By Gay Holland Berrien
“An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away” is an old adage that suggests an apple in one’s daily diet is a healthy habit. According to the Edgar Cayce readings, fruit every day is very beneficial but NOT raw apples.
Diet recommendations in Cayce’s health readings generally advised against eating raw apples. These readings emphasized the importance of an alkaline-producing diet for the immune system and all of the body’s functions to thrive. The human body should be kept 80% alkaline versus 20% acid. Raw apples themselves are actually on the alkaline side, which would usually be a good trait, but in most cases, Cayce saw them as harmful and to be avoided.
Of the more than 14,000 documented readings, the word “apple” appears in 650 documents. Most of these references remark upon the need to avoid raw apples in the diet, but a number of them name exceptions, many mention therapies utilizing apple brandy or apple vinegar, and a few instances where the word is used in the story of Adam and Eve.
There are also books based on the Cayce readings that include references to apples in the diet. An explanation for Cayce’s raw apple logic is included in reading 1206-8 given for a thirteen- year-old girl diagnosed with issues concerning “assimilations: eliminations: incoordination.”
Q. Is it well to eliminate apples, cider…?
A. As to apples – as we have indicated oft – these are not best for most people, except under conditions where they are advisable to be taken ALONE as a diet for the eliminations, or where certain characters of apples or their products are taken. Hence, for this body, these we would leave off.” (1206-8)
Apple Cleansing Diet
In great contrast to Cayce’s general diet advice to leave raw apples alone, there was one therapy he often recommended for cleansing one’s body, which required the eating of raw apples. This involved taking nothing but raw apples for three days, accompanied by coffee if one wished. On the morning following the three days, the person would take a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. (780-12) Reilly and Brod in their book, The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Health through Drugless Therapy, explained, “Cayce recommended the apple diet for a wide variety of ailments too lengthy to enumerate here, but in all cases where toxemia or toxicity could be a cause or contributing factor to such problems as headache, debilitation, neuritis, arthritis, constipation, incoordination of assimilation and elimination, subluxations, anemia, stroke, pinworms, and so on.
…If one is reasonably well, the detoxification will bring about an almost euphoric feeling of well- being and provide inexpensive and effective insurance against disease. If one is not well, the apple-cleansing regimen is an excellent beginning of a therapeutic program.”
Other Apple Products Mentioned in the Cayce Readings
Apple Brandy
Apple brandy is one of the ingredients in a dosage to alleviate bronchitis and other breathing issues. One example in the Physician’s Reference Notebook is in the treatment of a bronchitis patient where four ounces of “pure apple brandy’ was added to rhubarb, wild cherry, and horehound syrups along with tincture of stillingia (known as “queen’s delight”) and a tiny amount of chloroform. One teaspoon of the mixed concoction was then given to the patient three times a day.
Apple brandy is also part of an odd therapy utilizing a charred oak keg. According to the book, An Edgar Cayce Home Medicine Guide, this was recommended about fifty times in the readings, primarily for tuberculosis and pleurisy.
“This treatment involves the placing of 100-proof apple brandy in the keg and then regularly inhaling the fumes that arise from the liquid. Charred oak kegs are used commercially in the storage of aging liquors since the charcoal absorbs impurities from the liquor. This is no doubt one of the reasons that Cayce stressed keeping the brandy in the keg.”
Apple Vinegar
Many Cayce readings include apple vinegar in special formulas for rubbing on the body during massage therapies. Unless a person knows for sure he has a specific condition for which Cayce would advise a rare use of raw apples in the diet; raw apples should be avoided. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” was not supported by Cayce.
Various Health Issues Where Raw Apples Are Not Good
Following are some examples where Cayce admonished against eating uncooked apples.
- Acne. “Fruits are fine in season, except raw apples, strawberries, and bananas…” (McGarey: 1991)
- Anemia. “Beware of raw apples unless taken only as a diet for cleansing the system. Baked or cooked apples may be taken.” (1048-4)
- Arthritis, both Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis. Fruits that should be avoided: apples, bananas, strawberries, and tomatoes. (McGarey: 1991)
- Asthma. “No apples save cooked; these may be prepared in a sauce, roasted, baked, or the like.” (2424-1)
- Color Blindness. “Never fried foods, never bananas, and never raw apples…” (McGarey: 1991)
- Constipation. “Apples are not good for the system unless cooked.” (1713-17)
- Epilepsy. “Fruits: All in abundance except raw apples, bananas, large prunes, plums, cranberries.” (McGarey: 1991)
- Eczema. “Fruits: Eat only sparingly. Avoid raw apples and bananas.” (McGarey: 1991)
- Gastritis. “Q: Is raw fruit harmful? A: Apples, but not other fruits. Pears and all citrus fruits are GOOD. Grapes, without the seeds, well. Figs are very beneficial, whether ripe or packed. (5622-3)
- Herpes Zoster. “…all fruits except apples” (McGarey: 1991)
- Ulcers. “…all fruits except raw apples, bananas, and acid-producing fruits” (McGarey: 1991)
Exceptions to the Usual “No Raw Apple Rule”
- Diabetes. “Plenty of fruits, especially apples. These fruits may be either raw, fresh or stewed.” (McGarey: 1991)
- Diverticulitis. “For acute attacks, limit diet to liquids and semi-solids for first 10 to 14 days. At least 4 ounces per day from watercress juice, carrot and lettuce juice, beet juice, celery and lettuce juice, apple juice from fresh apples, and grape juice from fresh grapes. (McGarey: 1991)
- Hypoglycemia. Apples allowed. (McGarey: 1991)
REFERENCES:
McGarey, William A., MD, and associated physicians, Physician’s Reference Notebook, A.R.E. Press, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1991.
Reilly, Harold J., and Ruth Hagy Brod, The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Health through Drugless Therapy, A.R.E. Press, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1975.
An Edgar Cayce Home Medicine Guide, A.R.E. Press, Virginia Beach, Virginia (Introduction by Gladys Davis Turner), 1982.
McGarey, William A., MD, The Edgar Cayce Remedies, Bantam Books, New York, New York, 1985.
One of the most important elements in Gay Holland Berrien’s life was becoming a member of the Association for Research and Enlightenment fifty-three years ago. She and her husband, Rich, believe the study of the Cayce readings has greatly benefited their lives. She is a retired employee of the Forest Service.
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