Is Man healthier eating a varied Diet, or a limited Diet? Bsisco started a topic 'Eating only Nuts' that got me to thinking. When a few Health Professionals were asked what Food they would choose, if they had to 'Eat One Food Forever', their responses were interesting.

Olives
Apples
Grapes (including the seeds and leafs)
Durian
Organic Watermelon (the whole thing)

For myself, I would add Green Juice.
Does anyone here have a suggestion?......WY



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2011 12:41AM by WheatgrassYogi.

At the moment, if I had to choose one food only, that would have to be golden kiwi fruit!

Over the 8 years of my experiments with raw, I learned that the quality and variety of foods is crucial, for the best possible results in terms of feeling comfortable, staying healthy, staying raw and looking great. By variety I mean being open to my body senses and trying tasting different foods, and following the taste to make sure that its needs are met. Note that mono-eating is not contradicted in this meaning.

Recently, after long time of being focused on fruit predominantly, I embarked on a Green Experiment in which I include good amount of greens daily. Interestingly, I do observe some changes.


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rawgosia Wrote:
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> Recently, after long time of being focused on
> fruit predominantly, I embarked on a Green
> Experiment in which I include good amount of
> greens daily.
That's an interesting experiment. I'll follow your Blog to keep up with it. Perhaps you will post another picture upon completion of the experiment, but then again, the experiment may not end, and just become part of your daily diet......WY

I am curious of where it will lead it. Indeed, it could become a more regular part of my diet!


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Not that i ever would as varied diet is the only healthy way to go in my opinion. Restricting yourself to a few foods is likely to result in deficiencies and in turn health problems.

If i could only eat one food it would likely be some form of pollen pending i wasnt allergic or seaweed. Seaweed is a great source of amino acids(protein) by weight, rich in B vitamins, a good source of vitamins A and C, the most mineral dense food we have access too and not bad as a source of fat either.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

It depends on the season. Currently, I cannot get enough of squashy-ripe red farm plums. Nummy nummy nummy!

I would never eat only one thing for an extended period of time, unless cleansing, as THeStOrm said

And I cannot get enough fruit. It's pretty much all I want to eat right now

Also, I do agree with the statements above... even though this is working for now, I believe variety is best for the long term.

I think my choice would be melon(s) or perhaps grapes, or bannanas. If I had to choose only one item, or it that was all that was available. Those seem to have within them such a variety of nutrients, plus have enough calories to sustain energy demands.

If it were nuts, there probably would be too much fats. Greens, not enough calories. Young coconut might work.

peaches,peaches and peaches

A question about mono diets... is it a suggested way to start out raw or i should say restart on raw? I don't know if they help or hurt the transition to raw and detox. I thought someone said that mono diets cause a very rapid detoxification and healing. i guess it could be good, or bad depending on your situation? What can someone expect, say if they do bannanas only or melons only? I am considering this as a start, but I don't know if its good.

I cant see any reason why eating only bananas or melons even for a short period of time is a good idea. Your missing out on so many valuable and essential nutrients and phyto-nutrients when you could have a broad scope of them via eating a variety of foods thus better benefits.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

Mislu,

This video is pertinent to your query:

[www.youtube.com]

I could never eat just one food. If I had to choose I'd probably say avocados, just because I'd rather die than live without them!

Corathegreen Wrote:
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> I could never eat just one food.
Yes, forever is a long time, but there are many documented cases of people living on only one food for extended periods of time. I particularly remember Oranges......WY

Papayas.

But I don't believe in this mono-fasting thing. I once did. Not that it's not possible, just that it's not beneficial, imo.

Omega3,
Why do you think its not beneficial? I find the concept very curious and interesting, especially after reading about mono diets by Anne Osbourne, a long time fruitarian from 'down under'. She has an interesting writing style. Her experience with mono diets didn't really make many claims, and therefore little to examine or disagree with. Yet, there is an appeal and an interest generated.

I guess I must be driving my partner nuts. I have been buying a lot of melons, and my partner already has said 'aren't you sick of melon?' I said he didn't have to eat them. We are eating plenty of other things, so I don't quite understand the comment. But personally I am kind of preparing to do a melon mono diet, he keeps saying hes leaving in a few weeks, I will see. I might even comment on the board about my observations if I do actually do it.

Do you guys mean mono eating a food at the one time or basing your diet around one food?

If its the latter then id have to agree its not a healthy concept at all, multiple nutrient deficiencies and health problems would pop up over time. Even short term i cant see any view why it would be healthy.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

Mono-eating only Fruit is the way Anne Osborne does it. She very seldom eats any Greens...I mean Zip, Zilch, Nada, Nil, Nix, Void.
Take a look......WY

[www.youtube.com]

I did try eating mostly fruit for 3 months but I got so much energy that I didn't know what to do. I think you have to exercise a lot on a fruit diet.

I'll definitely do a month just eating mangoes.This is one of my goals now.
First because it's one of my favorite fruit, and contain Vitamin A ( of which Beta-Carotene is a precursor and more usable), Vitamins C & E and Selenium.

Mangoes also contain B-complex (anti-stress) vitamins, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, selenium, Folic acid (folate), and zinc.

Mangoes are very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. Plus are a good source of dietary fiber. They also contain some protein and amino acids, about 2% of your daily recommended amount.
It is one of the most amazing fruit in my opinion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2011 06:53PM by cy.

Ann, understand has been fruitarian for a very long time, I am sure her system probably uptakes and stores nutrients very efficiently. Most certainly better than the average person eating sad.

PL-there are two mono diet types, per meal, and one food all the time. For example one might eat only pears one meal, then melon another meal, and celery for a third meal. Greatly simplifies eating for the most part. I think it would also eliminate any possible bad food combinations. Although most conventional nutritionists don't believe in bad food combinations, unless its really, really obviously bad.

The second type is say eating only pears for weeks at a time, or melons only for weeks or months. Curious, alot of people would predict bad results, but ann states that is what she feels the best on. I recall her eating a mono melon diet for six months. Radical concept, but then again for the average person eating only raw vegan foods in general is a radical concept.

When you consider that fruit comes into season usually just for a short time, I think "serial mono eating" where you eat a lot of something just for a short time, is totally normal and natural, but I wouldn't eat just one thing forever.

one criticism of serial mono eating is that often more than one fruit or food is available in an area at the same time. So potentially you could have multiple foods in a single meal.

Ahh yeah i mono eat most of my fruit if im honest minus smoothies. I feel it digests better mono when i eat it whole. Ive never really cared for the whole fruit salad type concept of loads of different fruit as i don't feel it digests as good as eating one type at a time.

I still cant see how eating any one food for a month is a good idea though, seems dangerous from a nutrition point of view. Melons are hardly the most rounded food either.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

Yeah, now that I think about it, apart from smoothies, I don't eat a variety of fruits in every fruit meal: it's plums, or kiwi fruit, or Navel oranges, etc. Hmmmmmmm . . .

Powerlifter,
What then is youridea of a safe eating pattern, and rounded nutritional food?

Mislu Wrote:
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> Powerlifter,
> What then is youridea of a safe eating pattern,
> and rounded nutritional food?

Just a variety of different foods in my opinion, mainly focusing on fresh fruit and vegetables whether raw or not. There are quite alot of "complete" foods that i enjoy daily such as various pollens, seaweeds etc, but im still of the thought that it isn't healthy living off one food alone no matter how nutrient dense/complete it is thought to be.

You'd miss quite a few nutrients with eating just melons alone for example, not only that but you want as large a spectrum of different colours as possible when it comes to fruits and vegetables, as they have different phyto-nutrients which in turn have different health benefits.

So yeah a variety of foods i would say keeps you safe, it makes sure your getting as good a scope as possible of different nutrients and phyto-nutrients. Obviously eating sufficient calories is essential also to stay safe. Is it possible to live off the one food in the short term?, probably but i still don't think its healthy. You run some of these sample menus where people are only eating melons or bananas and dates for months at a time and they get very little essential fatty acids and other essential minerals/some vitamins(being low). Its the greens and the small amounts of nuts that balance out these type of diets in my opinion.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2011 09:11PM by powerlifer.

Good ideas. I have heard of this special color diet, where you eat foods of one particular color per day. The idea is that you have efficient upate of phyto nutrients, and you go through the full spectrum in a week.

I tried that and its kind of strange, even when you are eating different foods I still found myself craving 'red' on a 'green' day, or on a 'white' day. That was the strangest thing, even though it might have been the same fruit or vegetable of a different color.

I agree with powerlifer mostly.

I do think that eating one type of food - for example if you happen to be out picking mulberries or whatever - is just fine whenever that feels comfortable.

If it doesn't feel comfortable, then that's not just fine. Forcing oneself to do a mono thing is never healthy IMO, because it often means your body is trying to tell you that you're missing something. Not every craving is due to old bad habits! If we crave a healthy raw food, it's often because we should be eating it!

Regarding the Anne Osborne video, I happen to not believe in the viability of a fruitarian diet that doesn't include nuts or seeds. Technically, a fruitarian diet does include nuts and seeds, because nuts are technically fruits, and seeds are parts of fruits. I don't believe anyone can survive for an extended length of time on a fruitarian diet that doesn't include nuts and seeds. Living in Hawaii, especially in Puna on the Big Island, allows me to be aware of many people who have tried.

I only know of one person who was able to stick to a fruitarian diet without nuts or seeds. He insisted that his emaciated body would begin to develop again after his detox was over. He was a young guy, and he had all the fruit he could eat, but he died of malnutrition. (Willpower isn't always so great, if it's applied to the wrong thing.)

For those who have read Anne Osborne's book: does she specifically say that she never eats nuts or seeds? Does she say whether she eats the seeds when she eats watermelon, etc.?

People often say that Essie Honiball was a "fruitarian". The truth, according to her book, was that she ate fruits and a small quantity of nuts and seeds - all foods that are technically fruitarian.

I think a diet of fruits, nuts, seeds, seaweed, and regularly-supplemented B12 could possibly be viable and healthy. (This might be called a "treefood seafood" diet - :p). The diet could include lots of nutrient-dense stuff, like hemp seed/hemp powder for example.

Can anyone think of any nutrient that would be particularly difficult to get?

I read somewhere that if your digestive system is geared to a mono food, its easier to digest, but we need variety too, so moving to another area where there is different mono food is the way to go. Sounds logical to me anyway.

What do you all think?

I've heard of the grape cure that is supposed to be eating as many grapes as you want for 30 days which is supposed to cure most disease according to the author of the book, but have no idea if it works. But this type of thing I imagine is supposed to be temporary to cleanse the body and allow it to heal - not a long term eating habit.