6. The McCarter Extended Detoxification Regimen

As the name implies, the McCarter Extended Detoxification Regimen is a procedural method which we have found so valuable in leading emotionally hesitant, the more skeptical of our clients, and others who may, for one reason or another, be unable to undertake a fast at this time, on a step-by-step planned program for a body cleansing, but at a slower rate, that we include it for the student's consideration. The regimen may be used to good advantage in all diseased states, as well as with clients who may suffer from skin, hair, and/or scalp disorders. It is especially applicable to new practitioners but useful to all.

This extended action plan tends to lead the client by gradual habits of their past to a Hygienically-correct dietary and living regimen, one intended for immediate remedial purposes but also for lifetime maintenance. In its final stages it provides the client with a state of health previously unknown. It goes without saying that total freedom is achieved from whatever distressing condition presently troubles him and eventually from all diseases of any consequence.

The extended regimen makes important health-promoting changes, but makes them slowly. By so doing, the client's body can accommodate itself in gentle steps to new ways of eating and living without the client having to experience many of the perhaps disconcerting and even painful, and, to some, discouraging symptoms which are sometimes manifested during a prolonged fast or when changes are made too rapidly.

The elderly and the more timid among your clients will appreciate your concern in this area and will, more often than not, willingly accept the simple changes where they might become frightened and even totally estranged from you by symptoms which might arise with too rapid elimination, losing thereby perhaps their one chance of ever again regaining their health. This bleak prospect is unacceptable to us.

For example, we have one male client in his late seventies who has had an annoying eczema almost all of his adult life. He has taken course after course under our guidance and has attended lecture after lecture. He attends every potluck we have and freely speaks of the benefits of Natural Hygiene. He is now free of his former ailment.

But, let this man partake too freely of some food, especially grapefruit, he almost always begins to experience an annoying twinge somewhere, not unusual in persons who have lived incorrectly, Hygienically speaking, all their lives. At such limes, he usually telephones Dr. Elizabeth with panic in his voice to inquire "why am I having this pain?" He is truly frightened by these experiences. At such times, Dr. Elizabeth must explain again how toxins may remain hidden for years, even after several prolonged fasts, and how they can make their presence known even years after the main ailment has been corrected and that the very presence of a symptom shows increased vitality and body power, that the healing going on within is ongoing.

After such assurance, our client remains content—until the next time! In spite of his advanced years, this man's whole body has grown in health. His hair is thick and luxuriant, his skin smooth as a baby's, and his moustache glory to behold! Our satisfaction lies in knowing that by following the extended detoxification regimen this gentleman looks better now than most men twenty or more years younger than he, even though he did not take his first timid steps into Hygienic living and eating until he was well over 70 years of age!

Beginners at practice frequently become discouraged because they tend to lose clients who become disenchanted for one reason or another with whatever program has been devised for them. For example, they may find a recommended food unfamiliar to them and attribute whatever symptoms that may arise to the fact that this food "disagrees with them."

When carefully studied and modified to meet individual differences, the McCarter Extended Detoxification Regimen tends to lessen client loss chiefly because it reduces the number of healing crises experienced and the few experienced are generally less severe.

With too rapid change, on the other hand, the more timid will question why symptoms occur and why they often appear to be getting worse when, in fact, the very symptoms they are experiencing are proof that the new way of eating and living is actually producing curative changes which will prove beneficial in the long run. But, they do not understand this and thus fail to keep their next appointment.

However, once people are persuaded that the easy ways, the painless "remedies," will not solve their problem, then and only then will they consider a long-term program such as we are presently suggesting. You see, most people are content to look on the outside for solutions and do not want to accept responsibility for their present dilemma. Most belong to the "Discounters of Society." Some will insist that no such problem as you may present to them exists as, for example, that they have been eating poor food and must improve their dietary program. Some will say, "Yes, that may be true, but the problem isn't as important as you say it is!"

A splendid example of this last named group is a young girl, age 17, who was brought to us suffering from acne, scoliosis, and a host of other ailments including thin drab-looking hair. Privately, she admitted to "bombing out" on cocaine and other drugs; to excessive sexual indulgence; to using alcoholic beverages; and to the use of the customary teenage diet of sweets, hamburgers, soft drinks, and french fries. Her blood test, on bionutritional analysis, revealed several problem areas of considerable importance. When confronted with these results, she refused to admit that any major problem existed because she "was no different from anyone else!" She refused to accept any negative messages.

Sad to say this same attitude exists with most of our young people. We are told that two-thirds of our high school students try using illicit drugs and that, indeed, the U.S. has the highest use among this age group than any of the nations of the civilized world!

Other discounters will be so discouraged by repeated previous failures that they will admit the problem, the disease, willingly enough but they will, at the same time, believe that you can't help them to solve it because it is unsolvable! Only the more intelligent will recognize that, indeed, the problem exists, that it is vitally important to find solution of the same, that the principles of Natural Hygiene make sense and are fully in accord with all known facts of life and, finally, that only the full application of the same in their own lives will provide the best chance to solve the existing problem even though all other methods and "remedies" may have hitherto failed.

6.1 How to Proceed

6.1.1 Phase One

In Phase One the diet remains basically the same with no major changes being suggested. However, certain harmful accessory dietary practices are brought to the client's attention and the suggestion made that these may properly be eliminated or the amounts used reduced. These are determined by the practitioner following study of the client's past eating habits.

Obviously, there are multitudinous numbers of possible habitual dietary indiscretions and harmful practices which should be avoided and it would be impossible to list all of them. The practitioner must use his knowledge and good judgment in selecting for first consideration those he considers most critical.

Among the harmful practices which most commonly appear on our diet profiles, we find the following: Drinking beverages with and in-between meals: such beverages as soft drinks, coffee, tea, cocoa, canned chemicalized juices, etc. Some of these drinks contain harmful alkaloids, caffeine, sugar, and other chemicals capable of tissue erosion.

Others lack nutritive substance. To illustrate how some juice products presently marketed are concocted we include a quotation from Science 82 Magazine for October 1982 (official publication of The American Association for the Advancement of Science), relative to a product sold by a leading supermarket chain: "Orange juice" on the label means that what's inside is supposed to be pure and unadulterated. Federal standards are clear on the subject.

"But that's not always the case. Consumers unknowingly pay for a product that's often been stretched with a variety of substances from corn or beet sugar to spices to add coloring to spent pulp. Added to pure juice, these adulterants usually aren't harmful, and the resulting drink can be sold—but not as orange juice."

Natural Hygienists would disagree that such products are not harmful if only in that they are substituted for more nourishing foods. Persons in the business of manufacturing fake orange juice used to dilute their product with water, then add extra sugar and citric acid to give their product the taste of citrus fruits. But it seemed that it was fairly easy to detect the diluted product and the fact that it contained sucrose.

In late years it seems that these purveyors of fake orange juice have turned to beet sugar and pulpwash, both somewhat harder to detect. Beet sugar is cheap and when a bad freeze in Florida pushes up the price of oranges, these manufacturers simply take the washed and spent solids left after oranges are squeezed and use these—the pulpwash, as it is called in the trade. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has seized hundreds of thousands of barrels, cans, and jars of juice made chiefly from pulpwash, extra sugars, and turmeric, a rather pungent spice which just happens to impart the color of orange! It seems that it is difficult to make a positive identification of the pulp and sugars contained in real orange juice, namely fructose and glucose. Since the product tastes remarkably like real orange juice, the public—to save a few cents—buys it because it tastes good, little realizing that when they use this product, they shortchange their own bodies. There are, no doubt, many such products in common use. In fact, we received a long distance call a few days ago from a beginning student of Natural Hygiene who is about to enter a marathon run asking if it would be "all right" for him to use a product quite frequently used by athletes to impart quick energy. Since it is made almost entirely from chemicals, we told him to "read the label!"'

Another harmful dietary practice is the drinking of alcoholic beverages including beer, wine, straight and mixed drinks of all kinds.

Smoking, chewing, sniffing of tobacco and/or other substances of similar nature are known to have a health-destroying effect as, for example, the practice of sniffing glue.

Overeating, probably the most common error of our times, and also, the most harmful.

Using food enhancers such as condiments and spices, especially salt, pepper, sugar, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, but also including other less familiar substances, both singly and in combinations, is both unnecessary and unhealthful.

Using packaged processed cereals and bread and products made from wheat and/or other grains is harmful.

The inclusion of flesh meats and/or products derived from animals in the daily food intake, often at every meal, is detrimental to our health.

Using cooked foods, especially fried, barbecued, and boiled, are harmful, and so on.

It is in his initial choice of items to be eliminated that the Hygienic practitioner can alienate the "timid" client, even though the practices selected as being erroneous may have directly contributed to his present scalp and/or hair disorder. For this reason it may be best to make the initial changes minor in kind, gradually encouraging your client to make further constructive changes as he goes along. We are often able to avoid upsetting an emotionally unsure client by assuring him/her that even small changes (which, by the way, may appear major to him/her!) will be curative in kind.

We find, for the most part, that many clients who approach us with hair and scalp disorders (and often, too, with other skin problems) have little understanding of the fact that the immediate problem is simply a reflection of a greater problem, a general systemic toxemia. He will reach this understanding, of course, with careful guidance and education by you in the ways of health. Many clients appear somewhat uneasy about deserting established medical procedure and with such, we proceed with simple changes.

A client who has been accustomed to drinking two or more cups of coffee with every meal understands that this can be harmful and might be a causative agent for whatever ailment now troubles him. With such a person, we might suggest that, for the next two weeks, he reduce his coffee drinking to one cup at the noon and evening meals and permit him his usual two or more cups in the morning to "get him going." In so doing, he will be reducing his coffee intake (or whatever other beverage he is accustomed to drinking) by one-third, a substantial improvement but not one that, might overwhelm him by the appearance of that "all-gone" feeling so often characteristic of the withdrawal from coffee addiction. It goes without saying that clients who are coffee addicts should be made aware of the dangers to health involved in the use of this drug.

Also, if a client has been accustomed to taking two teaspoonsful of sugar with his coffee or tea, he should be advised to reduce his intake by one-half, to one teaspoon per serving, a reduction of fifty percent. If accustomed to having a soft drink as a mid-meal snack, we advise the substitution of a diluted fruit juice of good quality and freshly made if possible; or that he eat a piece of fresh fruit in place of the drink.

Initial changes in lifestyle

Again, the changes which can be advised initially with regard to the lifestyle can be many in kind and number. Among the first that we always recommend are the following:

1. Frequent bathing of affected parts. An easy way to wash the hair and scalp is simply to get under the shower and let the tepid water run through and over the hair. When the scalp is irritated, the fingers should not "dig into" the scalp. A simple striking with the tips of the fingers is sufficient accompanied by a gentle lifting of the hair by running the fingers through it. No soap, medicated or otherwise, should be used. By following this procedure, the natural oils and waxes will be retained but liquid acid wastes will be removed. The hair should be allowed to dry naturally and, depending on the condition of the scalp, it may then be gently combed or brushed with a natural-bristle brush.
   
2. Sunbathing, the amount of time designated for this purpose to depend on past sun exposure, the texture of the skin, etc.
   We find that these few simple changes in the dietary and lifestyle habits of a client are well accepted by him, both emotionally and physically. These are positive health-promoting steps which will not overwhelm the beginning Hygienist and ones which he will recognize as being conducive to better health. Now he is paying you to tell him so and to show him how he can adapt to these changes. We find that most clients are overwhelmed at the simplicity of your advice and cheerfully agree to follow the instructions given. We always advise our clients, however, that this is only the first step and that other instructions will be forthcoming at our next meeting. We recommend that, at this first meeting, whenever possible, that front and side views of the client be photographed for comparison at future meetings. We instruct the client to return for his next appointment in two weeks at which time he will be expected to make a verbal report on how well he has complied with your recommendations.

6.1.2 Phase Two

The client should make his report. Irritated areas should be examined and further changes now suggested, either orally or, preferably in typewritten form. Changes to be suggested might be as follows:

1. No further reduction in beverage or sugar intake at this time. However, the client is now instructed to drink his beverage of choice15 to 30 minutes prior to his eating and to refrain from drinking even water during the meal or directly after eating. The physiological reasons for this restriction should, of course, be carefully explained.
   
2. The client should perhaps be instructed at this meeting to eliminate table salt from his diet. The client may be helped to overcome this pernicious habit by suggesting that he substitute Vegebase or some similar product for table salt. However, he should be advised that using substitutes is not to be recommended and that total abstinence from all food enhancers would be a commendable procedure to follow at this time so as to permit recovery of normal taste sensations as well as to prevent further membrane, kidney, and cellular damage.
   
3. If, according to his diet profile, the client has been accustomed to taking two or more slices of bread with his meals, he should now be restricted to not more than one slice. Most persons find it extremely difficult to eliminate all bread immediately. They seem to crave it. Hygienists know that breads are not only acid-forming but that they also present certain digestive problems. Incomplete digestion of the starch in bread leads to certain fermentative processes which produce alcohol in the system, a fact which possibly explains why it is sometimes harder for the novice Hygienist to give up the bread-eating habit than the use of meat! Unbeknownst to him, he has actually become a victim of vicarious alcoholism! Nervous people are, almost without exception, heavy bread eaters.
4. Introduce distilled water. The client should be instructed to use distilled water for drinking and cooking purposes in place of tap water. He should be informed that he will not be drinking as much water as formerly because he will now be receiving a greater amount of the purest kind of water as contained in uncooked, fresh fruits and vegetables.
5. Change the customary breakfast to one of fresh fruit accompanied by lettuce and/or celery. At first, it may be better accepted by your client if this meal is a rather substantial one. It will tend to eliminate that "empty" feeling that so often comes on the initial changeover from the popular cereal or bacon and egg breakfast. Remember that clients with hair and skin disorders rarely attribute their condition to malfeeding or to a malfunctioning digestive system, but rather to some unknown "allergy." Therefore, while we certainly must make certain constructive changes as early as possible, it is often advisable to continue the "hearty breakfast" for the time being until the body can accommodate itself to the changes in progress, these being healing in kind.
   Individual appetites will, at this point, determine just how much food may be desired. We suggest that the first fruit breakfasts be patterned somewhat as follows:
   
   Breakfast No. One
   Two bananas, very ripe
   10-12 dates
   1 apple or pear
   Lettuce and/or celeryy
   
   Breakfast No. Two
   Two oranges peeled and segmented
   1/2 grapefruit, peeled and seg.
   Lettuce and/or celery, 1/2 avocado
   
   Breakfast No. Three
   1/2 pound grapes
   2 pears
   Lettuce and/or celery
   
   Breakfast No. Four
   Large dish of fresh or soaked apricots
   Dish of berries
   Lettuce and/or celery
   
   Breakfast No. Five
   One or two apples served with date sauce made by blending a few pitted dates with distilled water
   
   Breakfast No. Six
   Fruits in season as, for example: 2 peaches
   10-12 dates
   Lettuce and/or celery
   
   Breakfast No. Seven
   1 whole papaya
   2 nectarines
   Lettuce and/or celery
   
   Other suggestions: Berry compote served with peach "cream" made by blending peaches and dates (or peaches and banana) in the blender; raw applesauce made by blending apples and raisins (or dates) with celery; or pear sauce made similarly.
   This is the proper time to introduce correct food and fruit combining. We suggest that you use the charts supplied in this course. No other dietary changes are required at this time.
6. When practiceable, a simple exercise program should be presented. It should be well within the present capacity of the client to perform. We suggest walking plus, perhaps, simple stretching and flexibility exercises as an excellent first step toward improved physical development.
   All previous changes are to be continued. The client should be provided with a typewritten list of his new program and should be instructed to keep a diary of his new breakfasts and also of how much time he has allotted to exercising and the kind of exercise done.
   The client is handed an appointment card which specifies the time and date of his next appointment, this to be in four weeks.

6.1.3 Phase Three

With most clients who have consulted you with rather minor hair, skin and/or scalp disorders, it is now possible to make changes somewhat faster. A minimum of six weeks has passed during which time he has become more attuned emotionally to change and perhaps even physically in that he has begun to see some improvement in his overall condition. Therefore, all previous instructions are to be continued and the following new changes introduced as individual differences indicate and/or allow:

1. Luncheons - In the conventional way of eating, luncheons more often than not consist of soup and a sandwich or of a hamburger, french fries, and a "coke." It is time now to introduce the salad plus, perhaps, a simple vegetable broth or soup. A list of possible salads should be given to your client since, with many of them, the salad world is unexplored territory. For salad suggestions, we refer to our book The Exciting World of Healthful Cookery which has over two hundred salads to choose from, both vegetable and fruit.
   
2. Those clients who formerly drank alcoholic beverages should now be instructed regarding the harmful effects of such indulgence. They are either to refrain entirely from any further indulgence (preferable) or to reduce by at least one-half the number of drinks consumed. If the client is accustomed to mixed drinks, he should be encouraged to switch to drinks with a lesser alcoholic content, such as wine and beer. It should be made absolutely clear to the client that by making this suggestion that you are in no way giving your approval to the use of alcohol in any form and that further use by him will only retard and even prevent full recovery.
   
3. Clients who have been accustomed to using nicotine in any of its forms should be similarly instructed either to reduce or to forego future use. From experience we can say that the easiest and best way to stop this pernicious habit is simply to stop!
   
4. The number of cups of coffee, tea, or other beverage should now be reduced to no more than three cups per day taken 15 to 30 minutes before the meal with total elimination of the habit now being suggested.
   
5. Two meat meals per week should now be eliminated. If necessary, the client may be permitted either cottage cheese or eggs in their place. The practitioner should specify the exact day for elimination of meat as, for example, on Friday and Tuesday. Otherwise, certain reluctant clients have a tendency to postpone their meatless days. Where clients are open to total elimination on these two days, they may elect to substitute a baked potato or baked brown rice.
   
6. Request that your client keep a Diet Diary for the next four weeks. Keeping the diary will help him to adhere more closely to your suggestions since he knows that he will be expected to present the diary to you. A sample report  form may be xeroxed and given to the client for this purpose. These forms may be kept on file for distribution.

The alert student will have noted that within a 10-week period, that the client, if he has followed your instructions precisely, will have accomplished the following constructive changes:

1. Reduced his coffee or other beverage intake by 50% or more.
   
2. Eliminated all fried food.
   
3. Eliminated all packaged cereals and the traditional ham and egg, bacon and egg, cereal, or pancake breakfast in favor of fresh fruits served usually, with lettuce and/or celery.
   
4. Has eliminated most condiments and especially salt from his diet.
   
5. Has drastically reduced or eliminated entirely all alcoholic beverage intake.
   
6. Has reduced or totally eliminated his former nicotine dependence.
   
7. Has consistently reduced his protein intake and increased his consumption of simple carbohydrates in the form of sweet fruits.
   
8. Has increased his consumption of raw foods to approximately 50% or more of his total nutritive package where, prior to his first meeting with you, if his diet was typical of the average American, it probably amounted to less than 4%.
   
9. Decreased his consumption of flesh food by at least one-third because he no longer has any flesh foods at either breakfast or luncheon and has omitted it from two dinners per week. He has either substituted eggs or cottage cheese or potatoes or baked rice for these two meatless meals.

This has been a period of change during which lime the client's body was required to accommodate itself to new practices. The new exercise program has caused more stagnant lazy transport fluids to enter into the mainstream of activity for cleansing by the liver and kidney-filtering mechanisms.

Restorative changes have been silently going on as a result of the improved nutritional intake. These have usually proceeded slowly and quietly, rarely violently. The client has not been emotionally disturbed by rapid elimination of wastes, a process which might and often does intensify already existing symptoms and/or new ones, often to the client's dismay.

Sometimes, of course, even this carefully phased program can lead to minor unsettling symptoms in which case, and especially with nervous clients, it may be well to reassess your client's emotional poise and decide whether to back off and resume an earlier phase or to extend this third phase for another month.

Detached appraisal is often necessary with clients who have diseases of the hair, scalp, and/or skin simply because rarely are these afflictions life threatening. It is difficult sometimes to impart to your client the knowledge you have regarding the methodology of body detoxification. We suggest that with difficult clients that they be given a printout of the procedural method being employed.

6.1.4 Phase Four

By this time your client should have noted considerable improvement, not only in his overall wellness, but also in the condition for which he sought your help, assuming, of course, that he has faithfully followed all instructions.

Consequently, he will, more often than not, enthusiastically welcome further instructions. If improvement has been slow it may be best to continue Phase Three for another four-week period. Phase Four changes could proceed as follows:

1. The 24-hour fast, usually a major step for most persons. We have found that most clients will adapt well to this short fast if they are instructed to refrain from eating starting after the evening meal of Day One and then not eating again until the evening of Day Two; as follows:
   Day One - Eat breakfast, luncheon, and evening meals.
   Day Two - Breakfast - none Luncheon – none
   Dinner - A light vegetable salad with nuts; or a simple subacid fruit salad served with 1/2 medium avocado.
   Throughout the fasting day, distilled water may be used to quench thirst, as needed.
   
2. Intake of flesh meats is now reduced to three times per week. Baked potato, baked brown rice, nuts, or sunflower seeds may be used in place of the meat. One or two steamed vegetables may be added to this meal, if desired.
   This is the perfect time to introduce the subject of correct food combining. The client should be given a food-combining chart for his home use. If you hold regular public classes on nutrition, your client should now be encouraged to enroll in these. The client should now formulate his own meals using the food-combining chart.
   
3. Introduce aerobic exercises when possible. We suggest to our own clients that they either purchase some good country western music records or turn on their radios to a station which features music with a good "beat." We tell them to encourage other members of the family to join them in free-style movement dancing. This is fun and contributes positively to increased family support. If clients live alone, they should be encouraged to join a Jazzercise class at the "Y" or elsewhere.

The client is again requested to keep a food and exercise diary. Since he is now formulating his own meals, it is important that he present it to you, at the next meeting, for your constructive criticism and suggestions. The intervening period will have been a learning period for him and it is always interesting to see how each client has fared. The client should return for his next appointment in four weeks, or sooner, as circumstances may warrant.

6.1.5 Phase Five

By the time the Phase Five Consultation arrives, some three or four months will have passed. If your client has faithfully followed instructions, he will have accomplished the following steps in his four-fold action plan:

1. Totally eliminated or substantially reduced all major health-destroying habits, including but not limited to: nicotine and alcohol use.
   
2. Adopted many health-promoting ways of eating and living although he may not have become emotionally or physically fully adapted to them. His mind may tell him that what you suggest in the way of change is sound, that it is scientifically correct but, since his habits have become firmly etched due to the passage of years, they are therefore difficult to modify and/or correct. The practitioner should always be aware of the fact that habit is "a formidable adversary." The Hygienic practitioner should, therefore, be patient but also firm and consistent in his instructions. He must be kind and always encouraging.
   
3. The client's dietary intake is now approaching an intake of 80% raw food.
   
4. Your client should be consistently exercising aerobically for from five to fifteen minutes per day and, if he is on target, he should also be walking every day, depending, of course, upon individual capabilities.

At the Phase Five meeting the practitioner should, as the first order of business, examine the food diary for errors and shortcomings, if any. Improvement in condition should be noted in the client's record.

The 36-hour fast may now be introduced and the client instructed to proceed with this longer fast once during this phase, as follows:

Day One - Eat breakfast, luncheon, and the evening meal.
Day Two - Nothing is to be eaten on this day. Distilled water may be used as required to quench thirst.
Day Three - The client now eats a breakfast which consists of a single fruit, preferably a subacid fruit as, for example, two or three peaches or pears. Luncheon - a fruit salad consisting of either subacid, acid or sweet fruits. Dinner - a vegetable salad with nuts, if desired.

All other previous suggestions are to be incorporated in the client's regimen for the next four weeks with steady reductions being made in all remaining harmful practices. For example, all meat eating should now be discontinued with cottage cheese, sunflower seeds, or nuts used as substitutes. The use of cottage cheese should be restricted to no more than one meal per week. (Cottage cheese is not a good food and therefore the client is best persuaded to eat nuts or seeds.)

All coffee and tea should now be totally eliminated with no beverages permitted during or immediately after the meal. Distilled water may be taken 15 to 30 minutes prior to a meal but only if required to quench thirst. The client should have noted by this time a lessening of need for liquids.

A food and exercise diary should again be kept and the client should be advised to return, this time, in six weeks.

6.1.6 Phase Six

The client's diary should be reviewed. A visual examination may be made and improvements noted. The assessment of condition should be made cooperatively by both the client and the practitioner. All improvements should be emphasized and, if not known to the client, they should be pointed out to him. Small changes for the better may not be noted by the client on a day-by-day basis but they will be observed by the practitioner at the end of extended intervals. A six-week interval may possibly have greatly enhanced the client's condition. All improvements should, of course, be duly recorded in the client's file.

Phase Six is often graduation time! The fruitarian diet should now be introduced. A complete set of suggested menus for a period to encompass at least three weeks should be presented to the client. All cooked food should now be eliminated with a 100% raw food diet adopted.

When possible, the exercise regimen should be expanded to include aerobic, stretching, and flexibility and resistance exercises. We test clients on various weights, starting with five pounds, and suggest that he either purchase whatever weight is most suitable for his present capacity or that he enroll in a physical fitness gym program. We often present clients with a typed list of possible exercises or ask him to purchase a suitable book on exercises.

The weekly 24-hour fast is to be continued with two 36-hour lasts also undertaken in place of two 24-hour fasts as, for example:

Week One - 24-hour fast starting Friday evening after dinner.
Week Two - A 36-hour fast starting after dinner on Friday night and continuing until Sunday morning breakfast.
Week Three - A 24-hour fast as above in Week One.
Week Four - A 24-hour fast.
Week Five - A 36-hour fast as in Week Two.
Week Six - A 24-hour fast.

Most clients will respond favorably to the above regimen. If not, they are requested to return in four weeks having had three 24-hour fasts and ONE 36-hour fast. Most will give their new way of eating and exercising and perhaps the whole fasting schedule a fair trial. If not, then they must continue with Phase Five for another four weeks.

Phase Six should extend for a period of six weeks at which time the condition and response of the client must be carefully evaluated. If all has gone well and if the client has made a satisfactory adjustment to his new way of life, both emotionally and physically, then he should at the discretion of the practitioner, be advised to continue his program as before and to return in three months. When clients feel comfortable on the fruitarian diet, we then have them "check in" with us at three-month intervals, at which time a record of progress, any shortcomings, regressions, symptoms, etc., are recorded.

We find it interesting that many will have fasted for five to seven days. A few will have gone on a prolonged fast at a spa. Some will feel they have made so much progress that they no longer require your services and elect to try to proceed on their own. To others, the practitioner assumes the father or mother role and the regular visit becomes an anchor to hold on to. Regardless, all clients are encouraged to attend lectures, classes, parties, especially potlucks so that they can be reinforced in their new way of life by meeting with other persons of like interest.

We have made no mention other than in passing of the taking of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs, or of vitamin and mineral supplements. These have all been well discussed in other lessons. However, we constantly encourage our clients to discontinue the use of all drugs. By the time a client adopts the fruitarian diet, he has usually come to understand that he is now receiving hundreds of times more nutrients than formerly. He will also be witnessing in his improved condition the fruits of natural living and eating and will, of himself, realize that he has no further need of chemical crutches. In fact, most will be completely convinced1 of the merits of their new way of life and Will willingly and enthusiastically refer their relatives and friends to you because you are now "their doctor!"

6.2 Case Study—Marie

Marie, a woman aged 39 at her first visit, was troubled with severe itching of the scalp. A rash covered the surface and extended behind the ears and, down the back of the neck and across both shoulders. This condition existed for some time. Numerous prescribed products had been applied with no lessening of symptoms; in fact, they seemed to worsen.

Because of an allied condition (multiple sclerosis), and also for other reasons, it was thought best to put Marie on the Extended Detoxification Plan. It was followed pretty much as detailed in this lesson. No medications were prescribed but Marie was instructed to rinse her hair and scalp with tepid water several times a day and to begin exercising with the assistance of her husband. In this early stage, Marie had a tendency to fall easily.

Marie adapted to the simple changes. A year has passed. The scalp has cleared as have the neck and upper back. She has had other remarkable improvements. She no longer has a tendency to fall. Her hair is much more luxurious. Her energy flow is so great that she now cares for her family and does all her own housework where she once had difficulty crawling out of bed in the morning. She goes every other day now to the spa for a workout. Marie has no doubts that she will eventually recover totally from the multiple sclerosis. It is interesting that from this one success we have had at least 10 other clients referred to us. Throughout the whole year Marie experienced no undue healing crises that might have discouraged her from continuing on with her new way of living. She is now a fruitarian.

The one outstanding drawback to using the Extended Detoxification Plan, that of discouragement because of slow improvement, has been previously pointed out by Mike Benton in Lesson 21. However, we have often found it a useful procedure and especially so with the elderly, the neurotic and in cases where finances prove to be a major consideration. To illustrate:

6.3 Case Study—Ellen

Ellen's story illustrates how it is sometimes advisable to combine techniques when working with certain clients. Ellen was much concerned about the possibility of her becoming completely bald. At only 42, her hair was very skimpy and just seemed to hang lifeless on her head—what there was of it! There were other problems, too, such as a tendency to sweat profusely. During the night, she had to get up at least once to change her night, clothes and often, too, the bedding. She had lumps behind both knees which made walking difficult.

There were other problems too which told us that Ellen's body was saturated with toxic debris. It was obvious that Ellen should be referred to a Hygienic institution at once for fasting but we soon realized that this was impossible. In the first place, Ellen was the neurotic type, high-strung and nervous; and, in the second place, she had spent so much money on medical treatments, on drugs, and all manner of vitamin and mineral supplements, as well as on various kinds of "courses" to, as she phrased it, "get her head on straight," that she just couldn't afford to spend any more money.

So, for a whole year, we resorted to the Extended Detoxification Plan. Gradually, we, introduced Ellen to Hygienic principles and, little by little, she improved both her eating and her living habits. It wasn't long before she was fasting one day a week and soon as long as three days at a time. Her improvement, while not dramatic, was steady. She became less jumpy for one thing and gradually the night sweating lessened and finally became a matter of history.

Then, the time came when Ellen was ready both financially and mentally to go for a prolonged fast. The first time she fasted for 14 days and then spent another 10 days recuperating. She lost considerable weight and had a difficult time during this first fast, experiencing stomach cramps, chills, nausea, and extreme weakness. In six months, however, she again repaired to an institution and fasted for a similar period. This time, she did not lose so much weight and experienced no unpleasant symptoms other than a coated tongue, bad breath, and a few minor chills.

After three years Ellen has greatly improved. Her hair is much thicker and has luster and sheen to it. Her complexion is beautiful. The lumps behind her knees have long since gone. She is still somewhat neurotic but even this condition has improved. Ellen still checks in about every three months for counseling and is proud of the fact that she has made a new life for herself. She still has her own very private goal: to become the perfect woman, one sound in body and in mind. With her determination, we are sure she will make it.