fruitarianism

Fruitarians (or fructarians) are a subgroup of vegans who eat only the fruit of plants. This includes not only what one typically thinks of as a "fruit" in the culinary sense such as apples and oranges, but also other foods that are botanically the fruits of flowering plants (that is, the seed-containing reproductive parts), including berries, nuts, seeds, capsicums, tomatoes, squash, beans, peas, and so on. There are different variations of fruitarianism. Some fruitarians will eat only what falls (or would fall) naturally from a plant—fruits, seeds, nuts. Others may eat all biological fruits. Grains are usually accepted, as they are conventionally harvested by cutting down the plant. Most fruitarians are also raw foodists.

Motivation

Some fruitarians only eat the fruit of a plant so that the plant does not have to be killed. For instance when one eats a root vegetable such as a carrot, the whole carrot plant dies. Fruitarians point out that, in nature, eating some types of fruit actually does the parent plant a favor. Fleshy fruit has evolved with the obvious purpose of being eaten by animals, to achieve seed dispersal. Seeds in fruits will be swallowed and travel through the animal's digestive tract before sprouting in a pile of ready-made fertilizer, or, in the case of fruits with cores or pits, will be tossed aside to sprout. Without animals eating fruit, the seed would not travel far enough away from the plant to allow the species to proliferate successfully.

Famous fruitarians

• Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis.
• There is evidence that the Essenes were raw foodists and fruitarians. Some scholars even believe Jesus to have been an Essene and practiced a fruitarian diet, although this contradicts the mainline Bible.
• It is believed Leonardo Da Vinci was through evidence left in his notebooks. One comment he made was:

"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."

• Mohandas K. Gandhi in his later years.
• Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, was during the 1970s:

"I was actually a fruitarian at that point in time. I ate only fruit. Now I'm a garbage can like everyone else. And we were about three months late in filing a fictitious business name so I threatened to call the company Apple Computer unless someone suggested a more interesting name by five o'clock that day. Hoping to stimulate creativity. And it stuck. And that's why we're called Apple."

• The fictional Eloi from HG Wells's The Time Machine. Note: These were not fruitarian for ethical reasons but were forced to by the Morlocks who took all of the animal-based products.

Criticism

A fruitarian diet can be difficult to follow, and on a long-term basis fruitarians often suffer health problems caused by nutrient deficiency. For example, Vitamin B12 cannot be found in any fruit matter. Some say the diet is overly rich in sugar, and that this can lead to symptoms suggestive of hyperglycemia or diabetes, while it is lacking in protein, minerals and fat soluble vitamins. Long-term fruitarians may be prone to psychological food cravings and consequent binge-eating, either of 'allowed' foods or 'illicit' ones. Fruitarians allegedly often develop strong cravings for dates (for their high sugar content) and avocados (for their high fat content). Some fruitarians develop a type of eating disorder called orthorexia. Anyone adopting a fruitarian diet should be aware of what nutrients their body needs and what supplements they will have to take.

See also

• Breatharian
• Diet
• Natural Hygiene
• New Age
• Nutrition
• Raw food diet
• Veganism

Fruitarian online community

• Animal Rights and cruelty free diets board - with fruitarian support boards
• What is fruitarian? at Fruitarian Network
• Fruitarians.net - International Fruitarian Network: all about fruitarian diet and ethics.
• Scintro fruit book - All about fruits.