The Living Foods Lifestyle ® Trademark

The following paragraph is part of a letter written to our students by Dr. Ann Wigmore.  It can be found in our class text book that is given to each student upon their arrival to our Institute.

"Heartfelt greetings to our students:
Welcome to our learn by doing, health-rebuilding center.  You will soon be introduced to a new lifestyle, probably quite different from what you have been taught all your life by your former teachers (family, friends and doctors).  There are, in fact, so many different notions regarding health that it can become quite confusing at times, especially if you read many books on the subject.  Even some of my earlier books, like Why Suffer (which I wrote over 30 years ago) can lead to confusion.  At that time I was teaching the use of "raw" (rather than "living") food, and I put a big emphasis on the use of wheatgrass chlorophyll.  Also, the level of disease in our society was not as bad as it is now.  Since that time, peoples' bodies have become so depleted and polluted that I had to reformulate the program, and I am still constantly refining this Living Foods Lifestyle (LFL) ®."                              -Dr. Ann Wigmore, 1991

Hopefully, this will clarify some of your questions and thoughts about the need to maintain the LFL® as a trademark and Dr. Ann's feelings about the lifestyle.  Many students, upon their first encounter with our lifestyle, would ask for Celtic salt, pepper, garlic, onions, herbs, Nama Shoyu, Bragg's Aminos, etc.  Others wanted a transitional program in lieu of our LFL® program to help them "eventually" accept Dr. Ann's Living Foods Lifestyle®.   In response, Dr. Ann would firmly reply, "I CANNOT DILUTE MY LIFESTYLE"

Ann Wigmore's mission was to create and educate people about a lifestyle that was healing and aligned with the laws of nature.  Dr. Ann followed Hippocrates' belief that food was our medicine and medicine was our food.  But she didn't stop with food.  Her lifestyle was a total approach to living in order to change one's consciousness.  She also knew this lifestyle was, and, continues to be, a process.  She trademarked Living Foods Lifestyle® in order to protect the integrity of her work and the elements of the Living Foods Lifestyle® which did/does not stop with food.

Her untimely death took many people by surprise because Dr. Ann was the reflection of health.  She died in an electrical fire at the Ann Wigmore Foundation in Boston.   Before she passed, Dr. Ann worked very hard with Leola Brooks and Claudia Lalita Salas to insure that they would promote the mission of the Living Foods Lifestyle® as she had developed it towards the end of her life.  Dr. Ann wanted to know beyond any doubt that neither Leola Brooks nor Claudia Lalita Salas would dilute her legacy.  

Originally, the Ann Wigmore Foundation in Boston owned the Living Foods Lifestyle trademark.  After Dr. Ann's transition, the Ann Wigmore Foundation relocated to New Mexico.

The new directors at the Ann Wigmore Foundation discovered that the trademark had lapsed during the times following Ann Wigmore's death.  The directors for Puerto Rico and New Mexico recognized that holding this trademark was essential as the guardians of the Living Foods Lifestyle® affirming Dr. Ann's strong feelings about having legal validation for her work.

There are reasons for trademark and copyright infringement laws. Ann Wigmore trademarked the Living Foods Lifestyle (LFL) ® so that it would represent the specific teachings that she developed. When someone uses that term to represent things outside of Ann Wigmore's teachings, it creates confusion about what the term means and represents.  In part, the term "living foods" is becoming more popular in the raw foods community because of its association with Ann Wigmore and its promotion by Ann Wigmore.

We are happy to know that different elements of the Living Foods Lifestyle® are being used by other people.  However, unless you do the program exactly as Dr. Ann created it, it is not the Living Foods Lifestyle® as she intended.  Further, please remember, that this lifestyle is about more than just food.  As a result, even if you do the food exactly as Dr. Ann prescribed, you will probably be missing other elements of her protocol which went beyond food.

Because of the educational nature of the mission and the profound effect Ann Wigmore has had on the philosophy of health and healing world wide, there is a need to have some control over how Dr. Ann's name and teachings are used. Minimally the Living Foods Lifestyle® trademark must be protected and associated only with the complete program as designed and developed by Dr. Ann.

Our intention is to protect the integrity of the Living Foods Lifestyle® as developed by Dr. Ann Wigmore.  There are many people new to the raw foods community that have been confused by the proliferation of the term living foods as used to describe various types of raw foods preparation.  Brand names are imbued with certain attributes which assist in product differentiation.  We believe that one of the attributes of the term "Living Foods Lifestyle" is the pioneering work of Dr. Ann Wigmore.

Please accept our sincere graditute for your continued support of our mission to protect the Living Foods Lifestyle® trademark and the essence it represents.