Feature Story
Patricia Bragg N.D., Ph.D. An Icon of Health
A conversation with Patricia Bragg and Dr. John Westerdahl
by Sydney L. Murray
Patricia Bragg N.D., Ph.D, is an inspiration to those of us who strive each day to make healthy choices in our lives. She is a true icon of healthy living in a world of celebrity that emphasizes beauty over health. The practice of putting only healthy, living things in my body began when I was very young. I was lucky enough to grow up with a mother who had been raised on a small ranch and who didn’t like the taste of “store-bought” food. It just didn’t taste fresh to her. That early training has done me well (although I do remember complaining about helping out in the huge garden that yielded plenty every year for our large family). I am personally amazed by the level of purity Patricia Bragg maintains in all aspects of her life. I was lucky enough to speak with this amazing woman and health icon as well as the Director of Health Sciences for Bragg Live Food Products, Dr. John Westerdahl. Can you imagine a way of life where you ingest no animal products, alcohol, drugs or even negative thoughts? Bragg has continuously lived this lifestyle since she was a child. She believes this is the only way to live.
Vision Magazine: You grew up with the Bragg Natural Health Method. Tell us about it.
Patricia Bragg: Yes, I did. I loved it and I feel very at home living a healthy life. To tell you the truth, when I grew up, it was the most wonderful childhood. I didn’t know murder, rape, greed, and people being mean. I never heard swearing. We were in nature. I have been having my hands in the soil since I was five years old. I grew vegetables and flowers every year. I use to have up to thirty different varieties and all my flowers went to nursing homes.
And I have carried that on into my later life. I love flowers. My father taught me that roses are God’s autograph. On the farm here, we have 650 varieties [of plants]. We have amazing varieties of apples and vegetables. I have done everything that my father taught me. And it has paid off. I just came from a conference (the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona, Arizona) where there were over 2,000 people. They gave me an award because I have spent my life in health foods—I love it, live it and preach it.
Dr. John Westerdahl: I am new here at Bragg and I am a nutritionist and Board-Certified Anti-Aging Health Practitioner. I think that everything people do in terms of their overall personal health and wellness habits, either accelerates the aging process or keeps them healthy by slowing down the aging process. Healthy habits give you vitality and keep you young, bad habits make you sick and lead to premature aging. Research is showing that the more plant foods, the more colorful fruits and vegetables, and plant protein as opposed to animal protein a person ingests, the healthier a person will be.
A lot of high-protein diets that are out there today actually promote and accelerate aging. Certain cultures around the world, such as the people in Hunza [as well as those from the Himalayas, Okinawa, Japan and Seventh-Day Adventists] who live to be over a hundred years of age show that healthy life-style contributes to longevity.
The common thing that National Geographic saw is that longevity was linked to eating a plant-based diet. Most of the long-lived people studied obtained their protein from plant foods—fruits, vegetables, and grains and other plant proteins like beans and soy foods. Many of them have a spiritual philosophy on life. They control their stress, they exercise and they keep active. All those things are factors that are contributing to their health and longevity.
VM: How do you feel the Bragg products support eating a plant based diet?
JW: All our products support a plant-based diet. The salad dressings go on your salads and on your vegetables. They are all plant based. There are no animal products in any of our products.
PB: And of course you know that our apple cider vinegar comes from organic apples. And our aminos come from healthy, certified non-genetically engineered soybeans.
VM: Patricia, did you always want to get in this line of work?
PB: Actually, to be truthful with you, I was planning on being a missionary. I have cousins that are Baptist Missionaries in various parts of the world, including Africa, and I felt that that life would be wonderful and fulfilling. I always went to Sunday school and in our prayer groups and in our prayers at night, we always knew that we were spiritual. I got my degree and my schooling and I fulfilled that dream at an all-girls school. And I taught kindergarten for a short period.
And then I was going to go dedicate myself to helping the world become a healthier place by being a missionary. In other words, to travel the world to spread health and eternity, walking with the Lord. Well, one day I was washing the dishes and my dad (Paul Bragg) said to me, ‘You know, Patricia, it would be wonderful if you just would give me a year, just a year, and crusade with the Bragg’s Health Crusade.’ I was getting ready to leave and I was going off to Africa where I had two cousins. By the time I finished the dishes, my dad had convinced me [to work with him] for one year. I was to do one year and yet it has been a lifetime. And you know, I have never regretted my decision. It has been so fulfilling and exciting to teach a healthy lifestyle and teach people that they are what they eat and drink and breathe and think and say and do.
That is the Bragg Way of Life. This is your choice. Is it good? Is it kind? What you say, and think, and what you breathe—this is the crux of it. Because a lot of people, and especially a lot of your readers in Santa Cruz and a lot of other places may think that they can smoke marijuana because it is an herb and it is not going to harm them. But one of my dear friends in Santa Barbara who was very active in the health movement, a vegan, and ate a raw food diet, died a horrible death of lung cancer smoking marijuana. He smoked it every night before he went to bed because he got in the habit when he was in his early twenties and he said it put him to sleep. But what it did (was) kill him in his early fifties.
I am very sad to say that a lot people think they can smoke pot because it is an herb and it is not going to hurt them. Smoke is smoke. Any type of smoke is bad.
I do not believe in hairspray, cloth spray, and any type of spray. None of my employees wear them. I don’t like perfume or aftershave lotion. I prefer to use healthy soaps on our clothes because the perfumes give off vapors and they are very dangerous. We have an epidemic in America and it is starting with young children. Parents are using toxic soaps on their clothes. They are using toxic sprays in the house. Cleaning sprays, for example, air fresheners. Air fresheners are very toxic.
I didn’t put lipstick on my lips until I was sixty and then very little that I buy at the health food store because I felt that I needed a little help. But it is shocking that practically every lipstick has lead in it. And I have never used deodorant. Deodorants have aluminum in them.
These chemicals are very dangerous. I have never had an aspirin. People ask me, ‘How can you never have an aspirin?’ Well, I’ve never had a headache.
They say, ‘ Have a cup of coffee.’ I say, ‘I don’t want one.’ They say, ‘ Oh, come on, just try it.’ I say, ‘Why would I want to try it?’ I don’t need that. It is just like a beer, I don’t need it. And I am so grateful for my dad [for that].
VM: And that is what you talk about when you say that health is our birthright.
PB: I am the captain of my life! And this is what we teach. Mark Victor Hansen, who co-authored The Chicken Soup (for the Soul) books, said that he learned that message over thirty-five years ago from my father: He was the captain of his health. And he said that the Bragg books teach you to be the captain of your life and have a healthy life.
VM: You have counseled so many famous people on their health and well-being. Tell us about that.
PB: I have. Conrad Hilton—I was with him at eighty, dying in the hospital, and the doctors said he had five days to live. Hilton called my father and he said that he took our book with him The Miracle of Fasting into the hospital. He asked—was it too late for him?
And we say in the book, (if) you want to live and you want to change, it is not too late if you are breathing.
There was an article by People magazine and he told People he thought the Braggs Healthy Lifestyle saved his life. At 88, he remarried. Instead of dead in five days, he was out of the hospital. And how did we do it? Well, in the Bible it says ‘hands on healing.’ He did physical therapy three times a day. He did oxygen therapy. What is oxygen? It is the invisible Staff of Life. (For) most Americans—do you know why they don’t have energy? They don’t breathe deeply enough. Fresh air is so important. You must breathe deeply.
Ann Ford of the Ford Motor Company travels with a Bragg book in her suitcase.
Dick Gregory, who just turned 75, took off 200 pounds. He weighed almost 400 pounds when he read our book, The Miracle of Fasting. Gregory said, ‘The truth is that if I hadn’t read The Miracle of Fasting, I would have been dead.’ We [have also worked with] Tom Selleck. He says he feels like he’s 39. We have also been Clint Eastwood’s nutritional counselor for 50 years.
There are classes reading our books in high schools. To change your life is very simple. You just have to make up your mind—and it can be through the Bragg Healthy Lifestyle book.
VM: Why do you think that the one-day a week fasting is so important for our bodies?
PB: Well, my dear, lets put it like this: you wash your car, you wash your carpet, you wash your clothes, and you wash your dishes. Internal cleansings, internal showers, that you give your body once a week—(these) will clean you out.
Every religion practices it; animals in the wild practice it. Even your pets, if they don’t feel right, you can’t force them to eat. Babies—if they are not feeling right, you know what they will do? They will fast. I have been fasting one day a week my whole life. Those were the days that mother would say ‘Come in! Dinnertime!’ But when you are fasting, you don’t get that call. You have more time to play in the garden and to do the things you like to do. I just did a three day fast. It was wonderful.
Paracelsus was the 15th century physician who said, ‘Fasting is the greatest remedy.’ It is part of the physician within. In other words, your body is self-healing and self-repairing if given a chance. (But usually) the body is so busy trying to assimilate through digestion and then through elimination, it doesn’t have time to do the clean up work and detoxing.
VM: How important do you think exercise is to overall health?
PB: Well, when Dave Scott won five Iron Man Triathlons, he called my book the “Bragg Book of Health and Fitness.” Once his mother wanted to borrow the book. She said to me, ‘Oh Patricia, he won’t let it out of the house!’ That was how he valued (it). Bragg books are tireless. They could be with you night or day. They are health guides. Just like our Triathlon Manuals. It weighs three pounds. I call it my three-pound baby. My dad was the original tri-athlete. He was a runner, swimmer, and biker. He won a lot of biking contests, running contests. Duke Kahanamoku, who got a gold metal for his swimming, is from Hawaii. Dad met him at the Olympics and that’s how dad went to Hawaii. [Hawaii] is where I spend my off time because dad went to [there] in 1918. He fell in love with Hawaii—with the tropics, the water. It was wonderful. Dad was in the first Waikiki Rough Water Swim…Many people can’t imagine how our director, Dr. Westerdahl, has done it thirteen times.
Walking is the king of exercise. I never sit with my legs crossed because it puts the body in a cramped position. It is hard on your heart and it cuts off the circulation. Wear the right clothes, the right shoes. Dr. Scholl said that I had the healthiest feet he has ever seen. I have no corns or bunions; I’m barefoot most of the time. If I ever wear heels, it’s about a two-inch heel only. Otherwise, I don’t believe in them. My father taught me not to wear them.
JW: I think exercise is vital. You have to do some everyday. Jack LaLanne calls exercise “the king” and nutrition is the “queen”. He says, “When you have both of them you have the Kingdom!” Both of them are important. Exercise is very important. People are too sedentary. They just stay in their homes and watch TV. People think, ‘Oh, I have to do a big run.’ No, just get out and walk a little everyday. That is all you have to do.
VM: Also in reference to exercise, in the Bragg Healthy Lifestyle book, it says that it is good to get a little bit of sun early in the day and also later in the day.
PB: (It is because of) Vitamin D3. It is very important and it is healthy for your bones. I don’t have an ache or a pain. I am limber and I have taught the Bragg Exercises all over the world.
I do a lot of radio shows…I love doing (them). And I love it when people ask me questions. I teach people. So stand up! Lets do the Windmill Exercise! You know, in the old days, everybody had a windmill and it brings the water up from the earth. When you do a Windmill Exercise, you can move your arms around and around. So stand up right now and (let’s) do it to!
You can do both (arms). I teach that all over the world. On our breaks (at Bragg), we all go out and do the Bragg Windmill Exercise!
VM: Can you tell us about the Bragg Health Foundation?
JW: This was started in memory of Paul C. Bragg to carry (his) legacy to the world through our lectures and seminars. Patricia and I have been doing Bragg Health Crusades nationwide and we plan to do them in other parts of the world too. We are going to provide grants and scholarships for certain projects we believe in that promote the health and wellness of the world. One exciting thing is on our property here; we are going to establish a teaching organic farm. People of all ages can come to learn about organic farming so they can grow things in their own yard. We take (the students) from the dirt/soil to the plate. In other words, you will learn not only how to grow it; we will show you how to make delicious, vegetarian dishes in cooking class. And we will teach you how to grow it. It is very practical. ‘From the field to the plate,’ they call it.
VM: Dr. Westerdahl, if you could give just one of the Bragg books to everyone you know, which one would it be?
JW: Well, I always tell everyone, if you have never have read a Bragg book, start with the Bragg Healthy Lifestyle book. It covers all aspects of health and wellness. From there, I think they will be inspired to read some of the other ones depending on what they are looking for. But the overall one I recommend is Bragg Healthy Lifestyle.
VM: What is your advice to our readers on how to live a long, productive life?
PB: I believe that you need to set your goals for what you would like to accomplish. You need to be healthy and fit. You need to write out your goals I have a daily journal and I write down what I need to do [every day]. It has been a daily routine for seventy years. You write down what you have accomplished that day and what you want to accomplish the next day. Then you just go down the line and check it off. Plan, plot and follow through. I feel like I am 18. My weight is about 102 and I am five foot tall. I can see a fly on the wall.
JW: Jack LaLanne actually said that he hates to exercise (but) he knows he has to do it for health and wellness. He says there is no excuse. Spend some time every day exercising. Put it in your schedule. He says, ‘‘When I get up in the morning, I don’t hear God saying, ‘Jack this is God. Did you do your exercise today?’ No. If it’s going to be it’s up to me. I have to get up out of bed, even if I am tired, and get going with my exercise.” Jack knows he has to do it very day, and he does, no matter what the obstacles may be. It is true that a lot of people don’t exercise because they feel too tired after work, but they don’t realize that once you start to exercise, you get more energy. You get the endorphins going. Psychologically, you feel better. You are oxygenating your blood stream. And it is something that most people don’t do enough of. Most people live a sedentary lifestyle.
PB: My father went all over the world to say ‘Exercise to earn your food.’ You know, you sleep better at night when you get your exercise in every day and brisk walking is the king of exercise. So take the steps, not the elevator.
VM: Patricia, you are definitely a testament to the Bragg Healthy Lifestyle. You have such amazing vitality and youthfulness about you. You are a walking advertisement for your products. And you have given all of us the gift of inspiration to live a healthy and pure life. Bless you, and Dr. Westerdahl, for all of your good works.
For more information on Patricia Bragg, N.D., Ph.D. and Dr. John Westerdahl please visit www.bragg.com or call 800.446-1990.