A Conversation with Patricia Bragg A Green Pioneer Vision

A Conversation with Patricia Bragg
A Green Pioneer
from Bragg Farm
Santa Barbara, CA
Vision Magazine Reprint
Vision Magazine: What is the main key to
The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle?
With a mind-boggling array of diets, supplements
Patricia Bragg: The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle is
this: You are what you eat, drink, breathe, think,
say, and do. It’s as simple as that. Most people
jam their mouths with a lot of junk food and then
they wonder why they get sick, age early, and die
young. With your knife and fork, you can literally
be digging your grave. Therefore we teach people
to be their own health captains, to guard what they
put in their mouth, that goes into their bodies.
by Elyssa Paige
and fads promising health and long-lasting
energy, we may be left scratching our heads
wondering what the best path to wellness really
is. The answer remains as simple as ever: Rather
than a quick-fix, vibrant health can only come
with a lifestyle grounded in healthy food, clean
air and water, exercise and a positive attitude!
The news is hardly new. In the early 20th century,
Paul C. Bragg, N.D., Ph.D. pioneered a healthy way
of life based on natural live foods, introducing
the first health food stores in America. Attracting
Olympic athletes, royalty and celebrities to his
lectures and fitness programs, he developed
health products from liquid amino acids to sea
kelp seasonings. Walk into any health food store
and you’ll be sure to discover an abundance of
Bragg Health Products on the shelves. Today his
daughter, Patricia Bragg, N.D., Ph.D., continues his
legacy as a worldwide health crusader. Together
they co-authored 20 “self-health” books, including
the widely acclaimed Bragg Healthy Lifestyle and
The Miracle of Fasting. Patricia Bragg is a dynamic
health educator and life extension nutritionist
who offers health and fitness seminars around
the world, as well as on TV and radio. With a 120acre campus and organic farm in Santa Barbara, a
550-acre farm in Hawaii, and an 80-acre organic
lemon and tropical fruit farm in the tropics of
Australia, (which is off the grid and solar powered
by the sun), Patricia Bragg walks her talk every
day with amazing vitality, inspiring everyone she
meets. It was an honor to speak with her recently
about how to connect to the elements, return to
nature and how we can take charge of our health.
VM: How is connecting to the earth element an
important aspect of health?
PB: My father was the first one to promote
organic gardening. He inspired Rodale and then
Rachel Carson, who wrote the revealing book,
Silent Spring, which alerted people to the
dangers of DDT (a pesticide subsequently banned
in the United States in 1972) and the toxins
that they spray on food. Pesticides kill the bugs;
what do you think they’re doing to your health?
Eat organic fruits and vegetables! If you
want to be well and live long, you must work to
create your own Garden of Eden to the best of
your ability wherever
you live! I now believe
in survival gardens!
You can grow food
on a windowsill, on
back porch, or in a
community garden.
I grow all my own
tomatoes, asparagus,
artichokes, celery,
lettuce of all kinds,
squash, mung beans, Patricia with lettuces on
Bragg Organic Farm
herbs, strawberries,
“Pure water is the essential fluid required for life and health.”
avocados, bananas, apples, apricots, lemons, you
name it, I grow it. I say, go organic, don’t panic!
VM: How about importance of water element?
You say most people are dehydrated.
PB: God gave us all this wonderful water. In over
30 trips around the world, I’ve seen nations where
all they have is rainwater. They don’t know about
fluoride, chlorine and all the toxins added to water
in the United States. They just drink rainwater
distilled by the heavens. That’s the way it’s
been around the world since beginning of time.
vegetarian; the mass-fed animals are all sick and
drugged. I’ve never had coffee, or a coke and I
don’t use salt; I get natural sodium from food. I
had Blue Cross Insurance 35 years and never used
it once. I’ve never taken an aspirin and I laugh
when people say, “Patricia what do you do if you
get a headache?” I don’t get headaches. You bring
headaches upon yourself with the way you eat, poor
posture, lack of exercise and shallow breathing.
In the old days they had water diviners who
would break a twig from a tree, go along above
the ground, and soon the twig would start
shaking, indicating the possibility for a water
well. Anytime my father got property, he would
have the diviner come because he wouldn’t buy
property unless it had water. And I did the same
when I got my property in Australia and Hawaii.
Pure water is the essential fluid required for life
and health. People who ingest sufficient amounts
of the right kinds of liquids (distilled or purified
water, fresh organic fruits and vegetables and their
juices) have better health, body functioning and
circulation overall, which are most important to
super health and long life. The body is 70% water
and it runs all your machinery: Heart, Circulation,
Digestion, Bones & Joints, Muscles, Metabolism,
Assimilation, Elimination, Sex, Glands, Nerves
and Energy. I believe that the water you drink can
make or break you! It’s as simple as that.
VM: What ignited the fire in you to help people
discover vibrant health and enjoy a long life?
PB: My mother was in an automobile accident
and I came into the world three months early. I
believe that my will to live, share and be part of a
great crusade to make this a healthier world is the
fire ignited within me. I feel ageless. I have more
energy than some of the college students and
young people who work for me. I wake up at 5 a.m.
with joy in my heart, energy galore. I earn my sleep
with activity, exercise and being a health crusader
and at night I sleep like a baby. I’m basically a
Patricia at free Bragg Exercise Class, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii
Fort DeRussy Lawn 9-10:30 Monday through Saturday
VM: Can you talk more about deep breathing and
the importance of the air element?
PB: Air is so vitally important; that’s why
we wrote Super Power Breathing. We are
breathing machines. I believe if you work in
an office, whether you’re a dentist, doctor, or
engineer, you should buy an air purifier. Your
lungs are important; guard them with pure air!
Oxygen is invisible staff of life. Unfortunately,
Americans are shallow breathers. You know
when you’re running to catch a plane at the
airport and you get a stitch in your side? That’s
the air pushing down and trying to open up
the unused area of the lower part of your lungs.
I believe in deep breathing. When you pump
a generous flow of oxygen into your body, every
cell comes alive! Oxygen stimulates your logic
and intelligence. The more deeply and fully you
breathe, the greater your power of concentration,
the more your creative mind will assert itself and
the further you will travel to higher healthier
levels on the physical, mental and spiritual planes.
“Your thoughts and actions are very important– they become you.”
VM: You fast every Monday, why do you think
fasting is important aspect of your good health?
PB: The cover of our book The Miracle of Fasting,
says, “Proven throughout History for Physical,
Mental, and Spiritual Rejuvenation.” Every
religion has their time of fasting. The Scientist, Alex
Carrel stated, “The elimination of waste products
by fasting increases longevity”. Paracelsus – 15th
century physician and father of body chemistry,
said, “Fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician
within.” When a baby doesn’t feel good and you
try to feed it, it will spit the food out at you. It’s
the same with animals. Fasting is God’s and
Mother Nature’s way of cleansing and purifying
the body. It’s like a detox internal shower.
The human body is a
miracle. I’m five-feet tall
and I have 70 trillion
cells. Now you take
Lou Ferrigno, T.V. Hulk –
who changed his life when
a teenager with Bragg
Healthy Lifestyle – he’s so
big and tall, he probably
has 100 trillion cells. When Lou Ferrigno (T.V. Hulk)
you fast, do you know what with Patricia at Chicago
all those cells do? They Health Freedom Expo
clap! They can clean house now! They don’t have all
that food you eat to digest, assimilate and eliminate.
Mike Love of The Beach Boys read Miracle of
Fasting book and said it changed their lives! The
Beach Boys were using drugs and alcohol. Mike
Love got the book shoved into his chest by a fan
as he was getting on a plane in Sydney, Australia
for Hawaii over 35 years ago. He read it, followed
it and now says, “Thanks to Bragg Fasting Book
and Healthy Lifestyle, we are now healthy, fit,
singing better and staying younger than ever!”
VM: What are some simple steps that we can take
to become healthier for a long, fulfilled happy life?
PB: God gave you a computer: your brain. What
you put into your brain – your thoughts and
actions – is very important, so have healthy,
happy thoughts. Words are living. What you say is
important. If you talk garbage out of your mouth,
you get garbage in your life. Before you speak,
ask yourself: Is it good, is it kind, is it necessary?
As for the rest of your body, you can either use
your 640 muscles or lose them. I earn my food
every day through exercise, deep breathing,
good posture, and never sitting with my legs
crossed. Every one of us has a major artery in
the back of each knee. Women wonder why they
get varicose veins—when for years they’ve been
sitting with their legs crossed like a pretzel. We
need circulation! All of you right now, feel your
nose. Is it warm? Do you know how it got so nice
and warm? Blood circulating! People tell me,
“Oh, Patricia, I feel cold.” Get out, walk, exercise,
do your deep breathing, do stationary jogging.
I haven’t sat down since I started talking to the
Vision Reporter! I’m doing stationary jogging
right now. With every jog, my 70 trillion cells
are thanking me, they’re getting a massage! Do
you know what a massage does? It gives you
good circulation, which is one of the keys to good
body and heart health. Your heart is the master
pump. It works night and day for you. And when
it stops, you’re gone, so be good to your heart!
Once again, use good posture, don’t sit with your
legs crossed, lift your chest up, give your heart
plenty of room, and women: Never wear a bra—
they’re killers! Read the book, Dressed to Kill, by
Sydney Ross Singer (available on Amazon.com),
which says that in a survey of nurses, the ones who
wore wired bras got breast cancer. Wow! Right
now grab your wrist and hold it tight – it hurts
doesn’t it? No wonder breast cancer is rampant
in women around the world who wear tight wired
bras for hours and hours. You see what happens
when you cut off circulation – disaster! What
happens in a stagnant pond? It gets thick and
breeds mosquitoes. All you gals out there, guess
what? I’ve never worn a bra. I wear loose chemise
and I do breast exercises everyday and my breasts
haven’t fallen. Women write to me and say,
“Patricia, I feel so great, I threw my bras away!”
“Get back to Mother Nature & God & live in healthy simplicity.”
VM: What are some other health testimonials
that have stood out for you?
VM: What is the most important health tip that
you can give us for more energy and health?
PB: We get testimonials every day. We just got one
from a man who saved his life from cancer of the
prostate. He said we changed his whole lifestyle
by fasting, getting off the dead, garbage food, and
living a healthy life. We kept JC Penney going
almost to 100. We took Conrad Hilton dying in the
hospital at 80 and gave him many more years of
life. And Dr. C. Everett Koop, retired U.S. Surgeon
General, said that my father did more for the
health of America than any one man he knew of.
PB: Get back to Mother Nature and live in
simplicity. Keep your life as simple as one, two,
three. Exercise and earn your food. Get away
from dead food, especially sugar and white bread,
which is the staff of death, and start eating organic
whole grains! Drink eight glasses of purified water
a day and three of them add 1-2 teaspoons of
Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. Hippocrates,
the father of medicine, used apple cider vinegar
in 400 BC to cleanse, detox and heal his patients.
Kathy Smith, who sold more exercise videos
than any one person, was 19 when she came to
Hawaii. Her mother had died and her life was in
limbo when she went to my father’s free exercise
class (still going – Mon. to Sat. 9 - 10:30 am) at
Fort DeRussy lawn, Waikiki Beach. Kathy said her
life changed on that day, thanks to Paul Bragg.
I feel that everyone should learn to be their
own health captain and take control of their lives.
No one knows how you feel but you! Life is the
most priceless treasure on this Earth! You have
that treasure. Within you lies the mental power
to be anything you want to be. If it is to be, it’s up
to you! So please plan, plot and follow through!
The Miracle of Fasting has been the number
one health book for over 40 years in Russia. That’s
the book that changed the life of Dick Gregory, who
weighed 350 pounds, drank two-fifths of whiskey
a day, smoked three packs of cigarettes a day, and
did every kind of drug. He said, “The Miracle of
Fasting inspired me to become healthy, trim, and
fit. I finished eight Boston Marathons. I was an
unhealthy 350 pounds and now I’m a healthy
150 pounds, lean, trim and a Health Crusader!”
The Laws of Health are inexorable;
we see people going down and out
in the prime of life simply because
no attention is paid to Health Laws!
– Paul C. Bragg. N.D., Ph.D., Life Extension Pioneer
Originator of Health Food Stores
Visit Bragg Website:
www.bragg.com
Follow Patricia on:
twitter.com/patriciabragg
Be her friend on:
facebook.com/patriciabragg
Watch Bragg Videos on:
youtube.com/patriciabragg
Health Crusader Patricia Bragg
Box 7, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
Paul Wenner (Gardenburger founder) with Patricia
and Dr. John Demartini (Star in The Secret) on right.
Both had their lives inspired by Bragg Health Books
For more visits with Patricia Bragg, the
latest health news, free product samples, daily
affirmations, Bragg Health Products and Bragg
Health Books, and more, visit www.bragg.com