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This morning I was looking in my e-mail inbox and checking out all of the various email newsletters I subscribe to.

Everyone had something to say about the New Year.

And for many years, that’s what I did. I always sent you something about the New Year, close to this time of the year.

Whether it was my collection of best ideas to improve your health next year, or a raw food menu planner for New Year’s Eve, or another type of freebie.

This year, I’m not going to do any of this.

Because the best thing I can offer you… is ME.

I’ve always tried to be very open with my readers, and authentically share my discoveries, my experiences, my successes, and even my failures.

When I first got started, many years ago, my first few years on the raw food diet were terrible. In fact, my health was made *worst* from following the popular raw food programs.

When I finally found a way to make it work, I wrote my book “The Raw Secret”, which has been very popular ever since. (http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/starterkit.html)

It was 10 years ago that I started my first website and newsletter.

So you might have known me for a long time, or be new to my newsletter and website.

In either case, I feel like you’re a part of my life.

In fact, you are.

And that’s why I want to share a little bit of myself, as we’re about to enter a new yearly cycle, together.

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A Big Mistake
—————–

A little over two years ago, I made a big mistake.

Or you could say… I made a decision that was about to deeply affect the course of my life, forever.

I felt like I was on top of the world.

My business had done incredibly well, I had just spent my 30th birthday in Tahiti, and I was making huge progress in every area of my life.

At the height of all of this, I entered a romantic relationship with my business partner at the time, and together we decided to move to Costa Rica to purchase and build a massive retreat center overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

It was going to be called, the “Smiling Mango Retreat Center.”

In the space of a few weeks, after we decided to do this, we packed all of our stuff, and headed to Costa Rica with some really big dreams and two kids (hers, not mine).

In January 2007, we welcomed a big group of participants to our first live event ever, the seminar “Manifesting Health and Abundance” in Dominical, Costa Rica.

We had moved to a new country, started a new life there, started a new business, built a great community, lived near warm oceans and waterfall…

And in the space of a few short months, it was all gone.

We all moved back to Canada. The relationship was over. The community ended. The dream was shattered into tiny little pieces.

The property formerly known as Cascada Verde was back on sale… and we were back in Canada.

But on top of that, we had lived some pretty traumatic events there, and were trying to figure out what exactly happened, and what to do about it.

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The Worst Months of My Life
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This led to a series of very horrible months in my life, where I had to deal with a business breakup involving lawyers and many arguments, and was thrown back in a life that I had just dismantled and left behind not even a year ago.

For the first time in my life, I woke up with anxiety.

Why? Partly because of the stress related to the entire business breakup, the details involved in the purchase of the retreat center I had to deal with, and some post-traumatic stress related to the “events” that happened in Costa Rica.

Those “events” will never be revealed publicly — ever — but for the sake of the story let’s just say that they involved an unexpected illness that had to be dealt with in a state of emergency.

So I was back in Canada… but I had no place of my own because I had gotten rid of it when we moved to Costa Rica.

But at the same time, I had a life back in Costa Rica that I left behind, but without having picked up all of the broken pieces.

I felt desperate.

They say that everything happens for a reason.

I don’t believe that.

Go tell that to a mother who lost her child… it just doesn’t make sense that “everything” happens for a reason, at least not in the sense that people mean it, when they say this.

But what I do believe is that a lesson can be gathered from every event in life — good or bad — and that without those seemingly “bad” experiences we would not be able to gain the necessary wisdom to make the really good choices.

So a bad experience often leads to a much better one later on, if we can step back and learn the lessons.

When I came back to Costa Rica, an older and wiser friend of mine told me:

“Fred, you’re someone who plays big. Yes, you made a bad decision, and you lost this time around. But you could not have foreseen what happened. You project could have
worked… and worked in a big way, but if you had not tried it you would never have known. Some people go through life playing it safe all the time… but never achieve anything. You’re still young… just learn your lessons.”

I thought that was good advice; so I spent the rest of the year building back my life.

And although it wasn’t easy, it really allowed me to improve upon everything I had done before, and create something even better.

I launched many new successful products, and I started a great new program that I’m now really proud of, the “Raw Vegan Mentor Club”, with now over 200 members.

Last winter, I went back to Costa Rica, and realized I could live there half the year, without the hassle of managing a big retreat center, and without having to give up my life in Canada.

I could have the best of both worlds… a tropical paradise, and the “civilized” world I’m used to in North America. It was even better than the dream I had originally envisioned.

Although the place in Costa Rica is still not sold, I’ve been working closely to resolve that situation and I am confident this will be done in 2009.

But more importantly… I am happier and more in alignment with my values than I have ever been in my life.

Last summer, I took three months off to reflect on what had happened, gain a new perspective, and move on to new exciting projects.

I now feel *very* clear about what I want in my life, what I want to share with others, and what I want to bring to the world.

I did not need to go to any seminar to discover that.

I did not need to read the latest personal development book.

I just needed to focus on my strengths, and keep on being real with others and myself.

Lately I’ve been working a lot because I’m excited about some new projects I’m going to share with you next year.

In 2009, you’ll see me unveil a completely new website, launch a series of “highly-anticipated” products everyone in the raw food world has been asking me to do, and probably hear me talk at most of the major raw food events.

I feel that my path is clear.

I know where I’m going, and I have the energy to get there.

Maybe my plan is too big, and I’ll never completely get there. But who cares? I’m here to enjoy the journey.

And I can tell you… I could never be at this point in my life if I had not gone through this “bad” experience two years ago.

Maybe you’ve had a bad experience in the last few years. Maybe you’ve lost something, or came close to losing something, or maybe something even worse.

Keep the faith, because you can grow from all of these experiences, just like I did.

For over 5 years now, my life statement has been “Learn, Grow and Share”

By that I mean that I’m here on this Earth to learn as much as I can, grow in the process and *share* what I’ve learned with the world… with you.

And this life statement has never felt truer than it feels to me now.

That’s why I don’t have any “special report” or “menu planner” or series of tips for the New Year. I knew the best thing I could give you was to open myself and be real with you.

I hope that it’s more valuable to you than any freebie I could offer.

I will nonetheless wish you a most excellent, healthy and sun-filled life for 2009!

Frederic

PS: I recently started playing with Facebook. Although I was one guy to say “this is not for me” when it first came out, I’m actually having some fun with it.

So if you’d like to meet me on Facebook space, just add me as a friend. You’ll find me at:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=655807258&ref=profile

PPS: In just a few days I’m going to send a series of videos on “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement.” To make sure you receive them, go to:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wlPC6×3Oi0EhKx7NTxJlfA_3d_

PPPS: By the way, I did not give up on the dream of living in the tropics. I just changed it so it works even better. In just over a week, I’ll be back in Costa Rica for another three months.

Thanks to Dr. Atif who published this on his blog–here is some information I didn’t know about Vitamin C:

A study done in 2007 illustrated that Vitamin C does not actually prevent common colds but does reduce how long it lasts and the severity of symptoms by at least 50%. You might think that we shouldn’t even bother to take Vitamin C, if this is the case… but hold on– here are some GOOD reasons to take Vitamin C in a high quality supplement:

Vitamin C assists in healing of chapped lips. Your lips become rough, cracked and sore during winter because the cold air which lacks moisture. It usually only takes 24-48 hours to see improvement after taking Vitamin C.

Vitamin C helps boost your immune system. It promotes the creation of white blood cells as well as antibodies (the body’s infection-fighting soldiers). On top of this, due to its anti-oxidant activity, Vitamin C protects your body’s cells– so you are less prone to infections.

Vitamin C can promote weight loss weight. Cold weather makes you crave fatty, calorie-rich comfort foods. Taking Vitamin C helps you stay healthy.

Common natural sources of Vitamin C are papaya, strawberry, orange, lemon, and– get this– cauliflower.

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When I was a kid I looooved a chocolate-like concoction called Nestlé Quik… my parents never actually bought it, but my childhood friends had parents who indulged them and when I was at their place I guzzled gallons of Nestlé “chocolate milk”.

Seemed so sort of sweet and ‘wholesome’.

Then there was the emerging scandal in the ’80s when Nestlé was fingered as the most boycotted brand in the UK because of what respondents consider its “unethical use and promotion of formula feed for babies in third world countries.” Mothers who would normally have fed their infants in the traditional (and healthy) method by breastfeeding were being recruited in droves by doctors and hospital staff to feed their babies with Nestle formula. To sweeten the cause, cases of formula was sent home with infants… In the 80s in developed countries we had already seen a swing back from over-use of baby formula, but as is often the case, the less developed countries became the place of last resort to continue with making money at the cost of healthier cultural norms. Click on the picture of the breastfeeding mom to read more about actions to counter those of the baby formula ‘pushers’.

In 2002, Swiss-based Nestlé — producer of Nescafé coffee, Perrier and Vittel mineral waters, Friskies pet food, Carnation milk, Maggi soups, Smarties, Kit Kat, After Eight and Polo mints, Buitoni Pasta, Libby’s fruit juices and Opti-Free contact lenses, among many other internationally famous brands — managed to bring worldwide infamy on itself by pursuing a compensation claim from Ethiopia at a time when that impoverished northeast African country was experiencing its worst famine in 20 years.

I was in the Philippines three years ago and was amazed that in one Mall’s food store (a supermarket), there was aisle upon aisle of sugar and milk-laden Nestlé products. They appeared to have at least a minor monopoly on processed dairy foods.

This Fall I had an opportunity to see the huge abandoned Nestlé factory in Chesterton, Ontario because someone I know had been considering leasing space for a business in this giant complex. There was even a massive tower that had figured, somehow, in processing instant coffee (remember Nescafé? Maybe they still make it? I’m happy to say that Nescafé was responsible for turning me off coffee forever– I hated the way people’s breath smelled when they had drunk the stuff, it made me nauseated– I thought it WAS coffee in my prairie childhood away from the “real” stuff). When I saw the Nestlé factory I felt twinges of anger against multinationals in general– come in, get hundreds of people dependent on your jobs, create a wobbly infrastructure in a community, and then, when your greed-needs have been met, leave.

And the latest debacle with Nestlé involves their international campaign to promote the use of bottled water in a time when water resources are strained and diminished, and not helped by bottled water empires such as theirs. Nestlé has taken out big ads in which they (falsely) blow their horns, commending themselves for a commitment for a successful promotion of recycling. While the ad claims that “97% of Canadians” recycle their plastic bottles, there is no substantiation of this. Their own corporate report states that “today almost all beverage bottles are recyclable, but most are not recycled.” Look in detail at other falsehoods in this ad here.

If you want to know what is actually happening in Canada to counter this continued travesty by Nestlé (and other bottled water magnates), go here to read about the “greenwashing” and what role you can play to turn this around.

I live in an area where the drinking water has been ‘at risk’ of contamination. I have discovered a simple, healthy alternative to bottled water that doesn’t put my family or environment in more trouble.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sociofluid/

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Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting a young family at our home while the Dad (of 3+ children– the one-more to arrive on Christmas Day) did a Natural Health presentation at our Church.

One of the not-so-good-for-you “foods” he mentioned I had never heard of being a ‘toxin’. Can you guess what it is? Here are the symptoms if you should take in as little as a scant quarter teaspoon of this ’spice’:

“The symptoms generally come in the course of one to six hours, and consist in drowsiness passing into stupor, from which the patient sometimes can be aroused with difficulty, and then is unable to recognize his surroundings, sees double and gives other evidences of cerebral depression, although sometimes he may be able to answer questions. Delirium is frequently present before the stage of stupor, or the patient upon being aroused, may be delirious for a time….Sometimes the first symptom is burning pain in the stomach.”

Go here to read more.