Mr Billings wrote:

>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:

I do find concentrated proteins (in seeds/nuts) hard to get on with.
I tend to eat them only with avocado, the theory being that the fat
in the avo will slow digestion down enough to allow full protein
digestion. It seems to be working with some success, but more than
about a handfull of nuts gets quite unpleasant, and in any case,
such amounts of fat and protein are not required. Organic avos
are far superior in taste and texture to the agrochem nonsense.
I scatter sesame seeds and sunflower or linseeds (flaxseed) on mine.
I never eat more than 1/3 of an avo in one sitting, I learnt it
the hard way. Too much fat for gut friendly digestion.

>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;

Water in the stomach is quickly squeezed out and passes down narrow
channels on the walls of the gut, thus exiting rapidly. Thus water may
not affect digestion in the way you suggest. I find myself quite able
to digest (not much discomfort) my 20% cooked up stuff so long as I am
sensible. You use the term "high", but what is the reference?
Even french fries or curries can be handled in moderation!!
However my glop eating buds seem just as able to pop the odd
belch as me. They seem as unable to digest protein well, as per me,
as noted by their unpleasant odours.

>2) you become habituated to eating wet, heavy, low protein foods.

You need to define _low_ in terms of some actual reference point.
Hunzas are very healthy on 10g of protein per day, me 38g or less.

>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!

It's not really the protein but rather the concentration. Even true
carnivores are poor at digesting protein as witnessed by their
smelly defications. The bean eaters also get that too. I have no
body odour since going 80% raw. I agree 100% with your advocacy
of mainly fruit plus vegetable salads and nuts, but extreme
caution needs to be applied with nuts/seeds. Your body will tell you
what is right for it, variance is the rule not the exception....


thanks,
J.C