Two very different celebrity diets are in the news this week.
On the one hand is the story of Ashton Kutcher who ended up in the hospital with pancreas issues and severe pain following a fruitarian diet which was part of his efforts to “get into character” for his role as Steve Jobs in the soon to be released movie Jobs. Steve Jobs, the visionary founder of Apple and a known fruitarian, died in October 2011 from complications of pancreatic cancer.
On the other hand is the amazing story of LA Lakers guard Kobe Bryant who is turning back the clock following a Traditional Diet all the while looking, feeling and playing better than ever at an age that most would consider to be way past his prime.
Just last month, Kobe became the first player in NBA history to score 30 or more points in six consecutive contests, this after turning 34 years of age which is rather ancient in NBA years.
Of his age defying performance, Kobe said:
“My wind feels even better. I feel like I can run all day long. A lot of that has to do with diet and being committed to it, and watching what I eat.”
Contrast this statement with what Ashton Kutcher said at the Sundance Film Festival last week about his pancreatic attack which caused him to be rushed to the hospital:
“The fruitarian diet can lead to, like, severe issues. I went to the hospital, like, two days before we started shooting the movie. I was, like, doubled over in pain. My pancreas levels were completely out of whack. It was really terrifying, considering everything.”
The fruitarian diet is a subset of veganism. It includes fruits, nuts and seeds, without animal products, vegetables and grains. While this diet might make another species of primate extremely happy (one with lots of fur), it is in no way a Traditional Diet for a human and is a pertinent example of dietary modernism gone off the deep end.
According to Dr. Kaayla Daniel, evidence suggests that excess fructose consumption as would happen with anyone following fruitarianism puts stress on the pancreas and could lead to islet cell carcinoma, the type of pancreatic cancer suffered by Jobs.
While Ashton Kutcher was discovering the dangers of an extreme modern diet, Kobe Bryant is enjoying the fruits of a Traditional one.
LA Lakers trainer Gary Vitti says that the staples of Kobe’s diet include pasture based foods like grassfed beef and eggs from free-range chickens. Kobe makes every effort to avoid anything with corn syrup and his carbohydrate consumption has been scaled down to a very moderate level.
Focusing on getting traditional fats into his diet and the wrong fats out is of prime importance to Kobe. Vitti described the dangers of following a lowfat diet and why Kobe is not following the USDA Food Pyramid – in fact, he’s following the inverse:
“When they strip the fat, they strip all the nutrients with it. We don’t necessarily want to stay away from fats, but it has to be the right kind of fat.
The current science reverses the pyramid. The base of the pyramid is on the top. We’re not telling them to just eat fat – it has to be the right kind of fat. Pasture-grazed beef and products from that; you can eat butter, but it has to be pasture-fed. Not pasteurized, pasture-fed. There’s a big difference. Milk from a pasture-fed cow, cheese from a pasture-fed cow.”
No margarine or vegetable oil tub spreads for this NBA star. Kobe Bryant who is playing better than he did in his twenties and shattering NBA records in his mid-thirties eats butter!
But not just any butter, unpasteurized (raw) butter from pastured cows just like the healthy, robust traditional Swiss culture that revered it’s deep yellow/orange butter from cows grazing on the first spring grass.
Fruitarianism v. Traditional Diet: No Contest
The extreme physical results of two healthy young men about the same age consuming two very different diets is astonishing: elite athletic performance versus a doubled over in pain trip to the hospital ER.
A modern diet like fruitarianism in no way competes with the physical vitality imparted by Traditional Diet.
Pass the raw pastured butter please!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources: Kobe Bryant’s Diet Helps Maintain an Elite Level of Play
Ashton Kutcher Experiences Pancreatic Pain Playing the Role of Steve Jobs
post-mortem report of Steve shows that diet has nothing to do with your pancreas cancer. He already had cancer before becoming a fruitarian.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2011nl/nov/jobs.htm
In 2 days have pain in the pancreas. Pffff.. Bullshit. Ashton dont follow the fruitarian diet.
I read the article you linked to. What I read is a vegan advocate making a lot of assumptions. He writes “Assume that the tumor mass…”, or something similar, more than once. He admits that he doesn’t have access to a single medical record to back his claims. Nothing in the article references a “post-mortem report” of Steve Jobs. It’s a bunch of conjecture… otherwise known as BS. Pffff…
Dear Sarah,
I stumbled across you videos and website. I am from Germany. Sorry for any mistakes, I am not a native speaker.
My experience with Americans was that they do not really care about healthy food. But I am very glad that you have shown me otherwise.
10-20 years ago nobody really care about healthy food in Germany. It was the time of these little bags from Maggie or Knorr. I don’t know if you are familiar with these. There is such a bag for nearly every dish. If you wanted to make a sauce you just need water and one of these bag.
But over time things change for my family. I started to convince my mother that there is a way to make a good sauce without any of these bags. Today nobody of us buys these little helpers anymore. They only consist spices and a lot of flavor enhancer.
Today there a many TV shows about star cooks who try to save restaurants. The problems are always the same: dirty kitchens and convenience food. That really make me angry because cooking with fresh vegetables is not a secret. It never was. You just need a good cooking book and the ability to read.
The only thing I do not support is eating meat. Studies have proven hat avoiding meat reduces the number of heart diseases:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2013/01/30/ajcn.112.044073.abstract?sid=14efb44e-e4ba-46d6-a083-825c2bd39243
We live in a rich society and we are not dependent on meat. Even if there might be parts of an animal (like liver) that might be healthy for humans it does not justify the death of a living being. There might be exceptions like in the arctic where seal meat is the only food for Inuits. But where we live we have access to any vegetable and fruit. We can also find ways to consume iron and other minerals and vitamins.
I am on the side of Peter Singer – a philosopher from Stanford University – that animals are equal to humans. To say that cows and pigs are born to be eaten by humans is the same argument the southern states had about slaw. But I am sure that all of us agree that race and gender doe not make a difference when it come to human life. But we can expand that argument to species. A cow has the same interest in living and not to suffer as any human being on earth. Many people might say that animals are not as intelligent as humans. But that is an argument on the same level as race and gender. Nobody would kill a person only because he is mentally disabled. So why would we kill a pig who has a very high intelligence? Probably because it has always been that way or because we do not really care. Most animals are not communicating their suffering like humans would do. But if we look at a little child who cannot say that she is hurt but she somehow shows us that she is in pain by showing us the wound part of the body. That is a similar behavior mammals do. They lick the wound spots, they rest, the avoid using a leg if it hurts.
That brings me to the conclusion that suffering is the only ethical reason to differentiate, not race, gender, or species. There is no reason to believe that a pig’s suffering is less valuable as a human’s suffering. Everything else is a specicistic approach and not any better as believing that black people are slaves.
I understand that people love the taste of meat but love should have limits. The desire to consume meat is short-term desire but the desire to live long and not be killed is long-term desire.
I guess if Kobe started a company, a grassfed Tbone with a bite taken out of it would be a ubiquitous symbol . . .
Phenomenal article, Sarah! I absolutely love the comparison you made here with two very famous people who are in the limelight… Totally inspired! You rock, girl!!
Hi Sarah I love your blog. Does raw butter get very hard when refrigerated. I like to be able to spread my butter on bread without having to wait for it too soften. Is safe to store raw butter in a butter crock or butter boat on the kitchen counter. I’ve a butter crock with supermarket butter with no problem. I’m thinking that since buttercrocks have been use to store butter pasteurization it should be fine.
Interestingly, Kobe is also a leader in the low top basketball shoe movement, trying to get his shoes relatively minimal, just sufficient to absorb the beating of a basketball game, but still plenty of ground feel and no ankle support in his shoes. Also quite primal.
This is great to hear. He will be a big influencer in the athletic community and will further spread to pop culture. We need more big names eating tradition diets, verse celebrities spreading fad diets.
Great article as always, Sarah!
Is there a reason why you don’t post my comments?
There are 4 fruits you can eat that will not cause a massive insulin spike:
1. Granny Smith Apples (no other apples)
2. Blackberries
3. Blueberries
4. Rasberries
Still not a great idea to OD on them but their glycemic effect is negligible compared with fruits like mangos, bananas, pineapple, etc.
Again, Sarah, I respect the heck out of you, but I cannot refrain from commenting. Eating fruit is essential as fruits are one of the most healthful, nutiritious foods on the planet. You are comparing two people from polar opposite lifestyle: An athlete with an actor who may know nothing about health. What are all the variables that affect their health? What does each of these men consume on a daily basis? What other areas of health are neglected or given attention, such as stress levels, daily pure air, sunshine, water? ANY dietary change can cause symptoms. How bad was Ashton’s diet before embarking on this? As a doctor and researcher, I have to give this a thumbs down. Also, consider Dr. Douglas Graham, a frugavore of over two decades. I had the pleasure of studying him, his dietary philosophies, and his diet plans for my doctorate. Don’t discredit foods or a diet based on one person without looking at the whole picture. Variables matter! What you have here is not science. Check out Dr. Graham online or look at his books (The 80/10/10 Diet) before jumping to conclusions. I do not necessarily agree with much of his philosophies, but he sure is doing fine on fruit. Look at the whole picture, not one example that is not even valid.
You’re seriously defending a fruitarian diet? Wow. You do realize that Sarah is not denouncing fruit, right? You should read the post again. Based on your comment, it doesn’t seem your comprehension was accurate.
Doug Graham is doing far from fine on fruit- all one needs to do is look at him (and yup, I;ve met him). He’s so aged looking, looks older than my 84 year old mother. Been on 811 RV myself- what a health disaster- took me 18 months to recover.
Fruit, as it turns out, is NOT very nutritious at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HwbY12qZcF4
I’m not against eating it, it does contain some nutrition, just not very much.