The Science and Fine Art of Food and Nutrition

by Herbert M. Shelton

Book by Shelton, Herbert M.

Genres: Health, Nutrition, Food

591 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Herbert M. Shelton was an American naturopath, alternative medicine advocate, and prolific author best known for promoting natural hygiene, fasting, and raw veganism. Born in Texas in 1895, Shelton was deeply influenced by observing animal behavior during illness and early pioneers like Isaac Jennings and Sylvester Graham. He studied at several institutions devoted to chiropractic and naturopathy, eventually graduating from the American School of Naturopathy. Shelton believed that cooked food was harmful and that the human body could heal itself without medical intervention, primarily through fasting and a raw, plant-based diet.
In 1922, he self-published Fundamentals of Nature Cure, later retitled An Introduction to Natural Hygiene. He went on to write the influential seven-volume The Hygienic System and published The Hygienic Review for forty years. In 1948, he founded the American Natural Hygiene Society, which became the National Health Association. Despite facing frequent legal challenges for practicing medicine without a license, Shelton maintained a loyal following and left a lasting legacy on the raw food and fasting movements.
A pacifist, Shelton was jailed during World War I for opposing the draft. His career was marred by controversy, including patient deaths and lawsuits, one of which led to his financial ruin and the closure of his health school. Afflicted by a degenerative disease in later life, he remained active in his work until his death in 1985. His legacy remains polarizing, viewed by some as visionary and by others as dangerously unscientific.

Reviews

[David Chmelik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every medical doctor should read this. Shelton earned about 10 - 30 medical degrees. Non-natural hygienist doctors (that were not nutritionists) get one half to one hour of nutrition education. Nutrition is a main thing in Natural Hygiene (along with sleep, exercise, etc.) that animals use to heal. They do not have drugs, but animals rarely develop certain human diseases, and several animals' lifespans are also longer than ours. Billions of ignorant people rely on drugs to suppress disease symptoms, but drugs rarely if ever prevent or heal diseases, even in the cases of some like malaria or dengue, though unless they are practicing perfect natural hygiene when and after a mosquito bites them, they may have to initially take and continue drugs for those. Occasionally such bites do not cause a disease. Similar to such bites are smoking and eating animal products, sugar, salt, spices, which may not immediately lead to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but as _The_China_Study_ and others show (also that dairy & eggs are more or less as bad as most meats,) such addictions when repeated eventually do lead to those and other diseases.

[Indu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for everyone interested in eating healthy, the way nature intended.

[Junaid Jadil]

I have no ability to think hehe