Morris Krok (28 April 1931 – October 2005) was a South African

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

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Biography

Background Morris Krok was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

and brought up in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. As a young man, he started to seek solutions for his health problems and was influenced by natural healing writers of the 20th century such as

Vincent Priessnitz Vincenz Priessnitz, also written Prießnitz (sometimes in German ''Vinzenz'', in English ''Vincent'', in Czech ''Vincenc''; 4 October 1799 – 26 November 1851) was an Austrian hydrotherapist. Originally a peasant farmer in Austrian Silesia, he i ...

, Louis Kuhne,

Harry Benjamin Harry Benjamin (January 12, 1885 – August 24, 1986) was a German-American endocrinologist and sexologist, widely known for his clinical work with transgender people. Early life and career Benjamin was born in Berlin, and raised in a German ...

, Arnold Ehret,

Dugald Semple Dugald Patterson McDougall Semple (7 February 1884 – 19 January 1964) was a Scottish advocate of simple living and animal welfare, naturalist, prolific author, and fruitarian. He is sometimes credited with co-founding the vegan movement in 1 ...

, George R. Clements, Walter Siegmeister, Essie Honiball and Johnny Lovewisdom. He also studied

new age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

yogic Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

, spiritual and

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

writings from the

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

. Krok migrated to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to develop his work and writings, dedicating his life to the quest for knowledge about health,

vitality Vitality (, , ) is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. Vitality is also the characteristic that distinguishes life, living from non-living things. To experience vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a comp ...

and

higher consciousness Higher consciousness (also called expanded consciousness) is a term that has been used in various ways to label particular states of consciousness or personal development. It may be used to describe a state of liberation from the limitations of ...

. A regular

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

runner, Krok died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

of the leg in 2005, blaming "his problem on his terrible diet in his youth and on cooked food temptations from family". Beliefs In the 1950s, a popular South African

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

featured a story about Krok’s belief that

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

was the ideal food for

humankind Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligen ...

. In the 1990s and 2000s, David Klein Ph.D., publisher of Living Nutrition, chronicled Krok's famous sayings including "Man will always get colds if he persists in eating large quantities of mucous forming foods in the form of

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

dairy products Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...

and

animal fat Animal fats are lipids derived from animals which are used by the animal for a multitude of functions, or can be used by humans for dietary, sanitary, and cosmetic purposes. Depending on the temperature of the fat, it can change between a solid s ...

s." and "Health is the balance between assimilation and elimination.” in the magazine. Central to Krok's thinking was that mucusless foods held the key to good health. In the article, ''A Yogic Perspective'' he describes how "To heal and avoid

illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

, one must alkalinize the

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anim ...

through a

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

of predominately raw fruits and

vegetables Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including flowers, fruits, ...

." Writings Krok wrote books on

detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period o ...

, internal purification,

natural living ''Natural Living'' is an album by guitarist John Abercrombie and pianist Andy LaVerne recorded in 1989 and released on the French label, Musidisc.Sudo, KSpiral Quest: album details accessed March 21, 2017 Reception Ken Dryden of AllMusic s ...

self-healing Self-healing refers to the process of recovery (generally from psychological disturbances, trauma, etc.), motivated by and directed by the patient, guided often only by instinct. Such a process encounters mixed fortunes due to its amateur natu ...

fruitarianism Fruitarianism () is a diet that consists primarily of consuming fruits and possibly nuts and seeds, but without any animal products. Fruitarian diets are subject to criticism and health concerns. Fruitarianism may be adopted for different rea ...

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

, living foods, raw

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

physical culture Physical culture, also known as body culture, is a health and strength training movement that originated during the 19th century in Germany, the UK and the US. Origins The physical culture movement in the United States during the 19th century ...

hatha yoga Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word ह� ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

deep breathing Diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing, or deep breathing, is a breathing technique that is done by contracting the diaphragm, a muscle located horizontally between the thoracic cavity and abdominal cavity. Air enters the ...

, higher consciousness,

radiant energy In physics, and in particular as measured by radiometry, radiant energy is the energy of electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic and gravitational radiation. As energy, its SI unit is the joule (J). The quantity of radiant energy may be calcul ...

life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled biological limit of around 125 years. Several resea ...

and

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

. As well as being an author, Krok published several books by other authors including Johanna Brandt, Otto Abramowski and

Theos Bernard Theos Casimir Hamati Bernard (1908–1947) was an American explorer and author known for his work on yoga and religious studies (particularly in Tibetan Buddhism). He was the nephew of Pierre Arnold Bernard, "Oom the Omnipotent", and like him b ...

, through Essence of Health Publishers. Golden Path Krok's book ''Golden Path To Rejuvenation'' described how a

non-toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacteria, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect o ...

diet and the

osmotic pressure Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a Solution (chemistry), solution to prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane. It is also defined as the measure of the tendency of a soluti ...

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

water could detoxify and purify the

membrane A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Bi ...

s and tissues of the body. Krok believed that internal purification, was the direct and most effective way for a longer and youthful life. He described how not everything humans eat is used by the body, showing how accumulated wastes and

toxins A toxin is a naturally occurring poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. They occur especially as proteins, often conjugated. The term was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1919), derived ...

caused by an unnatural diet and other substances, result in illness and premature

ageing Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biol ...

. His internal purification programme was designed to help increase

longevity Longevity may refer to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is defined Statistics, statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth ...

and remain youthful. He believed internal cleansing in conjunction with

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

s was the 'golden path'. The book also explained the ''

vomit Vomiting (also known as emesis, puking and throwing up) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteritis, pregna ...

'' technique, a central part of the detoxification regime he endorsed. Legacy Krok was one of a series of 20th-century writers who wrote about fruitarianism, raw nutrition, fasting, detoxification, yoga and higher consciousness. His contemporaries included Brian Clement Ph.D, Dr. Douglas N. Graham,

Viktoras Kulvinskas The Hippocrates Health Institute (HHI) is a nonprofit organization in West Palm Beach, Florida, US, originally co-founded in 1956 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, by Lithuanian-born Viktoras Kulvinskas and Ann Wigmore. The Hippocrates Health Institu ...

and Robert Gray. Authors who have endorsed Krok's writings in their books include John McCabe, Joe Alexander,

Gary Null Gary Michael Null (born January 6, 1945) is an American talk radio host and author who advocates pseudoscientific alternative medicine and produces a line of questionable dietary supplements. Null is hostile to evidence-based medicine and has ...

, Benito De Donno and David Wolfe.

Criticisms

Morris Krok advocated a fruitarian diet in his writings as the optimal diet and described how at stages during his life, he lived "only on fruits". It is claimed that he later advised against a diet of "only fruit" however, it was subsequently reported that Krok's diet consisted of "just fruit".

Writings

Books and booklets written by Morris Krok, many published through Essence Of Health Publishers: *Amazing New Health System: Inner Clean Way, 1978 *Amazing New Health System: Inner Clean Way, Essence of Health, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 2001, *Cream of Yoga, 1987 (booklet) *Diary Of A Health & Truth Seeker, 1967, 1969 *Diet Health And Living On Air, 1973 *El Frugivorismo de Durban, Barcelona: Cuadernos De Naturismo, , 1980 *Formula For Long Life, 1967, 1977 and 2001 (originally From The Deathbed To Boisterous Health) *From The Deathbed To Boisterous Health, 1962, 1963 *Fruit: The Food And Medicine For Man, 1961 (alternate title ''The Conquest Of Disease'') *Fruit: The Food And Medicine For Man, Connecticut: O'mangod, 1967 *Golden Path To Rejuvenation: Life’s Most Important Knowledge, 1964 *Hatha Yoga In Its Moods Multivarious, 1959 *Hatha Yoga: The Vibrant Science Of Life, 1975 *Health, Diet, and Living on Air (1964) *Health Truths Eternal, 1964 *Health Truths Eternal (booklet) *Metaphysical Diary, 1960s *Mystic Story (booklet) *The Greater Miracle of Life, 1964 *The Kindred Soul: Teachings Of Eternal Truth, 1968 *Pathway To Truth, 1974 *Raw Juice Therapy & Self-Help, 1967 *Science of Natural Healing (booklet), 1961 *Soul Knowledge, 1960s (formerly Revelations Of The New Age) *The Conquest Of Disease, 1961 *The Fog Lifts - autobiography (unpublished)

Essence Of Health publications

*Fast Way To Health - Frank Mccoy *Fruitarian Diet & Physical Rejuvenation - Otto Abramowski *Fruitarian System Of Healing - Otto Abramowski, 1976 *Fruitarianism: Compassionate Way To Transform Health - Hannah Hurnard *Garden Of The Lord - Hannah Hurnard *Gardening Without Digging - Albert Guest, 1973 *Hatha Yoga - Theos Bernard, 2001, *Heaven Lies Within Us - Theos Bernard, 2002, *I Live On Fruit - Essie Honiball, 2002 *My Healing Secret *The Physiological Enigma of Woman: The Mystery Of Menstruation - Raymond Bernard *Prenatal Origin Of Genius - Raymond W. Bernard, (Foreword and Edited by Morris Krok), 1962 *The Grape Cure - Joanna Brandt *Yoga Gave Me Superior Health (Heaven Lies Within Us) - Theos Bernard *Yoga System Of Health - Yogi Vithaldas

Books cited by Morris Krok

*Autogbiography Of A Yogi - Paramhansa Yogananda *Doctor’s Disease And Health - Cyril Scott *Everybody’s Guide To Nature Cure - Harry Benjamin *Folk Medicine - DeForest Clinton Jarvis *Game Of Life - Florence Shinn *Hatha Yoga - Theos Benard *Healing By Water - T. Hartley Hennessy *Heaven Lies Within Us - Theos Bernard *Mucusless Diet Healing System - Arnold Ehret *Nature The Healer - Vera Richter *New Science Of Healing - Louis Kuhn *A Plea for The Order of the Golden Age - H. J. Williams *Pacifying Panicking People - *Provoker - John Toby *Raw Eating - Aterhov T. Hovannessian *Science Of Breath - Yogi Ramacharaka *Sunfood Way To Health - Dugald Semple *Why Grow Old - Tony Officer *Why slim - Khaled Hasan *Street pocker - Kaleemi

References

External links

Vibrance/Living Nutrition Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krok, Morris 1931 births 2005 deaths South African nutritionists Raw foodists Pseudoscientific diet advocates 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers