Ann Wigmore was an American holistic health practitioner, nutritionist, whole foods advocate, health educator, author and a doctor of Divinity.
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Wigmore was born Anna Marie Warapicki in Lithuania on March 4, 1909 to Antanas and Anna Warapicki. Her father emigrated to America in 1908, settling in Middleboro, Massachusetts, where he first worked as a laborer in a shoe mfg. company (1920 Fed Census/1924 & 1925 Middleboro city directories) and later as a truck driver for a bakery (1930 Fed Census) during Wigmore's American teen-age years; Wigmore's mother followed five years later, aboard the ship Erlangen, on June 16, 1913. After WWI, Anna Marie, then 13, and her brother, Mykola, age 15, accompanied by an uncle, arrived at Ellis Island on December 9, 1922 on the ship USS America, to join their parents and younger sister Helen, born February 16, 1921 in Middleboro. The 1930 Federal Census found Wigmore working as a hospital maid under the name of Anna Warap.
On December 25,1930, Anna Marie married Everett Arnold Wigmore of Stoughton, Massachusetts, where they resided during their marriage. A daughter, Wilma, was born on July 9, 1941. On January 12, 1942, Wigmore became a United States citizen under Certificate No. 5302785, U.S. District Court, Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1968, Ann Wigmore co-founded the Hippocrates Health Institute,[1] a health resort in the United States, with Viktoras Kulvinskas.[2] Known as "the mother of living foods", she was an early pioneer in the use of wheatgrass juice and living foods for detoxifying and healing the body, mind, and spirit.[3] She died in Boston on February 16, 1994 of smoke inhalation from a fire at the Ann Wigmore Foundation.[4]
In her autobiography, Why Suffer?: How I Overcame Illness & Pain Naturally, Wigmore recalls observing her grandmother using herbs and natural remedies as a child in Lithuania.[5] As an adult, she began researching and testing various whole foods and diet approaches, which she credits with solving her medical problems and changing her life.[6]
A number of institutes carry on her work by offering educational programs and retreats, home study courses, recipes, books, and other resources. These include:
According to Julie Walsh, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, "It's not supported by scientific literature at all. Man has used fire to cook food for ages. To refrain from heating or processing foods could even be risky. Some studies also suggest that cooked tomatoes release more phytonutrients than raw ones. The lycopene found in tomatoes is a strong antioxidant linked to preventing several different diseases — and it's released with heat."[7]
Diane Stadler of the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, worry that claims of cures of serious diseases such as cancer may discourage individuals from seeking more conventional treatments that medical research has shown to be effective. Stadler says, "Some raw food web sites suggest that you can treat certain chronic diseases by consuming a raw food diet. That frightens me as a medical professional. Some people will accept that as truth and delay seeking appropriate diagnosis and treatment...[which] could seriously impact long-term well-being."[8]