Being Frugivorous
A frugivorous diet is for the health seeker who is looking for something more. Perhaps you have been vegan but know there must be another attainable level of health. Maybe you have heard about this diet that lies on the outer fringes of the health food movement due to the increasing media coverage of events such as the Woodstock Fruit Festival and people such as Freelee the Banana Girl, Kristina Carillo-Bucaram, and the ultramarathon runner Mike "The Fruitarian" Arnstein.
This diet excludes meat, dairy, eggs, honey, beans, and grains. This is a raw food diet that is based on fruit that also includes vegetables, greens, nuts, and seeds. The science of comparative anatomy places the human animal in the category of great apes, or anthropoid apes, along with bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas. These great apes eat a diet of fruit and greens, a frugivorous diet (1). Followers of this diet strive to meet these six qualifiers for consumption: whole, ripe, raw, organic, fresh, and local.
Consuming whole foods means eating foods with the least amount of processing. It is more ideal to eat apples rather than drink apple juice or to eat greens instead of a green juice. This is because juicing removes the fibre which is meant to be in the food. The fibre serves a purpose which is why it is in the food in the first place.
It is important to eat fruit when it is ripe. Unripe bananas can cause constipation while some fruits will taste tart or bitter when unripe. Under ripe fruit is generally less sweet and aromatic than ripe fruit, making them less enjoyable. A study from the University of Innsbruck in Austria has found that ripe fruit contains more antioxidants than unripe fruits (2).
Eating local is great for you and the environment. This way food does not have to be shipped across the country or the world to get to your stomach. Many fruits and veggies are picked very unripe so they can survive the days or weeks of transport before being put on the shelf at your local grocer. Some vegetable varieties are not grown for flavor but rather for hardiness of shipping. Fruits such as mulberries and the American pawpaw are too delicate to be shipped and will never be seen in a store. Unless you know of a tree or a person who has a tree, you will never get to experience them.
A sample of popular fruits would include apples, pears, bananas, mangos, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, papaya, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, cherries, figs, kiwi, oranges, peaches, plums, pineapple, pomegranates, dates, and strawberries. Shopping at Asian and latin grocery stores will open you to the wide world of rare exotic fruits such as durian, jackfruit, cherimoya, rollinia, mamey, sapodilla, guava, lychee, longan, rambutan, mangosteen, dragonfruit, and prickly pear among others. You may be amazed to find out that there may be several, if not dozens, of varieties of each fruit. Not only are there several varieties of a given fruit but each fruit within a variety can have its own unique yet subtle variance in flavor. The more fruit you eat the more tuned your tongue becomes to the nuances found in each bite.
It is possible to eat out on this diet because most restaurants offer at least a salad while some offer a fruit plate. If you have never been to a certain restaurant it is a good idea to do some research. Find a menu online or call ahead of time to find out what they offer. If all they offer is a small side salad, eat some fruit before leaving or en route, and order the side salad or two.
Fruit and vegetable expenses can add up but can be eased by shopping at farmer's markets and bulk wholesalers. A great way to find cheap produce is to visit a "you pick" or "pick your own" farm. If you don't know of one try the website www.pickyourown.org for a listing by state and county in the USA as well as several other countries. Another way to lower food expenses is to grow what you can. One fruit tree can yield a hundred pounds of fruit a year and it is hard to beat the taste of a fully ripe tomato you picked from your garden. Even if your garden is small, you can enjoy fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers in the summer, and fresh greens thought the winter.
1) http://australianmuseum.net.au/Humans-are-apes-Great-Apes
2) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071106095637.htm
This diet excludes meat, dairy, eggs, honey, beans, and grains. This is a raw food diet that is based on fruit that also includes vegetables, greens, nuts, and seeds. The science of comparative anatomy places the human animal in the category of great apes, or anthropoid apes, along with bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas. These great apes eat a diet of fruit and greens, a frugivorous diet (1). Followers of this diet strive to meet these six qualifiers for consumption: whole, ripe, raw, organic, fresh, and local.
Consuming whole foods means eating foods with the least amount of processing. It is more ideal to eat apples rather than drink apple juice or to eat greens instead of a green juice. This is because juicing removes the fibre which is meant to be in the food. The fibre serves a purpose which is why it is in the food in the first place.
It is important to eat fruit when it is ripe. Unripe bananas can cause constipation while some fruits will taste tart or bitter when unripe. Under ripe fruit is generally less sweet and aromatic than ripe fruit, making them less enjoyable. A study from the University of Innsbruck in Austria has found that ripe fruit contains more antioxidants than unripe fruits (2).
Eating local is great for you and the environment. This way food does not have to be shipped across the country or the world to get to your stomach. Many fruits and veggies are picked very unripe so they can survive the days or weeks of transport before being put on the shelf at your local grocer. Some vegetable varieties are not grown for flavor but rather for hardiness of shipping. Fruits such as mulberries and the American pawpaw are too delicate to be shipped and will never be seen in a store. Unless you know of a tree or a person who has a tree, you will never get to experience them.
A sample of popular fruits would include apples, pears, bananas, mangos, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, papaya, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, cherries, figs, kiwi, oranges, peaches, plums, pineapple, pomegranates, dates, and strawberries. Shopping at Asian and latin grocery stores will open you to the wide world of rare exotic fruits such as durian, jackfruit, cherimoya, rollinia, mamey, sapodilla, guava, lychee, longan, rambutan, mangosteen, dragonfruit, and prickly pear among others. You may be amazed to find out that there may be several, if not dozens, of varieties of each fruit. Not only are there several varieties of a given fruit but each fruit within a variety can have its own unique yet subtle variance in flavor. The more fruit you eat the more tuned your tongue becomes to the nuances found in each bite.
It is possible to eat out on this diet because most restaurants offer at least a salad while some offer a fruit plate. If you have never been to a certain restaurant it is a good idea to do some research. Find a menu online or call ahead of time to find out what they offer. If all they offer is a small side salad, eat some fruit before leaving or en route, and order the side salad or two.
Fruit and vegetable expenses can add up but can be eased by shopping at farmer's markets and bulk wholesalers. A great way to find cheap produce is to visit a "you pick" or "pick your own" farm. If you don't know of one try the website www.pickyourown.org for a listing by state and county in the USA as well as several other countries. Another way to lower food expenses is to grow what you can. One fruit tree can yield a hundred pounds of fruit a year and it is hard to beat the taste of a fully ripe tomato you picked from your garden. Even if your garden is small, you can enjoy fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers in the summer, and fresh greens thought the winter.
1) http://australianmuseum.net.au/Humans-are-apes-Great-Apes
2) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071106095637.htm
