A fruitarian diet may help you lose weight, but it may compromise your health while doing so. Fruitarian diets are usually defined as a diet consisting of at least 75 percent fruit. The remainder of the diet is vegetarian and often raw. It may consist of vegetables and beans, a source of protein. Such a diet is difficult to sustain, as you likely will not be consuming enough protein, calcium, iron, zinc and Vitamin B and D. If you're determined to follow a fruitarian diet, you may need to moderate it with protein sources, good fats and vitamin and mineral supplements.
History
According to fruitarians and some religious scholars, the roots of a fruit-centric diet go back to Adam and Eve. Leonardo da Vinci indicated in his writings that he was a fruitarian. Gandhi tried a fruitarian diet for six months before returning to a vegetarian diet. Today, many fruitarians adopt the diet as a social or political statement in opposition to the killing or eating of animals, and sometimes plants as well.
Diet
Anne Osborne, author of "The Path to Paradise" and one of the leading voices in the fruitarian movement, has practiced the diet for 18 years and has raised her two children on the diet. A typical recommended diet from Osborne is watermelon for breakfast, cantaloupe for a mid-morning snack, grapes for lunch, mangoes for an afternoon snack and bananas for dinner. You can eat all you want, and Osborne doesn't object to adding green vegetables to the diet. A diet from the Fruitarian Foundations give you more fruits to choose from but advises you to wait at least 90 minutes after eating one type of fruit to consume another.
Proponents
Fruitarian disciples claim that you can live disease-free and reach an age of at least 100 by following the diet. Many claim that the diet can cure diseases such as cancer, promote mental clarity, boost energy and lead to happiness. Those claims are not backed up by any scientific research.
Opponents
Beyond Vegetarianism is highly critical of the fruitarian diet. It claims many followers of the diet suffer from intense obsessions with food, social isolation, mental problems and hunger. Even if you supplement a fruitarian diet with avocados, nuts and dates, you still won't be consuming a healthy amount of protein. As for the hare-core advocates of fruitarian diets, Beyond Vegetarianism says bluntly, "Many fruitarian 'experts' appear to be mentally unbalanced, in our opinion."
Conventional Medicine
The American Heart Association is solidly on the side of critics of the fruitarian diet. The AHA opposes diets that overemphasize eating one type of food, noting that few people can stay on such stringent diets for long. It condemns what it calls "food folklore" as well, another aspect of fruitarian diets. The AHA says that long-term weight loss is best achieved with a balanced diet of lean protein, low- or nonfat dairy, healthy fats, whole grains and fruits and vegetables, combined with plenty of exercise.
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