I received this email recently:
“I am currently writing a book related to my life experience over the next year with diet, exercise, spirituality etc. I have read many different opinions on this and various topics…”
“I have read from the palaeolithic diet that soy is bad, legumes, peas, I am certain that you have seen the same things. This is the website where I read it. I have for the last week eaten a Raw diet. http://www.earth360.com/diet
This is a very good question, and I thought others would be interested in this as well, so here’s the answer I gave (note: I’m not a registered dietitian, but I do a lot of research on vegan nutrition):
It sounds like you’re essentially attempting a Fruitarian lifestyle. It is a very limited diet, but is believed to be quite healthy. Fruitarians eat about 75% fruit and get the rest of their nutrition from other raw vegan sources (like nuts and veggies). Darwin was a believer in this diet. He felt it was the most natural diet for humans. The trick, however is, you must be very careful about getting enough variety in this limited diet so that you get proper nutrition. Some of the nutrients you need to be sure you are getting are iron, B12, folate, calcium, and protein. I urge you to check my “nutrient check” section, which I will continue to add more information to.
For iron, you should eat things like raisins, apricots, spinach and pistachios.
For B12, I don’t know how you feel about supplements but you may have to add B12 supplements to your diet since plants do not make B12 and will only contain B12 if they are contaminated by microorganisms. So you can take a chance and hope for those microorganisms to land on the plants you eat, but it is risky. If you can have yeast in your diet, some nutritional yeasts contain B12. Note: deficiency can be a very serious problem.
Folate can be found in green leafy vegetables.
Calcium can be found in foods like almonds, brazil nuts, dandelion greens, kelp, parsley, kale, arugula, and figs.
Protein can be found in nuts, seeds, spinach, kale, and broccoli.
Jim Purdy Says:
That’s a very interesting discussion of fruitarianism! I especially like your reference to Charles Darwin, because understanding Darwinian evolution is the key to understanding why the natural diet of primates (including humans) is largely fruitarian.
Jim Purdy
fruitarianblog.com
jimpurdy@fruitarianblog.com
November 19th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Phil Says:
of course you can! thats how we were designed. anyone that tells you its “natural” to run up to a cow with a knife and try to kill it, skin it, cook it then eat it is sadly misplaced.
we are “taught” to eat meat - not born like that.
To test the theory, put an apple and a rabbit in a crib with a baby. I doubt it will try to eat the rabbit.
if we can’t kill animals yourself, then eat it ourselves, then we shouldent be relying on others to do our dirty work.
best, Phil
May 19th, 2008 at 6:59 pm