Early life
Arnold Ehret was born on July 25, 1866, near Freiburg, in Baden, Germany. His father was a talented farmer who was so technologically advanced that he made all of his own farm equipment. Like his father, Ehret would be endowed with a passion for studying the cause and effect of phenomena. The courses of interest to him were physics, chemistry, drawing and painting. He also had an affinity for linguistics and could speak German, French, Italian, and English.
At the age of 21 he graduated as a drawing teacher and was drafted into the army only to be discharged due to heart problems. At the age of 31, he was diagnosed with Bright’s disease (inflammation of the kidneys) and declared incurable by 24 of Europe’s most respected doctors. He later explored natural healing and visited sanitariums to learn holistic methods and philosophies. In a desperate attempt to quench his misery, Ehret decided to stop eating. To his amazement, he did not die but gained strength and vitality.
In 1899 he traveled to Berlin to study vegetarianism, followed by a trip to Algiers in North Africa where he experimented with fasting and a fruit diet. Due to his new lifestyle, Ehret was completely cured of all his illnesses and was now able to perform great feats of physiological strength, including an 800-mile bicycle trip from Algiers to Tunis. His discovery led him to postulate that pus- and mucus-forming foods are the root cause of all human disease and that fasting (simply eating less) is nature’s primary method of cleansing the body of the effects of unhealthy eating. natural. (Hirsch, 1994, 9)
successful healer
In the early 1900s, Ehret opened a very popular sanatorium in Ascona, Switzerland, where he treated and cured thousands of patients deemed incurable by the so-called “medical authorities.” During the latter part of the decade, Ehret participated in a series of fasts overseen by German and Swiss officials. In a 14-month period, Ehret completed a 21-day fast, a 24-day fast, a 32-day fast, and a 49-day fast, which stood as a world record for many years. Ultimately, Ehret became one of Europe’s most sought-after teachers, journalists and health educators, saving the lives of thousands of people.
On June 27, 1914, just before World War I, Ehret left Bremen for the United States to see the Panama Exposition and sample the fruits of the continent. He found his way to California, which was of special interest to him. This was because the region was experiencing a horticultural renaissance due to botanists such as Luther Burbank, who later paid tribute to Ehret. At the time, the University of California also owned the world’s largest collection of rare fruits. The war prevented him from returning to Germany and he settled in Mount Washington where he prepared his manuscripts and diplomas in his cultivated gardens. He and other “Back to Naturists” began influencing local populations of young people to investigate plant-based natural living.
Benedict Lust, as a student of Ehret and an early proponent of naturopathy, initially distributed the English-language books of Ehret, Kneipp, Kuhne, Just, and Engelhardt in the United States. This included Ehret’s “Kranke Menschen” (literally, sick human beings), which became a bestseller. Ehret worked at Lust’s Yungborn Sanitarium for 5 years. Ehret then opened his own sanitarium in Alhambra, California, before a speaking tour. His course on the Mucusless Diet Cure System it became a book of 25 lessons for his students. The book, along with rational fast, they became his most important and popular publications. Ehret also developed and marketed his popular herbal laxative Innerclean.
Death
On October 9, 1922, just two weeks after completing the Mucusless Diet Cure System, wrapped up a series of four lectures on restoring health through fasting and the “Grape Cure” (grape juice and grape fasting) at the Angeles Hotel Assembly Hall at 5th and Spring Street, where it was reported that over a hundred people were unable to find seats. After leaving the building, between 11:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., Ehret, 56, fell to the ground and suffered a fatal blow to the skull. According to Ehret’s business partner and publisher, Fred S. Hirsch DNS, he was walking rapidly down a wet and oil-soaked street in foggy conditions when he slipped on the sidewalk and fell backwards on his head. Hirsch did not actually witness the fall, but found Ehret lying in the street. Carl Kuhn, Ehret’s German publisher during the 1920s, even questioned whether Ehret’s fall was really an accident. Benedict Lust contended that Ehret was wearing his first pair of new dress shoes and slipped as a result of his unfamiliarity with footwear.
To this day, the true nature of Ehret’s death raises suspicions among Ehretists. Ehret’s powerful healing successes coupled with his influential and revolutionary new lifestyle terribly threatened the medical, meat and dairy industries. Due to these factors, many believe that Ehret’s untimely death was involved in foul play. Her powerful healing successes, coupled with her influential and radical new lifestyle, challenged the medical and agricultural industries. His writings on religion and family were also considered quite controversial. In the decades after Ehret’s death, Fred Hirsch had many legal battles with medical authorities over the word ‘mucus’ and the laxative Innerclean.
Legacy
Arnold Ehret is a cultural icon and was a major player in the emerging back-to-nature revival in Germany and Switzerland during the latter part of the 19th century. (Kennedy 1998, 9-10) The influence of this revival spread to the United States and influenced many of the countercultural movements, including the beat generation, the vegetarian-driven “hippie” movement, veganism, and fruitarianism. Throughout the 20th century, Ehret’s teachings flourished and developed through the sincere efforts of a small group of dedicated Ehretists. Today, Ehret’s teachings are gaining wider acceptance around the world as more people seek to investigate plant-based vegan healing and detoxification.
Other readings
Child, BW, “Professor Arnold Ehret Biographical Summary”, in Arnold Ehret’s Mucusless Diet Healing System: A Complete Course For Those Who Want To Learn How To Take Control Of Their Health. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Ehret Literature, 1994, (13-22).
Hey Arnold, Arnold Ehret’s Mucusless Diet Healing System: A comprehensive course for those who want to learn how to take control of their health. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Ehret Literature, 1994.
Ehret, Arnold. Rational Fasting for Physical, Mental and Spiritual Rejuvenation. Los Angeles: Ehret Literature Pub, 1926.
Hirsch, Fred, “Introduction,” in Arnold Ehret’s Mucusless-Diet Healing System: A comprehensive course for those who want to learn how to control their health. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Ehret Literature, 1994, (9-12).
Kennedy, Gordon. “Arnold Ehret”, in Children of the Sun: A Pictorial Anthology, From Germany to California 1883-1949. Ojai, California: Nivaria Press, 1998, (144-153).
