Hi Thomas (and Sandy of course)

> Sandy Rzetelny <[log in to unmask]>:
> >I'm a vegan raw foodist for 4 years.I've been eating a large proportion of
> >fruit. Although I was able to lose a lot of symptoms on this diet, I feel
>  that
> >I am deficient in a lot of nutrients as a result of it. Will eating a lot of
> >greens or green juices restore the calcium and minerals? Is that enough?
>  Would
> >you mind explaining what you did  to get yourself back into a well nourished
> >state?
>
> Tom:
> I'm not a "diet guru" or "expert". What has worked in the past for me to
> overcome problems in fruitarianism was: diversify the diet (add additional
> types of foods) and sharply increase calorie consumption by eating
> lots of fat in the form of avocados. I make no guarantees to others
> regarding such techniques; it seems raw diets are a try-and-see
> if it works kind of thing.
>
> I think raw green juices are a good idea, and drink them myself.
> Whether they would have a therapeutic effect for you, is unknown to
> me.
>
> The best way to solve serious problems in fruitarianism, or any other diet,
> is to realize that you, a real human being, are more important than extremist
> dietary dogma, and ditch any/all aspects of the dietary dogma that are
> not working for you. If the diet does not work for you, move on to a
> different diet.
>
> The above is simple common sense, but listen to the "diet gurus"
> rationalize all problems as "detox" or "quality problems" (is the fruit EVER
> good enough for the quality-obsessed?) or "your fault". Seeing such
> rationalizations, leads me to believe that many diet gurus will
> defend their "perfect" diets to the last drop of blood, or gram of flesh,
> of the poor souls unfortunate enough to follow them.
>
Your advice to Sandy here, particularly on diversity, is sound..as
I (we) have proven already. A successful fruitarian diet depends
on the consumption of a variety of different types of fruit (and
not just apples, lemons and oranges from the local store or
anywhere). You need to expand to fruits which were likely to have
been found in jungle-type climates such as jackfruit, durian and
all the other more "exotic" types. Getting these fruits in a pure
and ripe condition from reputable suppliers is an expensive
undertaking if you are wanting to rely on fruit alone. It is being
done here in Germany by some that I know and it is also being
done successfully (they have the money for one thing). Personally,
I believe that humans were never ever on a raw fruit diet alone
(as demonstrated by all of the great apes even today) but merely
that fruit constituted up to 50% of the total diet (the rest
being various greenery plus a low percentage of animal/insect
protein). I for one can live on this diet extremely well, although
I don't eat any animal protein (for reasons mentioned in an earlier
post).

Alan