This book is the culmination of a long journey. Many people have helped me along the way and it is my pleasure here to single out some of them for special mention. If you are one of the many meritorious contributors whom it has not been possible to cite, just know that you are, like Henry V’s unsung heroes, “freshly remember’d” and that your influence lives on in this work.

First of all, thanks to Nicole my wife. She is my most ardent disciple and proselytizer. With her fervent belief in the importance to humanity of the insights contained in these pages, she has supported me through the difficult gestation process. She has appraised every word of the text with her Teutonic thoroughness. If any part remains obscure, deficient or sesquipedalian then it is not for want of her cajoling.  Nicole’s support, advice, criticism and encouragement have been invaluable. 

An early, and surely essential, influence was that of my gritty, selfless grandmother, Anna Svehla. At her knee we learned to respect our bodies and think critically about what we put in our mouths. She pluckily challenged the purblind dietary doctrines of her day. She was decades ahead of her time and predictably, as pioneers do, had a hard time of it.

This book would not have been possible without the peculiarities of upbringing that created in me an untamed questioning, a delight in discovery and a distaste for flummery. Thank you then, to my un­doc­trinaire parents who allowed me to fossick on my own and who taught me the value of ‘per ardua ad astra’ (through hard work to the stars).

I am indebted too to the many key people, acolytes all, who, at the right moment and in their many ways, brought me to this point in the journey: 

-- Brent Lance, whose excitement, expert guidance and encouragement in the early days launched me into systematizing the Bond Effect for the benefit of the general public,

-- Joe Schuchert, whose conviction, determination and foresight brought these insights to corporate America,

-- Emmanuel Kampouris, aided by his wife Camille, whose courage, persistence and vision brought the precursor to this book, the Introductory Guide to tens of thousands of people,

-- Dickson Buxton, who has generously deployed his wealth of experience to develop the presence of Natural Eating in the USA,

-- Dan Wilson and Gary MacDonald who have devoted much of their spare time and sage expertise to promulgate the Natural Eating message,

-- Don Harper, who had the clarity of purpose and confidence in me to expand our impact in the United Kingdom,

-- Frederic Bouvet, who has worked altruistically and imaginatively to bring knowledge of the Natural Eating precepts to the populations of Continental Europe,

-- Ingeborg Hoss, whose delicate drawings adorn three of these pages. Mention too for the hospitality of her atmospheric Provençale farmhouse where much of this book was written, 

To all of you, and to all of those as yet unsung, my heartfelt thanks.