Excerpts From Nature The Healer

Article #4: Excerpts From “Nature—The Healer” by John T. Richter, Vera M. Richter

Excerpts from the “Biography” given to introduce the subject of the influence of eating raw foods on health in NATURE—THE HEALER written by John T. Richter and Vera M. Richter. The writer in this excerpt is Mr. Richter. Date, October, 1936.

After having lived for fifteen years largely on a cooked food diet (no meat, of course), I noticed that there was something physically wrong with me. My kidneys were not functioning properly. I seemed to lack recuperative energy. Although I did not feel ill enough to be in bed, I was constantly harassed by a “gone” feeling, lack of power to rebuild myself—in short, general lack of energy. Especially was this forced upon my attention once when I was called out into the country on a consultation. I was practicing independently at that time in Minneapolis. It was a long, hard trip—thirty miles over the prairies, and back to the city only at four in the morning. It was too late to have any real rest in bed, as I thought; therefore I simply waited around until it was time to have breakfast. Then I went to the office to get ready for business. The patients were already coming in, but I was so tired that every now and then I would find myself dozing over my work. I would shake myself, take a swallow of cold water, and rub cold water over my face. Yet in a moment or two I would again be nodding. I was nonplussed, not to say alarmed, at this lack of reserve energy. I became dizzy, too, at intervals. What was there in my system of living that was wrong? Had I not at least been eating correctly? That set me thinking.

It was not, however, until later that I became convinced it was really the food I had been eating which was at fault. This is how it came about: in a naturopathic magazine which had come to my hands, there was an article describing how a certain Dr. Lust had been invited by Dr. George Drews of Chicago to partake of an uncooked food dinner. It told of the many different varieties of food that, were served, of how delicious they were. It said something, too, about raw pie. I thought, “How curious, unbaked pie!” I remembered how mother used to make hers. But this was raw pie. The whole idea took me by surprise. How can people live on uncooked food, I wondered, just as people today ask me the very same question.

I kept thinking about it, however, and finally decided to give this new diet a trial, to see if it would bring me that unlimited reserve of energy which I so ardently desired, as well as freedom from the more obvious diseases. Dr. Drew came to Minneapolis to teach me, as well as the class I had organized for him. Gradually, my health began improving, as the result of faithful adherence, one hundred percent, to the prescribed diet. In six months such a change had been wrought in my body that it seemed logical to use the new system in my practice in order to observe how it would affect others. After a period of nine months, I realized that the nature of my bloodstream had been completely transformed. My blood, under tests, had previously shown too much acid present. Now it had become slightly alkaline, which is the normal state for one who is in first-rate health. We now know that cooked-food vegetarians, as well as meat eaters, alike suffer from too much acid in the bloodstream as a rule. Nine months had been required in my case, but many others require only from three to six months. You can well suppose that I was very happy when I found my blood was sufficiently alkaline. What a mental relief and assurance to know that I was getting better at last! As to weight, when I first began, my 145 pounds dwindled away to 123. Many of my friends told me, as yours will undoubtedly tell you, that I had better quit before starving to death. Yet, realizing that my old, worn-out body cells had to be utterly eliminated before new cellular tissue could take their place, I remained faithful to my task. All the while, of course, even though seeming to be thin, I felt much better than I ever had before, and really did not care whether the scale index went up or down. Soon I redeemed that loss—redeemed every pound and a little additional.

For many years now I have lived according to this system. I was in the late forties when I started. Today, at 84 (I was born in 1864), I am active and without disabilities of any kind. No aches or pains have plagued me for many years.