Dr. Roger L. DeHaan’s book “Restoring the Creation Mandate” is a wonderful combination of religious thinking, fascinating autobiography, modern philosophy, and practical tips on health. While the book is based on Christian theology, it can benefit anyone who wants to balance a spiritual life with the demands of daily living.
The premise of DeHaan’s book is that our health care system is broken. The system takes a mechanistic approach to health, which means that people are essentially thought of as marvelous machines that can be repaired through drugs and surgery.
In contrast, DeHaan looks at people as spiritual beings with a life force in their DNA. His book extensively covers vitalistic treatments such as live foods, emotional and spiritual counseling, herbs and spices, and prayer to nurture this essential flow.
As a result, he sees health care as wrongly relegated to the secular part of society. Spiritual institutions have abdicated their legitimate and proper role in health care education and assistance.
Training
DeHaan grew up on an organic farm, became a veterinarian, and then did missionary work in a rainforest. This fascinating section illustrates how indigenous groups use materials found in the rainforest to successfully meet their health needs.
Later, DeHaan studied metabolic therapy and alternate healing modalities. He includes all this information so the reader knows that he is speaking from more than just a theoretical basis.
Practical Ideas About Nutrition
DeHaan’s ideas about nutrition are simple. As he says: garbage in, garbage out. DeHaan cites the famous Pottenger experiment on cats where one group of cats ate cooked denatured food, while another group of cats ate the same food in its raw live form. Dr. Pottenger observed both groups through several generations. By the third generation, the cats on the cooked food were physiologically bankrupt.
DeHaan cites other experiments with a similar outcome. His down-to-earth conclusion is for people to shop at the periphery of the grocery store and to avoid the center aisles where the canned, processed, and preserved foods are stored.
DeHaan then goes on to say that the nutritional landscape has become cluttered with supposedly “scientific” studies that often contradict one another. The basic principles of nutrition are hard to find unless one looks in the right place—the Bible. He says Creation Law requires us eating whole foods in season with “live” natural food substances to make up for severe soil and mineral deficiencies.
Variety and rotation are essential and can be achieved through balance among the various food groups. Biochemical individuality plays a role in diet, and people have the instinctive ability to choose foods that are right for themselves. This instinct has been educated out of us by astute advertising, personal addictions, social training, and cultural habits.
Finally, DeHaan asks us to retrain our eating habits. Drink six to eight glasses of water a day and remember to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and supper like a pauper. Food is a fuel, and as the day passes, the amount of your physical activity goes down.
Other Thoughts
DeHaan gives the readers psychological ideas to improve their life. These include human touch, working with others to reach full creative potential, being patient when trying to reach your goal, believing in the right things, and so on.
Always a realist, he puts in a bonus section about being a well-grounded dreamer. He reminds people not to forget daily chores such as washing the dishes and sweeping the floor.
At the end of the book, DeHaan talks about his dream of people fulfilling their destiny to make a difference in this world with a massive return to morality and responsibility. He sees this renewal process as the greatest challenge facing modern people today.
DeHaan’s book challenges us to be the healthiest people we can. As he says, “Just as the roots, trunk, and branches of a tree all must be healthy, so too must a person’s body, mind, and spirit all be healthy if he or she is to enjoy true and full health.”
Linda Wiegenfeld is a retired teacher. She can be reached for comments or suggestions at [email protected]
Friends Read Free