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Honorable Mentions

Individuals not often recognized as pioneers have made valuable contributions to the Hygienic Movement, yet they deserve acknowledgment.

Featured in order are Dr. Joel Shew, Dr. Lydia Folger Fowler, Dr. Edward H. Dewey, Dr. Henry S. Tanner, Dr. George H. Taylor, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Ellen G. White, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Dr. Emmett Densmore, Dr. Henry Lindlahr, Bernarr McFadden, Dr. Benedict Lust, and Dr. George Stephen Weger.

Knowledge – the Basis of Health


Quote: “The plain truth is that the more we disseminate knowledge on the subject of health, the better for all concerned. We need not be afraid that any man will learn too much. The more the public knows concerning the laws of life, the more will labors of the truly enlightened and benevolent physician be appreciated while the ignorant pretender will be compelled to seek his own place. I repeat, we have nothing to fear from knowledge, but from ignorance, everything.”

JOEL SHEW, MD.—1852
From the Journal of Natural Hygiene – Summer 1957

Dr. Joel Shew (1816 – 1855)

Dr. Joel Shew
Photo from Wikipedia

Quote

The more the public knows concerning the laws of life, the more will the labors of the truly enlightened and benevolent physician be appreciated, while the ignorant pretender will be compelled to seek his own place.
-Dr. Joel Shew
From the Natural Hygiene News – Feb/Mar 1964

Dr. Joel Shew was a pioneer in promoting hydropathy. After obtaining a medical degree, he traveled to Europe to train in Vincent Priessnitz’s System of Water Cure. Upon his return to America, Dr. Shew established a water-cure facility in Lebanon Springs, New York, and later in New York City, effectively introducing the US to the benefits of the water cure. His wife, Marie Louise Shew, was an equally dedicated hydrotherapist who worked hand in hand with her husband in this groundbreaking endeavor.

Dr. Shew was deeply influenced by Rev. Sylvester Graham’s revolutionary ideas on diet and lifestyle and passionately promoted natural hygiene practices, including regular bathing, exercise, and rejuvenating massages. He ardently advocated for the complete elimination of alcohol and tobacco. Moreover, both he and his wife wholeheartedly embraced vegetarianism, aligning with the principles of the Graham diet before they encountered the transformative concept of the water cure.

Dr. Shew did not believe the water cure was a universal solution, but he strongly believed in the rejuvenating power of hydropathy and hygienic principles. He embraced Graham’s teachings and contributed to the teachings at Dr. Russell Thacker Trall’s college, which later became known as the College of Hygeo-Therapy.

Dr. Shew was a remarkably productive writer and author, notable for founding and publishing The Water Cure Journal and Herald of Reform for four years. After its successful run, the magazine was acquired by Fowler and Wells, with Dr. Russell Thacker Trall appointed as the new editor.


STIMULATION

Quote:

All kinds of artificial stimulants do not elicit those peculiar phenomena called intoxication, but all operate injuriously upon the health-they all first excite, and finally exhaust, the nervous system. They all entail upon us the RETRIBUTE PLAGUE of numberless diseases and premature death. It is the punishment which God has awarded to the presuming pride of art, or the ABUSE of human reason. God did not create man for the purpose of getting money, nor of surrounding himself with all those multiform appliances of socalled comfort which NONE BUT THE RICH CAN PURCHASE; and to prove that be did not, he has determined that none SHALL purchase them without purchasing disease and decrepitude along with them.
Dr. Joel Shew – 1851 (from Journal of Natural Hygiene – Sept 1954)

Selected publications:


Lydia Folger Fowler (1823 – 1879) 

Lydia Folger Fowler
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Lydia Folger Fowler (1823–1879) was a pioneering physician, educator, and reformer. She became the second woman in the United States to earn a medical degree and the first woman appointed as a professor at an American medical college. She was also a lecturer, author, poet, and a passionate advocate for women’s rights and temperance.

Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Lydia began her education at local schools and later attended Wheaton Female Seminary. She married phrenologist Lorenzo Niles Fowler, with whom she had three daughters, and began a career as a lecturer and author, publishing works such as Familiar Lessons on Physiology and Familiar Lessons on Phrenology to help women teach science to children.

At age 27, Lydia entered Central Medical College in Syracuse, New York, earning her M.D. in 1850 as the only woman in her class. She was appointed Principal of the Female Department and later Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children, becoming the first female medical professor in the United States. She practiced medicine in New York City, specializing in gynecology, and later joined Dr. Russel Thacker Trall’s New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College, emphasizing hygiene, nutrition, and preventive care.

Throughout her life, Lydia combined medical expertise with social reform, lecturing on women’s health and education, participating in the Seneca Falls Convention, and advocating for temperance. After moving to London in 1863, she continued her work, serving as secretary of the British Women’s Temperance Association—a role her daughter Jessie would later assume. Lydia passed away in 1879 at age 56, leaving a legacy as a trailblazer in medicine, education, and women’s empowerment.

Selected publications:

  • Familiar Lessons on Physiology (1847, Fowler and Wells)
  • Familiar Lessons on Astronomy (1848)
  • Woman, Her Destiny and Maternal Relations; Or, Hints to the Single and Married (1864)
  • How to talk – the Tongue and the Language of Nature (1864)
  • How to Preserve the Skin and Increase Personal Beauty (1864)
  • How, When, and Where to Sleep 
  • The Brain and Nervous System: How to Secure Their Healthy Action 
  • The Eye and Ear, and How to Preserve Them 
  • How to Secure a Healthy Spine and Vigorous Muscles (1864)

Dr. Edward H. Dewey (1837 – 1904)

Dr. Edward H. Dewey
Photo from Wikipedia

Edward, in his early 20s, worked as a dispenser at a local pharmacy and had already seen the ineffectiveness of the pharmaceutical drugs available at the time. He graduated with a medical degree in 1864 and served at a large army hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before entering into private practice in 1866 in Pennsylvania.  In 1877, he witnessed a complete typhoid recovery in a patient using a water-only fast. After that, he started to apply water fasts in his practice and ceased to prescribe medications other than analgesics.

Dr. Dewey pioneered therapeutic fasting and significantly contributed to our understanding of this practice, despite not being considered a Hygienist. He advocated for people to only have two meals daily but to completely abstain from breakfast entirely. Dewey believed excessive eating was the root cause of all diseases and physiological problems. He also promoted long fasts, suggesting that abstaining from food could cure most disorders.

His books included:


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Dr. Henry S. Tanner (1831 – 1918)

Dr. Henry Tanner, on the 40th day
of completing a supervised fast.
Photo from Wikipedia

He was a highly regarded doctor known for his fasting regimen. He graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati in 1859, a prestigious homeopathic college. He adhered to a simple diet, eschewing tea, coffee, and alcohol, and refrained from using tobacco in any form. He advocated the same lifestyle for his patients, emphasizing the benefits of such habits for overall health. 

As with many of the medical doctors who embraced alternative healing, he faced severe health challenges. He once believed that fasting for ten days would only hasten his demise, as he felt that life was not worth living with these chronic issues. However, to his astonishment, his health drastically improved through fasting under the close supervision of his personal physician, Dr. A. Moyer. He extended his fast to a total of 42 days, and by the end, his asthma, stomach inflammation, rheumatism, and heart ailment had vanished. Dr. Moyer was amazed to find that, during the fasting, the doctor’s heart began beating normally for the first time in a long while.

He gained considerable notoriety through newspaper reports by Dr. Moyer. Medical professionals declared that such a fast would be impossible and questioned his truthfulness. Due to widespread doubt, especially among medical circles, Tanner offered to repeat a fast of 40 days in a supervised setting at a prominent medical college. 

In January 1880, Henry S. Tanner shocked many when he claimed to have fasted for 42 days. To silence the skeptics, he announced his intention to repeat the feat and prove that humans can survive without food. He agreed to be placed under the care of any medical society that would provide suitable housing. On June 28, 1880, Tanner embarked on a forty-day fast at Clarendon Hall in Manhattan, aiming to showcase the therapeutic benefits of abstaining from food. His remarkable story is vividly captured in the book “Forty Days Without Food!: A Biography of Henry S. Tanner, M.D., Including a Complete and Accurate History of His Wonderful Fasts,” penned by Dr. Robert A. Gunn in 1880.

After completing a 40-day fast, to everyone’s surprise, he began writing about his experience and embarked on a lecture tour advocating “starvation” as a cure for the disease. In 1908, he published the book The Human Body a Volume of Divine Revelations. 


YOU WHO SUFFER -DO NOT DESPAIR

An inspirational excerpt concerning Dr. Henry S. Tanner’s first fast in 1877, taken from an unpublished manuscript written by Dr. Tanner, M.D. early in 1900.
From the 1952 Conference Program

In my youthful days, like the bulk of humanity, I lived to eat, I often ate four, sometimes five times a day, with a luncheon between meals. I retired, often with a stomach filled to repletion, not to sleep, but to toss upon an uneasy pillow. I awakened from such periods of fitful sleep, ugly, cross, glum, cynical, worrying about this thing, and that thing, looking in all directions but the right one for the cause of my want of equilibrium, physical, mental, and moral.

My appetite was unappeasable, until at last, from constant pandering, I reached a condition called the “Jim Jams” holding the same relation to gluttony, that Delirium Tremens does to alcoholism. I found, by my daily experiences, that I had made a hell within me of no small dimensions.

As a physician, I tried every remedy known to the pharmacopoeia of the profession, but to no avail. Only temporary relief. I tried baths, massage, electricity, magnetism, etc., but with no permanent good results.

Time ran along, and articular rheumatism came to keep the liver condition company. At last I was compelled to make an “Unconditional Surrender.” I abandoned practice. Having interests in Duluth, Minn. I journeyed there. The change of climate brought about a metastasis of the disease, and the rheumatism fastened itself upon my heart.

The suffering attendant upon the Cardiac irregularity was at times of so suffocating a character that it threatened a suspension of the heart’s function. I consulted several physicians of that city, but received little encouragement, and no relief.

I sought professional aid, but with no better results. All the doctors, seven in number, told me that my heart was liable to suspend its function at any moment and to prepare myself for death. My trouble was accompanied with asthma of a very distressing character, so much so, that I could not lie down, and fitful sleep came only while sitting in a chair.

At that time in common with the profession, I entertained the fallacy that 10 days total abstinence from food, would prepare one for the undertaker. thought with fasting I would find a short cut “out of this vale of tears, and wilderness of woe.” I had made up my mind to find rest from physical suffering in the arms of death.

To my agreeable surprise I found that every day of my stomach’s absolute rest, freedom from pain came as a consequence. The fifth day came, and I was so far relieved that I could lie down for a short time and sleep. I continued to fast; every day finding myself relieved to a surprising degree.

The eleventh day came, and found me breathing normally, the equilibrium of the entire organism restored, and I felt as well as in my youthful days. On the night of the eleventh day, I retired hoping for an hour’s sleep. To my profound surprise when I awakened the sun was up and well on toward the zenith. I had slept for hours the first time in many months. On awakening I was led to exclaim in view of the wonderful relief from all my physical and mental woes; “O, death where is thy sting; O grave where is thy victory?”

I sought a physician, and asked him to give my case a critical examination. He did so, and dumbfounded at the result, he said, “Why doctor your heart is beating perfectly normal, the first time since I have known you; what have you been doing?”

I said, I had simply given my stomach an absolute rest for eleven days. The good doctor was amazed. My experience was without parallel in medical history. In great surprise he exclaimed: “Why doctor according to all authority, you ought to be at death’s door, but you certainly look better than I ever saw you before.” This talk led out to a more general discussion of the phenomena the case presented, but he could not believe the evidence of his senses.

The doctor had at the time unbounded confidence in the infallibility of authorities, and he did not take kindly to the evidence my case presented, that possibly they were fallible. He had informed himself about the biblical fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, but regarded them as fictions, because they conflicted with the deductions of science. Yet, he said: “Why doctor if you could hold out as you have done so far, I am not quite sure, that you could not equal Moses or any other of those Bible characters.” In a moment, perceiving that he was conceding more than his philosophy would warrant; he said, “But you cannot, you are at about the limit of your endurance anyway.” But I replied: “You concede that I am better than you ever saw me before, how do you reconcile the adverse statement? He replied: “Science says that 11 days is the limit of endurance and I guess science knows.”

Finding argument made no impression in his “MARBLE HEART,” I told him that I had intended to break my fast on that day, but now would not break it in order to convince him that he was in error. I told him I would continue 5 the fast under his supervision, if he were willing. He tried to convince me that I was on the verge of collapse. But I would not change my mind. I continued my fast under his supervision for another 31 days making it 42 days in all. As a result Dr. Moyer’s confidence in the infallibility of science was seriously shaken, and he no longer doubted the authenticity of the fasts of Moses, Elijah and the Nazarene.

I was completely cured, and from that day to this, nearly 30 years after the fast, I have had no return of my heart trouble, asthma, or rheumatism. My stomach has behaved normally because, I, its master have also behaved normally. Since my fast, I have used no flesh foods, and have cut down my rations considerably with the most decided beneficial results.

The remedy I would suggest for the evils growing out of the Medical Trust, is education on “The True Science of Living.” Live right, abandon flesh foods, adopt the “No Breakfast Plan” taking the first meal of the day at the noontide hour, drinking nothing at meal time, nor for at least an hour after, abandoning tea and coffee, beer, wine, and tobacco, greasy griddle cakes, mince pies, pastry of all kinds, in short eat to live, and not live to eat, and you can give the M.D.’s a furlough for life.”

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Dr. George H. Taylor (1821 – 1896)

Dr. George H. Taylor
Photo from Wikipedia

Dr. Taylor’s influential writings and lectures were instrumental in helping to establish the natural hygiene movement. As an American physician and inventor, he was closely associated with natural health and physical culture movements. Dr. Taylor’s renowned expertise in homeopathy and his introduction of Swedish massage to the United States have left a lasting impact on healthcare practices.

In 1852, he graduated from the New York Medical College and began practicing hydropathy. His dedication to understanding alternative medical practices led him to work at Dr. Russell Thacker Trall’s New York Hydropathic and Physiological School as a consulting physician until 1863. From 1854 to 1855, Taylor collaborated with hydrotherapist Dr. Joel Shew, sparking his conversion to homeopathy. Eager to broaden his expertise, he embarked on a journey to study Swedish massage at the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute under Lars Branting. Notably, Taylor’s brother, physician Charles Fayette Taylor, shared his passion for alternative medicine, and together they established a hydropathic facility.

His commanding style and logical presentation of facts regarding human physiology and anatomy profoundly propelled the care of individuals afflicted by paralysis or motion disorders. His unparalleled grasp of functional anatomy positioned him as the pioneer for those specializing in muscular development and body sculpting.

In 1884, Dr. Taylor attended the 37th session of the American Institute of Homeopathy and presented his paper on the history of therapeutics of pelvic and hernial affections. His presentation showcased his profound understanding of structural disorders and the human body’s physiological needs. Dr. Taylor emphasized that symptoms are not the causes and that a deeper understanding of diseases requires looking beyond subjective phenomena and secondary symptoms. His approach was highly regarded by doctors of other medical schools who often sought his expertise.

The Maintenance of Life

Quote:
“Life and all its results and modifications arise from an inherent competency of the materials employed to fulfill certain ends under prescribed conditions. The duties of the physician are narrowed down to the following:

First. The removal and withholding of everything incompatible with the primary process of organizing or re-producing all body parts, especially those portions implicated in disease. No other material, whether under the name of medicine or the guise of food or drink, must be permitted to invade the sanctuary of these occult operations, especially in their time of trial.

Second. The materials and agencies (food, drink, temperature, etc.) that are serviceable to these purposes must be so meted out as to subserve most perfectly the changed condition in which they are required. The grand object to be attained is an equipoise of function so that its operations can be carried on in their wanted self-regulating manner. The excitements or crises that occur in these operations are, at times, evidence of an ill adaption of circumstances or mistakes committed. Tact, discrimination, and appreciation are required on the part of the practitioner, attained only by a life dedicated to its acquirement, and of which the patient and those in health not devoted to this observation possess but little competency to judge.“

GEORGE H. TAYLOR, M.D.,—1856
From the Journal of Natural Hygiene – Summer 1957

Books he wrote:

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Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919)

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker proudly wore her
Medal of Honor until she passed.
This media file is in the public domain in the United States. 
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Mary Edwards Walker was born on November 26, 1832, in Oswego, New York, to Alvah and Vesta Walker. The Walkers raised their children with progressive values that were well ahead of their time. Their unconventional parenting fostered in Mary a strong sense of independence and justice—qualities that defined her throughout her life. At home, the family rejected traditional gender roles, sharing both farm work and household duties. From an early age, Mary worked alongside her parents and siblings on the farm. She refused to wear dresses during physical labor, finding them restrictive and impractical. Her mother supported this choice, believing that corsets and tight lacing were not only constraining but also detrimental to women’s health.

Mary Edwards Walker was born into a household that defied the conventions of its time. Her parents, Alvah and Vesta Walker, were progressive thinkers and committed Freethinkers who raised their children—both sons and daughters—with a spirit of inquiry and independence. They encouraged their family to question the rigid doctrines of organized religion and to think critically about societal norms.
The Walkers also practiced what they preached, modeling egalitarian values in their everyday lives. Vesta often took on strenuous farm labor, while Alvah shared in domestic responsibilities—an intentional rejection of traditional gender roles. From an early age, Mary worked alongside her family on the farm. She refused to wear the restrictive clothing expected of women, finding dresses impractical for manual labor. Her mother fully supported her choice, believing that corsets and tight lacing were not only confining but also detrimental to women’s health.
This unconventional upbringing instilled in Mary a fierce sense of justice, independence, and defiance of societal expectations—principles that would guide her throughout her groundbreaking life as a physician, reformer, and the only woman ever awarded the Medal of Honor.
Mary’s education began at the local school before she enrolled at Falley Seminary in Fulton, New York, an institution known for its emphasis on modern social reform, including progressive views on gender roles, education, and hygiene. During this time, she also spent considerable hours studying her father’s medical and physiology books, nurturing an early interest in science and medicine.

Mary Edwards Walker graduated with honors from Syracuse Medical College, where she was the only woman in her class. She became the second woman in the United States to earn a medical degree, breaking barriers in a field overwhelmingly dominated by men.

In 1855, Mary Edwards Walker married Albert Miller, a fellow medical student. After their marriage, the couple established a joint medical practice in Rome, New York. However, the practice struggled to attract patients, as female physicians were widely mistrusted and not taken seriously at the time. The marriage itself was also short-lived; Mary eventually divorced Miller after discovering his infidelities—a rare and bold decision for a woman in the mid-19th century.

In addition to her medical degree from Syracuse, Mary Edwards Walker earned a second Doctor of Medicine degree in 1862 from the New York Hygienic Therapeutic College, a holistic medical institution founded by Dr. Russell Thacker Trall. Seeking to broaden her approach to healing, Walker pursued this additional education to incorporate natural remedies and a greater emphasis on hygiene into her practice. Her studies at the Hygienic Therapeutic College focused primarily on preventive medicine, hygiene, and natural cures—reflecting her belief in treating the whole patient rather than just the symptoms.

When the Civil War broke out, Mary Edwards Walker volunteered to serve as a surgeon for the Union Army but was rejected solely because she was a woman. Undeterred, she offered her services as a nurse and worked on the front lines during several major battles, including the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Fredericksburg, and the Battle of Chickamauga. Her skill and determination eventually earned her official recognition: she was hired as a civilian contract surgeon by the Army of the Cumberland and later appointed assistant surgeon for the 52nd Ohio Infantry Regiment—becoming the first woman to hold such a position in the U.S. Army.

Dr. Walker was outspoken in her criticism of the widespread use of amputations during the Civil War, believing that many of these procedures were unnecessary and often avoidable. Her concern for human suffering extended well beyond the battlefield. Early in the war, she helped organize the Women’s Relief Association, which provided care and support for the growing number of homeless women and children who had come to Washington to visit soldiers stationed there. When federal resources and facilities became overwhelmed, Dr. Walker opened her own home to those in need, demonstrating her deep compassion and commitment to humanitarian service.

Toward the end of the Civil War, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was captured by Confederate forces and held briefly as a prisoner at Castle Thunder prison in Richmond, Virginia. She described her confinement as harrowing, with filthy cells infested by bed bugs, lice, and rats, and meager, moldy rations. During her imprisonment, she fell seriously ill, suffering from bronchitis, severe weight loss, and permanent damage to her eyesight. On August 12, 1864, she was released in a prisoner exchange for a Confederate surgeon.

After the war, Mary Edwards Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor in recognition of her extraordinary efforts to treat the wounded on both sides of the battlefield during the Civil War. She remains the only woman to have ever received this prestigious military honor.

Dr. Walker dedicated the remainder of her life to advocating for women’s rights, including dress reform—an issue close to her heart, as she was often arrested for wearing men’s clothing. She also campaigned vigorously for women’s suffrage, temperance, and against the harmful effects of tobacco. Remarkably, in 1881, she even ran for public office, despite the fact that women did not yet have the right to vote.

Mary Edwards Walker died at home on February 21, 1919, at the age of eighty-six. She lived to witness some of the early changes in women’s fashion, such as the adoption of shorter skirts, but passed away just one year before women won the right to vote. Dr. Walker was a colorful and often controversial figure, sharing many qualities with other pioneering hygienic physicians of the 19th century, known for challenging established norms and advocating for progressive health and social reforms.

Books She Wrote:

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Ellen G. White (1827 – 1915)

Ellen G. White
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

White was an American author and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is considered a leading figure in the history of American vegetarianism.

In the winter of 1862-1863, two of the children of James and Ellen White, then living in Battle Creek, Michigan, were stricken with pneumonia. The medical practice of the time was to shut the patient away from all outside air, especially night air, to forbid the use of water internally or externally, and to dose with heavy mineral drugs. But James White happened to see an article by Dr. James C. Jackson, giving unorthodox but sensible directions for treatment of the disease, then epidemic: no drugs, but hot baths, cooling packs, liquid foods, plenty of water drinking, ventilation, rest, and care. The therapy appealed to the parents, and instead of calling a physician, they followed the directions of Dr. Jackson, and their children recovered.

On June 6, 1863, she experienced a vision about health and disease. The vision showed her that vegetarian food, as was described in Genesis 1:29, was the proper food for humankind. 

She is the founder of many health sanitariums, the most famous of which are the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the Loma Linda Sanitarium Center.  She hired American physician John Harvey Kellogg as the director, having sponsored him to train at Dr. Russell Thacker Trall‘s Hygieo-Therapeutic College. The medical principles and practices of Dr. James C. Jackson and Dr. Russell Thacker Trall had considerable bearing upon the therapeutics of the Battle Creek institution and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 

White expounded greatly on the subjects of health, healthy eating, and a vegetarian diet. In her book Counsels on Diet & Foods, she advises on the right foods and moderation. She also warns against the use of tobacco. Her views are expressed in the writings Healthful Living and The Ministry of Healing.

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Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852 – 1943)

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

At age 12, John Harvey Kellogg was offered work by Ellen and James White, founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He became one of their protégés, eventually doing proofreading and editorial work for their journal Health, or How to Live and The Health Reformer.

He completed the medical course at Dr. Russell Thacker Trall’s – Hygieo-Therapeutic College. The objective was to develop a group of trained doctors for the Adventist-inspired Battle Creek Sanitarium.

Graduating from New York University Medical College at Bellevue Hospital in 1875, he was best known as the chief medical officer of the BattleCreek Sanitarium, which was owned and operated by the  Seventh-day Adventist Church. It served as a spa, a hydrotherapy institution, and a hospital. The guiding principles were a vegetarian diet, students abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, and a regimen of physical and breathing exercises along with sunbaths, all of which Kellogg followed.

An early proponent of the germ theory of disease, Kellogg was well ahead of his time in relating intestinal flora and the presence of bacteria in the intestines to health and disease. The sanitarium approached treatment in a holistic manner, actively promoting vegetarianism, nutrition, the use of yogurt enemas to clear “intestinal flora”, exercise, sunbathing, and hydrotherapy, as well as abstention from smoking tobacco and drinking alcoholic beverages. John and his brother Will started the Sanitas Food company to produce whole-grain cereals. 

He wrote extensively on science and health. His approach to “biological living” combined scientific knowledge with Adventist beliefs and promoted health reform and temperance. Here are a few of his well-known publications:

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Dr. Emmett Densmore, M.D. (1837 – 1911)

Dr. Emmett Densmore
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Emmet graduated from the New York University Medical College with an MD in 1885. He passionately opposed the use of drugs and strongly believed in the healing power of diet and natural hygienic measures. He fervently advocated for fasting as a treatment for illness. When tending to the acutely ill, he insisted on a complete abstinence from food, followed by a continued fast until the patient experienced a pronounced natural hunger.


As the President of the Garfield Tea Company in Brooklyn, he oversaw the production of “Garfield Tea,” a herbal blend renowned for its quality. His 110-acre ranch in Los Alamitos primarily cultivated an abundance of fruit trees. In addition to this, he held the esteemed position of President at the Barnard Densmore Company, a leading manufacturer of distilled water and preserved fruits in Los Angeles.


He passionately argued that “bread is the staff of death” and consistently discouraged the consumption of bread, cereal, pulses, and vegetables. He firmly advocated for replacing all starch foods with sweet fruits. Moreover, he firmly believed that man’s natural lifespan could be extended to 120 years.

Densmore was at the helm of the London monthly magazine Natural Food (1890–1895), and along with his wife Helen, he spearheaded the health magazine Earnest Words, spreading the message of natural and healthy living. Some of the books he authored include:

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Dr. Henry Lindlahr (1862 – 1924)

Dr. Henry Lindlahr
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

He is the brilliant mind behind one of the foundational texts in American naturopathic medicine, Nature Cure. This enlightening work delves into critical topics such as the eradication of diseases, the therapeutic benefits of hydrotherapy, and the profound importance of fresh air and sunbathing for overall well-being.

In his younger years, Lindlahr consumed unhealthy food and stimulants and disregarded the signs of being overworked. This lifestyle was a catalyst for the onset of chronic disease. Recounting his brush with chronic illness, he stated, “I pushed Nature to her limits and suffered greatly due to my ignorance and recklessness.”

By his thirties, he grappled with obesity and diabetes. During the late 19th century, a diabetes diagnosis often meant a grim fate as insulin had not yet been discovered, and a cure was nonexistent.

He journeyed to Europe and uncovered the transformative healing powers while apprenticing under Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kneipp. This profound experience ignited a fervent pursuit of knowledge in natural remedies. Additionally, he was deeply influenced by the revolutionary ideas of Bernarr Macfadden.

Upon returning to America in early 1900, he pursued his education at the prestigious National Medical University in Illinois and later at the esteemed Homeopathic and Eclectic College of Illinois. After graduating in 1904, he established the renowned Lindlahr Sanitarium in Chicago. Soon after, he founded the influential Lindlahr College of Natural Therapeutics, which quickly became the leading naturopathic college of its time.

His comprehensive approach to healing embraced breathing techniques, fasting, a specialized diet, hydrotherapy, exercise, rest, exposure to sunlight, and counseling for mental and emotional well-being. He also advocated using detoxifying foods such as orange juice, lemon, grapefruit, garlic, bean sprouts, and fiber. His unwavering commitment to natural laws shaped his practice and laid a solid foundation for future naturopaths throughout his career.

Dr. Lindlahr established the Nature Cure magazine in 1908 to promote a system that harmonizes the entire being with the constructive principles in nature on physical, mental, moral, and spiritual levels. He subsequently authored a series of influential books titled “Philosophy of Natural Therapeutics.”

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Bernarr McFadden (1868 – 1955)

Bernarr MacFadden 1905
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

As with many of our pioneers, Bernarr overcame childhood weakness and illness through whole food and physical labor. By 16, he adopted a semi-vegetarian raw food lifestyle, launching “Physical Culture” magazine in 1899 and expanding into a publishing empire.  He advocated fasting for physical health and establishing educational “healthatoriums.” He felt strongly that fasting was one of the surest ways to physical health. He believed that through fasting, a person could control virtually all types of disease. By 1911, he had opened 20 vegetarian restaurants and fervently campaigned against the medical establishment and processed food. 

He was quite a prolific writer, publishing over 100 books on a variety of topics.  Here are some of his works focusing on hygienic principles:

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Dr. Benedict Lust (1872 – 1945)

Dr. Benedict Lust
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Benedict Lust was born on February 4, 1872, in Germany. He recovered from tuberculosis with the help of a water cure offered by Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kneipp and became a passionate advocate of natural medicine. Upon relocating to New York in 1892, he not only opened a health food store but also published influential German and English magazines advocating hydrotherapy and natural healing. His educational journey led him to graduate from the Universal Osteopathic College in 1897, the Eclectic and Naturopathic College in 1904, and the Eclectic Medical College of New York in 1914.

In 1901, he acquired the rights to the term “naturopathy” and established the American School of Naturopathy in New York City. Alongside this, he founded health resorts known as “Yungborn” in Butler, New Jersey, and Tangerine, Florida. Notably, he also established the New York School of Massage and the American School of Chiropractic. To further advance his mission, Lust founded the American Naturopathic Association in 1919.

From the very beginning, Lust incorporated the innovative Kneipp water cure methods and firmly rejected the use of drugs and surgery. He was the publisher of the influential Herald of Health and Naturopath journal and was closely associated with Bernarr Macfadden’s Physical Culture magazine. As a result of his contributions, Lust became known as the “Father of Naturopathy” in America. His prolific writings and magazines not only introduced Americans to German techniques but also familiarized them with the ancient Indian concepts of Ayurveda and Yoga. Furthermore, Lust played a significant role in popularizing hatha yoga in the United States.

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Dr. George Stephen Weger (1874 – 1935)

Dr. George Stephen Weger
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

In 1895, he enrolled at Baltimore Medical College and earned his medical degree in 1898. From 1898 to 1912, Weger diligently served as a physician in Delphos, Ohio, initially practicing traditional medicine before gradually embracing a more advanced and effective allopathic medical approach.

After 1912, Weger aligned himself with the natural hygiene movement. He dedicated many years to practicing at Dr. J. H. Tilden’s Sanitarium in Denver. Dr. John H. Tilden successfully brought together a small group of medical professionals and osteopaths who had relinquished their belief in pharmaceuticals and contemporary medical procedures.

Weger was the director and owner of Weger Health School in Redlands, California (1923–1935).

He firmly believed that fasting should not be seen as a cure-all; in reality, it does not cure anything. In times of illness, the body’s most significant requirement is rest. When feeling tired, one simply needs to lie down and wake up refreshed. When sick, taking a complete physiologic rest for as long as necessary is crucial. Both Tilden and Weger stressed the significance of recognizing fasting as a period of physiological rest.

Conserving the patient’s energy and resources was the secret to the remarkable success of Dr. Isaac Jennings, Dr. Robert Walter, Dr. John H. Tilden, Dr. George S. Weger, and others in caring for the sick. Rather than attempting to cure the disease, these individuals understood the detrimental effects of over-feeding, over-bathing, excessive sun exposure, over-exercising, and any other form of overtaxing the patient, which could hinder or delay recovery.

In his influential book “Dietetic Disappointments and Failures,” the author advocates for a regimen of fasting, a wholesome diet based on fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and emphasizes avoiding drugs, flour, meat, salt, spices, alcohol, coffee, tea, and all processed foods.

A MODERN MEDICAL DOCTOR’S CONCEPTS ON FASTING

This Medical man was proving in his practice that the Natural Hygienists were correct in their advocacy of FASTING. Concerning this, DR. GEORGE S. WEGER, M.D., in 1931 said:

“There is no danger in a properly directed fast – the simplest and surest of all curative measures. All physicians should inform themselves on the subject and put themselves in a position to become advisors to those who fast voluntarily and need guidance. As has been stated, there is a difference between fasting and actual starvation. The line of demarcation can be recognized by those whose experience qualifies them to judge. As a fad, fasting is wrong. As a definite means to a definite end, it has proved its right to a place of eminence in the treatment of disease, and there are records of recoveries that should convince the most skeptical and narrow-minded of the truth of these assertions.”

Nothing is more gratifying, no work more inspiring, than actually to witness complete recovery during comparatively short periods of fasting in diseases such as chronic eczema, urticaria of years’ standing, caricos ulcers, gastric and duodenal ulcers, asthma, arthritis, colitis, amoebic dysentery, endocarditis, high blood pressure, diabetes, Bright’s disease, sinusitis, bronchitis, neuritis, tic douloureux, pyorrhea, fistula, psoriasis, all kinds of digestive disorders, urinary and biliary calculi, pellagra, glaucoma, lump in the breast, epithelioma, migraine, acidosis, purpura haemorrhagica, epilepsy, paralysis agitans, Raynaud’s disease, and even locomotor ataxia, besides many other derangements that could be added to the list, which is not by any means exhaustive, nor does it represent only single experiences. Conclusions are based upon actual group results and can be verified by the best proof in the world – the enthusiastic endorsement of the patients themselves.

Many will say, “Preposterous.” Many will say there is no such thing as a “cure-all.” Others may damn with faint praise. To all doubters, we must say in all seriousness that fasting followed by a diet properly selected and combined is the nearest approach to a “cure-all” that it is possible to conceive. This assurance is born of experience, than which there is no better teacher. Science will someday verify these statements and will assuredly improve upon present-day methods of application. (From the 1952 Conference Program).

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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.

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