4. Questions & Answers
Will exercise correct hiatal hernia?
A hiatal hernia is an opening in the diaphragm that permits organs on either side to protrude through. In Dr. Shelton's book, Exercise, we learn how to cope with abdominal hernia very slowly through graduated exercises. I don't see any reasons why relaxed musculature of the diaphragm should be any less responsive to an exercise program. Over the years I've received letters from individuals who were once overweight and said that the drastic weight reduction experienced in undertaking a Hygienic regime of raw diet and exercise also overcame their diaphragm problems. How long have you had this problem?
Nearly three years.
How much do you weigh now?
242.
Are you willing to undertake a raw food dietary and exercise program kicked off with a fast to help restore normalcy?
If that's what it takes.
How do I get my four-year-old son to be active? He's way overweight, being nearly 70 pounds. We have no neighboring children. He just sits and watches TV all day long, eating freely of his father's snacks. What should I do?
I suggest that you unplug the TV and remove father's snacks. I suggest that you and/or your husband take the youngster for walks, play ball with him, and otherwise get him involved. It might even pay for you to transport him to the nearest children's playground where he can participate actively with other active children, though, to be sure, at that weight he's in no condition to do more than walk. I suggest that you put him on an all-raw diet of mostly fruits as well as take him for walks. That, more than anything, will help him lose weight to the point he can be more active. What he needs more than anything is parental participation as well as identification with peers. Praise for activity accomplishments will encourage him to win more praise. There's much you can do. Explore your circumstances. A ruined child bespeaks parent failure. I'm happy you want to remedy this situation, and I'm sure the desire will give rise to a solution.
You sound like exercise will create Utopia for us. I'm about sixty pounds overweight. I've read lots that says exercise would help me get down to a normal weight and that would be heaven for me, but I've heard very little about all the other good things you say. Aren't you putting us on just to get us to do this thing?
All the benefits I've spoken of have been gleaned from researches and published literature during my past 14 years as a student of the health scene. And I've experienced many of the benefits cited for myself. Why should I lead you on? Why not try a vigorous, regular exercise regime and find out for yourself." Open up your ears and eyes to those who do. You'll be surprised that, indeed, exercise is one of the primary keys to a personal Utopia.
Can I lose weight by exercise alone? How soon can I expect to go from 227 to 125?
Yes, you can lose weight by exercise alone, but there are many considerations. First, if you exercise extensively even without a change of diet, your hunger will be considerably lessened as a result; you'll lose weight not only because you eat less, but because you'll burn up more calories. However, I doubt that you'll ever lose 102 pounds unless you get to the point where you're exercising at least two hours per day, something you can do. And then it takes more than a year. I've read of a case where a meat-and-potato-diet gal lost over 125 pounds within a year-and-a-half and became a marathon runner as a result. But it's better to edge your diet over to more and more raw foods in conjunction with your exercise program. All raw will occasion drastic weight loss without much regard to your exercise program and food intake, though an exercise program and lowered food intake are always constructive.
How do you expect me to exercise if I never feel like it? You've said that you really shouldn't exercise if you feel against it. I never feel like it.
I've said that exercise makes you feel good. I've said that old practices make you feel progressively worse. How do you expect to feel like exercising unless you start exercising? Just start exercising regardless of how you feel. Do it because you know you must. Start off by fasting for a week or two. Go on an all-raw diet. Start walking vigorously and work that up to a jog, and then punctuate it with running and sprinting. The first thing you know, you'll be looking forward to those daily stints. You'll find your exercising period to be moments that give you some time to cogitate, and you'll discover you're cogitating more intense and productive while out jogging and running, even just walking. That which activates your body tends also to activate your mind. Do it and you'll be rewarded. Don't get roped in on a "which comes first, chicken or the egg" deal. Just do it because you know you have to force yourself to.
What you've said means everyone could become a real super person. If that's true, why isn't exercise pushed by the powers that be in this country?
If you've read the media, you find that the powers that be advise you to see a physician before undertaking any exercise program. And a physician is as likely as not to advise against it. Further, there's lots of adverse publicity about exercise and lots of pooh poohing of it. But, also, there's much publicity and much urging to exercise. Exercise is getting a better and better press. But there are many factors that militate against exercise, notably the sick diathesis that derives from your debilitating and slavish addiction to energy-draining foods. Pushing junk foods is far more profitable for industry (the powers that be) as a whole than pushing fitness. After all, the junk food industry; the medical trades; the drug industry; the liquor, beer, wine, soft drink, cigarette, and other industries constitute a powerful quorum that despoils us. Enlightened consumers don't patronize them and an exercise program scuttles them. Perhaps that's the reason only about a third of the country is active.