Peter:
>Very interesting. Tom, have I somehow missed it or did you already
>respond to my question about whether a consumption of seaweed and algae
>IYO could be the reason a few long term raw food eaters in the SF area
>seem to be doing quite well on a high fruit diet? I might add that to
>my knowledge with regards to these and a couple of others I know of who
>seem to be doing well long-term on high fruit diets that they apart
>from trace mineral supplementation do claim to be eating a little
>cooked food now and then and also having periods where there
>consumption of sweet fruits is not that high. (this is of course not
>official but in a couple of cases I have it right from the horses mouth
>:-)) If there are 5 people on this planet who have been able to remain
>healthy for an extended period of time (7-8 years minimum)on a raw,
>high fruit diet I would say the figure probably is a little high. ;-)


Tom:
I did post a response, and described (to the extent possible) 4 local long-term
fruitarians, that I identified by code names: person A, B, C, D. All of them had
a number of things in common: their diets include considerable minerals (from
algae, seaweed, green veggies), and all but one includes the bitter taste in
their diet. Another factor that should be mentioned, but was not in my post, is
that they all engage in regular, moderate to strenuous exercise.  My original
post also addressed the eating disorder behavior issue in fruitarianism, how
former fruitarians admit to cheating and lying about their diets, and how this
raises questions when current fruitarians talk about their success. [One
fruitarian friend, not mentioned in my post as he has left the area, told me
and I quote: "when I hear someone say they are on 100% fruit, I don't believe
it!".]

In the interim, I have spoken to C, and he told me his diet is around 30% green
veggies, and around 20% cucumbers. He says that a diet of 100% sweet fruit
is insanity. Oh yes, the 30% green figure does not include cucumbers, so his
sweet fruit consumption is below 50%. He tries to avoid getting "sugared out".

One other update. I won't specify which person (as some readers may know
these people and be able to identify them), but I just spoke to a person who is
a good friend of one of the subject fruitarians, (A to D), and he told me that
fruitarian 'X' admitted to having serious problems with sugar addiction. So,
one of our long term successes admits in private that there are problems!

>>Tom said:
>>Wild avocados are often very fibrous and hard to eat, compared to
>>cultivated.

>Peter:
>They are sometimes available at the Santa Monica Farmers Market and
>sell under the name "wild root" or "Mexican" avocado. They are very low
>fat and sometimes quite fibrous. They are my favorites especially when
>eaten as is with the skin on. My guess is that the reason some
>instinctive eaters do not get any taste stop with avocados is that they
>are eating the hybrid kind without the skin.

Tom:
I have eaten wild seedling avos from Florida - a bit fibrous, but OK. I ate
wild seedling avos in Guatemala and Costa Rica - extremely fibrous, small
fruit with a large seed. Those avos were a lot of work to eat, not worth
the trouble unless you are really hungry for avos.

One can get very small, black avocados (cultivated) in the markets here. These
avocados have thin, edible skin, and are quite nice. It is nice to have an
avocado with edible skin; somehow it seems more satisfying to the appetite.
I believe this is the 'Mexicola' variety.

>Tom said:
>>The wild vs. cultivated mango comparison is even more dramatic - I
>>used to eat wild, seedling mangoes when I was a kid - you can chew on
>>the fiber for half an hour, if you want. Cultivated mangoes have much
>>less fiber

>Peter:
>Sounds like fun! I believe that the cultures of India began hybridizing
>mangoes about 3000 years so I guess even your wild mangoes have been
>tampered with somewhat. How sweet are they compared to the regular
>cultivated kind?

Tom:
Eating them is a lot of fun, though you do have to get the fibers out of your
teeth afterwards! The specific mango in question is not as sweet as the
grafted varieties, but it is still relatively sweet (sometimes they can be quite
sour). Their low level of sweetness is actually a positive factor, as the
mango has real flavor, over and above the sweetness.

>Tom said:
>>Mulberries, blackberries, raspberries come to mind immediately; also
>>tropical guavas and passion fruits. Blueberries, cranberries may be
>>close to wild. Some of the minor tropical fruits have not been
>>subjected to much varietal selection: soursop, jaboticaba, mamey
>>sapote, sapodilla.
>
>Peter:
>These 5 tropical fruis how do they compare to other tropical fruits on
>the market today with regards to sugar & fiber content, and are there
>to your knowledge any sweet tropical fruits that occur naturally that
>have not been hybridized by man? I am thinking of fruits like
>jackfruit, durian, mangosteen, and the subtropical cherimoya.

Tom:
The minor tropical fruits mentioned above, when in cultivation, can be fairly
sweet - although the soursop is not that sweet. When grown in truly wild
conditions, the fruit is much smaller, not always as sweet (but it can be sweet
under wild conditions). I would say that these fruits, except for the mamey
sapote, are not as sweet as grafted mangoes like the 'Kent' or 'Keitt'
varieties (common commercial varieties). The mamey sapote can be very sweet -
when ripe, it looks/tastes like a baked sweet potato.

There has been varietal selection for mangosteen, durian, jakfruit in the
Phillipines, also Malaysia and Thailand, where these are important crops.
There is varietal selection research on the jakfruit, underway in the Miami
area (TREC: Tropical Research and Education Center, an agricultural experiment
station of the University of Florida; TREC is located in Homestead, Florida -
south of Miami).

Some of the minor tropical fruits have not been subjected to much varietal
selection and/or hybridization, but these are the minor fruits that are very
close to their wild cousins, or can grow wild themselves. These fruits are
largely unknown to consumers in the temperate zone countries. A great book
to read that discusses many of these fruits is "Fruits of Warm Climates",
by Julia F. Morton. Some examples: cocoplum (grows wild in Florida and the
Caribbean), ambarella, strawberry tree (Muntingia Calabura), chupa-chupa,
star-apple, velvet apple, abiu, and many others.

Tom Billings
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