Norman W. Walker

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Norman Wardhaugh Walker (January 4, 1886 — June 6, 1985) was an English-American businessman and pioneer in the field of vegetable juicing and nutrional health. He advocated the drinking of fresh raw vegetable and fruit juices, both to regain and to maintain one's health. Based on his design, the Norwalk Hydraulic Press Juicer was developed. This juicer continues to be produced and sold today. Walker wrote several books on nutrition and healthy living.

As of 2006, most book reviews and promotional web sites wrongly claim that Walker reached the phenomenal age of, variously, 109, 113, 116, 118 or even 119 years. Several official sources[1][2][3] the U.S. Social Security Death Index[4] and a grave marker[5] all indicate that he actually lived to be 99 years of age.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Walker was born in Genoa, Liguria, Italy to Robert Walker, a Baptist Minister from Scotland, and Lydia Maw. He was the second-born child of the six children of Rev. and Mrs. Walker. As a young man, he discovered the value of vegetable juices while recovering from a breakdown in a peasant house in the French countryside. Watching the woman in the kitchen peel carrots, he noticed the moistness on the underside of the peel. He decided to try grinding them and had his first cup of carrot juice.

Following his parents and siblings to America, Walker left England in 1910 on the S.S. Lusitania, arriving in New York City in October of that year and working at various occupations (although he gave his occupation as "painter" in his immigration interview).

Norman W. Walker married Margaret Bruce Olcott, a New York State-born girl, on June 11, 1913. in Manhattan, NY City (New York State Marriage Index, Marriage Certificate No.13485). Margaret Walker subsequently died a resident of New York City in November of 1970 (NY Times obituary and Social Security Death Index). It is unknown when & where Norman & Margaret were divorced.

On November 22, 1918 Walker was granted U.S.citizenship by the NY State Court.

Later, Walker moved to Long Beach, California. With a medical doctor, he opened a juice bar and offered home delivery service. By 1930, they had devised dozens of fresh juice formulas for specific conditions. Walker believed colon cleansing with fresh juices was the key to good health. Walker designed his own juicer, the Norwalk, in two parts — a grinder to slowly grind the vegetables and a press to extract the juice. When the San Francisco health department banned unpasteurized vegetable juices such as Walker's, he began manufacturing his juice machine in Anaheim, California. He kept the plant going in spite of the steel shortage during World War II.

In the late 1940s, he moved to St. George, Utah, where he found an old cotton mill, ideal for his juice plant, but he was again hampered by local health department regulations. He sold his share of the factory to his business partner and started publication of his own health magazine, The New Health Movement Review. For several years, Walker ran a health ranch in Arizona. Eventually, he gave up the ranch to devote himself entirely to writing.

Walker was a daily practitioner of raw food eating and juicing until he died at the age of 99 years. He was both physically and mentally healthy and active up to the day of his death, when he peacefully passed away during his sleep one night at his home in Cottonwood, Yavapai County, Arizona.

[edit] His views on nutrition

Walker advocated a diet based solely on raw plants like vegetables, fruits and nuts. He considered cooked, baked or frozen food dead and therefore unhealthy, saying that "while such food can, and does, sustain life in the human system, it does so at the expense of progressively degenerating health, energy, and vitality." As a strict vegan, he did not recommend eating meat, dairy products, fish or eggs. His diet suggestions avoided such staple foods as bread, pasta and rice.

Walker devoted large sections of many of his books to the description of the different organs of the human body, explaining how the digestive system and the various glands work. He considered a healthy colon the key to one's health. He estimated that 80% of all disease begins in the colon. He wrote: "Every organ, gland and cell in the body is affected by the condition of the colon."

According to Walker, the number one affliction underlying almost every ailment is constipation. In other words, it is "the primary cause of nearly every disturbance of the human system." This is because the blood vessels lining the colon collect nutrients missed by the small intestine. In his book Pure and Simple Natural Weight Control, Walker explained, "If the feces in the colon have putrefied and fermented, any nutritional elements present in it would pass into the bloodstream as polluted products. What would otherwise be nutritional becomes, in fact, the generation of toxemia--a condition in which the blood contains poisonous products which are produced by the growth of pathogenic or disease-producing bacteria." Pimples can be an indication of the presence of toxemia. Walker maintained that the typical American diet causes the colon to be filled with toxins that strain the eliminative channels and ultimately, the immune system.

Walker believed that dairy products especially had a deleterious effect on human health. He testified to the disappearance of many ailments upon the exclusion of dairy products. He explained that pathogenic organisms find an ideal breeding ground in the excess mucus that dairy products generate. He cited the following diseases as being aggravated or caused by mucus conditions in which dairy products are the major offender: undulant fever, colds, flu, bronchial troubles, tuberculosis, asthma, hay fever, sinus trouble, pneumonia and certain types of arthritis.

His writings reflect a wide interest in different aspects of health and nutrition; besides authoring eight books, he also produced three wall charts.

Norman's work lives on in new juice advocates such as Jason Vale in the UK, otherwise known as The Juice Master, and Jay Kordich who popularized "juicing" in the United States with extensive television advertising in the 1990s.

[edit] Controversial claims

Several of his books mention him having a D.Sc. degree and the title page of his book Colon Health even mentions him as having a Ph.D., as well. However, no mention is made as to where and when he actually earned or was awarded these academic titles.

Walker claims that "out of 100,000 autopsies that I had attended, less than 10% of the people had normal colons." {{{author}}}, {{{title}}}, [[{{{publisher}}}]], [[{{{date}}}]]. The number of autopsies Walker claims to have attended seems unreasonably high. He would have had to attend an autopsy every five minutes, eight hours a day, five days a week for four years in order to match his claim.

[edit] Quotes

"I can truthfully say that I am never conscious of my age. Since I reached maturity, I have never been aware of being any older, and I can say, without equivocation or mental reservation, that I feel more alive, alert, and full of enthusiasm today than I did when I was 30 years old. I still feel my best years are ahead of me. I never think of birthdays, nor do I celebrate them. Today I can truthfully say that I am enjoying vibrant health, I don't mind telling people how old I am: I AM AGELESS!" The Natural Way to Vibrant Health, chapter 3.

[edit] Works

  • Raw Vegetable Juices: What's Missing in Your Body? (1936) A revision of this book was published in 1978 under the title Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices: What's Missing in Your Body?
  • Diet & Salad Suggestions, for use in connection with vegetable and fruit juices (1940, revised and enlarged edition 1947) Another revision of this book was published in 1971 under the title The Vegetarian Guide to Diet and Salad
  • Become Younger (1949)
  • The Natural Way to Vibrant Health (1972)
  • Water Can Undermine Your Health (1974)
  • Back to the Land ... for Self Preservation: a freedom, life-style, and nutritional commentary (1977)
  • Colon Health: the Key to a Vibrant Life (1979)
  • Pure & Simple Natural Weight Control (1981)
  • Wall charts: Endocrine Chart — Foot Relaxation Chart — Colon Therapy Chart

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The 1901 English census lists a Norman W. Walker as a boarder, giving his age as "15", his occupation as "clerk", his citizenship as English, but his place of birth as "Italy".
  2. ^ In the Ellis Island Records a Norman W. Walker can be found as passenger No. 19 aboard the RMS Lusitania arriving in New York Harbor from Liverpool in October of 1910. He gives his age as "25", his citizenship as "English", his place of birth as "Italy".
  3. ^ [1] A Norman Wardhaugh Walker filed a Petition For Naturalization dated August 6, 1918. According to that document, he stated that: (1) he is living at 94 Grove Street, New York City, (2) his occupation is aviator, (3) he was born in Genoa, Italy on 4 January 1886 as a British Subject, (4) he is married to Margaret Oleott, who was born on the 26th day of July, 1888 in the U.S.A., that she "now resides at Farmingdale, L.I." and that he has no children. [2] On November 22, 1918, Norman Wardhaugh Walker took an Oath of Alligence to the USA & was admitted to citizenship by the NY County Court that day under Certificate of Naturalization No. 920727.
  4. ^ United States Social Security Number 528-50-4312 belongs to a Norman Walker and states that he was born 4 January 1886 and died in June of 1985. The record also states that the SS# was issued in Utah, and that his last residence was Cottonwood, Yavapai, Arizona. Check the Social Security Death Index at http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/
  5. ^ A gravestone at the Cottonwood, Arizona cemetery reads: "WALKER NORMAN W. 1886 — 1985 & HELEN R. 1905 — 1993" Helen Ruth was his wife.
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