Terms and Definitions for the Mucusless Diet Healing System

Prof. Arnold Ehret, author of the Mucusless Diet Healing System and Rational Fasting, is well-known for coining many useful terms that enabled him to convey his understanding of diet. And over the past 100 years, Mucusless Diet Healing System practitioners have continued to develop a number a new terms to enable them to better discuss their experiences.

Furthermore, there are many terms that are commonly used by mainstream communities which are understood and defined differently from a Mucusless perspective. For instance, a term such as “fruitarian” has a different meaning from the one that has come to be embraced by many self-identified ‘fruitarians’.

Many people desire to transform their environments and change the world. In my opinion, language and dialog is one of the most potent ways to immediately change things. When I’m in public, people seem to always offer me food. When I politely decline they become intrigued and want to know why.

Armed with basic and easy to understand definitions related to the Mucusless Diet, I am able to forever change the way these people think about diet. I do not push my ideas on them, but simply articulate my own perspectives and experiences using terms and definitions that have been proven to be effective. But, when I started the diet, it was hard for me to do this because I did not have a grasp of the language.

I knew the basic tenets of the diet, but lacked a deeper understanding and felt stifled when trying to talk about the diet.

Last year I released my first eBook about the Mucusless Diet entitled Spira Speaks: Dialogs and Essays on the Mucusless Diet Healing System. Within it I offer many examples of written discussions that I had with others interested in the Mucusless Diet. The discussions reveal a new mucusless dialectic, i.e. a new way to investigate or discuss diet and human physiology through a mucusless perspective.

Throughout the book I use certain terms that have come to be meaningful for Mucusless Diet practitioners, and I define them in the appendix. Below, I share the glossary found in Spira Speaks:

Glossary

acidosis: a condition in which there is too much acid in the body fluids. Such acid may be derived from uneliminated pus and mucus-forming foods.

additive principle: term coined by Brother Air that refers to the belief that the human organism needs to consume, accumulate, and use various forms of material matter to exist. Modern theories of nutrition and metabolism emerge from an additive concept, whereby it is believed that the human body must intake and metabolize various elements not obtained through the breathing processes to live. Ehret rejects the foundation of the additive principle and proposes his “formula to life” Vitality = Power – Obstruction, which asserts that human life exists as a result of the non-accumulation, and elimination of, unnecessary matter. Mucusless fruits are identified to be the greatest eliminators of human waste, followed by mucusless vegetables. Therefore, a mucus-free fruit and vegetable diet will ultimately result in the elimination unnecessary physical obstructions and cellular regeneration.

air-gas engine: Arnold Ehret identifies the human body to be an air-gas engine that is fundamentally powered through the process of breathing. Mucus and pus-forming foods leave behind harmful residues in the body that create obstruction. When the human organism becomes too filled with obstructions, and is unable to get oxygen to the blood, the body comes to a standstill. Thus, mucusless foods are identified to be the ones best fit for humans, as they leave behind the last amount of obstruction and aid the elimination of waste from the body.

albumen: Originally used to refer to the “white of an egg,” deriving from Latin albumen lit. “whiteness,” from albus “white.” It is a class of simple, water-soluble proteins that can be coagulated by heat and are found in egg whites, blood serum, milk, and many other animal and plant tissues. Albuminous refers to something consisting of, resembling, or containing albumen. See pus.

Back to Nature Renaissance: a social, countercultural movement that began in the late 1800s originally led by German youth. In the wake of the European industrial revolution, young activists rejected urbanization and middleclass social norms. Inspired by works of Nietzsche, Goethe, Hesse, and pagan religions, thousands of German youth endeavored to return to a more natural way of life in tune with natural laws. This caused great advancements in the area of natural healing, as many began to research and experiment with fasting cures and plant-based fruit and vegetables diets as a sustainable way to live. During the early part of the 20^th century, many Germans moved to the United States and settled in southern California. Natural healers and back to nature advocates, such as Arnold Ehret, had a profound influence on American youth and spurred on the countercultural revolution in the U.S., as well as the cultivation of naturopathy, the natural hygienic movement, and the 1960s hippie culture. (See Gordon Kennedy “Hippie Roots: The Perennial Subculture” and Children of the Sun [1998])

black hole: is a region of space-time where gravity prevents anything, including light, from escaping.

black body: an idealized physical body which absorbs all radiation incident on it and reflects none. Such a body may be identified to simultaneously be the greatest emitter and absorber of energy (see Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 89th ed. 2009).

bizarro world: term used to express the backwardness of modern-day society. Inspired by a fictional planet in the DC comics’ Superman series where all social and natural laws were opposite from that of earth.

breathairean: organism whose primary sustenance comes from breathing air.

constipation: an acute or chronic condition in which there is difficulty emptying the bowels due to an accumulation of hard, dry fecal matter. The term may also refer to the degree to which the natural flow of energy and bodily fluids, such as blood and lymph, is hindered by physical obstructions.

dark matter: type of matter hypothesized to account for a large part of the total mass in the universe.

detoxification: the process of cleansing toxic wastes and obstructions from the body. Such obstructions may include mucus, pus, acids, chemicals, parasites, minerals, metals, along with negative thoughts and emotions.

diet: the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

disease: (see illness).

elimination: the removal of physiological wastes and encumbrances. The term is also used by many Ehretists to identify short or extended periods of intensive waste elimination. These Ehretists use the term instead of the word sick, as the connotation of the latter is believed to be problematic. In parlance, a practitioner may say “I’m going through an intense elimination today!” meaning that he or she is presumably eliminating large quantities of waste and experiencing various symptoms of human illness. Instances of elimination usually spur a practitioner to detoxify, fast, or abstain from mucus-forming foods.

enema: the injection of liquid into the rectum through the anus for the purpose of cleansing and evacuating the bowels. Many Mucusless Diet practitioners use lemon juice and distilled water enemas to regularly irrigate their colons.

etymology: the area of linguistics that studies the source origins and development of words and morphemes. Methods include the examination of a word’s earliest known use, changes in form and meaning, and its transmission from one language to another.

fall (the fall): intensive physiological elimination—or healing crisis—usually characterized by a failure of the endocrine system coupled with intensive eliminations on the cellular level. People experiencing a fall may be bed ridden for a time and be unable to function in public spaces. Many long-term practitioners of the Mucusless Diet experience the fall 8 to 12 years into their dietary practice. Given the severe nature of the symptoms, many practitioners have been known to blame the Mucusless Diet for the fall and have retreated back to various forms of mucus eating, including flesh and dairy consumption. Some Ehretists view the fall as a kind of ‘rite of passage’ where the practitioner’s dedication is rigorously challenged as he or she pays for their physiological debts/karma (see physiological karma)

fast: to abstain from the intake of food and drink. It may also refer to various forms of dietary restriction, which include abstaining from solid foods (juice or liquid fasting), mucus-forming foods (mucusless diet), from animal products, etc. Fasting may also refer more broadly to abstaining from modern conveniences or unnatural additions, e.g. a fast from electricity or the use of electronics for a period of time. (see intermittent fasting)

forced fast: concept proliferated by Brother Air which refers to a period of time where one’s own pathological condition forces him or her to fast, or abstain from the intake of food and drink. Air identifies sleep and death as being two forms of a forced fast. (see fast)

fruit (mucusless): The ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant, together with accessory parts, containing the seeds and occurring in a wide variety of forms. Mucusless fruits refer to non-fat fruits which leave behind no mucus residue.

fruitarian: an organism whose diet consists of only fruits. Drawing upon Ehret’s mucusless paradigm, Prof. Spira identifies a fruitarian to be a person who has consumed mucusless (fat and starch-free) fruits for an extended period of time.

green leafy vegetable: various mucusless leafy plants or their leaves and stems that may be eaten as vegetables.

healing: the restoration of wholeness, health, and vitality. Prof. Spira also uses the word to mean the process by which one can slow, pause, or stop the aging and dying process.

healing crisis: naturopathic term that refers to a period of intensive physical and emotional cleansing or elimination. Common symptoms include the expectoration of various colors of mucus from all orifices, fever, aches and pains, headaches, dizziness/vertigo, mood swings, diarrhea, vomiting, loss of appetite, depression or anxieties, heart palpitations, localized pain at the area of obstruction, etc. (see fall)

illness: a pathological condition whereby a part, organ, or system of an organism ceases to function properly. It is often characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms and the result of various forms of physical constipation due to the accumulation of uneliminated waste.

intermittent fasting: a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting and non-fasting. (see fasting)

Jerry Springer Effect: phrase coined by Prof. Spira to describe adversarial social dynamics that may occur when a practitioner of the Mucusless Diet attempts to share details about their lifestyle with large groups of uninformed people. Initial practitioners often feel strongly compelled to share their experiences with friends and family, but are met with harsh resentments and emotionally charged arguments. The proposition of the diet often engenders adversarial reactions by those who feel that their own reality is being challenged or judged. Spira advises practitioners to keep this in mind when feeling compelled to share their experiences with others. He recommends that the practitioner avoid situations where he or she may be attacked by large groups of non-practitioners.

mucoid plaque: is a term used to describe an accumulation of rubbery, rope-like, white, yellowish, or green gel-like mucus film that cover the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. Such plaque is derived from uneliminated mucus and pus-forming foods combined with dead tissues/cells that ferment and putrefy in the digestive tract.

mucus: from L. mucus which means “slime, mold, snot, etc.” Mucus refers to a thick, viscous, slippery discharge that is comprised of dead cells, mucin, inorganic salts, water, and exfoliated cells. Also refers to the slimy, sticky, viscous substance left behind by mucus-forming foods in the body after ingestion, such as meat, dairy, grains, starches, and fats (see mucoid plaque).

mucus-forming: foods that create or leave behind uneliminated mucus in the human body, especially those containing albumin. Mucus-forming foods include meat, dairy, grains, starches, and fats.

mucus-free: (see mucusless)

mucus-type (fat) physiology: The bodily mechanism of the mucus/fat type is, on the average, mechanically more obstructed. The person is often an over-eater of starchy foods and can put on weight easily.

mucuslean: refers to the period of dietary transition in the Mucusless Diet where mucus-forming foods are used along with mucusless ones. Mucuslean menus are generally less harmful than standard mucus-forming eating habits by non-practitioner, and are an important part of the overall transition and systematic healing methods employed in the Mucusless Diet Healing System.

mucusless: refers to foods that are not mucus-forming foods. Such foods digest without leaving behind a thick, viscous, slimy substance called mucus. These foods include all kinds of fat-free fruits and starchless vegetables.

myth: a traditional story, esp. one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon. Such stories often involve supernatural beings, events, or archaic forms of logic.

Natural Hygienic Movement: name given to the proliferation of healing modalities that sprung from the Back to Nature Renaissance in the early 20^th century. Drawing on the works of naturopathic pioneers such as Arnold Ehret, natural healers and philosophers published many works that covered a host of relevant topics, including: fasting, fruit diet, plant-based/mucus-free lifestyles, colon therapy, spirituality, sun-bathing, living outdoors, science of breath, clothes-free living, drugless healing, and organic farming.

naturopathy: the term naturopathy was coined in 1895 by John Scheel, successfully put into practice by Prof. Arnold Ehret at the turn of the 20^th century, and made famous in the United States by one of Ehret’s students named Benedict Lust who founded a school of naturopathy in 1902. Naturopathic Medicine favors a holistic and drugless approach to healing and seeks to find the least invasive measures necessary to relieve symptoms and heal human illness.

paradigm: A worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular scientific subject. It may also refer to the systems of thought shared by a particular community of people. Paradigm shift is a concept championed by Thomas Kuhn in his The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) and refers to a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theories of a scientific community. Paradigm shift has come to also be applied to the fundamental shift in worldview, or thinking patterns, of any community or individual person.

physiological karma: term coined by Prof. Spira that refers to the physical debt that one must pay as a result of having broken natural physiological laws by eating and accumulating mucus in the body, especially the tissues and bloodstream. It points to what each individual must go through to pay reparations for not only the unnatural eating which they have done, but the constitutional wastes and bad eating habits passed down to them from their ancestors. In short, it is the effects of a person’s dietary actions which inhibit them from achieving physiological liberation.

physiological liberation: term coined by Brother Air that refers to a state of physiological excellence and cleanliness whereby a person becomes immune to human illness. It is the full actualization of the physical potentials of a person where they become free of their addictions to all unnatural forms of stimulation.

physiological types: Arnold Ehret identified two kinds of human physiologies, including mucus and lean (uric acid) types. In particular, these types referred to the way in which a particular body copes with digesting and eliminating mucus- and pus-forming foods. Mucus types are usually more mechanically obstructed and are overeaters of starchy foods. Their bodies tuck the uneliminated waste into the tissue system away from the heart and lungs, and when large amounts of uneliminated mucus are in the body, they become obese. Lean, or uric acid, types are characterized by having an inordinate amount of toxic waste, acidity, uric acid, and pus in the body and are generally one-sided meat eaters. The overeating of pus and mucus in this type results in the body breaking down the waste into very toxic chemicals that remain unlimited until detoxification.

physiology: refers to the study and description of natural objects and the normal function of living organisms.

plant-based: refers to an eating pattern or lifestyle dominated by consuming naturally grown plant foods, while excluding the consumption or use of animal products (see vegan).

pus: from late 14c. Latin “pus” (related to puter [putrid] “rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European*pu- compared to Sanskrit. puyati “rots, stinks,” putih “stinking, foul.” Pus often refers to a thick white, yellowish, or greenish opaque liquid produced in infected tissue, consisting of dead white blood cells, bacteria, tissue debris, and serum. It also refers to the substance that dead animal flesh is chemically changed into after being consumed or while rotting. Thus, the ingestion of meat products creates pus residue in the body.

rational: based on or in accordance with what is determined to be reasonable, logical, and sensible. May also refer to a number or quality that is expressible as a ratio of numbers (see Arnold Ehret’s Rational Fasting).

raw-foods (raw-vegan): practice of consuming uncooked, unprocessed, plant-based, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet.

science: from Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”, the term refers to a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Also may be identified to be the methodical study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experimentation.

spirit: from mid-13c., first meaning the “animating or vital principle in man and animals, “and the Old French espirit, from Latin spiritus meaning “soul, courage, vigor, breath,” related to spirare or spira “to breathe.”

Socratic dialog: Refers to a genre of prose literary works developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC, preserved today in the dialogues of Plato and the Socratic works of Xenophon. Characters discuss moral and philosophical problems, illustrating a version of the Socratic Method. In common parlance, the term Socratic dialog is often used to refer to an interchange between two or more people–one often an expert/master/philosopher–whereby truth may be realized and discovered collectively through the act of asking questions and naturally allowing reasonable answers to follow.

Standard American Diet (S.A.D.): refers to a Western pattern diet, also called Western dietary pattern, which is a dietary habit chosen by many people in developed countries, and increasingly in developing countries. It is characterized by high intakes of red meat, sugary desserts, high-fat foods, processed foods, and refined grains.

system: a set of connected things or interdependent parts coming together to form a complex whole.

transition: the process or a period of change from one state or condition to another.

transition diet: systematic approach developed by Arnold Ehret to safely evolve one’s eating habits away from mucus-forming foods toward a mucusless diet.

transitional-mucus: mucus-forming foods that may be used during a mucuslean transition diet.

uric-acid type (lean) physiology: In the uric-acid, or lean, type there is more physiological chemical interference within the organism. This condition often occurs in people who are one-sided meat eaters where the condition produces uric acid, other poisons and pus.

V = P – O (Vitality = Power – Obstruction ): equation devised by Prof. Arnold Ehret which he calls the “formula of life.” Ehret’s proposition is that the human body is a perpetual motion air-gas engine that is powered exclusively by oxygen and that the body ceases to function when obstructed with waste. He asserts that mucus-forming create obstruction in the human body and that a diet consisting of starchless/fat-free fruits and green-leafy vegetables is the only food that does not leave behind obstructive residues in the body and will aid the body in the process of natural healing. (see Lesson V in the Mucusless Diet Healing System)

vegan: term coined by Donald Watson in 1944 to draw a distinction between a person who abstains from all animal products, including eggs, cheese, fish, etc., from vegetarians who avoid eating meat, but still consume certain animal products.

vegetarian: refers to people who employ a variety of dietetic modalities, including plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables), certain mucus-forming foods (starches/grains, fats). Some vegetarians may or may not choose to include dairy products, eggs, and/or fish.

white corpuscle: Arnold Ehret identifies white corpuscles to be uneliminated, dead blood cells. He challenges the notion that white colored cells are living blood cells that serve to protect the body from disease.

 

Video Review of Spira Speaks Mucusless Diet Glossary

 

 

 

 

 

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