Fruitarianism is the practice endorsed by people called
fruitarians or
fructarians of following a diet that comprises fruits, nuts and seeds, without animal products, vegetables and grains.
[1] Fruitarianism is a subset of
veganism.
Some people whose diet consists of 75% or more fruit consider themselves fruitarians.
[2]
Definitions
Fruitarian definition of fruit
Commonly the term "
fruit" is used when referring to plant fruits that are sweet, fleshy and contain seeds within the plant fruit (for example,
plums,
apples, and
oranges). However, there are other foods that are not typically considered to be fruits in a culinary sense but are botanically, such as
berries,
bell peppers,
eggplant,
tomatoes,
cucumbers,
nuts and
grains.
[3]
Fruitarians use differing definitions of what is considered a "fruit." For example,
Herbert M. Shelton, a founder of
Orthopathy, included non-fleshy fruits, such as
nuts, within the definition of fruit.
[4]
Definition of fruitarian
Some fruitarians will eat only what falls (or would fall) naturally from a plant; that is: foods that can be harvested without killing the plant.
[5][6][7] These foods consist primarily of culinary fruits, nuts, and
seeds.
[8] According to author
Adam Gollner, some fruitarians eat only fallen fruit.
[9] Some do not eat grains, believing it is unnatural to do so,
[10] and some fruitarians feel that it is improper for humans to eat seeds
[11] as they contain future plants,
[9] or nuts and seeds,
[12] or any foods besides juicy fruits.
[13] Others believe they should eat only plants that spread seeds when the plant is eaten.
[14] Others eat seeds and some cooked foods.
[15] Some fruitarians use the botanical definitions of fruits and consume
pulses, such as many
beans and
peas[16] or
legumes, or
pulses and
legumes. Still further definitions include raw fruits, dried fruits, nuts, honey and olive oil,
[17] or fruits, nuts, beans and chocolate
[18]
Motivation
Some fruitarians believe fruitarianism was the original diet of humankind in the form of
Adam and Eve based on
Genesis 1:29.
[15] They believe that a return to an
Eden-like
paradise will require
simple living and a
holistic approach to health and diet.
[19] Some fruitarians wish, like
Jains, to avoid killing anything, including plants,
[15] and refer to
Ahimsa fruitarianism.
[20] Some fruitarians say that eating some types of fruit does the parent plant a favor and that fleshy fruit has evolved to be eaten by animals, to achieve
seed dispersal.
[14]
Scientific studies
Dental studies
In 1979, Professor Alan Walker, a
Johns Hopkins University paleoanthropologist reported that preliminary studies of unmarked tooth enamel in early hominoids suggested that pre-human ancestors apparently had a diet of mostly fruit. Walker said, "I don't want to make too much of this yet. But it is quite a surprise."
[21]
Clinical studies
In 1971, a short-term study by B. J. Meyer was published in the
South Africa Medical Journal [22] describing how lipid profiles and glucose tolerances improved on a particular fruitarian diet.
[23] An earlier 1971 study by Meyer tested a 45 year old teacher who claimed she had eaten only fruits for the past 12 years, who was found to be in "excellent health".
[24] In a further trial in the study, body weights of overweight subjects showed a tendency to "level off" at the "'theoretically ideal' weight".
[25]
Nutritional concerns
Nutritional deficiencies
As a very extreme
vegan diet, fruitarianism is highly restrictive, making nutritional adequacy almost impossible.
[26] The Health Promotion Program at
Columbia University reports that a fruitarian diet can cause deficiencies in
calcium,
protein,
iron,
zinc,
vitamin D, most
B vitamins (especially
B12), and
essential fatty acids. Additionally, the Health Promotion Program at Columbia reports that food restrictions in general may lead to
hunger, cravings, food obsessions,
social disruptions and
social isolation.
[27]
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12, a bacterial product, is not found in any fruits. According to the U.S.
National Institutes of Health "natural food sources of vitamin B
12 are limited to foods that come from animals."
[28] Like
raw vegans who do not consume B
12-fortified foods (certain plant milks and breakfast cereals, for example), fruitarians may need to include a B12 supplement in their diet or risk
vitamin B12 deficiency.
Growth & development issues
In children, growth and development are at risk. Nutritional problems include severe protein energy malnutrition, anaemia and a wide range of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
[29] Several children have died as the result of being fed fruitarian diets.
[30][31][32] As a result, children have been taken from parents feeding them fruitarian diets.
[33]
Lifestyle difficulties
Lack of protein in fleshy fruit can make the lifestyle difficult to sustain, and can lead to the condition of
hypoproteinemia or
kwashiorkor.
[34] However
nuts and legumes, if included, are good sources of protein. Due to the lower digestibility of plant proteins, the
American Dietetic Association (ADA) states "protein needs might be higher than the
RDA (when) dietary protein sources are mainly those that are less well digested, such as some cereals and legumes."
[35]
Advocates
Some notable advocates of fruitarianism, diets which may be considered fruitarian or lifestyles that, in part, included an all fruit diet have included
August Engelhardt,
[36] Arnold Ehret,
[37] Raymond W. Bernard,
[38] and Anne Osborne.
[39][40] Essie Honiball[41][42] also adhered to a fruitarian diet for some time. Others such as Ross Horne
[43] and
Viktoras Kulvinskas[44] appeared to only describe the fruitarian diet.
[45] Some, like
Johnny Lovewisdom, experimented with different diets, including juicy fruitarianism,
[46] liquidarianism (juices only),
[47] vitarianism (fruit, vegetables, raw dairy)
[48] and
breatharianism.
[49] Others like author
Morris Krok,
[50] allegedly recommended against the diet once they stopped,
[51] with dietary practices of fruitarians being as varied as definitions of the term 'fruitarianism'. Diet author, Joe Alexander lived for 56 days on juicy fruits.
[52]
Famous fruitarians
Historical figures
- Mohandas Gandhi political and spiritual leader sustained a fruitarian diet for 5 years.[53] He apparently discontinued the diet due to pleurisy, a pre-existing condition, after pressure from a Dr. Jivraj Mehta.[54][55]
- Ben Klassen, white supremacist, founder of the Creativity Movement,[56] and author of The White Man’s Bible, advocated a fruitarian diet to include fruits, vegetables and nuts.[57]
- Sri Yukteswar Giri, in The Holy Science, the spiritual leader advocated a fruitarian diet, though his publishers later added a note that the diet he advocated included vegetables, nuts and grains.[58]
- Idi Amin, the Ugandan military dictator, became a fruitarian in Saudi Arabia during retirement.[59]
Fictional
See also
References
- ^ Houghton Mifflin Company, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2009.
- ^ "Living and Raw Foods: Types of Raw Food Diets: A Brief Survey". http://www.living-foods.com/articles/typesofraw.html.
- ^ "definition of fruit". http://www.cite-sciences.fr/lexique/definition1.php?idmot=412&rech_lettre=f&num_page=14&habillage=standard&lang=an&id_expo=25&id_habillage=36.
- ^ "definition of fruit". http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/the-human-dietetic-character-part-ii/proteins-in-the-fruitarian-diet.html.
- ^ Sins of the Flesh: A History of Ethical Vegetarian Thought, Rod Preece, UBC Press, 2008 "Since plants have life, it is necessary, if one is not to starve, to live from the fruit of the plant in such a manner that the host plant itself does not die."
- ^ Nutrition for the recreational athlete, Catherine G. Ratzin Jackson, page 95, “The fruitarian diet usually consists of consuming those parts of the plant that are cast off or dropped from the plant and that do not involve the destruction of the plant itself.”, 249 page, Publisher CRC Press, 1995, ISBN 0849379148, 9780849379147
- ^ Handbook Of Pediatric Nutrition, Patricia Samour, “A fruitarian diet consists of only fruits. Any plant food that is botanically a fruit or can be obtained without killing or harming the plant is considered a fruit.", Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2003, page 143.
- ^ "The Vegetarian Society UK — Information Sheet — Definitions". http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html.
- ^ a b 'The Fruit Hunters, Adam Leith Gollne, "Some factions eat only fallen fruit. Others refuse to eat any seeds because they contain future plants."
- ^ "Human Dietetic Character, I — Are We Grain Eaters?". http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/the-human-dietetic-character-part-i/are-we-grain-eaters.html.
- ^ "To Those Considering A Fruitarian Diet". http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/open-lett/open-letter-f-1a.shtml.
- ^ The Ascensional Science of Spiritualizing Fruitarian Dietetics, Dr Johnny Lovewisdom, Ecuador: International University of the Natural Vitalogical Sciences, 1999, Introduction: "Nature is betrayed when man ingests the seeds of plants, depriving them of their means of propogating their own species"; chapter: Sugar & Starch-Friends Or Foes? "grains, nuts and other seeds are wrong as food sources"
- ^ "Ascensional Science teaches the damaging effects of chlorophyll leafage, earthly roots and lower passion producing seeds. We are healed by levitational forces in fruit sugars and acids." Introduction to Ascensional Science of Spiritualizing Fruitarian Dietetics, Johnny Lovewisdom, International University of the Natural Vitalogical Sciences, 1999
- ^ a b Living and Raw Foods: Alternative Eating Plans - USA TODAY
- ^ a b c What is a Fruitarian?
- ^ "Fruitarian — What is Fruitarianism?". http://www.fruitarian.com/ao/WhatIsFruitarianism.htm.
- ^ Food, nutrition, and diet therapy: a textbook of nutritional care, Marie V. Krause, "The fruitarian diet consists of only raw or dried fruits, nuts, honey and olive oil." page 343, Publisher: Saunders, 1984, Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized Aug 19, 2008, ISBN 0721655149, 9780721655147
- ^ Handbook of Sunfood Living: Resource Guide for Global Health, John McCabe, North Atlantic Books, 2008, "other fruitarians also consumer cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, melon, avocadoes, berries, grapes, figs, dates, carob, chocolate, goji berries, nuts and even coconuts."
- ^ "Satya June/July 03: Raw History by Rynn Berry". http://www.satyamag.com/june03/berry.html.
- ^ "ahim-sa" - "the Hindu and Buddhist doctrine of refraining from harming any living being", Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ahimsa
- ^ Rensberger, Boyce (15 May 1979). "Teeth Show Fruit Was The Staple; No Exceptions Found". Science Times section (New York Times): p. C1. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30813FB3F5D12728DDDAC0994DD405B898BF1D3&scp=1&sq=Teeth+Show+Fruit+Was+The+Staple&st=p. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
- ^ "The South African Medical Journal is published by the South African Medical Association, which represents most medical professionals in South Africa.", African Journals Online, http://ajol.info/index.php/samj
- ^ B. J. Meyer; E. J. P. de Bruin, D. G. du Plessis, M. van der Merwe, Department of Physiology, University of Pretoria and Atomic Energy Board, and A. C. Meyer, Medical Research Council, Pretoria (1971-03-06). "Some biochemical effects on a mainly fruit diet in man". South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde (South African Medical Journal) 45(10) (10): 253–61. PMID 5573330. Retrieved 2009-11-11. "The effect of a nut-supplemented fruit diet on glucose tolerance, insulin secretion, plasma proteins and plasma lipids was investigated. The results suggest that, at least for the period covered by the experiment and under the prevailing conditions, the diet was adequate with respect to the parameters investigated, and may even have something to commend it."
- ^ "Some physiological effects of a mainly fruit diet in man." Meyer BJ et al. South African Medical Journal (Suid-Afrikaanse Mediese Tydskrif), 1971 Feb 20; vol. 45, pp. 191-5. "Our interest in this matter was aroused when a lady of 45 years of age consulted us and claimed that she had subsisted entirely on a fruit diet for the past 12 years.", "These tests confirmed that the subject was in excellent health."
- ^ "Some physiological effects of a mainly fruit diet in man." Meyer BJ et al. South African Medical Journal (Suid-Afrikaanse Mediese Tydskrif), 1971 Feb 20; vol. 45, pp. 191-5. "An interesting aspect of the diet was the tendency for the weights to level off more or less at the 'theoretically ideal' weight for the subject."
- ^ Foods & Nutrition Encyclopedia, Audrey H. Ensminger, CRC Press, 1993, "Severely restrictive vegetarian diets, such as fruitarian and Zen macrobiotic diets, increase the risk of malnutrition and deficiency diseases."
- ^ Alice!, Health Promotion Program at Columbia University, Health Services at Columbia, August 23, 2002."Go Ask Alice!: Fruitarian teens". Accessed May 20, 2008.
- ^ "Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin B12". National Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements. http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitaminb12.asp. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- ^ Holden, Chris, et al, Royal College of Nursing. Nutrition and Child Health, p. 59. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2000. ISBN 070202421X, 9780702024214.
- ^ Gollner, Adam Leith. The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession, pp. 99-101. Simon and Schuster, 2008. ISBN 074329694X, 9780743296946.
- ^ National Council Against Health Fraud. NCAHF Newsletter, 1 November 2001. "Stubborn parents spared prison in fruitarian infant death." Accessed 16 May 2009.
- ^ "Baby death parents spared jail" BBC News 2001-09-14
- ^ Mantle, Fiona and Anne Casey. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2004, Complementary and alternative medicine for child and adolescent care. ISBN 075065175X, 9780750651752.
- ^ Sanders, T. A., British Medical Journal, 10 March 1979; 1(6164)"Malnutrition in infants receiving cult diets." pp. 682–683. Accessed 21 April 2009.
- ^ "Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets". Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2003, 06. Accessed 22 January 2008.
- ^ Failure of a Womanless Eden in the Pacific - Strange Story from the South Seas, New York Times, 15 October 1905, "For days he lived alone, eating nothing but bread fruit and cocoanuts," "Of the food of choice, he lacked none.", "Weeks of life under the sun in the salt sea, and living upon fruit, had brought him to a state of wonderful physical perfection.", "For nearly two years more he continued to live the 'pure, natural life' but the charm had been completely broken by the death of his two disciples.", "in 1903, came a drought which reduced the fruit crop. The little left of it was wiped out in the Spring of 1904 by a storm. Engelhardt had the alternative of casting in his lot with the natives and eating on hogflesh, or sending a request for succor to Ulu or Herbertshohe. He did neither in his stubborness, and starvation and thirst did their work." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=990CEFDF1438EF32A25756C1A9669D946497D6CF
- ^ Mucusless Diet Healing System by Arnold Ehret, Mucusless Diet Healing System, ISBN 1-884772-00-5, 75th Anniversary edition, "The next winter I went to Algiers, in northern Africa. The mild climate and the wonderful fruits improved my condition and gave me more faith in Nature's methods and an understanding of them, and I gained courage to try short fasts to assist the cleansing properties of fruit and climate, with such results that one morning of a well feeling day I chanced to notice in my mirror that my face had taken on an entirely new look", page 15, "Arriving home again.... I gradually took up the ordinary diet.", page 15, "My experience, tests, and experiments as well as cures, all showed that grape sugar of fruits was the essential material of human food, giving the highest efficiency and endurance, and at the same time was the best eliminator of debris and the most efficient healing agent known for the human body", page 16, "To test our efficiency at exhaustive labor, we took a trip through northern Italy, walking for 56 hours continuously without sleep or rest or food, only drink. This after a seven-day fast and then only one meal of two pounds of cherries.", page 17
- ^ Organic Way To Health Vol. 1-4, Raymond W. Bernard, Health Research Books, 1996, page 2, "I have tried non-vegetarian diets, vegetarian diets, raw food diets, fruitarian diets, and many other kinds of diets."
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne The Age, 21 February 2009, Good Weekend magazine supplement, p26-28, "Anne Osborne has eaten nothing but fruit... for the past 17 years." p26, "I did a mono-melon diet for six months in 2001." p28, "I've done a long time just on melons, or I've had periods on orange juice or grapes or pears...I've never had any sickness on a mono diet but had a lot of strength." p28
- ^ Sunday Mirror Newspaper, England, 26 March 2000, p54, "Anne calls herself a fruitarian"
- ^ "Essie Honiball lived exclusively on fruit and a small amounts of nuts." North American Diet, Ron Lagerquist, International Bible Society (1984)
- ^ I Live On Fruit. Essie Honiball, Macro Books, Pretoria 1981. First edition. Page 9, Chapter 1: "One does not easily cast aside established habits almost overnight...This is precisely what I did in 1958 when I, after a three day water fast, started living on fresh fruit and nuts. That was twenty years ago.", Page 17, Chapter 1: "Today I still live virtually exclusively on fruit.", Page 18, Chapter 2: "The Diet on which I have lived since 1958 is so simple that it appears almost laughable in a line of complicated diets —I live on fresh fruit and nuts.", Page 19, Chapter 2: "I can live on fruit alone, but not on vegetables."
- ^ Health and Survival in the 21st Century by Ross Horne, Harper Collins, 1997, chapter "Dieting for Health and Longevity", section "The Natural Diet Of Man", "The study of comparative anatomy and the different natural diets of animals in the wild indicates strongly that the natural diet of early humans consisted predominantly of sweet fruits, and that even though millions of years have passed, the anatomy and digestive apparatus of humans has not changed and is therefore still best suited to fruit as the most suitable food."
- ^ Kulvinskas, Viktoras P. Life in the 21st Century. Twenty First Century Publications, 1981. ISBN 9780933278004.
- ^ Survival into the 21st Century by Viktoras Kulvinskas, Arizona: Ihopea Incorporated, 2002, 318 pages
- ^ The Ascensional Science of Spiritualizing Fruitarian Dietetics by Johnny Lovewisdom, San Francisco: Paradisian Publications, 1999, "In two years, I was living exclusively on juicy fruits, condemning the use of nuts in the fruit diet which other fruitarians before me had used with adverse results due to the lack of the life-giving living water in nuts, making them the 'Tempters of Satan'" in section 'My Calling To The Carpophagous Conception'"
- ^ Modern Live Juice Fasting, Johnny Lovewisdom, Connecticut: O'mangod Press, 1980, chapter 1, "I found the living blood of fruits and many vegetables a much purer life-giving, naturally prepared directly assimilable blood transfusion than can be expected from tired, worn-out, diseased blood of ordinary civilized humans."; chapter 3 "in 1953-54, I realized the true 6 months 7 day water fast with the purest distilled water usually tinctured with tomato juice"
- ^ Spiritualizing Dietetics: Vitarianism, Johnny Lovewisdom, Ecuador, Loja: International University Of The Natural Vitalogical Sciences, 1950, page 82 "(Vitarianism) advocates live or Vita-foods"
- ^ A Message Of Peace By One Who Lives In A Volcano!, Miguel A. Puentes, Mundial (weekly newspaper), Montevideo, Uruguay, 7 June 1949, section 'His Life In Practice': "He went on fasts, one of which he recently reached 40 days without taking anything but water with a few drops of lime juice."
- ^ Morris Krok, Fruit: The Food and Medicine For Man, Connecticut: O'Mangod Press, (1961). page 17, Chapter 8: "It had taken me almost ten years of continual reading and meditation before I had the courage to live only on fruits.", Page 40, Chapter 19: "At the time of the incident I was living on all fruit.", Page 46, Chapter 21: "After living on fruit for about four months, raw vegetables tasted flat."
- ^ "Tom Billings: dietary bio, Part B". http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/bio/billings-t-bio-1b.shtml.
- ^ The Live Food Factor, Susan Schenck, 1st Impression Publishing, 2006, "Joe Alexander tells about a time he spent 56 days eating only juicy fruits: no bananas, avocados or vegetables. He claims he never felt stronger in his life."
- ^ "during five years of a purely fruitarian life I never felt weak, nor did I suffer from any disease". Satyagraha in South Africa ~ XXXV. Tolstoy Farm III, written by Mohandas K. Gandhi, translated by Valji Govindji Desai, http://www.wikilivres.info/wiki/Satyagraha_in_South_Africa/Chapter_XXXV._Tolstoy_Farm_III
- ^ Autobiography: the story of my experiments with truth, Social Sciences Series, Mohandas Gandhi, Gandhi (Mahatma), Mahadev Haribhai Desai, Dover, 1983, 468 pages, page 318 " "Dr. Jivraj Mehta treated me. He pressed me hard to resume milk and cereals, but I was obdurate."
- ^ Gokhale's Charity, My Experiments with Truth, M.K. Gandhi.
- ^ Berlet, Chip, Vysotsky, Stanislavstated. "Overview of U.S. White Supremacist Groups," Journal of Political and Military Sociology, Summer 2006.
- ^ Salubrious Living (Creativity Book Publishers, 1982, and World Church of Creativity, 2003), chapter The Fruitarian Diet: "The fruitarian diet is composed of the products of the plant kingdom which are delicious and appealing to our taste in their natural uncooked condition. As fruits, vegetables and nuts are the foods which meet this qualification in an ideal manner they are the primary foods used by the fruitarian."
- ^ http://www.yogananda.net/ay/CHAPTER__42.htm Cited in Autobiography of A Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda, USA: Self Realization Fellowship, 1946, Chapter 42
- ^ The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession, Adam Leith Gollne "Idi Amin, the tyrannical Ugandan dictator, lived his final years in Saudi Arabia as a fruitarian (his affinity for oranges earned him the nickname "Dr. Jaffa")."
- ^ "Keziah (Character) from Notting Hill (1999)". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0006837/. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
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