Health

Health does not consist merely of the absence of symptoms of illness. It is a state of positive well-being that is evidenced by a constant state of euphoria. It is rarely, if ever, experienced by humans today.
Health is a state of soundness and integrity of organism; vigour and efficiency of function; and excellence of mental faculties.
Great vigour and the buoyant feeling of well-being are extremely rare in our populace.
 

The Return To Perfection by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

Our word health is derived from the Saxon word for whole. Heal is derived from the same word and means to restore to a state of wholeness, soundness, integrity. Holy comes from the same root and signifies wholeness and purity of mind. Taken in its fullness of meaning, health means completeness and perfection of organization, fitness of life, freedom of action, harmony of functions, vigor and freedom from all stain and corruption—in a phrase, it is “a sound mind in a sound body.”
How is such a high state of health to be attained?  In a word: How may man be healed?
 

Living in Accord with Natural Law Produces Perfect Health

This can be done only upon a basis of law—natural law—specifically, upon a basis of those laws that operate to make human life possible. All laws operate to make human life possible. All laws essential to the welfare of man are written in his own constitution. Every rule of human conduct, to be valid in promoting human welfare and happiness, must be in harmony with his nature. No law, no social custom (convention), no moral precept can have any reality to man that does not accord with his highest welfare. If it is not intimately related to man’s highest fitness—physical, moral and intellectual—it cannot correspond to his highest ideals of truth, duty and enjoyment.
The unperverted instincts of wild animals living in their natural homes are the laws of their lives. There seems to be no reason to doubt that man’s instincts were once equally perfect guides in his ways of life. But if this was ever true, it certainly is not so today. Man’s instincts have been so smothered and buried beneath a layer of cultural baggage that they no longer constitute reliable guides to him in his way of life. They have been “conditioned” until they are misguides.
 

Health-Sapping Perversions Begin Early In Life

Nonetheless it is true that even now instincts are fairly reliable guides to conduct in the young. But we begin the process of perverting these instincts almost from birth. Instinct does not leave us unwarned when we take our first smoke, but social usage demands that we ignore the warning and suppress the vigorous protests of instinct. We must learn to smoke, even now that we are aware that the end may be death from lung cancer. Today we may get our first smoke second-hand as mere infants. Smoking in the house has become almost universal. Many babies are sickened and even killed by the unintelligent practice of fathers and mothers filling the house with the poisonous fumes of burning tobacco.
We are not left unwarned by our first effort to develop alcoholism. The first drink of beer is obnoxious. Wine both smells and tastes fermented, and it is. The first drink of brandy or whiskey burns and bites, it smarts and stings as it goes down, there is protest every inch of the way. But we ignore these protests, we disregard these warnings, we are determined to “grow up,” and the only way this can be done in our society is to become an addict of one or more kinds.
 

Bad Practices Produce Human Wrecks

Coffee and tea are reproaches to both our sense of smell and to our sense of taste. They produce a “high” state that should not be mistaken for vigor and well-being; they interfere with sleep, keeping us awake for hours. But we ignore these warnings of the faithful sentinels of life. We suppress the urge to flee from such poisons. We are determined to belong. We want to be “one of the gang” even if we have to wreck ourselves in the process.
We have learned to take the miserable fragments of natural-foods with which the food processors and refiners have flooded the market, fragments that lack all appeal to our gustatory sense, and to add sweetening, colorings, flavorings, etc. to them to make them appeal to the senses of sight, smell and taste in spite of their unfitness to serve the needs of human nutrition. We eat them, little thinking that they do not represent true foods or that they may prove to be actually hurtful. We have found ways to get unfit substances by the guards that stand at the entrance to the alvine canal. We have found ways to deceive ourselves and to wreck ourselves without knowing that we are doing it.
 

Disciplined Correct Life Practices Will Restore Pristine Perfection

For the evils of ignorance the remedy is knowledge—for the evils of false ideas the remedy is truth. For the source of truth and knowledge we have nature—especially human nature. Only when truth and knowledge are universal can we expect men and women to cease injuring and destroying themselves in riotous indulgence in tobacco, alcohol, and food-less food. In the spread of Natural Hygiene lies the hope of the future.
 

Disease

Disease, as a word, means very simply not at ease—a person is uncomfortable or suffering difficulties in maintaining energies for the functions he wishes to discharge and in keeping operative those faculties he wishes to exercise.
There are two distinct types of disease. The first type of disease serves a purpose and the second type serves none. These two types of disease are as follows:
* The first type is constructive disease, often called acute disease.
* The second type of disease is degenerative. This results from organic impairment in which organs, tissues, bones, or other faculties have undergone destruction, distortion, or irreversible impairment.
 

Purposes of Disease

Disease affects the whole body, not just a part. The body initiates remedial diseases to accomplish a goal. The goal serves the whole body, not just an organ, area, or part.
Everything that affects any part of the body affects the whole organism. If we have a bad back, the whole body is affected. There are no isolated parts about which we are unconcerned, either at the conscious or unconscious level of intelligence. We defend it all at all levels because it is all of us..

* Disease Is Started by the Body

The body itself institutes the crisis known as disease. Life Scientists call this process a “housecleaning” or healing crisis. Such a procedure by the body is instituted when bodily integrity is compromised or threatened by an accumulation of uneliminated toxic materials. The level of vitality and the extent of the overload determine the type of crisis. Given high vitality as in an infant, a very low level of toxicity is tolerated. In infants, colds are frequent. Given low vitality as in most older people in our society, colds are a rarity. Because so few older people maintain vital bodies, the toxic overload drags them down into chronic diseases, degenerative diseases, and unsuspected pathology.

* Disease Is an Eliminative Process

The body creates a crisis in response to a body need to free itself of toxic matters and repair damages. Consequently, the body withdraws energy from normal body activities and redirects them to the healing crisis.
The body will reject anything that’s irritating. For example, if dust is put into your nose, the body will secrete mucus to surround and eject the dust irritant. Or you may sneeze. In both cases, the body is acting defensively. Thus, all remedial disease is body-defensive action.
Bacteria do not invade organisms for they’re always within the organism. Even after we’ve lost our intestinal flora after fasting, bacteria are still there. Bacteria can in many cases do what bears and many other animals do—hibernate or become dormant.
Pasteur was not the father of bacteriology as many people think. Antoine Bechamp was the father of this science. Bechamp was a scientist in the true sense of the word. He took what he called microzyma from the chalk cliffs of France. He found that, upon furnishing water, warmth and other nutrients, the microzyma proliferated. These microorganisms had been entombed for ten million years in a state of dormancy. So bacteria have certain qualities for survival that most are not aware of.
 

Toxemia Is The Universal Cause Of Disease

Actually, there is only one disease, no matter how it manifests itself. And the disease, which we call constructive disease, is occasioned by the body itself and is known as a crisis of toxemia or healing.

* The Seven Stages of Disease

There are several stages of disease. The underlying cause of disease in all stages is toxemia. Although toxemia may arise from many sources, it basically exists because of insufficient nerve energy to sufficiently eliminate exogenous poisons and body wastes. Toxemia is not broad enough a term to cover the whole poisoning process for it means poison in the blood. Actually toxicosis exists. Tissues, cells and interstitial spaces are also toxic-laden. In short, the whole body is toxic.
Diseases present many different aspects because they evolve with the progressing deterioration of the organism that suffers them. Disease has seven distinct stages. These stages correspond to the distinct differences of each stage of evolution.

1. Enervation

The first stage is not even recognized by physicians as a disease. Life Scientists call it enervation. Most people call it nervous exhaustion. Enervation is a state in which the body is either not generating sufficient nerve energy for the tasks the body must perform, or the tasks the body must perform may be greater than the normal nerve energy supply can cope with. In any event, the body becomes impaired, and an impaired body generates less nerve energy if the conditions of overwork or under-generation persist. Most people know when they are nervously exhausted.
Enervation can be caused by depletion of nerve energy in any of hundreds of ways. Sleep regenerates nerve energy. Obviously, insufficient sleep will not supply us with our needs. It will not fully recharge our batteries. We need sleep to regenerate nerve energy for the brain and nervous system.
The body is primarily an organism that works on the amount of electricity it generates and which it has in its reserves. If this supply is depleted or otherwise insufficient to cope with the needs of the body, then body functions become impaired, including the processes of elimination of both endogenous metabolic wastes and exogenous poisons introduced into the body. This impairment begets further impairment including diminishing the body’s ability to restore depleted nerve energy. The body starts going downhill. The next stage of this decline is called toxemia.

2. Toxemia or Toxicosis

When toxic substances from whatever source saturate the blood and tissues, the lymph system and interstitial fluids, then the conditions of toxemia and toxicosis exist.
As functioning organisms, we generate a tremendous amount of toxic by-products. We generate enough carbon dioxide to kill us within a few minutes. And this is but one of many waste products. There are trillions of cells in the human body. Tens of billions of these expire every day. They are replaced by new cells. The old cells are broken down by lysosomes, enzymes that reside in a little organelle within the cell itself. Upon cell death, these enzymes break the cell down into many smaller components for elimination. These components are cell debris. Some of these components such as iron, protein, and amino acids are recycled by the body. Some 95% of the body’s iron needs and 70% of its protein needs are met by recycling. Certain other of the body’s needs are met by recycling as well. This will give you some idea as to the immense providence and wisdom of the body in meeting its needs.
Tissue and blood saturation with toxic materials can be caused by both internally generated wastes and pollutants taken in from the outside which the body has not been able to eject from the vital domain. Intoxication occurs when we overload the body with toxic materials from the outside, or we fail to observe our capacities, and overwork, get insufficient sleep, or are subjected to great stress, or when any number of other factors deplete the body of nerve energy or prevent its sufficient regeneration. For instance, stresses, emotional shocks, or traumatic experiences can drain our bodies of nerve energy very quickly. It’s just like shorting out the battery of a car.
At some level of intoxication we begin to experience the next stage of disease which is called irritation.

3. Irritation

Irritation results from toxic materials being sensed by our nerve network. Most of us pay this stage little mind, and certainly physicians do not pay it heed. When we feel itchy, queasy, jumpy, uneasy, or when we have bothersome but not painful areas, irritation exists. Tickling of the nose is a form of irritation. Collections of mucus along the mucus membranes irritate, although irri­tation is not painful. It is a gentle prod that moves us to seek comfort, to establish freedom from it. For instance, the urge to urinate or defecate is a form of irritation due to accumulation of wastes greater than the body feels comfortable with. However, the urge is not painful unless it is ignored until it creates too much pressure in its area. Near painful irritation forces us to deal with the problem.
When a person drinks too much alcohol we say that he or she is intoxicated. That’s a good example of exogenous intoxication. While all alcohol intake is damaging to the organism, the body can speedily eliminate a small amount before much damage has occurred. Increase the intake, and the elimination is proportionately less and the damage proportionately greater. The first drink of alcohol occa­sions only irritation which we also call stimulation. But any toxic material, be it salt, caffeine, or condiments will irritate or stimulate. Unfortunately, this often makes us feel good or hyper or even euphoric. It is distressing to see a euphoric condition arise out of a situation that is damaging to the organism.
If the causes of enervation/intoxication/irritation re­main in force and the body can’t cope with it the body initiates a responsive crisis called inflammation.

4. Inflamation

This is usually the stage in which physicians recognize pathology. It is the stage where sufferers are keenly aware of a problem, for it involves pain. As well, it involves bodily redirection of vital energies. The intestinal tract is closed down. Energy that would normally be available for activity there is pre-empted and redirected to the massive effort to cope with a severe condition of intoxication. Lest the integrity of the organism be dealt a mortal blow or crippled, the body musters its all to the emergency.
In inflammation, the toxicants have usually been concentrated in an organ or area for a massive expulsive effort. The area becomes inflamed due to the constant irritation of the toxic materials. When inflammation exists we are said to have an “itis,” appendicitis, tonsilitis, hepatitis, or nephritis for example. Note that the “itises” just cited are all due to overburdening of four different organs of purification and elimination.
The names of “itises” are usually after the organ or tissue area that is inflamed. Thus if we have a cold we have rhinitis. If we have inflammation of the sinus cavities we have sinusitis. If we have inflammation of bronchial tissue we have either bronchitis or asthma. And so it goes. We have these peculiar pathologies because in each case the body elected to eliminate the extraordinary toxic load through the organ affected. For instance, asthma exists because the body has selected the bronchi as an outlet for toxic materials. The condition is chronic because the toxic condition is unceasing. While the sufferer continues to intoxicate himself or herself, the body continues to eliminate the overload through the bronchi or alveolar tissue.
Inflammation or fever is a body crisis response to a life-threatening situation. The body and the body alone creates the fever. It is an evidence or symptom of increased and intense body activities directed at cleansing and repair. The extraordinary energies employed for a fever are at the expense of energies normally involved in digestion, work or play, thinking and seeing, etc. Fever is a healing activity. The idea of suppressing it is equivalent to hitting a drowning man over the head so he’ll cease his struggles. For instance, if rhinitis or influenza sufferers are drugged it amounts to hitting the body’s healer over the head. Thus, the eliminative effort is suppressed, and the toxicity increases until other organs, usually the lungs, become saturated—not only with the toxicity but the drugs administered as well. When body vitality reasserts itself a condition known as pneumonia is likely to result.
Inflammation is the fourth stage of disease and is the body’s most intense effort to cleanse and restore itself. The next stage of disease is destructive and degenerative. It will result if the causes of general body intoxication are continued.

5. Ulceration

Ulceration means that a staggering amount of cells and tissue structures are, being destroyed. Physiological systems are wiped out due to the body’s inability to live in an unceasing toxic media. Where tissue is destroyed there remains a void. An example is a canker sore of the mouth. Lesions or ulcers can occur in other areas of the body also. These conditions are often intensely painful, for there are exposed nerves.
While the body may use an ulcer as an outlet for extra­ordinary toxic buildup thereby relieving itself, it will heal the ulcer if causes are discontinued, or if the toxicity level is significantly lowered. This process of repairing the damage is like patching up pants with holes in them. This patching up process is called induration.

6. Induration

Induration is a hardening of tissue or the filling in of tissue vacancy with hard tissue. Scarring is a form of induration. But in this stage of disease, there is direction and purpose in hardening. The space is filled, and the toxic materials that threaten bodily integrity are encap­sulated in a sac of hardened tissue. The ulcer and the toxic materials are sealed off by the hardening of the tissue around them. This is a way of quarantining the toxic materials, often called tumor formation. It is this condition that is diagnosed as cancer nineteen times out of twenty when, in fact, no cancer exists.
Induration is the last stage during which the body exerts intelligent control. Should the pathogenic practices which brought matters to this stage be continued, cells and tissue systems go wild. They survive as best they can on their own. Cells become parasitic—living off the nutrients they can obtain from the lymph fluid but contri­buting nothing to the body economy. They have become disorganized. Their genetic encoding has been altered by the poisons. Thus, they are not capable of intelligent normal organized action within the context of a vital economy. When cells go wild in this manner, the condition is called cancer.

7. Cancer

The endpoint of the evolution of disease is cancer. It is the last stage of disease and is usually fatal, especially if the causes that brought it about are continued. Cessation of causes and indulgence of healthful practices may arrest it, for they can so revitalize the body that they may even destroy the cancer cells. It’s all relative. Cancer cells live in a hostile environment but still divide and flourish as long as nutrients are available to them. Cancer cells may be regarded as cells that have become independent and have reverted to the status of uncontrolled primitive cells—cells that live entirely on their own as do protozoa.

* Viruses And Bacteria—Their Role In Disease

After reviewing the seven stages of disease it should be obvious that bacteria and so-called viruses do not cause diseases. Viruses do cause diseases if you call toxic waste materials of decomposed body cells viruses. Decomposed cell debris is precisely what virologists and physicians are calling viruses. They regard viruses as living entitities when, in fact, medics have not in all history observed any quality of life they ascribe to viruses. What is called virus is always dead. It doesn’t have the first prerequisites of life, that is, metabolic and control mechanisms. Even bacteria have that.
When you ask a bacteriologist which comes first, the soil or the bacteria, he will answer that the soil must exist first for bacteria to thrive, for bacteria are presented a deadly environment by living cells. So, bacteria never exist in a proliferating state where there is no food or soil for their propagation. They multiply when there is feast, and they die off when there is famine or adverse environment, hence, bacteria no more create their food supply than flies cause garbage. The garbage must preexist the flies and, on the same order, the garbage or soil on which bacteria thrive in our bodies must preexist their presence and propagation. In other words, they do not cause the condition—they are there because of the condition.
When the body has a highly toxic condition such as inflammation, it will absorb bacteria from the intestinal cavity and transport them to the point where deadly materials have been concentrated. The bacteria then symbiotically assist in breaking up these toxic materials for elimination. Of course, the excreta of bacteria are toxic, too.
Bacteria are symbiotic partners of all creatures in nature. In order to come to exist in nature in the first place, humans had to establish a state of symbiosis with all natural forces.

* Disease Complicated by By-Products of Symbiotic Bacteria

At their strongest, bacteria complicate disease because the by­products of bacterial fermentation or putrefaction are deadly poison. In fermentation the by-products are lactic acid, acetic acid or vinegar, and alcohol. Putre­faction involves nitrogenous foods or proteins. The by-products of rotting protein are ammonias, indoles, skatoles, purines, etc. They are toxic within organisms, although the body can normally eliminate these poisons. In fact, our feces and urine are loaded with the by-products of protein decomposition, both from our body decomposi­tion and bacterial decomposition.
You’ve heard of the ideal of living in a germ-free en­vironment. That is an impossibility, of course. Trillions of bacteria are in and on our bodies at all times. If we were free of these minute organisms, we’d soon die. They perform many essential services for us.
If colds are a cleansing process, how does a body that is in crisis get yet worse? If the body is elimi­nating toxic materials profusely through the respiratory tract as in colds and flu, then how do the lungs also be­come contaminated?
All cases of colds and flu recover very quickly if the sufferer goes to bed in an airy room with lots of natural daylight. Almost total rest is called for. Total abstention from food but plenty of pure water is needed. Under these conditions debility ceases in from one to three days. But, if the sufferer refuses to rest and continues to eat the same bad food that contributed heavily to the crisis in the first place, the eliminative effort may be less than the continued toxic buildup, in which case pneumonia may be a concomitant. But, if the sufferer goes to a medic and gets drugged in addition, the body turns its attention to eliminating the drugs. It may cease the cold or flu altogether in face of the greater enemy. The continued toxic buildup spreads to the lungs. The drugs and toxic materials may concentrate so strongly in the lungs as to cause death or to set the stage for cancer. Many autopsies reveal people who have had pneumonia or who have smoked or lived in highly polluted air have tumors, indurated sacs of lung tissue which encapsulate toxic substances in the lungs.

The Character Of Disease

Disease is caused by indulging in practices or being subjected to materials and influences not normal to the human organism: that to which we are not adapted will cause disease.
It is a misconception that we have to fight disease. It will not occur unless it is caused. A huge catalog of materials and influences which are abnormal to the body could be given, but it’s not that complicated. We need only to maintain the simple needs of life which build and sustain health. We should consume only pure water as thirst demands and wholesome raw ripe fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds as genuine hunger dictates. 
Further, we are adapted to pure air, sunshine, rest and sleep, pleasant environment, emotionally balanced com­panions – in short we are adapted to a harmonious world. We are so constituted that health results when all our physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic needs are met. Thus diseases other than degenerative ones may be said to be body crises for the purpose of restoring health

* Diseases Are Not Contagious

Diseases are not conta­gious in any sense simply because they are body insti­tuted. We cannot transfer our toxic load to someone else. That should be self-evident. A Hygienist can go into a sickroom and not suffer a bit for it. Obviously most physi­cians and nurses and other people go to the sickrooms, even those housing the most so-called contagious diseases. They never contract the disease or suffer even though on occasion medics claim they do. You cannot transfer your toxic materials to another person unless you have it drawn out of you and injected into the person. The medics do, indeed, do that in transfusions. But the contagion here is medically induced rather than occurring within the realm of natural possibilities.

* How Plagues and Epidemics Develop

The reason that there seems to be “epidemics” is that the true contagion is an epidemic of similar bad habits. We all eat pretty much the same junk, are subjected to the same seasons, the same type of housing and, in many other ways, indulge the same health-sapping practices. It’s no wonder that many of us suffer the same diseases. Like causes beget like effects. Of course this is modified in the human situation by the diathesis of each individual.
Thus we see that, within the context of a given family or group, people have more or less the same bad habits and suffer the same diseases.
The reason epidemics occur in winter and not in summer should be obvious. If anything, microbial life is more active in summer just as we are and their functions are depressed in winter. But lo and behold, microbial forms of life are said to be more active and to cause epidemics. That’s nonsense of course. In the winter we eat less wholesome food—we eat more junk. We do not exercise as much. We stay indoors and breathe foul air. In the summer we get more sunshine, more exercise, more fresh air, fresh ripe fruits—in short we live more health­fully in summer and less healthfully in winter. Conditions cause us to so live as to generate our diseases. It is not contagion of germs but contagion of pathogenic conditions that create what are termed plagues or epidemics.

Gemma’s comments:

Concerning the statements in the section “Living in Accord with Natural Law Produces Perfect Health”, Dr. Shelton agrees that there are certain laws of human behavior, but disagrees that current laws are disconnected from human nature, and therefore run counter to our health.
It is true that our society allows many acts that go against collective health, moreover, these are even promoted in some cases: pesticides and genetically modified food, mandatory iodine in the water of some countries, mandatory vaccines, dental amalgams, chemicals that pollute our planet authorized in some factories, etc.
Many people contribute to the domestication of our instincts: family, school, friends, television, doctors, religious training, etc. However, the most important factors are family customs; it is within the family that the eating habits and the lifestyle are established: sport, sleep, exercise, moral and/or religion, kind of school, etc. It is the natural instincts of people that exist since their childhood that will encourage or "pervert" them, as Dr. Shelton says. 
Children have the sense of instinct still very present. Then, does this mean according to Natural Hygiene that they know better than their parents what suits them best for their health, such as the type of food? As explained in another article, there are many factors that determine whether a child can recognize healthy foods, or if on the contrary, its instinct has been altered or domesticated. What this lesson should be good for is to make parents think about whether to force their children to eat certain foods, to doubt in the case of rejection of a food if it is a whim, an addiction to other foods, or if the food in reality is not that good for the child as they believe.
Keep in mind that even animals can go wrong when it comes to their instincts. For example, virtually all animals are attracted by sugar, albeit extremely damaging to them. So instinct is not foolproof either...
Concerning the stages of disease, I will present some more detailed examples of diseases that correspond to each of the phases below:

Enervation and toxemia:

• Fatigue

Irritation:

• Mucus, alergic rhinitis, sneezing
• Dermatitis, eczema, urticaria
• Vomiting, diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome
• Bothersome but not painful areas.
• Urge to urinate or defecate.
• Hyperactivity, nervosity.

Inflammation:

• Infections: gastroenteritis, otitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, asthma, sinusitis, appendicitis, tonsilitis, hepatitis, nephritis, conjunctivitis, flu, vaginitis, etc. 
• Fever
• Pain: headache, backache
• Maybe also autism, schizophrenia, epilepsia?

Ulceration:

• Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, duodenal ulcer, stomach ulcer, venous ulcer, herpes, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, arthritis, thyroiditis, diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.
• Maybe also neuralgia, parkinson?

Induration:

• Fibroma, benign tumors, wart, cysts.
• Atherosclerosis, cataracts.
• Maybe also alzheimer.

As T.C. Fry explains, these stages are very diffuse, so that at the same time you may suffer from diseases that belong to different stages. For example, while you have a cyst in the breast (enduration stage) you may also suffer from a cold (inflammation stage).  It isn’t neither clear that you may pass by all the previous stages. For example, you can have a wart without a previous inflammation.
When there is some kind of change in your life such as a diet change, a change in medication, a new or different therapeutic treatment, a journey, a traumatic, stressful situation, etc. that affects your body, you may move to a different stage, either for better or worse.
As explained by referring to drug action, the disappearance of a disease or certain symptoms does not necessarily mean that this beneficial change puts you back to an earlier (and better) stage, but most probably to a later stage. Thus, a headache may disappear when taking certain medication, but eventually it could become an ulcerative stage with multiple sclerosis.
When chosing a diet, it is important to take into account its effects on these phases. It is very common that certain anti-inflammatory diets, such as one based on eating lots of fruit and vegetables, cause an irritable bowel at the same time, which makes a person return to a previous stage, the irritation stage. In this case, some people would dismiss this diet because their gastrointestinal condition deteriorates, but if we evaluate the overall state of the person, the fact of having gone from the inflammatory stage to the irritation stage is a major improvement. Conversely, other anti-inflammatory diets may lead to a more advanced stage, ulceration.
When fully recovery of health is not possible, then sometimes the person must choose between suffering an inflammatory disease, ulcerative disease or a slight gastro-intestinal (irritative) perturbation. Diet and all other life style allows to lean towards one stage or another.
I would like to hightlight that in my point of view, all diseases are not an eliminative process; some diseases are caused by a lack of nutrients. I would say that all diseases are the result of either a lack of nutrients that the body needs or either an excess of harmful substances that must be removed.
The lack of nutrients may be food type nutrients, or emotional or spiritual. For example, in the case of extreme poverty; or an excess of food void of nutrients such as in the occidental civilization; or an incorrect digestion, transformation and absorption of nutrients when the digestive system is damaged; or lack of love, social marginalisation, spiritual poverty, etc. The lack of nutrients can give place to diseases such as developmental disorders in children, rickets, eye diseases, osteoporosis, etc.
The theory may be possible that viruses are cellular waste of genetic material and bacteria are "sweepers" that only appear when needed to help destroy toxins or waste from the body. Given that 99.9% of genes are common to all men, we can explain that all people who have the same disease may have the same virus or bacteria, ie, the same portion of genetic material from one type of destroyed cells and the same "sweepers" to remove them. It is perfectly reasonable that some epidemics such as currently the Ebola are caused by a toxic substance to which the entire population of a given area is exposed. And the supposed spread of diseases among family or colleagues due to similar unhealthy conditions between those people living together in a given space: air or water contamination, improper diet, lack of sun exposure, lack of sleep, extreme temperatures, emotional conflicts, etc. Both theories, the classical one which defends infection, as well as the toxemia of Natural Hygiene seem equally reasonable.
In this other chapter of Natural Hygiene all the reasons that defend the theory of toxemia against contagion are explained in detail. I expose one of the most interesting passages of this chapter: “Pasteur did finally reverse his position and acknowledge that germs are not the specific and primary cause of disease, and he abandoned the germ theory. He is reported to have said on his deathbed, ´Bernard was right. The seed is nothing, the soil is everything.´
Although Pasteur abandoned his early immature and erroneous theory in the 1880s, it was accepted, developed, fostered, and perpetuated by others, and the mischief, medical misunderstanding, and error continue to this day (the ultimate irony!)."
I think that the most important lesson that must be learned from this chapter about health and disease is that the fact of enjoying good health depends on us, and neither on the good or bad chance of catching some virus or bacteria, nor on the bad actions of the people around us. Our health depends on our own actions and daily decisions, which depend on our beliefs in all levels of life: physical (food, water, air, sun, rest, exercise, …) mental, emotional and spiritual. We are the only responsible ones of what happens to us. If we change our vision about life we can change our destiny. Negativity attracts negativity, joy attracts joy.