Ann Wigmore History
Ann Wigmore History
Ann Wigmore was born in Lithuania in 1909. She was raised by a natural healer and her grandmother. From an early age, Ann witnessed a variety of illnesses that responded to medicinal plants, grasses and herbs as she helped her grandmother heal soldiers during wartime.She was sickly as a baby and young child, but thanks to her grandmother’s love and guidance, she had lived well during her time in Lithuania. When Ann was 16, she joined her family in the states where she worked in her parents’ bakery.
Life in the United States brought severe hardships with work and family life. The standard American diet and stress caused her health to deteriorate. An unhappy marriage made matters worse. When she contracted colon cancer at age 50, with just six months to live, she turned to nature and to her spiritual beliefs for hope. It was at that time she began consuming raw green foods, sprouted blended seeds, and cultured grains.
Ann Wigmore used food as medicine and eventually she healed.
Her experience with ill health and healing motivated her to change her life. This led to a profound realization. She said, “I knew my mission was to open a healing center”. Ann wanted to educate people that poor health needn’t equate with growing old and that caring for the body is an individual responsibility. She felt it was imperative to conduct exhaustive research of the most healthful foods. Ann strove to understand what could be grown indoors and to prove the validity of what she called the “Living Foods Lifestyle®.”
Ann spent years studying and experimenting alone, consulting, and working with experts in various countries. She firmly believed that “living” food could help her build her own vibrant health. From 1956 on, Ann worked tirelessly studying naturopathy and homeopathy for which she obtained a Doctor of Divinity degree from an American college. Ann developed an international following through writing a column for the U.S. magazine, “Natural Health Guardian.” In 1963, her vision of a healing clinic materialized when she opened America’s first holistic health center, the Hippocrates Health Institute, in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1990, the second location, Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute, opened in Puerto Rico. Over the next few years, Ann built a team of teachers, practitioners, and agricultural specialists to work with students from all over the world.
The original work of Ann Wigmore is embedded within the Living Foods Lifestyle™ program. It has been demonstrated in its purest form at the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute in Puerto Rico, helping many in their healing journeys over the decades. Ann Wigmore passed in 1994 of accidental cause. Her legacy of sharing truth about natural healing and caring for others continues. The nonprofit’s mission to inspire people to awaken their innate power to heal naturally, carries on with current staff, graduates, and students worldwide.
Ann Wigmore Living Foods Lifestyle Program
Ann Wigmore Living Foods Lifestyle Program
Ann Wigmore believed, “There are no incurable diseases if one lives in harmony with nature”. Living Foods Lifestyle™ was created as a program to include more than a diet of raw chlorophyll rich vegan foods. Ann Wigmore studied, researched, and collaborated with others to evaluate plants, plant growth, food preparation, blending, culturing, sprouting techniques, and dehydrating methods. She also studied movement, yoga, meditation, positive effects of nature, cleansing techniques, and connection to one’s spirituality all in ways that would support restorative healing. Wellness is a lifestyle. Ann wrote numerous articles and books on these and many other topics. Her natural lifestyle work and recommendations gained popularity while Ann presented her work to groups in cities all over the world.
