Natural Hygiene
Natural Hygiene or
orthopathy is a branch of
alternative medicine that claims that the human body can and will heal itself if the causes of disease are removed. However, it does acknowledge that this concept is not helpful for some conditions, such as
diabetes and others. For chronic conditions and serious diseases, it recommends being under the supervision of a
professional practitioner.
It is characterized by several Theories as follows:
*The
human body contains the power to heal itself (without
medicine).
*
Disease exists when the body is prevented from healing itself.
*The primary causes of
disease are
stress,
toxemia, over working, over eating, taking unhealthy substances, etc.
*
Germs,
bacteria, and
viruses are not the primary cause of disease.
*
Medicines are poisons to the human body and are harmful.
*
Vaccinations are not effective, not safe and damage the
immune system.
Natural Hygiene claims to enable people to get well by removing the causes of
disease, rather than by treatment with
medicines and other foreign substances. As in all
therapeutic systems, determining the true cause of a
disease is a vital part of Natural Hygiene. Proponents claim that other health systems begin treatment without knowing the cause, or falsely stating that the cause is unknown, or describing as the cause what is merely a description of the disease, e.g. the cause of
arthritis is claimed to be a stiffening of the
joints.
While Natural Hygiene is promoted as a new discovery, it in fact has roots in a number of alternative therapies that go back to the early
nineteenth century. Dr. John H. Scheel, a
German-born
homeopath, coined the word
naturopathy in
1895 for a system of dietary restrictions and
herbal
nostrums that conspicuously included fasting as a treatment, all founded on a sort of
vitalism that was in vogue at the time, and was promoted as a
philosophy by
Henri Bergson, among others. Scheel's "naturopathy" itself stemmed back to the thought of the Rev.
Sylvester Graham, a
Presbyterian clergyman and inventor of the
Graham cracker, who believed that diet and
morality were related and who taught that
vegetarianism helped keep the
libido in check. Some such as
James Redfield even claimed a pure diet is a key step on the path to spiritual awareness and
enlightenment.
Natural hygiene holds that the true cause of disease is
toxemia, or
poisoning, in the
blood. Natural Hygiene claims that these
toxins are a normal product of
metabolism or living. Advocates claim that enervating habits, or nerve energy destroying personal habits, such as
worry,
stimulants, or vaccinations; builds up toxins in your blood. Enervation (i.e., wasted nerve-energy ) is claimed to stop toxins from being eliminated from your blood. Natural hygiene theories rely on fasting as treatment for
toxemia.
Natural Hygiene practitioners often operate fasting clinics and
fasting retreat centers patients undergo fasts and then they may be placed on a
raw-food diet for a length of time equal to the number of days of their fast.. They claim that, as a result of fasting, people often recover from
cancer,
arthritis,
asthma,
digestive problems,high
blood pressure,
heart problems, and many other diseases.
For the purposes of Natural Hygiene,
fasting means eating nothing, drinking only
distilled water and getting lots of rest.
According to natural hygiene advocate Dr
Herbert Sheltonthe body enters a state of
Autolysis or self-digestion in about the fourth day of a fast in which the body can break down even cancerous tissues and eliminate them.
Advocates say that attempting to do a long fast (more than 14 days) without the supervision of a Natural Hygiene practitioner is NOT recommended. Furthermore, they do not recommend fasting for the treatment of
diabetes, cancer of the
kidneys, cancer of the
liver and severe
anemia.
Natural Hygiene claims to be contrary to
medical science and that the two systems are directly opposed to each other in philosophy and practice.
In "Natural Hygiene, Man's Pristine Way Of Life", Dr
Herbert Shelton, the founder of the American Natural Hygiene Society (now known as the International Natural Hygiene Society [
1]wrote about the conflicting ideas between Natural Hygiene and Medical Science. Others have also shared these views including Harvey Diamond who co-wrote the
Fit for Life book series in the 1980's.
Natural Hygiene claims that
drugs and medicines are poisons to the human body and have no healing properties. Natural Hygiene maintains that drugs have the effect of masking
symptoms or changing symptoms, but not for the better.
Natural Hygiene practitioners acknowledge that in cases of emergency, such as
stroke,
heart attack or automobile accident, emergency
medical science plays an important role.
The beliefs of natural hygiene and
naturopathy are quite similar. Naturopathy developed from the water and nature cure in Europe during the 19th century. Natural hygiene developed from the water cure in America during the 19th century. Natural hygiene talks about blood toxemia while naturopathy talks about the accumulation of morbid matter.
However, Natural hygiene prohibits all use of drugs including herbal and homeopathic medicines. Natural hygiene's primary treatment method is fasting, and does not use any
manipulative therapy, while Naturopathy uses both herbal and homeopathic medicines as well as the manipulative therapies of
body work or massage therapy,
osteopathy, and
chiropractic.
*
Christian vegetarianism*
Fruitarianism*
Veganism*
Vegetarianism*
Natural Hygiene, Man's Pristine Way of Life - by Herbert Shelton, Dr. Shelton's Health School, San Antonio, Texas, 1968.
*
A collection of Hygienic Review articles - by Dr. Herbert Shelton.
*
Toxemia Explained: The True Interpretation of the Cause of Disease - John Tilden, MD. Denver, Colorado, revised 1935.
Fasting Can Save Your Life - by Herbert Shelton.
Health For The Millions - by Herbert Shelton.
The Hygienic Care Of Children - by Herbert Shelton.
Orthotrophy Volume II - The Hygienic System - by Herbert Shelton.
Orthotrophy Volume III - Fasting and Feeding - by Herbert Shelton.
Fasting for Renewal of Life - by Herbert Shelton.
Fit For Life - by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond ISBN 0446300152
Fit For Life II - by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond ISBN 0446358754
Fit For Life: A New Beginning - by Harvey Diamond ISBN 1575667185
*
International Natural Hygiene Society - Founded in 2003. The American Natural Hygiene Society was founded by Dr. Herbert Shelton, and existed 1948 - 2000.
*
Soil and Health - Online books about Natural Hygiene.
*
Super Nutrition & Superior Health - Online Natural Hygiene articles by Dr. Bass.
*
The Quintessence of Natural Living - Online Natural Hygiene articles by Dr. Sidhwa.
*
True North Health Articles - Online Natural Hygiene articles.
*
Patient Letters to Dr. Goldberg - Online Natural Hygiene case stories & testimonials.
*
Rawfoodhealth.co.uk A raw vegan website.
*
Living Nutrition - A Natural Hygiene magazine.
*
Transformation Institute - A Natural Hygiene Home Study Course.
*
Rethinking Natural Hygiene by Ward Nicholson
*
Diet not the answer to cancer by Dr. Stephen Barrett
*
Raw Food Explained Course on Philosophy, Principles, and Practices of Natural Hygiene
