Not even totally vegetarian (yet!), I upped my adventures in eating well by turning to fruitarianism. A fruitarian is a person who eats fruit and only fruit. Fruit is all the sweet fruits such as mangoes, bananas, melons, oranges, etc., all kinds of berries, and the vegetable fruits such as tomato, cucumber, olives, etc. There are other fruitarians who eat grains as well, and some even cook their fruit, and some don’t, so all the vitamins, minerals and enzymes are in good shape.
Consider fruit for a moment. What is it exactly? According to The Original Fruitarian Guidebook (www.islandnet.com), fruit is a tasty, delicious, nutritious substance offered to you – yes, offered to you – by a plant or tree. You don’t have to kill anything or anybody. The fruit is not tasty, delicious, nutritious and appealing for no reason; it‘s a cunning plot to attract animals and humans, anything that can move (which, of course, a tree or plant cannot). Why? The plant wants us "mobiles" to take the fruit as a reward for spreading its seeds which are located within the fruit. When we eat fruit we are truly working with nature. The fruit is nutritious so that we will be tempted to eat it.
Eating fruits involves neither killing nor maiming. We are working with the trees and plants in acts of mutual cooperation and mutual benefit. And because there is no death or injury involved, our food comes to us without that aura of fear which persons, sensitive to such things, tell us pervade the dead bodies of meat, chicken and fish. The adrenaline and fear excreted at slaughter cannot be totally broken down by heat. Our vibration rates are not dragged down by the pain of others – we do not ingest pain and suffering into our systems.
As to our health, fruit is lighter, and well-balanced particularly in its moisture content. It nourishes and refreshes at the same time. Many illnesses we suffer today are caused by blockages in our internal pipework – from the large arteries that pump blood around the body and through the heart, to the tiny capillaries in the brain. And no artery large or small ever gets blocked by fruit. In fact, the uncooked enzymes in most fruits actually clean, scour and purify even the bigger passages, like the intestines. Fruit has also been known to cure bad health symptoms as constipation, insomnia, depressive cycles, stress, hunger – even some cancers – offering more rest and recreation of the digestive organs.
I committed myself to only one fruitful day a week because I thought it would be difficult to do. But I am now trying to commit to two fruitarian days a week. These two days are my "detox" days. I know that I am giving my body a break from all those preservatives and I load up on the enzymes to cleanse my system. Dead meat has lost its appeal for me. In fact, I am reluctant to take it because I want to protect my cheerful disposition. The last slab of steak I had made me sick and bloated and I had joint pains here and there. Most of my days are vegetarian, even if I am not very strict. I have just heeded my body’s call to eat better and feel better. And you know what? I do feel better, I feel less of the blues and blahs, my toilet habits have been more regular, the joint pains are not so crippling, and I have more energy to make me last through the day.
Here’s a sample menu of my fruitarian day. You will be surprised how it can be really simple and satisfying.
For breakfast, a glorious fruit smoothie. Throw in your favorite fruit in season, with some milk and crushed ice in a blender. For extra body, you can use soya milk or throw in a block of tofu. You can make your smoothie with oranges, tangerines, lemons or limes. Citrus fruits are best for detox. I like to add chunks of peeled orange to the lime puree after it is whizzed as a contrast. Always add one banana, peeled and roughly broken, a shot of molasses, and enough liquid to make the whole thing whizz. If you do ever need peeled orange segments always choose any oranges you may have with not-very-attractive outer skins. If you need a peeled orange but only have ones with good skins, grate the skin first and put it in a small container mixed with some honey to preserve it. Then use it in baking or salad dressings where all the good sunshine is!
For lunch: Avocado (or banana or apple) masked with soy sauce, green olive oil and a little peanut butter or your own choice of crushed nuts make a good sandwich filling. Keep tasting as you mix, that way you learn what the different additions do for the mix, and you eventually get the flavor you want. For sandwiches, keep the mix fairly dry otherwise it can make eating messy!
This filling can go in a sandwich with sliced tomatoes. Chopped seedless grapes are a good add-on, too.
The savorized banana-with-grated-apple made a little thinner makes a good dressing for a Waldorf-type salad. Mix with chopped apple, chopped nuts and chopped peeled orange segments.
I was able to squeeze in ginataang mais or ginataang halo-halo (ube, banana, langka and camote in sweet coconut milk) for a snack. Sometimes, I like boiled bananas in crushed ice and syrup. I know it’s "cooked fruitarian" but fruit nevertheless.
Meanwhile, wash a lemon and two oranges. Cut the lemon in half without peeling, remove seeds, cut into smaller pieces and put in the blender. Keep the other half for later (breakfast smoothie?!). Peel both oranges, having first grated the skin if it looks good. Try to get the small, thin-skinned naval oranges if you can. Chop one peeled orange roughly and put into goblet with the lemon (which you didn’t peel). Add a little fruit juice of whatever’s going; this is to make it whizz. Also add a crushed clove of garlic, a quick squeeze of molasses, some mixed herbs (say two teaspoonsful) and a good shake of soy sauce. Blend until smooth. This will be your pasta sauce. In a saucepan, heat a little olive oil, then add the liquid from the blender. Add a little mustard powder (half a teaspoon), also some flour or milk to thicken to the consistency of a thickish sauce. When warm, add the drained pasta and stir around over the heat to re-warm the pasta.
Chop the other (peeled) orange, one (peeled) banana, a piece of firm tofu, and add into the saucepan. Warm it all together but do not cook, stirring gently for just a few minutes. Shake a little (say a heaped tablespoonful) de-bittered yeast powder on top and a twist of freshly ground black pepper. Stir finally and serve. Presto! You have a fruitarian pasta!
There are some who believe that man was made to eat fruit. There are some who believe that fruit is the perfect food. Fruit nutrition does not pollute the earth and promotes the planting of new trees bringing all the benefits to the life-supporting mechanisms of the earth. Fruit nutrition is a very simple concept of lifestyle and makes life easy – you need virtually no eating utensils, and you don’t have to spend hours cooking.
When you eat fruits, you nourish yourself and you spread the seeds of the fruit contributing to new trees according to the laws of nature developed for millions of years. You do not kill any kind of life form, not even a vegetable. The fruit tree gives you the fruit you need, you do not have to do anything for that. You eat a meal prepared with the "magic" of the earth and the sun and, you are nourished with all the natural, raw enzymes and nutrients, at their most potent form. This is precisely what’s going to live inside of you and build up every part of your body and brain. What other nutrition system is more beautiful and logical than this?