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2 BOOKS IN 1:
THE HEALTH SEEKERS’ YEARBOOK with
THE BEST OF COMMON HEALTH SENSE
= The Best-Ever,
Take-It-Home, Do-It-Yourself
HandBook on The Best-Ever Alternative
Health Care System: Natural Hygiene!
THE LIVE FOOD FACTOR:
THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
TO THE ULTIMATE DIET
FOR BODY, MIND, SPIRIT & PLANET
= The Best-Ever Book
on Alternative Health Care & Raw Foods!
❦❦❦❦ • Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods • DOCUMENT #3-4: PAGE 2 • ❦❦❦❦
To GetWell & StayWell? Go Back to Nature!
Here We Go — Back to The Basics of Life...
Foundational Bedrock Teachings Follow...
— PAGES 1 - 36 ARE EXCERPTED —
mostly from Chapter 4 of The Live Food Factor.
Primary Author of the Following: Victoria BidWell
1st Editor: Dr. Vivian V. Vetrano • 2nd Author/Editor: Susan Schenck
NOTE — Since the publication of our fall, 2008, Live Food Factor 2nd
Edition, I have further re-edited & re-written my following “Foundational
Bedrock Teachings” previously dropped into The Live Food Factor. Here
is the best overview introduction to Natural Hygiene ever presented to
Health Seekers. The changes in the following long & short excerpts are
both perfectionistic & significant in both format and content. ENJOY!
AND SO — Let’s saddle up our horses! Our trail has been blazed by The
1800’s Pioneers in Natural Hygiene! It is time to switch horses in the
middle of your life-stream! You have joined up on what will be one of the
greatest adventures of your lives! Friends of GetWell★StayWell, America!
and HighJoy and I are happy to take it with ya’ll! The Wilderness Woman!
A Paradigm Shift
from The Medical Mentality
to Natural Hygiene —
“The Superlative, Alternative
Health Care System!”
All truth goes through three stages:
The truth will first be ridiculed, then violently opposed,
and finally accepted as self-evident. — Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860) —
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Susan begins Chapter 4 as I write “with” her:
A paradigm shift is a dramatic change in one’s belief system, a fundamental change in underlying
assumptions. If a scientist works from the wrong theories or from misconceptions based on wrong
assumptions, he or she will ask the wrong questions and design and conduct irrelevant experiments
with erroneous if not dangerous conclusions. Dr. Lorraine Day applies so working — and wrongly so
— to the present-day medical paradigm: “Modern medicine isn’t getting great results in treating disease
because its scientists are looking in the wrong direction, wasting time and money on incorrect theories.”
Victoria BidWell continues: “This is a book about breaking free of addictions and creating
the healthiest life for body, mind, spirit, and planet. It is a book about breaking addictions:
specifically, addictions to cooked food and to taking drugs; and generally, addictions to self-
sabotaging beliefs and to an energy-robbing lifestyle. Although most of us know an addiction in
action when we see it, let us appreciate my clear definition of the term: An addiction is a process
over which we are powerless and that leads to self-sabotage and ultimately, when allowed to run its
course, to self-destruction. Addiction works at the subconscious level. It takes the path of least
resistance. It defies conscious attempts to change. It takes control. It causes the addict to think and
do things that are dangerously against his or her own best interests. It works against highest, personal
values. It leads to becoming progressively more obsessive with thoughts and feelings that lead
relentlessly to compulsive and destructive actions. It is characterized by fear and danger to self and
others. Its sure sign is denial-in-action when confronted with a better way.”
Susan continues: Beliefs are the hardest addictions to break. Most of us are so addicted to our
convictions that we don’t want anything to disrupt the cozy, little belief-worlds in which we feel safe.
For some, beliefs take on religious overtones. Most of us are deeply attached to our ways of thinking
since they define our lifestyles. Even when presented with strong evidence indicating that a painful or
fear-inducing belief is untrue, that the truth is infinitely better, and that the universe is far more
benevolent than suspected, even then, ignorance and insecurity can lead many of us to shrug off the
evidence and meld back into the comfort zone of negative, although familiar and therefore comfortable
belief systems.
For some of us to confess, even to our own selves, that we may need belief or paradigm
adjustments, that we have been wrong and even blinded to the truth, it takes not only humility, but
also courage. And it takes a willingness to shift into sometimes initially frightening, although ultimately
freeing modes of seeing reality. Beliefs are so ingrained within some of us that we are willing to die or
to enlist others to die for these cherished ideas about what is right and wrong, true and false. When
such beliefs are grounded in altruism and heroism and for the greater good, and require that one
sacrifice his or her life for The People, then dying for others would be commendable. But some people
are too trusting. And rather than question “the system,” they blindly choose to follow dangerous dictates
from the status quo, while holding onto beliefs grounded in lies that lead to the needless harm and
even death to themselves and to their loved ones. For examples, some are willing to risk their lives in
an unjust war rather than question the judgment of their political leaders, although it may turn out that
the war was more for political imperialism and corporate privatizing than for “defending the freedoms
of The People.” Suicide bombers give their lives for their causes, blindly believing they are fulfilling
their jihad-destinies. And some people subject themselves to chemotherapy, trusting in the system
without researching the data, though the value and safety of the treatment is now highly questionable.
A paradigm shift often occurs when a person begins, slowly perhaps over a period of time, to
view something from a radically different viewpoint. It is a shift, not in a mere theory, but in an entire
perspective, an entire belief system. Sometimes, the shift is made instantaneously and can be mind-
blowing! Once a person makes a paradigm shift, he or she often becomes amazed or aghast or even
amused or angry at how she or he could have deeply invested in a former, erroneous belief system!
Two examples of this situation are nearly always referenced when paradigm shifting is
encouraged. One is the formerly popular belief that the world was flat until Christopher Columbus
proved otherwise by sailing to the New World without falling off the edge in 1492. The other is Galileo
❦❦❦❦ • Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods • DOCUMENT #3-4: PAGE 4 • ❦❦❦❦
Galilei’s 1610 adoption of Nicolaus Copernicus’ 1530 theory, radical for their times, that the Earth
orbited the Sun and was not a stationary center around which the whole universe rotated. Copernicus
was branded a “heretic” by the Catholic Church, arrested, and publicly humiliated. It took until 1992
for the Vatican to reverse its earlier position that the Earth was the center of the universe! This belief
has been so impossible to give up that some today have formed The Geocentric Bible Foundation. They
are dedicated to perpetuating the myth that the Sun revolves around the Earth!
Victoria BidWell points out the all-pervasiveness & all-importance of paradigm
shifting from The Medical Mentality to Natural Hygiene in our times:
Human history is full of paradigm shifts that have dramatically changed our value systems,
preferred lifestyles, and prioritized goals: from spears to guns and atom bombs as weapons, from
horses to cars and planes and rockets for transportation, from women who couldn’t own property or
vote and who were mandated by law to obey their husbands to women legislated to receive equal
civil and political rights, from certain races/classes of people who were treated like second-class
citizens or made slaves to their receiving legislated equalities. We have yet to make the paradigm
shift that will save the Earth from exploitation at the hands of those run by uncontrolled greed and
selfishness. One of the biggest paradigm shifts in all history occurred in the 20th century when
Albert Einstein presented his theory of relativity, proving to the world: “IT’S ALL ABOUT ENERGY!”
He postulated that we live in a nonmaterial universe in which all matter at the most minute level is
not matter at all — but energy, made of differing atomic combinations vibrating at differing speeds!
Out of his early 20th century discoveries and the work of other scientists after Einstein came the
quantum physics paradigm shift that brought us televisions, nuclear bombs, spaceships, computers,
cell phones, and CAT scans. Also from Einstein’s work came the pop psychology movement backed
up by the psychoneuroimmunologists (or “molecular biologists”) who taught people how to
deliberately change their thoughts and feelings — non-material, non-measurable metaphysical
constructs — to bring about improvement in their physical health — material, measurable, scientific
events. Now we are in the midst of another radical shift: from The Medical Mentality to Natural
Hygiene health care, from the doctor as healer to the human body as healer, from lifestyle practices
as unimportant to lifestyle choices as all-important, from surgeries and synthetic drugs as the best
healing agents to The 10 Energy Enhancers as the very best healing strategies, from diet as irrelevant
in health considerations to the live food factor as essential for Superlative Health.
❦❦❦❦ • Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods • DOCUMENT #3-4: PAGE 5 • ❦❦❦❦
Let’s ask some telling questions. How many will give up that mouth-watering dish of twice-
baked potatoes just so their complexions will glow? How many will quit making lasagna just to save
the effort and time of scrubbing the melted cheese off the pan? How many will sacrifice sampling all
the goodies at a potluck just to feel more spiritual? Who will give up the convenience of packaged,
processed foods just to spare the landfill of paper and plastic wrappings? On the other hand, if a
person were faced with a life-threatening illness, he might take a closer look at the wholesome, raw
diet Nature has provided from the raw materials of air, soil, water, and sunlight. If a person were losing
her mental capacities, she might give raw foods her serious consideration. If depressed, a person might
decide to learn about the raw food promises. If extra energy were desired to commune with God at a
higher spiritual level, a person might be attracted to eating light and right, raw foods. So, let’s face it.
Health is one of the most important things in this life — mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical
health. People want to feel good, as the title of this book suggests — in body, in mind, and in spirit.
If you are interested in improving any of these areas of your well-being — and they are all
intertwined, each affecting the other — you will definitely want to educate yourself in healthful living
practices. Victoria BidWell emphasizes: “We urge you to co-operate with The Natural, Physiological
Laws of Life and understand why they work. The only other choice is to go against these natural
laws and sabotage yourself in the process. The 1970s’ T.V. ad was right: ‘It’s not nice to fool Mother
Nature!’ Not only is it ‘not nice,’ it is not good, it is not wise, and it is not even possible! Fatigue and
disease-in-progress penalties must always be paid when we break natural health laws, as they are
immutable: they change for neither man nor woman, for neither child nor beast!
“Virtually all raw fooders and other holistic health proponents have rejected the conventional,
medical model of disease origin and its so-called ‘cures’ via drugs, various treatments, and surgery.
Yet most members of conventional society still do see disease through the teachings of their medical
doctors. To go forward in The Superlative, Alternative Health Care System of Natural Hygiene
education, we must first get deprogrammed from the false ideas into which we have been
indoctrinated. Let us start with examining The Medical Mentality. This establishment, status quo
model teaches that the cause of disease is 1 of 4 possibilities or combinations thereof: disease is due
either to a mystery, an inevitability as time marches on, a genetic flaw, or the result of unfortunate
encounters with malevolent microorganisms — or to a combination of these 4.”
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THE MEDICAL MENTALITY AT ITS VERY WORST!
1... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY holds that a person can appear “perfectly healthy” one day and
then be mysteriously, inexplicably stricken with a dreaded disease overnight! The words “baffling”
and “mysterious” are favored when explaining why the patient is ill and cause is unknown.
2... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY supports a belief in “The Germ Theory” as originally proposed
by Louis Pasteur: disease is caused by microorganisms or viruses foreign to the body, which they
invade and use as a host; and the cure of germ-inspired disease is a laboratory-inspired antidote.
3... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY holds that there are 10,000+ known and categorized and named
diseases, each disease with its own cause or causes, known or unknown. Years of scientists’ time
and billions of Americans’ dollars are spent annually, searching for the external, mysterious
causes of various diseases and their antidotes.
4... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY looks at the “disease process” as warfare, as an enemy which
“invades or attacks the body” and, therefore, as something which can — and must — be stopped:
the symptoms must be palliated or suppressed; the body must, in some way, be “treated” with
some sort of doctor-prescribed drug, treatment or therapy, or surgery to make the patient get well.
5... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY teaches you that illness is to be expected as the years advance
since germs are everywhere and since disease is an expected, wear-and-tear part of the aging
process. Doctors hopelessly and coldheartedly state: “You will just have to learn to live with it!”
(“it” meaning “the pain and degeneration”)... if standard medical treatment cannot get you well.
6... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY is not interested in promoting dietary nutrition as an integral part
of getting well or staying well, although it may make minor concessions such as recommending
a reduction in dietary salt or the adoption of a weight-loss program. The prevailing, pessimistic
attitude, however, is that even if there were something to this “dietary nutrition,” people would not
change their eating habits, anyway. At its worst, The Medical Mentality does not have faith in the
human being to change: A sense of hopelessness prevails.
7... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY looks at the practice of fasting to be synonymous with starvation;
and fasting is, therefore, viewed as a form of dangerous extremism.
8... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY refuses to acknowledge the evidence that any of the many
alternative health care systems have any validity, whatsoever. It does this in the face of vast
amounts of ever-increasing evidence and carefully kept records. Any improvement on the part
of individuals under alternative health care systems is attributed to chance or to “spontaneous
remission” or to other causes; or the improvement is branded as “dangerous in the long run,”
regardless of how much the person has improved.
9... THE MEDICAL MENTALITY encourages both a belief in and a dependence upon the
medical/pharmaceutical complex as the final authority on all health questions and as the only real
source of knowledge and power that leads to individual health. Conformity to Establishment
Thinking and The Medical Mentality are systematically and relentlessly conditioned and brain-
washed into the minds of The People, from birth unto death, through both subtle cues and by
means of open intimidation by those in power. These tactics have all the trappings of a cult.
10... Under THE MEDICAL MENTALITY, you subject yourself and your loved ones to continued
medical treatment, disregarding the all-too-often reality: you only get worse as the medical
treatment continues. Furthermore, because you have been successfully indoctrinated by the
medical-cult mentality, you have no hope and no desire to search for a workable, alternative
health care system, no impetus to learn how to take personal responsibility for your own health.
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NATURAL HYGIENE AT ITS VERY BEST!
1... NATURAL HYGIENE holds that health is the normal state of all living
organisms and that health is maintained through natural, self-initiating,
self-healing processes!
2... NATURAL HYGIENE holds that the one cause of all disease is the toxic
saturation at the cellular level of the bodily tissues, blood stream, and fluids brought
on by the depletion of Nerve Energy reserves through toxic living habits. This self-
poisoned state is termed: “Toxemia” or “Auto-Intoxication” or “Toxicosis.”
3... NATURAL HYGIENE views disease as orderly, backward degenerations at the
cellular level and fluid levels as a result of Toxemia. In order to prevent these
retrograde changes and to forestall degenerative changes in the actual structure and
consequent function of cells, tissues, organs, and systems for as long as possible, the
body isolates and/or eliminates abnormal accumulations of metabolic waste and
ingested poisons. Such bodily-conducted actions of elimination (also called “excre-
tion”) may be called “disease” (acute); but they actually serve to prevent further,
degenerative, long-term, and irreversible changes (chronic).
4... Because Toxemia is “The One Cause of All Disease,” NATURAL HYGIENE
refutes the concept that microorganisms — also called “germs” or “viruses” — are the
sole, causative factors of disease.
5... Because only the body is capable of instituting eliminating, cleansing, healing,
renewing processes, NATURAL HYGIENE rejects the ingestion of any substances
which the body cannot metabolize and assimilate and which cannot be used in the
normal, metabolic processes for appropriation into bodily tissues and fluids. Such
unnatural substances can only further poison and then further enervate the body and
are not to be considered as “food” or “nutrition,” in any way. Both medication and
“quasi-food” substances typical of the refined, chemicalized, processed Standard
American Diet (SAD) are included in this poisoning category and are not only health-
threatening, but also life-threatening.
6... NATURAL HYGIENE recommends the following as “The Ideal Diet” and,
therefore, as the only foods fit for the highest level of human health and well-being:
whole, raw and dried fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and sprouts prepared in
proper combination and eaten in moderation and when one is in a state of Emotional
Balance. Non-toxic supplements are recommended to offset our depleted soils
situation. Dr. Vetrano and Drs. Tosca and Greg Haag and I recommend only USANA.
7... NATURAL HYGIENE advocates fasting on water-only for some Health Seekers.
Fasting provides physical, physiological, sensory, mental, and emotional rest. This
deep and almost total rest provides the body with the ideal conditions that are
necessary for the regeneration of Nerve Energy and that are mandatory for the
elimination of toxins, cellular repairs, and fullest restoration of health possible.
8... NATURAL HYGIENE maintains that health is the personal responsibility of
each individual and that God-given health, happiness, and Hygiene Joy are achieved
only by the most conscientious and daily application of The 10 Energy Enhancers!
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Victoria BidWell — “The Wilderness Woman” — Takes The Lead
with Her Correct Natural Hygiene Teachings & Many Lists...
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THE CONVENTIONAL PARADIGM:
THE MEDICAL MODEL OF DISEASE
& ITS 4 TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
The Medical Mentality is represented by 4 primary, traditional schools of thought: (1) The Mystery
School, (2) The Wear-and-Tear School, (3) The Genetic/Congenital School, (4) The Germ Theory School.
❦❦❦❦ • Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods • DOCUMENT #3-4: PAGE 1 0 • ❦❦❦❦
In the most comprehensive study on nutrition ever conducted, genes were found to be virtually
irrelevant compared to diet (The China Study, T. Colin Campbell, p. 71). Gabriel Cousens, M.D.,
corroborates Campbell when he points out that genes themselves don’t cause disease, but rather, that
an unhealthy lifestyle and poor diet can change gene expression in such a way as to develop disease.
What we eat and the toxins to which we expose ourselves affect our genes. Dr. Vetrano re-emphasizes
the conclusions of both men: “Good nutrition is very often master of heredity. And many Health Seekers
who have had so-called “genetic diseases” have recovered, employing fasting followed by an uncooked
diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts and seeds. Supply the body with the correct diet and with all
the requisites of life, and it is possible that even genetic errors, damaged genes, and mishaps at birth
(congenital defects) may be corrected fully or to some extent.”
In addition, gerontologists now agree that 75% of a person’s health after the age of 40 depends
not on genetics, but on what that person has done to keep his genes healthy. About 80% of our health
status is determined by diet, lifestyle choices, and other environmental factors. (See my Appendix F.)
This is why identical twins can grow up with very different results. One can stay very youthful and
healthy well into old age by practicing healthy habits, while the other, who breaks every law in the
healthful-living book, inevitably experiences disease and debility early in life, by comparison.
Even the Human Genome Project researchers align with this 80% determination, stating that
genes are only a part of the story. The book Genetic Nutritioneering: How You Can Modify Inherited Traits
and Live a Longer, Healthier Life by Jeffrey S. Bland, Ph.D., shows that scientists now have a huge amount
of evidence that many diseases previously attributed to “bad genes” are now known to be caused by a
bad diet that “feeds the genes,” affecting them for the worse.
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low in Nerve Energy. I simply teach:
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THE NATURAL HYGIENE TERM: “ENERVATION”
Foundational to the Toxemia Theory, also termed “The Health by Healthful Living! Paradigm”
is the term “Enervation.” Think of this as “exhaustion so deep that the body is in deep trouble!”
Defined as follows, Enervation is the first of The 7 Stages of Disease: “the result of the body being
so low in Nerve Energy (tired) that poisons created within the body and poisons taken into the body
accumulate in the fluids and cells, and finally, in the tissues and organs and systems.”
“NERVE ENERGY” IS NOT “PLAIN, OLD ‘ENERGY!” “PLAIN, OLD ENERGY” refers to...
anything... the body consumes in the form of food & drink,
anything... the body uses in the form of muscular output,
anything... the body generates in the form of heat,
anything... the body burns in the form of calories,
anything... the body employs to secrete fluids,
anything... the body and mind experience in the form of stimulation,
anything... the body ingests to get “hyped up” or excited,
anything... the body expends in the form of mental and emotional activity,
anything... the body, mind, and spirit exude in the form of charisma,
anything... the body stores in the form of potential activity.
Anything the mind and body consumes from the outside, anything the mind and body
generate in the form of creative thoughts or mental constructs or emotional output,
anything the mind and body exert in the form of muscular output is not “Nerve Energy.”
We may experience these activities, these “anything events” as stimulating and even
feel fully energized when experiencing them. But what we are engaging in with these
“anythings” is the expenditure of Nerve Energy — not the generation of Nerve Energy!
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THE NATURAL HYGIENE TERMS: “TOXEMIA” & “TOXICOSIS”
The dictionary definition of “toxemia” means “poisons in the blood”: it is sometimes used to
mean “a generalized state of auto-intoxication.” But the term “Toxemia” with a capital “T” I formally
define in Natural Hygiene lexicon as Dr. Tilden’s 2nd Stage of Disease: “the result of the body being so
low on Nerve Energy that basic, eliminative and self-cleansing functions at the cellular level are held in
check, such that poisons created within the body and poisons taken into the body from outside sources
accumulate in the fluids and cells, and finally, in the tissues and organs and systems.” This accumulation
ultimately leads to pathological symptoms, including pain and suffering, and to an unnatural, untimely
death. The only “cure” of disease in The Toxemia Model is based on providing the conditions for
health and removing the energy-draining leaks so that the body can get its energy supplies up and
then go through its own self-initiated detoxification and reparative processes and thus regain health.
“Toxemia” is also formally termed “Toxicosis” and informally termed “auto-intoxication” or
“self-poisoning.” But more specifically, in the Natural Hygiene lexicon, “Toxicosis” refers to the more
advanced bodily condition of Toxemia or poisoning, not only of the blood but of the other bodily fluids
and of individual cells and their specialized tissue groups. The entire body partakes of these retrograde
changes when succumbing to Toxicosis. The weaker organs and body parts retrograde more dramatically
and show breakdown first. Or it may be a very vascular organ or an organ of elimination that takes the
brunt of poisons that flow into the organ. “Toxemia,” rather than “Toxicosos” is used most frequently.
When Nerve Energy is low, elimination of toxic waste is impeded: the body must operate under
a toxic overload: a handicap. Poisons saturate first the blood stream and bodily fluids, and then the
cells, tissues, organs, and systems. What I have formally termed “The Descent into Disease” will continue
unless strict, Natural Hygiene measures via The 10 Energy Enhancers bring about an intervention and
The Ascent Out of Disease. It is a 2-way staircase each Health Seeker can take — if she or he has not
descended into the pathological point of no return. If no contraindications are warranted, the very
best, easiest, quickest way to so ascend back up into health is by taking The Natural Hygiene Fast.
The Toxemia Model of disease is best exemplified by Natural Hygiene teachings from Dr. Tilden,
Dr. Shelton, Dr. Scott, Our 3 Texas Doctors Vetrano and Tosca and Gregory Haag, T.C. Fry, and myself.
And although many other alternative health care models are based on the reality that we get sick
because we got toxic, many of their teachings are neither correct nor as systematized and clearly set
forth; and nearly all of them tell you to “take something” or undergo some treatment or therapy to
improve your condition. Others want to throw an incorrect and dangerous twist into their brands,
such as eating an all-fruit or almost all-fruit diet or taking very long fasts regardless of contraindications.
The correct Natural Hygiene model has been gaining momentum because it gets the best results among
Health Seekers who are strict in its application of what Dr. Shelton and 1800s’ doctors called “Health
by Healthful Living!” This alternative health care is based on self-initiated education, self-responsibility,
and self-care, rather than on drug and doctor dependency. In comparison, taking the Natural Hygiene
approach is far, far less costly than going the medical route and totally non-toxic for the Health Seeker!
Health Seekers have come to me so many times, grasped this concept of why they are sick, and
exclaimed with variations of: “Oh, my God! I’m sick because I’m toxic!” They get very happy and
excited! Some get very angry! Some of these people have spent as many as 10 years and more, investing
as much as tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the medical route and in alternative routes that
were really just holdover dead-ends from The Medical Mentality — only to get decidedly worse! Their
next question is always some variation of: “What do I do to get back my energy and end my crisis?”
Great hope is on their horizons! Within days or weeks of doing right and eating live, they get better and
then better and better! The whole time, they had been on one of the wrong tracks that led to no-where-
land dead-ends. The happy answer to: “How do I get well and stay well?” is simple. First are needed
a few more definitions and my many lists. Being dubbed “The List Lady” by Susan, I am so grateful
and pleased to provide these in the following, so that you, too, will be best-educated and know how to
end the energy crisis in your toxic bodies and recover the health and high joy of your youthful days! I
hope and pray that you will share these teachings with Health Seekers in your corners of our globe!
❦❦❦❦ • Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods • DOCUMENT #3-4: PAGE 1 4 • ❦❦❦❦
THE NATURAL HYGIENE TERMS:
“ACUTE DISEASE” & “CHRONIC DISEASE”
In this Natural Hygiene model of health care, disease is divided into 2 distinct types. Illnesses
or disease symptoms are evaluated as “acute” in the earlier stages, meaning the body can make a
complete recovery into health if strict, corrective action is taken soon enough. Examples of short-lived,
acute illnesses are the so-called “common cold” and a mild case of the “flu,” diarrhea, headache,
indigestion, fatigue, and all “-itises” and all in their very early stages.
Disease that has progressed until irreversible tissue damage has taken place is evaluated as
“chronic and degenerative.” Examples of long-term, chronic diseases include most advanced cancers
and emphysema, gangrene, ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Chronic, degenerative disease
is latter stage disease, meaning the body can at least arrest the degeneration, or at best, make a partial
or near-full recovery into health if corrective action is taken immediately and strictly.
Susan pointed out to me such a simple but profoundly well-put reality: when people get sick,
they really don’t care about models and schools of thought explaining the causes of disease. They
simply want to get well! They want what “gets results.” And the very best results and fastest results
come with healthful living habits. The 2 most important healthful living habits are: (#1) getting enough
rest and sleep for revitalization of Nerve Energy reserves and (#2) eating the raw food diet for both
energy conservation and provision of necessary and wholesome, raw materials so that the body can
rebuild healthy tissues most efficiently.
I will say, however, that after all my years of working to help Health Seekers in all stages of
acute and chronic diseases, once a person starts studying Natural Hygiene in depth and studying
especially Dr. Tilden, Dr. Shelton, Dr. Vetrano, and my 2 BOOKS IN 1: The Health Seekers’ YearBook
with The Best of Common Health Sense, this Health Seeker who both studies and lives strict Natural
Hygiene enough to reap benefits invariably does want to learn more and eventually does indeed then
“care about models and schools of thought explaining the causes of disease.” Out of love for fellow
man, woman, and child, they are driven to learn more and to share the blessings of this knowledge.
This is how a Health Seeker turns into a Health Revolutionist, out of the humanitarian desire to share
this amazing information and help end pain and suffering, whenever possible, among others!
To clearly understand The Toxemia Model of disease origin, let us first rule out emergency
situations of wear-and-tear patients and accident victims who need 11th hour medical intervention
because they are in the throes of death or extreme distress (about 5% of sick persons). Let us then
address all Health Seekers with acute or chronic diseases (about 95% of sick persons). For these Health
Seekers, the systematic application of The Superlative Alternative is the best one that gets the most
consistent, most dramatic health results without any drug and doctor dependency, whatsoever, and
without the enormous expense that comes with them. Simply put: The Toxemia Model offers the best
solution for any Health Seeker with disease — acute or chronic!
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THE NATURAL HYGIENE REJECTION OF THE TERMS:
“THERAPY” & “TREATMENT”
Because The Medical Mentality and Natural Hygiene are so opposite so much of the time, the
same vocabulary cannot be used for both without misunderstanding. While many alternative health
educators opt to use the terms “treatment” and “therapy,” Natural Hygiene alternativists are dead-set
against using these medical model terms. We want to free Health Seekers from The Medical Mentality
altogether. Therefore, there are no treatments or therapies or pills or potions to take that will get you
well: there is only the self-healing body receiving your natural, healthful living care to get you well.
The Hygienic leaders, teachers, and doctors are so convinced that only the body does the healing,
that they never use the terms “treatment” or “therapy” to mean Hygienic measures such as fasting and
prescribed exercises, for examples. They speak, instead, of “providing the conditions for health.” To
repeat: Natural Hygiene educators want the Health Seeker to think outside the medicine man’s bag
and get into his or her own body-as-healer, instead. This paradigm shift must be made. The Health
Seeker must step through the looking glass — if he or she wants to get well and intends to stay well
without drug or doctor dependency.
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THE 10 ENERGY ENHANCERS VERSUS THE 10 ENERGY ROBBERS
While Dr. Shelton never did consistently name or list The 10 Energy Enhancers and while
T.C. Fry named and numbered an unwieldy 22, I have provided just 10 that encompass all healthy
living habits. These 10 lifesavers are listed in the order of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: survival
needs first, aesthetic and social needs last. Since we speak of “The 10 Energy Enhancers” as
synonymous with “Natural Hygiene” so many times throughout our live food factor adventure, I
present them now for your ease of understanding not only Natural Hygiene, but of appreciating
how live foods factor in with 9 other factors for the health of your body, mind, spirit, and planet.
THE 10 ENERGY ENHANCERS were also called “the basic requisites of life” or “the
primordial requisites of life” by The Pioneers of Natural Hygiene. Practicing them
consistently and strictly causes the body to adapt by building health:
(1) Cleanliness — inside & out
(2) Pure Air
(3) Pure Water
(4) Adequate Rest & Sleep
(5) The Ideal Diet of non-toxic, properly combined, raw fruits & vegetables, nuts,
seeds & sprouts, organic whenever possible
(6) Right Temperatures
(7) Adequate Sunlight
(8) Regular Exercise
(9) Emotional Balance — which includes freedom from addiction, high self-esteem,
a purposeful life & meaningful goals
(10) Nurturing Relationships.
The mental and emotional factors (Energy Enhancers #9 and #10) ar e covered in several places
throughout our Live Food Factor book. And for more in-depth reading on the science behind the mind/
body connection, order my GetWell★StayWell Affirmations for Americans! It is the best resource for
beginners and provides 500 affirmations in print and on 4 compact discs that reaffirm the importance
of The 10 Energy Enhancers and all of Natural Hygiene in a fun and powerful way!
THE 10 ENERGY ROBBERS are also called “the remote causes of disease” or “the
secondary sources of disease” by The Pioneers of Natural Hygiene. Practicing them
consistently and almost exclusively causes the body to adapt by building disease.
(1) Uncleanliness — inside & out
(2) Impure Air
(3) Impure Water
(4) Inadequate Rest & Sleep
(5) The Standard American Diet of processed (cooked), refined, chemicalized meat,
dairy, fruits & vegetables (mostly cooked) & grains & junk food
(6) Wrong Temperatures
(7) Inadequate Sunlight
(8) Lack of Regular Exercise
(9) Emotional Unbalance — which includes addictions, low self-esteem,
a purposeless life & meaningless goals
(10) Toxic Relationships.
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THE REMOTE OR SECONDARY SOURCES OF TOXEMIA:
ENDOGENOUS TOXINS & EXOGENOUS TOXINS
While the one and only, direct cause of Toxemia is critically low Nerve Energy, also termed
“Enervation,” the remote or secondary sources or causes of Toxemia are many; and they are seen in
energy-draining lifestyle choices. As I re-emphasize later, the average sick and tired American is making
several hundred, if not 1,000+ such slow-suicide choices every day! All people auto-intoxicate from 2
sources: from within the body — resulting in what we term “Endogenous Toxemia” — and from what
we take into the body from the outside — resulting in what we term “Exogenous Toxemia.” The Health
Seeker will learn to minimize the sources of Endogenous Toxemia through an energy-conservative
lifestyle that is governed by The 10 Energy Enhancers and to eliminate — as totally as possible — the
sources of Exogenous Toxemia through an energy-wise lifestyle that excludes The 10 Energy Robbers.
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“LIVE FOOD — IT’S ALL ABOUT ENERGY!”
For thousands of years, the power of the body to make good use of a period of time set aside for
fasting has been known. And now, the power of the body to make good use of the 100% live food diet
in revitalizing, detoxifying, balancing body chemistry, and healing is becoming known. The body must
conserve its Nerve Energy, generate more Nerve Energy (by resting, sleeping, and very still activities
like meditating), and minimize both the incoming toxins and bodily-created toxins in order to have
sufficient Nerve Energy to cleanse fluids and tissues and initiate excretion of poisons and self-healing.
And since for most people, cooked food is the main source of “incoming toxins” that stresses their
bodies (See Chapter 6.), this practice must be stopped if one intends to detoxify, get well, and stay well.
“LIVE FOOD — IT’S ALL ABOUT ENERGY!” That’s our motto. By eating live fruits, veggies,
nuts, seeds, and sprouts, the Health Seeker first conserves Nerve Energy which is, thus, freed up to
be used by the body, mind, and spirit to create health and happiness. (What a blessing! Who could
ask for anything more?) Following are 7 wonderfully conserving and freeing reasons I always use
to show Health Seekers how to get high energy and high joy, naturally! FUN!
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ENERGY ENHANCERS #4: REST & SLEEP!
Sleep is a period of complete unconsciousness of the individual and a function of the nervous
system exclusively: with the advent of sleep, the body shuts down consciousness. Non-nervous tissues
of the body, such as bone and muscle and blood, do not transmit nerve impulses; nevertheless, these non-
nervous tissues, too, need the period of nightly sleep, as they, too, do have their own healthy functions
and need revitalization and restorative time. Are Adequate Rest & Sleep “The Missing Energy
Enhancers” in your life that are preventing you from reaching Superlative Health? Are you following
the other 9 Energy Enhancers but still suffering in ill health? An estimated 4 out of 6 American adults
report “daytime sleepiness.” This makes them sluggish, irritable, unable to focus on tasks at hand. It also
means that sleep-deprivation among our citizens has reached pandemic proportions! This much we
Natural Hygienists have fully established: “Sleep is a part of the life of every animal and human in the
world.” Rest is helpful. Fasting is helpful. Meditation is helpful. But Sleep — and only Sleep — is
absolutely necessary for renovation and recharging of the nervous system and affords a period of
revitalization for other structures so that the organism can continue to function normally and be WELL.
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THE BLESSINGS & BENEFITS OF GETTING ADEQUATE SLEEP
(1) During Sleep, the entire human body is permitted a priceless and profound
Rest: this deep Rest can neither be traded for blood nor bought with money!
(2) During Sleep, sympathetic nervous activity decreases, while parasympathetic
activity increases, reducing muscular tone to almost nil. This provides a much
greater Rest of the skeletal muscles compared to that of simple, wakeful resting.
(3) During Sleep, arterial blood pressure falls; pulse rate decreases; skin vessels
dilate. This deep Sleep, therefore, affords deep Rest for the heart and for the
muscles of the arteries.
(4) During Sleep, activity of the gastro-intestinal tract increases, improving
digestion and absorption of food to promote better nutrition.
(5) During Sleep, skeletal muscles are completely relaxed; when in resting
wakefulness, especially when under stress, muscles are tensed to some degree.
(6) During Sleep, the metabolic rate falls by 10% to 20%, thus permitting the
bodily tissues, organs & systems a much-needed, deep Rest.
(7) During Sleep, healing and repair wherever needed throughout the body
increase. During Sleep we generate energy to get well! Healing and repair are
most profound while both sleeping and undertaking The Natural Hygiene Fast.
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3 CONSIDERATIONS IN UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN ACUTE & CHRONIC DISEASE
(#1) Disease evolves from Enervation to Toxemia to acute symptoms of Irritation
and then Inflammation. These are the formal terms used to name the first 4 stages
of disease in Dr. Tilden’s 7 Stages of Disease paradigm. When these symptoms
are not reversed through healthful living habits, the symptoms worsen and evolve
further into chronic disease and the latter 3 stages of disease, formally termed,
“Ulceration,” “Induration,” and “Chronic Degeneration.”
(#2) The 6 ways acute and chronic diseases differ are mutually exclusive. Once a
person descends the stairs from acute into chronic, great steps upward into health
can be made; but he or she can never return to fullest and most vibrant health.
(#3) All people who are living The 10 Energy Robbers will eventually develop
acute and then chronic disease — if accidental death does not get them first! This
reality makes “Our Live Food Factor & 10 Energy Enhancers Message” of utmost
urgency and a complete blessing for absolutely every person on the planet!
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sufferer’s lifetime and will be the death of him or her if strict adoption of The 10
Energy Enhancers is not implemented before the pathological point of no return.
(4) Acute disease reflects a strong enough Nerve Energy supply and residual
vitality that powerful elimination of toxic waste and repair processes are still
possible. Chronic disease reflects a long-term state of toleration of toxins. It is a
state of continued elimination of enough toxins to sustain life but in compromised,
ever-lowering health. In the latter stages of chronic disease, the natural healing
rate is much slower for the Health Seekers who have weakened their defense
mechanisms (also collectively called the “immune system”) by conventional
medical treatment and who have taken years of drugs, surgeries, and other energy-
draining treatments. For medical model refugees deep into chronic degeneration
who have so weakened themselves on dead-end medical routes, the arrest or partial
recovery rates are much lower and much less dramatic. Even in chronic cases,
however, the cleansing, eliminating, chemistry balancing, repairing processes are
still possible — if The 10 Energy Enhancers are implemented soon enough.
(5) Acute disease is designated “remedial” or “corrective in nature,” because the
disease evolution itself is an orderly, natural process by which the body attempts
to eliminate toxins and repair itself. Acute disease results in complete reversal of
the disease process — if The 10 Energy Enhancers are strictly followed. Chronic
disease is also designated “remedial” or “corrective in nature,” but one cannot
expect the same recovery results as in acute disease. In chronic disease, complete
arrest of the disease process and possibly some reversal and even much reversal
of the abnormal tissues and fluids into health can be expected. In chronic disease,
some tissue changes of a detrimental and many times irreversible nature have
taken place. The tissue degenerations are sometimes reversible, sometimes not,
depending on the severity and the type of tissue damage. Still, these improvements
for chronic sufferers are causes for celebration compared to the dead-end medical
route paradigm where virtually all just get worse and worse!
(6) Acute disease uses up energy in the elimination of toxic waste and in cellular
repair, such that the tissue integrity and normal organs‘ and systems’ functioning
are fully restored. The Health Seeker may feel enervated or exhilarated when the
acute crisis passes, depending on the amount of Nerve Energy expended and on
the kind and amount of toxic overload expelled. This is the time to take extra rest
and recuperate the Nerve Energy expenditure of getting well. Chronic disease is
characterized by progressive fluid and cellular poisoning and retrograde changes,
such that tissues, organs, and whole systems lose their functional integrity, ending
in long-term misery and/or death of the chronic sufferer.
IN SUMMARY: OUR MESSAGE IS URGENT! “Take action during acute
stages! Do not let your disease evolve into the chronic degeneration! Once you
get well, you cannot go back to your old bad habits if you intend to stay well!”
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THE 7 STAGES OF DISEASE PARADIGM BY DR. J.H. TILDEN
— OR — HOW TO REVERSE THE DISEASE PROCESS!
AS SUMMARIZED BY VICTORIA BIDWELL
Repetition is the backbone of learning new information until it is fully internalized. Do let
me repeat the most crucial teaching of all herein: “The One Cause of All Disease” is termed
“Toxemia.” It is defined as “the poisoning of bodily fluids and tissues.” We become sick because we
first became toxic. And we became toxic because, just before getting sick, we ran so low on Nerve
Energy that the body could not keep the tissues and fluids clean. We burned our candles at both ends.
The solution to “the energy crisis in a toxic body,” therefore, is to get the Nerve Energy back, to
revitalize! With restored reserves of Nerve Energy, the body can go about detoxification and repair.
Since disease is the bodily adaptation to a toxic overload via The 10 Energy Robbers, the reversal of
the disease process is simply an energy-enhanced body ecology via The 10 Energy Enhancers!
What I term “The Descent into Disease” was first presented by Dr. J.H. Tilden in his landmark
1926 publication Toxemia Explained as “The 7 Stages of Disease.” The role of raw foods in the climb
out of disease, regardless of the Stage, early or advanced, is 3-fold. (1) They are free of Exogenous
Toxins. (2) They provide the human body with the superlative nutrition the body needs to perform
its basic, metabolic tasks. (3) They provide this nutrition in an energy-conservative package, being
easy and energy-efficient to digest. Less Nerve Energy used to process the food ingested = more Nerve
Energy for detoxification and repair. Remember: “It’s all about Nerve Energy, first and foremost!”
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STAGE 5 IS ULCERATION: Tissues are destroyed. The body ulcerates, forming
an outlet for the poisonous build-up. The toxic sufferer experiences a multiplica-
tion and worsening of symptoms and pain. Standard medical doctors typically
continue drugging and often commence with surgery and other forms of more
radical and questionable treatment at Stage 5. The standard doctor easily names
the disease and declares: “You’re just going to have to learn to live with pain!”
STAGE 6 IS INDURATION: Induration is the result of long-standing, chronic
Inflammation, interspersed with bouts of acute Inflammation. The chronic In-
flammation causes an impairment or sluggishness of circulation: and because
some cells may succumb, they are replaced with scar tissue. The toxic sufferer
endures even more physical pain. In this 6th Stage, standard medical doctors
continue with drugging and/or surgery and/or other modalities/treatments.
STAGE 7 CHRONIC, IRREVERSIBLE DEGENERATION: Cellular integrity is
destroyed through their disorganization and/or cancerous proliferation. Tissues,
organs, and whole systems lose their ability to function normally. Biochemical
and morphological changes (change is form) from the depositing of Endogenous
and Exogenous Toxins bring about degenerations and death at the cellular level.
The toxic sufferer is “a pathological mess” — heading toward his or her deathbed.
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and/or deathbed illness had not been reached. At this “point of no return,” the person is literally on
the deathbed, with little or no energy even to lift a finger. The organs and systems are failing. In chronic,
degenerative disease, by definition, “Irreversible damage has occurred.” The realistic results to be
expected, therefore, are either arrest of symptoms or partial, but sometimes, near-complete reversal
into improved health. Still, arrests and partial to near-complete reversals are causes for celebration
compared to the dead-end medical route paradigm prognoses for chronic patients deep into degeneration
and getting ever worse with no hope in sight!
Obviously, it is best to take action during the acute rather than the degenerative stage. Both the
acute and chronic will have to strictly, conscientiously, consistently follow the healthful living practices
in all areas of their lives once arrest or partial or complete recovery is achieved.
Only a very, very few Health Seekers who are deep, deep into chronic degeneration are too far
past the pathological point of no return to recover: probably only 1% or 2% of Health Seekers reading
this at this moment. If these 1% or 2% open this document today or arrive at the doorsteps of a Natural
Hygiene spot in this deathbed condition and as a last resort tomorrow, it is sometimes just too late for
their self-healing bodies to do the work of revitalizing, regenerating, rebuilding, and renewing. The
body does have its limits. Still, these far-gone Health Seekers are very, very few in comparison to the
vast majority who are in earlier stages of disease. Tempus fugit! Carpé Diem! (Time flies! Seize the day! )
I am begging all of you here: The moment you see signs of “The Old, Grey Mare — She Ain’t
What She Used to Be Syndrome,” please, do something immediately! PLEASE DO NOT WAIT!
There is not room here to go through the 10,000+ diseases the medical doctors have named to convince
you to turn to Natural Hygiene RIGHT NOW. And I doubt you would care to wade through such a
dissertation if one were set before you.
But, let me share just one heart-breaking example of a Health Seeker who recently visited
my facility: Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods. For some years, she had watched symptoms of
mild deformation and pain and limited movement develop — just in her hands. Not knowing about
Natural Hygiene, she of course went the medical route, including very toxic drugs with damaging
side effects. When she saw her very first gnarled knot slowly appear in her hand with diminished
movement and with pain accompanying attempts to move her fingers, that was the very moment
she could have done something to stop the relentless development of the brutal disease we all
know as “rheumatoid arthritis” — if she had only known. This life-changing, heart-breaking disease
almost always starts in the hands and progresses throughout the body and especially to the knees
and hips until the once-active person with a life of promise and activity ahead cannot even handle
basic, bodily functions without help. After a long fast, the pain in her hands left, but not the pain in
the knees. It breaks my heart, when one does not know about Natural Hygiene and waits too long.
Most of the time, when the conditions for health are consistently provided, results can only
be called “MIRACULOUS!” The real miracle, however, is simply the natural, healing capabilities
of the body, so wonderfully resourceful in its design when accessed in time! To claim your own
virtual healing miracle, see how to best get strict with The 10 Energy Enhancers in Appendix G!
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We Hygiene paradigm shifters correctly understand it impossible to find congruent the idea
that there is one cause of all disease — Toxemia — with the idea that disease is caused by some mysterious
force, wear-and-tear, bad genes, or dangerous germs. We well informed correctly find it impossible to
reconcile the ideas of letting the body heal itself by providing the conditions for health with drugging
and cutting practices to create health. We Natural Hygiene Intelligentsia are filled with truth, confidence,
and optimism! Those with The Medical Mentality remain in the dark, mystified by all the disease
around them, and very often — and understandable so — feel victimized, demoralized, hopeless.
One Natural Hygiene Pioneer taught the idea of “one disease, one healing.” Turn of the 20th
century Florence Nightingale, the mother of nursing, taught: “There are no specific diseases, only specific
disease conditions.” Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of the recently published landmark The China Study,
a book based on the largest nutritional study ever conducted, concurs with our pioneering teacher.
When asked if he could make specific dietary recommendations according to certain diseases, Campbell
replied that he had come to see, through decades of research, 2 truths. First, diseases all have “impressive
commonalities.” And second, the same good nutrition benefiting the body in disease prevention can
also nourish a sick body back to health.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if “Health by Healthful Living!” had been taught to us starting in
kindergarten, in a simple format, culminating in making us all well-informed and disciplined caretakers
of our physical bodies and examples of mental and emotional well-being upon high school graduation?
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to memorizing the names of 10,000 + diseases and what drugs to prescribe for the diseases! If only the
doctors were to teach the suffering people how to enhance their health through energy-conserving
lifestyle practices rather than devoting themselves almost exclusively to prescribing drugs and unnec-
essary surgeries and other enervating “therapies” and “treatments”! Then, we would not have the
suffering class as the largest and most miserable and demoralized group of Americans among us to-
day! What Good Doctors and personnel we would then have!
This concludes my many lists and contributions and exacting teachings on Natural Hygiene
as... “The Superlative, Alternative Health Care System.” Now Susan takes the lead with and Dr. Vetrano
and me to back her up.
The Live Food Factor is 700 pages long: you are getting just a fraction here.
Many, many more pages of The Live Food Factor foundational teachings of
Chapters 4 - 7 are not in this gift introduction to the Natural Hygiene book
you have just purchased at www.health4thebillions.org.
But with these gift excerpts placed before your electronic purchase today,
your “New 300+ GetWell Friends” & I have given you the most brilliant overview
ever presented of “NATURAL HYGIENE as THE SUPERLATIVE ALTERNATIVE!”
To receive & make use of our full teachings, start with your purchases of the
2 best-ever, take-it-home, do-it-yourselves handbooks on Natural Hygiene:
#1... 2 BOOK IN 1: The Health Seekers’ YearBook with The Best of Common
Health Sense
#2... The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for
Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet.
❦❦❦❦ • Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods • DOCUMENT #3-4: PAGE 2 8 • ❦❦❦❦
as we age. So many of us fully believe that most people are simply going to get sick, sooner or later.
(5) Most of us, including our doctors, believe that the root cause of illness can be effectively tackled by
drugs. Few see that taking drugs to cure an illness is like cleaning your kitchen with dirt! Many doctors
get frustrated at their inability to cure their patients permanently. The few medical doctors who manage
to break the mold by thinking outside the medicine bag do so at the risk of being branded “quacks,”
“medical heretics,” or “alternative health renegades.” They fear losing their licenses or being sued for
not following standard procedures.
(6) Most of us have been completely propagandized into believing The Medical Mentality through
cultural indoctrination. Those who have been fully indoctrinated into the status quo completely trust
the mass media programming, the reporting on scientific studies, and all the messages in pro-drug/
pro-doctor advertisements. In the book Trust Us, We’re Experts! How Industry Manipulates Science and
Gambles with Your Future by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, we get a behind-the-scenes peek into
how the powers-that-be carry on systematic brainwashing. Nearly all of us have been conditioned to
worship the men and women in white laboratory coats so that we will believe in and automatically go
to doctors, purchase pharmaceutical remedies, and submit to hospital treatments without so much as
a question. As David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., points out, “The fact that many opinions are held by great
masses of people is hypnotic. Few minds can escape the appeal of the authority of mass agreement…
Few can resist the propaganda of the news media” (The Eye of the I, p. 182).
Public relations expert Edward Bernays confessed to having been hired to promote the health
benefits of bananas, bacon, and Crisco cooking oil. In his book Propaganda, he explains how people are
made to depend psychologically on what physicians and other opinion leaders say. “Those who
manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true
ruling power of our country.... Our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely
by men we have never heard of.” When you come to realize the truth in Bernays’ warning, that the
pharmaceutical corporations and government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
care more about money than they do about your health, it would be like discovering your mother has
Munchausen Syndrome, a mental disorder in which a mother is driven to do great harm to her children
or take their lives just to satisfy their own maternal neuroses. It is shocking to learn that many of those
whom we have trusted to protect our health are actually poisoning us, even killing us with their drugs,
surgeries, and other treatments while their “health care” costs drain all but the very rich very dry.
(7) Another reason is that many of us fit the profile of “natural-born followers.” We prefer to let anyone
in a position of medical authority take responsibility for our health: doctors, nurses, hospital personnel,
pharmacists, nutritionists. We do not want to acknowledge that we have to do a whole lot more than
swallow “magic bullets” to be healthy. Many of us do not want to accept the need for self-responsibility.
(8) Furthermore, many of us take the path of least resistance in our health pursuits. In the short run, it
is vastly easier to take a pill or injection, to get a surgery or a treatment, than to change lifestyle habits,
and especially, our diets. Taking the path of least resistance, though limited, saves us from putting out
effort. Taking a drug, which requires the very least effort, also gives us instantaneous, symptomatic
relief, unlike the much slower process of natural recovery of health via The 10 Energy Enhancers. Some
do not want to learn what is poisonous. Some do not want to detoxify their environments. Some do not
want to quit their jobs, if they are too stressful or if the workplace environment is too lethal. Taking the
path of least resistance is so much easier than making so many new decisions and so many new choices
that will require so much more energy that so many so do not have! To revamp lifestyles completely —
it all takes so much effort! It is so much easier to swallow a pill or go in for a treatment — or both.
It is far, far easier to have someone else do the research and reasoning concerning our bodily
needs. Yet, as Victoria Boutenko writes, “When we let others observe and reason for us, in a sense, we
consciously choose to stay blind and deaf” (Green for Life, p. 3).
(9) Most people want the quick fix, even if it doesn’t cure in the long run. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of
Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor’s Program for Conquering Disease, prophesied that the time
might come when doctors would be accused of malpractice for not prescribing the substantially more
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effective, nutritional approach to their patients. In an interview with Shelly Keck-Borsits in her book
Dying to Get Well, however, Dr. Fuhrman is less optimistic and points out how well-worn is the path of
least resistance: “The masses will continue to seek instant gratification via dangerous nutritional habits
and drug-seeking.” Most people have just not been inspired to put much effort into their health.
(10) Another reason many of us cling so desperately to the medical paradigm is that we have taken a
victim stance in life, especially when it comes to our health. All 4 schools of medical thought are perfect
set-ups for the victim mentality: we are victims of a mysterious disease, we are victims in danger of
wearing out, we are victims of our DNA, we are victims of germs. Some of us are victims of combinations
of these 4 schools. Some have attended all 4 schools and appear hopelessly entrenched in The Medical
Mentality. The helpless, hopeless victim falls into depression or rants and raves about how horrible it is
to grow old and how his or her medicine isn’t working and how bad its side effects are. “It wasn’t my
fault! A better way I was never taught!” are both the victim’s funeral dirge and tombstone epithet.
(11) And yet another reason is financial. Many people don’t want to invest much money in their bodies.
If health insurance won’t cover the alternative doctor or health retreat, they won’t go. They spend more
money on upkeep of their cars’ bodies than on their own bodies. They take more pride in their luxury
vehicles than in turning their bodies into luxurious vehicles for their souls!
Some are fearful of upsetting the economic structure. The new approach, while creating many
new jobs, would also put many people out of jobs. Keep in mind that the Standard American Diet is
part of The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst: until just recently, most doctors have claimed that diet
has little or nothing to do with health! Therefore, most medical professionals, food giants, restaurant
owners, pharmacists, drug salespeople, employees of the American Cancer Society and other such
organizations searching for cures via drugs and herbicide and pesticide producers, and even some
veterinarians, as well as some alternativists who disclaim the diet/health connection — all would have
to change or radically revamp their careers to some degree if not radically if Natural Hygiene were to
rule! Such revamping would then directly affect, all the way down the employee ladder to janitors and
cleaning ladies. Toxicity is big business in this country! Throughout 2 BOOKS IN 1: The Health Seekers’
YearBook, Victoria and Dr. Vetrano call those whose livings are based on building acute and chronic
disease, addiction, emotional and mental suffering: “The Disease Industrialists” — and rightly so!
(12) Many of us resist the idea that diet is absolutely, intimately connected to vibrant health and well-
being. We have been so poorly educated about health and nutrition in schools and via the media, that
we often completely separate the impact of what we eat on a daily basis from our day-to-day experiences
of health — or lack of health. We want you to make the connection, then get well and stay well! FUN!
When an animal is sick, we inquire as to what it has been eating. When a person is sick, we just
take him or her to the doctor. When there is an ad for pet food, it emphasizes nutritional value. When
there is an ad for human food, it emphasizes taste and convenience — or ridiculously enough, even sex
appeal! Veterinarians and farmers both know that animal health depends principally on diet. They
also know that animals will adapt to unnatural, cooked, and chemicalized foods by fattening up, aging
prematurely, and developing other serious disease symptoms. For agribusiness entrepreneurs, fattening
animals so that they mature quicker for an early slaughter and immediate market turnover is just,
plain “good business.” The trick is to get the animals to market before the disease process to which the
sickening diet is contributing becomes noticeable to the few and far between inspectors from the FDA.
For the millions of pet owners out there, the emphasis, however, is not on shortness of life,
wealth, and apathy to animal sentience, but on length of life, health, and love for their creature
companions. Raw food diets for pets are becoming all the rage among those who are in the know. More
and more people are putting their beloved dogs and cats on raw meat instead of the more convenient,
canned, bagged, or boxed pet food that has been heated and processed for extended shelf life. Horse
lovers know that dried grass hay and alfalfa in the winter and fresh grasses in the summer will leave
their horses happy, sleek, and full of life. Victoria and Dr. Vetrano, both horsewomen who began their
love of all animals in early childhood, agree: “Horse lovers would never dream of feeding their steeds
a steady diet of cooked foods!” Yet few people apply this common sense to their own feed troughs or
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even stop to consider that just such a diet of uncooked food may also be far healthier for themselves!
(13) Perhaps most challenging of all, some of us just, plain do not want to relinquish our favorite SAD
foods and do not want to even try to switch to health-enhancing diets. Worse yet, some of us do not
even think it possible to end our deep-seated addictions and have given up, even though we know
better! Reluctance to give up our favorite, toxic, cooked foods in exchange for raw food health may be
the biggest mental and emotional stumbling block for most aspiring paradigm shifters! So much of our
identity — or our few, reachable pleasures in life — revolves around food. The idea that we might have
to change our diets to obtain health is, for some, a fate worse than living in food-related diseases. Some
people would sooner change their religions or even let themselves die than change their eating habits.
In fact, Devivo and Spors point out that our entire social structure revolves around food and is... “linked
to love, sex, agreement, admiration, obedience, control, belonging, reward, indulgence, and self-
destruction. Our very identity of who we are contains food likes, dislikes, events, recipes, and restaurants.
To be outside of that paradigm can be very unsettling” (Genefit Nutrition, p. 181).
(14) So, why do so many cling so defensively to the medical model? Victoria BidWell, in an intense
phone consultation, finally got me to understand that all these 13 reasons and many others you may
come up with, ultimately, fit under one umbrella. One understanding and loving answer covers all:
“They cling so because they do not yet know and have not yet internalized The Superlative, Alternative
Natural Hygiene Health Care System. To truly know is to do right spontaneously — every time, because
the knowledge has been internalized and the consequent wisdom has been turned into doing right —
every time.” Victoria, Dr. Vetrano, and I hope we have now let that cat out of its SAD bag!
The good news about the new “Health by Healthful Living!” paradigm is that we are no longer
among the ill-informed or see ourselves as victims, fearing that we are at the mercy of a mystery, or that
we will wear out before our time, or that, at any time, our genes from within or some pathogen from
without could wreak havoc on our health. We no longer fear and tremble every time we get a cancer
screen. Some of us no longer even bother with twice a year physicals or dental check-ups. Excluding
external factors beyond our control, we are now in total control of our health! Health via The 10 Energy
Enhancers and, especially, the live foods will make us masters of Superlative Health!
Another pleasant surprise about this alternative paradigm shift is that the price tag often reads:
“FREE!” There is no need to pay costly medical bills for doctors, laboratory tests, surgery, drugs, toxic
supplements, and other medical world products. Some may want to spend initially on a new, marvelous,
powerful kitchen machine to make raw food preparation easy and fun or on exercise equipment or a
health retreat visit. But for the most part, and if you want to forego these initial costs, this alternative
paradigm in health care is free for the taking! Yes, “FREE!” — advertisement studies have announced
the word to be the most favorite in the American vocabulary and the one that catches the eye the most
when appearing in the printed word. Not one of us enjoys just throwing our money away. Except for
the cost of quality food and good drinking water (The price of food must be paid whether live or
SAD.), the other 8 Energy Enhancers are completely “FREE!” Your body is its own healer and doesn’t
charge you a penny! For those of us who are used to thinking that health care and even preventive
medicine should be expensive, this financial freedom comes as a huge relief and a great delight! FUN!
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is more important to my children’s health than the pediatrician.”
Cooking food destroys life-promoting properties. Fire had its place back in the Neanderthal
day: to cook beasts for survival food, to heat caves, to ward off predators. But when applied to the
foods we eat today? Cooking (fire) is seductive, exuding warmth, engendering a “Nothing better than
mom’s home-cooking feeling.” Cooking (fire) jogs our memories of love and happiness while the heated-
up foods release aromas delicious. But let us not be fooled: fire kills live fruit and vegetable matter.
Victoria’s silly poem says it all: “Plant an unfired seed in the ground, and watch it sprout... watch it
grow. Plant a roasted seed, and watch it not... watch it rot — only disease will a heated seed sow.”
Unheated food is “true medicine.” The body heals itself, cures itself of disease, when properly
cared for, properly nourished, and keeps a toxins-in/toxins-out balance. The body needs the proper,
raw materials for its best building blocks, to be found exclusively in natural, sun-ripened fruits,
vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouts. Raw foods are alive! Cooked, denatured, chemical-ridden foods
are dead! Look at a juicy, organic apple. If you eat it, its life force will be used by your body as superlative
nutrition at the cellular level! Raw food is full of nutrition which the body needs and uses for rejuvenation
and vigorous living: vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients galore, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, enzymes,
biophotons, fiber, and so much more! None of this is so with the cooked apple. Instead, the cooked
apple’s toxic by-products will add to your burden! If you want more out of life and to live in pleasure
and happiness, eat live foods. If you want less out of life and to die in pain and misery, eat dead foods.
Dr. Herbert M. Shelton paints a colorful picture for us and the results of this “Health by
Healthful Living!” paradigm shift in his most upbeat of all 80+ volumes authored — Health for the
Millions: “When one adopts Natural Hygiene, one lives in a new world. The transition from the old
world to the new is immediate. All Nature becomes more beautiful and glorious! Duties which
were irksome become easy to perform. We breathe purer atmosphere. New purposes animate us.
New strength, energy, and power to perform are infused into us. The change in our character is
equally as great! We see in every tree and shrub and in every blade of grass a beauty of which we
had not before been conscious! Our whole life is permeated by a new spirit of love and good will!
We develop a gentleness and kindness that are new to us. A fresh zeal enters into our relations with
those around us. Strength is given us to perform whatever we choose, with cheerfulness and delight.
Troubles, anxieties, cares are dissipated; for we know that our welfare is secure and on a firm basis.”
The proof is in the raw pudding. Let live foods be “thy medicine.” And let medicine be “thy
foods.” Chances are, no matter how healthy and happy you are now, you will be amazed at how
much more health and happiness are to be discovered and plucked and savored along your raw life
adventure and enjoyed to the Hygiene hilt!
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(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Power with
propaganda to program The People into thinking that the bodily response to any
stimulation from ingestion of toxic medicines which The People experience comes from
powers inherent in drugs/poisons, while the scientific truth is that the power experi-
enced comes from the body being stimulated by drugs/poisons to rid itself of the drug.)
5. THE LAW OF DISTRIBUTION: The power of the body, whether that power is great
or little, is distributed in a manner proportionate to the importance and needs of the
various organs and tissues of the body. Power is distributed where it is needed most to
keep the body alive — until death do it part. A healthy body with high Nerve Energy
reserves distributes its energy freely to all demands made upon it for normal function-
ing and even extraordinary tasks at hand. But for a body failing, power is distributed
first and foremost where needed to keep the body alive as long as possible.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst makes no effort to attempt to override
such an obviously Common Health Sense affirmation of how the human body works.)
6. THE LAW OF CONSERVATION also termed “THE LAW OF AUTOLYSIS”: When-
ever nutritive abstinence (fasting or a low-calorie intake) is affected to bring about
improved health, the living organism’s reserves are conserved and economized: living
structures are autolyzed in the inverse order of their usefulness, while toxic substances
are eliminated in the process. This Law refers both to The Natural Hygiene Fast and to
weight-loss done right.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Conservation with
propaganda to program The People into thinking that any kind of fasting will ulti-
mately lead to an unbalanced biochemistry and to living on essential tissues, thus
ending in starvation. The M.D.s see fasting as a dangerous form of extremism. Along
these same lines, any dieting for weight-loss that does not follow The Basic Four Food
Groups, no matter how the foods are served, cooked or raw, condimented or plain, is
deemed extreme and dangerous by those of The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst.)
7. THE LAW OF LIMITATION: Whenever and wherever the expenditure of vital power
has advanced so far that fatal exhaustion is imminent, a check or brake is put upon the
unnecessary expenditure of power; and the organism rebels against the further use of
even an accustomed stimulant. Here is where the metaphor cliché — “You can’t beat a
tired horse!” — is useful: a horse can get so exhausted that it lays down and just barely
lifts its head to look at its master and groans in misery if the master beats him to get up.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Limitation with
propaganda to program The People into thinking that “extraordinary, warlike mea-
sures” must be used in hopes that science will kill the enemy-disease. Limitations of the
human body are absolutely not respected. This false paradigm employed “to cure” often
translates in reality as “to kill” as Nerve Energy reserves are squandered on treatments.)
8. THE LAW OF SPECIAL ECONOMY: Under favorable conditions, the vital organism
stores up all excesses of vital funds above the current expenditures as “reserve funds”
to be employed in time of special need. The body puts energy currency in its bank.
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(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Special Economy
with propaganda to program The People into thinking that no matter how deathly weak
a person gets with therapies/drugs prescribed by The Medical Doctors, war [against
what Hygienists correctly denote as “symptoms of toxic overload”] should continue to
be waged, that “reserve funds” [if this term were to even be recognized by The Medical
Doctors] should bravely be deployed in hopes of winning victories over the dreaded
enemy-disease. Doctors love to call for “extreme measures,” extreme use of energy.)
9. THE LAW OF VITAL ACCOMMODATION: The response of the vital organism to
accommodate itself to external stimuli is DNA-determined, based upon a self-preserva-
tive instinct which adapts or accommodates itself to whatever influence is set before it.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Vital Accommo-
dation with propaganda to program The People into thinking that the most effective
way to train the body to accommodate to self-preservation is to become dependent upon
a chosen Medical Doctor’s thinking and care and to follow the chosen M.D. dictates
without question, even when they are only getting worse, treatment after treatment.)
10. THE LAW OF STIMULATION, ALSO TERMED “THE DUAL EFFECT”: When a
toxic or irritating agent is brought to bear upon the living organism, the body puts forth
vital resistance that manifests itself in an action at once accelerated, but also impaired.
The body is stimulated and can even appear to be full of energy during the process! This
resistance, however, has a dual effect: what goes up must come down. Stimulation
diminishes the bodily power precisely to the degree to which it musters up action! The
increased action is caused by the extraordinary expenditure of vital power called forth
when stimulated. The available power supply is thus diminished by this same amount
that was used during the stimulatory process. All toxins = stimulants = energy-draining.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Stimulation with
propaganda to program The People into thinking that the therapies and drug treatments
prescribed by M.D.s should be followed, without question, regardless of the fact that
The People experience loss of energy, loss of mental clarity, loss of hope, and finally, loss
of life. In the M.D.s’ paradigm, “to stimulate” is a good thing: in Natural Hygiene, it is
“to poison and to waste Nerve Energy that should be conserved for detox and healing.”)
11. THE LAW OF COMPENSATION, also termed “THE LAW OF REPOSE: ” Whenever
action in the body has expended the substance and available energy of the body,
Adequate Rest and/or Sleep is induced in order to replenish the body’s Nerve Energy.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst does not negate the need for Adequate
Rest & Sleep. That need has been clearly established by science. The Medical Mentality
does, however, muddy The Law of Compensation with propaganda to program The
People into thinking that to take sleeping pills, whenever falling asleep naturally
becomes even slightly troublesome, is a perfectly harmless practice and a good thing.)
12. THE LAW OF SELECTIVE ELIMINATION: All injurious substances which gain
admittance by any means into the living organism are counteracted, neutralized, and
expelled as fully as the bodily Nerve Energy supplies allow by such means and through
such channels as will produce the least amount of harm to living structure. It follows,
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therefore, that if Nerve Energy supplies are low and a person has become very toxic, he
will not have the Nerve Energy necessary to expel fully the Endogenous and Exogenous
Toxins present in his body and he will thus start The Descent into Disease.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Selective Elimina-
tion with propaganda to program The People into thinking that the flesh and blood,
nerve and brawn of the human body have a virtually unlimited ability to tolerate and/
or to detoxify a virtually unlimited number of mild and even virulent toxins commonly
served in the foods from The Standard American Diet, found in our polluted environ-
ment, and omnipresent in the drugs and treatments prescribed by The Medical Doctors.)
13. THE LAW OF UTILIZATION: The normal elements and materials of life are all that
the living organism is ever capable of constructively utilizing, whether it is well or sick.
No substance or process that is not a normal-factor-element in physiology can be of any
value in building up the structure of the living organism; and that which is unusable in
a state of health, is equally unusable in a state of illness.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst overrides The Law of Utilization with
propaganda to program The People into thinking that virtually anything called a “food”
by The Standard American Diet Industrialists and anything called a “drug” by the
Medical/Pharmaceutical Disease Industrialists can be consumed absolutely and posi-
tively without harm and not only with impunity, but also with benefit. This is good
news to The People who seek pleasures non-stop! They are happy to be brainwashed
into the “Eat, Drink & Be Merry, for Tomorrow You Surely Will Not Die!” mindset.)
14. THE LAW OF QUALITY SELECTION: When the quality of nutriment being
received by the living organism is higher than that which made up the existing, living
tissue, the organism will discard lower-grade cells to make room for appropriating the
superior materials into new and healthy tissue.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst makes no effort to attempt to override
such an obviously Common Health Sense affirmation of how the human body operates,
all the while offering the direct contradiction: “What you eat does not matter!”)
15. THE LAW OF THE MINIMUM: The development of living organisms is regulated
by the supply of that essential element which is least abundantly provided or utilized.
The essential element in shortest supply determines the amount/rate of development.
(The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst makes no effort to attempt to override
such an obviously Common Health Sense affirmation of how the human body works.)
16. THE LAW OF DEVELOPMENT: The development of all or any parts of the living
organism is measured in direct proportion to the amount of vital forces and nutritive
materials that are directed to it and brought to bear upon it.
(As noted in “LIFE’S GREAT LAW,” — the first Law given — The Medical
Mentality at Its Very Worst does not acknowledge the “vital forces” [“Nerve Energy”]
aspect of The Law of Development and overrides the “nutritive materials” aspect of this
Law with propaganda to program The People into thinking that the quality of the
“nutritive materials” of The Standard American Diet are totally adequate to supply
health and that SAD consumption by humans is absolutely nothing to worry about.)
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“DEER” BACK-TO-NATURE HEALTH SEEKERS!
If you are considering a visit to Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods, I want
to provide my following teachings in Chapters 14 and 15 dropped into The Live
Food Factor book for your review of what to expect when you come! These teach-
ings, now rewritten and significantly improved, take up most all of both these 2
chapters: they appear in bold-face so you will know when I am teaching and when
Susan is speaking. I got involved with The Live Food Factor in order to see that the
Natural Hygiene was correctly and thoroughly presented. Please read these 2 ex-
citing, eye-opening, and crucial chapters before we talk about your making a res-
ervation for fasting, juice dieting, or eating! May these teachings bless you and
your loved ones! — “The Wilderness Woman!”
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Few people are at the deathbed, pathological point of no return. Except for those rare cases, this cleans-
ing and subsequent complete healing (for acute cases) and partial to near-complete healing (for chronic
cases) is useful, and it is available to everyone. Learning and applying this knowledge is like winning
The Superlative Health Lottery! And virtually everyone who enters and stays with it is a winner!
Although most people can safely go through toxin elimination and healing on their own, we are includ-
ing here a precautionary disclaimer from 2 BOOKS IN 1: THE HEALTH SEEKERS’ YEARBOOK WITH
THE BEST OF COMMON HEALTH SENSE: “If you are ill or on medication, do not attempt this program
without the supervision of a practitioner experienced in the dramatic effects of turning from a lifestyle that
engenders disease to one that promotes health.” We also advise: “It is absolutely essential that you consult an
alternative medical doctor before discontinuing any prescribed medications.”
The body is amazing in its ability to regenerate, renew, and repair — once the conditions for health are
supplied! The natural diet for humans is composed of non-toxic, raw foods. They should be eaten in proper
combination for ideal digestion and in moderate amounts and under the influence of Energy Enhancer #9:
Emotional Balance. This biologically correct food supplies the body with the nutrition it needs to optimize
the detoxing/healing processes. Also important are the 4 non-dietary forms of nutrition: Pure Air, Pure
Water, Sunshine, and Adequate Rest & Sleep. Well-supplied, especially with these 4 Energy Enhancers, the
body will proceed to detoxify and heal tissues — in its own chosen order and in its own sweet time.
The person in acute stages of illness who experiences a symptom flare-up or who just feels tired, unin-
spired, and out of sorts all of the time — both situations being typical of the earlier stages of disease — will
have an easier and speedier time of elimination of toxins and recovery than someone in the latter stages of
Nerve Energy exhaustion and toxic overload characteristic of chronic, degenerative disease.
For the individual who has been burning the energy candle at both ends, microscopic waste residues,
exogenous poisons, and toxic endogenous by-products of metabolism inevitably accumulate from years on
SAD cooked and poorly combined foods. Lacking the Nerve Energy to keep itself clean, the body adapts
with a process called “disease.” All endogenous and exogenous remote sources of Toxemia, including cooked
SAD food toxins, end up in 1 of 3 places. They are deposited within the cellular protoplasm. They are
present in the fluids around cells and tissues. Or they circulate in the bloodstream and lymphatic system.
Happily, all these poisons are mobilized for elimination just as soon as sufficient Nerve Energy supplies
are replenished! As elimination of toxins proceeds from the tissues, the poisons enter bodily fluids and exit
through the primary organs and systems of excretion. The largest excretory system of the body is the skin:
its surface area is about 15 square feet for the average individual. The other primary organs of elimination
are as follows: the lungs, liver, kidneys, the digestive tract, and the circulatory and lymphatic systems.
Susan: Now we see the beauty and promise of going through detoxification and healing! Most people experi-
ence the process as episodes of healing crises recurring over various time intervals: hours, days, weeks, months —
or even years for the person in advanced stages of degeneration. These episodes are invariably interspersed
with periods of natural highs that eventually stabilize and become the permanent condition: clear-
headed, euphoric well-being accompanied by physiological peace unlike anything experienced in re-
cent years or past decades. Victoria calls it... “Something akin to the peace that passes all understanding.”
Homeopathic pioneer Samuel Hahnemann, M.D. (1755 - 1843) observed that healing tends to proceed in
reverse order as the symptoms first appeared. Consider all the Exogenous Toxins of food-generated residues.
Consider the Endogenous Toxins of poor food combining. Consider the ingested, absorbed, and inhaled environ-
mental pollutants, as well as drugs taken. Victoria BidWell points out: “Virtually all toxins are all retained
and build up when there is an energy crisis in a toxic body!” With revitalization, these retained
poisons typically detoxify in reverse order of when they were either taken into the body or created within the body
and then accumulated. In other words, you will detoxify from the lactic acid created from this afternoon’s exercise
routine before the toxins created and stored from last month’s poorly combined meal. You will detoxify from the
hamburger you ate yesterday before the grilled steak you ate last July.
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What should you expect? As long as you observe a complete package of healthful living practices, especially
Adequate Rest & Sleep, then revitalization, cleansing, and repair will proceed. Progress is more rapid for some
than for others. The pace is speediest while eating 100% raw. The pace goes more slowly when you are partially
raw. Even when eating merely 5% cooked food, the process does slow down. If you stay 100% raw or mostly all-
raw and provide all the other conditions for Superlative Health in right amounts, your body will eventually rid
itself of virtually all toxins accumulated ever since infancy. The more raw, the better — if your digestive system is
not greatly compromised and can handle raw foods in quantity! All the while, revitalization, detoxification, re-
newal, repair, biochemical rebalancing take place simultaneously. The body’s healing intelligence is awesome!
Susan with Victoria: The bulk of this process usually completes within weeks or months for most people
who are more tired than toxic. Dr. Vetrano realistically estimates it could take more than a year for the
seriously sick person who is enervated, toxic, and into latter stages of disease. For the very ill, deepest levels
of excretion of poisons and subsequent renewal can be expected to take years. Who cares? However long it
takes, you are getting better, sometimes noticeably and dramatically better, every month — if not every
week! Although it can never be proven scientifically, we go by a simple rule of thumb. For every year of
eating cooked food, you need a strict month of doing everything right. “TO DO RIGHT” especially means
“eating a nearly all-raw if not 100% raw food diet and getting plenty of Rest & Sleep and practicing all
other 8 Energy Enhancers.” The entire cleansing, renewal, healing process is greatly sped up by undertak-
ing The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast. That is why it is called “fast-ing” = the revitalization, detoxing, and
healing take place the fastest of any other approach!
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Dr. Shelton exclaims: “WE SHOULD GET OUR OF BED IN THE MORNING WITH A
BOUNCE!” Tell me, Dear Health Seekers, is that how you get up? An estimated 90% of American
adults have to jump-start with this dark brew. Drinking the coffee is just beating your already tired
body to get a little more mileage out of you before you — like the beaten horse — fall to your knees
and collapse in exhaustion and agony. (See, again: The Law of Stimulation or Dual Effect.)
WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN! When a person so stimulates himself with a drug
(cooked, toxic food/drink) and feels up, he must come down with the inevitable drain and very real
drop in energy. Among Health Seekers who quit the poisons altogether and become bona-fide detoxers,
most experience this unpleasant Fatigue Factor to one degree or another. They often dive into the
physical, mental, and emotional doldrums and can hardly drag themselves around. This is not the
time to quit, Dear Health Seekers! Revitalization is just around the corner!
Since all food/drink typical of the Standard American Diet are toxic, the ingestion of their
exogenous poisons sets up a dangerous chain of events that leads first to exhaustion and finally to
disease and untimely death. Certain foods and chemicals can be singled out as especially hazardous
to your health: meat and dairy, refined sugar and flour, all excitotoxins, salt, all hot spices, and
caffeine, for examples. The fact is that all cooked and/or SAD food is stimulating, toxic, energy-
draining, and disease-promoting. Once your Nerve Energy reserves are exhausted, all cooked/SAD
poisons lead to no fun and ultimately — to an early grave.
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we can only surmise that body chemistry is normalizing in ourselves, as well, when we undertake to
detox, whether it is during an at-home or in-clinic fast or by the slower route of eating raw foods and
applying strictly The 10 Energy Enhancers.
I recently asked Dr. Scott if, in his opinion, a person in apparently good health, with no chronic,
degenerative problems, a person who just wanted to start his or her own detoxing program by fasting
and without going to a retreat, could safely undertake a short fast of 7 - 10 days. His response was a
definite, “Yes. That should not be a problem under those circumstances, as long as the person is truly
fasting, staying in bed, resting, and avoiding stimulations of all kinds.”
(3) Blood, fluids, and tissues are cleansed. At Dr. Scott’s Natural Health Institute, prior to undertaking
a fast and at the end of the visit, the patient may be invited to observe a sample of his or her own live blood
under a glass slide and through a microscope. Dr. Scott’s sophisticated technology allows you to view the
microscope picture of your blood sample, greatly enlarged, on color television. Typically, prior to the fast,
the blood is filled with unmistakable debris. But the blood is seen to be startlingly clear and clean after-
wards. This is the scientific, impressive, astounding proof of Dr. Tilden’s 7 Stages of Disease paradigm!
(4) The tongue gets coated and tastes bad — usually bitter. The coated tongue may be light and barely
white to heavy and furry and quite colorful! Depending on what is being eliminated, the coated tongue
can exhibit any range of colors: from the most common white to greenish to reds and browns. This
“detoxer’s tongue” is the single, most visible sign that the body is cleansing. If a person fasts to comple-
tion, the tongue will turn pink and appear clean. The breath will smell pleasant. The bitter taste will
disappear. These events occur at about the same time that a genuine and compelling hunger returns.
If a faster breaks his fast to begin refeeding without going to completion, the white and furry
tongue will disappear, often within minutes or sometimes hours after that first bite of nontoxic, raw food.
But the tell-tale detoxer’s tongue will just as speedily return between feedings as long as clean, raw foods
are taken. This return of the detoxer’s tongue is the sure-sign that detoxing is continuing.
While eating the non-toxic raw diet and when elimination of toxins is not yet complete, Health
Seekers will, therefore, experience the detoxer’s tongue between meals and snacks, usually slightly. It is
more dramatic upon awakening to break the night’s fast/sleep with breakfast. With the morning meal,
we are literally breaking a fast of the night’s sleep: that is why the word elements = “break” + “fast.”
(5) Headaches are the universal “join-the-club badge” of the toxic faster or detoxing raw fooder.
These headaches result primarily from withdrawals of the most notorious of the Exogenous Toxins: caf-
feine, nicotine, alcohol, sodium chloride, cooked food, SAD food, and drugs.
(6) When resting nearly 24/7 and not eating, most fasters not terribly tired need less sleep. In fact,
the most common complaint of most fasters after the headache is the inability to sleep. Some speculate
that while toxins are circulating in the bodily fluids in preparation for elimination, the poisons can stimu-
late the mental, emotional, physiological, and physical functioning. Insomnia very often is the result.
(7) Nervous irritability and irrational, emotional outbreaks can occur. These are also withdrawal
symptoms, commonly experienced for 3 - 10 days and sometimes in cycles. Because of this unstable emo-
tional/mental state, I must forewarn you not to any make major, life-changing decisions until withdrawal
is full and complete, until stability is regained! I have seen people mess up their lives for years to come, or
for the rest of their lives, by not heeding this warning.
(8) Cleansing, and more so during periods of fasting than while eating raw, can bring about a
unique, physiological state with unique brain function. This state is often called “faster’s high” or
“detoxer’s high.” Whether fasting or eating all non-toxic, raw foods, this pleasurable, altered state of
consciousness is also called a “spiritual high” because the mind is so much sharper and clearer than when
tired and toxic. Some even report being visionary in perception and thought. This spiritual high is brought
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on by one or more events: by the detoxer’s experience of deep rest and revitalization, by the lightening of
the person’s toxic overload, by the detoxer completely letting go of emotional stresses, by trusting com-
pletely in the healing powers of the body, and by the faster’s subjective experience of holding high hopes
for healing. Finally, physiology explains the high. It is brought on when the 200 billion brain cells live not
on glucose from daily food or stored glycogen, but on released and oxidized fatty acids from stored fat.
This unique, physiological state is called “ketosis.” The altered neuron and total body function from all of
the above can result in extraordinary mental, emotional, and/or spiritual experiences — especially if the
detoxer has a very big imagination and/or a mindset that enjoys transcending the material world! FUN!
(9) The kidneys increase filtration. The urine becomes foul-smelling and dark-colored. Kidney stones
are sometimes passed.
(10) The liver undergoes cleansing, often with virtually no symptoms, except blood tests that show
out-of-normal readings indicating a healing crisis in progress. A complete liver cleansing is typically
followed by disappearance of any existing, so-called “liver spots” or “age spots” on the hands and face.
(11) The gall bladder cleanses. Bile is sometimes vomited. Stones are sometimes passed.
(12) The mucous membranes throughout the length of the digestive tract and respiratory system
are cleansed. Throughout the mouth and sinus orifices, phlegm is coughed up, sneezed out, and other-
wise eliminated by nearly every detoxer at some point. Phlegm is the sticky vehicle in which ride toxins
for elimination. Phlegm appears in differing shades of whites, greens, and browns. This is when what The
Medical Mentality calls the “flu” or “common cold” can occur. Symptoms include the following: cold
sores, fever, shivering, sneezing, runny nose, coughing, sinusitis, inability to keep warm, and more. In
Natural Hygiene, the misnomers “flu” and “common cold” are always replaced with the physiological
reality: the body has reached upper levels of toleration for toxins and is conducting an elimination.
(13) The breath can become foul-smelling. This is an olfactory indication of pollutants leaving the
body in the form of toxic molecules in exhaled breath.
(14) Weight loss always occurs during the fasting detox and almost invariably occurs with the raw
food detox, as well. Such weight loss is temporary and should not cause concern. Body weight will
normalize on the Natural Hygiene program. To reach their desired weight, some Health Seekers will
want to start a regular aerobics or weight-lifting exercise program as needed for either weight loss or
weight gain, respectively. But after a fast of more than a day or 2, all Health Seekers will regain some
weight immediately upon refeeding, as the body is in a slight state of dehydration while fasting and will
quickly re-hydrate itself fully once feeding is resumed. After a fast, the detoxed Health Seeker will rehy-
drate and gain pounds upon eating juicy foods. One must eat lightly to avoid an undesired weight gain.
(15) The skin can become an avenue for intense elimination of toxins. Red spots, pimples, pustules,
itching rashes, or even open and ulcerated sores (almost always small rather than large) may come and
go, repeatedly. The body’s orifices and pores may give off offensive odors, mild to strong. The mouth may
have a foul or very salty taste as the body eliminates poisons and sodium-chloride, respectively.
(16) Nausea, cramps, pain and/or unpleasant rumblings in the stomach and/or intestines can oc-
cur. Signs of detoxing and healing, these may be misinterpreted as hunger. This is always a false hunger.
Genuine hunger, by contrast, is always a mild and pleasant urging to eat and is experienced as
subtle cues in the mouth and throat. This is much akin to being thirsty, an experience to which we can all
relate: the tongue seems to get larger, and the body cries for attention until thirst is quenched. Like that,
the mouth and throat call for food when genuine hunger is experienced. Most people have never experi-
enced genuine hunger in their entire lives and cannot relate to this description experientially. We hope to
change all that with these teachings. After all, being able to identify genuine hunger is at the crux of
feeling satisfied on the live food diet and is therefore crucial to our success as Health Seekers!
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(17) Pain may be experienced in localized areas where plaque, calcifications, tumors, cellulite, or
some such toxic deposits exist. With continued cleansing and healing, especially during The Natural
Hygiene Fast, the body breaks down these unhealthy tissues, cleans the toxic fluids, and eliminates the
morbidity. Such pain experienced is often simply a retracing impulse. Or this pain can be actually felt
concomitant with structural or organic abnormalities during mending of past injuries.
(18) Weakness invariably occurs with fasting. The body’s energies are being directed away from the
musculoskeletal system and toward the cleansing of bodily fluids and tissues, especially tissues within the
torso. Normal reaction time can be off. Shakiness can also occur, with or without the weakness. Bouts of
weakness and/or shakiness may also occur while eating raw and detoxing.
(19) The reproductive organs of both male and female undergo excretion of toxins and healing.
This healing has led to restored capacity to reproduce in cases of sterility and to increased fertility in
cases of limited fertility. Many cases of men and women able to procreate, once detoxified, are on record.
(20) Enlarged organs return to normal size if The 6th Stage of Disease — Induration (or harden-
ing) — in Dr. Tilden’s paradigm has not yet been reached. If the fast is long enough and if the gland
has not fully hardened, many prostate enlargements have been known to reverse to normal and soften.
(21) Swollen, edematous tissues normalize. All men and women experience swollen tissues normaliz-
ing as tendons on hands and feet appear and their true facial features emerge. Puffy eyes, hands, and feet
are the first to normalize. (It is wonderful for these Health Seekers to look like themselves, again! FUN!)
(22) Nervous system tissues of the eyes are cleansed. The reported cases of arrest and partial reversal
of chronic degeneration in cases of macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts are few. Nervous
system tissues are among the least responsive to correct, even once the conditions for health are provided.
Many cases, however, of dramatically improved vision after a completed period of detoxification
and healing are on record. Health Seekers often report one or more of the following visual events: an
upgrading of eyesight so that glasses are no longer needed, a downgrading in strength of prescription
glasses, more sharp and more clear vision with colors more bright and vivid, eyes that no longer burn or
hurt when in use, dry eyes that re-hydrate and otherwise normalize. Disappearance of annoying floaters,
the mis-shapen black specks that move around on the surface of the eye lens and that can obstruct vision,
also can occur.
(23) The arteries are cleaned out of fatty/cholesterol/toxin plaque. Blood tests during cleansing often
show a rise in fats as they leave their arterial storage places and move into the bloodstream prior to
elimination. Given sufficient time for healing, tests also show a normalizing of all body fat readings. With
normalizing of cholesterol and triglyceride levels, pulse rate and blood pressure also move into normal
ranges. This last change is perhaps the very most exciting to most, since half the American people die of
a heart and/or vessel disease! “Death by cardiovascular disease” is seldom seen as the “Cause of Death”
on death certificates among Health Seekers who go through the cleansing and healing and who follow up
with strict, healthful living practices while living!
This ends my long list of “POSSIBLE DETOXIFICATION SYMPTOMS.” This list, however, is
far from exhaustive. For the complete story, we urge that you review some of the many supportive mate-
rials in The FastWell & GetWell Library at www.getwellstaywellamerica.com. Fasting for the Health of
It: 100 Case Histories Selected from Over 200,000 Clinical Records by Jean Oswald and Dr. Herbert Shelton
is a tremendous inspiration! The Hygienic System, Volume III: Fasting and Sunbathing by Dr. Shelton is
the most detailed and complete text on fasting ever written. Dr. Vetrano and Drs. Tosca and Gregory
Haag have also prepared over 30 live DVD lectures on what to expect while fasting and detoxifying on
raw foods, specifically, and with healthful living practices, in general.
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The 2 Extremes of What to Expect while Fasting
By Victoria BidWell
If a person experiences any detoxification symptoms whatsoever, she can rejoice! Cleansing is occur-
ring! “SOMETHING GOOD IS HAPPENING!” is the comforting motto for all novice detoxers. The guests
at Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods like to playfully — and sometimes agonizingly — role play me
and my responses to their complaints or reports of any of the following: a really foul taste in their mouths,
nausea, vomiting, nagging aches or pains anywhere, shakes, ad nauseam. For I always respond with “GOOD!”
or “WONDERFUL!” or “VERY NICE!” And these detox symptoms are all good, wonderful, and very nice,
indeed! When The 10 Energy Enhancers are being provided during a fast? YES! Something good is always
happening when the faster is good and miserable! Misery is all par for the horse and just as it should be!
If virtually no symptoms appear after fasting a few days or going raw for a week or 2, and if the
energy is good, it means the Health Seeker is enjoying a detoxification honeymoon high. However, if a
person does not experience noteworthy symptoms and if he or she is in an advanced state of chronic degen-
eration and if the energy has been and continues to be low, especially terribly low, this is a red flag warning.
It means he or she is so weakened that very little Nerve Energy has been recuperated for elimination of
toxins and healing thus far. More patience and time are needed just to get the Nerve Energy Meter well past
“Near-Empty.” These greatly weakened Health Seekers need to be under the care of a qualified professional
to monitor progress. Every person is different. Many people breeze through, riding on a detox honeymoon
high. A very few others may need care every step of the way. Most people undertaking a serious cleansing
and healing do experience themselves somewhere between these two extremes.
Recorded case histories from natural healing retreats show that a very few persons deep into pathol-
ogy will only get well with a long fast or a series of short fasts. These rare cases do exist. These very sick
people need to complete their detoxification and healing under supervision or assistance. We are not offer-
ing pie-in-the-sky promises, miracle cures, panaceas, or other such irresponsible teachings here! (That was
one of my few complaints, besides “the all-fruit diet,” with T.C. Fry’s teachings.) We want people to know
the science and the truth — and to break free of The Medical Mentality at Its Very Worst in the process!
We do offer this general detox rule: The more junk food a person has eaten, the more abuse to which
he has subjected his body, the more he has depleted his existing Nerve Energy reserves, the more drugs he
has taken, the more sleep he has neglected to secure, the more toxic his fluids and tissues have become from
a lifetime of endogenous and exogenous poisoning, then — the more Nerve Energy he will need to recoup
before the body can initiate major detoxification and renewal, much less bring them to successful conclu-
sions. Many relatively young and drug-free people in good health and with high Nerve Energy reserves may
experience only very mild detoxification symptoms or no noticeable symptoms at all when going raw.
Our follow-up general detox rule is just as important to heed: The more a person wants to remain
cleansed, healed, and highly energetic, then — the more strict must be the energy-conserving, healthful
living habits once the detoxification and healing period is complete. A key cornerstone to experiencing this
feels-good, natural high is the 100% all-raw food plan or close to 100%.
You can fight The Fatigue Factor! You may be running on “Near-Empty” Nerve Energy reserves.
You may be so over-stimulated by the day’s activities/concerns that you are unaware of how tired you really
are. Stop to take complete rests. If you are indeed running on “Near-Empty” Nerve Energy and Fight-or-
Flight Response adrenaline, you are a crash just waiting to happen. You have lost touch with your body. You
are living in your head as you experience the excitement of an over-stimulated mind, over-demanding daily
schedule, and over-stressed emotions. I have seen many people get in terrible and costly accidents or make
horribly unwise decisions when so enervated, over-worked, and over-stimulated — all at the same time!
Many a seemingly energetic Health Seeker has vivaciously arrived for a fast at a retreat’s doorsteps
and then simply collapsed into deep exhaustion. Such people hardly had the strength to get out of bed once
they let go of stimulating substances, thoughts, and emotions. I have seen this happen countless times and in
a matter of hours or just a day or 2 — and always to one’s great surprise and chagrin, if a novice faster.
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A Quick Overview of the Digestive System’s Duties
By Victoria BidWell
The small intestine precedes the large intestine (also called the “colon” or the “bowel”). They are
both basically long tubes lined with “inner skin” which is moist at all times. The open passageway through
them is called the “lumen.” The small and large intestines have entirely different structures and functions.
First, let’s look at the small intestine. Digestion begins in the mouth. Food is chewed and liquefied
with saliva and salivary enzymes in the mouth into a mass called a “bolus.” The bolus is swallowed down
through the esophagus and further liquefied with gastric digestive juices, especially hydrochloric acid and
pepsin for digesting proteins, and is churned by the muscular stomach into a substance called “chyme.” The
stomach’s pyloric sphincter opens to permit chyme passage into the lumen of the small intestine. Many folds
characterize the 3 small intestine sections which process chyme further: the duodenum, the jejunum, and
the ileum. The duodenum receives alkaline pancreatic juice to digest starches and liver bile to process fats
into an absorbable liquid called “chyle.” Now, absorption of chyle from the small intestine and into the
blood stream is ready. Microscopic, specialized, finger-like projections called “villi” line the folds of the small
intestine. The villi are covered with microvilli which are topped off with brush-like borders. The villi, microvilli, and
their brush borders ingeniously provide enormous surface areas for nutrient absorption. From there, chyle is ab-
sorbed by the blood. Then, the nutrients travel to their final destinations: the cells’ doorsteps. Here the nutrients are
assimilated into the cells to be used for nutrition. The 3 sections of the small intestine add up to 18 - 23 feet in length.
At 5 - 6 feet in length, the large intestine is short by comparison. It serves primarily as the body’s
trash compactor and storage container once most of the food’s available nutrients have been absorbed at
the brush borders of the small intestine. Material in the colon consists of dead cells and other bodily and
food waste, as well as plant fiber and other indigestible materials. Bacterial colonies proliferate and home-
stead in the colon according to the amounts and types of debris present. These bacteria decompose some of
the cellulose and other bowel contents, producing their own waste material, some of which may either be
nutritive or toxic to the body. Lacking the villi of the small intestine, the cells lining the colon have virtually no
absorptive capacity. Besides serving as a moving storage container, one of the colon’s primary functions is to absorb
water into the blood stream so that feces are not watery, but instead, take the characteristic, tubular, soft shape so
easy and pleasant to pass. The colon cells also do allow absorption of minute amounts of nutrients and other by-
products of bacterial decomposition while the feces pass through the bowels. Some of these by-products may be toxic,
particularly those that result from the putrefactive decay of cooked foods, especially meat and other animal products.
Bowel contents passing through the lumen finally evacuate via the rectum, anal canal, and anus.
Movement of food through the entire digestive tract is performed by peristalsis: autonomically controlled,
rhythmic muscle contractions of the gastro-intestinal walls. Although peristalsis is an energy-intensive pro-
cess, little energy expenditure is consciously experienced by persons eating 3 square meals a day. Two rea-
sons account for minimal awareness of colon activity. First, the digestive tract has relatively few nerve
endings beyond the mouth and throat to send signals to the brain; and so, among the healthy people, diges-
tive activity goes by unnoticed. And second, the person eating has become used to the digestive process since
it goes on all day, every day, 24/7. Most fasters, however, become very aware of their digestive tracts and the
lack of this day-in, day-out intestinal energy expenditure. And persons deep into intestinal pathology, whether
eating or fasting, are acutely and painfully aware of the passage of bowel contents through the lumen!
Susan notes how Dr. Alec Burton stated in a lecture at the American Natural Hygiene Society’s 1994
Annual Conference that, basically, the entire digestive process is estimated to be only about 10 - 15% effi-
cient in terms of energy liberated for the non-digestive, daily tasks. That is, the body uses 85 - 90% of the
energy extracted from food just to process the food, to extract its nutrients, to circulate them to the cells,
and to eliminate the intestinal and urine remains! I have noted other physiologists estimate a 75% energy
expenditure. Either way, the remaining 10 - 25% of the energy liberated from our foods goes to the follow-
ing: muscular movement, body heat, mental/emotional energy needs, reproduction of cells and glandular
substances, and many other non-digestive, business-as-usual functioning throughout the body.
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Are Enemas, Colonics
& the Colema Board Treatments Recommended?
By Susan Schenck with Victoria BidWell
Susan begins: Whether using enemas, colonics, or the colema board is necessary or even helpful during
detoxification is a controversial subject among natural health proponents. Both treatments involve the large intes-
tine but never the small intestine. Dr. Vetrano and Victoria BidWell are quick to point out: “On raw foods,
which require far, far less energy to process than SAD foods, the energy efficiency is much, much higher.
Although it can never be scientifically proven, probably about 50% is extracted for non-nutritive, bodily
use. See my Chapter 4 teachings: “LIVE FOOD: IT’S ALL ABOUT ENERGY!” Raw foods in general
require very little digestive energy. In fact, T.C. Fry correctly promoted fruits as “pre-digested,” since all
they need are thorough chewing, then swallowing and traveling through the tubing to the villi before ab-
sorption takes place. Vegetables and sprouts require a little more energy. Nuts and seeds a little more yet.”
Victoria cautions: “Enemas and colonics involve introducing water or other liquids into the colon to
forcefully loosen up and flush out 2 kinds of matter: transit feces and surface debris resulting from recent
wrong eating of toxic, fiberless foods. These water treatments, as far as they reach, may loosen up and flood
out virtually all of the transit fecal matter and much loose-surface colon debris. But contrary to popular
belief, these treatments are totally ineffective in loosening toxins which have been stored in colon tissues.
The flushing water cannot effectively reach into any earlier-staged or latter-staged diseased tissues that are
characteristic of ulcerative colitis, diverticular pouches, polyps, tumors, and other colon pathologies.”
Susan continues: Enemas employ the comparatively weak force of gravity. Enema flushing reaches only
into the anal canal, rectum, and descending colon. This treatment can easily be performed at home by filling an
enema bottle with about 2 quarts of warm water and by permitting the elevated contents of the bag to trickle into
the body. The water can be spiked with wheatgrass juice or coffee to stimulate/irritate surface bowel nerve end-
ings. The liquid is held in the body by muscular contraction for a period of time and then expelled into the toilet.
By contrast, colonics employ water pressure provided by a sophisticated, costly machine. The colonic
flushing reaches much further. It goes not only into the anal canal, rectum, and descending colon lumens, but
travels through the transverse and ascending lumens, as well. A treatment typically involves many repetitions
using up to 5 gallons of water in total during sessions lasting typically 60 minutes. This treatment is performed by
trained, licensed colonic therapists or by hospital nurses. The therapist controls the water pressure according to
comfort level and sometimes massages the client’s or patient’s abdomen.
A third treatment intermediate between an enema and a colonic involves a colema board. Like the enema
bag, the colema board treatment can be done at home; and the fluid reaches only as far as the descending colon.
Like the colonic, the person may lie down while the entire bowel is filled, flushed, and refilled many times,
although the force is considerably less than with the colonic machinery.
Among the 3, the choice for those who can afford it is almost always the colonic. Many people enjoy the
relaxed atmosphere of lying back and letting someone else take control of the process while listening to pleasant,
soothing background music. I have had many a colonic therapist tell me that clients unwind to such a degree that
they confide their greatest joys, pains, and secrets, just as when going to a counselor or hairdresser!
Victoria BidWell contrasts “the do-nothing intelligently” stance of Natural Hygiene care with hy-
drotherapies and other forcing measures, in general: “The rationale in rejecting all treatments is that the
body will naturally cleanse and heal itself in its own sweet time and in the sequence it deems wisest as the
Nerve Energy reserves fill up. All we need do is provide the conditions for health and remove the causes of
disease. The order and timeliness of all cleansing and healing is built into our genetic code and governed in
their expression by how strict we get with The 10 Energy Enhancers.
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“Forcing measures are self-defeating. They first stimulate and then enervate the body, rendering
them relatively inefficient. Furthermore, they deplete the very Nerve Energy reserves the body desperately
needs filled up in order to conduct its natural detoxing, chemistry balancing, and healing processes. This
stimulation/Enervation variation of The Fatigue Factor inherent in all therapies thus renders colonics and
enemas not just harmless, but potentially dangerous.”
A young Herbert Shelton closely monitored the recovery progress of numerous patients at Lindlahr College’s
healing facility where he apprenticed while earning his doctor’s credentials. He observed that those who received
the fewest treatments and therapies, that is, the least number of colonics, enemas, sweat baths, cold showers, and
other such enervating interventions fared the best. They recovered more quickly and thoroughly from their ail-
ments compared to those who underwent hydrotherapy and other treatments.
Further dangers exist with the enema, colonic, and colema board habit. Their continued use while fasting
may upset the body’s electrolyte balance and deplete its enzyme reserves by flushing out bowel contents and thus
preventing the recycling of electrolytically balanced water. Persons with the binge/purge eating disorder often
become addicted to purging through their bowels and have messed up their electrolyte balance to a dangerous
degree. Yet another danger is that the colon may become lazy as peristaltic activity is checked in expectation of
further, forced evacuations. This results in an addictive habituation to the use of mechanical evacuation aids, as
well as laxatives, and to a mildly euphoric high with each purge — a high that is addicting in itself. Ironically,
overuse of enemas, colonics, and the colema board may thus lead to chronic constipation — one of the very
conditions these treatments are designed to eliminate!
Many alternative practitioners see advantages in colonics. My personal opinion is expressed in this ques-
tion: “Even though these gadgets are not natural, why not take advantage of technology designed to assist us in
detoxifying our bodies as quickly as possible?” In many cases, they may be useful if not overused into abuse.
Susan points out: “Some alternativists deem enemas and colonics necessary in cases of severe constipation
or other pathology when the body has not had time to adapt to The 10 Energy Enhancers to achieve natural
excretion of the bowels.” I know that even Natural Hygiene doctors have, in rare cases, used enemas and
colonic therapy with patients experiencing excruciating pain when the “do-nothing” approach had failed to
bring timely results. Neither Dr. Shelton nor Dr. Vetrano, however, ever resorted to these therapies.
After years or even decades of toxic eating habits, the processed food eater may accumulate a thick,
mucoid, intestinal plaque buildup on the large intestine’s outer surfaces that face the lumen. Bowel impac-
tion can result. Build-up and bowel impaction both have been observed by colonic therapists, physiologists,
postmortem examiners, and autopsy pathologists. Their years of observations are documented with highly
disturbing photographs and X-rays as diseased tissues and impacted waste filled the bowel lumens. The
body constantly works to keep such build-ups and obstructions from happening at all. But if Nerve Energy
reserves are low compared to the toxic load continually imposed by the energy-squandering individual, new
layers of plaque inevitably build up within the various tissues that come in contact with the bowel lumen.
The large intestine and arteries have a particular affinity for such build-up, although the substances
attracted and stored differ. The arteries accumulate cholesterol and other fats. The colon stores primarily
uneliminated food waste, mucus, and putrefactive bacteria. If one genetically predisposed to bowel prob-
lems makes worse his genetics by eating a toxic diet, then intestinal pathology inevitably will result over
time. One or more of the following can develop: flatulence, odor, diarrhea, constipation, colitis, ulcerative
colitis, spastic colon, diverticulosis, polyps, tumors, cancer, mild discomfort, “pain as bad as child-birthing
contractions,” and other conditions and combinations thereof — all of which start with an irritable bowel.
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Some bowel disorders are merely embarrassing or annoying. Others bring life-threatening patholo-
gies with accompanying fear, pain, and misery. I have heard Health Seekers who come to me and describe
their conditions. They share variations of the lament: “I would rather be dead than live like this!” X-rays in
life and autopsies in death have shown grossly mis-shapen colons that were very painful to evacuate through
and live with. They are most often impacted with blackened, stiff, and/or oily, gooey gunk. How sad to see
these results of cooked food addiction: starches and sugars fermented, oils gone rancid, proteins putrefied
— all congealed over time, some nearly rock-like petrified! “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!” — it can kill.
Autopsies have revealed that in certain cases, the normal 2 and 1/2" - 3" diameter colon tube has
been distended to 6" or more! These diseased bowels have taken on winding, fallen, convoluted shapes.
They are weighted down with pounds of toxic build-up. They no longer take the healthy and relatively
straight courses and sharp right angles of the colon’s ascending, transverse, and descending sections. And
now, among the living, medical doctors can use modern technology to put a tiny camera into the colon
lumen and take color pictures of the outer colon surfaces! With pathology well into the latter stages of
disease, these pictures are gruesome and horrifying! My latest guest at Our Hygiene Homestead in The
Woods in February, 2010, arrived with such pictures: where only pink, healthy tissues should have been
found throughout, several areas of black and blue and purple and oozing and pus-filled, open sores had
developed, with diverticular pouches and polyps circled. Such pictures ought to bring any Health Seeker
still seduced by and intoxicated on The Standard American Diet to her knees and crying out like Scrooge in
A Christmas Carol: “Is it too late? Do I still have time to change? Does this early death have to be my fate?”
Black mucoid and tar-like plaque has been deposited so thick onto the outer colon walls that some-
times only a pencil-thick hole in the lumen is left for waste transit! Think of the strain it must take to force
a bowel movement through such a small hole! If you go for a colonic, your therapist will be able to show you
classic photos of this disgusting and pitiable situation, either on wall charts or in textbooks.
Susan continues: Upon autopsy, actor John Wayne, a real “meat and potatoes man,” was rumored to have
held 35 - 40 pounds of fecal matter in his colon. This may just be an urban legend. But it is easy to believe. Cooked
fooders, especially eaters of cooked meat, do indeed risk impacted and diseased colons.
An average, healthy colon weighs only 5 - 10 pounds when empty. Most Americans on the SAD are
estimated to be carrying around 15 - 20 pounds of unhealthy colon weight. Two situations most often motivate a
person to take a fast to empty his large intestine or to detoxify while on raw foods and/or to go through a series of
colonics. One is the presence of toxic build-up, partially created by the unfriendly bacteria homesteading. The
other is the presence of miserable disease symptoms. Some swear by colonics in the initial stages of elimination of
toxins. Their goals are to loosen up and flush out any loose, toxic material as speedily as possible and to minimize
auto-intoxication resulting from possible absorption of even the most minute amount of this undesirable material.
Some people who choose variations of the SAD take colonics regularly. They know their low-fiber and
highly intoxicating diet keeps their colons polluted. These colonic regulars reason that treatments will help. If you
opt for enemas/colonics because you are still eating cooked foods, be sure to replace lost, healthy intestinal flora
by taking probiotic supplements. Dr. Vetrano notes: “The natural flora will repopulate naturally while on raw
foods. And the USANA supplement is an insurance policy for such repopulation.” Victoria ends this section.
To guests at Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods, I delight in showing a 1990s’ Hollywood satire of
the year ’round life at one of the most successful and renowned turn-of-the-century health retreats in America!
It is a wonderful last evening event, after all the guests have gone through with me, and makes my program
look like, as one guest put it, “a piece of cake.” Early 1900s’ American natural health educator Dr. Harvey
Kellogg at his Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan first popularized the SAD colon phenomenon by warn-
ing the world: “Death begins in the colon!” His treatments, satirized, are hilarious! This raucous glimpse
into life at “The Sans” can be seen in The Road to Wellville movie. The emphasis on keeping the colon clean
is vividly portrayed in this trip to Dr. Kellogg’s fancy health retreat for the rich and famous! The viewer,
however, must get past a few sexy scenes in order to enjoy the several subplots and to thoroughly “get it.”
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The Detoxified & Purified — “BODY, MIND & SPIRIT!”
Victoria BidWell Brings into the Concrete Our Live Food Factor Subtitle!
Christian evangelists and television personalities Elmer and Lee Bueno built a Mexican-
American ministry in the 1980s and ’90s based on the promise of detoxification and healing. They
taught The Garden of Eden Diet with the biblical prescription of Genesis 1:29 and often reminded
their students: “There were no cook stoves in The Garden of Eden!” They called their organization
“Born Again Body!” This name not only celebrates being born again in spirit. It praises the feeling
of complete purification and rejuvenation of the body, as well! Lee lays out the possibility of achiev-
ing a born again body in Fast Your Way to Health. Initially, Lee and I agreed when I went to rewrite/
edit her manuscript, it would be a co-author project. Later, I allowed her to buy my name off the
front cover. During the project, I listed 20 signs of a detoxified, purified body, mind, and spirit via
fasting and/or raw fooding. The first 17 are a compilation from Dr. Shelton’s work. The last 3 are
from my oft-noted experiences as a Christian practicing The 10 Energy Enhancers.
· Bright pink tongue
· Sweet breath & fresh, clean-tasting tongue
· Normalized temperature
· Normalized pulse rate & blood pressure
· Soft skin, free of Irritation, Inflammation & other abnormalities
· Return of normal saliva flow
· Clear, light, odorless urine flow
· Odorless excreta
· Normal pink color under fingernails
· Increased rapidity with which blood flows back into the skin when forced out by
applied pressure
· Disappearance of unpleasant body odor
· Return of genuine hunger
· Disappearance of any acute symptoms of disease, if any were present
· At least arrest, if not partial to near-complete reversal of chronic, degenerative
symptoms, if the faster entered the fast with such symptoms & soon enough
· Bright, clear, sparkling eyes
· Renewed strength & vigor
· Sharp memory & use of mental faculties, in general
· Loss of inertia/laziness & a distinct, unmistakable quickening of the flesh to move
forward in useful & unselfish projects while fulfilling God’s plan for one’s life!
· Heightened appreciation for God & gratitude for all creation: nature, animals,
the flora, the waters, the air and skies, human beings, the planet & the cosmos!
· Feeling of mild to high joy & “the peace that passes all understanding.”
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The Limbic System & The Retracing Factor — Explained!
By Victoria BidWell
The limbic system of the brain is located deep within the cerebral cortex. The limbic system is a
fist-sized mass of neurons some call the “reptilian brain” because its electrical activity bypasses neurons
associated with rational thought and is primitive in quality and reactive and instinctive in function. The
limbic system is also called the “emotional brain.” It plays a key role in memory. It works in concert with
multiple areas of the 2 cerebral hemispheres to give us the gamut of emotions: highs and lows and every-
thing in between. Among other triggers, limbic activity bypasses the conscious mind when stimulated by
tastes and smells. Other environmental triggers, such as sights and sounds and touch, can also come into
play. But taste and smell are the most powerful, the most compelling, and the most seductive.
When food or drug memories are at play, the limbic system can conjure up the past and inspire
cravings so vivid that they can be experienced as absolutely beyond rational control! Our American court
system even respects this phenomenon by creating a “crimes-of-passion” category whereby the lawbreaker
is given a less severe sentence than the cold-blooded criminal with premeditated intent to do harm to
another. Once the limbic system is so stimulated, this is when people obsess over thoughts and act out
what they call “irresistible compulsions.” Their lives are out of control. Physiological science and neu-
roanatomy provide keys that can give us law-abiding citizens control over our daily lives and that can
likewise give those potential crimes-of-passion offenders hope over their obsessions and compulsions.
During detoxification, poisons are being eliminated that have actually been built into the body’s
own cellular structures as a result of ingesting addictive foods and/or drugs. These retained toxins leave
the cells, go into the circulatory pathways and travel through the body in the process of reaching their
various eliminative channels. The brain can be stimulated by these released poisons. When this stimula-
tion of the nervous impulses, especially via highly pleasurable memories experienced through the tastebuds
and olfactory nerves, reach the limbic area of the brain — WATCH OUT! Wildly concrete images of
sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell can be conjured up! And equally provocative accompanying memo-
ries and obsessions/compulsions can be evoked! Substance abuse of recreational drugs and addiction to
prescription drugs both employ this same limbic pathway as do toxic food cravings. The desire to re-eat
the toxic foods, therefore, can be just as irresistible as the desire to re-live the drug experiences!
In Natural Hygiene teachings, this phenomenon of re-living a taste or a smell, a drug experience,
an ache or a pain, a memory, or even an obsession/compulsion during detoxification and healing is for-
mally termed “retracing.” It occurs among detoxers with regularity. If not educated as to what is happen-
ing, these detoxers may feel helpless and hopeless as they give in to the confusing and overpowering urges
for the very chains from which they are about to free themselves! They must understand the science of
physiology and brain function behind the helpless feelings. They must work with their bodies, minds,
emotions, and spirits in order to claim that freedom. Understanding this Retracing Factor demystifies
the compulsion, gets rid of confusion, and allows the person to consciously override these addictive urges.
The good news is, that with this understanding, most times we can just count slowly and deliber-
ately from 1 to 15. Or we can count from 1 to 100, if that’s what it takes to carry us well past the urge to
indulge. Or we can just offer little prayers or say to ourselves: “This too shall pass.” We can direct our
attention to some mindless task, demanding chore, or pleasurable activity to move us through and well
past the cravings. This is employing behavioral modification techniques at their best. For the behavior
modification practices I have found most useful for Health Seekers, see Appendix F..
Susan continues: In the next chapter, Victoria BidWell continues taking the lead. With Dr. Vetrano and me
to back Victoria up, we will examine the scientific practice of fasting and when to fast as an aid to detoxification
and healing of body, mind, and spirit. This is a new chapter in our 2nd Edition of The Live Food Factor.
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“DEER” HEALTH SEEKERS ’ROUND OUR WORLD!
I have deleted a few sections of this chapter written by Susan that are
way off The Natural Hygiene Track and only serve to distract. In the fol-
lowing are all my Back to Basics Teachings: a few written by Susan &
edited by myself but most presented exclusively by me & edited by Dr.
Vetrano. My teachings are all in bold-face. The Natural Hygiene Fast &
The Juice Diet are our focus: for these are exactly & correctly what you
will get at Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods. The Wilderness Woman
in The Cascade Mountains of Washington State, U.S.A.
Natural Hygiene teachers hold that fasting on water-only is the only way to fast correctly, and they
consider it superior to juicing in most situations for most Health Seekers. Note: Natural Hygiene teachers
consider “juice fasting” to be a misleading misnomer that should be correctly termed “juice dieting.”
For the speedy elimination of toxins and healing, Dr. Vetrano explains the superiority of fasting on
water-only compared to juice dieting: “Since the body has the opportunity to revitalize and then cleanse
and heal itself during The Natural Hygiene Fast, the less interference it has, the better. That is, the less
dietary ingestion, the better — whether that ingestion be in juice or whole food form. The body does not
need to waste its precious Nerve Energy and stored reserves to handle glasses or even quarts of juice every
day. Perhaps the greatest detriment to the juice diet in comparison to The Natural Hygiene Fast is that the
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juice diet does not force the body to rely solely upon its reserves for nutrients. Instead of forcing the body
to break down its tissues — especially the unhealthy, morbid tissues — for the vitamins, minerals, energy
reserves, and proteins it needs, many of these nutrients are supplied by the juices daily. Furthermore,
when juice dieting, the metabolism does not slow down nearly as much as it does when abstaining from all
whole or juiced food and taking in only water. Therefore, the more metabolically active, physiological/
nutritional situation set up by juice dieting causes a greater depletion of the body’s protein stores than
fasting on water-alone. And thus, the body is far less challenged to break down its unhealthy, morbid
tissues: the very reason the person is going on a juice diet to make happen in the first place!”
There is no need to stop and review all the other alternativists who claim that juice dieting is superior
to The Natural Hygiene Fast for revitalization, detoxification, chemistry balancing, and healing. They all
have their own theories and have many reasons for preferring the juice diet to fasting on water-only. Suffice
it to say that many alternative health care professionals and educators outside Natural Hygiene prefer the
juice diet to The Natural Hygiene Fast. One reason they never give, however, is that the juice diet is less care
and worry for them — as practitioners! This is because there are few if any healing crises on juices and far
fewer patients/clients complaining of their boredom and physical discomfort, if not misery, on juices! All the
better for the practitioner, who seldom spends more than a few minutes, one-on-one with any given patient
or client daily, anyway. But it is not “all the better” for the Health Seeker. Read on to understand why!
In response to the alternativists who favor the juice diet, Dr. Vetrano and I make this formal state-
ment while addressing the debate issue: “Which is better? The Natural Hygiene Fast or the Juice Diet?”
Think about it! The whole idea of fasting on water-only to get well is to inspire the body to live off its
own reserve nutrients exclusively, healthy and unhealthy both. The whole idea is to set up this scenario!
Fasting on water-only is the most favorable set up for complete healing to take place in as short a time as
possible. If an ill person takes juices, however, he is living partially on juice nutrients; and thus, the auspi-
cious water-only set up for exclusivity and for most expeditious healing is fully sabotaged! The possibility of
inspiring the body to break down unhealthy tissues until they are completely autolyzed and the ill person
is completely well is therefore far, far less likely to occur and certainly less speedily so on a juice diet!
Ill-informed doctors consider an acidic condition pathological while fasting on water-only and want
to correct it by giving the sick person raw juices. The alternativists’ fear of the body’s biochemistry turn-
ing acid during a water-only fast is also completely incorrect. Yes, it is true that when fasting on water-only,
the toxic body is more acidic. But that is perfectly normal and as it should be! Stored wastes and poisons are
all acidic. As they leave their storage sites for elimination, the body will be perfectly and correctly acidic!
But it will normalize its chemistry to alkaline in its own sweet time — and without any juices whatsoever!
Of course! Healing crises do occur less often on juices! But a healing crisis is called a “healing
crisis” because that is when healing occurs most efficiently and rapidly! And that happens most thor-
oughly and expeditiously on water-only! Is this not exactly what the sick person wants? Complete and
rapid healing? Besides, in some cases, full healing cannot even take place while taking in nutrients; and
for these Health Seekers, a fast on water-only is the only route to take to inspire complete bodily healing.
When taking nutrients, the juice dieter’s metabolism is not slowed down significantly, even if rest-
ing a great deal. If the juice dieter is active, it is not slowed down much at all. But the faster on water-only
goes into a unique, physiological state of deep and complete rest; and metabolism is slowed down dramati-
cally. In comparison, the juice dieter’s needs for protein are much higher than those of the faster on water-
only. With anything over just a few days, therefore, the juice dieter is potentially creating a serious protein
deficiency. With fruit and veggie juices, Health Seekers are getting the full spectrum of minerals for some
detoxification and healing; but they are not getting enough protein. Nutrition becomes lop-sided. With the
fast on water-only, nutrient-conserving in general and protein-conservation in particular take place. This
is the ideal set-up for complete healing. This is... The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast!
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An Overview of Fasting & Freedom from Addictions
By Susan Schenck with Victoria BidWell
For many persons without hard-core eating disorders, the cellular memory of and cravings for coffee,
drugs, and cooked food are either virtually erased or greatly diminished after a fast of several days or longer.
Victoria BidWell is an expert on the obsessive/compulsive eating disordered. She points out the exception to this
post-fast phenomenon of losing interest in SAD cooked foods: “The depths of a person’s addiction to cooked
SAD food is often not revealed until he or she takes a fast and then starts on all-live foods. Then the addic-
tions surface — sometimes with a vengeance! The new raw fooder may find himself or herself, much to his
or her despair, hopelessly hooked on cooked. One of my clients spent thousands of dollars going to an
Australian retreat because the Natural Hygiene doctor there advertised that fasting would get rid of all food
cravings. She naively believed the ad. When that did not happen for her, she was shocked! The truth is: most
hard-core, SAD food addicts will still struggle, even after taking a fast or juice diet. They will have to put out
behavior modification and visualization and affirmation energy. They may need to get on-going counseling
and/of God to get free from their SAD food addiction. At the root of their problem is a self-image that needs
radical changing from hopeless and unhappy to believing in new possibilities, choosing to do right, and
wanting high joy as a way of life! Certainly, going all-raw, practicing The 10 Energy Enhancers, and taking
a fast is the best route to help these far-gone addicts regain hope, get control of their lives, and get happy.”
Paul Bragg writes of a woman he supervised on a fast. She had been doing 4 packs of smokes and drinking
a fifth of whiskey a day! She was also a heavy drinker of colas and coffee. Her nerves were so shaky that her hand
trembled while writing. She suffered from insomnia, blurred vision, pasty and flabby skin tone, and thoughts of
suicide. When Bragg put her on a fast, he allowed her to smoke a little and drink small amounts of alcohol and
coffee. But on the third morning of the fast, these poisons began to nauseate her. Any time she began to drink
alcohol, tea, or coffee, she would vomit. For the next 7 days of the fast, she had no desire for these poisons. Bragg
put her on a raw diet another 10 days, then on a fast for another 10. After that, her skin tone renewed to perfection.
She was happy and carefree, and she was free from addictions! Bragg reports: “She became one of the best writers
in the Hollywood TV and movie world. Her income doubled and tripled. Her personal magnetism increased, and
she attracted a handsome, wholesome man for a husband” (The Miracle of Fasting, pp. 110 - 111). Through his
experience in supervising fasts, Paul Bragg proved repeatedly that anyone with addictions can find the answer in
fasting. When the body becomes clean, it will no longer tolerate poisons without taking action to expel them.
German Professor Arnold Ehret maintained: “If an alcoholic were to be made to fast for a few days or eat
nothing but fruit, he would soon lose his taste for beer and wine. This proves that the entire civilized mass of foods
from beefsteak to seemingly harmless oatmeals creates a desire for these detestable antidotes: alcohol, coffee, tea,
tobacco. Why? Because overeating makes man lazy. And consequently, he has to pep himself up with stimulants”
(Rational Fasting, pp. 40-41). And Joseph Sarelli declared that he was freed from an addiction to 4 packs a day of
cigarettes after a 27-day fast (Naturally, The Hygienic Way, August, 1984).
Susan with Victoria continue: Spiritual benefits from fasting are well known in nearly every religion,
though religious ritual fasts are sometimes very brief (a day or even less). Early Native American Indians
fasted while going on a vision quest and taking passage into manhood. Muslims fast from sunrise until
sundown every day during their holy month of Ramadan (not even drinking water, despite living in the
desert). Fasting is also practiced in Judaism and Christianity. The Holy Bible mentions fasting 74 times.
Moses, David, Elijah, Jesus, and others mentioned in The Holy Bible fasted for as long as 40 days and 40
nights, a length commonly referred to as... “The Master’s Fast.” And during The Golden Age of Greece, the
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great philosopher Pythagoras required his disciples to fast for 40 days and 40 nights before being initiated into the
mysteries of spiritual teachings. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle also required their students to take fasts. They believed
that only through fasting could the mind be purified enough to understand the deepest teachings of life’s greatest
mysteries.
After Gandhi led the passive resistance movement of the Indians against British imperialism and an
independent India was established, internal strife between Pakistan and Muslim Indians broke out. Gandhi
hoped citizens on both sides would respect his love for a free India and his efforts to make the dream come
true. He further capitalized on the people’s inability to distinguish between fasting and starvation! Gandhi
thus conducted long, personal protest fasts to inspire members of the 2 factions to restore peace in the new
India. His refusal to eat unto what appeared to be starvation was so effective and so well-publicized that the
fighting stopped. Gandhi, however, knew exactly how long he could safely fast, as Dr. Shelton had provided
Gandhi with Natural Hygiene counsel and a copy of Fasting and Sunbathing: Volume III of The Hygienic
System. Gandhi’s fasts popularized social and political fasting. It is practiced to this day by protestors.
Susan continues: Many raw food teachers have also remarked on spiritual powers improving with fasting.
Arnold Ehret considered fasting the master key to mental and spiritual evolution. It was said of Dick Gregory that
after extensive juice dieting, he lost not only weight but also his anger. He claimed that as fasting cleanses the
body, poisons are thrown off, releasing hatred and other sick emotions.
Victoria BidWell explains why some Christians experience a spiritual high when fast-
ing: “During a fast, the flesh is neither fed nor satisfied with lustful longings for food. The
faster draws closer to God and can better listen to the Holy Spirit. I recall deep into my long
fast at Dr. Scott’s on one warm spring day. I walked barefoot out onto the huge lawn that
overlooked roadways and lay down to rest. I sank down into the deep, cool grass. Suddenly,
I felt the whole property being lifted up into the cumulous clouds. The non-stop sounds of
busy traffic went completely silent. Then, the proverbial ‘peace that passes all understand-
ing’ flowed through me — bringing love, joy, and gratitude into every cell of my body.”
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The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast
By Victoria BidWell & Edited by Dr. Vetrano
I now assist Health Seekers wanting to fast at my school named “Our Hygiene Home-
stead in The Woods” located in Concrete, Washington. I consult with Dr. Vetrano and Drs.
Tosca and Greg Haag and Dr. Zarin Azar when guests need a doctors’ help. In the following,
I share highlights of my experiences and knowledge about The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast.
I had the great education and pleasure of spending at least 6 years of my life, all tolled, at most of the
many Natural Hygiene schools, institutes, and vacation spots during the 1970s and through into the 1990s.
In my travels, I met, worked for, and/or studied with most of the most renowned names and lesser knowns
of those times. These 3 decades spanned “the great heyday of Natural Hygiene and fasting” that T.C. Fry’s
publications, especially his Healthful Living Magazine, inspired among his 36,000 subscribers. At most of
these places, the facilities were filled and overflowing with 3-month long waiting lists. It was a grand era!
My longest fast on water-only was in 1992 for 36 days. Dr. Scott gave me a spot in a shared room with
2 other women, in gratitude for my efforts to further Natural Hygiene teachings and help Health Seekers.
At Dr. Scott’s Natural Health Institute, I fasted and then followed up with 2 weeks on lettuce and water-
melon and another 18 days of fasting on water-only and another 10 days of refeeding. Most of the healing
benefits in body, mind, emotions, and spirit that I harvested then have lasted to this day. I would surely have
died of physical exhaustion from overwork and not enough Rest & Sleep if Dr. Scott had not helped me.
Humans and animals alike have practiced fasting for thousands of years and for many reasons. Yet,
we never see advertisements for fasting on water-only on television. And medical doctors argue vehemently
against fasting in the media and to their patients who bring up the subject. If the idea of fasting sounds too
radical and tempts you to give up your conventional paradigm to alternative paradigm shift, just know that
no one is forcing you to take a fast. The slower method with The 10 Energy Enhancers also gets good results.
Remember: IT’S ALL ABOUT ENERGY! And: DISEASE IN AN ENERGY CRISIS
IN A TOXIC BODY! Keep in mind that the high rate of disease arrest and partial or com-
plete recovery among Health Seekers who undertake a fast is backed up by The Natural,
Physiological Laws of Life.
As previously stated, physiologists estimate that at least 75% of the energy the body uses on a daily
basis for persons eating conventional SAD foods goes not for body heat and muscular movement, not for
mental/emotional work, not for reproduction or cellular replacement, not for detoxifiying and healing, as
you might think. Instead it goes for these supremely energy-expensive, metabolic tasks: digesting food in the
mouth, stomach, and intestines; moving ingested food through the alimentary canal from beginning to end
via peristalsis; absorbing chyle from the small intestine into the blood stream; circulating absorbed nutri-
ents through the liver for initial cleansing; moving nutrients to the cells; assimilating nutrients into the cells;
converting nutrients into energy to be made available to the body; and eliminating toxic by-products and
metabolic waste from foods.
These dietary-related processes feed the 75 trillion cells of the human body and remove the food
wastes. These many food-handling processes — and not the combination of body heat, muscular contrac-
tion, mental/emotional activities, and building new tissues and removing worn-out tissue debris — take up
an estimated 75% of a person’s energy generated during Rest & Sleep! That leaves only 25% of a person’s
Nerve Energy generated during Rest & Sleep for non-dietary tasks and life-as-desired responsibilities and
pursuits. This estimate, however, is much higher for persons on clean-burning live-food diets! That is, it is
probably more like 50% of energy generated during Rest & Sleep — for Natural Hygienists — is available
for the activities that make life meaningful, purposeful, and productive. FUN!
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So, why fast? It’s so simple. Abstaining from all food intake and resting from virtually all physical
activity and mental, emotional, and sensory excitation while taking in water-only frees up the body from all
of the nutritive/digestive/eliminative demands for energy and provides the body with an extended period of
complete Rest on many levels. Nerve Energy is generated and Nerve Energy reserves filled while the body
subsists on its nutritive reserves — including unhealthy, morbid tissues! But this restored energy is not used
on processing food. It is used for autolysis of unhealthy tissues, for cleansing and making fluid and cellular
upgrades and tissue repairs as needed while balancing body chemistry — all to the greatest extent possible.
To repeat: medical intervention may sometimes be absolutely necessary during a critical accident-
emergency or for an 11th hour disease crisis. Barring these cases, however, and always whenever the Health
Seeker takes the holistic course of action in acute disease, and in most cases of chronic disease, this natural
process of providing a sick person a time-out period for fasting on water-only and cooperating in every way
possible with the body’s design gets better results and faster results than any other known method.
Indeed, this period of The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast provides time for the body to bring about
the closest thing to a “healing miracle” possible! It puts Ponce de Leon’s virtual, never-found Fountain of
Youth within grasp of Health Seekers! Fasting also provides a time-out period from cooked food addiction.
When only small amounts of fresh, raw foods and juices are taken to break the fast, they are enjoyed and
welcomed by the Health Seeker with a relish indescribable! The 10,000 tastebuds have gone cold turkey for
the duration of the fast. The mind, emotions, body — and especially its tastebuds — are ready and poised
for this new, superlative nutrition shift to live foods and the other 9 Energy Enhancers — like never before!
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What “The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast” Is & Is Not
The second set of distinctions to make clear to the uninformed is to define just what “The
Correct Natural Hygiene Fast” is and is not. Following are 7 parameters. As a Natural Hygiene
health educator, let me emphasize here, that these 7 parameters are directed strictly to The
Correct Natural Hygiene Fast as practiced and popularized by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton and Dr.
Vetrano and Drs. Tosca and Greg Haag while supervising over 40,000 fasters combined. Now,
here are the 7 parameters — in a nutshell — that distinguish The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast
from both other alternativists’ versions of fasting and from the dreadful practice of starvation.
(The term “Correct” is applies to all 7 parameters.)
(1) The Natural Hygiene Fast occurs only with complete abstinence from all food-nutrients in
any form while the body safely lives on its totally adequate reserves and while taking distilled
water-only according to thirst. (I encourage fasters to take in 6 - 8 glasses of water a day to avoid
dehydration.) Starvation, by contrast, may occur even while taking in insufficient and nutrition-
deficient amounts of food or may occur in the absence of food over extended time.
(2) Once underway and in a matter of 1 day or 2 or 3 days, The Natural Hygiene Faster almost
always experiences a distinct lack of hunger. During starvation, by contrast, the individual al-
most always experiences a continued and compelling sense of hunger.
(3) The Natural Hygiene Fast represents a peaceful period of complete rest, willingly entered
into and always marked by a genuine calm once the faster cooperates with his body. Starvation,
by contrast, represents a tortuous period of turmoil for a person that is forced upon his body by
his own will or by someone else’s and is always marked by extreme distress.
(4) The Natural Hygiene Fast is always undertaken for beneficent reasons: mental, emotional,
spiritual, and/or health-related. Starvation, by contrast, is most often undertaken for social,
spiritual, political agendas and/or coercions, or because of a forced chance happenstance.
(5) The Natural Hygiene Fast is properly prepared for and properly supervised by a trained
practitioner who daily monitors the faster’s vital signs, eliminations, and subjective experiences.
Assistance to take oneself on a fast is sometimes all a Health Seeker who is not deep into chronic,
degenerative disease needs. During starvation, by contrast, a person is never properly super-
vised or assisted.
(6) The Natural Hygiene Fast represents a process of the body utilizing its nutritional reserves
and autolyzing morbid tissues during food abstinence. “Autolysis” is key noun in fasting litera-
ture. The verb is “autolyze.” The word element “auto-” means “self” and “-lysis” means “digest-
ing.” And during fasting, the body is very busy doing just that: autolyzing or digesting select
tissues of self! As soon as Nerve Energy is regenerated, the body eagerly autolyzes excess body
fat and morbid tissues, such as tumors and cholesterol deposits in arteries. And so, because of the
healing that comes about, “autolysis” is an exciting word to add to our health-seeking vocabular-
ies! Starvation, by contrast, represents a process of the body, exhausted of its nutritional re-
serves, slowly breaking down vital, life-sustaining tissues.
(7) The Natural Hygiene Fast is always followed by a period of assisted refeeding and a feeling of
increased well-being and improved health. Starvation, by contrast, is always followed by learn-
ing to live with irreversible tissue damage if one survives, and if not, by death.
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“The Natural Hygiene Fast” Versus “The Juice Diet”
The third set of definitions needed follow. The phrase “to go on a fast” has been misunderstood. To
use the phrase correctly, when a person “goes on a fast,” he is abstaining from one or more items, as defined
by the preceding noun-qualifier. Thus, a “water faster” refers to a person who is taking in everything and
anything but water. The “juice faster” refers to a person who is taking in everything and anything but juice.
Once these distinctions are correctly understood, a person who is taking in only water and fasting from
everything else is correctly said “to be fasting on water-only.” Among the Natural Hygiene intelligentsia,
when we speak of taking a fast, it is a fast on water-only. Likewise, when taking in juices-only, the novice
incorrectly says that the person is “fasting on juices.” But since taking juices, or food nutrients in any form,
for that matter, is actually eating as far as the digestive system is concerned, the person educated in the finer
points of Natural Hygiene lexicon correctly states: “The person taking in juices is on a juice diet.”
“The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast” is defined strictly: “a water-only and complete rest endeavor.”
Note this distinction: the body does not differentiate between metabolizing juices and whole foods. Either
way, the body is eating, digesting, absorbing, assimilating food nutrients, and eliminating their waste. To
drink juices is the same as to eat, as far as the body’s metabolic processes go. Juices, being devoid of fiber,
simply require less energy to process. Being on juices-only, therefore, is not properly termed “juice fasting.”
Rather, being on juices-only is properly defined as “fasting from whole foods” and “juice dieting,” both.
Following are 12 distinctions between The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast on water-only and the juice
diet of 8-ounce glasses of raw juices-only, 3 - 4 times a day or more as needed. These distinctions have been
numbered to indicate their correct, chronological order.
(1) During the fast on water-only, eating and digestion halt. But during juicing, eating continues with the
nutrients simply in a liquid form.
(2) During the fast on water-only, hunger is absent after 1 - 3 days, more or less. But during juicing, hunger
continues until the call for food every second becomes compelling — and sometimes excruciatingly so.
(3) During the fast on water-only, the revitalization, cleansing, body chemistry balancing, and repair are an
estimated 3 - 5 times greater or even more than during juicing.
(4) During the fast on water-only, sodium-chloride is rapidly eliminated the first 2 - 3 days. But during
juicing, the sodium-chloride elimination is far less dramatic, if even noticeable.
(5) During the fast on water-only, weight loss is an estimated 3 - 5 times greater or more than during juicing.
(6) During the fast on water-only, nutritional balance is maintained. But during juicing, one or more nutri-
tional imbalances can occur within days or weeks.
(7) During the fast on water-only, much physiological rest is secured. But during juicing, the physiological
rest secured is more than when eating solid foods but much, much less than when fasting.
(8) To be on the safe side, the longer fast on water-only of 7 - 10 days and more requires a retreat setting and
supervision or assistance. But a period of time spent juicing, in virtually all cases, does not.
(9) During a fast on water-only, energy levels drop which necessitates complete bed rest. But during juicing,
energy levels normally allow modest activity and even a modest workload, as long as rest breaks are taken.
(10) After a fast on water-only, an equal number of days feeding are required to regain full strength. But
after a juice diet, far fewer days are required to regain full strength because so little strength was ever lost.
(11) The fast on water-only is not necessarily superior to juice dieting. The 2 physiological modes of Correct
Natural Hygiene care are employed for different reasons and in different cases to achieve different results.
(12) It should be noted that in certain, rare disease situations, the Health Seeker cannot get well on juices-
only and will need a longer fast on water-only or a series of short fasts before health is recovered.
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The 5 Kinds of Rest Taken on The Natural Hygiene Fast
Item (3) above is crucial to The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast, it needs further emphasis for the Health Seeker
who is mildly interested in further study. And item (3) is also what distinguishes The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast
from other alternativists’ forms of fasting. During The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast, the faster must, by definition,
secure complete rest. She must not be going on hikes and swims, driving around, spending hours on a computer, or
seeking other such distractions and entertainments. Doing so is not fasting: it is just not eating! The Natural Hygiene
Faster is a complete rester. Her sole focus is to revitalize her nervous system, and that only occurs during Rest & Sleep.
The revitalization, however, can be accelerated while resting or sleeping — and fasting! Remember: “IT’S ALL
ABOUT ENERGY!” And during The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast, the Health Seeker increases energy by securing
rest on these 5 levels.
(1) REST FROM PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: The faster makes as few demands on her musculoskeletal sys-
tem as possible and takes as much bed rest as possible. She goes to bed to rest, relax, and/or sleep. Or she
lounges around during a minimum of her waking hours. She secures as much physical rest as possible,
interspersing her day with naps and then retiring very early. A leisurely walk or brief period of mild stretch-
ing may be allowed for all but the very weak fasters.
(2) REST FROM PHYSIOLOGICAL DUTIES OF PROCESSING FOOD: During a fast, the tremendously
energy-expensive processes of digestion, absorption, assimilation, and elimination of food is brought to an
end with the processing of the last meal. To repeat, physiologists speculate that 75% of our Nerve Energy is
spent on the daily processing of food. During fasting, however, the entire gastro-intestinal tract rests! The
basic metabolic activity is at a healthful, restful minimum. The energy normally used to process food while
eating is thus freed up to repair, restore, and renew the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Deep, physiological
rest is secured during fasting for most of the body. But some organs/systems work overtime carrying out the
many eliminating and healing activities. The more toxic the Health Seeker, the more energy is needed to
carry out these activities — thus, the importance of securing physiological rest.
(3) REST FROM SENSORY INPUT: During a fast, the Health Seeker retreats from the sensual and senso-
rial onslaught of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell that makes up the excitations and fabric of daily life.
The faster should use her eyes, ears, and other sensory systems as little as possible and stay in a quiet place
to secure a rest and respite for all the senses.
(4) REST FROM EMOTIONALISM: Ideally, the faster retreats to a Natural Hygiene school and sanctu-
ary setting, away from all the emotional input and output of daily life. A quiet setting is one of the foremost
considerations! Experts estimate that upwards of 90% of all illness has a stress-related factor. Therefore,
this emotional rest is truly beneficial for minimizing psychosomatically induced symptoms.
(5) REST FROM MENTAL ACTIVITY: The faster puts away concerns and projects that demand mental
efforts and concentration or that present distractions. The brain is the center for all mental activity. It is also
the housing for Nerve Energy regeneration. In order for the revitalization that brings health and energy, the
brain and entire nervous system need this mental time-out period of rest, sleep, and fasting.
Obviously, the properly assisted or supervised Natural Hygiene faster is not watching television, not
on the phone, not at the computer, not reading, not at hobbies, not taking regular exercise, not exchanging
recipes with other fasters all day and night, not conducting business affairs, and not engaging in endless
conversations or carrying on long-distance romances or differences-of-opinion feuds with family or friends,
or engaging in legal battles! Ideally, the Health Seeker is securing deep, complete rest on all 5 of these levels
and taking part in any of the above activities minimally or only because of emergencies.
Believe me: I know! To so abstain is very hard for the thrill-seeker! Even the Health Seeker who is
more relaxed and not a stimulant junkie can get very fidgety. But your knowing just what a “correctly
supervised/assisted fast” is now can help you prepare mentally and emotionally for a fast you may decide
to undertake later. It is best to get your affairs in order before checking out from daily routines. You want
to be able to let go and to enjoy complete rest with a brain flat-lined into peacefulness and pleasantries!
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MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS IN PICKING A FACILITY CONDUCIVE TO COMPLETE REST: If at all
possible, avoid all The 10 Energy Robbers. (See page 17.) Especially avoid the following: Uncleanliness to
befoul and demoralize you, Impure Air to pollute you with every breath you take, sheer curtains that let
light in to keep you from Rest & Sleep, noise pollution of cities and sirens to disturb your Rest & Sleep,
Wrong Temperatures with high humidity to distress you, hospital-type settings with unnatural environs to
keep you out of touch with your healing mind and body and to disrupt your Emotional Balance, 3 or more
persons in one bedroom to disrupt your Emotional Balance, grumpy or otherwise inappropriate staff per-
sons offering Toxic Relationships to disconcert you. (As you can see: “I been there, done that!” in my health
retreat hopping days! The worst was when I fell prey, in my weakened state, to a young, immoral, sexual
predator intern back in the day. But that is another story!) And finally — exorbitant rates to drain you.
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If you are in reasonably good health and intend to take yourself on The Correct Natural Hygiene
Fast at Our Hygiene Homestead in The Woods with me as your assistant, as soon as your reservation is
made, I send you a gift copy of Fasting for the Health of It: 100 Case Histories Selected from Over 200,000
Clinical Records to inspire you to best prepare for your great adventure! Dr. Shelton’s most famous book
Fasting Can Save Your Life recently came back into print. It is excellent. And you can order a copy
through me or wait until you arrive at Our Hygiene Homestead to read a library copy. I have dozens of
books there on fasting for you. Dr. Vetrano considers our crash course given you here on The Correct
Natural Hygiene Fast so clear and thorough — and “correct” — that we are using it in its entirety as
prefatory material to her new book I am currently editing: Astounding Case Histories to Put Natural
Hygiene on The Worldwide Map! (Susan now reviews case histories from Fasting for the Health of It.)
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After a Fast, Woman Finally Able to Carry a Fetus to Full Term
(Rachelle fasted under the supervision of Dr. Shelton for 10 days in 1932.)
There are different reasons for sterility. Many Health Seekers respond favorably to the fast, others do not.
In this particular case, Rachelle had 28 spontaneous abortions. After a 10-day fast and a 4-month diet of raw fruit
and vegetables, she became pregnant and later gave birth to a healthy boy.
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Study The Fight-or-Flight Response to Conquer Fear of Fasting
By Victoria BidWell
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The Details of Drug Withdrawal
By Susan Schenck with Victoria BidWell & Dr. Vetrano
Susan continues: If you have been taking recreational, prescription, and/or over the counter drugs
(Your body doesn’t know the difference.), you could go into an intense drug withdrawal and a more
dramatic elimination of toxins in general than would happen if you had never used these drugs — espe-
cially for a prolonged period of time. Medical doctors at their very best and who are well-trained and
experienced in The Correct Natural Hygiene Fast never advise Health Seekers to fast while on drugs or
immediately after quitting drugs and still going through withdrawal. This is where supervision/assistance
is absolutely crucial for an easier time of it.
Dr. Vetrano cautions: “Natural Hygiene doctors cannot take people off meds. Natural Hygiene
doctors must ask their clients to have their medical doctors tell them how to get off prescriptions. Only
after several weeks of quitting medications should a fast be taken. With steroids, however, it is best to wait
a year before fasting. This permits the adrenal glands to return to full function. A crisis could occur. And
with too little cortisol, death could result unless the client took his steroids again at the onset of the crisis.”
Legally, a medical doctor is the only primary health professional who can tell you to stop taking
drugs or reduce your drug dosage. Holistic physicians, such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, homeo-
paths, and naturopaths, know how toxic these drugs are. But they cannot tell you to cease taking them at
the risk of being taken to court for practicing medicine without a license and being sent off to jail. (For
more on how the medical system works, see Appendix B.)
Therefore, Victoria BidWell and Dr. Vetrano and I cannot advise you to stop your prescrip-
tion medications, either. For going through drug withdrawal once you have made your decision to
go of meds, we do recommend consulting first with a holistic doctor or, better yet, a Natural Hy-
giene doctor or health educator trained in fasting supervision/assistance. As Victoria BidWell makes
very clear: “While referring all who are deep into chronic degeneration to Dr. Scott and Dr.
Goldhamer, I can assist virtually all other Health Seekers through The Correct Natural Hygiene
Fast with whatever their needs!”
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PROFILE OF THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST!
#1 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST & THE HEALTH SEEKER are 1 in the same! They actually see high
energy, a youthful appearance, emotional health, mental clarity, nurturing relationships, freedom from addiction &
a long, rewarding life — when casting eyes upon Live-Foods from The Ideal Diet. Likewise, THE LIVE-FOOD
ENTHUSIAST turned HEALTH SEEKER actually sees creepy, diseased personifications of Enervation, Toxemia,
brain fog, emotional despair, toxic relationships, slavery to addiction, canes & wheelchairs & pain & misery & a
shortened lifespan ended by an early grave — when casting eyes upon The Suicide American Diet dead foods.
#2 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST... because of this vision, is committed to Live-Foods, to the best of his or
her ever-improving ability. SAD foods give him or her the creeps! Moments of weakness may bring backsliding.
But Live-Food commitment brings self-correction! There comes a time when we can’t going back to dead food.
#3 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST... is not unhappy about turning away from dead foods & turning to The
Live-Food Track. The Live-Food Enthusiast does not go about with an attitude or look on the face or in the body
language that reads, “I’m deprived! I’m miserable because I cannot have cooked Suicide American Diet food!”
With this mindset, The Live-Food Enthusiast experiences... “NOT PUNISHMENT! NOT DEPRIVATION! BUT
LIBERATION & RELIEF & GRATITUDE & JOY — HIGH JOY!”
#4 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST... man or woman, never feels a need to ever be on the defensive about his
or her Live-Food choices — nor does either feel a need to degrade the Suicide American Diet choices of their
friends. Furthermore, they do not push The Ideal Diet on others: they just joyously enjoy their Live-Foods!
#5 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST... knows he or she has discovered “THE IDEAL WAY OF EATING” that is
adding untold pleasures & riches to their lives. In this spirit, therefore, both feel privileged to have discovered the
inestimable blessings of The Live-Food Diet. A blessedness & a specialness & an excitement for life & a glow of
health & happiness — all go with THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST! Their giants go with them wherever they go!
#6 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST... does feel powerful urges, which come from the natural human inclination
to share a good thing, to teach the many truths of Natural Hygiene as “The Superlative, Alternative Health Care
System” to others who express an interest. The motto of Live Food Enthusiasts? “SHARE! SHARE! SHARE!”
#7 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST... feels so privileged & blessed, so healthy & happy, that her or his enthu-
siasm is not only apparent for all to see — it is actually contagious! When dining with others, consequently, this
“HIGH JOY” causes others to take interest in what he or she is on: Natural Hygiene & The 10 Energy Enhancers!
THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIASTS frequently find themselves sharing. They invite others to Live-Food picnics and
dinners. They loan out &/or give out Natural Hygiene literature, especially recipe books. They prepare the tasty
Live-Food beverages as a way of gently showing others how wonderful the Suicide American Diet beverage
alternatives can be! They sponsor Live-Food lectures and support group meetings. They becomes teachers to
those who ask what it is that is making him or her look so good and feel so energetic, so happy, so alive!
#8 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST, remember, is also a HEALTH SEEKER of the first order! He & she see
The Ideal Diet as only part of a total, healthful living, 10-point program. Both are committed to a non-toxic lifestyle
— in its totality — “THE 10 ENERGY ENHANCERS.” Both turn away from all “THE 10 ENERGY ROBBERS.”
Both embrace all of Natural Hygiene, in striving for their highest health & energy & creativity potentials!
#9 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST... seeks health even in the middle of stumbling & falling, backstepping &
backsliding, getting off The Right Track & ending up in SAD food! THE LIVE FOOD ENTHUSIAST is also a realist
who understands that he or she is not perfect, that going off the raw foods happens & that doing so is part of the
process of transitioning to all-raw or mostly all-raw foods. THE LIVE FOOD ENTHUSIAST never gives up & has
learned to “COUNT IT ALL JOY” — being on the Live-Foods perfectly and falling off terribly, both. Forgiveness &
self-correction are part of THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIAST mentality! Joyful forgiveness & self-correction!
#10 — THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIASTS — women, men, children — all value their own health & well-
being. They are free from The Disease Industrialists’ brainwashing. They are not set in the “self-destruct
mode.” Ultimately, THE LIVE-FOOD ENTHUSIASTS, that is, THE HEALTH SEEKERS, are proud of their
purposeful lives with far-reaching, love-one-another, Save-the-Planet goals. They see taking care of them-
selves as a means to best enable them to serve & to be of best use to all their brothers & sisters, to all
forms of plant & animal life & to Our Great Planet Earth! Grateful, Joyful Stewards are what we are! AMEN!
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LIVE- FOOD PHOTOS & FUN!
“Help Yourself!”
Platters
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