Natural Hygiene variants (WAS: purpose of this list)

[Guest guest]

rawfood [rawfood ] On Behalf Of

Margaret Gamez

Saturday, August 19, 2006 7:31 PM

rawfood

Re: [Raw Food] purpose of this list

 

Natural hygiene is a very strong strain in raw foodism. There are files in the

list files on

discussions and various issues about natural hygiene. This subject has been

bandied about often

over the 8 years of the existence of this list.

 

What I have seen, in my nutrition studies, is that natural hygiene is championed

by many cooked

food people, and even Ann Wigmore gives a natural hygiene chart which includes

meat(!!!).

 

This past week, I have been looking over my natural hygiene books and find that

most of them do

not eschew meat, nor cooked food.

 

At the same time, I have been taking a course at Raw Soul in New York City. The

teacher,

Lillian Butler, who studied with Ann Wigmore, espouses natural hygiene.

 

I'm confused, often, however, when the supposedly " hard-core " natural hygienists

give you charts

that say you can combine this and this but not that and this, and then hand you

recipes which

combine this and that.

 

Raw food cookbooks freely mix foods seemingly without regard to where they sit

on the natural

hygiene charts.

 

Chet Day's article on T.C. Fry opened up my eyes quite a bit. (google it and

read it)

 

As for me, I am going to eat what seems to be right when it seems to be right.

I have weathered

a few " announcements " of what is right or wrong to eat since I've been on the

list. I'm still

eating carrot tops when they come attached to my carrots. I haven't died yet.

Perhaps it is

because I never put lemon on them.

 

The Wiccan by-law sure does work here: Do as ye will, but harm none.

If you eat what you think is right, and it doesn't make you sick, then just keep

on doing it.

If it makes you sick, stop eating it. Duh.

___________________

 

Greetings Margaret and all,

 

You've really expressed nicely what many may feel. At various times during the

past

century-plus, various schools of thought have emerged and held forth as THE

natural hygiene.

Now, for instance, in one , there are those who speak of

" self-evident truths " and

such. It is true that, within the larger NH organizations, there has been a

turning away from

the teachings of Shelton, Fry, and others. But it is also true that many of

these people come up

through medical training, which has not previously been the case.

 

Then there are others, such as Doug Graham, Tim Trader, Virginia Vetrano, Dave

Klein, etc., all

of whom may be found through Healthful Living International, among other places,

and who do stay

fairly close to the teachings of Shelton, Fry, etc. It is among these teachers

and practitioners

that one finds the strong emphasis upon a raw vegan diet, and further

refinements toward low-fat

and low-protein choices.

 

All this is why, though many think of me in connection with NH, I actually do

not identify

myself with NH per se. Rather, I simply say that I agree and have adopted many

principles taught

be some NH practitioners. At the same time, I find it quite easy to question

some of what is

taught, as well.

 

I do disagree with one thing you wrote, Margaret, your very last sentence.: " If

you eat what you

think is right, and it doesn't make you sick, then just keep on doing it. If it

makes you sick,

stop eating it. Duh. "

 

Setting aside the editorial epithet on the end, I would suggest that the mere

fact that

something appears not to make you sick at the moment is entirely insufficient

information upon

which to base healthful food choices. What causes cancer, diabetes, heart

disease, arthritis,

etc. all tastes great going in! And what happens is that the system degrades

gradually, over

time, so that many symptoms that seem obvious when looking from the outside,

appear quite

" normal " from within. And there's the rub ... relying too heavily upon how one

feels is no

better strategy than relying too heavily upon what one thinks, believes, etc. We

have a vast

array of capacities, we may as well use them all, eh?

 

Best to all,

Elchanan