The updated and expanded “The Raw Secrets,” is a fantastic book. I love that he included a chapter on the Vital Law of Accommodation. He’s also included a new bonus book “Optimal Breathing,” by breathing expert and raw foodist Mike White. I can’t wait to read that book as well.
Fred has added lots of new, and important information, to the updated version of his book.
What I’ve read so far is information that will show you the right and natural way to eat a raw food diet. Fred shows you many of the pitfalls new and experienced raw foodists run into, on their path to radiant health.
The chapter on detoxification was a little on the light side. I would have liked a little more information on that subject. But what he wrote about it was quite good. So far this book has been excellent and the best guide by a current writer on how to do an Optimal Raw Food Diet.
I’m going to mine some of the golden nuggets in the book. Stuff about what happens when you eat too much fat. What our closest primate relatives eat. What percentage of the Great Apes diet is meat, etc?
So What are These Raw Secrets?
I’m going to let you in on some of the secrets behind Frederic Patenaude ‘s book “Raw Secrets.” I will give you some of the concepts he covers and add my own commentary.
Keep in mind that the conclusions I draw may not be exactly the same as Fred’s. While I am drawing from his book, I’m also including my own information and experiences. So what I write below isn’t necessarily purely from Fred’s book unless it is something quoted directly from the book. I just want to let you know that up front.
Introduction: In the Raw
In this chapter Fred shares his experiences with the raw food diet. He tells about his ups and downs. It’s a very interesting story that he has to tell. He had many problems eating raw and he shows you in the book, how he eventually solved them.
Below is a quote from his introduction that gives you an idea of the purpose of the book. From pg 11.
“Radical ideas have much more power than common advice. But in their power lies danger. Like an explosive charge, radical ideas must be handled carefully.
The raw vegan diet is such an idea. It can save your life. It can help banish “incurable” conditions. It can help you feel great all the time. It can give back your joy of living. It can give an entirely different direction to your life or turn it upside down. But it s p ractical application may be difficult. Pitfalls line the path of raw eating. Many people have fallen into them – and they will continue falling into them until they know what these pitfalls are and how to spot them.
Some people are damaging their health by eating the raw diet incorrectly. Mostly, this is because they received poor or confusing advice. This book is my antidote to the false information that is being spread in the raw food movement, hurting people as it goes. This is the book I wish someone had handed to me six years ago when I started on thi s p ath. (My emphasis) I intend it not as an introductory book on the subject, but rather as a book for those who have some knowledge of and interest in the raw diet.”
Why Should we Base our Diet Upon what Animals Eat?
I recently had someone say to me, “Why should we base our diet upon what animals eat? This person was thinking that we as humans are superior to animals and so he believed there wasn’t a good reason for comparing us to animals.
Actually, we should base our diet upon what our natural diet should really be. One of the easiest ways to determine that is to compare ourselves to our closest biological relatives the bonobo’s and then the chimpanzees.
The problem with many people is that they attribute all the childhood sicknesses and diseases that people get as they age, as being the normal way of living. Therefore, why should we compare ourselves to animals if what we are doing is just fine?
It’s a sad statement but, being sick is normal for most people. They have no conception of the happy, energized and disease free life they can be living.
Taking antidepressants and being obese is not healthy. But some people think that is normal and even argue that they are healthy by eating this way. They think they are completely normal and healthy with conditions such as these.
I’ve also come to realize that people’s brains on a cooked diet often do not function at their peak level of effectiveness. They are often irrational, I know I certainly was. Cooked food got me into a depression for six and a half years. So this can explain the so-called logic of some cooked eaters.
What most people don’t realize is that human diets vary tremendously and the health results vary tremendously as well. We have the capability of eating many kinds of foods without dropping dead immediately, because of this many people think they are omnivores.
However we also know that cows eat grass but in this day and age they are fed dead cow meat as well. Does that now make them omnivores? I think not.
Humans have actually been classified as frugivorous or a primarily (not exclusively) fruit eating species. Humans are also classified as primates. Wouldn’t it make sense that we would eat a diet similar to other primates?
The closest primate to us is the bonobo which has 99% the same DNA as humans. They eat primarily fruit and eat less than 1% of their diet from animal products and they eat very little in the way of nuts and seeds.
Wild animals don’t get the diseases of man. Sure they can get sick but if they eat their wild diet, their health and strength is superior to humans. It isn’t normal to get a cold three or four times a year. It isn’t normal to get arthritis. It isn’t normal to have asthma or allergies. All of these health conditions and many more, are directly related to a poor diet.
But the average person doesn’t realize that. So when I say that we should compare our diet to that of primates that are closest to us in design, it doesn’t make sense to their egotistical minds. Most people have next to no knowledge of nutrition and even less about raw food nutrition.
They are living in a delusion as to why their health is deteriorating. They think they are getting old. But we should be active, happy and living life to it’s fullest till our last days. Ageing is really the accelerated disease process, it doesn’t have to be this way.
