natural hygiene Archives

Can you keep your disease?

Disease Labels vs Biological Reality – Understanding Toxemia, Cellular Waste, and the Body’s Healing Response

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

Most people these days believe in the incorrect medical narrative that there are different illnesses, thousands or hundreds of thousands of unique diseases, of which medicine has no cures. What the medical industry is actually referring to are different collections of symptoms, of which they place various disease labels. A disease label is not an entity; it is just a marketing tool. In biological reality, there is only one disease, which is toxemia, which is an over-acid condition of the body, created by impaired removal of cellular wastes, which leads to cellular malfunction.

There are two types of symptoms: expulsion symptoms and malfunction symptoms. Expulsion symptoms are how the body cleanses and heals from the damage caused by the wrong foods and other unhealthy lifestyle choices. These symptoms are how the body actively removes itself from the conditions of disease.

Malfunction symptoms develop when cells are chronically surrounded by their own accumulated waste. When this waste burden becomes excessive, either because eliminative symptoms are repeatedly suppressed with drugs or because we continually add to the load through cooked foods, animal products, processed foods, smoking, alcohol, and other intoxicants, the body can no longer keep up with removal. The retained waste irritates and damages cells, interfering with their normal function. What we call cellular malfunction is not a disease in itself, but a symptom of an underlying toxic state.

Health is the state in which the body operates with ease. Disease is simply the loss of that ease. When we burden the body with waste through cooked foods, animal products, chemical poisons, and other abuses, it cannot function at normal efficiency. If we continue those habits, the body either maintains the same state of dysfunction and produces the same symptoms or it declines further and produces new ones. Symptoms do not appear randomly; they reflect the conditions we create.

The medical industry collects clusters of symptoms, groups them together, and assigns them names. These labels are not explanations; they are classifications. Symptoms themselves are not diseases. They are the body’s response to underlying conditions. When harmful conditions remain in place, the body produces symptoms to manage them. Remove those causes, and the body no longer needs to produce those symptoms.

If we want the body to function normally, we must provide normal conditions. When we introduce inappropriate inputs, the body adapts the only way it can: it responds with symptoms. Many of those symptoms represent the body’s steady effort to eliminate the excess waste created by improper food choices and unhealthy habits. The body does not malfunction without reason. It responds directly to the environment we create. Symptoms are the body giving us usable feedback about the inputs we are providing.

When we restore the conditions required for normal operation, the body returns to normal operation. Once the causes are removed, disease labels lose their foundation. It actually takes considerable effort to maintain the disease. We must overeat, overwork, ingest stimulants and drugs, and continually burden the body with irritants. Health, by contrast, requires far less strain. We eat foods suited to our physiology—simple, ripe, whole foods that digest and assimilate easily. We rest. We breathe clean air. We engage in work and relationships that nourish rather than exhaust us. Health often requires subtraction, not addition.

It is far more laborious to manufacture disease than to support health. Disease demands the preparation of heavy, stimulating meals, constant exposure to toxins, and continuous energy expenditure through difficult digestion and recovery. Health can be as simple as eating a ripe apple. No complex preparation. No chemical stimulation. No aftermath that taxes the system. The body thrives when we stop interfering with it.

You cannot maintain disease—no matter the label—once you remove its causes. It does not matter what name has been assigned. If you stop burdening the body, it stops producing the symptoms required to cope with that burden.

If you would like to understand this process in greater depth, begin with Disease 101 – How We Create Disease on a Cellular Level (and How We Reverse It)

For a broader foundation on the purpose of symptoms and the body’s healing efforts, read The Nature and Purpose of Disease.

And if you are ready to apply these principles practically, start with What Is the Natural Human Diet?

These articles will give you the framework to understand not only how disease develops, but how to reverse the conditions that created it.

February 25, 2026March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Snake Bites and Snake Venom

Understanding Venom, Fear, and the Body’s Healing Intelligence – Why Adding More Poison Is Not the Answer

Question:

What would you do if you got bitten by a venomous snake like a rattlesnake or cottonmouth? What are your thoughts on anti-venom injections from the hospital? Would you use natural remedies like pulling salves or get medically treatment?

Answer:

I would fast and go to bed. If the body has been exposed to one poison, there is no benefit to be had by adding a second poison, or a third or fourth. Since antivenom just injects more poison into a poisoned body to stop the symptoms created by the body from eliminating the first poison, there is really no benefit to adding that poison.

All natural remedies would make a healthy body sick. Why would they have any benefit to a sick body? Two wrongs don’t make a right. We cannot poison a poisoned body back to health.

As soon as a toxin or poison enters the body, our body immediately takes action against the toxin or poison. Immediately upon getting bitten, our body is already taking action to remove the snake venom, repair the tissues, and heal itself.

The body takes action against the anti-venom. The body takes action against the salve. The body takes action against the natural remedy. All action requires energy. Would you rather your body concentrate its energy on removing the snake venom, or divide its energy between the venom, the poison from the anti-venom, the poison from the salve, and the poison from the natural remedies?

Personally, I would rather fast and rest so the body can get the snake venom out as quickly as possible without having to squander its energy to take action elsewhere.

On a side note, here is a picture of one of the Agkistrodon piscivorus (Venemous Northern Cottonmouth) I relocated from my front steps last spring. Snakes are fascinating, its too bad that humans have created so much fear around them. If we could stop freaking out about things for a moment we could probably make life much nicer for ourselves and all the creatures we were charged to protect.

If this perspective challenges what you have been taught about emergency care, it will help to understand the broader principles behind it. You may want to read Healing Stories – Broken Bones, Severe Injuries and Fasting to see how the body repairs even dramatic trauma when given rest and proper conditions:
https://www.therawkey.com/healing-stories-broken-bones-severe-injuries-and-fasting/

For a deeper look at medical interventions that introduce foreign substances into the bloodstream, see Blood Transfusions:
https://www.therawkey.com/blood-transfusions/

And to understand why intravenous fluids are not as neutral as they appear, read The Dangers of Saline Drips:
https://www.therawkey.com/the-dangers-of-saline-drips/

All of these articles build on the same foundation: the body is the healer, and our role is to remove obstacles rather than introduce new burdens. If you want a deeper understanding of how and why the body initiates crises in the first place, read The Nature and Purpose of Disease – Part 1:
https://www.therawkey.com/the-nature-and-purpose-of-disease/

February 23, 2026March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Correction of Hernia: A Natural Hygiene Perspective on Cause, Strain, and Recovery

Why hernias form, why surgery often fails, and how reducing strain allows the body to repair itself

Hernias are commonly framed as sudden structural failures that require surgical correction, but this explanation overlooks the conditions that allow a hernia to form in the first place. From a Natural Hygiene perspective, a hernia is not a random defect; it is the result of ongoing internal pressure, weakened tissues, and repeated strain over time.

This document explains what hernias actually are, why they develop, and why surgical repair often fails to prevent recurrence. By understanding the mechanical and systemic forces involved, digestion, elimination, posture, breathing, and abdominal pressure, you can see how many hernias stabilize or improve when strain is reduced and tissue conditions are allowed to normalize. This is not about forcing correction, but about removing the pressures that prevent the body from correcting itself.

What This Document Covers

This resource explains hernias from a Natural Hygiene / Terrain Model perspective, focusing on cause, mechanics, and correction, rather than fear-based diagnosis or surgical assumption.

Inside, you’ll learn:

What a hernia actually is (and what it is not)
Why hernias form as a result of chronic strain, weakness, pressure, and systemic conditions, not sudden, random failure
How digestion, constipation, improper lifting, coughing, pregnancy, and abdominal pressure contribute
Why surgery does not correct the underlying causes and often leads to recurrence
How the body can stabilize and correct hernias naturally when strain is removed, and tissue conditions improve
The role of rest, posture, breathing, elimination, and reducing internal pressure
Why pain and protrusion are feedback signals, not emergencies in most cases
Exercises to use along with dietary correction to facilitate proper healing

How to Use This Resource

This is an educational document, not a quick fix or a promise of instant results. Its purpose is to help you understand why the condition exists, so the body can be supported in a way that aligns with how it actually heals.

Read through the document fully before focusing on individual sections. Many common questions about hernias are addressed within the broader explanation of cause and mechanics.

Read or Download the Full Document

Below you can read the Correction of Hernia document directly on this page or download it for offline reading.

This is an educational document, not a quick fix or a promise of instant results. It’s meant to help you understand why the condition exists so the body can be supported in a way that aligns with how it actually heals.

Correction of Hernia Download

Frequently Asked Questions About Hernias

Can hernias heal naturally?

In most cases, hernias can stabilize, improve naturally, or heal completely when the causes that created them are addressed. Reducing abdominal pressure, improving elimination, correcting posture, and avoiding strain can allow tissues to regain strength and prevent progression. Healing depends on the severity, location, and duration of the condition as well as the individual’s adherence to correcting lifestyle and nutrition.

Do all hernias require surgery?

No. While the medical industry often recommends surgery, most hernias are not medical emergencies. Surgery does not correct the underlying causes – weakened tissues, pressure, and strain – which is why recurrence is common following surgery. Conservative management is often appropriate when there is no strangulation or loss of blood supply. Risk of surgery often outweighs the benefit, and surgery never corrects the underlying conditions, so even if surgery is undergone, surgery should only be considered a temporary bandaid; lifestyle corrections must be made to address the cause.

What causes hernias to worsen over time?

Hernias worsen when the forces that created them continue: chronic constipation, improper lifting, coughing, poor breathing mechanics, obesity, pregnancy strain, or constant abdominal pressure. Ignoring these factors allows the opening to enlarge.

Why do hernias come back after surgery?

Because surgery repairs the opening but does not remove the conditions that caused the tissue to fail. If internal pressure and strain remain, the repaired area – or a nearby one – often gives way again.

When is a hernia an emergency?

A hernia becomes dangerous if it becomes strangulated, meaning blood flow is compromised. Signs include sudden severe pain, discoloration, nausea, vomiting, or inability to reduce the hernia. These situations require immediate medical attention.

Is pain a reliable indicator of severity?

Not always. Some hernias are painless but progressive, while others cause discomfort without being dangerous. Pain is feedback, not a diagnosis – it signals strain or pressure that needs to be addressed.

Related Natural Hygiene Resources

Structural conditions are the result of long-term physiological patterns. These articles provide additional context for understanding how and why the body breaks down, and how true correction occurs.

Hernias do not occur in isolation. They develop in the context of overall tissue health, pressure, strain, and the body’s ability to adapt and repair. The following articles expand on the foundational principles discussed in this document:

Disease 101 – How We Create Disease on a Cellular Level

Breaks down how chronic strain, toxicity, and weakened tissues develop long before visible symptoms or structural conditions appear.

What is the Natural Human Diet?

In order to repair a hernia, we must supply the requirements of health. This begins with a clear understanding of which foods build a strong body and maintain health, and which foods injure the body, weaken tissues, and create disease. This article explains the foods the body is designed to thrive on. Returning to the natural human diet supports the state of strength and resilience we are meant to maintain throughout life.

Embracing Our Self-Healing Body

In this presentation, Embracing Our Self-Healing Body, you’ll learn how the body cleans and heals itself. The video explains what disease is, why disease develops, and the purpose of disease symptoms. It also covers the progressive nature of disease, the seven stages of disease, the dangers of treatment, the benefits of removing the cause, and how lifting the burden from the body allows our remarkable self-healing design to restore health.

January 27, 2026March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

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

April 1, 2024March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Heavy metal detoxing, cilantro, and the chelation myth

If you have been in the natural health community for any length of time you have probably heard about the supposed magical powers of cilantro to pull heavy metals from your body. Heavy metal detox smoothies with cilantro, detox tinctures, powders, potions, and various other products claim to use the magical power of cilantro to pull metal out of your body.

With heavy metals being the big scare tactic in natural health, anything that can “assist the body in detoxing” them has a huge appeal, which means money in the pocket of those who sell them. You may have even seen popular terrain theory gurus like Dr Kaufman profiting off selling you some expensive cilantro concoction to help you “pull out heavy metals.”

All of this marketing is a scam.

The people pushing it may not realize it is a scam, having fallen for some false correlations, lacking an adequate understanding of why the body creates symptoms, or having missed some lapses in logic in these claims, but it is a scam nonetheless and one which ultimately is keeping true health out of reach for you.

Cilantro is not a magical herb that can float around your body and suck out the heavy metals and there is nothing – no product, herb, pill, potion, or tincture – which can ever “assist the body in detoxing.” Anyone selling you on the idea of “assisting the body in detoxing” either is scamming you or is ignorant of how the body operates. They are selling you science fiction that belongs in Star Trek, not real life.

The body takes all action

When we consume any substance the substance itself is acted upon by our body. The substance is inert, meaning incapable of action, or dead. The food is chewed by the body and swallowed by the body. It enters the stomach where it is broken down and softened by the contractions of the stomach. The body creates and releases enzymes and acids to break apart its bonds. Then the body moves the substance from the stomach to the digestive tract, where additional contractions break the material down and the body’s bacterial colonies go to work on the substance. The body breaks down the material and the bacteria moves the material to the cells by passing through the walls of the digestive tract. Every step from the first bite to the elimination is an action taken by the body on a substance that takes no action.

Let us compare this to the cilantro chelation myth. In the claim, cilantro is said to attract heavy metals, pull heavy metals, remove heavy metals, or assist the body in removing heavy metals, often the claims state that it will remove heavy metals from our brains or improve cognitive function, presumably by its power of removing those heavy metals. How is this possible? Inert objects take no action. As we just saw, all actions are taken by the body against the substance. At no point does the cilantro gain the ability to direct its own action. The cilantro does not jump out of the stomach and swim up to the brain in order to work like a magnet to suck out heavy metals. This is biologically impossible.

Many people have fallen for this logical black hole, however cilantro is inert. Perhaps when bottled and sold for $120 for 1.58 oz it can suddenly perform magical feats. Back in reality, cilantro cannot push or pull, it can not attract or repel anything. It can no more take action on the body than a virus can. (https://www.therawkey.com/are-viruses-real/ ) Inert objects or substances cannot take action. Until that changes, cilantro cannot assist us in detox.

How did we get the idea that cilantro can detox us?

At this point, you might be wondering how this fallacy became a common claim in the natural and alternative health communities. There must have been some type of science that led to these beliefs. As with any bit of misinformation there is always some kernel of truth that they grow out of and the same is true with the idea of cilantro chelation.

In this case, an observation was made, heavy metals in water moved towards the cilantro in water. Much like a magnet pulling a metal paper clip, rather than remaining stationary the metal in the water moved towards the cilantro.

Here is the problem:

In vivo is not ex vivo.

In vivo means “performed or taking place in a living organism.” Ex vivo means “that which takes place outside an organism”. Cilantro in water is ex vivo, occurring outside of the body. Cilantro in the stomach is in vivo, occurring inside of the body. When we study something in science we are either observing an action in vivo, occurring inside the body, or we are observing ex vivo. Things that occur outside the body do not react in the same way inside the body. Outside the body, there may or may not be a living organism taking action against the substance. In vivo, the body is taking action.

Metal floating towards cilantro in a glass of water does not equal metal being pulled from the brain or some other tissue. The cilantro remains in the stomach until the body breaks it down and eliminates the waste. There is no way for the cilantro to magically pull from the brain to the stomach. The body takes all action. The cilantro is inert; it is dead. Nothing inert can move something from one area of the body to another. If anything was moved from the brain it would be by the action of the body.

Adding to the inaction of inert substances we must also realize that the stomach is a filter. The digestive tract and the stomach are outside the body, not inside. Picture the body as a donut and the stomach and digestive tract as the donut hole. Substances enter the mouth and exit the anus and the entire time they remain in the tube which is the digestive system. Only the body’s workers, the bacteria, and microscopic organisms can pass from the digestive tract to the interior of the body. These workers break down the usable material and carry that into the body while leaving behind all of the unusable material. The original food does not enter the body cavity, only the materials the body wants and can use will enter.

Now that we are clear on how dead material cannot take action, let’s look at why some people are confused into believing that cilantro, as well as other toxic materials like herbs, liver cleanses, kidney cleanses, etc., are “assisting their body with detox.”

Nothing can detox the body

When it comes to healing the body we cannot use products to start a detox, speed up detox, or influence detox in any way. All we can do is create a burden or not create a burden. What we can do instead is put the conditions in place to lift enough burden from the body so that the body is able to initiate the detoxification of old waste which is impairing cellular function. Rather than initiating detox for new poisons, when we remove burden the body can remove old waste and improve cellular function. We can stop putting in the poisons and toxins that require detoxification or rapid removal from the body and instead, the energy can shift to repairing decades-old damage and removing old waste.

Most importantly we can stop burdening the body with foods that are difficult to digest, assimilate, and eliminate and that drain our nerve energy and steal that energy away from the cleaning and healing processes.

In other words, healing is all about subtraction and not addition. Healing requires us to put less in the body, put less burden on the body, do less, and rest more. Healing is not about addition. We don’t add things to assist the body, we take things away to remove the burden from the body. To learn more about what detoxing is please read: https://www.therawkey.com/what-is-detox-really-its-probably-not-what-you-think/

Cilantro is a mildly toxic herb

Our body is equipped with certain defensive mechanisms to protect us from harming ourselves. Unfortunately, over many generations of social conditioning, we have taught ourselves to ignore or fear some of our greatest defensive protections.

The ones we fear are the expulsion symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting, coughing, sneezing, fever, and other symptoms. These are all used by the body to remove poisons, toxins, acidic cellular debris, and other waste that impair the body’s ability to function normally. Modern medicine has taught us to fear these healing processes and to apply either pharmaceutical poisons or more natural plant-based poisons to shut down the body’s healing processes and suppress the symptoms, rather than addressing and removing the cause of the excess waste. We apply poison to the body and then when the body responds by trying to remove the poison we apply more poison to the body until the body runs out of energy to expel it and instead moves further up the disease ladder. This is the basic premise of the medical model.

The defensive mechanisms that we ignore are our senses. We are gifted with a sense of taste and smell which are designed to protect us from consuming irritants, toxins, and poisons. When a food smells sour, we know that it is rotten and should not be consumed. If we ignore this sense and eat some yogurt or fermented foods, drink alcohol, or otherwise consume a rotten substance the body has to deal with this via other means, usually diarrhea or vomiting.

The sense is meant to protect us and avoid the expulsion symptoms from having to be used. But most of us have been well trained by society to ignore this protective sense when it comes to certain traditional “foods” and toxic beverages.

If we drink alcohol our first reaction is to pucker and have discomfort at the taste of the alcohol. The alcohol is not pleasant to consume. It is dry or bitter and if strong enough creates a burning sensation. The feeling we register is not one of comfort, even if we have been trained to associate positive emotions with drinking. This is our first warning that we are consuming a poison. Next, our stomach will register discomfort. We keep going though and eventually, we become intoxicated, which simply means we have been poisoned.

The body responds by activating all of its defensive mechanisms. If we are lucky we have enough vital energy in our body to vomit and remove the poisonous beverage out the way it came in, minimizing the damage to our cells. If our body lacks the energy from years of chronic abuse then the poison travels through our system and the liver has to spring into action to break down the poisons.

With each substance we consume our senses tell us if it is a beneficial substance or a toxic substance. Our natural foods cause no discomfort when eaten. https://www.therawkey.com/our-natural-foods-do-not-create-discomfort-or-disturbance-to-the-body/

Toxic substances cause some form of discomfort. The most common ways we register this discomfort are spicy, bitter, excessively salty, or sour (fermented). When we consume these substances our body becomes stimulated as it takes action against the material to remove it. This is akin to a red-alert, all-hands-on-deck reaction. The body ramps up its energy to defend itself from the damage the substance is causing. Unfortunately, we subject our bodies to these abuses from a very young age, long before we are capable of refusing the foods our parents force-feed us. Many children spit them out and cry but well-meaning parents keep forcing them to eat, not understanding the rejection because they were force-fed these same substances long ago and no longer have the awareness to realize the discomfort they cause.

This is how we have trained ourselves over many generations to ignore the senses God gave us. We do so at our own peril.

Cilantro is one of those substances. If your system is clean and you have awareness and vitality you will notice that cilantro is bitter and spicy. You would never sit down to a large bowl of cilantro because to do so would cause great stomach pain and likely vomiting. In small quantities, the poisonous herb is added to cooked foods to stimulate us. We eat it often enough that the body has stopped responding aggressively against the poison, the body simply doesn’t have the vital energy available to do so, but we do still get a mild rush from the injury that is caused each time it is eaten. This rush is stimulation and it is behind most of our food addictions and cravings.

Cilantro is just one of many ways the average person ingests toxins each day. Since we are burdening the body on a daily basis the body must conserve its energy. When we ingest a new irritant the body will respond to this with vigor, but if we eat irritants chronically the body becomes tolerant and conserves its limited energy for more concentrated poisons. However, when we return to the natural diet and return vitality to the body, we immediately notice the burning, the bitterness, and the discomfort. Regaining our connection to our senses allows us to omit this harmful herb from our plates.

However, for those who are not eating naturally, their connection to their protective senses is dulled. Instead of hearing the body’s warnings and heeding them, they consume the cilantro as a culinary spice or as a magic potion in hopes of ‘assisting detox’ and their body responds by ramping up detox symptoms. Then the unwitting victim sees the detox symptoms and believes the cilantro is “assisting detox.” What is really happening is the body is taking action against the cilantro itself, which is then taking energy away from the body being able to heal and do deeper cleaning. By taking the cilantro, they not only are not assisting detox but they are both causing injury to the body and taking energy away from the body that the body could be using to detox and heal removing old waste. Cilantro is not only not helping them detox but it is impairing detox by distracting and robbing energy.

This same misunderstanding has been used to sell other detox herbs, tinctures, TRS and heavy metal detox sprays, spirulina, chlorella, and other non-food supplements. In all cases, the increase in detox symptoms is a result of the body taking action against the supplement and not a removal of the heavy metals. They are only impairing and slowing the removal of heavy metals.

Only the body itself can remove heavy metals and the only way it can do so is if we stop causing the daily injuries that drain the energy from our body and impair the detox processes.

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

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: Consultations – 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! Support Group Information and Sign-Up Form – https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

October 21, 2023March 19, 2026

Lauren Farris7 Comments

Juicing is not a Health Practice

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

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

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

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

Lost Nutrition

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

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

Faster Poisoning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digestive Rest

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

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

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

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

Deficiency

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

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

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

To quote TC Fry :

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

Is it okay to use juices while transitioning?

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

Common objections and questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Bottom Line

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

July 13, 2023March 19, 2026

Lauren Farris8 Comments

Why You Should Spend More Time Thinking About Medical Deaths

Who you get your health information from matters if you care about the end results.

Doctors are not in the business of health, they are in the business of maintaining disease in their patients for profit. As such, their training by the industry does not allow for health practices, only for the application of various legally justified poisons to suppress symptoms of the body’s own healing processes.

If you are looking to get your car fixed would you go to a mechanic that had never fixed a car in their entire history as a mechanic and had a long history of destroying cars beyond repair?

Or would you want to take your car to the person who had fixed their own car?

Getting health advice from an industry that is the 3rd leading cause of death (iatrogenic deaths) when they are doing things exactly as they are designed to be done is like taking your car to the mechanic that never fixed a single car. You can do it, but you aren’t going to like the results.

In the Science of Natural Hygiene or the Terrain Model of Health, the sick person is treated like a healthy person whom we want to keep healthy. Natural Hygiene says the body has been poisoned, let us remove the cause of the poisoning and remove all obstructions to healing.

In the medical model, the already poisoned body, showing signs of illness (aka the body cleaning itself) is subjected to ever-increasing poisons until all signs of the body’s healing processes (the symptoms) have ceased. Allopathy says adding poison to a toxic body will lead to health. Poison + Poison = Health Two wrongs don’t make a right, you cannot poison a poisoned body back to health and so the end result of this idea is iatrogenic death as the 3rd leading cause of death, while mortality rates plummet whenever Doctors go on strike.

In herbal medicine, homeopathy, TCM, Ayurveda, and other similar medical modalities the same underlying principle follows the allopathic model – add a “natural” poison to poison the body back to health. The idea that something is natural and therefore better allows for distraction from the fact that these models still do nothing to remove the cause of the original poisoning, still apply poison to the body, and still focus on working against the body’s own self-healing, self-cleaning principles.

The body can only heal when you understand that the body is self-healing and you stop trying to interfere with the healing symptoms and instead focus your attention on the removal of the cause. Break a bone and the body will heal the bone – this we readily accept, but the same process happens in every other condition and in those cases, we reject the body’s own healing processes.

Remove the poisons from the diet, return to the natural foods your physiology is designed for and the body will have no need to create the symptoms we call disease. Disease must be continuously caused – the body always works back towards a state of health, so to remain in a state of disease requires constant effort.

All cells have specific needs which must be met for them to operate at peak efficiency. Any straying from these needs, especially by way of the foods we put in our mouths 3 meals per day will result in impaired function of the cells and the creation of body-controlled symptoms to facilitate a repair.

If we add additional poisons to the body when the body is creating the solution that is the disease symptoms, we progress the disease conditions further. This is why Iatrogenic medicine is the 3rd leading cause of death, and why 9 out of the top 10 death causes can also be directly attributed to modern medicine. You cannot poison a body back to health, you can only return to health by providing the conditions of health which your cells require. That means returning to the natural diet and only putting food into your body that is suited to your anatomy and physiology.

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

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

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

April 12, 2023March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment