Instinctive nutrition

221 Pages·1987·1.711 MB·English

by  Schaeffer, Severen L

Scanned by Rawtimes.com
Scanned by Rawtimes.com
INSTINCTIVE
NUTRITION
Severen L. Schaeffer
Art
CELESTIAL
Berkeley, California
Copyright 1987 Severen L. Schaeffer. All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief
reviews, without the written permission of the publisher.
CELESTIAL ARTS
P.O. Box 7327
Berkeley, California 94707
Cover photo by Ben Aisles
Cover design by Ken Scott
Text design by Paul Reed
Typography by HMS Typography, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schaeffer, Severen L.
Instinctive nutrition.
Includes Index.
1. Diet therapy. I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Food Habits—
popular works. 2. Health. 3. Instinct—popular works.
4. Nutrition—popular works. QU 145 S294i1
RM216.S356 1988 615.8'54 87-18248
ISBN 0-89087-502-2
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Printing, 1987
1 2 3 4 5 — 91 90 89 88 87
Reader
Please Note
The recommendations in this book are not intended as medical
advice. Before undertaking instinctive nutrition, particularly if
you are under medical supervision or are taking medication for
a specific physical problem, you are advised to consult with your
physician.
If you decide to take up eating by instinct and find it isn't
working for you, then stop. The intent of this book is to point
out things you may do, not things you must do. The book ex-
plains that food can constitute a potent therapeutic tool in many
cases, but this should not be construed as an incitement to aban-
don medical treatment. Particularly with respect to medical drugs,
before making any changes, consult with the physician who
prescribed them.
It must be understood that a book cannot substitute for the
personal guidance and supervision that are often necessary to
help a beginner recognize toxin-laden food and properly select
food for maximum effectiveness. For this reason, although the
author has made every effort to provide clear practical guidelines,
he cannot assume responsibility for any interpretation and use
the reader may make of them. If you use the methods explained
here, you should clearly understand that you are doing so at your
own risk.
— Severen L. Schaeffer
Contents
I. FOREWORD, by Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D. ix
II.PREFACE xi
PART I: THE HUMAN INSTINCT FOR FOOD
INTRODUCTION 3
Chapter 1. Instinctive Nutrition: An Overview 7
Chapter 2. The Instinctive Message 17
Chapter 3. The Instinctively Balanced Diet 25
Chapter 4. What Is a "Natural" Food? 29
Chapter 5. Some Effects of Unnatural Foods 41
Chapter 6. A Question of Adaptation 49
Chapter 7. How to "Civilize" Food I:
Cooking and Chemistry 55
Chapter 8. How to "Civilize" Food II:
Non-cooking and Chemistry 63
vi
PART II: FOOD, HEALTH, AND ILLNESS
Chapter 9. How Food Produces Illness 73
Chapter 10. Symptoms that Heal 87
Chapter 11. A Black Hole in (Medical) Space 93
Chapter 12. Food for Allergies 97
Chapter 13. Food and Cancer 103
Chapter 14. Food and Auto-Immune Disease 109
Chapter 15. Food and Diabetes 115
Chapter 16. Food and the Practice of Medicine 119
Chapter 17. Food for Tension and Stress 127
PART III: DOING IT YOURSELF
Chapter 18. Another Way of Looking at Food 135
Chapter 19. Eating by Instinct 143
Chapter 20. Our Native Foods 157
Chapter 21. Animal Foods 159
Chapter 22. Fruit 169
Chapter 23. Vegetables 177
Chapter 24. Nuts & Honies 185
Chapter 25. What to Expect 191
Chapter 26. "What We Discovered" 203
Chapter 27. A Word to Professionals 207
Chapter 28. Improving Health Even with
Denatured Foods 209
For Further Information 215
Bibliographical References 217
Epilogue: Food for AIDS 221
vii
Foreword
by Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D.
In no aspect of human behavior is there greater variety, con-
troversy, and dogma than there is in the field of nutrition. For
many years, John Tobby pushed the idea of a totally raw or
uncooked diet, and yet, he died in his 70's of cancer of the pros-
tate. Anne Wigmore has also pushed a diet that is largely raw.
Nutrition varies from the average American diet, which most
intelligent people would admit is terrible, to the Macrobiotic diet,
the Pritikin diet, the Haas Eat To Win diet, and the McDougal
Plan. These latter four all have a great deal of cooked food but
are primarily five to ten percent fat and mostly complex
carbohydrate-containing diets. Proponents all make a number of
claims for their respective diets.
When I first heard from Severen Schaeffer about Anopson
nutrition and the statements that he was making about its effi-
ciency, I found it intriguing and somewhat hard to believe. For-
tunately, I had an opportunity to sponsor a workshop on
Anopson, or instinctive nutrition, therapy. My own reactions to
this way of eating were fascinating, as were those of other atten-
dees at this small workshop. I consumed huge quantities of plums
and honey among other delicacies with a variety of reactions to
ix
tell me when I was satiated. I tried to continue eating this way
and found it difficult, primarily because I could not find raw fish
or beef that I was willing to eat. I think it would be difficult to
practice the method correctly without these two foods.
Several other attendees at that workshop, however, have
stayed on it to a greater or lesser extent with remarkably encourag-
ing results. One dentist who had had severe psoriasis and
micronychia has reported marked improvement within a few
months. He had tried many other treatments without success
previously. Increased energy and sense of well-being have been
reported uniformly by those attempting the diet, most with mild
modifications.
The video tapes of individuals in France who have had the
optimal Anopson diet are as impressive as anything I have ever
seen in clinical medicine. I have certainly seen enough in those
video tapes and in the response of those individuals attending
the Anopson workshop to convince me that Instinctive Nutri-
tion deserves extensive, careful, scientific study. For those individ-
uals who have significant illnesses, I cannot think of a better and
safer approach than Anopsotherapy or Instinctive Nutrition.
— Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Shealy Pain & Health Rehabilitation Institute
Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association
Preface
Mankind's long road from darkness to light has been a pave-as-
you-go affair, subject to washouts. It is not clear which end we
stand nearer to. Periodically, bandits post signs saying "Nothing
Exists Beyond This Point" — and proceed to rob travellers who
are foolish enough to stop. But the builders are many, so the road
has many branches. Some of them wind toward nowhere, but
are so wide and well built that they appear to be direct routes.
Others do go forward, but on paths so faint and narrow they can
hardly be seen, so that no normal person with common sense
will use them. Only abnormal people with uncommon sense ven-
ture forth upon these ways.
Late in the 15th century, a Genoese navigator and opportunist
named Christopher Columbus advanced the absurd proposition
that one might reach the east by sailing west. It took him nearly
a decade to find a sponsor for such a voyage, for it was common
knowledge at the time that the world was flat, and that vessels
sailing too far from shore would fall off the edge. Although more
xi
by chance than by intent, this outrageous idea led to the discov-
ery of the New World.
Some 150 years later, an Italian mathematician, Galileo Galilei,
advanced another absurd proposition. The earth, said he, revolves
around the sun. It was absurd because everyone knew that the earth
was the center of the universe. But it was dangerous as well,
because if it was true, it was a threat to the power of the church
and other vested interests of the day. The Inquisition tried Galileo
and shut him away, but failed to repress a discovery whose time
had come.
Human beings are by nature believers. We conduct our affairs
according to whatever representations of "reality" we take to be
"facts!" We value what we "know" to be "true," and may argue
or even fight to keep our convictions intact. We are human, and
paradoxically, intelligent but not "dumb" enough to be wise. Like
monkeys, we are capable of fighting over bananas . . . unlike
monkeys who will only do so when there are some.
The story that follows leads far from the mainstream of cur-
rent belief, but must ultimately change its course. You may be
tempted to dismiss it as "merely an interesting notion;' and by
expressing your certainty that we cannot be sure of anything
(except, of course, your certainty), you can accomplish that. Then
again, you may want to take it seriously. But how to do so? If
multi-million-dollar research projects, employing thousands of
biologists, chemists, etc., in laboratories so sophisticated that a
degree is required even to understand their purpose — if these
men and women have thus far failed to find a cure for arthritis,
cancer, schizophrenia or the common cold . . . is it possible to
take seriously the suggestion that the answers are not to be found
in science at all, but rather in human "instinct"?
Hardly.
Because as usual, we are not really prepared to accept ideas
that are alien to our beliefs. If they are only slightly unorthodox
and we have kept an open mind, we may grant them some space
within our system of understanding. But suppose they are gen-
uine heresy?
xii