In the summer of 2009, Fred Rutman started experiencing a series of events where he would lose consciousness. He was misdiagnosed by his medical team as suffering from multiple heart attacks.

 

It turned out he wasn’t simply passing out. Fred had a rare condition called a complete heart block, which meant his heart was stopping. He was clinically dead dozens of times. Now he is chronicling the entire ordeal in his upcoming medical trauma memoir, The Summer I Died Twenty Times. 

 

Then in 2018, Fred learned about intermittent fasting and it changed his life. Today he has reversed his Type 2 diabetes and is no longer dealing with health issues such as asthma and sleep apnea. He attributes a large majority of his recovery to the power of intermittent fasting.

 

Today I’m joined by Fred, as he shares the incredible challenge of fighting to get his life back over the last 12 years. We discussed:

 

• A series of medical adventures that forced Fred into a post-work transition
• Two of the biggest lessons he learned from his experiences in medical care
• What things we should be thinking about before a health problem occurs
• How dealing with health challenges impacts your ability to bounce back
• What it really felt like emotionally to have 20 near-death experiences 
• Why Fred is doing intermittent fasting—and how it changed his life

 

Links

Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl