Ann Wigmore was a very big influence on me a long, long time ago, regarding my decision to eat more organic fresh fruits and vegetables, to grow and juice wheatgrass, grow sprouts, organic gardening and raw foods. I obtained a book by Dr. Ann back in 1986 about her life in Lithuania learning to grow and manually juice wheatgrass to give to the sick in her community. Many people had all kinds of debilitating diseases, cancer, etc., and she selflessly gave of her time, energy and resources to help heal these sick people. Everyday she would make the rounds to give little cups of wheatgrass to them, and was thrilled when they began to recover and get well. If I recall correctly, she learned much from her grandmother, who raised since she was a baby, and taught her how to use grass and seeds as food and for healing.

Later, when she was in her fifties, she would use wheatgrass juice and sprouts to heal herself from her own cancer. I think the book was called, “Why Suffer? How I Overcame Illness and Pain Naturally” and it’s probably out of print now, but used copies are available on Amazon. I can’t seem to locate my own copy, geez, it’s was only 30+ years ago!

But I also got her The Wheatgrass Book: How to Grow and Use Wheatgrass book, and her Recipes for Longer Life which I do still have and refer to on a regular basis. Many fans and admirers of Dr. Ann truly believe that she could have easily lived to be 120 years old, but unfortunately, her untimely death took many people by surprise because Dr. Ann was the reflection of health. She died in an electrical fire at the Ann Wigmore Foundation in Boston.

The paragraph below is from http://www.wigmore.org/foundation.html

Ann Wigmore was born in Cropos, Lithuania on March 4, 1909. In 1925, at the age of 16, she moved to America to join her parents, who were already living in Massachusetts. She married and later gave birth to a daughter, but it was only after the end of her marriage in 1955 that her life vision began to take shape.

In poor health, she began using weeds and wheatgrass juicing to heal herself. Over the course of the next 35 years, she promoted natural healing via her schools in Boston, The Hippocrates Health Institute, which opened in 1963, and The Ann Wigmore Foundation, begun in Boston in 1985.

Her brilliant, long-lived career included lecturing, writing, and giving wheatgrass demonstrations in over 35 countries. Her untimely death in Boston on February 16, 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 the Ann Wigmore Foundation in San Fidel, New Mexico.

When you think of Dr. Ann Wigmore, you think of “living foods”, since that is what she devoted her whole life to. Below is an article from Dr. Ann’s website:

* The Living Foods Lifestyle is based on one essential principle - Life! Life comes from life.

* The life of our body is the totality of the lives of our individual cells. Lively cells make a lively body. Healthy cells make a healthy body.

* How do we cultivate healthy cells? The principle can be summarized by the “Life and Death Equation”, namely:

“Better Health” equals “Life In” plus “Death Out”.

In other words: Better Health is the result of putting more Life (Living Nourishment) Into the body and taking Death (Toxic Sludge) Out of the body.

* What does it mean to put Life Into the body? This means that we provide Living Nourishment to our cells. What is Living Nourishment? Simply speaking, it is readily digestible food that hasn’t been killed (cooked). Thus we advocate good food served and eaten raw - like crisp colorful salads and fresh ripe fruits and their juices. Sound appetizing? Yumm.

Then how about raw chickens and raw pigs - complete with feathers, hair, bones, and blood? Probably not so appetizing. [Unappetizing for us, perhaps, but not for true animals of prey - true carnivores - with fangs and claws and industrial-strength digestive juices. For such predators these prey would constitute Live Nourishment!]

But what about dairy - milk: “nature’s most perfect food”? Well, if it’s pasteurized (read: cooked, dead) even a calf can’t survive on it. But even in the live, uncooked state - cow’s milk and mother’s milk are quite different - in fact - they are about as different from each other as calves are from infants! Obviously, one is ideal for baby cows and the other is ideal for baby humans.

“Yes”, you might say, “but does every food I eat have to be ideal for me?” Valid question… Straight answer: “Well, no, not really.” But, then again, remember that every choice we make has its consequences. Now, certainly it is true that most of us can eat almost anything that we like - and not experience any seriously harmful effects (at least up to age fifty or so). But, on the other hand - if we knew that making certain diet modifications could enable us to live healthy and youthful lives - free from drugs and surgery - well into our eighties, nineties, and beyond - wouldn’t it be worth considering such modifications?

The Living Foods program advocates a variety of fruits, vegetables, and sprouted seeds - processed in various specific ways - blended, fermented, dehydrated, or juiced - but not cooked. Furthermore, we recommend the use of wheatgrass juice (the juice extracted from wheat in its grass form) as one of the most potent forms of cleansing nourishment on the planet. All animals instinctively seek out the healing power of grasses - even domestic pets!

* What does it mean to get Death Out of the body? This means that we seek to make our bodies pollution-free. Any dead and/or toxic substances in the body should be detected, neutralized, and eliminated - pronto. This requires that the body’s organs of purification be operating at peak efficiency - in particular, the circulatory, lymphatic, and immune systems, the lungs, sweat glands, liver, kidneys, and… last but not least, the colon.

“Ugh, do we have to talk about the colon?” Fairly common question. Unflinching answer: “You betcha.” In fact, of all the organs in the body, perhaps the most important is the colon. Let’s face it. When the colon slows down, we get polluted and sick, and none of our other organs, especially the brain, can work very well. If the colon stops working completely - or God forbid, ruptures - we get dead - very quickly. Think of it as analogous to the sewer pipe from your house. When that clogs up - even partially - you know that you have a serious problem. Right?? Right.

So that’s why we advocate colon cleansing - enemas - colonic irrigations. Fun? No. Effective in alleviating health problems? Definitely. Now, granted, we never want to become dependent on enemas (there is no substitute for adequate dietary fiber) but when the job needs to be done, we say “Do it.”

One more thing - almost nobody thinks that his or her colon is clogged. Actually, there are various degrees of being clogged. Consider this: If my health is less than perfect, and /or I’ve been eating mostly cooked (read: clogging) food all my life, it’s a pretty good bet that my colon has seen better days and my health and quality of life might really improve if I did some internal housecleaning. Anyway, what have I got to lose? (And wouldn’t I be better off if I lost all of it?!)

Article From the Ann Wigmore Foundation