Gorilla since completing degree

[health freak]

thanks for sharing these beautiful images with us

 

fresh fruits are a must.

[Zack]

Awesome quotes...

[Gorilla]

Thanks

Edited August 17, 2011 by Gorilla

[Gorilla]

A little more on Shelley:

 

--

 

(From: Shelley and Vegetarianism

A brief study of the English poet's attitude to vegetarianism by Mihaela Mudure of Romania

IVU News - Issue 1-96)

 

Vegetarianism is an important choice in anybody's life. You may choose it for ethical, medical or religious reasons, or for all three together. You should also bear in mind that food is one of man's main links with the natural environment. If you choose the right food, your body and mind will be closer to nature and healthier. Plants are the only living organisms that can synthesise solar energy directly, so if you eat vegetables you will get solar energy in a purer form. If you eat meat it will be in a perverted form. The examples of great personalities who have espoused the vegetarian ideal have always been instructive, and one of these is the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

In 1812, through William Godwin's son, Shelley met John Frank Newton, the author of "The Return to Nature" which strongly advocated the vegetarian diet. Newton was a highly educated person who had formerly been at Christ Church College Oxford and intended to write three more books on vegetarianism. The Shelleys were influenced by his vegetarian views and adopted them in 1812. Later they admitted that their health had improved and that they felt much better.

Shelley wrote two articles advocating vegetarianism, both of which are very interesting as their approach is extraordinarily contemporary. In "A Vindication of Natural Diet", Shelley considers meat eating as a consequence of the Fall from Grace described in the Old Testament, and a proof that we live in a post-lapsarian world. He gave the example of Prometheus. Having brought fire to people for culinary purposes, thus allowing them to consume flesh, Prometheus was punished by having his liver perpetually devoured by vultures.

Shelley considered that people should eat only the food produced in their own native country because they grew up in that natural environment and are adapted to it. Consequently he believed that the English should not drink wines from France, Portugal or Spain. Spices from India were also not to be used, for the same reason. He was against any kind of strong drinks because they are not a natural product: "Drink no drink but water restored to its original purity by distillation." With regard to food, he counselled: "Never take any substance into the stomach that once had life. Vegetarianism will give you longevity. Avoiding meat does not mean self- mortification. It is both for you and for the natural environment you belong to. You will be rewarded for this."

Shelley's second article about vegetarianism is "On the Vegetable System of Diet". The author considers that eating animal food is an unnatural habit producing disease. As we don't have the teeth that predator animals have it is normal to assume that animal food should not be eaten by humans. We should also keep in mind that eating animal food means torturing animals. Man tortures either when he kills them or when he raises them. This is unfortunately very contemporary when we think of present-day factory farming systems.

Butchering animals is wicked. Forcing them to produce more products than is natural is wicked. Forcing them into existence is wicked. "If the use of animal food be, in consequence, subversive to the peace of human society, how unwarrantable is the injustice and the barbarity which is exercised toward these miserable victims. They are called into existence by human artifice that they may drag out a short and miserable existence of slavery and disease, that their bodies may be mutilated, their social feelings outraged. It were much better that a sentient being should never have existed, than that it should have existed only to endure unmitigated misery."

Shelley's advice is to have simple culinary habits as the human being is most capable of bodily exertion after or before a simple meal.

The great Romantic poet advocates vegetarianism in a very convincing and contemporary way. He might be our contemporary or we might be his contemporaries from this point of view.

The only conclusion to be drawn is this: Let us follow Shelley's example and share his views."

Edited August 31, 2007 by Gorilla

[Gorilla]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_of_Adolf_Hitler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_Hitlerum

 

http://www.foodrevolution.org/askjohn/47.htm

Ask John

 

Hitler a vegetarian?

 

Dear John,

 

You people who say that we would all be more peaceful if we ate a vegetarian diet always seem to forget that Adolph Hitler was a vegetarian. That pretty well destroys your belief system, doesn’t it?

 

Anonymous

 

Dear Anonymous,

 

The belief that Adolph Hitler was a vegetarian is widespread, and you are certainly not the only one who carries it. But that doesn’t make it true.

 

Robert Payne is widely considered to be Hitler’s definitive biographer. In his book, Hitler: The Life and Death of Adolph Hitler, Payne says that Hitler’s “vegetarianism” was a “legend” and a “fiction” invented by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda. According to Payne:

 

“Hitler’s asceticism played an important part in the image he projected over Germany. According to the widely believed legend, he neither smoked nor drank, nor did he eat meat or have anything to do with women. Only the first was true. He drank beer and diluted wine frequently, had a special fondness for Bavarian sausages and kept a mistress, Eva Braun… His asceticism was fiction invented by Goebbels to emphasize his total dedication, his self-control, the distance that separated him from other men. By this outward show of asceticism, he could claim that he was dedicated to the service of his people. In fact he was remarkably self-indulgent and possessed none of the instincts of the ascetic.”

 

Rynn Berry is historical advisor to the North American Vegetarian Society and is on the Advisory Board of EarthSave. Publisher’s Weekly wrote of his thoughtful essay, “Why Hitler Was Not a Vegetarian,” that it "lays to rest the myth that Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian." In the essay, Berry writes of the famous chef Dione Lucas:

 

“Dione Lucas was a sort of precursor of the popular television ‘French’ chef, Julia Childe. One of the first to open a successful cooking school in the United States, Lucas was also one of the first chefs to popularize French cuisine on television in the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1930s, prior to her coming to the United States, she had worked as a chef at a hotel in Hamburg, where Adolph Hitler was one of her regular customers.”

 

Indeed, Dione Lucas often cooked for Hitler. In her book, The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook, she makes it clear that this despot was by no means the vegetarian Goebbel’s myth would have us believe. Writing of her recipe for stuffed squab, for example, she says:

 

“I learned this recipe when I worked as a chef before World War II, in one of the large hotels in Hamburg, Germany. I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed squab, but you might be interested to know that it was a great favorite of Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let us not hold that against a fine recipe, though.”

 

Not only did Hitler eat meat, he went so far as to outlaw organizations that advocated vegetarianism, and harshly rebuked all proposals to ease Germany’s food shortages that involved reductions in meat consumption.

 

So the whole story that Hitler was a vegetarian is simply a myth, invented by the infamous Joseph Goebbels. This man, as you no doubt know, was not particularly loyal to the truth. In fact, one of his more famous sayings is that if you tell a lie often enough, and loud enough, people will believe it. Another was the bigger the lie, the easier it is to get people to believe it.

 

The fiction that Hitler was a vegetarian was just one more of the many lies that he told often and loud. It’s certainly time that it be seen for what it is — a falsehood deliberately constructed to advance the Nazi cause and to perpetrate an image of Hitler that obscured the reality of who and what he actually was.

 

Hitler was not a vegetarian. However, many remarkable human beings have been, including Mahatma Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, Pythagoras, George Bernard Shaw, Leo Tolstoy, [and many more] ...

 

It’s going to take a lot more than a few of us giving up meat to arrive at a peaceful world, but everything we can do helps.

 

Thanks for writing and giving me the opportunity to address this question.

 

John

 

 

 

http://www.vegsource.com/

Edited September 1, 2007 by Gorilla

[Gorilla]

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd245/GorillaPics/006.jpg Edited August 17, 2011 by Gorilla

[Gorilla]

So with all this fresh food available, it does seem that supplementation is in the main unnecessary and potentially harmful.

 

(From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_supplement):

 

"Criticisms of vitamin supplementation

 

A 2007 study found that regular supplementation with vitamin E, beta carotene and vitamin A increased mortality by four, seven and sixteen percent respectively.[11]

 

The same study also suggested that vitamin C and selenium had no effect, positive or negative on longevity."

 

It seems there is still a lot of research needed into this area.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_nutrient

[Shesfit]

Education by Gorilla.

 

You're making my head spin, man! It's all good.

 

Hey, what is that luscious looking round fruit in the photo above the bananas?

 

I'm off to the market in one hours ... fresh figs, peaches, blueberries, organic kale .... yumm. I will make me one lovely fruit bowl for lunch.

 

Happy day

[Veganitaliana]

Education by Gorilla.

 

You're making my head spin, man! It's all good.

 

Hey, what is that luscious looking round fruit in the photo above the bananas?

 

I'm off to the market in one hours ... fresh figs, peaches, blueberries, organic kale .... yumm. I will make me one lovely fruit bowl for lunch.

 

Happy day

 

Passion fruit Shesfit! It is absolutley delicious with bananas. The variety found here in Canada, the outside peel is usually orange, not red however. Ciao

[Gorilla]

Nice one Shesfit.

 

Yes - we have some seriously good purple passionfruit going on here

[health freak]

Boy, am i jealous!

 

i don't find passion fruits in Greece!

[Gorilla]

I know - I am extremely lucky. And the climate here really isn't so bad - I really like this time of year

 

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd245/GorillaPics/307.jpg

 

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd245/GorillaPics/311.jpg

 

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd245/GorillaPics/318.jpg

Edited August 17, 2011 by Gorilla

[Gorilla]

I've highlighted the key points in this classic article:

 

FRUITARIAN EATING:

Dangerous or the Optimum Diet?

by Dave Klein

In past issues of this newsletter we have heard from Tom Billings about problems with fruit eating. Furthermore, the American Living Foods Institute and the Hippocrates Institute advise against eating more than a little fruit.

 

In view of

 

1) the physiological fact that our digestive system is designed to handle a diet of mostly fruit,

 

2) scientific evidence that tropical fruit eating promotes optimum brain function,

 

3) the fact that fruit eating has been the best way for some people inside and outside of our group, and

 

4) because some have asked me to speak up in behalf of fruit eating,

 

I'm grateful for the opportunity to offer my perspectives on the matter of fruit eating.

 

Why have some people taken to eating mostly fruit and why are they so expressive about it?

Because we sense deep in our bones, to the core of our essence, that sweet juicy luscious ripe fruit is the best and most harmonizing food to put in our bodies for nourishment. To us, eating fruit feels as natural as breathing air, and we love feeling and expressing how great we feel eating this natural diet. The emotion that fruit eaters express comes from a deep place of knowing. And we feel passionate about inspiring others to connect with their most natural food because we sense that fruit eating is the best way to help the inner joy shine through. We want others to enjoy for themselves the great benefits we feel, namely a clean body, clear mind and vivacious energy. Tom Billings has labeled certain expressive high-energy fruit eaters as "zealots"; I think of them as "passionate."

 

How should one approach fruit eating?

Get the proper education and enjoy. One must understand every step of the way that most discomforts that arise when eating fruit are detoxification symptoms. And, the detoxification period will never end if we eat cooked food or junk food while eating a fruit-based diet. In order to enjoy the high benefits of eating fruit, we need to purify our bodies. That takes time - it can take years. If we choose to be healthy we need to persevere, and it is important to have an experienced health coach. The reward for living correctly, taking best care of ourselves and eating a fruit-based diet is high vitality and natural euphoria. That's my experience - it took me 8 years to get there, after being ill and depleted from 8 years with ulcerative colitis.

 

Uncomfortable symptoms and problems when transitioning onto the fruit diet can also arise from:

 

1) poor food combining (fruit must be eaten on an empty stomach alone or, with only green vegetables);

 

2) existing bacteria in a dirty/mucusy alimentary canal eating the fruit sugars and excreting alcohol and acids (the process of fermentation);

 

3) eating when there is no true hunger (we need to exercise to be hungry),

 

4) eating poor quality fruit (e.g., too acidic oranges, un-ripe fruit, or caramelized dried fruits),

 

5) emotional issues/overeating, and

 

6) lack of exercise. In every case of unsuccessful fruit eating I've observed, the major factors were lack of exercise and incomplete cleansing.

 

Is fruit too sweet?

Tom Billings has suggested that many fruit eaters are sugar addicts. My response has four parts:

 

1) To eat for optimum nutrition we must eat what is delicious.

 

2) Mother's milk is sweet - surely suckling infants are not sugar addicts, and sweet fruit and mother's milk have nearly identical nutrient compositions.

 

3) Overeating sweet fruit is a common problem, and overeating is often a problem on any diet. I often overate when I began my fruit-based diet, and I worked on that, and now I rarely overeat, and when I do it's to a small extent. I have never been around any fruit eater or raw fooder who does not at least occasionally overeat, and most of us are aware of that and working on eating as healthfully as possible. If we overeat on sweet fruit, the problem is not the fruit but our actions.

 

4) There are superbly healthy and emotionally balanced people who have thrived for many years on a fruit-based diet.

 

If sweet fruit feels too sweet, we are toxic - we should stop eating it and do some cleansing with water and diluted citrus juices. Dried fruit is concentrated in sugar, so we should avoid it or eat it sparingly. Many of us feel "sugared out", or tired and spacey from eating too much sweet fruit. Part of that may be fermentation. Part of that may also be impaired pancreas function (insulin production and secretion). Part of that may also have to do with the liver. The liver is the organ which is designed to receive all of the sugar in our blood, and it is not always receptive to the sugar. If our livers are toxic, sluggish or simply not in need of nourishment, the liver cells may not be able to take in the sugar, and then we get into an acute problem: too much sugar in the blood, leading to energy swings, emotional swings, jitters and fatigue.

 

We also need to avoid over doing it with nuts, seeds and avocado - they can overburden the liver and impair sugar reception.

So what's the answer to overeating sweet fruit? Conscious self control, or "conscious eating", as Dr. Gabriel Cousens' puts it. When hungry, it may help to minimize sweet fruit eating and to also eat non-sweet fruits and green vegetables. So instead of filling up on all sweet fruit, one might try eating only a handful of sweet fruit then go right for cucumbers and/or greens and celery, or wait 20 minutes and eat tomatoes if that's appealing.

 

I eat about 95% fruit, and about 50 to 70% of that is non-sweet fruits: cucumbers and, when in season, tomatoes. I normally eat avocado only once per week, I rarely eat nuts or seeds and haven't eaten cooked food in five years. This diet helps me keep my energy level at its highest, my body pure, and my blood sugar balanced.

By the way, I do not label myself as a fruitarian - I think we are better off not identifying ourselves by how we eat or practice health.

 

We need to keep in mind that no diet works unless we exercise, including the fruit diet, because if there is not a cellular demand for all of the fruit sugar, the sugar will back up in the blood and we will have problems. Eating in the morning can make us sluggish if we do not exercise first. I run every morning before breakfast for five to fifteen minutes.

 

 

What about emotions and fruit eating?

It's important not to overeat on sweet fruits when we feel unhappy and need an emotional lift that sugar can bring. Humans eat mostly for emotional reasons, to fill in the psychic hole in our stomachs and to cover up emotional pain with something comforting, like the soothing creamy feeling that food can bring. And fruit makes us feel good inside, so we may overeat. That's not the fruit's fault though! To become healthier, we need to observe our emotions relative to food, and learn how to do the right work which will allow us to feel comfortable with our emotions. We need to learn to put love in our tummies on our own, rather than using food for that. We also need to learn to satisfy only true hunger - that's not easy, but it's necessary to work on it.

 

Fruitarian eating is the lightest of all diets and gives us our lightest body, and we become most sensitive on fruit. Emotional armoring melts away as the body becomes pure, and that can be unsettling and make life more challenging on such an energizing diet. Some feel "ungrounded" on fruit.

In regard to that, learning how to live with conscious awareness via yoga and meditation helps us develop emotional balance and mental composure.

 

"Grounding" ourselves with heavier foods really just makes us duller and less conscious, healthy and alive.

 

Modern living is tough, especially if we live in a metropolitan area. It takes courage to "lighten up" and face our emotions.

So fruit lovers have a choice: follow our senses, lighten up our diet, face our emotions, do the emotional work and become more whole, healthy and alive; or remain "dense" and emotionally closed off and live in contraction. I advise people to seek appropriate counseling or mentoring in the emotional and spiritual aspects of fruit eating. Just one half hour of appropriate help can work wonders. I know of at least eight other counselors who can help people in this area.

 

What about minerals and fruit-eating?

Well-grown fruit has minerals, but maybe not enough. I believe that everyone in this society needs to get more minerals from their diet. Based on my experience and observations, I feel it's prudent for almost everyone, including fruit eaters, to eat some kind of algaes - single cell algaes like spirulina, or leafy algaes like dulse and nori. I personally prefer whole leaf dulse, for I sense that it is helping me to remineralize my body, as I have derived great health benefits since I added it to my diet.

 

Is fruit too cleansing to build muscle on it?

That's the way it appears to many people, but it has not proven to be true for long-time fruit eaters Roe Gallo, Don Weaver, Tom Stone and myself. It can take a few years to build up on fruit.

 

The body will not build up until it is essentially completely detoxified. If fruit eaters stay too thin, their emotions and perceptions about their body and what food is supposed to do for them may figure in that. To gain weight on fruit, we must have the desire to live in a fit body, and we must be relaxed. Weight training may be necessary to build muscle mass - only a little bit can yield pleasing results. If fruit eaters want to gain weight and they are not into physical culture, I suggest that they try a few lessons with a fitness trainer - they may discover how great it can feel to work their muscles, develop muscle tone and have a stronger spine.

 

Dr. Bernard Zovluck in Los Angeles and Stephen Arlin of Nature's First Law in San Diego are both 200 pound 100% raw food body builders who eat mostly fruit.

 

It is noteworthy that over the last year, Dr. Doug Graham, author of "The High Energy Diet" raw food recipe book, trained pro basketball player Ronnie Grandison. Doug is a chiropractor and fitness trainer for world-class athletes (he trained Martina Navratilova at one time) who teaches the Natural Hygiene approach out of his center in Florida. Doug recently informed me that Ronnie transitioned to a diet of about 90% fruit, and in October Ronnie made the New York Knicks team - the world's first pro athlete raw fooder! Ronnie is 6'8", 200 lbs., and according to Doug, is doing better than ever with regard to every aspect of his health and athletic performance.

 

If you're searching for a good reason (there aren't many) to see the Warriors at least once this year, the Knicks are coming to Oakland on March 24. I'll try to get as many tickets as possible!

 

How does a fruit eater stay warm in the winter?

It isn't easy! My vitality drops to an extent every winter. Perhaps the best advice is to move to the tropics. Until we are ready and able to do that, here are some suggestions on how to cope with cold weather:

 

1). Dress as warmly as possible.

 

2). Keep your home as warm as possible.

 

3). Stay in as fit aerobic shape as possible. 4). Eat a little bit more avocado, and seeds and nuts if that works for you.

 

Be aware that we cannot suddenly build an insulating layer of fat by eating a lot more avocado, seeds and nuts. These foods can help us feel better in the cold, by virtue of their fatty and amino acids and B vitamins.

 

However, when we overeat on these foods, the liver and lymph can become congested, and we can become ill as putrefication and toxemia result.

 

Eating warm cooked foods is not a healthful answer to cold weather. I recall that when I ate a bit of cooked food in the winter, after 20 minutes I felt colder and less happy than before I ate - cooked food is toxic, clogging and enervating! And I do not believe that hot soups and teas are the answer either. If we absolutely feel a need to warm up immediately after coming in from the cold, perhaps a hot shower or bath is the way to go.

 

Why have so few people been successful at eating a fruit-based diet?

Let's take a look at healthy long-term fruit eaters in our community.

Roe Gallo, Don Weaver, Tom Stone and myself have been thriving on 90 to 100% fruit for 12 to 22 years, we are definitely very healthy, and I have not observed any nutritional deficiencies in any of us.

 

Why have we succeeded? Here's what we have in common:

 

1) We all know how to live simply and live in our bodies - we love to exercise and keep fit, and we are in touch with our true food needs.

 

2) We know how to think critically and make healthful choices in life.

 

3) We understand human physiology.

 

4) We do not live our lives around food.

 

5) We have done emotional work or have had healthy emotional balance to begin with.

 

6) We eat no animal foods.

 

7) Only one of us eats cooked food, and a minimal amount at that.

 

8.) All but one of us eats algae for the minerals.

 

9) We all have a passion for living and being healthy and we do not allow anything to stand in our way of reaching our goals in life.

 

So, to find the answer to this question, please examine what it takes to succeed. It's a wholistic process that takes uncommon intuitive thinking and complete dedication. A lack of any of those factors cited above is most likely the reason why people have not succeeded. I believe that anyone can succeed at eating a fruit-based diet, and if you'd like to succeed, I encourage you to learn from or "model" healthy fruit eaters and ask us questions - we love to help!

 

Should everybody concur that a fruit-based diet is best for them because other fruit eaters say so?

No. We need to find our own truths for ourselves through education, instinct, contemplation and experience and re-evaluation. When we learn how to keenly tune in to our body's signals, we will know what foods we need to create the level of health we desire.

 

We need to question our perceptions each day, every step along the way, for we do not always think correctly and we are changing, and so do our nutritional needs.

How can we find out what the best diet is for us?

The answer resides in our bodies. Our bodies will tell us what food is needed when we learn how to tune in to its messages. That's a life-long process, and in my opinion, the only way to survive and thrive. If you sense that fruit is the way to go and you have questions about how to succeed, talk with Roe Gallo, Don Weaver, Tom Stone and me to get a personal sense of why we are succeeding.

 

Is fruit eating dangerous?

I believe that fruit eating is the most natural and healthful way to go. If fruit is not eaten correctly, and/or if there are unhealthful lifestyle factors, fruit eating can lead to health problems (and so can any raw food eating style). Without an accurate education in physiology, the detoxification symptoms that come with fruit eating can be misinterpreted. Getting accurate education and coaching from experienced, long-term healthy fruit eaters is wise. Roe and I mentor fruit eaters of all ages and they do very well. To those living foods scientists who say that fruit is bad for the body, I submit that they have never studied long-term healthy fruit eaters and learned from us.

 

What's the scoop on the "Raw Food Diet" book authored by the 3 fruit-loving guys in San Diego called Nature's First Law?

I've become close friends with the Nature's First Law guys and found them to be very warm, fun-loving and passionate educators who are brilliant at attracting attention to the raw food diet. Their book is designed to inspire people to take immediate "raw food action", and I can vouch that it has helped many people, and many believe its approach is right for the times. Everybody seems to be talking about them! Without personally knowing them and their sense of humor, it's easy to take some of their colorful verbiage too seriously. I did at first! I believe that they may become the first ones to popularize the raw food message through the popular media, and they plan to do so very soon.

What's happening in the raw food movement?

Did you see the "USA Today" October 27 feature newspaper article on raw foodism!?! That was quite an amazing and historic breakthrough! It showcased Juliano's RAW Living Foods Restaurant, plugged my Living Nutrition Magazine, and included the landmark quote by Stephen Arlin:

 

"Cooked food is poison."

 

A million people read that! I believe we are all playing a vital role in humanity's survival, and Nature's First Law, Roe and other friends and I have huge plans to take it to the next level....it's all starting to unfold, so get ready!

 

What's up with Living Nutrition Magazine?

The goal is to establish it as the premier periodical on nutrition and health in North America. Issue no. 3, expanded to 24 pages, was sent out in November. Issue no. 4 was 80% complete as of this writing. It's been a long struggle to get it going with little financial backing, but the backing just arrived....stay tuned!

 

Dave Klein is a health education consultant, giving health consultations from his home office in Sebastopol, via phone or e-mail. Phone: (707) 829-8790. E-mail: [email protected]. He also publishes Living Nutrition Magazine. Contact Dave to receive a free copy. Living Nutrition web site: http://www.living-foods.com/livingnutrition

[Gorilla]

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd245/GorillaPics/072.jpg Edited August 17, 2011 by Gorilla

[health freak]

Great, great great great great article! thanks

[Gorilla]

 

 

http://www.rawbc.org/articles/watermelon_art.html

 

 

http://www.watermelon.org/index.asp

[Gorilla]

Interview With Stephen Arlin, Raw-Food Bodybuilder, author of Raw Power!

Interviewed by: Fred Patenaude

 

-Stephen, you have a new book out entitled "Raw Power!", which is said to be the only book about building strength and muscles naturally. What is the general idea behind the book?

 

"Raw Power!" is about how to have the exact body that you've always desired - a beautifully fit, strong, healthy, and vibrant body. Now, most of your magazine readers already know that a raw-food diet is the natural way to eat, but some people have difficulty with building strength & gaining healthy weight. This book is designed to help the reader reach the next level, to surpass the negativity, and to build a body filled with super-strength and energy! This book is about attaining a level of health that is our absolute birthright -- Paradise Health. It is about: eating a 100% natural diet, true natural body-building, and total fitness. The only way to build your body naturally is through eating naturally.

 

-So you think it's possible to get stronger on a raw food diet?

 

(Laughing) Why don't we ask a gorilla that question! A gorilla has the strength equivalent to benchpressing 4,000 pounds -- that's 40 times stronger than the average man. What does the gorilla eat? 100% raw plant foods. It's just common sense -- all the largest and strongest mammals on Earth are 100% raw plant eaters -- the gorilla, the elephant, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, the rhinoceros, the horse, the bull, the buffalo, and so on, are all 100% raw plant eaters!

 

-Are you personally stronger now than when you were a cooked-food eater?

 

Yes, much more so. It's not even remotely comparable. When I went all-raw, I unleashed an inner-strength that I never knew I had. I have been into weight-lifting since I was 14; I wish I would have known about the power of raw foods back then! In addition to the massive strength increase, I find that I need little or no rest between sets of exercises now. Went I first went all-raw, I went through a mild detoxification and I shed 51 unwanted, unhealthy pounds (238 to 187 -- I'm 6'2") and have since then gained back 30 pounds of healthy, solid muscle through the unique training work-outs and 100% raw-plant-food diet outlined in "Raw Power!"

 

-Does the raw-food eater have an advantage over the cooked-food eater in terms

of building muscles?

 

An immeasurable advantage. Building a body with cooked-food nutrition is similar to blowing up a balloon; sooner or later the balloon will deflate. Muscles "blown up" with cooked food and other unnatural substances will eventually atrophy and "deflate." Most fitness experts and body-builders atrophy and wear down pre-maturely. Muscles built on raw-food nutrition last much longer, because they are naturally built. I compare building your body with cooked food to building a brick wall without any mortar. There's no foundation there.

 

-Does your book appeal to the body-builders only?

 

Raw Power! appeals to anyone with a desire to better themselves mentally and physically. All the other books on diet and fitness, or diet and body-building, are wrong. Cooked food does not build a body; cooked food destroys a body in the long-run. "Raw Power!" appeals to everybody, whether you want to look like a raw version of Arnold Schwarzeneggar or you just want a slim, muscular body capable of endless energy and stamina.

 

-Is The Raw-Food Diet for everyone?

 

Every [other] living organism on planet Earth [apart from humans] is a 100% raw-food eater; not 99%, not 70%, not 50% -- 100%! There are trillions of organisms and creatures on this planet that are thriving and living virtually disease-free eating 100% raw foods. There is only one organism that tampers with its food -- the human organism. Trillions to one! Those are staggering odds. That would make the likelihood that we should be eating cooked food about 100,000 times more improbable than winning the lottery. You don't want to bet against those kind of odds.

 

-Why do most raw fooders seem to have problems keeping up their strength and weight?

 

Well, first and foremost, a lot of people that get into the raw-food diet in the first place seem to come from a life of sickness and hypochondriacal behavior. So, with that type of mentality, it's only natural that they fail at achieving their goal health and physique. People must conclusively decide that they want to gain strength and weight and make it their number one priority. People want a quick fix, they want to gain weight and muscle now, today, yesterday! There is no magic pill...only a magic process. The power of mind is incredible. If you truly know in your mind that you can accomplish a goal, you can do it; if you think you can't build strength and muscle, then you can't.

 

-What is your current diet like?

 

I currently eat, by weight, about 70% raw, organic fruit, 25% raw, organic, green-leafy vegetables, and 5% raw, organic nuts and sunflower seeds. Note that I'm using the botanical definition of a fruit which is: A fruit is something that contains the seeds within itself for regeneration of the plant. Avocado, tomato, cucumber, squash, pepper, etc. are all botanical fruits.

[Shesfit]

Oh, those photos are dreamy!

 

I had a fruit-fest at the market. The fresh figs, melons, peaches, apples, plums, blueberries, tomatoes ... I was in heaven! I am just so content now!

 

Veganitaliana: Thanks for pointing out the passion fruit in the photos. I will look for some this week. I love papaya, too, but trying to fill up on as much local produce as I can.

 

Gorilla: That interview about 'Raw Power' is exciting. I have yet to read that book but it will be a must-read for me as I start building a raw food body for competition.

 

Thanks again!

[Odidnetne]

I am going to cry when watermelon goes out of season, will anyone lend a shoulder?

 

Only if you lend me yours after you're done crying on my shoulder.

[Hero]

raw power is a good book.

 

although i would like to see more pictures of steve

[Gorilla]

That's great Shesfit!

 

I agree Hero - there are a couple of photos on the web - he's a big guy

[Gorilla]

I have found this advice extremely useful!

 

Nutrition program for living on fruits 100% all day long

General Rules:

 

1. Monodiet: Never mix different types of fruits.

2. Keep a time difference of about 90 minutes to 2 hours before eating a different fruit type, if you still feel appetite after eating one type of fruit then eat a bit more of the same one until you feel satisfied, then wait about 90 minutes, at least, for the next type of fruit.

3. Eat only when you feel hungry or strong appetite and eat any quantity you want until you feel satisfied.

4. Dried fruits and seeds: eat a small quantity of dried fruits at any time…stop eating them when you are still craving for more…this is valid for dried fruits only, for the fresh ones you can eat any quantity you like.

5. If you are on a 100% fruitarian diet you do not need to drink bottle water…all the water you need for your body is already in the fruits and your body absorbs it in the best way possible, extra water does not bring any well being to the body. If you are on a fasting exercise you must drink water. If you are doing strong physical exercise and you sweat a lot, then drink natural fruit juices or eat fruits with plenty of liquids (Orange, melon, pineapple, coconut, etc.)

6. For people who are in a transition period from other nutrition programs to 100% fruitarian: you may also do weekly exercise of fasting for 24 hours or 36 hours, one time every week.

7. Eat any type of fruit you like at any time, however the following program will give you a guideline for the best fruits according to the time of the day you eat them, if you follow this program 100%, your health will be at the top…for all your life…and it can be very long…you do not have to eat all those fruits in one day!!!! The following time arrangement for different fruits is a guideline for the best effect in nutrition, the boundaries of time are references only…however every person is unique and the needs of the body at any time are unique as well, so just choose what you like at any moment but keep in mind that the following program really does work!!!!

 

 

Beginning of morning:

 

6 AM - 9 AM

 

* Juice of 3 to 5 lemons, or more…(right after waking up)

* Melons (all types). Eat the melon or make melon juice as much as you want

* Dried grapes

 

Your body will clean very well in the morning and you will have a bright and clear brain to think well! Develop the habit of melon juice as your "coffee" in the morning…and you will say "thank you" to yourself later…

 

 

 

During the morning:

 

9 AM - 12 PM

 

Best recommended fruits:

 

* Apples (all kinds)

* Pineapple

* Figs (green/violet)

* Pears

* Grapes (green/violet)

* Plums (yellow)

* Lima

* Kiwi

* Cucumber

 

 

Beginning of afternoon:

 

12 PM - 3 PM

 

Best recommended fruits:

 

* Oranges, Tangerines

* Peaches (all kinds)

* Apricots

* Papaya

 

You will stay happy and light all day long with a strong capacity to enjoy your time and lots of energy to work!

 

 

 

Afternoon:

 

3 PM - 6 PM

 

Best recommended fruits:

 

* Mango

* Cherry

* Strawberry

* Plums (red)

* Persimmon

* Pomegranate

* Water melon

* Tomato

 

 

Late afternoon:

 

6 PM - 9 PM

 

Best recommended fruits:

 

* Grapes (violet), eat many of them…

* Blackberries

* Raspberry

 

 

Evening:

 

9 PM - 12 AM

 

Best recommended fruits:

 

* Mango

* Cherry

* Strawberry

* Plums (red)

* Persimmon

* Pomegranate

* Water-melon

* Tomato

 

If you have to develop some physical activity in the evening you can eat well nourishing fruits as the ones above. Same list as for the afternoon time.

 

 

At any time you feel to like eating them:

 

You may eat these fruits at any time of the day, just follow the general rules of allowing for some time between different fruits.

 

* Banana

* Coconut

* Olives (without chemicals…)

* Avocado (only if ripen and tasty)

* Brazil Nuts (it has complete protein)

* Chestnuts (RAW)…

* Cashew (RAW)

* Nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pine nut

* Lemon juice, of course…

 

 

Before going to bed:

 

12 AM - 3 AM

 

You should not eat anything from midnight until 3 AM…only passion fruit and lemon juice or simple water. If you have to stay awake for any reason do not eat or drink anything else…you will feel good and stay healthy…

 

* Passion fruit (4 to 6)… you will sleep like an angel…

* Water if necessary and very little quantity

* Breath more fresh air (walk outside)

* Lemon juice

 

The passion fruit really helps to sleep good…try it and see for yourself.

 

 

 

Notes:

 

Peanuts and cashews come to the market roasted... but after being heat processed they are "cooked food"…

(From http://www.fruitarian.com)

Edited September 5, 2007 by Gorilla

[Gorilla]

see posts below

Edited August 17, 2011 by Gorilla

[Warrior]

Hey gorillia, I was just wondering where you buy your fruit from. Do you buy it in supermarkets like sainsburys or do you go to farmers markets, fruit stalls etc?

[GregX999]

Hey Gorilla,

 

I just read through this thread for the first time. Have you stayed 100% raw since your last post back in 2007? What happened as far as your health, body composition, exercise habits, etc.?

 

Greg