>>Tom:
>>Strictly speaking, you don't need to eat fruits. One can live on sprouts
>>alone, or on a mono-diet, or on a diet of sprouts and vegetables alone.
>>The more restricted the diet, the more boring it is, which can cause
>>problems in the long run - most of us like some variety in life, and in our
>>diets.

Kirt:
>Tom, I have heard of sproutarians, but have never met one. Do you find any
>rawsters living exclusively on the diets of spouts only, or on sprouts and
>veggies, that you mention above? Do they seem to favor any supplements? I
>am fascinated since I find sprouts the least attractive of many veggies
>(which I'm not too thrilled about either:)) when eaten instinctively. What
>about fats in such a diet? Are the practitioners as gaunt in general as
>fruitarians?
>
>Excuse the barrage of questions, but I suspect that you, being part of the
>San Francisco raw scene (perhaps the largest in the world, eh?), have as
>much knowledge of (and interaction with) practitioners of various
>approaches as anyone can have these days...

Tom:
There are a few 'strict' Ann-Wigmore-style living fooders here, and their
diet is largely sprouts and veggies, with a tiny amount of fruit. (What
little fruit they eat is usually apples, in the blended salad/meal that
Ann Wigmore refers to as energy soup. Fats in such a diet would come
from avocados, which are part of the energy soup recipe, and/or from
almond milk, which is sometimes fermented when they call it almond cream.
Some of these folks use traditional supplements, some use algae (not just
Klamath Lake algae, but spirulina & chlorella). Many living fooders are the
usual thin raw fooders, a few are near-normal weight. There are two living
fooders locally who are actually heavy, and there are rumors about them, that
they really don't practice the living foods lifestyle. (I really don't know
those people well enough to comment on the rumors.)

Perhaps of more interest, as the diet is more restricted, are the two who
lived exclusively on sprouts alone, for long periods of time (several months).
One is a yogi, he calls himself Yogi Gupta (Swami Kailashananda), and he has
a few centers in New York City and India.  He has written a book, 'Yoga and
Long Life', and an LP recording (old-fashioned LP, not CD) titled 'Yoga Food
Concepts' that discuss this. The book has only a short chapter on food, but
mentions that he lived exclusively on sprouts (short sprouts) for a long
period. Yogi Gupta was an influence on me some years ago, but I would
describe myself as an ex-student of his (I left him because of his behavior,
which led me to think that he is corrupt). The books and LP are privately
published, and I can dig around and try to find the ordering info, if anyone
really wants it. Anyway, Yogi Gupta ate exclusively sprouts for long periods,
and his weight is normal - not fat, not skinny.

The other person I know who followed such a diet is a student of Yogi Gupta,
(she lives in Florida) and she too has normal weight. (She now has a much more
diverse diet, mostly raw, and has near-normal weight: she lost weight some
months ago during a serious illness, and has not yet regained the weight lost).
Perhaps such a diet, being high in carbohydrates, helps one to maintain body
weight that is closer to normal? In such a diet, fats would come from sprouted
almonds, and sprouted oily seeds like sunflower and sesame.  Of course, the
lack of diversity in such diets is a problem - you get bored and that can lead
to problems.

There is one other comment on the list this morning regarding the above topics.
I have to run off to San Francisco now, but hopefully tonight when I return, I
will dig around and type in the info I have on two mono-eaters (one of whom
lived exclusively on green chili peppers for a very long time - talk about
an extreme diet! - the "fire" diet?).

Tom Billings
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