William Howard Hay

William Howard Hay, MD (1866-1940) was a New York doctor, author, lecturer, and founder of The East Aurora Sun and Diet Sanatorium.

A traditional physician for the first 16 years of his career, this New York doctor introduced the world to food combining, ran a successful sanatorium for many years (The East Aurora Sun and Diet Sanatorium), and was a renowned lecturer on health topics.

He graduated from the New York University Medical College in 1891 and spent 16 years in regular medicine and surgery, specializing in surgery. He later developed Bright's Disease, and was unable to cure it using accepted medical methods of the time. This led him to find alternative methods to rid himself of disease. He came up with the concept of food combining (also known as the Dr. Hay diet), the idea that certain foods require an acid pH environment in digestion, and other foods require an alkaline pH environment, and that both cannot take place at the same time, in the same environment.

After curing himself through proper diet, he wrote several books, started a sanatorium, and lectured throughout United States and Canada.