Holistic Healer
Any series on holistic healers would certainly be incomplete without the inclusion of Dr Bernard Jensen, considered by many to have been America’s leading holistic nutritionist and pioneer of iridology.
Jensen worked in the field of complementary health for over 70 years. Whilst embracing a wide range of disciplines in his practice, he believed nutrition to be the greatest single therapy of all the holistic healing arts. Having worked with over 350,000 patients worldwide, his successes are countless and he deserves recognition alongside the other great healers in the field of nutritional medicine.
Dr Jorgen Bernard Jensen was born in Stockton, California on March 25th 1908. His career began at the tender age of 21 after graduating from West Coast Chiropractic College. At the time, he had no real desire to become a doctor. However, as he progressed in his practice his interest in natural health became so intense that he decided to dedicate his life to holistic healing. For over 70 years Jensen continued to practice, study and teach. He studied under such prominent figures as Dr Benedict Lust, Dr John Tilden, Dr John H Kellogg and Dr V.G. Rocine. His work took him to over 55 countries. During these travels he was able to obtain firsthand knowledge of the cultural practices of indigenous populations, and his explorations within the field of iridology had a particularly large impact on the advancement and understanding of science.
But this amazing healer was well versed in a broad range of other holistic disciplines besides. These included nutrition – first and foremost – bowel care, hydrotherapy, fasting, reflexology, polarity, glandular balancing, homeopathy, herbology, acupuncture and craniopathy. Jensen’s primary use of nutrition work covered all aspects of nutritional healing. Of particular relevance to Gersonites is his use of juicing. His book Dr Jensen’s Juicing Therapy – Nature’s Way to Better Health and a Longer Life encapsulates a lifetime of his experience using juicing as a healing therapy. “I don’t remember when it first dawned on me that a fresh, delightful glass of juice with breakfast was much more than just a nice way to start the day. But, by the time I began to operate my first “live-in” health ranch, I knew that juices – both fruit and vegetable – were good for therapy. They could even save lives.” Jensen discovered that his sickest patients were unable to tolerate anything other than liquids. He would feed them broth, carrot juice, herbal teas and fresh goat milk, and then watched his patients gain strength. Even when they were able to tolerate solids, he continued to implement juices as part of their therapy.
In his book Jensen makes the point that foods do not cure. They simply provide the resources for the body to heal itself. He states that the vitamins and vital minerals, supplied through juices, are key to effecting a cleansing and regenerating process: “A truly balanced diet is always half cleansing (removing undesirable toxins and catarrh from the tissues) and half building (repairing and restoring tissue integrity).” The book is divided into two parts. Part One covers the basics of juicing, the importance of greens and the best fruits and vegetables to use. Part Two is a comprehensive selection of juicing recipes and their therapeutic uses. Through treating his patients using a juicing regime, Jensen was able to prove that juices provide the fastest means of getting quality vitamins, minerals and enzymes into the body.
Jensen’s commitment to nutritional healing also involved a long-standing interest in bowel health. He was acutely aware of the significance of a healthy bowel in any healing programme. However this was not always recognized. It wasn’t until he trained with Dr Tilden, that he fully understood toxaemia to be the root cause of most health disorders and diseases. Taking his studies further, he became interested in the work of Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, physician to the British Royal Family in the late nineteenth century. This master surgeon operated on the bowel of a 14-year-old boy with chronic arthritis. After surgery, the arthritis disappeared. The same thing occurred after operating on the bowel of a woman suffering from a toxic thyroid gland. The reversal of such conditions led Lane to become fascinated with the significance of the bowel in human health. He eventually stopped practicing medicine to dedicate the remaining twenty-five years of his life to teaching nutrition and bowel care. Lane’s experiences had a profound effect on Jensen: “If waste cannot be eliminated and accumulates in the body, perhaps suppressed by drugs or extreme tiredness and fatigue, disease walks in.”
With over one million copies in print, Jensen’s book Dr Jensen’s Guide to Better Bowel Care – A complete Program for Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management is the culmination of years of work into the subject. The first few chapters seek to educate on the importance of the bowel. Jensen looks at toxaemia and autointoxication and the various common bowel disorders. He then goes on to describe a seven-day Cleansing Programme. This consists of the use of foods such as alfalfa, apple cider vinegar, apple juice, chlorella, dulse, flax seeds, garlic, honey and whole beet concentrate. It also includes the use of various supplements and the use of intestinal cleansers such as psyllium seed, clays, and some herbs. Part of the programme involves the application of the colema. Jensen describes this as “…a special kind of enema that is more thorough in its internal cleansing of the bowel.” Jensen’s experience of enemas dates back to the 1950’s where he spent time with Dr Max Gerson at his sanitarium in New Jersey. He was amazed at Gerson’s response to those people crying out for medication to alleviate their conditions: “No, you need an enema, not a drug.” He was even more amazed at the fact that people experienced almost instantaneous relief after the enema had been administered. Jensen’s experiences in the field of bowel care have been drawn together in this programme. In it, a Potato Peeling Broth provides nutritional support in a similar way to the Hippocrates Soup which is part of the Gerson protocol. This soup provides a simple potassium-rich source of nutrients consisting solely of potatoes, celery stalks and water. The seven-day programme is followed by a seven week Building and Replacement Program. This involves a routine of cleansing foods, hydrotherapy and lifestyle habits focusing on a natural, pure, whole food diet and the practice of moderation in living.
Dr Bernard Jensen continued working up until his death on 22nd February 2001, just one month before his 93rd birthday. His contribution to the development and progression within the field of complementary health never wavered. The international impact he and his work have had on the millions of lives he touched is something few can accomplish in one lifetime. His sole purpose was to help relieve human suffering. He aimed to do so by continually learning and teaching what he called ‘right living’. A man of great compassion and insight, Jensen wrote a final letter of acknowledgement “to everyone concerned with the business of Good Health” just one month before he passed away. In it he hands the legacy of his work on to his son, Art Jensen and his protégée, Ellen Tart stating “While I am sincerely flattered by the acknowledgements, awards and titles extended to me over the course of my profession, I am most humbled by having been able to touch and improve the quality of lives of so many patients around the world.”
Bibliography
Dr Jensen’s Juicing Therapy – Jensen, B – Keats Publishing – ISBN: 0658002791
Dr Jensen’s Guide to Better Bowel Care – Jensen, B – Avery – ISBN: 0895295849
Visions of Health – Jensen & Bodeen – Avery – ISBN: 0895294338
Published in the August 2004 edition of Coffee’N’Carrots