How I became fructivorous… and dropped it 5 days later

My journey towards healthy eating never stops. Most of my followers know that I only teach what I’ve done before on myself or in my life. This is my mantra and my rule of thumb. Even if I’ve studied countless books, even if I’ve worked with people and held workshops, I am not recommending things that I’ve never tried. I like having first hand experiences, rather than re-digesting abstract information.

In a way, I could say that I am my own guinea pig and I love it. Just as a quick recap, I went from western diet to alkaline diet, then I became a fully raw vegan, I had multiple Oshawa diets and water-only fasts.  Now I am about 70% alkaline and I’ve “assembled” my own diet based on my body’s response.

After all these experiences, I came to realize that I’d never been fructivorous. Once the idea sprouted in my mind, I let it grow there for some time,  pondering  on its advantages and disadvantages. Until one day, when I finally decided that I was going to give it a try… initially for two weeks.

Why go fructivorous?

I have many reasons, some of them stated above. And I am plain curious. I want to see how I feel in terms of health and energy, I want to see if there are differences between a typical raw vegan diet and a fruit-based one.

Also, I am curious if this is a way to lose fat or worse, gain it. I am quite lean and I became so after being alkaline, which helped me to lose a lot of weight. Now I want to see the influence of  fruits.  I’m not planning to change my sports habits, which are almost null. My favourite activity is biking and I will go on with this as before. I’m also curious about my physical stamina, if it is going to change.

From the spiritual point of view, it is said that fruits have the highest vibration of all food groups. Eating only fruits exposes someone to this vibration, helping him or her to raise his/her own. As I meditate and spirituality is an important part of my life, I am extremely curious to see if I will feel something different, if my dreams will be affected or other interesting effects.

In conclusion, I am really excited, because I am going to enter a world unexplored so far and I really don’t know what I’m going to find and discover about myself.

What I’m planning to eat

Oh, yes, I will eat. Actually, I am excited to make such a big change in my diet. And I know that being fructivorous means eating quite a bit. So, here it is what I’m gonna eat:

Fruits

First of all, I am glad it is still autumn, so I can benefit from countless fruits available locally, such as: melons, plums, grapes, peaches, apples and many others. I’m planning to buy these fruits from my local market and not from supermarkets, since I prefer locally grown ones.

Of course, I can’t rely solely on those, so I will add bananas, oranges, lemons, grapefruits, mangos, pineapple and other imported fruits, available mostly in supermarkets.

Apart from fresh fruits, I will add goji berries and raisins as well as an entire assortment of natural, sugar-free, dehydrated fruits, as snacks or combined with the fresh ones.

In terms of alkaline diet, fruits are on the acidic side. So I will go against the rules here…

Fats

Healthy fats are extremely important as you can read here. They are non-existent in most fruits, so I need to plan for them carefully. Lack of fats has serious impacts on the body, it can lead to neurological problems, skin disorders and all kinds of troubles that I’d better stay off from.  Fats are also responsible for satiety. I don’t like being hungry and I’ve never held a diet promoting hunger, so I don’t want to start it now.

In order to get my daily fats, I will eat unsalted olives (they are fruits after all) and avocados (but no more that 2 avocados a week as they are very fatty).

To add even more fats, proteins and minerals, I will also eat soaked cashews, almonds and various nuts and use cold-pressed fruit oils such as olive oil when preparing food salads.

Drinks

The most difficult part for me will be to totally give up my daily morning coffee. I like the taste and I drink it purely habitually. Of course, this doesn’t mean I don’t feel the effects of caffeine on my body, some of them  not so good. Once I went free of coffee for one month and back then I discovered that my mind was much clearer, coffee creating some sort of mental haze. Also, my teeth were whiter, which I liked  a lot.

Since coffee is no longer an option, I will replace it with herbal teas and  lemon water, which is extremely hydrating. I am not worried about hydration as fruits already contain a lot of water, so no big concerns here.

Smoothies and Fruit juices

In a word, no. I will avoid especially fruit juices (even homemade ones) as they separate the pulp from the juice, which has a negative impact on fructose digestive processes. However, I am considering  an occasional whole-fruits smoothie, mostly for variety and because they pack a lot of nutrients. Smoothies are also a good way to incorporate frozen wild berries as those goodies are out of season now.

Fruit combining

I strongly believe in the importance of food combining. Therefore, I am going to eat based on correct fruit combinations as much as possible.

There is only one exception. Even if it breaks the rules, I know that mixing fats with fruits releases energy for a longer period of time. Eating fruits alone generates an energy spike resembling the sugar spike. In a short time, the energy will have been released and that’s it. Mixing the fruits with healthy fats dampens the spike, which results in energy being released for several hours constantly.

This is why, before having a speaking engagement or some training which requires considerable amounts of energy, my favorite meal is a big fruit salad including nuts rich in healthy fats. I’ve observed that my energy lasts much longer this way and I virtually don’t need any other food or beverage for hours. I like this a lot.

What I’m expecting to accomplish

Even if I know that it’s better not to have any expectations, I am curious about the results. Here are a few things I’m expecting to change:

1. Losing a few pounds or at least keeping my current weight
2. Having a clearer, more focused mind
3. Having more energy
4. Being able to sustain even more physical effort for a longer period of time (this did happen when I switched to alkaline diet)
5. Being able to sustain intellectual effort and concentration for a longer period of time
6. Better skin and hair

Let’s start!

Eat, eat, eat.

Aaaand, 5 days later…

The first day experience

I didn’t quite know what to expect. But I must confess I didn’t expect to be that hungry. I tried to eat 2 meals (as I usually skip breakfast), but I found myself eating very often.

Of course, I also ate fats but this didn’t seem to have any influence whatsoever.

The day went reasonably well, I ate all kinds of fruits and nuts and I felt quite all right. No issues there, except that I felt like I had to eat a large quantity of food. I’d never felt like this before, not even when going raw. Anyway, out of curiosity I weighed myself and I had 165 lbs (75 kg).

The big surprise came during the night. I went to the bathroom 5 times! I didn’t sleep well since I had to go to the bathroom so often and in the morning I was tired but determined to continue. I figured  out that if I stopped eating around 18 – 19 (which I hadn’t the previous day), the water would be released before I went to sleep.

The second day

The biggest difference was the hunger sensation, which had disappeared almost completely. Definitely, the sensation had been caused by my body adapting to the new regime. I got my 2 meals full of different fruits, olives and nuts. During the day I felt my energy  somewhat low, which came as no surprise, because a detox process was to be expected.

Everything went well until the evening, when a nagging headache started to manifest itself. I rarely have headaches. Extremely rarely. So this was probably caused (later confirmed) by the very same detox process.

A curious thing happened at night. Although I went to the bathroom “only” 3 times, I had trouble sleeping mostly because of my overactive mind. I literally spent my night between some sort of lucid dreaming and 1-2 hours of actual sleep. Pretty bad. Again, most likely a detox symptom, which proves that, indeed, eating affects one’s mind.

The third and the fourth day

Not a big change regarding my overall state these days. The headache persisted and, while I was determined not to get a pill, I found myself seriously toying with that idea several times.

The third day my energy was quite low. Only  the fourth day brought an improvement, as the detox process was probably coming to an end. Sports? No way! I didn’t feel up to such activity.

These days I ate a lot of fruits, even in the morning, as a quick snack instead of breakfast.

However, I realized something. I’d never been so bored of what I ate in my whole life (not even when I went for Ohsawa – and that is one difficult diet). Let me explain. Although I had variety, most of the fruits were sweet. I am not a sweet addict and I usually prefer to eat salty foods rather than sweet ones. So my boredom was not caused by the fruits themselves but by this overall, omnipresent sweetness. I like fruits, but this issue got me thinking about the long term.  Even if I ate more sour fruits, there was not much difference. And I needed to eat a lot of them to feel satiated!

Another nagging thing was going to the bathroom at night. It seemed that even if I stopped eating or drinking at 18:00 – 19:00 hours, I still managed to go at least twice. Yuck! My sleep was seriously impaired.

The last day

On the 5^th day I felt much better, a sign that  the detox was finally over. My energy was back to normal (but not higher than usual). I checked my weight again and this time I had 158 lbs (about 72 kg) – not bad at all for 5 days.

Originally, I had planned to be fructivorous for at least 2 weeks in order to see if there were actual benefits over my regular diet or not. But, as I said before, my biggest problem was boredom. Even if this diet had benefits, I simply didn’t want to eat only fruits. Previously, when I had become alkaline, it had been much easier to switch to vegetables than  fruits. Perhaps it was my inclination for other tastes than sweet. Perhaps it was my body telling me that it couldn’t run only on fruits (again, something related to me, since other people have no problem with fruits).

For all these reasons, on day 6 I decided to stop and get back to my normal eating habits. So I did.

Going back

Resuming my regular diet was easy and with no side effects. I gradually started with light salads and in 2-3 days I’d fully returned. I didn’t notice any problems,  headaches, or low energy. The transition went smoothly.

Should I recommend it?

Well, that depends. For me it was an experiment. I wanted to see if being fructivorous is a better alternative to my current raw vegan / alkaline based diet. Probably if I had kept it all the way for at least 15 days, more differences could have been observed. And I would have definitely adopted it fully if I had liked it.

But I love life and I love to love what I’m eating. And eating only fruits (although I like them) is not a good lifestyle for me. There are a lot of inconveniences. Even going to the restaurant poses more problems to a fructivorous than to a vegan. (trust me, I tried)

The only real benefit I observed in this short timespan was getting rid of some extra weight. As a weight loss diet, it seems to work pretty well and quick. It also saves you from being hungry. I’m a big opponent of “hungry-based” diets, which weaken the body. So, eating a reasonable amount of food and losing weight seems to be quite a good approach.

Another benefit is detox. Fruits are very easy to digest and the body has the energy to start repairing itself. Although somewhat unexpectedly, I had all the typical symptoms. Should I recommend it? Probably not. There are better ways, such as green juices. However, it can be an alternative if juicing is a problem (lack of a slow juicer or if someone simply doesn’t like the taste of juices)

In conclusion

This was my experience in the realm of fruits. It is definitely not for anyone, but since there are people doing it and thriving on it, it is certainly possible. Ultimately, it is a matter of preference and personal choice.  As for me, I’ve tried it and now I’m moving further to spicing up and diversifying my regular diet even more.

As always, you can write your thoughts in the comment form below. Thanks!