The below is a slightly edited version of a post (article) made several months
ago, to the veg-raw e-mail list (now known as raw-food), a mailing list for raw
fooders. At some time in the future, I hope to revisit this subject and greatly
expand the material below. In the interim, I hope you find the post interesting,
possibly even provocative. / Tom Billings

Fruits and Sprouted Grains - a Comparison

Some raw fooders choose to not eat sprouted grains; instead some recommend
(only) fruit. Some of the arguments made include the following:

* fruit is closer to the sun than grain = more solar energy
* one can eat fruit in its natural state, while grains in their natural (dry)
state are not appealing
* fruit supposedly involves less violence in its production

However, the issue is not as simple as it may appear at first glance.  The
first complication is that grains (and all other seeds) are fruits according
to the botanical definition.  So in comparing grains to fruit one is comparing
grains to the common definition of fruit, i.e. the product of tree, vine, or
shrub.

The second major complication is that as purchased in many countries, both
fruits and grains have been processed to varying degrees. This requires one
to do comparisons in theory and in practice. As the real world practice is
more familiar to readers, it is best to start with that case. Comparison of
grains and fruits on a number of issues is given below. Note that references
are made to the energy or food energy of fruit and grain. This refers to the
item's life force energy, not its calorie value. Life force energy is degraded
by refrigeration, age, heat, and other factors.

Preparation
Most fruit can be eaten raw and is easily prepared; most fruit is in the wash
and serve category. A few fruits are generally eaten cooked - olives (very
bitter when raw, need curing), breadfruit, breadnut, etc.
Raw grains are effectively inedible unless soaked or, better, sprouted. Once
sprouted they are in the wash and serve category also.

Production - Method
Pesticides and other chemicals are commonly used on fruits and grains.
If grown organically there is usually less exposure to chemicals. However
the definition of organic is no *synthetic* chemicals used - many toxic,
so-called "natural" chemicals can legally be used on organic produce.

Production - Land
Tropical fruits are often grown on land that used to be rainforest. That is
an issue to some; others consider land clearing for food production to be
100% legitimate and ethical. The same issue applies to land cleared for grain,
though most grain is grown in temperate countries, and the people who are upset
about tropical rainforests rarely complain about loss of temperate zone land.

Harvest
Most grain is harvested when fully mature and "ripe"; harvest too early can
increase the risk of storage problems (spoilage due to mold).
Many types of fruits are harvested when mature but not ripe to allow time
for shipping and sale. The result is often that one purchases immature fruit
that is acid-forming instead of alkaline-forming in digestion (a real problem
with nectarines). Some types of fruit are picked mature and must ripen off the
tree, e.g., many types of avocadoes don't ripen properly on the tree.

Storage
Grains are seeds, a natural storage form. Commercial grains may be fumigated
with poisons to prevent insect infestation; organic grains are generally not
fumigated. Grains can be stored for long periods with little or no nutrient/
food energy loss.

Storage (cont'd)
Some fruits are held for weeks or even months in cold-storage, with significant
losses in nutrients, food energy, and flavor. The typical example of this is
Washington state apples, which in the opinion of this writer are inedible and
a non-food. Other fruits that may be cold-stored include peaches and nectarines
(late in their seasons), avocadoes, kiwis.

Processing for Market
Grains may be hulled and then packaged for market.
Fruits may be colored, waxed for sale. Additionally some fruits may be gassed
with ethylene to control ripening. This is not so common with organic fruit.
Additionally, most fruit is refrigerated at some point in the path to the
consumer. Refrigeration can sharply reduce the life force energy of the fruit.

Shipping - Fumigation
Fumigation of fruits is common, especially if from tropical countries (to
prevent import of fruit flies and other insect pests). Some fruit is
subjected to heat treatment (papayas, mangoes) while other fruits are treated
with cold (refrigerated at near freezing for several days) instead. Both
heat treatment and cold treatment will reduce the nutrient and energy level
of the fruit; heat treatment (150+ degrees F) may destroy some enzymes.
Imported grain may be fumigated; however the U.S. and Canada are major grain
producers and imports to North America are limited.

Shipping - Distance/Efficiency
Because grain, when sprouted, increases in volume and weight by a factor of
2 or more, and there are no peels or wasted parts, grain is very efficient
in regards to shipping.
Those who live in temperate zones and demand fresh fruit in the winter end up
eating fruit shipped from (distant) warm areas; also due to spoilage and peels,
inedible seeds, etc., shipping fruit is not as efficient as grain. Drying fruit
is an option, but drying also reduces food energy, and dried fruit when eaten in
excess can cause flatulence and acid indigestion. Freezing is another option,
but eating too much frozen food can depress your digestive fire, and frozen
food is usually dead or much lower in life force energy than fresh.

Practical Case: Summary
In the real world, the comparison of fruit versus sprouted grains boils down
to fruit, which tastes better but which was probably picked at a non-optimal
time and shipped long distances (during which it loses food energy, the life
force of the fruit) against grains which don't taste as good, but which
a) have not lost food energy or life force in shipping and storage, and
b) because one sprouts them, the sprouts are actually *increasing* in nutrient
value and food/life force energy. Most fruit begins to decrease in nutrient
and energy value from the moment it is picked, while grains if sprouted actually
*increase*!

Theoretical Case: A Different Situation
In a theoretically ideal situation, you produce your own fruits and grains.
Then one can pick and eat the fruits at the optimal time, and there is no
shipping, refrigeration, or other processing to reduce the food energy.
Similarly, if one grows grain one can avoid toxic chemicals and so on.  Here
the two seem to be quite comparable, almost even. Of course sprouts are still
a food that is increasing in food/energy value (as they are growing) and fruits
decreasing; however this is mostly an academic difference when you can get high
quality fruit (low sugar/wild/near-wild) picked at the optimal time (as energy
losses are minimal then). In this case one would eat fruit when in season, and
sprouted grain at other times.

Answering the Original Arguments

* fruit is closer to the sun than grain = more solar energy
True, but when one eats fruit one is usually eating what is effectively
a seed package, and it has limited life force. In eating sprouted grains one
is eating, in juvenile form, multiple, complete life forces, which suggests one
may be eating more energy when eating sprouts.


* one can eat fruit in its natural state, while grains in their natural
state are not appealing
True, but grains are easily sprouted which makes their flavor more appealing.
It also makes them easy to digest. Those who eat nuts and seeds in their
"natural state" = unsoaked, would greatly benefit from soaking and/or sprouting
them when possible!

* fruit supposedly involves less violence in its production
Very questionable. In practice fruit is generally shipped long distances
and refrigerated, a process that requires much fossil fuel energy which causes
pollution. Grain is very probably more energy efficient, with the result of
less pollution.  Picking fruit does not kill the tree; however grains are
generally harvested when the plants are at the very end of their life cycle -
the plants are usually already dead or dying. Of course eating sprouted grain
can be seen as violence against the sprouts, however it is impossible to live
without killing (simply breathing will kill bacteria). Accordingly, which is
more violent - 1 kilogram of wheat organically grown and sprouted, or a case
of pineapples, weighing 12 kg. and shipped halfway around the world, also
fumigated, sprayed, and refrigerated? (1 kg. of dry wheat = 3 kg sprouted =
say, 10 meals or so; 12 kg pineapple = 8 kg after topping, peeling, coring =
10 large meals (as pineaple is juicy and very tasty, one will eat more of it).

Closing Remarks
The above is a quick summary of topics for discussion in comparing sprouted
grains and fruits. Each item could be a separate discussion by itself; only a
brief summary has been given. The lists above are also incomplete; I've probably
left off many important topics (such as the high sugar levels in modern fruit
versus grains, and which has been "messed with" more by man - grafted fruits
that cannot reproduce by seed, or grains that can, etc.)  Consider the above
as a first draft of a work-in-progress...

P.S.
1) I suggest including both sprouts and fruits in your diet - they are
complementary.
2) Although some fruitarian readers might not believe it, the object of the
above is to shine the light of information on the reality of modern fruit
and grain production. It is not intended to disturb fruitarians.

Tom Billings
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