From Pasteur to Modern Medicine
If the concept of no waste in nature explains why we get sick, then terrain theory explains how. To understand terrain theory, you’ll first need to recognize that the modern medical system is based solely on germ theory.
Louis Pasteur (pasteurization) and others, like Lister (Listerine), promoted germ theory 150 years ago. All modern chemical-based medicine is based on this germ theory. Germ theory simply blames all illness on “germs.” Pasteur insisted that invisible microbes, like bacteria and viruses, cause infections and contagious diseases. Wherever these “bugs” were, they would actively find and “infect” nearby animals or humans.
In honor of this idea, modern science insists on pasteurization. This process uses a flash of 165-degree heat to kill bacteria in or on our foods. Similarly, Listerine and Lysol are marketed to kill “99.9% of germs.” The “robber barons” of the early 1900s took germ theory and ran with it. These wealthiest of industrialists were truly visionary. They turned the fear of microbes promoted by germ theory into something powerful. It made people afraid of contagious illness and turned them against each other.
Germ theory gave people something or someone to blame for their illness.
As people flocked to newly industrialized urban centers, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions helped disease spread. This fear of germs worked wonderfully for the famous “Men Who Built America.” That included Rockefeller, Rothschild, Carnegie, and other millionaire industrialists.
Their industries were based on chemicals and physical manufacturing. They worked with behind-the-scenes geniuses to promote their new chemical-based pharmaceutical medications. At the same time, they discredited all other forms of health and healing.
But germ theory was not the only explanation being discussed.
Terrain Theory vs Germ Theory: A Different View of Disease
Antoine Béchamp argued against germ theory in the 1800s. He observed that bacteria and viruses were simply a product of their environment. He understood the concept that there is no waste in nature. From this perspective, bacterial and viral “infections” did not occur because microbes were militant invaders. They occurred because microbes had a purpose. They were responding to an opportunity to feed on something in the environment.
Imbalances in the environment—almost exclusively caused by humans—would literally cause these microbes to overgrow. So, the environment, or terrain, would be out of balance. That could happen in the gut or in the nasty, sewage-filled water and air of early industrialized urban centers. It would need to be cleaned up and rebalanced, with nature’s microbes consuming the waste.
Before Pasteur, traditional medicine modalities viewed illness as “imbalances,” not “infections.” This difference in perspective also changes how terrain theory explains the spread of disease.
How Does Disease Spread?
Consider the overcrowded, sewage-filled urban housing of the early 20th century. Think of today’s factory farms, where cattle, chickens, and pigs live surrounded by waste. Picture dogs chained in backyards, surrounded by their own poop. Add modern Americans consuming high-sugar processed foods and breathing polluted indoor air.
These examples illustrate unsanitary conditions or potentially harmful exposures. From the terrain theory perspective, microbes respond to these environments by helping clean up waste and restore balance.
So why do some people and pets get sick and appear to spread disease, while others exposed to similar conditions remain well?
Terrain theory attributes this difference to the condition of each individual’s internal environment. Many of us have the same toxins or decaying wastes in our bodies. We also live or work in the same toxic environments. Those with toxins or waste in their bodies—their terrain—will attract, or be attracted to, the bacteria and viruses nature has created to clean up or detoxify those wastes and toxins.
An illness appears to “spread” or become an “outbreak” for a simple reason. So many individuals in the same environment need the same microbe to come in and clean up. The work done by the microbes, combined with the body’s immune system response, causes symptoms like fever, inflammation, and lethargy.
Individuals not overloaded with toxins and decaying waste are simply not attractive to the “infectious” microbes. They do not get “sick,” or they only have mild symptoms of illness. Within this view, the distinction between a balanced environment and a sterile one becomes central.
Clean vs Sterile: Where Microbial Balance Fits In
It’s important to understand that nothing in nature is sterile. Sterility creates a void, and nature does not like a void. A void is more imbalanced than the sewage-filled streets and unsanitary housing of the Industrial Revolution. Instead of too many things, a void is way too much of nothing.
That’s what’s wrong with pasteurization, Listerine, and Lysol. When you kill 99.9% of bacteria, the more aggressive, robust, possibly pathogenic microbes invariably try to fill the void. That’s why triple-washed produce with bleach or grocery store ground meats often get national recalls due to bacterial contamination.
But foods from regenerative farming have a balanced bacterial population. That leaves no room for a particular type of pathogenic bacteria to overpopulate. Therefore, they don’t need to be pasteurized. Sadly—or brilliantly—pasteurization makes foods even more prone to being “contaminated” by undesirable bacteria.
Similarly, overuse of hand sanitizer creates the void that lets bacteria from a fecally contaminated bathroom door survive or multiply on your hand.
Bringing Terrain Theory Back to Your Pet’s Health
The fear-based modern medical description of “contagious” disease being caused by microscopic militant invaders doesn’t even make sense. Why would a microbe want to kill all of its available hosts? How would these microbes survive, or where would they live, if they killed all of the available people or pets? Terrain theory goes hand in hand with the concept of no waste in nature. These “contagious” bugs “infect” only the individuals who need to be “infected.”
As a provider of holistic pet care, I believe understanding why our pets get sick starts with looking at the whole body, not just the pet’s disease. The concept that nothing in nature goes to waste invites us to ask different questions about what is happening inside the body—and why.
These questions guide my practice and are central to my book, Why Our Pets Are Unhealthy, where I take a closer look at these ideas and their connection to animal health. If you’re looking for holistic pet care that considers your pet’s symptoms, history, nutrition, and environment together, I’d be honored to help. Schedule a consultation so we can better understand your pet’s health concerns and take the next step toward lifelong well-being.
