ON TRADITIONAL DIETS & LONGEVITY

“I like the no nonsense advice and much of it made real sense to me. I am currently not all raw and may never be and here is why. Have you heard of the 25-year Okinawan study? These are the oldest centenarians on our planet. They eat cooked food, mostly grain, along with fermented vegetables, soy products, some fruit, very little dairy and about 5 to 10% meat (mostly fish high in Omega 3 oils). So, I am wondering: why all raw? If there is evidence that traditional diets are healthy and healing, then why not follow them and make sure you do get some raw food as well? Dr. Walford, MD of the BioSphere 2 fame (a two year project in the Arizona desert), proved that a low calorie high nutrient diet is beneficial for reducing disease/illnesses and extending life. Again, why all raw if I don't live in a tropical zone? Why not follow a traditional diet that will keep me disease free and healthy?”

ANSWER: I do not recommend traditional diets and here is why:

As I explained in my book "The Raw Secrets," the most important thing is to eat primarily foods that are specific to humans. Those are fruits and vegetables. Traditional diets are high in grains - and those foods are not specific to humans. A high grain diet will cause all sorts of problems. Please refer to my book for more information.

You cannot attribute the longevity of these people solely on diet. You can generally attribute it to:

1) Frugality - eating little food (which lessens the impact of non specific foods. 2) Stress free life. 3) An active lifestyle. 4) Good quality foods (No pesticides, etc.) 5) Good genetics

If you follow a traditional diet yourself, you will not live as long as those people because you are not under the same circumstances.

A traditional diet is better than a standard American diet, but it is not the best, nonetheless. If those people ate specific foods (fruits and vegetables), and less or no grains, dairy, etc., I am quite certain that they would live even longer.

When researchers find a group of centenarians, the first thing they do is look at their diet and attribute their longevity to something they eat. Usually, the centenarians themselves will attribute their longevity to something they eat. "I'm healthy because I eat beef broth." "I'm healthy because I eat bone marrow," etc. They'll claim that centenarians in Eastern Europe live longer because they eat kefir. But centenarians in other parts of the world do not eat kefir and live just as long.

Could it be that all of those foods have nothing to do with their longevity? Could it be that they live longer not because of the kefir, but in spite of it? I dare to say so.

A low-calorie diet will extend life for the good reason that it imposes frugality on its dieters. That limits dramatically the impact that non-specific foods (grains, etc.) will have on the body. But when eating mostly fruits and vegetables, you can and should eat more calories.

As for raw versus cooked, it is not necessary to eat all raw if the cooked foods you eat are steamed vegetables, for example. Butif you eat a mostly cooked diet of grains, vegetables, soy, dairy and some meat - like the Okinawans, you health won't be as good as if you eat a fruits and vegetables based diet. You can test it for yourself and see.

Again, what explains the longevity of those people are the factors I've mentioned, but are also the fact that their diet is better than most people - but not as optimal as it could be.

Frederic

PS: If you were to have an orangutan as a pet, what would you feed it? Would you feed it grains and dairy because you don't live in a tropical environment? No, you'd feed it its natural diet: fruits and vegetables. Same for us. It doesn't matter that we live in the north. Our physiology is the same and thrives best on a fruit and vegetable-based diet.