Arnold Ehret

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Arnold Ehret, ca.1922

Arnold Ehret (born July 25, 1866 in Sankt Georgen (Freiburg im Breisgau) , † October 9, 1922 in Los Angeles ) was a German naturopath and book author . His theses on the rejuvenation and healing of diseases through a " mucus-free ", vegetarian diet with a high fruit content and fasting enjoyed great popularity, especially in the USA until the 1970s. They even spoke of "Ehretism" there.

Life

Arnold Ehret, entry in the St. Georgen birth register

Ehret grew up in St. Georgen near Freiburg . His father was a farmer, his grandfather a veterinarian. Arnold Ehret studied in Baden-Baden ( design ) and Frankfurt, where he then worked as a teacher at a school. His conscription to the military in 1887 was short-lived because he was diagnosed with heart disease. His health deteriorated. Ten years later, 24 specialists whom he allegedly consulted found incurable chronic nephritis . On several trips to Berlin, North Africa, southern France and Italy, Ehret said that fasting and eating fresh fruit improved his condition over the long term.

It was around these personal experiences that Ehret began to develop his own nutrition theory at the end of the 19th century. In 1899 in Oranienburg he got to know the industry- critical life reform movement and joined the Vitalists . In 1909 his first article on metabolism and fasting appeared. He described himself as a "fasting artist". From June 26, 1909, he allegedly fasted 49 days, setting a world record .

Before the outbreak of World War I, his interest in fruits took him to California on the transatlantic liner George Washington via New York. There he got to know the plant breeder Luther Burbank and his later publisher, Benedict Lust, a life reform supporter of German descent. The First World War in Europe prevented Ehret from returning to Germany , so that he settled in Mount Washington , a district of Los Angeles .

Nutritional theses / publications

Ehret's nutritional theses understand the human body as an "oxygen machine" in the spirit of Expressionism . The machine only needs oxygen for basic operation (fasting). Everything slimy harms her ( meat , milk , potatoes , rice, etc.). In Ehret's mind, the ideal companion for oxygen was the purest possible fructose , as found in fruit. His recommended diet for everyone allowed only nuts and vegetables that did not contain starch , in addition to fruit . His book “Sick People. The Common Basic Factor in the Essence of All Diseases, Aging and Death ”summed up these ideas and, translated into English, became a bestseller in the United States. Other publications followed, including:

  • The mucus-free medicinal food: For everyone who wants to get healthy and stay healthy. A Method of 'Eating Healthy' , 1923
  • General instructional letter for fasters and healthy eaters with instructions on an expectorant diet . Bellinzona 1923
  • Teaching and fasting letters. Practical application to “Sick People” and “Questions of Life”, 1923
  • Rejuvenation the natural way , 1924

Comeback and rating

His industry-critical attitude and holistic view of a "pure body" experienced a comeback in the hippie movement of the 1960s. Among other things, the Apple founder Steve Jobs was a supporter of Ehretism and for years lived only on fruit and juices. For many people, Ehret is one of the founders of modern raw food diets.

Ehret's influence was essentially limited to the United States. His name was seldom mentioned in the German press of the time , and Arnold Ehret did not notice any article in the London Times .

death

On October 9, 1922 plunged Ehret after a sold-out lecture (topic: "Health Thru Fasting" - German  health by fasting ) in front of a hotel in Los Angeles backwards with his head on the asphalt, fractured his skull and died 56-year-old at the consequences .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vanessa Grigoriadis: Rest the Tummy, Restore the Soul. In: The New York Times . August 24, 2003, accessed June 16, 2019 (Reminiscences of Ehret can be found in many later articles on diet and fasting, such as this one in the NY Times): "Fashionable fasters have inspired a cottage industry in upbeat literature, including reprints of classic tomes like Arnold Ehret's Rational Fasting (1914) "
  2. ^ Child, BW: Biographical Sketch of Prof. Arnold Ehret , in: Mucusless Diet Healing System , Ehret Literature Publishing Company, New York, 1994
  3. ^ Leon Vu: Leon Vu: Arnold Ehret - Wikipedia. In: Leon Vu. February 10, 2019, accessed March 21, 2020 .
  4. ↑ The Lives of Others. Retrieved March 21, 2020 .
  5. ↑ The New York Times mentioned Ehret's food philosophy, among others, in the edition of December 2, 1971 in an article about alternative lifestyles and the Woodstock Festival : The food at the Heart of commune Life (The diet in the center of the life of the commune)
  6. ↑ See, inter alia, Sunday Times of October 30, 2011, In the beginning ... there was Steve : “Jobs's dietary habits became even more obsessive when he read Mucusless Diet Healing System by Arnold Ehret, an early-20th-century German nutrition fanatic . He believed in eating nothing but fruit and starchless vegetables. "
personal data
SURNAME Honor, Arnold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naturopath and author
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Sankt Georgen (Freiburg im Breisgau)
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1922
Place of death los Angeles