The term fruitarian is not in many older dictionaries. This article will explain what a fruitarian is and talk about some of the criticisms and positive aspects of the fruitarian diet.

Depending on who you talk to a fruitarian eats anywhere from 50 100% raw fruit. Fruit comes in sweet, acid and non-sweet packages. All fruit has one thing in common. It is the reproductive part a plant. Usually we consider a fruit a fleshy outer package with seeds inside. A strict interpretation would also include grains, nuts, and seeds of all kinds.

Fruitarians eat a high percentage of fruit of all kinds plus succulent vegetables, and leaves. The Genesis 1:29 diet is a fruitarian diet. Most people think of fruit as something that comes off trees, but tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and many other garden plants are fruits. By eating a variety of fruits with some green leafy vegetables a fruitarian can receive more than adequate nutrition. Most fruitarians include root vegetables in their diets.

My personal diet usually consists of about 75% raw fruit, and 25% raw or cooked vegetables and other plant based foods.

If I eat breakfast, it us usually some kind of sweet or semi-acid to acid fruit, like banana, apple, grapes, oranges or grapefruit. When I can afford it or when it is in season I sometimes have watermelon or cantaloupe for breakfast.

My noon meal is usually my breakfast and the above is usually what I would eat. I would pick one of the above or some other fruit that is in season.

If I have a snack it is usually raw or dried fruit.

My evening meal will usually consist of a salad with non-starchy fruit such as sweet bell pepper, tomato, or cucumber, along with a few sunflower seeds or some nuts. If I were having cooked potatoes or squash after the salad I would leave off the nuts and seeds.

Why eat fruit.

Fruit is what our bodies were designed for. Very little has to be done to fruit for our bodies to assimilate the food value. Our primary nutritional need is for energy. Fruit supplies the energy we need in a form that is ready to be assimilated as is without any modification by the body. This great benefit is also the cause of some of the criticisms to eating fruit, which I will discuss further down.

The protein is in the form of amino acids so our body does not have to brake the protein down into amino acids before we can use it, as it does with animal products and some other plant foods.

The sugars are in a form our body can use as is. That is why they do not cause any sluggishness that often comes from complex carbohydrates like potatoes. All the other nutrients in fruit (other than Starchy fruits like squash) are ready to be used as is, with no further processing by the body.

Fruit is known as a cleansing food, largely because of its ease of digestion. It requires very little energy to assimilate.

Criticism;
Fruit has too much sugar.

Answer;
Most long term fruitarians I have talked to eat a significant amount of non sweet fruits to control the amount of sugar they take in. To my knowledge no one who has lived his or her entire life on a fruitarian diet has ever gotten diabetes, because of the fruit sugar. Diabetes is caused by many factors but refined sugar is at the heart of the issue, along with too much protein in the diet. On the other hand many have recovered from diabetes by adopting the fruitarian diet.

Criticism;
It is not satisfying.

Answer;
I find that much of the dissatisfaction comes from other lifestyle factors that encourage or prompt unnatural cravings. Things like seeing an ad on the TV can trigger a craving that is very hard to overcome, even when you are already stuffed with too much food.

Criticism;
I get sick if I eat too much fruit.

Answer;
This is common but you need to understand what is happening. When you eat fruit your body gets a reprieve from the bulk of the digestion process. This frees up a great deal of energy for cleaning your internal house. Your body will start dumping toxins that it has stored for many months or even years.

This housecleaning can be frustrating. It can be confusing. If you dont understand what is going on you can easily assume that it is a bad thing. The truth is that you need to get rid of the toxins. Once you have the toxins out, your body will stop the unpleasant symptoms. You should be thankful that your body has enough vitality to dump the trash.

Criticism;
I get too hungry on just fruit.

Answer;
More frequent small meals of fruit during the day may help you overcome the cravings. When I work ad a job I have fruit for my brakes as well as my lunch. I never have cravings during the workday unless I am working with food and the sight of it is at the root of the cravings. It is easy to over eat. My best advice is to limit the variety, and eat until you are content. Mono meals tend to satisfy more than a variety of foods at a given meal.

Another thing you can do is carry some dried fruit, in your pocket, or purse. What I do especially if I have to work outdoors in winter is carry a little dried apple slices or other dried fruit if am not going to get regular brakes. If I feel that I need something I have it with me. The beauty of dried fruit is that it does not weigh much, and your body temperature will not harm it. It can be kept with you for several days until you decide you want it in a plastic bag. You can pull out a piece of dried fruit instead of a stick of gum.

Many vegans and vegetarians are actually fruitarians and dont know it.

To summarize, most fruitarians try to average about 75% raw fruit in their diet. They adjust the balance between sweet and non-sweet fruits to keep from gaining too much weight and to eat from a variety of plant sources. They include leafy greens and other succulent plant foods. Though they may occasionally eat small amounts of dairy because they like it they try to stay away from animal products.

I personally try to stay away from animal products because I dont like pain. I am prone to develop arthritis when I eat animal products. An ounce of cheese once in a while does not cause me too much grief. However frequent use of dairy will cause much arthritis pain in my joints.

I praise God that I am prone to develop arthritis. People who are prone to develop other more serious diseases like heart disease may not know that they are doing harm until it is too late.

Short Term

The fruitarian Genesis 1:29 or Hallelujah diet, or Natural Hygiene, have been proven to curtail disease. Myself and countless others overcame arthritis. Cancer cannot grow on the fruitarian diet with all animal products removed. It has been shown to help the body heal itself from most other diseases.

Disease is a result of a body being out of balance. A well-rounded fruitarian diet will bring the body back into balance.

Long Term

Many critics claim that the fruitarian lifestyle is not sustainable long term. That claim is not sustainable by the facts. There are thousands of fruitarian vegetarians out there who have lived 50 or more years on a plant based diet after living a more traditional diet. They overcame their disease and went on to live a happy healthy life.

There are millions of people who live in societies where living plant food diets are the norm. They experience virtually no disease, and live happy productive lives up until they die. I find that most critics just dont want to give up their favorite foods, so it is easier, and strokes their ego, if they criticize the fruitarian diet and lifestyle.

I mentioned diabetes and the fact that fruitarians dont have a problem with diabetes. However if you have diabetes you should not eat too much sweet fruit. If you replace your sweet treats that caused your diabetes with fruit it would be a step in the right direction but once you have diabetes it is easy to eat too much fruit.

If you use this information to change your diet and lifestyle you do so at your own risk. I offer you this information to help you learn how to stop causing disease. However I am not a medical doctor and do not prescribe diet as a treatment.

Charles Snyder (Chuck) is a health minister with Hallelujah Acres, and a teacher of Natural Hygiene. He is not a medical doctor. If you have a medical condition please see your doctor. Natural Hygiene helps you build health naturally, by living in accord with the way we were designed.

You can contact Chuck through his website. He has many other articles and resources there to help you on your journey to health.