Quagga,

Herbert M Shelton is often quoted by todays adherents of Natural Hygiene and the fast, because he was the most experienced fasting supervisor of them all, after supervising 50,000 plus fasts in all states of disease and ill health.
He was not a licensed Doctor as in the Mainstream sense, or even wanted any connection with being a licensed Allopath, because he was not in agreement with the drug-based and surgery orientated approach in the treatment of disease (as curezone isn't today).

However, he had a long list of accredited health qualifications from health education schools, before the advent of the "Flexner Report" of 1910, which virtually abolished any health practice or modality that did not conform to the Allopathic drug/surgery model of disease treatment in the United States.
Dr H M Shelton D.P., N.D., D.C., D.N.T., D.N.Sc., D.N.Ph., D.N. Litt., Ph. D., D. Orthp.

QUOTE...........

"The link/conspiracy of Rockefeller and Carnegie and the monopoly of the drug cartel, dates back to the "Flexner Report" of 1910.
Flexner was John D. Rockefeller's "stool pigeon" in setting up the takeover of the entire medical school industry by Carnegie Foundation, which was a Rockefeller Foundation subsidiary at that time.......When you say "Carnegie Foundation", you're talking about something that has no substance. It's entirely under the domination of the Rockefellers. .................He (Abraham Flexner) did "The Flexner Report", and this changed the medical schools of the United States from homeopathic, naturopathic medicine, to allopathic medicine -- which was a German school of medicine which depended on the heavy use of drugs, radical surgery, and long hospital stays. That's what we've got today, allopathic medicine."---Eustace Mullins.
http://www.whale.to/b/flexner_report.html


Yes, rather ironic that Dr Shelton could not cure his own case of what was actually "Parkinsons Disease" towards the latter end of his life, and there are two reasons for this, and as told by Dr Joel Fuhrman MD.
His diet was deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids (a naive mistake in the Hygiene diet) and in particular with a DHA deficiency; this coupled with a decades-long workload that would have killed a horse, and all for the sake of "the cause" of spreading the health-message of Natural Hygiene.
In other words, he din't practice what he preached and bore the consequences through overwork and a DHA deficiency, both of which destroyed his myelin sheath resulting in Parkinsons. By the time he knew what was wrong the pathology had become irreversible (or so he thought) and his health gradually deteriorated thereafter.

We should also bear in mind that in the 1920's, Dr Shelton single-handedly collated the works of all the therapeutic fasting pioneers dating from the early to mid to late 1800's, into one prolific volume entitled: "Human Life its Philosophy and Laws" and originally printed in 1928.

Sheltons contribution to our knowledge of the fast and the fasting process then is unparalleled and without equal, and the reason many of us still quote his own experience in disease states along with that of Dr Virginia Vetrano, his aide at his own Health School in San Antonio Texas.
We should also bear in mind that Shelton would also quote from and educate people in his books from the vast experience of other Doctors of Hygiene, and who to were experienced with the fast, including: Dr George Weger MD, Dr Russell Thacker Trall MD, Dr Isaac Jennings MD, Dr J H Tilden MD, Hereward Carrington PhD, Dr Stanley Bass MD and many many others.

Shelton was not infallible of course, (is anyone?) but the guidance he offered to his readers via his books and the voluminous series he wrote on Orthopathy, not to mention the seven volumes he wrote entitled "The Hygienic System" stand as monuments to one of the greatest health pioneers of the 20th Century.

QUOTE..........
"Dr. Shelton represents one of the world's greatest authorities in "Natural Hygiene", a philosophy and method of living according to the laws of life and Nature's plan for men's highest health and happiness, compiled from 175 years of experience of some of the most brilliant medical doctors and teachers. He was also the foremost authority on the use of fasting in the treatment of diseases, in which he supervised approximately 50,000 cases"...............
Dr Stanley S. Bass N.D. D.C. Ph.C., Ph.D., D.O., D.Sc., D.D.
in The Life Science, 2005

Chrisb1.

Quote: "Some of the responses I read sometimes quoting Shelton with little comprehension of who they are recommending these ‘facts’ to makes me cringed. I feel the fasting community in general is ego fueled and I rarely feel that the main participants are being thoughtful about their advice."

It happens on the fasting forum, and also on some other forums on curezone.

Some (not all) people push certain treatments, when they have only a shallow understanding of what they are talking about.

Warnings, precautions and contraindications are often not mentioned.

They don't seem to care if someone is hurt as a result of following their advice.

Some people feel "important" in curezone, when they don't feel important in the real world.

Some people will be agreeable with things others say, when they don't really agree, because if they support the other person, the other person should support them. The gang is involved in mutual empowerment.

When anyone expresses a different opinion, several members of the gang turn hostile towards them. So the gang will maintain its position of power.

This stamps out free speech, and people expressing different opinions.

Many of the people who would give good advice have been driven away.

This has really dragged down the standard on curezone.

It is really hard to change now, as the people who would raise the standard, often get a hostile reception.

You can still find some good advice on curezone, amongst all of the other stuff. But you need to search for it.

People need to be aware, if they follow the advice of some (not all) people on curezone, and have bad effects, don't expect those giving the advice to feel responsible.

I know this is an old thread, but I want to resurrect it because the sentiment expressed by the OP is timeless. I agree that Shelton is greatly overrated and the reason for this is simple: there is no serious literature on fasting and people are forced to make do with what's available.

To start, many an advise given by Shelton is plain wrong and the reason is simple: he never fasted himself (it appears he may have done a short, few-days fast in the beginning, when he was familiarizing himself with the method, but after that he had not fasted a day in his life). Shelton believed fasting was for sick people, and he did not include himself among the sick. His preferred method of maintaining health was his diet.

The most blatantly wrong of Shelton's advice is obligatory bed rest and lack of cleansing procedures such as enemas. Even Bragg, who practiced fasting himself, knew the importance of physical activity during a fast. Bragg did not like enemas either (no-one does lol but you gotta do what you gotta do) -- and he got away by doing only short, 7 to 10-day fasts.

I believe that Shelton confined his clients to bed for the simple reason: this was convenient _for_him_ -- he did not have to provide nice grounds, where his clients could stroll during a day, nor the facilities and personnel to administer enemas and such. Nowadays there is no successful fasting clinic without a place to take a walk, gym, sauna, massage, colonics, etc. These are the things that greatly facilitate a fast. If only Shelton practiced fasting himself, he would have known this. Instead, he followed his reasoning when deciding how a fast should be conducted.

Regarding inactivity, it is a well-known fact that people confined to bed rest (due to illness) loose both muscle and bone -- WHILE EATING their full! This is simply due to inactivity and lack of physical stress on the bones. Imagine how much worse these losses must be when one is also fasting!

I could go on and on about Shelton's blunders, or Bragg's distilled water for that matter, but the time is short. The worst of their (and others) "contributions" could not be helped, for the simple reason that not much was known about the metabolism of fasting in their time. That knowledge began in the late 1960s with Cahill and Owen. Alas, the scientists called fasting starvation, a scary word for most. They did not write popular books but dry scientific reports that always lacked the most important piece of info any would-be faster craves -- and that is how people feel, what they experience during various stages of a fast and what results they obtain after.. (was it worth it?)

It is true that there is no good literature on fasting and until this void is filled, people will continue to cite Shelton and Bragg & Co. But the info is out there, on pubmed, though one has to read hundreds of papers for the past 50+ years to get a coherent picture. I've done that and so can you :)