Sandy:
>What would you consider a reasonable amount of fruit?  Of course, I know it
>varies by individual constitution, size and so on, just interested in your
>guesstimate.  Dr. McDougall says no more than three pieces per day, what do
>think of this number?
>I'm down from about 12 pieces (!) per day to around 7.  I wonder if you or
>the others think this is excessive.  I usually feel very well, only tired
>when I don't rest and sleep enough.

Hi Sandy, yep, it certainly varies, but what you are doing doesn't sound
 excessive to me, although I go more by percentage-of-total-diet than pieces
 of fruit. But I am also taking into account you are fairly active, do
 aerobics, etc. If someone was a total couch-potato and downing sweet or
 citrusy stuff like 7 bananas or oranges a day, that might be excessive.

I replied to Meredith's follow-up about this sugar stuff via private email,
 but one point I might repeat here is what you mention about tiredness. I
 think one possible telltale signal of sugar-overload is when you feel tired
 all the time even when you are getting enough rest. So if you are only
 tired when you don't sleep or rest enough, that sounds good.

I suppose I don't have any definitive answer, but some people lack all
 common sense. If I'm allowed a pure "guesstimate," as you term it, then I
 guess I would say when a person starts going above 50% fruit in the diet,
 especially for extended periods of time, I would be very apt to consider
 that excessive. And yeah, I'm sure there may be a few 50-percenter
 exceptions who do okay long-term, but from what stories I hear, I betcha
 they are in the minority, or haven't been doing it long enough to really
 know the long-term effects. Anyway, I don't want to sound absolutist about
 any of this.

I get the idea for most people, though, 25%-40% would be the safe long-term
 (months and years) max, though it might be better to stay at the lower end
 of that range. But there are so many mitigating factors. And for some
 people even 25% might be a bit too much.

I think some of it depends on what kinds of fruit you habitually eat, too.
 Like you would have a lot bigger safety margin eating apples or berries
 that are more modest in sugar content, but if you eat exclusively stuff
 like watermelon, bananas, sweet pears, etc., or lots of citrus (the latter
 of which can also destroy teeth fast if you don't brush after every meal if
 you eat them habitually), you can get in trouble a lot more quickly.

Also, if you exercise a lot, one might get away with eating closer to
 30-40-50% fruit, while otherwise it might be safer to keep it down around
 20-30% or less. It all depends. I dunno. As you say, these are just
guesstimates.

And hey Bob (Avery), did the raw-food runner Peter Dietrich ever give you
 any specifics on the percentages of fruit (and what kinds) in his diet that
 led to his breakdown after 10 years? That would be real interesting to hear

--Ward Nicholson <[log in to unmask]> Wichita, KS