diseases are due to metabolic errors, systemic diseases and disorders related
with immunity). How to Take ‘Amalaki Water’ Bath. Method 1:
Mix Amalaki powder in water. Use this water for head and body wash (bath)
Method 2:
Apply paste of Amalaki over the body and scalp. Wash oﬀ with water. Method 3:
Apply paste of Amalaki over the body and scalp. Take bath with Amalaki
mixed water. Note
Use the same Amalaki paste or powder for scrubbingUse a suitable herbal shampoo, soap and conditioner, preferably having
Amalaki as one of the ingredients
Do not rub the hairs hard during hair-wash
How Long to Use. Amalaki snana can be practised life long without worrying much. Excellent properties of Amalaki in a nut shell. Special Qualities of Amalaki:
Shivam – Auspicious and good in all aspects
Doshanulomanam – Propels Doshas in downward direction for elimination
Deepanam-Pachanam – Good in kindling the metabolic re (appetizer), aids
digestion and metabolism, Digests Ama (metabolic wastes) and prepares them
for elimination. Aayushyam – Good for life, enhances the life quality of each and every cell
Poushtikam – Nutritive
Dhanya – e person taking Amalaki regularly lives a disease free life devoid of
any fear and thus is blessed. Vaya Sthapana – Enhances and establishes the life span of an individual (and of
every individual cell also). Sarvaroga prashamaneem – Alleviates many diseases. Buddhi-indriya-balapradam – Strengthens brain, intellect and senses. Medicinal Uses of Amalaki:
Amalaki when taken individually or in combination with other benecial and
compatible compounds is said to alleviate the below said diseases eﬀectively:
Kushta – Skin ailmentsGulma – Abdominal tumors
Udaavartam – Retrograde movement of Doshas and body components
Shosham – Depletion of tissues, Consumption
Pandu – Anaemia, Eﬀects of blood loss
Arsha – Piles/Haemorrhoids
Grahani dosha – Metabolic errors of small intestine, Sprue, Irritable bowel,
Malabsorption
Purana Jwaram – Chronic fevers
Vishama Jwaram – Inconsistent fevers of chronic nature
Hridroga – Heart disorders
Shiro Roga – Diseases pertaining to head
Atisaram – Diarrhoea
Arochakam – Anorexia
Kasa – Coughs
Prameha – Diabetes, Urinary disorders
Aanaaha – Flatulence, Bloating
Pleeha – Spleno – Hepatomegaly
Udaram – Abdominal disorders of recent onset
Kaphaprasekam – Excessive salivation, W ater – brash
Vaisvaryam – Disorders of voice
Vaivarnyam – Discolouration of body due to various diseases and causes
Kaamalam – Jaundice and other liver related diseasesKrimi – Worm infestations
Shvayathu – Swelling and inammation
Tamakam – Dyspnoea, Breathing disorders, Asthma
Chardi – Vomiting
Klaibyam – Impotency, Sexual disorders
Angaavasaadanam – Fatigue syndrome
Vividha srotovibandhaan – Removes many blocks in the cells and channels of
the body
Hridaya – urasaha – pralepam – Heaviness and constricted feeling in the chest
and region of heart
Smriti pramoha – Diseases aﬀecting the memory process
Buddhi pramoha – Diseases aﬀecting the intellect
Amalaki can be individually administered as a single entity or as a part of a
compound. Ayurveda makes adequate use of Amalaki in various preparations
especially Rasayana’s (Rejuvenators) and Vajikarana’s (Aphrodisiacs), It is used
in wet (juice) and also in dry (powder) form. Amalaki is the riches source of Vitamin-C and is a powerful anti-oxidant and
anti-ageing agent. Medical research has established the anti-viral, anti-microbial and anti-arthritic
properties of Indian Gooseberry. 154. Amla Turmeric Home
Remedy for Urinary Tract
Disorders
Y
Here is a simple home remedy for the treatment of Urinary tract infection
associated with diﬃculty in urination using three easy ingredients. Ingredients
Amla – Indian Gooseberry – 1 fruit/10 grams
Turmeric powder – 5 grams
Honey – 1–2 teaspoon. Method of Preparation
Take Amla fruits, wash it, grate it into small pieces. Crush it in a mortar and
pestle. Extract juice out of it by squeezing. With one fruit, you may get 1–2
teaspoon of juice. Add turmeric powder to it mix well. Add 2 teaspoon of honey to it and mix
well. Dose – 1–2 teaspoon 2 times a day before food for 10–15 d ays time. How long to take. All the three are pretty basic, natural dietary ingredients. So, good to use for
long term – 2–3 months of time, if required. Rules for Preparation
If you prepare it in the morning, you can use it till evening. You can prepare slightly large quantity and refrigerate it so that you can use
it for 2–3 days but keep in mind that such a refrigeration method is not an
ideal practice a s per Ayurveda. Benets
Useful in burning urination,
Diﬃculty in urination, Recurrent urinary tract infections,
Lower abdominal pain (bladder pain),
Chronic urinary tract infection,
Prostatitis, Cystitis (Other medicines along with might be required)
What if I have amla powder and not the fruit. You can mix 1 teaspoon (5–6 grams) of amla powder with 5 grams of turmeric
and mix it with 2 teaspoon of honey and use it 5 grams once or two times a
day before food. Keep in mind the amla fruit juice is the rst choice. If you are preparing with dry amla powder, then you can store this for 1–2
months of time. Herbal powder shelf life is more compared to shorter shelf life of juice
extract. Can it be used in diabetic people. If the blood sugar is under good control, then diabetic people can use it. If the blood sugar is not under good control, then honey can be skipped
from this remedy. What can be done with the leftover amla pieces after squeezing it for juice. It has still some minor nutritive value. You can eat it. Organoleptic Characteristics
Sweet taste
Yellow colour liquid
Reference: Sharangdhara Samhita 1/7
Eﬀect on Tridosha
Amla balances all the three Doshas, mainly Vata and Pitta. Turmeric balances all the three Doshas, mainly Kapha and Vata. Honey balances Kapha Dosha. So this is a perfect combination for anyone with any Dosha type. e overall potency of this remedy is slightly hot. (Turmeric and honey are
slightly hot and amla is a coolant). How does this work. Both turmeric and amla are very good anti oxidants and anti microbial herbs. e same combination also exists in powder form called Nishamalaki Churna. Nisha is turmeric and Amalaki is Amla (Indian Gooseberry). e Nishamalaki churna is widely used in the treatment of UTI and
diabetes. Turmeric is praised as one of the prime herbs for the treatment of disorders
pertaining to urinary system. Side Eﬀects and Precautions
is remedy can be taken by children above 1 year of age. Assuming that you use good quality of honey, it is safe to take during
pregnancy and lactation period. It is best to follow this or any other home remedy only after consulting a
qualied Ayurvedic doctor. 155. An Ancient Way of
Using Triphala as an Anti
Ageing Remedy
Y
is particular remedy of Triphala is explained by master Charaka as a way to
live for more than 100 years. Triphala – a simple combination of Amla, Baheda
and Harad is known to have anti ageing eﬀect since thousands of years. Its reference of usage as anti ageing medicine is found in Charaka Samhita
and Sushruta Samhita. Triphala –
Is a combination of
Haritaki – Chebulic myrobalan – Terminalia chebula – fruit rind
Vibheetaki – Beleric Myrobalan – Terminalia bellerica
Amalaki (Indian gooseberry fruit) – Emblica oﬃcinalis Gaertn. You get Triphala churna readily in any Ayurveda store. Take 100 grams of Triphala powder. Make it into a paste with water. Take a clean iron vessel


eventually may be devastating. The horseradish sauce on the other
hand, has repeatedly given lasting benefits. Mucus is the result of
drinking too much milk and eating concentrated starches, bread, and
cereals in excess. RHUBARB JUICE
Rhubarb is probably responsible for more kidney trouble among
children than any other single factor. Few if any other plants have
such a high concentration of oxalic acid as rhubarb. When cooked,
this acid is converted into an inorganic chemical which, when eaten,
deposits vast amounts of oxalic acid crystals in the body. 52 Innumerable cases of rheumatism and rheumatic fever could be
traced to the ingestion of cooked rhubarb. No example could be more
vivid than this to prove the fallacy of eating sor°a food or food product
because of certain individual particular merit without regard to the
disastrous effect of other elements it may contain. Because of its
supposedly laxative properties, rhubarb is used extensively for children
as well as by adults. Because the laxative results are more or less
immediately apparent, no further thought is given to the other end
product—the oxalic acid crystals deposited in the body. As these
deposits do not cause immediate irritation and their effect is insidious
and slow in manifesting, the consequences are rarely if ever attributed
to the proper cause—the eating of rhubarb. The subject of oxalic acid is so very important that we have covered
it fairly extensively in a separate chapter under that heading. Some benefit can be derived from fresh-raw rhubarb juice,
provided that it is used sparingly, and only in combination with other
juices such as carrot, celery, or fruit, and their combinations. In this
manner it can help stimulate the peristaltic action of the intestines. Never sweeten rhubarb with sugar, use honey.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        This benefit, however, has been derived when all concentrated
starches and sugars were avoided altogether and when colonic
irrigations and enemas were used regularly to cleanse waste matter
from the system. CABBAGE JUICE
Duodenal ulcers have responded almost miraculously to the
drinking of cabbage juice. The only drawback is the frequent
generation of excessive gas. In any case, plain carrot juice has been
used with equal success and most people find it more palatable. Cabbage juice has wonderful cleansing and reducing properties. Sometimes it has a tendency to cause distress because of gas forming
in the intestines after drinking it. Such gas is the result of waste
putrefactive matter present in the intestines being broken up by the
cabbage juice, which causes a chemical reaction to set in and may
form gas. This is a natural condition—sulfuretted hydrogen, a foul
smelling gas, being the outcome of the cleansing elements in the juice
acting on and dissolving the waste matter. Enemas and colonic
irrigations help to remove both this excessive gas and the waste matter
causing it. 25 The most valuable properties in cabbage are the high sulphur and
chlorine content and the relatively large percentage of iodine. The
combination of the sulphur and chlorine causes a cleansing of the
mucous membrane of the stomach and intestinal tract, but this only
applies when cabbage juice is taken in its raw state without the addition
of salt. When excessive gas or other distress is experienced after drinking
raw cabbage juice, either straight or in combination with other raw
vegetable juices, it may be an indication of an abnormal toxic condition
within the intestinal tract. In such case it has been found advisable,
before much of the juice is used, to cleanse the intestines thoroughly
by drinking carrot, or carrot and spinach juice daily for two or three
weeks and taking enemas daily. It was found that once the intestines
were able to assimilate cabbage juice, it was invaluable as a cleanser,
particularly in the case of excessive adipose weight. When raw cabbage juice is added to raw carrot juice, it forms an
excellent source of Vitamin C as a cleansing medium, aiding
particularly where infection of the gums is present resulting in
pyorrhea. When boiled or dehydrated with excessive heat, however,
the effectiveness of the enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and salts is
destroyed. One hundred and twenty pounds of cooked or canned
cabbage could not furnish the same vital organic food value that is
assimilated from drinking one-half pint of straight raw cabbage juice
when properly prepared. Cabbage juice has been used very effectively to help the relief of
ulcers and constipation. As constipation is usually the primary cause
of skin eruptions, these have also been cleared up with the judicious
use of this juice. The addition of salt to cabbage or its juice not only destroys its
value, but is also harmful. RAW CARROT JUICE
Depending on the condition of the individual, raw carrot juice
may be taken indefinitely in any reasonable quantities—from one to
six or eight pints a day. It has the effect of helping to normalize the
entire system. It is the richest source of Vitamin A which the body
can quickly assimilate and contains also an ample supply ofVitamins
B, C, D, E, G, and K. It helps to promote the appetite and is an aid to
digestion. It is a valuable aid in the improvement and maintenance of the
bone structure of the teeth. 26 Nursing mothers should drink plenty of raw carrot juice, properly
prepared, to enhance the quality of their milk, as a breast milk diet
may under certain circumstances, not provide sufficient vital foods. During the last months of pregnancy, raw carrot juice, taken in
sufficient quantities, tends to reduce the possibilities of puerperal
sepsis at childbirth. One pint of carrot juice, daily, has more
constructive body value than 25 pounds of calcium tablets. Raw carrot juice is a natural solvent for ulcerous and cancerous
conditions. It is a resistant to infections, doing most efficient work in
conjunction with the adrenal glands. It helps prevent infections of
the eyes and throat as well as the tonsils and sinuses and the respiratory
organs generally. It also protects the nervous system and is unequalled
for increasing vigor and vitality. Intestinal and liver diseases are sometimes due to a lack of certain
of the elements contained in properly prepared raw carrot juice. When
this is the case, then a noticeable cleaning up of the liver may take
place, and the material which was clogging it may be found to dissolve. Frequently this is released so abundantly that the intestinal and urinary
channels are inadequate to care for this overflow, and in a perfectly
natural manner it is passed into the lymph for elimination from the
body by means of the pores of the skin. This material has a distinctly
orange or yellow pigment and while it is being so eliminated from the
body will sometimes discolor the skin. Whenever such a discoloration
takes place after drinking carrot or other juices, it is an indication
that the liver is getting a well-needed cleansing. It is NOT the carrot juice itself nor the carotene that comes through
the skin, as this discoloration will take place even if the juice is filtered
to the point of clearing it of all color pigment. It is just as practical an
impossibility for the carrot pigment itself to come through the skin as
it would be for the red pigment of the beet to turn the body red or the
chlorophyll of the green vegetables to paint the skin green from within. In any case, is it not better to have a healthy satin-like skin, even
though it may be slightly on the carrot shade, than to have the pasty
complexion which, together with its pimples and other blemishes,
publicizes the unhealthy condition of the body. Instead of becoming distressed over the appearance of skin
discoloration, which will in any case eventually disappear, we should
be gratified that the disintegration of the liver has been stopped or
prevented by the use of these juices. 27 This discoloration, however, can be somewhat retarded by slowing
up the process of cleansing by changing or adding other juices to the
particular one that causes such a rapid cleansing activity. The lack of sufficient rest, sleep and overwork may also result in
a certain amount of skin discoloration. The endocrine glands, especially the adrenals and the gonads,
require food elements found in raw carrot juice. Sterility is sometimes
overcome by its use. The cause of sterility has been traced to the
continuous use of foods in which atoms and enzymes were destroyed
by cooking or pasteurizing. Dry skin, dermatitis, and other skin blemishes are due to a
deficiency in the body of some of these food elements contained in
carrot juice. This is also a factor in eye trouble, as in ophthalmia,
conjunctivitis, etc. If properly extracted from fresh, clean, good quality raw carrots,
carrot juice is very rich in the vital organic alkaline elements sodium
and potassium. It also contains a good supply of calcium, magnesium,
and iron while the vital organic elements phosphorus, sulphur, silicon,
and chlorine balance perfectly with the former in their action and
reaction on the human system. As an aid to dissolve ulcers and cancer, raw carrot juice has proved
itself the miracle of the age. It was


, including the
Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, where I was first out of the frigid, shark-
infested waters six years in a row. In 1997, knowing I couldn’ t be a professional athlete forever, I looked
around for something new, and when several triathlete/firefighter friends
suggested I consider firefighting, I listened. They described the job as
twenty-four hours of adrenaline-pumping excitement, with no two shifts
ever the same—a career in which you never had to sit behind a desk or take
paperwork home on weekends. And there was the chance to help people as
well. It was an easy decision. Fighting fires and racing triathlons are animals of a dif ferent color:
Training for and competing in triathlons is predictable; firefighting is not. There is no telling when the next alarm will sound and what the nature of
the call will be, from a fire in a Dumpster or a high-rise to a medical call or
an accident. The best way to stay on top of your game is to consistently fuel
your body with clean-burning, artery-scrubbing, disease-reversing, and
energy-giving plant-powered foods. And so I always do, and still manage to compete as a world-class
triathlete as well—in 2005, I participated in the Xterra World
Championships on the Hawaiian island of Maui; the next year, at the age of
forty-three, I was named one of Austin’ s ten fittest people. In May 2008, I
set the national record at the U.S. Masters Swimming Championships in the
200-yard backstroke. My commitment to a healthy plant-based life has resulted in many
people asking me to help them with their diets. So in 2007, I devised a six-
week study and put more than sixty people through a gauntlet of before-
and-after tests to quantify the results, which were spectacular!Then, in 2008, I initiated a four -week study and got more great results. It’s one thing to say the diet works; it’ s another when you have tangible data
that confirms the benefits of a plant-based diet. (Y ou can read more about
these studies in The Medical Proof Behind the Engine 2 Diet, page 41.) One of the reasons I came up with these tests is that I come from a long
line of trail-blazing physicians. In fact, I was bred to be healthy—there
aren’ t many families in America more dedicated to well-being than mine. My father, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD, has always been my hero. He
was also the son of a great doctor, Caldwell Esselstyn, Sr., who was
baseball star Lou Gehrig’ s personal physician as well as founder of the Rip
Van Winkle Clinic in upstate New York, where people such as Eleanor
Roosevelt sought medical help. After graduating from Yale and winning a gold medal in rowing at the
1956 Summer Olympic Games, my father attended Case Western Reserve
Medical School, then did his internship and residency at the Cleveland
Clinic. One of the world’ s finest medical facilities, the clinic was founded
by my mother ’s great-grandfather, Geor ge Crile, Sr. During my father ’s
tenure there, he was honored with numerous awards and held many of fices,
including president of the clinic’ s medical staf f, member of its Board of
Governors, and chairman of its Breast Cancer Task Force. Most relevant to this book was the study my father initiated on the arrest
and reversal of heart disease through diet—research that is still ongoing
after twenty-one years. Frustrated with sur gery as a means of treating disease, my father became
convinced there was a better way to address the problem rather than simply
treating its symptoms. By examining data from other cultures and countries,
he had come to realize that diet must play a crucial role in human health—
although at that time few doctors believed that health and nutrition were
closely related. My father ’s study began after he asked the Cleveland Clinic’ s cardiology
department to send him patients af flicted with serious heart disease—people
who had failed their bypass operations or their angioplasties, or who were
too sick for these procedures, or who had refused these interventions
entirely. He ended up working with eighteen people who had suf fered forty-
nine coronary events over the previous eight years. Theorizing that a healthier diet would improve the patients’  heart health,
my father put them on a plant-based eating plan similar to the Engine 2Diet. He eventually published the results in more than seven peer -reviewed
medical journals including The American Journal of Cardiology, later
updating his findings for his book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
(Avery, 2007). (The patients were also given very low doses of a cholesterol-lowering
statin because, as my father said, he wanted to make sure they “were not
only wearing a belt but also suspenders.”)
These findings showed that of the patients reviewed after a dozen years,
all but one suf fered no further coronary events—and that single patient who
did had strayed from my father ’s diet. Moreover, these people stopped the disease dead in its tracks, and all of
them lived long lives. (Those who have since died succumbed to non-heart-
related conditions.) Furthermore, every single participant’ s health markers improved as well. Their overall cholesterol level dropped below 150 mg/dl, a magic number
as studies have repeatedly shown that heart disease is exceedingly rare
among people with total cholesterol levels under 150. Note: Cholesterol is measured in milligrams per deciliter, which is
abbreviated “mg/dl.” For ease of reading I have taken out the unit of
measurement “mg/dl” after many of the cholesterol levels. One of the most intriguing cases from my father ’s study is that of Dr. Joseph Crow, a fellow general sur geon who had taken over my father ’s
position as chairman of the Cleveland Clinic’ s Breast Cancer Task Force. One day, forty-four -year -old Joe had just finished operating when he
suffered a full-blown heart attack. Joe didn’ t smoke and wasn’ t overweight,
had no prior history—nor family history—of heart disease, and his total
cholesterol was a respectable 156. But his heart was a mess. Owing to the nature of Joe’ s arterial blockage, he was not a candidate for
surgery or stents, and he refused to take cholesterol-lowering drugs. So he
knocked on my father ’s office door, and soon became a faithful plant-based
eater. Over the span of the next two-and-a-half years, Joe completely reversed
the blockages in the portion of his heart known as the left anterior
descending coronary artery. He also brought his total cholesterol down from
156 to 89, and reduced his lethal LDL  cholesterol from 98 to 38. All of this
with one course of treatment—a hard-core, plant-strong diet!Now that my father had become convinced that so many people were
becoming sick because of their diet, he decided that if he were going to
make his patients eat a certain way, his family was going to do so, too. We
had always eaten the usual American diet of roast beef, cheese, and eggs,
but soon enough, our whole family was eating a healthy, plant-based diet. My mother jumped on board because she was not only the wife of a
great doctor but also the daughter of one—Geor ge (Barney) Crile, one of
the most influential physicians of his generation. After graduating summa
cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1933, Barney eventually went
to work at the Cleveland Clinic. Often called “The Savior of the American Breast,” Barney was the first
American sur geon to perform the breast-conserving partial mastectomy
operation, rather than the routine practice of the total mastectomy, on
women with breast cancer. E2 POP QUIZ
Q: What are the magic numbers you want your total and LDL
cholesterol levels to be so your body starts clearing away existing
plaque formations? A: You want a total cholesterol level below 150 and an LDL
cholesterol level below 80. Barney’ s father, Geor ge Crile, Sr., who, as mentioned, founded the
Cleveland Clinic, was considered one of the great sur geons of the twentieth
century. He was responsible for many firsts, including the first human-to-
human blood transfusion, and was a co-founder of the American Red Cross. He and Barney are the only American father and son ever to be inducted
into England’ s Royal College of Sur geons. IT’S NOW  2009, AND I’VE BEEN  a firefighter for a dozen years. I’m more in love
with this job and with helping people than ever, but it’ s not enough. I yearn
for more. I want to take saving people to the next level, and that involves
helping them in a more fundamental way. In my mind, dragging you away from your disease-promoting diet to a
better way of living will have just as powerful an impact as dragging you
out of a raging fire.OceanofPDF.com3
THE ENGINE 2 DIET
How It All Began
There’ s no ar gument that the Engine 2 Diet can protect you from
disease while making you feel and look terrific. But the diet might actually
never have


 turn, inspire others. Their voices are melodious and
welcomed by those who want to learn these truths. Recognizing Fifth Chakra Imbalances
Signs that the fif th chakra is out  of balance may include the V ata imbalance
of talkin g incessantly without listening. This kind of nervous talking uses
the voice out of fear of silence or fear of being alone. Another manifestation
of imbalance would be using the voice to be harsh to others, such as putting
a person  in his or her place or being overly critical. Those ou t of balance
can also use their voice as a wea pon to hurt another person b y not speaking
or by yelling, screaming, or crying out loud to create drama.Speech impediments are disorders that can limit your voice or cause
frustration in speaking. A person who feels suppressed and doe sn’ t feel he
or she has a voice can experience blockages in the fifth chakra. Miscommunication and misunderstandings are also limitations of the
fifth cha kra. Thi s often happens when two people are talking at each other
rather th an to each other, and when one person isn’ t listening or doesn’ t
understand. T ake car e not to misdirect your fifth chakra ener gy by using you r newly
acquired spiritua l knowledge to try to convince others of your perspective. Maybe you know people who have done this with you, talking nonstop and
shoving their perspective down your throat. Instead of speaking to
convince, balanced fifth chakra people speak to inspire. Think of a speaker
who has inspired you. Those wi th inspiration, which means “in spirit,” will
usually talk about themselves in order to demonstrate their path toward
enlightenment. I t’ s never about “ Y ou should do this or that” but rather “This
is what I did and what I experie nced.” That leaves you the space to have an
aha moment. Space, akasha, which is the element of the fifth chakra, is the
essential component in verbal expression. I once heard that it’ s not the
words in the books that make beautiful stories but the spaces in between;
and it’ s not the musical notes th at create sweet melodies but the pauses in
between those notes. It’ s about space. In th e p reface I mentioned havi ng to heal my fifth chakra ener gy after
my t hyroid cancer sur gery. T o that end, I had to do a lot of self-reflection on
how this ener gy had developed throughout my childhood. I’m the firstborn,
and when I was five my parents divorced. However, the divorce is not my
earliest memory. I have lots of m emories, from as early as age three, of my
parents fighting and my mom crying. I even remember givin g my mom
boxes of  Kleenex. Through this traumatic experience, I believe I developed
a ha bit o f “being good” and not creating waves. My mom wou ld even tell
me that I was her strength. Since I had to take care of my mother ’ s emotions
and look after m y sister, I deve loped an inner notion that my own feelings
weren’ t as important. In order t o heal, I had to learn to expres s myself. It
didn’ t come easily. And at times when I tried to make my voice heard, it
came ou t as shouting. But over time I learned to be more asser tive and not
bottle up my feelings.Accepting Fifth Chakra Gifts
In free societies we take for granted the gifts of speaking and he aring truth. The fact that we have ears to listen and a mouth to speak is a miracle in
itself. U nderstanding language, being able to read and write, and the gift of
communication wonderfully bond us together on a deeper level than only
the physical. Being ab le to freely express our selves without fear of being persecuted
for our opinions, political views, or religious persuasions is a gift. I recently
ran a half mara thon in W ashington, DC. There were spectators holding
inspirational sig ns to help the runners keep running. Some of the signs read
“If T rump can run and win, so can you” and “Y ou can run bet ter than the
government.” I thought, How fortunate we ar e to live in a place wher e this
fr eedom of expr ession exists! In another coun try those spectators with signs
might be arrested. If you’re a female or a minority in some co untries, you
cannot speak your mind, vote, or even drive. Y our inn er truth  and voice are powerful blessings to use whene ver you
can. Healing V ishuddha
DAIL Y AFFIRMA TION
I can easily speak my inner truth. Healing the Physical Body
In o rder to ef fe ctively speak your truth, your throat, vocal co rds, mouth,
jaw, and hearing must remai n healthy. Eating the wrong foods and
maintaining poor posture can contribute to inef fective vocal expression. If
you fin d speaking, singing, chanting, or projecting your voice to be
challenging, the following changes may help. First, dry mouth can be rectif ied by reducing caf feine and alcohol
consumption an d by decreasing the number of dry foods in yo ur diet such
as crackers, chips, dried fruit, and nuts. Y ou can also keep your mouth moistand throat lubricated by swishing and gar gling daily with an or ganic food-
grade sesame oil. T ake one to t wo teaspoons in your mouth an d swish for
one minute, then gar gle lightly and spit it out. It will leave a light film in
your mouth. Y ou can do this before bed and you will reap the benefits of a
lubricated mouth and the antibacterial ef fects of the sesame oil. Phlegm in
your thr oat can be corrected by  reducing cold dairy, sugar, and processed
foods. Next, sitting at a  desk and starin g at a computer all day can cause poor
posture due to c raning the neck forward to see the screen. Wh enever you
notice y ourself in this position, make a correction: sit straight, and draw
your head and shoulders back to bring your spine into better alignment. C HANTING AND  S INGING
Saying the chakra mantra soun ds or other mantras out loud is great for
toning t he throat and strengthening the vocal cords. Singing brings about
joy and can be transcendent. I t’ s no wonder so many of us sing in the
shower or alone in the car. It brings out a side of us that is often hidden. Liberate your fifth chakra ener gy by singing out loud — not only in the
shower or car. H EAD AND  N ECK  E XERCISES
Because we tend to position th e neck improperly when using electronic
devices, it’ s very important that  we stretch our necks frequently to release
the tired muscles. Sit tall with your back straight. Have your head in a neutral position
with your chin n either up nor do wn. Rest your hands on your lap with your
palms fa cing up. T urn your head  to the right, then bring your chi n down and
draw a semicircle with your chin as you bring it to your left. Then bring
your chin downward from the l eft side and draw a semicircle back to the
right. Continue back and forth eight times. Next, return your head back to a
centered, neutra l position. T ake the first two fingers of your right hand,
place th em on your chin, and b ring your chin to your chest. Hold it there
and breathe. Release your head, and repeat with your left hand.Y OGA  A SANAS AND  P RANA Y AMA  E XERCISES T O  H EAL THE
F IFTH  C HAKRA
T ry these exercises to help heal and align the V ishuddha chakra. T o view a video demo of these exer cises, go to
www.youtube.com/c/MichelleFondinAuthor. Click on the Playlists tab, and select
Chakra Healing Asanas & Pranayamas. Scr oll down the list until you find the one you’r e looking for. Ujjayi  Br eath:  O ften referred to as the oce an breath or af fectionately
coined the Darth V ader breath, the ujjayi breath is excellent for toning the
throat and calming nerves. This breath brings heat to the body and therefore
is ya ng in nature. T o begin the ujjayi breath, sit tall and close  your eyes. Pretend you’re going to fog up a pair of glasses to clean them,  and exhale
the word ha. No w c lose you r lips and exha le the same way but with your
mouth c losed. Inhale and exhale the word ha. T his results in  a partial
constriction of your throat. Y ou are breathing from the lower belly, inflating
the belly  as you inhale and contracting it as you exhale. In the  beginning,
it’ s d if ficult to in hale the word ha, but  wit h practice it becomes easier. Once
you get the hang  of it, see if you  can prolong each inhalation and


 from nowhere, because love is inherent in
life itself. Emily  Dickinson, whose lovers were all in her imagination, is to
me a true lover nonetheless. She writes:
Not “Revelation”—tis—that waits
But our unfurnished eyes—
This is a message of compressed wisdom, which says that we are waiting
not on the day of redemption but on our own perception. The exquisitene ss of true ecstas y cannot dawn unless we can contain it;
our minds are so absorbed in relentless activity that quietness rarely lasts
more than an instant. The body by its nature is also active and restless. Since activity and stillness are opposites, the body generally registers some
degree of agitation or even discomfort as it moves into alignment with
spirit. The reputation that ecstasy has for being physically intense
contributes to the frenzy and mutilation that devotees have resorted to in
order to duplicate the opening to ecstasy—they are mistaking the symptom
for the cause. The divine has nothing to do with pain. Because it stands outside—
ekstasis —the envelope of time and space, spirit cannot be sensuous. Our
five senses cannot take us to where ecstasy dwells. But as true ecstasy
begins to manifest, our senses definitely react. The reaction is entirely
individual and unpredictable, since one person’ s intense erotic opening is
another ’s frightening collapse of defenses. What feels like the expansion of
the soul into infinite space to me may seem like a terrifying fall into the
void to you. When we say that ecstasy is like the drop melting back into the ocean, it
must be made clear that we are the drop and the ocean at the same time, just
on dif ferent levels. Ecstasy is the r elease of individuality back into wholeness. Whatever brings you closer to
wholeness brings you closer to ecstasy. Here I think we’ve reached the secret of ecstasy. Most of us do not see
ourselves as supreme sexual technicians, nor can we relate easily to the
extraordinary mysticism of a saint. Ecstasy will never be ordinar y, yet it can
be brought within our reach once we realize its real nature. Although often
experienced in the most extrem e situations, ecstasy is a quality  of spirit as
natural as any other. We do not have to sojourn into the darkness of the
mythic past to retrieve it. The patient work of inner growth is all we need. To promote stillness inwardly is to promote ecstasy. The inner being
doesn’ t have to be tricked or manipulated to achieve this stillness. Our
minds are like runners that only have to slow down in order to walk, then
slow down from a walk to standing still. This process of shifting from
activity to stillness is a simple yet very deep description of meditation. We
could modify the biblical injunction to “Be still and know ecstasy. ” There is
no single road to this quietness of meditation, yet to be genuine any
meditation must take the mind beyond its superficial nature, which is
restless and chaotic, to its deeper nature as the peace that passes all
understanding. REACHING  ECSTASY
The emer gence  into stillness can take place under any conceivable
circumstance. Arjuna achieved his moksha on a raging battlefield after the
bloody onslaught of family against family. Medieval saints found theirs in
complete retreat  from the world. At this very moment someone is finding it
in a bustling city or staring out to sea. The release is never incidental or
accidental. Tastes of ecstasy come and go, yet attaining compl ete stillness
of the mind means walking the spiritual path to its concl usion, with
discipline and faith. Expansion of consciousness is the r oad to ecstasy. Expansion of consciousness is a broad term that covers almost everything
I have discussed up to now, for the path to love is all about such expansion. Love pulls you out of ego boundaries, and when you are dedicat ed to acting
from love, you are able to live in spirit. Many of the most important themes
have already been covered:Seeing your beloved as a mirror of your higher Self. Surrendering to love as a guiding force. Letting go of attachment to the false self and its needs. Devoting every day to achieving true union and healing the wounds of separation. Countless people live with their beloved without following any of these
principles; their love doesn’ t provide a strong enough basis to escape their
old conditioning. Until they discover the spiritual path, few are able to heed
the voice of spirit, which speaks intuitively. If only you perceived it, you
are alrea dy in a state of ecstasy that is permanent and unshakab le. But only
at moments when your boundaries fade away do you have flashes of reality. Then direct intuitive knowing becomes possible, and you can see yourself
for who you are, sublime and ecstatic. Thousands of years ago the
Upanishads expressed our twofold nature in a beautiful metaphor:
Two birds, one of them mortal, the other immortal,
live in the same tree. The first one pecks at the fruit,
sweet or bitter; the second looks on without eating. Thus the personal self pecks at the fruit of this world,
bewildered by suf fering, always hungry for more,
but when he meets the true Self, the resplendent God,
the source of creation, all his cravings are stilled. The two birds in the tree, self and Self, are inseparable; both sit in the same
tree (the body) faced with the same fruit (the material world). Yet for all
their closeness the bird who craves the fruit does not know its mate. It takes
an awak ening to reveal the Self, and although in one sense it is awesome,
being “the resplendent God,” in another sense it is just one’s intimate
beloved, who has faithfully kept watch through all time, waitin g only to be
seen. Once it is seen everything in life changes. As the Upanish ads declare,
the life of the self, once united with the Self, rises to a blessed level:
Good and evil both vanish;
delighting in Self, playing like a child with Self,
he does whatever is called for, whatever the result. When self-realiz ation dawns, there is no longer any question of struggle
or effort. The spirit guides you to do whatever is called for, according to
your own makeup. In reality universal love requires only one thing, that the
sweet point in the heart expand until bliss and peace become the nature of
our life. This first happens within individuals, then it happens torelationships based on spirit, finally it extends to whole families and
societies. A single point in the heart can expand to liberate the world. Ecstasy is therefore not an individual feeling at all but a glimpse of the
wholeness waiting to be seen everywhere. The Upanishads state this very
explicitly:
Self is everywhere, shining forth from all beings,
vaster than the vast, subtler than the most subtle,
unreachable, nearer than breath, than heartbeat. Our senses tell us that we are breathing and that our hearts beat,  but there is
a breath within the breath that is spirit (in Christian terms it has been called
afflatus, the breath of God). Near as spirit may be, centur ies of cultural prejudice have made it
necessary to rediscover our intuitive, direct knowledge of it. Many
disciplines and techniques can be employed here, particularly meditation. In
this book I have concentrated on the expansion of conscious ness that is
available throug h love, motivated by the tragic absence of love we see all
around us. Yet the road to the Self is not closed on any side—the
transcendent is “nearer than breath, than heartbeat”—and fortunately a
multitude of teachings exist to put our feet on the path. In the end the path does not actually ascend anywhere in time or space. The self is still the self, the ego is still the ego, the senses are still the
senses. How can you go anywh ere to capture what is already so close to
you. The mystery is that this “pathless path,” as the masters refer to it,
causes immense  transformation. There is a world of difference between
those who live in love and those who only touch upon it fitfully. Perhaps the
greatest differen ce is this qualit y called ecstasy, which is the actual feeling
of breathing God’ s breath and beating with His heart. I do not want to betray the intimacy of ecstasy; it is the most private of
love affairs. Being becomes your beloved, and the merging of yourself with
another person follows with complete ease and naturalness. If one had to
lay down some  kind of pattern for how ecstasy is attained, it would be
extremely general, as follows:The time comes when seeking is over and realization begins. First the
mind becomes aware of its own activity while standing apart from it. Ordinarily we are immersed in our own inner dialogue; the stream of
thoughts, wishes, fears, and fantasies running through our heads keeps us
fixated. We buy into a mental drama that has no conclusion. The mind gains
its restless energy from our participation. Being fixated on your own ment al
drama is all it takes to cause the drama to work itself up. At certain moments, however, the fixation is not so alluring. Some part of
ourselves detaches from the mind’ s activity—the first stage of ecstasy is
just this faint awareness of being a


personal component. He argued that becoming a cancer patient is
the end product of neurotic mechanisms that go back to childhood. LeShan was also among the rst to use psychotherapy as a means to
revive the cancer patient’s buried instincts, particularly the instinct
to heal. LeShan found that he had to begin by turning the methods of
conventional therapy on their head. If a breast cancer patient goes
to a conventi onal therapis t, he would focus primarily on her
symptoms. Confronted with her psychological pain, he would try to
identify the precise source of that pain and reduce it. LeShan, on the
other hand, attempts to make cancer a turning point, with the aim,
not of reducing symptoms,  but of pushing the patien t to new
heights. He focuses on the patient’s uniqueness and individuality: a
breast cancer patient coming  to him would be told that she has “a
special song to sing in life,” a source of joy that belongs only to her. On the rst day of therapy, when LeShan looks at his patients and
announces this goal, he very often gets a blast of hostility and
rejection in return. The following are some typical responses, taken
from his book Cancer as a Turning Point:
“If I found my own music, it would be so discordant that I
wouldn’t like it, and no one else could stand it either. My
own ‘natural’ way of being is ugly and repellent. I learned a
long time ago not to express it if I wanted to have any
relationships with others or to be able to live with myself. ”
“If I found my own song and tried to sing it, I would nd that
there is no place in the world for anyone like me. ”
“My own song would have such contradictions built into it
that it would be impossible. ”
In their acute distress, these patients feel the therapist’s helping
gesture as a huge threat. They reject his “impossible” goals and hold
on desperately  to the “unselsh” values they were taught as
children. These  values include being modest and polite, never losing
one’s temper, deferring to the wishes of others, and so forth. In our
society, every good child has learned them. Yet from the mouths of
LeShan’s patients, these values sound dreadful, as if someone’s soul
has been stied. Most of us accept the same values, however, and to some extent
we, too, do not feel that the world wants to hear our music—our
most personal expressions of feeling and desire—just because it is
ours. A profound lack of self-acceptance is being revealed in this
attitude. But since we are healthy enough to stay out of therapy or a
cancer ward, we have no occasion to defend our vulnerability quite
so nakedly as these women. Whenever people actually nd their own song to sing, their deep-
seated sense of self-doubt begins to be released, leaving a space for
creativity to ll. The song turns out to be beautiful; people nd that
they can sing it without being punished and even earn a living being
themselves. “In addition,” LeShan notes, “in every case the song was
socially positive and acceptable. I have never seen an exception to
this. ” Beneath the fear of being unique, each of us has a powerful
craving for as much uniqueness and specialness as possible. In essen ce, LeShan is simply asking his patients to be themselves. Why is that prospect at rst so horrifying. Deep down, as much as
we might deny it, all of us have been hurt by having our childhood
wishes trample d on, but we accepted it “for our own good. ” A child
needs and demands to be respected as a unique person,  but being
small and helplessly attached to his parent’s approva l, he will
sacrice his own feelings to win the reward of their love. For most
of us, our parents fed us their own concept of “being good,” and we
conformed to that even if it rankled our still-selsh childi sh egos. As
the noted Swiss psychoanaly st Alice Miller points out, we were all
taught to be good before we wanted  to be good. This may sound like a ne distinction, but in later life it makes all
the dierence between freedom and slavery. As an adult, I may be
rmly habituated to being good. Whenever I give to others, I feel
superior for being able to give and sorry for anyone who cannot. Yet
the acid test is how I feel when I am doing the giving. Am I joyful
about it or merely self-righteous. Do I expect something  in return,
such as gratitude, deference, and respect. Or do I let the other
person feel what he feels, whether it is anything or nothing. Giving
can be a mark of genuine freedom, the willingness to do with less so
that someone else may have more. But a person who has learned toput on a mask of giving is in total slavery. To what. To the memory
of what he must do to make his parents happy. Beginning with our desire to please our mothers, we have learned
to read like perfect scholars the faintest hints of acceptance and
rejection in other people. As we subtly mold ourselves to this
outside pattern, it becomes second nature, a kind of false self. A gap
is created between true and false emotions, between what I should
feel and what I actually feel. The process is subtle but treacherous. If
it goes on long enough, one forgets what it is like simply to be, to let
happiness and sadness come when they will, to give or keep as the
moment dictates. For the false self does not really feel; it calculates. A life lived truly is the joining of heart and mind. As feelings
come, the mind approves and delights in them. It is not dicult to
test if someone is leading such a life, because he will readily tell you
that the best time he has ever spent is the present. This is a sure sign
that the mind is not running ahead of the heart in anticipation or
lagging behind in nostalgia. The Chinese poet Wu-Men counsels:
Ten thousand owers in spring,
the moon in autumn,
A cool breeze in summer,
snow in winter—
If your mind is not clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life. If the balance between heart  and mind is disturbed, especially if
the subtle feeling level has been destroyed, there begins a process
we call rationalization. Why am I not happy at this very moment. “I’m too busy now. I’ll be happy when I’m successful. ”
“Today’s not a good day; I’ll be happy tomorrow. ”
“I can’t be happy with you, you’re not up to my standards. ”
“Others need me so much that I have to be responsible. ”
“Life is less risky if you are good and measure up to the
norm. ”
“I’ll be happy when I get what I want. ”In each phrase  one hears the victory of the head over the heart. Being happy is no longer immediate; it has become a distant or near
prospect, an idea rather than a feeling. In meditation the yogi tries
to clear a path for feeling, removing “unnecessary things ” from his
mind so that he can actua lly experience the bedrock of inner
satisfaction that all the ancient scriptures declare to be our
birthright. Whenever a person succeeds in joining head and heart,
that is Yoga. The reward of this union is immense: every moment
will become the best in the person’s life. A yogi balance s the qualities of intellect and feeling, but I often
think of him as a protester on behalf of the heart. Surrounded by
people (even in India) who pursue achievement without gaining
fulllment, he chooses fulllment rst. He will not let the mind rob
him of the subtle feelings of joy that come as freely as leaves blown
by the wind and are as easily swept away. The Mystery of Elaine
I sat on the edge of the emergency stretcher looking down at
Elaine in baement. It was midnight, and we had just had her
rushed from our clinic to the hospital with uncontrollable vomiting
and severe abdominal bleed ing. The crisis had erupted with little
warning. When Elaine became my patient two weeks earlier, her complaint
had been menorrhagia, or excessive menstrual bleeding. This
condition, which caused acute pain during her periods and lasted
for as long as fteen days a month, had persisted for more than a
decade. There was also a secondary complaint, which, combined
with the rst, made her mysterious in my eyes. Althoug h she had
never given birth, Elaine spontaneously secreted milk from her
breasts, a condition called galactorrhea. Medically speaking, these two symptoms are contradic tions of
each other. A particular pituitary hormone, prolactin, could have
caused her milk secretions, but another major eect of prolactin is
to stop the period. To compound matters, Elaine’s tests failed to
reveal any abnormalities in her hormone levels. I had beenpondering various explanations for her condition when she suddenly
suered this midnight


 to efficiently separate wheat flour into three components: bran, germ and endosperm. Since bread made without bran and
germ is lighter and appears more "upper class" it became  instantly popular. Flour without germ and bran also had an industrial
application –it could be stored virtually forever without being infested by insects because white flour does not contain enough
nutrition to support life. Most health conscious people ar e aware that white flour products won't support healthful human life
either. Essentially, white flour's effect on humans is another demonstration of Health = Nutrition / Calories. When the bran and germ  are
discarded, remaining are the calories and much o f the protein, lacking are many vitamins and minerals and other vital nutritional
substances. Whole wheat bread has been called the staff of life. In ages past, healthy cultures have made bread the predominant staple in  their
diet. Does that mean you can just go to the bakery and buy whole grain bread, or go to the health food store and buy organically
grown whole wheat flour, bake your own, and be as healthy as the ancients. Sorry, the answer is almost certainly no. There ar e
pitfalls, many of them, waiti ng for the unwary. White flour has one other advantage over whole wheat flour. It not only remains free of insect infestation, it doesn't become  stale
(meaning rancid). In the wheat germ (where the embryo resides) there is considerable oil, containing amon g other things, about the
best natural source of vitamin E. This oil is highly unsaturated and once the seed is ground the oil goes rancid in a matter of days. Whole wheat flour kept on the unrefrigerated shelf of the store is almost certainly rancid. A lo t of its other vitamin content has
been oxidized too. If the wheat flour had flowed directly from the grinder into an airtight sack and from there directly to t he
freezer, if it had been flash frozen and kept extremely cold, it might have a storage life of  some months. Of course that was not the
case. Maybe you're lucky and your health food store is one of the very few that has its own small -scale flour mill and grinds daily. Probably not. How about your baker's whole wheat bread. Where does the baker get flour. From the wholesaler's or distributor's warehouse. In
fifty pound kraftpaper sacks. How much time had elapsed from milling to wholesaler to baker to baking. The answer has to be i n
the order of magnitude of weeks. And it might be months. Was the flou r stored frozen. Or airtight. Of course not. If you want bread made from freshly ground flour you are almost certainly have to grind and bake it yourself. Is it worth the
trouble. You bet. Once you've tasted real bread you'll instantly see by comparison wh at stale, rancid whole wheat flour tastes like. Freshly ground flour makes bread that can be the staff of life and can enormously upgrade your health –if the wheat you use is any
good. But before we talk about wheat quality, a more few words of warning. If you think wheat goes rancid rapidly, rye is even worse. Rye flour goes bad so fast that when you buy it in the store it usually is the rye equivalent of white wheat flour. The germ has been
removed. The bag may not say so. But it probably has. If you are g oing to make rye breads, even more reason to grind your own. Corn meal from the grocery store has usually been degerminated too. If it hasn't been, the oil in the seed's germ has probabl y gone
rancid. Grinding flour at home is easy these days. There is an  abundance of at -home milling products and no shortage of hype about them. You'll find staunch advocates of stone mills. These produce the finest -textured flour, but are costly. The sales pitch is that stones
grind at low temperature and do not damage the oils (remember the development of rancidity is a function of temperature) or the
vitamins, which are also destroyed at high temperature. This assertion is half true. If you are going to store your flour it is far better
to grind it cool. However, if you ar e, as we do, going to immediately bake your flour, what difference does it make if it gets a little
warm before baking. That only accelerates the action of the yeast. On the negative side, stone mills grind slowly and are very fussy about which grains the y will grind. If the cereal is a bit moist or if
the seed being ground is a little bit oily, the mill becomes instantly blocked. Steel burr mills grind fast and coarsely and are inexpensive. Coarse flour makes heavy bread. The metal grinding faces tend t o
wear out and have to be replaced occasionally –if they can be replaced. Breads on the heavy side are still delicious; for many years
I made bread with an inexpensive steel burr mill attachment that came with my juicer. Some steel burr mills will also grin d oily seed like sesame and sunflower. However, oily seeds can be ground far more easily half -
a-cup at a time in a little inexpensive electric spice/coffee mill, the sort with a single fast -spinning propeller. I currently think the best compromise are hamm ermills. The grain dribbles into a chamber full of fast -spinning teeth that literally
pound the grain into powder. Since air flows through with the grain the flour is not heated very much. This type of mill is s mall,
very fast, intermediate in price betwee n steel mills and stone mill, lasts a long time, but when grinding, sounds like a Boeing 747
about to take off. It is essential to wear hearing protectors when using it. Awareness of bread quality is growing. One excellent new U. S. business, called Great H arvest Bakery is a fast -growing national
franchise chain. They bake and sell only whole grain breads; all their wheat flour is freshly ground daily on the premises in  the
back. Unfortunately, as of the writing of this book, they do not grind their rye flou r but bring it in sacks. I can't recommend their
rye breads. The founder of Great Harvest is a knowledgeable buyer who fully understands my next topic, which is that wheat is  not
wheat. There are great differences between hard bread wheats; being organica lly grown is no cure -all for making good or nutritious bread. Great Harvest understands this and uses top quality grain that is also Organic. When I first stated making my own bread from my own at -home -ground flour I was puzzled by variations in the dough. Sometimes the bread rose well and was spongy after baking like I wanted it to be. Sometimes it kneaded stickily and ended up flat
and crumbly like a cake. Since I had done everything the same way except that I may have bought my wheat berries from differ ent
health food stores, I began to investigate the subject of wheat quality. The element in the cereal that forms the rubbery sponge in risen bread so it doesn't crumble and rises high without collapsin g, is
gluten. The word glue derives from gluten. The g luten content of various wheats varies. Bread bakers use "hard wheat" because of
its high gluten content. Gluten is a protein and gluten comprises most of the protein in bread wheat; the protein content and  the
gluten content are almost identical. Try thi s. Ask your health food store buyer or owner what the protein content is of the hard red wheat seeds they're selling. You'll
almost certainly get a puzzled look and your answer will almost certainly be, "We have Organic and conventional. " Demand that
the store buyer ask this question of their distributor/wholesaler and then report back to you. If the distributor deigns to answer, the
answer will be the same –I sell Organic or conventional hard red wheat. Period. When I got these non -answers I looked further and
discovered that hard bread wheats run from about 12 percent protein to about 19 percent and this difference has everything to  do
with the soil fertility (and to an extent the amount of rainfall during the season), and almost nothing to do with Organic or
conventional. This difference also has everything to do with how your dough behaves and how your bread comes out. And how well your bread
nourishes you. Thirteen percent wheat will not make a decent loaf - fourteen percent is generally considered #2 qu ality and
comprises the bulk of cheap bread grain. When you hear in the financial news that a bushel of wheat is selling for a certain price,
they mean #2. Bakers compete for higher protein lots and pay far higher prices for more protein. We prefer our br ead about 25% rye, but rye contains no gluten at all. Mix any rye flour into fourteen percent wheat flour and the
dough becomes very heavy, won't rise, and after baking, crumbles. So I kept looking for better grain and finally discovered a
knowledgeable la dy that sold flour mills and who also was a serious baker herself. She had located a source of quality wheat with
an assayed protein content and sold it by the 50 pound sack. When I asked her if her wheat was Organic she said it was either
sixteen or seven teen percent protein depending on whether you wanted hard red spring wheat or hard white spring wheat. Organic
or conventional. I persisted. No, she said. High protein. So, I said to myself, since protein content is a function of soil fertility and


 often shatter the patient’s faith in medicine, but, alas. It comes too
late. The constitutional condition behind and preceding the incidence of peptic ulcer is by far the
most vital factor involved in its evolution. The anemia frequently seen in ulcer patients is probably
less due to the slight loss of blood through the ulcer than to the failure of blood making consequent
upon the general nutritional impairment of the patient. As the nutritive impairment precedes the formation of the ulcer often by several years producing
in many instances the so-called “ulcer race” the original impairment is not to be blamed upon the
100ulcer. Everything in the condition of the patient, both those pathologies that precede the ulcer and
those that are concomitant with it or successive to it, point to an existing constitutional impairment
which forms the basis of the ulceration. This is one reason that purely local treatment of ulcers is
so uniformly unsatisfactory. Any sore (whether on the exterior of the body or on the inside skin—the membrane lining the
digestive tract) will heal more rapidly and readily if unhampered. It must not continaully be
irritated by handling, rubbing, wrinkling, contracting and expanding. The irritation resulting from these mechanical activities, breaks down the healing tissues and
causes bleeding. The sore will heal better if given rest. For this reason, the first step necessary to
insure healing of a peptic ulcer is to ensure complete rest for the ulcerated organ. Nothing provides
this local rest of the digestive organs more completely than the fast. Irritation of the raw surface of the ulcer resulting from the gastric acidity will also prevent
healing of the peptic ulcer. New tissue cannot form in the presence of such irritations. Since fasting
causes a cessation of a secretion of gastric juice, which otherwise bathes the ulcerated surface,
this source
of irritation is removed by the fast. In most cases only about three days of fasting are
required to suspend the secretion of gastric juice. The small amount of juice secreted thereafter
will be very weakly acid. Thus the fast speedily removes three sources of local irritation—the mechanical irritation
brought on by particles of food in contact with the raw surface, mechanical irritation resulting from
contraction and expansion of the walls of the stomach and wrinkling of its surfaces in receiving
and handling foods, and chemical irritation caused by the acid gastric juice. With the removal of
these sources of irritation, healing can proceed at a satisfactory rate. But fasting has another and more profound effect in the restoration of health to the ulcer patient. “Since it is easy to demonstrate,” wrote George Weger, M.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the primary cause of asthma?,
A: Toxemia.
Q: What is the recommended duration of a fast for an individual with chronic arthritis?,
A: The duration of the fast will depend on the severity of the condition, but it should be continued until all abnormal sounds in the lungs have cleared up.
Q: What is the recommended approach to treating hay fever?,
A: Fasting is the recommended approach, as it provides rest and allows the body to remove its toxic load, which is the underlying cause of the condition.
Q: What is the primary cause of high blood pressure?,
A: Toxemia, which is the result of a chronic state of enervation and poor nutrition.
Q: What is the recommended approach to treating peptic ulcer?,
A: The recommended approach is to eliminate the underlying causes of the condition by correcting the patient's mode of living and eating, and then implementing a fast to allow the body to restore its normal functioning.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>It is characterized
by difficult breathing (dyspnea) blueness of the lips and fingers (cyanosis) rapid, but feeble heart
actions, venous engorgement, a decreased urinary output, with, in severe cases, an accumulation of
fluid in the tissues—edema, dropsy, anasarca. Although already greatly weakened, the increased work of the heart occasioned by the
accumulating fluid, adds to its difficulties. The heavier burden on the heart becomes intolerable
and it slowly weakens under the load. As the heart weakens the dropsy increases and as this
increases, the work of the heart is increased. A vicious cycle is established from which it is
difficult to escape. Another source of edema is the taking of common table salt (sodium chloride). This salt is non-
usable and poisonous. It is excreted with difficulty, hence it tends to accumulate in the body of the
salt-eater. It is stored in the surface tissues just under the skin and in cavities, along with water that
is needed to dilute it, thus forming brine. This salt-occasioned edema, often sufficiently marked in
supposedly healthy individuals to be easily
 detected (in others existing as a hidden edema) places
an added burden upon the heart and kidneys. The body of the fasting patient is able to bring the salt and water back into the circulation, from
where it is excreted. There is commonly an enormous urinary excretion of sodium chloride, in such
cases, up to 78 grams of salt a day having been observed to be excreted during a fast. It has been
shown by careful biochemical observations that fasting results in an absolute increase in the
amount of sodium chloride excreted, even in cases in which the total urinary output is small. As the sodium chloride content of the blood remains normal during the fast, the indication is that
the salt excreted is from the edema and effusion flud accumulation. The first step in the excretion of the salt-water accumulation is the return of the water and salt to
the blood stream. Fasting favors the absorption of the fluid from the tissues and its subsequent
excretion. When the fast is instituted and all intake of salt is entirely discontinued, the body is
enabled to rapidly withdraw the water and sodium chloride from the edematous tissues. The
hidden edema and dropsy disappear at a rapid rate. The principle of lightening the work of the circulatory system and particularly that of the heart
by decreasing the food intake and by eliminating salt from the diet is carried to its ultimate stage
when the heart patient fasts. Often it is even found necessary to reduce greatly the amount of water
taken. Especially in cases of marked edema (dropsy) is it important to reduce the water intake in
order to facilitate the excretion of the fluid from the tissues. In decompensation of the heart, there is commonly renal (kidney) stasis—stoppage of the blood
flow—which impairs the function of the kidneys. The fast seems to result in an instantaneous
improvement in the function of the kidneys, so that there is an immediate increase of elimination. There are different views about water intake in this condition, some fasting advocates favoring
taking water freely, on the theory that the kidneys can function better if plenty of water is taken;
others holding that the intake of liberal quantities of water slows down the excretion of the
111edematous accumulation. I favor limiting water intake. With the increased excretion, through the kidneys, of water and sodium chloride, so that the
edema is reduced or obliterated, the heart is greatly relieved. It has also been suggested that fasting
may favorably affect certain vaso-motor centers, (the nerve centers that control circulation), thus
causing improvement in the condition of the heart and arteries. Certainly it would be folly to say that the excretion of water and sodium chloride in dropsical
conditions is alone responsible for the wide relief of symptoms that occur. The concomitant
general improvement of the heart and circulatory condition must be taken into full consideration,
but there is reason to think that the increased urinary outpout and the absorption of
 water and salt
from the tissues is due, in great measure, to the improvement of the general circulatory action, the
improvement tending to persist after eating is resumed. An Italian physician, Giorgio Dagnini, M.D., studied the results of fasting in sixteen cases of
cardiac decompensation and presented a detailed account of his observations in the
Institute of
General Medicine and Therapeutics
 of the University of Modena, Italy. I am indebted to an
American physician, who is interested in fasting, for an English translation of the account. Dagnini says of these sixteen cases, many of whom had previously proved “refractory of therapy
with cardiac drugs,” that all of them suffered with severe cardiac decompensation. In addition to
the fast, the patients were all given bed rest and all the water desired but no drugs. Twelve of
these patients suffered with edema of the serous cavities; four had no edema. Of the twelve edematous patients the clinical diagnoses were myocardial sclerosis (hardening
of the heart muscle) in six cases; mitral stenosis (narrowing or stricture of the mitral valve of the
heart) in two cases; mitral and aortic stenosis (stenosis of both the mitral and aortic valves) in one
case; mitral insufficiency (failure of the mitral valve to close) in one case; malignant hypertension
and cardiac asthma in one case; hypertension and cardiovascular disease, fibrillation and
myocardial sclerosis in one case. Both sexes were involved and their ages ranged from 24 years to 75 years. The fasts ranged
from five days (the shortest) to seven days (the longest). Of the non-edematous group, three had
mitral stenosis, one had hypertension with myocardial sclerosis. There was but one man in this
group. The youngest


 to fill several volumes. Still the thoughts keep coming to
me and I keep writing them down. It is perhaps just as well that I have
not felt an equivalent urge to publish my writings. However, since this furore began, I have recognized an obligation to my public—to tell
them in my own words and from my point of view, what I have
discovered about the prevention of tooth decay, and what my findings
could mean to a generation which would accept and heed them. In
these pages, I have tried to relate that story for the average reader. He
is, I believe, interested in possessing sound tooth in a sound body—for himself, but particularly for his children. In this rather sketchy account of my life and professional career,
and more sketchy analysis of my theories, I earnestly hope I have told
the reader enough to arouse his curiosity—so that he will investigate
further and discover for himself what miracles of body-building the
right sort of diet, followed day by day, year in and year out, can work
for himself and family. If this book will only start the reader on the
high road to a sound body through proper diet and good health
habits—and that naturally would spell sound teeth—my purpose in
writing it will have been served. For the story as I have told it, I am greatly indebted to Dr.
Edward Taylor, director of dental health for the Texas State Board of
Health. Except for Dr. Taylor's kindl y interest in my discoveries and
his two-year scientific study of Hereford school children to prove
them, the world would not yet have heard about the "Town Without a
Toothache." Likewise I owe a great deal to Dr. C. A. Pierle, research chemist
at West Texas State College, Canyon, who set me on the right trail
when he advised: "Watch your milk drinkers." During my long quest
for the facts behind immunity to tooth decay, his wise counsel helped me over many a tough spot. Too, I have found a valuable guide  to the scientific truth which I
was seeking in Dr. Weston A. Price's manual, "Nutrition and Physical
Degeneration." For some years the author was my friend and
counsellor. Besides, I have found support for my theories as to the
importance of trace minerals for building healthy bodies and sound
teeth in the published reports of Arnold P. Yerkes, farm research
director for International Harveste r, Chicago; and Dr. Arthur J.
Mitteldorf, physicist with Armour Research Foundation, Chicago—
whose conclusions I have cited. The complete spectograph analysis of Deaf Smith County wheat by Twining Laboratories, Fresno, California, also has lent my theories valuable support. My thanks are due the Hereford townspeople whose pictures
appear in this volume. They consented to pose as living exhibits of
"The Town Without a Toothache." My friend, Mr. Austin Tims, editorial writer for San Antonio
Express, has gone through my volumnious writings; selected material
that was suitable for this narrative, and translated my professional
patter into plain talk for the general reader. All those friends and helpers have had a part in the making of
this book; but its faults and shortcomings are my own. I have done my best, but I do not claim to be scientific; I have stated facts only as I see them. (Signed) Geo. W. Heard. September, 1951. Hereford, Texas. PART I. IN WHICH I GET MY BEARINGS

CHAPTER 1. I GROW UP ON AN ALABAMA FARM
 The world I was born in was still pioneer country. It had not
changed much from Washington's and Jefferson's time. It was
backwoods, two days' journey by oxteam over a winding red clay road to the nearest railroad town. When I came upon the scene my native state, Alabama, was still
reeling under the blows of a devastating war, its cotton industry badly
crippled, its business in confusion, while down at the State Capitol the
carpet baggers were running things. Except for the talk it created among the menfolk when they got
together at the meeting house or at a singing or dance, that troubled
state of things did not concern Tallapoosa County folks. Life there
went on as before. The friendly land—cultivated farm, pasture and
woods—gave the people their bread and meat, their homespun clothes
and their log-cabin homes, exactly as it had fed, clothed and sheltered their fathers and grandfathers before them. I was born there (October 21, 1867) the son of William F. and
Zilla Heard. I came in the middle of seven boys and six girls. My
father and mother were strong and healthy. Both lived more than 90-
years. In 1870 my father bought the 260 acre Clay County farm where I
grew up. Until all 13 children had grown up and left home, there
having been 3 deaths, that farm fe d and clothed the Heard family. My
parents were of the Hardshell Baptist type. My father's word was his bond; but he never went into debt for anything. Whatever he needed, we made on the farm or did without except maybe an axe or hoe. The land fed us and we lived like a royal family. Through about
nine months of the year, the big garden was yielding mustard greens,
English peas, snap beans, turnips, cabbage and collards. The sweet
potato patch always made a good crop to last all winter. Watermelon
time lasted all summer. Fall was a golden season when sorghum, wild
grapes, muscadines, persimmons, pawpaws and chestnuts were ripe. It
took a lot to feed 13 hungry mouths, but I cannot remember a time
when our kitchen table was not heaped up and running over with good
things to eat. For our clothes, my mother and her house girl would card the
wool sheared from our own sheep; spin the wool into yarn on our
spinning wheel; then weave the yarn into homespun, jeans or linsey on
our loom. The Heard farm always had plenty of horses, mules, milk cows,
steers, sheep and hogs, flocks of chickens and geese. There were
always plenty of young animals coming on and every year we had
some to sell. When I was a boy I went barefoot practically the year around and
liked it. But I never did like the idea of wearing a long shirt (like a girl's dress) with no pants. In those days you had to be a big boy before you could wear britches. Life would have been just about perfect for me when, at long
last, I had grown into britches, except that my mother would let me
wear the precious garment, so difficult to make, only an hour or two
each day. One time I vividly remember when the time came to change
back to my long shirt, I could nowhere be found. At last big Sis spied
me, as far under the big house floor as I could crawl. Mother called
brother Tom from the field to pull me out. When Tom had reached
me, I asked: "What's the matter, Tom?" Is Ma going to make you pull
off your britches, too?" Until he was in his 70's, my fa ther would sign his name by
making his mark. Yet, he was an educated man, schooled in life's
university. He had made for himself and taught us boys a motto like
David Crockett's: "Always be sure you are right, then take your stand
and, no matter what happens, stick to it." My father was not a churchgoer. In all my 20 years on the home
farm, he went to Sunday School only once or twice. Every summer
after the crops were laid by, the Heard house was thrown wide open
for the three-day Baptist camp meeting. Then every tree in the big oak grove around the house had a
horse or mule, a team or yoke of oxen hitched to it. The chorus of whinnies, neighing and braying mingled with the lowing of oxen. I vividly remember the Hardshell Baptist meetings—the preacher's
exhorting; the people singing and shouting and on the footwashing
day penitents swarming up to the mourner's bench. Too, I can recall
Uncle Jake Gipson, in his one-horse wagon drawn by a steer, on his
way to preach at some church. Though he had none of his own, my father wanted his children to
get book-learning. Every summer till cotton picking time, or for about
two months, he would send us to pay school. I vividly remember my
first day in school. We had one text book, the Blue Back Speller. The
teacher had us spell 'cat,' 'dog' and 'ran.' Every morning we children would set out about sun up to walk
our three miles to the schoolhouse. It was a converted log cabin with a
wide fireplace at one end and two small windows in each wall, with
no sashes, to let in the daylight. Fo r benches, we had split pine logs
with sturdy peg-legs. When the sun was getting low we would trudge
home again. During the day the master would drill us in spelling, reading,
writing and arithmetic. At noontime we had a long recess when we
could play "stink-base", "anti-over"


themselves, the ef fects of asthm a tend to get worse and can take  on a life of
their ow n. If you often experie nce asthma symptoms, you will know that
wheezing and coughing usually  worsen over time, so it is important to
intervene early on. This ex ercise can help stop a sthma symptoms, but please get your
doctor ’ s permiss ion to try it first. Then follow the instructions below during
the early  stages of chest tightness, wheezing, coughing, or a head cold. If
you aren ’ t able to stop your sy mptoms within 10 minutes, then take your
rescue m edication. If you are experiencing severe symptoms, of course,
then take rescue medication str aightaway. If your rescue medication does
not stop your sy mptoms within a couple of minutes, it is advisable to call a
medical doctor immediately. T o stop asthma symptoms before they take hold, follow these steps:•   T ake a small, silent breath in and out through your nose. •  Hold your breath and walk for 10 to 15 paces. •   Stop walking, release your no se, and resume gentle breathing in
and out of your nose.•  W ait for 30 to 60 seconds and repeat. •   Continue to walk while holding your breath for 10 to 15 paces
followed by resting with nasal breathing for 30 to 60 seconds. •   If you r symptoms are mild, yo u may hold your breath for more
than 10 to 15 paces. •  Do this exercise for at least 10 minutes. In a ddition to e mploying nasal breathing and achieving a high BOL T
score, it is also very importan t to warm up properly in order to avoid
exercise-induced asthma. The minimum time spent warming up should be
10 minu tes. A good warm-up consists of fast walking while practicing a
medium to strong breath hold every minute or so. After the 10-minute
warm-up, increa se the pace so that you’re moving as fast as you can while
maintaining nas al breathing. If y ou feel the need to open your m outh, slow
down. Following  your physical exercise, encourage your breathing to calm
toward normal. The positive results of reduced breathing exercises and nasal breathing
on the symptom s of asthma are  fast and astounding. W ith su ch a simple
method, there really is no reas on for anyone to suf fer a single day more
from the discomfort of asthma.CHAPTER 13
A t h l e t i c  E n d e a v o r — N a t u r e  o r  N u r t u r e? I n 1704, a racing stallion by th e name of the Darley Arabian arrived in
Britain f rom Syria, and 95 perc ent of today’ s male thoroughbreds descend
from him. Gene ticist Patrick Cunningham and colleagues fro m my alma
mater, T rinity College Dublin,  traced the lineage of nearly one million
horses f rom the past two cen turies and determined that 30 percent of
variation in performance in tho roughbreds is due to genetics alone. In the
nature versus nurture debate, these results suggest that nature plays a
significant part in our athletic abilities. There is one ar ea in particular where a combination of gene tics and
behavior has considerable influe nce on athletic performance, and that is the
way the face and jaws develop during childhood. For example, take a look
at the structure of the face and jaws of past Olympic gold me dal winners
including Usain Bolt, Sanya Richards-Ross, Steve Hooker, and Roger
Federer. What is strikingly apparent for this group, and for the vast majority
of to p-class athletes, is the forward growth of the face and w idth of the
jaws. A thletic success depends on having good airways, which in turn is
dependent on normal facial stru cture. Spend a lot of time with your mouth
hanging open or sucking your thumb during childhood and the face grows
dif ferently from how nature intended. In fa ct, M ichael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, is one
of th e v ery few top-class athlet es who does not exhibit forwar d growth of
the jaws  and a w ide facial structure. Based on his facial profile, there is a
high likelihood that he was a m outh breather during childhoo d, possibly
requiring orthod ontic treatment  in his early teens. It is also possible that
Phelps chose swimming, either consciously or unconsciously, as it was theone sport that he could excel in. The very act of swimmi ng restricts
breathing to help of fset any n egative ef fects that have developed from
mouth breathing or an inef ficient breathing pattern. Although the natural order of things is to breathe through th e nose,
many children—especially those with asthma or nasal congestion—
habitually breathe through the mouth. Brazilian researchers i nvestigating
the prev alence of mouth breathing in children aged 3 to 9 fo und that 55
percent of a ra ndom selection of 370 subjects were mouth breathers. Children who regularly breathe through their mouth tend to develop
negative alterati ons to their face, jaws, and the alignment of their teeth. Mouth b reathing af fects the shape of the face in two ways. Firs t, there is a
tendency for the face to grow long and narrow. Secondly, the jaws do not
fully de velop and are set back from their ideal position, thus reducing
airway s ize. If the jaws are not positioned forward enough on th e face, they
will encroach on the airways. See for yourself: Close your mouth, jut out
your chin, and t ake a breath in and out through your nose, not ing the way
air travels down behind the jaws. Now do the same but pull your chin
inward a s far as you can—you will probably feel as if your thro at is closed
up as you try to breathe. This i s exactly the ef fect poorly developed facial
structure has on your airway siz e. It is no wonder that those wi th restricted
airways tend to favor mouth breathing. The forc es exerted by the lips and the tongue primarily influence the
growth o f a child’ s face. The lips and cheeks exert an inward pressure on
the f ace, with th e tongue providing a counteracting force. Whe n the mouth
is closed, the tongue rests against the roof of the mouth, exerting light
forces that shape the top jaw. Because the tongue is wide a nd U-shaped, it
follows that the shape of the top jaw should be wide and U-shaped also. In
other words, the shape of the top jaw reflects the shape of th e tongue. A
wide U-shaped top jaw is optimal for housing all our teeth. However, durin g mouth breathing, it is very unlikely that the  tongue
will rest  in the roof of the mouth. T ry it for yourself: Open your mouth and
place yo ur tong ue on your upp er palate. Now try to breathe through your
mouth. While it is possible to draw a wisp of air into the lungs, it will not
feel righ t. It follows therefore th at the tongue of a mouth breather will tend
to re st o n the floor of the mouth  or suspended midway. Since th e top jaw is
not t hen shaped by the normal pressures of the tongue, the end result is thedevelopment of a narrow V -sha ped top jaw. Aesthetically, this contributes
to a  narrowing of the facial structure, crooked teeth, and orthodontic
problems. It has been well docu mented that mouth-breathing children grow
longer faces. The sec ond way facial structure is af fected by the way we breathe
during childhood is the position of the jaws. The way the jaws develop has
a direct influence on the width of the upper airways. Our upper airways
comprise the nose, nasal cavity, sinuses, and throat. Strong athletic
performance req uires lar ge upper airways that enable air to flow freely to
and from the lungs. Although a  high BOL T score and ef fectiv e breathing
technique are crucial for high l evels of performance, having airways that
function with little resistance is also very advantageous. For example, a
marathon runner who has ef ficient breathing but airways that a re the width
of a narrow straw is not going to get too far. The nor mal growth of the fac e is forward. Since a mouth-b reathing
child does not rest his or her tongue in the roof of the mouth, the jaws are
unable t o be properly shaped by the tongue, and the natural forw ard growth
of the jaws is impeded. This results in jaws that are set back from their ideal
position, compro mising airflow. For the correct development o f the lower
half of the face a nd airways, it is imperative that a child habitually breathes
through his or h er nose. Breathing through the nose with the tongue resting
in th e roof of the mouth helps to establish the ideal conditions for the
normal development of the face. I sw itched from mouth to nose breathing during the late 1990s, when I
was in


 the long-term self-control and deprivation of araw food cleansing diet that included careful food combining. These people alsoregained their health, but it took them a year at minimum, and once well they hadto remain on a diet tailor-made to their digestive capacity for the rest of their life,usually along with food supplements. Jim was such a case. He was 55 years old, very obese, had dangerously high
blood pressure poorly controlled with medication, and was going into congestiveheart failure. He was on digitalis and several other heart medications plusdiuretics, but in no way was his condition under control. He had severe edema inthe feet and legs with pitting, and fluid retention in the abdominal region caused ahuge paunch that was solid to the touch not soft and squishy like fatty tissue. Jim had long dreamed of having his own homestead with an Organic garden
and now he had these things but was too sick to enjoy them or work in his gardenwithout severe heart pain and shortness of breath. Jim had retired early in order toenjoy many years without the stresses of work, and he was alarmed to realize thathe was unlikely to survive a year. The day Jim came to see me the first time I would have classified his condition
as critically ill because his life was in immediate danger; but he responded soquickly to his detox program that he was very soon out of danger and would bemore accurately described as a chronically ill person. Jim was not prepared towater fast. He was attached to having his food and he was aware that at hisextreme weight he was going to have stay on a dietary program for a long, longtime. He also wanted to choose a gradient that he could manage by himself athome with little assistance from his wife. He had been on a typical American dietwith meat, coffee, etc., so that in spite of his dangerous condition it did not seemwise to me to add the heavy eliminatory burden of a water fast to a body that wasalready overwhelmed with fluids and waste products. Jim immediately went on a raw food cleansing diet, with no concentrated
foods like nuts, seeds, or avocados, and with one day each week fasting onvegetable juice and broth. He did enemas daily even though it wasn’t his favoritething. In one month he had lost 30 pounds, his eyes had started to sparkle, andhis complexion was rosy. The swelling had disappeared from his feet and legs,and he had to buy new pants. Starting the second month he gradually withdrew from prescription
medications. From the beginning I had put Jim on a program of nutritionalsupplements including protomorphogens (see chapter on vitamins and foodsupplements) to help the body repair it’s heart and the kidneys. In only fourmonths he had returned his body to glowing health, and looked great for his age,though he was still overweight. At the end of one year he had returned to anormal weight for his height, and only cheated on the diet a couple of times whenattending a social event, and then it was only a baked potato with no dressing. He was probably going to have many qualitative years working his garden and
living out his dreams. The local intensive care ward lost a lot of money when theyfailed to get Jim. Diet For The Acutely Ill
The acutely ill person experiences occasional attacks of distressing symptoms,
usually after indiscretions in living or emotional upsets. They have a cold, or a flu,or sinusitis, or a first bout of pneumonia, or a spring allergy attack. The intensesymptoms knock them flat and force them to bed for a few days or a week. Ifthey are sick more often than that, they are moving toward the chronically illcategory. People who are acutely ill should stop eating to whatever extent that they are
able until the symptoms are gone. During an acute illness, the appetites isprobably pretty dull anyway, so why not give a brief fast on water or fruit juice atry. Most acute conditions are short in duration, usually not lasting more than a
week. Allergy attacks, some types of flu, and a first bout of pneumonia may welllast for three weeks or a month. The general rule is to eat as little as possible untilthe symptoms have passed, self-administer colon cleansing, even if you have ahorror of such things, and take vitamin supplements, including megadoses ofVitamin C, bioflavinoids, and zinc. (See the chapter on vitamins.) Those having alittle experience with natural medicine make teas of echinacea, fenugreek seedsand red clover and quit eating. Eating as little as possible can mean only waterand herb teas, only vegetable broth, only vegetable juice or non-sweet fruit juice,even only cleansing raw foods. If you eat more than this you have not relievedyour system of enough digestive effort. After your symptoms are gone it is very important to change your life-style and
improve your diet so that you aren’t so toxic and don’t have to experience anacute illness several times a year when your body is forced to try an energeticdetox. Diet For A Healthy Person
I doubt that it is possible to be totally healthy in the twentieth century. Doctors
Alsleben and Shute in their book How to Survive the New Health
Catastrophes  state that in-depth laboratory testing of the population at large
demonstrated four universally present pathological conditions: heavy metalpoisoning, arteriosclerosis, sub-clinical infections, and vitamin/mineral deficiencies.Those of us who consider ourselves healthy, including young people, are not reallyhealthy, and at the very least would benefit from nutritional supplementation. Infact the odds against most people receiving adequate vitamin and mineral nutritionwithout supplements are very poor as demonstrated by the following chart. Problem Nutrients in America
Nutrient Per cent Receiving Less than the RDA
B6 80%
Magnesium 75Calcium 68Iron 57Vitamin A 50B
1 45
C4 1B
2 36
B12 36
B3 33
A genuinely healthy person almost never becomes acutely ill, and does not
have any disturbing or distracting symptoms; nothing interferes with or handicapstheir daily life or work. A healthy person has good energy most of the time, apositive state of mind, restful sleep, good digestion and elimination. Healthy people do not have to live simon-pure lives to remain that way. Healthy people can afford 10% dietary indiscretions by calorie count—eating ordrinking those things that they know are not good for them but that are fun to eator are “recreational foods or beverages.” Such “sinning” could mean a restaurantbash twice a month, having a pizza, French bread, beer or wine in moderation, icecream, cookies, cake, turkey for festive occasions, etc. The key concept ofresponsible sinning is keeping within that ten percent limit. A diet for a healthy person that wants to remain healthy should not exceed the
digestive capacity of the individual, either in terms of quantity or quality. All foodsthat can not be efficiently digested should be removed from the regular diet andrelegated to the “sin” category, including those you are allergic to and those for
which you have inadequate digestive enzymes. I have encountered very few
people that can efficiently digest cooked meat, chicken, or fish, but some can, andsome can with the assistance of digestive enzyme supplements. In order to digestmeats, the stomach must be sufficiently acid, there must be enough pepsin,pancreatin, and bile, etc., and the meat should be eaten on the extremely rare side(not pork), in small quantities (not more than five or six ounces), and notcombined with anything except nonstarchy vegetables. If you must include meat inyour dietary, it should represent a very small percentage of your total caloricintake, be eaten infrequently, with the bulk of the calories coming from complexcarbohydrates such grains, legumes and nuts, as well as large quantities ofvegetables and fruits. The healthy person that wants to stay that way for many, years is advised to
fast one day a week, to give the organs of elimination a chance to catch up ontheir internal housecleaning. If water fasting seems impossible, try a day of juicingit; if that is too rigorous, try a day on raw foods. A similar technique, though lessbeneficial than even a one day each week on raw foods, is delaying breaking yourovernight fast for as long as possible each day. Try giving up breakfast altogetheror postponing breaking your overnight fast, because from the time you stop eatingat the end of one day to the time you start eating the next is actually a brief,detoxifying fast. Eggs, milk, cheese and yogurt can be assimilated by some healthy people with
or without digestive aids. It is possible to take lactase to break down the milksugars for example; sometimes aids such as hydrochloric acid, pepsin, andpancreatin help. If you can buy it or are willing to make it raw milk yogurtcontaining lactobacillus bulgaris or acidophilus may be digested more readily,especially if it prepared from healthy cows or goats fed on unsprayed food, andserved very fresh. Eggs should come from chickens that run around outside,eating weeds, and scratching bugs. The yolks of those eggs will be intense orange,not yellow. Few people these days have ever eaten a real egg. Surprisingly, for
those of you who fear cholesterol, the healthy way to eat eggs is use just the raw
yolk from fertile eggs. It is enjoyed by many people in a smoothie–fresh fruitblended up with water or milk. Eggs contain lecithin, a