About

Jesse Mercer Gehman, born on January 17th, 1901, in Elverson, Pennsylvania, was the son of Samuel Kurtz Gehman and Rachel Lilley Gehman.

Growing up in Reading, Pennsylvania, Gehman excelled in sports, with a particular talent for swimming. His athletic prowess during high school laid the foundation for his lifelong commitment to physical fitness and the broader Physical Culture movement.

In his early twenties, Gehman settled just outside New York, where he pursued a career as a model. During this time, he also competed professionally in boxing and wrestling under the alias “Jim Mercer,” further honing his athletic abilities and deepening his connection to the physical culture movement.

In 1925, Gehman graduated from the American College of Naturopathy and Chiropractic, earning degrees in nutrition (DCN), naturopathy (ND), and chiropractic (CD). He married Anna Pauline Stone shortly after graduation in Manhattan, New York, on January 17th. The couple relocated to Paterson, New Jersey, where they had two children. However, their marriage eventually ended in divorce.

In 1935, Gehman married Agnes Stone, and the couple moved to a farm in Duncannon, Pennsylvania. There, they founded the Natural Living Foundation, a health spa and natural healing center dedicated to promoting wellness through naturopathy, nutrition, and holistic practices. The foundation became a hub for those seeking a healthier lifestyle rooted in natural healing principles.

In 1948, a remarkable coalition formed when Dr. Gehman joined forces with attorney Irving Davidson and distinguished doctors Herbert Shelton, William Esser, Gerald Benesh, and Christopher Gian-Cursio, along with film producer Jack Dunn Trop and publicist Symon Gould, to establish the American Natural Hygiene Society.

Throughout his distinguished career, Gehman achieved numerous significant milestones. In 1949, he served as Chairman of the First American Vegetarian Convention in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and was elected its first president. His influence extended globally when he became Vice President of the International Vegetarian Union, a position he held from 1960 to 1976. Gehman also succeeded Benedict Lust as President of the American Naturopathic Association, further solidifying his leadership in the naturopathic community.

A passionate advocate for physical culture and wellness, Gehman contributed to the publication world as an associate editor for Bernarr Macfadden’s Physical Culture magazine, where he shared his insights on health and fitness. Between the 1930s and 1950s, he also played a key role as Secretary of the Citizens Medical Reference Bureau, helping to bridge the gap between conventional medicine and natural healing practices.

In addition to his individual contributions, Gehman co-founded The Natural Healing Foundation International with his close friend Vincent Collura. Their vision was to create a supportive platform for those seeking alternative healing paths, empowering individuals to take control of their health and well-being through natural methods.

Dr. Gehman worked closely with Bernarr Macfadden, serving in various roles as a confidential secretary, recreational aide, and assistant editor for Physical Culture magazine. His dedication and expertise eventually led him to the position of editor, where he played a key role in shaping the magazine’s influential content on health, fitness, and natural living.

In addition to his work with Physical Culture, Gehman became the director of the Loomis Sanitarium in Liberty, New York, a facility operated by the Macfadden Foundation. There, he helped further Bernarr Macfadden’s vision of promoting health through natural therapies, nutrition, and physical fitness, continuing his lifelong commitment to wellness and holistic healing.

Gehman was a passionate proponent of a lifestyle centered around clean living, regular exercise, fasting, and a vegetarian diet as powerful tools for both preventing and treating cancer. He firmly believed that the key to curing cancer was embracing a simple, natural way of life, with physical culture as the cornerstone of health and healing. According to Gehman, these holistic practices supported the body’s innate ability to heal and restore balance and vitality, offering an alternative to conventional medical treatments. His approach emphasized the importance of nurturing the body naturally, empowering individuals to take control of their health and well-being.

Gehman was a vocal critic of vaccinations and held a profound skepticism about their efficacy, as well as the established concepts of inoculation, contagion, and infection. He rejected conventional medical practices, favoring what he believed were more reliable and beneficial natural health approaches. Rooted in these convictions, he not only opposed vaccines but also campaigned fervently against medical interventions in general, advocating instead for a return to alternative healing methods grounded in nature.

Dr. Jesse Mercer Gehman passed away on March 14, 1976, at the age of 75. A pioneering figure in the health field, he was a trailblazer in exploring the connection between diet and overall well-being. Gehman authored numerous influential books and publications, and his work was featured in America’s Fifty Best Good Books, a compilation by the Christian Science Monitor. He received widespread recognition for his contributions to health and physical fitness, becoming a sought-after lecturer at natural health organizations. In 1975, he was honored by the International Vegetarian Union for his steadfast advocacy of vegetarianism and his efforts to promote plant-based living as a cornerstone of health.

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Thoughts on Disease

Quote:
Many doctors of schools other than the orthodox medical look upon the nature of disease with some understanding mingled with fear and superstition, and too frequently, the latter factors are more significant in the mind of the doctor than the former.  In this frame of mind, it is little wonder then that we find confusion in interpreting the totality of causes and a similar confusion in the totality of getting at and removing or altering the cause to bring about a change for the better in the patient. But the question involved in caring for the sick is not merely one of doing the least possible harm, which is commendable, of course, but rather of accomplishing the greatest amount of good, and in the accomplishment of said good, it must be attended by the minimum amount of expenditure o/ vital energy.  That person, be he lay person, or doctor who has reached the point where he can look upon disease in its true light has indeed grappled to himself a fundamental truth which transcends all others in therapy, or in the preservation of health or the acquisition of it when lost. 

The first principle necessary to attain health is a sound knowledge of the nature of unhealth, or perhaps more explicitly, the nature of disease. This, known by both patient and doctor and mutually understood by them, is the necessary keystone upon which to base all efforts at correction and readjustment. Obstruction of the course of disease is possible by simple, natural measures, if not properly adjusted, even as with medica ments, though the possible harm of the former, is relatively in significant compared to the latter.  The problem of changing the soil of the human body so that it will support a state of unaltered health rather than being obliged to support a state of altered health or “disease” is one requiring not only the understanding of the doctor but also the understanding and cooperation of the patient as well. 

Unless there is this cooperative spirit between doctor and patient, the altered state of health we call disease will continue as a purposeful and needful condition to maintain such vital integrity as is necessary to sustain life.  To know the nature of disease is to be armed with invaluable knowledge. One so armed can never shift the responsibility of disease to causes other than the true one. If he becomes sufficiently ill, he may be persuaded to not only accept the responsibility but to set about to correct the manner of living which produced his difficulty, providing the desire to be well is sufficiently strong to guarantee personal effort and self-help.

By Dr. Jesse Mercer Gehman – Extracted from Nature of Disease
From the Journal of Natural Hygiene – Nov 1956

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The NHA wishes to remind the readers that nothing in this or other publications is intended to constitute medical treatment or advice. Readers should be aware that some previous publications do not reflect the NHA’s current health teachings or approach to health in several areas.

Our Mission

The mission of the National Health Association is to educate and empower individuals to understand that health results from healthy living. We recognize the integration of all aspects of health: personal, environmental, and social.

We communicate the benefits of a plant-based diet, exercise and rest, a healthy environment, psychological well-being, and when indicated, the use of fasting.