The History of Living Food

In the late 18^th century and well into the 19^th century, the monks and nuns of France and Germany employed raw-food-eating and fasting to gain greater physical and spiritual health. These benefits became evident to the aristocracy of Europe who then went on retreats in order to attain the same benefits of living food. By the late 19^th century leaders such as Arnold Ehret, with his mucous less diet system, taught the ways of raw-food-eating to the general public. By the early 20^th century his work was being accepted among some other innovative thinkers. The Canadian, Bernard McFadden, the American, Paul Bragg, and Dr. Christine Nolfi of Denmark were all fully enthralled with spreading the word about pure uncooked food. Dr. Nolfi actually coined this ‘living food’ term some 75 years ago, after healing herself of breast cancer. In Canada, Dr. Tilden systematically presented lifestyle programs which encouraged the use of living food.

As the world geared itself up into the Industrial Age, eating more and more overcooked and processed food, the voices of these pioneers were not heard by many. Illness became part and parcel of modern living. So, as a natural occurrence, a new generation of health leaders emerged from the ashes; among them, in America: Bernard Jensen, Jack Lalanne, Dr. Shelton, Armenian Arshavir Hovannessian, Ann Wigmore from Lithuania, and in Sweden Waerland and Alma Nissen, all echoing the commonsense truth that we must return to a purer way of life which includes unheated foods. That generation generally came to their strong convictions through having healed their own disease conditions. From Boston, the loudest voice, that of Ann Wigmore, expanded the raw food concept to include germinated seeds and grasses. This elevated the nutritional benefit ten to thirty fold and the recovery that stemmed from their usage multiplied dramatically.

In Europe clinics like Bircher-Benner of Switzerland, Brandal of Stockholm and, in Boston, Ann Wigmore’s Hippocrates Wellness, became living laboratories that exposed the overwhelming benefit that a raw/living diet has on human health.

The next generation added many scientists who had come to the end of their rope with modern medicine, such as Viktoras Kulvinskas, Price and Pottanger with their foundation, and Swiss Dr. Christian Schaller. Now, for the first time through the eye of science, they began exposing how living foods heal and create longevity. We were all in the middle of discovering vitamins, minerals and proteins when raw food’s research superseded these elements by unveiling the benefits of oxygen, enzymes and hormones.

Over the last several decades there has been a slow but sure movement through the maze of confusing dietary programs towards the commonsense approach of eating raw foods. Now, at the beginning of a new millennium, serious health-seekers aspire to become raw foodist. There are hundreds of thousands of people world-wide who have left behind cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mental illness, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, chronic fatigue syndrome and ultimately, unhappiness, through consuming life-giving foods.

There is no reason why we should hesitate on consuming more and more uncooked foods. All the rationales of cold-weather, difficult digestion, and lack of variety, are poor excuses. We generally make these excuses so that we do not have to move forward into what we already know is life-enhancing improvement.

As time passes there is no doubt that all healthcare professionals will have to succumb to the fact that the body’s needed fuel is electrically-charged foods that make up the live-food diet. From the beginning of time until our now analytical era, we have known, understood and instinctually accepted that uncooked fruits, vegetables, sprouted grains, seeds, beans, and nuts are the best friends of our bodies and minds. The Essenes, when speaking about the ‘secrets in the humble grasses’, called them the ‘Angels of the Earth’.

In the future we will all visibly acknowledge the benefits on a personal and global level of consuming unfired foods. Our first step is vegetarianism. Our next natural step is to stop wasting the energies of life in these wondrous plants. These energies will spark our bodies, brains, and consciousness to move forthright in the direction of healthy and peaceful co-existence with all other life. Our natural resources will be further preserved by not using stoves, ovens, micro-waves, steamers, crock-pots etc. permit yourself the freedom to live a regenerative life without the habitual attachment to the already proven disaster of dead food.

Let us take a moment to thank all of those visionaries who guided us in the right direction for the right reasons. Without them true healing would be faltering.

Vol 17 Issue 4 page 1