Ann Wigmore was a pioneer of the raw and living foods movement, and helped thousands of people regain their health with the Hippocrates Health Institute program which she founded.

I was rereading one of her books today “Be Your Own Doctor. A positive guide to natural living” and I came across these gems of wisdom:

“Disease stems from deficiencies and a lack of understanding of Mother Nature’s laws of health, plus the unwillingness to accept the obligation to keep the precious temple – the body – in order. This is accomplished by keeping it clean and well-nourished. And, of course, providing necessary aids such as rest, relaxation, positive thinking and plenty of exercise through hard work.”

“We fail to learn how to think for ourselves and to take care of our bodies properly by asking for the guidance which is always there for us to utilize instantly and which will amply provide for our individual needs. Our bodies definitely let us know whether or not we are treating them right or wrong.”

“Since most health problems result from deficiencies, the vital need is nourishment and that nourishment has to be unprocessed and uncooked, and in addition grown in organic earth.”

“We know that no known disease can penetrate the strength of a healthy body. A low protein, low starch, low fat and high enzyme, high vitamin, highly alkaline and high mineral diet is the key.  Anyone can restore health by way of detoxification and rebuilding healthy cells so that the body can heal itself.  Sickness is only a failure to understand the balance of the body, mind, and spirit, which creates well-being.”

“Hippocrates theorized that it was necessary to first remove the cause of bodily upset and then to provide Nature with the proper tools to repair the damage. These tools included a semi-fast to cleanse the bloodstream, food to bring live nourishment to the cells, moist heat and massage to relax the muscles, clean air to bring oxygen to the lungs, exercise to stimulate the circulation, fresh water to lubricate the body tissues, and dismissal of all fear to permit real relaxation.”

Ann Wigmore wrote several books on health and healing, and they are full of genuine, down to earth information that is of benefit to anyone looking at incorporating more raw foods into their diet. 

The Raw food lifestyle has become very “trendy” and Ann’s books certainly don’t fit in that category - but if you are after the real deal, then you can’t go past this legend of the greens!

Mary Shomon is a fantastic patient advocate for people with thyroid disorders, educating untold numbers of people through her books and her comprehensive website http://thyroid.about.com 

Like myself and many others, Mary suffered from a thyroid condition that was incorrectly treated, and this led her on a journey to recover her health by finding out more about her thyroid and what the answer to healing might be.

On this journey she found that thyroid conditions were one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed conditions - leaving thousand of people suffering needlessly, often due to the rigid adherence by doctors to the standard protocol of TSH blood test results and Thryoxine prescriptions.

There has been much debate about the relevance and accuracy of the standard TSH test (thyroid stimulating hormone) and whether this test is a definitive diagnosis of a hypothyroid disorder.  There is a lot of literature to say that it is not - yet most doctors are not aware of the controversy surrounding this test and still use it as gospel.

If a patient has every hypothyroid symptom in the book, has a family history of thyroid disorder, has a low body temperature, and an enlarged thyroid (as I have seen in clinic) - but her TSH is in range, the doctor will more often than not refuse to treat the patient for a thyroid condition.

The patient will be prescribed anti-depressants, told to eat less and exercise more for the weight gain, and that the fatigue is just a natural part of getting older.

None of this actually helps the patient, who continues to decline in health until a forward thinking practitioner uses their judgement and treats the thyroid.

Many patients ask me what literature they can take to their doctor to help them to understand that the TSH test can be misleading, and a result that is at the high end of the range can indicate a hypothyroid problem.

In  Mary Shomon’s latest post she give links to articles discussing the health issues of sub-clinical hypothyroidism (normal TSH but thyroid symptoms) citing scientific journals to illustrate their point.

If you think your doctor might be willing to read about this issue, then this would be a good place to start:
Mary Shomon TSH Reference Article

I know I keep harping on about the relationship between our health, our emotions and stress levels, but it’s a point that has really hit home to me lately because I’ve been in the middle of experiencing it.

There’s nothing like learning something really well by going through it yourself, and because I had a bit of stress earlier this year, I noticed a direct relationship between it, and a decline in my usually quite good health.

I do have a bit of a tricky adrenal and thyroid system that needs lots of support - but even with doing that AND eating really well and exercising regularly  - during the times I felt the most challenged, I had quite a number of negative physical changes.

My skin broke out a bit, I gained a few kilos, my hair was falling out, I was tired, and had lots of aches and pains.  It wasn’t until I resolved the emotional component and got back on track, that my physical health then naturally improved.

It just goes to show what a huge impact how we feel has on our physical health - and I am beginning to count this area as being just as important as what we eat, and maybe even more so.  I don’t believe that we can eat well and do everything else right - but leave our emotional garbage unresolved, and still be healthy. 

Our mind / feelings / emotions live in every cell in our body and we cannot separate them.  To be really healthy we need to heal the body and the mind, not just one or the other.  I see my best results in clinic, when someone embraces the physical side of healing, and also works on resolving their emotional issues as well.

With the launch of my Embracing Life! Six Day Detox, Healing and Renewal Retreats, I’ve found a new passion and have become very excited and enthusiastic about it all - and these feelings have resulted physically in a new-found energy, clear skin, healthy hair, a few kilos dropping off and a brighter outlook.

We never stop learning, and the best lessons are the ones that we experience ourselves. The power of observation in our own lives can be a powerful tool for significant insights and healing experiences.

One of the most common dairy foods that a lot of people like to eat is yoghurt. Even if they have eliminated a lot of dairy from their diet in the way of milk, cheese and ice-cream - yoghurt still has the perception of being a “health” food.

If you are sensitive to dairy then it doesn’t make sense to eat it, and with most yoghurt’s being made from pasteurised milk, with sugar, colours and flavours added, it is far from being “healthy”. There is often little to no good bacteria to speak of in many common supermarket yoghurts, in direct contrast to their marketing pitch.

Just recently I found out how to make a superb alternative to yoghurt that took about 1 minute in my blender - and is so healthy you can eat as much of it as you like!

There were three ingredients in my fruit “yoghurt” and that was paw paw, banana and handful of frozen raspberries, with a small amount of water so that it blended together into a creamy mousse like texture.

I poured mine over some strawberries and it was absolutely delightful!

Of course this type of yoghurt is not fermented and doesn’t contain any good bacteria - so we would need to look to other fermented products for that - such as sauerkraut or non-dairy kefir - but more about those another day!

Here is a great article from the Food Matters newsletter:

“Why superfoods?

Superfoods are a category of foods found in nature, they are superior sources of essential nutrients - nutrients we need but can’t make ourselves. We all may be adding more salads and vegetables to our diets, but concern for the quality of foods grown on mineral depleted soils makes superfoods popular.

They are nutritionally more potent then regular foods and are wonderful food sources of anti-oxidants for healthy healing. Superfoods are nutrient dense and calorie sparse.

Superfoods can be divided into 5 main groups:

Green Superfoods
Bees Superfoods
Seaweed Superfoods
Herb Superfoods
Fruit and Nut Superfoods”

Superfoods are a very important part of any diet, raw or otherwise. To find out more and to continue reading about the numerous benefits of these different types of superfoods you can go to the full article here: 

http://www.foodmatters.tv/superfoods.html#Green