experience of standing on a skyscraper girder high in
the air ( this page ). A person standing safely on the ground, thanks
to t he VR illu sion, feels giddy and weak


	in	bodily	communication,	such	as	spinal
injuries	that	cause	paralysis.	We	fail	to	recognize	how	subtle	communication
breakdowns	precipitate	chronic	and	terminal	health	problems.
Each	time	you	order	at	a	restaurant,	each	time	you	reach	into	your	cabinet	for
cooking	oils,	each	time	you	plan	your	day’s	meals,	you	are	basically	deciding
whether	you	will	build	strong	cells	or	weak	ones.	It	really	is	that	simple.	The
choice	is	yours	to	make.	Are	you	going	to	maintain	your	body	or	let	it	fall	apart?
Toxins	Shut	Systems	Down
A	variety	of	toxic	chemicals	and	metals	can	damage	cells.	Like	grains	of	sand,
toxins	can	jam	cellular	machinery	and	even	cause	entire	cell	factories	or
powerhouses	to	shut	down.
Many	toxins	disable	enzymes,	which	are	necessary	for	the	chemical	reactions
that	make	our	lives	possible.	The	number	of	chemical	reactions	required	to	make
life	possible	is	astonishing;	in	a	cell,	an	estimated	6	trillion	such	reactions	take
place	every	second.	Enzymes	make	these	reactions	possible.	About	two	thousand
kinds	of	enzymes	have	been	identified,	and	they	are	manufactured	by	our	cells	to
accomplish	a	variety	of	tasks.	Enzymes	act	as	little	machines,	putting	things
together	or	taking	them	apart	at	amazingly	high	speed.	Without	functioningenzymes,	cell	factories	and	assembly	lines	shut	down.
The	kind	of	enzymes	a	particular	cell	manufactures	distinguishes	and
determines	what	kind	of	cell	it	is	(for	example,	a	nerve	cell	or	a	muscle	cell).
Enzymes	serve	a	variety	of	purposes	and	must	be	constructed	with	many
different	nutrients.	Enzymes	contain	essential	mineral	atoms,	such	as	zinc,
magnesium,	iron	and	chromium.	If	these	building	materials	are	not	present	in
sufficient	quantity,	enzyme	function	(and	therefore	cell	function)	is	impaired.
Take	zinc,	for	example.	The	retina	contains	enzymes	constructed	with	zinc	and
is	a	zinc-rich	tissue.	If	you	do	not	have	enough	zinc	in	your	diet,	your	retina	and
other	zinc-rich	tissues,	such	as	the	prostate,	will	be	impaired	before	obvious
effects	are	noticed	elsewhere	in	the	body.	Night	blindness	and	malfunctioning
prostates	are	common	symptoms	of	zinc	deficiency.
However,	even	if	dietary	zinc	is	adequate,	but	this	nutrient	is	replaced	in	the
enzyme	by	a	toxic	metal—such	as	mercury,	arsenic,	cadmium	or	lead—the
presence	of	this	toxin	disables	the	enzyme	and	causes	disease.	Toxic	heavy
metals	are	a	prime	example	of	how	toxins	can	cause	cellular	malfunction,	and
our	bodies	contain	hundreds	of	times	more	toxic	metals	than	they	did	in	our
ancestors	a	century	ago.	Mercury	is	a	toxic	heavy	metal	that	we	are	commonly
exposed	to	from	dental	work—amalgam	fillings	contain	mercury.	Municipal
water	supplies	contain	toxins	such	as	aluminum,	fluoride	and	arsenic.	Even	in
trace	amounts,	these	toxins	can	deactivate	enzymes	and	impair	vital	bodily
systems.	They	can	cause	our	systems	to	shut	down.	They	must	be	avoided.
Building	and	using	enzymes	properly	is	an	essential	part	of	good	health,	as
enzyme	dysfunction	is	a	common	denominator	of	disease.	Maintaining	proper
enzyme	balance	is	one	reason	to	eat	fresh	organic	foods.	Organic	produce	is
richer	in	the	vitamins	and	minerals	that	enable	us	to	build	enzymes	and
coenzymes,	and	it	is	less	toxic,	too.	Enzyme	function	can	also	be	enhanced	with
high-quality	dietary	supplements.
The	First	Line	of	Defense
A	cell’s	first	line	of	defense	against	disease	is	the	cell	membrane,	the	security
wall	that	surrounds	the	cell	and	carries	out	many	important	functions.	Healthy
membranes,	built	from	appropriate	materials,	protect	cells	from	harmful	invaders
—	including	viruses.	Malfunctioning	membranes	allow	bacteria,	viruses,	toxins
and	other	harmful	substances	to	damage	cells.	The	presence	of	poorly
constructed	cell	membranes	formed	from	poor	diets	is	one	of	the	biggest	reasons
that	almost	all	Americans	get	sick.The	cell	membrane	controls	everything	that	goes	into	and	out	of	a	cell.
Making	certain	that	only	the	right	things	go	in	and	out	of	the	cell	is	a	critical	and
complex	task	that	only	can	be	accomplished	when	the	cell	membrane	is
constructed	correctly.	The	membranes	that	surround	each	of	the	trillions	of	cells
in	your	body	are	made	mostly	of	fats	and	oils.	Membranes	constructed	out	of	the
wrong	fats	and	oils	do	not	function	properly,	which	is	a	problem	for	most
Americans.	For	example,	diets	with	excessive	amounts	of	saturated	fats,	which
are	rigid	molecules,	create	rigid	cell	membranes	that	lack	necessary	elasticity.
Catastrophic	failures,	such	as	ruptured	blood	vessels	and	torn	muscles	and
tendons,	can	occur	in	tissues	made	from	these	rigid	cells.
Cell	membranes	are	made	primarily	of	fatty	molecules	called	phospholipids.
Special	kinds	of	oils	called	essential	fatty	acids	(EFAs)—omega-3s	and	omega-
6s—are	used	to	create	the	phospholipids	in	cell	membranes.	These	oils	are
essential	because	your	body	is	unable	to	produce	them;	these	oils	must	be
obtained	through	diet.	An	overwhelming	majority	—some	estimate	as	much	as
90	percent—of	the	U.S.	population	may	be	deficient	in	the	correct	assortment	of
essential	fatty	acids.	When	the	correct	raw	materials	are	lacking,	the	body	makes
cell	membranes	out	of	whatever	raw	materials	are	available.	These	materials
include	the	hydrogenated	oils	found	in	margarine,	vegetable	shortening,	baked
goods	and	breakfast	cereals;	the	saturated	fats	from	meat	and	dairy	products;	and
the	trans-fatty	acids	found	in	processed	salad	and	cooking	oils.	Cell	membranes
built	from	these	inappropriate	fats	and	oils	cause	the	membrane	and	the	entire
cell	to	malfunction.
For	example,	building	a	cell	membrane	from	hydrogenated	oils	impairs	the
passage	of	oxygen	into	the	cell,	and	oxygen-deficient	cells	become	cancerous.
None	of	us	would	build	a	house	with	cardboard	walls.	Why,	then,	do	we	build
our	cell	membranes—our	first	line	of	defense	against	disease—out	of	junk
materials	like	margarine,	vegetable	shortening	and	supermarket	oils?	Modern
diets	fail	to	supply	adequate	amounts	of	the	correct	essential	fatty	acids.	I
recommend	supplementation	with	high-quality	essential	fatty	acids	and	fish	oils
(see	appendix	C).
Weak	and	Rusty
To	be	healthy,	cells	must	be	supplied	with	adequate	amounts	of	antioxidants.
Cell	membranes	and	the	factories	and	powerhouses	inside	of	cells	can	be
damaged	from	oxidation	via	free	radicals.	Picture	how	oxidative	damage	(rust)
would	cause	the	Golden	Gate	Bridge	to	disintegrate	were	it	not	painted	with	a
protective	coating	each	year.	Currently,	our	bodies	are	immersed	in	a	sea	ofhighly	reactive	chemicals—


 mountain ranges provided large herds of grazing wild animals of the deer family. Because
of the vastness of the population and the extent to which all available land surfaces were utilized for
agriculture, it does not seem possible that wild animal life could have been an adequate source of
nutrition. The members of the camel family, the llamas, alpacas, and vicunas were utilized for food.
Of these the first two were used to considerable extent as they are today. When it is recognized
that in the Sierra the available water is largely that provided to the streams from the melting snows
and from rains in the rainy season, it will be realized that these sources of fresh water could not
provide the liberal quantity of iodine essential for human growth and development. It was,
accordingly, a matter of great interest to discover that these Indians used regularly dried fish eggs
from the sea. Commerce in these dried foods is carried on today as it no doubt has been for
centuries. When I inquired of them why they used this material they explained that it was necessary
to maintain the fertility of their women. I was informed also that every exchange depot and market
carried these dried fish eggs so that they were always available. Another sea product of very great
importance, and one which was universally available was dried kelp. Upon inquiry I learned that
the Indians used it so that they would not get "big necks" like the whites. The kelp provided a very
rich source of iodine as well as of copper, which is very important to them in the utilization of iron
for building an exceptionally efficient quality of blood for carrying oxygen liberally at those high
altitudes. An important part of their dietary consists today as in the past of potatoes which are
gathered and frozen, dried and powdered, and preserved in the powdered form. This powder is
used in soups with llama meat and other products. Since the vitamin D group of activators is
absent from nearly all plant products but must be synthesized in animal bodies from the plant
foods, where it is largely stored in organs, an adequate source had to be provided. The Indians of
the highlands of Peru maintained colonies of guinea pigs which were used in their stews. The
ancient burials also show that the guinea pig was a common source of food since mummified
bodies of this animal were found. This is significant since of all the animals that are used for
experimental work the guinea pig is probably the most efficient in synthesizing vitamin D from plant
foods. They are very hardy. They live on a great variety of green plant foods and twigs and are
very prolific. They apparently played a very important part in the physical excellence of the ancient
cultures.
    It is unfortunate that as the white man has come into contact with the primitives in various parts
of the world he has failed to appreciate the accumulated wisdom of the primitive racial stocks.
Much valuable wisdom has been lost by this means. I have referred to the skill of the Indians in
preventing scurvy and to the many drugs that we use which the white man has learned of from the
primitives.
    In this connection the Indians of British Columbia, who have been so efficient in preventing
scurvy, have a plant product for the prevention and cure of diabetes. This has recently become7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 160/250known to the white man through the experience of a patient who was brought into the hospital at
Prince Rupert, British Columbia, as reported in the Canadian Medical Journal, July 1938. Prince
Rupert is near the boundary between British Columbia and Alaska on the coast. The patient came
to that hospital for an operation and suddenly showed signs of diabetes, which required treatment
with large doses of insulin. Dr. Richard Geddes Large asked him regarding the history of his
affection and what he had been taking. He was told that for several years he had been using an
Indian preparation which was a hot water infusion of a root of devil's-club which is a spiny, prickly
shrub. This medicine was in common use by the British Columbia Indians. The material was
obtained and used in this hospital for the treatment of diabetes and was found to be quite as
efficient as insulin and had the great advantage that it would be taken by mouth whereas the insulin
which is destroyed in the stomach by the process of digestion must be injected. They could see
very little difference in the efficiency of this preparation whether taken internally or used
hypodermically. This promises to be a great boon to a large group of individuals suffering from
diabetes. It is also probable that its use will prevent the development of diabetes and since the
Indians used it for other affections it may also become a very important adjunct in modern
preventive medicine.
    One of the sources that I have found to be helpful in studying primitive races is an investigation
of knapsacks. I have asked for the privilege of seeing what is carried in their knapsacks. I found
dried fish eggs and dried kelp in the knapsacks in the high Andes. It is also of interest that among
this group in the Andes, among those in central Africa, and among the Aborigines of Australia,
each knapsack contained a ball of clay, a little of which was dissolved in water. Into this they
dipped their morsels of food while eating. Their explanation was to prevent "sick stomach." This is
the medicine that is used by the native in these countries for combating dysentery and food
infections. It is the treatment that was given me when I developed dysentery infection in central
Africa while making studies there. The English doctor in Nairobi whom I called in said he would
give me the native treatment of a suspension of clay. It proved very effective. An illustration of the
way in which modern science is siowiy adopting practices that have been long in use among
primitive races, is to be found in the recent extensive use that is made of clay (kaolin) in our
modern medicine. This is illustrated in the following: (3)
   In the course of an expedition to Lake Titicaca, South America, financed by the Percy Slade
Trustees in which one of us (H.P.M.) took part, an interesting observation was made in regard to
the diet of the Quetchus Indians on the Capachica Peninsula near Puno. These people are
almost certainly descendants of the Incas and at the present time live very primitively. They
exist largely on a vegetable diet of which potatoes form an important part. Immediately, before
being eaten, the potatoes are dipped into an aqueous suspension of clay, a procedure which is
said to prevent "souring of the stomach."
   We have examined this clay and found it to consist of kaolin containing a trace of organic
material, possibly coumarin, and presumably a decomposition product of the grass from
underneath which the clay is dug. The local name for the clay is Chacco, and the Indians
distinguish between good and bad qualities. This dietetic procedure is universal among the
Indians of the Puno district, and is probably of very ancient origin.
    Such a practice by a primitive people would appear rather remarkable in view of the
comparatively recent introduction of kaolin into modern medicine as a protective agent for the
gastric and intestinal mucosa and as a remedy for bacterial infections of the gut.
    It is of interest that both the British and American Pharmacopeias have added kaolin to their list
during the last two decades.
    The Indians of the past buried, with their dead, foods to carry them on their journey. From an
examination of these one learns that in many respects the Indians living in the high Sierras are living
today very much as their ancestors did during past centuries. Items of importance now and in the
past are parched corn and parched beans which are nibbled as the people walk along carrying
their heavy burdens. Today these are the only foods eaten on many long journeys. We found the
parched beans pleasant to taste and very satisfying when we were hungry.
    The Indians of the Amazon Basin have had a history very different from either those of the high7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 161/250Sierras of the Andes or those of the coastal region. The fact that vast areas of the Amazon Basin
have not only never been surveyed, but never even penetrated, indicates the nature of the isolation
of these groups. Very little progress has been made in the effort to conquer or modernize these
Indians. A few explorers have made expeditions into parts of the interior and have reported the
characteristics of the plant and animal life, as well as of the native races. Our sole contact was with
the tribe which came to the coffee plantation to assist in the gathering and the harvest of the coffee
beans. In Chapter 14 I have described these people in considerable detail. Since the Amazon
Basin has vast quantities of rain as well as abundant streams from the eastern watershed of the
Andes, the tribes live largely in tropical jungles where there is an abundance of water. They are
expert, accordingly, in the use of river crafts and in fishing for the various types of marine life.
Unlike the Indians of the high Andes or of the coast regions they are not agriculturists. They live on
wild native foods almost entirely. They are expert with the blow gun, with the bow and arrow and
in snaring with both nets and loops. They use very large quantities


 gone into deep
mourning will become listless and apathetic, refuse to eat, and take no
enjoyment from  anything in life. It is as if the shock of death has deadened
them, too. Since Vata controls the nervous system, this is in fact what has
happened. Grief, a sudden shock, battle fatigue, or great fear exhausts Vata
dosha, and it loses its ability to register perception. The first stage of the
process is usually marked by weeping, restless behavior, shakiness, racing
thoughts, and lack of sleep. If the stress is deep enough or protracted
enough, howeve r, the inevitable result is that Vata collapses, leading to total
apathy and lack of response.
WHY  DID IT  HAPPEN?
If you start to feel sick and the cause is Vata imbalance, there is usually a
precipitating cause that can be pointed out and corrected. Being born a Vata
type or having a strong amount  of Vata in your constitution is certainly a
strong predisposing factor. On the other hand, it takes a pattern of behavior
to actually throw this dosha out of balance. Among the most typical patterns
to look for are:You have been under stress recently and reacted to it with anxiety.
You have exhausted yourself physically or under gone a period of
mental strain and overwork.
You are in the advanced stages of alcohol or drug addiction, or you
chain-smoke.
There has been a sudden change in your life, or the seasons are
changing.
Your diet includes a great deal of cold, raw, or dry foods, including
iced beverages; or you eat a great many bitter, spicy, or astringent
foods. (Bitter and astringent tastes show up primarily in salads, beans,
potatoes, and leafy green vegetables.)
You have been on a stringent diet or habitually skip meals. Going on
an empty stomach and ignoring the body’ s hunger signals increases
Vata.
You have gone without sleep or slept poorly for more than a few days.
You have taken a trip recently.
You have suf fered emotionally from grief, fear, or unexpected shock.
The weather is cold, dry, and windy (autumn/winter).
In clinical practice, an Ayurvedi c doctor would diagnose Vata imbalance
if he found strong evidence of the following kind:
MENT AL INDICA TIONSBEHA VIORAL  INDICA TIONS
PHYSICAL  INDICA TIONS
It is important to remember that any dosha can cause any symptom—
these are just the most common  signs of a Vata imbalance. Also, Vata can
mimic the other  two doshas, so it often comes under suspicion  even when
its typical symptoms are not present.
Pitta ImbalancePitta people are in balance when their built-in intensity and drive are not
overwhelming; to be sweet-n atured and joyous are also innate Pitta
qualities. If you are a Pitta type and these are still present, you are likely to
be in balance. The physical health of Pitta types is generally good. Its
foundation is strong digestion, which Ayurveda considers the key to
building healthy tissues and preserving a strong immune status.
Life’ s middle years, from adolescence until the end of middle age, are the
time when everyone’ s Pitta increases. A teenager suffering from acne or
from feeling too hot at night is exhibiting Pitta imbalance. Another very
common picture  of aggravated Pitta is the man in his thirties or forties who
wakes up to find that his hair is thinning at an alarming rate or turning
prematurely gray, who suddenly needs eyeglasses, or who has developed
heartburn or early heart disease.
Some of these are predisposed conditions, but Pittas also tend to go out
of balance by pushing themselves to extremes. On the assumption that they
can eat anything, they abuse their strong digestion by overeating or
forgetting about  nutrition. Instead of being natural high achievers, they can
become driving, impatient, demanding, and tense. Pitta dosha controls the
intellect and endows Pitta types with a sense of orderliness. Out of balance,
they become fixated on order and annoyingly perfectionist. Pittas don’t
display such traits until they go seriously out of balance, and then it is not
surprising that they also becom e prey to heartburn, ulcers, heart disease,
and other stress-related problems.
Pitta dosha is slower to go out of balance than Vata and is said to cause
about half the problems that Vata does. When it does go out, Pitta is
frequently being  dragged along by an earlier imbalance of Vata. This one-
two combination  accounts for undercurrents of anxiety that angry, critical
people are trying desperately to hide; aggravated Vata also promotes the
high blood pressure that doctors often see among their Type A heart
patients.
WHY  DID IT  HAPPEN?If you start to feel sick and the cause is Pitta imbalance, the fault is not
that you were born a Pitta type or with strong Pitta in your makeup. By
nature Pitta is inclined to moderation, and you have to build up a history of
excessive stress, overwork, or sheer thoughtlessness to break  down this
instinct. If you think aggravate d Pitta is at work, look for the following
causes and try to correct them:
You have been under stress and have reacted to it with suppressed
anger, frustration, and resentment.
You place excessive demands on yourself and others, live under
constant pressure from deadlines, and cannot bear to waste time.
You have eaten too much hot, spicy food, oily food, or fried food
recently; you use a great deal of salt. Your diet contains a lar ge amount
of sour or fermented foods: cheese, vinegar, sour cream, or alcoholic
beverages.
You have been exposed to impure food and water.
The weather is hot and humid (typical summer weather).
You have been heat-fatigued or badly sunburned.
In his medical practice, an Ayurvedic doctor identifies Pitta imbalance
with the following patterns of symptoms:
MENT AL INDICA TIONS
BEHA VIORAL  INDICA TIONSPHYSICAL  INDICA TIONS
It is important to remember that any dosha can cause any symptom—
these are just the most common signs of a Pitta imbalance.
Kapha Imbalance
Kapha is the slowest and steadiest of the doshas, which makes it reluctant
to go out of balance. From childhood on, Kapha types are serene, calm,
affectionate, and forgiving. If you are a Kapha type and these qualities are
still intact, you are very likely in balance. Disorders related to Kapha
generally take a long time to develop. Without much effort, therefore,
Kapha people can expect to remain strong, healthy, and content to a ripe old
age.
Infancy and childhood are Kapha times of life, when this dosha increases
in everyone. Kapha is identified  with growth and the production  of a strong,healthy body. To imagine what Kapha is like out of balance, think of a 6-
year-old with a chronic sore throat and runny nose who catches one cold
after another. Otherwise healthy Kaphas may retain this weakness for life,
frequently suffering from blocked sinuses or a pronounced susceptibility to
colds and flu when the weather turns chilly and damp.
Aller gies might also be present, along with a strong desire to oversleep.
Kapha types generally like to stay in bed and are slow starters, but when
they are out of balance, they become so sluggish in the morning that they
worry about serious illness when the real problem in most cases is too much
Kapha.
In later years, the picture of Kapha imbalance becomes the jolly fat man,
an insecure person who cannot control his overweight or his distress about
it. Being clinging and possessiv e is also a mark of disturbed Kapha, where
the natural tendency to mother and care for others has been pushed to an
extreme. If this dosha becom es seriously imbalanced, the person can
become very quiet, withdrawn, and hopeless; the Kapha tendency to value
the status quo then turns into a rigid inability to accept change. Physically,
the jolly fat man can come to a pathetic end, suffering from gross
hypertension, labored breathing, bloating from excess bodily fluids, and
congestive heart failure.
Kaphas do not go to the doctor very often, because they are able to
tolerate high levels of pain and are also used to being extrem ely healthy.
When they do seek medical attention, it is either for overweight, which can
set in as early as childhood and continue for life, or various lung and sinus
problems— sinus headaches, chronic sinusitis, hay fever, asthma, chest
congestion.
Doctors have found that only a tiny percentage of people who think they
have food allergies test positive  when given patch tests; what is generally
wrong is a digestive imbalance, with Kapha a prime suspect. Excess mucus
is being produced by wheat bread or pasta, milk, butter, cheese, or sugar, all
of which aggravate this dosha. Diabetes, perhaps the most dangerous Kapha
disorder, is among the most unlikely to be cured. However, diabetics canlead much more comfortable and stable lives if they follow