Frederic Patenaude read the secrets of a raw food diet. Secrets of raw food diet. Critical days turn into holidays

Frederic Patenaude

Secrets of raw food diet

Preface

Raw food diet without embellishment

Radical ideas are much more powerful than truisms. But in their power lies danger. Radical ideas should be handled as carefully as an explosive device.

A raw food diet is precisely such an “explosive” idea. It can save your life; help get rid of “incurable” diseases; make you feel consistently great; bring back the joy of life; turn your life in a completely different direction... turn it around.

But putting this idea into practice can be very difficult. Many traps await us along this path. Many have already fallen into these traps - and many more will fall if they do not understand what these traps are, how to spot them and avoid them.

Many ruin their health with an incorrect raw food diet. In most cases, this is the result of bad or stupid advice. My book is an antidote to the false information that is spreading among raw foodists, causing harm to people. It’s a pity that no one gave me such a book in 1997, when I embarked on this path.

I first realized the connection between nutrition and health at the age of 16, when my mother introduced vegetarianism to our family. She decided to change some things in her diet to lose weight. Whole grain bread, tofu, seitan and other strange things suddenly appeared on our table. The meat gradually disappeared.

My mother’s interest in nutrition quickly passed on to me - I began reading the books she bought. I was slowly becoming a vegetarian, although I didn’t call myself one yet. The final chord came a couple of years later when I read “Diet for a New America” by John Robbins. Under the influence of this book, I truly became a vegetarian - it completely convinced me of its benefits.

I became a vegetarian with joy and interest. I remember how excited I was to discover all these new products, shop for the first time in health food stores, learn to cook new dishes, and try at every opportunity to lure friends and family into my new faith. That was great! But it wasn’t vegetarianism that turned my life around—the raw food diet did.

One day I accidentally came across Herbert Shelton's little book, "Food Combinations Made Easy." She made a strong impression on me. Shelton argued that humans, like other frugivores, should eat only fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. This idea punched a wide hole in the cozy, newly built world of a vegetarian who could not imagine life without grain products. Until now I thought I had found the perfect diet, and then some guy comes along and says that I should give up not only meat and milk, but also grains, legumes, vegetable oils, salt, seasonings - and everything. boiled and processed! I felt like I was being challenged. I should find out more about all this, I thought. It can't be true!

On the same shelf where I found Shelton's works, I came across strange-looking books in French by one Albert Mosseri, and I was completely stunned to discover that he was saying the same thing! Our natural diet should consist of fruits and vegetables - plus perhaps a small amount of nuts and seeds. In addition, these natural hygiene books taught that each of us is 100% responsible for our own health. They argued that all the diseases from which we suffer come from a bad lifestyle - mostly from a bad diet - and that by returning to a simple raw diet of fruits and vegetables, with fasting if necessary, one can not only be cured of all these diseases, but also to regain excellent health, which is nothing other than our original, natural state.

So, I began to study works on natural hygiene. I remember with what feeling I looked at the cover of Mosseri’s book. There was a bowl of fruit, some chestnuts and some strange pumpkin. The design seemed so simple, but at the same time fascinating. I remember the struggle that took place in my soul. “I know this is IT, these guys say some very sensible things. But in order to achieve all this, I must completely change my life, turn it in a completely different direction, abandon all my plans! These are the thoughts that tormented a twenty-year-old Canadian guy living in Quebec. And I thought I was the only one.

Raw food diet without embellishment

Radical ideas are much more powerful than truisms. But in their power lies danger. Radical ideas should be handled as carefully as an explosive device.

So, I took it on alone... and without much success. I was rushing back and forth, my diet was a mess, and too much inside me was out of place - I didn’t know what to do about it. I needed to meet new people, get away from my hometown, and see what was happening outside of it. Once on the Internet I learned about the book by Arlin, Dini and Wolfe “The First Law of Nature - Raw Food Diet.”

This book gave me a powerful impetus to a 100% raw food diet. I contacted the authors in San Diego and made an appointment. For six months in Canada I lived on a 100% raw food diet, converted a couple of friends into raw foodists, and worked to save some money. And then he got ready for the road and boarded a 72-hour, six-stop bus flight to California.

In California, the raw food diet was in full bloom, but I noticed a lot of contradictions and confusion in it. But I was suddenly caught up in the general flow, I felt like I was part of everything that was happening. Along the way, I became fascinated by the idea that a raw food diet was the answer to everything. I believed that it would solve not only all my problems, but - ultimately - all the problems of humanity. This enthusiasm was probably necessary to motivate me to take decisive action (as is, of course, the case with many), but it, without a doubt, led me down the wrong road...

Living in California, I tried to come across as a confident enthusiast, but meanwhile my health was slowly but surely deteriorating. It was too bad for such a young guy! I felt a constant lack of energy. Often I was overcome by a cloudy heaviness in my head, an inability to concentrate, I had no strength even for ordinary, everyday things. I believed that I was going through a detoxification that would eventually end and I would achieve “heavenly health.” Unfortunately, this day never came - the “detoxification” lasted endlessly.

Little by little, my diet became increasingly dominated by seeds and fats. I used to eat six avocados a day, a bunch of nuts and seeds. To curb my cravings for cooked foods, I began to consume vegetable oils, salt, seasonings, garlic and other foods that I had previously avoided in Canada, following the precepts of natural hygiene. Since the last thing I wanted was to return to boiled milk, I invented all sorts of replacements for the dishes and products I missed, and plunged headlong into the abyss of raw food recipes. Raw cakes, raw chocolate, raw lasagna... you name it. Everything is raw, everything is natural, everything is healthy, but...

A year later I got really sick - for a whole month. But I didn’t say anything to anyone - after all, I am that great raw foodist and must be as healthy as a bull. Such illnesses did not fit with my image, so I locked myself at home and starved until I felt relief.

This incident clarified a lot for me: I realized that a raw food diet cannot be followed haphazardly. However, I still had no idea what needed to change. Eliminating nuts from the diet for a while after fasting really helped, but “heavenly health” was still a long way off. Where is this inexhaustible energy that allows you to dance all night long? Where did the fire of life go?

Radical ideas are much more powerful than truisms. But in their power lies danger. Radical ideas should be handled as carefully as an explosive device.

On our website you can download the book “The Secrets of the Raw Food Diet” by Frederic Patenaude for free and without registration in epub, fb2, pdf format, read the book online or buy the book in the online store.

Secrets of raw food diet

"The Raw Secrets": Raw Vegan; 2005

ISBN 0-9730930-0-5

Annotation

This book is called in the USA and Canada one of the most practical and “down to earth” on the topic of raw food nutrition. It can help beginners avoid fairly common mistakes, and more experienced ones can dispel doubts and unnecessary expectations on many pressing issues. Frederic Patenaude has been active in educational activities in the field of natural nutrition, natural healing and self-knowledge for more than 10 years.

Frederic Patenaude

Secrets of raw food diet

Preface

Raw food diet without embellishment

Radical ideas have much more power than truisms. But in their power lies danger. Radical ideas should be handled with the same care as an explosive device.

On top of that, I was just working on the portal Nature's First Law - in the “heart of the world raw food diet”. There I started my own newsletter on raw food diet “Just Eat An Apple” (Just Eat an Apple) and planned to start working on a book of recipes (along the way I've become a pretty good raw food cook).

During those first few years in California, during the period of strict raw food diet, I did not feel completely exhausted all the time - I thought a lot, trying to understand why the system did not work for me the way it should work, according to the books. And I was not alone: I met many people experiencing the same thing. But, blinded by the ideal of a raw food diet, we could not admit to ourselves what was really happening.

Returning to Canada in 2000, I quit the race. I started eating cooked food again and, oddly enough, I felt better. The improvement was due to the fact that I stepped back from my uncompromising position as a strict raw foodist and was able to see the raw diet as is. I saw in it a tool that can be used ineptly, or wisely. Now I just had to find out how to use it properly.

A lover of going to extremes, I rediscovered cooked food with the same thoroughness and method with which I had once mastered the raw food diet. Slowly, carefully, I tested the boiled milk on my own body. I tried bread, I tried cheese... I drank wine on dates in restaurants. I experienced what it was like to order a croissant in a Parisian café. I realized that I could no longer eat the same way and still feel “normal”, like all “normal” people - the raw food diet had changed my entire body too much. My body reacted to traditional foods with a powerful rejection. It was necessary to find some way out, and urgently, because I knew that such nutrition was not for me.

Back to square one, I was rediscovering natural hygiene. I carefully re-read Mosseri and Shelton, whose books I had studied before my trip to California. They once turned my life around and gave me the courage to leave my hometown for two and a half years with only $600 in my bank account.

Having reflected on all my experiences, this time I was able to fully comprehend the fundamental principles of health postulated by Mosseri. I saw their effect in everything that happened to me and to others. I finally understood where I was wrong and why, and with this new understanding I could now truly experience the benefits that the founders of the raw food movement had promised me.

I began to return to raw food in small steps. First, I realized that the most important thing is to eat mainly those foods that are typical for a person: fruits, vegetables and - in small quantities - nuts and seeds, and avoid grains, legumes and seasonings. Particular attention had to be paid to the feeling of hunger, to food combinations and to the amount of fats, nuts and seeds in the diet. I also find that I feel much better after eating baked root vegetables and steamed vegetables than after eating a lot of nuts and seeds or complex raw meals.

This book is a summary of the secrets I have discovered about the raw food diet. Each chapter contains a lesson, a message to myself that helped me see the whole picture again. Some chapters are imbued with a militant, fighting spirit - they reflect the internal struggle that I went through. Other chapters are more positive in tone - they reflect the insights that came to me.

I realized that the principles of a raw food diet are not so easy to put into practice. It is very easy to harm your health by eating raw food without even realizing it at first. If you are a beginner raw foodist, you can count yourself very lucky to be holding this book in your hands. There is too much bad advice floating around in the raw food world and I'm glad you found the right guide to begin with.

My main problem for many years was lack of energy. I often felt exhausted, even though I ate the best food in the world. It took me a long time to understand what was going on here. Unfortunately, the only advice I've heard from other raw foodists is, "Keep eating raw until you detox."

What kind of raw diet adherents have I met on my way - sensible people, fanatics, and all sorts of combinations of both. I recognized people who seemed to be “raw food” for many years in a row, and then suddenly started eating bread and meat again. Others swore in the name of the Raw Food Diet that they would never return to cooked food, and suddenly you caught them, without a shadow of shame, devouring hot flatbreads stuffed with beans. How could this happen?

Some people are able to quickly figure things out on their own. It takes them four days to understand what others - like me - realize only four years later. Their reason and intuition are in perfect order. But people who are restless and prone to extremes (and many of us are like that) have a hard time, especially if our only guide is a few books filled with incorrect advice. Unfortunately, this can be said about most books on raw food nutrition. I offer you this book as an explanatory textbook on raw food nutrition.

The once-famous book “Fit For Life” misled people into believing that they were practicing natural hygiene simply by combining bread or chicken with other foods. Today, raw foodists are given the false idea that they are eating healthy raw food simply because their food has not been heated.

We hear many words and ideas, but they contain few facts and little wisdom. There is an obvious lack of fundamental principles, leading to serious confusion. People who attend raw food festivals and conferences return inspired... but sometimes completely confused. Why? But because although all speakers promote a raw food diet, there is no unity among them regarding what a raw food diet means. One says that the best food is fruit, another says that fruit feeds the mold that lives inside us. One promotes food additives; the other, on the contrary, declares that they are unacceptable. One recommends water fasting; another argues that it is dangerous and advises drinking juices instead. Etc. All this controversy is caused by the fact that most raw foodists, both teachers and students, have no idea about the fundamental principles of health. The lack of fundamental principles in any science leads to its collapse. This deficiency is especially evident in the raw food movement, whose leaders cannot agree on what a raw diet should include. However, these fundamental principles really exist. They were discovered 170 years ago by natural hygiene advocates in the United States and members of the German Back to Nature movement. In this book, you will learn some of the fundamental principles of natural hygiene and see how to apply them to a raw food diet. Along the way, we will debunk some myths that exist among raw foodists. For most of us, a raw food diet is something new and unfamiliar, and therefore we cannot avoid mistakes and extremes, sometimes even terrible ones. But in the end, after all the mistakes, it’s time to clean up and put everything in order. And having started tidying up, the first thing they do is take out the trash...

For many people, the raw food diet has turned into a kind of religion, where cooked food is evil, and raw food is salvation. Many books exaggerate the benefits of a raw food diet while overlooking its practical applications. Some raw foodists even believe that any raw food is better than any cooked food. Like, all you need to do is eat raw and avoid cooked at all costs. However, many have learned the hard way that health and natural nutrition do not come down to this simple formula.

As popular wisdom says, the best is the enemy of the good. In everyday speech, we also often use the expression “can’t see the forest for the trees.” You shouldn’t strive so hard for perfection, try to become holier than the Pope - otherwise you might go crazy. Many raw foodists, myself included, have promoted what my friend Dr. Doug Graham calls the raw/not raw philosophy. This is a simplistic reduction of all principles of health to one question: “Is this food raw?” Instead of asking, “Is this good for me?” or “How does this product make my body feel?” - some raw foodists want to know only one thing: is it raw? We hear pretty much the same thing from vegans: is this food vegan?

An adherent of the raw/not raw philosophy shies away, for example, from steamed vegetables, but without hesitation he devolves a whole jar of raw almond paste in a week or even a day. He avoids anything cooked, never considering that some of his raw food habits may be more harmful to him than certain “non-raw” diets. A convinced vegan rejects all animal products, but at the same time often consumes salt, vegetable oils, sugar, industrially processed and synthetic foods - after all, all this is “vegan”!

Natural nutrition requires a more precise approach. Raw food diet is not a religion! Our eating style should not be based on a simplified mantra, but on the rational laws of physiology. Raw food diet and veganism are valid and effective systems, but not in the form in which they are sometimes practiced, especially in recent years. In this book, you'll learn how to make eating raw food energize you and breathe new life into you.

They will be interested in what you cook and even be happy to try some dishes (but definitely not all - they are not you yet, and they need to adhere to the position within themselves that they are ordinary healthy people like everyone else). But they will also get involved in the discussion without sarcasm and with sincere interest.

My mother falls into this category – thank God! She never delved deeply into my diet, believing that I would decide everything for myself sooner or later... She didn’t ask anything about what and in what food I take, because she herself did not study this issue in depth and did not get involved. Only now, after several years, she suddenly became interested in the question of hemoglobin for some reason... And not even because of deep knowledge, but simply because she remembered a familiar word)). In the first steps of my transition to live food, my mother sometimes tried something, but very carefully, that is, on the tip of a spoon. And one day my mother arrived at the dacha very hungry. For lunch we have a salad with radishes, cucumbers and lots and lots of greens from the garden, plus raw walnut mayonnaise. Mom was careful at first, and then she tried it and in the end she simply licked the plate IN THE LITERAL SENSE OF THIS WORD! I just started laughing, but she couldn’t stop licking the mayonnaise from the plate!)) After this incident, my mother began to try our dishes more and more often. My husband and I live in the country in the summer. And last year my mother simply made it a habit to eat raw food with us on the days she visited the dacha. She really liked raw food okroshka, Olivier salad, squash caviar and green salads with raw food mayonnaise. Now mom is a frequent guest at our house. She happily eats not only the usual salads such as vinaigrette and “Herring under a fur coat” with seaweed, but she also calmly tries all kinds of additions in the form of coconut flakes in salads.

So the secrets...

SECRETN1 – be patient.

If you want to smoothly calm the minds of your categorically minded relatives and then lure them into healthy eating, then the second secret is to catch their good mood and only at this moment try to gently start a conversation on the topic of health or offer them something from your diet. Everything is very smooth and at your own discretion. If you talk, try to present some real healing stories that amazed you, or funny weight loss stories with BEFORE and AFTER photos. If you treat them with food, try to offer dishes that your relatives will probably like. You don’t need to immediately make a salad from wakame seaweed or an analogue of black caviar from chia seeds with flaxseed oil - their tastes have not yet adjusted to yours, and outlandish dishes can only scare them away. But freshly squeezed juices and sweet smoothies with the addition of sesame, urbech and honey will be very useful. And raw food ice cream made from frozen bananas and berries with honey or dates has never left anyone indifferent.

Now my grandmother, who witnessed my transition to live food, is 91 years old. And every time I come to visit her, she tries to very carefully offer me something from her kitchen - old foundations and beliefs cannot be changed. She thinks that I am suffering and that this diet makes me feel bad. I tactfully refuse and this topic is closed. It's simple. You just need to wait a little and remain silent where required. And having caught her good mood, using this secret, I watched with great pleasure as she drank freshly squeezed juice or smoothie with nettles.

SECRETN3 – we catch “dead-end” questions.

Yes yes! We catch exactly the “dead-end” questions! Why in quotes? Yes, because dead-end questions only seem that way to those who ask them! And you should benefit from this! You have just begun to develop, so all those questions to which you do not know the answer should only be to your advantage. Don't know the answer? – another reason to examine this issue from all sides! Isn’t this what every person who has embarked on the path of development dreams of? Moreover, you don’t need to immediately believe the first article you come across on the Internet - it may not be true. Find several sources: watch video clips on Youtube.ru, dig deeper on the Internet, ask your friends raw foodists - let them share their experience, read the answers on forums, and so on. Yes, and try it for yourself in the end, if it’s within your power! AND ONLY THEN form your personal opinion on what is happening in your head. There is no need to use phrases such as “I read...” or “I know...” in disputes until you have tried it yourself... If you have tried it, you already know. Read means “I read here...”. There is no need to prove something you are not sure of based solely on what you read on the Internet. If you are not sure that you cannot yet understand, you can always say “I am not sure of anything yet, just like those who write this...” Proving the knowledge of other people is not the lot of raw foodists. Knowledge is what I have tried myself. And this phrase can safely stop you in an unnecessary dispute.

And don’t be shy to say “I don’t know this... and it seems that no one knows yet, since the human body has not been fully studied to confirm this...”. Scientific researchers are most often only theoreticians who have not tried all their research on themselves. Therefore, there is no need to be ashamed of the fact that you don’t know something - we are not Gods to know everything... not yet Gods)).

SECRETN4 –feed the hungry.

This secret lies in directly transferring the family to live food. I used and still use this secret with my husband and mother, and I also use it in my master classes - FEED HUNGRY PEOPLE! When a person is hungry, he is sometimes ready to eat anything just to satisfy his hunger. If you have already practiced fasting, then you know very well that after hunger a simple cabbage leaf seems to be the most delicious food on earth! And it works with everyone! When I switched my husband to a raw food diet, I did not insist on his transition, boiling him chicken or fish for lunch. But as a side dish, I made raw salads. And she did this when he came home so hungry that he didn’t have the strength to refuse. Further is better. For the first course of lunch, I started making raw borscht or okroshka first, and for the second course, when some satiety came, I gave boiled chicken or fish with the same raw salad. And after a week of such a secret that the husband simply did not notice, the chicken in the refrigerator simply spoiled - he forgot about it, already filling himself with borscht for lunch! And only after that a phrase was heard from my Husband, which I never expected to hear: “Well, since I haven’t remembered chicken for several days now, I think that I’m ready to try a raw food diet on a permanent basis...” My joy knew no bounds! And after that, my perversions began in terms of a live kitchen, so that my husband would like it all as much as possible.

And even now, when my husband has been on live nutrition for 3 years, there are foods that he simply does not like, but the benefits from them are incredible. For example, pumpkin is useful in all its forms, from juice to cake or simply in its raw form. Oleg did not want to accept it in any form. I didn’t know what to come up with anymore. The only option was to add it and shake it into the porridge so that at least he wouldn’t see it. Sometimes it rolled... And then an idea came to my mind, the very secret that we are talking about now - to feed him when he is hungry! After another fast, after a smooth transition to juices and smoothies, the first salad I made for Oleg was WITH PUMPKIN! So what do you think? Now pumpkin is one of Oleg’s favorite foods! There was also a case of overcoming hunger with tangerine juice, which Oleg hated of all juices! But since he had already decided to overcome his hunger and start drinking juices, and in the cafe where we were sitting there was only tangerine juice - there were no options! Now we prefer tangerine juice for breakfast.

This secret/trick is very good to use with children. A lot of children were transferred to live food in this way - by abstaining from food for a while, and then making all kinds of salads, raw food porridges or smoothies. Works 100%!

And in general, you should try to eat at those moments when you are really hungry - this will improve your digestion, peristalsis and mood after eating! After all, everything needs to be done FOR PLEASURE!

SECRETN5 – GRADUALLY replace foods with healthier ones!

If you have always had gingerbread cookies, cookies and sugar on your table, you DO NOT need to remove everything from the table at once and shout “THIS IS HARMFUL! FROM TODAY WE WILL EAT HONEY!” Such methods do not work with anyone - trust my experience!

We will act gradually and smoothly...

First, place a bowl of dates next to the gingerbreads and cookies, another with dried fruits and SOAKED nuts (see why all nuts need to be soaked) - ALLEGEDLY for yourself... You can also make an emphasis for those who are categorically against your changes with food, “THIS IS MINE!” and at the same time smile)). Then just watch how quickly the nuts and dried fruits disappear from the table. You can even count to understand who ate healthy foods - for fun, of course.
Further more - in a week put the honey on the table... If honey has always been on your table along with sugar, then take the next step - just “forget” to buy sugar home someday... Or first just remove it from the table... Hide it... Look at the reaction. It will be stormy - come back. And so on, according to the same scheme, everything gradually.
Then, instead of candy, make raw candy or chocolate for the table (there are many dessert recipes).
Place fruit in the bowl with the cookies - a little at first. Then more and more... Watch the reaction.
Change the side dishes! For meat or fish, do not make potatoes with pasta or rice, but make a delicious salad - (you can look at a large number of recipes). “Forget” to buy pasta or buckwheat, or just ADD some NEW salad to your meal.
At lunch, try to make one raw food dish - for example, okroshka (not to say that it is raw food) OR a side salad OR a raw food dessert. Don't do EVERYTHING at once - our methods are GRADUAL AND SMOOTH!
Surprise with unusualness - new combinations of products in raw food salads may appeal to the family. Make the salad ALLEGEDLY just for yourself, “accidentally” making more than you require, in case someone wants to try it.

SECRETN6 – teach children to cook AS EARLY POSSIBLE.

This secret is applicable for children who have already learned to hold a spoon in their hands. The sooner you perceive your children as adults, the faster they will become adults.

At the time of your transition to a raw food diet, it can be difficult with teenage children, since in adolescence they “know everything” and cannot always adequately perceive your change in diet. But here it all depends on your relationship with your children.

Main secret N6 - TEACH CHILDREN TO COOK AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE!!! First, you can teach them to simply wash vegetables and fruits by placing a bowl of warm water next to them - let them splash. Then teach simple actions: throwing everything into a blender, adding honey to a smoothie or sauce, holding an immersion blender, grinding seeds or seeds in a coffee grinder - children will happily help with cooking if you trust them. I have families of friends where children, spoiled by the attention of their mothers, happily cook and help ME in the kitchen when I come to visit them and cook something raw food. And mothers don’t believe their eyes, because it’s easier and faster for them to do everything themselves than to entrust their children with help.

In the future, the children themselves will offer you help in cooking or will cook on their own - after all, for children it really tastes better than something prepared by you.

And believe me, this SECRET works very well! The main thing is to TRUST children - they are much more mature than their parents think.

Use the secrets, experiment and watch your loved ones! If you invest a piece of useful and bright things into your relatives, they will be grateful to you. Good luck and patience to you!

HEALTH TO YOU ALL!