1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,640 Speaker 1: Alexander Henderson had heard some strange things in his day 2 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: as a doctor. He liked solving the body's mysteries. But 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: what or who waited for him in Tutbury, a small 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: village in Staffordshire, was something or someone that even he 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,240 Speaker 1: couldn't quite understand. His patient that day was a local 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: resident by the name of Anne Moore, who claimed to 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: have not eaten since eighteen oh seven, the year, by 8 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: the way, was now eighteen twelve. Anne had long ago 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: ceased to just be a local oddity. Now she was 10 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: a global superstar. She had become famous for claiming to 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: survive without food. There was now even a wax replica 12 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: of her across the ocean in a Boston museum. But 13 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: it wasn't Anne that called for Alexander's counsel that day. 14 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: She actually didn't need a thing. Rather, he was going 15 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: to surprise her. This was an ambush, and Alexander wanted 16 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: to prove her grift once and for all. When he 17 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: and his traveling companion arrived at her home, they found 18 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: her in bed. She was seemingly unperturbed by their sudden appearance, 19 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,479 Speaker 1: and for someone who supposedly hadn't eaten in years, her 20 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: body told an interesting story. Her lower half did indeed 21 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 1: look a bit withered, but she overall looked healthy. But 22 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: she was fifty years old and claimed to have had 23 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: no food for five years and no drink for four 24 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: of those. And she told them that she hadn't defecated 25 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: in five years nor urinated in three. However, Alexander's own 26 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: sense told him otherwise, with the odor of soiled bedclothes 27 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: hanging heavy in the room. Even though Alexander didn't believe 28 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: Anne's claims, her community certainly did. They wanted to. You see, 29 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: she stood for something much larger than herself, and she 30 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: wasn't the only girl or woman to take up this 31 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: starvation path. For centuries, the ability to survive without nourishment 32 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: had been tied to morality and divinity, and now Anne 33 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: Moore would become part of a long line of girls 34 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,559 Speaker 1: and women who would use as a public spectacle. Often, 35 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: these women, who had later become known as the Fasting Girls, 36 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: came from rural backgrounds or from poor and working class families. 37 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: From humble beginnings, they found ways to usurp their social order. 38 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: Suddenly people wanted to pay attention to them, and when 39 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: word of their strange feats spread, People would come to 40 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: see them, and often for a price. Molly Franchier, a 41 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:29,079 Speaker 1: woman from Brooklyn, New York, spoke in prophecies and accepted donations. 42 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: Others such as Sarah Jacob, the Welsh fasting Girl, Leonora 43 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: Eaton of New Jersey, and Josephine Marie Bedard, claimed to 44 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: have been granted a variety of abilities and powers because 45 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: of their abstinence from food. The cultural fascination with them 46 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: inspired their courting by P. T. Barnum and his contemporaries 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: for dime museums and sideshows. They were a hot commodity. 48 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: Those fasting girls and Alexander saw them as nothing more 49 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: than a hoax. After examining Anne, Alexander deduced that it 50 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: was likely that she had fasted just over two weeks. 51 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: He deemed that her five year fast that she claimed 52 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: to have undertaken would have actually killed her, and for 53 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: her parts, did all that she could to avoid close 54 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: and protracted scrutiny of any kind, and, according to Alexander's 55 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: published account, those who supported her had a vested interest 56 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: in maintaining her ruse. Her station in life had certainly improved. 57 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: She had gone from impoverished to comfortable, affording an existence 58 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: funded by her own exhibition. But this wasn't to last. 59 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: For curious outsiders, the desire to prove or disprove her 60 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: claims became insatiable. In the spring of eighteen thirteen, it 61 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: was decided that a local clergyman would supervise her around 62 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: the clock. He would sit at her bedside, maintaining vigil 63 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: She was reluctant to be a part of any such watch, 64 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: but did against her better judgment. The study began on 65 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: April twenty first. By the thirtieth Anne was emaciated and feverish, 66 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: causing her daughter to call it off, and died a 67 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: few months later at the age of fifty three. There 68 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: is much to be said about the fasting girls and 69 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: why they did what they did. In fact, although the 70 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: history of fasting is inextricably linked to morality and piety, 71 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: there's a shadowy side there as well, and Moore was 72 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: nowhere near the first to take a crack at a 73 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: career in fasting for personal gain, and as usual, she 74 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: wouldn't be the last. I'm Aaron Manky and welcome to 75 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: bedside Manners. Before Primetime TV gave us the WWE and WWF. 76 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: We had the Gladiators. They were a curious class in 77 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: Roman society, admired, revered, and somewhat's on the fringe, bound 78 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: by an oath to submit to death, who just happened 79 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: to also provide top notch entertainment. They were a spectacle 80 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: unto themselves, selling tickets to shows that helped the masses 81 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: pass the sweltering ro afternoons. It's here that we once 82 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: again find the physician Galen, who by now you've already 83 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:07,840 Speaker 1: heard a lot about in this season. By around one 84 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: sixty a d. Galen had become the resident physician to 85 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: the Gladiators at the Temple of Peragammon. He was the 86 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: guy behind the scenes, rubbing their shoulders, stitching their skin, 87 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,479 Speaker 1: and cleaning up their spilled blood. Galen would tend to 88 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: his gladiators between shows, prepping them to get back out 89 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: in the ring, so to speak, for the cheering crowds. 90 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: The scope of his actual work was pretty broad. He 91 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: was a doctor, an athletic trainer, a physical therapist, and 92 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: a dietician all rolled into one. He was particularly interested 93 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: in experimenting with diet for strength building and healing, which 94 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: he spoke at length about these ideas in his writing. 95 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,160 Speaker 1: He saw food as a tool, pretty straightforward healing modality 96 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: for the body and the spirit. These ideas, though, were 97 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,359 Speaker 1: inherited from another mind that we've heard about in this series, 98 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: the mind of Hippocrates. Years before, he had written that 99 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: everyone has a physician side of him or her. We 100 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,359 Speaker 1: just have to help it in its work. Our food 101 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. 102 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 1: Leaning on his idea of the four humors the balance 103 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,480 Speaker 1: of four bodily fluids that controlled the health of our systems, 104 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: Galen sought balance through combining and eating what he thought 105 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: to be opposites. Take his treatment for indigestion, for example, 106 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: it was believed that this was a symptom of too 107 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 1: much cold, wet flegm, so a hot, dry treatment should 108 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: be taken. A common prescription might be wine to dry 109 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: you out, and black pepper to bring the heat. He 110 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,239 Speaker 1: wrote three books on the idea, all divided into themes. 111 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: The first volume spoke largely of grains, the second to 112 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 1: fruits and vegetables, and the third of animal products. Think 113 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: of these as therapeutic texts, attempting to outline the utility 114 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 1: of each food and devising ways to use them to 115 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: heal people. He didn't believe in a one size fits 116 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: all diet and believe that every individual should take into 117 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: consideration what fits them best. Later writers picked up where 118 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: Galen left off. Scrimonious Largess, who was writing in the 119 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: first century a d thought that diet should be the 120 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: first line of defense in medical care. Plutarch also believed 121 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: that doctors did their best work when prescribing diets and 122 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: sleep as opposed to taking more drastic measures. Prevention through 123 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: a good diet was more ideal than needing to seek 124 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: a cure once you got sick, especially when cures those 125 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: days looked a lot like cutting, bleeding and burning the body. 126 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: And alongside thoughts on how we should be eating, there 127 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: were many coexisting belief systems that spoke of how we shouldn't. Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, 128 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: and Taoism ancient religions, all of them elevate fasting, even 129 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: if for different reasons. Fasting is often understood to be 130 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: a means of humility and sacrifice, or of clarity and awareness, 131 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: a physical self denial for the purpose of spiritual satisfaction. 132 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: The Greeks, for example, believe that demons had the ability 133 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: to enter into the mouth while we ate, and later 134 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: on Puritan Cotton Mather recommended fasting to all of those 135 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: who wanted to stop the witchcraft hysteria that had besieged Salem, Massachusetts. Together, 136 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: all of these ideas around eating and not eating have 137 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: created something of a monstrous tangled web in our collective 138 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: belief systems of what eating even means. There are entire 139 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: fields of study dedicated to understanding such things. For us today, though, 140 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: we're going to begin by just pulling at some of 141 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,559 Speaker 1: these freight ends of fasting this ancient and complicated tool. 142 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: Around the turn of the twentieth century, a perfect storm 143 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: of eating had landed on the shores of the United States. 144 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: Mass immigration had arrived and with it a slew of 145 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:45,079 Speaker 1: new cultures and their food ways. Industrialization too, was taking hold. 146 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: To feed all of these mouths, mass produced food was 147 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: often cut with toxic additives to make it go further, 148 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: to last longer, and to be more profitable. The edible 149 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: landscape of America was changing and quickly. At that far 150 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 1: from healing, was actively making people physically sick. And it 151 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: makes sense then that for folks of a certain elevated class, 152 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: ideas around self control and food would begin to blur. 153 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: Starvation due to poverty was deadly, but exercising fasting with 154 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 1: the safety net of abundance, even among the secular folks, 155 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: began to take on a righteous air. Time was ripe 156 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: to look once again towards the past for answers to 157 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 1: current woes. The marketing of dietary cures began in earnest, 158 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: some in good faith and with advice that we still 159 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: abide by today. Others, though, had no intent to cure. Instead, 160 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: they aimed to kill. Linda had no medical degree, but 161 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: she had a can opener, and she had a vision. 162 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:51,679 Speaker 1: You could say that her life was set on this course. 163 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: When she was a young child in Minnesota. Each year, 164 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: a traveling doctor would visit her family's home, Her father 165 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: hopeful that the man had the tools to ward off 166 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: any potential illnesses. That one fateful visit, though she and 167 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: her seven siblings were given mercury pills, tiny and blue 168 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: and undeniably potent, she was effectively poisoned by the very 169 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: person who said that he would keep her healthy, and 170 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: it shouldn't surprise you to hear that this treatment made 171 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: Linda very, very sick, with frequent bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. 172 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 1: Unable to take the hint, the doctor prescribed more of 173 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: the same pills for Linda's advancing illness, and she would 174 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: stay sick for years as a result. This set her 175 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: off on a quest for her own healing. As a 176 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: young woman, she decided to study osteopathy, thinking that she 177 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 1: would become a nurse, and soon became a disciple of 178 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: doctor Edward Hooker Dewey, an ardent practitioner and promoter of fasting. 179 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,439 Speaker 1: Linda decided that this would be her purpose and her mission. 180 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: She was going to become the world's leaving authority on fasting, 181 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: the likes of which no one had ever seen before. 182 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 1: She moved to Minneapolis in nineteen oh three and set 183 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: up shop, leaving behind a husband and children to fend 184 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: for them. She was of a single mind now and 185 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: couldn't let anyone stand in her way. She figured that 186 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: men were allowed to trailblaze, so why shouldn't she be 187 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:11,319 Speaker 1: allowed to do the same. Linda believed that system in 188 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:15,599 Speaker 1: purification was the root of all sickness, caused by overeating. 189 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: Her approach was a pragmatic and brutal one, relying on 190 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: patients only consuming thin broths made of strained canned tomatoes 191 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 1: and asparagus. Installing patients under her watchful eye, she would 192 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: administer daily enemas that sometimes lasted for hours. She also 193 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: prescribed daily therapeutic massages, in which patients would be pummeled 194 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 1: in the stomach and forehead as Linda commanded them to eliminate. 195 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: Her gumption proved to be a selling point, and curious 196 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: seekers found their way to her doorstep. But it didn't 197 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:48,959 Speaker 1: take long for her practice to take on something that 198 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: fell short of a shine. In fact, she began to 199 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: gain a deadly reputation. Clients associated with her began to wither, 200 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: and some began to die. But of course she couldn't 201 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,200 Speaker 1: be blamed for this. They were free agents, after all, 202 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: bound by nothing more than a shared interest in holistic 203 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,839 Speaker 1: healing and health. The most human thing, after all, is 204 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: to die, and sometimes that's just what the sick did right. This, 205 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: of course, wasn't a great look for Linda. She had 206 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: taken a lover named Sam, and upon his release from 207 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: prison in nineteen oh seven, they both skipped down and 208 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: settled in Seattle. Even still, her reputation preceded her. The 209 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: papers wrote about this mysterious fasting doctor who had come 210 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: to town her wild and boisterous claims, and speculated about 211 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: her checkered past. But in a stroke of luck, Linda 212 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: inherited a kind of legitimacy when she arrived. You see, 213 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: the city had recently grandfathered in and granted legality to 214 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:46,599 Speaker 1: current holistic healthcare practitioners under a new law that was 215 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 1: attempting to legitimize medical practices where she wasn't ever licensed before, 216 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: she now in a way was, and her attitude had 217 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: it changed since Minnesota. It was convenient for Linda to 218 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: be able to blame deceased patient for their own passing. 219 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: She argued that the ones who died failed to heed 220 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 1: her advice completely, claiming that they were negligent and disregarded 221 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: her expertise. Authorities couldn't quite figure out how to intervene, 222 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 1: or if they even needed to. She continued to get 223 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: bad press, but her followers remained faithful. She was a 224 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:23,200 Speaker 1: polarizing character, this Linda Hazard. In nineteen ten, Linda treated 225 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,439 Speaker 1: l E. Radar, a locally famous politician. She installed him 226 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 1: in a Seattle hotel, and no amount of coercing by 227 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: his family could convince him to forego Linda Hazard's fasting cure. 228 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: This would be a fatal mistake. He died within a month, 229 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: but not before bequeathing Linda property. A short boat ride 230 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: off the coast of the city, where she decided that 231 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 1: she would once and for all have her own fasting empire, 232 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,199 Speaker 1: away from the prying eyes of those who had it 233 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: out for her. Wilderness Heights she would call it, but 234 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 1: it would become known by another name, Starvation Heights, and 235 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: few would make it out alive. Claire and Dorothea Williamson 236 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 1: had come upon a marvelous idea. They had installed themselves 237 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: in the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, to take 238 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 1: another one of their resting cures. They were young, beautiful, rich, 239 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: and likely a little bored. They had lost their parents 240 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: at a young age, who left them an immense fortune 241 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: and undeniable trauma. What's true here is that the two 242 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: women's pain has long been debated, scrutinized, and doubted. According 243 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: to one of their own relatives, Claire and Dorothea are 244 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: ill because they can afford to be. They traveled the 245 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: world with their jam packed steamer trunks filled with fineries 246 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: most could only dream of. But all of this money 247 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,240 Speaker 1: couldn't buy them happiness, and it couldn't buy them health. 248 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: One fall morning in nineteen ten, they eyed a newspaper 249 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: advertisement for the Hazard Institute for Natural the Therapeutics. Claire 250 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: responded immediately, writing up a laundry list of diagnoses from 251 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: previous doctors, dropped uterus inflamed ovaries, bad knees, and informed 252 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: Linda of their intention to come. Linda's Wilderness Heights Sanitarium 253 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: was still under construction and would be through the winter. However, 254 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: she quickly agreed to take them on his clients, as 255 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: long as they were willing to temporarily be installed in 256 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: a local Seattle hotel for the time being. The sisters 257 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: said nothing of this to their friends and surviving family members. 258 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: They didn't need any extra opinions. They knew what was 259 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: best for themselves, so Dorothea and Claire consented to treatment, 260 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: then arrived in Seattle on February twenty sixth of nineteen eleven. 261 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: For the first time in their lives. They were separated 262 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: and housed in different departments. Linda insisted that this was 263 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: necessary for their own rest and well being, and the 264 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: sisters obliged. The treatment began, and the women were hopeful. 265 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: What they couldn't have known was that they were part 266 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: of Linda's larger plan. Off the coast of Seattle, in 267 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: the community of Olala, Wilderness Heights was beginning operations, and 268 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: even though it was newly minted, it had gathered quite 269 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: a reputation amongst the locals. They were, in short, somewhat fearful. 270 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 1: The village was made up largely of immigrants, and Linda 271 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: portrayed herself to be a studied, moneyed American doctor. Who 272 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: were they to intervene even if their best senses told 273 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: them that something was very, very wrong. Every now and 274 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: then they might catch glimpses of her patients, skeletal, gaunt 275 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: creatures with tight, pale flesh, taking in the air and 276 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: filled with conviction, or some would wonder later, was that fear. 277 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 1: But Claire and Dorothea would see this all for themselves 278 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: soon enough. In April of nineteen eleven, over a month 279 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: into treatment and too weak to walk, they were taken 280 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: by stretcher from their hotel to a fairy launch with 281 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: Wilderness Heights as their final destination. It was estimated that 282 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: each were about seventy pounds at the time, all wrapped 283 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: in bandages and barely speaking. Just before boarding the boat, 284 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: they were intercepted by Linda's attorney. He spoke with Claire 285 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: kindly yet authoritatively, giving her a pen and directions of 286 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: what to write on a piece of paper that he supplied, 287 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: and most importantly, he needed her signature. The letters intended 288 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: recipient was Margaret Conway, the sister's longtime nurse who lived 289 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:16,639 Speaker 1: in Australia. But it wasn't a postcard. No, it was 290 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: a codicil to a will naming Linda Hazard and her 291 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: institute as the beneficiary. Claire signed it, it was sealed, 292 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,479 Speaker 1: and the sisters were taken away in a thicket of 293 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: spruce and fir on an island separated from the mainland 294 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: by only a few miles. Claire and Dora might as 295 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,920 Speaker 1: well have been thousands of miles from each other. They 296 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: remained in separate spaces at Linda's insistence, and were totally bedbound. 297 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 1: She told the sisters that they were healing, but any 298 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:45,640 Speaker 1: progress would be impaired by distraction. And they missed each 299 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 1: other mightily, and I have a hard time imagining that 300 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: my faith wouldn't waver at this point. The record isn't 301 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,679 Speaker 1: exactly clear on what happened next, but what we do 302 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: know is that all the way in Australia, the girl's 303 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 1: beloved Margaret Conway received a cryptic telegram from Claire telling 304 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: her to come urgently. She hadn't been in touch with 305 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 1: the sisters and knew that something must be terribly wrong. 306 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 1: She arrived by steamship to Vancouver as soon as she 307 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,959 Speaker 1: could June first of nineteen eleven, and was met by 308 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:17,159 Speaker 1: Linda Hazzard's now husband Sam. He regretfully informed her the 309 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: Claire was already dead. That was when Margaret realized that 310 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,920 Speaker 1: something terrible had happened and was still happening. She insisted 311 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: on being taken to see both women, one dead and 312 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:31,440 Speaker 1: one very close to it, and appointed herself as Dorothea's nursemaid. 313 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: In a brazen gesture of hubrists, Linda invited a stunned 314 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: Margaret into her office, where she revealed that she had 315 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: been designated as the executioner of Claire's estate and named 316 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,639 Speaker 1: guardian of Dorothea. She did this all decked out in 317 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,119 Speaker 1: Claire's exquisite dressing gown and jewels. It was clear to 318 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: Margaret that this wasn't Linda's first ruse, but she was 319 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: hell bound and determined to make sure it was her last. 320 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: Margaret wouldn't believe for a single moment a word of 321 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,199 Speaker 1: what Linda was telling her. She quickly deployed telegraphs and 322 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: assembled a team that included a local lawyer by the 323 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: name of John Herbert, who also happened to be Claire 324 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: and Dorothea's uncle. He shelled out a thousand dollars for 325 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: the release of Dorothea into his custody, in a gesture 326 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: that basically amounted to pain a ransom according to Linda Hazard, 327 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,199 Speaker 1: though this was just a fee for services rendered. Of course, 328 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: the authorities, meanwhile, had been waiting to pounce on Linda 329 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: for a long long time. The sisters, remember, were not 330 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 1: the first of her patients for whom she had forged 331 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 1: checks and signed over estates. So when her predatory business 332 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 1: practices became clear, the authorities arrested Linda on a charge 333 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 1: of first degree murder for starving Claire to death. The 334 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: first day of Linda's trial packed the courthouse with curious, 335 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: dubious onlookers, who all heard stories about how the sisters 336 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: screamed in pain during treatments, took physical beatings, and were 337 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 1: brainwashed into believing that they were going in saying. Those 338 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,639 Speaker 1: on the stand testified that Linda and Sam gorged themselves 339 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,720 Speaker 1: on their patients trappings of wealth, with one claim even 340 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:10,159 Speaker 1: going so far as to say that Linda's husband, Sam 341 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 1: took gold crowns from the mouths of dead patience. And 342 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,719 Speaker 1: all the while Linda maintained her innocence, she was furious, 343 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: insistent that the only reason she was being persecuted was 344 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: because she had been successful in business as a woman. 345 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: In the end, she was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced 346 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,239 Speaker 1: to twenty years behind bars for reasons unknown. She was 347 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: released within two catching a ship to New Zealand in 348 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty, where she opened a sanitarium that specialized in 349 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 1: you guessed it, the fasting cure. Though not as many 350 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: people came as she had hoped, those in her care 351 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: continued to die. She again went on trial, paid a 352 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: one hundred dollars fine, and then left the country. She 353 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: returned to Olala, to her beloved and bedeviled wilderness heights 354 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 1: where she could live out the end of her days. 355 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty eight, she took to bed and began 356 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: her own She was seventy one by now and in 357 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: ill health. She wanted to prove that her method indeed worked. 358 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: On a warm morning in June, she died cold, alone, 359 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 1: emaciated and implicated, in the depths of as many as 360 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,440 Speaker 1: forty individuals under her care, all of whom were free 361 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,240 Speaker 1: to walk out her doors if only their bodies could 362 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:22,960 Speaker 1: carry them. Obviously, the public interest in people like Linda 363 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: Hazard and other fast promoting Charlatan's wasn't eradicated with her trial. 364 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,719 Speaker 1: In fact, a notable contemporary journalist, Upton Sinclair of the 365 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 1: Jungle Fame, published his book The Fasting Cure in nineteen eleven. 366 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: But there's something very important to note here. There's a 367 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,360 Speaker 1: marked difference between working to understand the physiology of fasting 368 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: so that we can employ it for our body's well 369 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: being and those who, under the guise of care, exploit 370 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: a practice meant to heal for their own ill gotten gain. 371 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: And throughout the century, fasting continued to maintain clusters of 372 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 1: adherence the world over for its social, political, cultural, and 373 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: spiritual meaning. In nineteen eighty two, four doctors teamed up 374 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,919 Speaker 1: and published a paper in the Western Journal of Medicine. 375 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,639 Speaker 1: They declared that an appreciation and understanding of fasting was 376 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: essential to understanding food as intervention and how food deprivation 377 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 1: works in treating various diseases. They also identified an upward 378 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: trend in the practice and cautioned medical practitioners that they 379 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: needed to take heat about how complicated of a prescription 380 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: it can actually be. Even today, elements of fasting still 381 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: show up in many wellness plans. The most popular in 382 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: headline grabbing is probably intermittent fasting, but even that is 383 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:42,639 Speaker 1: just another repackaged, repurposed, and reworked fasting cure from yesteryear. 384 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: The desire to diet for preventative measures is present, as 385 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: is the promotion of the idea that diet manipulation can 386 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: still be a tool to heal what damage we've already incurred. 387 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 1: There is truth to this, but the idea is a 388 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: slippery one that can lead to many different manners of 389 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 1: disordered eating. Stricting, or whatever name we might give it. 390 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: Today is alive and well in our complicated world of eating, 391 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:17,199 Speaker 1: and it shows no sign of ever going away. I 392 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: know that this episode was a bit hard to stomach, 393 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,199 Speaker 1: no pun intended, I swear even today, the way that 394 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,480 Speaker 1: we talk about food, think about food and access food 395 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: is a really complicated topic. If you've ever learned anything 396 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: about the history of the American food pyramid, for example, 397 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: then you'll know a little something about what I'm talking about. 398 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,439 Speaker 1: But don't go away just yet. Stick around through this 399 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,879 Speaker 1: brief sponsor break and my teammates Robin Miniter. We'll be 400 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: back with one more enlightening story. Once upon a time 401 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: there was a young man named Tarar who hungered for 402 00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:57,919 Speaker 1: fame so much so that he would eat just about 403 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: anything to achieve it. And eighty eight are a hungry 404 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: showman arrived in Paris at just eighteen years old. He 405 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,919 Speaker 1: was a scrawny little thing, weighing in at barely one 406 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: hundred pounds and giving the appearance that he was getting 407 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: just enough to eat. He hardly demanded a second glance 408 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,199 Speaker 1: from a passer by until he opened his mouth, that is, 409 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: and people saw what was going into it. And that 410 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: was just about anything he could get his hands on, 411 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: edible and not edible things alike. Terrar had been working 412 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: on his act for years, and it seems that everywhere 413 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,879 Speaker 1: he went he delighted, shocked, and horrified people, not with 414 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: just his willingness, but his compulsion to consume. A short 415 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: time into a stay in Paris, he was hospitalized with 416 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: an illness. Here at the hospital, he was giving quadruple 417 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: the typical food allowance of many patients and scrounge up 418 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: scraps from others. He was still insatiable. It said that 419 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: he would eat the poultices and bandages that he found, 420 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 1: and that's only my hope that they were unseasoned, if 421 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: you will. It was even reported that while he was 422 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: there he ate live animals, including an eyewitness account from 423 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: the ch doctor who stated that Tarar ate a cat 424 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: whole and alive, right down to its skeleton. It's also 425 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,199 Speaker 1: been reported that he was found in the hospital drinking 426 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: blood from patients who had recently been let, and that 427 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:13,479 Speaker 1: he had been found in the hospitals Morgue helping himself 428 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: to human cadavers. Tarar had suddenly become the hospital's most 429 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,440 Speaker 1: confounding case, so they treated him in as many ways 430 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: as they could conjure, with acids, opium, tobacco, hard boiled 431 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: eggs or whatever the apothecary could throw at him that 432 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: he hadn't already helped himself too. But still nothing helped, 433 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 1: and he continued to scavenge outside and inside of the 434 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: hospital walls. It was only when a one year old 435 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: child disappeared from its hospital bed, with Tarar being the 436 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:47,160 Speaker 1: main suspect, that the place finally drove him away. He 437 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: would die four years later of tuberculosis, but the doctor's 438 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,680 Speaker 1: remained perplexed as to why he was so hungry. They 439 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 1: wondered if there could be something else going on with 440 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: him beyond the insanity they assumed. If we want to 441 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: give credit to the game of respected diagnosis, it's possible 442 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 1: that Tarar was afflicted with polyphasia, which is characterized by 443 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,399 Speaker 1: an incessant sensation of hunger and desire to eat beyond 444 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: the body's needs and capabilities. It's often a symptom of 445 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 1: a larger underlying medical condition, and these symptoms don't always 446 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: appear as dramatically as they did in Tarar. In fact, 447 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,879 Speaker 1: polyphasia symptoms can appear during PMS or with the onset 448 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 1: of dementia. What is also true is that we have 449 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,880 Speaker 1: now developed orexigenics or compounds that they have the ability 450 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 1: to induce hyperphasia, But instead of being something to be feared, 451 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,439 Speaker 1: it's something that can be celebrated and it can sometimes 452 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,360 Speaker 1: do life saving Hunger, you see, can be helpful. One 453 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,600 Speaker 1: of these drugs might be prescribed when a patient is 454 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: experiencing malnutrition and extreme wasting in the cases such as 455 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: cystic fibrosis, cancer, or AIDS. It's here that we once 456 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,879 Speaker 1: again call back to our friend Hippocrates, who believed that 457 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,080 Speaker 1: food is medicine. But to truly reap the benefits from 458 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: that idea, we have to cut through a lot of 459 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: noise of contemporary diet culture. We have to learn and 460 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: sometimes relearn, how to eat. Our endlessly complicated cultural program 461 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: gives us so many messages about food, what is good 462 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: and what is bad, and has given us an endlessly 463 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:15,720 Speaker 1: changing set of rules. There are, and will continue to 464 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: be diet fads that come and go. Some will be 465 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: more destructive and some will be more liberating than others. 466 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: It's up to us, it seems, to determine who has 467 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: our best interests in mind and who might be out 468 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: to profit grim and mild presents. Bedside Manners was executive 469 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: produced by Aaron Manky and narrated by Aaron Manky and 470 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 1: Robin Miniter. Writing for this season was provided by Robin Miniter, 471 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,439 Speaker 1: with research by Sam Alberty, Taylor Haggerdorn, and Robin Miniter. 472 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: Production assistance was provided by Josh Thayne, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, 473 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. You can learn more about this show, 474 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 1: the Grim and Mild team, and all the other podcasts 475 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,119 Speaker 1: that we make over at Grimm and Mild dot com, and, 476 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,440 Speaker 1: as always, thanks for listening.