Frederic Patenaude's Blog, page 27

Is Being a Health Expert Bad for Your Health?

Jack Lalanne: an exception to the “rule” that health gurus die younger?

It’s a rather shocking observation that health gurus  that those who write diet books and give advice on how to live healthy longer appear to live shorter lives than the average person.

Top Health Gifts for 2017

Every year, I post my top 10 list of “health” gift ideas. This list might be an excuse to give yourself something for all the hard work you’ve done this year!

Who Can Eat a Fruitarian Diet?

Over my past 20 years of interest in alternative nutrition, I have met a few individuals who have lived on fruit exclusively for years on end.

Tips for a Successful 36-Hour Fast

I just broke a 36 hour fast with fresh apples and a few dates.

I try to fast at least 24 hours regularly, but in the past few months, I haven’t managed to do so.

Refuse to Choose: Are You a Scanner?

Let me describe the total opposite of me:

Imagine someone who early in life discovers that he has some time of passion or interest for something.

A Quick History of Ketogenic Diets

“The Ketogenic Diet” is the latest buzzword in the nutrition world, but this is an approach to weight loss and dieting that has existed for over 150 years under different guises.

The Ketogenic Diet Craze Exposed

Many readers asked me recently to review what they call the “ketogenic diet craze.”

“The Ketogenic Diet” seems to be the new buzzword in the Paleo community this year.

The Existential Crisis of a “Raw Foodist”

In our day and age, aren’t we supposed to have multiple existential crises during our lifetime? The mid-life crisis is the most common kind.

To use a cliché: a recently divorced (or married) man in his 40s will buy a red BMW or Audi and start chasing his younger co-workers, as he tries to make up for his lost youth. If we take a look at pop culture as an example, the female mid-life crisis is exemplified in the book and movie “Eat, Pray, Love.” Divorce, followed by a soul-searching trip around the world, ultimately leads to True Love.

Beyond the clichés, there are numerous other types of existential crisis, where we ask ourselves important questions about who we are and what we want to do with the rest of our lives?

It seems that I’ve been going through a peculiar kind of existential crisis myself during the past couple of years! And I’ve noticed other people I knew in the late 90s or early 2000s, who were deeply involved in the raw health movement, have had the same thing occur to them. Many of them have silently moved away from the raw or vegan scene.

For most of my adult life, my identity was tied to my association with the raw food movement — and due to my work, many people perceived me as “Fred, the raw food guy,” or something along those lines.

When you leave home at 21 years of age and have the opportunity to work with David Wolfe and other health gurus, you JUMP right in.

I published my first “raw food” book at 24, and built a following at an early age as being a leader of the raw food movement.

I connected almost everything to this lifestyle: the way I made a living, my friends, my travels, and my intimate relationships. Everything was tied together in a neat little package. But at some point, it no longer represented who I was.

It happened gradually, but when I “woke up” I felt like I was standing in the middle of nowhere.

Over the years, there have been some ups and downs in my diet as I was experimenting with different ideas. I don’t eat a 100% raw diet because I eventually settled on something that I find scientifically accurate and works better for me than anything else: a sort of combination of the best that I’ve learned over the years. In short, a plant-based diet made from whole foods and a preponderance of fruits and vegetables, with some fasting and periods of eating raw.

Almost everyone I know who’ve been doing this for many years is sort of tired of hearing too much talk about it. By “it,” I mean raw or vegan diets.

A Few Examples

Let me give you a few examples.

When I first got started, all I could think about was Natural Hygiene and the raw food diet! When I got together with other enthusiasts, all we could TALK about was food!

Now when I meet people who are new to this, I always think that too much of the conversation is around food. Can we talk about something else, please? We’ve already gone through the many ways to ripen an avocado faster!

This is why don’t like to post the picture of everything I eat on Instagram.

I’m also tired of some unnecessary controversies in the natural health world.

For example, “so and so was a vegan and recently died of cancer… what do you think? Does it mean we shouldn’t eat vegan?” Not that I don’t care about those things, but I’d rather not say something stupid of misinformed.

I don’t know for sure why anyone gets cancer. It could be anything. One example doesn’t mean much. Let’s just respect who they were and not go into discussions about such things. The same would happen if a paleo promoter died. I’m honestly not qualified to study such individual cases.

“So and so eats a fruitarian diet and looks older than his age. What about it Fred?” I don’t know. Others look dramatically younger than their age. Go figure.

To me, the science is pointing in one direction: eat lots of plants, minimize processed and animal-based foods, and keep yourself fit, happy and as stress-free as possible. I know a few extra disciplines that lead to amazing health benefits, such as raw diets and fasting. But whether or not this is going to heal every single disease on earth, I don’t know. Leave the rest up to God or destiny.

I get tired of the ridiculous vegan extremism on YouTube, where attention-seeking people bash attractive and talented competitors for “looking fat,” “being fakes,” or whatever flaw they can find.

I get tired of blog comments by raw food crusaders, insinuating that I’m a “fake” because I use some non-raw seasonings, or that I have “gone off the reservation” since I teamed up with Kevin Gianni. Of course, being 100% raw, they think that my eating cooked sweet potatoes, kale, and God-forbid, beans, will lead to health problems down the road (even though there’s absolutely no proof of that — quite the opposite!)

I especially get annoyed when I hear certain “gurus” publicly brag about how strict they’ve been with the raw food diet over the years when I’ve personally seen them eat many cooked meals!

Many things I have (your missing something here ) over a decade ago are resurfacing.

I remember David Jubb, the famous nutritionist and health guru, telling me: “Everyone is inconsistent.”

In the early 90s, I would attend some of the now-legendary potlucks with David Jubb in San Diego and New York City. Jubb promoted a few kooky things, but also some excellent health principles such as juice fasting and raw diets. But he was also known to drink espresso, occasionally eat a cookie, and even more occasionally smoke some tobacco.

At the time, I could not understand this. “How could he?” But yet, he wasn’t trying to hide his inconsistencies. “Those are my weaknesses. Everyone is inconsistent.”

But over time, it settled in.

We all have a gap between what we know is right and what we do. Everyone will choose, consciously or not, where they draw the line. But there will be inconsistencies.

Some people eat a super-healthy diet, but will share a beer or a glass or two of wine with their friends, and occasionally eat gourmet, rich meals.

Some people never give up coffee.

Others are close to being 100% strict with their diet but lack in the most basic interpersonal skills or honorable business practices. There are some who eat a perfect diet but don’t look “skinny” because of their particular genetic predisposition and the understandable difficulties many people face in exercising enough to keep a slim physique. They are ruthlessly ridiculed by thoughtless YouTubers who have nothing better to do.

No wonder the natural health movement can seem like a circus at times, and many get out because they are tired of it!

In the middle of this, there is the truth that can make a difference in your life. Many won’t see it because of the “crazies.”

That’s why many well-known bloggers completely get out of the “movement” to do something else.

My Existential Crisis

Because of everything I have described, there were many times I have thought of completely leaving this health movement to do something else. “Let me just work a 9 to 5 job where no one will bother me about any of this diet stuff!”

But I always came back because it is, after all,  something I am truly passionate about.

However, I’ve been somewhat purposely self-effacing recently because I felt it was more important to share something relevant, rather than ramble about what I ate for breakfast every day.

What I realized is this: what I eat (and teach others to eat) is an important but small part of my identity.

If one day I feel I am completely “written out” on the topic, I will focus on something else entirely.

For now, I feel I have a few more things to say and share, and that’s why I keep doing what I do!

Unsolicited Advice About Aging

Ever since I turned 40, less than three weeks ago, I’ve been hearing many pieces of (sometimes unsolicited) advice and opinions on what turning 40 is supposed to mean, and what I should expect in the next ten years.

These views are sometimes contradictory, so it shows me that people have different experiences when it comes to aging. I’ve listened to them, put them in a little corner of my mind, but have not incorporated all of them. I ask myself: is this person projecting their experiences or do they have something valuable for me to know?

A new co-worker I met is 45. He’s got the body of a marathon runner and looks trimmer than most 30-year-olds. After a few relationships that were too intense too quickly, and turned sour, he’s wised up when it comes to falling in love. “I used to get in way over my head and fall in love quickly. Now I’m taking my time!”

My hairdresser is 49. When I first met him, he had the “silver fox” look, which I thought looked great on him. But he’s someone who started going gray in his 20s, so he was never comfortable with this look. He’s tall and handsome, and his skin looks quite youthful. One day he got tired of the gray hair and dyed it. Now it’s hard for me to imagine him with gray hair. He’s dating like crazy but (so he says) will be 100% upfront with the women he meets about whether he thinks it’s going to work long term or not. So he has a high dating turnover. My first thoughts: I don’t want to have to go through that at 49! Oh, and he advertises that he’s 45 on dating sites…

Regarding health, I got many pieces of advice. From a few people, I heard “When I turned 40, my metabolism slowed down.” A few people told me that they started gaining weight more easily after 40. “I never had abdominal fat before!” At the same time, I met people in their late 40s who did not seem to have that problem.

I have a few great friends who are about 20 years older than me.

A close friend told me that turning 40 is the hardest. “I think the challenge is that when we come out of our 30’s and regain consciousness if you allow me to phrase it this way, we have two big emotions going on at the same time. We are craving and almost desperate to have what we don’t have yet, or to improve upon what we already have. We want want want…….and yet, we are almost desperately afraid too. Afraid that we’ve run out, or will run out of time, money, energy, opportunity; you name it. And yet what we need to do most is SLOW down and really think things through. It’s hard.”

My mom told me that she wasn’t a good place in her life when she turned 40. That’s when I realized that my parents got divorced at 39! She lost both of her parents after that while raising two teenagers. Tough years! I can appreciate that.

Another friend in his 60s recalls fondly the time when he was 41. “I was 30 pounds lighter. My hair was black. I had a mustache. I was FREAKIN’ YOUNG.”

Many people said — that 40s are the best. “You’ve worked out all the bugs in your 30s so you can now focus on enjoying life!”

I often heard that your 20s are for exploring, your 30s for consolidating your skills, networks, relationships, your 40s for thriving in your career and relationships, and hopefully if you’re in a good place by your 50s, to focus on enjoying your life! Although, it surely makes sense to enjoy life AND keep learning at any age.

One thing that stands out for me among all of this seemingly contradictory advice is this: now that you’ve made some mistakes, focus on what works and grow in the direction that you want!

I feel that my 30s were exciting and fun. I took lots of risks, made plenty of HUGE mistakes, learned new things about myself and made big progress in my life, but in the manner of three steps forward, two steps back.

Some of the efforts that seemed pointless in my 20s and 30s are paying off. I paid more attention to my diet and health than most people of my age, and now I find myself with a BMI of 22.5, normal blood pressure, no health issues and in reasonable, although not great, shape.

One thing that I’m glad I worked out in my 30s is my diet. The food experimentation was necessary to find what works, but it’s not something I could keep up for the rest of my life. It’s good to experiment, but once you’ve found what works, it’s about sticking with it! And my current diet works best for me regarding health, digestion, and energy.

One thing I had trouble focusing on in my 20s and 30s is exercise. I worked out on and off, but I never found a program that I stuck with for extended periods of time. I made many mistakes, suffered injuries from exercising the wrong way, had to take time off working out and had trouble finding a routine that worked for me.

After a couple years of learning from those mistakes, I think now that I have found what the problems were and how to work out in a way in a sustainable way, improving weak areas and strengthening the good ones.

One piece of advice that I heard is that when turning 40, there’s “no time to mess around.”

Or to put it in another way: don’t rest on your laurels.

How you live in your 40s will determine how you will spend your 50s, 60s, etc. This statement applies to the financial, health and relationship realms. Keep building and strengthening your social networks. Get on the program with exercise and diet. And save!

I’ve met people who did not seem to worry about any of this stuff. They simply got along with their lives. Some of them were happy, and some of them were not in a good place. Because of their attitude of “going with the flow,” they didn’t end up where they thought the river would lead them!

It’s all a question of perspective, but I found it interesting to write those thoughts and share them with you this morning.

Do you have any thoughts on turning 30, 40, 50 you’d like to share?

Saturated Fats and Heart Disease Not Linked? Think Again

The public view of saturated fats and heart disease is rapidly changing, thanks to paleo bloggers and the media that have been riding the wave of attention of a few new studies on the link between cholesterol, saturated fats and heart disease.

From Chris Kresser’s Website

For example, if I type in “saturated fats and heart disease” in Google, I get a number of provocative titles by various authors, in addition to medical research:

New Scientific Analysis Confirms Saturated Fats Have No Link to Heart Disease (Mercola)
Confused About Fat and Heart Disease? This Study Explains Why (Time Magazine
New study puts final nail in the “saturated fat causes heart disease” coffin (Chris Kresser)

What all of these articles are referring are a few meta-analysis observational studies where no link was found between heart disease and saturated fats, going against the current wisdom.

For example, a 2009 study stated:

A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD.1

So what should we think of it?

It seems the public has responded with enthusiasm to this confusion by eating bacon and butter with the same reckless abandon.

The video below by Dr. Michael Greger explains why there is confusion.

The video gets a little complicated but it is 100% worth the watch. In summary:

Hundreds of studies have been done to without a doubt prove that saturated fat intake is the leading cause of increase in LDL “bad” cholesterol. These studies were done in a laboratory setting where the scientists had 100% control over the diet prescribed to people. Randomized control trials have also confirmed this.
Observational (epidemiological studies) CANT find this link because of highly variable factors in individuals that are difficult to spot in these studies.
Control-feeding experiments are different and PROVE that saturated fats raise cholesterol levels.
Observational studies don’t have the POWER to prove such a correlation.

The paleo community has embraced these new observational studies (funded by the meat industry) because they prove their point. However, they completely ignore the overwhelming body of evidence that implicates the role of saturated fat in heart disease.

It proves again that “people love to hear good news about their bad habits.”