Frederic Patenaude Raw Foods Diet

Hi Fred! I think your article on which raw diet to follow, high fat or high fruit, is misleading. It is entirely possible to thrive on a low fat plant based raw diet with minimal fruit, such as the Hippocrates regime or that recommended by Dr Gabriel Cousens.

I agree that the high fat raw diet can indeed be problematic, but there are other ways to go low fat raw food without eating vast amounts of fruit. You neglect to mention these, and I think that for people who do not have the benefit of a long standing, evidence based relationship with raw food such as myself, it is too simplistic to divide these diets into only 2 options, and confusion could indeed reign.

I do not believe that there is “only one way and that’s my way”, but I think you should inform your readers that there are other ways to go with the raw diet than either high fat or high fruit. This amounts to scaremongering which ultimately serves no-one.

ANSWER: I respect your opinion, but I would like to point out a big mistake that you’re making in your statement.

You say that it’s possible to thrive on a “low fat” raw diet that contains “minimal fruit”.

I would like to see how that works out in practice because from my nutrition training this is simply not possible.

If you want a raw food diet, you will need to get calories from two sources:

- Fruit
- Fatty foods (avocados, nuts, etc.)

Vegetables have a low-caloric density. If you do not believe me just check how many heads of lettuce or carrots you would need to eat to get the 4000 calories your athletes need.

The other possible sources are things that no one really wants to eat:

- Sprouted grains and beans
- Carrot juice

It’s also known that raw sprouted grains and beans contain natural toxins and that do not go away simply through the sprouting process. You can get seriously ill from eating them, and in fact, many have.

As far as using carrot juice or similar carbohydrate foods, it beats the purpose in the first place. Aren’t you avoiding fruit because you think too much sugar is bad for you?

When people go to the Hippocrates institute, what they follow is a very low-calorie diet, one that’s good for a short period to lose a lot of weight, which is what most people want when they go to these places.

So they’ll be served watermelon juice, green juice and sprouts.

I do not know anyone that is able to maintain that regimen when they go back to their regular lives.

If you follow a low-fat raw food diet and you limit your fruit consumption to 4 to 6 servings per week, you are following a very low-calorie diet that is not sustainable.

Or you are possibly eating massive quantities of sprouted grains and beans, which most people:

a) Wouldn’t possibly *want* to do
b) Would eventually get sick from because of the natural enzyme-inhibitors found in those foods.

So if you really want to prove me wrong, why don’t you come up with a weekly menu and we’ll analyze it?

We know that athletes require more calories, usually 4000 a day or more. And you said that your diet can work for athletes.

So, send me a 7-day menu that contains 4000 calories per day (enough for an athlete — because if an athlete cannot follow your diet… is it really healthy?) and:

1) Contains a maximum of 12% fat by calories (which is the average of the figures you gave me)
2) Contains a maximum of 4 to 6 servings of fruit per week
3) Is completely raw
4) Is something that a human being would actually want to follow. In other words, don’t include gallons of carrot juice or buckets of sprouted beans just to make up for the calories.

In fact, this is an open challenge to anyone.

If anyone can come up with this diet, I will pay you $500

Anyone game?

The issue of salt is unsettled for me. Aside from whether this or that salt substitute is good or not (nama shoyu, Braggs, etc.), the question remains whether or not sea salt is any good. that is, if it is usable by the body. You say (I don’t recall where) that the body cannot process sodium from a mineral source but only through plants, but as I hear other views, I’d like to hear something more extensive from you on the subject. Maybe you cover that somewhere. Thanks, Ed

ANSWER: II have studied this topic extensively because I consider myself excessively drawn to salt since my childhood and the bad habits I developed then. But the issue is very easy to understand:

The problem comes from excess sodium. It doesn’t really matter what the source is, or whether the body supposedly can or cannot assimilate it.

I have not claimed that sea salt is “unusable” by the body. That might be possible actually, but for now I will keep the stance that it is usable.

The problem is excess.

Our bodies need approximately 500 to 800 mg. of sodium to function optimally. That’s about the amount you would get in a diet of fruits and vegetables with no added salt with enough greens.

You can probably get away with getting about 1000-1500 mg. of sodium per day. At over 1500 mg. you will start developing some health problems in the long run.

At over 2500 mg. you are starting to jeopardize with your health.

And beyond that you are almost certain to develop a long-term health issue such as high blood pressure.

Is it any wonders that 90% of the population suffers from this disease?

Whether you get this sodium from celery or from sea salt it doesn’t really matter. It’s sodium.

It’s just that it would be very difficult to get this amount of sodium from just eating celery. You would have to eat over 30 *large* stalks of celery to get more than 1500 mg. of sodium. I don’t know about you but if I eat 5 I’m full.

And yes, there’s also the consideration that sodium coming from an *organic* source is *probably* a lot better than coming from a rock.

So in practice, you should avoid added salt. This includes Nama Shoyu, Braggs, sea salt.

If you sometimes add a bit of something with salt in it (such as seaweed powder or even sea salt) it will not affect you that much because it’s the overall picture that counts — what you do every day.

I have been on your email list for a several months and have been watching all the notices about cleanses but I don’t think I can join because I’m breastfeeding. I read that you don’t want to detox while breastfeeding because the toxins will come out in the breastmilk and be bad for the baby. I have never seen you address this question. What is your take on it?

Also, what do you suggest breastfeeding women do instead if they can’t fast or detox? Because, you know, many women breastfeed almost constantly for 2, 4, 6 or more years in a row, depending on the number and spacing of their children. Thanks, Emil

ANSWER: First of all the “cleanses” that I recommend are just really clean, good diets that you could follow for a very long time without problems. I’m not talking about taking any harmful products that would supposedly “cleanse” your body.

Let’s look at it from a different point of view: would it be harmful to not stop smoking before pregnancy because you’d be afraid that the “detox” of the cigarettes would harm the baby?

Or would it be okay to continue drinking coffee or alcohol during pregnancy because going cold turkey would be too “dangerous” for the baby?

The answer of course is no. That’s complete non-sense. It’s always more harmful to continue a harmful habit during pregnancy than to discontinue it. The whole issue around detox has been completely exaggerated with no proof behind whatsoever.

No fasting professional would advise a pregnant woman to fast for an extensive period of time, but they certainly can for a few days. It’s more a question of nutritional reserves than of “toxins” going into the body.

It’s always better to lead a healthy lifestyle than an unhealthy lifestyle. You should continue harmful eating habits during pregnancy because of fear that stopping them will create harmful toxins that will harm the baby. That is complete non-sense.

Dear Frederic, Is there any book can you recommend me that you have written or any other article that I should read about raw vegan pregancy? Please let me know. Thank you Tity

ANSWER: I have not written an article on the subject because I simply do not have any type of experience on this. I did not think of covering this before because I do not have children of my own. And I don’t like to talk about things I don’t have any experience with.

But here are a few pointers that will certainly put you in the right direction:

1) The main thing during pregnancy and breastfeeding is to get enough calories. Most raw-foodists are not consuming enough food. That’s okay for a while if you need to release some weight, but when you have a human being growing inside of you, you need to get enough nutrition. So I really recommend counting calories and making sure you are getting enough foods.

2) Just to be certain to get enough minerals from greens, I would also recommend either a few green smoothies a day, or a big blended salad, or about 16 ounces of vegetable juice (mostly greens like celery, spinach, kale, with a bit of carrot and lime for flavor). Salads are great but most people don’t chew well enough.

3) Protein and fat is not more an issue during pregnancy or breast feeding than any other time. Again, what’s important is to get enough calories from healthy sources.

4) Vegan doctors worldwide also recommend a vitamin B12 supplement.

5) Other factors of healthy living are just as important: sunshine, proper (safe) exercise, sleep (crucial).

As for raising kids there is more to say because nutritional requirements are a bit different for them just in terms of the ratio of fat to carbs. But we will talk about this in another issue.