Category: Further Learning

Colloidal Silver – Magic Cure or Poison?

Heavy Metal Poisoning and Symptom Suppression

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Colloidal silver is a beloved magic cure in the natural health world. It is said to be the antidote for every malady from chest congestion to viral infections like the common cold.  It is said to boost your immune system and clear up skin conditions. It is reported to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties.  Many people use colloidal silver to cleanse the gut and combat inflammation.  One article discussed below even touts colloidal silver as “ANTI-EVERYTHING.”  Bronchitis, food poisoning, gonorrhea, meningitis, pink eye, shingles, tuberculosis, staph and strep infections, herpes, cancer, and AIDS all are powerless to the mighty cure-all colloidal silver.

If this list of marketed benefits is not raising your red flag alert then you are likely new to the terrain model. By the end of this article, you will understand why these so called benefits are in fact detrimental to your health.

Central to the terrain model is the understanding that 

  1. All symptoms are created by the body intelligently.  
  2. There are two types of symptoms: constructive and degenerative. Constructive symptoms are an effort to alleviate disease conditions. Degenerative symptoms result from degeneration of the body due to the existing disease conditions.
  3. Constructive symptoms are remedial.  They seek to return the body to a state of health. 
  4. Bacteria in the body are created by and controlled by the body. Bacteria exist in the healthy body with no symptoms of disease present.  Bacteria are present at the site of disease conditions because they are part of the healing process initiated by the body, not because they are an outside invading force attacking the body.  They cannot be an outside invading force attacking if they exist in a healthy body without causing any symptoms or conditions of disease. 
  5. All actions are taken by the body.  Substances are inert and cannot take action, therefore all actions as a result of ingesting a substance are the body acting upon the substance to expel the substance, not the substance acting upon the body.  
  6. We cannot use poison to get back to health.  

As we look at this list we can see that the reported benefit of colloidal silver killing bacteria is not a health benefit but a detriment.   We can see that the suppression of symptoms by colloidal silver is a detriment, not a benefit, working against the body’s healing processes.   

Working against the body’s healing processes

Bacteria are the recycling team of nature, breaking down waste and debris.  The bacteria within our body are created by the body and controlled by the body, and found in all healthy bodies, so an antibacterial substance is a substance that kills the bacteria that is your own body’s recycling and waste elimination team.   By its most basic nature, an antibacterial substance is injurious to the body. 

Silver is a heavy metal.  

The term colloidal just means that the particles of silver are so small that they do not settle out of the solution.  A substance that has been prepared in a colloidal state does not necessarily make it usable by the body nor does it alter its fundamental properties as a heavy metal.  Most people try to avoid heavy metals because we know that metals are hard for the body to remove, and can cross the blood-brain barrier leading to neurological deficits.  

“The concept of brain barriers or a brain barrier system embraces the blood–brain interface, referred to as the blood–brain barrier, and the blood–cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) interface, referred to as the blood–CSF barrier. These brain barriers protect the CNS against chemical insults, by different complementary mechanisms. Toxic metal molecules can either bypass these mechanisms or be sequestered in and therefore potentially deleterious to brain barriers. Supportive evidence suggests that damage to blood–brain interfaces can lead to chemical-induced neurotoxicities.”   Brain barrier systems: a new frontier in metal neurotoxicological research  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3982148/

Normal Hand Color vs Argyria - Showing the blue-gray tinge of heavy metal silver deposits in the skin

Despite our knowledge of the dangers of heavy metals, silver, a heavy metal, is sold as the magical colloidal silver and becomes the exception that is touted as a natural cure instead of the poisonous neurotoxin that it is. 

In the terrain model, we know that the body is self-healing and self-cleaning and that symptoms are productive and useful, not random or the result of a war against the body.   For this reason, we don’t apply treatments that stop the symptoms as that would result in injury to the body and a cessation of the body’s productive cleaning and healing processes.  Instead, we seek to remove the cause of the disease conditions, or injury that is occurring to the body and to allow the body’s healing processes to complete without interference or suppression.   

How do we determine if a product is safe or toxic?

When we look at the suitability of applying a substance to the body we want to look at the known effects of that substance.  How does the body respond to the application of this product?  Does the body respond with expulsion symptoms?   Does the body respond with further degeneration?   Does the product stop healing processes?   

Known side effects of colloidal silver:

Headache

Fatigue

Myoclonic seizures

Impaired kidney function

Impaired liver function

Loss of bone density

Discoloration of fingernails

Blue tinge to gums

Ocular argyrosis –  a blue-gray pigmentation of the eyes caused by the deposit of silver in the eye.

Argyria – a blue-gray pigmentation of the skin caused by the deposit of silver in the tissues.

Image Credit: Mota, L., & Jorge, R. (2021). Clinical and Forensic Aspects of the Different Subtypes of Argyria. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 10(10), 2086. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10102086

“The respiratory tract may be affected in severe cases of silver intoxication. Chronic bronchitis has also been reported to result from the medicinal use of colloidal silver. Large oral doses of silver nitrate or acetate may cause severe gastrointestinal irritation due to its caustic action.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8152497/

The more extreme long-term effects of ingesting and using colloidal silver topically can be seen in this sad case – Paul Karason aka Papa Smurf who passed away in 2013 after years of taking silver supplements.: https://youtu.be/Gq8C0GknwAM

Image Credit: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/internet-sensation-papa-smurf-dies-blue-people-live/story?id=20368758

And the sad case of Rosemary Jacobs, 71, who developed the condition argyria at the age of 11 when she began using nasal drops containing colloidal silver (CS).

As with any heavy metal, the metal becomes lodged in the tissues of the body causing malfunction of the cells in that area as the cells are impaired by the foreign object that is in their way.   

It is fairly easy to see that the application of this heavy metal is at the very least not harmless, but detrimental to the natural and normal function of the body.  Aside from killing the bacteria within your system that are necessary to the health of your body, you are adding a material that will remain lodged in your tissues long-term and impair the function of all surrounding cells. 

Image Credit: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/FIGURES-1-2-The-slate-gray-discoloration-of-the-face-skin-of-a-patient-87-91-with_fig5_5751180

If that is not enough to keep you away from this toxic remedy, let us take a deep dive at some of the most common marketed uses for colloidal silver and breakdown why they are not beneficial:

(From “15 Benefits of Colloidal Silver” https://www.assuaged.com/news/15-reasons-you-need-a-bottle-of-colloidal-silver-in-your-home)

“Anti-Everything”

“Colloidal silver is a great natural antibiotic…”  “…may destroy fungal diseases, viruses, and germs.”

Antibiotic means a product that can kill bacteria, yeasts, healthy cells, and any other living organism it comes into contact with.  Since our body contains millions and millions of bacteria, all of which serve an important purpose in our body’s natural processes, including digestion, breakdown of heavy metals and toxins, and wound repair, killing these bacteria does nothing to improve our health, it adds to the overall disease burden on the body.    

Additionally, viruses are not alive and therefore cannot be killed.  Viruses are spent cellular debris – small fragments of cells that have been broken down either by the application of poison to the body which injures the cells or by the natural breakdown of cells as a part of the natural life cycle of the cell.   Destroying viruses means nothing as a virus is a destroyed part of a cell and while it can be broken down further, it was not capable of taking any action prior. For more on Viruses see my article: Are Viruses Real?

Fungus is another naturally occurring part of our body that causes no harm.  Killing the fungus has done nothing to remove the reason the body put fungus in place to clean up debris and excess waste.   Applying the solution might kill the fungus but it will not remove the reason the fungus exists in the first place, so all you are doing is shooting the messenger while ignoring the message.   

By destroying a bacteria, fungus, or virus you have effectively killed the messenger, destroyed the clean-up crew, and left the body in a deeper state of disease than when the symptoms first arose.   You may have successfully gotten rid of the messenger, but they will come back because you have done nothing to get rid of the reason for their message.   Like killing the flies that are flying around the garbage but leaving the garbage in place you have done nothing to address the problem.  

“Fights inflammation”

Inflammation is stage 4 of the disease process (See “The Seven Stages of Disease – https://youtu.be/w4PBOuXiqPA ) and is a healing process.  Inflammation includes the swelling of an area due to the body bringing water into the area to flush out toxins and cellular debris and dilute acidic waste products.   Inflammation also includes heat as the body brings bacteria to the area to break down dead tissue for recycling and breaking down toxins.  The activity of the bacteria creates heat.   Inflammation also includes increased blood flow to the area to bring in nutrients and building materials required to make repairs.  The body uses inflammation to heal, therefore a product that fights inflammation or shuts down inflammation is not helping the body, but harming the body.  This is why when we use products to stop inflammation the inflammation often comes right back after we stop the product.  

Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria

“Treat eye infections” 

The medical concept of infection is that bacteria invade the eye or other areas of the body and wage war randomly on that part of the body.  The germ theory narrative states that a single germ or bacteria enters the body and the body is defenseless to beat this single germ, but then the germ multiplies hundreds and thousands of times over, creating an infection, a mass of bacteria that is waging war against the tissues. 

Despite being unable to stop the single germ in the beginning the body allows the germ to multiply into an entire battalion and then and only then, once the bacteria has taken hold and laid the body low does the body begin to fight back against the germ.  At this point, the allopathic model states that the immune system battles back from its position of weakness and overcomes the thousands of germs that one germ alone was too much for the immune system to handle.  

The terrain model states that bacteria work in the body in the same way they are observed to work in nature.  Bacteria work upon dead or damaged tissue to break down and recycle the tissue.   Bacteria never attacks healthy or live tissue, it only works upon dead tissue.  Even the allopath has admitted this fact.  

In the terrain model, we recognize that the tissue is injured first by exposure to poison, toxin, or irritant.  The bacteria is brought to the area of injury by the body to recycle the damaged tissue.  The bacteria is found at the site of injury after the occurrence of injury because it is working on the repair of the injury not because it is a cause of injury.  The bacteria increases in population in proportion to the amount of work that needs to be done and then the bacteria population decreases naturally as the area is repaired and the conditions of health are put back into place.  

In the allopathic model, the concept of an external bacteria/germ attacking the body is justification for the use of poisons applied to the body to kill the germ.   

In the terrain model, we recognize that poisoning a poisoned or injured body is detrimental to the health of the body and that killing the recycling and repair team is counter to the healing processes put in place by the body.  Therefore the use of colloidal silver, or any other antibiotic substance is working against the natural healing processes utilized by the body. 

The eye becomes irritated by exposure to a poison, toxin, dirt, debris, or other injury and the healing process begins.  The body brings bacteria to the area of injury to break down the dead and dying tissue so it can be replaced with new tissue.   Applying a poison at this point to kill the bacteria stops the healing process and causes further injury to the body.  This is why antibiotics often fail in the first, second, third, or fourth rounds.  

“Treat ear infections” 

Again the same process of healing is being circumvented by the application of a substance that damages the body.  Like the eye infection, the bacteria are in place to assist with healing the injury and the application of the colloidal silver stops the healing process and injures the body in the process.

Image Credit: Mota, L., & Jorge, R. (2021). Clinical and Forensic Aspects of the Different Subtypes of Argyria. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 10(10), 2086. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10102086

“Relieve physical injuries (burns, cuts, etc.)”

As mentioned above, the body takes all action.  Substances are inert (dead) and cannot take action. 

This means when a wound is healed it is the body that is repairing the tissues. The body clots the blood. The body creates the scab. The body eliminates the dead and damaged tissue. The body brings the building materials to the site of injury for repair. All actions are taken by the body.

The body closes wounds slowly and intelligently to allow for the weeping of waste out of the wound.  If the wound closes too rapidly there is no exit for the waste and in extreme cases this can lead to sepsis, a danger often experienced when injuries are artificially sown shut with stitches. 

The skin is our body’s natural defense from poisons entering the interior of the body.  When the skin is injured there is an area where a toxin could potentially enter.  If we apply poison to the skin at the area of the wound the body will take action to more rapidly close the wound. 

Rather than closing slowly and naturally and allowing for the proper draining of waste as the wound closes, the body is forced to rapidly close the wound trapping the waste inside the body.  This waste then requires removal via a different route adding to the overall burden on the body.   This is true of all ointments, salves, tinctures, antibiotics, or any other substance placed on a wound.  While the wound may close more quickly this is at the expense of the body, not to the body’s benefit.  

“Alleviate skin conditions”

Skin conditions like rashes, eczema, or psoriasis are an expulsion symptom. 

The body is backed up with acidic waste, toxins, and poisons. The body activates its secondary elimination channel, the skin, to expel these waste materials.   In a healthy person, all eliminations move through the primary channels which are the bowels, kidneys, and lungs.  When our body is overwhelmed and backed up, more aggressive measures must be put into place. 

The body must utilize its backup systems to keep up with the heavy burden.   Since these symptoms are how the body pushes waste out when it is already under a heavy burden, the addition of substances that stop the body from pushing the waste out in this area means you are trapping that waste inside the body or forcing the body to find yet another avenue for expulsion. The colloidal silver may clear the symptom, but again it has done so at the expense of the body and has put the body under an even greater burden of disease. 

Image Credit: Mota, L., & Jorge, R. (2021). Clinical and Forensic Aspects of the Different Subtypes of Argyria. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 10(10), 2086. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10102086

“Heal sinus infections”

Yet again we see the remedy being used to work against the body’s army of healing organisms.  A sinus “infection” is the inflammation of the sinuses due to chronic or acute irritation.  The application of the toxic heavy metal does not remove the cause of the initial irritation or the chronic irritation.  It does nothing to address why the body is irritated.  It stops the symptoms again, but again we must ask, why did the body create those symptoms, and is stopping them beneficial?   Sneezing allows the body to push out waste, mucus carries out the waste, inflammation results from irritation and the process itself is the way the body rids itself of excess and heals, so again stopping the “infection” is stopping the body-created healing process.  

“Cold and flu remedy”

Probably the most dangerous use of a poison like colloidal silver is as a cold or flu remedy.  The body creates colds and flu when the conditions inside the body have become intolerable and it does so as a healing process.  Colds and flu are a collection of expulsion symptoms like sneezing, coughing, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. These symptoms all are pushing material out or breaking the material down so it can be pushed out.  Colds and flu occur when the burden on the body has become so great that the vitality of the body is very low and the cells can no longer function as required.  The body creates a massive purge of toxins, carried out in mucus and fluids, to alleviate the burden on the body.  

“Heal pneumonia”

Pneumonia is the progressive result of attempts to stop cold and flu expulsion events.  The more we impair the body’s ability to expel by applying toxic substances to suppress the expulsion symptoms the greater the threat to the body becomes.  The body must expel the waste. When it is not able to do so in its initial less aggressive attempts then the mucus continues to build. The body continues to put fluid in the area to dilute the waste with the result being fluid in the lungs awaiting expulsion. This is what the allopathic model calls pneumonia.  

The application of colloidal silver does nothing to remove the cause of the pneumonia symptoms or any of the prior symptoms that led up to the body creating pneumonia.   If we continue to poison the body at this point with any poison the body can be pushed beyond its ability to survive.   Applying colloidal silver to a person with pneumonia can easily result in the death of the patient.  

 “Treat a sore throat”

Throats become sore due to injury by ingesting irritants, inhaling smoke, drinking alcohol, ingesting cows milk or spicy foods, or cooked foods.  Any substance that is not appropriate to our physiology has the potential to cause injury or irritation to the throat. Any toxic substance which is inhaled also can injure the tissues of the throat. 

When the tissues become injured the body responds by signaling pain to force us to stop eating so that we stop using the throat long enough for the body to make the necessary repairs.  The body puts bacteria in place to break down dead and damaged tissues and recycle them.  Applying colloidal silver kills the bacteria that is there making its repairs.  Again, the colloidal silver has done nothing to remove the cause of the initial injury and the application of the poison impairs the healing processes leaving an excess burden for the body to deal with on top of the initial injury.  

“Treatment for pets”

“infections, minor cuts and wounds, eye and ear infections, and ringworm”

Not only do we injure ourselves by ingesting and inhaling this heavy metal but then we apply the poison to our companions for the same reasons.  We seek to suppress and shut down the symptoms which have been put in place by the body to heal the body and by doing so we add additional disease conditions and further impair the body.   There are no safe uses for colloidal silver in pets, just like you would not apply any other heavy metal to your dog or cat for any reason.  

The remainder of the uses listed in this article are household uses not relevant to this particular article but you can see from this list of common uses that the only perceived benefits are a misunderstanding of the healing processes of the body and an attempt to shut the body down as it makes attempts to clean, repair and heal.    

Removal of Cause is the only path to health

Like all remedies, pharma or natural, there is no effort to remove the cause, there is only an attempt to suppress or hide symptoms, the symptoms themselves being the cure that is created by the body.  In all cases, the remedy is working against the body, suppressing or interfering with the healing processes of the body and resulting in a greater condition of disease after the application of the toxic substance.  

These purported benefits are all a result of the allopathic mindset of applying poisons to a poisoned body in an attempt to heal by poisoning.    This is the opposite of the terrain model in which the objective is to remove the sources of poisoning and injury and allow the self-healing body to proceed as designed to repair and clean.  

Do you want to learn more about how our self-healing and self-cleaning body remedies disease conditions and returns to a state of health when the conditions of health are supplied? Start by reading “Why do we get sick?

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: Consultations

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month! Support Group Information and Sign Up Form

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

Lauren Farris2 Comments

Raw Vegan Dies of Starvation?

HOW THE MEDIA SPINS CONTENT TO CREATE FEAR

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Hi Everyone!   

You may have seen a recent article in the Murdoch-owned NY Post discussing the passing of Zhanna Samsonova, also known as Zhanna D’art on Instagram.  Zhanna was known to eat a diet composed of tropical fruits, sprouts, smoothies, and juices.  Though no official cause of death has been released, it seems the reporting has been very quick to blame her untimely death on veganism and a raw food diet.  Sadly the disease industry has never been shy of using tragic events to mislead the public with their fear-based campaigns and the latest article by the NY Post is no different. 

The pharma-funded news media release these fictionalized or manipulated stories as often as they can in an attempt to dissuade the public from researching how health is acquired.  They pounce on stories of people who are not eating the natural diet but have some type of overly restrictive diet that is unhealthy in order to poison the well and to act as gatekeepers against the exploration of the links between diet and disease. They use many dishonest rhetorical tactics including the use of misleading headlines, bait and switch, false correlations, and editorial conclusions not supported by the evidence to twist the story to fit the prescribed narrative and create clickbait.

Usually, these articles are about vegans killing their babies by starving them on a “vegan diet,” something which arguably does not even exist as veganism is an ethical philosophy predicated on minimizing the suffering of animals, not a diet. The issue has nothing to do with being vegan or eating a natural diet and everything to do with neglect and poor parenting which can happen with any diet.   However, this article provides a slightly different spin.  In this article, they take advantage of the tragic death of someone under medical care who clearly has an eating disorder to continue to wage their war on raw foods and veganism.   The bait and switch here presents veganism and raw foods as the cause of death rather than what the evidence suggests:  Underplayed is anorexia, mental health disorders, and medical interventions, of which they provide no information.  The piece admits we have no formal cause of death, and we are also missing information about the medical treatments received in the days or weeks leading up to her death.  This leaves us with an inaccurate and incomplete accounting of how the events may have transpired.

To me, there are a number of red flags in the article that jump out right away. While they don’t state the cause of death or go into any detail on the medical treatments this woman was put through, they do clearly admit that she was under medical treatment at the time of her death.  Commonly these medical treatments will include rehydration through saline drip, which I have addressed the high risk of death in this common treatment in my article here:  https://www.therawkey.com/the-dangers-of-saline-drips/


Additionally, without an autopsy or any official report of the cause of death, it’s impossible to say with any level of confidence what she died of.  It’s just as likely she died from iatrogenic medicine or a medical error.  However, the news stories won’t discuss that possibility, they have instead elected to pin the death on fruit and veganism.  

Another glaring oversight is that there does appear to be other issues that Zhanna was having that led her to pursue treatment.  Much of this information is not yet publicly available, but there have been friends and acquaintances that have come forward and discussed the issue of an eating disorder. 

She is clearly shockingly and dangerously underweight in most of the photos they include in the article, indicating she may have been suffering from anorexia.  If someone is suffering from anorexia and chronic under-eating, it doesn’t matter what type of food they eat.  They describe her diet as just “fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies, and juices” and go on to comment that even her fruit intake was restricted to only a handful of different fruits.

It is also somewhat common for people with food issues or eating disorders to want to try diets that may seem more radical or restrictive, but it’s important to remember that an eating disorder is still a problem that can cause serious issues or even be fatal even if it’s the goal of the person to eat totally ideal foods.  It should be noted that the underlying cause of such a predicament is the mental anguish or issue that led to the eating disorder, not the food itself.

We have several reports of the types of foods she was eating, so now let’s discuss the issues here and how what she was eating is not optimal.  She was not eating leafy greens, nuts, seeds, or vegetables, all of which are integral to our health and provide the variety of nutrients required for long-term health.  

Leafy greens are central to the natural diet but here the article clearly admits that she was not including this essential food in her diet.    They cannot be omitted from the diet.  Even omitting them for short periods can lead to symptoms since the alkaline minerals, fiber, protein, and water they provide are essential to every part of our body. They help build our teeth and bones and help maintain the strength and structure of every organ, muscle, and vein. The most common issues that arise from a lack of sufficient lettuce greens in the diet are failure to gain healthy weight or put on muscle, teeth issues, and drawn-out symptoms often attributed to detoxing. 

Juicing and smoothies are also not a part of the natural human diet.  Juicing or blending is a process that damages the food we would eat.  Juicing and blending create nutritionally depleted fractionated food-like substances. Though they may confer some benefits over some other forms of cooked or processed foods, they are not natural and do not necessarily promote health.  They simply fill the body with inferior materials leaving little room for whole foods in their whole natural form.  If a person is chronically drinking juice and smoothies they are filling up on damaged materials and leaving very little room to consume health-building materials.  Excessive juicing can also result in weight loss and will extend healing times since the body has to dedicate so much of its healing energy to eliminating a heavily processed substance.  To learn more about why juicing and smoothies are not a health practice please refer to my article:   https://www.therawkey.com/juicing-is-not-a-health-practice/

In another article from the Daily Mail we find more concerning details.  “The raw food influencer also had previously touted online that her body does not require water.” “There were also periods when the 39-year-old would practice ‘dry fasting’ – where she would refuse to eat or drink anything for days.”   From her Instagram:  “I have not drunk water for the last 6 years. This is a common occurrence in those who are on a fruit diet.”

Dry fasting is an all-too-common practice in the natural health community, however, dry fasting and restricting water intake is not a healthy practice and goes against what we know is necessary to heal.   The conditions of disease in our body are largely due to chronic dehydration from eating cooked and processed foods.  One of the main goals of the natural species-appropriate diet is to rehydrate the body and rehydrate the lymph system so the body can eliminate old waste and toxins.   Dry fasting is not a part of natural hygiene, and is not and should not be considered safe for any length of time.  Remember the key to healing is getting the body rehydrated, not further dehydrated.  To learn more about why dry fasting is not part of natural hygiene and the terrain model please refer to my article: https://www.therawkey.com/dry-fasting/

The natural diet is all about abundance and eating abundantly of the right foods.  It is about filling ourselves up with nutrition, not about restriction or going without. When done correctly it will never lead to persistent or excessive thinness.  If you are currently struggling and see yourself getting this thin, please reach out for help or advice, because this is definitely not normal or healthy and is a sign you are making some mistakes that can probably be easily corrected.   To clarify, it is true that on occasion the body will tear down before it rebuilds, but if you are losing weight excessively and struggling to gain muscle then it can be safely assumed that this is not part of a detox.  If this is the case, feel free to reach out and we will help to troubleshoot your diet. 

The last issue we see is the consumption of sprouts.  In the natural health community sprouts have taken on this reputation as being a “powerhouse of nutrition.”  The reality is that sprouts are baby plants.  They seek to survive, grow and reproduce.  This means nature has put chemicals into the sprout that make it taste bitter or spicy to discourage eating.  These bitter and spicy compounds are toxic to the body and as such our natural inclination is to recoil from such foods as our instinctual senses are built to protect us from ingesting toxins.    While it’s okay to have the occasional sprouts as a topping on a salad or raw wrap, they should not be a regular part of the diet, they should be an occasional addition.  Also, they should not be considered a “superfood” with any magical properties.   This superfood idea is based on the false logic of “more equals better.”  Since they are seeds sprouting they have more protein than other foods per calorie and this is the logic behind calling them a superfood.  But there is no logic in assuming that more protein is a benefit.   Particularly if they have more toxins present.   Food is ideal based on a balance of nutrients, fuel provided, lack of toxicity, water content, and other considerations.   Just being higher in one macronutrient does not make a substance better or healthy.   Our senses tell us that sprouts are spicy and bitter and therefore contain irritants and we should limit them or avoid them all together.   

The loss of this young vibrant woman’s life is a tragedy.   While it seems she likely suffered through multiple social, psychological, and spiritual wounds that we can analyze and learn from, it is this feeding of the disease industry through misinformation and poorly reasoned reporting that seems to ring out loudest after her passing.  We currently see epidemic levels of disease and despair relating to multiple health crises, an ever-increasing cost of medical care, and more pharmaceuticals hitting the market every day.   May we all pray for peace for her family as they grieve this loss and may the vultures who attempt to profit from her tragic death to mislead others receive justice in due time.    Let us hope that her death is not in vain and can teach us all something so we can help reach others who may be traveling down the wrong path.    

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month!  https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends. 

Lauren Farris2 Comments
Reader Q&A

Dry Fasting

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question

Are there benefits to extended dry fasting? It seems really quite dangerous to me, especially since I live in a hot climate and very quickly feel the effects of not drinking sufficient water. I would think it would put unnecessary strain on the kidneys/elimination organs to not be properly hydrated.

Answer

Dry fasting is an all-too-common practice in the natural health community.  Dry fasting and restricting water intake is not a health practice and goes against what we know is necessary to heal.   The conditions of disease in our body are largely due to chronic dehydration from eating cooked and processed foods.  One of the main goals of the natural species-appropriate diet is to rehydrate the body and rehydrate the lymph system so the body can eliminate old waste and toxins.   Dry fasting is not a part of natural hygiene and is not and should not be considered safe for any length of time.

Dry fasting and restricting water intake is not a health practice and goes against what we know is necessary to heal. Share on X

Dry fasting is extremely dangerous and can be damaging to the body. Acid wastes damage tissues and when we dry fast those acids become more and more concentrated. This means the waste will damage the kidneys and bladder on the way out if they are not diluted sufficiently. 

The body uses water to dilute the acids and protect the tissues as the acidic material is carried out of the body. When we dry fast we rob the body of that water that is necessary to facilitate the safe removal of acidic waste and toxins. 

The solution to pollution is dilution. Share on X

This, very sadly, seems to be why we have seen well-known dry-fasting raw food advocates die quite young in the last few years. For all of the positive changes they are making with eating the correct foods they are undermining their health by neglecting their water intake.

If you were fed only the natural human diet from birth the body still would not benefit from the extra work created by dry fasting. Water is the universal solvent. It dilutes acids and keeps our whole system flowing efficiently. Our lymph system is a thick fluid that becomes easily clogged and bogged down when we become dehydrated. But most people are already starting out in a state of chronic dehydration from years of eating cooked and processed foods. We are also living in unnatural environments with forced air heating and cooling that further dehydrates our bodies. Most people have anywhere from 10 to 25 pounds of old dried-out fecal matter impacted to the walls of their digestive tract. All of this requires water to move and expel.

People often confuse more with better and the same is true for dry fasting. People think that because they have more visible sediment after dry fasting that the body cleaned out more debris. The reality is the body didn’t clean more, the sediment is just more concentrated because the body is more dehydrated. There is less urine because there is less water, and the waste matter is more concentrated.  

Disease is predominantly the result of dehydration, so any practice which further dehydrates us pushes us further into disease and leads to a shorter lifespan and more damage to the organs.

Dehydration can also result in mental confusion and delirium which can further impair our ability to heal and maintain healthy habits.

Unfortunately, within the natural foods community, there seems to be some confusion that is driving people to take on dry fasting or to believe it is a healthy practice. In nature, all frugivores drink from streams and ponds on a regular and consistent basis. Our anatomy is not set up to drink heavily, like a dog that can lap water easily, because our natural foods supply us with a lot of water. But we still find all the bonobos, chimps, and other apes drink from streams regularly and consistently. Sadly, many years ago we did not have this data and it was simply assumed that because it had not been witnessed, it did not occur. This is where the idea of frugivorous animals not drinking water came from. It was an erroneous and premature conclusion based on a lack of evidence.  

This then led to some in the natural health community declaring that we humans do not need to drink water. That we can get all of our water from our food.   The problem with this concept is that while watery fruits and salad greens are water-rich, the amount of excess water they provide beyond what is required for proper digestion and elimination is limited.   In order for a food to move unobstructed through the digestive tract it needs to be roughly 80% water.  This is water that must be retained with the food to ensure an easy exit at the other end.   This means fruit needs to be significantly higher than 80% water in order to provide us with excess water which our bodies can use to rehydrate chronic issues.  If we accept the contemporary figure that watermelon is about 92% water, then eating 10 pounds of watermelon only nets us about 1 pound of water, or about 16 ounces.  However, with a little practice, we can easily drink well over a gallon of water, which is just over 8 pounds of water, in a single day. 


We need water to help replenish our sweat, lubricate and move our lymphatic system, move out waste through our kidneys and bowels, digest and assimilate food, and move our blood, muscles, and nerves.  Demand for water within our bodies is high.  On a hot day working in the sun, you could easily sweat out a half gallon or a gallon of water over several hours. It would be impossible to replenish that on just fruits and salads even if you were eating only the highest water-content fruits.   The math simply does not add up.  

Based on my personal experience helping thousands of people heal over the years and healing myself I recommend drinking a minimum of 1 gallon (approximately 4 liters) of water per day if you are eating fully raw and drinking 2-3 gallons of water if you are eating cooked foods.   This is the amount where we see people consistently thriving.   

Water intake should also be adjusted upwards if you are exercising heavily, spending time out in the sun or in the heat, or any other activity that dehydrates the body.   Consuming dried fruits, nuts and seeds should also have us increasing our water intake to balance their low water content as needed.    

If you are not currently drinking enough water you can start increasing gradually by adding one quart of water to your current consumption and repeating this weekly until you reach 1-1.5 gallons.   My personal habit is to fill 4-quart jars each day.  I drink the first jar immediately upon rising, the second jar between 8 am and 10 am, the third right before my first meal which is typically around 12 noon to 2 pm, and then finish my 4th jar before dinner.    Others find it easier to use a gallon-sized water bottle that they carry with them throughout the day or a half-gallon bottle.   Either way, the larger the bottle, glass, or jar you keep in front of you, the more likely you will be to get in adequate water.   While it was initially a struggle to get in 1 gallon per day, I now find that I easily drink closer to 1.5 gallons and feel less optimal if I drink less than 1 gallon.  

One objection we commonly hear is, “I’m not thirsty.”   The issue with this is that when we become chronically dehydrated our thirst impulse can become unreliable and it can be difficult to tell whether we are thirsty or hungry.  Most people confuse thirst with hunger and eat instead of drinking.   Some people are so dehydrated that they can no longer get any real sense of thirst or they no longer recognize what thirst feels like.   In our support group, we consistently find that those who stick with the 1-gallon goal have their thirst impulse return within a few weeks and can easily drink 1-gallon after that point without having to put in much effort.   

Another common objection is that drinking more means urinating more, and while I can certainly understand the inconvenience this may pose in some working conditions we must keep in mind that urinating is one way we eliminate waste.  When we start to supply additional water the body will quickly start moving out excess waste so it is no longer damaging the cells internally.   This short-term inconvenience means long-term health, so while it can be annoying it is a small price to pay to return to better health.

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month!  https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends. 

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Reader Q&A

Fat and Brain Development in Children on the Natural Raw Diet

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question

May I ask about fat & brain development in children? Is it true that children need foods labeled in this way to grow? It seems to be the main argument used when people want to refute natural diets for growing children. My son isn’t a fan of avocados so I may need to get this into a smoothie

Answer

The need for isolated fats is greatly overblown by the media and medical marketing due to the unfortunate error of developing a commercial baby “food” that led to poor brain development in children due to it being so far from what the child needs. Originally if a mother could not feed her child due to illness, weakness, deformity, or the death of the mother, a wet nurse was substituted and the child was fed on the breast of another mother. But as industrialization and then feminism took hold and the value of woman/motherhood was repeatedly denigrated and women were pushed into the workforce to become more like men the need for an artificial food to substitute for natural milk was created.

As a result, the drop in available wet nurses forced mother’s into what was referred to as dry feeding, where a concoction of some variety was made for the child, varying by region and economic status. “The Wabanaki and other Native American tribal nations of North America made an infant formula from nuts and cornmeal.” In the same time period, a growing acceptance for using cow, horse, sheep, camel, pig, or goat’s milk was growing while society was beginning to reject the concept of the wet nurse. “In 1865, chemist Justus von Liebig developed, patented, and marketed an infant food, first in a liquid form and then in a powdered form for better preservation. Liebig’s formula—consisting of cow’s milk, wheat and malt flour, and potassium bicarbonate—was considered the perfect infant food.”

Today we know that wheat is highly inflammatory, leading to bowel and brain inflammation, cows milk is not at all adequate containing a completely different nutritional profile than human milk and the processing of both creates chemicals which are known carcinogens.

The progression of commercial baby foods eventually led to chronic development disorders which eventually where blamed on missing DHA and ARA which are essential fatty acids and so began the fear of children missing out on fat. Over the years this fear has spread and grown and now has infected the minds of mothers around the world.

The reality is, what is fed to the child after birth is far less important ( but still very important) than what is fed during pregnancy to the mother. “The time of the greatest growth and development of the brain and nerves is during the prenatal period and the first two years after birth. This is the best time to lay the foundation of a good brain and nervous system. It is asserted that the whole future of an individual is determined by the time he is four years old, just as the whole future of a calf is determined by the time it is six months old. How very important that the mother supply her unborn child with the very best nutrition!” – Dr Shelton

“Human milk, on an average, contains about 7 per cent milk sugar, 3 to 4 per cent fat, 1.50 per cent protein, and 0.20 per cent of salts.” – Dr Shelton While human milk varies from birth to weaning its percentage of fat remains low and its percentage of carbohydrates high.

All fruits and lettuces contain essential fatty acids in the appropriate proportions for our bodies. Nuts and seeds also contain appropriate essential fatty acids in the right formulation for human physiology. Avocados can be fed as well, but they are concentrated fat and should only be fed in small quantities. Children’s senses if fed properly from a young age tend to be very in tune with their needs. If your son rejects avocado then trust in his senses. Most mothers find that overfeeding on avocados, nuts, and seeds leads to irritability in the child. ¼ of a small avocado a few times per week would be the maximum if a mother wanted to include this fatty fruit. Otherwise, a variety of fruits, and then as they age adding in tender vegetables, and greens would provide all that is needed. We do not have to overfeed on fats at any stage.

Keeping in mind that the child must be fed on breastmilk for the first 2- 3 years and fruits should not be introduced until the child has adequate teeth to support the eating of that fruit. The digestive tract does not develop the ability to digest solid foods until the teeth have developed. The solid food starting at 6 months as recommended by the medical business is very poor advice since the child has no ability to digest said food until their teeth have come in, which typically occurs around 18 months. Some fresh pressed juices can be used at younger ages in extreme conditions where the mother’s diet is severely inadequate, but otherwise, the child should remain exclusively on the mother’s milk until the teeth have sufficiently developed to handle each food without tools or processing.

Our brains are initially built in the womb out of cholesterol and require some fatty acids for development, but the brain itself runs on glucose, a sugar. The idea that the brain requires a lot of fat is another one of those bits of misinformation pushed by marketing. Sugar is the predominant need of the brain. It is typically those that wish to defend their addiction to their toxic diet that pushes the fat requirement and will, even though all of these needs are easily met by fruit, demand that the child must be poisoned with putrefying animal tissues or secretions, rather than getting the EFAs directly from the plant source that the animal is getting them from. Nature provides everything we need, even the things which science has not yet isolated. The further we stray from the perfection of God’s creation and into the hubris of men’s minds and alterations the more disease conditions we create.

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Juicing is not a Health Practice

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

It can be very confusing to delve into different natural health communities online and find many different philosophies, protocols and practices.  Sadly a large number of half-baked ideas and unhealthy habits abound in the natural health online communities.  If you have been in these communities for any length of time you will come across people who swear by herbs, supplements, powdered desiccated grass, green smoothies, watermelon island, grape fasts, and many other questionable practices but none seem quite as prevalent or more heavily promoted than the idea of juicing.   

Nothing says “I’m returning to nature” like using a $400 machine to chew your food for you.  

Juice is not a whole food. It is a processed fragment of food. Juicing removes the essential fiber, and drinking juice rapidly floods the body with sugar overworking the cells, and leading to excess waste. 

Juicing is not a Health Practice. Nothing says “I’m returning to nature” like using a $400 machine to chew your food for you.   Share on X

Lost Nutrition

Juice is not a superfood or powerhouse of nutrition. Quite to the contrary, when we juice fruits or greens we are losing valuable nutrition. Juice begins to oxidize instantly which means nutrients and enzymes are dying from the moment the first cut is made to the fruit.  Depending on the type of juicer being used, juicing crushes or eviscerates the fruit entirely, which results in the vast majority of the nutrition being exposed to air by thousands of tiny cuts or by crushing.  Contrary to the marketing we are not getting an added boost of nutrition but instead, we are losing portions of the nutrition of the food when juicing.  

“Juices are fractionated foods subject to oxidative deterioration. Oxidation occurs quickly. For example, orange juice can lose up to 60% of its vitamin C within an hour after juicing. Iron is oxidized very quickly in all foods. This may be observed visually if an apple is broken open and exposed to air. Oxidation creates toxic byproducts. An example of this is cooking, which is a much accelerated process of oxidation as well as heat degeneration.”  – T.C. Fry

Faster Poisoning

Juicing allows us to consume substances in large quantities which we would normally not eat in the natural human diet or would only consume in small quantities due to their bitter taste or difficulty to chew.   

Juicing often means consuming foods that would not normally be eaten in any bulk like carrots, cabbage, kale, or beets, and consuming them in large quantities.

These are not human foods because they don’t taste good in their whole raw form and they are difficult to chew. They are not desirable or enjoyable in their natural state and we would not eat them in large quantities in nature like we would with sweet fruits or tender sweet leafy lettuces.

We might occasionally eat the young sweet tender leaves of a kale plant or a cabbage but the full-grown bitter spicy leaves would offend our senses when our body is clean enough to hear our senses. 

These vegetables contain toxins that give them a bitter taste.  Bitter is your sense of taste warning you against consuming a substance.  Bitter, spicy, excessively salty (burns the tongue), and sour (makes you recoil) are all your senses trying to make you spit out a substance.  

Root vegetables are also full of starches instead of sugar which is far less than ideal and may cause food combining issues.  If we wouldn’t eat them in large quantities we certainly shouldn’t be drinking them in large quantities and yet it’s common practice to juice a pound or more of carrots or an entire head of celery.  

People also often juice irritants like ginger and garlic, sometimes in large quantities.  Most juice bars use ginger as an ingredient and often have ginger or garlic shots.  These are substances that are destructive to the delicate tissues of our digestive tract and garlic in particular kills the bacteria which create B12 in our digestive tract.   These substances should never be consumed and if you tried to eat them raw by themselves by chewing them like a whole food you would be in enough pain to stop and rethink, but when they are hidden in a sweet juice and diluted the burning of the tongue, throat and stomach tissues becomes a stimulant that we mistake for a health benefit.  

Unfortunately, we tend to be addicted to stimulation since we have cooked foods forced upon us as young children and learn to tolerate and even enjoy the pain and discomfort caused by irritants and cooked foods.  We enjoy the euphoria that is the end result of the body launching a red alert, all hands on deck response to an incoming poison.  Whether that poison is cocaine, heroin, alcohol, or something more banal like salt, spices, chilis, or other irritants, the body’s response of increased energy, and release of fight or flight chemicals induces a feeling which can be painful, sedating, or in some cases enjoyable. 

Digestive Rest

One of the most common marketing points for juicing is the idea that juicing provides digestive rest.   Consuming juice is slightly less of a burden than eating cooked foods, but juicing offers no digestive rest as is often the claim.  In fact, it forces the bowels to work even harder. 

Our bowels are a muscle that contracts to move waste through the system. That contraction requires bulk. Fiber provides that bulk. Juicing can lead to constipation because we are putting lots of material in without the fiber it is designed to flow through with. Without that fiber, the body cannot grip and easily move the food through the system, so things get slowed down and backed up.  Without that fiber we can also exhaust the digestive system, which is why we hear so often that people struggle to eliminate after returning to whole foods after a long juice fast.  

They have overworked their digestive tract for weeks or months, often adding irritants to the digestive tract in the juice as well like beets, ginger or garlic.  The result is utter exhaustion of the organ so that when the juicing and irritants stop the body is left depleted and the muscles of the digestive tract need rest.  This results in constipation, which unfortunately many in the community turn to herbal poisons to remedy which then leads to even more exhaustion of the muscles and an ever-worsening constipation. 

Putting any substance that requires digestion and assimilation into the mouth immediately starts the contractions and actions of the entire digestive system from mouth to exit.  Whether we drink juice or eat an apple or eat a hamburger the digestive system in its entirety has to spring into action.  When we fast on water then nothing requires digestion and so all of the energy that is normally utilized by the digestive tract can be redirected towards old waste or healing.

Deficiency

Many promote the idea of treating a deficiency in diet with juices.  This is the same delusion that people believe in that leads to them consuming vitamin pills – the idea that we can make up for destructive food choices by just putting in concentrated vitamins or minerals that have been isolated from food, or more often have been sourced from rocks or algae that were never food to begin with.  

We cannot make up for the hamburger or french fries we ate and the damage they have wrought by supplying more nutrition.  What we can do is stop poisoning the body 

We need juice to make up for the deficient soil that our food is grown in.

 To quote TC Fry :

“The deficient soil/deficient food complex is fostered among health seekers by fractionated food purveyors who are peddling a synthetic manufactured supplement or so-called natural supplements, both of which are far inferior to whole foods. Supplements can in no way make good any partial deficiency that may exist. The synthetic supplements are not usable in any circumstances, and the body treats them as drugs. It is the stimulus of drug effects that we mistake for health effects. We mistake the energy an exhausted horse shows under the whip as beneficient when, in fact, it is pathogenic. Even if part of the supplements are obtained from organic sources (as a fraction of a given supplement, say 5 to 10% only) so they can be represented as natural, they are still worthless. They’re also worthless if extracted entirely from organic sources. The body uses nutrients in context with other nutrients as a team.”

Is it okay to use juices while transitioning? 

 Juicing is a transitional tool because it enervates the body. When we are coming off cooked foods, alcohol, salt, caffeine, etc we are coming down off a lot of stimulant drugs which we have been using to prop up the body. We naturally look for ways to stimulate in other ways until we realize that we simply require rest. Since juice floods the body rapidly with sugar overwhelming the body the cells must overwork to burn off the excess, so a flurry of energy stimulates the body into action, like whipping a tired horse. What we needed was rest, what we did instead was whip ourselves with a jolt of sugar flooded into the system without the fiber to slow it down. We got high and it felt good, so we used it again the next day.

Common objections and questions:

I don’t believe this is true.  There are many books that promote the health benefits of juicing. 

There are many books that promote the healing powers of everything from pharma drugs to herbs to dirt to drinking your own urine, all of which ignore the most basic fact that nothing acts upon the body, the body takes all actions. Just because someone misunderstands why lessening the burden on the body allows their body to clean itself more doesn’t mean their mistake is not a mistake.

People go from SAD diet to keto and see some healing. Put a healthy person on keto and they get sick rapidly.

People go from eating McDonalds to cooking at home and see improvements in their health. 

Feed a healthy raw fruit-fed body a cooked meal and it rapidly shows you the toxicity of the cooked meal.

If we go from making 100 mistakes to making 50 mistakes the burden on the body is less and the body will respond to the extra energy available by cleaning and repairing more. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t heal faster and work better if we eliminated the other 50 mistakes.

Many people see improvements when juicing because the juice forces out something of a much greater burden.  Had those same people simply eaten whole fruits and whole lettuces they would have healed much faster. 

What is your take on the celery juicing phenomenon? People seem to swear by it helping them. Just wondering. I find juicing for the most part too severe on my digestive system. Agree with having the whole foods.

Celery is a stimulant herb so people who are trading coffee for celery juice feel great because they are still getting their stimulants.

As you mentioned a healthy body responds with digestive symptoms and may have other symptoms like anxiety when consuming large amounts of celery juice.  Celery juice is an adrenal stimulant so it has a similar “wake you up” effect as a cup of coffee but with the similar downsides, minus the acidity.  While celery is full of alkaline minerals, coffee is highly acid-forming and contains caffeine.  Coffee causes more damage, but the same stimulant response is issued by the body as a form of self-protection.  

We can juice a stalk or two, but more than that and we start seeing the negative affects of the mild toxins in the celery, which are stimulating. Most people find that when eating celery whole their body naturally self limits to 2-4 stalks of celery. 

There are many testimonials of people on juice cleanse healing from severe chronic conditions on youtube now, one of them was on a 366 day one. Slow juicing still retain some fibre, which helps to carry the released mucoid plaque out. I did 16 days of water fasting before, but I had to stop because I start to get great pain in the colon, which I suspect is more the kidney itself causing it via the nerve. I had to step down to a gentler method…

All of those people would have healed much faster through water fasting and eating their natural diet. Healing is always about the amount of burden we lift off the body.   People promoting juice fasts are under the false impression that many people fall for which is that food heals.   Food has no ability to heal.  Food is dead – inert – it cannot take action.  Food is either useful to the body or some level of burden on the body.   Processed foods are always a burden on the body but some processed foods like juices are less of a burden then other processed foods like potato chips, candy bars, or fast food hamburgers.   If you go from eating cooked food every day of your life to only putting juice in your body you have lifted a huge amount of burden off the body.  You still aren’t giving the body what it truly needs, but you have lifted burden and that means the body can do more repairing and more eliminating of waste then it was able to previously.   Our bodies are remarkably resilient and can handle a lot of mistakes before they completely break down, but a body that has been properly fed and cared for will feel much worse on juices. 

Anytime we stop putting in the worst poisons the body will have less damage and less work to do. People trade juice for potato chips and hamburgers and then think the juice healed them. That is false. It was the elimination of the potato chips and hamburgers that allowed their bodies to make repairs and heal.

If those same people had also traded the juice for whole foods in their whole natural form and periodic water fasting then they would have healed even faster because they would have been providing whole foods, not fractionated, processed substances.

Juicing does not give digestive rest as your body still has to digest fully the fractionated food. It does not give more nutrition because the nutrients have been oxidized, and rapidly so, because of the surface area exposed to air once the juice is separated from the whole substance. All juice does is flood the body with a subpar unnatural substance which slows cleaning.

Juicing is not a health practice! Do you see any juicers in nature? If it requires a machine it's not natural and is overworking the body. Share on X

Now I can certainly understand why people get confused. Water fasting often brings up pain because the consequence of putting poison into the body is that poison hurts on its way out as much as it damages on the way in. So if you stop the deep cleaning by putting more burden on the body with fractionated food then you will slow healing which will limit the elimination of old wastes and therefore feel more comfortable. But being comfortable is not an indication of healing. Suppressing symptoms is not an indication of healing. If we put bad stuff in then that stuff has to come out for the body to fully heal. Pain in water fasting can also be due to dehydration. If the person is not drinking 1.5-2 gallons per day then they can be dehydrating themselves through the fast which will further concentrate the acids and cause more damage and pain on their way out.   Often when people reach 15-20 days into a water fast they start to struggle to drink water.   T.C. Fry and Shelton advise adding a small amount of lemon juice to the water if the person is truly struggling to get in the required amounts of water during a water fast. 

The Bottom Line

A glass of juice here and there is okay, but regular juice only adds to the body’s burden. Juicing is not a health practice, it is overworking the body and is far less beneficial than eating foods whole. Oranges, Grapefruits, or other fruits which naturally juice are a  better choice to drink regularly, but if it needs to be run through a machine to make juice you are doing far more harm than good. Healing is about lifting burdens, if you go from eating cooked foods to a juice fast you will lift some burden, but you will slow and impair healing compared to the person who goes from cooked foods to raw, whole, unprocessed foods.   

Lauren Farris8 Comments

Do you know what hunger really feels like?

TRUE HUNGER VS HUNGER PAINS

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

How do you know when you are hungry? Do you often feel hungry first thing in the morning? Is your hunger more ravenous after a night of eating poorly or drinking alcohol? Most people associate hunger with a feeling of discomfort in the stomach and gut area.  You may be surprised to learn that this is not hunger at all.  In fact, true hunger is very rare in the Western world.  It’s not uncommon for people to go years, decades, or their entire lives without experiencing true hunger.

True hunger is a pleasant feeling that we tend to experience in the throat. True hunger is never uncomfortable or unpleasant. It is experienced as a pleasant knowing that our body desires food.

“The fact that most people mistake irritation and vital symptoms of recovery for hunger does not mean hunger exists. An emptiness in the stomach means that the food has been passed from it. That is not hunger. Hunger is felt in the mouth and throat just as thirst is. It is not unpleasant and it urges us to eat just as thirst urges us to drink.

What we commonly mistake for hunger that drives us to eat are pathological symptoms not unlike the “withdrawal” symptoms of tobacco, coffee, alcohol, condiments and other drug addictions that drive us to go back for another fix. When the body is without its fix for a while, it begins clean-up operations. These usually involve unpleasant symptoms that drive us to get another fix. Another fix engages the body in activities that depress vital functions, especially eliminative functions. Thus we are satisfied for a while, in fact, quite a while in the case of foods that are not of our adaptation.” – T.C. Fry

So what is the pain we experience most mornings before we break our nightly fast?

The pain we feel in our stomach is a result of the body trying to clean and repair.  When we eat cooked foods, salt, spices, spicy peppers, drink coffee, tea, alcohol, or otherwise consume irritants, the body repairs the stomach lining each day.  This pain or discomfort we feel in our stomach is a result of the expulsion of the less ideal foods and the waste materials from the damaged cells that occur from eating those foods.  The rumbling stomach and the growling stomach are not true hunger but actions being taken by the body to repair damage incurred from the previous meal of less-than-ideal foods. 

“Although genuine hunger is a mouth and throat sensation and depends upon an actual physiological need for food, muscular contractions of the stomach accompany hunger and are thought by physiologists, to give rise to the hunger sensation.

Carlson, of the Chicago University, found that in a man who had been fasting two weeks, these gastric “hunger” contractions had not decreased, although there was no desire for food. The same has been observed in animals. Indeed these contractions are seen to increase and yet they do not produce the sensation of hunger. I do not consider these so-called “hunger-contractions” as the
cause of hunger. Real hunger is a mouth and throat sensation.

But there is a difference between hunger and what is called appetite. Appetite is a counterfeit hunger, a creature of habit and cultivation, and may be due to any one of a number of things; such as the arrival of the habitual meal time, the sight, taste, or smell of food, condiments and seasonings, or even the thought of food. In some diseased states there is an almost constant and insatiable appetite. None of these things can arouse true hunger; for, this comes only when there is an actual need for food.

One may have an appetite for tobacco, coffee, tea, opium, alcohol, etc., but he can never be hungry for these, since they serve no real physiological need. Appetite is often accompanied by a gnawing or “all gone” sensation in the stomach, or a general sense of weakness; there may even be mental depression. Such symptoms usually belong to the diseased stomach of a glutton and will pass away if their owner will refrain from eating for a few days. They are temporarily relieved by eating and this leads to the idea that it was food that was needed. But such sensations and feelings do not accompany true hunger. In true hunger one is not aware that he has a stomach for this, like thirst, is a mouth and throat sensation. Real hunger arises spontaneously, that is without the agency of some external factor, and is accompanied by a “watering of the mouth” and usually by a conscious desire for some particular food.” – Herbert Shelton

True Hunger is pleasant

True hunger is described by most who experience it as a pleasant feeling in the back of the throat or simply a thought which floats into their mind that it is time to eat. We are accustomed to overfeeding ourselves with constipating and dehydrating foods which destroys this delicate feeling. Instead of a pleasant feeling our overeating and eating of substances that are not our natural foods leads the body to respond to each subsequent meal with pain.

“It was said that nature plainly says: “Eat of my compounds what you like best, and I will signify when you have eaten enough . . . The instant hunger is satisfied is the time to cease eating. If you persist in eating beyond this time, then I will send you another real friend–pain–who will compel you to cease eating before you do yourself irreparable harm. I shall make you suffer so much that you will lack all excuse for eating too much at a later time.” How common is the practice of smothering the disciplining voice of pain and discomfort with a drug after meals!” – Herbert Shelton, Man’s Pristine Way of Life

Weakness is not hunger

Feeling weak or drained is also not hunger but is a result of the body’s need to take energy away from our muscles to utilize in the repair of the stomach. These are warning signs from our body to stop inputting food so it can make repairs, unfortunately, when these processes feel unpleasant we have been conditioned to stop them temporarily by eating another meal. The addition of more food to the stomach temporarily halts the cleaning and repair processes. Sadly, this reinforces our wrong choices leading to ever more burden upon the body rather than a lifting of burden.

We can avoid “hunger” pains entirely.

“By avoiding pungent condiments we also obviate the principal cause of gluttony. It is well known that the admirers of lager-beer do not drink it for the sake of its nutritive properties, but as a medium of stimulation, and I hold that nine out of ten gluttons swallow their peppered ragouts for the same purpose. Only natural appetites have natural limits. Two quarts of water will satisfy the normal thirst of a giant, two pounds of dates, his hunger after a two day’s fast. But the beer-drinker swills till he runs over, and the glutton stuffs himself till the oppression of his chest threatens him with suffocation. Their unnatural appetite has no limits but those of their abdominal capacity. Poison-hunger would be a better word than appetite. What they really want is alcohol and hot spices, and, being unable to swallow them ‘straight,” the one takes a bucketful of swill, the other a potful of grease into the bargain.” – Herbert Shelton
 

If you take a moment to think about it, you may start to recognize that when your hunger pains were at their worst this coincided with a more harmful food choice the night before.  Often when people have a hangover they become ravenously hungry and seek out fatty, slow-digesting, difficult-to-digest foods that shut down the cleaning process and calm the stomach.   After eating a spicy meal the night before you might wake up extra hungry the next morning.    When we eat salt we feel hungry more often.  All of these are examples of when we have consumed something that irritates the stomach and the hunger pain is the consequence of the injury to the body that the prior meal or meals caused.

Next time you feel pain in the stomach try delaying your meal as long as you can and try to think about what you ate last that may be causing this pain.  Perhaps sip some water. When we eat our natural diet these painful symptoms no longer exist. As you eliminate those irritants you will find it becomes easier and easier to delay your meals to the ideal window and eat less often because you will not be injuring the digestive tract and will not have the pain as a result.

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month! https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment
Reader Q&A

Herbert Shelton’s Death

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question

Would you care to speculate why Shelton lived only to 77 years of age and died with neuromuscular disease?

Answer

Well first, Shelton lived to almost 90 years old, so I’m not sure where you are getting 77 from. He was born October 6, 1895, and died January 1, 1985, making him 89 years and 3 months at the time of death. He continued to run his health school until 1981 (age 86), and started his final book with Jo Willard and Jean Oswald in 1982 at age 87 which was published shortly after his death in 1986.

Shelton outlived any reasonable expectations and was mentally cognizant until his last days. That is more than we can say for most people today. Shelton’s father died at age 78, his mother was 82, and most of his cooked food-eating siblings died in their 60’s and 70’s or younger. Shelton was the firstborn yet outlived all but Juanita, the 13th child, and Sam the 10th child. He truly got the maximum life out of the generational hand he was dealt.

Parkinson’s is a condition brought about by many factors, significantly influenced by inherited weaknesses passed down through the generations (susceptibility), similar to a 2×4 having a lot of knots which makes it susceptible to early failure when stressed.

Shelton was born two months premature, weighing less than 3 pounds, he was frail and weak and barely survived, kept warm in a wooden cigar box near the iron stove. Being born premature means a lack of full, required biological development from the start, in the womb, making a person less vital overall and slighter of build as he also was. He was born into a cooked food meat and dairy-eating family and only discovered raw foods as a teen/young adult. His father had chronic health conditions including Asthma, I am not sure about his mother’s health conditions. The real question is why did Shelton last so long given the weaknesses he inherited from birth?

Parkinson’s is a long-term degeneration of certain parts of the central nervous system, developing slowly, sometimes from a very young age, and involves a loss of brain cells in a particular area of the midbrain called the Substantia Nigra.

One factor associated with Parkinson’s symptoms is brain trauma/injury. In 1945 Shelton was involved in an accident with his horse, he was kicked in the head by his horse, leading to him losing several teeth over the coming years, which can give us some indication of the severity of the jarring his brain underwent at that time.

While the body replaces most cells, brain cells are not replaced when they die. Additionally, brain trauma injury kills a lot of cells in a large area. Once gone, they remain gone, leading to decreased ability for the brain to control itself and the body. This is a factor to consider in the development of degenerative diseases or injury of the brain. Brain and nerve injuries are extremely slow to heal and some will never heal in our lifetime. So when we incur an injury to the brain or nerves these often lead to degeneration which cannot be remedied by the body.

Shelton was a busy, active man, particularly intellectually. He used his brain and his body fully, never letting up his entire life. He wrote prolifically, ran a large, successful fasting clinic for decades, wrote endless books, articles, essays, and newsletters, lectured around the world, raised a family, and faced endless opposition and harassment from the medical industry, including being jailed on multiple occasions, he organized and fathered Natural Hygiene Science and so much more. He worked his body to its maximum, and just from that, it’s easy to see how he may have overworked a certain part of his brain/nervous system, let alone the abnormal stress and lack of proper growth caused by his brain injury and premature birth. When he died, that’s the day he stopped writing and working endlessly, he only rested during sleep.

Shelton faced a brain deterioration issue that nothing was going to stop from happening, no matter how well he ate or behaved, all he could do was limit its progression, which he did incredibly well. He lived almost 90 years (89y 3m), Parkinson sufferers always die an early death, but he did incredibly well and was more active into his 80’s than many people are capable of in their 50s or younger.

We are all coming from a deficit, born to parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who have been eating far from their natural diet. We are all born to previous generations with chronic disease symptoms. The question is, do we continue to pass down those degenerative habits to the next generation, or do we create the least harm possible to our cells in this generation so the human species can begin to recover its natural lifespan?

For anyone interested in an accurate picture of Shelton’s life the book “Yours for Health: The Life and Times of Herbert M Shelton” by Jean A. Oswald https://amzn.to/3r7MoFs is a great read.

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Desire Health? Return to the Garden of Eden

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Our society promotes this false idea that we can do 100 things wrong feeding our body but then fix it all by popping a pill. For many that pill will be a pharma drug (pharmaceutical from the Greek pharmakeia- “poisoning, sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it”).

For others it will be an equally harmful vitamin or supplement, pill or powder, they have been told cures this or that ailment, or maybe they just fear they are lacking in their nutritionally devoid diet.

Either way you can never fix a wrong by adding a second wrong. You cannot poison a body back to health. You cannot make up for the plate of chicken and rice by taking a powdered fruit and vegetable supplement because it’s not the missing vitamins and minerals that are creating 99.9% of disease. It’s the dehydration, it’s the lack of fiber, it’s the overworking of the digestive system. It’s the fact that you are eating so far removed from your natural diet of watery, sugar-rich, raw fruits, sweet, tender, water-rich,leafy greens and nutrient dense nuts, seeds and vegetables.

There is no shortcut to health. If you want a healthy body you have to supply the conditions which allow the body to operate under normal parameters. You need to supply the foods which your body was intelligently designed to consume. When we follow God’s word and return to what he gave us for food in the Garden of Eden – Genesis 1:29 – our bodies return to perfect health. When we obey the lesson of Daniel 1:8-20 setting aside the rich and heavy foods and wine for our natural foods and water we thrive.

The natural diet of man is fruits and tender leafy greens, with small amounts of nuts, seeds and vegetables. These are all foods we can eat raw, in their whole natural form without any tools, fire or weapons. When we return to the natural diet God originally given to us in Eden all disease conditions reverse.

When we sin against our bodies, we are made to suffer. But we are provided every answer to stop the pain, should we choose it. The more you open your eyes, the more you see, this world is biblical and you have been given a guide book should you choose to accept it. The medical industry practices pharmakeia, their symbol is the snake ⚕️and the rod. Health never comes from the poisoning arts but they have most of our loved ones under their spell. No cures for any disease ever yet we continue to fund them $100 trillion a year. Open your eyes to see, open your ears to hear, the answers are laid out for you. The battle is good versus evil, health versus disease, if you don’t know which side you are caught up in, if you are blind to the reality of this world, there is nothing anyone can do to return your health to you. If you are caught up in the trappings of this world, only misery awaits.

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month! https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

Read more about the Natural Human Diet:

The Natural Human Diet

Our Natural Foods Do Not Create Discomfort or Disturbance to the Body

The Slow Petrifaction Of The Body From Inorganic Mineral Consumption

Humans are herbivores, Comparative Anatomy

The Carnivore Delusion

Lauren Farris3 Comments
Reader Q&A

Disturbed Sleep and Hip Pain

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question:

I would say I have a fairly healthy diet as in food . But I do drink a fair amount of alcohol mainly because, its only way I can get any sleep . I would like ideas to change this . I also have excruciating pain in my right hip, for past 15 to 20 years . I work in Pharmacy and spend 9 hrs a day on my feet . Would appreciate any advice please.

Answer:

We cannot have “a fairly healthy diet” we either eat things that provide the conditions of health, or we don’t. If we eat a little bit of cooked foods our body will be in a state of disease. If we eat a lot of cooked foods our body will be in a state of disease with more symptoms. If we have symptoms then we are not eating a healthy diet, the evidence in front of us that we are not in a state of health proves this. Health only exists in the absence of disease. Disease is dis – lack, ease – comfort, a lack of comfort in the body, so any straying from the normal efficient operation of the body is a body in a state of disease. Once we realize this we can achieve health by stopping the injury of our cells.

If you are not able to go to sleep it is because your body is being irritated and stimulated by the food, drugs, and other poisons being put into it. If you remove the cause of the irritation then the body will return to normal function. If you find the substances that are keeping you awake and remove those, they you will not have to try to drug the body with poison to go to sleep.

Alcohol does not help us sleep, it creates tremendous stress upon the body which has long-lasting effects. It actually makes it much harder to sleep because it makes the body so uncomfortable that the body is in a chronic state of irritation which impairs our ability to sleep. Falling asleep using alcohol is not sleep, it is placing the body into a coma because the level of toxicity of the body is so high that the body cannot keep you awake and survive at the same time.

As to the hip issue, there are a number of reasons why we get pain in our joints but ultimately all are correctable by putting the conditions of health into place. The only exception is if the bone of the hip has been remodeled by years of damage then the body may or may not be able to correct that condition. The most common reason for pain is inflammation. Inflammation is the 4th stage of disease and is the point at which the body is trying to make a massive effort to expel waste. When this process is allowed to take place the inflammation will lead to healing. But if we are continuously adding to the cause the body will never be able to complete the cleaning process. It’s like someone putting a sewer hose through your front window and you sitting there trying to sweep the floors clean without first getting the sewer hose out of the window, you will never get a clean house if the cause is still in place.

If we remove the causes of the inflammation the process will complete and healing will be achieved. If we do not remove the causes then eventually the body will move from the 4th stage of disease, into the higher states of disease which are all degenerative conditions. You can learn more about the seven stages of disease here: https://youtu.be/w4PBOuXiqPA The video also discusses in depth how we reverse the conditions and return to a state of health.

If you are eating cooked foods, drinking alcohol, taking stimulants like coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, eating salt, eating wheat, all of these will disrupt your ability to sleep. Stopping these will allow for restful sleep to return.

Anxiety, restless thoughts, the type of thoughts that keep us awake at night are not random, they are created by our diet. They are the body communicating its level of distress. If we remove the reason for the body being in distress then we remove the anxiety and restless thoughts that keep us from resting and being calm, cool and collected at all times.

We have to always remember that we are a collection of countless billions of tiny cells all working together in concert. Anything that injures one cell creates a chain reaction that affects every cell, so what may seem like a minor toxin exposure like eating some cooked foods actually becomes a major issue affecting the functions of every cell. Each small mistake builds upon the last making for less efficient processing of every cell, which in turn adds even more waste, which then makes the cells even less efficient. Every small mistake adds to our suffering.

If you are struggling to return to the natural diet fully we offer a support group for transitioning, with recipes, meal plans, daily articles to help you get through cravings, and lots of inspiration to help you learn how to eat to maintain health. You can find out more at https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment
Reader Q&A

Hair Loss and Using Essential Oils to Stimulate Hair Growth

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question:
I am losing a lot of hair. I’m on fruits until dinner and I’m mostly raw. What does terrain model say about using essential oils such as rosemary to stimulate hair growth? Many people have said that it’s helped them but I think the terrain model would probably not support the use of EO.

Answer:

Essential oils are potent plant toxins, they are harmful both ingested and topically.

Hair loss occurs primarily for 2 reasons. One, the body is pushing acids out through the scalp and this damages the hair follicles leading to hair loss. If we have corrected or improved our diet recently this will self-correct once the body has caught up on its backlog of waste. As long as we are eating sufficiently of leafy greens and other mineral-rich savory fruits we will have healthy hair, but in the short term the body can push the waste out through the skin and sometimes our hair is sacrificed in the short term for the long term gain of true health.

The second common reason for hair loss is excess fat in the diet or in the body. Fat blocks nutrients from being able to get into the cells and also from being able to get to the hair follicles. If the hair follicle doesn’t get the materials they need then the hair can suffer from a lack of materials to build healthy hair. This issue is also corrected simply by eating our natural foods and limiting our intake of fats.

The body can use the hair to expel toxins, so any hair growth that might occur from the essential oils would be more about waste elimination than having healthy hair. It would be a short-term fix with long-term damage. The essential oils touching the skin will cause irritation to the skin as well which can then lead to dandruff and rashes as the body becomes burned by toxins in the oils.

If we want strong healthy hair, strong nails and teeth, and a healthy complexion then we want to eat abundantly of leafy greens and savory fruits like cucumbers and tomatoes which are mineral rich. A large daily salad with cucumbers and tomatoes can not only build strong healthy hair and a beautiful complexion but can also help to sweep out the bowels, get the excess fat out of our system and help to keep the primary elimination channels, clean, clear, and moving efficiently. Our digestive tract is a muscle that requires lots of bulk to push against in order to work properly. Salad provides that bulk which allows for easy elimination and not overworking our cells. The muscles also get their strength and structure from the alkaline minerals found abundantly in leafy greens, so eating abundantly of those salad greens strengthens our elimination channels and further improves digestion and elimination.

If you are struggling to return to the natural diet fully we offer a support group for transitioning, with recipes, meal plans, daily articles to help you get through cravings, and lots of inspiration to help you learn how to eat to maintain health. You can find out more at https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment