Fruitarianism. What is it and is it a good thing?

Published by Heena Modi on

Theodore wrote a post on the Jain Vegans group recently in which he discussed what he knew about fruitarianism. I hadn’t even heard of it before! It makes a lot of sense and is very Jain in terms of non – violence and compassion. Do you think it’s possible? 

What is fruitarianism? 

It’s a diet that involves eating only fruits and as such it avoids the death of earthworms and field animals as there is no ploughing or mechanical harvesting involved, and by definition it avoids the killing of plants and vegetables. 

This also has environmental benefits, such as, the reversal of CO2 emissions, the reversal of soil erosion and the reduced need for machinery.  However the environmental benefits can be negated depending on the amount of imported food consumed.

Theodore

Related Posts with Thumbnails
Categories: AnimalsDietGreen

11 Comments

Sagar Shah · April 28, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Gandhi tried to live on a diet purely consisting of fruit and nuts, but I think he failed!

Whether a fruitarian diet actually results in no ploughing etc depends on the types of fruit being cultivated I think. Some fruits like apples which grow in trees may be fine, but others perhaps not so.

Was reading about the technical definition of a fruit, and technically its the ripened ovaries of a flowering plant, whereas a vegetable is any other edible part of a plant.

So things we normally classify as vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, marrows, squash, pumpkins etc) would also fit under a fruitarian diet, but not sure if people would stick to it.

Though fruit cultivation in trees may be thought to be less damaging for the environment and surroundings, – I’ve seen all sorts of things being sprayed on a banana plants.

In terms of minimising violence towards the earth – I think a fruitarian diet is the way to go…

I wonder how fruitarians manage to get sufficient protein / non-sugary carbs?

    Heena Modi · April 28, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    Hmm. Thanks for this Sagar.
    I’ll ask a few people and try and answer your question about protein. If you find out first, please let me know 🙂

Ajay · April 28, 2009 at 10:37 pm

Hi Heena!

Thanks for this ….it’s really cool the topics you have being unravelled….a question for your wonderful readers and you of course….do you know or does anyone out there have any experience of being a breatharian?

Much love,

Ajay

http://community.livejournal.com/breatharians/5773.html

DEFINITION OF BREATHARIAN
BREATHARIANISM, INEDIA, NON-EATING (breatharian, inediate, non-eater)

This is a state of man (breatharian, inediate, non-eater) characterized (among other things) by the absence of eating, resulting from (or rather being a stage on the way to) expanding of the Consciousness sphere in which a person lives. In general an ideal (fully realized) inediate, breatharian, non-eater has no need to eat or drink to keep the body working perfectly. A breatharian consumes no food and no drink, he/she needs only air to nourish the body.

Theodore · April 29, 2009 at 9:57 am

Hi

I’m not really the best person to defend fruitarianism because I wasn’t able to stick to it (or any interpretaion of it, including courgettes and tomatoes and even including cereal grains, which are botanically classed as fruits). As regards protein, fruitarians get their protein from nuts and / or seeds. I think complex carbohydrates
are impossible to get on a fruitarian diet unless you’re the type of fruitarian that includes cereal grains. Then again I think nutritionists are currently divided on whether carbohydrates are an essential pert of the human diet.

According to Dr Gina Shaw’s yahoo notice board, a new group has recently been started called London Fruitarians. They may be able to shed more light on these issues.

Hope this helps

Theodore

    Heena Modi · April 29, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Thanks Theo 🙂

Cassandra Fuller · May 17, 2009 at 2:04 pm

Yes a fruit is anything that basically has a seed hidden inside, and that “technically” means that strawberries aren’t fruits. Strawberries are false fruits. But that is beside the point. I used to be vegan and are now a vegetarian for this pregnancy but right after having the baby I am looking to become a Fruitarian. Fruitarianism depending on how strictly you follow it is only eating things that would not kill the plant. A Fruitarian diet consist of fruit(duh), and seeds. However as with many other labels of the diet world only extremist eat just fruit and seeds. There are many others that consider themselves to be Fruitarian without following the strict guidelines. Most seem to fall into the category of a ‘Living and Raw Foodist’ That eats a diet mostly consisting of fruits. This is sort of like a Juicearin which is a person that is a ‘Living and Raw Foodist’ That consumes a diet mainly consisting of juice. Now as far as Protein… the WHO (World Health Organization) says that 5% of your diet should consist of Protein. (That would be a shocker for a meat and potatoes guy to hear!) Fruits on average get 5% of their calories from protein. Something cool I learned is that if you took a banana and got rid of those tiny little seeds you lose approximately 15 calories from it. If you add in the fact that you can have seeds and in some not so strict versions you can have leafy greens (about 20% calories from protein)you can easily get more than recommended amounts of protein. As with any diet you must be careful to get all of the recommended amounts of vitamins, minerals, etc. But especially with such a strict one! Also with a true Fruitarian diet as well as ‘Living and Raw Food’ diet you should only eat organic food. This is part of their believes because not only is it better for the environment but organic food tends to have higher nutritional values then with conventionally raised food. Hope that helps.

    Heena Modi · May 19, 2009 at 11:13 am

    Wow! Thanks for this. If you don’t mind would you let me know how the fruitarian diet goes?

Mike · May 20, 2009 at 2:52 pm

How healthy is that fruitarianism?

Comments are closed.

Related Posts

Green

Reviews of everything from singing teachers, tailors, plumbers, builders, electricians, removal companies and more

I know of so many people who complain that it's hard to know whether to employ someone or not. Can be trusted? Is their work good? Do they take shortcuts? Do they clear up after themselves? Will they do it in one go or will they do it in dribs and drabs? The ones we are familiar with or those who come recommended, are often in such great demand, that we can't get an appointment with them. Thus we're forced to try and find someone else. But how do we choose? Here's some tips from me.

Being proactive

Donating clothes that you no longer wear

An alternative to throwing your clothes away. Find out how to donate the odd sock which you think nobody would want. Be rewarded for your consideration and effort.

Animals

The connection between COVID-19 and farm animals

This article was written by Lewis Bollard. He is the farm animal welfare program officer at the Open Philanthropy Project. In that role, he researches opportunities to do the most good for farm animals. This article explores a number of things around COVID-19 and is really worth reading.