I Live on Fruit

Essie Honiball and T. C. Fry

Two fruitarians of more than 20 years each relate their experiences and researches on the fruitarian diet.
Presenting proof that the fruitarian diet is not only nutritionally adequate in every respect, but is actually superior to any and all other foods humans
may eat!

1108 Regal Row, Manchaca, Texas 78652-0609

First Edition 1981 Copyright ® 1990T.C. Fry/Essie Honiball All rights reserved ISBN #1-55830-009-09
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written consent from the publisher.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
by T. C. Fry

How and Why I Became a Fruitarian

by T. C. Fry

Foreword
by Essie Honiball

CHAPTER 1
How I became a fruit-eater by Essie Honiball

CHAPTER 2
/ Live on Fruit Questions and answers, 1958-1973

CHAPTER 3
The transitional diet
The birth of a new eating habit Questions and answers, 1973-1979

CHAPTER 4
What others say about the diet

CHAPTER 5
Research yields bombshell of a surprise.
Paradise diet uncovered by scientist

CHAPTER 6
Is an all-fruit diet unhealthy?
Some charges made against fruits and fruit-eaters

CHAPTER 7
Requirements that our natural foods must meet
 INTRODUCTION
This volume presents the case for fruitarianism through the voice of two of
its foremost exponents.
Fruitarianism is quite controversial, especially as the medical and junk food
industries are aligned against it.
The junk food industries want you to follow the basic five food eating plan.
Their thrust is to sell you their products.
The foremost killer of our children is cancer. They are the victims of the
junk food industry! Some of them have never eaten any fruits or vegetables in
the raw state. Junk foods are all very carcinogenic on several counts:
1. All are cooked! The deranged products of cooking are carcinogenic in
themselves!
2. Most cooked fare is condimented with such things as salt, vinegar,
oregano, garlic (isothiocyanate), hot pepper (capsicum and cayenne), black
and white pepper (piperine), and numerous other carcinogenic herbs and
spices.
3. Heated oils as in frying are carcinogenic!
4. In the fifth category of foods promoted by the junk food industry are such
things as white sugar, oils, butter, syrups, jams, wines, beers and other
carcinogenic fare.
5. All animal products are unwholesome, cooked or raw!
This book not only informs you about our natural diet, but its great
beneficence in our lives.
Our earth is a dying earth with more than 50,000 acres per day being
added to our deserts! Almost all this is occurring because of the world's love
affair with disease-causing animal products, legumes and grains.
If we all stopped using grains and animal products, destruction of our rain
forests would cease. Grain-growing would no longer erode and deplete our
soils. Instead, if we ate fruits and vegetables, about 85% of the world's lands
would be retired to rebuild through re-mineralization, plant wastes, and new
tree growth.
Fruitarians can live well on about 1/14th of an acre of fruits and vegetables,
whereas conventional grain and animal product eaters require well over an
acre per person. Worse yet, animal products, legumes, and grains are
destroying the health of our people! Fruit eaters live in exuberant sickness-free
health!
T. C. Fry
 HOW AND WHY I BECAME A FRUITARIAN In my researches, studies, and reflections, I came up with further truths that
By T. C. Fry decreed fruitarianism as the only way of eating natural to humans. All non-fruit
eating is a perversion, even though it may be of relatively innocuous fare such
as lettuce, celery, broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, cauliflower, and other
Since boyhood I have been guided by this motto: "Truth is my handmaiden. vegetables that can be eaten raw.
Wherever she leads, there will I go." While vegetables are very poor in our primary need, glucose, all of the
Another aspect of this dedication is another guideline that I observe: "It is above yielding none besides broccoli and cauliflower, they are very rich in
incumbent upon me to follow the dictates of truth upon discovery." proteins, minerals and vitamins.
In 1970 I was a principal in a recording/mail order record/cassette club We do not require vegetables in our diet. Besides yielding practically none
known as Musical Heritage Society. I was an avid football fan. On of our most needed nutrient, glucose, the nutrients are unneeded. For if you
Thanksgiving Day in 19701 arose at 6:00 AM and, in view of the long wait until eat sufficiently of fruits to meet your caloric needs, you'll simultaneously meet
the football game or even before my family stirred, I decided to select some all your needs for vitamins, mineral matter, amino acids (proteins), and
books from among several thousand that I had acquired over the years that I essential fatty acids.
had never got around to reading. Why should you eat vegetables at all if you don't like them? If you meet all
Among the six books that I selected was Dr. Herbert M. Shelton's Superior your needs from fruits, that is enough. And enough is all that you need.
Nutrition. I thought I would get that "old food faddist" out of the way first. But I In this book you'll find the exciting narrative of Ms. Essie Honiball who has
had no sooner gotten into the introductory material than I realized that I was been a fruitarian for more than 30 years.
reading some sterling truths! In 1971 the fruitarian movement was so rife in South Africa that the
I spent the rest of that day reading and rereading that book. I was so University of Pretoria undertook controlled studies of fruitarianism. Their object
captivated I ignored football altogether. The following day I went out to about was to destroy this fad.
ten health food and book stores. I bought over 400 books, netting among them The experiment was made amongst two control groups. Ms. Honiball
about three more books by Dr. Shelton. participated in the study. The health of each group was assessed at the
While following the program I lost from a roly poly 200 pounds at 5'6" down beginning. One group continued to eat conventionally, and the other group
to 126 pounds in about four months. Even though I was on a heavy exercise undertook a fruitarian diet with some nuts.
program, I still lost the weight. After being at 126 for Well, some very remarkable things began to happen. The control group
about three weeks, I started gaining weight on the very same diet with the living conventionally had many diseases and continued to get worse. The
very same regimen on which I had lost the weight. Within two months I was at control group on fruits had many of the same diseases. But instead of getting
an energetic and very strong 155 pounds. Now, twenty years later at 64 years worse on the fruit diet, everyone started getting better! Before the experiment
of age, I look like a case of retarded development - I'm still very active and ended, the fruit-eating control group was practically free of disease. And Ms.
quite athletic. Honiball became a national celebrity instead of a food faddist. She tells her
You may experience some very uncomfortable symptoms if you undertake story dramatically further along.
a fruitarian diet. Those who suffer symptoms, and about 60% do, may
experience weakness, nausea, dizziness, headaches, vomiting, gassiness,
itchiness, watery and puffy eyes, and a variety of other discomforts. These Living On The All-Fruit Diet In America
symptoms evidence a massive house cleaning. When you make body In observing the all-fruit diet, I have had a broad variety of experiences in
improvements, the body detoxifies, goes into a catabolic stage (thus causing supplying myself.
drastic weight loss), and begins needed repairs. However, weight gain is And I've been through the gamut of criticisms. Many of my peer critics have
usually not experienced until detoxification is more or less complete. Don't died. Unfortunately, this has included about ten of my brothers, a sister, aunts,
give up the all-fruit diet just because of these symptoms. On the other hand, uncles, and in- laws. And it has included such noted writers as Paavo Airola
you may wish to make a gradual change over a period of months, thus (we had an ongoing feud), Hannah Allen, and James Fixx. Fixx had a love
escaping some of the more intense crises that can occur. affair with conventional fare and wouldn't believe me that he could be ruining
In conjunction with a predominantly raw food dietary of mostly fruits, I himself by eating conventionally. Airola and Allen both insisted on cheese very
started studying the sciences of health and nutrition in great depth from the heavily in their diet. Airola paid for this with a stroke that killed him at age 64.
beginning. I had to know the whyfore of every subject in which I took an And Hannah Allen died at age 81 of cancer.
interest. All of them criticized me severely for advocating fruitarianism.
 Airola and Allen made charges which were responded to by some of my 2. Fruit eating saves our earth by reducing land usage by over 90%!
articles appearing herein. Further, fruit growing helps build, not destroy our soils.
3. Conventional ways of eating are causing the desertification of our earth
Analysis of My Diet as well as disastrous soil erosion.
Because I ate occasional salads, many have said I was a vegetarian I'm sure that which follows will inspire you to undertake fruit eating as your
(meaning I was a vegetable eater) and not a true fruitarian. Since the word primary fare. And, inasmuch as you do not wish to suffer sicknesses and
vegetarian merely means an eater of foods that give rise to "liveliness," I am, diseases, all the mandatory reasons you need are afforded as well.
indeed, a vegetarian, but I also lay claim to being a fruitarian! I started
assessing my eating and I came up with this:
I eat about eight pounds of food daily. Its caloric content is about 1,800
calories. That is adequate to meet my energy needs and maintain my weight.
Of this intake I eat of lettuce, nappa cabbage, cabbage and other vegetables
about four to five times weekly. By weight, my average intake per salad meal
is about two pounds or 32 ounces. Of this, only five ounces of vegetables are
taken, or a total of about 20 ounces per week! Most of my salads are of fruits!
Such things as tomatoes, avocados, red peppers, lemon juice, grapefruit juice,
cucumbers, tomatillos, etc. constitute the bulk of my salads! 20 to 25 ounces
of greens or vegetables per week in a fruit diet weighing over 850 ounces
amounts to less than three per cent! Even with the intake of some nuts and
seeds on occasion (about five pounds per year), I am still a fruitarian.
Getting fruits has never really been a problem. I eat most heavily in the
year of bananas. They're always available. I eat citrus fruit the year around.
Likewise, I eat grapes and apples most of the year. But I also eat strawberries
and other berries, figs, mulberries, loquats, persimmons, watermelons,
cantaloupes, mangos, papayas, plums, peaches, apricots, and a host of other
fruit, including considerable of dried fruits. My dried fruit eating consists of
dates, raisins, figs, bananas, pineapple, peaches, apples, and other goodies.
I've always been able to procure all that I've wanted in the way of fruits. I've
never been in a "foodless" situation for lack of fruits.
There are occasions when I've been offered dishes contrary to my dietary. I
always thank the offeree and voice my wish to eat what is being offered: "I
sure would like to tackle that, but I'm on a special diet and I don't dare." My
hostess invariably wants to know what she can get me and I usually end up
eating luscious fruits!
As a fruitarian you should have no real difficulty supplying yourself. I find it
no problem at all to load up on fruit at the super market and carry it with me on
trips, even airplanes.
Remember, what you buy with your dollars is your vote for what you're
buying. If you buy junk, it will bring more junk to the marketplace. If you buy
fruits and vegetables, your vote will bring more fruits and vegetables to the
marketplace.
Fruit eating is the way to go because:
1. Fruit is absolutely essential to highest level health. Conventional eating
results only in sicknesses, diseases, and impaired performance levels.
 FOREWORD
I am sitting at my desk and in front of me are all the friendly letters with
enquiries about the fruit diet, a diet I have been following since 1958.
There were enquiries in the past too, but whereas enquiries initially came
from people who were surprised to hear that one could indeed live on fruit
alone, that the food of Paradise is no longer a fairy tale or allegory, that the
housewife of the future can look forward to less household drudgery, better
health for herself and her family, and a more economical way of life, the
enquiries are now coming from people who have already embarked upon the
great adventure of rejuvenation, renewal and a return to the natural food which
Nature so richly provides.
However, to change habits which are so deeply rooted as are our eating
habits, habits which originated so far back in our past and have become part
of us physically, psychologically and socially, requires faith and daring.
I am not surprised at all the enquiries from people who are looking for
knowledge, advice and comradeship. Moral support and company are more
than welcome, as this road "back to the food of Eden" is still fairly unknown
and not without its challenges.
The reader should bear in mind that what I am writing is personal and
subjective, and arises out of my own experience and that of others on the diet
with whom I have been in touch through the years. I am no scientist; nor am I
an authority on the subject of fruit as a human food. I am not a doctor who can
heal the sick, and I cannot prescribe remedies or make predictions. I can only
share my experience of the diet with you and offer suggestions. If these are of
value to you, I shall be pleased.
As a desperate person I had to venture to be able to gain, but to me the
fruit diet was no short cut to health or happiness. Without self-examination,
discipline and hard work I would not have achieved the results and enjoyed
the health I now enjoy.
It is very gratifying to see how much interest there is today in this way of
life. I appreciate all the letters, and I hope I succeed in giving vision and
perspective to a subject which is still new and strange to many.
Essie Honiball 28 Jordaan Street Rawsonville January 1979
 CHAPTER 1 human food and endeavoured almost fanatically to prove this. No resistance,
of whatever kind, would have stopped him.
How I became a fruit-eater Cornelius de Villiers-Dreyer was not interested in money, and did not
profess to be a doctor. He helped all who came to him with their problems and
One does not easily cast aside established habits almost overnight and in so doing added to his knowledge of the diet.
venture into new fields. This is precisely what I did in 1958 when I, after a When I joined the experiment, I was in a precarious state of health. I was
three-day water fast, started living on fresh fruit and nuts. That was twenty already so weak that it was only with the greatest effort that I could do my job
years ago, and I have never regretted the step. (I was, ironically enough, a lecturer in physical and health education at a
One does not do such things without good reason. My reason was that I teacher's training college). Although I had been cured of tuberculosis, my body
was desperate. The cause of my desperation is a long story of intense was wasting away like a diseased plant and I could do nothing to halt this
suffering over which I have long since drawn a veil. Suffice it to say that in process. Part of my problem was that I had taken medicine over a long period
1958 my life had reached a very low ebb and that I was a physical and mental of time and, no matter what diet I tried, my deterioration remained alarming.
wreck. Good health and happiness evaded me and there was no relief in sight. My mass dropped to below danger point, my vitality was a cause for concern
The fruit diet was simply a final straw which I grasped in a moment of despair, and I was plagued by troublesome pains, nausea, skin rashes, insomnia and
little knowing how drastically that desperate deed would affect my life. loss of appetite.
The name of Cornelius Valkenburg de Villiers-Dreyer plays a major part in When I started the fruit diet, I was of course unaware of Cornelius's
my story. Although he was a South African by birth, he spent much of his life experiment. I simply wanted to be released from my misery, as it was no joy to
abroad, where he worked tirelessly at his great life's task, human nutrition. have to waste away so slowly and so painfully. After a three-day fast, during
This remarkable man was not a trained scientist, but he had a superior mind which I drank two glasses of distilled water every hour, I took my first step on
and extraordinary powers of perception. the long road, and from then onwards fruit and nuts would be my diet, with no
He was already 76 years old when I met him through a member of his medication and no vitamin preparations.
family Mrs. Gertrude Rorke. He was a fine example of what the fruit diet could Those weeks were the most trying. Instead of making progress, I became
do for one and this, more than words, persuaded me to adopt the diet. In spite weaker and my mass dropped right down to 31.3 kg. I was just skin and bones
of advanced years he showed no sign of "age", either physical or mental. He and looked like the victim of a concentration camp. I fainted regularly and
was dynamic and fit. I was subsequently married to him and until his sudden when I wanted to get up out of a chair I fell flat on my face. It was impossible
death after a fall and a brain haemorrhage, I never once saw this vital man out for me to climb stairs, until Cornelius taught me the secret of correct breathing.
of sorts, depressed or ill. If I was impressed by his physical health, I was even My ears sang and pains came and went throughout my body. At times cramps
more so by his honesty, courage, determination, serenity and mental clarity. It made my body go rigid from head to toes, but Cornelius had an answer to
was not at all difficult for me to place my life in the hands of such a person. every problem.
A coincidence led to my becoming the guinea-pig for a unique experiment I was very clearly a case for hospitalisation and not someone who should
which was destined to make a breakthrough for the fruit diet. At the time that I be working at a responsible job. But I obstinately refused to go to bed for, if I
sought his help, Cornelius was living in isolation, totally immersed in the did so, the diet, which had become an obsession with me, would have failed.
formulation of a hypothesis at which he worked throughout his life. Fate My family and friends were ready to take me to hospital, and I knew that this
probably decreed that when the experiment was ready to be conducted, a kind of diet, because of its extremeness and the fact that it was unknown,
suitable human guinea-pig would come to the fore, someone who was would simply not be tolerated by them. I therefore had to keep going, at all
prepared to offer herself and submit to relentless discipline for such a long- costs. In that crisis hour I learnt to pray and fast. My diet consisted of three
term experiment on a diet of fruit. fruits a day, one every seven hours. Apart from that, I had only water and
In those years something of this kind was totally unheard of, both socially more water. Naturally, I still craved the old, favourite foods to which my body
and scientifically. It was "evil". Cornelius de Villiers-Dreyer took no chances. had been accustomed for so many years. I used to enviously watch people in
To him it was a serious matter and he knew exactly what he wanted to do and cafes enjoying that were denied me. But the rules of the experiment were
why. Everything was planned to the minutest detail and the preparatory work unalterable and there was absolutely no question of taking liberties. Cornelius
had been done. He had by then already tested the diet on himself and others, showed no mercy to himself and even less to me. To him his whole life's work
with favourable results. These results were equally favourable. His knowledge was at stake, and for me it was my very life.
had been acquired over a long lifetime of observation. He, as no doubt few It was with the greatest earnestness that he watched over me and taught
other pioneers before and after him, believed in the excellence of fruit as a me daily to stay on my feet until the next time I could see him. I learnt the
value of oxygen, and saw how much strength it enabled me to develop. I had scientific interest, even if this took a whole lifetime to achieve. That was his
to do breathing exercises each day from the time I awoke until I went to bed. last wish, and I am grateful that I could fulfill the wish of a courageous pioneer.
This was even more important than the food I ate. With the help of Thanks to Cornelius I was at that time fully equipped to deal with any
breathing exercises I was able to do my job, albeit with great effort; but I was problem which might arise. He left no aspect of the road ahead untouched and
not absent from work for a single day. I was schooled in self-discipline as never before in my life. If it had not been
After a month I was still very weak, but the worst was over and my for that, I would not have been here today to tell this story.
unsightly skin rash and sinus pains had disappeared. This meant progress I owe my recovery to Cornelius de Villiers-Dreyer and his knowledge of the
and gave me courage for what lay ahead. The miracle of the diet was, fruit diet. What I achieved was largely achieved through his knowledge and
however, that I could indeed keep going in this condition. ideas.
In the course of time the reactions which must of necessity accompany On the 12th of August 1961 the pioneer of the fruit diet was laid to rest in a
such a sudden change of diet diminished and occurred less frequently, until modest grave. Only ten years later was his last wish fully realised. Through
they disappeared after a few years. According to Cornelius's hypothesis my the agency of Prof. B.J. Meyer of the University of Pretoria and his research
bloodstream had been purged of the substances (or "misplaced material", as team, human guinea-pigs who followed the fruit diet were scientifically studied,
Cornelius called it) that had polluted it and caused my illness, and my body with results which have already been published.
with increasingly positive results started functioning on the new fuel and Those were years of great challenge. I was alone and had to return from
building material it was being given. my life of isolation to a more normal existence, where I soon discovered that
To rebuild a sick and degenerated body, as mine was in 1958, on a diet of my eating habits did not meet with approval scientifically or socially. I also had
fruit and nuts only, was no easy task and could not be accomplished in a day; to be confronted again with temptation, for one's body still craves the old food
but the miracle was that this product was able to halt the progressive to which it was formerly accustomed, and not the new food to which it still has
degeneration and start a process of regeneration. to become fully accustomed.
After Cornelius and I had been married, he withdrew me from normal life I could write volumes on those years, full of anecdotes about incidents that
and in my isolation I was transformed. Not only did I acquire a new body, but were amusing or frustrating. Scientists' opinions varied, but all of them warned
also a new outlook on life, for what is the use of having a healthy body when me to abandon my crazy diet, and held up everything from deficiency diseases
there is still lovelessness, depression and despair in one's heart? to decalcification of the bone as the possible consequences of my diet.
There, in undefiled nature, away from society's complexities, I found my At times temptation overwhelmed me, so that I recklessly started eating
direction in life and made a new start. It surprised me how little there was in other foods. At such times my willpower disappeared and my body hungered
my life which did not need to be reformed radically. Far away from any for everything I had almost forgotten. By fasting and even, once, by spending
association with the things I had been used to all my life, and free from any some time in the mountains, I came to my senses and could resume the ex-
temptation, Cornelius could teach me the joys of the fruit diet. periment.
Later on my sleeping pattern and my appetite returned to normal. In fact, But those problems were nothing compared with my social problems. The
my appetite was so good that I was embarrassed about the amount of fruit I reactions which my strange and "abnormal" diet and behaviour evoked varied
could eat. I was also able to mix fruit and eat my fill of fruit such as avocado from shock to indignation, and from frustration to disbelief. At best people
pears, which had initially been too oily, or pineapple, which had stung my tolerated their eccentric guest. Imagine how a hostess feels when one of her
mouth at first. My mass started increasing. So, whereas I had at first lost mass guests does not touch a thing, from the hors-d'oeuvres to the dessert. The
on the fruit diet, I, without changing my diet, started regaining mass. I could reactions of shock, ridicule and derision which I unleashed wherever I went,
walk almost normally and climb stairs more easily. Most of my discomfort and caused me all kinds of insurmountable frustrations. At first I tried to justify
pain had disappeared. myself. One can do this for a month or even a year, but it soon becomes a
A year later, when I returned to my family and friends, they could hardly nightmare and one decides rather to say nothing. Then I kept myself apart, but
believe their eyes. The person who had greeted them a year previously had the harder I tried, the more I became a talking point.
been a living wreck who had been deeply depressed. Now she was in Social withdrawal and isolation were inevitable for in social life being able
excellent health, full of vitality, suntanned, full of the joys of life and looked a to join in the conversation is not enough for acceptance; one also has to join in
good ten years younger! the activities of the group and, due to the strict rules of the experiment, it was
When my husband passed away at the age of 78 years on the 11th of just not possible, even on isolated occasions, for me to conform. Social
August 1961, I was deeply immersed in his thoughts and strivings. On his isolation started taking its toll and I became the victim of psychosomatic
deathbed I promised him that I would keep up the experiment until it attracted disturbances. I was like a child whose examination fears brought on an attack
of asthma. I developed pains and nausea through fear of social challenges.
You might be able to imagine what a glad day it was in my life when Prof.
B.J. Meyer took me under the wing of science, for the tests not only held great
benefits for mankind, but also released me from loneliness, frustration and
tension. Therefore, when I returned to earth as a kind of Rip van Winkle after
the tests, I was surprised to find that the social climate had changed
completely and that it was no longer strange for anyone to live on fruit and raw
foods. So many others had also adopted this diet.
I also made other interesting discoveries. I could, for example, stop again
once I had eaten ordinary food. There were no longer any cravings for my old
diet. My body had completely accepted the fruit diet. In fact, I was deeply
disappointed in the old diet, for compared with the sweet and poignant taste of
fruit, it no longer appealed to me. I also started longing for the simplicity of the
fruit diet and when symptoms such as a sore throat and headaches
reappeared, I there and then decided to continue with the fruit diet. I also
decided to become more flexible in order to live within the bounds of the times
I was living in.
Today I still live virtually exclusively on fruit. My present husband was kind
enough to join me as a fruit eater rather than endure his eccentric wife's
cooking. And wherever we go, fruit is laid on for us, and we in turn do our best
to make the adjustments necessary for social acceptance.

Extract from a talk given during the second anniversary of the birth of the
fruit industry on Saturday, 23 August 1975, at the Fruit and Fruit Technology
Research Institute, Stellenbosch.
 CHAPTER 2 I cannot say I experience any adverse effects from the raw vegetables I
occasionally eat. They may even make a valuable contribution to my diet. It is
I live on fruit Questions and answers, 1958-1973 simply that vegetables do not appeal to me after the sweet taste of fruit.
However, vegetables have helped me to make the switch from my former diet
The diet on which I have lived since 1958 is so simple that it appears to a fruit diet, and to be accepted socially.
almost laughable in a time of complicated diets — I live on fresh fruit and nuts.
I eat this food for breakfast, lunch and supper. I eat it at every festivity, dinner Do you eat avocado pear?
or braai, and it also makes up my Christmas dinner. Instead of cocktails, tea Avocado pear forms an important part of my diet, when in season. As far as
and coffee I drink fresh fruit juices. This only varies according to the seasons taste goes, this fruit is quite unlike other fruit. It is oily, green, and not sweet. In
and each year when a fruit reappears in season I feel as if I am welcoming the first few years of the diet I could not live without it. I remember that I once
back a dear friend after a long absence. Fresh fruit is the food with which I drove 80 kilometres in search of avocados.
regained my health, and on which I have lived happily and healthily since Right at the start, when I was very ill and weak, I could not eat avocado
1958. pear. Just thinking of its oiliness made me feel nauseous, but as time went by
I do not enjoy processed fruit. The joy of the fruit diet lies precisely in the I ate more and more avocados, sometimes as many as four or more medium-
unique flavour of every fresh fruit. No two kinds of fruit taste or smell alike; sized ones a day. In recent years I have eaten much less of this fruit, one or
even two fruits from the same tree differ in taste. This diet appeals to the two a day at the most, and sometimes none for long periods.
senses. Fruit is attractive to look at, pleasant to smell, and its sweetness
pleases the palate. Fruit is hygienic in its natural peel. As soon as fruit is dried, What kinds of fruit do you eat?
stewed, baked or canned, or preservatives or flavourings are added, the diet I eat all the fruits that appeal to my sense of taste, and for that reason I eat
becomes less attractive to me. Then it no longer tastes like fruit, and I am everything but sour fruit. I no longer enjoy sour tastes. When I became a fruit
back where I started — in the world of complicated and mixed-up tastes and eater, I could not at first eat pineapple. But that was through no fault of the
smells, which I find confusing. pineapple's! Whenever I ate this fruit my mouth stung so much that my palate
If fruit is mixed with salty, sour, bitter or other flavouring agents, it also bled. Only after my blood had been purified was I able to eat pineapple again.
loses its appeal for me, for it is the very simplicity of the diet which I enjoy, and Now I eat as much as I like, with no detrimental affects.
to my mind the taste of fresh fruit which has ripened on the tree cannot be
bettered.
Do you eat nuts?
I eat all kinds of fresh nuts which are obtainable, but prefer not to eat
Why should I eat processed fruit which is less healthy and less attractive to roasted, salted or sugared nuts. My favourite nuts are pecans and almonds,
my senses when I can enjoy fresh fruit which is far healthier and pleasanter? If which are high in food value and are very tasty. I also enjoy other nuts,
I cannot get sweet, ripe fruit, and have to depend on fruit which has been including coconut, preferably fresh or dried. I usually eat about half a cup of
picked while green and left to ripen in trays or boxes, I sometimes add a little nuts a day, but there are times when I do not eat any.
honey, but this happens very rarely. This diet does not usually need additives.
Do you mix fruit?
Do you eat vegetables? At the time I started the diet I was very ill, and my body could not tolerate
Vegetables, whether I eat them raw or cooked, are tasteless as far as I am more than one kind of fruit per meal, and even this was too much at times. So
concerned. There are definitely no substitute for fruit as regards taste and for a long time I lived on, for example, a peach for breakfast, a pear for lunch
value. I can live on fruit alone, but not on vegetables. and about twelve grapes at night. For the rest I drank water. It was then that I
I generally eat raw vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peas, realised how little food one could survive on if the need arose.
cucumbers and green beans by way of exception, and this is usually for social Later on I started eating more and more fruit, and also mixed it. At first I felt
reasons or when the fruit available is of a poor quality. The salad dressing I better when I did not mix different types of fruit. At that early stage I still
use consists of orange or lemon juice, celery, parsley, avocado and banana became tired at times. It helps if one can then at least eat a different kind of
mixed in a blender. To this I add some vegetarian salt. Vegetables such as fruit each mealtime. So, for example, I ate figs and pears for breakfast, a slice
potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin cannot be eaten raw, and when they of watermelon and nuts for lunch, and at dinner time I had two other kinds,
are cooked they need to be seasoned to improve their taste.
such as grapes and plums. Although I could not eat avocado pear at first, it in front of the television set.
later became a part of each meal. It takes time for one's body to adjust to a Today I would easily manage in a home without a kitchen or a dining room,
new diet. with just a sink and a small place to store my fruit. But an orchard is my
After my baptism of fire I had no adverse effects when I mixed fruit as much favourite eating place. There is nothing to beat eating fruit straight from the
as I wished. Nor did I get bored eating the same foods over and over again, tree. I once spent a year on a fruit farm in the mountains and each morning at
day after day and year after year. Today I sometimes eat only one kind of fruit sunrise I took a long walk and climbed the mountain. I used to take a dip in the
at each meal, and sometimes two or more kinds. It makes no difference to me chilly mountain stream and then stroll among the trees helping myself to the
how much fruit I eat at a time or how many kinds I mix; I eat until I have had tastiest fruit. That is my idea of heaven on earth. For the rest of the day I could
enough and therefore never go hungry. work without giving food a thought and it was only at night that I felt hungry
again.
How often do you eat? This eating pattern requires little preparation and little cleaning up
When I have guests I eat three meals a day with them. My husband and I afterwards. There are no greasy plates, pots or pans to scour, and no table to
also eat three meals a day, but not at set times. Occasionally I eat fruit set. Meals can be served in different ways, and fruit can be eaten in a variety
between meals, just for the fun of it, or I drink a glass of fruit juice, but I do not of ways. I usually prefer eating fruit in its natural form. That is because one
like eating or drinking between meals. Three meals a day are more than tends to overeat if one constantly looks for greater variety and dishes that
adequate. Continual eating considerably lessons one's enjoyment of a meal. become more and more complicated. Nothing is as wonderful as the simplicity
But when I am alone, I eat only when I am hungry, as all food tastes better of this diet. Take an orange. You can peel it and eat the segments. You can
when one is really hungry. eat it out with a spoon once you have cut a hole in the top and cut the flesh
I sometimes do not eat for a whole day when I am not hungry enough. If from the rind with a sharp knife. It can be sucked as children enjoy doing, and
one's body functions well, one does not feel hungry all day long. Constant the juice can be used over salads or in mixed juice. And no two oranges taste
cravings for food are largely the result of incorrect eating and deficiencies in a the same.
diet, but no deficiency is made up by the wrong foods. The chemical balance An apple can be peeled or eaten with peel and all. There are countless
contained in fruit is all human beings need. ways of making each meal enjoyable, and all of these ways make the fruit
When I am alone, I do not give any thought to breakfast, lunch or supper. I taste different each time. The best of all is the knowledge that this food is
lose track of time. This is a pleasant way of living, for then your day is not promoting good health.
broken up into sections between meals and you can go on doing your work I always look for the fruit that birds have pecked at. Birds have a wonderful
without interruptions until your stomach starts calling for fuel or building ma- ability to pick out the tastiest fruit on a tree. In the course of time one also
terials. As soon as the food has satisfied the needs of the body, the appetite learns to tell which fruit is the best. Large fruits are not necessarily the tastiest.
and hunger disappear and one feels satisfied. Then the next meal comes only I remember that we once lived on a farm where there was a very old
when one's body gives the signal. orchard, far away from our house. Those old trees, which had been grown
When I land in an orchard with delicious, fresh, ripe fruit and I may eat as from pips and whose tap-roots had never been removed, had never seen
much as I wish, well, I enjoy myself and eat my fill. But this type of overeating pruning shears, sprays or irrigation water. The orchard at home was watered,
is exceptional, and has no detrimental effects. fertilised, sprayed with insecticides and pruned. The trees were large and
luxuriant and the harvest was plentiful. The fruit was a sight for sore eyes. But
the beautiful fruit did not appeal to us. We used to walk a long way each day
How and where do I eat my fruit meals? to the old, neglected orchard which had, season after season, defied the
It is strange, but kitchens and dining rooms play no great part in my fruit elements and yielded its harvest. The fruits were small but as sweet as honey
eating. When I have guests I naturally eat with them at the dinner table. and full of flavour. You could pick them and let them dry out in the house, and
Otherwise I eat where the mood takes me. A plate of fruit — as much as I whenever you entered the house you could smell these fruits a long way off,
think I need — a knife, spoon, sometimes a fork, and a sunny or shady nook while the large fruits were by comparison very tasteless and soon rotted when
indoors or out of doors, where there is something to appeal to the senses left to dry. They never dried out healthily and were a feast for insects and
(flowers, a painting, birds, beautiful scenery, sometimes soothing music), go parasites.
far towards making a meal a feast. I eat on my lap, or at any handy table, A fruit eater migrates like a bird to the tastiest fruit, for it is this fruit that is
sometimes even at the swimming pool when I am out swimming. In winter I sit also the healthiest. I therefore take great pains to look for the right fruit myself
at the fireside or in front of the heater. When there is a good programme, I eat and do not mind paying for good fruit. That is the one thing I do not try to stint
myself on. Whether I eat much or little, my mass has remained more or less constant
for the past few years. It would seem as though the fruit eater loses mass if he
How much do I eat every day? is overweight and gains it is he is underweight. The fruit ensures that my
I eat until my hunger has been satisfied. I thus never "leave the table" normal mass is maintained without my having to worry or count the calories in
feeling hungry. When I was sickly and weak and could eat only three fruits a my diet. My appetite regulates my food intake.
day, I, because I had given up meat, used to look on enviously while others
enjoyed their food. I remember that I was still very confused at that time. At Is this an expensive diet?
first my appetite disappeared, but it gradually returned. At that stage I used to No, it is a relatively inexpensive diet compared with other well balanced
buy books and magazines just to page through them and admire all the diets. Where could I find a better, cheaper, pleasanter and more nourishing
scrumptious dishes advertised in them. meal than, for example, a fruit meal of two bananas, one avocado pear and a
However, I did not touch other foods and kept strictly to the rules. I was nice big apple — still obtainable in our expensive times, for so much less than
hungry very often at that stage, especially for the forbidden fruit. When I had any other meal? Through sound household budgeting by supporting markets
overeaten, I was sick or felt so bad that I decided rather to keep to the rules. and producers which offer the best quality at the cheapest prices — the costs
My body was simply not able to consume more food than was required to of fruit purchases can be cut even further. A fruit meal is an enjoyable meal for
keep it functioning. little money and if one adds to this what one saves on electricity, spices,
Mass loss was a blessing in disguise and I simply did not bother about condiments and other items which are necessary for making other foods tasty,
weakness and weight loss. Once my health started improving, my appetite then fruit meals are so much cheaper. One even saves on labour, considering
also improved and a few months later I had such a hearty appetite that I felt that one has far less work in a household where one seldom cooks or bakes.
quite ashamed of myself, for I could without any effort at all eat half a tray of
peaches at one sitting, in addition to four avocado pears and some nuts. But
Do you drink water, and how much?
as time went on my needs became more normal.
I hardly ever drink water. It is not necessary on a diet which is a liquid and
My body has now adjusted to the diet and I go far on a few fruits.
salt-free as is the fruit diet. I never feel thirsty, not even after the strenuous
Nevertheless, I eat about fifteen medium-sized fruits a day. I supplement this
exercises to which I have had to submit for scientific observation. I avoid cool
with nuts. Sometimes I eat less fruit, but very often I eat much more. The
drinks in particular, and drink only natural fruit juices. Drinking is far less
guinea-pigs for the scientific tests had to eat a good deal more fruit than I to
important to me than eating. In circles where tea is provided, I often drink
comply with scientific criteria for a good fruit diet. I found these quantities too
water, preferably from a cup. I do not enjoy it, but at least I also have a cup in
large, but I am a small person, with an average mass of 48-50 kg.
my hand! It was only fairly recently that I included rooibos tea in my diet, for
In my starvation days my mass was 31.3 kg. I looked like the victim of a
social reasons.
concentration camp. Of the thirty odd portions of fruit which had to be eaten,
250 grams had to consist of avocado pear and 70 grams of nuts. I was so
weak that, if I did not take a few deep breaths before I tried to get up out of a It is said that milk is an ideal food. Do you drink milk?
chair, I could not lift myself. Sometimes I even fell forward flat on my face. I In my view cow's milk is an ideal food, but for the cow's calf, just as
also had to pause for deep breaths on each stair I climbed, or I did not have mother's milk is an ideal food for babies. No animal goes on drinking milk
the strength to raise my foot to the next step. I simply could not lift my feet — beyond its infancy, and human beings do not go on drinking mother's milk until
they were like lead. they are adult, so why should cow's milk be ideal?
Over the years I learnt the value of correct breathing and how much
strength oxygen gives to the body. Today I am in excellent hearth and I can Where do I get my proteins?
run up and down flights of stairs without showing the slightest sign of This question worried me too until the diet was tested scientifically. In the
tiredness. Tests have proved that my vitality index figures are particularly high. years when doubts beset me, I thought of the food of wild animals. If buck
Fruit eaters tested experimentally an increase in stamina of up to 55 percent, could be so fit on their diet of grass and giraffe so graceful on leaves only,
according to an article by Prof. B.J. Meyer under the heading "Terug na die then surely I could stay fit on only fruit. And that proved to be so. After twelve
Paradys" in Kernaktief of January 1973. Today I am capable of doing years on a diet of only fruit and nuts I was subjected to the most stringent
strenuous exercise or work, even if I do not eat at all for a few days. This was scientific tests and there was no sign of a protein deficiency. In the South
hardly the case before I became a fruit eater. African Medical Journal of 20 February and 6 March 1971 scientific results
were published in two articles entitled "Some physiological effects of a mainly Fruit is not grown under favourable conditions. Today fruit is just as
fruit diet in man" and "Some biochemical effects of a mainly fruit diet in man", diseased as are the people who have to eat it, but in spite of artificial fertilisers
which throw more light on the diet. Up to today, after twenty years on the fruit and poisonous sprays, the fruit diet is still amazingly beneficial. How much
diet, no scientific proof has been found for deficiency diseases, and I feel fitter better could it not have been under ideal circumstances?
than ever before and enjoy sustained good health and zest for life. I therefore If there had not been pioneers with big dreams and great daring, I would
assume that the diet contains all the necessary components, including enough not have known today that it was possible to live on the food of Paradise, for
proteins, to keep me in good health. nowhere in my school or university career did I hear or learn of the fruit diet.
What is more, I thought the words in Genesis 1:29 were a mere fairy tale.
What proof do you have that the fruit diet is better for you than any
other good diet? Can anyone following this diet have a drink and an occasional
The responsibility for proving which diets are good and which are poor cigarette?
rests with science and not with individuals. Everything in this book is Everyone, including the fruit eater, can do as he pleases, within limits.
subjective. I took a gamble and, fortunately, I won. Scientific tests showed that Smoking and drinking are not prohibited, but moderation and compromise are
I am no worse off on the fruit diet than are other people on any other diet, the questions at issue here. It makes no difference whether one indulges in
however balanced and good it is. something detrimental to one's health to excess or to a limited extent for such
Since I have been on the fruit diet I am not interested in merely enjoying my things remain detrimental.
food; I eat to live. Fortunately fruit is enjoyable. My ailments of the past As soon as any habit is called moderate, it can automatically be classified
disappeared, thanks to the diet. I never get headaches, stomach complaints or as detrimental, as moderation is only applied to something which has adverse
skin problems as I did in the past. Before I became a fruit eater, I thought that effects. What it actually amounts to is "a little bit of sinning with a clear
ailments were simply part of life and that was the way things were. conscience".
As a compromise with evil is such a subtle case for the conscience, it is
I have read that it is not possible to live on fruit only. one of those problems which can only be solved in the inner chambers. The
Things which are considered heterodox today will be considered orthodox conflict between good and evil is a personal matter between God and man.
in the future. That is the way of life. This will also be the case with the diet. Unfortunately it is not always possible to limit habit-forming practices to one
Until recently dieticians still believed that it was impossible to live on a diet or two drinks or cigarettes. The world is full of examples of people who have
of fruit only. Recent research has shown, however, that the possibility can no played with this fire and today cannot give up the habit.
longer be ruled out. It is not necessary to consult books on the detrimental effects of smoking
Twenty years ago I was "old" and decrepit, tired of life and exhausted. At and drinking. Every smoker and drinker knows what they are and each person
the age of thirty I was an old and sickly person. who smokes or drinks reflects these effects to a greater or lesser degree.
In those days I once struggled to a swimming pool and with great effort
looked for a spot of sunlight in which to lie down and rest. Because I could Do you never take medicine?
only lift my feet with the greatest difficulty, I stumbled over a hosepipe in my I have not taken any medicine since 1958.
way and the gardener rushed to my aid saying, "Let me give you a hand, However, I do not think of the diet in terms of a cure by a medicine; it is a
Granny". He said this in all seriousness! way of life, a pattern of behaviour which holds great benefits. Over the past
That was twenty years ago. I am certain that today no one would call me twenty years I have simply not needed any medicine.
"granny" or have to help me over a garden hose, even though I am twenty
years older than I was then! What does anyone wanting to live on fruit do if his income is limited?
Unfortunately our most earnest strivings for eternal youth are thwarted by As I have already said, fruit is the most economical food on which to live,
factors beyond our control, factors such as air and water pollution, and the and experience has taught me that the Creator provides "daily bread" to all
pollution of the soil and the food on which life depends. We should all make who call on Him for it.
our small contribution towards conserving these life-giving commodities by Even in the years when I did not know where my next meal would come
preventing pollution, even if it merely means walking instead of driving, or from, I always, without exception, found fruit — enough to satisfy all my needs.
trying to avoid household sprays and chemical substances which pollute the Sometimes it came from the most unexpected quarters. If you always turn
environment. your steps towards the light, there should be no fear of lacking the means
necessary for the journey. Just eat fruit. The Father will not fail you, of that I was refreshing after the tensions and frustrations of my former rushed
can assure you. existence.
What is more, one spends so much money on unnecessary items After Cornelius's sudden death, which came at a time when he was still full
nowadays. It was only when I became really poor in earthly goods, that I of zest and vitality and a shining example of fitness, I had to return to a normal
became aware of how little one needed to be happy and healthy. The things life. It took me many years to adapt to "civilisation" again.
which bring real joy to life, are free. But I steadfastly refused to change my diet. How many problems I brought
on myself through my obstinate refusal to eat normally, you might well
What about menstruation and change of life? imagine. You can imagine the consequences in a society where the fruit diet
One's menstrual flow decreases on the diet. Menopause does not trouble had not yet been accepted socially or scientifically.
me; apart from an occasional hot flush, I am hardly aware of it. The reactions evoked by my habits were by no means encouraging, for
they ranged from indignation to shock, disapproval, ridicule and at best
acceptance for the sake of peace. I still think fondly of all who at that stage so
Do you play sport? patiently accepted my "otherness", for sincere interest was still rare then. I did
When I was younger, I was a great sports enthusiast. Today I am satisfied not know at the time how to make sensible adjustments. I wanted at all costs
with walks and work which requires bending. to safeguard my newly found health and happiness, as the price paid for them
It is interesting, however, that I can today without any effort do strenuous had not been small.
exercise without showing signs of exhaustion. I surprised myself once when I It was in the years after Cornelius's death when I had to stand on my own
swam hundreds of metres of backstroke in a swimming gala at a high speed feet, that I encountered temptations. I recall how I once (after having eaten
— after not having swum for years — without even being short of breath at the only fruit for almost three years) could not stop eating potatoes, after I had
end of the race. I have so often considered wild animals, which have very little again had a taste of them. My willpower had disappeared like mist before the
exercise but can nevertheless be so fleet-footed when they have to flee before sun and I sat eating potatoes like an alcoholic enslaved by drink. After two
an enemy. days of eating potatoes, my tongue turned bright blue and stung so much that
I never feel exhausted nowadays, however hard I work. In the past I often I could eat nothing, not even potatoes. A three-day fast cured me of my
became thoroughly exhausted. Fitness tests have shown that I am particularly uncontrollable craving, so that I could resume my fruit eating without inter-
full of vitality, more so than the average among even younger people. In spite ruption.
of the fact that I am older now, my body is fitter and healthier than it was when I recall that on another occasion — that was after I had lived on fruit only
I was much younger. for about six years — I was again tempted to taste other food, and I again
I have lived on two different diets and I have no doubt whatsoever as to found it hard to stop eating the "forbidden fruit". I tackled one kind of food after
which one has given me the best results and the best health. another and did not eat like a normal person but rather like a starving one, for
my body was starved for the things it had been used to in the past. I simply
Do you never feel like sinking your teeth into a tasty roast? could not stop eating once I had started, and lost all interest in fruit. Of course,
Cornelius was a good teacher. He knew that a "newborn" fruit eater still I started feeling very sick, for I was no longer used to all the fatty, heavy and
craves the food to which his body has been accustomed since childhood. So cooked foods.
when we were married he kept me away from the temptation of being able to This time I went to the mountains and lived in a hut, far away from
see, smell or taste other food. For instance, we spent a year camping out in temptation. When I was no longer faced with alternatives, everything settled
the veld and I was never nearer to Paradise on earth than in that year of down and I was again beyond the reach of temptation. At the top of the
isolation from civilisation. mountain, with my basket of fruit, I came to my senses and was once again
It was easy to eat fruit then. It was the only food I saw, and I simply forgot ready to continue my pilgrimage.
that other foods existed. During that year I discovered the joy and simplicity of Yes, there were many derailments. Only after twelve years could I, to my
this way of life. I had time to take stock of my whole life and to plan a definite surprise, eat other foods without getting cravings for them. It happened like
course for the future. My body was satisfied with fresh and sweet fruit. I was this: after my former experiences with compromise, I carried on with my fruit
again happy and healthy. I could once again lift my feet from the ground when diet more resolutely than ever, without making any compromises. I was afraid
I walked and breathe correctly and deeply. I could rediscover the firmament of my uncontrollable reactions. But, no man is an island. The constant tension
and feel the pleasure of the sun, wind and rain on my naked skin. The between me and my environment wherever I went, had detrimental
tranquility was tangible after the bustle of the city, and the beauty of nature consequences. Initially I tried to justify myself to people, but after a few
months I was thoroughly tired of my own story, with the result that I gradually Does not one experience negative reactions when changing for a diet
withdrew from social activities and evaded social responsibilities. I became according to which one ate everything to a diet of fruit only?
more and more of a recluse, and always tried to eat on my own. Yes, there were negative reactions for me. Some were so unfavourable
Those were lonely years, and it was never more clear to me how big a role that on my own initiative and without help I would not have been able to deal
eating and drinking play in social intercourse. I cannot forget the shock I felt with them.
about remarks such as "Oh, you probably don't mind that we no longer invite Later on I met people who changed their diet with a minimum of
you to dinner, but you are no longer one of us". These innocent words made inconvenience. However, a great deal depends on whether you are old or
me realise with a shock that I was an outcast and could not through my young, ill or relatively healthy, weak or strong, what your previous diet
company alone make any claim to social intercourse with others. consisted of, whether you drank and smoked heavily or what your attitude is
I also had to be prepared to conform as far as behaviour was concerned. towards the diet. It also makes a big difference whether you, as I did, change
Such conflicts gave me nightmares in the past. And it was in those years that I overnight from one diet to another or whether you gradually adapt your diet to
started developing psychosomatic symptoms over which I had no control. I did a new diet over a period of months or even years.
not even realise what the troublesome pains and sensations as well as the There ought to be scientific explanations for all these "reactions", but they
loss of appetite and nausea meant. I had another medical examination and all were beyond my reach, and I contented myself with the apparently "naive"
the tests proved unanimously that I was in excellent health. The secret explanations given by Cornelius and other pioneers of the fruit diet.
symptoms confused and frustrated me, until the possibility of such Please remember, what I am going to say here is not being held up as the
psychosomatic symptoms was brought to my attention. After twelve years on truth. It is simply what Cornelius believed in after a lifetime of experience of
the fruit diet I decided by way of experiment to try eating with the household. the fruit diet and what I also believe, but only science can distinguish fact from
The relief of being able to feel at one again with my fellow man was fancy. Cornelius firmly believed that there is only one factor responsible for all
tremendous and even more so was the surprise at realising that I could eat as man's suffering and aging. He called this "misplaced material". Other
I WISHED and stop when I WISHED. However, I did not want to carry on forerunners talked of "poisons", "impurities", "mucus"; and scientists would
mixing my foods for too long (as I again started feeling the discomfort of probably use the term incorrect eating. "Pollution", or "contamination" would
constipation, a sore throat and so on). My body had finally become perfectly also be appropriate terms. To the fruit eater the name is unimportant; it is the
"happy" with the fruit diet and I no longer craved other foods. My days of concept that counts.
craving for the old diet were apparently over. When I could therefore eat just A large part of this misplaced food, so the idea goes, ought not to be eaten
what I wished, I no longer felt like eating ordinary foods. Nor did I enjoy them by man, because it causes disease and degeneration. It accumulates in the
any more. body, pollutes the life-blood and obstructs the functioning of the organs (the
I realised that sooner or later I would have to find a compromise, if I wanted body's machinery) so that they cannot perform their normal functions
to be admitted to social life again, but I could not bring myself to start eating efficiently.
other foods again. I wondered how I could ever have thought that foods such The body that is wronged in this way shows its protest by means of
as meat, eggs, cake and tea were enjoyable, for after all these years I was so "reactions" (disease symptoms), which are unpleasant and cause suffering
disappointed in them. and pain. This suffering teaches people that they are straying from the right
When I remarried in 1973, however, my days of social isolation came to an road, for it is not the Creator's will that His creatures should be ugly, ill and
end, and my experiment with the fruit diet had been concluded. It was with "old". Suffering and pain are thus the big stimulus for correcting what is wrong
some sadness that I closed the doors of the laboratory with its strict discipline in our habits, so that our suffering might end.
and said farewell to my years of being a guinea-pig. Reactions have another purpose, namely to help the polluted body to get
I had, however, had a foretaste of the promised land, and what I had seen rid of these intruders and unwelcome guests. Take the common cold. After
was so beautiful and what I had experienced so enjoyable that this became each cold, once I was rid of mucus and other impurities, I felt better, and as
my guiding ideal. Before my first husband's death his parting words to me time went on my colds became less unpleasant, were briefer and gradually
were "See how far you can go and how high you can aim". These wise words disappeared. This also applied to my other ailments.
inspire me to this day, and in spite of setbacks I still strive towards the ideal of If I had tried to check the cold with some or other kind of medicine, the
the absolute fruit diet, within the limits imposed by my environment and the impurities would still have been in my body, in addition to the means with
times in which I live. which I wanted to cure the cold. Now both have to be expelled. So I learnt not
to treat reactions, whether they were stomach complaints, headaches or
nausea, but to let them go their own way.
 During a "reaction" I merely fasted and drank water — preferably distilled or Therefore I could not expect that a body as diseased as mine was in 1958
bore hole water, two full glasses per hour. In this way I learnt to help reactions would simply overnight be young and fit again. Renewal is not such a simple
along and not to suppress them, while I continued with my day-to-day activi- matter. I had to see to it that my excretory organs functioned properly, for not
ties. only was it necessary for the waste products to be broken down by the diet,
With the help of nature my ailing body had to clean house by means of my but they also had to be expelled from my body.
kidneys, digestive system, my skin, lungs and even my mouth. I learnt to rinse At first I had aids such as a light laxative and an enema, and I recall that I
my mouth when I had a bad taste in it, to cough up phlegm from my lungs and did many breathing exercises — not complicated exercises, because I was too
not to swallow it, and to see enough sunlight. When constipation was still a weak, but exercises which made me breathe deeply. I sat on a bed, took a
problem, I kept my digestive canal open by means of a purgative or enema, deep breath and turned left and right, or hung on a branch or something close
until it could function properly. at hand, took a deep breath and bent over backwards. Later on I could stand
I also sweated out impurities. A body which is healthy and strong, and and bend forward and turn sideways while breathing deeply. The breathing
which has good powers of resistance, succeeds in expelling any intruders. exercise were of inestimable value to me for without them I simply would not
The senses of taste and smell also stand guard to forbid entry to any have been able to survive. I breathed deeply all the time. When I went for a
undesirable food which is unwelcome in the human body. If something is walk I concentrated on my breathing, and before I got up out of bed or from a
detrimental, the senses disapprove of it and if it is beneficial, the senses find it chair I took a few deep breaths. I also did so before I climbed stairs and even
attractive, as is the case with wild animals (what a pity man has lost this paused to breathe deeply on each step. It took great effort to do so but it was
capacity by succeeding in making the unattractive appear attractive). Take essential for me to get my "machine" running again. I was massaged to
meat, for instance — none of man's senses would find meat attractive to eat improve my blood circulation, took steam baths when I started feeling better,
while it is still in its natural form, as the wild beasts eat it. Meat has to be sunbathed in the early morning sun, exposed my naked skin to sunlight and
prepared and flavoured to deceive the sense — but is this to our advantage? took walks, no matter how weak I felt. And I kept all these activities up for
A body which, on account of impurities, cannot function normally, does not months on end.
very easily rid itself of impurities, because the excretory organs have become In the early stages it was very important to me to see how many impurities I
lax in carrying out their functions, the lungs have been damaged through could expel. I personally witnessed "miraculous" healing due to fasting alone,
smoking, and the liver and other organs through alcohol, drugs (e.g. a water fast. For example, I saw to my amazement how a leg with a septic
stimulants) and incorrect eating. The walls of the digestive tract are so thickly wound from the ankle to the knee, which was swollen, gaping and open, and
lined with matter that the colon is no longer able to efficiently excrete had not healed for nineteen years or reacted to any medication, was
undigested food and the body's waste products. The intestines become a completely healed within six weeks, after a water fast of 28 days followed by a
storage place for decaying waste products and a breeding ground for fruit diet.
parasites which do not belong in the human body. The polluted blood in turn This eccentric and almost childlike "observation", which formed the basis of
becomes a feeding ground for micro-organisms which cause disease. my recovery and rejuvenation, later became a reality in my own life. Because
The condition of decay which is reflected in disease symptoms, and the foul of this I could understand why I could initially obtain such good results on so
odours accompanying it, as well as the offensive gases and substances which little fruit. Many months passed before my starvation days, my fasting and
leave the body in the form of perspiration, urine, faeces and breath, are not difficult days were past and my disease symptoms disappeared.
worthy of man. But there was satisfaction, from as early as the first week. My sinus pains
The polluted body declines, becomes ugly, diseased and dies in pain. Like and unsightly skin rash disappeared within the first month, while other
a defective radio, such a body cannot receive or transmit "music from the symptoms were more persistent. Arthritis cases, in particular, take a long time
spheres", for bodily chemistry and perception go hand in hand (as every drug to improve. I can now look back and see the path I walked and I know that
addict and alcoholic will know). somewhere along the line I lost my degenerated, weak and diseased body
Fruit has the ability to help a sick body to become normal again in a natural and found a new one, which I would not exchange today for all the money in
way, but before this can happen the body first has to get rid of enormous the world. Not even in my youth did I know the kind of health and vitality I now
quantities of impurities which are stored in the flesh and blood, the living have.
tissue. I know that when I started the diet in 1958, my colleagues took bets on how
The renewal or rebirth of the body is no easy task and cannot be long I would be able to keep it up. I heard afterwards that their highest
accomplished in a day; it is a life's task which goes on from one generation to estimate was a week. However, the week became a month and after six
the next. months I was still at work and could pride myself on the fact that I had not
been absent from work for a single day. I climbed the ladder to health slowly It is, of course, possible to become a (fruit eater) overnight and to break
but surely. I did not dream of spending energy on something like social down an established pattern so as to build a new body and way of life from the
enjoyment; it was only work and rest, and whenever I could I rested and went ruins. I did so, but there was a price to pay and it was the biggest challenge I
to bed early at night. have ever known, in spite of the help and guidance I received. So do not be
After a year I could look back. I had made the breakthrough, my mass had discouraged if things do not come right immediately; the process of rebirth is
increased to 36 kg and I could again pick up my feet properly when I walked, joyful, but not easy.
although I was still totally unable to lift myself off the ground from a sitting
position. At that stage running was still out of the question. My breathing had I am overweight. Will I be able to lose weight on a fruit diet?
become deep and relaxed, my sleep had returned to normal and my appetite It seems as though the fruit diet normalises the body, and makes fat people
was good — I was always hungry! thinner and thin ones fatter, irrespective of the amounts of fruit eaten. For
I can now look back gratefully on the past twenty years with no regrets seven months my mass showed little change. In fact, I became thinner than I
about the hardships for they were necessary and are now part of the distant had been, and only then did the situation change. My mass suddenly started
past. My new body is to me a wonder I shall never be able to describe. increasing without me changing my diet in the least and the increase carried
Like Cornelius and many other pioneers of the diet, I believe today that the on over a period of two to three years (if I remember correctly) until it became
people of the future will be fruit eaters and that disease and suffering will in constant and has remained so till today. My mass is now between 48 and 50
this way disappear. Genesis 1:29 has become a norm in my life. kg.
I do not regret the mistakes I made in my life, for they were costly lessons However, I know people who eat just as much fruit as I do, in addition to a
which helped me to learn what would benefit me and what would be to my normal diet. They eat two diets simultaneously. It is obvious that fruit will not
disadvantage. Today I know better, and I do not make the same mistakes. My help them to lose weight. The more fruit one eats, the less other food one
life has become precious to me and I shall never hold it cheap as I did in the should eat. As a fruit eater I simply had to learn to say no, which does not
past. I keep my body healthy and consider it an injustice to myself if I mean no one day and yes the next. To get results I had to change my eating
experience any discomfort. I see to it that I eat correctly, get enough rest and habits, not just for a bare three weeks, only to return to the old ways, but
sleep, breathe properly and get enough exercise. I knew these things in the permanently!
past too, but paid little attention to them then. Today I am another pioneer of
this new lifestyle. I took the chance and succeeded, through grace and help
from Above I am writing about my experiences because there are many Does one pass more urine on the fruit diet than normally?
people who give up hope because they lack the necessary insight and faith. Yes, this was my experience and that of others who tried the diet. Not only
They have no one to give them moral support and encourage them when is there more urine, but it becomes alkaline and almost odourless and
problems arise. They have no one to encourage them to keep going when colourless. The stools also become very light in colour, sometimes greenish
reactions arise to help them to help nature to support the body's purification when one eats many avocado pears, and so light in texture that they float on
processes and not obstruct them. the water. They also become odourless. One of the joys of the diet for me was
Many people prefer, perhaps wisely so, to take things slowly and gradually that the body's waste products lose their offensive odour so that deodorants
accustom their bodies to a diet of raw foods, rather than without help and are no longer necessary. It is a joy to live in such a "clean" body.
guidance rush headlong into the diet of fruit only to find that they have bitten
off more than they can chew — socially, physically and mentally. Is the diet not boring?
It is difficult to lay down hard and fast rules because every person is an No, it is not boring, for what is better than eating to become younger and
individual and circumstances differ from one person to the next. That is why I fitter each day instead of older and more and more unfit? Health and beauty
would rather try to paint a picture, for if one has a goal in sight one finds one's go together, as do illness and growing old.
own ways of reaching it. The technique is a personal matter, but the goal
should be clear, otherwise one tends to take one step forward and two steps Is it possible for one to eat too much or too little fruit?
back and undermine what one has built up. My personal opinion is that a healthy body which functions efficiently solves
Time is not important, but the steadiness of each step in a definite direction this problem itself through the appetite.
is of the utmost importance. If a bad habit has to be abandoned in one's own Today I soon know when I am overeating. My appetite tells me precisely
interests, it has to be done permanently and not for just a few days. Only in when and how much to eat. In the past this was not the case. I ate according
this way can one make progress.
to the clock and did not even know what it was to feel hungry. speeches in between, and still my plate stood empty.
I do not have to guard against overeating, as fruit is a light diet and does My companions started eyeing me with increasing curiosity and asked the
not make one feel uncomfortable, even when one does overeat. But I do waiter what had become of my food. Yes, he was bringing it, it was all
guard against eating too little or mixing fruit with other foods in such a way that arranged, but still no trace of the promised plate of fruit. It was now
it can easily spoil my appetite for fruit, with the result that I do not eat enough roundabout 10:30 pm. The atmosphere had started chilling, and as usual I
fruit. For example, if I were to eat too many sweets, it would spoil my appetite was the wet blanket because I was not participating in the meal. After the rich
for fruit. meal the guests no longer felt like dessert, but eventually dessert was served
and along with it came an enormous bowl of fruit, beautifully arranged and
How do you manage to mix socially without ever having to hopelessly too much for me. It was placed in front of me with a flourish and
compromise? I do not succeed in doing so? everyone gaped at me. In no time at all the guests had eaten their dessert, the
As you would have gathered by this time from my previous answers, the music had started playing and people left the dinner table for coffee or a
social aspect was my greatest challenge too Even after twenty years on the dance. And I had not even started peeling the first fruit yet!
diet I have to admit that I have not yet completely solved the social problem. On another occasion too a large and beautiful arrangement of fruit landed
Cornelius's golden rule, "there is no strength in a compromise", guides me in front of me. One of the guests remarked: "Just look, lovely fruit!" He took
to this day, but the time factor sets limits to even this ideal. Twelve years ago one, and passed the bowl around, with everyone highly surprised at the treat.
the climate towards this diet was still unfavourable; today it is much more Nowadays people enjoy surprises and changes, and many people welcome
favourable the opportunity to be able to break away socially from big and rich meals.
It is as if mankind is awakening and as if the diet has become a household In the more favourable climate of today there are few social obstacles
word. Even the fruitarian is no longer eyed as if he were an alien from another which cannot be eliminated successfully.
planet or suffered from a contagious disease. Today a fruitarian enjoys
scientific and social recognition. Twelve years ago this was not the case, and I am an elderly person. Can I start the diet or am I too old?
this makes a big difference to social contact. I think anyone can start this diet, no matter what his age. For me old age
Today it is no longer necessary, as it was in the past, for me to have to simply does not exist; only a body which is either neglected or kept in good
attend dinners where I cannot have a single dish on the menu, from the soup condition.
to the coffee — to the disappointment of the hostess, the waiters and guests. Surely one is never too old to start a programme of rejuvenation. It is
Now I can enjoy at least something on such a menu, as raw foods and salads simply that the older person has more damage to repair, but I have come
are the order of the day and have become fashionable. Today I no longer go across at least a few elderly people who have had very encouraging results
anywhere where I do not find some or other item I can eat. Many of my friends after experimenting with the diet.
are already living mainly on raw foods and fruit. It is no longer strange to be a There was the case of Oom Jan, who had already passed the eighties
fruitarian. milestone. He was a heart sufferer and had to sit propped up in a chair
If I had been more flexible in years gone by and had sometimes yielded a because he could not risk lying down. His hands hung limply at his sides, his
little, so that I could feel at one with the group I was eating and drinking with, I eyes stared joylessly as if nothing mattered any more. His days were
would have had a far easier time of it. No doubt I would not have become so numbered. He had just been discharged from hospital and all that remained
isolated socially; but at that stage more important things were at stake for me was for him to be cared for well until the end.
than social intercourse and that is why I was inflexible. To cut a long story short, Oom Jan started the fruit diet. Under Cornelius's
In the days when my otherness was noticeable I experienced many care he fasted and learnt to eat fruit. After only six weeks he was quite fit and
amusing incidents, unfortunately not always pleasant at the time but before he returned to his home at a coastal resort in the Cape he expressed
nevertheless funny when one looks back on them. There was, for instance, a the desire to visit the Voortrekker Monument. I climbed the steps with him on
dinner we attended. The hotel undertook to cater for my fruit needs as the appointed day and was gratified that his wish had been realised.
unobtrusively as possible. We sat at the main table with the guests arranged I sent my father a telegram asking him to meet Oom Jan's train. My father,
in a long row so that one was dependent on the company of the two people on who had seen the ailing person depart the previous month, was still a doubting
either side of one. The hors d'oeuvres consisted of a fruit cocktail, which I was Thomas as far as the fruit diet was concerned and took all the necessary
able to enjoy. Then came the soup, and an empty plate for me. At this stage precautions. Yes, everything was in order for Oom Jan's homecoming. The
the company was still convivial. Then followed the other courses, with stretcher was there as well as the people to help him off the train and carry
him to the car. Imagine my father's surprise when the train stopped and Oom one could from time to time make short notes on the quantity of fruit eaten,
Jan casually, suitcase in hand, hopped down and walked over to him! which kinds are most enjoyable, what reactions are encountered, what one's
state of mind was at the start of the diet, and how one's fellows reacted to the
Were you not too weak to fast? new eating habit. There are as many methods of making the change as there
It has never been necessary for me to go to bed during a fast. Even when I are people in the world. Everyone goes ahead on his own initiative and learns
was extremely weak I simply started living as if I was a normal, healthy by experience and by making the odd mistake. Of course many mistakes are
person. I steered my thoughts away from the idea of illness and made the made, but even the mistakes provide valuable information.
most of the limited health I had. I found it very encouraging to believe that Of all man's habits, eating is probably the most difficult to change. Not only
each day was better than the previous one and that I had regained a little did I eat without any discipline before, but I learnt to love many harmful foods
more health because I was eating fruit. Even the unpleasant reactions which and habits. What is more, eating habits are very deeply rooted, not only
had to accompany my condition were to me signs of progress which filled my physiologically, but also mentally and socially. I soon had to learn that set
heart with joy That was because my perspective had changed. eating habits could not be broken simply by exercising a little willpower. The
I still recall very well how I regularly fainted each morning, sometimes twice established habits are not so easily dethroned. Perspective, faith and
or three times between my bed and the bath. I was bruised all over from falling purposefulness were far more important for me to make a success of the new
against the furniture, but each time I came round I nevertheless felt pleased, diet than were menus, recipes, rules and regulations.
pleased because I regarded even the fainting spells as progress, so strong
was my faith in the powers of fruit. Such reactions did not, as they had done Do you find fruit difficult to obtain?
previously, make me feel anxious and unhappy. As soon as I regained If one considers that South Africa is known for its excellent fruit, it is
consciousness I set to work and started breathing deeply so as to get going actually ironical that the fruitarian who takes his diet seriously, the person who
again. I found it difficult to do a day's work in those days, each moment was must at all costs obtain fruit and is prepared to pay for it, still has to struggle to
hard work, but joyful work for what is more wonderful than rising from the find good, reasonable healthy and attractive fruit. It is, however, encouraging
"dead", taking up your bed and starting to walk? that the position has improved. One hopes that all fruit lovers in South Africa
I believed that I could not regain my health until my body had been purged will one day have an ample share of the rich harvests of our fine land.
through fasting and the fruit diet (which is another form of abstaining from all The housewife is awakening and is more and more interested in the health
other food) of all the harmful substances which hampered my bodily and welfare of her family. Housewives are already teaming up and buying
processes. I kept on losing mass until I weighed a scant 31.3 kg, and yet I good fruit at good prices.
started feeling better. The unpleasant odours from all the body's excretions I am always looking for fruit which brings me joy. Sometimes I am lucky
such as urine, faeces and perspiration, simply disappeared. One fine day, and sometimes I have to be content with fruit of a poorer quality. But we have
without my changing my diet, the miracle occurred: the scale registered a a home with a garden, and friends often bring us lovely fruit in season from
weight gain. My joy knew no bounds as I knew my "house cleaning" days were their gardens.
almost over. However, I still have to depend on fruit I have to buy and shop around a
great deal to find exactly what I want.
What is the best method of changing from an ordinary diet to a fruit
diet?
There is no set method for changing from an all-embracing diet to a fruit
diet. Science, with its complicated machinery for pointing the way and opening
up new roads, is the right source for designing such methods, but guidance
from scientific quarters is yet to come. In the meanwhile anyone interested in
the diet has to rely on the available reading matter, mostly written by those
who have tested the diet and are writing from their experience of it.
In any event, anyone tackling the diet today is still a guinea-pig. For this
reason it would be a good idea for all who try it to keep a record of their
experiences. The knowledge thus accumulated would be valuable, for human
guinea-pigs are necessary for increasing knowledge on this diet. For example,
 CHAPTER 3 My husband's change from one diet to another had therefore been gradual,
and the joy of it all was that he never had to go hungry or experience social
The Transitional diet The birth of a new eating habit frustration. He compromises socially to adapt to the demands of his
Questions and answers, 1973-1979 surroundings. At home he is perfectly happy in the milieu of a fruitarian.

In 1973 you were remarried. How did your husband accept the diet? How did you as a housewife help your husband to change his diet?
For sixty-six years my husband enjoyed delicious meals — meat, fish, rice My biggest job was to introduce fruit to him as a food. It had to be placed
and gravy, chocolate cake, ice cream, curry and rice and all the traditional somewhere where he would be able to see it and feel like eating it, not as a
foods. Although he had enough ailments to mar his zest for life, he had a treat at the end of a large meal, but as part of his food. I realised that if he
powder or a pill for each and he in no way intended to follow his eccentric could start EATING fruit and not merely nibbling at it, he would soon
wife's eating habits when we were married in 1973. On the other hand I, after appreciate the benefits of this food.
having had no kitchen duty for sixteen years, decided in the very first week And this was precisely what happened, for when he started realising that
that I would far sooner try to transform him into a fruitarian than myself into a his excess mass, his headaches and even ugly moles on his back slowly but
cook. surely started disappearing and that he could again climb stairs without
And that is where the idea of a transitional diet began, and without my stopping half way to pant for breath, he became more and more enthusiastic
husband's knowing that he was a guinea-pig, I put my four-phase plan into about the fruit diet. He no longer needed much encouragement. My hardest
effect. task was at the start, for how is one to make the fruit noticeable on an overfull
The plan would be divided into four distinct phases: Phase one: The menu, and who on earth feels like fruit after a bowl of porridge, bacon and
simplification of the existing diet. Phase two: Farewell to all products from the eggs, a glass of milk and a slice of bread?
animal kingdom. Phase three: Farewell to the stove. So my biggest task was to simplify his menu so diplomatically that he did
Phase four: An absolute diet of fresh fruit and nuts, supplemented with not realise he had started a transitional diet.
what may be found necessary through more research in the future. I set to work more or less as follows:
There was no room for tyranny and it took all of four years before fruit Half an hour before breakfast I presented him with the finest fruit I could
started taking its place of honour on the menu, as the following incident find. "Just taste these delicious figs." And who would not enjoy breaking one's
proves. fast with fresh fruit? I then saw to it that the cup of coffee was overlooked.
One fine day, just before I decided that my stove had become a white Then I called him for breakfast. Of course, after a plate of figs, grapes or
elephant, I wanted to make sure of my case. I bought the necessary peaches, he hardly felt like eating much.
ingredients for a meal right out of the good old days. I took a whole morning of On another morning I would say, "Oh, please forgive me, but I forgot to put
baking and brewing, but by one o'clock the surprise was on the table. Bobotie the milk in the fridge and it has turned sour; would you mind eating fruit pulp
and yellow rice with raisins, chocolate ice cream and coffee. I was dying to this morning?" Fruit pulp is a delicious dish made from various kinds of fresh
see what my husband's reaction would be to this sudden return to the old fruit mixed in a blender, with a half a cup of nuts included.
ways. Would he still be pleasantly surprised? By this time a meal of this kind One combines, for example, half a small musk melon, a banana, a sweet
had become a thing of the past in our home. apple, peach or pear and some fruit juice for mixing it in the blender to a
As usual he sat down at the table, looked at the food, then looked at me nourishing pulp.
and looked at the food again, and still there was no hint on his face to betray At first I served fruit pulp by way of exception, but it was served more and
his feelings. Then he said in a fairly gruff manner: "Do I have to eat this food more frequently until it became an institution.
again? For goodness sake, rather go and fetch my fruit." At that moment I For the main meal I always made a variety of attractive salads, enough for
knew that my husband, who had formerly eaten all kinds of food, who had the two of us. My husband was free to eat them or leave them. But when he
followed a traditional eating pattern for sixty-six years, had in a mere four saw me enjoying the salads, he joined in and in this way acquired a taste for
years come to love the fruit diet as much as I did. His reaction was honest and raw food, for there were never so many other dishes on the menu that they
completely spontaneous. The following day the stove was discarded, along completely excluded fruit.
with many of the saucepans, and a second refrigerator took the place of the Whereas his breakfast had formerly consisted of a series of foods eaten in
stove, which was replaced by a single gas cooker — just in case. The kitchen succession, breakfast in the first phase always consisted of a bowl of fresh
took on a bare and peaceful look and I could breathe again! fruit or fruit pulp, a bowl of porridge, a bowl of dried stewed fruit, an egg dish,
or a slice of toasted wholewheat bread, but no meat, tea and coffee, except Experience of the diet has taught me that success depends on mainly three
occasionally a glass of milk or yoghurt at the beginning. important factors. The first is purposefulness; the second, steady progress
After the first year fruit had already replaced a third of the daily menu. (not speed) towards your goal; and the third is believing that you will reach
I just made sure that the diet remained balanced, for at this stage it was far your goal, come what may (endurance).
from being a fruit diet and was merely a fruit-rich omnivorous diet. Every day Armed with these three weapons it makes no difference whether one
there had to be something on the table from each of the following categories: moves quickly or slowly and how one sets about realising one's ideal. We all
have our joys, as well as our problems and obstacles to overcome.
(a) Proteins: Fish, meat or cheese, milk, nuts, a soya or other legume dish. It is never advisable to try to change against one's will. If the change is not
(b) Carbohydrates: Especially wholegrain products such as wholewheat undertaken as something meaningful and joyful, it does more harm than good,
bread, unsifted maize meal, undished rice and so on. for what is the use of trying to gain health by means of a new diet if the spirit
(c) Mineral salts: Especially green vegetables such as lettuce, spinach and still rebels and one feels resentment towards the new intruder which is merely
the leaves of various kinds of herbs, especially the Comfrey plant's leaves also disrupting the old way of life. A state of mind such as this is enough in itself to
rich in Vit. B12. make one ill, let alone healthy!
(d) Vitamins: Especially fresh fruit, but raw vegetables as well. Any person who tackles a new lifestyle should therefore be spiritually
(e) Fats: Cheese, butter, milk, nuts and avocados. prepared to make the change a happy experience. If not, it is better to wait, or
to move very slowly until the time is ripe for such a change, for just as an
alcoholic who is not yet wholeheartedly ready to give up alcohol in the
I served three meals a day with a fruit drink or rooibos tea in between and interests of recovery, still continues drinking secretly, the person who does not
occasionally a snack. Fresh fruit was, however, the main component of each yet accept the fruit diet as a meaningful change but tries it merely for
meal and I took pains to find attractive and fresh fruit. Stews, pies, and all superficial motives, will not have the necessary motivation to make a success
manner of elaborate concoctions were systematically replaced by simpler of the new diet. Just like the alcoholic he will have his fill of all he desires. A
dishes. fruit diet which lacks motivation and discipline can only end in deficiency
My major task as a housewife was to see to it that there was always good diseases, for it is far better to follow a fruit-rich, well-balanced all-embracing
and tasty fruit and that it was eaten, but never by forcing it — rather by diet than an inadequate fruit diet with too many injudicious compromises which
advertising fruit as a wholesome and enjoyable food. destroy one's appetite for fruit.
In the transitional diet everyone is able to move step by step. As soon as
Can one make the change gradually to a fruit diet? one stage has been mastered, has been integrated meaningfully and become
Many people, wisely so, do not see their way clear to changing their a part of one's eating pattern, the next step is tackled. I regarded the first
established habits overnight. There are people who prefer a sudden change phase of the transitional diet not as a fruit diet but as a well-balanced, fruit-
from one diet to another, and make a success of it. But they are in the minority rich, omnivorous or normal diet.
and can be grouped into three classes: The second phase started becoming vegetarian by withdrawing products
from the animal kingdom such as meat, eggs, fish, cheese and milk. Whereas
meat had been served daily at first, I now started replacing meat with fish and
a) Those who have suffered so much as a result of illness that they are
some or other kind of vegetarian food. Eggs were used less often and so were
prepared to try anything which promises to bring relief. They want to see
cheese and milk. By the end of that year the menu already consisted of at
results quickly and do not mind the challenge involved. Their joy of life is, in
least 50 per cent fresh fruit and nuts, and the rest of raw vegetables, whole
any event very limited.
grain produce and slight compromises from the menu. Not only was meat
b) Those who have been vegetarians for years and now wish to try a new
served less and less often in this year, but the portions became smaller, until
aspect of their diet.
they finally disappeared and were retained only for social reasons. Fish was
c) Those who firmly believe in Gen. 1:29, a fruitarian diet is the ideal food
also served only occasionally, so that the main meal was also transformed.
for man. Eating fruit is part of their outlook on life and it is for that very reason
Fresh fruit increasingly came into its own and was supplemented by
that these people are so strongly motivated, and they are equipped with so
particularly (green leafy vegetables and whole grain products,) dried and
much self-discipline and enthusiasm that rapid changes do not present them
sometimes canned (without preservatives) fruit, which were used alternately
with an insurmountable challenge.
for breakfast, lunch and supper. At this stage raw salads, avocados and fruit
For the majority of those interested, the transitional diet is the ideal way.
drinks still occupied an important place on the menu.
 The third phase differs considerably from the previous two stages for not depend on your willpower but find it is no longer as strong as it was this
only did fresh fruit dominate the menu now, but the three meals started looking morning when you got up, before you saw and smelt the sausage. First you
more and more alike. Breakfast and supper were mainly fresh fruit meals, taste a piece and then eat some more, and feel like eating still more.
without any frills. Even dinner gradually became a fruit meal supplemented By 11 o'clock you sit back and relax with your cup of warm water and
with whole grain food, the stove became redundant, cooked food became an dream of the bulges that are going to disappear when suddenly the door bell
exception, meat dishes a thing of the past and salads a variation on the fruit rings and there is a good friend you have not seen for a long time. Before you
programme. Rooibos tea and fruit drinks were sometimes taken for social know what you are saying, you say: "Come inside, you're just in time for tea."
reasons. Occasionally something reminiscent of the past cropped up, only to Oh goodness! What now? So there is one incident after another which
disappear for weeks on end. sometimes for good. suddenly brings you into conflict with your old habits and you discover that you
The kitchen takes on a different look, meals are not served promptly at set cannot cope with all the unexpected reactions you are encountering. If you
times and one starts eating when one is hungry, often having meals spaced give in, you feel disappointed in yourself. If you stick to your guns, you not only
hours apart. The dining room starts losing its function and meals are served at get opposition from the "Old Adam" but often from your environment all well,
convenient places. Suddenly there is time for everything and one's general which finds you just that little bit odd. You soon realise that the problems
health and energy reflect the wholesomeness of this diet. cannot always be laughed off and you feel beaten.
The fourth phase is the ideal of the food of paradise exclusively, but until This is not because there is anything wrong with the diet or with you or your
this phase is reached it remains an ideal to strive towards and even then the environment; it is caused by a lack of insight, knowledge, perspective and
striving will not end, as the fruit itself can improve, as well as the air, the water experience of what you are doing. You are acting blindly. However, one has to
and one's state of mind. There is no end to what one can achieve start gaining knowledge somewhere, and even such a stormy start which fails
physiologically, and the way to the ideal future diet is yet to be paved by dismally, gives one valuable knowledge. At least you have learnt that it is a
science and those who believe in Gen. 1:29. formidable challenge and that it cannot be tackled over-hastily as this limits
The transitional diet of this stage therefore has no fixed rules or patterns. It one's chances of success. Without planning one all too soon lands in a fix, for
can take countless forms. The four-phase programme which I planned and where have you heard of an established habit which is effortlessly pushed
experimented with for my husband merely provided guidelines and not laws. aside by a new intruder?
There were, of course, limits and milestones, as well as discipline, but each I had to stop and think seriously before I could start. This is not only my
person sets his own limits and horizons and knows what he is capable of. experience; others have also found this to be the case. One cannot make a
These diet changes are a case of everyone for himself as no one can make better start than fasting, for by abstaining from all food temporarily one gets a
them for another. The only help which I can give is company on the long and grip on oneself. For example, after drinking water for one to three days and
interesting road, moral support and tips from my own experience. consistently saying "no" to everything, it is easy to face temptation and say
It is, however, important, along with the adjustments and changes in one's "Not for me". This gives one a secure footing and it is in this respect that some
diet, to give attention to other habits which affect one's health and retard one's people prefer fasting at a health resort, which provides help, where there are
progress, habits such as exercise, sleep and rest. It is essential to learn to others in the same boat and there is a more favourable climate in which to
deal with factors causing tension, as tension is our biggest enemy and not start. Others do it all on their own. even if this takes more courage.
even the success of the fruit diet can counter the erosion caused by tension to
the body and soul. What is fasting and how does one fast?
Fasting means to stop eating food altogether and only to drink water. The
I read one of your articles and for a week I ate only fresh fruit — after idea is that this gives the body a chance to clean house. And this is precisely
a short fast — but it was too much for me. I gave up and am right back what happens. The custom of fasting is as old as the hills and nature itself
where I started. Can you offer any advice? imposes a fast on every person and animal that feels unwell, so that it has a
A week is far too short a time for one to find one's feet with a new habit. chance to repair the damage. We fast overnight, and the longer this fast is the
Yes, all fruitarians know this type of challenge. One reads or hears of the diet, greater the benefits it holds for one's health. Cutting out breakfast is also a
becomes excited and inspired with a new ideal. You set to work immediately, form of fasting.
without any preparation. You start the day with a bowl of fruit, but grill a tasty Many books have been written on fasting and there are health resorts to
piece of sausage for hubby. You get a whiff of it and just because it is now which one can go for the purpose of fasting.
forbidden, your craving for this well known flavour overcomes you. You The simplest form of fasting is to eat nothing at all and just to drink plenty of
water, as the body's water balance should not be upset and water is also the started eating fruit. Since it was an open wound which had to be healed, one
medium through which waste substances are flushed from the system. could watch nature's healing powers at work. Such cases gave me food for
There are other forms of fasting, however, which are less drastic. The fruit thought and a firm belief in the benefits of sensible fasting.
diet itself is a form of fasting.
A fast may be very brief or very long. It is not advisable, however, for How should I fast?
anyone interested in the diet to undertake periods of fasting for longer than There are many methods of fasting and much has been written about
three days at the most without the necessary preparation and knowledge. By fasting, but I prefer the ordinary water fast, which is very simple.
means of a short fast of twenty-four hours at the most one can only benefit. For three days I drank only water — two glasses an hour, preferably
Fasting is a necessity for every fruit eater, not only as a starting point but to distilled, bore hole or spring water; but tap water if these were unobtainable. I
encourage and stimulate the purification process. carried on with my work as usual in spite of the fact that I felt ill and weak. My
The transitional diet always begins with a short fast of twenty-four hours. In faith in the good results this would hold for me was, however, strong enough
that way one says thus far and no further; now I am starting a new road. to encourage me to keep going. However, it is not advisable to fast for longer
During the twenty-four hours one refuses all food. After that it is not very periods without experience or more knowledge.
difficult to make a new start. I experienced unpleasant reactions during my first fast as my body was in a
I started with a three-day water fast. Afterwards I went on a diet of fruit state of neglect and my blood was badly polluted. I felt dizzy, became sick, felt
only, but each time a reaction occurred, whether it was nausea, a headache or weak and suffered from headaches. These things simply had to be endured,
a stomach ache, I again took refuge in fasting. Sometimes this lasted for as house-cleaning is not exactly a pleasant task and for me there was only
twenty-four hours and sometimes for longer periods, until the particular one aid, namely self-discipline. Today I can fast for long periods without
symptom had disappeared and my appetite had returned. experiencing any kind of discomfort as my blood is far purer now than it was in
Fasting is often accompanied by more drastic forms of expulsion than just those days!
perspiration, urine and the normal bowel movements; it is often accompanied On the evening before the fast I took a lukewarm bath, scrubbed my skin
by nausea, in which case I always drank two glasses of hot water to well until it glowed and took a light laxative to make sure the digestive canals
encourage the nausea. After getting rid of something the body rejects so vio- were open so that what was broken down by the fast could be discharged
lently, one feels much better. from the body. Then I drank two glasses of water, prayed for grace and help in
The same happens during a cold. There too I assumed that my body the undertaking, read a few inspiring thoughts and went to bed.
wanted to expel many harmful substances in the form of mucus and phlegm For the next three days I drank water, water and more water, until I felt as if
and always encouraged the cold by fasting. I never tried to suppress the it was coming out of my ears, but even this could not suppress the song in my
body's secretions by means of medicines. Over the years the colds which had heart! "At last I am on the road back to the food of Eden." And in my
at first been my loyal companions occurred less and less frequently, while the imagination I saw myself running and jumping, something which at that
symptoms no longer caused me such discomfort. Later on I only occasionally moment was possible in my imagination only, as I could hardly lift my heavy
caught a light cold, with no discomfort whatsoever, not even a blocked nose, a feet off the ground.
headache or runny eyes. For the past number of years I have been completely Like a blinkered horse I said no to everything, no to the eats in the staff
free of colds. room where a colleague was celebrating a birthday, no to breakfast, lunch and
The idea of fasting is always to rid one's body of harmful substances which supper, and to tea and drinks. "No thank you, I would prefer to take a walk."
have entered it through either one's food or the air. During the fruit diet, with While I fasted I started taking a look at my 10 per cent health. In the past I
the help of fasting, I never tried to suppress bodily secretions. When I had been obsessed with my 90 per cent illness. But I still had something to
perspired, I took a hot bath so that I could perspire even more. When I had a build on, even if it was rather little. I started doing breathing exercises, went to
skin rash, I simply washed my skin, but never applied ointment or anything bed earlier, thought positive thoughts, brushed my hair and rubbed my skin,
else; when I was nauseous I helped it along; and when I had a stomach and so the three days passed.
complaint, I let it go its own way. Be sure not to break the fast by storming to a refrigerator full of delicacies
I know that in the light of all established thinking I took a gamble, but I had or to the bread bin; just take one tasty, ripe fruit. You will then discover the
to take the plunge in order to succeed, and today I consider fasting one of taste of this new staple food, but first have a good look at it. smell it. sink into a
man's best friends. I never fasted for more than three days at a stretch, as I chair and eat it slowly. This is how fruit will become a bosom friend.
was already underweight; but I saw one case where a woman fasted for
twenty-eight days and was cured through fasting alone, even before she
 What does one do after the fast? This is more or less the procedure tried by me, my husband and anyone
In my opinion it is the right time to make the acquaintance of the new staple who came along and asked for advice. The results were good all round for
food before starting the transitional diet, which is a compromise between the those who kept to the programme and did not throw in the towel half way
old and new diets. Should you wish to start with the first phase, a fast of through fear of weight loss or any kind of reaction.
twenty-four hours is adequate. This is followed by a three-day diet of fruit only.
This procedure has been followed with success by many. And what happens after the three days or three weeks?
Beginners should take new diet changes slowly. Draw up a menu for
The first day yourself and decide what to eat and which foods are taboo and have to be
This day starts with one fresh fruit. No tea, coffee, milk or beverages in omitted. It is wise to keep strictly within the limits you set yourself. One tiny
between; only a glass of water with a dash of lemon juice in it. The other two exception soon leads to the next, and before you know it you are right back
meals consist exclusively of fresh, ripe fruit, just one kind per meal. Vary the where you were, back in the all-eating diet. Then all you can do is to start
fruit for each meal: for example, a pear for breakfast, half a musk melon for fasting again from the start.
lunch and a bunch of grapes in the evening. Eat the fruit slowly, and savour it. If I decide to give up smoking or alcohol, or cut out vinegar, peppers,
sweets or anything else, I delete those items from my shopping list, take them
The second and third days out of my cupboards and remove them from my house. Then they become a
Three meals of fresh fruit, two to three kinds of fruit per meal, with a glass thing of the past. If they have to be kept at home for others, I shut my eyes to
of fresh fruit juice between meals. After each meal one usually eats a heaped them. I do not buy a tub of ice cream and keep it in the fridge so that I have to
tablespoonful of nuts. see it each time I open the door, just to exercise my will power. But if it does
If you have already reached the second or third phase, you may try a three- happen to be there, I look the other way until I no longer notice it.
day fast, followed by a diet of fresh fruit for one week or three weeks It is fun simplifying a menu and deciding what will or will not be to your
respectively. The procedure too has been tried successfully. advantage. If there are things which you know are unwholesome, superfluous
or expensive, why keep on buying them? This is how the diet is planned, and
re-planned at the following phase. The necessary adjustments are made to
During the first week only one kind of fruit is eaten per meal or, for suit one's particular circumstances.
example, grapes all week long.
My husband fasted with me but developed diarrhoea and started
During the second week one can combine different kinds of fruit and eat feeling weak, so he became anxious and went back to his old diet. Did
nuts as well. Meals should be spaced at least five hours apart, with only a he do the right thing?
glass of water or a fruit drink between meals. Such questions can only be answered by scientists once the diet has been
tested on many human guinea-pigs.
In the third week the fruit is still mixed, for example half a pawpaw and a I personally had to rely on the hypothesis that a fast and the fruit diet had
naartjie and a banana for breakfast, or a bunch of grapes and a few peaches the power to purify my body and that excretions and secretions would then be
or pears, or two mangoes and plums. It makes no difference which fruits are the order of the day. I simply welcomed, encouraged and never tried to stop
combined or how many are eaten. For lunch one's meal consists of raw each form of elimination, whether it took place through the digestive canal, the
vegetables and fruit, such as combined with any fruit and with fresh green kidneys, the lungs, the skin or the mouth. As soon as my body had rid itself of
leaves such as lettuce leaves and, for example, parsley, celery, comfrey or what it had tried to expel, in whatever form, I started feeling better and more
other herbs. I even use young grape or apricot leaves, or any other green energetic.
leaves. (This is the fruit eater's medicine.) With my meal I enjoy eating a whole Fruitarians call these occurrences "reactions", and in my case the reactions
avocado pear and then some more fresh fruit, as much as I need to satisfy my at the beginning were rather drastic, but I am an inquisitive person and wanted
appetite. Pineapple is also delicious with salads. The third meal also consists to experience everything for myself and see the diet through to its full
of only fresh fruit, any kind in season. consequences.
I eat until my hunger is satisfied and add nuts to taste, about half a cup per I have often wondered where I would have been if I had lost faith, lost
day, or take them after or between meals with a glass of fruit juice. Fruit pulp courage or tried to counteract the reactions instead of letting them go their
also comes in handy. own way. I lost a great deal of mass, frequently had stomach complaints and
muscular cramps — and sometimes felt deathly weak — as well as stomach People and reactions differ. A young person with minor damage to his body
aches through flatulence and as a result of the sudden change of diet. This will soon see good results, whereas an elderly or very ill person with more
even occurred months later, but my hopes were not disappointed. Nature did damage to repair will have to wait longer for results and possibly experience
her work of reconstruction slowly and often painfully, but thoroughly. My job more drastic reactions than would a healthier person. A depressed, tense,
was to carry on eating fruit, as much as I could manage, and to do so with a emotional, unstable person will see poorer results than would a calm, sober,
positive attitude. balanced person. No two people are alike. In this game you are your only rival.
In the course of days, weeks, months and years the "reactions" became You test the diet and find out for yourself whether you are better off than you
less unpleasant and occurred less frequently. After each reaction I felt were. Therein lies the joy; not in whether you are better or worse off than your
healthier and happier. Each reaction was a rung on the ladder towards health. neighbour.
Today I still consider all secretions as a blessing in disguise and no catas-
trophe. As far as I am concerned, the body is simply getting rid of everything I would like to try the fruit diet, but not if I am going to lose mass or
that is detrimental, superfluous or useless, and not the necessary building feel weak as I have to work and do not want to become "painfully" thin.
materials or fuel. But whether others will experience the same as I did. is for Whoever wants to prescribe to nature is no candidate for this diet.
them to find out. The fruitarians of today are pioneers and guinea-pigs, and if When I started the diet, I was hopelessly underweight. If I had wanted to
one is not prepared to display the daring of a pioneer, it is better to remain prescribe to nature by taking refuge in "fattening foods" each time I lost weight,
with the old and well-trodden paths where there are remedies for all the effects instead of welcoming the loss, I would so have obstructed nature's good work
of bad life planning, ignorance and blindness. with my body that my bodily chemistry could never have been normalised. No,
I had to look on patiently while my mass dropped to a bare 31.3 kg before
I have often considered starting a fruit diet, but do not know where to Mother Nature had completed her purification programme and the new house
start and which fruits are important to the diet. could be built on sound foundations. This took months to achieve, and even if I
As soon as one starts eating fruit as a food and not merely as a delicacy, had pleaded, protested, kicked and shouted, nature would still have gone on
one has already made a start. All fruits have nutritional value; it does not at a snail's pace; bur fortunately for me I waited patiently, hope was not in
matter which kinds you eat, where and when, as long as they land in the vain.
stomach so that nature can start building "a new body" with this unique Once the task of reconstruction had been completed, not according to my
building material. dictates or time, but those of Mother Nature, the results were so good that I
It is, however, important for you to be certain that this is indeed what you have enjoyed excellent health for twenty years. I never get headaches and
wish to do, for as long as other avenues are attractive, it is better first to have never suffer from weakness or any of my old symptoms. A recent test recon-
a good look at them, for once you have started on this road there is no firmed that nature did a fine job.
question of turning back. And what did Mother Nature ask of me? Just patience. Mass loss and a
period of weakness (during which I kept on working) passed. For a few
I know that you are not a doctor, but I nevertheless wish to ask months I had to endure unpleasant reactions such as nausea, dizziness,
whether you think the diet would improve or aggravate low blood cramps, stomach aches, sinus pains, toothache and so on.
pressure? However, the less I obstructed her task by trying to resist such reactions,
I cannot venture a prediction here. I never think in terms of illness. To me the better and more favourable were the results.
there is only one illness — bad habits. It can do no harm to improve bad
eating habits and then see first hand what the effects are. The fruit diet has For a while I ate only pawpaw and salads and my migraines
benefited all who have tried it, provided that they did not become impatient disappeared completely. Will other fruits have the same effect?
and want to see results immediately. Every season has its own fruits, and experience has taught me that what
The guinea-pigs for the scientific tests all benefited wonderfully by the diet, the pawpaw achieves in August, the grape, apple or whatever can achieve in
so why not give it a try? Only experience can show whether something of this any other month. It is always best to eat each fruit when it is in season; this
kind will be beneficial or detrimental. Have your blood and general health ensures the best results.
tested before the diet and again after it; that is the only way of finding out.
Surmises, guesses and fears get you nowhere if you doubt the wisdom of your What goes into the making of a balanced fruit diet?
actions. Fruit is a complete diet. It is capable of holding its own, and it is not
necessary to make any calculations. When you are hungry you eat as much the voice enthusiastically.
fruit as you like, until you have had enough. Grass-eating animals do not make "Whom am I speaking to?" I asked, "and for how long have you been eating
calculations about their food and their condition depends solely on the fruit now?"
condition of the grass on which they feed. When the grass is plentiful and of a "Let me see..." Then a pause. "Can't you remember that I rang you some
good quality, their condition is excellent, but when food is scarce, dry or time ago to ask what I should do?" came the suddenly frustrated words. I
inferior, their condition deteriorates accordingly. The same applies to the scratched my head, for I get so many calls, and "some time ago" — when and
fruitarian. His job is to obtain enough good, wholesome fruit which is so tasty who had it been?
that no frills or fancies are necessary to supplement the diet. "Oh, what does it really matter?" she said. "Of course," I chuckled.
Unfortunately we in South Africa do not get the cream of our fresh products "But I don't eat just fruit all the time. Some days I feel like something else
as these are destined for the export market. This is a pity, but one can only too. May I eat more then?"
hope that we shall, for the sake of good health, get better fruit in future and a "Never mind, I also have such days and then offend a little. Although fruit
bigger variety. On an omnivorous man-made diet calculations would be neces- has by this time become my total normal menu, there are times and days
sary, but not when you feed like the birds. when I look for some other food — not as food, but just to satisfy a craving
which descends on me out of the blue, like the time I smelt my neighbour's
To what extent do the seasons affect the fruit diet? griddle-cakes. Do you still remember?"
The seasons provide the variety which every fruitarian seeks. Nothing is "What a relief," she said.
better than enjoying fruit in season. Once it is off the menu, it takes a while I replace the receiver and think: "Oh, how good it is to finally have company
before a particular fruit is available again and one is always pleased to and be part of a group"
welcome it back.
Besides the joy which the seasons bring, I also believe that each fruit The heavy smoker and gourmand
makes a unique contribution to health and happiness, and that fruits follow "May we come over and see you?" asked a totally strange male voice over
one another in an important and food of paradise to its place of the good the telephone. "We would like to come and chat about the fruit diet."
habits which have to be regained before that Utopia can be found. So one night they came: a father, mother and a little girl. Mr X spoke first: "I
Yes, to me and many others the diet is wroth the effort. If you start looking have often tried to get a grip on my smoking and eating habits; as you can
at it from another angle, it might also become worth the effort for you. Do not see, I am a heavy smoker and enjoy my food, but you know how it goes."
allow frustration to deprive you at this early stage of renewal of this unique I nodded, for don't we all know how it goes? Mrs X continued: "I don't
food or of the final victory over bad habits. smoke and when we go for a drive, the baby and I almost choke on the smoke
or are nearly blown out of the window. After a time I didn't look forward to our
There are so many questions about illnesses that I could write a book drives at all. They caused tension in our relationship."
on them alone, but I no longer think of diseases or complaints and how Mr X went on: "It also bothered me, but that is not all; my health suffered as
they should be treated. The fruitarian thinks of health, and is always a result." He explained with gestures: "Too much food, too much drink, too
surprised to see how problems disappear as he makes progress with his much smoke. It was then that I took the bull by the horns and decided to stop
change of diet. A telephone conversation: letting these habits ruin my marriage, my health and my happiness. I joined a
no-smoking club and you will recall that I rang you about the fruit diet. That
"Never again will I eat other food!" said a cheerful voice all the way from the was a week ago. And after fasting for two days I have been eating nothing but
Transvaal. I stood with the receiver in my hand and looked out over False Bay fruit this week," he said proudly with satisfaction in his voice and manner.
and the colourful sails of the yachts. "And?" I prompted him.
"Fruit is delicious." "I feel very well and relieved and my wife is joining me as she is so pleased
"That's music to my ears!" said I. about my decision. My daughter too. Fruit has come into our home so
"Why do you sound so surprised?" asked the stranger. suddenly, and we find it a great adventure. Well, we have just come along for
"I still hear so many complaints," I confessed. a little chat."
"All my complaints have simply disappeared, can it be true? My headaches That evening we chatted about everything but problems; we dreamt
are gone, my sinus troubles have cleared up, I no longer suffer from insomnia, dreams and saw visions.
and my unwanted bulges have also gone. I feel like a bright new penny," said "I am going to follow the diet forever. In any event, I'd like to try. Of course,
one doesn't always know what the future holds," he said. I did not want to problem. Why not try starting this time with a fast and a fruit diet for three
dampen his enthusiasm. There are a significant number of people who are days. The previous exercise will not be without value and then we can talk
indeed living on an absolute diet of fruit and nuts. They never fail to inspire again.
me. They succeeded in doing so, so why not the dynamic Mr X?
"To me the problem is as clear as daylight," said Mr X. "I must change my The director of companies
habits, or face the alternative. Surely you see what I mean. Why should I The doorbell rang and before me stood a middle-aged man. He was
torture myself by eradicating the old habits bit by bit. No, not me; however obviously well-to-do and at the gate I noticed an expensive motor-car. I could
painful it is, I would rather destroy them root and branch. I took the decision see from his appearance that he was a victim of prosperity.
and will see it through. If I should fail, well...I would have only myself to blame; "Pardon me," he said, "for arriving without an appointment, but I have a
but for me from now on it is going to be no smoking, no drinking and no other problem."
food than the very best." We sat down and chatted about a variety of topics before getting down to
I admired his wisdom, courage, purposefulness and faith, and I hope I the problem. "How is it possible for things like food and cigarettes to do this to
bump into Mr X again one day. me? I made a success of my job and my home life, and had a good standard
of living. Everything has been so easy, but..." and he paused.
"Not for me" He held his head in his hands for a long time. "It's a hellish thing," he said
There was a letter in front of me. I started reading. impatiently.
"I am 44 years old and read about the fruit diet. I decided to test it as I often "Would your fruit diet be able to help me?" he asked.
get headaches, have had two operations, am overweight and don't always feel "Why not? It has helped others."
too well. The diet is definitely doing me more harm than good." "Is fruit really such a wonderful food?"
For 44 years you were used to a diet consisting of all kinds of food. You "To me, yes. You can lose nothing by putting it to the test and then
mention that you have had numerous complaints and have had two reaching your own conclusions."
operations. Really, how can the poor fruit correct the complaints of the past 44 "What do you suggest?"
years in the matter of one small week? Surely this is asking too much. "A three-day fast and then three weeks on a diet of fresh fruit only."
If you could exercise a little patience, you might agree with the other letter I "And will that perform the miracle."
have here too. "Let's not hazard any guesses; try it and then come and see me again."
"It is exactly one year since I started living on fruit alone. Doctors are simply His problem again let me feel small and humble, for without grace and faith
amazed at my health as a result of these eating habits. My legs still ache a willpower alone is not strong enough to combat the drives of the "transient"
little, but not at all as much as they did a few months ago. I have completely body. Fortunately he was a believer.
forgotten about headaches and other ailments. From day to day things get My desk is full of letters, the telephone is always ringing, and the doorbell
better and I never intend going back to ordinary foods. I no longer find the regularly announces the arrival of people who are interested in this diet.
social aspect a problem; I simply go my own way," Mr T of the Transvaal. Questions are asked, open discussions are held, new answers arise and
friendships are formed — all around the fruit.
For some time now I have been trying to change my present eating A new eating habit is born. To me it is the food of Eden.
habits. I would like to eat fruit, but just when I get into my stride I start
getting cravings for my old foods. Once I have had a taste, it goes from
bad to worse and before long I am right back where I started. Can you
help?
This letter is just another form the many people who try hard and are
discouraged by circumstances.
You are very honest. Do not think you are a born loser; just remember that
happy is the man who knows the art of starting again after each defeat.
The fact that you have already come as far as having an ideal is already a
victory. The fact that you have already started making a real change in your
habits is another big victory, and I am certain you will also overcome this
 CHAPTER 4 Our daily menu for the past five years has been more or less as follows:
What others say about the diet
Morning: Glass of fruit juice consisting of carrot, orange and apple, or
carrot, apple and grapefruit, or orange and grapefruit. Carrot juice is filling and
Mrs Ada Wessels of Pretoria writes: I was privileged to be one of the cheap and one drinks it as soon as it is made.
guinea-pigs of Prof. B. Meyer of the University of Pretoria in his research
project on the fruit diet. Our team had to change overnight from a diet
according to which we could eat and drink anything to a diet of fruit and nuts Breakfast: Slices of pawpaw, pineapple rings, one avocado per person
exclusively. For interest's sake I will quote the diet as prescribed by Prof. and banana or grapes, or a pear, or guavas, depending on the season.
Meyer and his team of dieticians and published in the SA Medical Journal of
20 February 1971: Lunch: The same as for breakfast, but including a slice of wholewheat
bread with cheese, or plain, unbuttered toast.
Breakfast Calories
1 cup of fruit juice .......................................................... 100 Supper: Fruit juice; fish in any form — grilled, steamed or as fish cakes —
4 portions of fruit ........................................................... 300 pineapple, pawpaw, avocado and a bowl of fresh salad consisting of lettuce,
10:30 am tomato, green peppers and radishes, which I sprinkle with a handful of nuts
2 tablespoonfuls of nuts ................................................ 100 and sultanas and a pinch of onion or garlic salt and then bind with a salad
dressing or mayonnaise.
Lunch
1 cup of fruit juice .......................................................... 100 You will notice that my family is not inclined to serve a bowl of fruit salad,
6 portions of fruit ........................................................... 450 for we enjoy having our fruit attractively arranged in a serving bowler plate.
3.30 pm Three tastes which are particularly popular with us are pineapple, pawpaw and
1 cup of fruit juice .......................................................... 100 avocado. On our table you will always find a bowl of oranges, apples, grapes
2 tablespoonfuls of nuts ................................................ 100 (in season) and bananas. For the nibblers there is a glass bowl of raisins,
sultanas, currants and nuts.
A complete meal can be prepared in the evening within half an hour, with
Supper
no cooking involved, except of course for the fish dish. To this I might add the
7 portions of fruit ........................................................... 525
following advantages: no blown-up, stuffed feeling, flatulence, indigestion or
2 tablespoonfuls of nuts ................................................ 100
drowsiness and no heartburn after a meal.
9.00 pm
As a family we keep fairly strictly to this pattern, although I sometimes, by
3 portions of fruit ........................................................... 225
way of a change, or perhaps on Sundays, offend with a bit of meat or chicken
Total ............................................................................ 2 100
and a roast potato.
When I entertain formally, I do so in the ordinary, traditional way, but when
We had to keep to this diet for six months and were subjected weekly to the serving informal and buffet meals I regularly serve salads and fruit with the
necessary tests. When it had been scientifically proved that one could live on meat dish and no one notices the absence of rice, pumpkin, peas or beans.
fruit and nuts only and, as far as we were concerned, be better off, we as a On the contrary, the response is usually very favourable, for "who would ever
family decided to make more use of fruit. However, it had not been easy for us have thought that fresh fruit could blend so well with other dishes". Prof.
as guinea-pigs to make the change immediately and I could not expect my Meyer's research with a diet of this kind showed that no deficiencies arise in
family to do so. We therefore gradually replaced cooked dishes with fresh fruit one's boday. For that reason we take no vitamin pills, tonics, medicines to
and salads and, for example, substituted a glass of fruit juice for morning tea. ward off colds, brewer's yeast, wheat germ or anything similar.
We use only fresh fruit and do not make use of dried, sugared or canned I would now like to deal with the economic aspect of the fruit diet, since this
fruit. We do not drink canned or bottled fruit juices and do not add any sugar to is a question I often have to answer. As a Pretorian I naturally have no
our food. Here I have to mention that the acquisition of a juice extractor was knowledge of conditions or prices in other cities or towns, although I was
surely the best investment we made. shocked at the prices I had to pay for inferior fruit at a fruit stall in Cape Town.
 As far as I am concerned, Pretoris is the Mecca of fruit in the Republic. We or grapes and finding that half of them are overripe or rotten. One often finds
are fed with fruit from Natal, lovely pineapples from Swaziland, tropical and too that fruit which is not ripe when bought, does not ripen afterwards. As time
citrus fruit from the Lowveld, and a large variety from the Cape. So it is not goes on one gets to know one's producers, and there are some producers
difficult to obtain seven portions virtually all year through, as the seasons of whose products I will never again touch on account of their poor quality. Then
the various areas overlap. one also finds that when a certain fruit is scarce it is snapped up by a few
I go to the market one morning a week, and I buy fruit by the box, but I also greengrocers, who take the whole consignment, while the agents disregard
shop at the local greengrocer. Our average fruit account for a family of four the housewife who wishes to buy two or three boxes. What is more, I think that
adults varies from R15 tot R20 per week and our weekly purchases usually fruit is handled far too much. There should definitely be better control over
consist of: prices, quality, packaging and distribution, and let the producers who cheat
with poor products get their just deserts. Such beautiful fruit is exported. Is it
1 box of pineapples (18 R2.5 to R4.50 fairly large ones) per box not possible for us to share in the bounty of our own country?
2 to 3 boxes of pawpaws R1.00 to R1.60 (six per box) per box To those considering changing over to this eating pattern, I would like to
2 pockets of oranges R0.75 to R1.20 per pocket say just this: the vast major improvement in the family's health makes it worth
2 trays of avocados R1.20 to R2.00 the trouble over and over again. And gone are those hours at the stove, and
(18-24 per tray) per tray the greasy dishes and cutlery. However, make the change gradually to this
1 box of apples R1.50 to R6.50 per box healthy way of life and remember: it has been proved that half a pawpaw or
bananas R1.00 to R1.50 half an avocado has more nutritional value than a medium-sized pumpkin, a
lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. R1.00 to R1.50 cabbage or a cauliflower!
fish R3.00 to R3.75 In conclusion: the fruit diet is so easy that you will be surprised how quickly
your family adapts to it. You will be even more pleasantly surprised about the
benefits it holds.
As the seasons change, I supplement this with fruit such as guavas,
mangoes, grapes, grapefruit and naartjies. It sometimes happens that I have
to pay R3.50 for a box of pineapples and pay R5,50 a fortnight later for the Mrs D. writes:
same amount. I have also been able to find the loveliest apples for R2.50 per The first day of my new, healthy life began as follows. At seven in the
box. morning, a glass of water. While preparing my husband's breakfast, I felt so
If my expenses on fruit seem high, you should realise that we cut out all much like having a piece of bacon that I broke off a small tip and put it on my
breakfast cereals, from maize meal to the tastiest flakes. What is more, we tongue! This helped somewhat. For the rest of the day I was brave and full of
use no bacon, eggs, jam, marmalade or any other spreads. Furthermore, we enthusiasm and drank glass after glass of cold water and quite enjoyed it. Had
save a great deal on milk, butter, oils, tinned foods, sauces, meat, puddings, a slight headache and, believe me, towards evening I couldn't wait for bedtime
chutneys, spices and pickles. It sometimes surprises one how many to arrive so that I could rather go to sleep!
condiments one notices in the trolleys of housewives in supermarkets. I felt surprisingly well on the second day after the first glass of water! An
I want to state very clearly that we do not fanatically disapprove of other hour later I placed a lovely, polished apple on a plate, got into bed and
foods, but are merely very impressed with the benefits of our present eating munched it slowly and with relish while admiring the sea through my window.
pattern. I regularly serve my guests a bowl of fruit salad with a slice of toast for No apple ever tasted better! What is more, one's stomach feels so cool and
breakfast and invariably the response is "That was delicious!" satisfied — after all the years of overloading it with wrong combinations — and
The question of entertaining is, of course, a matter close to the heart of any so refreshingly clean. After a few exercises I took a cold shower and then felt
proud housewife. "How can I set a table and prepare a meal consisting of fruit as if I could move mountains.
only?" or "How dull and monotonous!" are typical utterances. Let me set you Third day: I was not weak or hungry at all — just full of energy and
right at once — I do not think you can set a table more attractively as regards enthusiasm. I chose an apple and a banana for breakfast and once again ate
colour, flavour and texture than with a fine assortment of fruit! It might be a my food slowly, chewed it well and thoroughly enjoyed it. At ten o'clock I found
good idea to test the skill of housewives by means of a competition. a cup of rooibos tea (without sugar) with lemon juice less enjoyable. Then I
I would also like to raise the question of marketing. Fruit is not cheap, and greeted lunch enthusiastically — yes, the hours had indeed been counted. At
one likes to obtain value for money. I do not mind paying more for fruit of a 12 am I could become quite lyrical about a bowl of salad with avocado pear,
better quality, but there is nothing quite as upsetting as opening a tray of pears not to mention the lovely raisins, dates and nuts!
 I even dreaded finishing the food, for believe me it was a meal fit for a king.
Absolutely delicious! For supper: pineapple and two sweet oranges.
The fourth day was a repetition of the previous one.
Now I must say, the first day was the most difficult; but if one perseveres,
one is soon over the worst.

Mrs C. writes:
"On 5 September I said: Thus far and no further; now I am also going to
become a fruit eater. I have found it easy going so far. It is only when I move
into social activities that I offend. I did not even tell my family what I was doing;
they caught on, but said nothing. At this stage I have a tremendous desire for
nuts. Apart from that I feel very fit on my diet of fruit and salads. I already feel
much better, and have more energy, am easier to get on with, more relaxed
and more enthusiastic about life.
"For years I wanted to become a vegetarian, but I just could not bid farewell
to meat. But fruit has brought me the necessary compensation."
Mrs L.R. writes:
"Since I started the fruit diet, my health has shown a wonderful
improvement. Without any aid my heart-spasms disappeared, and even if I
have only one kidney, it is in top form. My resistance to infection and disease
has improved greatly. Now I too can say: Thank the Lord, it's good to be alive.
"I mostly eat fruit, salads and raw vegetables, as well as nuts and plenty of
fruit juice."

Mrs J. writes:
"I immediately saw the fruit diet as the answer to all my problems, and
decided to start it. I must confess that I did not have the willpower to make the
change overnight and decided that it would have to be done gradually.
"At present fruit constitutes about 75-80 per cent of my diet. For two meals
a day I eat only fruit and to the third I try to add as much fruit as possible and
as little other food as possible. It is here that I require most of my will power,
as this is the main meal with the family.
"Although at this stage I am still very far from my goal, I believe that I will
reach it by disciplining myself and slowly but surely moving towards it — with
help from above. What means most to me is that I gained perspective and
now know which way I am going.
"I wonder whether you would believe me if I told you that at this early stage
I am already experiencing positive results. For three weeks now I have been
eating as much fruit and nuts as possible, and I have more strength and
energy than I have had in years. Is this possible?
"I was so poorly and so full of despair, not to speak of my impatience at
home. Now even these things have improved. I don't expect anyone to believe
all this, but deep within me I am jubilant."
 CHAPTER 5 digestive tracts a hydrochloric acid so concentrated, about 1100% more so
than ours, that it would digest our hands quickly if swallowed whole.
Research yields bombshell of a surprise. Paradise diet Our stomach acids are so weak, we digest meat poorly even if we chew it
uncovered by scientist thoroughly. Even then, we cannot handle uric acid except at great expense to
our vitality and well- being. Cholesterol plays havoc with our circulatory
The Prestigious New York Times newspaper, in its May 15, 1979 issue, system. So don't think we're natural meat eaters. We're suffering very dearly
surprised your editor more by printing an article than the surprise they express for our dietary indiscretions - America has more sick people than any country
by the findings revealed. in the world.
The gist of this article concerns research done by an anthropologist Dr. Can you imagine the dismay with which our meat and dairy industry, not to
Alan Walker of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. mention our extensive junk food industry, will view such damaging
Dr. Walker has come to the startling conclusion that early humans were propaganda? Can you not see how many advertisers will have second
fruit eaters - not just fruit eaters, but exclusively and only fruit eaters - eaters of thoughts about placing advertising in the New York Times?
nothing but fruit. This comes as quite a bombshell from a noted publication Well, it doesn't quite work like that. The junk food advertising in the New
that has a vested interest in a heavy meat-eating society. York Times amounts to about nil. It is a newspaper that "prints all the news
By careful examination of fossil teeth and fossilized remains of humans that's fit to print." It serves a cultured, aware audience.
with the aid of electron microscopes and other sophisticated tools, Dr. Walker But one of the surprising things that came out of this article is its attribution
and other researchers are absolutely certain that our ancestors, up to a point of the harmfulness of our shift from our natural diet of fruits to other items of
in relatively recent history, were fruitarians. food that range from eggs and insects to milk and meats, that range from roots
Hygienists are not necessarily fruitarians, but all will tell you that humans to cereals.
are, by physiology and structure, frugivores. A cursory study of biology will I have checked with many Life Scientists/Natural Hygienists in other areas
reveal this, even if written by meat-eating professors, which most of our of the country. Not one has seen nary a mention of these universally
biologists are. significant findings. I've examined our local papers. You'd never know about it.
After all, our local papers serve the industries that a general knowledge and
observance of these findings would destroy outright
Humans Remain Frugivores Despite Omnivorous Eating Most Hygienists/Life Scientists do not make sweet fruits their primary item
The scope of the article is rather far flung. They trace humans through of diet Few do, though some do. Your editor's diet has been over 95%
history as expanding to herbiage and nuts and, finally, to meat as a full- fruitarian. Tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, avocados, and other such
fledged omnivore. items are fruits.
But the essence of the article is that though we undertook omnivorous Actually, we all naturally have a "sweet tooth" and that is attributable to our
eating practices, our structure and physiology have not changed - we remain natural love affair with sweet fruits. A baby will eat sweet fruits and their juices
biologically a species of fruit eaters. with relish from day one of its existence, even though it should be fed only its
Our dietetic character is established by our disposition toward fruits. Our mother's milk.
natural diet has great eye and taste appeal. It passes from the stomach in When I was a youngster, I was accused of wanting to eat only desserts and
digestible from in from 10 minutes to 30 minutes after ingestion. leaving the "good, substantial" food to waste. Now I'm intrigued by all-dessert
Contrast this with concentrated fat and protein foods which take three to meals! In fact, I eat so many of them now I sometimes go days with nothing
five hours to pass out of the stomach. else. Now that the melon season is upon us, plus all the other goodies, I'm
We do not have the four stomachs that herbivores usually have. This rules afraid my "vegetable" salads and non-sweet fruits are going to take a back
out most herbiage. seat. In the just terminating mulberry season, your editor ate only mulberries
We have only one starch-splitting enzyme versus a multitude of them in for two or three days running on several occasions.
omnivores and starch-eating animals. Our ptyalin is very limited. This rules us The salutary truths contained in these findings will be hedged by most who
out as starchy foods which includes grains or cereals. We are not learn of it. It will be said that fruits do not supply us with sufficient proteins or
graminivores. nutrients or no longer do. Much will be said, but widespread opinion does not
Neither are we carnivores. It is repugnant to our nature to kill and eat an negate the truth one whit. Even many Hygienists/Life Scientists will pooh-pooh
animal while it is yet warm and bloody, to eat its brains, heart, offal and blood an all-fruit diet despite all the evidence that affirms fruit as our only natural
as true carnivores do. True carnivores do not chew meat - they have in their food.
 If you don't go along with an all-fruit diet, then why not add some greens,
nuts and seeds? But you should make your diet of mostly fruit. You'll attain to
a high state of health, mental well-being, and functional vigor as a fruitarian. If
you eat a salad every second and third day with a protein food, such as nuts
or seeds, you'll be assured of more than adequate nutriment.
 CHAPTER 6 Fruits are Protein Poor
The charge is made that fruits are protein poor. It is true that if you compare
Is an all-fruit diet unhealthy? a banana in the dry state with its 5% protein content to a soybean in the dry
state with a 35% protein content, the banana is, indeed, protein poor. But the
Some charges made against fruits and fruit-eaters protein content of any food has relevance only to our need of it as an item of
diet. So we must understand our need for protein relative to our diet.
Most Natural Hygienists/Life Scientists may be called timid fruitarian If you try to eat the protein of soy beans raw, you can't manage it. If you cook
idealists. They are all too willing to admit, even proclaim, that we are naturally it you destroy (deaminate) the protein and it becomes putrefactive soil for
frugivores and that our ancestors lived either on nearly all or completely bacteria which beget a whole train of poisons. (These poisons are known as
fruitarian diets. "A fruit meal is the ideal," they espouse. Yet most of these indole, skatole, mercaptans, cadaverine, putrescine, nervine, ammonia,
same people are unwilling to try subsisting on fruits! methane gas, hydrogen sulfide, muscarine, and yet others). If these poisons
Some Hygienists think we must supplement the fruit diet with cheese; are absorbed from the ileum and cecum, and many are, they give rise to the
others think we must have some vegetables. Still others think fruits are great intoxication that causes ailments, sicknesses, or diseases.
but should be supplemented by steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, Of course we don't get proteins from fruits as proteins. When ripe, fruits are
steamed or baked roots, and so on. Others think fruits should be in a pre-digested state. The carbohydrates are delivered to the consumer as
complemented with nuts (which are also fruits botanically but not in reality as fructose and glucose. The protein complement is yielded as ready-to- absorb
fruits consist solely of foods that ripen which were created specifically as food amino acids. And fruits deliver fats as simple fatty acids - monoglycerides and
to attract consumption by a biological symbiont). glycerol.
The "consensus" diet that Hygienists advocate consists of fruits, As to the charge that fruits have no protein or inadequate protein, we need
vegetables, nuts and seeds. Nevertheless, many Hygienists eat seeds, nuts, point only to the fallacy devised by the meat trust to ensnare their unwitting
sprouts, green leaves, stalks, stems, tubers and grains almost to the exclusion servants called nutritionists and, of course, the population at large. But this
of fruits! These peoples' fruit intake largely consists of avocados, tomatoes, propaganda is negated as follows.
peppers, cucumbers and squash. A growing human baby gets a mono diet of its mother's milk for many
When asked why they do not eat more fruit despite giving lip service to fruit months, even a year, before it touches any other food. Mother's milk for her
as the ideal, most Hygienists will tell you that although fruit may be alright for rapidly developing infant contains all its nutrient needs. But, alas, her milk
short periods of time as a "cleansing" or "elimination" diet, it is not to be taken contains only 1.1% protein!
except as a luxury. These are the charges made against fruits: Surely no one can argue that a grownup can require more protein than a
growing child relative to its weight or as a percentage of its diet. If anything,
the grownup who has attained full development requires less protein than a
a. Fruits are protein poor. nursing tot. A grown person might get adequate protein on as little as half a
b. Fruits have too many free acids, percent of his or her dietary protein content.
c. Those who subsist on fruits become neurotics. The RDA for protein is said to be 56 grams daily for an average man of 150
d. Fruits are too poor in iron, and anemia results if only fruits are eaten. pounds. This figure is well over twice that established by tests by Dr.
e. Those who eat only fruits will suffer nutritional imbalances and Chittenden of Yale, Dr. Mark Hegsted of Harvard, or Dr. Hinhede in Denmark
deficiencies. and many others. Further, there are groups of physically robust people in the
33 Caribbean who thrive on an average intake of about 15 grams of protein daily.
f. Fruit eaters cannot maintain weight and are too thin. (They eat cassava or manioc). Keeping in mind that the body obtains over
g. Fruit eaters become over-alkaline and often suffer alkalosis. 90% of its protein needs by recycling its proteinaceous wastes, it becomes
h. Fruits are deficient in calcium as well as protein and result in stunted somewhat evident that protein needs in humans have been overblown. The
growth in youngsters. meat, dairy, poultry and fish industries have made their mark, even on those
i. Fruits, especially dried fruits, have too much sugar. Taken together, these who reject animal products as food.
statements sound like quite an indictment. Can we continue to say that fruits are protein poor? In view that if protein in
fruits constitute one percent of our diet our protein needs are amply met, then
fruits are protein adequate. When we've eaten some 2,250 calories worth of
almost any fruit except apples, we've also ingested some 25 to 40 grams of
protein. Inasmuch as most fruits do contain all the essential amino acids, I physical disturbances. Hence the charge that fruits cause neurotics is a
would adjudge that fruits meet human needs for protein amply. baseless charge which has never been substantiated in a single case. No
History bears out beyond refutation that humans have been fruit eaters studies or control group studies have ever been made. Fruits are the one
during their entire sojourn on earth, excepting a period beginning during the category of foods that have absolutely no toxic components. Isn't it odd that
ice ages. Even then, a preponderance of our ancestors still ate fruits. Most those who peddle and advocate fare with high toxicity make the charge
migrated south to warmer climates and continued to eat fruits. Grain eating is against the only food that isn't toxic?
not more than 10,000years old. Meat eating, though much older than that, was There are fruit-eating societies of humans in this world and descriptions of
mostly confined to northerly peoples. them bespeak the most peaceable, congenial and harmonious dispositions of
Almost all mythology is built around trees and climatic factors that affected any peoples on earth.
trees. Only relatively recent mythologies connect humans to grain culture and
animal husbandry. Fruits Are Too Poor in Iron and Cause Anemia
The charge that fruits are too poor in iron and cause anemia is likewise
Fruits Have Too Many Free Acids without foundation. The body recycles about 95% of its iron supply and needs
The charge that fruits have too many free acids is false and rather very little from the outside. It is said that our RDA of iron is some 10 milligrams
pointless. Humans are primarily sweetfruit eaters. Fruits have no free acids. daily for men and 15 milligrams for women. This, like other RDAs, is some two
All are organic. Vinegar, cheese and fermented milks are substances with free to three times higher than established need. Nevertheless, oranges sufficient
acids, namely acetic and lactic acids. Grapefruits, plums, sour cherries, sour to meet our caloric needs supply about twenty milligrams of iron daily. In fact,
grapes, lemons, limes and other such acidic fare do not have "free" acids. if you compared all the fruits and their iron content, you'd find every one
The human body metabolizes most acids in fruits very well. Benzoic acid, meeting the RDA for iron with surfeits when eaten in sufficient amount to meet
tannic acid, oxalic acid and prussic acid, none of which are free acids and all caloric needs. A food that might be said to be deficient in iron by these RDAs
of which are rare in fruits, are among those acids that give humans metabolic is, of all things, a mother's milk.
problems. Humans handle citric, tartaric and malic acids very well. These are Fruits are charged as being vitamin B-12 poor. The same can be said of all
the primary fruit acids. Perhaps the occasions when fruit acids give problems foods, even the foods that animals eat. Only meats, fermented and putrefied
occur when acid fruits such as lemons, strawberries, pineapples or grapefruit foods such as cheese, and certain kinds of algae have what is termed
are eaten along with sweet fruits such as bananas, dates, figs, raisins, sufficient vitamin B-12.
persimmons or non-fruit fare. But if animal fare such as grasses, leaves, grains, herbs and fruits do not
furnish animals with vitamin B-12, how do their organs come to be so rich in
Those Who Subsist on Fruits Become Neurotics it? How come the organs of fruit-eating primates are rich in it? How is it that
The third charge that those who subsist on fruits become neurotics is fruitarian societies are not anemic from lack of vitamin B-12?
ridiculous. As a 20-year fruitarian I am proof against the charge! If fruit is, as The truth is that humans, like all other animals, obtain ample supplies of
we contend, a perfectly wholesome food furnishing all the needs of human life, vitamin B-12 from bacterial production in their intestines. Even garlic eaters
then it will occasion nothing but great health. usually do not destroy enough of their symbiotic bacterial flora to deny
While we are the first to affirm that nervous malfunctions and neurosis have themselves of an adequate supply of vitamin B-12. If you number the anemics,
physiological bases, we also point out that these problems stem from toxicosis you'll find most are meat eaters! Further, almost all have lost ability to secrete
in almost every such case. They often, but not always, precede the neurosis of intrinsic factor, the transport medium for Vitamin B-12.
which the world is so full. Most neuroses are complicated by anxieties, So I adjudge the charge that fruit eaters are anemic to be without any
stresses, insecurities, worries and other emotional disruptions begotten by an substantive evidence whatsoever.
inhumane social system.
We have encountered millions of neurotics, and I daresay few or none were Those Who Eat Only Fruits Suffer Nutritional Imbalances and Deficiencies
fruit eaters. Unfortunately, our psychologists do not recognize the physical The charge that fruit eaters will suffer nutritional imbalances and
bases of neuroses and give credence almost completely to emotional, social, deficiencies likewise finds no basis; in fact, fruits eaten judiciously, according
economic and mental factors. to their season, furnish us with every nutrient factor, known and unknown, in
Physical derangements often also result in mental derangements. A toxic plenteousness. Those ancient Greeks whom we admire so much for their
body adversely affects its mind also. Purified bodies suffer neither mental nor statuesque bodies, were fruit eaters. Most ate heavily of apples, dates,
oranges, olives, figs and grapes. The Greek and Roman gods are ascriptions mg., watermelon 640 mg. and so on down the line. Obviously, fruits supply us
born of reverence for fruit trees and food-bearing plants. amply with our calcium needs. And the saying that fruit eaters suffer stunted
growth does not withstand serious inquiry. As previously noted, statuesque
Fruit Eaters Cannot Maintain Weight and Are Too Thin Greeks were fruit eaters.
The charge that fruit eaters are too thin is not borne out by even the While it is true that fruit eaters are smaller than their meat-eating, milk-
simplest investigation. Personally, I've gone down into the 120-pound range drinking, poison-ingesting counterparts, we must recognize the disease called
and came back to the 150- pound range with excellent muscular development giantism. Our average height today is nearly a foot higher than it was in such
on a diet almost entirely of fruits. My wife has to watch her intake of heavy ancestors as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, etc.
calorie fruit foods, especially nuts, lest she become too heavy. Even seven footers, rather common today, only very rarely existed a mere 50
As before pointed out, the Greeks thrived on fruitarian diets. Pythagoras, years ago.
one of the giants of Grecian literature, philosophy and mathematics, was a
fruitarian and had a whole school of followers who, likewise, were fruitarians. Fruits, Especially Dried Fruits, Have Too Much Sugar
Actually, the teachings of Pythagoras very much parallel the teachings of The charge that fruits give us too much sugar is made by those who have
Gautama Buddha, whose teachings Pythagoras was conversant with. Buddha not weighed or cogitated upon the considerations.
was, in essence, a tree worshipper as were fruitarian societies. Bacchus is First, about 90% of our nutrient requirements are for monosaccharides or
portrayed as heavily overweight, and this is attributed to fig gluttony. simple sugars for energy. Until you've met this need, it is ridiculous to cry "too
much sugar."
Fruit Eaters Become Over-Alkaline and Suffer Alkalosis Sugar in fruits comes to us pre-digested, hence it can't be beyond our
The charge that fruit eaters are over-alkaline and often suffer alkalosis is, digestive capacity no matter how much you eat!
likewise, baseless. We humans can harmlessly excrete excess alkaline If we eat "too much sugar," that is, caloric values exceeding our needs,
substances, but if we get excess acid-forming substances as from meats, then obviously we've overeaten. In the case, of sugars either the surplus is
animal products, cereal foods, etc., we really have problems. The body must stored as fats or harmlessly excreted.
rob its bones, teeth and other alkaline structures for the alkalis, mostly Let's look at starches, often called complex carbohydrates. These must be
calcium, necessary to neutralize the acids generated from acid-forming foods. heated to be broken down from long chain polysaccharides or starch. Heating
The maker of this "alkalosis" charge simply ignored physiology. Everyone is dextrinizes starches. However, because there are no immediate sugars to
fruitarian by nature and for them to make such charges against fruit is playing absorb for appestat control, overeating of dextrinized starches is endemic.
into the hands of their commercial exploiters. Talk about intellectual integrity! And many athletes intentionally eat heavily of starchy foods (dextrinized by
heat) as in "carbohydrate loading."
All these dextrinized starches are converted to glucose. So we're right back
Fruits Are Deficient in Calcium as Well as Protein and Results in Stunted Growth in to where we started. We're getting excess sugar if we eat beyond need. Only
Youngsters in the case of heated carbohydrates, our fungal and bacterial flora can readily
Fruits are said to be deficient in calcium. To investigate this, I made charts ferment it, thus intoxicating us. Uncooked sugars are not fermentable until
of a number of fruits and their composition. Our fuel needs can be met amply they have been oxidized. The body has ample opportunity to absorb them long
by fruits. Calcium and a plethora of other nutrients are components of every before oxidation will have occurred in normal digestion.
gram of fruit food. When we have eaten sufficient fruit to supply our caloric Thus, upon inquiry, the charge of "excessive sugar" vanishes.
needs, say about 2,250 calories, how much of our RDA for calcium have we
met? The RDA is set at 800 milligrams per day for a 150-pound man. This, like
other RDAs, is some three to four times too high. Nevertheless, let's look at Build Your Confidence in the Fruitarian Dietary
some fruit foods and their calcium content when 2,250 calories worth have Fruit eaters are not usually fat, brawny hulks as are grain, milk and meat
been consumed. eaters. The question arises: Are these common conditions amongst our
Oranges, a widely consumed fruit, has about 2,050 milligrams of calcium, populace a criterion of health or pathology?
2-1/2 times the RDA. Apples have 315 mg. Apricots have 782 mg. Murray Rose, an Australian who set swimming record after swimming
Cantaloupes have 1.078mg. Figs have 1,130 mg. Bananas have 224 mg., and record, was primarily a fruit eater, though he partook of some seaweeds and
banana-eating societies have excellent bone formation by all standards. vegetable fare.
Grapes have 440 mg., dates have 530 mg., mangos 370 mg., pineapples 785 Now if we fruitarians were to start making charges against those who want
to eat "exciting" foods such as cooked dishes often laden with condiments,
vegetables, cereals and even dairy products such as yogurts and cheeses, the
charges could be well substantiated from research literature.
Wrong foods create toxemia or toxicosis. The illnesses that beset almost all
Americans amply attest to this fact. Even those who pride themselves on a
vegetarian diet or a healthful diet or even a hygienic diet often find themselves
suffering toxic conditions.
Toxicosis arises out of practices that cause toxins to be ingested,
generated and/or retained. Fruit eating is universally said to be a cleansing or
eliminating diet and is recognized for its non-toxic nature.
Thus, you can eat fruits in complete confidence that your nutrient needs are
being adequately met!
 CHAPTER 7 8. Must supply mineral salts amply.
9. Must supply our needs for essential fatty acids.
Requirements that our natural foods must meet 10. Must supply our needs for caloric values.
11. Must be water-sufficient and meet our needs for water under most
Every species has its biological adaptations. This applies to all areas of conditions.
every creature's life, including its diet. Each species has its peculiar 12. Must be alkaline in metabolic reaction, as a general rule.
development that disposes it to a particular lifestyle and dietary. Humans are
no exceptions. Let us elaborate on these 12 qualities in a food and observe how traditional
Other articles herein show that humans have been and remain foods fail to meet these requirements.
constitutionally frugivores - humans are adapted only to a diet of fruits. This
means we should eat no meat or animal products, as we are not carnivores or Our Natural Foods Must Be Nontoxic
omnivores; no cereals or grain products, as we're not graminivores; nor Obviously, we eat for nourishment. Poisons are not the elements of health.
anything else that is not consonant with the human frugivorous constitution. Thus, we must reject foods that have injurious substances. Prunes, for
Foods that ideally meet human needs have a certain readily ascertainable instance, have benzoic acid, a non-metabolizable acid for which we have no
character. Careful consideration of human nutritive requirements as found in enzymes to digest. As a result, the body rushes prunes to the colon along with
foods can result in the establishment of qualities that foods must possess to other undigested food. Hence their reputation as laxatives was created.
be our ideal or natural foods. This non-toxicity requirement rules out eating fruits in any condition other
For example, human physiological requirements from foods can be fairly than ripened, with some exceptions: cucumbers, peppers, etc. This rules out
accurately stated as follows: the whole field of condiments and herbs. All have toxic components. For
instance, aloe and comfrey have aloin. Pyrrolizidinek, a hepatic poison, is also
1. About 90% of our solid intake should be fuel for energy; in comfrey. Onions and garlic have highly toxic non-metabolizable mustard oil
2. About 5% of our solid intake should be for meeting our amino acid which contains deadly isothiocyanate. Additionally, they contain the toxin
(protein) needs; allicin (isothiocyanate). Meats have non-metabolizable uric acid. Carnivores
3. About 2% of our solids intake should be of mineral matter to meet our and omnivores secrete the enzyme uricase that breaks down uric acid.
need for minerals; and Humans do not. In humans this poison causes osteoporosis, dental cavities
4. About 3% of our intake of solids is to meet our needs for essential fatty (which are osteoporosis of the teeth) and is a prime cause of arthritic and
acids, vitamins, auxones and other food factors, known and unknown. rheumatic complaints. Cereal products contain phytic acid and wheat has
Inasmuch as water and innocuous fiber are neutral factors, they receive no gluten, components that we cannot digest. Milk products have lactose and
consideration other than to note that we naturally require sufficient water in our casein which we cannot break down because, after about age three, we cease
foods to meet our needs. Therefore, we are talking about our nutrient to secrete lactase and rennin, the enzymes that break them down. Hence,
requirements relative to the dry weight of foods or foods without water content. these milk components cause problems. That's a moot point anyway as milk
While our diet should consist nearly all of foods with water content as heated for 30 minutes at 160 degrees F. is no longer a food anyway. It has
bestowed by nature, for the purposes of this discussion this is not considered. been rendered very toxic in end products. It's no wonder that milk is
There are twelve primary considerations that a natural human food must considered a number one cause of allergy. The body properly objects to
meet. Our natural foods: substances that are toxic.
Condiments are indigestible and interfere with digestion. Alcohol, vinegar,
1. Must be nontoxic. We should not poison ourselves. salt, black, red and white pepper, MSG, basil, oregano, and a long list of other
2. Must have aesthetic or sensory appeal. It should be beautiful to the eye, seasonings have irritating and toxic elements (excitants). They are often
tantalize the sense of smell, and be a gustatory delight! absorbed by the body without digestion and wreak havoc within the vital
3. Must be relished in its natural raw state as taken from nature. domain.
4. Must be digested easily. Foods that have been cooked have been rendered toxic. This is easily
5. Must be digested efficiently. demonstrated, for leukocytosis results after a meal containing cooked foods.
6. Must have amino acid adequacy. Cooked foods have had their organic elements, especially minerals, rendered
7. Must have vitamin adequacy. inorganic, thus toxic. For example, we need iodine, iron, arsenic, selenium,
copper, phosphorus and many other minerals for nutritive purposes. In their Why should this be so?
organic state as in uncooked foods we can use them. But when cooking has Foods of our natural adaptation are readily absorbed and assimilated. We
reduced them to ash or an inorganic state, they're just as poisonous as if can absorb only monosaccharides such as fructose and glucose, amino acids
taken from sea-water, soil, or rock. and lipids. Other food elements are absorbed as a part of these three basics.
Luscious ripe fruits have no toxic factors whatsoever. When we eat them, In the case of watermelon, no digestion is necessary. It is already in the form
we experience only harmony and peace in the digestive tract and feel great! of the monosaccharides fructose and glucose that are easily absorbed and
used. Meat is in the form of fats and complex proteins. Both fats and proteins
Our Natural Foods Have Aesthetic or Sensory Appeal take from four to six hours to break down into lipids and amino acids. This
If you were in a state of nature without the aid of fire, cook-stove, mixers, process occurs very quickly in the digestive tract of a carnivore that secretes
blenders and other agencies that alter foods, what would appeal to you as copious amounts of hydrochloric acids, lipidase, pepsin, etc.
food you'd eat? Let us say you had before you chickens and cattle, rice and Thus you can see that fruits, which contain mostly monosaccharides in the
wheat grains, some potatoes and cabbages plus some fruits such as red form of glucose and fructose, are the foods that we handle most quickly and
delicious apples, ripened yellow bananas, a plethora of red, yellow, black and easily.
purple grapes ripe from vine, melons of all kinds and oranges. Should you eat a starch food, the body must laboriously convert it to
Would you grab a chicken with your bare hands, crush it and start eating it, glucose before the body can absorb it. This process also takes quite some
flesh, skin, blood, bones, offal and all, as carnivores do? Could you do that? time. The conversion of starch to glucose is a very complicated digestive task
Would you suckle the cow? for which humans are poorly equipped. We have only one starch- splitting
Would you start chewing on the hard grains of wheat or rice? enzyme, ptyalin (salivary amylase and/or pancreatic amylase) whereas true
Would you relish the potatoes raw in their starchy condition? starch eaters have several starch- splitting enzymes.
Would you eat the cabbage and meet your needs on it. Do you think you'd
get any calories out of its fibrous leaves? Our Natural Foods are Most Efficiently Digested and Utilized
Or would you find the fruits delightful to the eye and smell? Would your Ease of digestion necessarily implies efficiency of digestion. However,
olfactory senses delight in the smell of ripe bananas or in the smell of blood there is another aspect of efficiency. Food contains a certain energy potential.
and offal? Would your senses guide you to a redolent melon or draw you to To derive this energy, the body must expend energy to obtain it. The ratio of
the cow and her smell of dung? the energy obtained from a food relative to the energy expended in its
Those foods to which we are biologically adapted have great eye appeal, metabolization determines the ratio of digestive efficiency.
being beautiful to behold. Likewise, they tantalize the sense of smell in their For instance, we expend a mere 30 calories of energy in the process of
natural state. That which appeals to you as food by appearance, taste and appropriation, chewing, absorbing, transporting and assimilating 400 calories
smell, as nature delivers it up to you, is your natural food. of watermelon. On the other hand, we must expend about 280 calories in the
digestion of meat to obtain 400 calories of fat. The efficiency with which we
Our Natural Foods Must be Gustatory Delights handle foods with monosaccharides versus the inefficiency with which we
Foods of our biological/physiological adaptation are keenly relished in their handle protein foods indicates most emphatically the types of food to which we
natural state. In nature, we were without containers, tools, fire and appliances. are naturally adapted. In these examples, we may say the watermelon is
We were fruit gatherers and consumers exclusively. There is nothing in nature 92.5% efficient and meat is handled with an efficiency of about 30%.
that can be appreciated in its uncooked ripe state in the way that fruits can be In processing food for use, we expend two kinds of energy: Nerve energy
relished. and metabolic energy (which is further divisible into chemical and mechanical
energies). In processing foods to which we are biologically adapted, as in
watermelon, very little nerve energy is expended. When the body is given
Our Natural Food Must be Easy of Digestion digestive tasks as difficult as meat, tremendous amounts of nerve energy are
Perhaps no other food in nature digests so easily and quickly as a used. In fact, so much nerve energy is involved in handling meat and its toxic
watermelon. If you eat a large amount of succulent watermelon, you'll be load that the body is distressed. This is observable in the stimulated feelings
making your first trip to the commode within 30 to 40 minutes, an indication of experienced after meat eating that are similar to caffeine ingestion. Later a
the rapidity with which your digestive system handled it. depression, letdown or "hangover" may ensue. More sleep is required to help
On the other hand, if you eat a piece of flesh, it may be in the stomach for recoup the extra nerve energy expended in handling the meat and its toxic
four to five hours! By that time, it may be putrefying as much as it is digesting.
components. of context with their food. Synthetic vitamins are totally unusable and, in fact,
If we were to depend on meat for energy, we would not only have to eat give drug effects.
correspondingly greater amounts, but the body would suffer because of its
frenzied activities in dealing with proteins and its decomposition by-products, Our Natural Foods Must Supply Our Needs for Organic Minerals
uric acid and other toxic substances. Further, not being equipped to handle Our only true source of minerals is from the food we eat. All other minerals
meat, we'd experience acid indigestion due to the acid reaction of meat in taken into the body, whether from supplements (which are inorganic), from
metabolism. This reaction further distresses the body and causes it to draw water, from sea-water (which is so toxic with minerals sailors prefer death by
upon its alkaline reserves. If the reserves are nonexistent, as they usually are thirst than from sea-water poisoning) and from cooked foods (cooking bursts
in meat-eating humans, the bones and teeth are robbed for base minerals in cells and destroys the organic context of minerals: inorganic minerals are
order to neutralize uric acid and the acid end-products. responsible for most of the leukocytosis that occurs after eating cooked
foods), are unusable and pathogenic.
Our Natural Foods Must Supply Our Protein Requirements Fruits contain ample mineral salts. The RDAs for minerals are several
What? You mean watermelons are adequate in protein? Yes, more than times our actual needs. Even so, all the RDAs added together do not amount
adequate! Almost every fruit you can name has more amino acids (protein) to eight grams daily. A day's supply of watermelon contains some 24 grams of
than we actually need. Can any sane person insist that a grownup adult needs minerals, about three times our need. Peeled oranges also contain about 24
more protein than a growing baby? Human milk contains only about 1.1% grams when 2,000 calories are taken. Our daily RDA of calcium, for instance,
protein, about 7.5% by dry weight. Watermelon contains 7% dry weight! is 800 milligrams. Oranges supply over 1,600 milligrams. And so it goes for all
Protein need be only about 5% of a food's dry weight to meet our needs. Most the minerals down the line for almost every fruit: Our needs are amply met.
fruits adequately meet this need.
The body maintains an amino acid pool that carries surplus amino acids. Our Natural Foods Must Meet Our Needs for Essential Fatty Adds
Further, the body normally recycles about 90% of its protein wastes through Traditional nutritional science teaches that we must get three fatty acids
the processes of pinocytosis and phagocytosis. This is all to indicate that the from our diet. The body synthesizes its needs otherwise. These essential fatty
much touted requirement of 70 to 100 grams of protein a day is a meat-and- acids were said to be arachidonic, linolenic and linoleic. Today only linoleic is
dairy-industry-fostered myth. Our actual protein needs are only 20 to 30 grams said to be essential. They are contained amply in fruits!
per day. We operate most efficiently within this range of protein intake. A daily Our total fat need from the diet is so small as to constitute less than 1% of
intake of more than this amount begins to stress the body, even if it is taken our diet. To give some indication of the adequacy of fruits in fat, let's again
from non-animal sources. consider the watermelon. It contains some 16 grams of fat when eaten to the
extent of our caloric needs for a day. That amounts to about 3-1/2% of intake.
Our Natural Foods Must Amply Supply Our Vitamin Needs Fats are a secondary source of energy.
Fruits supply more vitamins than we can possibly use! Some 30 vitamins
have been determined to be needed in the diet, and fruits supply them all Our Foods Must Supply Us With Our Caloric Needs
many times beyond our need when we have met our caloric requirements. On this score alone, fruits win all the plaudits. As well as meeting our every
For instance, watermelon sufficient to yield 2,000 calories, about a day's other need adequately, fruits amply supply us with our calorie requirements.
use by an active man, would also yield about 48,000 I.U. of Vitamin A, about Nothing else that can be relished in the raw state can supply our caloric needs
12 times the daily RDA. Further, it would yield about 1,100 milligrams of as well as fruits.
vitamin C, some 20 times the RDA and about fifty times the actual need. The Our energies are best supplied by carbohydrates. Fats are a poor
case is similar for almost every other vitamin on the list. secondary source of energy and proteins are a last resort source of energy.
Fruit supplies us with all vitamins in their best form. If we took all our Even so, over 100% of the energy obtained through deamination must be
vitamin requirements quantitatively for a whole year, all of them together in expended in the breakdown.
their pure form would not fill a thimble. Commercial interests have vastly There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex. Simple
overblown and misrepresented our vitamin situation in order to perpetrate a carbohydrates consist of fruits that are possessed of monosaccharides, that is,
profitable fraud upon us. A reading of the labels of even the most "natural" of primarily fructose and glucose. Complex carbohydrates are the starches and
vitamins sold in the market place reveals that they are about 98% of synthetic celluloses.
origin. Even vitamins extracted totally from natural sources are worthless out As frugivores, we absorb monosaccharides without digestion. On the other
hand, we handle starches very poorly - almost not at all! We do not have the
machinery for breaking down starch from natural sources for any significant Our Natural Foods Are Water Sufficient
amount. Humans are among a class of creatures that have no natural water-drinking
If you had to eat rice as a raw grain, how much of the hard grain do you equipment. This indicates that our diets should normally meet our water
think you could easily gather from nature and chew in its hard-pebbled state? needs. Only fruits come naturally with all the water we require.
As a thoroughly tasteless starch, how much do you think you could handle?
Enough to meet your nutrient needs? Even if ground, we can barely handle a
tablespoonful raw. Likewise, we could hardly handle a tablespoonful of wheat Our Natural Foods Must be Alkaline in Metabolic Reaction
flour raw. First, it is tasteless as are all polysaccharides. Secondly, starches All foods contain both acid and alkaline elements. Body balance
are contained in cellulose-enclosed cells that are largely untouched by (homeostasis) in humans requires an alkaline pH for the metabolic end
chewing, ensalivation and digestive enzymes. When we eat raw starches, we products. Hence, our food intake must also be predominantly alkaline.
are not nourishing ourselves but are instead creating problems. Humans can readily excrete excesses of alkaline end- products but have
If we cook starches, they are dextrinized, become palatable, and usable for great difficulty in handling acid end- products. Acid end-products must first be
caloric purposes, but they take on new liabilities in the cooked state. neutralized by alkaline minerals preparatory to excretion lest our eliminatory
Humans are not fat eaters! While fats are the most concentrated sources of faculties be damaged, especially our kidneys.
energy, our digestive tracts do not handle fats either quickly or efficiently. If we Fruits are alkaline forming in every case. However, some nuts, which are
supplied all our calories with butter or some vegetable fat, how well do you technically fruits, are acid forming. Almost all protein foods predominate in
think we'd fare? The Eskimos do it but are very short lived. acid-forming elements.
Humans are not protein eaters for, as previously cited, proteins require
more energy for digestion than can be obtained from them whereas fruits are Only Fruits Meet All Our Needs Ideally
over 90% efficient. Thus we have seen that when all factors and all foods are considered, only
But, speaking of efficiency, vegetables are at the bottom of the list. If we fruits meet human needs adequately on every count.
ate green leaves for food, we'd expend more energy in processing and The way to paradise can come only if we begin the practices of paradise.
handling them than we'd obtain. This is to say that we are not vegetarians, but We hope for paradise in vain as long as we continue to carry on those
are instead fruitarians. Vegetable eaters would technically be herbivores, the practices which vitiate our being and thus society.
same as cattle, sheep, horses, goats and rabbits. We do not have four As long as we consume animal flesh and products~as long as we attempt
stomachs or the bacterial flora to make efficient use of vegetables, though we to exploit others - as long as we are not loving, friendly and congenial with
can obtain from expressed vegetable juices (by chewing) a plethora of those among whom we live, then so long shall we contribute to the suffering
nutrients. The caloric values of vegetables are in the form of cellulose and strife here on earth.
granules. The first thing you can do is go on the paradise diet, a mostly fruitarian diet.
When every food is weighed in the balance, only fruits meet our caloric That is a good start on the road to a paradise where planet earth will no longer
needs ideally and amply. have wars, hunger or disease.