This book is really interesting. I came across a guy known as The Fruitarian, who is an Iron Man Triathlete, and he spoke very highly of this book. Wanting to eat a little more healthy, lose some weight, and being already familiar with vegetarianism, I didn't think this would be very much of a stretch (and it's not). The author goes into alot of the "why's" pertaining to a fruit-based diet (and not just his "beliefs" about why you should (no guilt-trip), or why this system works), and he backs it up with a lot of research. He talks about how the body processes different foods (especially depending on which order they are eaten in), current mis-information that some very well respected doctors have just dead-wrong, and a history about how we came to eat some of the less-than-perfect-for-us items that we're all addicted to today (chips, candy, soda, animal products, etc.).
One of the things that really piqued my interest in the book was when he dispelled a current mantra espoused by doctors. You will hear a lot of doctors say that fruit (more specifically, fruit sugars) are not necessarily good for you. This is TOTALLY UNTRUE. It's when you eat the fruit that determines the fruit sugars affect on you. I'll paraphrase quickly, to give you an idea about just one of the revelations I found in this book. Your body was meant to eat fruits and vegetables. We, as a species, came out of the tropics where fruits and vegetables were plentiful and always abundant. We didn't start eating meat until we left the tropics to go settle other lands and didn't have this bounty of fruits and vegetables available to us (so we started cooking meat). When you eat fruit, the body easily breaks down those fruit sugars and sends them into the blood stream to be absorbed and utilized. However, if you eat the fruit after you've eaten something fatty, there's where the problem lies. See, what happens is when you eat something that has fat in it (and what doesn't these days), that fat lines your blood vessels and if you eat fruit after the fatty item, then the fat lining the blood vessels doesn't let the fruit sugars pass through the vessels to be utilized by the body. Instead, those fruit sugars are trapped in the bloodstream with nowhere to go (until the fats lining the blood vessels break down and once again allow the sugars to be absorbed). However, this fat breakdown could take hours. So, the fruit sugar stays trapped in your bloodstream for some time. This spike in "sugar" is detected by the body and the Pancreas starts secreting Insulin to degrade the sugar in the bloodstream. If it has too much sugar to process, sometimes it will store it as fat (for use later). So, think about it. If you eat a big steak, or mashed potatoes, or fast food, etc., and then eat fruit as a snack after that...if the fat from the previous meal hasn't degraded yet, that fruit sugar is stuck in your bloodstream, causing your Pancreas to work overtime pumping out Insulin to bring your sugar levels back in check. But, if you eat the fruit first...it gets easily broken down and distributed to your cells and your body doesn't freak out metabolically because there's sugar stuck in your bloodstream that can't diffuse through to the cells because the blood vessels are lined with fat.
He has many more incites of this caliber in the book, including why today's children are always wound up, have ADD, are in poor health, etc. It's really fascinating.
He also lays out very detailed information about all sorts of fruits, vegetables, nuts, all of the nutritive values of each and really holds your hand through the entire adaptation process. He recommends starting out by just replacing breakfast with fruits, and continuing to eat what you regularly eat for lunch and dinner. Then, when you start to see the effects of eating a fruit-only breakfast (and how good you feel, how easily your body processes things, how much energy you have, etc.), then he recommends doing breakfast and lunch with only fruits/veggies/nuts...then all meals with only fruits/veggies/nuts. Some people reading this may be thinking, "...but I NEED meat for protein." UNTRUE. He goes through all of this in the book (scientifically enough for proof, but not so egg-heady that you get turned off because you don't understand). He lays out meal plans (which are ridiculously simple...think about it, you really don't have to cook anything....huge time-saver, in addition to giving your body what it actually wants (once all of the screaming toxins have left your body and can no longer tempt you to eat crappy food)).
I'm reminded of a quote from Tony Robbins..."Nothing tastes as good as healthy and fit feels."
I've got to say, I'm really impressed with the book and have definitely shifted over to a more fruit-based diet and can really tell the difference. Even if you aren't going to switch over to a fruit-based diet, I HIGHLY recommend this book to give you a better idea about how your body works, and what foods do/don't work for it. I mean, hey, we're talking about your life here, right?
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Rawkristina on YouTube has great recipes if you you want to get fancy
My husband and I went from standard American diet to 80/10/10 5 years ago. We are no longer 100% raw but still vegan. In the first year my husband lost 100'pounds and my gi proublems and epilepsy disappeared!! If I have one tip to keep you on track it's to eat a lot in the morning. Don't let yourself get hungry cause that's when your cravings will set in and those take a couple weeks to go away but they will. I wait 110 pounds and I eat an 6-8 banana smoothie in the morning just to give you an example. make sure you eat enogh food! Rawkristina on YouTube has great recipes if you you want to get fancy.
Top reviews from other countries
Matthew Luscombe
Heal thy self - Healthy Self
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2023
