Confession

So today is the second time, since going fruitarian, that I experimented with cooked vegan food, and to be honest, I think my mind was playing tricks on me, for I didn't like it. Well back to fruitarian tomorrow. Oh I'm also studying for my N+ which is a network based IT qualification.

More reflection and advice

The cravings I mentioned. Well they're gone now! It seems that I just had to keep my mind off it. Though I must say the majority of the population is still queuing up for freshly baked ciabatas and ready-made meals like lasagne, mutton curry, and chicken ala king. Those are names they use. I just say: animal, animal, animal, exploitation, carbs, unhealthy, cheap for a reason. Not to mention pies and fish and chips.

Stumbling block

I must confess that lately I've had a craving for convenience foods such as vegan hotdogs, vegan schnitzels, and vegan chicken strips. With bread and roast potatoes and the obvious condiments like mayo and ketchup. But when I seriously consider it I know that this is merely a step back to my old self. The self that was eager to consume. But I have to remember that I have lost weight since I became fruitarian. A couple of kilos. Which means to me a heck of a lot. Other than that when the cravings hit I turn to fruitarian literature which is such a motivational force to stick to ones true self. The self that wants to be liberated from culinary slavery. Hope this is of some help to others.

Whatever comes to mind

... should probably be ignored.

Meaning the majority of the world is not frugivore ala fruitarian. Which is a pain. But as someone said; more fruits for me!

Techie

I am an A+ certified PC technician now. Had to pass 2 exams and did so with flying colors!

Chocolate banana double thick shake

Recipe time!

4 frozen bananas
1 tablespoon cacao + superfood mix.
7 ice cubes
250ml water

Crush ice first and then place all the ingredients in a blender. You can also add vanilla if you like.

Enjoy!

Reflections

When one attempts to see the impact others not following an ethical diet makes, one realizes that hope is just another word for faith. We can only but have faith that our lives are not connected to each other, and we have but ourselves to blame if all feelings has gone from our minds in relation to the redemption of humanity. Which seems at face value, today, a blissful impossibility.

We are herded to destroy the Earth for the sake of money and power. We have become accustomed to child-like advertising claiming that our lives have meaning and that we are the greatest beings in existence because of technological advances made as Stephen Hawking calls it the Enlightenment. It's impossible to see it, the great discoveries of man has imprisoned him and made him a super-slave. Or rather has made us dependent on each other to such an extent that we control each other. That we lie, cheat and steal. Because? Well because we are allowed to. We're common criminals enticed with a permanent Christmas and Thanksgiving. Yet we are all deceived.

Movie of the day isn't IT, it's Koyaanisqatsi.

Getting down to it

As mentioned I have made the transition to fruitarianism. Quite easily I must add. Even though with my current mindset it's irrelevant to state on the simplicity of the new found habits I have acquired. Though I'm not fully committed at the moment to Eden fruitarianism (coined by Mango Wodzak), I must say that that is my next goal. I seriously want to cut out nuts and oils.

But let's get real, there are some that say you can even eat veggies, and still label yourself fruitarian, which I think is quite absurd and backwards thinking. Fruits are fruits, and veggies, well they stay veggies. Right?

Which brings me to the next point. What is a fruit? As in, some get really technical and say that eggplant (aubergine) is a fruit. But you have to cook it to be able to eat it right? If your goal is to be raw, then well you cannot eat it, bummer! Also the issue with tomatoes. Some label them as veggies, while others label them as fruits. All of the info out there is quite confusing. What can a fruitarian do? I surely need the official encyclopedia on fruits, if there is one out there. A list and description on fruits in general.

Also, another point, agriculture in its global sense has limits as to what is natural and what is not. Mono-crops certainly aren't natural (vast spaces of land cultivated for one single purpose, and all else should stay out!), even if the crops are natural in a sense. Get what I mean?

The transportation of fruits around the world, has increased the options available (yeah a consumerist capitalist notion I know) at the stores and markets, but surely it's more important to be a locavore fruitarian than anything else. Can we truly sustain our lives and environments this current way? I doubt it.

Enough with the contradictions! More fundamentalism!

The difference

But let's get serious about dietary lifestyles. As mentioned in the first post, veganism does encompass a wide variety of food sources under a vast amount of farming techniques and, production and manufacturing needs. Yet a vegan can also live as simply as a fruitarian. By adopting or practicing raw veganism.

Now I used to be an advocate for healthy living, meaning following a strict set of dietary requirements. To be honest, it took out all the fun of the lifestyle I pursued. Having to check calcium, B12, and Omega intakes, was quite a schlep. Vitamins and minerals as the dieticians recommend are found in supplements. That was a headache and a pricy affair I've had. Now I've put it all behind me and found freedom in ignorance. Great for me, yay!

But back to the raw veganism. Apart from superfoods, and fancy recipes, a raw vegan lifestyle or diet, is quite simple to follow as fruitarianism. It might be a bit more pricy, and versatile, but at least it's more acceptable and well catered for in comparison to fruitarianism in our present day society.

I'm not entirely sure if the ecological costs involved in this diet is in any way even close to fruitarianism, but at least it's better than the standard vegan diet, and even greater than the carnist diet. Remember, humans farm, as in agriculture plays a major role in our survival and habits. It's one of those things people have become alienated from, for being cosmopolitan (city-dwellers) in our lifestyles, yet it plays that integral role as mentioned. For us to become conscious of our blessings and our curses is perhaps the one thing that can save or doom us. At this point in time, it's irrelevant though.

So you may ask why doesn't a person just accept raw veganism instead of fruitarianism as a diet or lifestyle? Well ecologically fruitarianism is still superior to raw veganism, and it's more cost effective. Also it's more simple in its choices. It limits you to eating and not preparing to eat. It's a step away from clutter and unnecessary expense. It is also less destructive to sentient life in the harvest of it's crop. Even so agriculture in its current form can be destructive nonetheless to fruits and their trees aswell.

There's so much more in the comparison between these two diets, but let's just say I'm sticking to fruitarianism, mainly because I want to live more simply and less processed, or fancy, as you can put it.

For the life of me

It cannot be perfectly put by anyone but myself. Or so I believe.

The mental transformation in relation to the new found state I am in, aka fruitarianism, has brought about the knowledge that everyone seeks to pursue that which is unattainable, for it is necessary to be happy. In pursuit of happiness, we have found goal, and forgot all else. And so the world in its gluttonous state only wants what it can afford, and waste its money, even so, excessively, on that which it cannot buy. Happiness. Peace. And security.

In South Africa, at least, we have come to the point where even our wise-men, the intellectual elites, have failed us miserably to note what went wrong with our society in their news programs and newspaper prints. They always want what's most dire to them, without looking the eagle in the eye. It mentions society as if it is run by one person or group of persons. It mentions trouble as if it was unavoidable. It fails to mention though what life is actually like. With or without an oppressor. The man, the citizen, of South Africa, bears responsibility to all South Africans, even the ones that migrated here. Yet he does not hold himself accountable to all else. Instead he twists and turns into a knower of some unthinkable truth which he calls his life. Something unique and far away from reality. Let's call this delusion. Now I am just another of its kind. I also had and have my moments of detachment, but please we have to be serious as to the matter at hand.

We can live off fruit alone. Whether that is something that the future expects from us, is irrelevant. Now is the time for us to stand back and take into consideration the costs involved in our manufactured needs. All of it will be our end, and who's to blame, the ones not on the fruit diet. It's as simple as that.

Birthday

So the day started off with some presents. Loads of dried fruit. A Bible. And a nice meal at a raw vegan spot in Cape Town. The Danish owner specially crafted some fruity meals for me, whilst my family were gobbling down their chosen selection. At home a chocolate cake waited. Vegan but not fruity. Anyway I'll give it one last time. But then again sharing also works to ease the wheaty burden. That Danish owner also recommended The Detox Miracle, which I'll definitely check out.

Nauseous

So today is my birthday. YAY! Well truth be told I don't know where my family and I are going for lunch. I only hope that the idea of me being a fruitarian has started to sink in.

Anyway I have a story to tell. The other night I went for sushi. Gone off the fruitarian radar a bit, and then bam the day after I feel nauseous. Either because I ate too much as my family tells me, or it was the veg springrolls, or it was the quality of the food, or finally, my body rejected the cooked food. I think it's the latter. Well I may be wrong.

Fruitarian literature at a minimum

For those of you who have an interest in fruitarianism, but want to read more about the subject, have probably checked the numerous blogs out there, and watched videos on youtube, yet once you do a search of actual books, you come at a loss. For there seems to be so few books currently published and in circulation on the subject that one may think there is no such thing in the minds of the general public. Well that's true. But don't fret! Here are some books on the subject which I have found which you should give a look.

1. I Live on Fruit
2. Fruitarian Living
3. Fruit Diet 77 Days
4. Destination Eden
5. The Eden Fruitarian Guidebook
6. Fruitarian: Raw food transition

I'm sure there's books on Amazon and beyond dealing with it as a diet solely to regain lost health, but I haven't read any of those books.

Introductions aside

It's been almost two weeks since I've started on the road of fruitarianism. So far... I've met the transition simply. As in I started with a two day fast, eating a portion of fruits in the evenings only. Then on the third day I just ate fruits when I was hungry in the morning, afternoon and evening. My blender and juicer has come in handy, but the stove (and the microwave) I haven't used at all. (Strange, but true.) All my food intake is raw so no need for any heat. Other than that, I'm having buchu tea during the day, so the kettle came in handy aswell. On a side-note I have consumed nuts and cold-pressed olive oil during this time, but according to Eden fruitarianism; nuts aren't fruits, and oils aren't allowed. So I've been on the road, but also not on the road, so to speak.

Personally, things are going great. I've adapted to my predominant fruitarian diet with success. No longing for cooked foods, and no longing for eating convenience foods, such as fast foods like pizzas, curries, sushi and cakes (vegan btw). The fasting, I believe, helped for that. It also gave me perspective on how much I can eat (or consume) daily, or at all.

A bit of history will add some clarification onto my decision to move to a fruit diet. I became a lacto-vegetarian in 2003, then moved onto veganism in 2007 for ethical reasons (animal rights). It's 2017 now, and I've felt it's about time to take the next step. Which, after some inner searching and outer researching, I came upon Eden fruitarianism. It's been such a revelation and motivational force to hear of how others have adapted to such a simple, yet ecologically friendly diet.

To call it a diet though is wrong. It's more of a lifestyle, like veganism in its entirety is a lifestyle. As in, it consists of more than what you eat. It's also a way on how you address the world, which may sound esoteric to some, in this context, or unrealistic to others. But more on that soon.

The fruit diet is by far the most simple diet I have come across. Being a strict vegan for 10 years has given me a lot of perspective on how to isolate food as an integral part to my life. In the past I've lived to eat. Now I eat to live. I thought a lot about food, to such an extent where I forgot all else, even the contradictions behind a vegan diet. Which is, that veganism in itself, at face value, may come across as radical and peace loving, but when one looks closely at it, one realizes it's not that different from a meat centered diet. Or rather carnist diet as some intellectuals may call it.

Veganism for those who do not know, is basically a strict plant based diet. It encompasses the following foods: Grains, beans, legumes, cereals, rice, pasta, oils, processed soy products (tofu, veggie burgers, veggie hotdogs, veggie salami, veggie chicken, veggie mince, veggie pies, soy milks), fruits, vegetables, frozen foods, breads, cookies, condiments (tomato sauce, mustard, relish, vegan mayo, nut butters, atchar), other dairy-free products, like almond milk, hemp milk, rice milk, cheese, and nuts. This summary may not be conclusive, but it clearly marks a great difference between fruitarianism and itself.

You guessed it, fruitarians, or rather Eden fruitarians, only eat fruits, which cuts out a lot of the added produce to feed the vegan population. And as you can see, it is a lot. Just walk through a supermarket or general goods store and see for yourself.

The difference is so huge, that I'd rather say that fruitarianism is a completely separate entity onto itself in comparison to veganism. As a matter of fact, vegans have it easy. They just cut out the animal produce in their diets. They are not socially and economically cast out like fruitarians anymore. Which I'll get to shortly.

Basically they, vegans, still contribute to the destruction of natural “resources” and the killing of animals, as do their meat and dairy eating counterparts, because all produce (such as the mono-crops of soya and wheat) ends up being used also by the animal exploitation industries aswell as the happy go lucky peace endorsing vegans. Trust me, one does not want to consider it when one is vegan, because one initially and finally thinks that one is exempt from the ultimate destruction of planet Earth and its inhabitants. Or rather, because of the propaganda behind diets in general, people tend to forget about the contradictions or negative sides, which rarely if ever came up while I was vegan. Such as the argument that ecologically and economically the vegan diet is also destructive enough to bring all life to its knees.

Fruitarianism is by far more ecologically friendly and humane than veganism. Sadly though it has not been adopted by many of the worlds citizens. Business (like restaurants and take-out joints) in general doesn't care about fruitarians much, and to make matters worse, the common man and woman, doesn't look happily onto us either. Casting us out for something so simple yet so profound. But we don't care. Luckily. We just live our lives for the present and not some blissful future supplied by our strange if absurd habits as the carnists and veggies do.

Currently fruit is still considered necessary to human happiness and health, that farmers grow them and supply them en masse to the general public. So at least it's possible to be fruitarian. With the way things are going though, with super-capitalism and all, we may end up prioritizing destruction over reconstruction to its bitter end. Think species extinction. I'm sure fruits are on that list aswell.

Now I have a problem. My birthday is coming up and my family wants to go eat sushi. What can a newly convert to fruitarianism do? We'll just have to wait and see!

Peace!