I adore fruit and eat loads of it. My question is this: many people talk about greens as being absolutely essential to raw food success or so it would seem. Green smoothies are revered, wheatgrass very important etc. etc.

Presumably a fruit only diet does not have these greens included and presumably a fruit only diet is just as healthy, judging by some of the 'posters' on this board.

Could people expand a little on this for me

Thank you
Philippa

Yes. An all fruit diet is usually not something that is chosen (in my case/experience) so much as evolved into. It is then regarded as an ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY tool to reach one's goals. Then it becomes a no-brainer. In my case I transitioned to all-fruit after eating all raw for many years. Now I have eaten this way for the past 2 or 3 years. It's all good. It very convenient for me....and I'm the healthiest and happiest guy I know.

-Fruit is very cleansing. Those that try to 'arbitrarily' switch overnight to a fruit diet because they read about it or something...might often feel ungrounded...or spacey....etc. Those that fall 'off the wagon' or experience acute crisis detox because they changed too quickly...and were not very clean internally....then blame fruit for 'causing problems' or for making them 'deficient' in something.

-A quote: No one EVER suffers from deficiency...but rather an acute suffocation and poisoning due to inner and outer toxicity.

-In any event, you can certainly slowly increase YOUR intake of fresh fruit...and see how you feel! My own experience/observation is that the long-term folks I know who have evolved to eat this way are some of the most wonderfully healthy people I know.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I guess I am proof, and Anne at iheartfruit.com who has done this 25 plus years, that greens are not needed.

Greens being absolutely essential is debatable as you can see. :O)

Greens that can be considered also are cucumber, zucchini, broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, tomato, etc which I think most people don't expect.

YES I ATE AN AVOCADO WITH RIPE PUDDING LIKE PERSIMMON YESTERDAY, IS THAT A GREEN? LOL I LOVE CUCUMBER, JUST LIKE THAT, I WSH THE WAX OFF FIRST THOUGH. EVEN ORGANIC HAS WAX

It is very hard to find an animal in nature on a fruit only diet. 25 years is not enough, we are supposed to live 100 years or more.

It can be done (provided you supplement with B12 and get sun or D2). But, you'd have to emphasize the non sweet ones (summer squash, tomato, cucumber) to get enough minerals and protein and possibly EFAs too. And it would take about 5 kg of food per day (11 lbs or so) for an active woman or average not-so-active man.

Zucchini juice does not taste good. But cuke and tomato, I can do a lot of those.

Flipperjan, I think it depends on

1 The type of fruit one eats. Some fruits are better balanced than others when it comes to minerals for example. Bananas have a very low calcium/phosphor ratio for example, about 1:4, so they definitely need to be supplemented with other foods with more of the missing minerals, like calcium and sodium, to provide some balance. calcium/phosphor should be 2:1 or 1.5:1

2 Organic fruits will have more nutrients and minerals than non-organic. Non-organic fruits may even be irradiated, which makes them totally useless, because irradiation destroys all the vitamins for example, even of the foods which are taken with it in the same meal.

3 The ripeness of fruit. Unripe fruits are acid forming, so that means that calcium will be taken from the bones to compensate for that. Green leafy vegetables are the best source of assimilable calcium. Some greens also provide sodium (like spinach, chard, dandelion leaves, kale, celery, etc), necessary to balance the high load of potassium from many of the fruits.

Generally one needs a lot of greens to add calcium and sodium especially, and no doubt a number of micro-nutrients.

Greenpower

Visit my website and my blog!

[www.natureshealingsecrets.com] (closed on Sundays)

Where does the idea come from that a fruitarian eats ONLY fruit? I've read that 75% fruit is the level that qualifies a diet to be fruitarian. That would put a great many people in the raw food world in the catagory of fruitarian.

I agree with David about the issues that arise with eating all fruit before their body/mind/spirit are ready for it. Most people coming from SAD will really need greens at first, because most people are undernourished when it comes to the minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients found in greens. I know I certainly was. But as I do the raw vegan diet more and more, at times I feel saturated with greens, and my body doesn't want much of them. So there are times where I will go an entire week with no greens. The longest I ever went without greens was 3 weeks early in my raw journey when I was vacationing in Thailand, and I was enjoying the incredible tropical fruit there.

I think that one can evolve to a fruit only diet given the right conditions. One condition is that one's life needs to be working at every level. This means being very present to one's life, and finding joy in every aspect of one's existence. Negative emotions like fear, stress, worry, anxiety, deplete one's vitamins and minerals and create an acidic condition in the body. If the body becomes acidic, greens will be necessary to balance out this condition.

I currently don't aspire to be eating an all fruit diet, but should it show up in my life, I won't push it away.

thank you Bryan for your answer!

Right. I think Bryan covered it perfectly. A bit of poetry: When a person has a chance to walk through the most narrow door, let it be a joyful gift that is a powerful expression of love.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Arugula
I just got done eating some orange Jackfruit maybe it is called chempadek all I know it taste good and I am feeling full for the rest of the day. I will eat 5 or 6 kilos of fruits a day but not when I eat Orange Jackfruit tonight maybe some rajinee tomatoes and chayote for din din need no more sweet fruit after Jacky.

Cherimoya

Love Peace and Happiness,

davidzanemason Wrote:
-A quote: No one EVER suffers from deficiency...but rather an acute suffocation and poisoning due to inner and outer toxicity.

We do have mechanisms to adjust for intakes that are either too high or too low for any particular micronutrient, our bodies try very hard to maintain minerals, for example, within a fairly narrow range. But if they go over or under those limits and stay there for a sufficient time, we develop deficiencies. It's very easy to show this in a metabolic ward where people are locked up and their intakes are strictly controlled.

It might be that once upon a time, wild fruit growing from very rich soil was enough. But I don't think it's true anymore. I very much like the idea of being a fruit-only eater but in practice I feel much better with a head of romaine lettuce, a handful of walnuts, and other things included, too.

It is one thing to be feel good, clean, light on all fruit diet but are we really healthy, are we really resilient, can we survive under adverse conditions. An all fruit diet cannot do that. Fruit is a cleanser and many suffer when for one day they eat a piece non organic food item.

Go for a walk in the wild and you will find very few animals living on all fruit diet. They need more than that to survive in harsh environment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2008 12:28PM by madinah.

I feel like there's a huge advertisement on this page. :p

[utopiankitchen.wordpress.com]

Utopian Life,

Not to defend anyone. But consider this: if you had invested several thousand dollars in a procedure that would enhance your sexual attractiveness (well, to most people of your target gender) and would also entail several additional thousand dollars worth of maintenance and upkeep procedures to address scar calcification, movement, pain, stiffness, rupture, etc. every 5-10 years for the rest of your life, wouldn't you want to get your money's worth? I know I certainly would!

I don't know.....I like my body in its natural proportions.....probably just as much as Suvine likes hers (which I think is good that she likes herself, don't get me wrong), but does the pic have to be so HUGE?! haha I think it's probably accidentally so large because this happened before.

arugula Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Utopian Life,
>
> Not to defend anyone. But consider this: if you
> had invested several thousand dollars in a
> procedure that would enhance your sexual
> attractiveness (well, to most people of your
> target gender) and would also entail several
> additional thousand dollars worth of maintenance
> and upkeep procedures to address scar
> calcification, movement, pain, stiffness, rupture,
> etc. every 5-10 years for the rest of your life,
> wouldn't you want to get your money's worth? I
> know I certainly would!

i got mine for free. they came with the baby

about the topic!

I slowly changed to all fruit, it wasnt overnight, was about 6 months into raw. I now eat non-sweet fruits: cucumber, pepper, tomato, zuch as well as green juices/in smoothies.

I eat 90% plus fruit in my normal diet (when not fasting)

Its more I was drawn to fruit than I forced myself to eat a lot of it!! Do what makes YOU feel good...

just my two cents

Greens are the most potent supplier of minerals which are absolutely necessary to the body, mind, and heart.

i always appreciate what bryan and DZM have to say and the way they say it, and as a result i would be very open to investigating eating mostly fruit or all fruit if i am drawn that way in the future. right now (8 mos raw) i am really loving and feeling nourished by greens and sprouts, so that must be where i am supposed to be.

i think many people have a belief that the science of human nutrition has been comprehensively mapped out for us, but i bet the truth is we know very little. everything we think we know about nutrition and human health has been predicated on a diet of largely cooked food. much of what is studied and published is motivated by profit or politics. taking radical responsibility for your health means being open to the possibilities of another way (or ways).

I really agree with you butterfly - it will be really interesting to watch the studies and science etc. unfold over the next couple of decades as more people embrace raw.

madinah Wrote:
--------------------------------------------------
> Go for a walk in the wild and you will find very
> few animals living on all fruit diet. They need
> more than that to survive in harsh environment.

I recall reading about the diet of Gorillas living in the wild who were observed eating a high fruit diet with some leaves in it. That seems like a good combination to me.

Speaking of animals eating fruit versus leaves, check out this article called Gut Thinking about the difference between two species of monkeys, about the same size, living in the same forests of Panana, but having a difference of development based on a diet of mostly fruit versus a diet of mostly leaves.

I like what Victoria Boutenko says about greens. She emphasizes a chimpanzee-like diet of fruit and green leafy plants. There is nowhere you can get as nutrition, vitamins and minerals in as high a concentration as leafy greens. I think they are essential.



[minou-minou.blogspot.com]
myspace.com/summer33ny

I loved Victoria's book too! But i also love fruit and i find myself eating a lot of it....especially mangoes, bananas, and tomatoes...
Have there been any major books put out on the fruit only diet or are there some good websites to check out?
Also I would love to hear the opinion of our fruit experts on the subject of dried fruit...

Not an expert on fruitarianism, but regarding dried fruit, well I guess if you are hiking and you need lots of calories with little weight, it's ok.

But try to get fresh a lot more often. The beneficial phytochemicals and fibers and some vitamins will be somewhat damaged by the drying process. Plus dried is probably worse for your teeth and the sugar enters your bloodstream much more quickly.

If you are using small quantities of dates in a blender with lots of fresh fruit, that's probably ok, too.