Fruitarianism ♥

[Altair]

Originally Posted by Sapphirez

Why do societies spend tedious hours or months picking tiny little parcels of rice or fashioning grains into flours for pastas and all this as was mentioned as staple foods? Why wouldn't we just devote that time, energy, and monetary investment into building up vast gardens and that agriculture to supply societies with?

Originally Posted by Sapphirez

Is it really that hard to imagine or implement? No it certainly is not, here on Earth things grow.. it's what they do.

You need different soil for different food production. Rice is produced in wet areas where production of many fruits wouldn't be a success. Where I live many fruits grow best in dry and sandy soil, yet a large chunk of the country also happens to be sea clay soil. It depends on where you are and what you want to grow...

Grains as well as beans are excellent food source for us ((the biggest issue is that most of what we produce goes to livestock)) and they can be produced and shipped in large quantities, and therefore have lower environmental impact. Doing this with fruit that needs to be cooled and kept fresh has a larger impact than doing it with beans and grains. If we had to sustain ourselves on fruit alone we'd run into serious trouble, not just due to soil limitations and nutritional needs but also because we would have to preserve it and needed a lot of fruit produce all year round..

My family had/have fruit trees and bushes, chickens, and vegetable garden. It isn't entirely self sufficient, and you're still dependent upon different food sources. One group of foods alone won't get you far..

What we can do is become less dependent on livestock. They also needs grains/beans so we waste a lot of precious space as well as water. Just last year, when we had a very hot and dry summer, much of the country's water was used for livestock farming, putting further strain on the environment and drying up forests even more..

[Lucky 1]

Originally Posted by Altair

You need different soil for different food production. Rice is produced in wet areas where production of many fruits wouldn't be a success. Where I live many fruits grow best in dry and sandy soil, yet a large chunk of the country also happens to be sea clay soil. It depends on where you are and what you want to grow...

Grains as well as beans are excellent food source for us ((the biggest issue is that most of what we produce goes to livestock)) and they can be produced and shipped in large quantities, and therefore have lower environmental impact. Doing this with fruit that needs to be cooled and kept fresh has a larger impact than doing it with beans and grains. If we had to sustain ourselves on fruit alone we'd run into serious trouble, not just due to soil limitations and nutritional needs but also because we would have to preserve it and needed a lot of fruit produce all year round..

My family had/have fruit trees and bushes, chickens, and vegetable garden. It isn't entirely self sufficient, and you're still dependent upon different food sources. One group of foods alone won't get you far..

What we can do is become less dependent on livestock. They also needs grains/beans so we waste a lot of precious space as well as water. Just last year, when we had a very hot and dry summer, much of the country's water was used for livestock farming, putting further strain on the environment and drying up forests even more..

Grains are not natural to the human diet and a huge segment of the world population...about 70% ....has problems digesting them and digestive issues or other health issues from eating them....and don't even realize it.

Corn, wheat, rye, rice and barley are five of the worst grains you can consume.

Corn for instance is a good example of a grain that humans genetically bred modified and hybridized starting several thousand years ago and up until just a few decades ago was considered an widespread allergen for about 70% of the world population till the corn growers lobby successfully got it removed form the medical literature as such.

[Altair]

Originally Posted by Lucky 1

Grains are not natural to the human diet

They most certainly are or we wouldn't be able to get nutritional benefits from them.. Grains have also been central in building civilizations..

There's people with grain allergies and there's people with lactose intolerance..
I don't have either problem and my ancestors have consumed both for thousands of years..

[Lucky 1]

Duplicate post.......

[Lucky 1]

Originally Posted by Altair

They most certainly are or we wouldn't be able to get nutritional benefits from them.. Grains have also been central in building civilizations..

There's people with grain allergies and there's people with lactose intolerance..
I don't have either problem and my ancestors have consumed both for thousands of years..

As a true omnivore we can survive on practically anything edible including grains.....but we did not evolve to eat grains, it is not natural to our diet and a large portion of the worldwide population has problems with it.

Nutrition wise....much of the nutrients in grains are not digestible by humans.

There have also been several well publicized long term studies done by accredited universities that indicate that people who regularly consume grains don't live as long and suffer more endocrine related problems such as diabetes.

Ecologically....Consumption of grains is very new to the human diet.....just the last few thousand years with the advent of agriculture.

And virtually all grains have undergone constant hybridization and changes by man....for instance.....the wheat of today bares no resemblance to the wheat of just a couple of hundred years ago and corn has no resemblance what so ever to corn of centuries past.

Grains are best avoided for these reasons

[Sapphirez]

Some good points were brought up recently by you all.

Altair you're right that growing and storing fruits can pose issues. Yes not everywhere is suitable for all fruits or plants, but something can grow everywhere, and where it can't, we can utilize greenhouses and other technological advancements.. because we are at a stage where all sorts of things are possible, only too much energy and money is devoted to things that are detrimental to us rather than working in our favor. which you sum up well about livestock demands.
Similarly, all the time, energy and money spent on things like rice and grains could be spent on fruit and things much healthier for us. And again the beauty of fruit is that harvesting it doesn't require total destruction of the plant it grows on, so it can be potentially sustainable, and the world definitely needs more plantlife around.

There is just too much technology and infrastructure, and human energy spent on a variety of things that are essentially or eventually harmful for us to use the excuse that growing a food that is actually great for us is not feasible. It is, and we are well evolved enough, just not spiritually or intellectually as a whole at this point. It's clear that no country or area needs to be poor, it just needs the tools and support to grow better and thrive. Obviously things are very corrupt and imbalanced in a number of ways, but the thing is, people eating more fruit and healing foods will result in less corruption and competition, etc.. Consider how many illions of dollars go into buildings and establishments and companies and political regimes that only serve to harm us, even a fraction of that energy and money investment would likely support the entire world being supplied with and fed fruit and given the means to grow and sustain it.

We're just not there.. but I feel that a lot of the reason is because people have been deprived of and deviated too far from their ideal diet and consumption, so if they were fed what they were supposed to be we would evolve in a much better way and finally come together as we're meant to. It is not a wonder that so many people are focused on themselves when their own bodies are broken factories that cause them pain and discomfort on a daily basis, how can we expect to extend our energy outward amply given this scenario? Yet humans are innately kind, generous, loving, and supportive, so of course we still see this, just not enough.. but we could. I can nearly guarantee we'll never get there if we don't evolve our diet to reflect the most evolved foods, which are inarguably fruits of plants. and perhaps flowers hehe, herbs and such.. which is also important to consider when contemplating the frugivore diet, because some herbs have some of the highest nutrient content. and a host of other marvelous benefits to help us body, mind, and soul.



Lucky 1 that's some good information about grains. and that's not even getting into the whole reality of what gluten specifically does to or in the human body. I'd like to learn more about the truths of corn and rice. I agree they are not good food sources but don't now enough specific facts. I've seen a picture of ancient corn and yeah it even looks more like wheat than the corn we have today. It's clear that hybridization is a problem, though not nearly as bad as genetic modification that goes onto today what with them injecting gut exploding bacteria (bacillus thurgiensis or whatever the bt-toxin strain is) into every cell of the corn or plant. even tobacco and cotton are largely gmo unfortunately. but that's getting a bit off track..


I'd like to share this excerpt from a book I just began reading that paints a decent picture of why some foods are detrimental for us. Though this is only one of the aspects and there are more, I think it's a good starting point to understand and consider




"Once foods are broken down, we must now absorb these building materials ... Absorption is accomplished through the villi (fingerlike projections on the surface of certain membranes) and small pores all along the mucous membranes of the small and large intestines. This absorption should be simple, but most people’s intestines become impacted with a thick rubber-like substance called “mucoid plaque.” This thick plaque, which develops in the GI tract, is made of gluten, mucus, foreign protein, and other food by- products that act more like glue than nutrition! Refined sugars, grains, meats,and dairy products are the foods that are most responsible for the formation of this plaque. This “mucoid plaque” blocks the nutritional components of our foods from being adequately absorbed into the body."

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Lucky 1

As a true omnivore we can survive on practically anything edible including grains.....but we did not evolve to eat grains, it is not natural to our diet and a large portion of the worldwide population has problems with it.

Nutrition wise....much of the nutrients in grains are not digestible by humans.

The protein and minerals in grain (such as oats) are taken up well by the human body.

There have also been several well publicized long term studies done by accredited universities that indicate that people who regularly consume grains don't live as long and suffer more endocrine related problems such as diabetes.

Research generally shows a correlation between whole grains and increased life expectancy. Refined grains are correlated with reduced life expectancy. Many say that whole grains significantly reduce diabetes risk (but that's probably due to reduction of refined grains).


However, the results don't actually say whole grains decrease morbidity and mortality and refined grains increase it. It is far more likely that people who eat whole grain are more health conscious overall than those who eat refined grains.

Ecologically....Consumption of grains is very new to the human diet.....just the last few thousand years with the advent of agriculture.


And virtually all grains have undergone constant hybridization and changes by man....for instance.....the wheat of today bares no resemblance to the wheat of just a couple of hundred years ago and corn has no resemblance what so ever to corn of centuries past.

Same as all food.

Grains are best avoided for these reasons

Practically all the data show health benefits of consuming whole grains, and the unhealthy effects of highly refined grains (junk food).

[Altair]

Yeah.. whole grains were/are beneficial. Grains get the bad rep now because of cookies, cakes, and white bread..

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Altair

Yeah.. whole grains were/are beneficial. Grains get the bad rep now because of cookies, cakes, and white bread..

Well, they have a great nutrient content provided not too refined, but we can get mislead by the 'hack science' which says one thing is good and another thing is bad. The stats on grains correlation with positive healthy outcomes probably has nothing to do with grains at all - and much more likely that people who go for whole grains are health conscious (eat better/exercise more) and those going for refined grains are more likely have a mess of unhealthy lifestyle habits.

[Altair]

You can say that about almost anything health related, so not sure why you would emphasize it now..
Anyways. Grains provide people with carbs, protein, vitamins, iron, magnesium and other nutrients so they are good and they are not just good for those that live healthy in general..