“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(3:14. She then tried to read the fan letter about the “nightshade” diet, but didn’t do well even though it was typed. I read the last page to her myself. I repeated that I wanted Seth to comment on the question of diets and treatments for ailments. We had an interesting talk, and I made some very good points—wish I had them written down. My main point was that by displacing the cause of their troubles outside themselves, the patient freed himself or herself of guilt and responsibility for their own welfare. It made me wonder just how many ills are treated in this way, with the “cure” being given to the patient through conventional treatment, where if the patient understood what mechanisms were operating within, the cure could be attained without medical intervention.

(Pause.) Concerning the diet: you already realize what the situation is. If you firmly believe that certain items in a diet will cause you distress, then of course they will—and avoiding the same items will bring relief.

Ruburt felt some dismay when you told him of the letter about the diet because he felt momentarily threatened—attracted to the diet, and suspicious of it at the same time. It seemed to be just like one of the many so-called cures that raised hopes only to dash them.

Such diets may work. Just the relief from guilt feelings alone would result in an upsurge of bodily health and enthusiasm. Everyone reacts to food differently. Even while it carries a great resemblance to any other physical body, still a body’s own individualistic characteristics are such that for all the likenesses to other bodies, few generalizations can be safely made.

First of all, diet-wise, your idea of a normal diet is quite adequate. The other diets you have been discussing are indeed restrictive (as I had said earlier), particularly for general purposes. Special diets, at particular times, restricted ones, can be of benefit in certain specialized areas of development, but there is always the danger of going overboard.

In Ruburt’s case more normal food is sufficient as far as diet itself is concerned. [...]

[...] I wanted to know what part beliefs played in such diets, that worked, and I wanted to know about the wide variance in human responses. In short, I wanted something from Seth about whether it was worth it, or even necessary, that Jane try this diet—which, after all, would be the latest in the series of schemes I’ve come across in efforts to help her. [The last one was the anti-amoebic medication regime.] And what does it all mean, I asked, if she’s getting better now without any special diet or foods? [...]

[...] His rather long letter dealt with Dr. Childers’ nightshade diet for arthritis; the writer claimed he had a close friend who had recovered completely from rheumatoid arthritis that had plagued him since childhood, by following this diet—no potatoes, paprika [peppers], tomatoes, and a few other common foods of the nightshade family. [...]

[...] That there’s no need for us to shove a bunch of beliefs upon a diet. [...]

[...] On the diet of your Stephen. (Pete’s brother.) We find a confusion in body chemistry, caused either by the diet itself at present, or alternating changes of diet. [...]

[...] What is needed is a balanced diet, a normally balanced diet. [...]

[...] Iron would be helpful in her diet. [...]

In the oddest fashion, then, your diets simply reinforce the condition — since you diet because you believe so deeply in your overweight condition.

[...] The best diet in the world, by anyone’s standards, will not keep you healthy if you have a belief in illness.

A belief in health can help you utilize a “poor” diet to an amazing degree. [...]

[...] You begin a round of diets, all based on the idea that you are overweight because you eat too much. [...]

[...] If you believe that the body is somehow evil, you may punish it by nearly starving to death, even though your diet might be considered normal by usual standards. [...] If you believe that the body is evil, the purest health-food diet will or may do you little good at all, while if you have a healthy desire and respect for your physical body, a diet of TV dinners, and even of fast foods, may well keep you healthy and nourished.

[...] Your diets are adequate. [...] You do fairly well, however, with a moderate diet. [...]

[...] It was advertised in the National Enquirer: “A Doctor’s Proven New Home Cure for Arthritis,” by Giraud W. Campbell, Doctor of Osteopathy.Jane began to read through it at once, out of curiosity if nothing else, and discovered that it called for a very rigid diet. [...]

[...] In certain terms, now, some natural diets of five centuries ago could kill you today, though they lacked any technologically produced chemicals. [...]

[...] His abilities need stimulation, a richer diet of activities. [...]

(“Diets do serve momentarily as outer signs that you are in control, and can seize the initiative; and as such they can be important. Usually, however, a pattern of unsuccessful diets occurs, operating then as a series of negative suggestions. [...]

[...] You usually end up with a flurry of different kinds of diets.

[...] Some people are so convinced, in fact, that eating is wrong that they diet until they become ravenously hungry, then overeat and force themselves to vomit up the residue.

[...] It seems highly impractical in that system of belief to tell an individual that he or she knows the best patterns of behavior to follow, to suggest that each person knows how much sleep he or she needs, or that left alone you will pick a correct diet—a diet geared to you. Instead it seems that there must be an overall diet suited for human beings in general, or a sleep pattern best for the race at large.

[...] I will have some little more to say concerning diet. [...]

(Seth’s comments on our meals rather surprised us, since we are quite careful about our diet as it is. [...]

[...] I will then have a few words to say concerning the connection between diet, personality, and health. [...]

A little more here concerning diet. [...]

[...] His literal mind led him on the one hand to a rich diet of creativity and psychic experience, and to a situation in which he and Joseph could finally be financially free and not in that way threatened.

To his way of thinking he cut out all excess baggage, so he had a spare diet, physically speaking. [...]

There are to be some recommendations for diet. [...]

[...] His diet, and yours, should follow the following patterns: for him particularly, except for bacon which is dried, very little pork. [...]

[...] All other fruits however should be better utilized in his diet. [...]

[...] Some beef is all right, but not as a steady diet. [...]

[...] Some have unusually heavy appetites, even though these may be regulated by a series of diets — which are then broken by overeating.

[...] An addition of iron to the diet.

Parsnips should be added to the diet.

[...] The diet is very deficient (pause) generally speaking, and is robbing the tissues.

The diet is more important here than it would seem. [...]

As to the balanced diet, I will say this: you are not eating evenly. [...] It is not good for you to lose so much weight, and many of your symptoms are directly connected with various deficiencies brought about through your diet. [...]

[...] Vegetable matter is a main diet, though often supplemented by insects, which are considered a delicacy.

[...] She worried about her overweight condition, and [was] depressed at what she thought of as her lack of discipline in following diets. [...]