Herbert M. Shelton

American naturopath

Herbert McGolfin Shelton (October 6, 1895 – January 1, 1985) was an American naturopath, alternative medicine advocate, author, pacifist, vegan, and a supporter of rawism and fasting. Shelton was nominated by the American Vegetarian Party to run as its candidate for President of the United States in 1956. He saw himself as the champion of original natural hygiene ideas from the 1830s. His ideas have been described as quackery by critics.

Shelton was born on October 6, 1895, in Wylie, Texas, to Thomas Mitchell Shelton and Mary Frances Gutherie Shelton, who were devoted Christians. As a child, Shelton took an interest in animals, especially their habits when sick as compared to when well. He was especially intrigued by their fasting when the farm animals became sick.

Shelton attended Bernarr Macfadden's College of Physcultopathy in Chicago and interned at Crane's Sanatorium in Elmhurst, Illinois. He also attended Lindlahr College of Natural Therapeutics for post graduate work and served at Lindlahr's and Sahler's Sanatoriums. Shelton later continued post graduate work at Peerless College of Chiropractic in Illinois and served an internship at Crandall Health School in Pennsylvania. In 1921, he married Ida Pape, studied at the American School of Chiropractic, and graduated from the American School of Naturopathy with a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. Shelton claimed that cooking food denatures it, and that a healthy body has the ability to restore itself from illness without medical intervention. Although heavily criticized by his contemporaries for advocating fasting over medical treatment, Shelton's work served as an early influence for the raw food movement. In 1939, Shelton published The Hygienic Review magazine which ran for four decades. In 1989, four years after his death, a biography of Shelton called Yours for Health: The Life and Times of Herbert M. Shelton, was published by Jean A. Oswald.