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Herbert M Shelton

Born in Texas. Grew up on a farm. Studied Nature Cure and chiropractic. Became a doctor of naturopathy and a health educator. Supervised more than 30,000 fasts between 1925 and 1970. Published "Dr. Shelton's Hygienic Review." Wrote more than forty books. Operated a health school in San Antonio, Texas. Promoted Natural Hygiene. Much persecuted for his outspoken denunciation of orthodox medicine. Died in Texas.


“Healing is a biological process, not an art. It is as much a function of the living organism as respiration, digestion, circulation, excretion, cell proliferation, or nerve activity. It is a ceaseless process, as constant as the turning of the earth on its axis. Man can neither duplicate nor imitate nor provide a substitute for the process. All schools of healing are frauds.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“Health and disease are the same thing—vital action intended to preserve, maintain, and protect the body. There is no more reason for treating disease than there is for treating health.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“If you desire truly to live you will cease trying to find magic tricks and short-cuts to life and learn the simple laws of being, and order your life in conformity with these. Realign your life with the laws of nature—this and this alone constitutes living to live.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“You don't need treatment. The fever, inflammation, coughing, etc., constitute the healing process. Just get out of their way and permit them to complete their work. Don't try to 'aid' nature. She doesn't need your puny aid—she only asks that you cease interfering.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“Cutting out bad habits is far more effective than cutting out organs.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“You are free to choose your own way of life, but you are not free to choose the results. ”
Herbert M Shelton
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“There are many things to resist, but disease is not one of them.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“The so-called symptoms of disease are manifestations of an inherent principle of the organism to restore healthy function and to resist offending agents and influences.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“It is always a much easier task to educate uneducated people than to re-educate the mis-educated.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“Surgeons can cut out everything except cause.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“Life should be built on the conservation of energy.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“Moderation is the only rule of a healthful life. This means moderation in all things wholesome.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“The skin is an integral part of the body and depends upon the general system for its supply of food and to carry away its waste. Skin health depends primarily upon the general health of the body. All attempts to deal with the skin as an independent entity, without due regard to its reliance upon the general system, must of necessity result in failure. The skin is nourished by the blood and there is no other source from which it can draw sustenance. "Skin foods" are all frauds. These are composed chiefly of grease. No fat can be assimilated by the skin or other tissues of the body until it has first been broken down into its constituent fatty acids in the process of digestion. Even were this not true, the skin contains very little fat and these "skin foods" would still not constitute proper nourishment for it. Blood is the only skin food.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“General Motors, General Mills, General Foods, general ignorance, general apathy, and general cussedness elect presidents and Congressmen and maintain them in power.”
Herbert M Shelton
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“Most of our so-called thinking processes are devoted to finding excuses for going on believing as we already do. ”
Herbert M Shelton
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