Introduction
Fruit diets were mentioned recently on this mailing list. Fruitarianism
was discussed last year, on the old veg-raw list, a number of times. This
post provides information on fruitarianism. The post is new, but portions of
the information may be familiar to those who remember the old discussions.

This post is based on my direct experience: I was a fruitarian for most of
the 1970's, when I lived in Florida. Additionally, some of the information
comes from my association with other fruitarians over the years. At present
I follow, and recommend, a varied diet of raw fruits, sprouts, and vegetables;
I do not recommend fruitarianism.

Definition
Here fruitarianism will be defined as a diet that is predominantly raw
fruit (80+ %), with the remainder of the diet being composed of seeds, nuts,
and non-root, non-tuber vegetables, all of which are eaten raw. Here fruit has
the common definition, i.e., the product of a vine, bush, or tree. The common
definition is used rather than the botanical definition, as grain is considered
a fruit under the botanical definition.

General Statement on Fruitarianism
Fruitarianism is possible in theory, but it can be quite difficult in practice.
The diet has many pitfalls that can cause serious problems for the would-be
fruitarian.  In order to be successful as a fruitarian, it is essential that
one has access to locally grown (not shipped, not refrigerated) fruit, on a
year-round basis. That limits fruitarianism, as a viable diet, to warm climates,
specifically tropical, semi-tropical, or sub-tropical climates. In cold/
temperate climates, one ends up eating fruit that was picked green, shipped,
refrigerated, fumigated, and processed; such fruit is low in quality and even
lower in vitality. Devitalized food, even devitalized fresh fruit, is not a
good basis for a diet.

Fruitarianism: Pro

* fruit is widely regarded as the best tasting raw food, and eating fruit is
very pleasant indeed

* it is a very cleansing diet, and may be helpful against diseases/disorders
where physical toxemia is a factor (of course, this is applicable to other raw
foods diets as well; the point is that fruitarianism is the most cleansing diet)

* fruit, if it is grown locally and not shipped, refrigerated, fumigated,
subjected to heat/cold treatment to kill fruit flies, etc., is a low violence
food.  However, shipping fruit, refrigerating it, etc. do involve violence to
the environment; fruit subjected to such treatment cannot be considered a low
violence food.

* promotes weight loss and gives you a light body

* fruitarianism alters your mental state, promoting a light and airy mental
feeling that some find quite pleasant.

* can promote extraordinary physical health - you *appear* to be immune to
illness, and injuries heal very quickly. This, combined with the mental effect,
makes it *appear* that you are experiencing a higher state of living.

* your respiratory system may function better than on other diets

* it can sharpen your senses to an extraordinary degree, especially the senses
of taste and smell. Your sense of smell may get so sharp that it is emotionally
painful to sit in the same room with someone who is a garlic eater, or one who
smells of tobacco (you simply can't stand the stench).

* reduces the amount of water you need to drink (as fruit is high in water)

* promotes clear mindedness. However, associated emotional problems can nullify
this benefit.

Fruitarianism: Con

* modern fruit is expensive, lacking in vitality and quality as a result of
shipping, refrigeration, fumigation, etc. The requirement of year-round access
to good quality fruit limits the applicability of fruitarianism.

* fruitarians usually experience severe weight loss, with weight stabilizing
at anorexic levels. It is extremely difficult to gain weight on a fruit diet,
even if you overeat avocados.

* the diet is extremely difficult, as most people find that a fruit diet is
not physically or psychologically satisfying: hunger is frequent, and
backsliding and binge eating are common.

* fruitarians often display food-obsessive behavior. Take two pieces of bread,
give one to an anorexic, and another to a fruitarian. The anorexic thinks,
"I can't eat this bread, it will create fat"; the fruitarian thinks the same,
except replace the word fat with the word mucus (or toxemia). Here the point is
the obsessive attitude toward food common to the anorexic and the fruitarian.

* very easy to overeat, and easy to fall into the nasty trap of sugar addiction.
It is commonly held in raw food circles that overeating causes food to ferment
in the digestive system. If you ferment fruit, you get vinegar or alcohol. As
the system of fruitarians is generally alkaline, that suggests that overeating
by fruitarians may produce alcohol rather than vinegar.

Now Ayurveda says that alcohol has a post-digestive effect that is super-sweet
in taste, and that alcoholism is a psychological addiction to this super-sweet
taste effect. Putting these two together, suggests that alcoholics, regular
sugar addicts, and fruitarians who chronically overeat, are suffering from the
same basic problem: addiction to the effect sweet taste has on the body.

* modern, cultivated fruit is very high in sugar, much higher in sugar than
wild, uncultivated fruits. A diet of only fruit can provide excess sugar intake,
resulting in diabetes-like symptoms: sugar cravings, excessive urination, sugar
highs/blues, fatigue.  Excessive sugar, in the long run, may strain or overwork
the pancreas. (Fruitarians would be well advised to daily eat some dark, bitter,
leafy greens - bitter greens help regulate sugar metabolism and reduce sugar
cravings.)

* very socially isolating. This is very difficult for most people to handle;
extroverts should not try to be fruitarians! The social isolation can promote
a sense of psychological deprivation, which encourages backsliding and binge
eating. The social isolation and psychological deprivation can also warp your
perception of eating; instead of a nourishing, nurturing experience, it becomes
an exercise in egoism (similar to the phony compassion/ego trap that so many
ethical vegans fall into.)

* most fruitarians eventually give up the diet as it is too difficult to
continue - the food obsessions, social isolation, psychological deprivation,
frequent hunger. It's interesting that many untreated anorexics also eventually
recover from anorexia nervosa for the same reasons. In practice there is little
difference in avoiding eating because you fear getting fat, and eating an
inadequate diet because you are afraid of mucus or protein. One must be very
careful to practice fruitarianism with a totally positive attitude, lest it
become a diet motivated by an obsessive fear of mucus, toxemia, or protein;
for when fruitarianism is characterized and motivated by obsessive fear, it
becomes an actual eating disorder!

* light, airy mental feeling that some compare to a minor drug high, and others
mistake it for some kind of spiritual feeling. Said light feeling does not
compare to, and is not the same as, the secure, peaceful, blissful, loving
feelings that one gets from meditation or other genuine spiritual practices.
I speak from direct personal experience on this point. (P.S. some anorexics
report mental effects similar to those experienced by fruitarians; that is one
reason anorexia is so hard to overcome.)

* fruitarianism, especially the 100% fruit version, is a very purifying diet,
on the physical level. However, extensive physical purification without
accompanying spiritual or ethical development, inevitably leads to mental and/or
emotional problems. These problems can take many forms; a few examples (in my
opinion), are as follows.
1) The fruitarian who was obsessed with two things - food and his bowel
movements - and who drank vinegar like it was water.
2) The fruitarian who left his wife, moved to Ecuador and lived naked with his
girlfriends on a mountain. They quickly degenerated to eating raw meat.
3) The zealot fruitarian who attacks all other raw food diets, and whose dialog
is filled with ego, anger, hate, and other negativity. A pure body is irrelevant
when your heart and mind are full of the poisons of anger and negativity!

Alternate Approach: A Near Fruitarian Diet

A more realistic diet is a near-fruitarian diet, as follows. Said diet is also
a cleansing diet.

A diet of approximately 60-70% raw fruit, with the remainder consisting of:
- dark leafy greens and other vegetables. Emphasis on bitter greens, but should
also eat astringent, pungent, salty tasting greens. These greens help regulate
sugar metabolism and provide protection from sugar addiction, they provide
chlorophyll and minerals, and provide tastes that are difficult to get in
fruits (most of which are predominantly sweet or sour). Also a good idea to
regularly eat some ginger to promote the digestive fire. If you object to
ginger, eat pungent greens instead: mustard, arugula, watercress.
- sprouts, specifically almonds, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, peanut, also
flax. Provide fatty acids that are scarce in fruit (you do get tired of
avocados if eaten daily). Green jelly coconuts are good also.  Buckwheat,
grain sprouts are also OK but do not supply fatty acids.

Additional recommendations:
- get vitamin B-12 from a reliable source
- do something to avoid or counter stress and social isolation
- last but most important: make spiritual or ethical development a top priority,
to reduce/avoid the potential mental and emotional problems that often occur.

Some final notes: don't try fruitarianism out of fear of mucus or protein. Do
try fruitarianism - but *only* if you have clear, positive reasons to motivate
you, and do watch for signs of all the potential problems listed above. A
fruitarian diet that includes protein foods and leafy greens, will pose far
fewer problems than a 100% fruit diet. The information in this post is offered
in the hope that it may help others who are interested in fruitarianism.
Some readers of this post may think the difficulties of fruitarianism are
exaggerated here: they are not, but you are of course free to find out the hard
way, if you prefer. To anyone on a fruitarian diet, or contemplating one,
good luck!

Additions to the above list of pros and cons, are welcome.

P.S. Addendum
After writing the above, I recalled that I was fervently anti-protein for some
of the time I was a fruitarian. After a long period of eating only fruit, I
experienced difficulty in digesting protein foods, which of course I blamed
on the "evil demon protein". (Those were my words then; the mind can work in
strange ways indeed!) Looking back in hindsight, I realize that was a delusion.
Basically what happens if you eat a diet of only fruit is:

1) fruit has a very high water content, and in the long term, eating exclusively
fruit diminishes the gastric fire, i.e., your digestion is weakened;
2) you become habituated to eating wet, heavy, low protein foods.

Then, upon eating protein foods, especially unsoaked/unsprouted (dry) nuts and
seeds, the fruitarian has great difficulty in digesting it. The fruitarian then
blames the protein in the nuts/seeds for the problems caused by their own weak/
impaired digestion, not realizing that they are in fact to blame for the
situation!

Tom Billings
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