One of the earliest pioneers of nature-cure medicine was Dr Bircher Benner who wrote The Cure of Incurable Diseases. In it he explained how a raw food dietary regime, consisting of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and cereal grains not only maintained vigorous health but ws capable of arresting the progress of incurable diseases. He concluded that animal foods were deleterious to health and that raw plant foods contained living elements and energies which promoted positive wellbeing. He believed that nature-cure would one day become the major approach to the eradication of disease. Dr Bircher Benner was extra-ordinarily successful as a practioner in his Austrian clinic and was a pioneer of the nature-cure movement.
The same conclusion was drawn from a totally unrelated study of a remarkable race of people who, up to the 1920's when they were first discovered, had been untouched by civilisation. Since they exist in harmony with mother nature and as a consequence enjoy glorious good health, their story is worth pursuing.
The Hunzas live in a virtually inaccessable mountainous region between Afghanistan and India and as such had never come into contact with western civilisation until their discovery in the 1920's. Such was the interest in this race of people that a British doctor, Sir Robert McCarrison, took it upon himself to make the hazardous journey to Hunza in order to monitor their health and lifestyle and to see if any lessons could be learned in the fight against disease in the western world. Many of his findings were published in UK medical journals but they appear to have been largely ignored over the last sixty years in favour of orthodox medicine. Sir Robert's writings expressed the view that the Hunzas were the finest specimens of human health imaginable, that disease was unknown, and that he never discovered one case of major illness in the period of time he spent there. Life expectancy could reach 140 years and their vitality and youthfulness was maintained well beyond 'normal' old age. Clearly it was important to study the lifestyle of the Hunzas. If such a disease-free existence could be maintained by these people, with all the related happiness which they apparantly enjoyed, then surely it would be possible to take advantage of these findings and confront the problems of our own disease-ridden society.
The lifestyle of the Hunza is a simple one. They work ten hours each day on the land, sleep eight hours, pray, and maintain a very relaxed and unhurried approach to life. The air they breathe is crisp and fresh, the water is pure and sparkling and their food natural and organically grown.
Their diet is of particular interest as it does not contain any animal food. It consists of raw fruits, (in particular peaches and apricots), raw vegetables, all kinds of nuts and seeds, and cereal grains from which they make their own flour and bread. They frequently remove the kernel from apricots, from which they extract oil, using it as food and to oil their skin and hair. It has recently been discovered that apricot kernel seeds contain vitamin B17, otherwise known as Laetrile, which is believed to exert a significant anti-cancer action. The only animal food used by the Hunzas is small quantities of goats milk which is consumed rarely and only on special occasions. It must also be mentioned that for several months of the year food is very sparse in Hunza and the community lives almost entirely without sustenance throughout this period, providing them with the opportunity to rid their bodies of toxins. This process will be explained more fully when the philosophy of nature-cure is considered.
As further proof of the dynamic relationship between diet and disease, experiments were set up by Sir Robert McCarrison with intersting but hardly surprising results. Experimental rats were used, as their choice of food resembles our own, and they were split into two groups. One group was given a Hunza diet of raw carrots, fruit, cereal, grains etc, and thrived, living to 120 years in human terms. Autopsies revealed no traces of disease. The other group was fed on a typical western diet of potatoes, white bread, butter and meat. These animals developed cancer and heart disease at an early stage, they aged prematurely and tended to be extremely violent. When this group were switched to the Hunza diet their disease conditions dissappeared and their health was regained.
A question clearly needs answering. Where has this type of information and research disappeared to in the period since the 1920's? If a race of people are capable of maintaining perfect health through existing harmony with the laws of nature, then it clear that health only breaks down when these laws are infringed. Over the last few decades modern medicine has often ignored the relationship between environment and health and has frequently scoffed at the notion that diet may have a serious impact on the condition of human health. It has preferred, instead, to issue vast quantities of pharmaceutical medicines to a trusting and willing population, completely ignoring the underlying environmental causes of disease. This practice has generated enormous wealth but has undermined the physical and spiritual health of the nation, imposing on its people an incalculable degree of human suffering. The prescribing of medicines is clearly more lucrative than health education.
It is difficult though to blame doctors for this state of affairs considering that their medical education over the past few decades has been almost totally devoid of any emphasis on the science of nutrition. There has been little study of the consequence of environmental factors and diet on human health. Medical training is very obviously prescription orientated, favouring pharmaceutical medicines to the more wholesome herbal, homeopathic and nutritional remedies that are available. Through this lack of emphasis in training, doctors themselves are done a great disservice.
There are however many positive elements in modern medicine. Medical treatments in accidents and emergencies are indispensable and many serious disorders beyond the body's recuperative powers depend upon medicines to control their symptoms and pain. Surgery is essential in many circumstances, often relieving life-threatening conditions and allowing the body's recuperative powers to be liberated. it must be said that any treatment, whether it be open heart surgery, organ transplants or the use of antibiotics or pain killers can be nothing but commendable if it improves the quality of an individual's life.
There is little more likely to stir the emotions and induce a sense of pride than in caring for the health of those in need. The modern health service succeeds in this and doctors and nurses make sterling efforts for their patients. However, in spite of their successes, one must not be blinded to the fact that in the treatment of disease, orthodox medical philosophy has no proper concept of the dynamic relationship between man and his environment. As such they tend to treat diseases in a particular, narrow-sighted way. Whilst orthodox medicine concentrates on the disease, and frequently only on the symptoms, alternative medicine concerns itself more greatly with the mind, body and spirit; the cause of disease and its removal from the patient's environment and lifestyle.
Given the prejudiced slant of orthodox medical philosophy and training therefore, it is difficult to see how an orthodox medical practicioner can be in the best position to determine what is best for the individual patient. Many doctors have rejected the teachings of their medical training and have become more involved with the philosophy of alternative medicine. One such practicioner was Dr Richard McKarness who concentrated his energies on determining the effects of the environment on human health. He demonstrated that groups of patients suffering from a wide range of mental and physical disorders, when isolated in a chemically clean environment and fed solely on spring water often experienced complete relief from their ailments. He concluded that the illnesses of his patients were often triggered by a sensitivity to air (petro-chemicals), impure food, additives, chemical sprays or a particular food allergy. Ailments such as eczema, depression, schizophrenia, lethargy, bowel disorders, migraines, and many more, were all treated successfully by Dr McKarness using his methods. He left the country several years ago for Australia due to lack of financial support from the medical authorities and what he described as the envy, apathy and disinterest of his fellow doctors.
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