4. Questions & Answers

As far as I'm concerned, you've nailed down the cause for fruitarianism. But isn't it impossible to nourish yourself well with the general low quality of fruit today? With all the artificial fertilizers, insecticides, and depleted soils, how can we hope to be well-nourished on fruits?

Even with these definite detractions, eating low-quality fruits is still the best we can do if we cannot procure organically grown fruits. Whatever can be said against fruits on this score goes double for everything else other than fruits. This problem does not only exist with fruits!
Should you have fears in this matter, you can invoke insurance in the form of super nutrient-concentrated foods such as green leafy vegetables and nuts.
Keep in mind that there has been little deterioration in fruit quality since the tables of composition were made that are reproduced herein.

You mentioned that some doctors found we needed about an ounce of protein a day, less than 30 grams. Who are these doctors and how did they prove it?

One such doctor was Dr. M. Hinhede of Denmark, who was entrusted to the nutritional welfare of that country for the duration of World War I. Having conducted many experiments on a mono-potato diet, among others, he maintained subjects in fine health for protracted periods while doing hard physical labor. (Some oil on the potatoes and green leaves were also eaten.) The protein intake of his subjects was 30 to 40 grams daily. When he took over as the "food czar" of Denmark, he decreed that animals cease to be reared as food and that the land be devoted to vegetarian fare. He effectively put Denmark on a low-protein diet. As a result, the health of Danes greatly improved, the death rate plummeted and there was never a food shortage. He wrote a book, Protein and Nutrition, which presents his studies.
Professor Russell H. Chittenden of Yale University was one of the pioneers of nutritional research. He conducted many varied  experiments.  These experiments involved diets, restricted diets and limited protein intake. In his Nutrition of Man we learn of his experiments with his fellow professors and students on food intake. We learn how he reduced food intake severely yet his subjects still continued to grow and thrive.
Chittenden reduced the protein intake of Yale athletes to a mere 25 grams of protein daily, yet they continued to gain weight, became more muscular and performed better than before. Among the many experiments he conducted were competition between his vegetarian athletes and meat-eating athletes. The vegetarians, on the average, outperformed the meat eaters by a large margin.

Is there any harm in adding a meal of sunflower seeds and a salad of vegetables to a general fruitarian program?

Having been on fruitarian fare for a long time and then having a meal of sunflower seeds and tomatoes, with some vegetables such as broccoli and celery, I can attest to its tastiness. All tables of composition say I'm getting more than enough of everything I need. They don't tell about the extra sleep required after even a moderate meal of such fare, nor the drowsiness the following morning, nor the mental dullness nor the physical disinclination to activity.
I would say this indicates in part a body that is accommodated to fruitarian fare—in fact, one that has a marked preference for fruitarian fare! It can handle such food, but it greatly burdens the system. Unaccustomed expenditure of energies and nerve force produce what is, in effect, a hangover.
I would say that for one accustomed to fruitarian fare there is some harm in indulging in such a meal. Yet the books show that there is great nutritional gain to be had by eating such a meal. Personally, I find I'm better off without it. The definitive answer remains to be rendered in this matter.

I just love potatoes about any way they're prepared. Are potatoes so terribly bad if eaten with vegetables?

I've just cited what Dr. M. Hinhede of Denmark did for millions of people on a diet heavy in potatoes. He kept one man in good health for 12 years on a mono diet of potatoes.
Potatoes are not our natural foods. The cell coverings of their starches prevent our access to the potato's food value if they're eaten raw. Cooking breaks the cells and releases the starch which, by the heat, has been partially dextrinized. But the heat required to break down cellulose does far more damage than that.
Potatoes are not a wholesome food. However, they are far less harmful than the conventional American diet. Fruits are far superior on every count. When you consider that the body must digest and convert the starchy/dextrinized potato to glucose for body use, does it not seem far better to eat fruits whose sugars are already in the form of glucose (fructose or levelose)? NO digestion is needed for fruits—just eat and appropriate.

What about eating the seeds of fruits? Pumpkin seeds and nuts are actually the seeds of fruits, not the fruit itself. Is it good to eat the seeds of apricots, apples, peaches, grapes, melons and so on?

During our millions of years sojourning in nature, there is evidence that our dietary consisted of some nuts that were primarily oily and proteinaceous and had little or no starch. I want to emphasize that nuts were usually secondary and constituted a very small part of our diet. As fruit eaters, we obtained our water needs from our fare and thus developed no water-drinking equipment as a part of our anatomy. Had we been nut and seed eaters, this would not have been the case. Thus it may be said that we are incidentally nut and seed eaters.
I advise you to limit your and your clients' intake of nuts to small portions on rather infrequent occasions, certainly not more than three or four times weekly. This is meant to apply to an oily fruit, the avocado, as well, because it has the same consistency as some nuts. Apple, peach and apricot seeds are outright poisonous. Melon seeds are not relished, though the melons themselves are great. Pumpkin seeds are of about the same consistency of nuts, as are sunflower and sesame seeds. Grape seeds should not be eaten. In the use of fruits, keep in mind that the fruit adequately supplies our needs. Our symbiotic role in nature—our implied compact with trees—is to eat the fruit as our reward for distributing the seeds.

I feel you've proved your point about fruit being our natural food. But where do you find anyone today who lives on just fruits? Hasn't everyone gotten off base?

Yes, it's true that fruitarians are so rare that they seem nonexistent. I would consider myself fruitarian, though I eat perhaps 2 to 3% vegetable fare such as lettuce, celery, broccoli, sprouts and bok choy.
There are other fruitarians in this country, especially in California, Florida and Hawaii. There are tribes and societies of fruit eaters in the Amazon of Brazil and in the Southwest Pacific. There are some fruit eating societies and groups in Europe and Africa, some in Asia and some in Australia. But, relatively, fruitarians are very rare.
Indeed, almost everyone is off base. Likewise, almost everyone suffers some physical problem.

How do you suppose fruits developed in the first place?

There is symbiosis or mutual cooperation and harmony in nature. It is not a jungle where only the fittest survive its vicissitudes, as is widely thought. There are few vicissitudes in nature.
Trees bearing fruit developed alongside creatures that demanded fruits. Trees responded to this beneficial patronage by developing even more profuse amounts of luscious fruits. Those creatures demanding a variety of fruits fared better and better as they grew and improved, thus demanding even more fruits.
We observe in nature how symbiosis works by noting that bees are specifically provided nectar by flowers. The bees, in gathering this nectar for food, contaminate themselves with pollen from the anthers of the flowers. When they visit other flowers they perform the service of spreading the pollen to the stigma of the flower pistil. This facilitates pollination, a valuable service. As you know, without bees, flowers of trees will not be pollinated to any great extent. Likewise, without fruit-eating animals there would be no fruit trees. The development of fruits and fruit eaters was mutual and parallel.

You've spoken about fruits without their water content. If you don't consider water, what amount of proteins, mineral salts, fatty acids and vitamins should our foods contain to meet our needs?

Let's look at a fine food, bananas. Let us consider 1 1/2 pounds, or 680 grams, of dry weight bananas. The protein content of this amount of bananas is 31 grams, or about 4.5% of total dry weight. Its mineral matter comprises 22 grams, or about 3.3%. Its fats amount to about 5.2 grams or about .8%. Its carbohydrates amount to about 610 grams which is, as you can see, about 90% of the total weight. The rest is unusable cellulose, which is neutral in character in the human body. That is, it is neither harmful or helpful.
Inasmuch as bananas are excellently qualified to meet our needs, you can see that our primary need is for fuel values. Other nutrients, though being equally essential, comprise a small percentage of the whole.

Are dried fruits as good as fresh fruits? Should we eat them at all?

Dried fruits are never as good as fresh ripe fruits. Yes, we should eat dried fruits when the fresh fruits available to us do not meet our caloric needs. Dried fruits have lost a substantial part of their vitamins and some of their minerals due to oxidation. Dried fruits are good primarily for their fuel values. They are usually ultra-sweet and thus serve as wonderful desserts when eaten with other fruits.

If we get all the Vitamin B-12 we need from bacteria in our digestive canal, then why do vegetarians have less B-12 than do meat eaters?

There could be many reasons for the variance in amount of B-12. The body takes up from the ileum the amount it requires for use and storage. While both meat-eaters and vegetarians have about a five-year reserve supply of vitamin B-12, the levels of B-12 in the blood stream of meat-eaters is much higher than that in fruit-eaters and vegetarians, Meat eaters represent a pathological norm. They may have more B-12 in the system because of increased need due to their condition, or it may be that their bloodstream is contaminated by the meats they eat as well as being profusely supplied by intestinal bacterial activity. The higher amount of B-12 may be due to both increased need and increased supply.
We must regard nutrients in regard to our need for them. Getting enough is all that is necessary.

Why are vegetarians warned so much about Vitamin B-12 deficiency? Why do so many use cheese, eggs and other dairy products to get Vitamin B-12?

Many vegetarians fall victim to the propaganda of commerce. Such unsuitable items of diet ruin health—not enhance it.

How does the body rob its bones and teeth of calcium ? Isn't that a ridiculous statement to make?

When the body is in an emergency situation that requires base mineral salts for food metabolization, it does autolyze its teeth and bones for the needed base organic salts. Some such emergency situations include ingesting white sugar, or acid neutralization as in uric acid from meat, or when its supply is exhausted due to an acidotic diet sparse in alkaline minerals. This is how osteoporosis and osteomalacia occur.

If Hygienists and Life Scientists give only lip service to fruit as the ideal, what do they really eat?

They do eat a lot of fruit, but it usually comprises considerably less than half of their intake. Much of their intake is in nuts, salads, steamed potatoes, rice, cheese, steamed squash, steamed sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli and steamed corn. While most eat around 50 to 80% raw, I would regard the 20 to 50% eaten in cooked form far less than ideal.

When I eat fruits, especially bananas, I get gas. Why is this so?

When you get gas, that means you're not properly absorbing the sugars of the bananas. Bacteria are fermenting it. I usually eat bananas alone and do not have this problem. I sometimes eat bananas with other fruits and with celery and lettuce. I still do not have this problem. If your body is not absorbing the sugars available from bananas, there must be some physiological faculty involved that is not functioning properly. I suggest that you fast for a period of time and then try bananas again a day or two after breaking the fast.
Fruits do not cause gas. Failure to absorb their carbohydrates makes them available to our bacterial flora which create gas. Overeating, of course, can cause quite a bit of gas. Eating wrong combinations can cause lots of gas. That food material that is not absorbed will be dealt with by intestinal flora which ferment and/or putrefy it in accord with the character of the food.

I've tried a few fruit meals for a few days running. They don't stay with me very long and I get hungry again very quickly. Is that normal?

It is normal to absorb meals of fruits quickly. But it is abnormal to be hungry again immediately after such a meal has been appropriated, for the body usually shuts down the appestat upon having absorbed its needs of sugars and nutrients.
There exist several possibilities as to why you feel hungry so quickly. Possibly you're mistaking appetancy for hunger. Possibly you have gastric irritation. Possibly your body has not yet accommodated to fruit meals and still has irritations that drive you to yet seek the old satisfactions and stimulations. But it is unlikely that the fruit meals are not supplying your needs or that you are feeling true hunger as a result of your bodily needs.
Demonstrated irrefutably in this lesson is the nutritional adequacy of fruits in supplying human needs.
In the previous lesson we demonstrated that fruits are the only foods that meet, all relevant criteria for a human food. This lesson has shown that specific nutrients for which RDA's have been established are contained amply within the various fruits available to us on our markets.
Further, this lesson has dealt with charges made against fruits as foods and refutes them on a charge-by-charge basis. The lesson shows that the charges are groundless and are of a nature as might be inspired by the meat, grain and dairy industries who have a commercial interest in promoting their products.