I was wondering if there are any authors that have an in depth knowledge of Natural Hygiene principles and if so what there viewpoint is on this lifestyle.

I have to say that you are asking a great question. It demonstrates that internally you are beginning to question what is out there, but more importantly thinking for your self. As a CHEK Practitioner and Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach, my goal is educate and help people to help themselves using a holistic approach. What does “holistic” mean? The typical explanation means, to treat the person that has the disease and not the disease that has the person, the treat the mind, body and spirit, and to use organic or natural foods, products, etc to lead a healthy and vital lifestyle.

I have found over the years (first by applying it to self) that the holistic lifestyle leads to a life free of pain (mental, emotional, spiritual and physical) and full of vitality. That’s what everyone wants, but they are searching in all the wrong places. People are leading lives, expressing their success materialistically on the outside. When people learn that we grow from the inside out, then and only then will happiness, peace, love, joy and health will be a part of daily life for all.

I am going to keep it simple for you, because this is a topic we could talk for years about. As well, at the end I will give you some routes to follow and hopefully they will interest you. We could talk about the physical part of it, but in my opinion it is one of the least important areas when it comes to health. It is part of the pie, but not as big of a part as most people think. This will and does ruffle a lot of feathers. I am a CHEK Practitioner and I am not saying that exercise is important. I am saying that society puts such an emphasis on it, but they tend to not put as much on nutrition and lifestyle principles. That has what has lead me and many of my VERY dysfunctional clients to a life free of pain and full of vitality. Health is not jus eating chicken, about lifting a lot of weight or drinking protein powder.

As Paul Chek says, “it is taking responsibility for one self.” Responsibility means in all aspects of life, not just the physical. I will cover some areas regarding nutrition and lifestyle that will lead to health, but also assist in aligning the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being.

Nutrition:
If you looked at how we lived years or even decades ago (refer to Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price), you would understand why there is so much disease and dysfunction today. People were working in the fields, cutting trees, washing their own clothes by hand, walking to school, playing outside, growing/cultivating life, etc. This was a constant workout, but more importantly people were eating from the land. It takes life to give life! There were no additives, preservatives, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. The health of the soil was determined on how many worms or bugs were in it or on the plants, as well as how many birds were flying around trying to eat the worms. So bugs were good and not looked at as the enemy. Back then there was what Paul Chek calls “The Wheel of Life.”

Today, we have what Paul Chek calls the “Wheel of Death!” You have dead soils, producing dead crops (or chemical ridden plants), eaten by animals, that become ill and then require antibiotics and growth hormones to fight off illness among other things, and then you have us humans eating these sick animals. As Paul says in his audio series, “You Are What You Eat!” So if you are eating dead and chemically enriched foods, you will get out of it exactly what was put in it. So why is it so confusing to many that there is so much illness and obesity in the world today?

Hygiene:
When it comes to hygiene products or any product for that matter, the more you can stay away from chemicals and use more natural/organic products, the better. For one reason you will be helping the environment and the other is to help yourself. Most products (make up, cleaning, deodorants, etc) contain lots of chemicals (formaldehyde, acids, coal tar and other synthetic compounds) that can cause a lot of the respiratory, skin, and cancers that you see out there today. What ever you touch or gets on your skin is the same as drinking. So the more natural or organic it is, the less stressful it will be to your body.

Here are some recommendations to begin your journey.
1. Begin by taking the Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach Level 1 by the CHEK Institute. This will not only be life changing for you, but for everyone you come in contact with.
2. You are What You Eat audio series by Paul Chek (www.chekinstitute.com)
3. How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek
4. www.mercola.com
5. www.ewg.com
6. www.westonaprice.org
7. www.price-pottenger.org
8. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
9. Use products from Wholefood stores or Jimbo’s. Since you are in the La Jolla area that is right around the corner. Their products are more expensive, but you cannot put a price on health.

Remember, it comes down to taking responsibility for one self. So if that means shopping less or going out to eat less so you can buy these things, than so be it. You can purchase such products as Burt’s Bee’s, Dr. Hauschka, Aubrey Organics, MyChelle, and Baiame. There are many more, but these are a few to get started with. Good luck with your new healthy and vital lifestyle. I wish you the best of luck!

Joshua Rubin