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Fruitarianism, 80/10/10, and 30 Bananas a Day!?

By: guest

Note: This is a guest post from Jon Soldo, who writes the blog Running Dummy.

These people must be insane.Bushels of Fresh Yellow Bananas

Upon hearing about the “fruitarian” movement, this was my reaction.  I mean… eating 30 bananas a day!  Is that healthy?  Is that safe?  Would I ever be able to poop again!?

After the initial shock wore off I became intrigued.  I had questions… lots of questions.  So I dove in and learned everything I could about fruitarianism.  Here’s what I found out.

Fruitarianism in a nutshell

  • Eat as much raw, preferably organic, fruit as you want
  • The “golden ratio” is 80% carbohydrates, 10% protein, and 10% fats, or 80/10/10, while a traditional “healthy” diet is composed of 40% carbohydrates, 40% protein, and 20% fats (40/40/20)
  • Milk and cheese are considered poison
  • Not the same as a typical raw diet, which averages 60% fat

So I would really be eating nothing but fruit?

Pretty much.  Raw vegetables are occasionally welcome too, but the bulk of your calories must be fruit to maintain the desired 80/10/10 ratio.  Certain fatty fruits (avocados for example) should also be eaten in moderation.

I can’t eat anything else?

Nope, sorry.

Not even seeds and nuts!?

No, but don’t view the simplicity of this lifestyle as a negative.  It’s is a good thing.  It’s a lot easier to pack a bag of fruit on your way out the door than preparing “traditional” meals.

You can even put down that bottle of water.

No Meat Athletes are health conscious and surely know the benefit of drinking lots of water.  But get this… if you eat a fruitarian diet and aren’t exercising in super hot conditions, you don’t need to drink any additional water.  All the water you need is built right into the fruit—that’s both convenient and green!

Isn’t that way too much sugar?

Don’t confuse the natural sugar found in fruits (fructose) with refined sugar (sucrose).  Contrary to popular belief, sugar isn’t the devil and many claim it’s impossible to get too much sugar while eating whole, fresh fruit.

What about bone density and calcium?

It is not how much calcium you consume that is important, but how much you lose through neutralizing acids that come from eating high amounts of protein and starch.  Reducing or eliminating the high protein intake leads to decreased calcium loss.

What about protein?

C’mon, seriously?  You didn’t just ask me about protein did you?

I guess you missed this post that explains it much better than I ever could.  The short and sweet of it is that our perceptions on protein requirements are out of whack and Americans eat way too much.

Fruit averages 6% protein, so as long as you are eating enough calories in fruit then you are getting enough protein, even if you’re an endurance athlete.

That’s all fine and good in theory, but people can’t thrive on just fruit.

Let me tell you about a runner by the name of Michael Arnstein.  Michael is an accomplished marathoner with a PR of 2:28.29 (2010 Boston Marathon).  That’s a 5:40 pace for 26.2 miles!  Yeah, he’s fast.  Not only is he a fruitarian… he is the Fruitarian.

A practicing fruitarian for over three years, Michael eats nothing but lots of fruit and the occasional raw vegetable.  Arnstein said he devours 30 pounds of fruit a day—as many as 30 oranges, five cantaloupes, a watermelon, and a salad with five pounds of tomatoes.  Consuming 40 to 50 bananas a day is a common occurrence for him.  He also claims that 10 to 15 Valencia oranges is the perfect post run snack.

If Arnstein, who sometimes runs over 200 miles in a week, hasn’t found this diet to be deficient in any way, then I highly doubt others will.  I mean c’mon… he’s 4% body fat and faster than a speeding bullet!

Here’s some more food for thought.

  • Humans are not carnivores (this shouldn’t be a hard sell to the No Meat Athlete crowd)
  • The high protein Standard American Diet (SAD) is making us fatter and sicker than ever
  • Long-lived cultures eat high carbs and low fat (Abkhasia of Russia, Vilcabamba of Ecuador, and Hunza of Pakistan)
  • Occurrences of obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes can all be reduced through 80/10/10
  • Even white sugar does not result in out-of-control children if the dietary fat is low
  • Most Type-2 diabetics produce plenty of insulin, but dietary fats hinder its function
  • No extra protein is required for physical activity (endurance athletes included)
  • Weight gain seems eminent on such a carb heavy diet, but fruitarians average 3-6% body fat

Okay, enough already!  I’m sold!  How do I get started?

  1. The Fruitarian has a great post, Taking the Leap – Fruitarian Transition Tips, to get the ball rolling.
  2. Get your hands on a copy of The 80/10/10 Diet: Balancing Your Health, Your Weight, and Your Life One Luscious Bite at a Time by Dr. Douglas Graham.  This will be your bible.  Please note that the use of the word “diet” in the title is misleading.  What Dr. Graham is proposing in this book is a lifestyle and mindset.  He uses hard science to make his case and does a damn good job.
  3. Join the folks over at 30 Bananas A Day.  Their fruitarian forum offers a tremendous support system full of experienced hard-core fruitarians.

And one more thing…

Get ready for lots of unsolicited health advice.

When you go to the supermarket and fill your shopping cart to the top with bananas, you will get a ton of odd looks and inquiries.  I just tell people that I have a pet monkey at home and that seems to make them happy.

Is Fruitarianism for you?

Let’s turn it over to all you No Meat Athletes… What do you think?  Is this something you have tried or would consider?  Could this lifestyle be fulfilling?  Is it sustainable?

You can read more from Jon Soldo at www.RunningDummy.com.



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  • ugh, another fad diet like the paleo thing.
    “Well 200 years ago we only had access to this that and the other – let’s pretend we are like that but instead eat fruits that we never in a hundred years could have foraged ourselves and pretend it’s the same as us getting back to nature!”
    What’s the point of not eating nuts? What’s the point of pretending that we no longer live in 2010?
    I understand vegetarianism, veganism, these make sense!
    We shouldn’t eat meat three times a day since well hell, it’s just not healthy – but to take a stand against nuts and grains?
    Faddish and silly.

    Reply

    1. For such a “fadish” diet that we “never in a hundred years could have foraged ouselves” there are some people getting awesome results long term. Youtube Doug Graham or durianrider if you want some good info. Also go the the websites 30bananasaday.com and foodnsport.com if you want to find a ton of info and people and pro athleates eating this way.

      Reply

      1. Long term is relative we have been surviving on our omnivorous diet for thousands of years and were still here. These 80/10/10 people have only been recently founded and half the videos I watch of non performance athletes they look emaciated with sunken in stomachs and talk and fidget like someone strung out on way to much sugar.
        And no we aren’t carnivores we’re omnivores hence the canines and bicuspids

        Reply

        1. take a good look at your canines they’re not long enough to tare raw flesh. You can’t bite the hide off a cow with them. we are herbivores not omnivores. Humans only started to eat meat within the past 10,000 years and in that time we have not adapted to be meat eaters. do your research.

          Reply

          1. “Humans only started to eat meat within the past 10,000 years.”
            You are a MORON if you really believe that

          2. Mark, you clearly are in no position to tell ANYONE to “do their research” when you make ill-informed, ridiculous and embarrassing statements like you just did. Take some friendly advice and just say nothing. Do your OWN research on hunter/gatherers and while your at it, the Neolithic period. You’ll then realise how uneducated your comments make you sound.

          3. “take a good look at your canines they’re not long enough to tare raw flesh. You can’t bite the hide off a cow with them.”
            Wow, what a stunning new way to look at it. All this time I thought our hunter/gatherer ancestors used to run down jersey cows, bite them in the jugular, then skin the cow using only their canine teeth. Now I see that our hunter/gatherer ancestors were hunting only watermelons, and our canine teeth evolved for chewing through rinds.

          4. HAHAHA!!!! Holy shit, are you serious? Started eating meat only in the last 10,000 years?!

          5. The teeth argument for or against is a moot point. Teeth don’t define one’s selection of food. Gorillas and Hipppos have huge canines and are not meat eaters. In the humans case, canine teeth enable us to have a wider variety of ways to use those teeth for eating a wider variety of foods, which includes meat. It isn’t all or nothing such as we either tear flesh or not as wild animals do. We are more evolved beings and our teeth can serve in certain survival situations.
            There are too many variables now that didn’t exist back then to have this conversation in a short time frame. And most people are so filled with their own agenda and bias that it is pointless. Most people should just eat what makes them feel good and stop worrying about everyone else. Why do you care what other people are doing unless it affects you directly or indirectly? And most people aren’t arguing about the legitimate indirect affects anyhow, their arguing to fulfill their ego.
            People arguing Fruitarianism are misguided. Is everyone in the world supposed to move to the tropics? Should we relocate the innuits to the tropics and feed them fruit? Sure, if you want to kill them. Was humanity never supposed to leave the tropics and ignore the entire world elsewhere simply because we “can’t” or shouldn’t eat anything but fruit? I guess humanity should have stayed put in one place on the globe initially and kept populating, eating all the fruit that was available and creating internal strife, conflict, and food wars when the people ate more than what the earth could provide. That is assuming if you believe we are a tropical species and all originated in one place. This sounds like an unsteady disposition for being a Fruitarian. By the way, all of the oldest people who ever lived were not Fruitarian. And in Chinese medicine, it is believed that once your predestined and inherited “jing” runs out, you die, which could careless about how much fruit you ate or anything else. There are far many more was to look at health than what many of you are accustom to. But hey, when you only have and know of a hammer, everything is a nail.

          6. Our cuspid (not ‘canine’) teeth are primate evolutionary relics. In apes they act as defensive weapons. They are larger in males than females . Gorillas have far larger cuspids than humans.
            True canines are long, narrow, backward curved and have very sharp points.

          7. Love you, Food Scientist! I am a meat eater at the moment but I truly do wish to become a more ethical eater. And that means I either accept that other animals have a right to eat me for food just as I and all other meat eaters have eaten them (and, yes, this actually SHOULD include plants, people: Venus flytrap anyone?) OR I accept that just because I am human, it does NOT mean I am entitled to other organisms bodies for sustenance. But we separate ourselves from the rest of the top predators on the food chain then turn around and act surprised when any other organism dares to kill us, whether it be for food or not (gasp, the HORROR; <__>). THEN we ‘righteously’ declare how our bodies were designed to eat meat when the primary mechanism, obtaining it in the first place, is much more like a forager/gatherer’s than a hunter/gatherer’s? Not only that, we shut out competition for our food by killing everything that ‘dares’ to compete with us (even all other top ‘predators’ have competition from predators lower on the food chain, everywhere else), even IF we forced that very competition on OURSELVES by destroying the habitat of other organisms. So going by this so called ‘logic’ (that years of evolution have designed us in such a specific way that we should be eating the very things we are eating today) of every meat eater on here, there is MORE evidence that we are frugivores instead of carnivores. After all, if we ARE a predator we would be competing AGAINST other animals not colonizing them.
            Part of this comment also destroys dear Rob’s own argument. Many of the animals we’ve consumed as livestock or through hunting were also brought over here from different parts of the world. “Invasive species”. Look em up, dear boy. And so, how is that any different from how we would have had to adapt our food source of fruit when moving from one part of the world to another?
            Btw, you have clearly demonstrated, Rob, that the ones who are really pushing a culture onto everyone else are the meat eaters, not the vegans or fruitarians. Not ONE vegan or fruitarian person here said we should forcefully convert everyone to a fruitarian diet. That you and all other meat eating whiners on here DID go on the defensive by taking that position says more about meat eaters and the culture from which the unethical practices of PETA DO come, which is the meat eating culture not the vegan or fruitarian ‘cultures’. TBSS.
            Finally, Charles, calling someone a ‘moron’ then refusing to provide evidence as to why they’re wrong, good show. You are also definitely an example of everything that is wrong with the meat eating culture, ableism included. Kthxbainow.

          8. What about the guy that only eats cockroaches? He said everything humans eat made him sick. Other primates with the same teeth. We all ate what we had depending on our climate, ethnicity, and location of origin. One other thing, when man discovered fire and started cooking food, did we evolve from that evolutional change millions of years in the making? Explain that, to name a few holes in your logic?

        2. But fruit-based eating(frugivore) has been around for millions of years. Many animals eat like 80/10/10. Sounds like you haven’t actually looked at the 811rs on youtube. None are as you describe. See my vids at Gary1111001. I’m expecting someone to say “all that fruit’s making you too mellow” 🙂

          Reply

          1. “But fruit-based eating(frugivore) has been around for millions of years. Many animals eat like 80/10/10.”
            That’s because they ARE frugivores!!! Humans aren’t.
            p.s. All that fruit isn’t making you mellow its making you dense.

        3. Humans evolved from fruit eating apes. We have at least 50 million years evolutionary history as frugivores.
          Chimpanzees and gorillas have far bigger “canines” than humans. Male baboons have canines as big as those of lions. They are used as defensive weapnons not for hunting.

          Reply

          1. What non-human primates did before humans existed is no longer relevant given the fact that our physiology has changed in the last 2.5 million years. The changes in physiology include smaller gut size and the size and shape of our jaw and of course our dentition, which is perfect for a non-specific (varied) diet. Species that are true frugivores, folivores and herbivores have large guts. They require a larger gut size due to the high volume of plant foods they ingest in a day. Humans have neither the physiology nor the time to graze all day, which is how these other species feed. If you want to play the ancestral game then let’s go back even further. Our primate ancestors had ancestors, as did theirs, and so on. Life came from the waters. The species that lived in the waters were carnivorous. So using YOUR logic, we should be carnivores because we have distant relatives that had an even longer history on this planet as carnivores. Of course, this logic is as ridiculous as your logic, which is what I’m trying to demonstrate. If all fruit diets were actually the best diet for humans, that’s what our species would be eating today.

          2. “If all fruit diets were actually the best diet for humans, that’s what our species would be eating today.”
            You’re correct Rob. That’s why most humans eat McDonald’s and other highly processed foods; it’s the best for us. I am sometimes amazed at how our species was able to survive for so long without modern technology and “food science”. *
            “Humans have neither the physiology nor the time to graze all day, which is how these other species feed.”
            Another nail-on-the-head comment. How the hell am I supposed to make time to graze for food with all of the TV shows I need to watch? Pop a couple of Hot Pockets in the microwave and I’m good to go without missing any of my shows; no grazing required!*
            “The species that lived in the waters were carnivorous. So using YOUR logic, we should be carnivores because we have distant relatives that had an even longer history on this planet as carnivores.”
            So that’s why the ocean has so many plants? Because none of the sea creatures eat them? Wow, you learn something new every day.*
            *these comments have been posted using sarcasm.

          3. Sarcasm? Really? I never would have known.
            Now THAT was sarcasm.
            So, after all your sarcastic remarks are said and done you still just another delusional nutjob who believes humans are frugivores. I wouldn’t want to intrude into your happy place where you wear rose-coloured glasses, so I won’t.
            Have a banana!

          4. Hoping not to get attacked here, but just an outsider’s thoughts. We didn’t evolve from fruit eating apes. We evolved from a closely related, divergent ape – like species. There are no true herbivores. All animals eat insects. Cattle, rabbits, even fruit bats. I think if we went back to a diet even remotely close to ancestral, there would be a lot of bugs, grasses, seeds, some tubers and fungi, occasionally meat and fat, and a decent amount of fasting. And it also depends largely on geographic region. I don’t feel that anyone can, for certain, lay out a primal diet because we, like our ancestors and our closest living relatives, are opportunistic feeders. We find what works for where we are and hunker down to keep it working, unless being nomadic works the best. I think some people do remarkably well on high fruit diets, and others don’t. Some people do awesome on paleo diets, others don’t. Some do good on whole foods that include raw milk and soaked or sprouted grains. Others don’t. It is tiring to watch people latch on to whatever new phase is passing through, only to turn around and hear them condemn it when it doesn’t work, adding to the fear mongering. Pick a lifestyle. If you’re starting at SAD, slowly weed things out. If you become a fruititarian through experimentation, awesome. Vegan? Cool. Pescetarian? Sweet. Whole foodist? Raw foodist? Fine. Personally, I found that being vegan, mostly raw, high fruit and low carb, until dinner time works for me. Then, I eat whatever. Mostly fish, but maybe pizza or chicken wings or even a buffalo burger. I LISTEN to my body.

          5. Quite amusing how your points were proven to be logically wrong by A + B Rob. You then had to use the classic evasion technique of calling others “nutjobs” simply because you couldn’t argue your point anymore, but you can’t let go of your biases. Quite…pathetic.

          6. @Rob.
            Pretty much every physiologist and anatomist will tell you that they human gut and
            physiology is very similar to any other ape. The only obvious difference is that humans have a longer small intestine and shorter large intestine. The overall gut length is about the same, the general gut anatomy is the same and the gut microbiota is very similar. Out teeth are the same as other apes but smaller.
            Chimpanzees and gorillas suffer identical health problems (heart disease, obesity, diabetes etc) to us when they eat ‘healthy’ omnivorous human diets instead of raw plants.
            Chimpanzees will eat nothing but fresh fruit if given the choice.
            A wild chimpanzee spends a lot of time foraging and not much time actually eating. A chimpanzee in a zoo can easily eat an entire 4Kg bucket of raw fruit and vegetables in 10-15 minutes.
            Humans have no trouble eating 3-4Kg of plant foods a day with a bit of practice. I regularly eat at least 15-20 serves of fruit and vegetables a day without any problem. I certainly don’t spend any more time eating than the average omnivore.
            One of my friends once at 10Kg (22lbs) of ripe pears in a single day. He didn’t have any problem at all digesting them.

          7. Again, Mr. Rob, here, proves that the majority of the meat eating majority are ableists. Sad. Not everyone recognizes sarcasm, Robbie boy. Including people like myself. That you think you had to be snarky to someone who was being very UNsnarky when posting their sarcasm tags just goes to show how much they are. Good show.
            And val and Food Scientist keep on keeping on with destroying the so-called ‘logic’ of my fellow meat eaters with the very sound logic of your own and your fellow vegans and fruitarians! 🙂

        4. Please google search gorrilla canines just to have an idea of what real canines look like and ask yourself, are gorillas carnivores/omnivores? The answer is simply no they are not. Thank you and good bye.

          Reply

        6. Since I started going on a raw food diet I’ve noticed many differences. I feel youthful, my arthritis has been reduced and keloids that I’ve had since a teenager are shrinking, my memory is gotten better, And I feel happier.

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      2. Durianrider is full of himself. He still has much to learn. I don’t pay attention to people unless they a medical provider who works with many people and understands medical illnesses. People differ greatly. And a one size fits all just doesn’t work. Anyone who just attributes being fat to being lazy and no will power have no compassion, or do they have any understanding of medical illness. Yes, most people overweight are just lazy and binge eat, but not everyone. Adrenal fatigue is extremely prominent. Most of it goes undiagnosed. It can down regulate, and does, the thyroid gland and affect the ovaries. Ie There are other hormonal axis imbalances and a host of other reasons that lead people to gain weight. And Durianrider has no idea of how ignorant he sounds. One day he will look back, assuming he gains some wisdom, and he’ll realize the error of his ways.

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        1. The over processed foods and chemicals in our diets I believe are the real reason we are sick and fat.With all the synthetic crap they add, its no wonder we look like we do ,and whats worse is how we feel.
          I dont know Durander but I do know organic is your is the way to go….Flouride in the water, chemicals in the processing of everything from artificial sweetners to colors. The list goes on and on.Or what about radiation in our food chain or the enviroment….I think Durander is just doing what any sencible human would do…

          Reply

          1. “Durander is just doing what any sencible human would do…”
            Except that a sensible person wouldn’t just eat fruit.

        2. ‘Adrenal Fatigue’ is a completely imaginary disease invented by the low carb community. It isn’t found in any medical textbook.

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      3. Espousing that everyone should be a fruitarian is synonymous with the current health care system which treats every patient with the same protocol. That right there should raise some red flags.
        I’m not saying that the fruitarian diet can’t work for some people, but not for everyone. I would also state that fructose gets sent to the liver for processing and is released as triglycerides. That is what fructose does. Having a normal liver function panel does not give someone a clean bill of liver health. And by time the liver enzymes get elevated to the current values, the pathological process has already begun. If Arnestein had a biopsy of his liver, then that would be irrefutable evidence that there is something else which has been missed in the study of fructose and its metabolism.
        According to Chinese medicine theory, which has been around a lot longer than any other other medicine being practiced, including these diets, state that excess raw foods cause invasion of cold to the intestines. Over time, this will produce an imbalance. Chinese medicine does not espouse things which have not been seen clinically, therefore, the is truth to this. Across the board? I don’t know, but I would say that as the diet is individualized, so is this finding and pathology.
        Also, someone below stated that Arnold Ehret promoted fruitarianism. Was he a devout fruitarianism himself? I don’t know. But I doubt he stuck to it long enough to see long term adverse effects. In the same capacity that someone can eat a vegetarian diet, they are found to have B12 deficiency in the clinic. This is what is seen by clinicians. To the contrary, I have met some Indians who have been vegetarian their entire lives and claim good health, and not to be B12 deficient. I have not seen labs or know all the details. And the fact is, people lie. As a medical provider myself, I know this all to well.
        I personally don’t get into a debate about which diet is best because I find it analogous to discussing religion. People have their minds made up and very few people nowadays discuss something with the intent on expounding their knowledge and seeking the opinion of another. Instead, it is more about proving your own theory. To that, I have no interest. My stance on diet is more about what someone’s temperament is. When you first understand what a temperament is, and then understanding that people have different temperaments which cause them to react differently to their environment, you are better able to understand why the best diet is which ever foods reacts positively with that person.
        If you practice medicine and you try to push ANY diet as the diet that people should be eating, your doors will close. This approach is extremely limiting and will be offensive. To be a healer, you have to work with people where they are at, and often times, be willing to deviate from your own standards of care – so long as it doesn’t compromise your integrity. However, a very well rounded clinician will be able to substitute other therapies to bring a patient to a state of wellness. Whether you are locked into one therapy or one diet, you will be doomed to fail as a clinician. Practicing medicine is so very different than pushing a single diet with exercise that there are no words to completely express this point.

        Reply

    2. Fad diet? Arnold Ehret promoted fruitarianism 100 years ago. Nothing fad about it, neither is the raw food diet. Perhaps you should stop reading all the fad magazines and read some of the grandfather naturopaths. Also, I don’t listen to anyone unless they heal people. Otherwise, it’s just someone’s opinion and theory. I hear enough of those. Arnold Ehret and Dr. Robert Morse heal people on all fruit. Case closed.

      Reply

        1. He died of a fatal head injury. It had nothing to do with his diet. Please don’t continue to spread ignorance…The world has enough like you…

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      2. I practice medicine. I think highly of both Morse and Ehret, but that doesn’t mean that this diet is good long term. Nor does it mean that they are both correct. In fact, they both didn’t stick to it long term. That should be evidence itself that perhaps it is not a diet of long term use.
        Chinese theory states excess raw foods causes a pathology of cold in the intestine. I can assure you that the Nei Jing did not write about things which were not proven. However, to what degree they seen this, I do not know. All across the board? Not sure. But excess raw food does not work for everyone.
        What is the difference between saying everyone should be a fruitarian and the current allopathic medical system? Nothing. That should be enough right there to come to a reasonable conclusion that this diet is not for everyone, at the very least.

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        1. The first sensible thing iv read while iv been following this thread.
          Human chemistry is completely untapped and a mystery. Eating should be based on how the “individual” feels and looks. Thus the proverbial chinese saying goes “balance is achieved”
          Too many journala amd scientific updates does not make it right. Every human responds different. This is what the journey is about finding out about you and not following another journal update. Unfortunately this is what society thrives on “labels” and “pigeon holing”
          There is no one answer everybody.
          Choose what feels right to you and dont enforce onto others, let them find there truth.
          I normally write and attach 10-12 journals of published scientific data that would argue and argue different theories…. guess what?? Doesnt mean a thing. Just think and feel for yourself.. the answer lyes there

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        2. Very enlightening I too believe in Dr Morse —and many others leading the world with positive energy and future thought— light years ahead of most individuals. Penny

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    3. Wow, I can almost smell the testosterone! You ‘guys’ need to chill out and stop putting others down so you can be ‘right’. Even if you have something worthwhile to share, if you act like a cocky s.o.b. no one is going to be able to stand your company long enough to learn anything from you! And if all you do is throw insults regarding one’s intelligence, you can be assured of a defensive and argumentive comeback. Why not try to focus on the positives/benefits of the diet and correct people politely and constructively if need be? I am blown away by the immaturatity.

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    4. Grains, legumes, and even nuts and seeds have lectins in them. Lectins strip your stomach lining, are indigestible, and act as insulin except they bind to your cell and let all of the glucose in; causing diabetes and obesity. The animal with the longest canines in the world is a hippo, they are herbivores. Saying that we have canines proves nothing. We have strong anti-killing instincts and we are disgusted by raw flesh. Disgust is a very helpful instinct that protects us from parasites and other dangers we could come across, like feces. If you want to eat animals then you would want to eat a cat or a dog, we wouldn’t be biased if we were actually predators. Herbivores and carnivores tend to be low to the ground. Carnivores are because it’s the most aerodynamic stance you can be in. Herbivores are low to the ground for foraging of herbs, it’s more convenient to be close to the herbs on the ground and to have limbs that can be straight for a long time, therefore they tend to have locking joints in their legs. We are upright and bi-pedal for a reason, we are good at foraging for fruit.

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      1. Jackie,
        You’ll have to do better than that. We don’t eat dogs because of our culture here in the West. Its not viewed as acceptable behaviour. Go to China, they eat dogs there. Different culture, different views on food.
        Next …

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        1. What Jackie was trying to say is that a carnivore wouldn’t be biased about it’s meat source, and only used cat/dog as an example IMO. Cat, dog, cow, rabbit, etc. often humans are biased about what they will and won’t eat. I saw a vegan cat owner who said she’d not feed duck to her cats because she see’s them at the park all the time, nor pigs because they’re “cute” and not rabbits because she used to own one. Being a vegetarian (not vegan) and a cat owner myself, I found her logic quite messed up. I have nothing further to add but I don’t think her point was misunderstood, “we wouldn’t be biased if we were actually predators” is the point she was really trying to make but you just focused on the fact that she mentioned cats/dogs which is, of course, taboo in Western countries.

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          1. “a carnivore wouldn’t be biased about it’s meat source”
            – Why not? Carnivores in the wild have been known to be picky and biased about their meat sources; for example, Lions don’t favor eating each other, do they? They don’t make eating their mates or babies a common thing, and instead opt for other animals that have always been preferable to them – wildebeest, zebra, etc.
            What sources does one have to actually prove a statement like “a carnivore wouldn’t be biased about it’s meat source” anyway? It seems like a rather biased conclusion with nothing to really back it up.

      2. all grains do not have lectins and enzyme inhibitors in them – such as white rice, its had the bran removed (mostly). White rice isn’t as ‘evil’ as other grains, so be careful in saying ‘grains’ because you are saying all of them, which is not true.

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      1. And our tree-dwelling ancestors also have ancestors. If you want to play that game, our very distant ancestors came from the oceans. They were carnivorous. Not quite sure how you arrive at your conclusion based upon what the article actually says.

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        1. I’d think to figure out what we’d be better off eating, we’d look to our closest ancestors and not their ancestors and so on. Although, not sure who said it but there are no true herbivores and I’d agree, so thinking we “should” eat only fruit is kind of silly as well (as Jackie seems to think). I owned a rabbit and she ate moths sometimes. I researched this because I was concerned and then learned most animals believed to be “vegan” actually eat insects. People often believe monkeys are “vegan” but I also learned that capuchin (ones I was specifically researching) are opportunistic feeders as well (seems like most animals are opportunistic). Capuchin that live by rivers eat crabs and such (they even are known to eat millipedes in which they get high off of — millipedes makes them not herbivore or even frugivore IMO). I’d go with whatever makes a person feel good, has them in a healthy state of being (which may end up being different for each individual) and or also goes with their morals in life, is what they need to be doing.

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    6. Around 80% of people live in the tropics and subtropics. Fruit is major part of the diets of these people. In some parts of Africa bananas are the main source of calories.

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    7. So I’ve read this and found it really interesting with some of the comments now I’m 14 stone 7 pounds and have competed in powerlifting competitions and have always struggled with high protein diets. I’ve also watched forks over knives now if you see that it’s a massive eye opener to diseases that occur because of western diets. My other bit of information is why are apes so muscular when they don’t eat meat. So I’ve been doing 80/10/10 for 6 weeks and have had no cheat meals, no chocolate and the big one no cravings! I’m not a marathon runner I’m not an endurance athlete I’m a 1 rep max competition man and have truly never felt so better training in my life.

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    8. you need to further your research. your post sounds dumb and ignorant.
      there is a ton of information. fat hinders insulin production, big time.
      candida aka cancer thrives in an acidic environment where the insulin cannot function properly.
      all other foods lead to inflammation which is the precursor to virtually every disease.
      raw fruit is clean, anti inflammatory, and supports healthy organs and gut health.
      we say no to nuts because fat mixed with sugar = NO GOOD

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    9. 200 years ago we weren’t all training for marathons, building muscle, or doing nearly what we are doing now. They were trying to survive back then, now we eat more cause we want to. To eat as much as they said they are in the post are for ATHLETES, not your average Joe. For the regular person, it’d just be a greatly reduced amount.

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    12. Hi Jose before you dismiss this as a fad can I suggest you read Return to the Brain of Eden by Wright and Gynn. They have some excellent theories regarding our ancestry and diet that might interest you.
      Kindest regards
      Bin

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  • Great Post. I know people who follow 80/10/10 and have not been sick in years and are just full of energy. It’s a tough transition to make, a road I’ve been heading down for a while, but the more I eat this way the better I feel. I was very skeptical in the beginning too but after reading 80/10/10 and talking with people who follow it and reading about people’s success, it makes sense.

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    1. the no-colds or flu thing is definitely a benefit. i’m around sick people all the time, but i haven’t been sick even once since i transitioned.

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      1. I was diagnosed with celiac disease 2 years ago and since cutting the wheat haven’t been sick either. (I was sick 4 to 5 times a year before). I did pretty drastically change my diet, major reduction of processed/packaged foods but didn’t cut them out completely nor the milk or meat. I don’t consume that stuff in mass quantities like most Americans do, and eat enough fruit to get weird looks at the store too, but I think just adding more fruit might be enough for most people to reap major benefits. Just a thought….

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      2. I’m not a fruitarian but I have allergies to pollen (trees, grass and ragweed), so despite I never get colds or even the flu, I very often sneeze all year round (allergic to cats as well — very mildly and own them). Sometimes I jokingly think to myself that I don’t catch the flu or colds because my nose is already stuffed up all the time (but I highly doubt that is why). Sadly, I have what is called oral allergy syndrome too with certain foods (I figured out the things I was allergic to on my own by the list of fruits and their pollen source — I had told my doctor before getting allergy tested and she laughed because I had told her exactly which ones it would end up being)… so it seems despite other people get health benefits from eating only fruit, I’ll still be sneezing and itchy all the time. Even washing and peeling doesn’t always help.

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    2. If you take any person who has had a bad diet, as most of the people probably did who followed this diet, any of them will feel better. It doesn’t matter whether it is a vegan diet, vegetarian, paleo or any other. All of these diets abstain from eating processed food, sugary foods, and all other chemical laden food. Now, this isn’t to say that it doesn’t work for people, but everyone keeps trying to stick everyone in a box. Medicine doesn’t work that way. That is the current medical system and we know how well that has worked.

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  • My problem with it is the environmental impact of such a diet. Unless you live in the tropics you won’t be eating locally on this diet; and the winter months especially will require shipping produce from several hundred or thousand miles away. And when you’re eating 30 lbs of it a day, thats a significant factor.
    I also am wary of diets that demonize certain foods, such as dairy; the concept of fruitarianism is interesting but I can’t help but see it as a gimmicky food fad.

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    1. While there is a great deal of transportation involved in getting bananas etc to your local in the winter, it still produces less carbon that it would to eat the same amount of meat to replace it. In the winter months, to eat any fresh produce at all will require transporting it to the colder climates (not just tropical fruit.)
      In the end the best possible diet will be one you raise in your own background, using completely organic and sustainable methods. If you own a green house then grow your own fruits as well, year round. Otherwise, buy as local as you can, organic as you can afford, and non animal based products always.

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      1. What is really green about this diet, which I love, is that you can compost EVERYTHING left over – and that’s amazing. I live in the northeast and would starve to death in winter as a vegan if I could only eat local. Eating local is ridiculous for those who do not live in California.

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    2. “Demonize” dairy? What is good about dairy? Milk from a cow is produced to make little calfs into 2000 pound cows. Under what logic are humans supposed to consume this or anything made from it?

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      1. What good is dairy? It does me good, my body thrives on it. From Africa through the middle east through to India and on up into Europe, loads of people thrive on milk products, better than without. People benefit from milk products, in ways plant products can’t. 801010/HCLFRV type diets result in, for many people, cracks in skin, cracks in lips, weaker skin, drier skin, dental decay,…. to a much greater degree than living on a standard omnivorous cooked food including human diet. Btw, by ‘omnivorous’ I mean including animal products, whether flesh, eggs, milk/milk products, etc.

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        1. Please Scott, you sound like a milk commercial…does it really do your body good?? It’s not your fault though. You are programmed by decades of hearing the same ad slogan. In fact, “milk it does the body good” was one of the most successful marketing campaigns of ALL TIME! Know why they suddenly switched it to “got milk?”…because they got SUED! YES, it was proven, beyond a shadow of doubt in a court of law, that milk in its current form was in fact HARMING people who consumed it. No lie. The media is telling lies about nutrition and people swear by it…release the programming and ‘see’ the truth. (Why do you think they are called ‘Television Programs’)…as far a the calcium argument goes, you assimilate a very low amount from milk. To me the harm out weighs the miniscule benefits.

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          1. Yes, milk does me good, to use the slogan, but I’ve tried to without milk,.. and like millions if not billions of other people I find I do better with milk and milk products than without. I’m aware of what my body indicates. I let my body prudently direct to perform my best, to be in my best health. Veganism and 801010 are cults. Though they could be optimums for some people, but not for me.

          2. And of course the milk products I’m speaking of are ‘organically/pasture as available’ raised, minimally pasteurized or raw, and unhomogenized.
            You’re just spouting off the typical Vegan/801010 dogma,… the world figured out that milk products are healthy for humans long ago.
            Stick with the fundamentals that work,… fundamental milk and it’s products work great for adult human health with many humans, as per what can be seen in traditional milk production regions using fundamental husbandry and minimal process methods. Modern milk of high pasteurization, homogenization, and other quality problems are not what I’m recommending, which I figure is what your referencing is primarily about.

          3. To me, milk and milk products have major dietary and health benefits, not at all miniscule. I’m not affiliated with the dairy in any way except as a paying consumer from/at retail grocery stores.

          4. I also do well on dairy products however I can’t get raw dairy (that Scoot is referring to) where I live. It is illegal to buy and sell it here in Ontario, Canada. I’m not sure that it is legal anywhere else in Canada for that matter. My go-to milk replacement is almond milk. I don’t trust soy products.

          6. Though typically I’d recommend pasteurized unhomogenized, rather than raw, and preferably not ultra-pasteurized. I find ultra-pasteurized is more causing of ‘inflammation’ symptoms, such as pink spots on cheeks,.. not to be confused with ‘rosy cheeks’. HTST pasteurization is apparently is the standard, and that’s acceptable. Though interestingly my body typically does better with cheese which has been heat melted than ‘fresh’, though excepting ‘brie’ type and similar brie type cheeses, with occasional other exceptions, gruyere being another exception, which do well for me ‘fresh’,.. and then smaller amounts of other cheese types.
            The poison is in the dose,.. anything can be unhealthy,… quantity, balance, and quality are factors with all foods, as to what’s reasonably best for us.

    3. Nearly 90% of people in the world live in the tropics and subtropics. In Asia, Africa and South America eating large amounts of fruit all year round is completely normal.
      People living in cold places such as North America are actually the very rare exceptions.

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      1. Food Scientist,
        They may eat large amounts (whatever that means) but they do not come close to a fruitarian diet. The people you speak of also eat animal foods, cooked.

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  • Pure fructose is not any healthier than pure sucrose. The reason it’s normally considered better is because the fruit itself is healthy as opposed to soda or M&Ms.
    Sucrose is a di-saccharide, made of two mono-saccharides, fructose and glucose (minus a water molecule). Sucrose dissolves readily in stomach acid into fructose and glucose.
    Fructose is absorbed into the blood stream by protiens GLUT-2 (responsible for all mono-saccharides) and GLUT-5 (only does fructose). If you consume more fructose than your body has GLUT proteins to handle, the excess fructose will travel to the lower intestine.
    From wikipedia: “There, it can provide nutrients for the existing gut flora, which produce gas. It may also cause water retention in the intestine. These effects may lead to bloating, excessive flatulence, loose stools, and even diarrhea depending on the amounts eaten and other factors.”
    A healthy person can digest about 25-50g of fructose per sitting with the rest traveling to the lower intestine. The amount of GLUT proteins produced in the body is determined genetically, so there is no activity (like becoming a fruitinarian) that will enhance your body’s handling of fructose and other sugars.
    Excess levels of fructose have also been linked to liver disease and gout, in addition to the usual obesity, diabetes, and high triglycerides.

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    1. To this comment, I would query why I’ve read of so many reports of people who have used diabetic-type blood sugar measuring devices over a 30-day period, and recorded no discernable spikes under an 80/10/10 diet.

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        1. I eat a high raw high fruit diet. I have been monitoring my blood sugar for a week now. After eating a high fruit meal such as a smoothie with fruits and berries, my blood sugar was in the 80’s. After eating some brown rice, it shot up to over 120. After a meal of rice and fish, my husbands shot up to over 150. I have seen thus far that fruit does not have a negative impact on my blood sugar, rather grains/fish/fats do.

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          1. “After a meal of rice and fish, my husbands shot up to over 150”
            – That’s poor food combining to begin with, though, as the body struggles in digesting carbs and proteins together like that. Did he, by chance, test to see what happened after just eating each alone, instead? Just asking, as I’m curious as to if protein actually has the negative effect on either/both of you that you’ve concluded it does.

        2. Your point of view is interesting, please indicate the reference you are using to make the above statements. Have you read the China Study by T. Collin Campbell or Any of Dr. Dean Ornish’s research or better yet Dr. Doug Graham’s 811. Please educate yourself before making such opinion based comments. No one should consume man manufactured tubes of processed grain as it has adverse effects on the blood. Read Grain Damage by Dr. Doug Graham. If you are speaking from personal reference to fructose issues then I would suggest a looking into the current state of your mucosal lining and micro villa. If they are caked in mucus from damaging food such as grain, milk, meat and toxic foods nothing will be absorbed my friend. I was like you at one point, stuck in mainstream poorly research ideas until I tried it myself. I have never looked back. It’s been an incredible journey. I wish you the best toward seeking betterment in health and life.

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          1. On every fruitarian site, they repeat that fat blocks insulin receptors, but they don’t point to a scientific journal that explains it. Can someone show me some science behind that? I’d really like to read it.

          2. “Please educate yourself before making such opinion based comments.” This is a discussion board with people sharing their ideas and opinions…quite an unfriendly comment, in my opinion. If you were like that person, maybe you could have a little more understanding rather than telling the person to essentially shut up until his/her opinion matches yours? Holier-than-thou food people turn people off more than help them make changes, in my experience.

          3. “Please educate yourself before making such opinion based comments”
            “I was like you at one point, stuck in mainstream poorly research ideas until I tried it myself.”
            Everyone is out to learn. I can tell you that as someone who sees patients, you still have more to learn. Stay humble.

        3. I believe undergroundwellness on youtube claimed that blood sugar monitors only test for glucose, and not fructose. You need a fructose monitor?

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    2. First, any medical professional would never quote wiki. There is a reason for this. Yes, I still use it and look up general stuff, but there is a limit to it’s accuracy.
      Second, unless you actually treat patients with your own advice, or have first hand knowledge and use yourself, it’s all theory and opinion. ALWAYS! And that doesn’t fly.

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    3. Excess levels of anything is bad for you. For example, excessive consumption of water can cause health problems. I agree with Chris, basing your point on a quote from wikipedia presents a shaky argument at best.
      All I know is I tried a strict paleo for three years, everything I ate was super clean – free range, grass fed and organic and yes I did experience good results.
      However for the last 13 months I have been eating 3000 calories of only fruit before 6pm every day. I’ve increased my water intake from 2 litres (2 quarts) to 3 litres (3 quarts) a day and cut out ALL meat. I very rarely eat nuts/seeds.
      For the first 2 weeks, after switching from the Paleo diet, I began to detox big time, with some diarrhoea, headaches and 2 nights of severe pain in the kidney area. After 60 days, the results really began to astound me – the most noticeable change was clarity of thought. Now 13 months of eating only 3000 calories of fruit before 6pm, my health and energy levels have improved beyond anything I’ve experienced before. My blood sugar and other levels are spot on. I always feel motivated to exercise. My eyes are now a bright blue, but had been a greyish color for the past 20 years!
      Based on what I have experienced, I would never go back to any other eating regimen. For me fruitarianism has produced the most profound results in terms of total well being.

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      1. Why would you need 3 litres of water per day. True frugivores don’t drink water in those amounts. They don’t even come anywhere close to that. As with most people that try this all fruit nonsense, you will eventually run into health issues and ultimately drop this diet for something else. I hope you’re not actually recommending this diet for anyone else but yourself!

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  • I am always bothered by arguments of the form “here’s this guy, who is a strict adherent of diet X, and he excels at his sport of choice, so diet X is good”, because they tend to fall into the fallacy of confusing correlation with causation (and you should know about this, Mr PhD in Applied Math). By the same reasoning, one could point at Maradona and claim that doing cocaine is beneficial for your soccer skills.

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    1. LOL, comparing cocaine and soccer to fruitarianism and health? Fail.
      And what other variables are there? Fruitarianism is supposed to fail in all kinds of way. Thus, it only takes one to disprove the claims. Furthermore, what has the standard american diet produced? How about all the other diets BUT fruitarianism? Sure, everyone is different but when some guy runs ultramarathons who only eats fruit, there is no room to say it’s a dangerous diet.

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  • I’m amazed anyone could run eating 30 pounds of fruit a day. You would have to go to the bathroom a lot a lot to keep the weight off.
    I can appreciate that this person is an example of someone who thrived on this diet, but he’s also an uber runner and burning carbs like paper. Most people simply can’t run 200 miles a week to burn off their tomatoes.
    I’m sorry, but you’ll have to pry chocolate out of my cold, dead fingers.

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    1. Its like a hummingbird diet. They consume vast amounts of sugars but they burn it off. Its no coincidence that the fruitarian spokesmen we hear about the most are all involved in long distance activities that burn off what they consume. Ultra marathoners, cyclists, marathoners, etc. That is hardly representative of your typical human.

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      1. Singling out only the spokesmen is not scientific.
        There are plenty of non-endurance-athlete 811rs out there:
        Richard Gambino (50 y/o)
        Gary1111001 – Me (4 years 811, 19 years high fruit)
        Storm Talifero, 31 years
        Jay the Juiceman. he often eats fruitarian.
        Fruitarian Ann (20 years) & her child (8 years)
        Lori Painter (4 years, just doesn’t talk about it much, so is not a 811 spokes”man”)
        Dr. Graham’s wife & child

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        1. Sorry, the fruitarian diet is new age and unproven. The masses would not thrive on such a diet. In fact, it would be just the opposite. It will remain an ideological diet practiced by a fringe group (not the least bit impressed by your list of names) that really have no clue about human biology. There have never been any fruitarian or vegan civilizations in human history for a good reason.

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  • thanks for this post! i love to see the concept of low fat raw veganism (LFRV) being explored on a popular running blog. i’ve been eating 955 (90% carbs, 5% fat, 5% protein) for awhile now- that is, no overt fats like avocado- and it’s not too dramatic to say i’ve experienced a complete life transformation. i’ve been vegetarian for about 18 years, vegan on and off for 3 or 4, and did the high fat raw thing for a few months. i can say without a doubt i have NEVER felt better mentally or physically than i do on LFRV. i’ve watched my athletic performance skyrocket and put to rest the depression and an eating disorder that i couldn never manage shake before.
    i’d like to clear up a couple of things from this article:
    – most LFRV athletes aren’t fruitarians, per se. more like frugavores. that is, we also eat greens and some veggies. the greens are especially important for their nutrients. personally, i aim for half a lb to a lb per day (one giant salad for dinner). in fact, with the amount of greens i eat, i actually exceed the RDA for calcium intake.
    – you MUST drink additional water. you will not find any successful LFRV athletes who don’t drink extra. the rule of thumbs is 3L a day.
    – bananas will not prevent you from pooping! provided you eat ripe ones. in fact, you will poop more on this diet than you ever dreamed of on a higher fat/protein diet, especially if you’re paying attention to food combining. your digestion becomes super fast and problem-free. no more tummy gurgles and gas! also . . . maybe tmi, but on a LFRV diet, your sh*t don’t stink. i’m completely serious. it’s odorless.
    wacky as it may sound, this diet is perfect for endurance athletes. i used to doubt it myself, but i’m a convert now. i can go out and run for 5 hours, come home and slurp down a 3000cal date and banana smoothie, and then be ready for round 2 (lightning fast recovery is a significant perk of this diet). if you want more proof of thriving LFRV athletes, just look at harley johnstone (durianrider) and his gf freelee. they are some of the fittest people you will likely ever see.
    now, if you’ll excuse me, i’ve got a date with 30 oranges and my first workout of the day!

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    3. I’m so curious how long it took to feel this amazing. I myself have struggled with an ED for 20 years with which of course comes, low self elsteem, depression etc. I am so excited to think this might be the answer to living a calm and healthy, happy life.

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      1. Do it! Or, at east go vegan with 100% whole foods, taking in sweet potatoes and beans if you can’t get into the raw right away.

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    4. So, you went from being a vegetarian for 18 years. You were also a vegan on and off for 3 years. Now you are onto another diet which you claim to be wonderful. I’m sure you had the same things to say about the other diets after the first year. This is my issue with all these diets and people are endlessly searching for “the best diet.”
      There is no best diet. It’s about what is the best diet for your temperament. Read Randy Rolfe’s book on temperament and you will understand what I’m saying. You can’t lump everyone in the same box.
      Your last comment hints at your certainty of this diet as being the best, and how infallible your opinion is. Lest remind you of your prior diets which you also, presumably, heralded in the same fashion…otherwise, why do it for 18 years.
      I have my reservations that these other people who claim to eat such diets do so for so long without every straying. Even if Doug Graham thought he was wrong after time, would he admit it after developing a following? His credibility would be ruined. Would he jeopardize that and his income? I’m not saying one way or the other, but many people are not as wonderful as we may give them credit. And this is proven time and time again.

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    5. Even true frugivores supplement their diets. Take the orangutan, whose diet is 65% fruit. The remainder is leaves, flowers, fungi, tree bark and of course … insects which provide added quality protein and other nutrients.

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  • While I’m certainly not going to try this diet anytime soon, this post piqued my curiosity. I would have liked you to sell me on it a little. Since I had never heard of it before this post, why would I possibly think of changing my entire lifestyle? I want to know some real advantages. Anyone?

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    1. I think the best way I can “sell” you this lifestyle would be to have you read the reviews for the book on Amazon. Simplicity, increased energy, decreased illness, and reduced body fat are the big ones though…

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    2. from an athletic perspective: way faster recovery. it’s unreal how quickly you recover from long or hard workouts.

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      1. Yeah, like I biked up Mt. Lemmon (85 mile round trip). Took a break at the top, got back down and was flying home on the bike. Then, took another break and flew over to my friends apartment to watch the Walking Dead, putting my total distance at 95 miles for the day, with a 6500 foot climb (also more overweight then than I was now, I had literally just switched over).

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    3. How about clear skin? A good looking figure? Energy? Simplicity? Lack of cravings for bad cooked food? Good hair and nails?

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  • Interesting but I don’t think I would be very satisfied only eating fruit all the time. I love my brown rice, beans and nuts etc! Plus it kind of just sounds like a giant sugar overload? I’m not sold on it. 30 bananas in a day sounds like a stomach ache to me.
    And can you imagine having to explain or defend this diet to people? Obviously this shouldn’t be a deciding factor, but I’ve been vegetarian for over 10 years and I still deal with ignorant people who question/criticize my diet. It’s pretty annoying.

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    1. I too have found that supermarket employees tend to tell me I’m going to die from eating the way I have described when I tell them what I intend on doing with all the banana’s when I get home. I think I’ll just start saying I have a pet monkey so that they lay off. When their physique is surely not the picture of health they wish it to be, they are trying to put me down for dong something they’ve never heard of or seen. It’s just a shame that so many people just can’t accept something that is truly healthy for them, they would rather accept radical surgery as an option as compared to simple supermarket solutions. It’s super easy to heal on this diet and prepare meals when you consider your just using fruit and intaking the appropriate volumes of water. It’s a equation too simple to screw up. Once your stomach has stretched and your detoxed from all the bad you’ve taken in from previous (SAD) dieting procedures you will notice the difference in productivity and overall health. It’s truly an amazing way to live, it has changed my life and it will change the western world if only they could get their facts straight. I really do feel bad for those that look at me as if I were a freak when I’m in the super market loading up my cart.

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  • After doing some research and joining the 30 BAD website, I decided to give it a try. I mean, what did I have to lose, really? I decided to do a 30 day challenge.
    I was curious and wanted to see for myself the benefits, if any.
    I will say that I did feel wonderful eating this way and I chose to do it during the summer when fruit was in abundance, but it just wasn’t for me. Local fruit is not available all year and it cost me A LOT of money to eat nothing but fruit. I did not finish the 30 days…it was just too much for me. For now, I will stick with my Vegan lifestyle and chug my H20. 🙂

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  • I’ve always thought this “diet” was a bit crazy. I know another fellow rock climber that follows this diet though. She is pretty stronger for her build.
    I disagree on the sugar point though, it is possible to get too much natural sugar. Too much sugar of any kind can lead to adrenal failure, which will result in fatigue. I started experiencing the typical afternoon drowsiness most people on the SAD diet experience while on mostly raw, but after a few months of not eating as much fruit throughout the day I was back to my normal self with plenty of energy in the afternoon.
    But I’m not saying the Fruititarian diet isn’t good. It obviously works for some people. I don’t think it would work for me though.

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    2. Eating sugar only impacts the adrenals if your blood sugar spikes. On 80/10/10, insuline works as it should and ferries the sugar out of the blood before a spike can occur, no problem. If, however, the blood is “oily” from fatty foods then insuline action is retarded and blood sugar can rise and this potentially dangerous situation prompts the release of adrenaline causing a so called “sugar” rush (which is actually an adrenaline rush). The adrenaline forces the pancreas to produce even more insuline in the hope of lowering the blood sugar level.
      So, to avoid over-taxing your adrenals and pancreas, either keep your fat intake low, or your carb (sugar and starch) intake low. And if your carb intake is low you’ll be getting nearly all your calories from fat and protien (and maybe alcohol!) in which case adrenal failure will be the least of your worries!

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  • I’d last a week and then would be bored. Food is a pleasure and a restricted diet like this would be tragic for me. I love fruit and have added a lot more to my diet, but I won’t be eating 30 bananas a day any time soon! Sounds like a fad to me.

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    1. If you did it and did it long enough to get past your cravings, your body would no longer crave the foods that are not on this diet. Your body will crave the fruits. Don’t knock it til you try it. You’re conditioned and socialized is all. This is not a fad.

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      1. I have been a fruitarian for 2 1/2 years after having been a vegan for 30 years. I still crave the vegan foods I no longer allow myself to have. The concept of “if you go without long enough you will not crave it” is crap! I actually smell other peoples’ food in order to at least get that sensation. This diet is definitely not for everybody. I live in Wisconsin so getting produce during the winter months is incredibly expensive and you get what is available to you in the store. I began this diet to be more in tune with the animals I help – I run an animal shelter and see so many horrible things I wanted to deprive myself of that which I love – appetizing vegan food – to be more in sync with the animals who suffer. I wouldn’t say I’m suffering by not having all that delicious vegan food I miss desperately, evey day, but it’s a big pain in the neck, a very antisocial way to eat and it’s not cheap. I don’t feel better, in fact, I take vitamin supplements where I never have before. Recently I started to feel bloated a lot of the time and I’ve actually gained weight. I will continue to do it but I don’t like it a bit.

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        1. I chose to reply to this comment because it is recent. Diet and nutrition are like religion and politics. People feel very strongly about them.I say we stay open minded and consider new things and remember that scientific facts are…facts. I have 6 years of formal education on this subject. I take that and tweek it for me because we are all different.What works for one may not work for someone else.The human body is amazing and will take a lot of abuse. I know people who thrive on candy, pizza and soda… for now. Some people are just blessed with great genes.I exercise every day and eat a nutritious diet and I am full figured. My sister smokes, eats everything, doesn’t exercise and is very slim. Go figure.

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        2. Linda,
          I feel so sad for you. I don’t understand why you feel you must add to the suffering in the world — we have enough of it. Being full of life, living it, enjoying it, and showing the world how wonderful a whole food plant-based diet can be is the best thing you can do for animals who suffer. Joining their suffering and harming yourself seems Ascetic and counter productive. I hope you have found happiness.
          On the 811. I’ve been incorporating more fruit steadily in my (vegan, 8 years) diet. Quite a bit. I’ve been doing this for about 2 weeks and have noticed that I feel amazing (being vegan and unprocessed, I already feel pretty damn great / don’t get sick).
          I’m still eating cooked vegan food, but interested to see where this goes.

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        3. So you continue to do something that you are unhappy with. You even called it an anti-social way to eat. I agree with that assessment but I can’t feel sorry for anyone that continues banging their head against a wall despite the obvious pain they endure.

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  • I’m sorry, but to say fructose is a healthy alternative to sucrose is absolutely ridiculous. Sucrose is broken down to fructose! Natural sugar or not, sugar is sugar. I could go on for pages and pages on why this is an outrageous diet to follow. How can you say “long-lived cultures eat high carbs and low fat” and expect to be taken seriously? There’s an overabundance of evidence suggesting that cultures that eat a low-carb, high-fat diet live longer as well. If you ask me, this “fruitarian” movement is a fad.

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    1. I had to response to this one… You post immediately reminded me of those high fructose corn syrup commercials (brought to you by the corn growers of America) stating “sugar is sugar, you body cant tell the difference”. This just isnt true, and your body can tell the difference.

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    2. Have you ever heard of the “blue zones”? They eat a low fat, low animal protein diet. Sure its not “fruitarian” per say, but more evidence pointing to the low carb high fat diet as the true fad. I once did low carb for years, and did lose weight, but i lost it much more easily and happily eating a high fruit high raw vegan diet. I don’t feel its a fad, but do feel low carb is.

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    3. It’s not about fructose versus sucrose. Bananas contain sucrose anyway. It’s about eating whole foods versus refined junk.

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    4. Sean,
      Normally in this forum I go after the nonsensical statements and claims made by the fruitarians. You post will be an exception. Okinawans are a HCLF consuming population. The Hunza also eat a HCLF diet. I am not aware of any long-lived LCHF eating populations. Both populations eat modest amounts of animal foods. Their health and longevity is renown around the world.

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  • i personally did a 60 day trial run of a fruitarian lifestyle this past summer, it was amazing. i loved fruit going into it and do even more now plus i still got to enjoy one green salad a day. as a boxer, the results were astounding, physical endurance sky rocketed, strength and speed were up and i dropped a whole weight class. in day to day life i needed far less sleep and experienced extreme mental clarity. strange side effects included sweating buckets in my sleep and frequently feeling chilled thru the day, that’s the only real reason i haven’t picked it back up again as winnipeg winters are harsh enough on a traditional vegan diet. i hope to return to that elevated state again soon though.

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  • What about getting enough iron? I would imagine this would be a huge concern, particularly for women. Are legumes allowed?

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    1. i looked over my cronometer reports . . . i usually get 150% of the RDA for iron. i haven’t had a sub-100% day in a long, long time.

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  • I have to say that I agree with a few of the other responders when they say that it’s too costly – financially and environmentally. I could never afford to buy 30 bananas a day plus 30 oranges, etc., etc.
    We have the luxury of being able to get most fruits all year long, but it’s not environmentally sound, nor is it cheap.
    I love fruit and I would love to feel what the fruitatarians say they are feeling, but for me, I personally couldn’t afford it.

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    1. It is much more environmentally friendly than eating meat. Meat eaters rely on farmers hacking down trees to provide enough fields to feed the animals, etc. Fruits and vegetables just keep growing and growing. If the fruit is alive and has a time until it goes bad why not take advantage of it and grab it while it’s hot?!
      I haven’t done this diet yet, but what you do is go to the whole salers to cut out the middle man.

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      1. Vegetables don’t “just keep growing and growing.” Nearly all vegetable crops are annual plants grown in monoculture. Meaning they gather all of their nutrients from the top 3 inches or so of the soil, which is tilled (killing beneficial soil microfauna), planted-often with GMO seeds that are resistent to pesticides, over fertilized which then runs off into local streams, sprayed with pesicides, killing pests and beneficial insects (like honeybees), and harvested at the end of the season. The next season, the same soil is tilled and the same plants are grown in the same 3 inches of soil, decreasing the fertile soil to near barren conditions.
        Then there is fruit. Most fruits in the modern American’s diet are tropical and only grow in certain regions of the world. Most of the environmental impact of fruit is from transportation costs.
        Then there is the fact that every food has it’s season. Corn, tomatoes, and summer squash are dirt cheap in August, but only grow further south as the temperature grows colder. Recent frosts in Mexico have caused tomato prices to increase 50% over the last few weeks! Apples, which can be grown locally throughout most of the US, are a fall crop and their prices rise throughout the year until the next crop ripens.
        That isn’t to say that meat doesn’t have environmental and seasonal issues, but fruits and vegetables are hardly exempt from that catagory.

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        1. Your comment concerning annual GMO vegetable crops is very relevant … if you’re a cow. But not if you’re a fruitarian.

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        2. What a moot point. All food you eat has environmental impact, so fruits aren’t going to add much to impact, and may lessen it in some cases.

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      2. *****Meat eaters rely on farmers hacking down trees to provide enough fields to feed the animals, etc. Fruits and vegetables just keep growing and growing. If the fruit is alive and has a time until it goes bad why not take advantage of it and grab it while it’s hot?!****
        Don’t you think the farmer cuts down trees to plant his crops? They clear their fields, just like any other farmer.
        I tend to think the euphoria this type of diet brings about is the fruit fermenting in your belly and producing natural wines. Must be drunk.

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  • A couple years ago I tried the fruitarian diet for eight months, also while maintaining my workout routine at the time, mostly running, resistance training and yoga. Lots and lots of fruit. I definitely was getting the calories I needed! Apparently not the iron though as in this time period I became anemic. My running performance was awful. In retrospect I was not getting the greens in the quantity I should have. For me, a wide variety of vegetables and lots of leafy greens are the most important aspect of my diet. Too much fruit for me, but fruitarian seems to work really well for others.

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    1. Was feelin a bit anemic yesterday, i do get green but i was skimping and its good to know why i may have been feeling light headed. Thanks

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  • Great article!! You covered most of the common questions. Michael Arnstein is one of my role models. He is amazing how he can do 100 mile run one day and win a marathon 2 days later. The only way to know the truth is to experiment and try it out.

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  • I think this diet does seem to work well for people-short term, and if they are not too rigid about it, for example there are local fruitarians here who eat nuts once in awhile and more complex raw food at potlucks.
    That being said according to some studies done on raw foodists, the low fat ones had the most health issues. So I don’t know if it is the best long term.
    I do appreciate the strong ethic to veganism that many fruitarians have.

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  • I think this is great because I love fruit!
    However I have heard stories from people who follow the 80/10/10 diet that they are not told they should supplement with B12 and if that situation is not monitored it could lead to health problems. Just my two cents.

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  • Followed this for 7 days short of 7 months. I have to say, it’s one of the easiest programs to follow if you get past the learning curve (fruit ripening).
    Note: Water is very much a part of the LFRV plan.
    I’m going to write about my experience soon, and when I move to Hawaii (soon), it’s highly likely I’ll pick up where I left off. I hope to be able to climb back on the bandwagon in two days (after 2 weeks of cheating), but the produce is so awful here in the NW right now, it’ll be pretty tough. We’ll see….

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    1. Nothin wrong with carrots or most the other veggies 🙂 Greens are encouraged, they just won’t provide the calories needed to feel good and thrive.

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  • When I read this post in December and thought the book might be an interesting read. I added it to my wish list and forgot about it. This week I edited the wish list and actually ordered the book (it should be here in about 2-3 weeks’ time). Today I spent most of the day on the internet, reading the testimonials of people who are living this way and watching the Youtube videos and you know what, I can’t wait to get started! Something has clicked in me and I am convinced that this is the way to go for me. Thanks Matt, for posting this. You may just have saved my life.

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  • I tried the 80/10/10 diet for about 5 months, a couple years ago, and am planning on going back on it. The down side for me was that I went on the diet to get rid of excess gas, and it didn’t help much at all. I ate 3 mono meals of fruit a day and 2 salads of greens and sometimes tomatoes. That’s it. When I started in on the diet I had fairly severe adrenal exhaustion and it amazingly got much better. By the end of 5 months, I could out hike my husand – I just ran up the hills.

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  • Having been a full vegetarian for more than 2 decades, some of those years strictly vegan, I recently and by default have adopted a fruitarian diet (I’m listing to my mindbody instead of doctors and others who are part of “they”…as in “they say you should eat…”). The question I have is about nuts…I love almonds and eat them pretty much daily…why do some fruitarians advocate not eating nuts?

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  • Way into this diet but when you live north and you have 6% body fat winter can be very cold. To say that this one diet is for everyone seems ridiculous to me. People do great things on all types of foods and what your trying to do is affected by how you eat. That being said lfrv is amazing, especially for endurance athletes. This diet can transform lives as it has mine and even though most(or all) people could benefit from more fruit consumption, doesn’t necessarily mean that the 80-10-10 is everyone Epiphany. I say promote the diet but i would warn people about become to idealistic, in doing this you can get tunnel vision and become narrow minded. Thanks for reading GO LFRV!

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    1. Unfortunately, the sad truth is, humans have been cooking food for so long, that some people simply cannot last on an all raw diet. Sure, maybe if transitioning over to an all raw diet DOESN’T KILL YOU, it will bring about all those positive changes in one’s life, but there’s a good chance it CAN kill.

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  • I have had gout for years, and tried just about everything without success.I reduced meat to, minimum once
    a week, stopped alcohol altogether.I was having LOTS of fruit and vegetables and my gout was worsening.
    Finally I have read something about Excessive fructose increasing uric acid.I experimented reducing my fruit
    intake to 2 a day, and bingo within days I saw a dramatic improvement

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    1. Supplements. Other natural sources that would mimic our ancestral sources are insects and water sources that haven’t been sterilized, as well as bacteria in the soil, all three of which are not in a modern vegan diet.
      Hmmm. I want to try 80/10/10 with a few bugs here and there.

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      1. Sorry Rob, we get most of our Vit B12 from bacteria in the dirt, the same place cows etc get it. And you have to be able to absorb, thus you need enough stomach acid and intrinsic factor, therefore the newer recommendations are that ALL people over sge 50 take B12 supplements. Stomach acid decreases with age, regardless of diet. And Vit B12 deficiency is quite common in all people over age 50, again regardless of the type of diet they follow.

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        1. Well, I’m over 50 and I get my B12 from animal foods. My annual blood tests reveal that my serum B12 is at a very healthy level. I don’t take B12 supplements. No need for me to take them.

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  • hi
    I think it is very dengerious. I have tried for detox and health reason and it has opposite affect I had to stop run because I have no energy and my period stop. I went to my gyn and she made me ultrasound and every test and said that this kind of diet kill my hormones women body needs much more then 10 % percent of fat for ongoing hormones thing like period etc. I was so scared when she said that I have to take hormonal pills to get back my period, if I want a baby. Also when women do not have period she loss density in bones, so I think everyone shout be carefull about this kind of diet

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    1. The most common problem on this diet is undereating. I’d be curious to see your meal plan from when you did this.

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  • I tried this diet for 30 days. By day 14, I was running an extremely high fever and the doctor diagnosed me with pneumonia, caused by detox. I did love the way I felt on this diet and would love to try it again, but I am very fearful of getting sick again. Is there a successful way to eat the 80/10/10 without the risk of serious detox symptoms that, for me anyway, could be very dangerous to ignore and endure?

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    1. Tammy, I don’t really know anything about 80 10 10, so I’m not the one to ask. That sounds scary though; I’m not sure I’d want to try it again after that.

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    2. There is the old saying, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and I guess that saying applies to raw fruitarianism as well. I’ve heard that those “detox” symptoms are normal for transitioning fruitarians, as your body is supposedly getting rid of “excess toxins” from years of “dietary mistakes.” However, the majority of modern humanity is simply so accustomed to cooked food, that any attempt to transition over to an all raw lifestyle could simply be fatal for some.

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      1. “There is the old saying, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,”
        Illogical and ridiculous statement that gets repeated way too often. Whatever doesn’t kill you, doesn’t kill you! It may very well affect your health adversely and leave you in a weakened state. Next time you hear someone say that, slap them upside the head for me please.

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  • I think its funny when people talk about becoming anemic on an 80 10 10 diet…simply because I used to be on the Oreo cookie diet just because I liked cookies and never developed anemia or diabetes Ive been eating cookies for breakfast lunch and dinner for about 6 years and if not cookies then peanut butter cups lol and yes I was morbidly obese from that but didn’t become anemic or diabetic I know were all different but the 80 10 10 diet helped me because I have a sweet tooth and I make a killer banana smoothie. I use soy milk (which I know is a no no on the diet) but i still managed to stay in the 80 10 10 range and still lost 60 pounds. I also take a vegan multivitamin just cause it makes me feel like I didn’t miss anything. 🙂

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  • Oh Crystal. Not the old canine teeth argument? Because if you bring up canine teeth I’m going to being up molars which everyone knows are crunching teeth for plants. And Gorillas have canines and they don’t eat meat… Should we tell them they are wrong? I know I would because even on a plant based diet those guys are big and strong and I’m not messing with them!

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  • Fruit is actually a combo of glucose, sucrose, and fructose, depending on the fruit. Your liver is the only organ designed to process fructose, which classifies it as a toxin. I would be curious to see some scientific data on low fat fruit diet and how it gets around processing so much sugars and no fat that fuels your brain.

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    1. I’d find that data, but,… the body and brain runs on glucose, not fat. Fruit has fat(3-15%). The body is meant to process mostly sugar because it’s the most common/accessible form of energy for us. And the body does a great job(have you seen the results from fruitarians: Dr Graham, Michael Arnstein, Chris Califano, Jay “the juiceman”(91) p/t fruitarian)
      AFAIK, the liver only processes(breaks down) the fructose for energy use.
      I don’t think the liver detoxes it.
      I found the following at “medicalcenter.osu.edu”. (The liver does more than detoxing)
      “The liver regulates most chemical levels in the blood and excretes a product called bile, which helps carry away waste products from the liver. The liver processes this blood and breaks down the nutrients and drugs into forms that are easier to use for the rest of the body. More than 500 vital functions have been identified with the liver, including:
      Production of bile, which helps carry away waste and break down fats
      Production of certain proteins for blood plasma
      Production of cholesterol and special proteins to help carry fats through the body
      Conversion of excess glucose into glycogen for storage (glycogen can later be converted back to glucose for energy)
      Regulation of blood levels of amino acids,
      Processing of hemoglobin for use of its iron content (the liver stores iron)
      Clearing the blood of drugs and other poisonous substances
      Regulating blood clotting”

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    2. ” Your liver is the only organ designed to process fructose, which classifies it as a toxin.”
      I think my liver just published a peer-reviewed paper on fructose (the kidneys and gall bladder were the reviewers) who then published it for the rest of my body to hear in the bloodstream, saying that because it’s processed by the liver, it’s a toxin.
      Okay, load of bullshit right here. You’re saying that fruit is toxic. FRUIT. We’re descendants of frugivorous animals. Australopithecus was largely a frugivore, eating nuts, tubers and fruit.
      I don’t care about whether or not 80/10/10 works in the context of your comment. Your comment is just a bad comment, period.

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    3. Humans can easily handle at least 400g (1600 Cal) per day of unrefined carbohydrates without a problem.
      Excess frutose is converted to glucose or glycogen. Only 10-15% of excess carbohydrate is converted to fat.
      Your brain CANNOT use fat. It uses either glucose or ketones for fuel.

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      1. That true but one does not and should not O/D on fruit to get adequate fuel for the brain. Excessive diets like Atkin’s et al and fruitarian/vegan are not the best diets for human health.

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  • Could anyone please tell me if this would be recommended for someone with Type 2 Diabetes? I tried to find information, and still am but am having trouble. I went on to 30bananasaday.com and every time I would try to go to a different page it gave me an error. Can anyone tell me that information? Thanks!

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    1. Why ask the question here? The last place you should go to ask if its ok to drink the Kool-Aid is in a forum full of Kool-Aid drinkers. Ask a real doctor or Registered Dietician if you truly want an educated response.

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        1. And that diet would NOT be an all fruit diet because no qualified doctor or dietician would be that irresponsible. Well, that and the fact that they’d be likely be sued for malpractice.

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  • How could I do an 80/10/10 diet and still have some grains and a little meat? I want to have grains daily, but the meat can be just a few times a week. I want to follow the 80/10/10 to manage insulin, but I still believe in eating grains (sorry, just not sold yet…). Any suggestions? Or will this just not work?

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  • “there are some people getting awesome results long term. Youtube Doug Graham or durianrider if you want some good info – ” –Seriously? That’s all ya got? Yup. That’s all you got. Only Graham has been at it, so called, “long term.” And he isn’t any more credible than the other two. Not getting any blood tests, i.e., B12?? Huh? You, my son, don’t know what you’re talking about. You are spreading unhealthy diet practices with NO knowledge or expertise. You’re a growing (small-time, thankfully) cult. P.E.R.I.O.D.

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  • I am all about personal evolution, and when enough people see the light, then we’ll have a collective shift in humanities consciousness. Trying to slow down the de-volving process is usually the first step…
    Fasting, eating fruit, meditation, barefoot running/training, a realisation that we are spiritual beings in pysical bodies, rather than a pysical body with a spirit….. are all brilliant steps.
    I’ve gone through the progression of paleo, vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian, and regressed many a time.
    The best performance diet in terms of athletisim, hydration, digestive wellness, clear headedness and happiness I’ve found is detailed on the 30-bananas a day website, the ‘raw til 4’ plan…….

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    1. don’t underestimate the leafy greens thou, if your body was a car, then the fruit if the fuel, and leafy greens are the oil…..

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  • I am curious about this diet, I think I might like to give it a shot and see how it goes. All you people can argue about the silly stuff all day and get no where, but truth comes from research and practical application, that is where you will find the facts to be victorious in a debate with the opposition.

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  • In the past 2 years or so I have progressed to mostly raw and eating fruits and lots of greens during the day with some cooked stuff thrown in in the evening and I feel great. I have developed Vit B12 deficiency, but apparently am not alone in the over 50 contingent, since now B12 supplementation is recommended for anybody over 50. I have tound that I recover more quickly from hard long workouts and that overall I feel more energetic the more raw my diet is.
    On another note: i find the tone of many posters quite offensive and nasty. I understand that food is about a lot more than fuel and calories, but can’t wr at least be civil with each other instead of putting each other’s view point down. It seems that the louder you scream the more you may feel threatened by different viewpoints.

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  • Why would anyone actually come to the silly conclusion that a non-frugivores like humans could survive, let alone thrive, on a 100% fruit diet long-term? Even true frugivores in the tropics don’t consume all fruit diets. The orangutan’s diet consists of about 65% fruit. That’s it! The rest is from flowers, leaves, bark, nectar and insects. Obviously the orangutan is smarter than a fruitarian human.
    You’re welcome!

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  • If you eat a lot of fruit (not fruitarian though) and you don’t exercise (personal reasons), will you gain weight? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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  • This is the most ludicrous article I’ve read. Even the article you link to says you have to get protein from various sources to have complete protein. Only protein from fruit is not various sources and definitely not condoned in your article or the article your article links to showing a well-rounded died of fruit, veggies, and grains. And while you may leak calcium at a lower rate, you’re still leaking calcium and not replacing it. Human beings were never meant to eat only fruit all year around. It’s not available all year round, without the help of man. Fruit was meant for a few months to fatten us up before winter. To take it, add man-made mechanisms, eat it all year round, and call it natural is ridiculous. In addition, long-term, you’ll have problems with that much sugar, the cell degeneration due to an overload on your digestive system, the lack of nutrients, etc. And your example of one athlete, while ignoring the 100s of top athletes (he’s not the top in his field), that don’t eat this way is yet again to ignore what you don’t agree with. I feel for you because when people take science, remove what they don’t like, and add to it what they wish it said, the long-term results are never positive.

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  • I’d loves this website title No Meat Athletes,it’s sounds so great!As of December30-2014 is my 8 months/17 days of eating a 100% raw foods HCRV lifestyle.I’d always trying to reprogramming my cooked vegan foods addictive brains to not tempting by it anymore.In my first 5 months and half I’ve concentrate in sweet fruit and just fruit only,and after that I’ve been eaten 50/50 fruit and veggies,a bit of nuts and seeds and plants fat.It’s kinda hilarious when someone went to the supermarket to buy a haft full shopping cart of just fruit,I’ve seen my family’s members and strangers were staring at me with shock,like they said this house is not a zoo to keeps a lot of fruit for an animal!

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  • I’ve been on the 80/10/10 diet since the 1st January 2015. I went through a detox effect for only a short time, I was so sleepy. But now I feel great, fruit gives you energy and you want to be doing things that’s why I started swimming again. I haven’t had energy for that in years. At 14 stone and just passed 50 it was about time I got healthy and lose weight. Wish I had found this life style years ago. It is a life style not a fad. When I see fruit I see food and I get excited about eating it. I eat about 3000 to 5000 calories a day and the most is in the fruit. In the evening we eat a high carb hot dinner, hubby and I bought bigger plates to put it on, and were still losing weight. Never hungry.
    It isn’t for everyone, but everyone should try it.
    I gave up coffee, meat and diary and I feel great.

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  • I am not following the math. If fruit on average contains 6% protein, how does a fruitarian keep a 10% protein diet? The very interesting and informative link to the protein discussion, does not take into account that that article is not about being a fruitarian (the guy is talking about lentils and soy milk!!).

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    2. they eat greens which contain more protein. original 80 10 10 book says to eat lots of greens too.
      mothers breast milk is 7%. we drink this when we are tripling in size and growing our brains and bones at a fast pace. we can be perfectly content with 6-10 percent protein when we aren’t growing like that. we parents growing at all.

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  • You know, when I was younger, I would have thought this was completely whacked. Even last year, I would have labeled it as “a little too far off the deep end”. Yet, as I pray, observe, research, it makes more and more sense.
    I won’t say it makes total sense, for everyone, in every way. There are people who eat grains even mostly grains, and, they do well. There are people who eat mostly animal protein and they do well. There are, historically, a whole lof of different cultures eating a lot of different foods, including one small tribe that went from being violent and aggressive cannibals to increasingly non-violent vegans that ate only yams. Most of them did well. Certianly, the yam eaters did better than before they took up only eating yams.
    I believe the major problems with any foods are pesticides and processing. For animals, I count the way they are treated and the things they are fed, medicated with, etc. as most of that processing.
    What I know is that I went for a while where I was eating little meat, lots of cooked veggies (mostly with spaghetti noodles), lots of vegetable sandwiches, and, lots of raw fruits. Despite that I was still taking in several things I am actually allergic to and/or which are just big no-nos for everyone (high fructose corn syrup, for instance) for the first time in my life I was losing weight without really trying and while feeling healthier.
    I still didn’t feel GREAT, but, I felt far more functional. I could sleep. I could walk to the store and back if I had to (1.8 miles away) which I couldn’t have done before. And, after having lost 50-60 lbs., with only mild fluctuations after, I managed to keep it off for years by just trying to hold to that SOMETIMES.
    Still, I remember a beautiful summer day, walking with this young man who usually had to wait for me and usually withstood the heat better than me, and, there I was, keeping up with him, not even feeling slightly winded. And, there he was, starting to slow down, wiping his brow, complaining about the heat. I didn’t even realize it, but, it was around 106 degrees that day, and, I thought it was about 94 degrees. I wasn’t sweating, yet, and, I wasn’t having that boiling alive feeling that happens when my yeast overgrowth is out of control and I just can’t sweat even though I need to. I still felt hydrated.
    So, I asked myself, “What did you do that was different than you had been doing?” It wasn’t eating more fruits and vegetables, because, I had been doing that the summer before and felt like I was dying when it got to be in the 90’s. Also, even the sun wasn’t burning me in the usual way and it had the summer before, even while using coconut oil as sunscreen, and, I wasn’t using any sunscreen on that day. So, why?
    I thought it over, and, realized – after I had already gone back to my usual way of eating – that during the two weeks, give or take a few days, before (and, a little time after) that day, I had eaten little to no meat on any day. Yes, but, I’d done that before, too. But, I had also eaten , for some weird reason or another, absolutely no grains. That was the first time in my life where I was capable of eating anything and I didn’t eat grains for an extended period of time.
    This leads me to believe that .. well, I am thinking maybe grains are a good idea to help keep you warm in winter, but, are good to avoid to keep you cool in summer. Which makes since, if you think about it, because, in the summertime grains are growing and not ripe yet, but, the fuits and vegetables are ready to eat throughout the warmer months And, the warmer your climate, the more fruits and vegetables are available throughout the year; but, the colder the climate, the more you have to rely on things that can be stored all winter, such as seeds, nuts and grains.
    Whatever the case, I know that eating fruits and vegetables, and little to nothing else, made me feel mcuh better than eating some other way.

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  • [PLEASE CHECK OUT Dr. Mercola all fruit diet or type in fatty liver, from TOO much fructose over 25 grams a day, the liver turns fatty from too much of anything even process junk carbs. Dr . Mercola treats 100 of people for b -12 deficiencies, losing muscle mass etc.
    I am 61 and I been a Vegan, Vegetarian, meat eater, 80/20 diet, all of the research that I have done I believe in a WHOLEFOOD DIET, NO processed made JUNK, CARBS. foods. ONLY organic whole fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, organic chicken, beef, turkey. NO DAIRY I get my calcium from vegetables, nuts & seeds. Fruits are TOO LOW in calcium and protein! It just does not make sense too EAT only fruits!

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  • Apes eat up to 100% fruit in the summer, when it is plentiful, but then eat more insects, greens, shoots, etc. in the winter. The only food that chimpanzees share is small game, as they instinctively know that they need the extra nutrients to reproduce properly.
    You can live on mostly fruit, but then supplement your diet with bee pollen, Pure Synergy, green juices.

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    1. Douglas,
      A human can “exist” on fruit for a certain period of time but eventually deficiencies will show up. Its inevitable. It is far from ideal for our species. My research showed that no frugivores ate a 100% fruit diet. Now, there may be certain periods where their fruit consumption increases but they all rely on other foods to get nutrients not supplied by the fruit they eat.

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  • Nobody can speak for everybody. But what I speak, I speak from what I’ve personally witnessed. I have a brother, who at 20 years old, was active, great shape, and ate healthier than the “average” American. He suddenly began experiencing A LOT of health problems, ranging from chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks, anxiety disorder, constant pain and swelling in his joints, to disorientation, sleeplessness, and depression. Doctors placed him a few Big Pharma drugs over the next two years, but nothing helped. He switched to the raw fruit til 4:00, cooked veggie dinner lifestyle, and over a matter of a couple of months, basically healed himself of ALL symptoms. He had tried isolating and cutting out specific foods (gluten, dairy, nuts, eggs, etc.), had tried the Paleo plan, had tried oils, and more, but the raw fruit til 4:00/cooked veggie dinner is the only thing that worked for his body, and it has worked amazingly. So don’t knock it.
    And fruiterians, please don’t knock the other side.
    God created our bodies to adapt and live off whatever food we can find. A person can eat nothing but McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut and will likely live 50 years. That same person would be dead in 50 days if he ate nothing. So even fast food is ok and provides the nourishment and energy to live…it’s just that fruit is so much better. So don’t hate…instead, try to convince people like me (who’s hooked on Taco Bell) that your lifestyle plan is a great one, based on testimonies like my brother’s. Peace.

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    1. Well Put Jimbo!!!
      Glad your brother is feeling better and I appreciate your advice to the group “don’t knock the other side”

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  • ****YOU NEED WATER ON THE 80 10 10 DIET!!!! 3.5 liters a day plus is the recommendatiOn on 80 10 10. At bare minimum 2.5!

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  • surely fruit alone does not have all the amino acids to make a complete protein chain in the body, could you give me an example of which fruits eaten in combination would give me a complete protein source? I get what you say about not needing a lot of protein on a daily basis, however would it not be easier to just include a very small amount of say something like soya milk in your diet to ensure an adequate supply of a complete usable protein source?

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  • this is what I have to say about the fruitarian diet, for myself: its the only diet that doesn’t give me side effects. I have eliminated all foods over the past 6 years, I have added things back. I have tried many, many diets and I always find myself with symptoms of eating anything outside of fruit and green vegetables. I found that a huge, huge culprit to my gastrointestinal and health symptoms were attributed to root vegetables and nightshades. Why? I dont know, but what I can tell you is everything, including meat, nuts , seeds, dairy, to the nightshades and root vegetables were causing issues. I constantly find myself back to eating just greens and fruit and I feel fine. Over the past 4 years, my vision has even gotten better…..the optometrist I got to thinks it is perhaps eliminating all the foods that I have. I can only speak for myself, but if you are someone reading this article and read my comment here and you have mental and physical body issues and you haven’t tried fruitarianism, you should consider it. It can be hard to follow, but over time if becomes a lifestyle, not a diet.

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  • So much hate!!! Why so much hate in so many comment sections? Almost anyone with a blog or a website seems to be crammed with responses with a lot of angry sounding responses….
    To the Author/writer/host of this website and information presented – I say this
    THANK YOU
    THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES SO OTHERS CAN LEARN FROM THEM!!!
    facts, rules, right and wrong…….humans ate this, humans ate that, we are modern, we are ancient, THIS INFORMATION IS MEANT TO HELP OTHERS
    That is a good intention. You know, to help others. So thank you!
    Will I be a fruitarian…. no! I don’t think so….. But I did learn some things from reading this! Maybe they are BS, maybe they are real….maybe what was true and fact is no longer the truth and fact….maybe some of my genetics just became active, maybe some became inactive….maybe some giant alien we live in just took a giant antibiotic (Horton Hears a Who? anyone?)
    People do best – they can add to the conversation, understanding that we (probably) are not all knowing, and maybe (just maybe) we are wrong…..OR RIGHT!!!
    The point is to try and offer up some experiences so others (if they want) can follow some signs, maybe learn from someone who has been down that road before.
    I have been following my own version of Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint, I am now a certified Primal Blueprint Expert, I have graduated from Integrative Nutrition and completed the Immersion masters program from Integrative Nutrition, I eat plenty of super fatty meat (please don’t attack me peace loving vegetarians!), tons of vegetables, some fruit, mushrooms, and all kindsa foods (organs, fermented foods, nuts, seeds, algae…..pine pollan?) AND i FEEL GREAT
    YOU KNOW WHAT – I ALSO HAVE A FRIEND WHO FELT LIKE CRAP FROM THE SAME DIET AS ME!!! They are now vegetarian and feel GREAT.
    One persons food might be another persons poison.
    lets all keep the conversation going, keep the interaction going, learn what we can, enjoy our lives, try not to be such typical asshole humans…..and die in peace.
    100% of everyone who has ever eaten anything has or will die….no matter how many valencia oranges they consume……
    I dont even typically eat oranges but now I want one…..or 30…..

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  • Sucrose (table sugar) is half fructose you know. Yes, the same fructose that is in fruit. All processed sugar is approx. 50% fructose and 50% glucose. It scares me that fruitarians seem, universally, to promote a raft of misinformation about nutrition. I’m still trying to work out if you are all just rather badly informed or if you are deliberately ignoring anything that challenges your viewpoint.

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  • I eat the healthiest diet possible based on science, studies, my blood tests, and how I feel. This ended up leading me to mainly vegan diet with some bee products (honey, royal jelly, etc.) My number one food is Japanese sweet potatoes, then obtain majority of my fats from non brine olives, avocadoes and hemp seeds (no atinutrients). The rest includes fruits and vegatables with ocassional grains or legumes such as white rice or sprouted lentils.

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  • I stopped reading early on because I immediately noticed something wrong. The author draws a distinction between fructose and sucrose, but sucrose is a combination of fructose and glucose.
    Believe it or not, fructose is toxic to your liver, regardless of its source. And, anybody who is on a diet like the one described here for an extended period of time most likely has NAFLD, which can progress to NASH. This, by the way, is the same kind of liver toxicity that alcoholics run into, only the source is different.
    I’m sure that you might be able to point to a few people who are on this diet and seem to be doing OK, but I’d be interested to see the results of a liver ultrasound on these people, and I’ll wager that most of them have NAFLD but aren’t aware of it.
    Like alcoholics though, some people have hardier livers than others, and can tolerate this better. But, there’s all of about zero basis to think that this is a good diet for anybody, and I could see it killing somebody with any pre-existing liver disease and/or diabetes.
    Regardless, to anybody passing by and seeing my comment, DO NOT START THIS DIET.

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  • Scott Juren in his book, “Eat and Run”, says that he tried the raw food diet and stuck to the vegan (with cooked food) diet, because it doesn’t provide sufficient nutrients for ultra-distance running.
    I’ve tried eating raw and just eating fruits was not enough to recover from just 1.5hr daily runs and 1hr of daily exercises. Eating lots of fruits and nuts for protein/fat was not enough as well, unless you want to be eating the entire day.
    The post example of eating 30lbs per day is eating full meals (3lbs) about 10 times per day and probably snacking in between, too.
    So I’m not convinced that fruits provide sufficient nutrients for prolonged exercise. For casual sports people, maybe, but not for others.
    If you see an example of someone exercising a lot and eating a fruit/vegan diet, feel free to share.

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  • If fruit is too much and you need your veggies remember, cucumber, tomato and yellow, green and orange peppers are also considered fruit.
    Each to his own. All I know is that I used to be a meat eater and now it makes me cringe just looking at it. I am on my journey with fruit and fruit “vegetables” with nuts and the occasional egg thrown in for good measure. I have the right to change my diet as I see fit, as does every person, and if it makes me feel better and I get to live longer so be it.

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  • I agree with this article 100%. I have been on the raw vegan diet for months now and I feel great. My mood is better, my mind clearer, I have more energy, easier to sleep, easier to wake up, I feel more stable emotionally… I have tried to do mainly a fruit based diet, or a fruitarian diet 100%, I love the 80 10 10 diet although I don’t like tracking calories, it is a pain in the a$$.
    Anyways, now I am in Hawaii at a Raw Vegan Community called the Kanekiki Farm. It is awesome, my goal is to become a fruitarian bodybuilder

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  • Im from the Philippines, which to those who don’t know produce a lot of fruits that get exported to most of the world, though I like the fruitarian diet, the real fruitarian diet which most unbiased health professionals would advocate is that only 50-70% of the daily diet would be fruits, the remainder of it must include vegetables and legumes, since you cant get much protein from fruits, and you would produce lots of glucose with eating lots of fruits, also most people in the tropics thrive on fish and red meats so Im sad for your ignorances

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  • Hmmm…I wonder what the health status of the ones complaining about taking steps to eat healthy is! I’ve been on a fruit fast for three days now…aside from my intestines working to remove all the toxins from my gut…I feel great! I’m not hungry like I thought I would be! My cravings are very small! I was already a vegan so this fruit fast was somewhat easy to start! I gave myself two weeks and I’m sticking to it! I honestly haven’t felt this good in years! I have more energy, less fatigued and I really feel my body cleansing itself out! We shouldn’t ridicule people that want to better their overall health!

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  • Intuitively fruitarian diet seems to make sense. Humans are naturally appalled by violence, killing and seeing/eating raw flesh. Meat without cooking, processing and seasoning is barely edible. For so many millenias humans had no pots, no ovens and no forks. And haven’t figured out seasoning. So we could assume our ancestors survived by picking things out of bushes and trees. (worst case scenario some worms from the ground if they were short of fruit and starving). Also humans couldn’t have houses with heat nor jackets and heavy clothing before they discovered sharp weapons to skin off fur, and figured ways to build stuff. So we come from the tropics. The problem today is that there is too many of us and we have spread out all over cold/unnatural for us climates. Also with our industrial agriculture we depleted soils from nutrients and we put produce too close together which even further decreases nutrient content per calories. I can’t be perfectly sure about our past but thats what makes most sense. There could be other factors, for example the climates could be distributed differently in the past, the atmosphere different and temperature higher overall. Or humans could be more cold resistant or a combination of both. But we don’t have sufficient evidence for these speculations.

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  • I have not read all the comments, but I have read a good bit of them. The reasoning I cling to is “Eat what makes you feel good”. Life is about living and enjoying. We are here one minute and gone the next so you should probably do/eat what makes you happy. Everything in moderation though. If you want to eat meat then do it. If you want to eat just fruits, vegetables, and grains do it. If you don’t want to eat anything do it, but every choice you make will have consequences. Love life and spread good.

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  • Good stuff. I’m imparking on a 31 day fruit feast. No botanical fruit or packages coconut water. Need all the tips I can get. I ride 2-300 miles a week. Concerns are hydration and electrolytes. Not trying to bonk on rides over 30-40 miles. Thanks in advance.

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  • The 80/10/10 diet recommends consuming greens (1 pound per day) as well. Also it allows small amount of nuts and seeds.

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  • Since I started going on a raw food diet I’ve noticed many differences. I feel youthful, my arthritis has been reduced and keloids that I’ve had since a teenager are shrinking, my memory is gotten better, And I feel happier.

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  • Ignorant early humans would have been smart enough to not dig for food(everything poops on the ground). Hunting meat is too time consuming and dangerous for early humans. Plus, evolution is not a thing at all, there is no proof. We are meant to eat plant based diets, because we can consume meat doesn’t make it part of our normal diet. Try and eat a meat only diet and see what happens, death.

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  • I ll say it again – Fructose is causing a tooth decay. As was said elsewhere ”It is a simple sugar that is easily broken down by cariogenic bacteria to form acid that causes cavities. Same risk as glucose and sucrose”. / Fruitarianism advocates claim that we all instinctively crave fruits. And we all love fruits. Maybe there is some truth to that as many people love fruits but there is a huge number of people who dont like fruits. Without going deep into science some people are repelled by fruits to the same degree as some are by meat, spices or dairy. I cannot wholeheartedly embrace the idea of us being frugivores. There is something wrong with this idea.

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  • Curious of your sources backing your claim that the 80/10/10 diet can prevent diabetes in particular. Not saying you’re wrong but I’m a PhD biochemist and the mountain of evidence I’ve seen indicates fructose can and does absolutely lead to insulin resistance. Would be happy to have a discussion with you about this after I get a chance to look over your sources. Cheers.

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  • I’m currently reversing my Type 1 Diabetes with this diet combined with intermittent fasting and homeopathic herbs. It works amazingly. I have been on insulin injections for 25 years and now getting off of the dependency for that. Thanks fruitarian diet! I couldn’t have done it without you!

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  • Loved it so informative and great at getting useful understanding across the way for begining fruitarians. Feeling inspired!!

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  • So I’m currently a vegan and I also eat plant based meat. I want to transition in to trying to become a fruitarian. I wanna know the best way to transition.

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  • Fruitarianism is great and I eat a modified fr. diet, too much gives me loose bowels which cramps my lifestyle and social life, I also do veggie juicing and eat tofu. I like a simple minimalist kitchen and not into much food prep/cooking as a retiree. This diet does not leave lots of kitchen cleanup either.

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  • I’ve always eaten about 15 peices of fruit a day when available since approximately 1960s, with many frowns, oh that’s to much, so on and so on.
    Yes I’ve gone to meat, restraunts with friends, but I’ve also noticed, that the very first mouthful of food from the plate is vegetable or salad.
    And the most enjoyable meal, special order is a huge bowl of fresh fruit salad, even microwaved for convenience by chef,,

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  • I thought you do not need anything but raw ripe fruit to eat to be truly healthy. So why are you promoting synthetic vitamins? If you eat only a fruitarian diet than your body will produce what is needed after detoxification.

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  • Question to those who think humans are omnivores: without technology as in fire, how would humans have made the bodies of other animals safe to eat or digestible? We don’t have the high volumes acidic saliva or hydrochloric acid to kill off salmonella or other deadly to humans bacteria. Without tools like spears, knives and arrows, how did we even catch or kill animals faster or larger than us or very potentially lethal to us in regard to self preservation? If humans in warmer regions found a downed or wounded animal or a true predators abandoned kill, how did the feast last beyond one meal with flies and other creatures, spores, and funguses fighting for the remains without tools or fire?

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  • I have decided, after much consideration on how to simplify my life to put the best things first. That’s my diet plan.

    Which means not necessarily eating only fruit or raw vegan, or vegan. But, giving more consideration to fruit and then raw vegetables, first. And, the rest will come along, as needed, during emergency situations, out of a need for warmth, for the sake of being sociable every now and again.

    So, I am going into it without rules except to put the best first and to work on listening to my body when it tells me good things.

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  • I was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. I decline all conventional treatments and decided to do a lifestyle change. I tried various diets even worked with a nutritionist but found the fruitarian diet to be the best. So many issues I’ve had cleared up Psoriasis/Eczema, candida, body odor, brain fog, dandruff, stubborn body fat and have lucid dreams when I sleep. I have never looked or felt better in my life even with cancer. I do have cheat days but 100% believe this is the best diet out there and I’ve tried ALL of them (except solely carnivorous).

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