Raw and living-food regimes

Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield · Ann Wigmore, Viktoras Kulvinskas · 1956 · Boston

What it is

A raw-food diet is built on fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs and sprouted or soaked grains and legumes, eaten uncooked or warmed only below a threshold temperature, prepared by juicing, blending, dehydrating, germinating and sprouting; refined sugar and flour, caffeine, baked goods and…

Format

• Residential programme: HHI's signature "Life Transformation Program" is a stay of several weeks at the Florida campus; reported cost runs to several thousand US dollars, with some guests fundraising to attend.
• Daily life: group morning exercise described as "lymphatic" cleansing; a group circle before meals for reflection and intention; raw vegan meals; wheatgrass and sprout drinks through the day; communal juicing room; classes on digestion, food combining, sprouting and growing, and "mental and…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: the Ann Wigmore / Hippocrates Health Institute (HHI, now trading as Hippocrates Wellness, West Palm Beach, Florida) "living foods" programme as described by the institute's directors, a participant's published account and press coverage; the general raw-food diet as described by a registered dietitian. The psychotherapist works alongside this method and does not perform, sell, prescribe or…
• Regulatory: diets are not regulated as treatments; HHI has been reported as licensed in Florida as a massage establishment, its director as holding a Florida nutrition-counsellor licence, and it was the subject of Florida Department of Health unlicensed-practice orders in 2015 that were later withdrawn for insufficient evidence.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence: no reliable evidence that raw or living-food regimes treat cancer or any other disease; a large German cohort of long-term raw-food eaters found frequent underweight and menstrual loss.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• duty versus confidentiality (APA 4.05). Working: the concern reaches a body with power to act.
• colluding or crusading. Working: the client experiences you as neither recruiter nor opponent.
• escalating restriction as symptoms persist; doctor-shopping. Working: less time spent checking and more flexibility.
• escalating costs, secrecy from family, fear of leaving the group, guilt when symptoms persist. Working: spending is chosen rather than pressured; the client keeps a wider network.
• defensiveness that suggests past dismissal; vagueness about weight, periods or energy; mention of stopping medicines or treatment; a residential programme or large spending. Working: the client…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.