Frederic Patenaude Raw Foods Diet

Have you heard of the 80-20 rule? You probably have. If you haven’t, it’s pretty simple and powerful:

An Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto came up with what is known as the “Pareto principle” in the 19th century.

What he found was that:

80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population

He discovered that this disparity was widespread. For example, he observed that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas!

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Quick Update:

I’m currently giving away $1200 worth of products as part of my Raw Vegan Mentor Club introductory offer.

This includes my book “Healthy Salad Dressings” and five other recipe books, hundreds of dollars worth of videos, over 12 hours of interviews with raw food gurus with transcripts, and more.

This offer will be changed or removed within the next few days. Make sure you get your own package at:

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/mentorclub.html
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Later the Pareto Principle has been expanded to business, and it’s commonly understood in business that:

- 80% of your sales will come from 20% of customers

Or computer programmers know that if they fix 20% of the most commonly reported bugs, they in turn fix 80% of the crashes.

In health and in life, I’ve also found the Pareto principle in action. But instead of being 80-20, the proportion seemed to be even more extreme, more like 95-5.

Here are some observations:

- Only 5% of the things you can do could bring you 95% of your long-term health and happiness.

- We generally spend 95% of our time on things that bring us no real long-term results!

Generally, we spend too much time on little things that don’t matter that much, and not enough time on things that REALLY matter.

And what’s crazy is that almost every single health author out there wants you to believe that this 95% that only brings you 5% of your results is SO important. And they make you forget about the 5% that really matters.

What’s this 5% that really matters? Here are some of my finding:

- Your diet. Mostly or all raw. Low fat, fruits and vegetables —  avoiding grains, meat, dairy, refined foods, oils and salt.

- Your exercise program — getting in at least 30-45 minutes a day on average and paying attention to all elements of fitness (cardio, strength, flexibility, etc.)

- Your sleep — Getting enough (usually 7+hours for most people).

- Access to clean water, pure air, getting enough sunshine, etc.

- Avoiding drugs and stimulants —- prescribed, or illegal. Including coffee, cacao, alcohol, etc.

Emotional poise, healthy relationships, love, etc.

- Eliminating stress from your life

- Expressing your creativity, your talents, doing something you love

There are a few more — these are called the “essential aspects of life”. And these are the things that really count! This is the 5% that gives you 95% of your results.

But what do other authors want you to spend your time on? Largely on unproven practices and techniques, and little things that can bring you tiny benefits, but nothing in comparison to the “big guns”.

Here’s a few of these possibly time-wasting health practices:

- Seeking a particular kind of “special” water

- Many superfoods and supplements

- Insisting on consuming all-organic foods, while taking other drugs and stimulants

- Walking barefoot on the grass at dawn

- Eating clay

- Seeking organic beef, organic fish, organic dairy (instead of not consuming these products in the first place)

- Drinking wheatgrass juice, without changing the rest of your diet

- Drinking your own urine

- Using colloidal silver

- Getting your mercury fillings removed (for the most part, it can be more dangerous to remove them)

- Ear candling

- Powdered vegetable mixtures

- Supplemental enzymes

- Colonics and enemas

The list is endless actually. Most of these practices are either unproven, and some can be downright dangerous. Some of them can be beneficial, but the benefits are so small compared to the essential elements of life I mentioned previously.

But the main thing is that they distract you from what’s *really important*, which is the 5% that makes all the difference!

Are you getting distracted?

Are you spending your time and energy researching things that don’t really make a difference?

Instead of spending your afternoon researching on the Internet about the latest supplement that could *possibly* improve your health, why not go for a hike?

Instead of spending $300 a month on “superfoods”, why not hire a personal trainer to get you in shape? Or spend that money on fruits and vegetables?

Why not actually make some changes that will *really* make a difference?

And by the way, the reason why these things are not popular is that most people already know about them, but are not doing them!

Focus on the 5% that matters, and health will follow.

Yours for health and success,

Frederic

PS: Did you get your hands on our “Raw Food Package?” I’m currently giving away $1200 worth of products as part of my Raw Vegan Mentor Club introductory offer.

This includes my book “Healthy Salad Dressings” and five other recipe books, hundreds of dollars worth of videos, over 12 hours of interviews with raw food gurus with transcripts, and more.

This offer will be changed or removed within the next few days. Make sure you get your own package at:

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/mentorclub.html

A quick update for you:

I’m currently in Panama City, not in Florida but in Panama. I’m surprised by how cheap food is here. I was walking down the street and bought some fruit from a street vendor, already cut up and sliced. For 5 thick slices of delicious pineapple plus one of watermelon, it cost me only $1.25!

I’ll be reviewing this country as a place to live for raw-foodists as part of my course “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”. For more info, click here.

My fiancée Veronica and I will be starting our “raw” tour around the world fairly soon. To follow our adventures, check out our quick updates from every place we visit on Twitter.

Raw Cacao: a Healthier Alternative

With all this talk about raw cacao, people often forget that cacao is a fruit. In Costa Rica, we buy it to eat the delicious pulp around the seeds, and then throw those seeds away in the compost. There’s not much fruit on them, but they have an amazing flavor, reminding me of jujube candies with a hint of cacao flavor. Check out this quick video filmed at my friend Jesse’s farm, an a fan of exotic tropical fruits, who has planted over a 100 varieties so far!

My Top 10 Most Important Health Principles

The following except is taking from the Raw Vegan Mentor Club newsletter, a monthly printed newsletter I send to members of my Raw Vegan Mentor Club only. To learn more about this newsletter, go to www.fredericpatenaude.com/mentorclub.html

I prefer to look at health in terms of principles to follow. Here are the main ones that make the most difference:

1.    Eat low-fat — This one took me a long time to understand. At first, I understood that it was important to “not eat too many nuts”, but the low-fat concept took longer to be incorporated. It’s a key principle. Most people eat an overly high-fat diet. For ideal results, keep the percentage of your diet below 15%, and ideally below 10%.

2.    Create demand by exercising — Whenever I don’t exercise for several days or weeks in a row, I start feeling like a caged animal. To quote from an article from Parade magazine, by Dr. Henry S. Lodge:

“The hard reality of our biology is that we are built to move. Exercise is the master signaling system that tells our cells to grow instead of fade. When we exercise, that process of growth spreads throughout every cell in our bodies, making us functionally younger. Not a little bit younger—a lot younger. True biological aging is a surprisingly slow and graceful process. You can live out your life in a powerful, healthy body if you are willing to put in the work. (…)

Though we’ve moved indoors and left that life behind, our cells still think we’re living out on the savannah, struggling to stay alive each day. There are no microwaves or supermarkets in nature. If you want to eat, you have to hunt or forage every single day. That movement is a signal that it’s time to grow. So, when you exercise, your muscles release specific substances that travel throughout your bloodstream, telling your cells to grow. Sedentary muscles, on the other hand, let out a steady trickle of chemicals that whisper to every cell to decay, day after day after day.

3.    Listen to your body and fast when necessary — One of the best things you can do when you feel a bit “out of it” is to skip a couple of meals. It’s amazing how quickly our good mood comes back with a little fasting. You just have to pay attention to your body and avoid eating when you’re really not hungry — but just have an appetite for something.

4.    Avoid stimulants — Stimulants are a double edged sword. On the one hand, they appear to give you energy. But on the other hand, that energy is only borrowed, and you have to pay it back later, with interest to boot. The most common culprits are caffeine and Theo bromine (in cacao).

5.    Fruits and vegetables are our natural foods — I don’t like the “raw is law” principles. Most raw-foodists have an extremely unhealthy diet because all they try to do is eat raw-foods and avoid cooked foods. A lot of raw foods commonly consumed — such as cacao products, raw cakes with coconut oil, nut bars, and many others — are not really healthy. What we’re designed to eat are fruits and vegetables. Eat only raw fruits and vegetables, and you will be very healthy.

6.    Follow a strict dental hygiene routine — I used to think that diet was the most important factor in dental health. I thought that if you have a good diet, your teeth would be healthy. Years later (and 30+ cavities repaired), after lots of research, I understand that this disease called dental decay is actually contagious. It’s a war against bacteria. The bacteria will feed on anything: sugar, carbohydrates, morsels of food stuck in the teeth. If you try to win the battle with food, you will lose.

You have to eliminate the problem at the root: by keeping the bacteria to a level where they cannot do much damage. The way to do this is to have a very precise and disciplined hygiene routine. For me, it means 4 minutes of brushing (in a certain pattern) with an electric toothbrush after dinner, followed by flossing, tongue scraping and water irrigation with my VitaJet.

Then I also brush in the morning and before or after lunch. The good thing is once you’ve been able to keep your bacteria level very low for a long time, plaque no longer accumulates. Then if you get lazy one day and don’t brush, the bacteria won’t really be able to do any damage. The problem is when someone has had any problem with their teeth — a standard form of dental hygiene is simply not enough to eliminate the problem at the root. For more information, go to www.fredericpatenaude.com/oralhealth.html

7.    Keep your body hydrated — You need more water in hotter weather, and less in cold climates. It’s very hard to trust our sense of thirst to guide us. The best thing is to actually make a habit of drinking extra water when you think you’ll need it. In the tropics, I have to drink at least 1 or 2 extra liters of water every day. A good habit is to start the day with one liter of water with some lemon juice.

8.    Keep your body alkaline — It’s very simple: fruits and vegetables make your body alkaline. Most nuts and grains are acid-forming. Animal products are the most acid-forming of all. To keep healthy bones and low-levels of inflammation in the body, eat alkaline foods at least 90% of the time.

9.    Get the right amount of sleep you need — There are different opinions on sleep. Natural hygiene generally recommends sleeping as much as possible. However, it’s also possible to get too much sleep. It’s been found that the one thing all depressed people have in common is getting too much sleep. As soon as they put the alarm clock back on, a large percentage of these depressions go away.

So to me, it’s more a matter of finding the right amount of sleep. I found that in my twenties, I needed more sleep. I could not do well if I got less than 9 or 10 hours of sleep every day. Now at 33, I find that I need less sleep. I also function better on the days I don’t get enough sleep. I do well now with 7 to 9 hours of sleep, depending on my activities for the day. More than 9 hours makes me feel a bit “comatic”, so I avoid oversleeping as well.

10.    Eat some blended greens — Eating some greens will make a big difference in your health. But more if you can actually assimilate them. Try to consume some greens in a blended form: either in a blended salad (or Veggie Stew) or as a green smoothie. Once a day, a big bowl or tall glass is about what we need.

This was just an except of my monthly newsletter. The same issue also contained a complete lists of all my “top lists”, such as “my top raw recipes”, and “my top favorite health books”, and much more! To find out about becoming a subscriber, go to: www.fredericpatenaude.com/mentorclub.html

-  Frederic’s Update

-  Feature Article “Do You Have to be All Raw?”

Today I will give you my all-time, best strategy for eating more raw and experience thriving health and energy with a high-fruit diet, one bite at a time.

But first, a quick reminder, for those of you interested in making a living doing what you love.

The special for my course “How to Write and Sell Your Own eBooks in 24 hours or Less” ends in just a few hours.

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/writeyourebook.html

This is my complete course about making a full-time income writing eBooks sharing and spreading the word about health or whatever your passion may be.

If you sign up this time around, you will automatically receive my $497 program “The List Building eCoaching”, where you’ll learn to build a list of 10,000 subscribers in 6 months or less.

This is the only time I will offer this program as a bonus. After that, it will cost $497 to join.

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/writeyourebook.html

Special event: Quebec, Canada

On the weekend of April 25th, I will be giving a 2-hour presentation in French on the raw food diet and raw food cuisine at the Voluntary Simplicity Congress in Quebec, Canada. This is a two-day event on a very interesting topic, and I am the only speaker on the raw food diet there. If you are interested, find out more information (in French) at: http://www.simplicitevolontaire.org

Do You Have to Be All-Raw? Meet “The Banana Wall” I just came back from a weekend with a couple of new “raw” friends I just met. As always, I’m always blown away by how GREAT people look in the low-fat, high-fruit raw vegan crowd. They are slim, but fit and muscular. Their eyes are glowing. They have energy and vitality, and clarity. I honestly couldn’t say the same of the low-fruit, wheatgrass juice/sprouting crowd, who as a whole, look like they could use a little “forbidden fruit”. But going back to my story, often when you meet new raw people the topic turns to “are you 100% raw”? Some people claim to eat 100% raw, and have done it for a certain number of years. Upon further inquiry, many of those people admit that a few times during that time, they did cheat on some cooked food. Others are 100% raw, all-the-time, count-on-it. And the vast majority are 100% raw, most of the time, with “cheats” a few times a month. Because it’s the OVERALL lifestyle that is important, they still get great benefits. For everybody, it’s a process of evolution. You learn as you go along, and you improve along the way. At some point comes the realization that diet alone is not everything, so you start paying attention to building a strong fitness program, getting sunshine regularly, getting enough sleep, finding your purpose in life, and paying attention to the other requirements of a healthy life. So do you NEED to eat 100% raw? Rather than answer than question directly, I will instead answer the more important question: How can you eat more raw? The biggest issue everyone who is getting started on the raw food diet is facing is that of TRANSITION. How do you go from where you are now to a completely raw food diet (with or without cheats), while enjoying the process? I’ve always said that everyone should learn to make 7 to 10 raw food recipes they TRULY enjoy. Even on a standard cooked diet, most people eat the same kinds of foods every day. We are creatures of routine. Once we find something we like, it’s easy to stick with the program. When I was in high school, I learned one day how to make tuna sandwiches. I liked them so much that I ate them almost every day for lunch for a long time. When I first started the raw food diet, I had no idea what foods I could make. Every recipe I tried was just “so-so” and nothing could sustain me for very long. Since then, I have learned some simple recipes and patterns of eating that satisfy me day after day. Every successful person I know follows some kind of PATTERN. They vary their diet throughout the year, but often they’ll eat the same delicious foods every day, while changing the recipe regularly depending on ingredients that are available. So here’s my super-simple, transition strategy to eat MORE RAW: Step #1 — Eat a raw breakfast The first step is the easiest. Eat a 100% raw breakfast. Discover a few recipes that you like. For me, breakfast is pretty open. Sometimes I’ll have a green smoothie, sometimes just some fruit, sometimes just a fruit smoothie. Try out many different fruit recipes that are easy to make, until you find the one you really like for breakfast. Or eat your favorite fruit! Step #2 — Eat a raw lunch The raw lunch takes a bit more commitment, but it’s also very easy. You just have to accept the fact that it’s perfectly okay to eat a lunch of just fruit. Because lunch should be the largest meal of the day, it’s often easier to have a smoothie that can pack in the calories. The quantities will depend on your needs, and whether or not you’re trying to lose weight. All of my lunches usually center around bananas. Why? Because they are always around, they are non-acidic, high in calories, and very nutritious and versatile in the kitchen. One great smoothie I love is: Bananas + papaya flesh, blended together, with some water and if desired a bit of ice Or bananas blended with water and some berries of your choice. Again, you have to try out many different ideas until you find the one you like. You may also want to accompany your meal with some celery or lettuce, or have a green smoothie for lunch. The ideal lunch should leave you satisfied for at least 3 hours. If it doesn’t, then you simply didn’t eat enough. Step #3 — Start dinner with fruit If you’re trying to lose weight, you will want to skip this step. But if you’re at your ideal weight and active, then you’ll want to start your dinner with some fruit. Juicy and acidic fruits are great: fresh pineapple, oranges, peaches, mangoes, etc. This usually is the part that most people resist. After having fruit for breakfast AND lunch… they feel like it’s “too much sugar” to have fruit for dinner as well. But the truth is… if they are active enough and eat a dinner without fruit, invariably at the end of the meal they will crave something sweet, and end up binging on dates and nuts. I understand it doesn’t FEEL natural to eat fruit for dinner. But it’s only because you are not USED to it. After a while it will feel as natural as anything. Step #4 — Follow your fruit with a vegetable soup In these progressive steps, you are free to eat whatever you like after eating the required foods for the steps. But once you take on another step, then obviously there’s little space available for the rest. After you get used to eating fruit before your dinner, then follow that fruit with a delicious, fat-free vegetable soup. I’ve been making this soup almost EVERY DAY for at least a year, and I never get tired of it because it’s so good. I’ve made this soup for many raw-foodists who had never tasted it, and they all swore it was one of the most delicious things they had ever tried. In my upcoming DVD series, I explain in detail how to make a low-fat vegetable soup. For now, here are two variations of the recipe: Variation #1 1 large tomato 1 large mango, only the flesh 1 handful basil Blend Variation #2 1 large tomato 1 mango, only the flesh 1 cucumber, peeled and diced Fresh dill A couple of green onions, or celery Blend slowly (not completely) When I’m in Costa Rica, I always add tamarillos (tree tomato), which looks like a cross between a tomato and a kiwi, and has a wonderful flavor. The idea with these soups is to mix vegetable fruits, sweet fruit and fresh herbs. No fat is used or needed. In my upcoming Raw Vegan DVD Series, I explain in details how to make these soups. Step #5: Follow the fruit and soup with some kind of salad or blended salad. Here you create a salad of your choice with a dressing of your choice, with or without fat. Here you really need to find recipes you love, and would almost never get tired of eating. If you like simple stuff, you can munch on plain lettuce or spinach, with optional avocado. At this point, most people are pretty full and won’t need anything more. But if you are still hungry, have some steamed vegetables, or anything else you desire. Step #6 — Go all raw! The last step in the series is to eliminate the last bits of cooked foods that you’re regularly eating. Pretty simple? This transition plan works great because you replace cooked calories with raw calories, without relying on excessive quantities of fat to do it. Please share your favorite recipes in the comments (try to only include low-fat, hygienic recipes)!

There is a myth currently being spread in the raw food movement , hurting people as it goes.

It is the myth of overeating.

The myth of overeating goes like this:

- The cause of all diseases is overeating

- Even when people eat raw, they still overeat, therefore that’s why they don’t do as great as they expected

- Try to eat less and less, and you will feel better. Eventually, you might even need to eat only tiny amounts of food, because your body is utilizing the calories better. Who knows, one day you might even become a breatharian, living on nothing but air?

Someone recently forwarded me a link from a popular raw food forum, where a raw-food author criticized my recent article on “Why I’m Mad at a Raw Food Movement.”

The funny thing is that he didn’t want to say my name, but gave away the name of my book. Not so subtle…

In any case, the entire conversation revolved around overeating.

The author in question blamed me for promoting a diet that includes a lot of fruit, and said that under no circumstance should you eat 4 bananas in one meal, because that would be “overeating” and therefore “bad”.

Of course, nowhere in the article was “overeating” defined. So why not start there?

Here are several definitions I have found for overeating:

-    gluttony: eating to excess (personified as one of the deadly sins)

-    Overeating can refer either to eating too much at one time, or to eating too much on average.

-    Gluttony, the act of eating to excess (either to discomfort or more than required for proper health)

So basically, overeating is simply eating more than what the body needs to maintain proper health, or eating too much at one sitting, and therefore going over the digestive capabilities of the body.

So if everybody agrees that overeating is simply eating “too much”, then maybe we should figure out “how much” we need to eat, in order to know what’s overeating and what’s not.

Why Calories Are Important

The most important element we get from the foods we eat is energy, or calories. That comes in the form of carbohydrates, fats or protein.

Then of course our food provides us with the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that we need.

The calorie concept is still extremely valid even when we analyze raw food nutrition. Why? Because it is a fairly accurate evaluation of the amount of food a person needs to eat every day to meet her needs.

A calorie is simply a unit of energy. Because our cells need simple sugars to live, there is certainly a certain amount of energy that we need to get from our food every day. If we go under this amount, the body will break down its own fat reserves to meet its needs. If we go over this amount, the body will accumulate fat reserves for the future.

It’s best if you think of calories as simply “energy”.

The amount of energy (calories) that a person needs every day will vary greatly according to these basic factors:

-    Height, weight and muscle mass (each pound of muscles requires an additional 25 calories per day to “maintain”)
-    Gender (men will generally need more calories than women)
-    Activity levels (athletes need more calories than sedentary persons)

There are many ways to calculate how many calories you need per day. You can use simple calculators (for example, at www.fitday.com) to figure out your basic metabolic rate (the number of calories you need every day, without any physical activity).

You can even go to a gym and step on a special machine that will measure your body fat, your muscle mass, and your basic metabolic rate.

So you will get a certain number, for example: 1500 calories per day.

That will be your minimum to maintain your weight and muscle mass. Then you will need to add on top of that any physical activity you have for the day, and add in calories for that.

An easy but imprecise way to figure this out is to simply take your ideal weight, and multiply it by 10.

That’s your basic rate.

Then add to that basic activities (walking, working, etc.), and fitness training (running, yoga, etc.)

The online fitness calculators can help you figure out these numbers.

In general, a fit and active woman who doesn’t need to lose any weight will want to eat around 2000 to 2500 calories per day.

A fit man will probably want to eat anywhere from 2500 to 3500 calories per day.

If you have three meals per day, that means each meal could be between 600 and 1500 calories each.

-    One banana is 100 calories.
-    One apple about 60.
-    One large mango: about 150 calories
-    One avocado: about 250 calories (mostly coming from fat)

So if “overeating” is simply eating more than your body needs, why would it be “overeating” to eat 8 bananas at one sitting?

Is there any logical reason to think that this might be “too much”, other than the irrational fear of fruit?

8 bananas gives you about 800 calories. If a person has three 800 calorie-meals per day, they will get 2400, which is about what the average person needs.

But can you digest 8 bananas at one sitting?

Although this may seem like a lot of food for someone new to the raw diet, the body has the ability to digest a fairly large amount of fruit. It’s easy to see from how light you feel, even after a fairly large meal, and how easy it is to digest it.

So if your body needs it… and you can digest it, is it overeating? Absolutely not.

Undereating is the Real Problem

There is certainly a problem with “overeating” in the raw food movement, but it’s not what our raw-food author thinks.

The real “overeating” problem is the excess of fat, in the form of avocados, nuts, seeds, oils — which almost every raw foodist eats in rather large quantities, because they are not used to eating appropriate amounts of fruits and vegetables.

As they are overeating on these foods, which the body only needs in small quantities, they are also “undereating” on the real nutrient-rich foods: water-rich fruits and vegetables.

What tends to happen is a pattern of “undereating” on small, insufficient meals of fruits and vegetables, followed by binges on nuts, seeds and fats to compensate on the lack of calories.

For example, a lot of raw foodists eat ridiculously small quantities of food in one sitting, leaving them malnourished and hungry.

For example: a small salad containing lettuce, dressings, and a few fruits.

A few hours later, they are hungry… but they’re also afraid of overeating, so they try to eat this ridiculous small meals again. Eventually, the caloric deficit becomes so great that they binge on a 3000-calorie meal to compensate.

Stop These Anorexic Behaviors!

With a normal, cooked, Standard American Diet, high in fat and salt, it doesn’t take a lot of food to reach your maximum number of calories per day.

In other words… the food doesn’t weigh a lot, but is rich in calories.

So because of that, we’ve been accustomed to exercise a certain restrain when it comes to eating, because we know from experience that eating a large amount of food leads to digestive problems and weight gain.

That’s because the food is dense in calories. But another problem with it is that it’s also has a low nutrient density. For the same amount of calories, you get fewer vitamin, minerals and anti-oxidant.

With fruits and vegetables, it’s completely different.

The food is low in calories, but nutrient dense.

A pound of food doesn’t contain a lot of calories, but for the same amount of calories, it contains more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients than any other food!

Therefore… you have to eat more! And at the same time, you are better nourished.

For example, let me show you how you could get 2000 calories on a Standard American Diet:

BREAKFAST:

-    3 medium pancakes, whole wheat
-    1 cup of orange juice
-    1 sliced pear
-    3 Tbs. fruit jam

LUNCH:

-    1 mixed salad
-    3 Tbs. salad dressing
-    1 roll
-    4 ounces tuna fish
-    1 apple

DINNER:

-    Plate of spaghetti with sauce
-    No dessert

Now let’s take a look at the “raw” equivalent, while keeping our fat percentage fairly low.

BREAKFAST:

-    Smoothie made with 6 medium bananas, 1 apple, 3 cups of spinach

LUNCH:

-    5  big mangoes eaten with celery and lettuce leaves

DINNER:

-    Large salad with ½ avocado, three large tomatoes, and an entire head of lettuce
-    2 cups of freshly squeezed orange juice

So… what’s your reaction when you compare the amount of food in the first, pretty Spartan menu, and the second raw, low-fat menu.

It’s a lot more food! In fact, most people when they look at the first menu, will think they will starve on that amount of food. There are no desserts and no snacks, and the amounts are pretty normal.

Yet on the second menu, most people will think they cannot possibly eat all of that!

But the amazing thing is that both menus provide the same number of calories… with important differences.

Let’s take a look at the nutritional analysis for the first menu:

Now let’s take a look at the food from the second menu:

Here are some important differences:

-    The raw menu contains 4.5 times the vitamin A, twice the vitamin B, almost twice the vitamin E, 50% more copper,
-    Both contain the same amount of calcium (which is still adequate), almost the same iron
-    The cooked menu contains twice the fat
-    The cooked menu contains an amazing 4172 mg. of sodium, compared to less than 200 on the raw menu (which isn’t completely accurate because I didn’t add in the celery). The official recommendations for health are now less than 1500 Mg. per day!

Overall, it is clear that the raw diet is more nutritious, and also more balanced. Actually, I was a little lazy and didn’t put all the greens in. The actual values are even higher than what’s being shown.

And an interesting fact: the raw diet contains more than twice the natural water, even without adding any liquids. With a lower sodium content, this makes the raw diet clearly more hydrating.

BOTTOM LINE:

-    Fruits and vegetables contain more nutrition PER CALORIE. However, it is still necessary to consume enough food to meet your needs.

-    Overeating is consuming more food than your body needs or your body can digest. If you eat enough to meet your needs, you won’t be overeating.

-    A big problem in the raw food movement is NOT overeating, but rather UNDEREATING fruits and vegetables and overeating concentrated fats.

By the way, if that seems like too much food for you, don’t worry. You can eat more often at first.

ANSWER TO QUESTIONS:

Doesn’t eating raw foods require fewer calories?

Because fruits and vegetables are easy to digest, they do require less energy (calories) digest. However, This difference is probably less than 5%. Because raw-foodists tend to have more energy, they will easily increase their exercise and activity by at least that much, so in the end they require the same amount of calories or more than the average person.

How many meals should you eat every day?

Ideally, 2 or 3. But initially, to make it easier to consume a large volume of fruits and vegetables, you can eat 4 to 5 times. Overtime, you’ll be able to make larger meals that will last you several hours, without any digestive issues.

Why did every experiment on life extension found that restricting caloric intake was the only was to lengthen life?

All experiments on caloric restriction were done on animals such as rats, who have a short lifespan. Laboratory rats are not fed their normal foods that they found in the wild, and are not as active as well. So feeding them 30% less of the toxic, artificial food they normally received extended their lives. The same would happen if you would cut by 30% the food intake of the average American.

However, eating a natural diet of fruits and vegetables is completely different. Eating an adequate amount of it will not shorten your lifespan.

The greatest proof that caloric restriction doesn’t work is the fact that almost all life extension specialists end up living an average or below average lifespan.

Is it a sin to eat at night or before going to bed?

Ideally, you want to leave a few hours from your last meal until your bedtime. However, it is not necessary to avoid eating at night completely. To improve your digestion, exercising before meals will do a lot more than avoiding eating at nighttime.

If for whatever reason, your schedule only allows you to have a dinner rather late in the day, you’ll still be fine. Just make sure that last meal is low in fat and easy to digest.

In any case, lunch should be the largest meal of the day.

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I know you’re used to hearing from me about the latest in the raw foods and health movements, but I wanted to talk to you a little bit today about stress reduction. You can be eating all the right foods and following my plans perfectly, but if your mind and body are constantly under stress, it’s not going to do you as much good as it can.

One of the best ways to counteract stress is to exercise. We’ve talked before about the importance of daily exercise. Now, I want you to consider doing yoga as part of your exercise plan. Yoga is a great way to exercise because it utilizes all of the different muscle groups of the body and helps keep you flexible and toned and less prone to injury. But, more importantly, it’s meant to be a way to prepare your mind for relaxation and meditation.

The deep breathing that accompanies each yoga pose is intended to clear your mind and get you to focus on the physical movements you are doing. In the process, your body responds by releasing the tension and stress you might not even realize you have. Let’s try a simple exercise right now. As you are reading this line, breathe in deeply through your nose at a count of four. Hold slightly, and then release your breath slowly through your nose at a count of four again. You might already be feeling a sense of relief!

That’s because yoga has physical and mental benefits. It helps lower your blood pressure and heart rate and increase your intake of oxygen. As a result, you feel less anxious and tense. As your body gains strength and flexibility, you experience a slowing in the aging process and an enhanced feeling of well being.

Although some practitioners want you to believe that yoga is hard or mysterious, it really isn’t. In fact, like the breathing exercise you just did, you probably have already naturally done some yoga poses without even knowing it! Yoga involves stretching the body and forming different poses while breathing slowly and steadily. You feel relaxed yet energized at the same time. There are many different types of yoga, some which involves moving through the poses quickly (often referred to as *power yoga*), which other types require you to stretch deeply into a pose and hold it before moving on to the next pose.

Most yoga classes at fancy studios last 90 minutes, with about 60 minutes devoted to doing all of the poses and 20 to 30 minutes meditating. I know that sounds like a long time, but you can get some of the same benefits from doing just 20 minutes of yoga poses and 10 minutes of relaxation/meditation. So why not give yoga a try today?

I’ve received a lot of questions from you, asking “Frederic, I work behind a desk all day. I love my job, but I feel so stiff and out of shape by the end of the day. What can I do to offset sitting 8 hours a day?”

I’ve got some great exercises you can do right at your desk that will have you feeling better and staying more flexible, so no excuses! Also, take a look at some other products that I offer to get you on the road to fitness and health http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/products.html

Now, here’s my 3-part daily plan for you:

1. Stand up!!

At least every hour, you should at least just stand up. Reach your arms in the air, and get on your tippy toes, trying to elongate yourself as much as possible. Then, come back down on flat feet and reach your right arm up as high as possible and slowly bend over to your left side. Come back up straight, then reach your left arm up as high as possible and slowly bend to the right side. Shake everything out, and slowly bend forward, letting your arms dangle down. Don’t worry about keeping your knees straight or being able to touch the floor, that will come with time. Just use this time to get the blood flowing. Be sure you’re letting your neck relax and hang loose. Shake your head “yes” and “no” and let it release. Slowly, come back up to standing.

Do this at least every hour. It does not take a lot of time, and you will soon feel much better.

2. Relax your neck

Those of you working at a desk all day, probably on the computer most of the time, probably hold a lot of tension in your neck. It’s really important to try to ease that tightness. First, while working, try hard to keep your shoulders down and your back straight (good posture means a lot for easing tensions and also for good digestion!). Be sure your chair is at the right height so that you can comfortably have your feet flat on the floor and your arms parallel to your keyboard.

Here’s an exercise specifically for your neck: either standing or sitting, drape your right arm over your head and touch your left ear. Slowly lean your head towards your right shoulder. Be sure your left arm is held straight down (after a while, you might want to flex your left hand, so that your palm is parallel with the floor for an added stretch). Hold and slowly count to 10. Now, do the other side. Slowly and gently, roll your head clockwise one or two times; then, roll it the other direction.

Try to do this at least 2 or 3 times a day, especially after being at the computer for an extended period of time.

3. Stretch and flex your arms and hands

Another danger of sitting and typing too much is carpal tunnel syndrome, an ailment where you start to feel pain in your wrists and you experience numbness in different parts of your hands. Anyone who does repetitive motions for long periods of time needs to be very careful about this.

Here are some exercises you can do to ease the effects of too much typing or writing. First, hold your arms out parallel to the floor, with your palms facing the ground. Flex your hands up, as though you’re about to push against the wall in front of you. Hold while counting to 10 (for an added stretch, you might want to use one hand to push the other hand back towards you, and switch sides, but be very gentle and don’t yank or push too hard). Now, point your hands and fingers down towards the ground (again, you might want to very gently push the opposite hand toward you for more stretch). Now, hold your arms out to your sides and repeat the hand stretches up and down. Push outwards with your arms. Now, raise them up and interlock your fingers and face your palms to the ceiling. Push upwards, try to reach and push the ceiling. Bring your arms down and shake them out. Make fists with your hands, then stretch out your hands and fingers and wiggle them.

See, that didn’t take very long either.

Try to be more aware of sitting for too long periods of time. Get up and do these simple exercises. Or go for a walk down the hall and get a glass of water (you can never drink too much water!). Walk up and down the hallways for 10 minutes, then get back to work. You’ll feel better and ultimately be more productive in the work you do!

“Rebounding Exercises For Health”

My health tip for the day is: “If you’re looking for an indoor exercise, try rebounding.”

What exercises can you do on a rainy day? Some people like to go jog in the rain, the mud and the cold. They are the brave ones. Good for them.

I like to watch them from my window.

But seriously, that’s not my style.

What do I do instead? I found a great workout I can do inside on a rainy do (or when it’s too cold to go outside).

It’s rebounding, a way to exercise that is complete and has several health benefits.

I won’t talk about the so-called benefits of “cellular exercise.” Because of the up-and-down movement of rebounding, apparently the lymph gets moving and this helps to detoxify and slow-down aging.

For me, the real benefits of rebounding is that it’s something you can do inside on a rainy day. Plus, it can be a great cardio-endurance-toning workout if you know what to do with the rebounder.

So two tips for rebounding:

1. Get a good rebounder. Not those cheap ones at Walmart. Get something that will last and will give you a real bound. My rebounder is a NEEDAK that I got on E-bay.

2. Get a DVD workout for rebounder. Most people have no idea what to do with their rebounder. I had one for years and the only thing I was doing with it was to jump up and down once in a while, and it got boring. Since then, I got a great DVD which as several workouts, one which is 45 minute long and is great for many aspects of fitness. You can get it from www.urbanrebounding.com, a company that also sells rebounders. I haven’t tried them but they look great and for a great price too.

NOTE: If you’re not in the habit of exercising regularly, you might want to start with that first! Don’t think that a rebounder is going to be the magic solution that will get you in shape. You have to get in the habit first.

After a break while doing my program the 21-Day Challenge, I’m back with the daily tips! My tip for today is:

My Tip for Today is:

“Don’t Skip a Day of Exercise”

According to an article published in one Health & Fitness section of the About.com Site, skipping exercise for two days in a row has bad effects on health. (To read the article, go to http://walking.about.com/od/healthbenefits/a/skip2days.htm)

It makes sense, because we’re meant to live an active life. Being sedentary was not the norm for human beings, even in the Western world, until just a few decades ago.

My commitment now is to exercise everyday.

I never had a session of exercise, either biking, a long walk, hiking, yoga, weight lifting, or running — that I regretted.

Even though I might not have felt like doing it when I started, I never thought to myself, “I shouldn’t have gone for that bike ride” or “That was such a bad idea to take that yoga class!”

On the contrary, I felt much better afterwards.

It is a basic human need to exercise everyday.

When you do this, you’ll be more hungry for natural foods. So earn your meals!

Is it any wonder that hunger is widely recognized as a sign of health? Lack of appetite is widely recognized as a sign of ill health. And the best way to cultivate true hunger is to engage in vigorous exercise.

PS: I discussed the concept of real hunger versus false hunger in details in my book the Raw Secrets. Have you read it? It’s a fascinating and very useful idea. To get The Raw Secrets, go to:
http://tinyurl.com/2k2dxx

As you know, we’re heading straight into Christmas time and the big holiday season, and before you know it, you’ll be going to parties, family reunions, big shopping days and all the stress, overeating and excess that accompanies this time of the year.

Here’s a series of simple tips and ideas that have helped me and others to feel more energetic and stay at my best during this time of the year.

Feel free to forward them to your friends.

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1. Start Your Day With Health
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If you start your day on the right foot, you’re most likely to compare everything else you eat and do in the day to that high standard. So start your day with a lively morning routine, and drink a quart of green smoothie. Here’s a recipe I enjoy:

The Basic Winter Green Smoothie

1 apple
1 pear
2 bananas
1 1?2 cups kale or romaine lettuce
1 stalk celery
Water

Blend and enjoy!

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2. Get Some Sunshine Every Morning
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Every morning, go outside and get some sunlight on your face. Even if it’s cold, go for at least a few minutes. This will help “reset” your internal clock and you’ll feel more energetic during the day.

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3. Get Lots of Sleep
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Try to get *more* sleep during this time of the year. Remember, the hours of sleep before midnight count for double! Energy comes from sleep, not food.

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4. Exercise Before 11 a.m.
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The best time to exercise is before 11 a.m. It’s going to improve your mood throughout the day. Make it a commitment to exercise at least 20 minutes every morning before 11 a.m., even if it’s just going for a brisk walk.

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5. Spend More Time With Loved Ones
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The quality of our relationship depends on the amount of time we spend with people, in person! It’s not just quality time that matters, it’s “quantity” time.

So in the next few weeks, don’t just settle for sending e-mails to your loved ones. Actually meet them and spend some time with them. You’ll only feel better for that.

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6. Take Better Care of Yourself
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Instead of using the holidays as an excuse to overeat and stay sedentary, commit to doing something different this year. Take *better* care of yourself than you normally do. That way, when January comes, you’ll be ready for a healthy new year rather than asking yourself how to make up for the excesses of the holidays.

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7. Try Drinking More Water
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During the winter, we often don’t realize how thirsty we really are. About 95% of people are walking in a state of constant dehydration. So this winter, commit to drinking at least 2 liters of water every day. Drink water with lemon first thing in the morning.

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8. Cleanse One Day a Week
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Pick a day every week and make this day your “cleansing” day. You don’t have to fast, but go on a really pure diet for that day. It could be a day of just eating fruit, or just eating fruits and vegetables without fat, or have only green smoothies. Try it, and you’ll feel so great that you’ll want to continue this habit for the rest of your life.

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9. Review Your Goals For 2008
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Spend some time before January 1st to review all of your goals for 2008. Where do you want to be, a year from now? To have what you want, you need to know what you want. So write it down!

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10. Try a Raw Christmas
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Here’s my gift to you for the holidays: my complete raw-food Christmas menu planner. Feel free to try it on any day of the year, and forward it to friends. To download it, just go to:

===> http://tinyurl.com/2fv9f5

I hope that you’ve enjoyed these tips.