I ran across this article that I wrote in 2012, and can't believe that I never posted it as a blog, but I don't think I did.  It's a little of my own story, and offer it to you now in a small effort to get more acquainted.  We all have a story of how we got from where we were to where we are......this is a piece of mine.  Here's hoping that you have lots of opportunity in your own life to share yours.

The "Raw Foods" Lifestyle?  What's That? That was my question several years ago when I was making my way through life as a "lacto-ovo" vegetarian of 12 years, which means that I ate eggs and dairy, but no meat.

It was a good life, I thought. I was 20-30 pounds overweight, give or take.  My blood pressure, though not terribly high, was well controlled by three medications that I took daily.  I rode my bike, even when my knees bothered me, swam regularly, had regular sessions of yoga, and worked out with weights at home.  I thought that life was OK, and quite normal -- healthy, actually.

An Introduction to the Raw Foods Diet

It was my granddaughter Leah, then 15, who introduced me to a new way of thinking about food and its affect on health.  During a Christmas visit with her family in 2006, I took note of her simple eating patterns and her calm demeanor with which she carried herself.  Wanting to at least learn something of what she was up to, I read through her raw food books. Because I knew the "loneliness" of eating an unconventional diet, I wanted to at least be supportive of Leah.  While her parents encouraged her to choose nutritious foods, Lean was in mayh ways "on her own" as she tried to figure out the path of raw foods.

I also wanted to learn about a diet of raw foods, and not be judgmental about something I knew nothing about.  And while the benefits and personal success stories that I  read in her books were compelling, I did not imagine making such a drastic change in my own way of eating.  After all, I was too busy commuting a long distance to work, and dealing with the stresses of life the way it was.  Changing to a raw foods lifestyle seemed too hard -- and, well, maybe too weird, as well. But then I realized that I was on the verge of rejecting something out of hand because it was just too new and too different.   Certainly, eating a diet of purely raw foods posed a challenge, but maybe the fabulous benefits I was reading about were worth it.

I tried an experiment.  Two days after that Christmas I ate nothing by raw food.  The next day, after I realized that I had lived through the experiment, I ate nothing but raw food again.  The rest is history, and I have been a very high raw eater ever since, and, I am pleased to say, that it's been a wonderful (and healthy) adventure.

So, Just What are We Talking about Here?

Simply put, a raw and living foods lifestyle means eating exclusively fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that have never been cooked. A very fun and liberating part of the raw foods way of life is that there are myriad combinations of these foods, so that mealtime is always interesting.  I was surprised to learn that raw food recipes abound!

But, why eat raw?  In my experience , my occasional knee pain disappeared in just a few weeks, even though  I was  bike riding harder and more often on some very steep hills.  In three months I had effortlessly lost thirty pounds.  After about one year, my blood pressure had dropped sufficiently that my doctor suggested that I didn't need medications for it any longer.

There are many, many benefits to eating and "living" raw!  My success story isn't that dramatic, even when you factor in my greatly increased energy, the need for less sleep, the disappearance of occasional headaches, and my greater strength and improved performance in athletic endeavors.

Raw Foods Success Stories

Individuals switching to a diet of raw foods have reported dramatic outcomes, some of them after years of taking medication and undergoing extensive medical treatments.  I have witnessed many of them.  A raw foods lifestyle has led to relief from depression, hay fever, fibromyalgia, and diabetes. Other benefits of a raw food diet include lower cholesterol, a clearer complexion, less grey hair, fewer toothaches, a more positive outlook, and overall improvement in health and vitality, and more harmony in body, mind, and spirit. Even more, people plagued with arthritis, multiple sclerosis, all manner of digestive disorders, and allergies have made remarkable recoveries after other fruitless efforts. And the list of benefits goes on.

Consider This!

The trend towards a raw and living lifestyle begins with being open to the idea that human beings can be more healthy and vigorous than we are now.  Everyone deserves to be as healthy and vibrant as they can be.  It begins with nutrition, and the  best nutrition is plant-based and raw!

One way to get started adding more raw foods into your diet is to investigate the possibility of a raw food potluck group.  The benefits of such a group abound!  Here in Columbia ,Missouri, join us at the Columbia Raw Food Feasters, a monthly raw food potluck where we share food, ideas, and help each other.  For further information about Raw Food Cuisine and Health Coaching, visit my Abundant Raw Life website.

Live Well  ~  ~  Eat Raw!

Ann Wigmore (1908-1994): Her Life and Legacy

 The mother of the modern Raw Food Movement is Ann Wigmore, although many of us raw foodists, including myself, know little about her. The raw food story in modern times begins with her story, when she was born in Lithuania in 1908.   She moved to Massachusetts as a teenager, eventually married and lived a simple life about 10 miles south of Boston.

In 1940, while Ann was raising her family, a Danish doctor by the name of Kristine Nolfi was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She refused established medical protocol and successfully treated herself with an exclusively raw food diet.  When she was healthy again, she opened a health center called Humlegarden where she treated many patients with cancer and other diseases.  

Ten years after Dr. Nolfi reversed her cancer, Ann, in poor health and suffering from colon cancer, began to incorporate the lessons she recalled learning as a child in Lithuania from her grandmother, the village doctor, who treated wounded soldiers with herbs during World War I.  Using weeds and wheat grass, she also healed her body and reversed the cancer.  Witnessing the powerful   healing properties of wheatgrass juice and other vitamin and enzyme-rich foods first-hand inspired her to spend the next 35 years of her life studying and educating others about natural healing and optimum nutrition. 

Ann founded the “Red Schoolhouse” in 1956.  President Eisenhower’s personal physician, Dr. Paul Dudley White, a Harvard University-educated man, was also a member of the Harvard faculty and a founder of the American Heart Association.  He was one of Ann’s biggest supporters and sent patients to her farm who could not be cured using modern medicine. A fellow Lithuanian by the name of Viktoras Kluvinskas also became aware of Ann’s work through a Boston Globe article on the world-famous model Twiggy and the cleansing detox program she went through at Red Schoolhouse. The top computer consultant in the U.S. at the time, Viktoras’ services were coveted by institutions including Harvard, Smithsonian, MIT, and The Apollo Project;  he was also sick and dying from an autoimmune collapse when he came to the Red Schoolhouse to recover.  After three weeks, he experienced a personal revelation, and so when Ann offered him the opportunity to stay, he gave up his high-profile career and joined her to become the science and the brains behind the operation which, together they named and co-founded as Hippocrates Health Institute.

 

Initially, the diet at the Institute was vegetarian, which transitioned into vegan.  However, after noticing the positive changes that occurred from eating only raw and living foods, the permanent diet of raw, life-giving foods was incorporated.  Viktoras spent hours at the Harvard Medical Library, seeking to create a bridge between what they had been experiencing in regards to health and healing, and what was known in the medical and research community. 

Margaret Drumheller, after seeing her friend’s Multiple Sclerosis reversed with Ann’s guidance, invited her to move her healing center to her Boston Back Bay neighborhood.  So, in 1961, The Hippocrates Health Institute was opened in Boston.

For the next 25 years, Hippocrates was literally the face of the alternative health care movement. At their  weekly Sunday Open Houses, hundreds of visitors came to learn more about health and healing.  One such visitor was Brian Clement, a young raw vegan who had planned to eventually open a center in Oregon, but was living in Maine in the interim.  Curious about Hipppocrates, he made the trip in 1975 and never left.

Together, Brian and Ann traveled throughout Europe, hoping to seed the idea of raw foods as a cure-all for a disease-free lifestyle. The Hippocrates Health Institute eventually moved to Florida under the direction of Drs. Brian and Anna Maria Clement, PhD. They continue with Ann Wigmore’s mission today to help people radically change their health by trading nutrient-deficient, “dead” foods to a diet rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and plant based proteins.  In addition to expanding and fine-tuning the Institute’s curriculum over the years to include seminars on such topics as meditation, colonics, and homeopathy, they have also expanded its offerings by adding a chef’s kitchen for raw food preparation lessons, a cutting edge spa and therapy treatments, exercise equipment and classes, ozonated pools, and other healing modalities.

Ann Wigmore’s use of wheatgrass as a key dietary component began a revolution in the world of nutrition.  Hippocrates Health Institute has welcomed people from all walks of life to benefit from her teachings -- from people looking to improve their general health to those with terminal disease.  To date, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children have visited the Institute and now share stories of recovery, healthy lifestyles, and a rejuvenated outlook on life.

 

Ann’s untimely death in February of 1994 was due to smoke inhalation from a fire at the Ann Wigmore Foundation.  Ann Wigmore’s contribution as a humanitarian, educator, writer, and tireless promoter of natural health lives on at Hippocrates, and other natural healing venues in the United States and elsewhere in the world. She is known for healing the natural way through a diet of organic, raw, living foods.  Through a diet of raw foods, sprouting, dehydration, and vegan living, anchored in weeds and wheatgrass juicing, she healed her colon cancer and promoted natural healing worldwide.  Truly she is the motivational mother of all of us who believe in eating fresh whole foods in as close to their natural states as possible, thereby maximizing our own health,  preventing the slaughter and death of countless animals, and contributing to sustainable thriving planet earth.

 

"I see a world without sickness, sorrow, or mental

disturbance in which we are living in perfect balance,

abundance, health and harmony." -- Dr. Ann Wigmore