Tom Billings Experience

I desided to analyze failed fruitarianism of the owner of beyondveg.com. The structuring and the years counting, and the highlighting in bold are mine.

First of all I like to thank Tom Billings for the information he published. Here is how he describes his diet over 30 years:

"I am a long-time raw-food vegetarian, and have (at different times) followed many of the common raw vegetarian diets: fruitarian, natural hygiene-style, living foods. My current diet is lacto-vegetarian (includes some raw dairy), 75-90% raw."

First ~9 years (1971-1980):

"I was a fruitarian (by the common definition of fruit, not the botanical definition) in this phase. The common definition of fruit used here is: the edible reproductive parts of seed-bearing plants that includes juicy pulp (hence includes such "vegetable fruits" as cucumber, tomato, eggplant).

On this site we use broad botanical definition of fruit: a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds, but most of us certainly prefer juicy fruit.

For approximately 2 years of this period I was on nearly 100% raw fruit - something that many fruitarians talk about, but very few ever achieve. My diet in this period was usually 100% raw, and was consistently 75+% fruit, in the long-term."

Unfortunately Tom does not tell us what was in those 25% non-fruit food. But he does say he was vegan:

"I again became a vegetarian (January 1, 1970, to be precise), and shortly after that eliminated all dairy products and became a pure vegetarian (at the time I did not even know the word "vegan")."

Something about the fruit he had:

"...had year-round access to a wide variety of locally grown fruit (most unsprayed, some organic), including a wide variety of citrus, mangos, avocados, as well as "minor" fruits: papayas, bananas, carambolas, lychees, longans, coconuts, tamarind, and other exotics."

Being 100% on fruit was good for Tom for around a year:

My initial experience (1972 through early 1973) with 100% raw fruitarianism, after I got past the first major cleansing stages, was very positive indeed: my physical health improved, the need for sleep decreased, I had lots of energy (some of the time), and I had a pleasant "light" or "euphoric" mental feeling that I thought was a spiritual feeling at the time. Things went well for a while, and my spirituality seemed to grow as well. However, there were trouble signs, even in 1972 - emaciation, constant hunger, frequent weakness, and intermittent fatigue.

I don't know what he means by seemingly growing spirituality, but how one can call "positive" being constantly hungry and extremely weak? So exhausted that even a short fasting crashed him:

In the spring of 1973... I went on a 4-day water fast. The results were disastrous: my "light" mental feeling disappeared, my strength vanished and I was weak and fatigued, and my weight dropped to the life-threatening level of 88 pounds (40 kg; I am 6'1" = 185 cm tall).

There is something wrong with it. How little one must eat to emaciate oneself so badly?

"After recovering from the above situation, which I refer to as a "crash," I included lentil sprouts in my diet for some months - until the end of 1973 (or so)."

No information what so ever about how much sprouts he ate.

Then another 2 years on fruit and sprouts, as a typical raw foodist:

"After fully recovering from the crash, I experienced a period of about 2 years when the diet seemed to work well for me, at least most of the time. During this period, cravings were not a problem (in retrospect, I was probably overeating both sweet fruit and avocados in the period)."

Now we know at least something :)

Then he refers to his "around two" years on sweet fruit (in unknown quantities) with normal refrain on how exceptional it is:

"I was on 100% raw fruit for around 2 years. This is a goal that many fruitarians talk about, but very few achieve. Note that despite my "perfect" 100% fruit diet, I was frequently weak - followed by periods of hyperactivity--during this period. This is the classic pattern of excess sugar consumption: sugar highs, followed by sugar blues - which is why I say that I was probably consuming excess sweet fruit during this period."

This is how it all ended:

I had to freeze (and nearly starve) for 3 weeks. I returned to Florida, weighing only 95 pounds (43 kg) - my second crash. Fortunately, avocados were in season, and I was able to quickly regain weight by eating a diet that was mostly avocados.

I afraid there might be something wrong with his health or eating behavior, because this is extreme.

I had cravings for sweet foods (even though my diet had sweet fruit as the dominant food type), and also salty foods (possibly due to lack of minerals). I started eating raw vegetables with soy sauce on them to satisfy my salt cravings. I would occasionally eat candy for the sugar cravings, but preferred to eat dates (which were addictive).

Ok, now he is somebody who just tries to eat raw, uses salt, spices and sugar, and actually cant hold to it, eats sweets instead of fruit.

He does not know that dates aren't raw normally (they are dried in ovens on higher temperatures, and even by sun-drying they ca be easily overheated); it is highly concentrated food, and he probably was overeating ("addicted" to) them.

What do these sugar cravings have to do with reasoning against fruitarianism? He was eating non-sweet food with various tastes and still had sugar, and satisfied those with wrong foods!

"...as addictive as dates and sugar are, there is one fruit that is even more addictive, and most raw vegans are addicted to it. That fruit is: avocados! Rawists who don't believe this are invited to try excluding avocados from their diet, for a firsthand lesson in the addictive nature of avocados."

This contradicts my own experience, and words of many other raw folks: avocados, firstly, are no more "addictive" than any other fruit, secondly, much less addictive that most of cooked foods. I can it avocados - one a day, 4 a day - or forget about them for months and feel fine. As the matter of fact I ate only 1/2 of an avocado or so in the last several months.

After quitting eating fruit his problems begun, and he tries to turned it yet again against fruitarian diet, suggesting, that his body was depleted of nutrients during that period on fruit:

"Additional problems during the post-honeymoon period included: severe muscle cramps - usually leg muscles, which may have been due to a calcium deficiency (most fruit is low in calcium); dental problems consisting of severe erosion of tooth enamel from acidic fruit consumption (enamel hypoplasia) and gum disease that required surgery (my consumption of excess sugar in the form of fruit may have been a factor in that); acid reflux (from eating too many dates); as well as the usual symptoms of excess sugar consumption (fatigue, sugar highs/blues, excess urination, constant thirst, etc.). As a "model fruitarian," my giving in to cravings was done in secret, as it seemed shameful to go off the "perfect, ideal" fruit diet. The only times I ate candy was on my foreign trips (and then only occasionally). In other words, I was engaging in the classic eating disorder behavior of binges and eating in secret."

I have had many extensive periods of eating only fruit, with short interruptions and I never had any cramps. I was phisically active, of cause (dansing, running, hatha yoga). My weight is perfectly normal and my muscules are stronger than ever.

Tom does not provide us with any information on his lifestyle! Did he exercise at all?

And what was his health condition prior to switching to raw diet?.. Why was he so persistent about it if it felt so horrible? Not a word about his motivation other than being convinced (not very deeply, as will be shown later) that fruit are perfect food and striving for "purity".

"Having achieved and experienced very high levels of physical "purity" with the associated "light" mental feeling, I can assure you that the real experience of physical purity is not as positive as others advertise it to be. When you are very "pure," you become very physically sensitive. On the fruitarian diet, your sense of smell is sharpened considerably. The disadvantage of this is that it makes normal life very difficult, as follows.

I do agree about sharp sense of smell, but I consider it to be very helpful and interesting.

1. Sitting in a room with a smoker (even if he/she is not smoking) may be painful - you cannot stand the smell.
2. The smell of garlic cooking can be nearly as painful as tear gas.
3. When you step on a bus or train, you gag because of the smell of the people on board.
4. You meet an attractive person who also seems attracted to you, but you cannot get near them because of the smell."

1. I can stand smoking smell, sometimes I even like it, but the concentration of smoke in the room is important.
2. Cooking garlic smell I do not know well, but I guess it would be rather strong to anybody who is standing right next to the pan.
3. Gag? Painful? What kind of people must be in that bus!
4. Seriously, I think something is wrong with the guy or he meets very strange people.

"An additional example: For a personal trip to India, I had to get a cholera inoculation <...> the nurse gave me the shot. I immediately passed out, and broke out in a cold sweat. The nurse panicked (she thought she had killed me), and went and got the doctor, who revived me with smelling salts. The sweat on me (as a fruitarian, sweating was very rare for me at the time) smelled just like the vaccine that had been injected into me. Was this an immediate emergency "cleansing reaction," or an allergic reaction? I suspect (but cannot prove) that it was a cleansing reaction, as an allergic reaction might not smell like the vaccine. Anyway, if this is a cleansing reaction, it shows how being too pure, in an impure world, has certain disadvantages."

I never passed out in my life and I had various vaccinations (not very willingly :), but no such reactions at all.

"During this period, I considered myself to be spiritual, but I was very socially isolated. Social isolation is a common and serious problem in rawism, as it is considered a "weird" diet. Because I was harassed a lot about my diet (try being a 100% raw fruitarian in a conservative, suburban part of Florida in the 1970s, and you will experience a great deal of harassment), I chose to avoid the harassment by limiting and carefully selecting social opportunities. I also chose to not be a "missionary" for the diet, as that would simply encourage others to harass me more (as well, I respect the right of others to freely choose their diets)."

Nobody ever rejected me because of my food choices. It was difficult in some situations, but certainly not "very isolating"!

Harassed? How?! What did he tell people that they hassled him (what should we understand under a "great deal"?) So, at first he was missionary (I'd like to know in which way) but changed his mind after being severely harassed?

And the guy loses his interest:

"...I slowly started to lose interest in fruit, dietary purity, and concern for the "evil demons" of mucus and protein. Cravings and hunger increased, and I was apathetic about being "pure." In retrospect, what happened is that I literally burned out from the powerful obsession with food..."

Yes, probably that was a very strange form of food obsession.

Another ~9 years (1980-1989):

Actually, his fruitarianism long ended here:

"After a transition period in the early 1980s when I was a conventional (cooked-food) vegetarian, I entered a phase where I alternated between periods on a (nearly) 100% raw diet similar to natural hygiene, and a conventional vegetarian diet."

As well as veganism:

"After ending the fruitarian diet, I returned to a conventional cooked vegetarian diet. It was lacto-vegetarian, but I ate very little dairy - only in salad dressing, and an occasional piece of chocolate. The foods that I ate passed through me and came out the other end looking just like they did when I ate them."

"... fruit seems to be easy to digest, when, in the long run, it may in fact reduce the digestive fire over time when eaten in great quantity."

He was already eating little fruit in his diet for many years and he still blames the relatively short fruit diet period!

"Anyway, the problem cleared up by itself after around 2 years on more "normal" food. Despite eating considerable amounts of food in this period, I also found it nearly impossible to gain weight!"

He really has a severe health and weight problem that apparently has nothing to do with his diet.

And then for some mysterious reason he tried turned back to raw food:

"After being on cooked food for a while, I returned to eating raw foods. I still considered myself a fruitarian then, but nowadays I consider my diet in the period as being closer to natural hygiene in style. My diet then had fruit as the dominant food (but less than 75%, the standard used here for calling oneself a fruitarian), with lots of vegetables, seeds, nuts, and as the 1980s progressed, sprouts. I was not on the diet full-time during this period. Instead I would alternate - months on raw, then months on cooked, then back to raw, and so on."

Why would he still consider himself a fruitarian?... And if one eats only the half or less of raw foods - it is not a raw diet, it is just a normal healthy diet, just a little strange and unstable because of such alternation.

"I experienced fewer problems than in the fruitarian phase of the 1970s. I would go on raw to enhance my health, then go off it when cravings became a problem. (My primary problem, when raw in this period, was cravings.) As the 1980s ended, I experimented again with sprouts, and found that a more diverse raw diet that included short sprouts - the root shoot of the sprout is about the length of the soaked seed - worked much better for me (such sprouts are filling and satisfying, helping reduce cravings)."

It sounds to me the guy was simply addicted/used to cooked foods, as many of us are. It is normally not easy to switch to raw, he just could not do it and had hardship even with short periods raw.

Last 5-6 years (1990-1996):

"In this phase, I was a generic raw vegan, usually 100% raw, with sprouts as my predominant food source (i.e., similar to a living foods diet)."

Tom really has some problem with cravings in all times:

"My experiments with sprouts continued, and I slowly increased the percentage of sprouts (and green vegetables) in my diet and decreased the percentage of fruit. This type of diet was easier to follow and more satisfying than the preceding diets. However, there were still a few problems, notably cravings (in the early 1990s) and fatigue.

I was 100% raw for much (but not all) of this time. In the early 1990s I got addicted to dates again - an addiction that lasted nearly a year. (I ate approximately 1 pound or 0.5 kg per day.) Sugar was a real problem for me - probably a legacy of my many years on sweet fruit, i.e., the fruitarian years."

That is huge amount of dates! And for his problems with food in the last few years of the 30-years period he still blames first short period of fruit diet!

"In 1994, chronic health problems developed, and I turned to yoga and Ayurveda, the traditional medical/wellness system of India, for help. A blood test done in late December 1994 showed a serious deficiency of vitamin B-12, an apparent legacy of my many years as a vegan and fruitarian. I now use vitamin B-12 supplements (and have been attacked by extremists for doing so)..."

Oh, he must have started with the information that he is chronically ill!

And now he is attached!!! What the hell he means by that? Hate male? Beating on the streets?..

"In 1996, under the influence of writers and friends in the yoga and Ayurveda communities, I started experimenting with raw dairy in my diet. This led me to mycurrent diet."

Later:

"Similar to preceding phase, except I added raw dairy (raw goat milk) to my diet in 1996 and it improved my health significantly (increased my strength and stamina, increased hydration, and other benefits). I also started eating some cooked food (approximately 10-25% of my diet)."

Lately (August 2000) I have been using yogurt instead of raw milk, as it is more convenient. Adding dairy to my diet has helped me in many ways: increased my strength and stamina, effectively eliminated physical cravings; milk and yogurt are comfort foods and anti- craving, increased body weight, and the weight is staying on, rather than melting off, increased hydration (many raw vegans are dehydrated - I was, before adding dairy to my diet), increased sense of well-being; in other words, I feel better, helped with my health problems, and also helped balance me, in Ayurvedic terms.

Are many raw vegans dehydrated? How can he know? And how does milk help with hydration? Did he had enough liquids before, considering his salt-sugar and big amounts of concentrated foods consumption?

It looks like this guy switched from one concept to another without much reasoning and research behind it.

There is another benefit of using dairy: it helped free me from the negative mindset of vegan anti-dairy propaganda. Finally, I could appreciate the gentle nature of Mother cow, and her generosity in sharing her milk with us. That is a far cry from the hateful rhetoric about dairy that one often hears from so-called "compassionate" vegans, e.g., "liquid meat," "cow mucus," "sexual harassment," and so on.

Wow, "milk = freedom from propaganda"! Mother cow? She is not his mother. Vegans - only "so called" compassionate... No, I don't like this person.

My current diet includes about 10-25% cooked foods: mostly steamed vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, string beans. Lately I have been eating some rice, in the form of khitcharee, a mixture of basmati rice and split mung beans, mildly spiced, that is very easy to digest. Yoga is also very important to me; I teach yoga in San Francisco as a volunteer (public) service. On request, I also give occasional talks on raw foods, nutrition, and related subjects.

And I don't care anymore. It's a pity that the site of this guy dominates search engines each time somebody searched for information on healthy nutrition.

Great rebuttal Lena !  It would be interesting to get a response from Tom Billings...  Seems to me he had more health problems going on than just eating too much or too little fruit...   Nevertheless, it's good that he put his stuff out there...

Hi Lena, in the past I had been also quoting Mr. T B - I won't even spell his name

and i wanted to copy and paste that crab, but it was more then 128000 symbols.
so i made a link: http://fruchtesser.de/frugiforum/showthread.php?tid=180
Thanks for your analysis. fruitarian regards ons@

Love and fruits fruiteater.

Excerpts:

  Also accept my personal copyrights, as you forced me to use my words to handle your published issues. Copyright © 1995-2009 by Rudolf Sappel; as all my rights are reserved too.

"This is a revision of an article, the first issue of which was written in 1996. Although the article was (partially) updated in uploading it here, readers should be aware that it might not fully represent my current views. I am making it available on the web, as parts of it may be helpful or relevant to others who are considering a fruitarian diet."

 "This paper is based on my direct experience as a fruitarian, and on my observation of, and association with, fruitarians over a period spanning many years. I was a fruitarian for most of the 1970's, when I lived in Florida. See my dietary bio on the Beyond Veg website for details. I no longer follow a fruitarian diet; instead I strongly recommend that others follow a more diverse (less extreme) and more balanced diet."

I guess, you punished yourself with the fruitarian diet, instead of enjoying it, or you got punished from your ancient food-contrahends in the 70's.

B's Definition of Fruitarianism:

"Fruitarianism is defined as a diet that is predominantly raw fruit (75+% by weight), with the remainder of the diet being composed of raw vegetarian (raw vegan) foods. Here fruit has the common definition, i.e., the reproductive parts of a vine, bush, or tree, that includes a juicy pulp. The common definition is used here rather than the botanical, as the botanical definition is too broad, e.g., grain is considered a fruit under the botanical definition (but not the common definition)."

Summary Statement on Fruitarianism:

"Fruitarianism is possible according to idealistic dietary theory, but it can be very difficult in practice. The diet has many pitfalls that can cause serious problems for the would-be fruitarian. Fruitarianism portrays fruit as the ideal natural food, yet modern fruit is the product of generations (in some cases, thousands of years) of human-directed plant breeding. In short, modern fruit has been bred for a high sugar content, and is greatly over-rated as a food."

Yes it can be difficult, because the social ambient is also important aswell the the intact fruit-culture, wich is quite damaged.

"Very few people claim to succeed on the fruitarian diet, in the long term. Additionally, the high incidence of binge eating, "cheating," and backsliding in raw veganism raises serious questions regarding the credibility of the few claims of long-term success. "

You are using the word cheating, while we mean failing. It is like learning to ride a bike. In the beginning we are falling and after some while we are able to ride without falling.

"Here, one should apply common sense: there are very few long-term success stories, and even fewer credible success stories for fruitarianism. Does that suggest that it is the "ideal, natural" diet for everyone, as its advocates claim, or a fringe diet that appeals primarily to idealists? "

Very few KNOWN long-term-fruitarians did not stop to do it the right way. May be we should have learned better from the specialists, instead listening the destructive auto-suggestions of our food-conquistadors to torture our body with fanatic preached fruitarian-titan-discipline in a pathological field.

"...his question deserves serious consideration, particularly if you are considering adopting the diet, as you may be putting your health at risk."

It seems that you are doing the same, others did to me. You are trying to suggest me your experience-unit loading it on tired fruitarian shoulders. Had you been too proud to ask for fruitarian support, or had you been the only one fruitarian that time, except Steven Jobs?

On Fruitarianism: B' s Pro's: Don't you think, that it could sound a bit pathetic, when you are talking about fruitarian benefits, after squeesing fruitarians with your destructible prophecies. I have to digest all your written nervous breakdown-symptoms from over thirty years ago. Your words sound quite powerful to fearsome naiv people to take all their beautiful dreams away, to give them your bitterness instead.

It seems you are trying to help the fruitarians, by mutate their fruitarian motivation down to zero. painting our lifes just as unfortunate, as you ended up, but i want to believe the good part of your honest try.

You sayed:

"Fruit is widely regarded as the best tasting raw vegetarian food, and eating fruit is certainly pleasant--after all, we (nearly) all like sugar! :-)
It is said to be a "cleansing diet," and may be helpful (in the short run) as a therapeutic diet. (This applies to other raw food diets as well, including non-vegetarian raw diets.)"

May be you had not felt much love in your life, when i read your outing, as you may be ate lot's of sweet fruits, to compensate your local issues.

"Fruit, if it is grown locally and not shipped, refrigerated, fumigated, subjected to heat/cold treatment to kill fruit flies, etc., might be considered to be a "low violence" food. However, shipping fruit, refrigerating it, etc. all involve some level of violence to the environment. Fruit subjected to such processing cannot be considered a "low violence" food. In other words, to use the New Age terminology, most fruit is neither "cruelty-free" nor "karma-free." "

Here you are right and i am fully with you.

"...Promotes weight loss and gives you a light body."

Who wants to loose weight, is may be to big, or suffers already with complexes, while he is fine. That means you are talking about mental miss-files.

"Fruitarianism alters your mental state, promoting a light and airy mental feeling that some find pleasant. Some interpret this as a "spiritual" feeling. In the short run, it can promote physical health, i.e., you appear to be immune to many illnesses, and injuries may heal quickly. This, combined with the "light" mental effect, may make it appear that you are somehow experiencing a "higher" state of living."

ok..

"Your respiratory system may function better on a fruitarian diet than on other (cooked) diets, though only slightly better (or the same) as other raw food diets. It may sharpen your senses to an extraordinary degree, specifically the senses of taste and smell. Your sense of smell may get so sharp *** that it is (emotionally) painful to sit in the same room with someone who eats a lot of garlic, or who smells of tobacco."

*** here is the jumping-point, you are telling me, that you had been suffering about having less human tolerance that time, or that you could not handle you human integration nor your life-style, or was it simply for narcissistic reasons? (that may indicate a Narcissus-personality syndrome) If you cannot smell garlic, nor tobacco, why did you try to get commune with your disturbing factors? ...let me guess?.. may be you did it, because you wanted to have human access social connection to others, and you felt isolated and separated from the human race, as you did not life with happy developed fruitarians. You seem to be a very social creature and I like you somehow. I think, that you had been very ill going through a hard time, that could have been easy.

Your personal inner and outer contrahends made you even more ill, because you wanted to do everything right..?..

"It may reduce the amount of water you need to drink, as fruit has a high water content."

 Right, but then you have to eat a bit more healthy and ripe fruit. I switched to eat less and drink up and on, allowing myself not to suffer in any case. I only suffer, when I do not get the right fruit, wich is quite possible, with all that pesticide-fungi-crab. 

"Modern fruit is expensive, and often lacking in freshness and/or quality as a result of shipping, refrigeration, fumigation, and other post-harvest processing. The importance of year-round access to good quality local fruit may limit the applicability of fruitarianism."

It is not the fault of fruitarians that you blame modern fruit being expensive, often lacking in freshness and/or quality as a result of shipping, refrigeration, fumigation, and other post-harvest processing.

"Strict fruitarians usually experience severe weight loss, with weight stabilizing at levels associated with anorexia nervosa or starvation. It is extremely difficult to gain weight on a fruit diet, even if you overeat avocados."

It is not the fault of fruitarians, that our nature has to stand human wars.

"Advocates of fruitarianism claim that anyone can succeed on their ideal, natural fruitarian diet if they have faith or positive thinking. This is an obvious contradiction: does the cow need faith to succeed on diet of grass? Does the lion need positive thinking to succeed on a diet of zebra, antelope, and wildebeest meat? Of course not! If you need faith to succeed, it is probably not the "ideal, natural" diet as claimed by the advocates."

What the cow needs more then herbs i don't really know, may be it's also human faith, polluting the cow to disease..

What the lion thinks, he knows best. He acts as a lion and is doing his only natural job. We need faith to succeed, as the fruitarian life-space and the traditional fruit-variety had been reduced by humans during fascistic Colonialism. You lost your faith and you did not get over the long-term-withdrawal-effects about your educated human habits, you wanted to give up.

The diet was extremely difficult for you, and you found that a fruit diet is neither physically nor psychologically satisfying anymore for you, as you got disappointed by humans, or unripe fruits?!..

"Hunger and cravings are frequent, and backsliding, cheating, and binge eating are very common."

The second time you name cheating... that must have been a real problem for you that time (long-term-withdrawal-effects). The diet is extremely easy, as long you know what you are doing and whether you are living in a fruitarian friendly location.

"Fruitarians often display food-obsessive behavior. "

Did you ?

"Take two pieces of bread, give one to an anoretic [an individual suffering from anorexia nervosa; see note (2) at end], and another to a fruitarian. The anoretic thinks, "I can't eat this bread, it will make me fat!". The fruitarian may think in a similar matter: "I can't eat this bread!" - with the reason(s) cited being one or more of the following delusions."

So you've got anorexia as well... you had serious personal problems in your brain, i guess.

Was it precisely, what you had been thinking or - do you already know by experience what other fruitarians are thinking, and what cases are suffering from your named diseases? Had you been in the unlucky left behind fruitarians, mobbed out, or just forgotten?

Do you understand your mission to prevent other fruitarians from the same mistakes, you made at your own? If yes, do you think that it is the right way to scare fruitarians off?

"The bread is cooked, hence toxic. "

May be you could correct your interpretation, as I only read emotions about bread, or are you too burned out or forever lost?

By the way: Frugan food is a fruitarian diet and frugans can even eat unhealthy gluten, heated starch mucus bread, baked or a fruitarian raw .?!., as I am not obsessed by dogmatism, because fruitarians do not have to win the first trophy to be the purest undegenerated fruit-fellows, if they are not up to it, that deep.

...Imagine you are living in Alaska, Russia, Sweden, or Norway... There it may get a bit difficult to survive as a fruitarian but i know that it is possible, even there, I've got friends there, except in Alaska ..i do not know fruitarians from there.

ADD: (Even in cold but green countries fruitarians are able to survive the whole year with berries, fruits, and in the winter with apples and nuts. So what?!).

"The bread will produce mucus, which is the cause of all disease, and hence will make me 'impure.' "

Is that paranoia spreading and preaching your business?

"The bread contains protein (and/or starch), and all protein/starch is toxic and a horror."

How do you know? Thank you for you suggestion. I think now it's time for me to relax a bit.. I better say it in Spanish: Estoy cansado ya, comiendo tu marron! !Vale ya!

...

"Here the point is the obsessive attitude toward food and the pathological fear, that are common to both the anoretic and the fruitarian. On fruitarian diets, it is very easy to overeat and to fall into the nasty trap of sugar addiction. Sugar is well known for its ability to promote food cravings, which often leads to binge eating and/or overeating."

Is that you heritage you are giving to all fruitarians? Only because you didn't get love and acceptance and nobody had been kissing your **** it you give and wish us all the same bad feelings you are carrying? You are giving us your whole punsh of **** in Englisch this time... and i don't like to use for letter words.

While I read your article I was sometimes afraid, that you might suicide to blame the fruitarians after. That's to bold man, just don't do it and get professional help, at least watch that movie, to understand, what i want to tell you. http://www.fruchtesser.de/frugiforum/sho...hp?tid=174

Did you get tooth problems, while biting through fruitarian minds?

May be you had been only eating the same sweet fruits all year long?

"Modern, cultivated fruit is very high in sugar, higher in sugar than most wild, uncultivated fruits. A diet of only fruit may provide excess sugar intake, resulting in diabetes-like symptoms: ..."

Most wild, uncultivated fruits had been extinguished and banned from our planet... neither it is the fault of the fruitarians.

"...Sugar cravings, excessive urination and thirst, sugar highs/blues, fatigue. ...Excessive sugar, in the long run, may have a negative effect on the pancreas. Fruitarians would be well advised to daily eat some dark, bitter, leafy greens--according to several herbal health systems, bitter greens help regulate sugar metabolism and reduce sugar cravings."

You seem to be completely contradicted.. that helps prejudgement.

"Fruitarian diets are often very socially isolating. This can be very difficult for some people to handle: extroverts should not try to be fruitarians! The social isolation can promote a sense of psychological deprivation, which further encourages backsliding and binge eating. The social isolation and psychological deprivation can also warp your perception of eating; instead of eating being a nourishing, nurturing experience, it becomes an exercise in egoism (similar to the phony compassion/ego trap that many ethical vegans fall into). One may closely identify with the diet: it becomes a "badge" or "symbol" that defines your individuality - in other words, a projection of the ego, rather than a peaceful, nourishing experience."

Fruitarian diets do not have the fault for social isolation. The Nazis in the 3. Reich had been quite effective in racing facts you named.

"Many fruitarians eventually give up the diet as it is too difficult to continue - the intense food obsessions, social isolation, psychological deprivation, frequent hunger - take their toll, with burnout the eventual result. It's interesting that some untreated anoretics also eventually recover from anorexia nervosa for the same reasons. In practice there is little difference in avoiding eating because you fear getting fat, and eating an inadequate (starvation) diet because of fear of cooked food, mucus or protein."

Many fruitarians eventually give up their diet, as it seems to hard for some to continue inbetween a barbaric fanatic killing paranoid war-society. As you are mixing everything up you made it quite difficult to answer.

"One must be very careful to practice fruitarianism with a positive attitude, lest it become a diet motivated by an obsessive fear of cooked food, mucus, or protein. When fruitarianism is characterized and motivated by obsessive fear, it becomes an actual eating disorder. ...Obsessive fears and paranoid viewpoints make it hard to find the right way. Fruitarians may experience a light, airy "mental" feeling that some compare to a minor drug high, and others mistake for some kind of spiritual feeling. However, the light feeling one gets from fruitarianism does not compare to, and is not the same as, the secure, peaceful, loving feelings that one gets from meditation or other genuine spiritual practices. I speak from direct personal experience on this point, having experienced both kinds of feelings. (Note: some anoretics report mental effects similar to those experienced by fruitarians; that is one reason anorexia nervosa is so hard to overcome.) "

To me it seems that you are terribly disappointed about your own experience and that you had no fruitarian support while you had been going through psychotic phases.

"Furthermore, the light or euphoric mental feelings reported by some fruitarians (and those with anorexia nervosa) may be a symptom of zinc deficiency. Zinc supplements are sometimes used in therapy for anorexia nervosa. Similarly, the loss of libido reported by many fruitarians may be yet another symptom of a zinc deficiency (zinc is in short supply in most raw vegan and fruitarian diets)."

I know at least where I get my zink from. Had you been suffering from psychosis or other mental issues or not? I guess yes, you did, as I can read.

"Fruitarianism, especially the ~100% fruit version, is claimed to be a very "purifying" diet on the physical level. However, it is my observation/opinion that extensive physical "purification," without accompanying spiritual or ethical development, usually leads to mental and/or emotional problems. These mental or emotional problems can take many forms; a few examples from my personal experience are as follows.
A puritanical fruitarian who was obsessed with two things - food and his bowel movements - and who drank vinegar like it was water. "

Was that you?

"A fruitarian who left his wife, moved to South America and lived naked with his girlfriends on a mountain. (For the curious: this is not a reference to J. L.)"

A lot of people left their partner for others, that is nothing special about fruitarians. Was it a whole group of freaking fruitarian experimentators out there.

"The numerous fruitarian extremists who vigorously attack all diets other than raw vegan, and whose dialog is filled with egoism, anger, intense hatred, and other negativity. A pure body is irrelevant if your heart and mind are overflowing with the poisons of anger and negativity."

All those bad things are the perfect projections out of your own disappointed brain combined with the relevant experiences you had been attracting and if you want to talk about the un-social aspects of fruitarians - I want to remind you, that all human beings have this negative properties you had been explaining, not only fruitarians.

You are basicly talking about pathological cases and educational victims who tried to manifest the fruitarian life-style out of the blue.

An Alternative: A Near Fruitarian Diet [This section, which appeared in earlier versions, has been deleted. It described a high-fruit diet that is more diverse than the fruitarian diet. Such diets do work better than strict fruitarian diets, but they also have a poor long-term track record. I deleted the section to prevent some readers from interpreting it as an endorsement of diets similar or close to fruitarianism. I do not advocate any specific diet, and want to warn others of the risks of fruitarian and similar diets.]

I even remember it, i guess, you made me wonder... Why didn't you leave the PRO-Fruitarian part out, when your only intention is or was to turn people off the fruitarian path?

Neutral Fruit:
Is it the Solution to Excess Sugar in Modern, Cultivated Fruit?
The term neutral fruit refers to fruits that are neither sweet nor acid. This includes many "vegetable fruits": tomatoes, sweet peppers, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers. However, these fruits also present problems if one tries to make them the basis of a diet:
Tomatoes can be acidic, and many people react negatively to them, especially when eaten in quantity.
Zucchini has little or no flavor.
Raw eggplant is not appealing, in texture or flavor.
Sweet peppers are notorious for causing gas (severe flatulence).
Cucumbers are the least offensive, but provide almost no calories, and very little nutrition.
Question: What do you call someone on a long-term, (nearly) mono-diet of cucumbers?
Answer: In my opinion, the term anoretic provides the most accurate description. The other relevant term is fake unless the individual shows extreme weight loss.

You are answering your own questions and now listen to my answer: I cannot stand lot's of cucumbers, i believe that i cannot digest them easy.

Neutral fruit, primarily cucumbers and some tomatoes, can be part of your diet, but are not a sufficient basis for a diet for most people. (They do not provide adequate calories, unless one consumes huge quantities of them.) Some fruitarian and raw vegan diet advocates suggest that you emphasize neutral fruit if you have trouble with the high sugar content of sweet fruit. Be aware that you may experience severe weight loss if your diet is based on cucumbers. (Once again, reality contradicts idealistic dietary theory.)

Do you still feel important or responsible for the fruitarian needs, or do you have the feeling, that you must warn other fruitarians from your negative experiences, you did not digest yet?

Epilogue
Don't try fruitarianism out of fear of cooked food, mucus or protein. If you choose to try fruitarianism, do so ONLY if you have clear, positive reasons to motivate you, and do watch for signs of ALL the potential problems listed here. A fruitarian diet that includes protein foods and leafy greens will pose fewer risks/problems than a 100% fruit diet. The information in this article is offered in the hope that it may help those who are considering fruitarianism.

Thank you so much for all your faith and fruitarian motivation, even when it sounded a bit like internet-voodoo. After reading your article I am afraid, that you lost a lot of friends, but that is nothing special during global mass manipulation and pig-influenza, mad cow disease and others.

Some readers of this article may think the difficulties of fruitarianism are exaggerated here: they are not, but you are of course free to find out the hard way, if you prefer. To anyone on a fruitarian diet, or contemplating one, I wish you good luck: you will probably need it!

I think you had been undertaking a bit, as I believe, that it's much better for fruitarians to survive, than you may think, because you do not know me, nor my case... and as I believe, also my life seems sometimes difficult for me, but I never meant it difficult.

The term anorexic is often used to denote a person suffering from anorexia nervosa. However, the proper use of the term anorexic is as an adjective. The correct noun to use is anoretic or the alternative spelling, anorectic. See the footnotes on pp. 2-3 of the book Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by M H (1998, Harper Flamingo, New York) for a discussion of this issue.

Anorexic is an adjective for food-fear-manipulation-issues and a big deamon in lot's of lifes. God thanks it is not a fruitarian invention. Once I had a girlfriend who suffered from bulimia in puberty, she blamed her parents, to force to much educational pressure on her. After healing her disease, she got vegetarian and a music therapist helping others who got it too.T. E. B.

You could help better, if you would not have failed, but you helped me to understand you too. Believe me, it took years to answer, because you and some others had been the first who tried to stop fruitarians and forced me to have bad feelings and doubt when I wanted to read something nice about fruitarianism. Thank you, that you gave me YOUR hard lesson too.

Never forget, we all are humans and thank God - that you are not our dictator, only your own.

Thanks for your analysis. Fruitarian regards ons@

Rudolf Sappel

Rudolf, I am so glad you have already addressed this topic!

I have added the most of the text of your original post and adjusted it a bit - hope you approve :)