Waerland food
The Waerland diet is a vegetarian diet that was developed by the Swedish nutrition reformer Are Waerland in the early 20th century. He was close to the ideas of life reform . The basis of this diet consists of raw vegetables and a cereal porridge called Kruska, invented by Waerland . This diet is supposed to promote health and above all the immune system , but also be able to cure diseases. For many years Waerland dealt with the subjects of nutrition and digestion and developed his own theories, which he also published.
Are Waerland
Are Waerland was born in 1876 in Ekenäs in what was then the Grand Duchy of Finland as Paul Fager . As a child, Waerland suffered from various symptoms such as headaches, poor memory, chronic stomach problems and constipation . He broke off studying philosophy because of his poor health and took over the management of a community college . In 1912 he became a Swedish citizen and took the name Are Waerland . Some time later he left Sweden and went to London to do medical studies there and not least to find therapy for his symptoms. He found methods of hardening such as cold showers and sleeping with the window open to be helpful. He was inspired by reading a book by Alexander Haig . Following the example of Haig and based on reports about the allegedly natural and healthy diet of the Hunza people , Waerland changed its diet and became a vegetarian. His symptoms disappeared in London within three years, which he attributed mainly to the raw food. After his stay in West Germany and the publication of German-language publications, he spent the last years of his life on the Italian Riviera .
Theoretical foundations
Waerland subsequently put forward the theory that most diseases are the result of "non-species-appropriate lifestyle habits" and, above all, poor nutrition. Humans are not omnivores and are not adapted to the modern "civilization diet" , which is therefore difficult to digest. The consumption of meat, fish and eggs in particular leads to acidification of the body and colonization of the colon with putrefactive bacteria, which are responsible for many diseases. Acidification leads to the development of cancer . Waerland saw the diet and digestion of great apes as a model; they feed mainly on fresh vegetable food and excrement in pulp several times a day. Most medical professionals would call this digestive activity diarrhea in humans , but Waerland thought it was optimal.
Waerland assumed that there are two milieus of the intestinal flora : the putrefactive milieu and the fermentation milieu. According to his theory, fish, meat and eggs rot in the intestines; the putrefactive poisons that arise allegedly paralyze peristalsis , so that all people in civilized societies suffered from permanent constipation. This effect does not occur in predators because their intestines are much shorter, so that the contents leave the intestine again before putrefaction occurs.
The fermentation milieu, on the other hand, is beneficial to health; it is promoted by soured milk products such as buttermilk and kefir , but also by sauerkraut and bread drink . In this lactic acid environment, digestion functions optimally.
In 1933 he published his first book entitled In the cauldron of disease , which was published in German in 1950 under the title Liberation from the cauldron of diseases . His second major work was Path to a New Humanity , in which he reports on the supposedly sensational healing successes achieved by the doctor Arthbutnot Lane through the surgical removal of the large intestine. Waerland then looked for people who should try out his nutrition theory and lifestyle recommendations via an advertisement, and over a thousand volunteers signed up. Around 1950 he is said to have had around half a million followers in Sweden alone.
Are Waerland believed that a person could live to be 120 years old with the right lifestyle and diet. He himself died at the age of 79.
Nutrition
The diet according to Waerland consists mainly of raw vegetables, jacket potatoes and Kruska cereal porridge. The raw food should be chewed thoroughly for over an hour. Animal protein from meat, fish and eggs is rejected as unhealthy. However, dairy products are allowed. Hot spices, sugar and salt should be avoided. Luxury foods are prohibited. About three liters of liquid should be drunk daily. Waerland was of the opinion that the body has elimination and absorption phases, so that the best time to eat is between 12 and 8 p.m.
In the morning, a liquid based on vegetable broth or potato water should be drunk, which was made the evening before with linseed and bran . Breakfast should only consist of fruit and sour milk . Lunch consists of raw vegetables, jacket potatoes and herbal quark . In his book The Waerland System of Health in the third edition, Are Waerland writes on page 141 under the heading The main vegetable meal : “Lunch consists of a Kruska meal (the most convenient for those who have little time and are forced by their work are to take this meal in the restaurant or at your work place), the next meal must of course be a base-rich raw vegetable meal. This adherence to meals is all the more important as the Krusca meal can very well be taken within half an hour, while the main meal easily takes half an hour if it is to be done according to all the rules of the art and really useful. It is not possible to 'gobble down' this meal as one is used to with the usual meat-fish-egg diet. ”In the evening there is Kruska , a whole-grain porridge with wheat bran and raisins , which is eaten with milk or compote . Also, whole-grain bread with butter and cheese is allowed. According to Waerland, certain rules for the composition of food must be observed, for example no raw fruit with salad.
The Waerland Therapy
Waerland's wife Ebba, like himself, suffered from numerous diseases as a child; she spent the first 40 years of her life mainly in hospitals and sanatoriums. She read a Waerland book around 1940, followed his recommendations consistently, and gradually got better. She got to know the author personally at the end of 1944, and they married in 1946. In 1950 they opened the first Waerland sanatorium in Sweden. After Waerland's death, Ebba developed his teachings further and referred to the health system as therapy. She published the book The Waerland Therapy and its Successes . It supposedly promises cures for all kinds of diseases from rheumatism to asthma and diabetes mellitus to heart disease and cancer.
Nutritional evaluation
The Waerland diet is relatively monotonous, but with careful food choices it is considered acceptable for healthy adults - also suitable as a permanent diet. The iron , iodine, and calcium intake may be insufficient; The diet is therefore unsuitable for pregnant women, breastfeeding women and children.
Some theories of Waerland are scientifically unsustainable: Meat, fish and eggs are not fundamentally harmful to health; the thesis of "acidification" of the body when consuming animal foods is scientifically unproven. Animal foods are broken down in the intestine like other foods and do not lead to paralysis of the peristalsis. For health reasons, stool evacuation several times a day is not necessary, not even daily if there are no symptoms. The daily intake of flaxseed and bran with enough liquid stimulates the bowel movement even if no other nutritional recommendations according to Waerland are followed. Raw food is in fact more difficult to digest than cooked food and has to be digested longer.
Waerland's thesis that illnesses can be prevented or cured by living close to nature alone is incorrect. Especially with constipation and other digestive problems, psychosomatic factors can also play a role.
literature
- Christian Rummel: Ragnar Berg. Life and work of the Swedish nutrition researcher and founder of the basic diet. With a foreword by Gundolf Keil . Publishing house Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Bern / Vienna / Oxford / New York 2003 (= European University Papers, Series VII, Department B: History of Medicine. Volume 10). At the same time medical dissertation Dresden 2001, pp. 163–201, passim.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Are Waerland was först med throat trending. Hufvudstadsbladet , January 20, 2012 (Swedish, accessed July 25, 2017)
- ↑ Are Waerland: The Waerland Handbook of Health . Ed .: Humata Verlag. Practice of the Waerland Systems Band 1 .
- ↑ a b c Waerland food. In: Lexicon of Nutrition , Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg.
