Life Extension Through Wheatgrass

We have been fortunate to be able to sift through some of Ann Wigmore’s old writings. Natural remedies are true through the ages. They never cease to be true even though modern science finds profit in drugs. This writing was taken from her booklet which she wrote in 1985:

Why You Do Not Need to Grow Old

Proper nutrition is inseparable from the process of rejuvenation. No other method of treatment can bring assured results as quickly and permanently with total safety. Despite huge medical gains over the past one hundred years, medical solutions to life extension and rejuvenation have all fallen short – the average male lives just four years longer today than his ancestors did a hundred years ago. And until we can prevent ourselves from falling into the grave in the first place it is doubtful whether we will find a way to raise ourselves out of it.

The most sane and direct approach we have towards finding the fountain of youth is through proper nutrition, utilizing potent foods like wheatgrass and sprouts and sensible daily exercise. Unfortunately, this approach requires effort, and it is not as glamorous as taking an elixir – but the results more than justify the means.

My own experience exemplifies the miraculous ability of wheatgrass to fill deficiencies in the body and reverse the aging process. At fifty years of age, I was ready for an early retirement. My hair was gray; I had a terrible case of colitis and other colon problems. I suffered from low energy and had no clear direction in life. Out of desperation, I turned to nature for relief. Lessons I had learned in childhood from my grandmother were strong in my memories and dreams.

My intuition and reason led me to experiment with the most vital and nutritionally rich foods I could find. These were not meats, cheese, and eggs, as most people suspected at that time, but foods which could trap the sun’s energy and transfer it to my body. These were live foods – foods richer in vitamins, minerals and life energy, than in proteins or fats. While proteins and fats are necessary, I knew that I did not need them in the heavy form and large quantities used by the average person.

I knew that to find the energy of life and use it to rejuvenate my tired and sickly body, I would have to find it in green plants. Charles Kettering and a handful of other researchers had the right idea, but commercial pressures forced them to seek ways to package or synthesize the life energy in green plants to increase its shelf life. However, life energy cannot be packaged. It’s only present in live foods.

In wheatgrass, raw foods, and exercise, I found what I feel is as close to the fountain of youth as we are going to get. Twenty-five years after my discovery, my hair has turned fully naturally brown again. My weight has been a stable 119 (the same as it was in my youth), and my energy level is limitless. For the past ten years, I have required an average of only four hours of sleep a night, and I haven’t needed the services of a physician in years. My work has taken me all over the world on many demanding tours, sometimes for months at a time. Yet, I have more energy than I can ever remember having as a child – and I am no child at 76. What I have discovered can help you, too. But instead of taking my word for it, examine what I have to say carefully, and then if you are so inclined, try it for yourself.

As in the days of Ponce de Leon, humans everywhere are still in hot pursuit of the fountain of eternal youth. One drink from this magic fountain, it was believed, would restore a youthful appearance, outlook, and vigor. Despite the fact that scientists have now discovered over a hundred chemical elements and thousands of factors that play a role in nutrition and health, they are not even one step closer to realizing the dream of eternal youth than Ponce de Leon was five hundred years ago. In fact when you consider the rising incidence of degenerative disease in our society, you could say we have taken a few steps in the opposite direction. Yet, in wheatgrass, I believe we have a veritable fountain of youth available to us.

Many of the wild claims being made about vitamin-mineral supplements are exaggerated and misleading. Supplements or ‘youth drugs’ cannot restore potency to an octogenarian, or return hair to a bald head. In most cases, supplements are a waste of time and money, and they can even be dangerous in large doses.

Let’s be clear, synthetic vitamin-mineral supplements can have a drug-like effect, creating symptoms such as constipation and headaches, or even kidney and liver damage. Furthermore, they have a limited effect compared to their natural counterparts found in fresh foods. Synthetic vitamin E, for example, is less than one-tenth as effective as natural E. Less of the synthetic vitamins and minerals get absorbed in the forms found naturally in foods. All vitamins and minerals found in nature come ‘packaged’ with other nutrients to ensure their optimal absorption and use. This is the way we have been getting our vitamins for millions of years – and it is still the safest and best way to do so.

Wheatgrass contains a full spectrum of vitamins and minerals, including the thirteen essential ones, combined with dozens of trace elements and enzymes. It is a nutritionally complete food which will sustain the growth and development of laboratory animals and humans alike. In addition, scientists have never found wheatgrass to be toxic in any amount when given to either animals or humans.