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Finnish Living Food Association What is Living Food?
According to Ann Wigmore, the founder and "mother" of the Living Food Lifestyle: "We must give our bodies the rich nourishment from fresh vegetables, greens and fruits, and sprouted seeds, beans and grains. When these foods are combined with proper rest and activity, and a healthy positive attitude, the body and will are strengthened and even the most serious health problems may be overcome." In preparing Living Food we use fermenting, dehydrating, and blending, juicing or mixing in food processor. We grow sprouts and greens indoor. The most important elements are wheatgrass juice, rejuvelac (fermented drink made of sprouted wheat) and other fermented foods. Enzymes, chlorophyll and lactobacilli are the main elements of Living Food. Thus the daily meals contain e.g. rejuvelac, wheatgrass juice, fruits and berries, sprouts, seeds, cereals, nuts, sauerkraut, vegetables, and seaweed. Living Food is said to be the most therapeutic food. Good results have been obtained in curing e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, eczema, indigestion, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol level, and excess weight. Living Food also seems to give protection to its users against the most common infections. History Some of the ideas of Living Food have been known for thousands of years (e.g. Hippocrates’ teachings about 400 B.C. and sprouting instructions in China about 3000 B.C.). The modern Living Food Lifestyle was developed by Dr. Ann Wigmore during the years 1960-1990 in Boston, USA. Ann Wigmore also founded in the 1960’s a Living Food institute in Boston and later on another one in Puerto Rico. The Ann Wigmore In-stitute in Puerto Rico is still working. Living Food came to Finland in the 1980’s when Ann Wigmore visited Finland altogether four times and edu-cated the first enthusiastic students in the secrets of Living Food both in theory and practice. The Finnish Living Food Association was founded in 1983 by about a hundred enthusiastic pioneers, and it grew rapidly to some four hundred members. The first chairman of the Association was Monica Dahl-Partonen, a student of Ann Wigmore. She also started giving courses in Living Food. Further chairmen were Marjatta Svennevig, Marianna Kekki and Irma Tolonen (present). Inspired by Ann Wigmore another student of hers, Kristina von Weissenberg (present Turner), founded the Institute of Living Food in Finland, after studying at Wigmore’s Institute in Boston. This Finnish institute is situated in beautiful surroundings in the outer archipelago of Åland (see homepage http://www.co.jyu.fi/finlandweb/institute/brochure.htm). A third student, restaurateur Elsa Ervamaa, who also studied Living Food Lifestyle with Wigmore, started serving Living Food in her vegetarian restaurant in Helsinki and giving courses in Living Food. She, together with Ritva Alku, also wrote the first book about Living Food in Finnish. Later on, a fourth student of Wigmore, Marjatta Svennevig, started teaching Living Food Lifestyle in Helsinki, and then founded the first Living Food restaurants in Finland. Today there are several Living Food restaurants in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere. Living Food is also served in some hospitals in Finland. We greatly respect the pioneer work of Ann Wigmore, who died in an accident in 1994, at the age of 84, still working at her two institutes. Finnish Living Food Association to-day Today the Finnish Living Food Association has about 1000 members. The Association wants to spread information and to be a contact organ for the members all over the country. We publish a member magazine of some 30 pages four times a year, and we also organize monthly meetings in Helsinki for members and the public on topics of interest. Each year we organize trips in Finland and abroad to places of interest. The Association is run by a board of about ten people, all working idealistically without pay. The Association has so far educated 40 teachers of Living Food who in turn have given courses all over Finland. The third course for educating 20 more teachers is going on right now. We run an office and a small meeting room in Helsinki, where we also give courses and organize other activities. The office helps the members and anyone interested with questions about Living Food, sells books and other publications about the subject, lends videotapes and so on. We also take part in exhibitions and other events where Living Food can be promoted. The office and other activities are financed by membership fees only, we do not get any financing from the society, and that is why the activities have to be rather limited. However, we are proud of our existence and especially of the quality of our members’ magazine, which is very much appreciated by the members. Research Living Food is quite well known in our country, because its effects have been researched almost for a decade. The research of its content has been pretty thorough and it has shown the Living food to have beneficial effects on health and to provide a sufficient intake of different nutriments. The Association has assisted Kuopio University in their research of Living Food, which started in 1990 and has resulted in several new research projects and two theses (Dr. Mikko Nenonen: "Vegan Diet, rich in Lacto-bacilli (Living Food): Metabolic and Subjective Responses in Healthy Subjects and in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis”, 1995 and Dr. Anna-Liisa Rauma: “Nutrition and Biotransformation in Strict Vegans (Eaters of Living Food)", 1996. In addition to these, two other theses have been written about the bowel lactobacilli popu-lation. The research into Living Food was lead by professor Osmo Hänninen, and was the only such research in the world. People from university of Kuopio have also participated in congresses abroad about vegan nutrition. We at the Finnish Living Food Association are very enthusiastic about this research, and hope it will continue and result in the use of Living Food as therapeutic diet.
Address: Irma Tolonen
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