Jean Louis: >I experienced that once: I ate a papaya at breakfast in the morning >(and nothing else), and it came out about 2 hours later, watery and >loose. I don't know to what extent it was digested, but the final >volume was about the same. I didn't understand why the instinct didn't >work (because the fruit was really delicious). Did I make mistakes the >day before? Or is modern papaya too denatured? .. >4) Some people find fruits more digestible when eaten with their skin >(or at least a part of it). I wonder which nutrients the skin brings: >fibres? Vitamins? Or maybe the instinctive stop comes >sooner. Personally, I now eat bananas, mangos, kiwifruits and cucumbers >with their skin, but I don't like oranges, pineapples, avocados that way. Another guess concerning this special case of eating a papaya: eating in the morning time may have caused the digestion problem. The body is in the excreation phase (did I use the right word?) in the morning time. It doesn't like it to be fed in this phase (except for cassia). My experience shows, that my digestion complains if I eat in the excreation phase. Also digestion is not optimal. Concercing the skin of fruits: for citrus fruits I use the skin as a strong test for my instinct. If I bite into the skin and it gives an ugly bitter taste I don't continue to eat the fruit. Of course it would have been possible to peel it but this is a fraud you do to yourself. A pomelo for example is nearly impossible to open using only your hands. So in former times I assume you used your teeth and tasted the skin if you liked that or not. And if it was ugly enough (pomelos can be very ugly) I am sure, that you would have dropped it immediately. I have stopped peeling fruits and vegetables as much as possible. The skin contains the highest concentration of antioxidants. So if you are instinctively attracted to it I approve you eat it. Also (as Karl noticed) the instinctive stop comes sooner if the skin is eaten, sometimes m u c h sooner. Eating and tasting the skin is possible only if it is not treated at all. One more reason to buy perfect products. Another consideration: There are fruits, where the skin is so thin and it adheres so strongly to the pulpa that it is impossible to peel the fruit without using tools. This is the case for fruits and vegetables. Some examples: sapote negro, sapotilla, kohlrabi, potato, apple, pear, carot, apricot,... The same argument applies here too. In former times you weren't able to peel these things so you must have eaten the skin. And when the taste of the skin became ugly you will have stopped eating. If I am in doubt whether a certain technique is in accordance to instinctiv= e nutrition I always try to imagine, what someone living in former times (millions of years ago) would have done and could have done. Raw greetings Stefan E-Mail: Stefan Joest <[log in to unmask]>