HOW TO BECOME A FRUITARIAN 3
THE ORIGINAL FRUITARIAN GUIDEBOOK

In the first installment
I: What we eat, and why
II: Why a fruit diet?
III: Fruitarians, Families and Friends

In the second installment:
IV: Shopping for Basics
V: A Fruitarian Breakfast
VI: Later in the Day
VII: Fruitarian Drinks

In this installment
VIII: A Fruitarian Diary
IX: A Fruitarian Commitment
X: Epilog
After-Thoughts

VIII: A Fruitarian Diary

It is highly advisable to use the outer peel of oranges and grapefruits - that's where the essential oils and the sunshine are to be found! Never cut up citrus fruits for a salad and throw away the peel. Just lightly grate the zest of the peel and put it into the fruit salad (mind your knuckles when you are grating!). One evening we had several oranges for a fruit salad with excellent rich orange skins, and there would just be too much grated rind - it would be too strong. We put the surplus into a small pot with some of the nice liquid honey we always have to hand. It makes a great spread on toast in the morning!

On the subject of spreads, most people have been convinced by a constant tirade of commercials that margarine is somehow healthy. We do not believe so, and will never buy it. As an alternative we often have banana-nut butter. Simply mash half a banana with some nuts ground in the coffee grinder. Add a little peanut butter and a dash of lemon juice. I sometimes add a little mixed spice for variety. Mix well and use at once. If you store it the banana oxidizes and goes brown - nothing at all harmful, it just doesn't look so good! That's why I said use only half the banana. Put the other half into something else pronto!

Make a larger quantity of this same banana-nut recipe without the peanut butter and serve as a "cream" topping for fresh fruit. For breakfast this morning we had fresh blueberries (bilberries) and cream - or rather "fruitarian simulated cream-like substance". I mashed two bananas with a grated apple, a squeeze each of honey and molasses, some chopped nuts (walnuts and hazelnuts), a teaspoon of lemon juice and a thin sprinkle of desiccated (medium-shredded) unsweetened coconut. That made a pleasant creamy base which I put on the bottom of the cereal plates. The blueberries were washed and dried then served over the "cream". Top with a little crunchy granola. That works very nicely for strawberries also.


For supper I began with a grated apple and half a tin of creamed sweetcorn, adding a generous tablespoon of de-bittered brewer's yeast and a teaspoon of mustard powder, a shake of garlic powder, a small twist of freshly ground black pepper (I mix coriander seeds 50/50 with the black peppercorns in the grinder), a little desiccated coconut, and a dessertspoon lemon juice. This I mixed very thoroughly, then added: a chopped nectarine, a finely chopped apple, a chopped banana, 2 dessertspoons mixed nuts, and some chopped tofu. I threw in a few sunflower seeds and mixed it well but carefully. It needed a bit of salt so I added a few drops of soy sauce. Then it was perfect. A kind of Waldorf-type creation! Serve on its own or with a wedge of fresh melon if available, or a few slices of plain fruit for decoration.

Be very careful buying creamed sweetcorn. The good ones are good. But the cheapo versions are mostly cornflour jelly with only the odd bits of sweetcorn. You can always make your own creamed sweetcorn. Empty three-quarters of a can of sweetcorn into the whizzer with a little of the juice that comes with it. Add a little garlic powder and a small amount of brewer's yeast (a level dessertspoonful, you don't want to mask the delicate flavor, just enhance what's there already). Also add a tiny squeeze of molasses, a teaspoon mustard powder, and a twist of the black pepper grinder. Whizz away, adding a little liquid if necessary to make it whizz. When you have a creamy texture, decant into a container, then add the rest of the whole corn (not the water - keep that for something else like falafel). I sometimes add half a banana to the corn before processing; try it sometime and see if you like it. You can alternatively use the food processor for this; it depends on quantity - the food processor needs more to get going than the goblet liquidizer.


At mid-day I put half a cup Thai jasmine rice with a tablespoon cuscus (a granulated wheat pasta) into a saucepan with a cup and a quarter of water. I brought to boil and turned the heat very low for 5 mins with the lid on. Finally I turned off the heat and covered the lid with a folded towel on top and left it for an hour. Then stir lightly to fluff up rice (it may be a bit sticky). I added some sunflower seeds, a few small raisins and a few drops lemon juice. Whip around a bit to fluff and mix, lid back on, ready for this evening. To serve with it I made a small salad of orange, apple, tomato and a little tofu, all chopped to the same smallness except the apple a bit smaller. I chose these ingredients because it's shopping day tomorrow and that was what I had to get rid of! For dressing: a little lemon juice, a squeeze of honey and an even smaller squeeze molasses; mix lightly, refrigerate till served. To serve I put a heap of the savory rice and a heap of the salad separately at the side of the plates, then three slices of melon: cantaloupe (yellow), honeydew (green) and red watermelon. It looked quite attractive.

I know one should get the unpolished rice because there's so much goodness in the husk. I just find it takes too long to cook, and it's rather heavy to eat. So I get the long, slender Thai Jasmine rice which cooks quickly and is nice and light. Rice is better taken in summer than winter as it cools the blood. Conversely on a cold winter's day porridge oats give warmth to a sensitive northern body which would rather be somewhere south-er!


A light supper today. Half a tin of brown beans (in water, not sauce - put in as much of the water as you want then keep the rest for something else), chopped tofu, chopped banana, chopped apple, chopped tomato, a little soy sauce, a little lemon juice. Nice and tasty and light for a sunny, late summer's evening. Followed by a nice cookie, and herb tea with honey.


Breakfast: a strange cross between Scottish porridge and Virginia southern spoon bread! Last night I put half a large cup of the following ingredients mixed together: porridge oats, a few flax seeds, yellow corn meal, ground rice and shredded coconut. A little salt is a MUST to bring out the flavor; also add a squeeze of molasses. I find that half a cup dry mix to one cup of liquid does the trick. Put the half-cup dry mix into the saucepan, add a full cup of water, do not heat at all, just cover and leave overnight. Next morning bring to the boil well before breakfast time (we jog first), then turn off heat and cover. By the time you're ready to eat (have your fruit salad or smoothie first!) the stuff will be set into a solid pancake. Using a plastic slice, cut into quarters then you can scoop them up to serve. It's quite tasty on its own. We added some homemade topping of chopped strawberries which had marinated in a little honey and apple juice overnight to soften them and bring out the flavor. Or you can spread your favorite jam/jelly, peanut butter, marmalade or whatever.

Another favorite when strawberries are cheap and plentiful is to make a strawberry preserve. Chop 2 one-pound dry weight baskets of strawberries and cook in just a tiny bit of water at the bottom of the pan, with a little brown sugar, some honey and molasses (not much), a good sprinkle of coconut, a banana well mashed, and two level dessertspoons cornstarch. This makes two 12oz jamjars of topping, and sets quite well. The banana and coconut give it a pleasantly smooth caramelly flavor as a base for the (barely cooked and slightly sharp) fruit.


Today we had - well, we had what there was that had to be used up. That's often the best way to prepare a meal. With fruitarian ingredients it's easy to mix; have plenty of good ingredients in the house and combine them anyway that takes your fancy at the time - or use whichever fruit looks the softest! Or... use up leftovers. Never waste anything. The Universe has made these fruits, grains and nuts, and given them to us. We should respect and enjoy them. Never waste them.

So. I had a third of a tin of brown beans with the water that went with them; also half a very small tin of tomato pasta sauce. I put those both in the food processor, peeled and roughly squashed a banana, threw in a few mixed nuts, a tablespoon falafel to thicken and a little desiccated coconut for the same reason, three roughly chopped plums with the stones removed of course, a roughly chopped apple, a little garlic powder... anything else? No, so on with the power and let it whizz. This was made at noon for the evening meal and stored in the fridge where it slightly thickened and the flavors "got to know one another". We ate it like a dip with whole-wheat thin Arabic-style bread (also called pita or pocket bread).


A rather cold, damp day so this evening we had toasted sandwiches - well, not quite toasted. I used to love toasted cheese and tomato sandwich with the cheese all melted, but after we went off cheese (avoid the animal cholesterol!) we found that peanut butter melts very well. Spread thinly on two large slices bread (I used 12-grain bread this time), then put thick slices of tomato on, season to taste with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper (with coriander). You need a frypan with a lid, or a large non-stick saucepan with a lid; in it heat a little olive oil - enough to make a very shallow pool. Heat, but not smoking. Sprinkle a few mixed herbs and some garlic powder into the hot oil, then put in your sandwiches. Let them sizzle a few seconds, then turn heat low and put the lid almost on (leave a crack open to let moisture out). After about 5 mins turn sandwiches, put a little more oil in, turn up heat for a few moments, then down again with the lid almost on. Leave for another 5 mins. This heats the tomato right through and melts the peanut butter nicely. Careful when you serve and eat it, the tomato inside gets very hot! With it we had a salad of: chopped apple, plum, nectarine, and tofu with a little olive juice left over from a can of olives, and a sprinkle of brewer's yeast.


Try this savory spread for breakfast! Night before, heat some olive oil in a small saucepan, grind some black pepper, and when hot add a teaspoon powdered mustard and stir. Then throw in one large or a couple of medium chopped tomatoes. Heat till bubbling then put in some soy sauce and a little molasses, turn down heat and simmer WITHOUT LID ON to evaporate liquid for 10 minutes. Then leave to cool, NO LID. When cooled, shake a little brewer's yeast over it and stir. Cover and leave overnight. Next morning serve for breakfast as a savory spread on white (unbleached of course!) hot rolls and thin peanut butter.


Tonight we felt like pasta. Choose your favorite shape or kind and cook it in boiling water (no lid on!) until it reaches your desired softness. On this occasion we used Chinese rice vermicelli because we had just got it and were curious. This cooks very quickly.

Meanwhile wash a lemon and two oranges. Cut the lemon in half without peeling, remove seeds (pips), cut into smaller pieces and put in the whizzer (goblet mixer). Keep the other half for later (breakfast smoothie?!) Peel both oranges, having first grated the skin if it looks good. Try to get the small, thin-skinned naval oranges if you can. Chop one peeled orange roughly and put into goblet with the lemon (which you didn't peel). Add a little fruit juice of whatever's going; this is to make it whizz. Also add a crushed clove of garlic, a quick squeeze of molasses, some mixed herbs (say two teaspoonsful) and a good shake of soy sauce. Whizz until smooth. This will be your pasta sauce. In a saucepan heat a little olive oil, then add the liquid from the whizzer. Add a little mustard powder (half a teaspoon), also some falafel to thicken to the consistency of a thickish sauce. When warm add the drained pasta and stir around over the heat to re-warm the pasta.

Chop the other (peeled) orange, one (peeled) banana, a piece of firm tofu, and add into the saucepan. Warm it all together but do not cook, stirring gently for just a few minutes. Shake a little (say a heaped tablespoonful) de-bittered yeast powder on top and a twist of freshly ground black pepper. Stir finally and serve. Fruitarian pasta! Warm the plates first if it's cold outside!


So dear reader, I leave you with, I hope, the conviction that you should begin along the path to fruitarianism. Take it slowly. Add more fruit as you go. I still sometimes have a mixed salad with a lettuce base - but I always add fruit, perhaps some chopped orange or grapefruit or seedless grapes. We've got used to it now and like the balance. Without the fresh, juicy lubrication of fruit, the digestion doesn't seem to work so well.

Finally, back to lifestyle, as I leave you with a Thought.

Always make your food look good when you present it at table. Table? Yes. Lay the table properly with nice china and cloth or mats, make everything look as attractive as possible.

That in turn requires that you set aside proper times and space for meals, not just rush through the kitchen and grab something on the run. No time? Get up earlier. Make time. It's worth it for the peace of mind and relaxation it brings. I knew someone who always rushed through meals... then took Tai-chi classes to... relax. I said "forget the Tai Chi and use the time for a proper sit-down breakfast" She tried it and it worked!

Enjoy nice meals at regular times with an attractive table setting, meals that are presented with care and an artistic eye. And give time to the digestive process, which is really what eating should be all about. Remember that you are eating to benefit the body, not just to titillate the taste sensations.

Chew well and slowly, appreciate and enjoy the food, the fact that fruit trees and bushes have produced it for you, the fact that the universe has seen fit to feed you (most people in the world are not so fortunate). Then swallow, remembering that it is only now that the real work starts. Don't rush your food, and after each course, allow a few moments for the digestion, and the appreciation, to catch up. If the setting is relaxed and harmonious, if the food looks as if it was prepared with care, then you will eat in a careful and relaxed way, and your digestion will be that much more effective.

After the meal, sit awhile. We often listen to a little baroque classical music (there are other kinds for those who so wish, but avoid the roudier varieties which are counter-productive digestion-wise), before going out for a twenty-minute digestive stroll. On Sundays we have breakfast with Bach cantatas or choral music along with some special baked treat and home roasted coffee (we very successfully roast green coffee beans in a hot-air popcorn roaster). You see what a lot of odd people there are in the world! The only thing is, we are relaxed and healthy, which is more than a lot can say, and we look ten years younger than we are, which is more than many others can say. Not boasting, just recommending that you treat your personal domestic lifestyle, and especially the eating parts, with as much care and attention as you give to your best business clients. Why? Well let's face it, you are your best business client. If you lost you, there wouldn't be much left, would there?

Take care!

IX: A Fruitarian Commitment

Fruitarianism is not just an isolated idea of a few, it is not just a fad. Fruitarianism is a concept in depth, a concept that goes beyond some logic, reason and science, although there are many logical reasons why a fruitarian diet is THE optimum diet for the human race.

There are two areas which we can look at for the Truth of fruitarianism, one is in the scientific evidence and our physiological and biological make-up, the other in the inner perception which people have about the eating of fruit.

The scientific truth is substantiated by the intensive research and studies on the teeth of our earliest ancestors. Dr. Alan Walker and his associates, anthropologists at Johns Hopkins University, using the most modern electronic microscopic equipment, state: "Preliminary studies of fossil teeth have led to the startling suggestion that our early human ancestors were not predominantly meat eaters or even eaters of seeds, shoots, leaves or grasses, nor were they omnivorous. Instead, they appear to have subsisted chiefly on a diet of fruit. Every tooth examined from the hominids of the 12 million year period leading up to Homo Erectus appeared to be that of a fruit eater."

Dr. Arthur M. Baker, MA, in Awakening Our Self Healing Body points out: "Frugivores are physiologically equipped to obtain energy primarily from the natural sugar in fruits - our anatomy is such that we are capable of picking fruits, and to masticate, digest and appropriate them with ease and efficiency. The biological equipment of humans and our human structure attests that we are frugivorous, as confirmed by the function of the human body."

He also stated that most of the calories in vegetables are bound within cellulose, the fuel and nutrient value of which is largely unobtainable to our system (except for extremely valuable mineral matter from which our body derives great benefit). Unlike purely natural vegetarians in nature (horses, cows, elephants, sheep), a person's stomach cannot process large amounts of cellulose. People cannot regurgitate and re-chew their food as do the herbivorous animals which have more than one stomach.

Dr. Abramowski, Fruitarian Diet and Physical Rejuvenation says: "The plant-eaters form still at the present time, as they have always done, the great majority of animals on earth. The highest developed plant-eaters are the fruit-eaters. The highest developed fruit-eater is the human being."

Every aspect of human physiological make up, every aspect of the biological makeup, all and everything points to humans being still, in spite of millions of years of diversions, frugivorous, fruit-eaters. The setting and formation of our teeth, our digestive system, the length of the intestines, our physical make up, our hands, our alkaline enzyme system, everything points in the direction of a fruit-eater.

The fact that humanity as a whole is not yet ready to return to the life of their frugivore nature is not due to the insufficiency of the fruit but due to their degenerated state after aeons of eating out of harmony and living out of harmony. Hence, our human race has still to revert to other foods and the return to the frugivore's diet now requires a transitional phase so as to avoid a shock to the body system. There is the lack of knowledge and understanding of what a fruit diet entails and humanity has to be re-educated as to what true food is all about and the connection with their health.

The other area of evidence that human kind has that connection with being frugivorous is in the inner perception. There are certain things in life where scientific evidence cannot be supplied, where there is that kind of mystery, unexplainable but nevertheless true. Inner perception is an area where logic and reason cannot penetrate, it just IS!

Intimate involvement in Fruitarianism has brought us many emails from all over the world. Their message is consistent: they "feel", have an inner perception, an awareness, that it is the fruitarian diet which is their ultimate desire.

We may ask ourselves why this is so. There is often no logic in such perceptions, there is still less scientific proof. Indeed, there are many natural therapists who are able to prove that a fruitarian diet is not feasible. Still, the evidence of the "inner knowing" is there to stay. Such evidence should not go unnoticed. There is a reason and it is our task to probe into that reason. Our own health and well-being provides us with one incentive; the increased lightness of being which we will soon begin to feel provides another. Finally, or firstly, depending on your point of view, you will be living without taking life.

X: Epilog

For us personally, the whole fruitarian-conversion process took two years. It was a very gradual process, involving not only lighter, fruitarian eating, but slowly reducing the total quantity.

Right now it has been a couple of years since the fruitarian conversion was complete so it has had ample time to settle. And yes, we do feel better, no we wouldn't go back, and yes we do eat mostly uncooked fruit and a lot less of everything. If we are going to "slip" occasionally we'd prefer to slip into a green-leaf salad rather than cooked food which always makes us feel heavy after. We've got much more used to monitoring our bodies which themselves have become more sensitive to right or wrong nutritional treatment. A piece of fish eaten as guests recently made us feel very unclean, as if the aura of death had been ingested with the fish - which of course it had!

So far so good. Then came another very interesting episode. Recently we left North America where we have been based for a while, and took a six-week trip in Germany. The castles and churches and historic church-organs and old towns and German countryside and walks in the beech-tree forests and general scenery were all great. But then there were the bakeries! Not only does each have a choice of a dozen or more delicious rolls and breads... there's also the cake display cabinet with all manner of crumbles, poppyseed cake, cheesecakes... and on it goes. The milk products are also tempting, with so many kinds of soft cheeses and a sort of creamy cheese called quark. Oh dear. It was just great, but gradually the effects began to set in. And by the time the tour was over... well here are the gruesome details.

A foot with a broken ankle which had hithertofore managed to jog quite happily, now became arthritic/rheumatic and complained roundly. A little toe which got badly knocked and had recovered quite well also got arthritic and swelled a little. It then pressed into its next-door neighbor and on a longish (10-mile) walk through some lovely forest in Saxony; the rubbing and pressure started a corn which got ever-larger and more painful. The same arthritis/rheumatism problem attacked the other foot, the knee joint and one wrist. And in the body's middle area, the pancreas began to complain loudly with the occasional stabbing pains in the night. A sorry tale indeed!

As soon as we got back the first meal we had at home was a great fruit smoothie for breakfast, and boy was that ever good! The beneficial cleansing effect was immediate. Of course it took time to get back on track, but three weeks after our return, the aches and pains were gone and we were feeling our old selves health-wise. Would we do it again - the German dietary indiscretions I mean? Frankly, probably yes. I'd say "no" right now, but I know what will happen when the time comes! So. Yer makes yer choice and pays the price. Some call it the Law of Karma!

That's it for the Epilog, except to remind you that important though your health is, there are the animals to consider (the ones fruitarians don't kill!) and there's also a wider, more spiritual dimension....
"In the beautiful, harmonious law controlling the Universe, that which is ethically correct must necessarily be dietetically correct, for whether we like it or not we are subject to its rigid dictum. In our Universe of perfection, fruitarians are living as close as it is possible to that ideal, for they neither kill, nor steal, hunt nor hurt. They never mutilate or violate, for they are the heralds of the New Age. No bewildering shocks of retribution disturb their peace, for they haven't incurred any. Fruitarians, by their lifestyle, are changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres".

AFTER-THOUGHTS: News and Comment

The comment below is extracted from The FRUITARIAN NEWS by kind invitation of the editor.

UNCOOKED FOODS
Uncooked foods raise micro-electric potentials throughout the body. This heightens the metabolic processes, increases respiration or oxygenation while decreasing congestion and swelling in tissues. It improves the body's overall resistance to illness and speeds up the healing process.

ENZYMES IN RAW FOOD
Quoted from: "Food Enzymes", Humbart Santillo, BS, MH.

Within the bloodstream and tissues of the body, enzymes act as scavengers, breaking down cholesterol and fatty deposits, and assisting in the overall detoxification process. There is a definite correlation between the amount of enzymes individuals possess and the amount of energy they have.

Animals in the wild consume large amounts of enzymes as a result of their raw food diets. This aids the digestion process, taking the stress off organs such as the pancreas, liver and spleen which would otherwise have to produce large amounts of enzymes, becoming enlarged in the process. An enlarged organ is often a pathological condition, showing the first signs of degeneration. The enzymes in raw food digest 5 to 75% of the food without the help of the enzymes secreted by the body.

NUTS and MUCUS
From Arne Wingavist, Sweden:

I have tried eating up to 10 almonds a day for periods of up to two days at a time, but I find that you cannot eat more than 6 almonds per day, day after day, if you want to feel in top shape (or the same quantity of fat in other nuts or seeds).

This puts a limit to the amount of this kind of food. Add to this an avocado or olives, unsalted, and you get all the fat or oil you need. I never use any oil or any other kind of vegetable fat, except in the natural state in the form of nuts, almonds, seeds and the few fruits which can be said to be rich in fat, like avocado. To keep my weight (I'm 6ft tall and weigh 136 lbs), I have to exercise quite a lot to build up weight in my muscles. If I eat more than 6 almonds every day in succession, my mouth and nose have an excess of mucus and I must blow my nose and spit during my bicycle trips. When I limit my intake below 4-6 almonds there is no problem.

CHOLESTEROL
From "The Fit For Life Cookbook", by Marylin Diamond:

Cholesterol is a hard, waxy, fat-soluble (as opposed to water-soluble) substance that is synthesized in all cells of the body, but primarily in the liver. It is part of every cell of the body as a building block of the cell membrane, and it is critically important - so important that Nature has equipped each cell with the means to synthesize its own cholesterol. This cholesterol made by our bodies keeps the membranes of our cells functioning at optimum level.

Our bodies produce between 500 and 1000 milligrams of cholesterol every day, and that amount is plenty to supply our needs. In fact, we create such an ample supply that the dietary requirement for cholesterol is zero. The cholesterol that we create in our bodies is not the problem-cholesterol about which there is so much publicity.

The problem-cholesterol is manufactured in the bodies of animals for their needs, but we take it in when we eat these animals as food.

When we live on a diet of animal products (meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs), we consume 500 to 100 milligrams of dietary cholesterol a day, most of which cannot be easily removed (excreted) and is, instead, deposited in the tissues of our body, particularly in the arteries.

It is well established that this accumulated excess of dietary cholesterol... IS a contributing factor to the high rate of cardiovascular disease and other degenerative diseases.

The cholesterol that contributes to heart disease comes from the animal products we eat. In contrast, apples, bananas, grapes, almonds, cashews, coconut, tofu, avocados, chick-peas, oats, corn, carrots, lettuce, potatoes and all other plant foods contain zero mg of cholesterol, no matter how large a quantity you eat.

BANANAS
From Gregory McNamee, author, cook and natural history writer, Tucson, Arizona.

The banana has long been recognized as a rich food source. Buried in the scientific description of the banana that most often graces our tables, Musa sapientum, one finds a quiet homage to its presumed wonders. The Latin means "muse of the wise person". Potassium, which the banana contains in abundance, has been likewise called "the salt of the intelligence", perhaps because it figures in most so-called brain food.

The banana holds a heavy concentration of natural sugars, almost 20% by weight. This makes it a convenient source of energy, and thus a favored treat of athletes, and outdoor enthusiasts, to say nothing of dieters, who benefit greatly from the banana's low fat (about a half a gram in a medium-sized fruit of about 110 grams), and total lack of cholesterol.

Thanks to its high pectin content, in fact, bananas are known to reduce blood cholesterol significantly. Bananas also have generous quantities of phosphorus, iron, thiamin, calcium, and beta carotene. About the only black mark on their record, so to speak, is their tendency to spoil quickly, thanks to the high presence of the enzyme poly-phenoloxide, the same substance that causes human skin to tan in sunlight. To slow this spoilage, you can either keep your store of bananas in a cold (40-degree F.) refrigerator or hang them from a rack so that the fruit dangles in the air. It's best, however, simply to hail the fruit as a transitory wonder and eat it quickly instead.

Botanically, the banana is a strange thing: the plant itself is an herb, related to coriander, and in its wild state it is thin and grassy. Its fruit is a berry, born of and containing many seeds, and the wild banana is even seedier than its domesticated counterpart. The peel of both the wild and cultivated varieties is full of latex, making it an easy source of gum. The peel is also full of latex, which yields another benefit of the banana or, more specifically, of its less sugary variety, the plantain. This is its ability to stimulate the production of mucus lining in the stomach wall, which in turn, retards the formation of stomach ulcers. The greener the plantain, it is said, the better the protection against the ravages of digestive acids. While the medical jury is still out, even common desert bananas seem to have some value in this respect: many pediatricians suggest their use for children suffering from gastritis.

Today, bananas are grown not only in the tropical world but also in greenhouses in temperate climates, and even in Iceland, where they grow outdoors on geyser-studded volcanic soils.


We have received much email as a result of our Fruitarian Guidebook, and we have been surprised at the interest.

Many are struggling to follow their convictions in the face of pressure from family members. We try to advise them that most probably their family and friends are concerned for their health and well-being. When we became vegetarian 35 years ago everyone said we would fade away. But we are as healthy as ever, and even more so since moving on to a diet containing predominantly uncooked fruit. It is important to listen to others, and to show appreciation where there is genuine concern. But it is also necessary to follow one's own convictions, especially in these days of rapid vibratory changes and uplifting. Sometimes annoyance or frustration with the doubts of others arises through one's own doubts; those who are confident in their own path will not mirror the doubts of others. To build one's own confidence it is important to monitor one's own feelings. How do you feel as you gradually move into more and more fruit? Do you get cravings? If so give in a little! But on the other hand, after eating cooked food, do you feel heavy, a pressure in the forehead, even a little irritable? Many do. Watch yourself and your reactions!

Another warning we must constantly repeat is: Take it slowly! The body takes time to adjust, and that applies equally when you are doing things which are theoretically for its benefit! Gradually add more and more fresh fruit to your diet - and as noted above, monitor your feelings. Note how, after a lot of fruit, you feel balanced as between solids and liquids. Note on the other hand (if you go in for such things!) how, after lots of bread and dairy product or even (heaven forbid) meat... you feel the need for lots of liquid. Ever wondered why Big Macs come with a half-gallon Super Slurpee of colored liquid?

Doubts? Yes of course you will have them! That's why it's so easy to be like sheep and simply follow the one in front - do what everybody else is doing. But we need to change, for at least two important reasons. First is that the past is not always good enough, and evolution consists of improving things. Second is that the world is changing; it is becoming "lighter", its vibratory rate is increasing. And we have to move with it. Consuming the slaughtered bodies of once-living beings is no longer good enough; and for our own personal health, fatty, heavy foods slow down our mental and spiritual processes, quite apart from the harm done to the physical body.

We are confident in our own convictions, and we are happy if our experiences can benefit others, or at least lead to questions.

How to become a Fruitarian (c)1997 Arton
We'd really value your comments! Our Email address is arton@islandnet.com

This text is taken with permission from http://www.islandnet.com/~arton/fruit.html. Anybody with questions should email arton@islandnet.com

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