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Sceptics might suggest that we have deliberately chosen to describe trials that support our ‘case’ – ignoring trials with negative results unless they had some obvious flaw, for example. In fact, the studies described here are not a carefully chosen selection – they represent the major scientific trials of food intolerance carried out in the UK during the 1980s. Although a few studies of this sort have been carried out elsewhere in the world, there is little doubt that the United Kingdom is a major centre for serious, scientific research on food intolerance at the present time.

We believe that the studies which produced no evidence for food intolerance in rheumatoid arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome are both seriously flawed. The doctors earning out these studies are sceptical of the whole idea, and this has led them to disregard some important aspects of food intolerance – that it is vital to exclude all the likely foods at once, that wheat and citrus fruits are common culprits, and that normal-sized portions are usually needed to provoke a reaction during testing. The number of patients studied in these trials was small, and in the case of the IBS trial, they may not have been representative.

No medical trial is ever perfect, and various criticisms can be made of the three trials that showed a good response to an elimination diet. But they are all fairly minor criticisms, and they do not invalidate the overall findings. The doctors who carried out these trials were well aware of the controversial nature of their approach, and all took special care to design their trials very carefully. Moreover, some of the doctors who planned these trials believed that they would not see any response, or that it would be a placebo effect if they did. Their own results changed their minds.

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Yet, today, obedience is more necessary than ever before if a child’s desires are to be curbed and not become too demanding. A child who has learned to be obedient and comply with his parents’ wishes will only have to train himself in the practice of moderation, whereas badly brought up children who always get their own way succumb hopelessly to the gripping power of television. This is much more dangerous than many parents may think, because a growing child who is allowed to absorb anything he likes, without restrictions, is left to the mercy of bad influences. So, if parents do not set a good example in all they do and say, they can hardly expect self-control from their children. Where self-discipline is lacking it would be much better not to have a television at all.

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Only recently I heard from a mother whose child came down with an extremely dangerous form of poisoning after eating sprayed grapes.

Another report came from a woman in her sixties who loves the grapes from the Ticino canton in Switzerland. Although she should have known better, she would eat the grapes that obviously still had traces of pesticide on them and then, without fail, would suffer from digestive upsets accompanied by strong fermentation in the bowels. At first she thought that the problem was caused by eating too much raw sauerkraut, but as soon as the grape season came to an end so did her intestinal trouble, even though she continued to enjoy eating sauerkraut regularly. Moreover, she only consumed sauerkraut obtained from a reliable source, which was prepared in a natural way and not detrimental to health. These facts pointed directly to the sprayed grapes from Ticino as the cause of her upset.

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Which of all the oils and fats provided by nature is the best for our consumption? This question is a difficult one to answer. To start with, the criteria for judging or evaluating an oil or fat must be clear in our mind.

Today, oils and fats are primarily rated according to their content of unsaturated fatty acids. It has been found that these are necessary to guarantee the normal growth of many body cells and also to keep them healthy. Furthermore, we know that premature aging of the vascular walls, above all, the arteries, can be caused by a lack of unsaturated fatty acids. Even a cancerous degeneration of the cells has been attributed to this deficiency. Unsaturated fatty acids are therefore a vital factor, and we cannot remain healthy without them.

But it has not yet been proved that an oil or fat should be judged only by the amount of unsaturated fatty acids in it. It almost goes without saying that when a vital substance is discovered, it is at first highly overrated, such as once was the case with vitamins and the great fuss that was made over them. While this fanfare was going on, it was all but forgotten that minerals, the nutritive salts, are just as vital as vitamins. For example, olive oil has only a modest content of unsaturated fatty acids and therefore tends to be unjustly downgraded.

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Before breakfast, on an empty stomach, take half a glass of raw potato juice diluted with a little warm water. The breakfast itself should consist of whole wheat that has been soaked in water for a day or two. It can be made more palatable with the addition of a good vegetable stock or fresh butter. If the bowels need special attention, add psyllium seed or freshly ground linseed to the wheat. Crispbread with butter and wheat germ will complete your breakfast. If the liver is not functioning properly, drink a glass of raw carrot juice. Chew all the food well and insalivate it thoroughly.

Midday Meal: Eat a good, hearty vegetable soup with a cup of raw cabbage juice, which is added after the soup has been taken off the heat. Then have a dish of natural brown rice, steamed vegetables and a salad. Never use vinegar to make your salad dressing; use lemon juice, or sour milk or whey concentrate (Mol-kosan) if you cannot tolerate lemon. For variety, in place of the brown rice you can use whole wheat, buckwheat or millet. If you feel nervous and tired out, beat a raw egg and mix it in with your food every other day. On no account should the eggs be cooked because this would destroy most of their vitamins and, in addition, produce too much uric acid. Only when eggs are eaten raw do they have a place in a therapeutic diet, if it is at all advisable to include them. Thus, raw eggs can be used, as indicated, in a diet for stomach ulcers, but those who suffer from rheumatism should avoid eggs altogether.

Evening meal: This can be along similar lines to the breakfast. The wholewheat dish can be varied by taking oat flake porridge or, even better, raw, soaked oat grains, put through the mincer.

Keep off fruit on this special diet, only use vegetable juices.

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What I said about the rice grain also applies to the wheat kernel. Its valuable constituents are to be found, not in the inner part, but in the outer one, the bran. Like rice, the wheat grain should be used in its entirety, ground coarsely as wholewheat flour or flakes. Groats, coarse meal, are especially suitable for soups, rissole mixes, bread and biscuits. If you have no rough-grinding mill to make you own wholewheat flour, soak the wheat overnight and then put the soft, swollen kernels through the mincer.

This flaky wheat can be added to your muesli. Of course, you can use Vogel’s Wheat Bran and Germ instead. According to taste, sweeten the muesli with raisins or sultanas, putting these through the mincer together with the soaked wheat. The raisins will give you natural sugar. You see how easy it is to prepare a delicious muesli! Add some honey, perhaps some finely ground almonds or almond puree and a variety of fruit according to what is in season. Berries are an ideal addition. If you tend to suffer from constipation, mix some soaked linseed into the muesli to encourage the bowel function.

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Fears of damage to the fetus by either partner may result in sexual withdrawal. There may be an enforced period of abstinence due to threatened miscarriage or risk of dislodging a long-awaited pregnancy. Sexual dysfunction in the male such as impotence or premature ejaculation may result and may be further exacerbated after delivery when contraception is needed and sheaths are considered the method of choice. Alternatively, fear of damage to the fetus may be given as an acceptable excuse by the man who lacks sexual desire for his wife’s burgeoning and, to him, unattractive body.

The male fantasy of a mother’s purity and sexual innocence is not confined to those whose cultural and religious upbringing has held the Virgin Mother as an object of worship, but is an acknowledged phase of early childhood development. The first awareness by the man of his partner’s becoming a mother can reawaken this fantasy and be an unconscious reason for sexual withdrawal.

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Who controls the Pill? There is no doubt that it is in the woman’s hands, but men appear to have just as many worries about the health risks as women. However, these worries are often not expressed very loudly, but may be heard as asides: ‘How can you tell if she is taking it?’ Or reported by their partners: ‘Those clever doctors may let you down again.’ ‘They don’t tell you about all the side-effects.’ ‘Have you ever read the pack insert?’ There is rarely an opportunity to answer such questions adequately and they ask for a considerable degree of trust from the man. A psychosexual doctor may be prompted to ask why he feels he has to answer questions. Are they really questions or a request that the man should not be asked to put so much trust in something unnatural and a drug? One caring husband said, T wish I could take it instead of her.’ Again, asking men to rank effectiveness, the Pill came below condoms in their perception.

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During the contraceptive consultation it is difficult to remember that some of the women or couples will be consulting their doctor at a later date because of an infertility problem. Society is geared to the assumption that Marie Stopes made all those years ago, that every couple will bring forth a child when they want one; in other words, our society is constructed for the fertile.

Money is channelled into family planning and abortion services, and the maternity and child health services, but little is spent on the infertile. Such an arrangement adds to the suspicions of subfertile couples that their needs are not being listened to.

It is actually not an insignificant problem when it is remembered that for one in six couples, at some time in their lives, the wanted baby will not materialize without some medical intervention. These couples include those trying for their first baby as well as those who are having trouble conceiving their second or subsequent baby. Such couples suffer constant emotional pain, and can feel very isolated in society for, like all of us, their expectations of becoming normal adults and parents had been taken for granted, and it is only when a pregnancy does not ensue that they begin to realize that they may not be ‘normal’.

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Older women who choose to come to a young person’s clinic can be viewed as slow developers who are completing the tasks of adolescence late. Often they are only now developing a mature sexual identity, and may be on the brink of making what they hope will be a satisfying heterosexual relationship. They present a different challenge to the doctor. Though adult attitudes prevail during the consultation and history-taking, a larger proportion will conceal psychosexual problems, which may come to light at the genital examination.

Miss C, a 30-year-old patient who was on the Pill, attended the clinic for routine repeat of supplies. She was an attractive woman of eastern origin, who was due for a repeat smear. When the speculum touched the introitus the woman’s legs clamped together and her hand came down to push the speculum away. ‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘It hurts too much.’ The doctor wondered how the previous smear had been managed. ‘Oh, I just screwed myself up and let the doctor get on with it, but it was awful and I’ve put off having another one.’ Patient and doctor decided to postpone the smear and talk about the pain. Miss C. seemed happy to stay on the couch and told about her decision not to have sex when her friends first took the plunge. She chose to wait for a special man. When she finally lost her virginity (her words) she was 26 and her first sexual encounter was ‘very funny’.

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