Nieft / Secola wrote:


> You seem to be missing an important point here, Rex. There are no
> animals I know of in Hawaii that eat _exclusively_ fruit

Hey, it was a straight question.  I was truly curious.


> A fine experiment would be to feed a breeding set of pigs exclusively
> on fruit and see how they fare (if they fare) through a couple
> generations.

We're getting close to bringing "Pottenger's Cats" into the discussion.
It oughta be on every rawer's bookshelf, right?


> You can even feed them the highest brix fruit the world has ever
> known.

I don't know about feeding pigs fruit, but I'm sure some farmer has done
it at one time or another.  There's an old farmer's rule that may be of
interest along these lines.  Supposedly, you can feed a hog on *raw*
potatoes and he'll never get fat.  Cook the potatoes and he'll start
putting on the weight.  I've never done it, so I can't say.


> If you are claiming that it doesn't matter what kind of food a human
> (or wild animal or domesticated animal) eats as long as it is high
> brix, I think you may be taking the brix matter to an non-useful
> extreme. Feed a lamb or a calf, exclusively high brix fruit--are you
> claiming either would be in perfect health?

We're getting a little silly here.  I can tell you that lambs and calves
beyond weaning will either suffer, or thrive, depending on the quality
of the grass they're pastured on.  I don't know if you have a full Brix
chart, but average alfalfa, for instance, is in the 6-8 Brix range.
Top-notch alfalfa can be 22 or better Brix (trust me, it tastes
*good*).  I know a man in Canada who has his alfalfa up to 28 Brix.
He's making a very good living by buying "sick" cows at auction and
putting them on high-Brix pasture.  Within a month, or so, they look
(and act) like new creatures.  He generally keeps them for six months,
or so, and then takes them back to auction, where he sells them for a
healthy profit.

Another point here is that I've heard many wheatgrass people mention
that their wheatgrass juice is a bit strong on the stomach (and doesn't
taste all that good).  Sure enough, when you check the juice it's in the
4-8 Brix range.  18-20 Brix wheatgrass juice tastes darn good.  Try it.


> You are indeed a lucky man to call a 13 brix orange sour.

They're not sour (don't forget the acid Tom and I discussed).
Tasteless, or almost tasteless, would be more as I would describe it.
The charts don't give numbers for true sour oranges.  BTW, I've heard
that some people in lower California grow big lemons that you can peel
and eat like an orange.  I've never come across one---darnit.


> I agree that quality is not synomonous with organic, but like
> everything, lots of folks are enamored with the simplicity of
> "'chemicals' are bad" and can't see beyond the simplistic paradigm.
> For others it is "'low brix' is bad" ;)

Give me a break, Kirt.  You should know by now that a good bit of what I
say is because I think discussing diet, any diet, is confusing unless
one knows the basic quality of the items consumed.  I'm trying to avoid
moral judgements.


> You are _indeed_ a lucky man to be able to afford such
> quality/quantity gifts!

Ha!  Those copies of Price's book blew a year's gift budget at $10 a
copy.

>
> Actually, I like when you talk like this. Before you seemed to imply
> that fruitarians would have no dental problems if they ate only high
> brix fruits. Now I see that you weren't saying that. Of course that
> leaves me confused. ;) Which is a pleasant state at times...

Kirt, I'm quite serious when I say that I sometimes get the impression I
catch leftover flack here from some past troubles.  I want to see all
our food grown to truly high quality standards.  Has that really not
come through?  Can't you agree that if I had two fruitAryans, one eating
lousy Brix fruit, and one eating excellent Brix fruit, the dental
troubles are going to concentrate on the first fruitAryan?


> My refractometer has had its fun, but so far it has been mostly a
> curiousity. Maybe some day you will be able to cast aside your dogma
> and enjoy a shitload (that's a whole bunch together) of lowly
> medium-brix mangosteen.  Wish us luck :) :)

Good luck.  Why not put it to work?  How about passing over some Brix
numbers for all those exotic fruits, you lucky devil.  I'd like to
compile the data to add to future charts.  Can you categorize poor,
average, good, and excellent yet?

Thanks for a good post.
Rex
PS: where do I pick up my prize for coining "fruitAryan"?  An
air-shipment of 30 Brix mangosteens sounds about right.