Campy Yet Credible: Responsible Eating with Dr. Jensen, '50s Food Sage

"You took years getting into [sick] shape:

  it will take you months to get back to robust health."

-- Bernard Jensen D.C., N.D. (page 48)

Greetings readers!  To salute the one-month anniversary of this blog, and to participate in the sly whimsy traditional to this first day of April, I have uploaded a handful of pages from Vital Foods For Total Health by Bernard Jensen, mid-century nutritionist, guru, crusader, and all-around authority on improving one's well-being through holistic approaches.  These excerpts are taken from the 9th printing, published in 1956.  (The original was six years prior.)  I was actually surprised that much of the advice fits with today's understanding of healthful eating, considering the rash of fad diets and vacillating claims we have witnessed since that initial printing some six decades back.  For instance, to lose weight, Jensen recommends a strategy that Atkins made part of the common vernacular back in the early part of the new century:  cut-out carbs.  I particularly appreciate his advice for putting on pounds, which is to stay physically active and contented.  "Exercising in the open air is a necessity in gaining weight," he claimed.  "All trouble, cares and worries must be forgotten.  Picture yourself as the fat, jovial, 'happy-go-lucky' fellow that you would like to be."  The book is abounding with quaint, while wise, recommendations.  His prescription for anemia, for instance, is "quiet deep breathing, proper diet, mountain air, pleasant companions, and release from all emotional strain" (page 152).  I can only postulate how Jensen would react to today's spread of genetically-modified crops; it would likely mirror the horror expressed on sites such as Healing Naturally by Bee, where sugar is a "poison", microwaving "kills" vitamins, and the Agribusiness is responsible for the expanding epidemic of nutrient-devoid, chemically-laced and processed options.  I personally agree with and believe in what is said by both sources, even if I do not strictly adhere to their warnings.  Given the global pervasiveness of cancers, obesity, malnutrition, eating disorders, dementia, and disturbing developmental handicaps, it wouldn't hurt for us all to take into consideration Dr. Jensen's unembellished, time-tested words of counsel.  His tome, by the way, was dedicated "to the American Housewife", and was intended as a practical resource for easy application.  Absolutely anyone, he insisted, has "the power to build and maintain a healthy family."  So why not share his robust declarations and optimistic measurements?  I'm not kidding here -- your body will thank you for the favor.