Our exclusive interview with Dr Fred Bisci

Clinical nutrtionist Dr Fred Bisci has been following a raw food diet for over 40 years. At 80 years of age, he is in peak health. During his long career he has helped over 35,000 people through lifestyle transformations and, in many cases, serious diseases. Here he talks to Sarah Best about his approach to optimum wellness - and offers advice for avoiding the pitfalls commonly encountered by those who go raw. This is an extended excerpt of the interview which appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of Get Fresh! magazine.  

Although you’ve personally been eating 100% raw for over 40 years, you believe that many people will do better eating high raw rather than all raw. Could you explain why?

People really have to know what they’re doing when they’re 100% raw long term. I’ve been observing this scene for 60 years and I’ve seen many people get into the raw diet where it turned out to be a disaster. A lot of the people who come to me are people who tried
certain approaches to the raw diet and ran into serious problems.

Many people who go all raw start out feeling very well the first five or six years, but don’t do well long term. When people come to see me the first thing I ask is what can they realistically commit to on the raw food lifestyle and whether they have had a recent blood test. If not, I recommend that they get a complete blood test, including nutrient profile, from their doctor.

I have seen as the years go on with a vegan diet you have to watch out for vitamin B12 deficiency, and if you live in a cold climate, you could run into a vitamin D deficiency. Being 100% raw in a cold climate is very different from being 100% raw in a tropical climate. It’s also quite common for long-term raw vegans to be deficient in trace minerals.

There are a lot of vulnerable people out there, and some of those who are advising others are not factoring in emotional-psychological health. For example, I recently saw a young person with thyroid and adrenal problems and serious emotional issues. That person had been following someone else’s raw food programme but shouldn’t have been eating all raw.

Also, people on 100% raw have to be aware of all the variables of their overall lifestyle. For example, I’ve had a couple of bad accidents and I have to be very careful of general anaesthetics. The cleaner you are, the higher the chance you’ll have a reaction to any manmade chemicals introduced into your body. In hospitals, they don’t understand this. You can try to make them aware of it, but if you’re in danger they’re going to do what they have to do.

I don’t want anyone to misunderstand me. The raw vegan diet – for those who do it correctly, and long term – can produce optimal results. There are no two ways about it. But changing your diet and lifestyle so you leave out all processed food is fantastic, too. You don’t need to eat 100% raw vegan to live a long, healthy life. Most of my clients follow my “Intermediate Level lifestyle” which is 80% raw.

So you’re not in the “cooked food is poison” camp…

Many of the people I’ve helped got their health back while eating a moderate amount of cooked food. As long as it’s clean, they do very well. The biggest positive of the raw food diet is that you’re leaving out everything that should be left out. That’s the key. But if you’re eating 50% raw, no processed food and everything in its highest quality, you’ll have a tremendous recovery in your health. I’ve seen so many people do it this way, but you have to look at each individual. If someone wants to go 100% raw, that’s fantastic. If they want to go 50%, 80% or 90% raw and eat some clean cooked food, that’s great too.

A lot of people come to me while they’re doing chemotherapy. I can’t tell them to stop – that’s between them and their doctor. Being that I am not a medical doctor, I cannot legally diagnose or prescribe any treatment. With that being said, I have seen many miraculous
recoveries. I’ve had many people come to see me at the last stage of everything. My goal is to reach the people who never want to get to that place!

Please tell us more about your “Intermediate Level Lifestyle”.

This programme takes everything into consideration, including what works for you psychologically, practically and socially. It’s approximately 80% raw and 100% whole foods. It can be varied according to people’s preferences: for example, vegan or a moderate amount of non vegan foods – I give people many, many options. I encourage people to go vegan if they can, but some people don’t want to be vegan. In many cases, that’s fine as long as they eat only “clean” animal protein, and they eat it in moderation as part of a healthy lifestyle. Do they need the animal protein? No – people would be better off supplementing any missing nutrients that are indicated than eating animal protein.

My approach is not dogmatic. I make it doable so that it works. I have to meet people where they’re at, and no two people are the same. There are so many variables – that’s the whole key. It’s not just about the food. That’s very important but there are so many other factors. You can’t look at two people and treat them as if they’re the same, but many teachers seem to think their experience is the same as everyone else’s.

A persistent concern in the raw food arena is that there is so little consensus among experts about what a healthy raw diet looks like. On top of that, there is the concern that some of those promoting their particular version of the raw diet may not in fact be eating that diet themselves.

I joke that I’d like to take a polygraph machine to the next raw conference I go to! There are people telling others how to do this when they’ve never done it themselves. They might be 90% raw but saying they’re 100% raw and telling others to be this way – 90% raw and 100% raw are two very different things.

There are also many out there telling others their philosophy and their anecdotal stories about how to be raw vegan without understanding all the variables that apply to the physiology and chemistry of the human body. I don’t want to put anyone down but I wish they wouldn’t do it. In my opinion, some people are even creating polarity just so they can differentiate themselves in the market.

Because of the interest in raw food we also have people with no clinical experience who’ve only been experimenting with this lifestyle for a short time who have developed an internet presence, and others are listening to them.

So people shouldn’t just follow blindly. We need to get away from abstract science and focus on real science. We have to approach this with as much real science as we have available.

Buy the Spring issue to read the rest of the interview and find out Dr Bisci's views on high-fruit diets and fasting, his top 11 tips for a long and healthy life, and more.

Go here to find out what else is in this issue, and/or to order it. 

Dr Bisci is available for consultations, both at his Staten Island practice and by telephone. For more information visit fredbisci4health.com or ring (001) 914-619-5397.

Comments

[Evelyn_Parham]

This is a great interview with Dr. Bisci. I learned a lot and some of what he said I was already thinking along those lines. Glad to know I'm in the right ballpark.

Thanks for sharing!

[Natalie Sen N.D. Dip Ac]

I agree with Dr Fred Bisci,
I am a Naturopath and see that my patients all react differntly on raw foods. But it is amazing for people with disease and ill health. I see A lot of raw foodist out there looking very pale & not well not a good advert for being raw. People thinking of going raw should contact a practitioner like Dr Fred or some one like me self as we are trained in anatomy and physiology. A raw food diet has to be taken seriousIy,I go raw in spring to autum and in the winter months I am 90% raw. Also After any one being on a raw food diet for a year or two Dr Fred is correct a blood test is a very good idea but prevention is better then cure!

Thanks!

[Max Tuck]

What a stunning example of the living foods lifestyle Dr Fred is. I would have liked an example of what exactly he eats, but it certainly sounds as though he is not of the high fruit predisposition that is currently alienating so many people.

[Susan Laing]

I currently work as a Naturopathic Iridologist and I also work with the 5 Chinese Elements. I could nt agree more with the wise words of Dr Fred Bisci. It is a bout treating people where they are at. And we can t forget about the emotional isssues too aswell as the sometimes necessary blood tests. I have seen a few 100% raw vegan foodists and they are not healthy. Just because someone is a 100% raw does not mean to say they are healthy. Idont think you can go wrong if you go to see someone who has knowledge in nutrition and who has experience of eating the raw diet too. This is one of the best articles I have read! Thank you for sharing

[Raw Food Recipes Online]

I agree there is a lot of misleading information. Many raw food enthusiasts out there and that's good but sometimes they seem to know it all. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for the other. It's a journey. Thank you for sharing Fred Bisci's invaluable insight.
Matt

[Lilly]

The vitamin D factors for people of colour is key. Fred highlights that wisely. I became very healthy going raw, but ended up with a vitamin D deficiency (in good old, too cold not to wear coats this winter, Blighty.) I'm now having to mop up a strange development associated with the deficiency. Raw vegan is good with sound knowledge. The trouble is, some health educators are really only trained in a basic, superficial way. So what they pass on is for the mass and is not tailored for individuals. This can be dangerous. However, I do believe a living (high enzyme foods...sprouts etc) raw food, excercise and meditation lifestyle is a good thing for most people...so long as they don't become terribly depressed at having to give up their cultural 'share' foods. I guess it's down to percentages and what needs to be achieved.

[jraw]

this actually kind of freaked me out a little bit...don't get me wrong, i loved the article and him, but...
i'm newly raw i jumped in, 100% a couple months ago. still detoxing (jumping in may not have been the best choice) but getting there. what he said about anasthetic scared me. i love being raw and have had no interest in introducing cooked foods back into my diet but the thought that i could run into trouble if i find myself in an emergency situation really scares me.

[R. Churches]

I had a friend whose mother had a tumor and while she did the diet she was great. I decided to make some changes and finally after many years to simply not eat starches with animal protein cleaned up my skin. I suffered terribly, have scars too. As a result I have reduced my meats tremendously, but have not been able to completely. Anyone have an email for the good doctor?