Category: The People’s Key

In this section you will find all of our articles on the natural human diet, how the body self heals and self cleans, how to transition back to the natural human diet, what to expect as your body heals and answers to many questions about achieving health. Eat fruit and be well my friends!

Repairing our Vision

WHY DO WE ACCEPT VISUAL IMPAIRMENT AS NORMAL?

At least 2.2 billion people have near or distant vision impairment. Approximately 64% of adults use some form of vision correction, including eyeglasses, contact lenses, and/or vision correction surgery. Over 4 billion people in the world wear glasses. It is estimated that 50% of the population will need glasses by 2050. Vision impairment is certainly a common issue, but it is definitely not normal! Vision impairment, like dental decay, is a sign of degeneration of the body. A big red flag and warning of the progressing destruction of our bodies. But just like all other forms of degeneration, recovering our eyesight is possible when we put the conditions of health into place and remove all of the causes of disease.

Vision impairment is certainly a common issue, but it is definitely not normal! Vision impairment, like dental decay, is a sign of degeneration of the body. Learn how to correct it today. Share on X

One of the most important factors that lead to visual impairment is dehydration. The eye is largely a sac filled with water. As the body, and then the eye become dehydrated over time from our poor lifestyle habits the shape of the eye becomes distorted, which distorts the shape of the lens leading to blurry vision. Since most of the world’s population eats a cooked foods diet, as we age our vision becomes more and more impaired because we become more and more chronically dehydrated from the cooked foods we consume.

In addition to the dehydration from our unnatural cooked diet, our lifestyle habits and the glasses themselves weaken the muscles that control our eyes and over time this weakness builds impairing our vision. Then we have the nerve damage which controls the communication from the eyes to the brain and back again. All of these impairments are a result of the disease conditions we create by eating far from our natural diet.

Luckily, most people see a massive improvement in their vision within 1 year of returning to their natural diet and they are able to get rid of the glasses altogether. We can also speed the healing of our eyes by using exercises specifically designed to improve our vision. This is called the Bates Method and a PDF is attached below which teaches this method.

If you are not sure what the natural human diet is you can read about it here – https://www.therawkey.com/what-is-the-natural-human-diet/

Want to learn more about vision problems and how to correct them? Here are a few excerpts from the Life Science Course:

“Old age often has meant that the eyes and teeth rapidly fail us. Dentures and eyeglasses go hand in hand with Social Security checks. But does this mean that poor or missing teeth and weak, failing vision should be the norm for the elderly?

The young, too, have miserable dental health and vision problems. Younger and younger children are forced to wear glasses, and it is a very rare child indeed who does not have at least one dental cavity.

The truth is this: the overall health and well-being of the body is reflected through the health of the mouth and the clarity of one’s vision. Dental decay and failing eyesight are signs of a deteriorating body. Yet, it doesn’t have to be this way.

The teeth and eyes are built for long years of service—at least for 120 years. There have been stories of people who grow a third set of teeth in old age, and regained eyesight among the elderly is not impossible. So, poor teeth and eyes are never natural. Your teeth and eyes should be as sound at 50 as they were at 20—if you understand and follow the precepts of a healthy lifestyle.”

Most people see a massive improvement in their vision within 1 year of returning to their natural diet and they are able to get rid of the glasses altogether. Share on X
FAILING EYESIGHT AND VISION PROBLEMS

What causes a person to be near-sighted or far-sighted? Why do so many older people require glasses? What is astigmatism? What are cataracts and how are they caused? Poor eyesight and vision problems affect almost every person alive today. Most of these problems could be prevented or corrected if the causes of poor eyesight are understood. Let’s look at the most common complaints about the eyes and sight:

IS FAILING EYESIGHT NATURAL?

Your vision often seems to deteriorate as you grow older. People that never wore glasses in their early years often succumb to using reading glasses around the age of fifty. Does the power of vision naturally falter with passing years? Yes and no.

Your eyes can focus on both faraway and closeby objects because the lens of the eye can be “stretched.” The lens itself is composed of a strong, elastic capsule of proteinaceous fibers. Ligaments attach to the lens which allow it to be contracted and relaxed. As the lens changes shape by the ligaments pulling on it, the eye adjusts so that it can look at both objects in the distance and those that are close up.

As a person grows older, the lens loses its elastic nature and becomes more and more solidified. This is probably because the protein composing the mass of the lens becomes denatured. As the lens loses its elasticity, it can no longer quickly adjust in its focusing.

Around 45 to 50 years, the lens can only move about one-eighth as much as it could at birth. Finally with advanced age, the tens of the eye loses all elasticity and remains permanently fixed and focused at one distance.

This condition is called presbyopia and it simply means that the person has reached a stage where each eye remains permanently focused at an almost constant distance. The distance that the eyes continually focus on depends upon the physical characteristics of the person’s eyes.

What this means is that a person may be able to see moderately well for objects that are three to thirty feet away, but cannot read or see distant objects without glasses. Although similar to “farsightedness” or “nearsightedness,” the condition known as presbyopia is strictly speaking not the same. This vision problem affects only the older segment of the population, and occurs as a result of gradual deterioration instead of any congenital defect.

Does this mean that you must have poor vision by the age of fifty? Absolutely not. Although the lens of the eye does gradually decrease in elasticity, it can be slowed down enough so that it is almost imperceptible.

The proteinaceous denaturement of the material that makes up the lens of the eye occurs because the body is focusing its healing and regenerative energies on the more vital body areas. There is no reason why the materials making up the lens cannot be rejuvenated or maintained at their present level.

If the body is unencumbered by toxins, stress, or disease, then it can rebuild its weakest parts—including the eyes. If, however, the individual is in the state of toxicosis or is leading an unhealthy lifestyle, then the body never has a chance to revitalize the eyes. Instead, all the body’s energies are directed simply toward keeping itself alive.

As long as the health of the body is in a critical state, then the type of rejuvenation that is required to correct failing vision cannot occur. Perfect eyesight is not an absolute requirement for the survival of the organism. Consequently, the body always tends to correct the most pressing problems first. For most people, this means that the eyes and eyesight are low on the body’s list of priorities for revitalization and healing. Until you can “get ahead” in rebuilding your health, your eyesight will remain at its current level.

The most effective method known for restoring failing eyesight is a prolonged and supervised fast. This allows the body to reverse the deterioration and denaturation of the eye lens because the fast provides the necessary physiological rest for this to occur.

Old age doesn’t mean poor vision. Perfect eyesight, along with perfect health, is your birthright and heritage. A failing of the senses is not “natural” any more than any illness or disease is natural. Most people believe that poor vision goes along with increased years. Fasting, an optimum diet, and freedom from stress are the only requirements for improving your eyes. No matter what your condition, these steps will give you some noticeable improvement in your vision.

CAN YOU THROW AWAY YOUR GLASSES?

A man or woman who lived a thousand years ago would find the twentieth century to be a very strange place. The first thing that such a time traveler would notice is that about one out of every two people walking around his pieces of glass tied together and strapped across the nose. We call these things “eyeglasses” and we take them for granted.

But are they natural? Going through life with a pair of glass lens perched atop your nose or stuck onto the eyeball itself (if contact lenses are used) is the same as using crutches or a cane to walk around with. Why are there so many ‘vision cripples?”

Most people who wear glasses do so usually for one of these three vision problems: near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism. Are these conditions natural, and what can we do about them?

SEEING NEAR AND FAR

The most common eye problem is near-sightedness, or myopia. This means that the eyes cannot focus properly on anything beyond a certain distance, and can only see objects that are “near”—hence the term, near-sightedness.

Interestingly enough, near-sightedness most generally occurs in children and gradually worsens until around the age of 20 or so. Why is this? Some researchers have speculated that diet may be the clue in the myopic mystery.

In the Pennsylvania Medical Journal, Dr. Hunter J. Turner singles out soft drinks or carbonated soda water as the number one cause of near-sightedness in children. The carbonic acid in these drinks is one of the worst enemies of the eyes, and Dr. Turner believes he has discovered a strong link between soft drink consumption and the incidence of near-sightedness.

What will help a near-sighted person? Exercise. But not only general body conditioning, but a special set of exercises that are performed exclusively for strengthening the muscles of the lens of the eye.

For example, the Bates System of eye exercises has been used for years with moderate success. According to the International Record of Medicine, “a specific course in visual training may improve visual acuity, size of visual field, refractive errors, and even reading speed in selected individuals.” Additional references to these series of eye exercises are at the end of the lesson. The good news is this: near-sightedness can be overcome by proper exercise of the eyes. Among children, the results are especially impressive. You can throw those glasses away.

What about far-sightedness? Can it be corrected? Farsightedness is also known as hypermetropia. In this condition, the person cannot focus on objects close to them (such as a page of a book), but can see things in the distance as normal.

This is rarer than near-sightedness, but it is also caused by a weakened lens system. Both far-sightedness and near-sightedness are “corrected” by placing glasses or contacts over the lens so that the light is refracted in a different way.

Many far-sighted people have corrected their condition by not wearing glasses. In other words, they regularly exercise their eyes and try not to rely on any “crutches” or aids that might hinder their progress. Exercising the eyes and following an optimum diet (with periodic fasting) are effective and harmless ways to improve the vision.

If you wear glasses continuously, start off by removing them when it is not essential that you have clear vision. Gradually become used to not wearing glasses, and work your eyes. Focus on objects as far away as possible. Look at mountaintops, faraway trees, or signs. Then turn your eyes to objects less than three feet away. Practice regular rotation and exercise of the eyes for two to three periods a day. At the end of such exercising, press the palms over the eyes and keep them closed and relaxed. If you make a serious effort to exercise and relax your eyes in this manner (along with a regular program such as the Bates Vision System), you should quite literally see some improvement. Don’t forget that an excellent diet and fasting program should be used along with your eye exercise program in order to correct near- and far-sightedness.

Download a free copy of the Bates Method PDF Here – https://www.therawkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Bates-Perfect-Sight-without-Glasses.pdf

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Are you ready to start fixing your vision and all of your other nagging health complaints but not sure how to begin? Why not join our 30-Day Natural Diet Support and Education Group? New Groups start on the 1st of every month! Learn more and sign up here: https://www.therawkey.com/the-natural-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

Lauren WhitemanLeave a comment

Is oversleeping really bad for you?

I hear a lot lately that too much sleep can make you sick.

“There is no such thing as oversleep. The body will not sleep beyond need. Consciousness returns when need has been met. We can’t control that. However, we can by many devices shorten our sleep and simply refuse to get enough.

Sleep is a restorative agency, not a pathogenic practice, Medical men have said that fresh air is bad for you because it has been proven that city dwellers moving from polluted cities to vacation areas in fresh pure air get sick. Calling oversleeping pathogenic is similar to calling fresh air bad for you.

This attitude comes about because medical opinion regards disease as a war against the body by invading forces such as bacteria or viruses or both. Disease and sickness are not recognized as a body-instituted cleansing and repair process. When the body’s vitality is increased by fresh air or by heightened nerve energy derived from sleep extraordinary to normal, the body uses the opportunity to start a healing crisis.

Rather than regarding sleep as an enemy of well-being, you should regard it as one way in which to more quickly help reestablish physiological normalcy. When in the relaxing and reassuring atmosphere of a fasting institution, many fasters start off by sleeping most of the time, sometimes for up to a week. When their bodies are sufficiently cleansed, they cannot sleep as much as is regarded normal. Note that in the case of heavy sleeping they could do so only because the body needed it to regenerate the increased nerve energy to restore normalcy. When normalcy has been reestablished, they find it impossible to get the amount of sleep they regard as normal. Thus we can see that oversleeping is myth, that the body will not, indeed, conduct the sleep process beyond need.”

SLEEP AS AN ESSENTIAL OF LIFE

“We can accept sleep as being absolutely necessary without question. But, as well, getting enough sleep is an essential of life. It is impossible for a healthy person to oversleep but undersleeping is an evil of our, times—a transgression most of us commit against ourselves.

When we undersleep, not enough nerve energy is generated to meet needs. We use more nerve energy when we are awake longer and generate less with less sleep, other conditions being equal. When our nerve energy is squandered to meet excessive consciously-directed activities, then nerve energy for unconscious
body activities is not available. This may mean poorer digestion, impaired elimination and so on—the body must suffer generally.

With adequate sleep enough nerve energy is generated to meet our normal needs.”

Excerpt from The Life Science Course Lesson 15 by T.C. Fry

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Nuts

It’s winter in the northern hemisphere and that means we naturally gravitate towards denser foods like nuts and seeds.  Unfortunately, many of the raw food and fruitarian groups rail against nuts and seeds and this can lead to confusion about whether we should be eating them at all. 

Common questions come to mind about how many nuts are too many.  Are all nuts raw? Will nuts stop detox?   Often these questions can lead us to shy away from nuts and seeds.

In addition, it is easy to overdo a meal of nuts if we are eating them pre-shelled. Sometimes our digestion through the healing process can struggle with the nuts and seeds making us feel like we shouldn’t be eating them.  Lastly, we have many loud voices in the various raw and fruitarian communities spreading the false message that nuts, like greens, will slow down or stop the detox.   This is 100% false and nuts should not be avoided based on a fear of stopping detox. 

In short, both nuts and leafy greens are essential to a well-rounded diet which is essential to returning the body to a state of health.  Let’s see what some of the noted Natural Hygienists have to say about nuts and seeds.

Nuts in the Hygienic Diet

“Next to fruits, nuts are the most essential foods in a well-balanced and wholesome diet.” – Otto Carque, Rational Diet

“We should consume only pure water as thirst demands and wholesome raw ripe fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds as genuine hunger dictates. – TC Fry

“Nuts in general are the best, the most wholesome and most economical source of Protein, because while they are eaten unfired their protein is well balanced with the positive salts.”  – George Julius Drews

[Note: salts are minerals]

“Coming now to nuts, they are, as before pointed out, the great source of proteid – outside meat and certain legumes.  When thoroughly masticated, they are a wholesome and very nutritious article of diet…..They contain practically the elements of a perfect food in due proportion – supplying the system with proteids, fats, carbohydrates, and salts in a concentrated form, with but little waste.   In addition to the nitrogenous matter which they contain, they are also a valuable, and in fact the chief, source of fats….On the whole, it may be said that they are the most valuable articles of food that we know, and when supplemented by a few fruits, form a perfect and nutritious diet.”   – Hereward Carrington

Kellogg says that “nuts are the choisest of all substances capable of sustaining life,” and that in “nutritive value the nut far exceeds all other food substances.” Also, “The nut is the choisest aggregation of the materials essential for the buildnig of sound human tissues, done up in a hermetically sealed package, ready to be delivered by the gracious hand of Nature to those who are fortunate enough to appreciate the value of this finest of earth’s bounties.”

“Nuts, particularly the pecan, produce more food per acre than any other product and no one need eat animal products so long as these delightful foods are to be had. They are not to be considered as a “meat substitute.” The meat is the “substitute,” as Prof. Sherman, of Columbia University, says.”” Herbert Shelton, The Science and Fine Art of Food and Nutrition

“The digestibility of protein in 28 experiments with mixed diets, to which were added fruits and nuts, averaged 90 percent. …The digestibility of the carbohydrates in nuts, so far as the available data show, is about equal to that of the same ingredients in other foods…It would appear that, while it is not possible to state the exact digestion coefficients for all nuts, enough has been done to indicate their high nutritive value and digestibility…The distress sometimes experienced when nuts are eaten is undoubtedly often due to improper mastication or over-indulgence.  The investigations made at the California station indicate clearly that considerable quantities of nuts properly eaten do not cause distress…As a whole nuts may be classed among the staple foods, and not simply as food accessories.”  – Professor Jaffa, “Nuts and their Uses as Food” from “The Natural Food of Man”, Hereward Carrington

“Paleontologists tell us that primitive man was a nut eater. All over the face of the earth man has used nuts as food from time immemorial. There are many kinds of nuts and these have all proven excellent sources of food, not alone for man, but for the lower primates and many other animals, including many birds. They are rich in food values, delightfully flavored and keep for extended periods so that man, as well as the squirrel, may store them for future use. Many animals besides squirrels eat large quantities of nuts. Many of the birds make use of the nut as an article of food. Horses will consume great quantities of acorns. While they will eat fruit from the trees, they eat acorns off the ground after they have fallen. Hogs eat so many hickory nuts that in certain parts of the country they are called pig-nuts. Horses are also fond of pecans.

“It takes months of sunshine to perfect the nut and when it is completed it is a veritable storehouse of minerals and high-grade protein, emulsified oil and health-imparting vitamins. Packed in a nature-made, water-proof and air-tight shell, the nut-meat comes to us clean and wholesome. Hermetically sealed the nut does not become contaminated and spoiled as does meat, for example. Nuts are free from waste products, are aseptic and do not readily decay, either in the body or outside of it. They are not infested with parasites (trachinae, tape-worm, etc.), as are meats.” – Herbert Shelton

Nutrition in Nuts

“Scientific investigations prove that all the nuts, especially in the form of unroastes nut butter, furnish a relatively high amount of basic amino acids , and that nut proteins are of a high biological value.”  

“Animals that have declined on a diet devoid of water soluble vitamin, promptly recover when the almond, English Walnut, filbert, hickory nut, pine nut, chestnut and pacan were introduced.  

“Nuts are rich in minerals, particularly iron and lime. Pecans are rich in potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. Almonds, pecans, walnuts, chestnuts, and hazelnuts contain an average percentage of iron of about two and a half times that of fruit, three times that of vegetables, greater than that of cereals and more than average meats. The almond is rich in iron and lime. One pound of almonds contains as much calcium as twenty-five pounds of beef or eleven pounds of bread and potatoes. The almond is twice as rich in blood-building elements as meat and is very rich in bone-building elements, in which meat is sadly lacking.”  Herbert Shelton

“Most nuts are abundant in vitamins A and B. The researchers of Cajori demonstrated the abundant presence of growth-promoting vitamins in pecans, English walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, filberts, and hickory nuts. Most nuts are rich in oils. The fats (oils) of nuts are the most easily digested and assimilated of all forms of fat. Kellogg says: “The fat of nuts exists in a finely divided state and in the chewing of nuts a fine emulsion is produced so that the nuts enter the stomach in a form adapted for prompt digestion.

Nuts are fairly rich in starch and sugar, and are three to four times richer in vitally important salts than animal flesh, even richer than milk in these vital substances. Not albumen is easily assimilated and does not form uric acid. Nuts are rich in fat, which, like that of milk, is in a state of emulsion – that is, ready-made, prepared, or pre-digested, as it were – for circulation through the lymphatic system. 

Measured in calories, most nuts rank high. One example must suffice. Measured in calories, two ounces of shelled pecans contain as much food as a pound of lean beef.

Everything that can be had from flesh foods can be gotten in better condition and more usable form from other sources, and especially from nuts. Nuts are not only cleaner than meat, they come in hermetically sealed shells that prevent contamination.

Nut proteins are of the highest order, most nut proteins being complete. Kellogg maintains that nut proteins are the best of all sources upon which the body may draw for its supplies of tissue building substances and that the proteins of nuts are superior to those of ordinary vegetables or meat. “Nuts furnish perfect proteins.” Nut proteins are superior to those of cereals and are claimed to be more complete than those of eggs. Indeed, Kellogg says: “The special method of research adopted by Dr. Hoobler of the Detroit Women’s Hospital and Infant’s Home, provides a most delicate biological test for the nutriment value of food. The test shows the nut to be superior to meat, milk or eggs or all these foods together in producing the highest degree of nutritive efficiency. Nut protein is the best of all sources upon which the body may draw for its supplies of tissue-building material.” – Herbert Shelton

“Studies of the proteins of nuts by Osborn and Harris, Van Slyke, Johns and Cajori demonstrated that the proteins of nuts are at least equal to those of meat. This was shown to be true of the almond, black and English walnuts, butternut, pecan, filbert, Brazil nut, pine nut, chsetnut, hickory nut and cocoanut. Observations have shown that, in general, the proteins of oily seeds are complete proteins. Johns, Finks and Paul found that the globulin of the cocoanut is an adequate growth-factor in rats and that cocoanuts are almost completely sufficient as the sole source of protein in human beings. Para nuts have also been shown to be rich in superior protein. Not all workers are agreed about hickory nuts, many maintaining that these possess a low-grade protein. The others named are rich in high-grade proteins, promoting growth, development, reproduction,lactation, and the rearing of the young, not alone in animals, but also in man.”  – Herbert Shelton

“Nuts are acid-ash foods, as are all proteins, but they are not so much so as are animal proteins. The comparative degrees of acidity of the proteins run walnuts, 8; oysters, 15.3; veal 13.5; eggs, 12; chicken, 11.2; beef, 9.8; etc. Nuts contain less acid minerals than meat.” – Herbert Shelton

Proper Food Combining of Nuts

“Nuts are often used as a dessert after a heavy meal. In this case, they are harmful. Combined with fruits or vegetable salads, nuts make a complete meal in themselves, and their indigestibility in most cases must be attributed to a lack of wisdom in the choice of food eaten with them.  If nuts are thoroughly masticated and used in small quantities, and well combined, they are easily digested and utilized by the human body.” – Otto Carque

Carque goes on to explain that nut butters are an excellent option for those with defective and weak teeth who are not able to thoroughly masticate the whole nuts.   Nut butter should always be raw and without salt.   

Nuts pair well with greens and can also be paired with dried fruits.  Nuts can be eaten as a stand alone meal, prior to the salad, or after the salad.  They are often enjoyed as part of the salad meal, either as a salad topping or dressing.   

“It would be difficult to overestimate the tremendous gain that would accrue to the people of our country if the millions of acres now devoted to grain-raising were devoted to nut and fruit culture.”  – Herbert Shelton

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Fermentation

Burping, Gas & Bloating, what do they mean?

Frequently as people transition to the natural diet there is a period of digestion issues as the fast digesting fruits run into the constipation caused by a cooked foods diet.  In most people, this digestion issue passes in 1-2 weeks and fermentation is never an issue again.   But for some people, fermentation continues to be an issue and it can be potentially problematic, leading to chronic symptoms and dramatic weight loss.    In fact, fermentation is one of the biggest reasons that people lose excessive weight when eating the natural diet, or transitioning to the natural diet.   Fermentation can also lead to chronic fatigue, overeating, itchy skin, rashes, and extended periods of symptoms which might be written off as “just detox”.   

You should not experience burping, gas or bloating at all if eating correctly.  These are disease conditions and troubleshooting is required to correct them.   

Burping, Gas & Bloating are not normal and are a sign that what we are eating is not properly digesting.   The gas that creates burping and farting is from fermentation inside of the digestive tract.  Just like the bubbles that form in a bottle of champagne or beer from fermentation, the same process occurs in our digestive tract.  If we are fermenting that means we are producing alcohol in the digestive tract and poisoning ourselves.  

If a person experiences gas on the natural diet, a few things could be causing the issue:  

1.  Drinking water with a meal or too soon before or after.  

2.  Overeating.  

3.  Not properly chewing foods.  

4.  Not following proper food combining rules.   

5.  Eating too quickly.  

6.  Eating while stressed or upset.  

7.  Eating too early or too late.

8.  Eating unripe or overripe fruits.

9.  Eating melons or grapes when the digestion is not primed.  

10. Drinking smoothies or juices.

11.  Eating cooked foods which constipate, followed by raw foods that are high in sugar and digest quickly.  

Let’s first talk about why each of these factors can lead to fermentation, then we will discuss why fermentation creates symptoms and weight loss and last we will talk about how to fix fermentation issues if they are occurring.  

1. Drinking water with a meal or too soon before or after.  

Drinking water dilutes the digestive juices impairing digestion.   Our digestive juices need to be at full strength for proper digestion.   Do not drink water with your meal or for at least 1 hour after a meal.  For denser foods give 2-3 hours.   Drink 15 minutes before your meal, while preparing your meal to allow the stomach to empty the water before digestion. 

2. Overeating.  

If we put more food into our stomach than our stomach can handle the food will sit and ferment rather than digesting.   As we transition from a cooked foods diet our digestion will be weak.  Start with smaller meals spread 2-3 hours apart and naturally over time you will work your way up to large meals less frequently.   Most people need to start with 5-6 meals a day to reach adequate calories and eventually most people find that 2 large meals or 3 medium sized meals works best for them long term.  Don’t try to rush getting to 2 meals a day.  Let your digestion improve gradually.   

3. Not properly chewing foods.  

You have probably heard the saying “Digestion begins in your mouth”.  I like to say, “your stomach doesn’t have teeth, chew your food!”   We should be chewing our foods to a liquid before swallowing.  Decades of eating cooked foods that are soft and require little chewing create a habit of not chewing thoroughly.  It takes some attention when we are eating to retrain this habit.   When you eat, try to focus on eating and not being distracted by some other task.   

4. Not following proper food combining rules.   

Some foods digest well together and others do not.  Knowing how to properly combine your foods to avoid poor digestion is key.   We will have another post specifically on food combing.  

5. Eating too quickly.  

When we eat quickly we are often not adequately chewing our food and we are putting food in the stomach faster than our full signal can keep up.  When we eat slowly and deliberately we can better hear when our body is full and avoid overstuffing the stomach.   

6. Eating while stressed or upset.  

When we are in a state of emotional upset or stress our stomach shuts down.  It wants no food.  If we eat when we are upset or eat to soothe our emotions we nearly always ferment our foods because our digestion is sluggish.   When upset, avoid reaching for food and instead try taking a walk or going out into nature and letting yourself process the source of the upset before eating.  

7. Eating too early or too late.  

Digestion ramps up starting around noon, if we eat earlier than that we will have sluggish digestion that can cause the food to not digest fast enough.  If we eat when our digestion is sluggish the fruits, especially high sugar fruits are very likely to ferment.   If you must eat before noon choose a low sugar food – berries, salad, savory fruits like tomatoes to avoid the fermentation.  We will have another article on the ideal eating window and the 3 cycles your digestive system moves through each day that explains the importance of keeping our meals between 12 noon and 8 pm.  

8. Eating unripe or overripe fruits.

Unripe fruits are difficult to digest simply because they are not ripe and not meant to be eaten.  Unfortunately, due to the nature of our food system many fruits are picked unripe so they can be shipped long distances.   When shopping for fruits look for what’s on sale that week, frequently stores will put on sale the fruits that are coming ripe because there is an abundance of them and they need to sell them quickly. also look for climacteric fruit which will ripen on the counter even if they are picked  unripe at the tree

9. Eating melons or grapes when the digestion is not primed.  

Melons and grapes and other high sugar fruits our quick to ferment in our system. If we eat them first thing in the morning when our digestion is not warmed up and not moving as efficiently as it should the high sugar in these fruits can ferment very quickly causing “melon belly” or “grape belly“ fermentation symptoms.    if you’re eating before noon or your digestion feel sluggish skip the melons and other high sugar fruits and go for some thing slower digesting like bananas or savory fruits.

10. Drinking smoothies or juices.

When we cut fruit it starts to break down as it is exposed to the air. When we put food into a blender or a juicer we are creating thousands and thousands of little cuts and this causes the fruit to break down much faster. If you’re going to have a smoothie make a small smoothie and drink it quickly and remember to chew your beverages to get the saliva starting the digestion process. But ideally we should be predominantly avoiding smoothies and juices. Smoothies and juices are frequently fermented and also tend to lead to plaque on the teeth for the same reason.  

11.  Eating cooked foods which constipate, followed by raw foods that are high in sugar and digest quickly.  

When we are transitioning from cooked foods to raw foods it can be a challenge to manage the slow and sluggish digestion of cooked foods.   Frequently the body cannot eliminate cooked foods in a timely manner so they ferment themselves, but even more often the slow and sluggish digestion of cooked foods causes traffic jams in our digestive system when combined with a fast digesting fruit meal eaten afterwards.    The best option is to eat fruits early in the day and leave any cooked foods for the evening meal.   But even having cooked foods in the evening followed by fruit the next morning can result in fermentation if the cooked foods are very slow moving.    Fruit needs clear pathways.   High sugar fruits especially need clear pathways.   If you have eaten a cooked meal the night before its best to skip the high sugar or watery fruits and instead go with a salad, savory fruits or low sugar fruits like blueberries or other berries that will not ferment as easily.  Also keep in mind that cooked foods dehydrate us and dehydration causes constipation, so if you are eating cooked foods keep the water intake high to avoid getting clogged up!

Why Fermentation Leads to Symptoms and Weight Loss

Food is only useful to the body if it can be assimilated without an excess burden of waste. Health is not about the nutrient density of your food but the usability of your food.   Eating 500 calories of fruit that is fermenting in your digestive tract just results in the body rushing that food out of the system with little to no gain and with a loss of energy.   If you are consistently fermenting your fruits your body will be consistently rushing the food through and weight loss and muscle lose will be the result.    

As Herbert Shelton points out, “It has often been said: “You are what you eat.” More appropriately, this should probably be: “You are what you digest and assimilate.” Man eats everything. He considers himself an omnivore of the first order. Roots, nuts, tubers, seeds, eggs, blood, milk, fish, fowl, and fruit have all appeared on man’s plate. One culture eats worms and gnats with relish. Another culture considers decaying animals a delicacy. Man has practiced cannibalism both in the past and in the present. And so man brags: “I can eat anything. I have an iron stomach.” It is true that man’s physiology allows him to eat almost anything that does not immediately kill him… It is a mistake to assume, however, that the body can digest and assimilate everything that passes between our teeth, or that foods doing no immediate harm will not eventually cause problems. Consequently, most of what man eats is for naught, because much of the food eaten by the average human being is totally unsuitable for his digestive physiology.” 

Whether we are eating foods that are suitable or stuffing the body with useless food like substances we need to be able to digest and assimilate what we take in.  When we eat cooked foods we create a backlog of waste and cellular debris from the useless materials being a burden to our body.   But when we ferment our fruits we create alcohol and this alcohol can cause as much distress to the body as a cooked food meal.  

Below is an excerpt from John Tilden explaining why fermentation is problematic and keeps us in a state of disease.  

“WHAT BECOMES OF THE FOOD TAKEN INTO THE BODY?

Food enters the stomach and bowels, and then it is subjected to the action of solvents preparing it for absorption into the blood; after absorption it is further acted upon by the blood itself, which, in a true sense, is one of the most important digestive organs, for it refines the food elements and prepares them for cell digestion, the very last digestive process completing the metamorphosis of food into living tissue.

From the beginning to the ending of this process–from the chewing of the food, its solution and absorption into the blood, the transformation that takes place in the blood, as it is carried by the circulation to the lungs where it becomes oxygenated and decarbonized–is a subtle scheme of interorganic exchange of products; the blood being not only a common carrier, but a purifying and refining organ.

 Before going farther, the meaning of decomposition and toxin poisoning should be explained.

More food is eaten than can be digested properly, or it may be that the combinations are wrong, and instead of physiological, enzymic fermentation–digestion–taking place, pathologic, or bacterial, fermentation takes place. The germs of fermentation–the bacteria or microbes, or organized ferment, that are everywhere–set up fermentation in carbohydrate foods, causing acidity; and decomposition in proteid foods, and putrescence is a product of this fermentation; any and all of which when absorbed, or taken into the blood, causes toxemia. Where there are enough digestive ferments–enzymes–the ever-present germs (bacteria) have no power to act. When man is prostrate with disease–with the evil influence of bacterial fermentation–then he should not eat; for his enzymic power (power to digest) is already overpowered by germs, and to feed under such circumstances is to encourage bacterial fermentation and toxemia. In acute diseases, from a common cold to pneumonia on to typhoid fever, feeding complicates and increases the mortality.

To recognize germs as man’s enemy is a mistake; if, they were enemies they would not quit him when he is prostrate and refusing to take “good nourishing food.” When germ action is continued in disease it is when food is forthcoming in quantities that exceed enzymic power. Wounds, ulcers, abscesses, etc., are kept from healing when the food intake is beyond enzymic control.

As a result of bacterial decomposition, toxin is formed, and when absorbed it poisons the system. Toxins are also taken in from without the body. Any poison generated in the body or out of the body, and taken in, causes toxin poisoning. Any stimulating drugs–namely, opium and its preparations, alcoholics, tobacco, coffee, tea–overeating, overwork, both physical and mental, overworked emotions, etc., all stimulate and intoxicate, which produces enervation, and this leads to toxemia by checking elimination.

Yes, I believe in germs (ferments, yeasts), and I believe in enzymes (ferment, a digestive yeast built by every organized being). I do not believe that the presence of germs has any more to do with causing disease than the absence of enzymes. Both these ferments are necessary to man’s health and well-being. The enervation brought on by toxemia checks secretion and elimination, causes constipation and retention of other organic waste, which, joined with the toxins of fermentation and decomposition, prepares man for the affections or the diseases he develops.”- Tilden

How to correct fermentation issues

  1. Keep meals simple.  Eat one fruit per meal or follow food combing rules for multiple fruit meals but keep the mixing to no more than 3 fruits per meal for best digestion.
  2. Drink your water!   Dehydration is the most common cause of constipation.  We should be having one elimination per day in the morning, shortly after arising.   If you do not go regularly in the morning before your first meal of the day then you are constipated.   If you are going multiple times per day then you have diarrhea.  
  3. Eat your salad greens!    Greens sweep the bowels clean and get rid of any slow moving old waste. 
  4. If you have eaten cooked foods, follow them with a salad and avoid eating high sugar fruits the day before.  
  5. Drink water 15 minutes before your meal and wait at least 1 hour after
  6. Eat within the noon to 8pm window.  If you need to eat earlier than noon stay away from the high sugar melons and grapes.  
  7. Chew, chew, chew!
  8. Make sure all cooked foods are high fiber.   Steer clear of dry food like breads and pasta which will cause severe constipation.  
  9. Stay away from melons until your digestion improves.   High sugar, high water content fruits require very strong digestion.  If your digestion is weak they will ferment quickly.  If you experience melon belly stay away from the melons for a while.  Only enjoy them in the summer at their peak ripeness. 
  10. Eat smaller meals.
  11. Only eat when calm and relaxed.  Focus on your meal.  Don’t eat distracted.  
  12. Fast – If everything is fermenting and being wasted there is no benefit to continued eating.   Fast and rest and allow the digestive tract time to heal then start with small, simple meals, chewed well and eaten calmly.  

Last notes, when our body is trying to clean and heal our body will turn off our appetite and force us to rest.  If we continue to eat during an active healing event, for example, when you have cold or flu symptoms, your body will ferment food rather than digest it because energy is being directed away from digestion and into cleaning.  Therefore eating when we have cold or flu symptoms will only extend our suffering.    

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/the-natural-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

Lauren Whiteman4 Comments

Dental Health

One of the most common concerns that arise regularly in the various raw food circles is dental health. This concern, however, is not limited to the raw food community, it is just more highlighted as we improve all other aspects of our health. We expect our teeth to improve right along with our health but often the opposite happens and we start to notice more tooth decay and irritation as we heal instead.

“More than 36 million Americans do not have any teeth, and 120 million people in the U.S. are missing at least one tooth. In the geriatric population, the ratio of edentulous [without teeth] individuals is 2 to 1.” -American College of Prosthodontists

But this was not always the case, as evidenced by ancient skulls tooth loss is a modern problem:

“Geologists and paleontologists often unearth the skulls of peoples long dead, the teeth of which show no signs of decay and the enamel on which is often almost double the thickness and much harder than the enamel on our teeth.”

“Today most of the civilized portions of the race are a race of dental cripples. We are face to face with the fact that our teeth begin to decay in childhood. Indeed they sometimes have cavities in them when they erupt.” – Herbert Shelton

The decay of the teeth is due to malnutrition. It is a progressive condition that begins before we are even born. The health and strength of our teeth start in the womb based on the minerals available in our mother’s body.

The health of our teeth then progressively degenerates throughout our life due to the consumption of cooked and processed foods, acid-forming foods, and a lack of proper exercise of the teeth.

Hugh W. McMillan, D.D.S., M.D., of Cincinnati, says:

“To a careful observer of dental conditions at the present time in clinic and private practice, it is very evident the ravages of dental caries and diseases of the gums are daily increasing, in spite of the increasing number of dentists, in spite of the multiplicity of patented and personally-designated tooth brushes, in spite of proprietary pyorrhea cures and gum massaging pastes, in spite of acid, alkaline, neutral, mucin dissolving and film destroying tooth pastes and mouthwashes and in spite of the type of periodontologist who aims to prevent by either applying or removing something from the tooth surface in the same manner that some unintelligent physician might expect to cure by external applications a skin disease of general origin.”

OUR NATURAL FOODS KEEP OUR TEETH STRONG

Our natural foods are dense and require vigorous chewing which exercises the teeth, jaw, and gums. Just as a strength training exercise is recommended for the elderly to maintain bone density, our teeth require strength training to keep them strong and healthy. They of course also need adequate nutrients to build from, which are found in the organic minerals in fruits and vegetables but they need exercise in the form of us masticating thoroughly to put those nutrients to use.

“That the teeth and bones are similar in structure has been recognized by nearly all physiologists. Chemically they are very much alike. According to Hoppe-Seyler, the inorganic constituents are the same for bone and for dentin, about 85 percent, calcium phosphate and from 10 to 12 percent, calcium carbonate. The density of dentin cartilage is about equal to that of bone.

The processes of calcification are analogous. In the teeth the calcification occurs about the processes of the odontoblasts, just as in bone it occurs about the bone cells and forms lacunae. In both, the inorganic constituents are laid down in a colloidal matrix. It would therefore seem reasonable to infer that a pathologic condition which affected one might affect the other. This, however, has not been the opinion of dentists. They believe that dental caries is a purely local affair. The present theory is that carbohydrate material adheres to the teeth and, there fermenting, with theformation of lactic acid, forms the cavity of tooth decay. This idea has not been supported by animal experimentation. Twenty guinea-pigs, fed on a diet to which were added large amounts of sugars, viz., dextrose, lévulose, lactose, saccharin, dextrin and white flour, showed no dental effect at the end of a year. The sugars and starches adhered to the teeth constantly, and bacterial examination disclosed a fermentative flora ; but no dental effects could be detected.” – P. Howe “Decalcification Of Teeth And Bones, And Regeneration Of Bone Through Diet”

The problem we are often seeing in the raw food communities is that our already impaired dental health makes it difficult to chew and our weak jaws get tired working through a large salad or bag of apples. For this reason, many raw foodists turn to smoothies, juices, dips, sauces, raw soups, and other blended and processed fares which allow us to get in the nutrients but not the jaw and teeth exercise we need for strong teeth.

The same study goes on to talk about the destruction of teeth when fed a scorbutic diet, which is a diet devoid of vitamin c, scorbutic meaning causes scurvy. The study found an “increase of magnesium in pathologic décalcification of bone.” Even when adequate calcium is supplied the lack of vitamin C, most prevalent in leafy greens and fresh fruits, led to dental caries (cavities), inflammation of the gums, loss of teeth, and purulent discharge from the gums. The correction is also found, “Feeding orange juice is followed by complete clearing up of the trouble.”

Shelton confirms the need for Vitamin C in dental health as well as Vitamins A and D:

“Tooth enamel is made up largely of calcium and phosphorus with small quantities of iron. But the fusion of these substances into enamel requires the presence of vitamines A, C and D. At least half a dozen elements and factors are essential to the production of this tissue. In the absence of either of these factors the enamel of the teeth cannot be made. It is folly to feed much calcium in an effort to produce good teeth and to ignore the other essential elements of the teeth.”

And yet it is exactly this folly that most succumb to, seeking out calcium supplements of inorganic and therefore harmful sources of minerals, or seeking high calcium foods without asking what else might be needed here.

“If man were to subsist wholly on alimentary substances in their natural state, or without any artificial preparation, by cooking, he would be obliged to use his teeth freely, and by so doing not only preserve his teeth from decay; but at the same time and by the same means, he would thoroughly mix his food with the solvent fluid of his mouth.“ – Sylvester Graham

“Sugar and fruit acids do not injure the enamel of normal teeth. Sound teeth have been immersed in a sugar solution and in fruit acids for months without suffering any erosion. Dr. E. Howard Turison and others have proved this.”- Herbert Shelton

“Lactic acid does not injure the enamel of the teeth. No experiments have been able to show that bacteria of any type, when cultured on the teeth, are responsible for dental caries.” – Herbert Shelton

“Experiments by Drs. Howe and Hatch (1917) in America, and by Sir James McIntosh, Warwick James and Lazarus-Barlow, working together in England, in trying to produce dental caries by using acid forming bacteria all resulted negatively. Dr. Howe says that “so long as the diet is normal it has been found impossible to cause caries or pyorrhea by maintaining fermentation in the mouth or by feeding or injecting the bacteria believed to be most actively associated with dental caries.” – Herbert Shelton

OUR UNNATURAL COOKED DIET BREAKS DOWN OUR TEETH

“Cereals, especially, seem to induce defective teeth, particularly when not counter-balanced with large quantities of green foods and fresh fruits.” P. Howe

“Investigations have revealed that those races whose diets include no cereals have teeth and mouths practically free of any kind of disease, while those races whose staple diets are cereals and meat with relatively small amounts of fruits and vegetables have jaws and teeth like those so common in America. Wheat is the most damaging of all the cereals, regarded from the point of view of its acidity. Little meat and cereals and an abundance of fruits and vegetables produce teeth like those found in Polish and Irish peasantry and those of the vegetarian races of the Orient.” – Herbert Shelton

When we cook our foods we create a soft mass that requires little chewing. Our unnatural cooked foods diets are abundant in soft mushy foods – pasta, bread, cereals, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and even the vegetables which would supply adequate nutrients to build strong teeth are softened to mush by cooking and have their organic minerals converted to inorganic minerals in the process. Uncooked food in comparison requires vigorous chewing, supplying the teeth with much-needed exercise.

WHY THEN DOES IT APPEAR SOMETIMES THAT DENTAL DECAY OCCURS AFTER TRANSITIONING BACK TO THE NATURAL DIET?

There are a few reasons why we might see an increase in dental decay when we begin to transition to the natural diet. As mentioned above, the heavy reliance on blended and processed raw foods that most use as a transitional tool does contribute to the underuse of our teeth. As the body begins to heal and release old acidic waste from storage the body will take alkaline minerals from the bones and teeth to neutralize those acids.

“…in order to neutralize the acids formed by the decomposition of excess protein, the body was forced to give up its mineral salts. Thus the teeth, bones, cartilages, nails, hair, etc., were leeched of these elements.” – Herbert Shelton

If we are properly exercising our teeth during this time the body will see the strength of the teeth as a necessity and will replenish the teeth faster than it pulls from them because we are supplying an abundance of minerals in the form of leafy greens, fruits, and vegetables. But if we are relying heavily on blended, juiced, and processed foods or focusing our diet too much on soft fruits and not enough on tough fruits, leafy greens and vegetables that require working our jaw and supply ample minerals, then the body will see the teeth as expendable compared to the vital organs.

Another reason some experience issues is that despite meat causing many health issues the gristly tissues are a workout for the jaw. The shift then from that workout without replacing it with another can lead to the weakening of the teeth during this time.

We are also dumping symptom suppressants along the way. Often as we learn to take better care of ourselves we also stop using fluoridated toothpaste which creates a false strength to our teeth while we are using them but which the body tries to eliminate as soon as we stop. The internal damage to our teeth has already progressed and when we stop the fluoride which fills the gaps where the calcium is missing, the holes show up quickly. If we are eating abundantly of mineral-rich greens and working our jaws these holes will fill back in eventually, but in the short term dental issues may arise.

Then we have the issue of dead teeth. Since dental decay is a progressive process that occurs gradually over time and from the inside out, we have been destroying our teeth since childhood but the major issues tend to begin to show up for all people between the ages of 30 and 50. If you are a woman who has given birth to children that may start even earlier as creating new life takes lots of minerals from the body to give them to the child. As the body starts to clean and heal it wants to discard the unrepairable. Sometimes this means that old filings are pushed out, and sometimes this means that damaged and dead teeth are broken down for their materials instead of being rebuilt. Only the body can decide whether a tooth is salvageable or in need of discarding.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO IMPROVE OUR DENTAL HEALTH AND MINIMIZE TOOTH LOSS?

“We examined the jaws of some of these animals after they had died. The jaws showed that while the guinea pigs had been on a vitamin-deficient diet, the bony structure of the jaw had been mined of its calcium and when the normal diet was restored, areas of calcium had been replaced, showing very definitely that the body calls on the bones for calcium when it is needed in the blood, and that the blood gives calcium back when there is an abundance of this element.” P. Howe

The good news is, our teeth can and do rebuild to some extent when we feed them adequately. Before I knew much about healing I used to say, “An apple a day keeps the dentist away as well as the doctor.” I had always noticed how much better, cleaner, and stronger my teeth felt when I was regularly eating apples and apparently both Tilden and Shelton confirm the benefits of the apple.

Dr. Tilden especially recommends apples for rachitic children, and for building good bones and teeth. Dr. Claunch stated that cavities in his teeth healed while he was on an apple diet. – Herbert Shelton

This makes sense when combined with our knowledge about the importance of exercising our teeth, as apples are one of the foods that work our jaws the most.

Oranges are another great food for dental health. Although they don’t require much of a dental workout they do supply a generous amount of building materials, including Vitamin C.

Leafy greens and tender vegetables are mineral-rich and a great workout for the jaw. I recall early in my journey how tired my jaw would get from all the chewing. Now I realize how weak my jaw was back then. Over time my jaw has strengthened and now eating a huge salad is a joy, but early on it was truly a workout.

A variety of fruits and greens are going to supply the necessary building materials for our teeth, but crisp fruits, greens, and vegetables are the keys to the working of our teeth.

As they say, “use it or lose it!” If we don’t work our teeth with vigorous mastication we will lose our teeth.

Overall though, there is no one thing, no magic cure for poor teeth, instead, we must focus on health overall and by correcting all of our bad habits that injure the body as a whole we then put the conditions in place for good dental health as well.

As Herbert Shelton so eloquently exclaims:

“Good teeth depend upon good health and not vice versa as the tooth-extracting fad proclaims. No cause of impaired health, however insignificant it may seem to be, should be neglected if the teeth are to be preserved. There seems to me to be no way to preserve the teeth by any plan that falls short of a complete system of health building. No one-idea plan can succeed. Soundness of the teeth will be preserved by the same mode of living that preserves soundness in all the tissues and structures of the body. We must learn to think in terms of health-building. We must learn to think in terms of health of the whole organism and cease thinking in terms of local health.”

This is an article from The Natural Diet Support Group. A new group starts on the first of every month teaching the natural human diet, how to transition away from disease-causing foods and how the self-healing body operates, to learn more about our support group or join click here-> https://www.therawkey.com/the-natural-diet-support-group/

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/

Lauren WhitemanLeave a comment
Reader Q&A

Cancer – Understanding Natural Health Versus the Medical Model Can Save Your Life!

Question:

The conventional position is that cancer cells are abnormal cells that grow and divide uncontrollably. How does that mesh with NH’s position that cancer is nothing more than toxic waste safely enveloped by the body in a protective sac? 

Answer: 

The medical industry takes a wide range of symptoms and labels all of them as cancer. They do not delineate between different symptoms or the progression of the condition other than to say that Cancer is in stages 1-4. In Natural Hygiene or Life Science, the medical diagnosis of cancer falls into both the sixth stage of disease and the seventh stage of disease depending on the exact conditions.  The sixth stage is the body putting the toxic material into a specific area, as opposed to it being circulated around the body.   

I would clarify that “toxic waste safely enveloped by the body in a protective sac” is not quite an accurate description of how natural hygiene explains cancer.  The backlog of waste is never safe for the tissues.  It remains problematic until the body has been freed of it.   However,  the body isolates that material in one area to protect the rest of the cells in the body from the toxic materials.  This is what I mean when I say the body is intelligently encapsulating the waste.   Not that the material is safe, but the body is making the best of a bad situation by isolating the materials in one area.  The cells in that localized area though are continuing to be injured. If the causes of disease are not removed the area will continue to grow and spread as the amount of waste in the system continues to grow. Eventually, this will result in the failure of the person to survive the toxic conditions present in their body.  

Natural Hygiene agrees with medicine that cancer cells are abnormal cells and at some point what the medical industry calls Cancer will progress to a state where the individual cells grow and divide uncontrollably.   However, the majority of Cancer diagnoses will fall in Stage 6 of disease, induration, rather than stage 7. In stage 6, the body creates tumorous tissue (scar tissue) to bridge the lost tissue which occurs in Stage 5 ulceration and encapsulates the poisonous materials that destroy the tissue.  The ulcer (stage 5) and the toxic material in that area are encapsulated by the hardening of the tissue around them.   

If at this point the causes of disease are not remedied then the body will enter Stage 7, Cancer, where body vitality is at a very low energy, cells are no longer under the control of the body’s master control system and the cells begin to multiply and grow abnormally.  

This is due to 2 malfunctions occurring in the cell.  In normal cells, there is a process called contact inhibition, whereby the normal cell continues to grow until it touches or comes in contact with the neighboring cell, at which point its growth stops.   In a cancerous cell, the conditions surrounding the cell cause malfunction that results in the contact inhibition being faulty and the cell continues to grow past the point of contact.  

The second malfunction is in the lifespan of a cell.  In a normal cell, there is a limited lifespan of the cell and when the cell is no longer functioning optimally the cell is recycled.  

“…normal cell divides in two at a constant rate, then the two daughter cells into four, and so on, but along the road of reproduction some of the cells die at a constant rate equal to the rate of reproduction. Balance is therefore maintained. But not so for cancer cells. They do not have a finite life span. Nor do they die in the same proportion as those that reproduce.” – T.C. Fry, Life Science Course, Lesson 75

Natural hygiene recognizes that the abnormally growing and multiplying cancer cell has reverted to a simpler form and become disconnected from the network of cells.   In a normal healthy body, all cells are coordinating and working together for the greater organism. In an abnormal cell, the conditions surrounding the cell are so toxic that the cell can no longer operate in coordination with other cells.   Its functions then become simplified to the basic survival of the individual cell, as opposed to the survival of the entire body.   The cell focuses only on its own needs instead of being tied to the other cells and coordinating its actions.   

Where natural hygiene diverges with medicine is in how we respond to this information and what steps are taken to remedy the malfunction.  Medicine treats its various collections of symptoms as unique, separate, and individual diseases. Natural hygiene recognizes that disease is a progressive condition, starting with the first cries of discomfort of the infant, building into the first colds the child experiences, and progressing steadily over years and decades as we fail to provide for the needs of the body and fail to allow the body adequate energy and materials to maintain its internal conditions.   

Medicine says, the cancer cell is a virus that is attacking the body, while natural hygiene says, the cancer cell is the result of repeatedly damaging a normal cell through the repeated ingestion of toxic materials.   In the medical narrative, the solution to a virus is the application of poison to the body to kill the invading force. Meanwhile, the natural hygiene explanation says to remove the causes of injury and the body will stop being injured.   

Medicine seeks to cut, poison, or burn the malfunctioning cells out of the body. This causes injury to the healthy cells along the way and forces the body further into the upper levels of disease. Medicine approaches the abnormally functioning cells with the idea that they can apply poison to the body to correct the abnormality.  The poisoning of a healthy cell would result in disease, but in medicine applying poison to a malfunctioning cell will return the cell to normal function.   

Alternatively, the natural hygiene approach is to remove the causes of injury that led to the cells behaving abnormally and provide the conditions of health to allow the disease conditions to progress in the opposite direction.    

Cancer is stage 6 or 7 of disease and medicine wants to add to the causes of progressive disease, keeping the body in stage 6 or pushing it to stage 7 while removing the symptoms which are the warning bells and whistles.   Natural hygiene wants you to listen to the warning bells and whistles and move your body from stage 6 or 7 back to stage 5, then 4, then 3, and onward until you return fully to completely normal operation of all cells. 

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/the-natural-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

  

Lauren WhitemanLeave a comment
Reader Q&A

Ointments, Herbs, Poultices, Antibiotic Creams, and other Suppressants

T.C Fry on why using herbs/remedies or pharma drugs to “heal” is not healing but suppression:

Question:

I think you’re wrong about all healing being self-healing. I’ve personally seen a woman who had a leg ulcer for over a year. Topical application of comfrey poultices healed it in less than ten days. How can you deny that?

Response:

I do not deny that the leg ulcer healed, and I do not deny that the comfrey poultice was the agency that precipitated the healing process of the leg ulcer. But the body is probably worse, not better for the treatment.


What happens physiologically to cause the ulcer in the first place? Why do they sometimes persist only to heal later? What happens when the agency of toxic materials such as in garlic, aloe, comfrey, or in pharmacological preparations are applied and the ulcer is healed?


The comfrey poultice neither caused nor healed the ulcer. The body created the ulcer in the first place just as it creates a boil, fever, pimple, or other so-called infection. The body creates these conditions as outlets for an extraordinary load of toxic materials. As long as the body is burdened with toxicity that it cannot eliminate through normal channels, it will utilize vicarious outlets, i.e., outlets other than normal. As long as the practices introduce into the body toxic materials and the sufferer’s habits are such as to cause the body to retain its own metabolic wastes, then the body will protect itself against a death-dealing situation by getting rid of its problems any way it can.


An ulcer is created in two ways. First, a lesion can be created by the body through self-autolyzation of its tissues. The body causes the self-digestion of a hole to the surface in the case of a boil or pimple. It is the body that forces toxic materials into the hole it has created to the surface. It is the body that creates the tremendous pressure necessary to keep the pus and debris near the surface in the form of a boil until drainage or expulsion occurs.


Just so it is the body that causes the ulcer in one way or another. Probably the leg ulcer was caused by the body’s collection and concentration of poisons in a given area until the cells and tissues of the area were totally destroyed. Then the body utilizes the open sore as a drainage outlet much as a teakettle will discharge its steam through a blown hole after the hole is blown. When aloe vera, comfrey, or certain pharmaceutical preparations are applied, they do not solve the body’s problems. Herbs and drugs have not the intelligence or power to create cells and new tissue to bridge the chasm or gulf that constitutes the ulcer or lesion.


What happens is that the poultice or drug application applied to an open sore poses a new danger. Absorption of poisons from the outside causes the body to change strategy. Where it had been exuding poisons to keep them low, the body is now absorbing poisons there. To obviate this new threat the body closes up the dumping ground and seals it off from the outside by scarring it over.


Though the body healed the ulcer, it is now worse off than before. It is retaining the toxic material previously expelled through the open sore or ulcer. Either it must now create a new extraordinary outlet or suffer the retention of the toxic materials it previously expelled through the ulcer.


Had the ulcer sufferer fasted, the ulcer would have healed more quickly than with the application of a poultice. Moreover, the body would, under the fasting condition, be free of the input of toxic materials and toxigenesis due to enervating habits. Under this condition it can accelerate expulsion of toxic materials through regular channels. Once the level of toxicity has been reduced below a certain tolerance level, the body will promptly proceed to heal the ulcer. Healing takes place much more quickly under the fasting condition than any other. While fasting, the body can concentrate its energies and its material resources to the healing process, thus affecting healing much more speedily.


So, the comfrey poultice did not do anything other than become a source of irritation. The body “closed up shop,” so to speak, at the ulcer site and did business elsewhere. Keep in mind that all healing is a body process and never that of drugs. And let us not mistake the drug nature of comfrey. It contains pyrrholizidine and allantoin, two quite toxic alkaloids or glycosides.

Lauren WhitemanLeave a comment

Emotional Eating

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who are celebrating today. I thought I would share some thoughts from T.C. Fry that may help you make better decisions as temptations abound today. No matter how the day goes, tomorrow is another opportunity, so don’t stress being perfect but do try to hear your internal dialogue as you navigate any temptations!

Emotional Factors and the Foods We Choose

By T.C. Fry

Eating an optimum diet would be simple if we were all rational beings, freed from emotional conditioning. However, in the realm of diet, it is often the emotions and past habits that are king and queen instead of reason and clear perception.

We eat ice cream, spicy foods, candy and other destructive foods primarily because of emotional needs and emotional associations with these foods—not because of any true physiological need or premeditated reason.

People form emotional attachments to foods as a result of childhood experiences, past associations or self-conditioning. Consequently, certain foods are often eaten during particular emotional states, such as depression, etc., or in hopes of inducing a specific emotion, such as contentment or happiness.

For instance, ice cream is often associated with the rewards of childhood. When we were children, ice cream represented a treat or perhaps a sign of parental approval or indulgence. “If you’ll be good, I’ll buy you an ice cream cone,” is a common promise of harried parents.

Thus, at an early age, ice cream is associated with “being good” and with parental approval. Consequently, when we have been good (such as staying on a good diet for a few weeks), we decide to play both parent and child and reward ourselves with a bowl of ice cream. Similarly, if we are feeling depressed or overwhelmed by life’s problems, we may eat other childhood “reward” foods to temporarily escape our adult troubles.

Holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving are intimately associated with strong emotions and certain festive foods. So strong is this emotional association of food with holiday fun that some health-conscious individuals may eat turkey, pastries and sweets on a holiday in an effort to capture the childhood memories of days long past, as well as for parental approval in the present.

Please note that no value judgement is placed upon the emotional associations and attachments to food. To a certain extent, all of our food likes and dislikes are based upon emotions. Few people eat out of purely rational reasons, nor is it necessary to do so. What is necessary, however, is to be aware of the role emotions play in our food choices. If we are eating certain foods that are not conducive to health because of a disturbed emotional state, we should be aware of our behavior and try to approach our problems in some other manner besides food.

Foods themselves cannot satisfy emotional needs. If we are depressed, eating chocolate chip cookies may stir the memories of a carefree childhood, but they do not remove the cause of that depression. Indeed, the foods we are eating may be creating the emotional problems we are trying to escape from.

For example, in our culture, most children are brought up to associate sweet, sugary foods with approval, love, affection, etc. A child is often given candy as a reward. This type of conditioning becomes an internal pattern which is carried over into adulthood.

When grown-up people feel lonely, bored or in need of reinforcement, they may buy an ice cream cone or put money in the nearest carbonated drink machine. They eat the sugary reward food and feel somewhat better emotionally for a few minutes. This illustrates that a negative emotional state, (boredom, insecurity, loneliness, etc.) may influence the selection of and eating of nonfood items (candy, cookies, snack foods, etc.).

These nonfood items then contribute to a nutritional imbalance which may, in turn, re-create the emotional state that one is trying to escape from. For instance, the refined sugar in sweet foods gives a temporary rise in energy and a false emotional “high.” After this energy surge, the sugar has the effect of depleting the body of B-vitamins and other nutrients. This sugar-created depletion then sets the stage for additional emotional distress and depression.

A seemingly inescapable cycle is thereby created: A person is continually eating sugar-filled foods in an effort to escape the depression that the foods themselves are helping to create.

Today, as you move through the day, keep T.C.’s words in your mind and ask yourself what patterns am I carrying, how do they fulfill my emotional needs, where might they have developed from and are they still serving you? Every choice is a new opportunity to build a better you. Have a wonderful holiday if you are celebrating and if you are not, have a lovely Thursday – or Friday for those ahead of us! 

Lauren WhitemanLeave a comment
Reader Q&A

Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Question:

What is flesh-eating bacteria and how do people get it?

Answer:

Flesh-eating bacteria is a myth of the medical industry based on their wrong foundational understanding of bacteria’s purpose in the body.

Bacteria only feed upon dead and dying cells and cell debris. It does not feed on healthy living cells.

When a person is diagnosed with “flesh-eating bacteria” what is really happening is the body is extremely toxic and an open wound has become a port for the expulsion of the toxic waste material. The wound is pushing out lots of acidic waste which is causing more and more cells to die in the area surrounding the wound. The bacteria is present to break down those dying cells for recycling or elimination. The bacteria is there in response to the conditions, it is not creating the conditions. When this happens under the care of the medical industry the patient will have many poisons applied to the wound directly or to their body generally. The initial wound or ulceration was caused by the chronic application of poisons and wrong foods to their body and then the medical treatment is to apply more poisons to the body. This means the body is going to have a continuous stream of material it needs to push out in order to survive. This leads to the wound area continuing to ulcerate, destroying more and more tissue in the area and causing more and more bacteria to be created to keep up with the workload.

If the patient was fasted and no more poisons were applied to the body then the body would stop having material to push out, it would be able to catch up on the backlog of waste, the ulceration would stop and the waste load would fall and as the waste load falls the bacteria populations would be reduced by the body in direct correlation to the reducing waste load.

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Reader Q&A

Blackleg and Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) in Cattle

Question

I see the term blackleg come up often when people talk about vaccinating livestock. They also mention BRD a lot too, which is like pneumonia. These cattle farmers are insistent that they must use the immunizations to prevent the loss of the animals. So why does this work in cattle? The 1st seems to be spore-related and carried until a minor injury turns the muscle into a feast for a toxic soup-creating bacteria. The 2nd seems to be commonly, possibly caused by stress… but stress alone can’t create the disease of mucus-filled lungs. How would the terrain model explain these claims?

Answer

Whenever we are looking at a medical label blaming bacteria or viruses for disease there are always clues that point to the answers we seek within the medical literature narrative that can help us see through the false science, misconstrued, misinterpreted, or misinformed opinions, and sales pitches and get a clearer picture of what is actually happening.

Here is one source that we can look at for clues – Blackleg: A Preventable Disease of Cattle from the West Virginia University Extension

As usual, they have the fearmongering statements “Clostridium bacteria have developed the ability to survive extreme environmental conditions by developing into highly resistant spores. As spores, the bacterium can live in soil for many years, waiting for its opportunity to strike and infect a host.”

The Bacteria is present in healthy animals without causing infection

Looking at this first one, we can see that the spores are present with no negative impact on the cattle and can live in the soil for many years, which means hundreds, if not thousands of cattle are exposed to them, but only a some of the cattle suddenly start dying from the bacteria according to the medical literature.

Here is another confirmation”If sheep or cattle have ever grazed the land you are currently pasturing, it is most likely you have the Clostridium chauvoei spores.”

A Narrow “Infection” Window

“It is not uncommon for prime blackleg conditions to affect an area for a period of 10 days.”

So beyond 10 days the bacteria suddenly becomes inert and not harmful? It’s everywhere that cows or sheep have grazed previously, thousands of cattle are exposed to it with no health issues. This is the same pattern used to blame e-coli, MRSA, tetanus, etc in humans when these bacteria are found in all healthy humans.

It’s highly unlikely that the material would only become harmful within such a narrow scope, but perhaps we can find a more rational explanation within the article for why a cow would succumb within 10 days of injury.

“It is not entirely understood what causes the bacteria to proliferate, but one theory is muscle bruising associated with handling and shipping may be a major cause. “

“There are several signs and symptoms an infected animal will exhibit, including lameness, loss of appetite, depression, rapid breathing, fever and swelling. Sometimes the animal will appear lame on the affected leg before any other sign is noticed.”

When these cattle are transported they are crammed into metal trailers and very often become injured. Since the cattle are fed a completely unnatural diet, and raised on pastures that are abused and devoid of nutrition, they start out very weak. The cows are given a wide range of toxic injections and supplements, and antibiotics are fed “preventatively” leading to a chronic state of disease from birth to slaughter. The pastures are often planted with only one or two grasses, which are chosen to maximize short-term weight gain, not nutrition. All of these conditions lead to an animal that is not in a good condition to recover should they experience a traumatic injury.

In chicken farming, they feed the birds a feed that makes them grow so heavy in such a short period of time that it is common for the bird’s legs to break under their own weight. In cattle, we see the same pattern of fattening for the fastest return on investment leading to bodies that grow rapidly, but not strong. No care is given to the animal’s nutrition because the cattle farmer only cares about getting them to maximum weight as quickly as possible, they don’t care about their long-term health. They have no desire to allow the animal to live to its natural life span, so there is no incentive to feed them properly for longevity.

Poor Nutrition leads to weak bodies that easily succumb to injury

Most people recognize that livestock that live in a feedlot system are getting very poor nutrition and a stressful life with little care for their wellbeing. However, we tend to get the false impression that “grass-fed” cows are getting good nutrition and living naturally. This is the furthest thing from the truth. A grass pasture is just a field the farmer has planted with rye, wheat, or other grasses. In nature, cows would eat flowers, shrubs, fruit, legumes, clover, wild herbs, and a wide variety of greens and grasses that would be growing next to each other on wide tracts of natural land. Grass-fed cows are fed a mono-crop or possible a small mix of grasses, flowers and legumes in a small grass field. In nature they would not be limited to a few high-protein grasses selectively chosen for maximum weight gain. In nature, they would grow slowly and naturally. On a farm the goal is to get them fattened for sale or slaughter as quickly as possible to maximize profit.

A “grass-fed” cow is the equivalent of a McDonald’s fed child. A body that has been fed poor nutrition is far more likely to succumb to an injury than a body that is strong and has the materials needed to heal properly.

So we have an animal that is severely injured during transportation and then dumped into a field that offers no rest and little nutrition, likely they are also given their preventative antibiotics (poison) and supplements (poison) because the grass field is lacking in many of the natural materials they need. As a result, the conditions of health are not being provided and therefore we cannot expect the body to heal in effective way and we can expect many of these cows to succumb to injuries which would not be fatal in a healthy animal but becomes the straw that breaks the camels back in these weak mis-fed animals.

Why do the injections appear to work?

Using the same article as above –  Blackleg: A Preventable Disease of Cattle from the West Virginia University Extension

We start with the sales pitch, the favorite of the industry is the “better safe than sorry”, “we offer the solution for very cheap so make sure you use the prevention.” Here it is in the article: “It is a very inexpensive insurance policy to protect animals with vaccination. Most blackleg products will cost producers approximately $1.20 to $1.60 per head, plus the cost of labor, depending on the product used.”

In the disease-for-profit industry, they have inbuilt protections to keep their system running. Hundreds of thousands of different disease labels for a small number of symptoms. A set of symptoms can point to one of 10, 20, or 100 different disease labels, but the presence of any particular bacteria or virus is the definitive factor that provides the specific diagnosis in many diseases.

The way a vaccine works is you give it long before any symptoms are apparent and you give it en masse to thousands or hundreds of thousands of victims.

“Vaccines are very effective if given to young, healthy animals in time for them to increase their immunity before being challenged by the disease.”

Since most of the victims would never acquire the disease in the first place you simply credit the vaccine for the lack of symptoms rather than the statistical norm that already existed prior to the invention of the vaccine. Now all the animals that never would have gotten the “disease” in the first place we are told only didn’t get it because they were vaccinated and therefore protected from it.

Then when inevitably symptoms arise in some of the animals or humans that match the disease that the vaccine is supposed to protect for, they simply change the disease label. In humans, we vaccinated for polio, and then anyone who got the symptoms associated with polio from being exposed to a neurotoxin but is vaccinated, they are now diagnosed with transverse myelitis, guillain-barre, spinal cord stroke, meningitis, brainstem stroke, botulism, or other medical labels instead of polio. Polio is ruled out because they were vaccinated for polio already. Instead a different label is chosen. In areas where the vaccine was not given en masse, they are still given a polio label and we rarely see the other diagnosis labels being used.

You see, if an animal has been vaccinated for a particular disease then that by default removes that disease from the diagnosis choices the vet is choosing from and they choose another label instead. Plenty of labels are available to diagnose the same limited spectrum of symptoms, so it’s easy to simply relabel.

In this case, “C septicum, C novyi, C sordellii, and C perfringens may resemble those of blackleg.” and malignant edema, tetanus, enterotoxemia, red water, and botulism all share the same symptoms and can be used as an alternative diagnosis.

But to add a further level of protection for the narrative we are also told “calves vaccinated under three months of age must be vaccinated again at weaning or at four to six months of age to be protected.” and ” Animals must be vaccinated annually.”

So if the vet wants to diagnose blackleg they can also claim that the farmer did not vaccinate enough times.

“Delaying vaccination until a calf is older can be inviting disaster” -Source: Alabama Cooperative Extension article Blackleg and Other Clostridial Diseases in Cattle

The industry sales materials always have the call to urgency and the moral imperative – if the farmer does not vaccinate they are “inviting disaster” and being neglectful and abusive. This type of social pressure helps keep questioning to a minimum – no one wants to be labeled abusive or neglectful so “just to be safe” they inject the poison.

“Intramuscular injection of clostridial vaccines causes significant muscle damage and, therefore, clostridial vaccines must be injected under the skin (subcutaneously or SQ) in the neck area. This will prevent injection-site damage to high-value cuts of meat.“

The result of “just to be safe” is “significant muscle damage” but that is socially acceptable because it is a result of medical “care” which is deemed necessary and appropriate as long as its not in the high value cuts of meat.

Bovine Respiratory Disease

“Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD), sometimes described as “shipping fever,” is the most common and costly disease affecting the North American beef cattle industry.” “BRD refers to any disease of the upper or lower respiratory tracts”

Here the cause is right in the description, “shipping fever”. The extremely high stress the cattle are under during shipping leads to many of the cattle developing detox symptoms after the ordeal.

Symptoms of BRD in cattle:
Fever (up to 42°C)
Watery nasal discharge progressing to a thick mucoid nasal discharge.
Depression and lethargy.
Lack of appetite.
Cough.
Rapid, shallow breathing.
Unwillingness to move, standing with neck extended.

All of the above are detox symptoms. This is the body’s natural healing and repair processes being instituted as a result of exposure to toxins or stress. When an animal or human is under high levels of stress this creates an overacid condition of the body due to the overworking of the cells. All disease is a result of the overworking of the cells, so stress, especially prolonged stress can certainly result in detox symptoms.

In humans, prolonged stress results in cold or flu symptoms, which are detox symptoms, also known as a healing crisis. In cattle, the medical industry has labeled this collection of healing symptoms as BRD just like they have labeled the symptoms pneumonia, flu, or cold in humans. It’s the same process just with different labels depending on who invents the label first.

However, there are some caveats to stress creating these symptoms. Under normal conditions in a healthy body the body would quickly eliminate the results of the stress in the body and no lasting symptoms would occur. If anything the symptoms would be minor. In a body that is misfed, however, the body is already under a chronic burden and is unable to rapidly eliminate byproducts of stress. The body is dehydrated and as such the lymphatic system is backed up and moving more slowly than it would naturally. This results in slower elimination of waste products and therefore more damage at the site of the cells when the waste is not able to be rapidly eliminated from the area. Therefore, a normal condition that a healthy body would rapidly eliminate with minimal symptoms becomes a major issue with major symptoms and discomfort for a body that has been chronically misfed and poisoned.

On top of this, if the care given to the animal is rest, fasting, clean water, and species-appropriate food that provides the highest quality nutrition then the body will recover rapidly. If the opposite is done, if the animal is applied with poisons and force-fed, not allowed proper rest, and not provided with the needs of health, then the symptoms will linger, the elimination will drag on and the symptoms may worsen depending on the amount of poisons applied to the body by the medical person in charge of their care.

As with any condition of disease, we cannot poison a poisoned body back to health. Stress creates poisonous conditions, and the body responds to these poisonous conditions by creating expulsion symptoms, the medical industry responds to the body healing expulsion symptoms by applying additional poisons in the way of antibiotics, supplements, and other symptom suppressants, attempting to poison away the symptoms which were brought on by the initial poisoning.

If the body survives the initial poisoning and the secondary poisoning the medical poisons are touted as the savior. If the animal succumbs to the secondary poisons the body’s healing processes are blamed for the death rather than the poisons. The explanation always protects the profits of the disease-for-profit industry.

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