Norman W. Walker
Encyclopedia
Norman Wardhaugh Walker (January 4, 1886—June 6, 1985) was a British businessman and pioneer in the field of vegetable juicing
and nutritional health. He advocated the drinking of fresh raw vegetable and fruit juice
s, 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.
Walker was notable for at least three reasons: (1) He was the author of at least six books published from 1937 to 1978. (2) He was the inventor of an important and innovative commercial juicer that is still manufactured today. (3) He was a pioneer in the raw foods, juicing, and vegetarian movements, each of which has grown in size and scope over the years.
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 the U.S. Social Security Death Index
and a grave marker all indicate that he actually lived to be 99 years of age .
, Italy
to Robert Walker, a Baptist Minister from Scotland, and Lydia Maw Walker. He was the second 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
.
Walker followed his parents and siblings to the United States, leaving England
in 1910 on the S.S. Lusitania, and arriving in New York City
in October of that year, where Walker worked at various occupations (although he gave his occupation as "painter" in his immigration interview).
Norman W. Walker married Margaret Bruce Olcott, a New Yorker, on June 11, 1913. in New York City (New York State Marriage Index, Marriage Certificate No.13485). Margaret Walker passed away in New York City in November 1970 (NY Times obituary and Social Security Death Index). It is not known when and where Norman and Margaret divorced, but the 18 Jan. 1943 issue of the Reno (NV) Evening Gazette reported a Marriage Application for Norman W. Walker of San Francisco and Helen Ruth Kerby of Carson City. There is no indication Walker had children from either marriage.
On November 22, 1918 Walker was granted U.S.citizenship by the New York State Court.
On May 6, 1933, The New York Times reported that "An indeterminate penitentiary term of not more than three years was imposed by Judge Allen in General Sessions yesterday on Norman Walker, 47 years old...." This was the fifth NY Times article in this matter, commencing in 1932.
The original charges involved advertisements placed in the New York Times by Walker, as Managing Director for The Broughton Institute of Ortho-Dietetics in NY City, wherein he allegedly promised employment with this school following completion of a six-weeks course. Neither employment nor requested return of the $150 tuition followed. According to a Probation Officer testifying at the Walker trial, 30 graduated students lost a total of $3,500 (approximately $52,000 in 2011 dollars per CPI calculation). It is currently unknown how much incarceration time, if any, Walker actually served.
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 observed a raw food diet, with fresh raw juices,until his death at the age of 99 years. Although claims have been made that he was both physically and mentally healthy and active up to the day of his death when he peacefully died during his sleep one night at his home in Cottonwood
, Yavapai County, Arizona
, no "official" evidence
of such claims, such as an Arizona death certificate, have, so far, ever publicly surfaced.
s, fruit
s nuts
and seeds. He considered cooked or baked food dead and therefore unhealthful, 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." His attitude to frozen foods, however, was an accepting one, as at this temperature the live enzymes did not seem to be killed. As a vegan
, he did not recommend eating meat
, dairy product
s (with the exception of raw
goat milk), fish
or eggs
. However, some of his recipes include egg yolks, cottage cheese, and Swiss cheese, as well as raw cream. His diet suggestions avoided such staple food
s as bread
, pasta
and rice
, and sugar
.
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 gland
s 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
, stating that constipation is "the primary cause of nearly every disturbance of the human system." This was, in his view, because the blood vessels lining the colon collect nutrients missed by the small intestine. In his book Pure and Simple Natural Weight Control, Walker stated: "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 instead generates 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 Standard 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. Walker's work influenced later 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.
degree and the title page of his book Colon Health even mentions him as having a PhD
, as well. However, no mention is made as to where and when he actually earned or was awarded these academic titles.
Vegetable juice
Vegetable juice is a drink made primarily of blended vegetables. Vegetable juice is often mixed with fruits such as tomatoes or grapes to improve flavor...
and nutritional health. He advocated the drinking of fresh raw vegetable and fruit juice
Juice
Juice is the liquid that is naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue.Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree...
s, both to regain and to maintain one's health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
. Based on his design, the Norwalk Hydraulic Press Juicer was developed. This juicer
Juicer
A juicer is a tool for extracting juice from fruits, vegetables, or wheatgrass. This is known as juicing.-Citrus juicer:A citrus juicer is used for squeezing juice from soft-centered, citrus fruits . It has a conical ridged center...
continues to be produced and sold today. Walker wrote several books on nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
and healthy living.
Walker was notable for at least three reasons: (1) He was the author of at least six books published from 1937 to 1978. (2) He was the inventor of an important and innovative commercial juicer that is still manufactured today. (3) He was a pioneer in the raw foods, juicing, and vegetarian movements, each of which has grown in size and scope over the years.
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 the U.S. Social Security Death Index
Social Security Death Index
The Social Security Death Index is a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File Extract. Most persons who have died since 1962 who had a Social Security Number and whose death has been reported to the Social Security Administration...
and a grave marker all indicate that he actually lived to be 99 years of age .
Biography
Walker was born in Genoa, LiguriaLiguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to Robert Walker, a Baptist Minister from Scotland, and Lydia Maw Walker. He was the second 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
Carrot juice
Carrot juice is juice produced from carrots, often consumed as a health drink. Carrot juice has a particularly high content of β-carotene, a source of vitamin A, but it is also high in B complex vitamins like folate, and many minerals including calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and...
.
Walker followed his parents and siblings to the United States, leaving England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1910 on the S.S. Lusitania, and arriving in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in October of that year, where Walker worked at various occupations (although he gave his occupation as "painter" in his immigration interview).
Norman W. Walker married Margaret Bruce Olcott, a New Yorker, on June 11, 1913. in New York City (New York State Marriage Index, Marriage Certificate No.13485). Margaret Walker passed away in New York City in November 1970 (NY Times obituary and Social Security Death Index). It is not known when and where Norman and Margaret divorced, but the 18 Jan. 1943 issue of the Reno (NV) Evening Gazette reported a Marriage Application for Norman W. Walker of San Francisco and Helen Ruth Kerby of Carson City. There is no indication Walker had children from either marriage.
On November 22, 1918 Walker was granted U.S.citizenship by the New York State Court.
On May 6, 1933, The New York Times reported that "An indeterminate penitentiary term of not more than three years was imposed by Judge Allen in General Sessions yesterday on Norman Walker, 47 years old...." This was the fifth NY Times article in this matter, commencing in 1932.
The original charges involved advertisements placed in the New York Times by Walker, as Managing Director for The Broughton Institute of Ortho-Dietetics in NY City, wherein he allegedly promised employment with this school following completion of a six-weeks course. Neither employment nor requested return of the $150 tuition followed. According to a Probation Officer testifying at the Walker trial, 30 graduated students lost a total of $3,500 (approximately $52,000 in 2011 dollars per CPI calculation). It is currently unknown how much incarceration time, if any, Walker actually served.
Later, Walker moved to Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. 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
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He kept the plant going in spite of the steel shortage during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In the late 1940s, he moved to St. George
St. George, Utah
St. George is a city located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and the county seat of Washington County, Utah. It is the principal city of and is included in the St. George, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is 119 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 303 miles ...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, 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
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. Eventually, he gave up the ranch to devote himself entirely to writing.
Walker observed a raw food diet, with fresh raw juices,until his death at the age of 99 years. Although claims have been made that he was both physically and mentally healthy and active up to the day of his death when he peacefully died during his sleep one night at his home in Cottonwood
Cottonwood, Arizona
Cottonwood is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 11,171.-Geography:Cottonwood is located at ....
, Yavapai County, Arizona
Yavapai County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*89.3% White*0.6% Black*1.7% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.5% Two or more races*5.0% Other races*13.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, no "official" evidence
of such claims, such as an Arizona death certificate, have, so far, ever publicly surfaced.
His views on nutrition
Walker advocated a diet based solely on raw and fresh foods like vegetableVegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
and seeds. He considered cooked or baked food dead and therefore unhealthful, 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." His attitude to frozen foods, however, was an accepting one, as at this temperature the live enzymes did not seem to be killed. As a vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
, he did not recommend eating meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
, dairy product
Dairy product
Dairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing comes mainly from cows, and, to a lesser extent,...
s (with the exception of raw
Raw milk
Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized or homogenized.-History:Humans consumed raw milk exclusively prior to the industrial revolution and the invention of the pasteurization process in 1864. During the industrial revolution large populations congregated into urban areas detached from the...
goat milk), fish
Fish (food)
Fish is a food consumed by many species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Fish has been an important source of protein for humans throughout recorded history.-Terminology:...
or eggs
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
. However, some of his recipes include egg yolks, cottage cheese, and Swiss cheese, as well as raw cream. His diet suggestions avoided such staple food
Staple food
A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...
s as bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
, pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, and sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
.
Walker devoted large sections of many of his books to the description of the different organs
Organ (anatomy)
In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in structural unit to serve a common function. Usually there is a main tissue and sporadic tissues . The main tissue is the one that is unique for the specific organ. For example, main tissue in the heart is the myocardium, while sporadic are...
of the human body
Human anatomy
Human anatomy is primarily the scientific study of the morphology of the human body. Anatomy is subdivided into gross anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy is the study of anatomical structures that can be seen by the naked eye...
, explaining how the digestive system
Gastrointestinal tract
The human gastrointestinal tract refers to the stomach and intestine, and sometimes to all the structures from the mouth to the anus. ....
and the various gland
Gland
A gland is an organ in an animal's body that synthesizes a substance for release of substances such as hormones or breast milk, often into the bloodstream or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface .- Types :...
s work. He considered a healthy colon
Colon (anatomy)
The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs. Unlike the small intestine, the colon does not play a...
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
Constipation
Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation...
, stating that constipation is "the primary cause of nearly every disturbance of the human system." This was, in his view, because the blood vessels lining the colon collect nutrients missed by the small intestine. In his book Pure and Simple Natural Weight Control, Walker stated: "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 instead generates toxemia
Bacteremia
Bacteremia is the presence of bacteria in the blood. The blood is normally a sterile environment, so the detection of bacteria in the blood is always abnormal....
, 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 Standard 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. Walker's work influenced later juice advocates such as Jason Vale
Jason Vale
Jason Vale is an author, motivational speaker, and lifestyle coach.-History:Vale was a self confessed addict of smoking, alcohol, and junk food and a chronic sufferer of psoriasis, eczema, and hay fever. Vale claims he was then influenced by early juicing pioneer Norman Walker and began juicing to...
in the UK, otherwise known as The Juice Master, and Jay Kordich
Jay Kordich
Jay Kordich is an American television personality, author, motivational speaker, lecturer, and is known as a father in the field of vegetable juicing, fruit juicing and nutritional health. He is an advocate of health through the consumption of raw foods, to maintain and regain one's health...
, who popularized "juicing" in the United States with extensive television advertising in the 1990s.
Controversial academic title claims
Several of Walker's books mention him having a DScDoctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
degree and the title page of his book Colon Health even mentions him as having a PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
, as well. However, no mention is made as to where and when he actually earned or was awarded these academic titles.
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)
- Are You Slipping? (1961)
- 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