Entri 'Kenali Shaklee' kali ini, saya ingin berkongsi tentang Dr. Forest C. Shaklee (1894-1985) iaitu pengasas Shaklee. Beliau telah melalui beberapa pengalaman hidup yang berkaitan dengan masalah kesihatan. Bermula dengan Tuberculosis iaitu penyakit batuk kering ketika dilahirkan sehinggalah penyakit kanser yang dihadapinya menyebabkan beliau berusaha untuk menjadi sihat kembali melalui pemakanan yang sihat. Hidup harmoni dengan alam menjadi asas kepada produk yang dihasilkan. Dalam entri ini saya hanya menukilkan daripada sumber lain iaitu laman Health is a Life Choice. Ia merupakan petikan daripada buku The Shaklee Story yang ditulis oleh Robert. L. Stook. Tulisan ini di dalam bahasa inggeris dan saya tidak akan menterjemahkannya. Semoga kisah Dr. Forest C. Shaklee memberikan anda inspirasi untuk meningkatkan kesihatan anda serta berusaha menyelesaikan masalah kesihatan melalui nutrisi yang tepat. Jom baca beberapa petikan daripada buku The Shaklee Story.
The Enduring Dream... An American Original
There’s never been anyone
like Forrest C. Shaklee, Sr. He lived
through most of the twentieth century, always curious, always eager to learn,
always ahead of his time.
By the time he reached his
sixties, he had accomplished more than most people could fit into several
lifetimes. At the time he reached the age when many people retire, he came up
with an idea for a business that seemed at once radical and naive.
Dr. Shaklee’s goal was to
change the world, person by person. He
would do this with products that improved people’s health and their harmony
with nature. His entrepreneurial
business plan was based on a conviction that helping others is the best way to
help oneself.
In time, his ideas gained
international recognition and praise.
His followers scattered the seeds of his success so that today millions
reap the benefits of his ideas.
Whenever Dr. Shaklee was
asked when his interest in health began, he would answer that it began with his
birth. He was born in a coal mining
section of Iowa on a gloomy November day in 1894. The midwife told his parents that their
fragile baby had tuberculosis and was not likely to survive. Doctors agreed. But his parents weren’t ones to accept hard
news without putting it to a test.
Whenever Dr. Shaklee was asked when his interest in health began, he would answer that it began with his birth
“My parents were determined
to put an end to the negative head shaking,” Dr. Shaklee once wrote. “Their deep, abiding faith in things natural
led them to move to a farm in the north of the state, where the fertile soil
produced the quality of nutritional substances my body needed. Here I could enjoy the sunshine and breathe
pure air.” The senior Shaklees put aside
medications that seemed to do little for the child. All of the family’s food came from the farm
garden. As soon as the boy could stand,
his father began exercising with him to strengthen the small arms and
legs. Forrest grew, alternating long
afternoons of bed rest with games of catch, walks in the woods and even fencing
lessons. And gradually, the boy’s health
improved.
By the time he was a
teenager; Forrest was reading Bernard McFadden’s Physical Culture and working
out with weights. When he reached
college, he was an athlete who played baseball, ran track, wrestled, boxed and
lifted weights.
“It was not a miraculous
cure, as some people said. It was slow,
but it was sure,” Dr. Shaklee said. At
the earliest possible age, he was made to understand that wellness has everything
to do with good nutrition, a healthy environment and exercise.
A Chiropractor and More
Given his childhood
experiences, it’s not surprising that the subject of health and wellness always
fascinated Forrest. When it was time to
pick a career, he decided to study chiropractic medicine.
He was sometimes asked why he
didn’t become a medical doctor. “I never
belittle the medical profession", he once said, “but we are in two
separate fields of endeavor. They are
trained to treat disease. I am
interested in building health.” He
graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, in
1915. Though he had enjoyed the school,
he was convinced that the theory was too narrow. He disagreed with his
instructors who said that chiropractic was the only useful health treatment. “Too many of the people who came in for
treatment appeared to me to be overfed and undernourished, “ he said.
When Dr. Shaklee established
his first practice in Rockwell City, Iowa, he spoke with his patients about
their diets. Although this was unusual
for the time, he devised detailed nutrition diaries to monitor patients’
progress. What he saw clearly was that
those who regularly ate fresh fruits and vegetables were most likely to recover
quickly from their complaints. When he
wasn’t seeing patients, he was experimenting in his laboratories, focusing on
how certain foods related to overall health.
“I’m interested in building health”
At night he read scientific
journals and was particularly interested in the work of a young Polish
biochemist, Casimir Funk, who was working to isolate natural compounds that he
called “vitamins.”
Forrest himself had been
experimenting with concentrating and compounding vegetables for their mineral
values to make a supplement for his patients.
He called it Vitalized Minerals.
While he was studying at Palmer,
he fell in love with Ruth Chapin. They
were married in December, 1915. As they
returned from their honeymoon, Ruth got a good glimpse of what married life
would be like. They were met at the
train station by a man whose wife needed immediate attention. Instead of heading off to their new home
together, they raced by horse and buggy to see the patient.
As the practice grew, the
Shaklee’s began a family. Their first
son, Forrest, Jr., was born in 1917.
His younger brother, Raleigh, known as Lee, was born four years later.
Dr. Shaklee’s interest in
nutritional supplements became more and more serious as he saw positive results
with his patients. In 1924, Dr. Shaklee
had become successful enough to act on his dream to build a complete health
care center.
The family moved to a larger
community, Mason City, and he opened the Shaklee Clinic. This was a large, fifteen-bed facility with
thirty-two treatment rooms and an X-ray laboratory. He served as the administrator for a staff of
chiropractors, osteopaths, internists, general practitioners and surgeons.
In the Shaklee Clinic, for
the first time, Dr. Shaklee’s formulations for food supplements were packaged
and dispensed.
In 1928, he developed a
sensible diet regimen, which he recommended to all his patients. This diet was similar to the Food Guide
Pyramid currently recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture,
wit an emphasis on grains, fruits, and vegetables and a minimum of fats and
sugar.
His deep concern for the spiritual part of life eventually took shape as the Shaklee Philosophy
During this time, Dr. Shaklee
was developing another interest. He
frequently delivered sermons at the Christian Church. His deep, resonating voice and considerable
skills as a speaker began to draw crowds to the church.
In January, 1929, he was
ordained a minister and in 1933, he officially received his doctor of divinity
degree. His ability to inspire was a
great asset years later when he began to offer the Shaklee business
opportunity. And his deep concern for
the spiritual part of life eventually took shape as the Shaklee philosophy.
When one door closes, another opens to a New Adventure
One wintry night in early
1929, a fire destroyed Dr. Shaklee’s offices.
Among the losses were all the records of his nutrition experiments. Though he was insured, he decided to pause
before rebuilding. It had been fourteen
long years since he began his practice.
It seemed a good time to take a break.
He took one of the clinic
vans and outfitted it with bunks, an icebox, running water from a storage tank,
and a closet for fishing gear. This
comfortable home on the road was the ancestor of recreational vehicles. And the Shaklee’s took off to see the
country.
As they reached the West
coast, Dr. Shaklee was impressed by the year-round growing season and rich soils. He was interested in growing high quality
herbs and vegetables for nutritional supplements. At first, the family settled in Eugene,
Oregon, enchanted by the lush, rich greenery.
But after a year of the rain, they headed south into the sunshine.
Dr. Shaklee opened a new
clinic in Oakland, California, across the bay from San Francisco. It quickly became another successful,
lucrative practice. And, once again,
nutrition was at its core.
For ten years, the Shaklee’s
lived well. As Dr. Shaklee’s reputation
grew, he was frequently asked to lecture on the importance of nutrition. He was a natural public speaker. Both sons went off to the University of
California at Berkeley. Dr. Shaklee
began to explore another aspect of health ~ the power of the mind. His experience had shown him that a positive
mental attitude was a powerful tool in health.
He began to formulate the essential concepts of the personal philosophy
that eventually became known as “Thoughtsmanship.”
Then, during the summer of
1941, Ruth was struck by a car as she crossed a street in downtown
Oakland. She was hospitalized for months
and died in December. With the country
at war, Forrest, Jr. enlisted in the army and Lee joined the navy. Dr. Shaklee, though proud of his sons, was alone
and uncharacteristically unsure of what he wanted to do.
Thinking a change would help
him adjust to his life without Ruth, he decided to retire.
His childhood had taught him
the healing powers of nature, so he bought an isolated, 420-acre ranch near
Willows, about 150 miles north of San Francisco.
It was a beautiful place with
redwoods, oaks, and madrone tress covering steep hillsides. Every spring, the high meadows filled with
lupine and poppies and steelhead salmon swam in the streams. He added ponds to attract wild ducks, and
built a rustic lodge and two guest cabins.
Gradually, the pain of loss
subsided. He began to explore his
philosophical thoughts, sketching out ideas for articles. Patients contacted him, looking for advice,
and, more often than not, hoping to get more of their Vitalized Minerals. Dr. Shaklee realized that nature had done its
work for him. It was time to be with
people again. In 1945, he sold the ranch
and returned to Oakland.
His Childhood had taught him the
healing powers of nature
“What You Think, You Are”
This time he didn’t reopen
his practice. The reflective time he’d
spent surrounded by the natural beauty he loved sent him in a new
direction. Though he continued to work
as a chiropractor and nutritionist, it was the philosophy that he called
“Thoughtsmanship” that held his interest.
His philosophy was based on the responsibility of the individual to make
life as rich and rewarding as it could be by living in harmony with nature.
Dr. Shaklee’s sons, Lee and
Forrest, Jr., commented that they’d been exposed to Thoughtsmanship all their
lives without realizing it. It combined
the Golden Rule ~ “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” ~ with an
insistence that thought could improve man’s relationship wit nature. And the wonder of it, they realized as
adults, was that it encouraged them to develop to full stature, but in their
own individual ways. The purpose of his
philosophy was to help others become more positive, and therefore to accomplish
more. “I can only attempt to arouse a
consciousness in you that will permit you a better understanding of your own
ability to solve your problems. Your
future life will be exactly what you decide to make. What you think, you look. What you think, you do. What you think, you
are.”
The purpose of his philosophy was to help others become more positive.
Dr. Shaklee’s ideas gained
wide popularity. He spoke frequently on his views and in 1951 published four
books: Thoughtsmanship for Well Being, Thoughtsmanship in Love and Marriage,
Thoughtsmanship for the Bride, and Thoughtsmanship for the Salesman. His lectures were broadcast on Oakland and
San Francisco radio stations. As he
frequently mentioned nutrition as one of the ways to be in harmony with nature,
interest in his food supplements grew, too.
In 1955, a big idea began to
form. Now officially at the age of
retirement, he thought, “What about putting it all together in one grand
adventure?” He called his sons together
for what they sensed was something serious.
Their adult lives had begun by then. Each was married, with a family.
They became the first family whose lives changed dramatically with a Shaklee business
Their careers were launched
and promising ~ Forrest, Jr. had his own accounting firm and Lee was moving up
in an insurance company. But when their
dad outlined his proposal and then asked, "Are you guys interested in
starting a business with me?“ they considered it seriously.
They became the first family
whose lives changed dramatically with a Shaklee business. The work of structuring
the business took six months. Every
aspect of the business would be grounded in the philosophy. A person-to-person selling system made sense
to them for a number of reasons. It
seemed the best way of providing information and personal service to each
customer. And it also meant that, if the
business became successful, others could prosper from it with little financial
investment. The Shaklee Products Company
gave Dr. Shaklee the opportunity to use everything he had learned over his
lifetime. But what those three men
accomplished is astonishing. They began
with few assets except their belief in each other and their ability to
influence others.
They started a nutritional
products company with a single product right at the peak moment of America’s enchantment
with Betty Crocker, Wonder bread and other “miracles” of the postwar world of
food science. Nearly every prospect had
to be educated before becoming a customer, let alone a distributor. The odds didn’t look great, unless you banked
on that unusual man at the helm.
Life Changing Milestone for Dr. Forrest Shaklee – Tuberculosis
Forrest Shaklee was born in
November 1894 in Carlisle, Iowa, the second son of indigent farmers. The midwife attending the birth immediately
diagnosed consumption (tuberculosis) and the doctors, called in later,
concurred. The baby could not be
expected to live long. Observing the
child’s labored breathing, one doctor said that his short life would be a
“living death.”
The only treatment at the
time for tuberculosis was good food, fresh air, and lots of rest. The family moved from the soot and smoke of
the Carlisle coal mines to a farm near Moorland in northern Iowa. Progress was slow, however, and all of
Forrest’s childhood was that of a convalescent, with long afternoons of
solitary bed rest.
On sunny days, the boy spent
much of his time out of doors wandering around the fields. He spent long hours alone, observing nature
and thinking. Lying quietly on an old
haystack, he watched animals in their natural environment and he speculated
about the unseen force that guided migrating birds, and about the instincts
that led a sentinel crow to warn the wild ducks when a hunter approached. Most of all, he was fascinated by the acute senses
and instincts of farm animals. Long
before he could detect an impending storm, the sows in the barnyard would
gather husks and straw to make warm beds in their pens. “Animals listen to the voice of Nature,” he
realized, “while men have forgotten how.”
As Forrest spent so much time
out of doors, he was frequently asked to gather plants and herbs that his
mother and her friends used in preparing folk remedies. He gathered ground ivy, catnip, dandelion,
chicory, curled dock, bergamot, joy-pye weed, wild cherry, goldenrod, and wild
ginger. These he helped brew into teas,
mix in salads, or use in the creation of liniment or tonic.
The boy learned what the man
would need to know: how to turn a setback into an advantage. Forrest did not allow his illness to ruin his
life. The time he spent alone he used ~ developing
disciplinary muscles, sharpening his sense of observation, and learning to
think rationally and usefully.
Nature, he observed most, and
he came to respect it greatly. Not
surprisingly, he was most fascinated with the healing powers of nature. Nature has the ability to kill and to heal,
he realized, but nature’s ways of death were far more understandable than its
power to heal. How did nature heal? Was living in harmony with nature the
key? Is it possible to live in harmony
with nature in the twentieth century?
By the time he was a
teenager, Forrest was “attuned to the signs of Nature’s revelations.” The solitary summers out-of-doors had laid
the foundation for the philosophy he would develop as a mature man. By this time, also, his health had improved
remarkably. He was able to ride his
bicycle everywhere, to run with his dog, and to spend more time each day active
and less time lying in the sun. Finally
the doctors were satisfied that his tuberculosis had been arrested.
Life-changing Milestone for Dr. Forrest Shaklee – Cancer
In November 1917 Ruth gave
birth to their first son, Forrest Clell Shaklee, Jr. A few months later, the young family moved to
Fort Dodge, thirty miles from Rockwell City.
Here Forrest ambitiously opened a facility that incorporated various
specialties of medicine. In addition to
a fifteen-bed sanatorium, the offices contained thirty-two treatment
rooms. He hired a staff that included
not only chiropractors but osteopaths, internists, general practitioners, and
surgeons. In the sanatorium, Forrest
kept patients on vitamin-rich diets while he assessed individual needs for
dietary supplements. The clinic soon
became busy and prosperous.
Although the clinic was
thriving, many of Forrest’s patients were unable to travel from the country to
Fort Dodge, so he continued making house calls.
This was a difficult and time-consuming part of his practice. In 1918, when the major ode of
transportation was still the horse and buggy, the young doctor purchased and
flew a two-passenger Curtis airplane, one that could land in a patient’s
field. While Forrest may not have been
the first flying doctor in the United States, he was certainly the first in
Iowa, and soon his landings were cheered by excited crowds.
In addition to serving as
administrator of his clinic, Forrest spent a great deal of time in X-ray
diagnosis. At the time, the hazards of
excessive exposure to X-rays were not fully known, and the precautionary
measures were not as effective as those taken today. In 1921, concerned about severe ulcerating
burns on his left shoulder and left hip, Forrest consulted a cancer specialist
in Chicago.
As he feared, the diagnosis
was cancer. The doctor said the arm
would have to be amputated to the shoulder.
“What about my hip?"
Forrest asked.
“Your leg will also have to
be amputated up to the hip.”
The specialist went on to say
that even with amputation, the carcinoma might be halted for only a few months.
At the specialist’s urging,
Forrest agreed to visit the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The diagnosis was the same: only amputation
could arrest the spread of the cancer.
In the train on the way home,
Forrest considered the future that had been painted for him. His thoughts turned again and again to his
son and young wife, who was expecting another child. By the time he reached home, he had made a
decision. The cancer would not cut his
life short, and he would not become a helpless amputee.
“I will live,” he told
Ruth. “I will heal. ,I know I can do
it.” With these strong words, Forrest
made a deep commitment to act on his belief in the healing power of
Nature. He’d bet his life on it.
Within a few weeks, he sold
the clinic and moved the family back to Davenport, Iowa. There he began an intensive program of
nutrition, continual blood analysis, and occasional fasting. In order to have the freshest, most
nourishing diet, he regularly drove to the countryside, where he purchased
fruits and vegetables from farmers the same day they were picked. This diet, he supplemented with large quantities
of vitamins and minerals.
For several months, the
ulcerated sores on his shoulder and hip showed no improvement; Forrest suffered
enormous pain. Yet he was certain that
his healing depended on his positive conviction that he would heal; he never
let that conviction waver. On December
2, 1921, he had still another incentive to live. His second son, Raleigh (nicknamed Lee), was
born.
As the months passed, Forrest
and Ruth detected a slow but steady improvement; the ulcerated sores began to
heal. By the end of 1922, they had been replaced
by healthy tissue, and Forrest had regained the strength and energy of full
health. Not only was he alive and well
again, but the defeat of the illness convinced him that his ideas on nutrition
were absolutely sound. He was more
certain than ever that good nutrition could help other people too.
In spite of Forrest’s
dramatic cure, medical specialists remained skeptical. When Forrest visited the Chicago clinic, he
was told the cancer was only in remission.
Similarly, the Mayo Clinic, while impressed by the
"remission", had no intention of pursuing Forrest’s theories about
why healthy cells had been able to defeat carcinogenic cells.
The nutritional cure was not
a simple one, Forrest agreed. First,
when he contracted the illness, he had been a basically healthy person; that
was a highly significant factor. Second,
he had followed a diet he thought would best fit his needs.
Because individuals are
unique, “we must approach ourselves and our needs accordingly.” Certainly, there was no one standard dietary
program which could be applied uniformly to treat disease. The dramatic cure fueled his fervor to learn
more and more about the natural way to health.
Tamat Nukilan Dr. Forest C. Shaklee
Semoga apa yang dikongsikan memberikan anda keazaman dan inspirasi untuk hidup harmoni dengan alam. Jangan berputus asa apabila anda jatuh. Jadikan ia sebagai satu batu loncatan untuk bangun dan tampil dengan lebih hebat lagi.
Sekian...
Hafid Sulaiman
Pengedar Sah Shaklee
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