Hello Andreas,

I just finished reading your large "Timeless Secrets" book. It contains many good ideas and covers a lot of territory! I have several questions and comments. I'll start with the questions:

1. On page 45 you wrote, "please see Some Published Articles By Andreas Moritz at the end of the book." I could not find that section.

2. If a person is only able to maintain a consistent, healthy sleep time with soporific drugs, is it better to take the drugs or to sleep irregularly?

3. How does one identify the dosha of a child? Is a child's dosha always the same as its parents?

4. Since baby formula is bad, what should an adopted baby be fed?

5. How do you explain the fact that some people who have been chronically ill have completely recovered their health without adopting a vegetarian, ayurvedic lifestyle, nor have they done liver or kidney cleanses, nor anything else you recommend?

6. What is your opinion of ayurvedic medicine as practiced by associates of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi?

7. On page 80 you wrote that being overweight indicates that the body is malnourished, and that the assimilation and metabolism of nutrients is insufficient. What is your interpretation of being underweight?

8. If the symptoms of disease have obscured or altered one's dosha, what should one eat?

9. Is there any health advantage to going to bed before 9pm and arising before 6am?

10. Why is it so much easier to deal with jet lag when flying west than when flying east? Is there any way to make both adjustments easy?

11. Is the drinking of one's own urine an ayurvedic practice?

12. What is your opinion of the afternoon nap (siesta) taken by some Hispanic cultures?

13. How is it known which foods are appropriate for each body type? Is it merely tradition, or is there a scientific rationale? What about foods that are not native to India?

14. Is your blood in fact type O?

15. Some foods are missing from your dosha lists. Where can I find an exhaustive list?

16. Is it possible that ayurvedic principles work well for those of Indian ancestry, but not for other races, cultures and ethnic groups?

17. What is your opinion of the macrobiotic diet?

18. What is your opinion of the organic soy yogurt sold in health food stores?

19. On page 406 you wrote, "If regularly consumed, milk can leave an increasingly hardening and almost impermeable coating on the inside of the intestinal membranes." How does one remove that coating?

20. On page 435 you wrote, "If you complain to your doctor about not having an appetite, he can prescribe you a pill that can increase it for you." What pill is that?

And now for my comments:

1. I was saddened to read that your father died of a perforated gastric ulcer. My mother also suffered that condition as a result of ingesting NSAIDS, but it was caught early enough that she survived.

2. I was surprised when, on page 66, you compared putrescine to butyric acid. Butyrate is sold as a nutritional supplement!

3. On page 157 you claimed that 1961 was a time when medical institutions were still unbiased and could be trusted. You've got to be kidding! You mean the same institutions that recommended smoking to "soothe" a scratchy throat?

4. On page 248 you wrote that ultraviolet light lowers resting heart rate and improves cardiac output. Since cardiac output is directly proportional to heart rate, your claims are contradictory.

5. On page 425 you claimed that seeds will not germinate in microwaved water. That claim is demonstrably false - I have personally sprouted tomato seeds in water that was boiled in a microwave oven. It's certainly plausible that, as you wrote on page 426, 9 out of 10 American homes primarily use the microwave for cooking, but only about 3 out of 10 Americans suffer a chronic disease of any kind.

6. Your claim on page 439 that the sale of Plaquenil is prohibited in the US is false.

7. I don't know whether a vegetarian diet is healthier for people in general or for me in particular, but I do know that there are plenty of sick people who have been vegetarians all of their lives, as well as plenty of healthy people who eat animal protein.

8. The authors of "Mental Birth Control" are Mildred Jackson and Terri Teague, not Terry League and Milder Jackson.

9. What I most strongly disagree with is your psychological analysis of those who are unfortunate enough to fall ill. I hardly know where to begin to refute your psychobabble, but here is my attempt:

A. On page 237 you wrote, "Avoid making physical wellness to be your goal in life." Would you also advise a starving person to avoid making food his goal in life? How is it possible to suffer from a disease, yet not desire to be well? You may as well advise sick people not to read your book! What was your goal when you were having gall bladder attacks?

B. It was plain stupid and contradictory on page 19 to write, "You are easygoing and relaxed." By definition, disease means "dis-ease" and cannot coexist with being easygoing. Furthermore, being relaxed contradicts your description on page 11: "When there is no more energy left to function normally, then one becomes nervous or begins to panic." Depletion of energy is characteristic of a wide variety of diseases.

C. On page 19, you talk about self-esteem. Here is a logical construction that should make it clear to you how self-esteem cannot coexist with disease:
Premise 1: One has a disease, which means one's self is suffering.
Premise 2: One has self-esteem.
Conclusion: One therefore esteems suffering.
The conclusion is, of course, absurd. It is absurd precisely because disease and self-esteem are incompatible.

D. I think it has been so long since you were sick that you have forgotten what the experience is like. If you were more personally acquainted with suffering, you could not possibly have written on page 18, "You lack enthusiasm and self esteem and your outlook on life is rather dismal. You get angry without even having a specific reason." If being oppressed and tortured with a chronic disease (and consequently being deprived of the pleasures of moving, eating, breathing, career, relationships, etc.) is not reason to be angry and sad, I don't know what is!

E. On page 20, you wrote, "...the original cause of almost every illness, that is, feeling inadequate, unworthy or powerless." Clearly, you are reversing cause and effect. Illness, particularly chronic illness, causes one to feel powerless, causes others to feel that you are unworthy (of love, money, attention, respect, etc.) and causes disability which is certainly a kind of inadequacy. You do seem to properly recognize cause and effect with regard to infection - why is it so hard for you to recognize cause and effect with regard to psychology?

F. On page 54 you wrote, "People are choosing not to let go of unhealthy habits or a detrimental lifestyle." Talk about sanctimony! I am afraid the issue is not so simple. I can assure you that if you would guarantee that adopting the habits and lifestyle you advocate will restore health, NO seriously ill person would choose otherwise. Unfortunately, you are not confident enough to offer such a guarantee. Moreover, the diet and ideal daily routine you propose is so difficult, expensive and time-consuming that I doubt it could be implemented by healthy persons, much less anyone who is seriously ill.

G. It is a tautological truism on page 74 when you wrote, "Is it at all surprising that medical intervention is not very successful in the treatment of chronic diseases?" Obviously, if medical intervention were successful, diseases would not become chronic!

Andreas, I hope my criticisms have not been too harsh. I believe you mean well, and I apologize if I've written anything that has hurt your feelings.

Tim