Frederic Patenaude's Blog, page 44

Top 7 Bad Arguments in Favor of a Raw Food Diet

Lately, some people have recently decided to engage in a sort of "war of arguments" to try to prove to me that a 100% raw diet is the best diet for everybody, no matter what, in every and all circumstances.

I'm talking about the fanatical raw foodists who are so convinced that their point of view is right, that they can't seem to stop arguing and pushing their philosophy down other people's throats.

Even though, all they are doing is rehashing arguments they have read in other raw food books basically word for word.

Some people seem to think that I've suddenly become "anti raw foods," when in fact I'm very pro raw foods.

But, I want people to eat raw food for the RIGHT reasons, and dispel the non-sense that's been spread over the years on the subject.

So in this two-part article I want to present what I think are the REAL reasons to eat raw, and also discuss the WRONG arguments people use in favor of a raw diet. Let's start with the bad ones…

Don't see this as a negative article. Once I'm done exposing the misinformation, I'll tell you why I still think raw foods are so beneficial.

Top Bad Arguments to Eat a Raw Food Diet

1) Enzymes

This one is easy. Plant enzymes are produced by the plant for its own purposes. For example, a green banana is full of starch and amylase. As the banana ripens, the enzymes in bananas called amylase breaks down the starch into simple sugars and it becomes sweeter.

We produce our own digestive enzymes, like amylase. We don't need the enzymes in raw foods to help our digestion. In fact, most those enzymes are destroyed when they reach our stomach acid. We also do not have a "limited supply of enzymes" like a few people once thought. Ask any medical professional or true scientist and they will concur.

2) It's the diet of our "species", the human species

I admit that for a long time, I used to believe that one and even taught it.

The idea is that every animal has a natural diet. For examples, carnivores, like cats, must eat meat. Omnivores, like pigs, eat a bit of everything.

If we look at nature, we'll find that the closest relatives to human beings are the chimpanzees. If we compare their anatomy to ours, we'll find that it's remarkably similar. And surprise, surprise, they live on fruits and greens! Therefore, we must do the same. Right?

The truth is that humans and chimps have some serious differences. Chimpanzees can eat certain astringent and fibrous types of wild fruits that humans could never digest.

Richard Wrangham, professor at Harvard University, writes compellingly on the topic in his book "Catching Fire":

"Evolutionary adaptation to cooking might likewise explain why humans seem less prepared to tolerate toxins than do other apes. In my experience of sampling many wild foods eaten by primates, items eaten by chimpanzees in the wild taste better than foods eaten by monkeys. Even so, some of the fruits, seeds, and leaves that chimpanzees select taste so foul that I can barely swallow them. The tastes are strong and rich, excellent indicators of the presence of non-nutritional compounds, many of which are likely to be toxic to humans—but presumably much less so to chimpanzees. Consider the plum-size fruit of Warburgia ugandensis, a tree famous for its medicinal bark. Warburgia fruits contain a spicy compound reminiscent of a mustard oil. The hot taste renders even a single fruit impossibly unpleasant for humans to ingest. But chimpanzees can eat a pile of these fruits and then look eagerly for more. Many other fruits in the chimpanzee diet are almost equally unpleasant to the human palate. Astringency, the drying sensation produced by tannins and a few other compounds, is common in fruits eaten by chimpanzees."

(…) Astringency is caused by the presence of tannins, which bind to proteins and cause them to precipitate. Our mouths are normally lubricated by mucoproteins in our saliva, but because a high density of tannins precipitates those proteins, it leaves our tongues and mouths dry: hence the "furry" sensation in our mouths after eating an unripe apple or drinking a tannin-rich wine. One has the same experience when tasting chimpanzee fruits such as Mimusops bagshawei or the widespread Pseudospondias microcarpa. Though chimpanzees can eat more than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of such fruits during an hour or more of continuous chewing, we cannot.

(…) The shifts in food preference between chimpanzees and humans suggest that our species has a reduced physiological tolerance for foods high in toxins or tannins. Since cooking predictably destroys many toxins, we may have evolved a relatively sensitive palate."

If modern-day raw foodists tried to live on what chimpanzees eat in the wild, they would live in a more or less permanent state of indigestion and would likely not be able to survive.

The ultimate proof of this? Look at the foods that raw foodists eat. People love the sweetest mangoes, the sweetest melons, the least acidic oranges, and would cringe at eating very acrid fruit like the "quince."

Chimps in zoos fed bananas and kale are NOT fed their natural diet. And even so they still prefer hybridized human food, even cooked food compared to their natural food.

Humans produce in their saliva up to 12 times more amylase (an enzymes that digests starch) than chimpanzees do. That's an evolutionary adaptation to eating cooked starches. We develop this enzyme from the age of 2 and up. (New borns cannot digest starch and should only be fed human breast milk and non starchy fruits up to the age of 2)

The main thing to keep in mind is that over 4 to 7 million years of evolution separate chimpanzees from humans. They may be our closest relatives, but they are very distant ones indeed.

3) We never "adapted" to cooked foods.

The human being has adapted to eating cooked foods, to some degree. This is evidenced by our smaller digestive system, which is 25% shorter than that of chimpanzees (by body size). The idea behind this adaptation is that we are used to eating more concentrated nutrition than they do. We also produce more starch-splitting enzymes, among many other changes.

Richard Wrangham writes:

"All great apes have a prominent snout and a wide grin: chimpanzees can open their mouths twice as far as humans, as they regularly do when eating. If a playful chimpanzee ever kisses you, you will never forget this point. To find a primate with as relatively small an aperture as that of humans, you have to go to a diminutive species, such as a squirrel monkey, weighing less than 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds)." 

(…) The difference in mouth size is even more obvious when we take the lips into account. The amount of food a chimpanzee can hold in its mouth far exceeds what humans can do because, in addition to their wide gape and big mouths, chimpanzees have enormous and very muscular lips. When eating juicy foods like fruits or meat, chimpanzees use their lips to hold a large wad of food in the outer part of their mouths and squeeze it hard against their teeth, which they may do repeatedly for many minutes before swallowing. The strong lips are probably an adaptation for eating fruits, because fruit bats have similarly large and muscular lips that they use in the same way to squeeze fruit wads against their teeth. Humans have relatively tiny lips, appropriate for a small amount of food in the mouth at one time.



(…) Human chewing teeth, or molars, also are small—the smallest of any primate species in relation to body size. Continuing farther into the body, our stomachs again are comparatively small. In humans the surface area of the stomach is less than one-third the size expected for a typical mammal of our body weight, and smaller than in 97 percent of other primates. The high caloric density of cooked food suggests that our stomachs can afford to be small. Great apes eat perhaps twice as much by weight per day as we do because their foods are packed with indigestible fiber (around 30 percent by weight, compared to 5 percent to 10 percent or less in human diets). Thanks to the high caloric density of cooked food, we have modest needs that are adequately served by our small stomachs.

(…) The human small intestine is only a little smaller than expected from the size of our bodies, reflecting that this organ is the main site of digestion and absorption, and humans have the same basal metabolic rate as other primates in relation to body weight. But the large intestine, or colon, is less than 60 percent of the mass that would be expected for a primate of our body weight. The colon is where our intestinal flora ferment plant fiber, producing fatty acids that are absorbed into the body and used for energy. That the colon is relatively small in humans means we cannot retain as much fiber as the great apes can and therefore cannot utilize plant fiber as effectively for food. But that matters little. The high caloric density of cooked food means that normally we do not need the large fermenting potential that apes rely on.

(…) The weight of our guts is estimated at about 60 percent of what is expected for a primate of our size: the human digestive system as a whole is much smaller than would be predicted on the basis of size relations in primates."

Modern day raw foodists do not eat like wild animals. They blend foods, eat highly hybridized, extra sweet fruit, and have many ways to make vegetables easier to chew and digest. That's because as human beings, we are adapted to eating highly nutritious and more concentrated foods of higher caloric density, as opposed to the low-calorie wild fruits eaten by chimpanzees and other apes.

The modern fruits loved and revered by raw foodists, like bananas, dates and durian, are extremely high in calories and low in fiber, compared to wild fruits eaten by chimpanzees.

There is a really interesting series called Becoming Human that has a wealth of information on how humans were NOT the first upright-walking ape to cook foods and how they helped in our successful domination over other races like Neandertals. It's also available on iTunes.

4) We are the only animal on the planet who cooks food

I love that one.

"Have you ever seen a wild animal with pots and pans cooking up something? Well maybe that's the reason they don't get sick!"

No, I haven't seen a deer roast some potatoes, but I've also never seen a wild chimpanzee blending up bananas in a Vita-Mix, for that matter.

There are a ton of things that wild animals don't do — like wear clothes, make music and write books. But I have yet to see raw foodists give up those things to live like a wild animal.

By the way, wild animals DO get sick sometimes, mainly due to parasites and viruses. The sick animals also get eaten by predators, before they have time to die of those diseases.

Raw foodists tend to think that wild animals have an awesome life, living in harmony with nature. The truth is that it's a ruthless world out there. We can learn thing or two from wild animals, but to just use wild animals as examples on what to do is a pretty weak argument.

5) All cooked food is "toxic"

It's true that cooking changes the food at a molecular level. In some cases, cooking foods at high temperature can create toxins, But it doesn't mean that all cooked food is toxic.

The biggest culprits seem to be carbohydrate foods that are fried (like potato chips or French fries), and meat that is broiled and browned.

There is no evidence that steaming vegetables or boiling some rice creates toxins that truly harm the human body. Thousands of people around the world switch to a plant based diet, avoid all meat, dairy products, other animal products, refined foods and added oils and eat most of their foods cooked, yet they are able to reverse a wide range of conditions such as:

- heart disease

- In some cases cancer

- obesity

- hypertension

- type-2 diabetes

- and many other diseases

Obviously, if cooking food was the primary reason why people get sick, you would not see these kinds of results on a whole foods, low fat, mostly-cooked, plant-based diet. The types of foods you eat make more of a difference than whether they are cooked or not.

6) There is lifeforce in raw foods that's destroyed when you cook it

Foods are raw material. That lettuce may be alive when you pick it from your garden, but you can be certain that by the time you digest it, it is long past "dead."

Don't tell me that when you blend your vegetables, or chew them aggressively in your month, that you're not destroying that "life force" that they supposedly have.

7) The Bible Says we should eat raw

A lot of Christians are using the Bible to make it say whatever they want. I was raised as a Christian, and I studied the Bible. To my knowledge, the Bible was not intended as a reference guide on nutrition!

You can take quotes from the Bible, out of context, to make almost any point you want. Some people use it to justify meat eating. Sure, there's Genesis 1:29, but if you look at the Bible as a whole, you'll find that the nutrition advice wasn't too clear.

–

While I may appear critical of raw food diets here, my main goal is to dispel the myths that hurt people. In my next article, I will give you my REAL reasons to eat raw foods. Stay tuned for that!

Top Bad Arguments in Favor of a Raw Food Diet

Lately, some people have recently to engage in a sort of "war of arguments" to try to prove to me that a 100% raw diet is the best diet for everybody, no matter what.

I'm talking about the fanatical raw foodists who are so convinced that their point of view is right, that they can't seem to stop arguing and pushing their philosophy down other people's throats.

Even though, all they are doing is rehashing arguments they have read in other raw food books.

Some people seem to think that I've suddenly become "anti raw foods," when in fact I'm very pro raw foods.

But, I want people to eat raw for the RIGHT reasons, and dispel the non-sense that's been spread on the subject.

So in this two-part article I want to present what I think are the REAL reasons to eat raw, and also discuss the WRONG arguments people use in favor of a raw diet. Let's start with the bad ones…

Top Bad Arguments to Eat a Raw Food Diet

1) Enzymes

This one is easy. Plant enzymes are produced by the plant for its own purposes. For example, a green banana is full of starch and amylase. As the banana ripens, the amylase breaks down the starch into simple sugars.

We produce our own digestive enzymes, like amylase. We don't need the enzymes in raw foods to help our digestion. In fact, most those enzymes are destroyed when they reach the acidic content of our stomach.

2) It's the diet of our "species"

I admit that for a long time, I used to believe that one and even teach it.

The idea is that every animal has a natural diet. For examples, carnivores, like cats, must eat meat. Omnivores, like pigs, eat a bit of everything.

If we look at nature, we'll find that the closest relatives to human beings are the chimpanzees. If we compare their anatomy to ours, we'll find that it's remarkably similar. And surprise, surprise, they live on fruits and greens! Therefore, we must do the same.

The truth is that humans and chimps have some serious differences. Chimpanzees can eat certain astringent types of fruits that humans could never digest.

If modern-day raw foodists tried to live on what chimpanzees eat in the wild, they would live in a more or less permanent state of indigestion and would likely not be able to survive. Chimps in zoos fed bananas and kale are NOT fed their natural diet. (I'll expand more on that in a future article).

Humans produce in their saliva up to 12 times more amylase (an enzymes that digests starch) than chimpanzees do. That's an evolutionary adaptation to eating cooked starches.

The main thing to keep in mind is that over 4 to 7 million years of evolution separate chimpanzees from humans. They may be our closest relatives, but they are very distant ones indeed.

3) We never "adapted" to cooked foods.

The human being has adapted to eating cooked foods, to some degree. This is evidenced by our smaller digestive system, which is 25% shorter than that of chimpanzees (by body size). The idea behind this adaptation is that we are used to eating more concentrated nutrition than they do. We also produce more starch-splitting enzymes, among many other changes.

Modern day raw foodists do not eat like wild animals. They blend foods, eat highly hybridized, extra sweet fruit, and have many ways to make vegetables easier to chew and digest. That's because as human beings, we are adapted to eating highly nutritious and more concentrated foods of higher caloric density, as opposed to the low-calorie wild fruits eaten by chimpanzees.

4) We are the only animal on the planet who cooks food

I love that one.

"Have you ever seen a wild animal with pots and pans cooking up something? Well maybe that's the reason they don't get sick!"

No, I haven't seen a deer roast some potatoes, but I've also never seen a wild chimpanzee blending up bananas in a Vita-Mix, for that matter.

There are a ton of things that wild animals don't do — like wear clothes, make music and write books. But I have yet to see raw foodists give up those things.

By the way, wild animals DO get sick sometimes, mainly due to parasites and viruses. The sick animals also get eaten by predators, before they have time to die of those diseases.

Raw foodists tend to think that wild animals have an awesome life, living in harmony with nature. The truth is that it's a ruthless world out there. We can learn thing or two from wild animals, but to just use wild animals as examples on what to do is a pretty weak argument.

5) All cooked food is "toxic"

Cooking certain foods creates some toxins, but it doesn't mean that all cooked food is toxic. As far as I know, there is no evidence that steamed broccoli will kill you.

6) There is lifeforce in raw foods that's destroyed when you cook it

Foods are raw material. That lettuce may be alive when you pick it from your garden, but you can be certain that by the time you digest it, it is long "dead."

Don't tell me that when you blend your vegetables, or chew them aggressively in your month, that you're not destroying that "life force" that they supposedly have.

7) The Bible Says we should eat raw

A lot of Christians are using the Bible to make it say whatever they want. I was raised as a Christian, and I studied the Bible. To my knowledge, the Bible was not intended as a reference guide on nutrition!

You can take quotes from the Bible, out of context, to make almost any point you want. Some people use it to justify meat eating. Sure, there's Genesis 1:29, but if you look at the Bible as a whole, you'll find that the nutrition advice wasn't too clear.

–

In my next article, I will give you my REAL reasons to eat raw foods.

Why I Wouldn't Feed a Pure Raw Vegan Diet To My Children

Quite a few people have asked me to talk about children nutrition and the raw food diet. Now that I'm married, one of the most common questions my wife and I get asked is "When are you going to have children?"

Although I'm tempted to answer, "We're working on it," I try not to be too tongue-in-cheek, so I answer the truth, which is that it's not in our plans for the next few years. (That's what happens when men of my age (35) marry women that are a bit younger. We are able to delay the "call of duty" for a few years at least!)

Most raw foodists we meet want to know whether or not we would feed our kids, should we have any, a pure raw vegan diet.

Today I'm giving you my answer.

First, I want to emphasize the fact that I've never recommended a 100% raw vegan diet for children.

Although I believe that this type of diet can be successfully implemented with a lot of planning — the risks outweigh the benefits, especially when there are much better, practical and safer alternatives.

Let's start with a little bit of anecdotal evidence.

Over the 14+ years that I've been involved in this field, I've met my share of raw food families and raw children.

I would say that the vast majority of people that I've met that were themselves following a raw vegan diet were not able to keep their children on a 100% raw vegan diet, for simple practical reasons.

Although most of these children ate a great deal of raw foods, the parents were forced to introduce some cooked foods in the diet, due to the social circumstances with family and friends and sometimes out of sheer fear of deficiencies.

In some rare cases, motivated parents were able to successfully shelter their children from the "cooked" influences of society and managed to raise them on a 100% raw food diet. That usually lasted until the kids themselves, usually between the age of 7 and 12, requested to try cooked foods, out of curiosity or social pressure.

Some of these children were able to follow a raw diet for even longer, but almost all of them (I would say 95%) abandoned it past their teenage years, when they left for the big world and realized that this marginal diet did not fit in completely with the rest of society. However, what we eat in our childhood really shapes our taste buds for life. So all of these children, even after they stopped being raw foodist, seemed to love their fruits and vegetables, and many choose to at least remain vegan or vegetarian.

Most parents that I've met did not let their ideology or belief system get in the way of what they thought would be a more rational compromise in modern society.

On the other hand, some of the families that I've met really insisted in feeding their children a 100% raw food diet.

In some cases, the children managed to be healthy and grow healthfully. I already told the story of a French Canadian family who ate a 100% raw diet all the way until the children were about 17, but I lost touch with them after that. (You can read my full interview with the mother at: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/articles/interview-solange.html)

The children grew a little slower than "normal" but ended up reaching above-average height. However, this family was not vegan and used some raw dairy products, but no eggs or meat.

I've also met other raw families that did not seem to be successful in raising raw children. The most troublesome symptom I noticed was malnutrition, when children had big bloated bellies, but skinny arms and legs — almost like the poor malnourished African children we've all seen on TV.

Other children were hyperactive, always seeking food and stuffing it down their throat, as if it were their last meal they were allowed to eat for a week. They seem to be constantly hungry and asking for food, even though they seemed to be eating up to 12 times a day.

It saddens me that some parents let some half-baked, unproven ideology get in the way of their precious children's future and health.

I've often said that the raw vegan diet is an experiment. I was willing to undergo that experiment as an adult, and I made many mistakes that cost me my health. I told these experiences in my books The Raw Secrets and Raw Food Controversies, hoping that others wishing to follow a raw vegan diet could learn from my experience and not make the same mistakes.

We adults have the luxury of experimenting with different diets and health programs, but we also get to face the consequences as adults.

Children are in the hands of their parents and must suffer the consequences of their parents' decisions — even though they have not made the choices themselves, and oftentimes rebelled against them. That is not fair and no parent should use their children as a laboratory to try out different diets that frankly, have never really been proven to work for children.

These children must then face the consequences of their parents' folly for the rest of their lives. And that makes me mad.

Before we go any further, let's consider an important fact:

No society in the world has ever lived and raised children on a 100% raw vegan diet — at any point in recorded history. And as far as we know, no society or tribe of humans anywhere on the planet has ever lived on a raw vegan diet as long as homo sapiens, our species, has ever roamed this earth, for over 200,000 years!

If we look at the long history of our species, as far as all archeological evidence can tell us, there's actually never been a time that any human society has ever lived on a pure raw vegan diet, as long as we've been around on this earth!

To go back to our raw food eating days, we have to turn the clock back a lot more than 200,000 years. In fact, we have to go back to the days when we were not even humans — that is our pre-human ancestors. That would probably set us back a few million years, if not between 4 and 6 million years, which is the last time that paleontologists say that a common ancestor to both modern humans and chimpanzees existed.

So let's make it very clear that the raw food diet is an experiment. It is not a diet that has been proven to have sustained human populations throughout the ages.

On the other hands, millions of people throughout the world have lived on vegetarian diets, so we know that meat is not necessary in the human diet. In many cases, these vegetarians were pretty close to be vegans, and for the past 100 years there have been many vegan families that have successfully raised children on a 100% vegan diet.

Here are the main problems with raising children on a 100% raw vegan diet:

1) Fruits and vegetables are not calorie-dense enough.

People tend to think that what a raw vegan diet is missing is certain minerals and vitamins. So they obsessed over getting a ton of greens in their kid's diet, or truckloads of slimy seaweed.

But what really matters are the macro-nutrients — the calories! Calories only come from fat, protein and carbohydrates. This turns out to be perfect for adults who need to lose a few pounds, but not so great for children who are growing and need a lot of calories.

Fruits and vegetables are just too low in macro-nutrients (calories) to form the basis of the diet of growing children, who have tiny bodies and great caloric needs for growth. The reason raw food children eat all the time is that they just can't fit enough raw produce in their tiny stomachs at any one time to get the calories they need.

Some raw foodists who follow a low-fat diet say that the solution to this is to give these children large amounts of fatty foods like avocados, nuts and seeds. Even though these experts ban or severely restrict these items for adults, they claim that in nature, children would be breast-fed up to the age of seven, therefore it would be natural for humans to eat a high-fat diet up to that age, as the fat content of breast milk is around 50% by calories.

While it is true that in many cultures, children are breast-fed up to an age that would be considered improper in Western societies, these children do not only drink breast-milk up to the age of 5 or sometimes 7. Breast milk is critically important for the first 2 years of life, but after that, even in primitive societies, children eat other foods than just breast milk.

What children really need are enough calories to grow. That means enough carbohydrates for energy, and enough protein to grow and build their bodies. Fat also plays an important part because of its concentrated energy, but there is no evidence that children must eat a very high-fat diet in order to grow properly. It's just easier to get enough calories and proper nutrition if you include high fat items such as nuts, seeds and avocados.

However, nuts and seeds are not as rich in nutrients as we think, if we analyze their nutrients per calorie, compared to cooked potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and even some whole grains.

Children would be better off having access to a variety of foods — raw and cooked — as they are growing up, instead of relying solely on low-calorie fruits and vegetables and high fat raw foods.

2) The unsupplemented raw vegan diet doesn't provide critical vitamin B12

I won't expand too much on that point, but it goes without saying that a B12 supplement is mandatory for both children and pregnant or nursing mother. Every single doctor who promotes a plant-based diet recommends a B12 supplement, especially for young children.

3) Grazing on fruit and nuts all day long can create dental problems.

The issue that I've seen with 100% raw children has usually been the same: they eat constantly, all day long, and they are never satisfied.

Children have a tiny stomach, yet need a ton of calories and nutrients to grow. It's normal that they may need to eat more often than adults, so food in general should not be restricted.

The problem is that in a purely raw food diet, many children are not fundamentally satisfied and are not getting the necessary nutrients they need. Their carbohydrate intake may be too low, as they are instinctively looking for more concentrated foods to give them the calories they need, but are restricted to fatty foods like avocados and nuts.

One unfortunate side effect of this constant grazing is an increased occurrence of dental decay, which I've seen quite often in raw vegan children. Every dentist knows that the more often you eat in the day — especially sugary foods — the more likely it is you're going to suffer from dental decay. Eating constantly never brings the oral environment to an alkaline state, and the constant supply of sugar is feeding the bacteria that cause dental decay.

Can a raw vegan diet provide enough protein for growing children?

Human breast milk is composed (by calories) of 52% fat, 6% protein and 42% carbohydrates.

Cow's milk, on the other hand, is 19% protein, 52% fat, 29% carbohydrates.

The main difference between the milk of these two species is not the fat content, but the carbohydrate and protein content. Human milk is significantly sweeter and less concentrated in protein.

The reason behind this difference is that humans are supposed to grow over a slow period of time, gradually, while cows must grow quickly. But human milk is still concentrated in fat, as babies need those extra calories.

So can a raw vegan diet provide enough protein for growing children? Quite possibly, as human beings grow over a long period of time and do not need that much protein, unlike cows and other animals that grow very quickly.

But remember that babies who drink breast milk also start eating other foods after just 1 or 2 years of age, and that over time, in all cultures, breast milk becomes more a supplement than the main staple of the diet.

So it would be safe to assume that protein needs of growing children should be a little higher than the 6% content of mother's milk. To be safe, a few percentage points should be added.

The big problem is when children are not getting the calories they need, they are also not getting the protein they need for proper growth. A diet deficient in total energy will also be deficient in protein, which is not so much a problem for adults who don't need that much protein, but may be a huge issue for growing children.

A fruit-based diet may also be inadequate in protein as many fruits are lower in protein than even breast milk. For example:

Bananas — 4% protein

Apples — 2% protein

Grapes — 4% protein

Honeydew Melon — 5% protein

Dates — 2% protein

On average, fruits are only 4-5% protein, with some fruits being as low as only 2%. I suspect that a big percentage of the protein content of fruits is actually found in the seeds and hard peels of fruits, that are then analyzed in the process but not usually digested when we eat those foods.

Fruits are also low in minerals, compared to vegetables or even cooked starchy plants. Analyzing the data, I can only come to the conclusion that a fruitarian diet is far from adequate for growing children.

Other Nutrients

I won't expand on specific nutrients, which rely on common sense more than anything. Green vegetables are extremely important for their calcium content, but most raw foodists are aware of that.

Vitamin D can be an issue if sun exposure is not adequate, so sometimes a supplement may be advised if children are not consuming any fortified foods like soy milk.

"Pregnancies From Hell"

Food aversions are very common in pregnant women, including those following a raw food diet.

The vast majority of women that I've met who were raw foodists when they got pregnant were not able to maintain that diet 100% during pregnancy, simply because they suddenly couldn't eat most greens and sometimes most fruits.

Why would healthy women suddenly be unable to eat fruits and vegetables when they get pregnant, when they have been living on essentially fruits and vegetables for years prior to pregnancy?

A recent article published in Science Daily sheds light on this mysterious process. According to two Cornell university researchers, "the nausea and vomiting of "morning sickness" experienced by two-thirds of pregnant women is Mother Nature's way of protecting mothers and fetuses from food-borne illness and also shielding the fetus from chemicals that can deform fetal organs at the most critical time in development."

Quoting from the article:

"By creating food aversion, NVP (nausea + vomiting during pregnancy — Frederic) also protects against toxins from microorganisms and other teratogenic (fetal organ-deforming) chemicals, Sherman says. "At that same time, in the first trimester of pregnancy, the cells of the tiny embryo are differentiating and starting to form structures. Those developing structures and organ systems — such as arms and legs, eyes and the central nervous system — at this critical stage of a new life could be adversely affected by the teratogenic phytochemicals in some food plants," Sherman says. These chemicals are secondary compounds that plants make to defend themselves against disease and insects.

Although phytochemicals have no known nutritive function for humans, most people tolerate their presence in food. (Small amounts of these chemicals might even be beneficial because of their antioxidant properties and trace elements.) But during pregnancy, according to the Cornell biologists, women with morning sickness are shielding the developing unborn from the harsh chemicals by vomiting and by learning to avoid certain foods altogether until the fetus develops beyond the most susceptible stage."

You can read the full article here:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/06/000602075407.htm

Many raw vegan women that I've met could not stand the sight of raw green vegetables, but were able to eat some cooked vegetables during pregnancy. Eating cooked vegetables was undoubtedly better than eating no vegetables at all, which is what they would have to do if they had stayed 100% raw.

Many also could not eat many fruits and even found themselves completely repulsed by them. Yet they craved simple "comfort" foods like potatoes, in addition to unhealthy foods like fried chicken and ice cream.

Most women were wise enough to listen to their bodies and make some serious modifications in their diet during pregnancy.

Others stoically stuck to the raw vegan diet, often with disastrous results. I've heard of women who ended up completely depleted after a difficult pregnancy when she could only eat a few types of fruit, because she tried to stay 100% raw no matter what. In the end, she was harming her body by starving and more importantly, her unborn child.

Animal Foods and Raw Vegan Children

Many raw vegan families have recognized the nutritional issues that I brought up, yet remained committed to the idea of eating raw. So they instead choose to introduce some animal products to their family's diet, the most common ones being eggs and some form of raw dairy products.

Although these animal foods can certainly improve on a deficient raw vegan program for children, a body of scientific evidence shows that they are not necessary for the needs of growing children, on a well balanced, low-fat (or lower-fat, in the case of children) vegan diet with B12 supplementation.

There are very serious issues related to drinking cow's milk, whether it's raw or not, and a lot of evidence points to dairy products as a culprit in the incidence of diabetes and certain auto-immune disease, and to the prevalence of these foods in children's diet. (For more information, read: http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/020700puthepancreas.htm)

I personally wouldn't include dairy products in my children's diet as I see no reason to do so, although I realize that occasional treats will be hard to avoid in today's world. But, as long as the rest of the diet is clean and optimized for human nutrition, children will grow healthy and without long-term health problems, many of which can be caused by dairy products in the human diet.

Certainly children can get all the nutrition they need from plant foods and mother's milk, and some selected supplements.

So if I wouldn't feed my children a pure, 100% raw vegan diet, what would I do instead?

1) The basis of the diet would remain fruits and vegetables, along with cooked starchy vegetables like potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, etc.

2) I would include some cooked legumes and beans

3) I would include some whole grains, focusing on the non-gluten containing ones like brown rice, quinoa and buckwheat.

4) I would include various kinds of cooked vegetables, especially green vegetables.

5) Nuts and seeds, as well as avocados would be on the menu. I'm not sure what the fat content of the diet would be. I suspect it would be somewhat higher than an adult diet (which should be no more than 15% for adults, ideally less than 10%), but certainly a lot less than a pure raw food diet, which often has a fat content of over 50% of total calories.

6) I would include a B12 supplement (because I'm not naïve).

So I'm essentially I'm talking about a healthy, whole foods, plant-based diet, with very few refined products and lots of fruits and vegetables. That's what I think is healthy for children.

I know some people will say: but cooked foods and especially grains are so bad for you… why would you ever give your children foods that have been destroyed by fire?

I'm sorry, but even though I think a raw food diet can do wonders for adults, mainly because of it's such a great cleansing diet that eliminates almost 100% of the foods that can ever make you sick, after 15 years of experience in the field I have seen how a lot of "raw food science" is completely bogus and does not stand up to honest scrutiny and research.

If you pay attention to all the nutritional factors I've covered in this article (and a few others I didn't have time to cover), you could technically design a raw vegan diet that contains everything children need. But, it would be complicated, and likely not as practical. A good plant-based diet will accomplish all of the benefits in a much simpler way.

Of course, this is what I would personally do based on many years of thinking over the subject, the body of scientific research and my personal experience with other raw vegan families. I would be interested in hearing what my readers think.

 

Should All Condiments Be Banned on Low Fat Raw Vegan?

When I first went raw in 1997, I quickly discovered delicious gourmet raw food cuisine.

Unfortunately for my health, the raw cuisine promoted at the time (and still in vogue today), was filled with raw fats and condiments.

For example, in one big personal salad, I could have included:

- Several tablespoons of olive oil

- An entire avocado (or two)

- A handful of pine nuts or walnuts

- Soy sauce

- Onions, garlic, etc.

These salads were satisfying, but left me extremely tired after eating them. No wonder: I was consuming most of my calories from fat!

In fact, these salads contained more fat that a typical value meal at McDonald's.

Over the years that followed, I went to another "extreme," by going back to a lower-fat diet and eliminating all condiments completely.

In my book The Raw Secrets, I even spoke against common condiments such as garlic and hot peppers.

But where do I stand today?

One of the biggest problems I've always had with the raw food diet is the inability to enjoy simple, raw salads.

No matter how much I tried to convince myself that a salad consisting of a romaine lettuce, some tomatoes and half an avocado was extremely healthy, I simply did not enjoy it!

For years, I stood staunchly with my "no-condiment" policy, avoiding raw garlic at all costs and minimizing my use of condiments in any raw recipes.

I had no problems eating simple fruit meals and smoothies … but when it came to vegetables, I just didn't enjoy them as much without some kind of seasonings.

Many raw foodists make an effort to eat everything 100% raw, while worrying about little things, such as whether the dried herbs they are using are truly raw.

Over the years, I have found that it's better to make some compromises and actually enjoy your food than try to stick with an impossible-to-follow ideal.

Some people are perfectly happy eating a bowl of romaine lettuce and a few tomatoes for dinner. But most people — myself included — would feel pretty dissatisfied after eating such a boring meal.

So should you avoid all condiments? And if you do use them, should they be 100% raw?

I believe that it's the big things that matter, not the little things.

Having a few relatively healthy condiments on an overall healthy meal is NO BIG DEAL, even if some of these products are not 100% raw.

Don't miss the forest for the trees. "Better" is the enemy of the good, sometimes!

That being said, here are some condiments you can use, regularly or occasionally, to add enjoyment to your raw food meals:

- Homemade Seasonings: I showed how to make healthy condiments out of dehydrated vegetables in my DVD series, "The Low Fat Raw Vegan Cuisine." The idea is simple: dehydrate pieces of celery, bell peppers, cabbage or any other vegetables. Then turn them into a powder in a VitaMix or coffee grinder. These powders add a lot of taste to salads and dressings!

- Garlic: A lot of raw recipes taste incredibly better with a little garlic, for example a guacamole dish. The trick is to only use a little. When you blend garlic, you oxidize it and make it less strong. I don't eat raw garlic daily, but my wife uses it in some recipes. I must say that I don't experience any negative effects from occasional garlic use.

- Green Onions: Any salad or raw soup tastes better with green onions (also called spring onions)!

- Thai Chili: I must admit that I do love spiciness, even though I come from a background of natural hygiene. Certain recipes, especially if they are Asian-inspired, can be made incredibly tastier and more authentic with a little spiciness to them, such as from Thai chili pepper. The trick is to use fresh ingredients, and not hot sauces, which tend to affect the body more negatively due to everything else they contain.

- Chipotle Powder (by Frontier): This organic seasoning by Frontier is great for those who like a little spiciness. It really adds a kick to a salad or Savory Veggie Stew, even though it's not raw.

- Salad Sprinkle (by Frontier): A great addition for some kick to your everyday salad.

- Chinese Five Spice (by Frontier): Includes the flavors of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy for a great addition to any Asian creation.

- Mexican Fiesta (by Frontier): For any Mexican-style dish that needs a little more seasoning than just the spicy taste.

- Herbamare: This is a seasoning found in health food stores that contains salt. The raw vegan diet is very low in salt, therefore using a sprinkle of a salty seasoning on top of a salad will not put you in a terrible risk bracket for salt consumption. Most of the raw recipes I make taste pretty good without salt, but sometimes adding a tiny bit makes the difference between an "okay" recipe and a great one.

- Ceylon Cinnamon (soon to be available from us): Tastes WAY better than cassia (regular) cinnamon and has a natural sweet, bright, and not-dry flavor. It's great in raw dishes, smoothies and puddings.

- Tahitian Vanilla (soon to be available from us too): Larger, more fragrant and soft and flexible, unlike bourbon vanilla. This means you can use it in raw dishes easily by scraping out the seeds and even make your own organic vanilla extract at home!

If you truly enjoy the foods you're eating, I don't recommend to "add" anything to make it better. But sometimes having a few seasonings can really make a difference and make the program much easier to follow and enjoyable.

Remember that the body adapts pretty quickly. If you never eat any onions or garlic, you'll probably feel strange eating them. But if you eat them fairly regularly in small quantities in recipes, your body adapts to it and they no longer bother you.

The trick is to enjoy your food … and be healthy!

Should All Condiments Be Banned on Low-Fat Raw?

When I first went raw in 1997, I quickly discovered delicious gourmet raw food cuisine.

Unfortunately for my health, the raw cuisine promoted at the time (and still in vogue today), was filled with raw fats and condiments.

For example, in one big personal salad, I could have included:

- Several tablespoons of olive oil

- An entire avocado (or two)

- A handful of pine nuts or walnuts

- Soy sauce

- Onions, garlic, etc.

These salads were satisfying, but left me extremely tired after eating them. No wonder: I was consuming most of my calories from fat!

In fact, these salads contained more fat that a typical value meal at McDonald's.

Over the years that followed, I went to another "extreme," by going back to a lower-fat diet and eliminating all condiments completely.

In my book The Raw Secrets, I even spoke against common condiments such as garlic and hot peppers.

But where do I stand today?

One of the biggest problems I've always had with the raw food diet is the inability to enjoy simple, raw salads.

No matter how much I tried to convince myself that a salad consisting of a romaine lettuce, some tomatoes and half an avocado was extremely healthy, I simply did not enjoy it!

For years, I stood staunchly with my "no-condiment" policy, avoiding raw garlic at all costs and minimizing my use of condiments in any raw recipes.

I had no problems eating simple fruit meals and smoothies … but when it came to vegetables, I just didn't enjoy them as much without some kind of seasonings.

Many raw foodists make an effort to eat everything 100% raw, while worrying about little things, such as whether the dried herbs they are using are truly raw.

Over the years, I have found that it's better to make some compromises and actually enjoy your food than try to stick with an impossible-to-follow ideal.

Some people are perfectly happy eating a bowl of romaine lettuce and a few tomatoes for dinner. But most people — myself included — would feel pretty dissatisfied after eating such a boring meal.

So should you avoid all condiments? And if you do use them, should they be 100% raw?

I believe that it's the big things that matter, not the little things.

Having a few relatively healthy condiments on an overall healthy meal is NO BIG DEAL, even if some of these products are not 100% raw.

Don't miss the forest for the trees. "Better" is the enemy of the good, sometimes!

That being said, here are some condiments you can use, regularly or occasionally, to add enjoyment to your raw food meals:

- Homemade Seasonings: I showed how to make healthy condiments out of dehydrated vegetables in my DVD series, "The Low Fat Raw Vegan Cuisine." The idea is simple: dehydrate pieces of celery, bell peppers, cabbage or any other vegetables. Then turn them into a powder in a VitaMix or coffee grinder. These powders add a lot of taste to salads and dressings!

- Garlic: A lot of raw recipes taste incredibly better with a little garlic, for example a guacamole dish. The trick is to only use a little. When you blend garlic, you oxidize it and make it less strong. I don't eat raw garlic daily, but my wife uses it in some recipes. I must say that I don't experience any negative effects from occasional garlic use.

- Green Onions: Any salad or raw soup tastes better with green onions (also called spring onions)!

- Thai Chili: I must admit that I do love spiciness, even though I come from a background of natural hygiene. Certain recipes, especially if they are Asian-inspired, can be made incredibly tastier and more authentic with a little spiciness to them, such as from Thai chili pepper. The trick is to use fresh ingredients, and not hot sauces, which tend to affect the body more negatively due to everything else they contain.

- Chipotle Powder (by Frontier): This organic seasoning by Frontier is great for those who like a little spiciness. It really adds a kick to a salad or Savory Veggie Stew, even though it's not raw.

- Salad Sprinkle (by Frontier): A great addition for some kick to your everyday salad.

- Chinese Five Spice (by Frontier): Includes the flavors of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy for a great addition to any Asian creation.

- Mexican Fiesta (by Frontier): For any Mexican-style dish that needs a little more seasoning than just the spicy taste.

- Herbamare: This is a seasoning found in health food stores that contains salt. The raw vegan diet is very low in salt, therefore using a sprinkle of a salty seasoning on top of a salad will not put you in a terrible risk bracket for salt consumption. Most of the raw recipes I make taste pretty good without salt, but sometimes adding a tiny bit makes the difference between an "okay" recipe and a great one.

- Ceylon Cinnamon (soon to be available from us): Tastes WAY better than cassia (regular) cinnamon and has a natural sweet, bright, and not-dry flavor. It's great in raw dishes, smoothies and puddings.

- Tahitian Vanilla (soon to be available from us too): Larger, more fragrant and soft and flexible, unlike bourbon vanilla. This means you can use it in raw dishes easily by scraping out the seeds and even make your own organic vanilla extract at home!

If you truly enjoy the foods you're eating, I don't recommend to "add" anything to make it better. But sometimes having a few seasonings can really make a difference and make the program much easier to follow and enjoyable.

Remember that the body adapts pretty quickly. If you never eat any onions or garlic, you'll probably feel strange eating them. But if you eat them fairly regularly in small quantities in recipes, your body adapts to it and they no longer bother you.

The trick is to enjoy your food … and be healthy!

Don't Trust Anyone With What You Put In Your Mouth!

Traveling around the world for eight months earlier this year has taught me something simple, but really important: don't trust anyone with what you put in your mouth!

I visited over 25 countries from July last year until April of this year, with the intent of meeting some like-minded people and spreading the message about the benefits of a mostly raw, plant-based diet. I visited with many people and shared thoughts on raw food eating and what it's like to do it in the most unlikely places (like Iceland!)

Over and over again, I have found that in most places of the world, it's easier to lead an unhealthy life than a healthy one, and that almost *no one* really understands even just basic health concepts, like not eating animal products.

I remember I was in Turkey last September, and was trying to order something healthy at a restaurant. I knew five phrases in Turkish, and one of them was: "Do you have any vegetarian food and salads?"

Then the waiter proceeded to try to sell me on ordering a chicken dish. "Oh yeah, we have chicken. Chicken is vegetarian! Very good!"

I tried to tell him that chicken was NOT vegetarian, but with the straightest face he kept trying to convince me that chicken was perfectly okay to eat for vegetarians because it was not red meat.

After a round of arguing in English and in the few words I knew in Turkish, I managed to order some kind of Turkish salad, which was quite a feat too, because I had to explain what I didn't want in the salad. In the end, the waiter appeared a bit upset.

You've probably heard some stories of people who order a "decaf" coffee, only to realize later, after they're all wired up, that the waiter made a "mistake" and brought regular, fully-caffeinated coffee instead.

"Oh sorry, we made a mistake!"

And just how do they plan to correct that mistake, especially if the person has ordered their "decaf" in the evening and won't be able to fall asleep that night? It's quite funny, sometimes.

Many vegans have reported the experience of ordering something that was supposedly vegan, only to realize later that the soup broth that their vegetables are bathing in was made with the carcasses of dead animals.

The worst thing is when restaurants *pretend* to have options for  vegetarians, when in fact they don't. I've found many places  like this on my trip around the world.

There was a place in Greece that advertised "vegetarian food" in big bold letters outside of their restaurant. When I entered to check it out, I looked at the menu and noticed that nothing on it was vegetarian… just salad topped with salmon, eggs, and cheese.

Then I asked the waiter what their "vegetarian" food was. He explained to me in broken English that they had plenty of "vegetarian" salads. When I pointed out that they all contained meat, fish, cheese or eggs, he told me that these items could be left out.

Talk about a vegetarian menu!

Getting raw foods while traveling was not always an easy task. In some countries, I would ask people where I could buy fruit. I would even ask Taxi drivers to take me to "the best place I can buy fruit."

In 90% of cases, they would take me to a regular supermarket or corner store. In fact, they did not take me to a great supermarket, just an average one, generally the closest one.

Then I learned that I had to specify that I did not want to go to a supermarket but to a place that sold "only fruits and vegetables," like a public market.

I had to learn the word for "public market" in many languages to get my point across!

When it came to breakfasts at B&Bs and hotels, it was always a disappointment. At first, I would explain that I just wanted fruit for breakfast.

But for some mysterious reason, just saying that I wanted "only fruit" for breakfast was understood as "this guy wants fruit along with the rest of his breakfast." Even in places where English was the first language, like Australia or New Zealand!

So in the morning, I would get a regular plate of eggs, toasts, jam, coffee, and some fruit!

When I finally managed to explain that I actually ate ONLY fruit in the morning, people were very puzzled and reluctantly brought me one piece of totally unripe banana along with some other kind of unpalatable unripe fruit.

In the end, I had to visually describe exactly what we needed beforehand, by writing emails to the owners of the B&B.

"I only eat fruit for breakfast. I hope that's not too much trouble for you? In fact, it might make your job a lot easier… but I do eat a LOT of fruit. For example: an entire large papaya with 4 fully ripe bananas."

I found that by describing exactly what I needed, along with exact quantities, I got better results, but some people still didn't get it. They brought me totally unripe bananas and only a little more fruit than normal.

I then modified my approach to explain that I'd be "more than happy" to pay for any extra costs of buying all this fruit.

At that point I got good results about half the time, but the portions were still depressingly small. That was okay because I thought of this breakfast as a snack before my real breakfast that I would make in my room!

In the end, my wife Veronica had the idea of putting together a mini-website along with pictures, showing exactly what we eat for breakfast. She got this idea at the end of our trip, so we didn't have time to try it out. I suspect though, that some people still wouldn't get it!

The best thing is to be 100% self-sufficient and be in control of what you put in your body at all times. But if you have any social life at all, you will inevitably have to deal with restaurant waiters and other people responsible for serving you food, once in a while.

Here are some tips:

1) Be Extremely Clear — Don't just say that you're vegan, most people don't understand what that is! Explain exactly what it is that you don't eat. For example, you could say: "I don't eat any dairy products: including milk, butter, cheese, sour cream, and anything coming from milk. I also don't eat meat, chicken, pork, chicken, fish…"

Depending on what you're ordering, make sure to enumerate every single thing that could end up in your food that you don't want.

2) Give Options — Most waiters and chefs will be extremely discouraged upon hearing this long list of negatives. So make sure to describe some options, if that's the case.

For example, when we were stuck in a resort island in Fiji and NOTHING on the menu was even remotely raw or vegan, I gave the chef a long list of possible dishes they could make for us, along with ingredient lists for each, based on what I knew they could get on the island.

Initially the chefs had no idea what they could make, but after seeing this list, they suddenly "remembered" that they were trained chefs and could come up with delicious dishes, when given some guidelines.

3) Triple Check — Even if you clearly explain what you want, there's a good chance that some people still won't get it. So it's a good idea to triple-check with the waiter, if you have any doubt that they won't understand.

4) Don't Get Resentful — Some restaurants will refuse to cater to the needs of vegans. And that's okay. I prefer that a restaurant be honest and say that they WON'T make anything vegetarian, rather than claim they will and then fall short on their promise.

It's pretty unlikely that there won't be anything you can order and modify on the menu. But there's a chance that you might not be able to make a nice meal out of it. That's okay. Order a simple salad, and enjoy a good time with friends.

5) Be Willing to Make Compromises — I'm not saying that you should compromise on your principles, but be reasonable. Maybe the salad you got was not organic, or that the olives they put on your salads are from a can.

You don't want to be the impossible client who returns every single dish and gets angry. There's a good chance that eating five black olives from a can won't kill you. In fact, there's a good chance that it will do zero damage to your body. So learn to relax a bit, and enjoy your food, even if it's not 100% perfect.

If they put a big hard-boiled egg on your salad, you could simply take it out instead of returning the entire dish and passing again for an ungrateful impossible person.

NOTE: You can still draw the line somewhere. I refuse to eat certain things, like animal products when they show up in my food.

6) Prepare for Disappointment. There's a good chance that you'll be disappointed with the food. Come prepared! I know many people who carry little jars of their own dressings when they go to restaurants, or bring a ripe avocado in their purse! I've done it and it works.

It's amazing how a simple salad of raw vegetables can be totally transformed with a healthy dressing. Nobody will be upset that you brought your own dressing, but if you go to a more upscale restaurant, you might explain to them that you're on a special diet and request that they bring you your salad with your dressing served on it.

7) Don't Trust Anyone! People love to say "yes" when in fact they can't deliver. Don't trust that the decaf you're drinking is actual decaf. You might be better off ordering something else that you know has no caffeine (decaf is almost as bad as real coffee anyway).

Don't trust that the person you talked to understood your needs even though they said they did. Often people say "yes" just to avoid confrontation and appear competent, even when they have no idea what you actually meant. That's particularly true in foreign countries.

Finally, learn to enjoy life and live it to the fullest, no matter where you are and what the circumstances are.

The Day My Life Turned Upside Down

You will not find anything to buy in this article, as I have nothing to sell you. I just wanted to share something personal today.

You may have noticed an absence of articles on my website as of late.

The reason is pretty simple. About two months ago, my dad died of a heart attack, and I've been finding it a little difficult since to write as much as I used to.

Two months ago, I was just getting back from a trip to Quebec. I had recently relocated to Vancouver after a long trip around the world with Veronica, and then spent a week in my hometown to see my family and also ship a few things back to the West Coast.

My dad had also been spending his winter in the South, and he was back from his trip. Naturally, we were both eager to meet and exchange travel stories.

I saw my dad on only two occasions during my stay, but we did spend a good amount of time together.

On my way to the airport to leave, I was stuck in traffic and even gave him a call. He told me how excited he was to come visit me in Vancouver, and sounded just as happy as he ever did.

So I flew back to Vancouver, which from Montreal is about the equivalent of flying from New York to San Francisco.

Less than 24 hours after I last talked to my dad on the phone, he died of a heart attack at home.

I found out about it the next day. My brother had tried to call me, but my phone was on silent mode. I slept longer than usual, recovering from my trip. And only around 10 a.m. did I finally check my emails.

When you find an email with the subject line "A sad news" it really catches your attention, especially when it's coming from your own brother.

When I opened the email, I read the short note that my brother had written, where he explained that our dad had died of a natural death and that he should talk to me.

Although I had always wondered "how" it would happen, I never thought it would be so soon and so unexpectedly. Because my dad did not have the healthiest lifestyle, I was expecting a sort of slow decline, but not a fatal heart attack at 63.

I immediately called my brother, and then began a whirlpool of emotions. I ended up flying back to Quebec, which felt strange because I was just there.

The following weeks were very difficult, as I was dealing with the sudden loss. Every time I would go to bed it was like an entire movie of my childhood was running before my eyes, along with a full soundtrack, and there was nothing I could do to stop it!

As time passed, we dealt with all the legalities of his death, but also gradually understood what happened to my dad on a physical and metaphysical level.

He died of a heart attack, but he had also been living a really unhealthy lifestyle, unable to quit smoking, regular drinking and never fully paying attention to his health.

It came as a shock when we discovered that he actually had called 911 that night. I even managed to obtained the recording of the conversation, and it was even more disheartening and gut wrenching to hear the last conversation my dad ever had with someone, in which he was trying to convince the 911 operator to send an ambulance right away.

Unfortunately, that conversation did not end well.

He failed to describe accurately what he was feeling, and the operator was under the wrong impression that his case was not an urgent one. She failed to pick up on the the subtleties and humanity behind the conversation, and acted very much like a computer would act if you would train it to respond to 911 calls.

It wouldn't actually surprise me that one day they will replay these humans with machines.

"If you experience chest pain, press 1…"

Well my dad was too confused by the lack of oxygen that he made inaccurate statements to the 911 operator, complaining of "hip pain," sweating and being uncomfortable, when in fact he just couldn't describe what was going on in his own body.

The operator got stuck on the "hip" part and did not pay attention to the fact that he kept calling her "sir" even though she was a woman, and that he actually did know know what was happening, but knew that it was not good.

She wouldn't send an ambulance right away, she said it would be 2-3 hours. My dad was shocked and very upset by this. So he just hung up the phone after saying by then it would be too late…

In the end he died alone, hopefully quickly.

This whole ordeal taught me a great deal, and although it's weird to say, I feel I've become a better person because of it.

Maybe there's someone in your life that you'd like to keep for as long as possible, but you don't know how to reach them and convince them to change their ways.

I felt like that with my dad, but ultimately I could not convince him to change his habits. He never really thought what he did was too bad. He ate what he wanted and did what he pleased.

We all have men in our lives that just think they are invincible, and perhaps at some unconscious level, my dad thought he was.

Just weeks before his death, he was telling me how "he felt great" and that he "did not feel his own age."

Unfortunately, everything catches up with us, and our bodies are so amazing at maintaining homeostasis that we often don't realize what's actually going on inside of us.

Here's what I would like to say to all men:

1) Accept Your Mortality, and Its Consequences

For a man to grow up into a fully mature adult, he has to accept his own mortality. Many spiritual teachings and psychology research talk about this "growing up" process for a man when he faces his inevitable demise and has to design a life worth living.

Men of all ages have found it inspiring to die for a just cause. For example:

- To die a hero

- To die after having lived a full-life in accordance to your highest values

- To die for something you believe in

Yet throughout ages, most men don't die in such an honorable way, but rather as the consequence of their bad habits and lifestyle.

It's not their fault, and we don't blame them. Yet, each man must embrace the fact that he can choose in the now how he will live his life.

Temporary pleasures are an illusion, and although they can provide some relief in the now, they don't lead to a life of fulfillment… to a life worth living until the end.

If you've lived a life worth living, when you die, a lot of people are going to grieve your passing for a long time.

Accept your mortality. Accept that you can choose to die for a just cause, but also that in most cases, the greatest honor is to live a long and happy life while caring for your loved ones, as long as you can.

2) Don't Think Your Invincible

Most men, in some way or another, think they are somewhat invincible. They might have heard some stats, such as the leading cause of death being heart disease.

Most men in fact know many other men, perhaps their parents, who died of heart disease, cancer, or some kind of preventable disease.

Yet the same men don't think that it's going to happen to them anytime soon, so that they don't have to worry about it in the present.

Did you know that one of the first symptoms of heart disease is death? Usually people find out that they have serious heart disease by dying!

That's what happened to my dad. Although, all the signs were there, for example:

- He smoked, and had never been able to quit

- He had high blood pressure, but believed he was somewhat immune to other problems

- He drank wine regularly

- His diet was relatively poor and he ate what he wanted

My dad certainly believed that he would one day die of something. But I'm certain that he wasn't planning to go at the age of 63 of a heart attack.

Yet many men, walking today, walk around, abusing their bodies every day, thinking they are invisible and that "judgement day," when they'll get to face the consequences of their unhealthy lifestyle, will only affect them in some distant future.

3) Accept That You're Not As Healthy as You Think

You probably have heard that 90% of people think they are "above average" drivers. This statistic is kind of shocking, considering that in the law of average, most people are average, some people are below average and some people are above average. Yet when it comes to driving, everybody thinks they're "above average" drivers!

Obviously, the vast majority of people are grossly overestimating their driving skills.

In health, the vast majority of people think they have a "pretty good diet."

"I eat pretty healthy" they say. Yet everybody has a different definition of healthy!

Most people think if they don't eat all deep fried food and eat a few vegetables, that it's a pretty healthy diet.

Research has shown that people underestimate the number of calories they eat in a day. Brian Wansink, who's a professor at Cornell University, wrote a book called "Mindless Eating."

In his book, he describes how people always underestimate calories, and are especially wrong when they're eating something that they think is healthy.

People may think a chicken caesar salad is healthy, when it has more fat than a burger. Or that a meal at Subway is healthy, estimating it has around 300 calories, when it fact it has close to 1300 with all the meat, cheese and mayo.

On average, Wansink found that people eat about twice as much as they think they're eating, calorie-wise.

Instead of trying to find excuses for your diet and lifestyle habits, and try to only see the positive, start by accepting that you're probably not as healthy as you could be.

For example:

- If your weight is significantly different than your weight on your last day of college, then you're probably not as healthy and fit as you think.

- If your blood pressure is significantly different than when you were in your early 20s, then you're not as healthy as you think

Accepting that you're not as healthy as you think is a first step towards improving your health. If your health declines and you're gaining weight over the years, you are NOT living a healthy lifestyle at all.

4) Be Aware of the Consequences

Many men eat burgers and fries when they go out, yet the same men think their diet is "pretty healthy" and that things like heart disease are more caused by genetics than anything else.

Face the facts!

Heart disease is mainly caused by diet and lifestyle. A meal rich in animal products and saturated fats clogs up your arteries and over time, this leads to serious heart problems. That cannot be avoided by hoping for good genetics.

5) Get Healthy Now

Every day you build your future. Your "present" is only the culmination of the actions you took, every day, for the past five or ten years.

Where do you want to be in 10 years?

If you want your "present" in 10 years to be without nasty surprises, get started today.

You may think that there's something more important to do than taking care of yourself, but no. It's now or never.

Imagine if five years ago, you had done something every day, like:

- Working out your muscles

- Practiced a new skill

- Eliminated some bad habit

- Invested some savings

- Read a book for half an hour a day

Where would you be today? You'd be much better off than you are now!

So where do you want to be five or ten years from now? It all starts with the actions you take today.

Start simple. What is the highest leverage lifestyle change that would make the most difference in your life? Maybe it's to drop some pounds, or go raw, or exercise, or quit a bad habit. Start there!

There's even a cool little iPhone app called "Streaks" where you keep track of how many days in a row you manage to keep a positive habit. Keep that streak going! Reward yourself after you've done it for 30 days in a row.

Another cool app like this is "Way of Life."

You're a man. You're not a boy.

A boy wants instant gratification, all the time. A man thinks about the future, and works everyday to build it.

Start today.

—-

My dad was not a hero. But he was the greatest dad I thought, as I often told him. He truly was instrumental in helping me become who I am, and I am forever grateful to him for that.

The best I can do in return is to take everything I've learned from him, and do something with it. But also take the things that are unique to me, that perhaps he didn't manage to develop, and make them world-class skills.

Any man can take the best he has and do something with it.

Of course, that applies to women too, but I wanted to say something for those men we all have in our lives.

They impress us. They disappoint us sometimes, they surprise us a lot. But we love them.

Yours for health and success,

Frederic Patenaude

PS: I said I wasn't going to sell something, and that's true. However I would like to remind you that I'm holding a webinar next week with Dr. X. You don't want to miss it. It's free to join:

http://MyOptInPage2.com/?pid=6421102

The day my life turned upside down

You will not find anything to buy in this article, as I have nothing to sell you. I just wanted to share something personal.

You may have noticed an absence of articles on my website.

The reason is pretty simple. About two months ago, my dad died of a heart attack, and I've been finding it a little difficult since to write as much as I used to.

Two months ago, I was just getting back from a trip to Quebec. I had recently relocated to Vancouver after a long trip around the world with Veronica, and then spent a week in my hometown to see my family and also ship a few things back to the West Coast.

My dad had also been spending his winter in the South, and he was back from his trip. Naturally, we were both eager to meet and exchange travel stories.

I saw my dad on two occasions during my stay, but we did spend a good amount of time together.

On my way to the airport, I was stuck in traffic and even gave him a call. He told me how excited he was to come visit me in Vancouver, and sounded just as happy as he ever did.

So I flew back to Vancouver, which from Montreal is about the equivalent of flying from New York to San Francisco.

Less than 24 hours after I last talked to my dad on the phone, he died of a heart attack.

I found out about it the next day. My brother had tried to call me, but my phone was on silent mode. I slept longer than usual, recovering from my trip. And only around 10 a.m. did I finally check my emails.

When you find an email with the subject line "A sad news" it really catches your attention, especially when it's coming from your own brother.

When I opened the email, I read the short note that my brother had written, where he explained that our dad had died of a natural death and that he should talk to me.

Although I had always wondered "how" it would happen, I never thought it would be so soon and so unexpectedly. Because my dad did not had the healthiest lifestyle, I was expecting a sort of slow decline, but not a fatal heart attack at 63.

I immediately called my brother, and then began a whirlpool of emotions. I ended up flying back to Quebec, which felt strange because I was just there.

The following weeks were very difficult, as I was dealing with the sudden loss. Every time I would go to bed it was like an entire movie of my childhood was running before my eyes, along with a full soundtrack, and there was nothing I could do to stop it!

As time passed, we dealt with all the legalities of someone's death, but also gradually understood what happened to my dad on a physical and metaphysical level.

He died of a heart attack, but he had also been living an unhealthy lifestyle, unable to quit smoking, and never fully paying attention to his health.

It came as a shock when we discovered that he actually had called 911 that night. I even managed to obtained the recording of the conversation, and it was even more disheartening to hear the last conversation my dad ever had with someone, in which he was trying to convince the 911 operator to send an ambulance.

Unfortunately, that conversation did not go well.

He failed to describe accurately what he was feeling, and the operator was under the wrong impression that his case was not an urgent one. She failed to pick up on the the subtleties and humanity behind the conversation, and acted very much like a computer would act if you would train it to respond to 911 calls.

It wouldn't actually surprise me that one day they will replay these humans with machines.

"If you experience chest pain, press 1…"

Well my dad was too confused by the lack of oxygen that he made inaccurate statements to the 911 operator, complaining of "hip pain," when in fact he just couldn't describe what was going on in his own body.

The operator got stuck on the "hip" part and did not pay attention to the fact that he called her "sir" even though she was a woman, and that he actually did know know what was happening, but know that it was not good.

In the end he died alone, hopefully quickly.

This whole ordeal taught me a great deal, and although it's weird to say, I feel I've become a better person because of it.

Maybe there's someone in your life that you'd like to keep for as long as possible, but you don't know how to reach them and convince them to change their ways?

I felt like that with my dad, but ultimately I could not convince him to change his habits.

We all have men in our lives that just think they are invincible, and perhaps at some unconscious level, my dad thought he was.

Just weeks before his death, he was telling me how "he felt great" and that he "did not feel his own age."

Unfortunately, everything catches up with us, and our bodies are so amazing at maintaining homeostasis that we often don't realize what's actually going on inside of them.

Here's what I would like to say to all men:

1) Accept Your Mortality, and Its Consequences

For a man to grow up into a fully mature adult, he has to accept his own mortality. Many spiritual teachings and psychology research talk about this "growing up" process for a man when he faces his inevitable demise and has to design a life worth living.

Men of all ages have found it inspiring to die for a just cause. For example:

- To die a hero

- To die after having lived a full-life in accordance to your highest values

- To die for something you believe in

Yet throughout ages, most men don't die in such an honorable way, but rather as the consequence of their bad habits and lifestyle.

It's not their fault, and we don't blame them. Yet, each man must embrace the fact that he can choose in the now how he will live his life.

Temporary pleasures are an illusion, and although they can provide some relief in the now, they don't lead to a life of fulfillment… to a life worth living until the end.

If you've lived a life worth living, when you die, a lot of people are going to grieve your passing for a long time.

Accept your mortality. Accept that you can choose to die for a just cause, but also that in most cases, the greatest honor is to live a long and happy life while caring for your loved ones, as long as you can.

2) Don't Think Your Invisible

Most men, in some way or another, think they are somewhat invincible. They might have heard some stats, such as the leading cause of death being heart disease.

Most men in fact know many other men, perhaps their parents, who died of heart disease, cancer, or some kind of preventable disease.

Yet the same men don't think that it's going to happen to them anytime soon, so that they don't have to worry about it in the present.

Did you know that one of the main symptoms of heart disease is death? Usually people find out that they have serious heart disease by dying!

That's what happened to my dad. Although, all the signs were there, for example:

- He smoked, and had never been able to quit

- He had high blood pressure, but believed he was somewhat immune to other problems

- His diet was relatively poor

My dad certainly believed that he would one day die of something. But I'm certain that he wasn't planning to go at the age of 63 of a heart attack.

Yet many men, walking today, walk around, abusing their bodies every day, thinking they are invisible and that "judgement day," when they'll get to face the consequences of their unhealthy lifestyle, will only affect them in some distant future.

3) Accept That You're Not As Healthy as You Think

You probably have heard that 90% of people think they are "above average" drivers. This statistic is kind of shocking, considering that in the law of average, most people are average, some people are below average and some people are above average. Yet when it comes to driving, everybody thinks they're "above average" drivers!

Obviously, the vast majority of people are grossly overestimating their driving skills.

In health, the vast majority of people think they have a "pretty good diet."

"I eat pretty healthy" they say. Yet everybody has a different definition of healthy!

Research has shown that people underestimate the number of calories they eat in a day. Brian Wansink, who's a professor at Cornell University, wrote a book called "Mindless Eating."

In his book, he describes how people always underestimate calories, and are especially wrong when they're eating something that they think is healthy.

People may think a salad is healthy, when it has more fat than a burger. Or that a meal at Subway is health, estimating it has around 300 calories, when it fact it has close to 1300.

On average, Wansink found that people eat about twice as much as they think they're eating, calorie-wise.

Instead of trying to find excuses for your diet and lifestyle habits, and try to only see the positive, start by accepting that you're probably not as healthy as you could be.

For example:

- If your weight is significantly different than your weight on your last day of college, than you're probably not as healthy and fit as you think.

- If your blood pressure is significantly different than when you were in your early 20s, then you're not as healthy as you think

Accepting that you're not as healthy as you think is a first step towards improving your health.

4) Be Aware of the Consequences

Many men eat burgers and fries when they go out, yet the same men think their diet is "pretty healthy" and that things like heart disease are more caused by genetics than anything else.

Face the facts!

Heart disease is mainly caused by diet and lifestyle. A meal rich in saturated fats clogs up your arteries and overtime, this leads to serious heart problems.

5) Get Healthy Now

Every day you build your future. Your "present" is only the culmination of the actions you took, every day, for the past five or ten years.

Where do you want to be in 10 years?

If you want your "present" in 10 years to be without nasty surprises, get started today.

You may think that there's something more important to do than taking care of yourself, but no. It's now or never.

Imagine if five years ago, you had done something every day, like:

- Working out your muscles

- Eliminating some bad habit

- Invested some savings

- Read a book for half an hour a day

Where would you be today? You'd be much better off than you are now!

So where do you want to be five or ten years from now? It all starts with the actions you take today.

Start simple. What is the highest leverage lifestyle change that would make the most difference in your life? Maybe it's to drop some pounds, or go raw, or exercise, or quit a bad habit. Start there!

There's even a cool little iPhone app called "Streaks" where you keep track of how many days in a row you manage to keep a positive habit. Keep that streak going! Reward yourself after you've done it for 30 days in a row.

Another cool app like this is "Way of Life."

You're a man. You're not a boy.

A boy wants instant gratification, all the time. A man thinks about the future, and works everyday to build it.

Start today.

–

My dad was not a hero. But he was the greatest dad, as I often told him. He truly was instrumental in helping me become who I am, and I am forever grateful to him for that.

The best I can do in return is to take everything I've learned from him, and do something with it. But also take the things that are unique to me, that perhaps he didn't manage to develop, and make them world-class skills.

Any man can take the best he has and do something with it.

Of course, that applies to women too, but I wanted to say something for those men we all have in our lives.

They impress us. They disappoint us sometimes, they surprise us a lot. But we love them.

Yours for health and success,

Frederic Patenaude

PS: I said I wasn't going to sell something, and that's true. However I would like to remind you that I'm holding a webinar next week with Dr. X. You don't want to miss it. It's free:

http://MyOptInPage2.com/?pid=6421102

Can Diabetics Eat a High Fruit Diet?

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease characterized by a high blood sugar (glucose) level as a result of the body either not producing enough insulin, or because body cells do not properly respond to the insulin that is produced.

Insulin and sugar

Insulin is a hormone that is released from the pancreas. The pancreas, is a small organ located near the stomach.

Part of the pancreas is made of beta cells. Beta cells release insulin into the bloodstream when sugar goes up, as it does after you eat a meal. When you eat, your food goes through a digestive process that separates sugar and glucose from the rest.

Insulin's most important job is to carry nutrients, particularly sugar, from the blood and into the body's cells. Since the sugar molecule is too big to enter the cells by itself, insulin helps it.

Sugar enables the cells to make energy. Your body uses sugar (also called carbohydrates) to help the brain think and keep muscles moving. When a cell does not see insulin, sugar cannot get into it, therefore the cell gets no energy, and it starves. Thus, the sugar remains in the blood, where it is not only useless but dangerous, as well it travels to the liver and is converted into fat.

Normal blood sugar levels range between 80 110mg/dL. The vast majority of diabetes falls under the category of either Type 1 (also known as juvenile) or Type 2 (adult onset).Type 2 accounts for about 90% of diabetics. In type 2 diabetes the body produces insulin, but the individual cells do not respond to it, they are insulin resistant.

Important facts about diabetes

· Average Americans consume 150 lbs. of sugar per year

· American Diabetics Association says that diabetes is a chronic condition that has no cure

· Type 2 diabetes has tripled in the last decade

· 1 out of 3 children born after 2000 will get diabetes

· Diabetes costs the nation $174 billion a year

· Diabetes has been announced as one of the fastest growing deadly diseases in America.

Low fat diet

It is important to manage or prevent the complications that can come from diabetes. Diabetics are at risk for a number of medical complications, including heart and kidney disease. For this reason it is important limit fat intake. Fats are the most important concern for diabetics because the management of cholesterol is done according to the amount of fat taken into the body. It has been determined that about two-thirds of the cholesterol in your body is made by the patient's liver. This is done mainly through the use of saturated fat. Avoid saturated fats and trans-fatty acids. Monounsaturated fat and Polyunsaturated oils are preferred. Reducing the consumption of saturated fats and trans-fatty acids is paramount in managing weight and cholesterol.

Consuming a diet high in sugar and fats is not only unhealthy, it makes it more difficult to manage blood sugar, whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. For diabetics, the best type of diet is a low-fat diet with complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates will cause a surge of sugar levels in the bloodstream that can cause serious problems. They should be avoided or at least taken in small quantities. Complex Carbohydrates are a much better source of energy for diabetics, such as most vegetables and fruits. These will be more slowly absorbed and digested and will therefore help to keep the patient's sugar level's stable.

What kinds of fruit should you be eating?

A diabetic patient should eat a lot of fruits and vegetables in which fiber content is very high. Such types of food lowers the requirement for insulin. This, because the fiber helps to release energy into the body's cells slowly.

When fruit and vegetables are consumed, blood sugar levels rise slowly after a period of 30 minutes. Of course, how quickly fruit will raise your blood sugar depends on such considerations as whether you eat the fruit after a high-fat meal or drink it as a glass of fruit juice on an empty stomach. You will also want to consider what your blood-sugar level is when you eat the fruit.

The total amount of carbohydrates consumed should be spread throughout the day to insure stable blood sugar levels, this applies to both simple and complex carbohydrates.

Remember, all fruit and vegetables are extremely good for you. They are high in fiber, low in fat and packed with vitamins and minerals. Research has shown that eating more can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, some cancers and digestive problems.

Low glycemic fruits

Some great fruit choices would include an average-sized apple, cherries, grapefruit, an average-sized orange pear, or plum, these fruits are considered low glycemic. Intermediate GI fruits include banana, cantaloupe, mango, papaya, or pineapple. I would recommend choosing fruits that score low on the glycemic index. Low ranking fruit would fall under 55, intermediate among 55-70 and high GI foods are above 70. It is also important to pay attention to the size of the fruit you eat — choose a small or medium-sized apple over a large one.

Fiber and diabetes

Choose pieces of fruit more often than fruit juice. Fruit juice is high in fructose (fruit sugar) and lacking the benefits of fiber it can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly. Therefore, it's best for diabetics to drink fruit juice with a meal and avoid having more than one small glass a day.

Fiber is an important component of many diabetic diets. It is found in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and peas. When choosing foods with sugar, choose fresh fruits, but do so in moderation.

Can a raw food diet could cure diabetes?

There are many studies that suggest just this, in fact. A wonderful documentary (Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days) chronicles the effects of a raw food diet done for thirty days, with 6 people suffering from diabetes. It is amazing to watch the transformation that this living food has, not only on their body, but on their outlook and quality of life.

We must keep in mind that only consuming foods that are edible with no or low heat cut out most of the starchy vegetables that can wreak havoc on blood sugar, which is why a raw food diet is wonderful for those with diabetes.

Having said this, I believe the best and safest approach is a gradual one. Starting with a low fat diet is crucial. Incorporating increasing amounts of raw foods- including raw fruits into your diet under the direct supervision of your doctor is recommended.

I truly believe that a low fat, high fiber, raw diet that includes fruit can reverse the effects of diabetes, and potentially free people from pharmaceuticals.

Bouncing To Health with Rebounding

Rebounding is not only a great cardiovascular workout, it's low impact and fun as well. Rebounding can burn the same number of calories as jogging- and rebounding does it without the huge risk of injury! The small trampoline used in rebounding provides resistance and a soft landing.

Rebounding offers relief from osteo and rheumatoid arthritis. This form of exercise is generally less stressful on the body than most other systems.  Similarly people who experience back pain can benefit from rebounding, without the negative effects of exercising on a hard surface.

NASA research has shown rebounding to be the best form of exercise to rebuild lost bone mass, common for astronauts due to the weightlessness in space. In one study, NASA called rebounding the "miracle exercise." Thus, the possibility of preventing osteoporosis, and reversing bone damage is great.

Noteworthy benefits of rebounding

The nature of rebounding with its flexible surface increases balance.


Exercise of any kind is key to fighting the negative effects of diabetes. Rebounding is an effective and gentle approach to exercise, that can be part of a healthy program to control weight.


With rebounding you can experience higher levels of energy.


Dr. Morton Walker authored a book titled "Jumping for Health" in this book he outlines thirty different anti-stress benefits of rebounding.


Increase endurance by regular rebounding exercise.


Improves muscle tone, especially in the legs, hips and core.

With all the benefits available from such a low impact aerobic work out, it's easy to see why there is a growing trend in rebounding. Any exercise that can be done by people who suffer from joint pain or asthma, as well as provide an intense cardio workout is really well worth giving a try.

I recommend purchasing your rebounder with a stability bar, and using it until you are confident. For some, this takes a day, and others two weeks or more, so go at a pace you are comfortable with. Wearing shoes is a good idea to reduce chances of injuring yourself. Also, look for a trampoline with six legs as this will make for a more stable surface.

Rebounding is so easy to get started. Begin with some light bouncing, when you are ready you can move up to jumping, walking or jogging on the rebounder. You may increase the benefits by adding different arm movements. There are so many possibilities, almost any aerobic exercise can be done on the rebounder. I like to do yoga, pilates, kick boxing and ab workouts on the rebounder. The mini trampoline really lends itself to your creativity.

Albert Carter is founder of AIR Inc. and the pioneer of rebound exercise. As a lecturer and educator, Carter has shared his findings on health and rebound exercise all over the world. He is also the designer of what is arguably the best-built, most innovative rebounders available. Although, I have also seen great reviews of the Needak rebounder. This is the one that I use. What ever rebounder you choose your sure to enjoy the fun and the health benefits.