Raw and Living Foods

This article on Raw and Living Foods was written by Dr. Ann Wigmore, the "Mother" of the modern raw foods lifestyle.

* 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?!)