Lesson 61 - Nutrition And The Skin

Introduction

During the last fifty or so years, we have witnessed a veritable explosion of magazines and other materials being offered to the public, a goodly number of these being devoted to the care of the skin.

In the earlier years the discussions and recommendations in these publications were largely aimed at the female members of the reading public, but in the last few years more and more words have been targeted for both sexes with suggested methods of skin care being accepted as scientific “truth” by many of the readers.

Why such great interest in the skin, this outer integument which holds us together and prevents the parts from scattering to the winds? It is probably because instinctively we recognize that the outer skin is the visible evidence of the condition of the inner man or woman, the mirror that reflects the health, or lack thereof, presently possessed.

Interest in the skin is nothing new, of course. Women throughout history and in all cultures have had recourse to outside agents, including herbs, chemicals, and other concoctions, all supposedly enriched with specific properties capable of enhancing personality and beauty and endowed with mysterious substances to retard the aging process.

In earlier times, when surgery was a relatively new technique on the medical scene, it was the custom in some European medical schools for budding student surgeons to demonstrate their “fitness” for the profession by draping a human skin over their shoulders and strutting around the operating theaters for all to see and admire.

Curiosity being just as much a part of scholastic life in those days as it is now, these students and other scientists, perhaps by accident and even by intent, were enabled to learn much about this very important part of the human body. They learned that the skin is not a dead bit of drapery but rather a functional part of the living body, that it housed a number of very interesting organs and parts and played host to and participated actively in a wondrous array of mind-boggling performances. Surprisingly, too, they also found that the skin itself played many roles vitally important to life itself and that it was a very complex entity, indeed.

Centuries have passed in review since the first timid advances were made to explore the intriguing mantle of man and, of course, much still remains to be learned in this day of electronic wonders.

In this lesson we will unravel some of the mystery of the skin. We will learn how to care for it and how to feed it so that it will remain always glowing and youthful looking in all climates and throughout our entire lifetimes, always remaining a thing of beauty and service.

Natural Hygiene Represents Nutrition For The Whole Person

Those who adhere to the principles of Natural Hygiene are not members of a cult or of a religious group. They are not “oddballs.” They are rather a people divorced from the herd because they have observed the herd and do not like the largely inherited common practices of the herd. Neither do they admire what they view as the natural results of such practices, especially those seen as direct consequences of the prevailing eating and living habits of the masses.

Natural Hygienists realize that we are presently witnessing the beginning results of the largest chemical experiment in the long history of mankind. They realize that physiology teaches us certain facts about the requirements of life and that life itself tells us that when these requirements are fully met as and when presented, superior health is as natural a result of this kind of intelligent action as the bursting forth of a wondrous oak from the seed when the environment is friendly and conducive to the life process. Life Scientists believe that, if we desire full health and not just a reasonable facsimile thereof, then we must answer our bodies’ needs in every particular and at the right time, but not in excess thereof. Simply put, Natural Hygiene is the study of discipline of total human nutrition and the application of its principles in one’s daily living.

Putting Life Into Perspective

In these fast moving times, in this period in our history when a constantly changing kaleidoscope of newly gleaned facts and details flood the media of the world about things and chemicals purportedly guaranteed to restore youthful beauty and health to the millions, Life Science (Natural Hygiene) represents an “anchor in the wind,” a beacon of truth to guide the most weary and inspire the more informed.

If anything be certain in this world it is that life is change, that tomorrow we will not be as yesterday: that we can either be less productive, less healthy that we are today or that we can take positive, physiologicallyand biologically-sound steps to gain something back of what we may have perhaps carelessly tossed aside because we formerly lacked knowledge or perhaps even thought that tomorrow would always be forthcoming in spite of all of our shortcomings and errors, known and unknown. Life Scientists, however, know that, within the parameters of the possible, tomorrow, our beauty and our very presence, will depend on the correctness of what we do this day, today.

If we are correct in the doing, tomorrow, our being and our beauty, will all be there. And, perhaps, as Life Scientists, each one of us, having reaped our own reward, can impart to others some of what we have learned and will continue to learn in this course and in reading other Hygienic studies elsewhere in an on-going effort to understand the most challenging of all studies, the Science of Life.

The Skin as a Part of a Complex Whole

The human skin is an amazing organ. Nothing is ever static about it. It is part of the living organism. Throughout, it is a functioning live entity, except for its outermost layer. Just as life itself is evidenced by activity, by change and motion of parts, so the skin is active in the sense that changes are constantly taking place, often very subtle changes invisible to the naked eye.

In fact, even the outermost layer participates in this change because, as dead cells are scuffed or rubbed off, they are rapidly replaced and this dead layer itself becomes a part of the ever-changing, ever-dying, and ever-rebirthing which is so characteristic of living things.

Quick Solutions

Because the skin lives and is constantly in flux, it is certain that when errors are made in body care and feeding, abnormal changes often exhibit in the skin. Manmade substances are not the answer when abnormality of any kind exists. Only the body possesses the inherent knowledge of what should be done, how it should be accomplished, and precisely when. As humans, we know so little about humans! About how we are made and how we function. Much of what is touted as scientific knowledge consists of estimates and guesstimates, not fully-established truth. Hopefully this discussion will provide facts and enlarge on truth.

For example, it is fact that, being a living entity, the skin must receive proper nourishment throughout the whole of life and that topical applications are never a long-term solution to problems and that they can often prove destructive to health and beauty. Face lifts and injections can provide only a temporary illusion of beauty and are unable to stem the tide of the degenerative effects of nonadherence to healthful principles of life. Life, being an ongoing kaleidoscope of change, demands total nutrition and care of person, including the skin. True beauty comes only as a response to total life care.

It is estimated that every square inch of the human skin is made up of 19,500,000,000 individual cells. This is amazing, but even more amazing is that all of these cells must work together harmoniously. They are required to serve in many diverse capacities, all of which influence the functional efficiency and performance of every other cell within the total human economy. We must pause to consider and agree that man is, indeed, “fearfully and wondrously made.”

Like functioning cells, every cell of which the skin is composed is in and of itself a complete entity which is prepared to cope with all kinds of emergency situations. It possesses, among others, that amazing talent, resident only within the living, of knowing exactly how to heal its own wounds; this, of course, within the realm of possibility.

While a totally self-contained unit, it is at one and the same time a contributing member of the total synergistic society of cells, not only those which comprise the skin itself, but also those which make up the body as a whole.

Thus, the skin is an integral part of the living person and one which plays a vital role within the body economy which is both supportive and functional.

Just as the cells of the skin support the internal functions, it is, in itself, supported by that which lies within. It reflects, like a mirror on the wall, the condition of the inner SELF.

When the skin is ugly, pimply, coarse, puffy; and gross looking, it is conveying a message of internal disarray, it is telling its owner that that is exactly the way the inner body also looks and if we could hold a mirror to our inner self and examine it just as carefully as both sexes do with their faces, we might observe the inner man with some distaste and even revulsion.

The skin, just like the internal organs and parts, is subject to the same rules and regulations that pertain to every other part, whether it be bone, muscle tissue, nerve tissue, or other. Food for the skin must first be eaten, then digested, absorbed, and transported via the blood and lymph to each individual skin cell just as food which is intended for the brain cells or for those in our big toe! Skin wastes must be eliminated as regularly as other body wastes.

If the mirror on the wall reflects a sick skin, it is giving us the word that the total body is also sick. As Dr. J. H. Tilden, M.D., one of the great early Natural Hygienists, so well said, “If the outer skin is measly looking, that’s the way the inner body is, too!”

The skin is a living part of man and, if we wish to have a beautiful skin which will last for a lifetime, then it must be serviced by an inner self which functions, as close to perfection as possible. There is no quick magic road to skin beauty, no single or simple solution. Skin problems, such as rashes, itching, bumps, warts, or lesions of whatever kind, are, barring accidental injury, the result of errors in eating and living habits, errors which have caused the interior organs and parts to be reduced in their efficiency of performance to the extent that they have not fully performed their duties anywhere within the body economy including the part which we examine most closely, our skin.

The danger in looking for quick solutions to multiple problems always results in dashing our hopes and worsening an already worrisome condition. Salves and ointments can only serve, at best, to drive toxins elsewhere within the system either to remain as an encumbrance to total body performance or to add to existing debris. Regardless, in time, the poisons must emerge to the surface or create some havoc within some organ or tissue, thus further accelerating systemic decline.

We well remember a time when we were in London, England, and Dr. Elizabeth developed a rather annoying rash which was quite painful at times. This was long before we were “sold” on Natural Hygiene. We were still in the “exploring” stage and even yet wedded to the more orthodox methods we had learned at the various universities where we had studied.

We therefore sought medical advice for the rash and were given a cortisone-based ointment to put on it. In a few days the rash went away but we were soon to receive a very expensive lesson because a funny thing happened shortly thereafter. We had travelled on to Barcolona, Spain, and, “suddenly” Elizabeth came down with a cold which became so deep-seated that it kept her indoors confined to bed in the hotel for almost two weeks, all the while she continued to eat “three square meals” a day. She was so weak after that, that we were unable to resume our investigative studies for almost a month. This particular lesson was not only wasteful of money but wasteful of opportunity and time.

We had not as yet learned that it makes no scientific sense to palliate symptoms of a malfunctioning skin as we did by applying “remedies,” per se. The skin is a living part of a complex whole. It must be fed through over 70,000 miles of channels by blood that is replenished from a common pool and which feeds the whole of man. The skin’s outward appearance and condition reflects how well the total operation is proceeding and when it is sick, the entire body likewise suffers. To solve the skin’s problems, we are required to answer the multiple needs of the entire body through total nutrition.

The new molecular biological sciences are enlarging our understanding of many of man’s inner mysteries. Certainly the application of our knowledge of the manner in which all cells receive their nourishment underscores the futility of applying creams, lotions, and other manmade chemicals to the skin in the mistaken notion that they will transform a sickly skin into one that glows with vibrant health. Such is not the reality of the living man or woman.

In our work with our clients we must be cognizant of the fact that in the arena of actually practicing as professional Hygienists, we will be facing the reality of life, not the mirage of commerce. We must be able to convince our clients that when the diet and lifestyle are health producing, the skin will be health revealing! And, lest we forget, our own appearance should be such as to inspire those who seek our services to achieve some higher degree of perfection in their own lives by emulating us and putting into practice what we teach.

Structure Of The Skin

In humans the skin is well-defined. Its membranous and cellular texture covers the whole external surface of the body. It serves to surround and hold its contents together. It continues over the lips, and up the nostrils proceeding into the innermost parts of the body.

The same membrane proceeds from the lips into the mouth and lines all of that organ’s cavities. It covers the tongue and glands and extends also to cover and line all the parts of the throat and windpipe.

It leads to and through all the innumerable sacs of the lungs, lining the airways of that organ, branching so extensively therein that it presents a surface equal to and perhaps even more vast than the whole of the external body visible to the eye.

The external skin thus gradually fades into the internal but both represent a continuum, a melding together of sudden changes both in composition and functions.

The skin proceeds down the esophagus and into the stomach and through the whole of the intestinal canal. It lines all the ducts and tubes which open into that organ for purposes of servicing and feeding. It also lines all the cavities and organs in the body in a continuous and amazingly intricate network of extremely small meshes through which countless numbers of infinitesimally small capillaries, as many as 180 per square inch, wind in and out providing channels for blood and lymph as they course through and about the body performing their many and diverse duties. The multitudinous numbers of nerve tendrils also wind their own way within and without the membranous meshes and so numerous are these filaments of nerves and vessels that it is impossible to puncture any part without ‘harming one or the other or both in the process.

All parts of this amazing network of skin cells must be both serviced and protected so that they can continue to function efficiently as defending and enclosing entities while all the while synergistically working as a single confining unit within an incorporated living system.

Through this vast network, internal man has contact with his external world. Through it and by means of its many passages must enter everything intended to become a part of it or which is intended for elimination from, the human body. It houses and contains, confines and molds, gives structure to all organs, systems and parts resident within the body, including over 70,000 miles of channels and tubes.

And, in the whole of it, there is no cleavage or break. It acts as a barrier to physical agents, chemical poisons, and other agents such as insects, molds, bacteria, and other parasites which might have a deleterious effect on the body tissues and fluids, including the blood.

It may not be vitally important for students of Natural Hygiene to be able to name all the many intricate parts of the skin but we do believe that all of us can get a better understanding of our own bodies and how we function and why it is so very important to have as corrects nutritional regimen as possible if we do become acquainted with some of the gross details of this very important organ, the human skin.

The skin, like all of Gaul, can be separated into three rather distinct, but nevertheless intimately related, parts known as membranes.

The Outer Skin

The outer skin is that part of the skin which all of us recognize as THE SKIN, the outer covering which we can readily see and touch, the part that holds everything else together and prevents this and that from wandering off and leaving us behind! It is known by various names such as the hide, the epidermis, the cuticle, and also as the scarf skin.

This outer skin develops from the ectoderm, the name given to the outermost layer of cells in the embryo. The epithelial ectoderm separates out at about the fourth week of fetal life and from that point on the epidermis or outer membrane starts to develop and, in the process, splits into several specialized compartments.

The outer membrane or epidermis (in our discussion we will use the term epidermis) varies in thickness in different parts of the body. Sometimes it is thick, hard, and even horny in texture as, for example, in the palms of the hand (especially in laborers and other person who do hard work using their hands); or on the soles of the feet. It is interesting to note that these particular areas are somewhat thickened even at birth as if anticipating their future roles.

The epidermis is several cells thick and is composed of two distinct layers. The external or horny layer is made up of dead cells which are constantly shed from its surface. This layer is known as the stratum corneum.

The stratum corneum consists of slabs of flat, platelike cells which have no nucleus and thus no viable function. This is why they are called “dead” cells. They are dry and scaly and are continuously being sloughed off and then replaced, this process taking from three to four weeks. The cells of which it is composed are pushed up from the living layer which lies just below.

As new cells are born they simply move forward to replace those sloughed off. This is why correction of the diet produces rather spectacular and rapid changes in the appearance of the skin. Clients who may have consulted with skin “specialists” for years are, more often than not, greatly relieved and gratified with their new look after only a few months of following a more appropriate diet. You should be able to explain why from the information contained in this lesson.

The cells in the lower level form a single continuous sheet of somewhat flattened cells. This layer is also known as the stratified epithelium. Nature has been most ingenious in building this part of the outer membrane. Between some of the cells there is a thin layer of intercellular mortar, a kind of “stick-um” which is secreted by the cells themselves, the secretion holding one cell to the other, just as mortar holds one brick to the next.

There are still other cells which have intertwining plasma membranes which reach out “like the tentacles of an octopus,” locking the cells together somewhat like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. These intertwining cells represent the true barrier to the penetration of the inner sanctum by undesirable foreign matter.

The ingenious locking-together arrangement also blocks the pell-mell exodus of body wastes so that they can be sent to more appropriate and designated channels. This unique physical arrangement serves to keep the inner body intact and also prevents it from melting away during a heavy rainstorm or from going down the drain when we take a shower! It permits the skin, as part of a total nutritional program, to be bathed while, at one and the same time, the diluting force of water cannot adversely affect body fluids.

Some Hygienists have written us in recent days with respect to the dangers they believed might be inherent in polluted city tap water relative to bathing. The above arrangement should eradicate such concern although it is always important to use the cleanest water available simply because of the presence of chemicals in solution which can adversely affect the skin. But it is well to know that the water itself will be prevented from entering the system to any appreciable extent via the pores.

The epidermis is insensitive since it possesses no nerve endings. It has no blood vessels and, since the cells have no functioning capacity, they therefore require no nutriment. Thus it is that there is no provision for any kind of transportation mechanism to this surface collection of cells. It has no need for capillaries, for arterioles, so these are nonexistent.

Afferent and efferent nerve fibers end beyond this dead layer. Since they do not penetrate into it, this is why the epidermis itself is insensitive. Constantly we observe that, in the living body, where there is no need, the body does not provide! Thus it is that the body meticulously guards its resources.

The epidermis also makes up the nails and hair, about which we will hear more later.

The Second Layer

The second layer of the outer membrane is the living layer of cells. It is known as the stratum malphighii or germinativum, meaning germinating layer. It is also known as the dermal layer or dermis. We will content ourselves with the name dermis.

The human dermis is a beehive of activity. Its complexity and design are cause for wonder. Irwin I. Lubowe, M.D., in his book, New Hope For Your Skin (as reported in “The Natural Way to a Healthy Skin” by the Editors of Prevention Magazine, Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pennsylvania 18049, 1972) reports that every square inch of the human skin contains the following:

78 nerves
650 sweat glands
19 or 20 tiny blood vessels
78 sensory apparatuses for heat
13 sensory apparatuses for cold
1,300 nerve endings to record pain
19,500 sensory cells at the ends of the nerve fibers
160 to 165 pressure apparatuses for the sense of touch
95 to 100 sebaceous glands
65 hairs and muscles
19,500,000,000 individuals cells.

We also know that our skin covers an area of some 24 square feet and can weigh as much as six pounds. The mucous membrane is a term applied to that portion of the outer skin which lines the internal cavities of the body. There are three general kinds of membranes:

The outer skin or epidermis, which we have just discussed.
The fibrous membranes which surround all the bones, the cartilages and tendons and which also line the spinal canal and the cavity of the skull.
The serous membranes which line the closed cavities, such as that found in the abdomen. This membrane also surrounds all of the various organs resident within the cavities.

The specific purpose of the fibrous and serous membranes is to cover and line all the parts they service, to help hold them in their assigned positions, to secrete a special fluid which moistens and lubricates parts as they are caused to move one upon the other by body movements and activity, and to absorb any fluid which may, by one means or another, find its way into their field of operation.

The passageways of the inner body are lined with mucous membranes. All the various tubes for ingress and egress are lined with mucous membranes and anything which enters or leaves the inner sanctum must perforce pass through and over these membranous surfaces.

This membrane furnishes the appropriate tubes and organs for conveyance, exhalation, elimination, and perhaps other necessary functions. It also furnishes appropriate mucilagenous substances (mucus) as and when required and for a multitude of necessary body processes such as digestion.

The student can readily see that the skin is a part of every nook and cranny within the living body. Except for the extreme outer layer of cells of the epidermis, it is a wondrously alive part of the whole, and actively concerned in some manner with just about every function that takes place within the body. This is why its nutritional upkeep is so very important to the maintenance of a high level of systemic health. As the body is nourished, so is the skin nourished and as the skin functions in health it contributes positively to the health of the whole.

Functions Of The Skin

Because of the vital role played by the skin in the body economy, its tonus or health, should always be maintained at a high level. When we understand the many important functions performed by the various membranes of the total skin, we can appreciate the fact that the skin does serve as a mirror of the inner state of body health. Obviously, it is not our purpose to go into great detail in this regard, but we can examine some of the more important functions performed by the skin.

The skin is a complete factory of many diverse enterprises: manufacturing, distributing, storing, and reproducing a variety of materials. It has very efficient collection, storing and disposal facilities. One of its major functions is that of sensitivity.

As an Organ of Sensitivity

The human skin is the organ of feeling and touch. It is our chief contact with the world outside of the body. It is highly sensitive to heat, either external or internal. When the body gets overheated, usually from some unusual exertion or from fevers, the skin simply instigates an accelerated evaporation of water from all of its millions of pores, expanding them for this process. In this way excess heat is absorbed to power the transformation of the water to an escaping gas. The body is cooled by this process. When normalcy, or systemic comfort, is once again reached, the skin relaxes and the evaporative process resumes a more normal rate.

The skin is also sensitive to cold. We are enabled to survive extremes of external temperatures ranging from well below zero to as high as 200 degrees. When overly chilled, the body simply closes off the pores so that less water or none is evaporated, thus conserving body heat.

It is vitally important for the body’s internal temperature to be controlled within rather narrow limits so that all the infinite numbers of biochemical processes we call life in action can continue with maximum efficiency. It is known that even a deviation of a single degree of temperature from the norm can be evidence of an existing pathology, of abnormal conditions within the metabolic pathways and byways, especially if the deviation persists for a prolonged period.

We must remember that the skin is actually an expansion of the nervous system. It has the ability to transmit two kinds of sensory impulses, that of touch and that of temperature.

There are two distinct sensations of touch, these being distinguished as pressure and place sensations. The palm of the hand is said to have 40 or 50 such touch spots per square centimeter. All over the body there are small areas which respond to cold, others heat. When it is cold outside, the skin simply closes up, as it were, and folds us in just a little bit more to keep in our body heat. In hot weather, it opens up more. We know that the skin’s multitudinous nerve endings are so sensitive that the most minute sensations are duly recorded and appropriate messages transmitted to the nerve centers where they are interpreted and appropriate responses ordered, these then being carried out in due course by the cells of the skin. This almost instantaneous transmission of sensation and the orders for action in response thereto is the reason why it is actually unnecessary to take a cold shower following a warm to hot bath. When exposed to the colder air the pores will close automatically in response to even minute variations in the air temperature.

Elimination

The elimination of a certain kind and amount of toxic wastes is one of the important nutritive functions of the skin. We are constantly surrounded by an invisible vapor consisting of toxic gases and water. We literally walk in an invisible cloud.

Hygienists recognize that the least amount of clothing to provide sufficient warmth and prevent chilling is the most Hygienically appropriate attire for the maintenance of a healthy skin and body. All clothing should be of porous weave to permit the escape of body discharges via the skin. Closely woven fibers can prevent free passage of body wastes which can then back up into the system or collect on the surface to cause skin irritations and inflammations. Even a Hygienically-correct diet will not be conducive to superior skin and body health when tight-fitting garments are constantly worn.

This fact was dramatically demonstrated in Lou’s case. Lou worked out-of-doors as a landscape consultant. He came to us with a severe skin problem. His back, underarms, and abdominal area were covered with, sores which oozed pus. Lou’s case history and diet profile revealed that, in general, he was in good health by present standards and that he ate a better than average diet avoiding junk foods, candy, and the like.

We observed, however, that at the consultation Lou was wearing a tightly-fitting T-shirt made of synthetic fibers, probably because he wished to display a rather well-developed upper torso. Upon questioning, we learned that Lou wore this type of garment to work just about every day. As our readers probably know the searing sun of our Arizona summers can be highly debilitating and, of course, Lou spent most of his daylight hours out-of-doors, both in winter and summer. His active life necessarily caused him to sweat profusely.

We advised Lou to discard his shirts made of all synthetic fibers in favor of shirts made of more porous weaves of cotton and to buy a size larger than he normally purchased. Inside of two weeks, Lou reported that his sores were already healing. A year later he called to tell us that he had had no recurrence of his problem!

Because our eyes can’t see this invisible poisonous cloud, most of us are totally unaware of the fact that every day our skin, as part of the body’s total nutritional process, pours off as much as two pints and even more of water and that this water contains many irritating contaminants in solution. Exposure of the body to moving currents of air encourages the cleansing effort as does providing passageways for exodus of gaseous wastes, as is done by porous weaves.

We should wear not only more appropriate clothing, but we should also wear less clothing. If we wish to maintain a well-nourished skin, we should also bathe frequently and change all undergarments at least once a day. Females should bathe the vaginal area following urination and males the penis. While orifices are self-cleaning within, their external surfaces are not.

Simply standing or sitting before an open window or in a passageway with free air passage without clothing for thirty minutes a day will help the eliminative process. If we obstruct the free flow of effete matter from the skin in any way, we cause the sewer lines of the body to become (logged with poisons backing up into the main channels.

To understand just how poisonous this discharged matter can be, all we have to do is to remind ourselves of what happens when the skin passageways are blocked. We have all read of heard of persons who have painted their bodies to produce a dramatic cosmetic effect. Death has often resulted within a matter of a few hours, death being directly attributed to a reverse flow of body poisons which were forced back because the way out was obstructed.

Clients must be made aware of the need for cleanliness and for keeping the pores open in order to maintain this important eliminating organ as a vital functioning unit. Intelligent choice of clothing and cleanliness is a part of proper skin maintenance.

The Skin and the Sun

Another important function of the skin is to harness the sun’s energy and to manufacture vitamin D. The skin, with its oils in the presence of sunshine, can synthesize this vitamin in several forms which can then be absorbed into the body where it can help to maintain calcium balance. In our view, the importance of the skin and its relation to

the sun as a remedial agent in many abnormal conditions is too often completely overlooked. Elsewhere in this course you have learned much about the effect of the sun’s rays on the maintenance of health. For the skin to be maintained in good health also, it must likewise receive some exposure to the sun.

Physicians in ancient times used to maintain that sunshine was the best medicine in the world. We know that the sun’s rays have germicidal power and tend to keep the pathogenic bacteria which may reside on the surface of the skin within reasonable numbers. When the entire body is well nourished, the skin will reflect this health but it can suffer, of course, from too much sun exposure.

The skin has a natural barrier against overabsorption of the ultraviolet rays that produce tanning. Students of Life Science already know that this tanning process should proceed slowly. Ideally, of course, it should start in infancy and be continued throughout the entire life span. A deep brown skin is an indication of natural protection and probably a well-pigmented skin could be exposed for much longer periods than that of most people without resulting in undue discomfort or damage.

In our experience many individuals who thought they could not tan have been able to do so by setting up a planned program in which exposure time was gradually-increased. Consistent and correct exposure of the nude body to the sun’s rays is a vital part of the nutrition of the skin and without it no skin can be said to be fully healthy. To paraphrase a statement by Dr. Shelton, a pale thigh is certain proof of diminished health.

Other Functions

We have already mentioned, in passing, some of the other functions of the skin but let us briefly review. The membranes secrete certain fluids required for a variety of purposes. The skin is also an absorbing organ. It aids the lungs and stomach, for example, by taking up nourishment from without the body in the form of solids, liquids or gases, oxygen being the most important. Each cell must make its own energy so that its functions may proceed as required, so that it may carry on with the multitudinous numbers of chemical, physical and, perhaps, even electrical and other processes that are part of cellular metabolism.

We all have sick skin cells and we all also have healthy cells. If most of the cells in the skin are healthy, they will be able to maintain a working balance between their functioning duties and the elimination of their fair share of the metabolic wastes of the body.

However, the more diseased cells there are in the skin, the more disturbed body equilibrium becomes (known as dynamic equilibrium or homeostasis) and as a result, the integration of bodily function is reduced or even no longer possible in severe cases. The vigor of the important eliminating processes of the skin are always dependent upon the available energy supply. Cells enervated by toxic wastes become inefficient energy producers and thus become diseased.

Another function of the skin is protection. The skin can cope reasonably well with bruises, scratches, hard blows, and friction rubbing. When the latter, for example, becomes excessive or prolonged, the skin simply mobilizes its manufacturing facilities and produces a harder and thicker surface to act as a protective barrier, this being known to us as a callous.

A callous represents just one of the many defensive adaptive measures possible to the skin when it is confronted with danger. The human skin seems to come equipped with its own reparative supplies and with its own repairmen well-trained to cope with all common emergencies. It is fantastically self-healing.

When the skin is well-nourished and healthy, wounds seldom leave a noticeable scar. We personally had a marvelous example of the skin’s ability to heal itself a few years ago when Dr. Robert, then in his 78th year, fell and suffered a deep gash over and across his whole eyelid. It extended up and across the brow line. We applied no medication, simply washing it with distilled water to remove the dirt and blood and then applying a simple device to hold the parts together. In a few days the wound had healed and, today, there is no mark of any kind to show where the deep cut had been. Sometimes, and more often than not, the body, and especially the skin, can accomplish more when we leave it strictly alone to its own devices than when we fuss with it.

Another function of the skin is its flexibility. It can be moved in just about any direction we may choose. Whenever it is subjected to any undue pressure, it just bounces back and assumes a normal position once the pressure is removed. Perhaps the most remarkable talent of all is the skin’s ability to grow as we grow and, in later life, to shrink as we shrink!

Some Common Diseases Of The Skin

The skin is prone to diseases from external and from internal causes. Exposure to physical or chemical irritants can cause inflammatory conditions to develop. Contact with vegetable poisons such as that associated with poison ivy can have adverse effects as can sunburn from over-exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun. However, the most common cause of skin diseases is toxicosis or autointoxication.

As Recorded in Ancient Works

Even a casual study of the history of the diseases affecting the skin reveals that man has not made any progress by treating them although he has become more or less expert in the palliation of their symptoms. There is a standard joke among professionals in the field of health care to the effect that a dermatologist, or skin specialist, has the best of both worlds: “he never cures anyone but he also never has to bury anyone!” Most skin diseases are not fatal and most physicians think that these disorders were devised as a cure placed upon the world for the special benefit of their coworkers, the dermatologists.

Throughout history at various times different cultures have attributed diseases of the skin to many outside agencies. For example, several thousand years ago the Hindus thought that skin diseases were caused by worms which invaded the body and established their breeding ground under the skin. In the Bible we read about various skin afflictions but especially about leprosy which was, apparently, a rather common malady of the times. Moses himself described two forms of leprosy, one being a rather mild form the other a malignant kind.

In Europe, during the Middle Ages and even later, whole peoples were ravaged many times by fevers and by outbreaking of the skin which was called the “Plague” or “Black Death.” These plagues took huge tolls among the populaces of Athens, Rome and elsewhere, especially in Egypt and Syria. The scythe of the grim reaper made no distinctions among class or culture cutting across physical, cultural and class barriers.

We can read in the Bible about ten plagues of Egypt and it is said that God smote Egypt through the hands of Moses and Aaron in order to compel the reigning Pharoah and the Egyptian people to depart from that country.

Today, armed with more knowledge, we can look back on these times and realize that, when the early Israelites wandered over the known face of the earth, that they often lacked proper food and shelter. They were in emotional disarray, dissatisfied, disgruntled and annoyed, not only by the hardships they had to endure, but also by the actions of their friends and neighbors. They were enervated and malnourished.

Additionally, these people were often forced to embrace both customs and food which were strange to them. Their food was unsanitized for humans. Living conditions were less than ideal. Their clothing, their person and their surroundings were, in all likelihood, filthy. It is little wonder that they began to develop running sores, skin ulcers, boils, carbuncles, and even more serious skin disorders.

In more modern times the word “plague” has been restricted to the bubonic or pneumonic plagues. However, during the last century and even in this present century there have been occurrences of smallpox and similar skin disorders which were termed “plagues.” In fact, Dr. Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother became a “victim” of smallpox. Her story is not untypical of the times in which she lived, the middle 1800s.

Her name was Elizabeth, too. Both of her parents having succumbed to the disease, at the age of 16, Elizabeth was left alone to die, all relatives having long ago fled from the house fearing that they, too, might fall “victims” to the curse. They joined the multitudes of peoples, who, in their terror, were trying to escape from the devastating unknown.

But, the young Elizabeth was not destined to die. As she lay deserted and delirious in her room, she was silently joined by a young merchant of the community who had long admired her radiant beauty and her lithe and graceful young figure. Hour by hour and day by day he unselfishly and lovingly ministered to her needs. He was a student of hydro-therapy. He applied cooling cloths to her brow and body until the high fever subsided and the young girl regained consciousness and became aware of the loving care. John, for that was his name, gave her no medicines but fed her nourishing broths. It was not long before the young Elizabeth regained her health and strength and, of course, fell in love with her kind benefactor.

Because of her devoted care and also because of her personal penchant for cleanliness and for all things natural throughout her lifetime, grandma suffered no disfiguring scars and remained a real beauty up to her death at the age of 87. The young man who had worshipped her from afar continued to do so all of his life.

Our favorite story about grandmother Elizabeth is how, whenever she or one of the children became ill, she would have the doctor come to the house, examine the sick and leave his colored pills and instructions regarding the care and treatment to be followed. No sooner was the doctor out the front door than our little grandmother would scurry out into the kitchen, open up the old coal stove and toss the pills into the glowing fire. Then, out the back door she’d go, into the garden to gather greens of one kind or another. Then, she would brew up her “tizzy,” as she called it (a broth of greens). This would be the only food taken until recovery was assured. We believe that grandma Elizabeth was one of the first Hygienists! She had no faith in pills. The best place for poisons in her opinion, was on the open fire!

In this century, of course, there have been “epidemics” of acute diseases, especially of influenza, some of which are said to have caused the death of thousands upon thousands of people, as in World War I. We don’t ordinarily consider influenza as a disease of the skin but from the knowledge we have already learned of the structure of the skin, we now know that that is actually what it is, involving, as it does, the mucous and serous membranes.

Up until recently, it was the custom to quarantine any person who developed an “infectious” disease of the skin such as chickenpox, measles, smallpox, and similar acute disorders. Only physicians, ministers, priests, and other persons of stature were permitted to enter quarantined premises.

Such precautions were deemed necessary because, at that time, the medical community and most of the people believed (and unfortunately most still do) that all such conditions were caused by an “infectious” germ or other microscopic organism that entered the body and produced the annoying pustule or rash. It war the general belief then, as now, that these demons of destruction could be airborne, passed on by sneezing, by touching an infected surface or person, and then they could “invade” the unwary victim’s body to commence their devastating work.

This voodooistic theory of the origin of the skin diseases still receives enthusiastic support from a large segment of the medical community, from drug combines and gadget manufacturers, but more and more thinking scientists are abandoning it in view of new microscopic revelations which have been forthcoming since the invention of the electron microscope with its confirmation of the existence of cellular garbage and the possibility of such having an adverse effect on systemic and cellular efficiency of performance.

Those of us who are students of the science of life believe that self-generated toxins are the basic underlying cause of all diseases, including those which affect the skin. We further believe that when these toxins are normally removed, they do not accumulate unduly within the system. Then disease becomes impossible. Skin disorders are a very unlikely possibility, except as resulting from certain traumatic happenings.

Herpes Simplex

As mentioned at the beginning of this lesson, there are so many different kinds of skin diseases that it is virtually impossible to imagine them, to say nothing of classifying them. However, probably fever blisters might be considered the most common affliction of man, and it is especially common among children in the one-to-five age group. It is characterized by groups of small, very itchy lesions which appear on the lips. With children, but more often among adults, these lesions may occur on the nose, face, ears, genitals, or any of the mucous membranous surfaces. They are considered by medical science to be the consequence of an “attack” by a virus but, strangely enough and unexplained by medical authorities, the condition is “self-limiting,” that is, it usually disappears, the lesions healing, within a week or two. In medicine, this is known as “spontaneous healing.” The virus is thought to remain dormant in the tissues, becoming active in the presence of “trigger mechanisms,” these being fever, physical and/or emotional stresses, overexposure to sunlight, certain foods and, perhaps, even drugs. Medically, the disorder is known as “herpes simplex.”

Life Scientists know that the skin reflects the condition of the body and it is interesting in studying the process of degeneration within humans to realize that, following enervation of the nervous system, that the digestive system is the first to give way to a condition which obviously can lead to widespread malnutrition. But, we must also note that enervation and reduced energy flow are due primarily to errors in nourishing the body leading to build-up of toxic metabolites. When the liver gets so overloaded with these metabolites that it is really struggling to maintain the “status quo,” then it is that the “trigger” may tip the scales with resulting diversion of excess debris to the pore exit points.

Obviously, the method of “cure” should not be massive doses of this or that, the application of topical salves or ointments, but rather to get at the source of the trouble, poor nourishment and an intoxicating lifestyle. When the individual adopts a correct way of eating and living, the fever blisters and cold sores, and other skin disorders, soon become a matter of history and no longer a matter of concern. The fact that medical science must term this self-limiting disease, herplex simplex, seems to us just a way to keep patients coming back again and again, at great financial loss to them when, in fact, the “cure” lies within themselves. Some $200,000,000.00 a year is spent on “remedies” to “treat” simplex!

Dr. Roger J. Williams has stated that, “The skin, partly because circulation does not supply it with copious nutrition, is notoriously sensitive to nutritional lacks.” He states that the tongue, lips and gums are “favorite regions where nutritionists look to detect evidence of malnutrition.” Of course, Dr. Williams advocates “dosing” patients with skin disorders with high intakes of specific vitamins, but our students have already learned that such practice can prove highly detrimental in the long run.

Using the fast to detoxify the system and realign nutritional forces within the system is the most rapid, most effective and least expensive method to rectify all skin and body disorders and, let us acknowledge, also the most beneficient.

It is interesting in considering nutrition and the health of the skin to note that diseases of the mucous membranes lining the oral cavity affect 75 percent of all adults over 50 years of age. Periodontal disease is the most common condition afflicting these people. Medical science again, as always in their quest for isolated causes, attributes such conditions to long-term reactions of the body to certain bacteria and their products. However, more recently, four researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle presented a paper at the annual meeting of the American Association for Dental Research in which they stated that “very few people become sufficiently deprived of vitamin C these days to develop scurvy, which results in severely damaged periodontal (gum) tissues, but many individuals may not consume enough fresh fruit and vegetables to maintain adequate levels of this vitamin.” Life Scientists have long known that few people, and especially in America, eat as they should. In fact, only Natural Hygienists have any concept of what a physiologically correct diet encompasses, namely, eating a preponderance of fresh ripe fruit with limited amounts of leafy green vegetables, non-sweet fruits, nuts and seeds, and eating these as and when required as evidenced by true hunger and in amounts not in excess of body needs. Eating this kind of diet contributes to a smoothly grained skin, faultlessly perfect, wrinkle-free and radiantly beautiful. This kind of eating carries a guarantee, all other life practices being equally conducive to superior health: the kind of beauty that lasts for a lifetime—a much longer lifetime!

Diseases of the Skin as Outer Manifestations of Inner Toxicity

The skin is always talking and revealing. It can reveal to a competent observer just how well the body is getting along, whether the pathways are clogged with litter or whether the fluids, especially the blood, flow free and clean. When the skin looks like fine pinkish porcelain, it shouts to the world that the body is radiantly alive. But, when it is dull, pale, or yellow in hue or when it has enlarged pores or an abnormally deep flush and pimpled surface, is wrinkled, or has that deadly grey look, then it tells an unhappy story.

Such a countenance reveals a pathetically encumbered inner world, the pathways and byways of which have become obstructed, saturated, the blood thick with debris; debris that is silently and stealthily burning and irritating, working to destroy the tissues of the body. It tells of metabolic avenues and cell factories filled with garbage and of millions of enzymes floundering helplessly in the face of so much toxic wastes. The cause? Systemic malnourishment—inner toxicity.

Some External Signs of Inner Toxicity

Excessive paleness which may be indicative of:

Anemia
Dysemia(any abnormal condition of the blood)
Leukemia
Bright’s Disease
Amyloid Degeneration(occurs characteristically as pathologic extracellular deposits beneath the layer of flat cells of capillaries and arterioles. These deposits interfere with normal function and can lead to very serious disorders including infarction of the heart and even cancer).

Paleness combined with profuse sweating and strong acid odor:

Articular rheumatism
Strong emotional outbursts: uncontrolled anger, fear, jealousy, etc.
Spasms in the arteries and veins. Fainting spells.

Redness of the skin:

Capillaries in the face may have a tendency to burst.
Too much blood concentration in a particular area.
An abnormal state which can make the individual stroke-prone.
If frequent headaches are also present, there may be present some congestion in the brain.
When combined with swelling and mild scaling visible on the skin, the skin may be photosensitive at this time with a more gradual exposure to develop pigment advisable. Extreme saturation of tissues and organs with animal protein wastes.

Shiny, tight, skin:

Due generally to a previous history of high salt intake either in foods such as canned vegetables or applied topically to foods.
Due, also, to excessive drug taking, both prescribed and over-the-counter drugs are chemical compounds containing sodium, the main ingredient of table salt and the causative agent in most cases of shiny tight skin.

Relation of Cause to Effect

By this time in your studies the student should be convinced that saturation of the fluids of the body, especially the blood, with toxic metabolites and/or other poisons is the underlying cause of all diseased conditions, exempting, of course, those directly attributable to some major trauma. This is true of skin disorders also.

Certainly we can say without fear of contradiction that no person should be considered even reasonably healthy who has a sick skin, especially when the condition persists. The acne of the teenager is a forerunner of more involved diseases to come, while the more serious and I vertical skin conditions such as chronic eczema, psoriasis, ichthyosis (fish skin disease) speak a language all of their own and are the visible signs of cellular malfunctioning, organic degeneration and systemic pollution, all of which have been brought about by faulty eating and living habits. They are certainly not the product of a sudden invasion by germs, viruses or other unknown “demon.”

Once the real cause of the disorder has been determined and then removed and a more physiologically sane method of eating and living has been established and then maintained for a sufficiently long period of time, the skin disorder, regardless of its nature or origin, usually disappears and thereafter can be kept under control.

Often unnecessarily, over the years, the once beautifully clear complexions of the very young become wrinkled and old-looking, filled with coarse pores and so often marred by disfiguring moles and blotches. Deep-seated wrinkles, once established, cannot be eradicated but, with a well-planned and scientifically-correct total nutritional program including correct food, sunshine, fresh air, cleanliness, exercise, and all the other requisites of our organic existence, then much can be accomplished. The body fluids can be cleansed and the liver and kidneys restored to some semblance of normalcy which will be reflected in a younger looking, more elastic skin.

Frequent attempts have been made throughout modern times to classify the multitudinous numbers of skin disorders, but the task is well nigh impossible. There are numerous divisions and subdivisions in the nomenclature.

When the extreme outer skin is affected, any of the following common skin conditions can develop:

Numbness which often accompanies other common skin disorders.
Chronic or acute eczema characterized by papules, vesicles, crusts and scales. Generally accompanied by itching and/or burning.
Ichthyosis, a condition characterized by a lessening of flow from the sebaceous glands with scaling. Generally accompanied by severe itching. Can afflict any part of the outer skin.
Psoriasis, an eruption covered by silvery-like scales which characteristically “flakeoff.” Generally found most prominently on the elbows, knees, scalp and trunk but can also be found around breasts and in the groin area. Rarely does it cover the entire body. (See Case Study—John to follow.)
Plus numerous other similar, but slightly differentiated conditions, some of slight concern, others of major concern as the various forms of lupus (an inflammatory condition which may be localized, usually in the face, but also general as in systemic lupus, an idiopathic disease, meaning of unknown origin, according to medical thinking).

The mucous membranes normally secrete a clear mucus which serves to keep them moist. The outer layer of cells of this part of the skin is equipped with microscopic flagella which are in constant motion. These serve to propel any kind of irritant or foreign substance to some point in the body where they can be more readily eliminated.

All of the activities of the skin are under the control of the thyroid gland located at the base of the neck. Sometimes this gland will direct the mucous membranes to assist in an eliminative effort if the body is under great stress. In such a case, the toxins will be forced out through the mucous membrane cells. During such times polyps or other growths may form. Polyps can appear in the nasal cavities but also in any part of the alimentary canal where they can prove most troublesome. Generally, polyps respond quite well when a sound hygienic program is instituted. We recently were consulted by a young woman schoolteacher who had already had three surgeries for nasal polyps and was anticipating a fourth. We made abrupt changes in her dietary program from the traditional meat and potatoes diet to an all raw diet composed of fruits, leafy green vegetables, fruit vegetables, nuts and seeds and within three months, upon examination by the consulting specialist, an operation was no longer required!

If the elimination process is unsuccessful or only partially so, then the individual may develop a “cold” or a mild case of “catarrh.” If the toxicity is permitted to increase, deeper layers of the mucous membranes can become involved and the discharge will consist of a combination of mucus and pus. When this latter condition develops, we observe such diseases as the following:

Appendicitis
Bronchitis
Cervicitis
Enteritis
Gastritis
Mastitis
Pyelitis
Sinusitis
Tonsilitis

...and other “itises” which involve the mucous or serous membranes including, among others, the following: arthritis, bursitis, encephalitis, iritis, meningitis, neuritis, pericarditis, peritonitis, and so on.

While not normally considered as diseases of the skin, the student will readily see that, by the very nature of skin construction, this is exactly what they are, one and all, without exception. It is interesting in this regard to know that by correctly evaluating the kind of condition which has developed, it is possible to gain a pretty fair idea of which organ in the body is the more involved.

The lungs act as a substitute kidney, the outer skin as a substitute liver, while the pancreas enlarges its normal operations to compensate for a malfunctioning and/or overworked liver.

The worst kind of skin diseases and the hardest to eradicate are those caused by severe protein-poisoning because these are usually longstanding. Studies seem to indicate that it takes about twenty years, at least, of indiscriminate feeding of refined carbohydrates and animal products before the presence of major disorders begins to be revealed. The intervening years are characterized by minor disorders beginning with the first sniffle in infancy and early childhood, the acne of the teenager, the later itches, wheezes and sneezes, and ending up in the mature years with the embarrassment of psoriasis, the pain of rheumatoid arthritis, or other major catastrophic vertical disease (meaning progressive).

Man simply does not possess the metabolic machinery to cope with the modern senseless deluge of sugars and meat, nor with, the heterogeneous concoctions of chemicalized substitutes quaintly described as “food.”

To those clients who are afflicted with skin disorders of whatever kind, and especially when these have already established chronicity, it must be made crystal clear that they have a choice: the present skin condition, an unsightly appearance and a constantly diminishing vitality, OR the acceptance of certain restrictions and the introduction of a new way of eating and living, all measures which will help to restore a more normal systemic health as well as clarity and beauty to the skin.

Behind the Scenes

When an unhealthy, scabby-looking animal is killed and then dissected, the organs of the corpse will be seen to be diseased also. A scaly, pimply or ulcerated skin likewise tells us that the entire inner body is, more likely than not, to be in the same state, in a rather advanced state of malnutrition and deterioration. The rashes and pimples so casually treated on the outside also deserve attention to the whole body.

Quite often the very same ulcers and measly appearance visible on the outer skin have been observed in autopsies of humans who have died from “sudden” illness of unknown origin. Dr. Robert W. McCarter, Sr., M.D., at one time stated that autopsies such as these showed that most of these individuals could have died from any one of ten different diseases, so far and to such an extent had malnutrition caused systemic degenerative malformations.

A healthy skin sings of a well-nourished body, of systemic equilibrium, of balance, of homeostasis, of sound living practices, of good inheritance, of vitality, of a clean, free-flowing unobstructed bloodstream and of organs functioning silently and efficiently in a body at peace. But, what causes the sick skin?

If we place a fermenting mass in a bottle and close it up tightly with a cork and then put it in a warm place, some perhaps drastic results may be noted. It won’t be very long before the force generated by the gases bubbling inside the bottle will cause the cork either to give way or the bottle to explode?

Dr. Elizabeth well remembers a time forty or so years ago when she was serving as a physical education instructor at a penal institution in the East. She was called upon in an emergency to supervise in the kitchen during the canning season. The inmate temporarily designated to supervise the canning was inexperienced at canning corn, as was Elizabeth, but, since the corn was arriving in truck-loads from the fields, all the inmates went ahead with their own version of the proper way to can corn.

Before the day was done glass jars of corn decorated table after table in the huge kitchen. There were hundreds and hundreds of the two-quart glass jars. The crew went to bed that night happy that their work was successfully accomplished.

In the morning, Elizabeth went to the kitchen to inspect. She found, to her dismay, that most of the jars had exploded! Corn covered the tables, the floors, and was even glued to the ceiling! She said that that was the first and the last time she was ever involved in the canning of corn.

So it is in the human body. When the toxic condition of the body becomes so great, the pressure simply becomes intolerable, the mass swells and becomes intolerably large; the channels which normally dispose of metabolic waste find that the load is beyond their present ability to handle. All organs and systems are being subjected to degenerative poisons. It is then that the liver and kidneys must request assistance to preserve the integrity of the body (its life).

The interpretive and control centers in the brain then redirect body energies and call the skin to urgent duty. It must perform extraordinary vicarious duty as an auxiliary eliminating organ. Otherwise, the system might burn up from the heat generated systemically.

Even though it is the largest organ in the body, the skin is not normally a major eliminating organ. The lungs, however, and kidneys, with the liver being the great body filter and organizer y normally, are entrusted with, this responsibility and well capable of carrying it on successfully. However, in emergency situations, the body will forcefully eject its excess gases, acid sweat, toxic oils and greases out through the pores of the skin and also through temporary exit points devised for the purpose, those being called boils, pimples, rashes, ulcers, and so on. Itching is a typically annoying symptom characteristic of the exodus.

The client must be made to understand why the abnormal skin condition exists, that it is the outward manifestation of a badly contaminated interior. Not that an infection exists, but rather that undue acid wastes have accumulated with possible damage to the liver, to the nervous structure and perhaps even to all systems and organs with the result that they are no doubt functioning at a reduced capacity as they strive to accomplish their allotted duties while working under greatly enervating conditions.

The outward violent exhibition is the visible evidence of the turmoil that exists within, of the fact that the blood is so saturated with toxic material that the body itself is attempting to eliminate the excess before irreparable damage can be done.

When the skin condition becomes chronic and/or acute, the visible symptoms will, more often than not, be accompanied by fever, as for example, in measles and other socalled “childhood diseases.”

When the body vitality is high, the skin eruptions can be very violent but if it is at a lower level (as is generally true in the elderly), then the disorders will be either milder or will have become chronic. The outward manifestation is always dependent upon these factors:

The existing vitality.
The systemic weakness.
The amount and kind of impurities which are present.

When the exodus of toxic material becomes so great that the glands and follicles of the skin themselves becomes obstructed or injured in any way, then we usually witness the development of abnormal growths, such as warts, benign tumors, moles, and the like, some of these being of enormous size. We have observed one such growth which extended some eight to ten inches along one thigh and several inches across. One client had a very noticeable wart which protruded right out from the tip of her nose. After two prolonged fasts and two full years of hygienic living, this disfiguring wart was finally autolyzed.

When the exodus is mild and the symptoms likewise mild, we generally find that there is no fever present.

It is well to know that skin diseases usually become chronic in those persons who develop them early in life and continue to have them periodically throughout life. The periodicity is due to the fact that such individuals begin to develop levels of tolerance

which are higher and higher. Indeed, the symptoms may disappear for years and then reappear. As the level of tolerance to systemic poisons increases, the vitality of the individual decreases. From time to time, especially when a person is under unusual stress situations, the poisons which exist begin to exceed whatever level of tolerance has been established and, at such times, a “sudden” eruption can occur.

Once the toxic burden slips again below the existing level of tolerance, then the condition, whatever it may be according to individual weaknesses, the skin begins to clear until there are no further outward signs—until, of course, the next time! No “cure” has been effected. All that has taken place is a certain amount of elimination which has reduced the toxic load to a level whereby the body can function albeit with diminished vitality.

It is worthy of note to observe that those persons with vigorous circulation are more likely to have eruptions on the surface of outer skin; for example, on the face, back, neck or elsewhere, while those possessing a somewhat reduced circulatory power will usually suffer from eruptions on the surface of the mucous membranes, especially those lining the nasal cavities and the digestive tract. Usually these latter persons have highly-inflammatory and catarrhal conditions, with the colon being a frequent location for such. It is common for persons with diminished circulatory powers to be afflicted with all kinds of digestive disorders, often quite serious, these leading, of course, to increasing malnutrition.

The prognosis is always more encouraging when the eliminating effort is made through the outer skin. Generally, if all contributing causes of toxic build-up are removed, and especially incorrect habits of eating, and this is followed by a more constructive dietary—living regiment, then the eliminating effort should be successful in time.

It is important at this juncture to emphasize most emphatically to all clients who consult with you regarding skin eruptions that, after the cleansing has been accomplished and the healing has taken place, any resumption of old habits of eating and living will, in all likelihood, plunge the individual into an even deeper pathology than before, due to the fact that the body’s level of tolerance has been lowered while, at one and the same time, his vitality has been increased. He has already demonstrated his vulnerability!

As we examine the masses more closely we can observe the progression of skin diseases from bad to worse. Young people build their pimpled and mottled oldish skins on their hamburgers, french fries, and cola drinks. School lunch programs add to the problem. Here in Tucson, a “Type A” lunch is made up of a hodge-podge of heterogeneous digestive problems artfully disguised as a protein, fruit or vegetable, bread and milk combination scientifically planned to contain the FOUR BASIC GROUPS.

A meal planned thusly is sufficient to confound the most vigorous enzymatic capabilities even of the very young. In recent years peer drug use has become a serious problem, not only among adults, but also among the high school crowd.

And have you looked at the skins of infants and toddlers? Gray, sicklish products of baby formulas and canned processed baby foods, of soda pop and Kool-Aid and other chemicalized poisons.

Older people gorge on pies, cakes, steaks, soft drinks by the carload, on processed products of every imaginable kind often accompanied by alcoholic drinks; they nibble at all hours and fail to get proper rest: they down all manner of drugs, prescribed and over-the-counter. Like children offered candy, they enjoy and then wonder why they break out with rashes and pimples and are lacking in vitality!

Cosmetics

Probably just about every woman in the civilized world (and in recent years, many men, loo!) has been entranced by the advertised promises of youth eternal as depicted in demographically targeted advertisements. But, contrary to all of the seductive avowals, the skin cannot be fed externally. Its beauty comes from deep within!

We have previously pointed out how the pores act as exit points for certain kinds of waste metabolites. It is vitally important for these cleansing avenues to be kept open and clean so that all toxic material oriented to these exit points can be discharged according to systemic planning.

It should be obvious that using creams, oils, powders, or other common cosmetics can serve only to clog up an important segment of the body’s sewer system. Industry makes billions of dollars catering to a woman’s natural desire to be young and beautiful and for a man to be a “Number 10,” but it is a sad fact that all such concoctions only cause the skin to wrinkle and age prematurely.

The sebaceous glands, which lie deep within the skin are, in fact, excellent cosmeticians and especially so when the entire body is healthy. These glands manufacture a fine face cream which contains various waves and fatty acids which serve to keep the skin moist, pliable, wrinkle-free and young-looking. They can do a far better job than any product devised by a laboratory technician.

No foreign substance from the outside belongs on the skin. Nature has provided well for the entire body. As Dr. Virginia Vetrano so well said in an article entitled, “The Skin. Our Natural Umbrella,” featured in Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review, June 1979. “Nature puts there what she wants and that’s the way we should leave it.”

Thus it is that any extraneously applied substance will annoy, irritate, clog, and eventually wrinkle and age the skin and if the foreign substance should penetrate the membranous barriers of the surface cells, perhaps cause some amount of harm in the body cavity itself.

The living skin cells must cope with the very same problems and challenges common to all living cells. They must secure food from the blood, they must repair or replace any old and worn-out cells. They must take the food supplied to maintain and build on the skin. They must reproduce as and when required to sustain the larger community of cells which they enfold and protect, the entire body. It would appear to be the height of folly to place road blocks in the way of potentially efficient feeding and eliminating processes by applying creams, lotions and the like to block transport.

Certain skin problems have been known to arise from outside applications which have blocked exodus of systemic wastes, conditions such as dry, scaly, itchy skin; red, swollen eyelids, rashes on the neck and behind the ears accompanied by intense itching; abnormal deposits of pigment on exposed areas such as the cheek; and swelling, peeling and rashes around fingernails and even under them. Often such conditions are termed “allergies” and treated topically when simple abstinence from the use of all cosmetics coupled with a Hygienic diet quickly removes the problem.

It is interesting to know that there are about seven million pores (exit passages for wastes) and they represent some seven or more miles of leading duct sewer lines. Each duct acts like a miniature sewer pipe, complete with valves that can be turned on and off according to the conditions at hand, all control being handled by the autonomic nervous system.

The ducts from the glands are built in a spiral from which is so ingeniously designed that it is well nigh impossible for foreign materials, “cosmetic foods,” to enter the inner sanctum, through these pore barriers. Oxygen from the air may be the sole exception.

In Foundations of Health Science, Second Edition, 1972, authored by Henkel, Means, Smolensky, and Sawry and published by Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, Mass., we read the following: “There is no known substance or combination of substances that can live up to the promises suggested in any of the following names: contour cream, crow’s-foot cream, deep pore cleaner, eye wrinkle cream, scalp food, skin conditioner, skin firmer, skin tonic, eyelash grower, or wrinkle eradicator.”

However, science marches on—sometimes penetrating into strange uncharted, and perhaps even dangerous, waters. The skin is such an area. Dr. Vetrano again in an article entitled, “The Skin, Our Natural Umbrella.” in the Review of June, 1979, tells us that “pharmacologists have long been engaged in finding formulas that will penetrate our

membranous barriers, either the skin or our mucous membranes, or the cell and its nuclear membrane” and let us add, to date they seem to have had some success. A to be making more and more “progress” in this regard. It would seem that our scientists can never give up tinkering with the nutritive process of the human body.

Some substances are used to convey drugs and other substances through the skin, either for cosmetic or other drugging purposes, the practice increasing with each new discovery. These materials are either damaging to the skin itself and/or to the entire system. In our view, they should be strictly avoided.

The Hygienic Practitioner At Work

Steps to Take

Step One

On first meeting it is advisable to become better acquainted with your client. To save time, this may best be accomplished, at least at this time, by having him fill out a form which, in essence, details his medical history and present symptoms. The client should also provide a diet profile, if it all possible, for at least a two-week period. On subsequent consultations, as may be required, give-and-take conversation will provide much insight into the client’s more intimate habits of eating and lining, especially as to his emotional health, his knowledge of Hygiene, and so on.

Step Two

We must begin the treatment of skin disorders, or indeed of any diseased condition, by first keeping OUT of the system anything and everything that could, in any way, contaminate the body. Care must be taken in elimination of possible contaminants and here is where the practitioner must use good judgment. In general, corrective steps can be taken much more quickly with younger clients than with those who are more mature. Sometimes, also, corrective steps are more easily accomplished with one sex than with the other; as, for example, eliminating the use of cosmetics such as face powder with women or certain hair products with both. Experience will broaden one’s skill in this area. In this category we include any and all drugs including familiar over-the-counter drugs such as aspirin, Tylenol, and the like; also, salt, sugar, condiments of all kinds; stimulants and depressants, such as alcohol, meat, eggs, cheese, fish and poultry, cereals, and all products made from cereals; and so on including a wide variety of packaged processed foods, candies and the like.

Step Three

Detoxify the body. A total fast under supervision, preferably at a Hygienic institution, should be instigated as soon as possible as conditions warrant. Most of your clients, at first meeting, will be totally unfamiliar with Natural Hygiene and will come to you by referral. They may be totally “turned off” by fasting. Therefore, it is appropriate to begin a planned educational program using the materials you receive in this course of study and those in your own library.

In many cases a series of short fasts starting with 24-hour fasts and gradually extending the fasting time to 36 hours, then to five days and eventually to seven and, in some cases, to ten days will prove feasible after a suitable period of orientation as to the benefits accruing to fasting. In other cases, especially if your client is elderly, you may have to proceed without the initial detoxification by fasting. In this case the client must be made to understand that the cleansing of the system will require a longer time and that he should not expect immediate results.

Step Four

Change the diet. There is nothing to be gained by making changes gradually and everything to be gained by changing immediately to a physiologically-correct diet, such as has been outlined in these studies. With new clients, it is well to present them with a specific dietary regimen to follow until they themselves have become familiar with Hygienic principles and food combining rules as based on human physiology.

While abrupt changes are preferable, they may not be feasible for one reason or another. Children are open to change. Some young adults are, also. Rarely are mature adults, especially after the age of forty, either willing or able to make an abrupt about face in their dietary intake. Peer pressure, cultural mores, indeed, any number of societal reasons will make such a transformation difficult. Additionally, too rapid a change may produce a flood of adverse symptoms, including a worsening of the present skin condition, to the discouragement and even dismay, of the client.

Where abrupt change is inadvisable, the client should be placed on an extended detoxification plan; eventually, of course, on a fruitarian diet.

Provide your client with something concrete to take home with him: a change in diet, or in his exercise program, etc., this at each visit.

Step Five

Make Changes, as advisable, in the client’s lifestyle. Among such changes might be the following: a planned exercise program, one commensurate to the client’s present capacity with a gradual working toward his potential; sun and’ air-baths as well as planned rest periods. Emotional problems may be present or may present themselves during the course of education. These will have to be resolved as best they can by cooperation between the practitioner, his family and friends, and himself. Cleanliness must be emphasized and, if necessary, the client must be instructed in how to take a bath, wash the hair and so on. In fact, the client must be instructed in all phases of Natural Hygiene. It is well to do this by following a planned course of instruction. Here at the ranch, we advise all clients on the first visit that they must embark on a program of education in the principles of Natural Hygiene. Most agree to do so, out of curiosity, in some cases, and because they feel that they must, in others. We advise our clients that the more they learn about how to care for their bodies, the more quickly will they learn to care for themselves in such a way that they will have no future need for medicines, vitamins, or medical advisors. One couple we know took us up on this promise and after the very first year flew to Hawaii and took a tour around the islands on the money they saved by not buying supplements and medicines and making office calls to their former health

advisor! Incidentally, by that time, they had both recovered from their illnesses, the wife from the pain of arthritis, the husband from a long-standing skin disease.

Step Six

Expect clients to make errors and to regress. This is understandable and to be expected. Only a very few will go from A to Z in an absolutely correct progression. We have a nurse who regularly comes and confesses her transgressions. She then picks up again, resolves to do better and each time she progresses just a little bit more. In such cases, patience is indeed a virtue. Holding forth the goal of the joyful life, as we like to call it, continuously, if need be, is your best tool. Ask more successful clients to assist you. They are often willing and even delighted to share their experiences with newcomers to the Hygienic way of life. Telephone support can often keep a client on his chosen path, especially if it comes from someone who has also experienced his pain, his embarrassment, his frustrations. Additionally, giving support to others also gives support and confidence to the giver!

We suggest holding meetings from time to time. We occasionally hold a potluck luncheon here at the ranch. Clients and students exchange experiences. They usually leave inspired to reach their individual goals. We also give public lectures and encourage our clients to meet and talk with those members of the public who attend. Most are more than willing to share their experiences. These lectures are usually devoted to a single topic of interest as, for example, psoriasis. The sharing of success stories by your clients helps also to bring new clients to you.

Warts and Moles

In his book, Getting Well, Dr. Herbert M. Shelton says that, according to medical “science,” little is known about the cause of warts and similar out growths of the skin.

In The New American Encyclopedia, revised edition of 1939, we note that warts are “due to excessive growth of the skin.” No other speculation is given and no explanation of why the skin should evidence such abnormal growth. A 1979 edition of Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia states positively that warts, or averruca, are caused by viruses and that treatment involves the use of local medication initially and, if they return, by freezing, with dry ice, X ray, burning with an electric needle, or surgical removal. This edition points out that plantar warts, those that develop on the soles of the feet, are especially hard to treat and remove.

Shelton believes that warts and probably other disfiguring skin manifestations of a similar nature, are due to a perversion of nutrition, perhaps due to some local irritation such as dirt, cosmetics (as for example, after shave lotions which contain harmful irritants or drugs), or by internal toxicosis.

Dr. Shelton emphasizes external cleanliness and says that when external cleanliness is supported by all other Hygienic measures—fasting, improved diet, exercise, sunbaths, etc., the wart often disappears.

Occasionally, in stubborn cases, recourse must be had to the blue lens, a device used to concentrate the sun’s rays on the affected area(s).

One case we worked with is especially interesting. This woman had a very unusual mole on her back. It was very black and about the size of a half-dollar, sat on a pedestal, elevated about 1/4 inch above the skin surface. It was disfiguring and annoying, even painful should she happen to sit in such a manner as to put the mole in contact with a hard surface.

This woman had been advised to have this mole removed surgically but she was reluctant to do so, so she sought our help. She elected to fast and to follow Hygienic principles. Nothing seemed to happen to the mole but after a time, her other ailments gradually began to improve including what had been a severe sinusitis and frequent aching in various joints.

Little by little, this huge mole began to peel, small pieces breaking off at times. By this time our client was a raw fooder and a fruitarian.

Recently, some fifteen years after her initial decision not to have surgery, she told us that all that remained of this once monstrously disfiguring and annoying mole was an almost invisible dark spot, about 1/4 inch in diameter, a mark that was perfectly flat on the surface of her skin. The mole was no longer a matter of concern.

This case study illustrates McCarter’s Law that “sickness begats sickness, but health begats health.” In other words, if we are sick and do nothing constructively to improve our living and eating habits, we will grow sicker but. if we improve our health by healthful living and continue to take a positive direction in our lives, we will just keep on getting healthier and healthier. And, experience has demonstrated often enough to us that we are able to say with confidence that this law applies to all skin diseases, too!

Finally

It is important for all those who suffer from skin disorders, from lupus to eczema to psoriasis to ulcers of the stomach, to realize that they cannot return to their old ways. They have already demonstrated a systemic weakness. Should they regress and return to their former practices, they would soon find that old, and perhaps even new, ailments would appear, some perhaps even more involved and annoying.

The client must be made to realize, that the mouth is an open door either to superior health or to diminished health. It is also the open door to skin diseases of all kinds, particularly when external cleanliness is neglected. He must be impressed with the fact that the ways, of health are not destructive ways; rather that they are most gentle and always in the direction of perfection.

If the student has arrived at the conclusion that the basic treatment for all skin diseases is one of complete body cleanliness, inside and out, coupled with a physiologically correct diet and an appropriate lifestyle, then he is correct. The only way to skin and body health, and the two cannot be separated, is to employ all known means of health.

Case Study—John

John was a reluctant student of Natural Hygiene. His wife first attended classes here at the ranch while John strolled around outside admiring the desert flora and fauna. His reluctance to consider new methods of healing were understandable. He had suffered from psoriasis for over thirty years, had consulted innumerable specialists in skin care and had tried all the remedies prescribed and many nonprescription remedies. He had tried many diets and had taken vitamins and other supplements by the carload. His search for a “cure” had bore no fruit. Patches of the dread disease appeared on various parts of his body. His face was almost brick-red.

When Dr. Robert learned that John was on the ranch he persuaded him to come in and at least to give us a fair hearing. That was the beginning of a successful story and of a changed man. From that moment on both John and his wife became ardent students reading everything that we had written and works that we suggested to them. They began slowly to incorporate what they had learned into their daily lifestyle. They gradually reduced their intake of animal products, soon took up golf and hiking. They started their own garden and began to incorporate what they had learned into all phases of their lifestyle.

Gradually they introduced fasting into their program, starting at first with 24-hour fasts and then extending them first to three-day fasts and eventually to five-day fasts. The changeover has been consistent over the last three years.

They did not make sudden or profound changes but rather “grew” into a much improved program for living.

It has been most interesting to watch John’s progress. First, the extreme reddish hue of the face began to subside. The lesions grew smaller, the sloughing off of cells less [noticeable on clothing, patchy areas began to recede, some completely disappeared. John’s psoriasis is now under control.

It is interesting to know, however, that when John deviates from the Hygienic diet, as he does occasionally, he receives the bill! Most of the lesions now are in obscure parts of the body but on these occasions, almost without exception, a new one will open up on John’s face! That soon puts him back on the Hygienic path once again.

Case Study - Sandra

Sandra came to us about two years ago with diagnosed dermatomyositis, a condition characterized by muscular weakness with a nonspecific eczematous skin eruption or urticaria. According to Stedman’s Medical Dictionary the “muscles are tender, and owing to weakness the patient is unable to perform normal tasks. The condition is progressive; it commences with erythema (inflammatory condition with redness) and swelling of the eyelids, face and parts of the limbs); muscular weakness succeeds the skin changes. The pathologic changes in the muscles are diagnostic (that is, they identify the condition), but the histopathologic (diseased cellular changes) skin changes are nonspecific (that is, from the condition of the skin alone, diagnosis can not be made).” (Notes in parentheses by the authors.) Sandra’s condition was typical and considerably advanced. Her face was covered with reddish, almost black patches. Her entire face was puffy, including the eyelids and nose. Around the nostrils were lesions.

Arms, fingers, calves, and ankles were swollen. Her gait was unsteady and she was subject to falling. Her vitality level was extremely low. The prognosis was very dim, indeed, that anything could be done for her but Sandra was convinced that she could not go on with her present methods of treatment, the drugs causing even more weakness. They also made her nauseous. She was irritable and unable to cope with the daily chores necessitated by her young family. Sandra was willing to learn. She attended classes and read study lessons. We placed her on the McCarter Extended Detoxification Plan (to be outlined in detail in Lesson No. 63). A friend allowed her to work out at the spa. She began with simple resistance exercise routines and learned how to exercise her legs in the pool.

A year has passed. Sandra is a confirmed Hygienist. We recently had some salesmen here at the ranch referred by her. They had approached her regarding the well-known “benefits” of aloe vera and herbs. They wanted to meet us because, as they told us, Sandra would not cough unless we approved! You see, Sandra now has no fear of falling, she can care for her little family and, best of all, she is beginning to look more normal. The patches on her face have all disappeared, melding one into the other until the surface looks as one color. The hue is still somewhat darkened but I much, much lighter than when first she consulted us. There are lesions still on the inner surface of both hands but these also appear to be receding. Sandra’s hands are still quite puffy but the eyelids, nose and face appear much more normal. The change in her attitude toward life and living is worthy of note: she now laughs and looks forward to the years ahead where before she was discouraged, having little hope that the future would bring any change. Sandra knows the many faces of joy that Natural Hygiene can impart to those who follow the laws of life. At age 43, she looks forward to a future filled with bright promise.

Case Study—Mrs: “B”

Mrs. B. was brought to our attention by her daughter and son-in-law. Her daughter had taken one of our courses of study about a year previous and had talked her mother

into at least listening to what we had to say about alternative ways of healing. This had been a rather difficult task since Mrs. B’s son was an internist and she had considerable confidence in orthodox methods.

However, she knew that she was now faced with making a major decision that could completely change her life: her own physician was suggesting that he might soon have to recommend amputation of her right leg above the knee.

A widow, the mother of several adult children, Mrs. B. had a history of medical abuse: every so-called “expendable” organ had been removed. For years she had suffered from ulcers of the skin which came and went. They had first appeared in the groin area, then they covered the abdominal area and progressed up and under the arms. At times they made moving the elbows extremely painful due to pus-oozing sores in the crook of that joint. Both legs were puffy and filled with open sores but the right leg was in a frightening state. It was a deep red, tending almost to a deep brownish color. The pain was excruciating. Mrs. B. had almost reached the point of total exhaustion. Both of us were extremely reluctant to handle this case but resolved to see what Natural Hygiene could do.

We made it clear to Mrs. B. that if anything could be done, it would represent a long hard struggle and would require complete adherence to a very strict program. Faced with a more frightening ordeal in the proposed possible amputation of her leg, she agreed to try.

At the time Mrs. B.’s digestion was so deranged that she could not even digest lettuce without suffering stomach cramps. Bowel movements could only be accomplished by using laxatives. The woman was 66 years of age, her living and eating habits well etched. Fasting was not advisable due not only to her weakened condition but also because of her total lack of knowledge of the subject. Abrupt changes in eating styles was not advisable either because we knew that the appearance of any undue symptoms would be immediately attributable to the change in diet, at least in our client’s mind.

Therefore, we placed Mrs. B. on the McCarter Extended Detoxification Plan (to be discussed in Lesson No. 63) and made some constructive changes in her lifestyle. For example, the first four days were to be spent prone in bed following which she was to spend two hours resting on a couch or in bed and one hour sitting up with one half-hour during the day spent out of doors sitting in the shade. This was to last for one week after which she was to spend two hours up and one hour resting with one hour sitting out of doors in the shade. Gradually, as her condition permitted, simple flexibility and stretching exercises were introduced. By this time, Mrs. B. was showing a greatly increased vitality. The worried look had departed from her face.

The dietary changes were extremely simple at first. For example, during the first four-day bedrest period, she took only warm to hot soups made of an assortment of vegetables including potatoes, carrots, celery, and other common garden vegetables. It was amazing to watch how Mrs. B.’s nervous structure calmed itself. Even the stomach relaxed with the gas and the cramping disappearing.

Gradually food combinations were corrected and meals acceptable to Mrs. B. were devised. It is now four years later. She can now eat a bowlful of salad greens and fruit by the peck! There is no longer any talk of amputation for she is hiking around the mobile home park where she lives, striding along with her peers, and outdoing most of them! Every ulcer has healed. True, her skin is lull of pock marks where sores had once been but her face is totally clear and shines with health. Her physician? Well, he told her never to lose sight of her nutritionist, that Mrs. B. had accomplished a miracle! Recently, Mrs. B. told us that she now had a boyfriend and, as she told us about him, we saw a few tears of joy glisten in her eyes. This is what Natural Hygiene can do when given its chance.

On first meeting, older people who consult hygienic practitioners have little or no knowledge of Natural Hygiene. Schooled in orthodoxy, they want healing “now!” They fail to realize that it takes many, many years for chronicity to develop and that it will probably take considerable time for full recovery to lake place, if that, indeed, be still

possible. In most cases, it will not be. It is often advisable to take photographs of your client on first meeting, photographs with front and side view in a standing position and to keep these in the client’s file together with as complete a history as possible, one containing as full a disclosure of symptoms as the client can give.

This is advised, not because we should be overly concerned with symptoms, but because both the pictures and the records are often helpful in reminding clients of just how much improvement has taken place in a given time. Clients are often apt to forget what they looked like when they came and also how they felt! Reminding them from time to time is one means of encouraging them to keep on with a more physiologically sound regimen and not to digress from it.

Case Study—Mickey

With older clients the progress is often extremely slow with constant prodding and encouragement required. With Mickey, this was totally unnecessary for Mickey, at three years old, was at the other end of the spectrum of life and filled with the vibrant energy of the very young.

In fact, Mickey, according to his parents, had too much energy. He was well described as being “hyper,” but with good reason. Mickey was a product of the times, his body saturated with the poison products of cow’s milk and formulas fed from birth on. Candy and sweets of all kinds coupled with liberal amounts of Kool-Aid and other goodies had made this little boy break out in a rash which refused to go away in spite of the many medications, prescribed and over-the-counter which had been dutifully applied. His, parents brought him to our attention in despair, themselves almost exhausted from sleepless nights and tantrum-filled days.

All medications were immediately stopped, all sweets forbidden. Mickey was taken off milk and placed oh a simple diet of raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The synthetic food products were relegated to the trash can. In ten days Mickey’s parents reported with joy and delight that they once again had a normal boy: the rash had completely healed and, both Mickey and his parents were sleeping the whole night through.

Children recover almost with miraculous speed due to their great store of vitality. This is lacking and often in very short supply in older clients. Expectations of recovery time must therefore often be extended in the elderly to years instead of weeks and months and the extent of the recovery must be expressed realistically in terms of possibility. However let us stress that we ourselves are often amazed at what can be accomplished even in cases of extreme enervation, as was true in the case of Mrs. B. We must keep ever in mind as practitioners that whatever may be possible is not, at early reading, an open book. What will be revealed, given enough time for the body to extend its marvelous healing powers, is an unknown. But this we do know as a certainty: the body can and often does produce a miracle when given the proper tools!

Questions & Answers

I have been on a regimen of two fruit meals per day, one in the morning and the other at noon with a raw vegetable plate in the evening at which I alternate a starch food one day with a protein food the next day. But, I don ‘t seem to be improving. In fact, the rash on my face has actually grown worse. What should I do?

Your reverse progress is actually evidence of stepped-up body elimination, thus indicating that your vitalities and energies are imputing. The body does a general housecleaning first of all when its conditions are improved and you’re no exception. If you want to get the elimination over with more quickly, go on a fast. If you want to continue to improve more slowly but faster than now, you might consider an all-fruit diet or meals of a single fruit. If you want to slow your body improvements so that symptoms do not exhibit, replace a fruit meal with another salad and a single concentrated food, thus eating a starch meal with a salad and a protein/fat meal each day with a salad.

I am a married man and my wife is in total disagreement with me on the advisability of my continuing with the Hygienic program. This keeps me on an emotional roller coaster. Is this at all helpful and how can I handle this situation?

This is a problem that often arises. In such a case, one has an important decision to make. Which is more important, one’s future health or domestic peace at this time? It seems to me that we must separate ourselves emotionally and dietetically from the masses else we will end up as they, more often than not, which is prematurely dead or subject to the “mercy” of the medical establishment warehoused in some institution. If we make the correct choice, which can only be a physiologically-sound way of eating and living, the Hygienic way, then we will enjoy the fruits of a life well lived: superior health for a lifetime.

Will I ever really enjoy this way of eating? I see an advertisement, for pizza on the television and my mouth waters. I just don’t enjoy this food and I have no appetite for it.

I guarantee you that if you stay on your correct diet, assuming it is Hygienically correct, you will, within a very few months, be totally committed to it, not only because you feel and look better but because you are now discovering new and exciting tastes formerly completely unknown to you. In fact, no one would ever be able to talk you into any other way of eating! Keep on your program. Let nature convince you of its merits and of its delights.

I have been on this program for two months and I now not only have all the boils I used to have but I also have headaches and occasional pains in my fingers. I am getting discouraged and depressed. Should I keep on?

By all means! What you are experiencing sometimes occurs and actually should tell you that your program is doing the work. The elimination from the skin is continuing and even accelerating indicating that your vitality is at a higher level than formerly. The pain in your fingers is no doubt caused by poisons entering the bloodstream from that area on their way out of the body. Remember that these acid wastes have a tendency to irritate nerve endings. This may occasion mild pain at times. Hot applications may help. Do not take drugs to relieve the pain. Bear with it. It should be alleviated shortly. Once the poisons have made a suitable exodus from the blood and other body fluids, the pain AND the boils will be no more! Don’t give up now when you have proof that your new diet and lifestyle are producing positive results.

Article #1: Skin Diseases by William Howard Hay, M.D.

Like diseases of every other sort, those of the skin are traceable to toxic states of the body. The skin, being wholly visible, is merely the covering of the body, and blends with the mucous membranes, lining the exits and entrances to the body, so that these orifices are merely inversions of the skin. Thus the skin is a most valuable index of internal body condition, when we know how to read its appearance.

Of the routes of elimination(archaic original: emunctories) whose duty it is to keep the internal body clear of accumulations, the skin stands in importance. It is therefore mighty important that this organ which covers the body and at the same time takes care of certain of the chemical wastes of the body should be kept as healthy as possible, in order to function properly.

It is not enough that the skin be kept clean in the ordinary sense, for no matter if it is washed thoroughly three times every day, scrubbed with a brush, rinsed thoroughly after a soap bath, it is still in far too many cases a dirty skin, because through it is continually passing all sorts of chemical debris from a body that is throwing off poisonous materials, which, if retained, would cause death in five hours or less.

It is the passage of an extraordinary amount of toxic material through the skin that sets up the irritations and inflammations that we have classified and named through these many years of medical study and research. Seldom do the so-called diseases of the skin arise from outside irritations.

As the toxic material accumulates in the body it must have an outlet or we would soon perish, and it is in seeking such an outlet that the body uses all means available, including acute fevers and colds, indigestion and chills, and tonsiliuses and eruptions of the covering membrane, our external organ, the skin.

Without internal congestion due to intoxications there would never be evidences of the condition visible on the skin.

We so often see eczema alternating with such internal conditions as neuritis or rheumatism, or asthma, and while the skin is broken out, the internal condition is not in evidence, but when the skin ceases to throw off the accumulating debris then it again is manifested in the internal condition. It is a realization of this fact that makes the specialist say that eczema and asthma are merely expressions of the same internal conditions, the one manifesting on the skin and the other through the bronchial mucous membrane. This is all that disease is, one thing, a toxic state of the entire body, and such toxic states do find expression through many and varied symptom complexes or syndromes.

If one doubts this, then use the skin as an index of internal conditions, and no matter what the particular skin disease presents, detoxicate the whole body, keep the laws of nature in the matter of nourishment, and bring the lazy colon up to date and keep it there, and observe that every one of the many and varied skin diseases will disappear as readily as will any other condition that we attribute to internal uncleanliness.

It is the fine delicate skins that are the most subject to eruptions, as we have always known, and when the internal condition is brought back to anything like a normal balance the skin will again be as clear and fine as before it was affected, if you are a victim of eczema or psoriasis, two of the commoner forms of skin eruption, you can very easily prove to yourself that what has before been said is all loo true, and that when your internal chemistry is approximately normal so will your skin be. Ichthyosis, or fish skin disease, is a condition of dryness and harshness of the skin that is congenital. The victims of this condition are never handed any encouragement or hope of ultimate recovery, and their health is impaired to the extent to which their skin is deficient in function.

Yet the one case of this condition that has come under direct treatment by this system improved in four weeks to such an extent that normal perspiration was easily obtained through either the hot air bath or exercise, and in six weeks the skin returned to a normal softness and fineness with complete absence of the usual dryness and harshness and continual scaling...

In the nearly thirty years of application of the principles of natural treatment of disease I have seen no case of psoriasis or eczema that did not recover, even though both conditions had failed to improve under the most “scientific” treatment of many prominent skin specialists.

Acne vulgarus is the commonest of the skin blemishes met with, especially in the young, and every case of acne is merely an expression of an internal condition that is all wrong, and means that the lungs, skin, kidneys, and bowels are among them unable to keep the body clear of its own irritating acid debris. Every boil or pimple means the same thing: every carbuncle, eruptions of whatever nature, except the few caused directly by external irritants such as poison ivy or nettles or the bites of various insects or snakes or the application of chemical irritants to the skin.

Skin allergies, by which we mean those very sensitive skins that will break out with a sort of eczema whenever brought into contact with the primrose or other vegetable irritants, are merely evidences of the internal condition of the body that makes these particular pollens irritating to these particular skins, and “allergies” of every sort will disappear when the body is again in proper chemical balance.

This applies also to foods, arid if certain foods are “allergic” today, it does not follow that the same food will disagree next year, even though the so-called “allergy” has been life-long. ...In every case these “allergies” will disappear when the wrong body chemistry has been corrected, and the food that was formerly “allergic” may then become the favorite food and agree better than other common foods that had been the chief items of daily use.

If you have had years of eczema or psoriasis, you can correct the skin irritation in a few weeks or a very few months by detoxicating the body, and with such correction of the dietary habit as will stop the excessive, formation of these irritating acid end products of digestion and metabolism. But when the whole manifestation is fully corrected, this does not mean that your skin will become as resistant as that of someone who has been born with a strong organ instead of a weak one, and it does mean that if you again let yourself get far out of chemical balance you may expect a similar manifestation, for your skin is your weakest organ and its resistance will break down first.

Women consider the skin chiefly from the standpoint of cosmetics, yet mention a woman’s skin and its relation to health and you excite her interest almost immediately. The sallow and dry skin lacks the normal elasticity that smooths out all wrinkles. The skin has so much to do with health that next to breathing pure air our second duty in keeping right inside revolves about the function of the skin. Julius Caesar attributed the health of his very efficient army to the fact that every man had to sweat at least once every day. To keep the skin active it should be given the advantage of one real sweat every day, not artificially induced sweating, but the sort that comes from sufficient activity to compel free sweating.

When the pores are thus opened, it gives opportunity for the skin to unload freely the chemical waste matter that is carried in every body, the result of its combustion of fuels, the death of its cells, and the metabolism of food materials taken in every day.

These all produce waste matter of great diversity, and those chemicals that cannot pass out through lungs, kidneys, or bowels must be taken care of by the skin. To accomplish this fully this organ must have the proper cleanliness and exercise, through activity sufficient to produce sweating, aided very materially by a brisk brushing with a bristle skin brush.

Article #2: Lupus by Louis Kuhne

The innumerable successful cures effected by my method, also in the case of lupus, proves that in this disease, as in all others, my doctrine of the unity of disease holds true. I will here cite a case of lupus of general interest.

The patient was a lady, 41 years of age, and had been perfectly healthy until vaccinated in her second year; from that time dated her misery. After the vaccination, obstinate eruption of the skin occurred, which in her tenth year developed into lupus of the face. For over thirty years this lady had suffered from this painfully disfiguring disease, without finding assistance anywhere, notwithstanding that she consulted many famous physicians. Her face was horrible to look at; in fact she could go nowhere without people turning their gaze from her with aversion. In this helpless condition she came to me, all the doctors having pronounced her disease incurable. My diagnosis showed an extremely favorable position of the encumbrance, so that I could assure her of good prospects of a rapid cure. This opinion was confirmed. After only a fortnight the disfiguring lupoid places on the face had undergone considerable change and were no longer quite so repulsive. Her digestion, in particular, which had until now never received any attention, had also improved quite remarkably. The result was abnormal evacuations, whereby the morbid humors were expelled. In seven weeks the patient’s skin assumed the normal color.

Article #3: The Skin by M.O. Garten, D.C.

With the lowering of metabolic efficiency, the skin becomes pale, thin and dry with development of many folds. Secretions of perspiration lessen with an increasing difficulty of keeping warm.

During the fast, the skin resumes more effectively its role of body cleanser. Perspiration may become odoriferous as it may carry dissolved particles of uric acid, decomposed cells, etc.

One of the most gratifying effects of the fast is the observance of changes of the skin. The once shiny cigarette paper appearance, particularly on extremities, changes over to a more velvety texture, the skin loses its shine and many folds, and becomes thicker.

Excerpted from The Health Secrets of a Naturopathic Doctor.

Article #4: The “Hurry-Up” Disease by Elizabeth D. McCarter, D.Sc.

Don’t be a victim of the “hurry-up” disease. Rejuvenation and recovery from sickness do not usually occur overnight. It takes nine months after conception, on an average, before a baby is born! Healing and repair also take time, often considerably more than we anticipate. Dorothy M. found this out, but eventually she, too, received her reward.

When we first came in contact with Dorothy, we found that she was suffering terribly from a fungus which was buried deep in the palms of her hands causing itching so intense that she said it just seemed to burn even into the marrow of her bones. This condition had existed apparently for some time and, needless to say, had almost exhausted her vital power supply. She had wandered from clinic to clinic searching, always searching, for “relief,” but without success. At 65 she was still trying caustic solutions, vitamins, ointments, herbs; even steroids. Everything anyone anywhere had recommended, from California to Australia, Dorothy had tried, used for a time, and then discarded as useless. The terrible itching, the painful cracks in her skin and the inflammation persisted.

We explained to Dorothy that parasites live on the effete material within the system—the poison within—and that the only way to get rid of them was to get rid of their food; in other words, to starve them out! Thus, it was that Dorothy embarked on a program of Natural Hygiene that was to extend over many years. She first fasted for a period of about ten days. Then she began a greatly reduced and modified food intake that consisted of about 90% raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts. She learned that these were the kinds of foods which contained all the nutrients of life and contained them in the proper proportion as required by the human body. At suitable intervals she would fast for two or three days, gradually, as she phrased it, “cleaning out the fungus food!”

Would Not Give Up

Months passed with no results—apparently. Almost anyone else would have given up, but not Dorothy! She was convinced that she was now on the right track. You see, it all made sense to her. At long last she realized that obedience to the laws of nature is the only way to find health and that there can be no compromise. Gradually the itching seemed to lessen. Dorothy knew that drugs give only temporary relief, so she endured the terrible itching and persisted in her health program.

Years came and went. She had to wear gloves to take a bath and whenever she put her hands in water. So sensitive were her hands and fingers that even plain water caused her discomfort. Frequently cracks and blisters formed where spores were deeply imbedded.

Four, five, six years passed in review until the day finally arrived when Dorothy first put on the wedding ring so long abandoned. Progress was rapid from that moment on and, before the seventh year had passed she was able once more to take a bath and wash dishes without having to wear rubber gloves. The itching and the pain were now nothing more than a hideous memory.

Dorothy was now almost 73 years of age, but she looked younger than she had when we first saw her! Her complexion was radiantly alive and her vitality that of a much younger woman. She was living proof that age is not necessarily restrictive of improved health. There is an old German proverb which says, “Patience brings roses!” Dorothy had found her roses! It had required patience, perseverance, and a dedication to a firm belief that the ways of health are the natural ways of life.

The lesson, of course, is clear. We, too, must persevere in the ways of health. At any time, Dorothy might have chosen the ways of drugging to relieve the immediate pain. Like so many others, she too could have soothed away the pain and the discomfort with products of the chemist’s art, those “instant relief” pills and potions. It would have been so easy, so quick; but Dorothy had learned that drugs only appear to give health, that they present only a false facade.

When we are very young, our bodies are filled to overflowing with vital energy, the return to health may occur with amazing speed; but when we are older, the return may be elusive and taunt us with its tantalizing slowness, as was true in Dorothy’s case. But, regardless of our age and our condition, we must remain steadfast in our goal to attain superior health. We must persevere in the ways of health. We must not be victims of the “hurry-up” disease!