How and When to Be Your Own Doctor by Dr. Isabelle A. Moser with Steve Solomon Steve Solomon, June, 1997. Table of Contents Forward by Steve Solomon Chapter One: How I Became a Hygienist Chapter Two: The Nature and Cause of Disease Chapter Three: Fasting Chapter Four: Colon Cleansing Chapter Five: Diet and Nutrition Chapter Six: Vitamins and Other Food Supplements Chapter Seven: The Analysis of Disease States--Helping the Body Recover Appendices Forward _Tis a gift to be simple Tis a gift to be free, Tis a gift to come down Where we ought to be. And when we find ourselves In a place just right, It will be in the valley Of love and delight._ Old Shaker Hymn Favorite of Dr. Isabelle Moser I was a physically tough, happy-go-lucky fellow until I reached my late thirties. Then I began to experience more and more off days when I did not feel quite right. I thought I possessed an iron constitution. Although I grew a big food garden and ate mostly "vegetablitarian" I thought I could eat anything with impunity. I had been fond of drinking beer with my friends while nibbling on salty snacks or heavy foods late into the night. And until my health began to weaken I could still get up the next morning after several homebrewed beers, feeling good, and would put in a solid day's work. When my health began to slip I went looking for a cure. Up to that time the only use I'd had for doctors was to fix a few traumatic injuries. The only preventative health care I concerned myself with was to take a multivitamin pill during those rare spells when I felt a bit run down and to eat lots of vegetables. So I'd not learned much about alternative health care. Naturally, my first stop was a local general practitioner/MD. He gave me his usual half-hour get-acquainted checkout and opined that there almost certainly was nothing wrong with me. I suspect I had the good fortune to encounter an honest doctor, because he also said if it were my wish he could send me around for numerous tests but most likely these would not reveal anything either. More than likely, all that was wrong was that I was approaching 40; with the onset of middle age I would naturally have more aches and pains. 'Take some aspirin and get used to it,' was his advice. 'It'll only get worse.' Not satisfied with his dismal prognosis I asked an energetic old guy I knew named Paul, an '80-something homesteader who was renowned for his organic garden and his good health. Paul referred me to his doctor, Isabelle Moser, who at that time was running the Great Oaks School of Health, a residential and out-patient spa nearby at Creswell, Oregon.