Nature cure

Nature cure is a constructive method of treatment which aims at removing the basic cause of
disease through the rational use of the elements freely available in nature. It is not only a system
of healing, but also a way of life, in tune with the internal vital forces or natural elements
comprising the human body. It is a complete revolution in the art and science of living.
Although the term ' naturopathy' is of relatively recent origin, the philosophical basis and several
of the methods of nature cure treatments are ancient. It was practised in ancient Egypt, Greece
and Rome. Hippocrates, the father of medicine ( 460-357 B.C.) strongly advocated it. India, it
appears, was much further advanced in older days in natural healing system than other
countries of the world. There are references in India's ancient sacred books about the extensive
use of nature's excellent healing agents such as air, earth, water and sun. The Great Baths of
the Indus Valley civilisation as discovered at Mohenjodaro in old Sind testifies to the use of water
for curative purposes in ancient India.
The modern methods of nature cure originated in Germany in 1822, when Vincent Priessnitz
established the first hydropathic establishment there. With his great success in water cure, the
idea of drugless healing spread throughout the civilised world and many medical practitioners
throughout the civilised world and many medical practitioners from America and other countries
became his enthusiastic students and disciples. These students subsequently enlarged and
developed the various methods of natural healing in their own way. The whole mass of
knowledge was later collected under one name, Naturopathy. The credit for the name
Naturopathy goes to Dr. Benedict Lust ( 1872 - 1945), and hence he is called the Father of
Naturopathy.

THE ORIGINS OF THE CALORIE THEORY

THE ORIGINS OF THE CALORIE THEORY

In 1930 two American doctors, Newburgh and Johnson, of the University of Michigan, suggested in one of their papers that "obesity results from a diettoo high in calories, rather than from any metabolic deficiency". Their study on energy balance was based on very limited data and, above all, had been conducted over too short a period to deserve serious scientific acceptance. This did not prevent their study from being immediately and widely acclaimed as irrefutable scientific truth, and it has been treated as "gospel" ever since.

A few years later, however, Newburgh and Johnson, concerned at the publicity which had been given to their discovery, somewhat hesitantly published some serious reservations they had concerning their previous findings. These went entirely unnoticed. Their initial theory was already integrated into the syllabus of most Western medical schools, and there it remains to this day.