by KK Fowlkes

Many people have asked: What specifically is the living food diet which was taught by Ann Wigmore? Briefly I will explain the diet without going into too much information about the Ann Wigmore Foundation which is now located in San Fidel, New Mexico. www.wigmore.org

Ann Wigmore, pioneer of the living food-wheatgrass diet, wrote about 35 books during her lifetime in which one can find out more about her. Some titles I suggest are, Why Suffer, Be Your Own Doctor, Hippocrates Diet and Health Program, The Wheatgrass Book, and The Sprouting Book. The last book written before her death was A Scienfific Appraisal of Dr. Ann Wigmore's Living Foods Lifestyle. A book that further explains why her diet works is Enzyme Nutrition by Edward Howell.

Basically, in simple terms, the diet (which includes wheatgrass juice) restores the body's vitality i.e. the body's ability to heal itself. Just as the body has the ability to heal a cut or a bruise, it should also have the ability to heal a cancer or an arthritic condition or any number of illnesses. Why has the body lost its vitality? Cooked food. Dead food. If food is eaten which has the life force intact (raw, sprouted) then the life force in the food transfers into the life force of the body.

So. The instruction at the institute covers these areas:

1. Diet (living, raw)

2. Wheatgrass juice

3. Bowel rejuvenation

4. Exercise

When I attended Ann Wigmore’s Institute in Boston many years ago, I noticed that she kept the diet very simple. I feel that she did so, so as not to overwhelm people with an extensive array of foods and recipes which when they got home they thought they had to duplicate. Her different books cover a wider array of recipes if one is interested in more of a variety.

She Served:

l. Fresh fruit or fresh pressed fruit juice for breakfast. Sometimes she would blend a mild sprout (hulled buckwheat) with fruit for a breakfast cereal. (Buckwheat sprouts are considered a fruit and have a high content of vitamin C.)

2. For lunch, a large sprouted salad consisting of buckwheat and sunflower greens, sprouted alfalfa, sprouted fenugreek. A dressing made from seed cheese. A bowl of energy soup.

3. Afternoon snack of fresh or dried fruit.

4. For dinner, another large salad containing sprouted sunflower, buckwheat, alfalfa, fenugreek with a seed cheese dressing. A bowl of energy soup. Sometimes a sunflower seed cheese veggie loaf and veggie kraut.

5. Wheatgrass juice was always available as was a fermented wheat sprout drink called rejuvelac, which she recommended one drink instead of water. Rejuvelac adds enzymes to the diet as does the veggie kraut.

(Condiments on the table included cayenne pepper, seed cheese salad dressing, sometimes almond cream.)

Her diet is revolutionary in that it is:

1. Incredibly inexpensive

2. A food

3. A medicine

4. A survival tool: (in addition to strengthening the immune system to fight deadly microbes, curing major ailments, live chlorophyll cures radiation sickness.) The manual wheatgrass juicer can be used to juice the grass in the field if no other food is available.

Fresh pressed juice to be taken twice or three times per day on an empty stomach. (l hour before a meal or two hours after). Amount should not exceed one ounce per day the first week or two--due to extreme detoxifying properties. Gradually build up to 3 to 4 ounces.

Actually barleygrass juice was not a part of Ann's diet. However some people use it instead of wheatgrass juice because it is high in organic sodium, is milder and can be used every day, month after month, without the body building up an aversion to it. Many people like to use it in the summer to replace sodium lost during heat.

2 cups sprouted wheat
4 cups spring or filtered water
1/2 cup raisins
1 large apple, peeled, cored or
1 banana peeled and sliced

Soak raisins in one cup of the spring or filtered water for one hour or until soft. Reserve the water used in soaking the raisins. In a blender, blend wheat with fruit, water and raisin soak-water at medium speed for about two minutes. Use warm filtered water if a warm cereal is desired. The sprouted wheat cereal should have a soupy consistency. Sprouted (hulled) buckwheat, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds may be substituted for the wheat . (All seeds should be soaked at least 6 hours or overnight.)

This salad consists of:

Sunflower greens,
Buckwheat greens
Salad lettuces (if desired)
Topped with alfalfa sprouts,
and/or sprouted fenugreek
Seed-cheese dressing

2/3 cups hulled sunflower seeds
2/3 cup unhulled sesame seeds
Purified water
3 cups rejuvelac

Soak sunflower seeds and sesame seeds separately overnight in purified water. In the morning, rinse sunflower seeds in very warm water to remove skins. Rinse sesame seeds. Put sesame seeds and sunflower into blender. Add 1/2 cup rejuvelac and blend for two minutes. Pour mixture into bowl. Cover bowl with a cloth. Secure with rubber band. Place in warm place with good air circulation. Let stand 6 to 8 hours. Remove cloth. Scrape off top oxidized layer and discard. Spoon middle almost cheese layer into seed bag. Hang the almost cheese in the refrigerator overnight, with a bowl under it to catch the liquid. By morning it is seed cheese. Seed cheese sauce (or dressing) can be made by thinning the seed cheese to any consistency desired, using rejuvelac as the liquid. Season with Brag's aminos. Seed cheese milk can be made by adding 1 heaping teaspoon seed cheese to an 8 ounce glass of rejuvelac. Stir well.

Fermented foods are a central part of the Ann Wigmore living foods program--because they are an aid to digestion, are high in the B vitamins, and are full of enzymes. They provide an acid environment in the bowel whereby favorable bacteria can thrive and overcome unfavorable bacteria. Re-establishing beneficial bacteria to the colon is a major part of many health programs.

Grind 2 heads cabbage (organic cabbage if possible) saving juice, red or white. Use 80% cabbage, 10% carrots, and 10% yam. Add 1 Tbs. real salt if you can get it, 2 cloves minced garlic, l tsp ground dill seed. Put the mixture into a large bowl or crock. Cover with the outer cabbage leaves. Place a large plate and a weight on top. Leave it at room temperature for five days. (It can be covered with plastic to keep insects out.) Remove scum and leaves. Mix so that the juice is evenly distributed. Cover and place in refrigerator. It should keep for weeks when refrigerated. Some of the juice can be poured off and used to marinate mushrooms or vegetables.

One peeled apple (or use watermelon plus white rind in the summertime)
One cup rejuvelac or pure water. (If using pure water, add juice of 1/2 lemon)
One half handful of red dulse (red seaweed) For those who are vegan, salt to taste instead.
One cup of sprouts and greens (sunflower or buckwheat greens can be used.)
Optional: One handful of sprouted mung, adzuki, and peas can add protein to the soup.

Blend all together lightly. Add 1/2 avocado
Blend again until smooth. Enjoy.

Mix 2 cups of seed cheese with minced broccoli, green or red pepper, minced onions, celery, etc. Form into loaf. Decorate with red bell pepper, or variety of sliced garden vegetables.

Soak 2 cups almonds 24 hours
Momentarily dip into boiling water (count to 3 only)
Rinse through colander in cold water.
Peel-squeeze pointed side out.
Put small amount at a time into blender.
Cover with rejuvelac but not too much--as it won't grind into smooth paste.
Let it set 3 to 4 hours and then refrigerate or serve immediately or...refrigerate immediately and it takes longer. Almond creme lasts one day.
Almond Milk: Add rejuvelac to almond creme--lasts 2 or 3 days.

Recipes taken from Ann Wigmore Institute in Boston.

The two remaining important parts of the Ann Wigmore program are:

Persons who are very ill should remain on the diet for at least 18 months or longer.