2022 Reprint of the 1926 First Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Ehret viewed the principal cause of disease as arising from a lifetime's accumulation of mucus in the digestive tract. The mucus residing in the body becomes morbid and consists of "undigested, decayed and retained food substances, all of which are in a state of fermentation and putrefaction." (Ehret, 1922, p.5) Having no function or use in the body, the morbid mucus, along with masses of accumulated feces and undigested foodstuffs, leads to a toxic internal environment that creates the ideal conditions for constipation. Constipation, the disease of internal filth and uncleanliness, was identified by Ehret as the inevitable consequence arising from the "diet of civilization." His list of mucus-forming foods included dairy, eggs, starchy and farinaceous products, as well as fats and oils that also form the basis of adhesives and glues, and exhibit similar properties inside the intestines, causing the "digestive tract... not only to clog up through constipation, but literally [to be] glued together with sticky mucus and feces." (Ehret, 1922, p.8) Ehret was very vocal on some of the foods that he eschewed. In bold capital letters, he writes: "I ABSOLUTELY DECLARE WAR ON MEAT AND ALCOHOL; through fruit and moderate eating these great evils are radically diminished." (Ehret, 1926, p.14).
As an alternative Ehret promoted his Mucusless Diet that "consists of fresh, ripe fruit and starchless vegetables." (Ehret, 1922, p.10) He reasoned, "Fruits, green leaf and starchless vegetables do not contain these pasty, gluey, mucus substances and are natural foods¿yet little credit has been given them by doctors or laymen." (Ehret, 1922, p.8) In his diet protocol, these wonder foods of Nature had the power to dissolve the encrusted mucus layer found in constipated intestines. He explains the mechanism: "Fruit sugar causes and develops their fermentation and forms gases. This so greatly feared fermentation of the inside filth is another necessary stirring up process to prepare them for elimination. Acid and fermented starch and glue lose their sticky ability as soon as they ferment." (Ehret, 1922, p.8)
