Living Fully Nourished

The Top Fruit Diet

The requirements of our ideal food

The conditions that the natural food for humans must satisfy were described by T.C.Fry in The Life Science Health System (1).

1) Food Must Be Non-Toxic
First and foremost food must be toxin-free. None of the compounds and substances in food should present a digestive problem. The body must have enzymes adapted to handle every substance within food. Toxic substances are those which the body cannot use as food. Substances that the body cannot use but the absorption of which cannot be prevented (like alcohol, drugs, etc.) are toxic.

2) Food Must Be Edible in its Raw State
Food must be edible in its living or raw state as we find it in nature. If we cannot be satiated with a certain food in its raw state and it doesn’t make a balanced meal that meets all or most of our nutrient requirements, then it is not a natural food for humans and should be discarded in favour of foods that do.

3) Food Must Have Sensory Appeal
Foods of our adaption have great sensory appeal. They are a delight to the eye, their aromas tantalize our sense of smell and their substance is an unqualified gustatory delight.

4) Food Must Be Digested Easily When Eaten Alone or Properly Combined
Foods of human adaption undergo practically no digestion in the stomach and humans can absorb the chyme and chyle of their natural foods with very little chemical elaboration in the stomach and in the small intestine.

5) Food Must Be Digested Efficiently
While ease of digestion necessarily also implies efficiency of digestion, I am referring to another aspect of efficiency. The food that is consumed represents a certain amount of energy potential. To derive this energy from food, the body must spend energy to obtain it. The ratio of energy obtained relative to energy expenditure determines the ratio of efficiency.

6) Food Must Have Protein Adequacy
The less protein eaten down to the point of adequacy, the better. Protein is taken into the body to replenish amino acid components needed/required for a multitude of applications. There are three things you should keep in mind relative to protein digestion:
* the body can recycle up to two-thirds of its protein waste to meet its needs;
* protein digestion requires an expenditure of energy equivalent to about 70% of its total caloric content; and
* neutralization and elimination of the toxins of protein degeneration (putrefaction) use up vast amounts of nerve energy which, though stimulating at the time, exhaust and debilitate the body.

7) Food Must Be Adequate in Vitamin Content
Some 30 vitamins have been determined to be needed in various quantities in the human diet. The vitamins must be in the diet in an organic context with other nutrients to be useful.

8) Food Must Be Adequate in Mineral Salts
Our only source of the minerals of life is from food. They are only in their organic context when in food, which is the only way they can be assimilated and used by the body. Under no circumstances the body can use inorganic minerals coming from water, supplements or powdered rock.

9) Natural Food Must Supply Our Needs for Essential Fatty Acids
The food nutrients which the body requires but cannot synthesise are called essential. The essential fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) are unsaturated fats.

10) Natural Food Must Supply Our Calory Requirements
The energy we spend must be derived from our food intake. The foods which most efficiently and easily supply our caloric needs are those with high monosaccharide content (glucose, fructose, galactose).

11) Natural Food has enough Water to Meet Our Needs in Most Cases
Foods to which we are biologically adapted normally meet all our water needs. This is obvious, for we have no water-drinking faculties, other than suction, which is necessary for swallowing food. Primates normally do not drink water.

12) Natural Food Is Alkaline in Metabolic Reaction
We require foods that are alkaline- or base-forming when metabolized. Almost every food of our adaptation is base-forming, even if it has an acidic pH in its natural state. Should we eat any acid-forming foods, they should be offset at the same meal with alkaline-forming foods such as green leaves or other vegetable fare.

Fruit meets these criteria or requirements:

The reasons why we are frugivores were extensively exposed by T.C. Fry in The Life Science Health System (1), by Dr Douglas Graham in The 80/10/10 Diet (2), and by Dr David Klein in Your Natural Diet: Alive Raw Foods (3).

I will only give a summary of these reasons here. Please refer to these books for more details.

1) Fruits meet our dietary requirements:

• They are toxin-free for humans
• They are edible in their raw state
• They appeal to our senses
• They are easily digested
• They are efficiently digested (the number of calories spent on digestion is the lowest compared with all other foods, and the number of calories supplied is maximal).
• They provide all necessary nutrients in terms of proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.
• They are water-sufficient
• They are alkaline in the metabolic reaction

2) Evidence from human anatomy, physiology and psychology:

1) A baby whose instincts have not been corrupted will always prefer fruit to any other natural food
2) We are equipped with hands for gathering fruit
3) We are not carnivorous:

• We have no claws, no fanged teeth, nor enough running speed to chase; we need tools.
• We feel pity for animal suffering
• We don’t relish eating raw meat or fish, nor can we digest them
• Meat is acidic for the human metabolism
• We don’t have the uricase enzyme to neutralise uric acid
• We can’t manufacture our own vitamin C

4) We are not herbivores:

• Vegetables don’t appeal as much as fruit
• Vegetables barely meet our caloric requirements
• Most vegetable matter is indigestible for us; we don’t have several stomachs
• Most raw vegetables are not appealing and inedible; we need to cook them
• Most vegetables contain anti-nutrients that are difficult to neutralise

5) We are not granivores (we do not eat grains):

• Grains are inedible and unappealing in their raw state
• They contain many anti-nutrients, we don’t have the phytase enzyme
• We have very few starch enzymes

6) We are not dairy drinkers:

• Milk is made for babies of the same species
• Adults don’t have rennin and lactase enzymes to digest milk

7) Humans are members of a particular sub-group of mammals known as the primates (Primate Order).

8) We share a similar anatomy with primates: a similar dental structure, similar hands and feet, our eyes look forward, we have an intestinal canal that is 12 times the length of our body, our colon is convoluted, we have one stomach with duodenum, and a smooth tongue.

9) We share a similar physiology with primates: there is an alkaline reaction of saliva and urine, a weak hydrochloric acid production in our stomach, and a low amylase enzyme production.

10) Wild primates live mainly on fruit and greens.

Every animal species thrives on the food they are adapted to. How can a cow or a giraffe grow, maintain and repair all their bones, muscles, skin, organs, and the rest of their body, if they, as adults, don’t eat meat or drink milk? Because they can derive all necessary proteins, fatty acids, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins purely from grass and leaves.

How can a tiger or a lion get all the nutrients their body needs? Raw flesh, organs and bones are their main nourishment, and they also eat a small amount of grass.

How does a gorilla meet all their nutrient requirements to maintain their magnificent fur, extraordinary strength and a prominent brain? From eating just leaves, stems, fruit and some insects.

All animals are able to live healthily and thrive on food that corresponds to their species. In the same way, we humans can develop and achieve our maximum potential purely with the appropriate food, that is, fruit.

Babies: seeds, nuts, grains, pulses and eggs

Seeds include grains (cereal and pseudo-cereal), legumes (beans and pulses) and nuts; also poppy, sunflower, pumpkin, flax and sesame seeds. Even coffee and chocolate, derived from the coffee bean and cocoa bean, are seeds. Green beans contain seeds, as does soy. And spices, such as pepper, mustard, fennel and nutmeg, are seeds.

Seeds are the “babies” of plants and, as every living being in nature, plants protect their babies in order to increase the chances of the species to survive. They achieve this protection by covering the seed with a shell and by incorporating antinutrients, such as lectins, oxalates, phytates and saponins, as defences. Ingesting these antinutrients give animals a feeling of unease, such as an upset stomach, and can impair digestion and the absorption of nutrients. Some antinutrients have as well the function of blocking seeds from sprouting prematurely (10). Humans have succeeded in decreasing the antinutrient content of seeds through various culinary procedures, including cooking, soaking, fermenting and sprouting. However, considerable amounts of antinutrients can still remain despite these measures.

These antinutrients add to the pool of toxins that the body must manage. For persons with hypersensitivity, the body is not able to neutralise them with the normal body processes, and it is forced to remove these toxins via extraordinary paths of elimination.

As the baby of a bird, eggs are protected by a shell and full of antinutrients. It is for this reason that they tend to be so allergenic.

The antinutrients present in seeds and grains seem to be the most likely explanation for their allergenic tendency. The section on Antinutrients in the chapter Theories provides an extended explanation to this subject.

Seeds tend to be a weakening factor for hypersensitivity and they can also be a triggering factor.

But seeds, grains, nuts and pulses are not equally dangerous when it comes to hypersensitivity. Most nuts and seeds can be eaten raw, as they have an acceptable good taste and don’t need to be cooked in order to be ingested. The main problem is the hull that protects them, which makes necessary for us to use tools in order to crack them. As we will see in the section about Peeling, this makes them sub-optimal foods compared to fruits; however, we could consider the possibility of them being acceptable.

Grains and all kind of pulses are not edible at all in their raw state. The worst of all are legumes, including soy, which are the only foods eaten only by humans. There is no other animal that eats legumes. They have the highest content in antinutrients (11) and non-digestible oligosaccharides (12).

Cereals are highly noxious for health, because of the antinutrients they have, as well as their starch and protein content - wheat gliadin, barley hordein, rye secalinin, rice orzenin, oat avenim, corn zein, etc. - which are responsible for a large number of diseases, from celiac disease to any chronic and inflammatory disease and, of course, hypersensitivity.

In a study gluten has been shown to be harmful to all the people: “The data obtained in this pilot study support the hypothesis that gluten elicits its harmful effect, throughout an IL15 innate immune response, on all individuals.” (13). For more information I recommend to read the following books: No Grain No Pain by Dr. Osborne (14), Grain Brain by Dr. Perlmutter (15), Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (16), L’alimentation ou la troisième médecine by Dr. Seignalet (17).

Pseudo-grains, such as quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth, are not as harmful as cereals, but they are also problematic for health, as it is explained in the previously mentioned books.

When the person has recovered his vital energy, usually after some time on the Top Fruit Diet, it is possible that he is able to tolerate nuts in small amounts. But adding nuts to the diet is just for the pleasure of the crispy and fatty nutty taste; their nutrients are not needed at all. In fact, the body will feel much better without nuts.

There are big differences between the different nuts. Just like fruit, tropical, easy to peel and low antinutrient content nuts are better, as we will see further in this chapter. I strongly advice against cashews and cola nut.

Cashews are tropical, but raw cashews are not edible; they contain urushiol, a toxic substance if ingested. To remove this substance, cashews must go through a rigorous roasting or steaming process to ensure they are safe to eat. In fact, commercial cashews have been treated in order to make them edible. Therefore, if they are not intended to be eaten raw it means that it is not food for humans.

Cola nut, used in cola drinks, contains caffeine and theobromine, so it has the same problems than coffee and cocoa.

Commercial nuts go through a long industrial process of cleaning, hulling (remove the hull) and/or shelling (remove the shell) automatic classification by size, anti-infestation treatment, drying or pasteurizing, quality inspection and packaging. Organic ones are frozen instead of the chemical measures to prevent infestation. Depending on the factory, the pasteurization will be performed using chemicals or water. A microwave drying machine is often used in the drying step.

So it is better to buy unshelled nuts (with shell) and crack them at home, so they have not been submitted to all these processes.

Peanuts are botanically classified as pulses, because they are found inside a pod. But in terms of nutritional composition they are more like nuts, and they are covered by a hull as well. So I consider them as nuts. Their shell is very easy to open and they are tropical nuts. But it turns out that peanuts contain a very high rate of lectins, an antinutrient that is associated with leaky gut. (18)

It is quite rare to find raw peanuts. Most of them are roasted, both shelled and unshelled ones, but some organic stores sell raw peanuts with shell.

Almonds and hazelnuts are native to Asia and Mediterranean countries. Once shelled they still need a short cooking process (boiling or roasting) in order to remove the inner skin, as it cannot be manually removed. This skin concentrates most of the antinutrients.

Walnuts and pecan nuts are quite bitter and the skin cannot be removed either. They grow mainly in cold climates.

Chestnuts are not recommended raw, because their high content in tannic acid, and they must be cooked to be palatable, which means that is not good for humans. The nutritional composition of chestnuts is very different to the one of nuts in general: they have a very high content of carbohydrates and are low in fats, while nuts are very high in fats and low in carbohydrates.

Brazil nuts have an outer husk similar to coconut and it is also needed a machete to crack it. Inside this outer husk there are several seed nuts, every one covered by another very hard shell. Once this second shell is cracked, there is still another skin which is very difficult to remove with your hands, but you can scratch it with a knife, for example.

Macadamia nuts have a relatively easy-to-open shell with just a small stone, and it is a tropical nut.

Pine nuts and pistachios are not too difficult to crack either. They grow mainly in the Mediterranean region and Northern climates. Pine nuts are easy to find in the late summer - fall forest.

Pistachios, as well as cashews, are very high in galacto-oligosaccharides, which are non-digestible carbohydrates.

The conclusion is that if ever one wants to have some nuts, the ones that can be bought unshelled and raw are preferable, and even better if they are organic and tropical, such as macadamia nuts and Brazil nuts, although they are quite expensive.

Commercial unshelled nuts can be quite freshly harvested. These nuts are better let to rest for some weeks before eating them.

Regarding poppy, sunflower, pumpkin, flax and sesame seeds, the ones that can be hulled - sunflower, pumpkin and sesame - are acceptable if the person can tolerate them. The ones the shell of which cannot be removed contain too many antinutrients. The hull is completely indigestible and harms the digestive tract during its passage. Therefore, although they are recommended in cases of constipation, the drawbacks are more important than the advantages. Constipation is not a problem when following the diet intended for humans. Poppy seeds, although they can be shelled, contain opiates.

In order to decrease the amount of antinutrients of all kind of seeds several processes are advised: soaking, cooking, fermenting and sprouting.

The effect of cooking can be found in the Appendix 2. Fermenting and sprouting are addressed further in this chapter.

Regarding soaking, apparently some antinutrients are dissolved a little bit when foods are soaked, depending on the type of seed.
 

Insulation: fats and oils

According to T.C.Fry (1), when eaten together, fats envelope other foods, preventing enzymatic action, and resulting in undigested food and all the consequences that follow. Furthermore, fats can overload the liver.

In my case, I have observed that consumption of fats leads to indigestion and GERD, as well as fatigue.

Fats can disrupt the skin’s balance of fatty acid composition. Skin problems can arise when the body’s fatty acid ratios become inappropriate, as well as endocrine, immune, cardiovascular and neurological disorders. The membrane of every cell of the body is made of fats, so they can affect any part of the body.

Fats are a weakening factor, and all vegetable oils are a weakening factor for allergies and skin problems, as well as endocrine, immune, cardiovascular and neurological disorders.

The unbalance appears when fats intake is excessive. Our body only needs a extremely low intake of essential fatty acids - linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6, and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3. The rest of fatty acids - saturated, omega-5, omega-6, omega-7, omega-9, omega-10 - as well as cholesterol, the body is able to synthesise them.

Dr. Graham (8) advocates limiting fat intake to 10% of total calories, which can be fulfilled with fruit and vegetables.  His theory explains why pure fats, oils and highly fatty foods, such as fish, meat, eggs, nuts, dairy and some seeds, are a problem; but it does not explain why some low-fat fruits are not good for hypersensitivity – tomatoes, for example, which have a much lower fat content than papaya. While tomatoes may not be tolerated, papaya is usually well tolerated.

Seeds may be allergenic due to their content of omega-6 fatty acids in excess of omega-3. Most studies correlate omega-6 fatty acids with inflammation; although some recent studies contradict the idea that omega-6 is inflammatory. (19)

Food(100g)	Omega-6 (g)	Omega-3 (g)	Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio	Total fats (g) per 100 g
Almonds	12.06	0.006	2010:1	49.4
Blueberries	0.09	0.06	1.5:1	0.3
Brussels sprouts	0.08	0.17	1:2	0.5
Cashews	7.66	0.016	47:1	46.3
Chia seeds	17.55	5.8	1:3	30.8
Chickpeas	1.11	0.04	26:1	2.6
Flax seeds	6	22.7	1:4	42.2
Kiwis	0.24	0.10	6:1	0.5
Lentils	0.14	0.04	4:1	0.4
Mangos	0.01	0.04	1:3	0.3
Melons	0.02	0.02	1:1.3	0.2
Oranges	0.02	0.01	2:1	0.3
Papaya	0.03	0.005	6:1	0.2
Pineapple	0.02	0.02	1.3:1	0.1
Red cabbage	0.03	0.04	1:1.3	0.2
Soybeans	4.47	0.6	8:1	9
Spinach	0.03	0.14	1:5	0.4
Sunflower seeds	23.05	0.07	312:1	51.5
Tomatoes	0.08	0.003	26:1	0.2
Walnuts	38	9	4:1	65.2
Zucchini	0.03	0.05	1:1.7	0.1

Grains, nuts, seeds and pulses generally have a high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. Almonds have a ratio of 2010 to 1, for example. There are several exceptions, however, such as flax and chia seeds, which contain more omega-3 than omega-6; even so, they are allergenic.

Fruits with edible seeds, such as tomatoes, berries and kiwis, are likewise problematic for allergies. Comparing the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in fruits, there is not a significant difference between fruits with edible versus non-edible seeds; the ratio tends to be slightly higher in omega-6. Two rare exceptions are mango and melon, with a ratio omega-3 higher than omega-6.

Given that some seeds with omega-3 in excess of omega-6 are also allergenic, and as the differences in the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio between fruits with edible seeds and those without seeds are insignificant, this suggests that the problem is not in the omega-6 itself, as recent research confirms. The issue may be, then, the absolute amount of fatty acids, as proposed by Dr. Graham.

In the table all seeds and grains contain a higher amount of fats than fruits – roughly 10 times more. But fruits with edible seeds contain a very small amount of fats a similar amount than the rest of the fruits. This contradiction limits the understanding of why fruits with edible seeds tend to be allergenic.

So the theory about antinutrients seems to be the best explanation to the seeds issue.

Underground: roots and tubers

In everyday language, root vegetables comprise all kinds of underground vegetables that are edible: tubers, bulbs, corms and rhizomes. Among them, we find starchy vegetables such as potato, sweet potato, manioc (cassava, yuca, mandioca, tapioca), yam and arrowroot; and non-starchy vegetables such as carrot, parsnip, beet, Jerusalem artichoke, onion, garlic, leek, turnip, celery root, radish, salsify, rutabaga.

As most root vegetables contain substances toxic to humans, they shouldn’t be eaten in their raw state, but cooked. For example, potatoes contain solanines, a poison that has been linked to gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. (21) Manioc contains cyanide, a well-known poison. (22) Yam’s toxic substance is dioscorine, which triggers the fatal paralysis of the nervous system. (23)

All root vegetables are almost impossible to harvest without a special tool to dig the root out of the soil. Thus, humans have not been naturally provided with ability to consume them easily.

Regarding the starches or complex carbohydrates in starchy vegetables, grains and legumes, it is interesting to highlight that our saliva secretes a small amount of ptyalin, an enzyme that performs the first transformation of starches into maltose. The pancreas secretes maltase, another enzyme that finishes the work, transforming maltose to dextrose.  Other animals, such as pigs and birds, produce other amylase enzymes, to completely digest all kind of starches; but humans cannot digest the oligosaccharides that are contained in pulses, neither the fibre found in grains; and the small amount of ptyalin and maltase that a human can produce is not enough to digest too much of any kind of complex carbohydrates.

Complex carbohydrates encourage yeast overgrowth. It also tends to induce in me Raynaud syndrome, which I experience as extreme coldness to the point of having white fingertips and numbness. I also suffer tingling, brittle nails and weak hair when I eat it.

While some people eat non-starchy roots raw, it is not recommended as most of them contain substances that can irritate the digestive system. These disruptive substances include allicin in garlic, sulfenic acids in onions, chives, shallots and leeks, and isothiocyanate in onions, radishes, horseradish and turnips (1). The pungent flavour of these vegetables indicate that they are not designed to be eaten raw.

All of these toxic substances - solanine, allicin, sulfenic acid, isothiocyanates, etc. - become part of the toxemia that the body must remove.

Garlic and onions, as well as some other non-root vegetables, contain fermentable fructans, which can trigger digestive troubles, including colitis and bloating. They are a weakening factor for allergies, in the same way as radishes and turnips.

Garlic, onions, leeks, radishes and turnips are weakening factors.

Dead food: meat and fish

Meat and fish consumed by humans are “dead” matter. They decompose relatively quickly compared with other food items, such as seeds, vegetables and fruit. Histamine is one of the by-products of this decomposition; see the section on ‘Preserved foods’ to know more about histamine.

Consumption of meat and fish leaves me feeling extremely fatigued. Consumption of meat and fish slows down my bodily processes in the brain, intestines and muscles. Conversely, perspiration and my sensation of higher body temperature increase.

As a weakening factor, animal protein increases hypersensitivity to any agent: allergens, sun, light, heat, noise, electromagnetic fields, etc. Many food intolerances and allergies, particularly to fruit, are caused by meat and fish consumption.

Meat and fish are a weakening factor

One theory is that animal proteins decrease the body’s life energy level to the point of toxemia.  The culprits can include neurotoxins produced by proteolytic bacteria, such as Clostridium, or by yeasts, such as Candida. Yeasts can develop rapidly when the daily diet contains both animal proteins and complex carbohydrates. Meat can favour carbohydrate intolerance by blocking or delaying the passage of carbohydrates through the intestines.  To learn more about this, refer the section on ‘Fruit allergies and intolerances’ and ‘Gut microbiome’ (under chapter Theories).

Meat or fish + complex carbohydrates = yeast overgrowth (Candida)

Another possible theory is that this proteolytic bacteria is the cause of the leaky gut, which is the main door to hypersensitivity.

Still another theory is that proteolytic bacteria releases an important amount of histamine, as we saw in the section Histamine Intolerance of the chapter Theories.

The fact is that, for some reason, in a diet that includes meat or fish and complex carbohydrates, the body is not able to neutralise certain natural substances, such as antinutrients that occur in food, nor allergens in the air, the sunlight, the heat, the noise, the electromagnetic fields, etc., resulting in hypersensitivity.

Recent studies about red meat and cancer have identified the responsible substance in meat that triggers inflammation: a glycan called Neu5Gc. They found that “dietary intake of the non-human sialic acid N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) promotes the production of anti-Neu5Gc antibodies. The resulting “xenosialitis” and associated chronic inflammation was shown to contribute to carcinogenesis.” (2) They state that “Taken together, our data provide an unusual mechanistic explanation for the epidemiological association between red meat consumption and carcinoma risk. This mechanism might also contribute to other chronic inflammatory processes epidemiologically associated with red meat consumption.” (3). So there is no doubt that red meat is involved in any kind of inflammatory processes, such as cancer and hypersensitivity.

Many nutrition currents agree that animal products are acidic in their metabolism. In order to neutralise this acidity, the body needs to strip the bones and muscles of alkaline minerals, leading to osteoporosis and muscle injuries. To learn more about an acid-alkaline balanced diet, I refer you to The AAA Diet®, by Dr. Paul Fanny (4).

I also experienced this problem; I broke two of my teeth while I was on the GAPS diet (which advocates a high intake of protein); an event that never happened to me before and has never happened again since.

The adverse effects of meat and fish appear only several days after ingestion, as it can take up to three days for meat to pass through the digestive system. This delay obscures the hazards of eating animal proteins.

Meat and fish consumption tends to increase hunger. An advantage of a vegetarian diet is therefore satiety.

During the time I was following the GAPS diet, my hypersensitivity was at an all-time high. For example, my skin became extremely sensitive to the sun. When I stopped with the GAPS diet, that hypersensitivity normalised to the previous levels I had experienced before starting the diet. I think that the cause was the large amount of flesh and fat recommended by this diet, together with the fermented foods.

Humans can survive on meat and fish, as we have done for thousands of years, and as Inuits still do, but we don’t thrive on this diet; rather, the life expectancy is shortened and the rate of chronic disease rises.

It could be claimed that we should eat a little bit of meat because even frugivores, such as chimpanzees, also eat certain animals.

Animal products correspond to approximately 1% of chimpanzees’ diet, in the form of insects and small mammals. Herbivores also eat some insects that are in the grass and carnivores also eat some grass. But fruit is still the main food consumed by frugivores; grass for herbivores and flesh for carnivores.

The reasons why some wild frugivores and herbivores eat animals - mainly insects – are: because they are accidentally found in their food; or because their main food source is scarce and they eat whatever is available to them in order to avoid starvation, although it is not their ideal food; or because their diet does include a little bit of animal protein.

If we compare animals to humans, we don’t eat meat accidentally, nor do humans in Western civilisations lack any kind of food; if a poor person is starving, meat and fish are not the most affordable items, but the most expensive ones. So the only reason why we should eat meat is to include a little bit of animal protein in our dietary requirements.

If we rely on studies on our needs in terms of protein, we find all kind of results. WHO recommends for an adult person 0.35 grams of protein of high quality for every Kg of weight or 10% of the total calorie intake. (5). The U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (6, 7)

Dr. Douglas Graham argues in his book The 80/10/10 Diet (8) that the maximum recommended amount is 10% of protein of the total daily calories, quantity that can be achieved with a diet based on fruit and vegetables. The protein content of fruit ranges between 2% and 11%, the carbohydrate content ranges from 79% to 97%, and the fat content ranges from 1% to 10% (excepting fatty fruit, in which the content is higher). In vegetables, protein content is 6% to 31%, carbohydrates is 54% to 90% and fat is 3% to 15% (8).

But these values depend on sex, age and activity of the person, so calculating the amount we need is quite complex. Another factor to be taken into account is the quality of the protein, but there is no consensus about this issue either. While vegetarians defend that vegetable protein is superior, conventional and Paleo diets stand up for animal protein; and raw-food diet defenders warn that cooking renders protein useless.

So it seems that we need to do a master in nutrition and have good maths skills in order to be able to feed ourselves… On the other side, wild animals don’t do any kind of calculation, they simply know what is good for them. Would humans be able to do the same; eating without the need of carrying out so many studies?

It is in fact quite simple: if wild primates voluntarily eat meat is because apparently it tastes well to them; nobody obliges them to chase and eat meat. But they eat raw meat, they don’t cook it as we do.

Every species relishes on their natural food in their natural raw state. This means that we, humans, should love raw meat or fish if we were supposed to be nourished by animal produce. But raw flesh is not very appetising to us… excepting raw farm salmon, which is acceptable, the animals that some primates eat, such as insects, snails, birds, lizards, small rodents and bats, frogs, crustacea, etc. are disgusting to us. So we are similar to apes (other than the mountain gorilla), who don’t eat animals and are substantially fruit eaters (9).

Food for the young of the animals: dairy and honey

Milk is food for young mammals. The milk of each animal is designed to fit the specific requirements for the growth of their young ones into adulthood, and the needs of each species are different. The composition of milk varies by species, in terms of growth hormones, sugars, proteins, fats, antibodies, etc.

Naturally occurring growth hormones in cow milk are destined to grow a calve into a big cow. In some countries, artificial hormones are fed to cows in order to increase milk production. The effect of all these hormones, both natural and artificial, in a human body is disastrous. (42)

Casein allergy or intolerance and lactose intolerance is very usual. (43)

The young of an animal can survive drinking the milk of another specie’s milk – but it won’t completely thrive as it could with milk from the same species. Aside from humans, there are not any adult animals which consume milk of any kind.

The health issues derived from the consumption of cow milk have filled many books. (44, 45, 46)

In the same way, honey is the food for the larvae.

Honey has an antibiotic effect (20), and it contains secretions and wax derived from bees, flower nectar and pollens, which are highly allergenic.

Dairy and honey may apparently be tolerated by some humans, and we can survive until old if our best food is scarce, although at the expense of suffering diseases. It is not our ideal food.

I personally suffer a long list of ailments from consumption of dairy, and find honey to be a weakening and triggering factor.

Dairy products are a weakening factor.
Honey is a weakening and a possible triggering factor.

Dairy products, together with gluten, used to be one of the first foods that must be removed from the diet of hypersensitive people.

Medicines: spices, herbs and salt

In general, spices and herbs are renowned for their antioxidant, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as for helping with detoxification and cicatrisation, and benefiting the cardiovascular and digestive systems. These medicinal properties are possible thanks to the toxic substances that they contain, in the same way as conventional medicines. For example, thymol, the active ingredient of thyme, is described in the Toxicology Data Network (24) in the following terms:

“Thymol is a mild local irritant. It resembles phenol in its systemic actions but is less toxic, partly because it is less soluble. It produces gastric pain, nausea, vomiting, central hyperactivity (e.g. talkativeness), occasionally convulsions, coma, cardiac and respiratory collapse. Thymol was not genotoxic in the human colon carcinoma cell line Caco-2.” “Believed to lie near borderline between toxicity classes 3 & 4 (moderately & very toxic).”

Regarding turmeric, one study in 1991 (25) showed that:

“Chromosomal damage has been induced by curcumin and a turmeric extract in mammalian cells in culture, and oral administration of curcumin or turmeric oleoresin has produced evidence of chromosome damage in rodents.” “Skin sensitisation to turmeric has been reported.”

Other more recent studies (26) have demonstrated that:

“Curcumin can induce DNA damage and chromosomal alterations both in vitro and in vivo at concentrations similar to those reported to exert beneficial effect.” “Turmeric oleoresin ingestion was associated with increased incidences of ulcers, hyperplasia, and inflammation of the forestomach, cecum and colon in male rats and of the cecum in female rats. In female mice, ingestion of diets containing turmeric oleoresin was associated with an increased incidence of thyroid gland follicular cell hyperplasia. The report also concluded that there was equivocal evidence of carcinogenic activity in female rats, female mice, and male mice. These conclusions were based on increased incidences of clitoral gland adenomas in female rats, hepatocellular adenomas in female mice, and carcinomas of the small intestine and hepatocellular adenomas in male mice. The increased incidence of carcinomas of the small intestine was observed in mice taking average daily doses of curcumin of 0.2 mg kg1 body weight. A recent report has also shown that curcumin can promote lung cancer in mice.”

“Curcumin was recently found to be an active iron chelator in vivo and to induce a state of overt iron deficiency anemia in mice fed with diets poor in iron. This suggests that curcumin has the potential to affect systemic iron metabolism, particularly in people with suboptimal iron status. Curcumin has also been shown to inhibit the activity of the drug-metabolizing enzymes cytochrome P450, glutathione-S-transferase, and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase.8,60–62 The inhibition of these enzymes in people taking curcumin may lead to an undesired increase in the plasma concentrations of some drugs and cause toxicity”

“The lack of long-term toxicity studies in humans should not only be considered by health professionals, but also by people taking supplements of curcumin.”

Natural Hygiene considers such foods not as nourishment, but as medicine.

Some people argue that because animals self-medicate when they suffer from an ailment, it must be a good thing for us, humans, to do the same. My reply to this point is found in the Appendix 5.

We have already seen that seeds and roots can be problematic for our health. Seed spices include pepper, mustard, fennel and nutmeg. Turmeric, ginger and galingale are root spices.

Some spices are barks, such as cinnamon and cassia. Excepting these spices, which can only be consumed in very small quantities, humans don’t eat barks.

The remaining spices are from fruits, arils, flower buds, stigmas or resins. While these spices are less harmful for humans than those mentioned above, they can only be eaten in small quantities, and are thus not suitable as food.

Most herbs are leaves and flowers that are made edible only through infusion with boiling water or extraction of the oil. Other herbs come from barks and roots. Herbs form the basis of herbology and essential oils, two types of natural medicine; as such, herbs are not food, but medicine.

Salt is an irritant, and it has been linked with hypertension and cardiovascular disease (27), kidney diseases (28), gastric ulcers (29) and many other diseases (1). Salt also has antibiotic properties, it is a preservative (30); so it is indirectly related to hypersensitivity because of its effect on the gut flora.

The need to add salt to some food is because it is not tasty enough. The conclusion, thus, is that nature does not intend for that food to be our nourishment.

Even if spices, herbs and salt have some good properties, the drawbacks outweigh them. They are medicine, not food.

Sweet tooth: sugar, honey, syrup and sweeteners

Sugar and syrup are extracted from plants. Sugar is obtained from the refinement of beets or cane.  Syrup comes from the sap of plants such as maple tree, palm tree and agave. Syrup is refined to evaporate water, remove bacteria and filter sediments. These processes render sugars and syrups highly processed and refined products.

The hazards of sugar have been broadly shown. An excess of sugar is associated with cancer, obesity, tooth decay or dental cavities, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, yeast infections, memory loss, atherosclerosis, cataracts and myopia, pre-menstrual syndrome, etc. In children, an excess of sugar increases the chances of hypersensitivity, anxiety, attention deficit disorder and a decreased learning capacity. (31)

Honey can be found in its original state, without being processed; but it is made to feed baby bees, not humans. This is further explained in the section Food for babies.

Humans have a naturally sweet tooth. Sweet foods appeal to us because our natural food is fruit, which is sweet. But tricking our instincts with refined sugar and syrup is not the right way to satisfy our sweet tooth; our organisms crave fruit.

Sweeteners are simply man-made products, so they can be immediately discarded from our diet. Their health hazards are well-documented. (32, 33)

Sweeteners, sugar, syrups and honey are weakening factors.

Detox: greens and vegetables

Naturopathy consider vegetables to be detoxifying. One very popular health centre (34) states,

“Basically, detoxification means cleansing the blood. This is done by removing impurities from the blood in the liver, where toxins are processed for elimination. The body also eliminates toxins through the kidneys, intestines, lungs, lymphatic system, and skin. However, when these systems are compromised, impurities aren't properly filtered and the body is adversely affected.

A detox program can help the body's natural cleansing process by: Resting the organs through fasting; Stimulating the liver to drive toxins from the body; Promoting elimination through the intestines, kidneys, and skin; Improving circulation of the blood; and refueling the body with healthy nutrients.”

Natural Hygiene teaches us that when one is stimulating the body toward detoxification through a detox diet, the body is actually loaded with more toxic substances from the vegetables. In Herbert Shelton’s book The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene (96) we can find that, “If a so-called diuretic drug is taken and urination follows, we see the kidneys expelling a poison.” So for example, foods that are attributed with the faculty of “helping the removal of toxins through urine”, such as asparagus or celery, in reality they cause the body to increase urine excretion as a means to remove the poisonous substances ingested from these vegetables. And choleretic products for “liver cleansing”, such as artichokes, simply induce the production of bile in order to neutralise those substances. In asparagus, the substance that the body has to remove is the shatavarin I-IV (35); in celery, the responsible substances are the phthalides (36); and in artichokes, the substances that the liver has to neutralise are cynarin, silymarin, and caffeic acid (37).

Non-starchy vegetables are not very appetising unless well-seasoned.

Some vegetables including artichokes, leeks, garlic, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus, and mushrooms contain problematic fermentable fructans.

Before I stopped eating animal protein, these vegetables left me bloated, with stomach aches and intestinal problems. After some time, I began following the FODMAP diet (Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols), avoiding fructan-containing vegetables, as well as most fruits. In reality, the problem was not these healthy food, but rather the animal protein, which provoked an intolerance to fructans and fructose, by inducing a small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), blocking or delaying the passage of fruits and vegetables through the intestines. The moment I changed to a diet of only fruits and vegetables, these problems I had associated with FODMAP intolerance disappeared.

In cases where a FODMAP diet is needed, instead of removing fruits and vegetables from the diet, it would be better to avoid animal protein and all other foods that slow down bowel transit, such as grains, especially cereals with gluten and refined cereals.

Meat or fish or gluten + fruits or vegetables = SIBO

While quite well tolerated by the digestive system, lettuce inconveniently contains a substance called lactucarium, known as lettuce opium, because it causes mild drowsiness and constipation for some sensitive people. “The fresh milky juice [of lettuce] contained two bitter principles […] “which had definite depressant or sedative effects on the central nervous system in small animals.” (38) “The results of this study show that lettuce, especially romaine lettuce, is an interesting and cheap source of sleep-potentiating material.” (39) It is thus preferable to eat lettuce in the evening, and if the person feels constipated, they can try to see if avoiding lettuce helps this improve.

Spinach and chard are high in oxalates, an antinutrient that some studies (47) link to inflammation and stiffness in muscles and joints, potentially contributing to calcium-oxalate kidney stone formation. Other studies (48) limit these oxalate-related problems to people with hyperoxaluria, a genetic condition; or to oxalosis, a condition in which the kidneys are unable to excrete oxalic acid. Oxalates may also affect people whose kidneys are compromised, who have had gastric bypass or who have taken broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Greens tend to be rough, bitter and unpalatable without dressing, oil, salt or herbs. Non-organic greens can be sweeter, as they contain less healthy polyphenols and antioxidants; furthermore, they are less natural, contain fewer nutrients and more chemicals. All of this suggests that greens are not naturally attractive for human consumption.

But, do we really need to eat vegetables in order to be healthy? Dr David Klein states in his book, Your Natural Diet: Alive Raw Foods (40):

“Fruits are the natural food of humans and the only food category ideally suited to all their faculties.”

“For humans, no other food compares with fruits in satisfying all needs including, of course, our requirement for delicious soul-exalting fare.”

“Of course, humans do consume some herbage such as lettuce, celery, cabbage family members, spinach and yet other leafy greens. Plain, as they occur in nature, these vegetables really do not appeal to us though we can cultivate (pervert) a taste for much of it.”

“If we get enough of these nutrients [proteins, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates] from our natural foods, then these are not needed from plants that we do not eat raw with keen relish.”

“If we had to rely on herbage exclusively for our foods, we’d adjust somewhat but, in all likelihood, slowly starve as the calorie yield is negative or very low.”

Dr Douglas Graham (8) agrees that “we are frugivores”.  He says:

“In nature, humans would be frugivores only.”

“Like all animals, we can indeed survive (albeit less successfully) on a wide variety of foods. Nonetheless, our bodies are designed to thrive on a diet of mainly fruit.”

“Some vegetables and other foods may have ´more´ of a particular nutrient or class of nutrients, but fruits tend to contain the types and quantities of nutrients our bodies require. More does not mean better.”

“We are capable of swallowing vegetation that contains cellulose and other rough, insoluble fibers, but such foods put a great load on our organs of digestion and elimination.”

There are many testimonials that can be found on Internet of people who felt at their best on a diet limited to fruits.

My client Gabrielle made a comment to me concerning fruits, “adding some raw vegetables is fine for me, but there is nothing to do, fruit is perfect for me, even if I need to change and socially it is easier if there is more variety.”

For more discussion about why humans are frugivores, rather than herbivores (or vegetarians), I recommend T.C. Fry’s book, The Life Science Health System (1), “Lesson 18 – Ascertaining The Human Dietetic Character, Part I “ and “Lesson 19 – Ascertaining The Human Dietetic Character, Part II.”  I also suggest the book, Fruit can heal you!, by O.L.M. Abramowski, M.D. (41)

Critics of a frugivorous diet argue that eating only fruits is enervating and nutrient-deficient. This is not my experience. It is true that some fruits can be enervating. I’ve observed that citrus fruits may disturb sleep; fruits with edible seeds may trigger allergic reactions and pain; starchy fruits are related to bloating, and fruits with tannins are linked to constipation. But if one sticks to the Top Fruit Diet, which is explained later on, then the person will feel great.

I feel the best in my life with this diet; I don’t feel so well if I add other kinds of food: vegetables (raw or cooked), starches, proteins, fats, etc.

The ideal: fruits

A symbiotic relationship

Fruit trees maintain a symbiotic relationship with their animal eaters. They feed these animals, and in exchange, their seeds are dispersed when the animals discard them.

Frugivores are the most blessed of all creatures on Earth when it comes to nutrition: we don’t have to kill any animals or plants, nor do we have to expend a large amount of energy during digestion.


Mysterious fruits

As frugivores (see Appendix 1), most people are able to eat all fruits without any problem. However, there are some fruits that may be problematic for hypersensitive people when beginning a frugivore diet, or for people who have a low vital energy because of an imbalance in some aspect of their life. It can take some time to tolerate all fruits.

In the following sections, I share some of the reasons why some fruits are more likely to cause intolerances and/or allergies.


Fruits with edible seeds

Fruits with edible seeds include all kinds of berries, figs, watermelon, pomegranates, kiwis, pineapples, passion fruits, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, aubergines and courgettes.

The antinutrients found in seeds, including fruit seeds, may be problematic for people who cannot neutralise and/or eliminate those substances through the usual pathways, triggering hypersensitivity.

Fruits with edible seeds can be triggering factors


Domesticated fruits

Most fruits we eat today are the product of hybridisations and artificial selections of older varieties. The fact that some fruits don’t exist in nature, but are man-made, may explain why some people don’t tolerate them well.

“According to genetic studies, the mandarin was one of the original citrus species; through breeding or natural hybridization, it is the ancestor of many hybrid citrus cultivars. With the citron and pomelo, it is the ancestor of the most commercially important hybrids (such as sweet and sour oranges, grapefruit, and many lemons and limes). The mandarin has also been hybridized with other citrus species, such as the desert lime and the kumquat. Though the ancestral mandarin was bitter, most commercial mandarin strains derive from hybridization with pomelo, which gave them a sweet fruit.” (49)

“The sweet orange reproduces asexually (apomixis through nucellar embryony); varieties of sweet orange arise through mutations.” (50)

“All widely cultivated bananas today descend from the two wild bananas: Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. While the original wild bananas contained large seeds, diploid or polyploid cultivars (some being hybrids) with tiny seeds are preferred for human raw fruit consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots.” (51)


Climate

Some fruits, such as apples, pears and berries, thrive in cool climates. Other fruits can only survive in mild and cool climates: peaches, cherries, nectarines, plums and apricots. Others still can survive only in a mild climate: oranges, tangerines, mandarins, grapefruit, lemons, dates, figs, cherimoyas and kiwifruits. Then, there are fruits in tropical climates: mangoes, pineapples, bananas, papayas, lychees, tamarinds, jackfruit, guavas, etc.

Humans have evolved to live in warm climates. Although we have adapted to survive cold climates, it is not our ideal habitat. Therefore, the best fruits for us are those we can find in warm climates, to which we are better suited - thus, fruits from tropical and subtropical climates. Taking this into account, apples, pears and berries are the least suitable fruits for humans; and fruits from mild and cold countries are not optimal either.

Dr Graham (8) explains: “No logical or scientific reason exists to conclude that simply because we have moved away from the tropics, we should therefore change what has been our natural food for the great majority of our time on Earth. Regardless of where we go on this planet, tropical fruits remain our natural foods, the only cuisine for which we are perfectly designed.”


The ripening process: starch and tannins

The transportation of produce from all corners of the globe - primarily fruits and vegetables, from southern countries to northern ones - presents an ecological problem. Furthermore, such transportation means that the fruits are harvested while not yet ripe, and artificially ripened at the destination. This means that the fruit has not got all its flavour and the conversion of starch to sugar has not been completed, rendering them difficult to digest. This is the case for bananas imported to Europe from Central America, but also for most fruit found in Northern Europe, especially in winter.

Tannins is another substance which, like starch, have not finished their conversion process by the time we eat the fruit, due to incomplete ripening. Tannins render the fruit unpalatable, bitter and astringent, and interfere with digestion. Fruits rich in tannins can be constipating, and have been linked to migraines in some people (54, 55).

Fruit (100g)	Starch /g)	Tannin (g)**	Fibre (g)
Apple	0.2-1	high	2.4
Apricot	0	*	2
Banana	3	low	1.3
Cherry	*	high	*
Coconut (dried, mature)	0.8	*	*
Date	1.4	*	8
Dried fig	1.9	*	9.8
Mango	0.5	*	1.5
Peach	0	*	*
Pear	0	*	3.1
Plantain (ripe)	14.5	*	*
Pumpkin	0.9	*	*
Raspberry	0.3	high	6.5
Other fruits	<0.3	*	*

* Figure not found
** Exact figure not found
Note: Figures can change substantially depending on the source.

As shown in table, the following fruits contain a significant amount of starch: plantain, banana, pumpkin, coconut and dried fruit.

Perhaps due to its high content of tannins, apple (peeled) can be constipating for some people.  Berries and cherries likewise contain high levels of tannins, and yet don’t trigger any constipation.  As I haven’t found the exact amount of tannins in apple, I am unable to compare them with the other fruits; but I feel that apples probably contain a much higher amount of tannins than these other fruits.

Some fruits are able to continue ripening after being harvested; it is therefore possible for them to finish the transformation process of starch to sugar in our homes. Nevertheless, the fruit will never have the same sweet taste and intense odour as tree- or vine-ripened ones.

Other fruits can only ripen on the tree, such as citrus fruits and fruits rich in tannins. Bananas, although they continue to ripen once picked, don’t completely convert all of its starch.

When tropical fruits arrive at the country of destination, various techniques are used to quickly ripen and sell them. In some cases, they are ripened during the trip.

One of the most widely used methods for quick ripening is via ethylene gas in chambers. Ethylene gas is naturally produced by many fruits, especially bananas, and helps the ripening process. In the chambers, an artificial ethylene gas is released to complete the ripening process. This process of forced maturation with ethylene gas results in fruits of inferior quality, which have the same colour as ripe fruit, but a hard texture and limited taste and smell.

It is preferable to purchase fruit from organic shops that haven’t been ripened artificially, and let them ripen naturally in the kitchen. Fruits can be kept in wicker trays at room temperature during the day, and in paper bags at night to protect them from insects. To aid the maturation of unripe fruits, a ripe banana can be added inside the bag. Ripe fruit can be kept in the fridge for a few days.

Fruits tend to release a fragrant odour and acquire their characteristic colour as they ripen.  Brown bruises on fruits are an indication that they are overly ripe – except for bananas and wild mangoes, which develop light brown speckles as they ripen. As fruits spoil, they can smell of alcohol due to fungi.


Acids in fruit

Many fruits have a high acid content, which must be neutralised in the body. People with a weakened digestive system can have difficulty neutralising these acids, which leads to health problems.
 

Fruit	Malic acid	Citric acid	Oxalic acid	Tartaric acid	Salicylic acid
Apple	710-1900 mg	16 mg	500 µg	*	high (excepting Golden)
Apricot	810 mg	350 mg	*	*	very high
Cherry	930 mg	*	0	*	very high
Grape	650 mg	*	*	1500 mg	very high
Kiwi	500 mg	900 mg	*	*	high
Lemon	10 mg	3840-7300 mg	*	*	moderate
Mango	75 mg	295 mg	35 mg	80 mg	moderate
Orange	90 mg	950-1500 mg	24 mg	*	high
Peach	370 mg	370 mg	2.5 ng	*	high
Pear	120 mg	240 mg	3 ng	*	very high
Pineapple	120 mg	800-2000 mg	*	*	very high
Plum	2480 mg	0	10 mg	*	very high
Strawberry	130 mg	1000-1800 mg	19 mg	*	very high
Tomato	120 mg	380 mg	7.5 mg	*	very high

* Figure not found

A high citric acid content is found in citrus fruits, as well as in kiwis, pineapples and strawberries. These fruits may be a triggering factor for hypersensitivity and aches.

Fruits high in malic acid include plums, cherries, apricots and apples. Peaches have a lower but still considerable amount of malic acid. Grapes are high in tartaric acid. Most fruits have a considerable amount of salicylic acid, excepting bananas, pears, golden apples, papayas, lemons, mangoes and persimmons.

I find there to be a close correlation between the acidic content of a fruit and the degree of hypersensitivity that it produces. Peaches, for example, have a moderate acidity level, and may cause a moderate hypersensitivity. Mangoes have a low acidity level, and are one of the best fruits for hypersensitive people.
 

Mango

I consider mango to be the king of fruits, and probably the best food for humans if it is organic.

There was a time, when my hypersensitivity was at their worst, when organic mangoes were the only food I could tolerate.

Mango is one of the fruits that contain a lesser amount of acid compounds and it is also a tropical fruit.

Not all mangoes are equally good. Mangoes that can easily be peeled with your hands are better, because they are not the result of too many hybridisations. The best are organic wild mangoes.


Peeling

Some fruits simply do not seem designed to be eaten by humans, as they are difficult to peel and access the fleshy edible part using our hands. This is the case for coconuts, pineapples, melon, pumpkin and squash.

It is debatable whether the use of tools is natural or not, as many animals use tools to access their food, such as chimpanzees, crows, vultures, dolphins, elephants and some other animals.  One could argue that it is more efficient to access food which is easy to open, as nature favours the conservation of energy.

Animals arguably only use tools when they don’t have any other solution. If their ideal food source has disappeared, for example, it can be more efficient to expend some energy using tools than to look for food elsewhere. Why would a primate expend the energy associated in opening a coconut or a nut, when bananas are available, being easier to open and more delicious? But if there are no fruit trees in the surroundings, trying to open a coconut or a nut may be preferable to searching further for a fruit tree.

Humans adapted to eating meat when fruits and vegetables were not available, even though meat is a sub-optimal food. For that same reason, humans adapted by using tools to open fruits that were inferior.  Although we are far from the days when we could use only our hands or teeth to get our food, it is still preferable to consume fruits that can be peeled easily without the need for tools, or fruits with edible skin.


Vegetable-fruits

Vegetable-fruits are non-sweet fruits such as tomatoes, bell peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and courgettes.

Tomatoes and ripe bell peppers are attractive to us: the colours and the smells appeal to our senses. But have you ever paid attention to what happens to the seeds of tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers and courgettes when you eat them? The seeds get destroyed by our teeth. It’s highly unlikely that plants want us to destroy their offspring. They thus protect the seeds by producing substances that are harmful for ingestion by animals.

Tomatoes, bell peppers and aubergines belong to the nightshade family, as well as potatoes. Nightshades contain solanine, an antinutrient whose effects were described in the section Underground: roots and tubers.
 
Aubergine is extremely bitter in its raw natural state. And I find the taste of raw cucumber and courgette to be unappealing.

The history of the tomato is interesting (64):

“The Spanish first introduced tomatoes to Europe, where they became used in Spanish and Italian food.  The French and northern Europeans erroneously thought them to be poisonous because they are a member of the deadly nightshade family.”

“The leaves and immature fruit contain tomatine, which in large quantities would be toxic. However, the ripe fruit contains no tomatine.”

“By the mid-18th century, they were cultivated on some Carolina plantations, and probably in other parts of the Southeast as well.  Possibly, some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as ornamental plants than as food.”

“Aztecs and other peoples in Mesoamerica used the fruit in their cooking. The exact date of domestication is unknown; by 500 BC, it was already being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas. The Pueblo people are thought to have believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination.”

When tomatoes were first introduced in Europe and North America, human instinct said that tomatoes were not edible. The indigenous ate them only when cooked, and used their seeds (the ones we find inside) as a psychedelic drug.


Dried fruits and vegetables

Modifying the composition of fruits in any way disturbs the perfect equilibrium of nutrients that nature designed, creating an imbalance in our body.

Drying or dehydrating decreases the ratio of water to fruit, resulting in a higher concentration of the other nutrients. This is problematic because water is crucial to meeting our body’s needs.

Dates are an exception in dried fruits, because they are already dried when ripe; on the contrary, other dried fruits such as plums, raisins, figs, etc., have been put through a dehydration process after being harvested. Even so, the effect of dates on our health is similar to that of other dried fruits. This may be because the commercial dates found in Europe, even if they are organic, have been harvested while unripe, and processed like other dried fruits by being artificially dried with microwaves, then treated against infestation, etc. On the other side, the fresh ripe dates found in North Africa, for example, have not such an adverse effect.

Soaking dried fruit in an attempt to recover the lost water is not a viable option, as the added water does not have the same ratio of minerals, colloidal states and energy as the original water. This is explained further in the Water section.

Dried fruit is a weakening and triggering factor for allergies, aches and circulatory problems.  Dried vegetables, such as carrot and beetroot chips, are quite indigestible and astringent.
 

• Tropical: they grow in tropical or subtropical climates
• No seeds: their seeds can be easily separated from the flesh of the fruit
• Ripe: they have been picked when ripe
• No starch: if it is not possible to pick them when ripe, then at least avoid fruit containing starch or tannins
• No acids: they are low in citric, malic and salicylic acid
• No antinutrients: they don’t contain any antinutrients such as solanines, lectins, saponins or allicins
• No hard skin: it’s relatively easy to peel off the skin with hands or teeth
• Not processed: they have not been processed in any way, whether that be through dehydration, cooking, fermentation, etc.
• Appealing: Their colour, smell and flavour appeal to us
• No negative beliefs: there are no negative beliefs about them

• Eat fruits by themselves; don’t eat fruits with other foods.
• Eat melons and watermelons by themselves; don’t eat them with other fruits.
• Eat acidic and sweet fruits separately. Acidic fruits include citrus fruits, berries, pineapple, pomegranate and tomatoes. Sweet fruits are bananas, persimmons, grapes and dried fruits. Other fruits are considered sub-acidic, and combine well with other fruits.

Cooking

Cooking renders many foods edible that are inedible when raw. This is true for almost all foods in the Western world, with the exception of fruit, nuts, green leaves and some non-starchy root vegetables. But just because something is edible, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is healthy.

Cooking destroys important nutrients, such as vitamins and enzymes, it alters proteins, oxidises fats, renders minerals useless (1, 8) and can add harmful substances, such as carcinogenic PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) (66), acrylamides (67) and nitrosamines (68).

So, it is better to eat food raw, when possible.

Gabrielle made a comment to me once that “when I eat a cooked meal, even if I am eating vegetables, I feel that my digestive system is unhappy, digestion is more difficult; my body wants raw food!”

It is also better to cook foods which contain harmful substances, including solanine, allicin, sulfonic acid, and isothiocyanates, in order to deactivate these substances. Such foods include: potatoes, garlic, onions, leeks, aubergines, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and artichokes, amongst others.

One theory argues that the invention of fire was an advantage for the development of the human species, because cooking food renders it more digestible, so we don’t need to expend so much energy on digestion. The energy saved from this was redirected to the brain, allowing for more intellectual development (4).

It is true that cooked food is more digestible than raw food; many food products such as meat, fish, grains, and legumes are inedible in their raw state. But cooked food has two main disadvantages:

    1. Many nutrients are destroyed:

• A big part of the mineral and vitamin content is lost, mainly vitamin C, folates and thiamine (5).
• Antioxidants and phytonutrients are denaturalised or destroyed (5).
• Proteins are denaturalised and rendered useless (2),
• Heat kills food enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts, meaning they speed up reactions. Although our bodies possess their own enzymes, some research shows that food enzymes also help with digestion before they get in contact with the hydrochloric acid in the stomach, where they are destroyed (6).
• Carbohydrates are dextrinised and caramelised, becoming a sticky substance that leads to many circulatory and neurological problems, and other diseases (7).
• Fats are oxidised, and as you will see below; this is very harmful (2).

 

• PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons), such as benzopyrene, are harmful substances that are a result of an incomplete combustion of food, tobacco and any kind of organic matter. A high quantity of PAH is found in food that has been cooked at very high temperatures, mainly barbecued, baked, fried, and roasted food. Boiling and steaming creates much less PAH. PAH are carcinogenic. However, in small doses, like the amount that can be normally found in the environment, it doesn’t imply a danger for most people. In more considerable amounts, like with the intake of a smoked product or smoking tobacco, the effect begins to be important enough to trigger a headache. Higher doses imply a significant risk of cancer (8).
• Acrylamides are also toxic substances that can be formed from the reaction of amino acids with sugars in the presence of heat; or by the oxidation of fats also through heat. Acrylamides are mainly found in roasted and fried food, such as toasted bread, breakfast cereals, potato chips, French fries, as well as in cookies, crackers, cocoa and coffee. They are classified as probable human carcinogens and human neurotoxins by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) (9).
• Nitrosamines are formed from the reaction of nitrites with amines in acidic conditions, such as in the stomach or the mouth. Nitrites are a product of the conversion of nitrates, which are an additive commonly found in foods such as processed, smoked or cured meats, fish and cheese. Amines are compounds found in proteins, phospholipids and amino acids. Vegetables also naturally contain nitrates, but they also contain large quantities of antioxidants which block the conversion to nitrosamines. Beer is very high in nitrosamines, and these are classified as probably carcinogenic for humans by the IARC (10).

 

Fermenting and sprouting

Fermented foods are now in fashion. Many nutritionists recommend them in order to heal the gut flora because they are rich in probiotic bacteria.

Nutritional science falls into the trap of believing that we need to take large quantities of certain nutrients to achieve the appropriate nutrient levels in the body. When a nutrient deficiency is detected, it is immediately recommended to fill this gap with food rich in that nutrient or supplementation. This line of thinking feeds many nutritional myths: dairy products for calcium; proteins for strong muscles; glutamine for a leaky gut; collagen for joints; … and fermented foods for the gut flora.

This kind of reasoning doesn’t work in the Western world, because a lack of nutrients doesn’t come from a lack of intake. Rather, the causes are more complex, such as nutrient malabsorption, poor digestion and presence of antinutrients. How can a cow that only eats grass, or a gorilla that feeds on leaves, shoots, and stems, obtain the necessary amount of calcium for bones, and enough proteins for its muscles? Every species can meet its nutritional needs from their ideal diet, and humans are no exception. We are frugivores (see Appendix 1), and can meet all our nutritional needs with fruit. Fruits contain all the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, fatty acids and water that we need.

Probiotics help only temporarily, as the probiotic bacteria doesn’t stay in the gut flora; once one stops taking the probiotics, the gut flora returns to the same state as before. (16)

Healing the gut flora is much more complex and directly depends on nutrition and lifestyle practices. All that is necessary for the good bacteria to be comfortable and well-installed in our gut is proper nutrition, and respect for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

Another problem with fermented foods is histamine. The fermentation process produces high levels of histamine (70) and other harmful substances, including acetic and lactic acids (1), depending on the type of fermentation. These substances can trigger health problems in hypersensitive people.

One advantage of fermenting, as well as sprouting and cooking, it is the reduction of antinutrients and increase of available nutrients. (71)

When seeds start sprouting, the enzymatic inhibitors, which are anti-nutrients, are deactivated. The problem is that most commercial seeds have already been processed, so the enzymes have been destroyed. It is for this reason that soaking doesn’t have any positive effect in decreasing anti-nutrients, and it is not possible to sprout most seeds and grains.

Sprouts have a very high nutritional content - too high for the body. They also contain large amounts of phytohormones which help the plant grow. (72) Some of these phytohormones include phytoestrogens, isoflavones, lignans and genistein, which all have controversial health effects.

Most research about phytohormones focuses on soy, the food that has the highest concentration of these hormones; but the results are applicable to phytohormones in other foods as well. Some studies link phytohormones to some health problems like tumour growths, early dementia, early puberty in girls and developmental problems in boys. (73) The consumption of soy milk has been linked to a high rate of children with allergies. (73) But other studies highlight the benefits of phytohormones, mainly during the menopause. (74)

Fermented and sprouted foods also tend to trigger allergies, most likely due to their high histamine content. (75)
 

 

Preserved food

Foods that are canned have been killed (meat or fish) or collected (plant or dairy) a long time ago, and preserved in cans or jars using some form of preservative, such as oil, salt, sugar, ascorbic acid, or artificial preservatives. Even with the preserving process, food slowly decomposes, losing its living energy.

The histamine content in canned food is much higher than in the equivalent fresh food. People with histamine sensitivity can experience allergies, headaches, joint aches, fatigue, palpitations and digestive problems when eating foods with high histamine levels. (77)

Metal cans have an inner protective layer made of an alloy of different metals including aluminium, iron, copper, zinc and chromium, or a plastic film that contains BPA. These chemicals contaminate the brine, oil or juice that is inside, and its concentration increases with the acidity of contents and the temperature of storage. (79, 80)

Canned food, even if it is free from artificial preservatives and kept in glass, rather than tin containers, is a weakening factor for skin, and can trigger eczema and dry, itchy skin.
 

 

Drinking water

Drinking water during meals is forbidden by Dr Shelton, who states in Human Life (78) that “one may safely drink fifteen to twenty minutes before and four hours after meals”. This is because digestive enzymes are diluted by water, thus diminishing their digestive power.

I feel that this applies not only during meals, but also between meals. Regardless of when I drink water, I feel bloated - a sign that digestion has not gone well.

Water is a diuretic, as well as a laxative for many people, although calcareous water may have the opposite effect  Water therefore functions as a medicine.

In the past I used to drink a lot of water every day, at any time; I felt thirsty almost all the time, even with a diet based on fruits and vegetables. It was an addiction. Now, I seldom drink water, only in specific circumstances – with strenuous exercise or in extreme heat.

As explained in the Water and hydration section, in the Theories chapter, a fruit-based diet doesn’t need water. The purest water we can get comes from fruits.

But this also depends on the type of food consumed. Dry meals, such as a grilled steak or French fries, should be accompanied by some water, to move the food down through the oesophagus.

 

Organic food

Organic food is, without a doubt, much better than conventionally grown food, containing fewer chemicals and more beneficial nutrients. Most herbicides are classified as probably or possibly carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), one of them being Roundup. (81) The effects of genetically modified products (GMOs) in some laboratory studies are horrifying, as shown by the Séralini study. (82)

Every organic certification has its own rules, and that has to be taken into account. In general however, most natural pesticides are allowed (83), which are not as toxic as chemical ones, but if they are poisonous for insects, then they are harmful for humans too. And unfortunately, residues of chemical pesticides are found in 90% of organic food as well, coming from the conventionally treated crops via wind and contaminated water. (84)

Many people are not aware that they are hypersensitive to pesticides.

Non-organic fruits have a much higher sugar content in order to make them sweeter and commercially more attractive. 

I feel bloated after eating non-organic papayas whereas when I eat organic papayas, this doesn't happen. Several clients have experienced the same effect. And eating non-organic mangoes gives me eye problems (conjunctivitis, allergy) but organic mangoes don't.

It is always preferable to consume organic products. Sometimes is not possible to find organic fruits for all those in the Top Fruit Diet, but the majority of them should be found quite easily in most organic grocery shops: mangoes, cherimoyas, papayas, grapes, persimmons, peaches, nectarines, loquats, plums, apricots, cherries, melons and bananas.
 

Amount and frequency: hunger and appetite

It is no simple task to determine the exact amount of food that an organism needs. Animals eat much more than they need to store the maximum amount of food for when times are less plentiful. Humans are no different.

In nature, food is not always available, and animals have to decide if the energy expended in search of food is worth the nutrients it will provide. So they stop searching for food when they deem it is no longer worth the effort.

Humans in the Western world, on the contrary, always have food available - all the time, and as much as we want. This is the first world problem of health: an excess of food. And putting the brakes on is not that easy.

The strength of will required to resist all the temptations that come via advertising and the omnipresence of food makes it nearly impossible to avoid excess or unhealthy food - we can’t help ourselves. Processed food should be more expensive, junk food should be forbidden, and fruit and vegetables should be more affordable. This, of course, is not a popular solution.

Faced with this problem, nutritionists and psychotherapists have developed specific tools and strategies which can be very helpful when following a diet. Some are explored in the Coaching section in the Living Fully Nourished chapter.

One approach to determining the frequency and quantity of meals is to eat when we feel hungry, and stop when we feel satisfied. The problem is that we can confuse hunger (the need to eat) with appetite (the desire to eat). And the sensation of satisfaction is a relative term that has little to do with fulfilling our needs.

Dr Douglas Graham states in The 80/10/10 Diet (8): “The goal of hunger is to satisfy a nutritional requirement for carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, coenzymes, and all other nutrients”.

In The Life Science Health System (1), T.C. Fry states:

“The feeling of emptiness, and the gnawing are not symptoms of hunger. Neither it is a feeling of weakness, headache, or nausea. These are morbid sensations representing gastric irritation, a neurosis, gastric ulcer, indigestion, gastric catarrh, reaction from withdrawal of stimulation, etc., rather than hunger. That faint sinking feeling at the pit of the stomach, with a morbid craving for something to eat, is due to catarrhal inflammation of the lining membrane of the stomach. Such symptoms of gnawing and faintness are seen in their height in cases of acute gastritis as well as in gastric ulcer. Indeed, a bowel movement may induce them in cases of colitis.

How often we see people who are always eating and who complain that they are always hungry. They eat several times a day and three or more times at night, but they never seem to get enough to eat. Of course, these people are never hungry; they are food drunkards who employ food as palliation. Eating temporarily “relieves” their gastric and nervous distress. They are merely extreme cases of what physiologists mistake for hunger. The sense of all goneness in these cases is not from a lack of nutrient material, but owing to the absence of the habitual stimulus.

If left alone these morbid sensations sooner or later pass away, but if palliated by eating or by drink; they are but temporarily smothered. As soon as the stomach is again empty of food, they are back again, perhaps with renewed intensity. It is true that eating will allay these sensations, just as a shot of morphine will relieve the morphine addict, and there is just as much sense in taking food in the first instance as there is in taking the morphine in the last.”

So, we cannot completely rely on our own sensations.

Dr Graham gives one very useful guideline to help identify real hunger: “Because hunger is the general desire for food, when one is truly hungry, any food will be acceptable.

Appetite, on the other hand, is specific - we desire a specific food or foods. Appetite is also the socially acceptable word for craving.”

We have looked at the difference between hunger and appetite - but we have yet to distinguish between the need for food, or hunger, and being able to eat. Being able to eat means that we can digest food and eliminate the residues - even if the body didn’t really need the food. In that case, it should be differentiated from hunger.

A person can go for many days without food. After three days of fasting, the desire for food is lost - until the body really needs food, because of starvation, which is usually between 20 and 30 days later. From this, it seems that we don’t need much food to survive. There are even people who apparently live without any food at all, just feeding on spiritual energy.

But we don’t need to wait until the point of starvation; the body is able to process food even if we don’t really need it. What is important to know is when our body is ready to accept food, and how much. This means it can digest it, assimilate what is beneficial, and eliminate what it is not useful.  And finding this out is not straightforward. There are many competing theories about the ideal frequency and quantity of meals.

The most popular theory to determine how much we should eat is based on calories. In The 80/10/10 Diet (8), Dr Douglas Graham suggests a formula that takes into account the (desired) body weight and the level of activity. For example: as a female with moderate activity (about 1 hour and 30 minutes hiking/trekking a day + 1 hour walking and daily routines), weighing about 45 kg, the daily recommended intake for me would be roughly 1,500 calories.

I find the formula as suggested by Dr Graham to be an oversimplification. Other equations also take into account height and age, but this is still not enough. The caloric needs also depend on brain activity, the person’s character (hyperactive or calm, for example), stress levels, etc. There are an infinite number of parameters that can influence the amount of food that a person can tolerate at any given moment.

I find 1,500 calories to be excessive for me; I feel better when I take around 1,000 calories per day. This is the maximum number of calories that my body can accept daily.

Trial and error can be an effective method to determining the ideal quantity of food to eat. One option is to start with the number of calories suggested from Dr Graham’s formula. If after some time, the person doesn’t feel well enough, they can try to reduce this amount. Repeat this process as often as needed until finding the right quantity.

Following this method, many people find that they have reduced their caloric intake to almost nothing, because they need to fast. After this fasting, they can progressively reintroduce food and increasing the amount as long as it is tolerated. The amount of food can vary daily depending on different circumstances.

During the spring, when my allergies are at their peak, I have to be more strict with my diet than during other times of the year, and I only need to have one meal a day of 1000 calories maximum from the Top 4 Fruit Diet. Throughout the rest of the year I can relax my diet.

A very important variable impacting on my health is the frequency of meals. We cannot trust in the sensations we perceive as hunger because, as T.C. Fry states (1), they could simply be “gastric and nervous distress”. When hunger arrives, I suggest waiting at least 30 minutes, to see if that sensation goes away or if it persists. If it fades away after some time, it was a false alarm; if it remains, it could still be a false alarm but it is more likely that your body is now ready for a meal.

Once again, using the trial and error method is the best way to determine how many meals a day a person can have. Health symptoms can serve as an excellent guide. When experiencing some kind of health problems, one can reduce the number of meals from four to three, by avoiding snacks; then from three to two by skipping breakfast; and finally down to just one meal a day - intermittent fasting.  Reducing from four to three meals can be enough to decrease the symptoms to a desired level; otherwise, one should keep reducing the number of meals.

Jos went from four or five meals to two meals, one in the morning at about 11am and another one in the afternoon around 6pm. He has noticed that he feels less bloated and that his digestion has improved.

Another option is to have one meal a day only some days a week. Start with once a week, then increase to twice a week, and so on. This is an intermediate step that can be very useful when going from two meals a day to only one.

The mealtime is important; try eating at different times of day to see what feels best.

If I eat before 12pm, then I feel hungry by dinner; and then I find it difficult to resist eating when the rest of the family has dinner. But if I eat too late, after 5pm, then I am still digesting the meal in the intestine at bedtime, which means I need to get up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, something that disturbs my rest. The best time for me to eat is between 12pm and 4pm.

When decreasing the number of meals, it is common to feel hungry in the beginning; but this sensation typically disappears within 30 minutes. If it persists until sleep, the sensation will not be present the next day until noon or afternoon. A good strategy is to eat around 4pm in the beginning, to prevent feeling hungry before going to bed. Hunger tends to be more intense in the afternoon and evening, and less intense in the morning.

Before reducing the quantity of food consumed and frequency of meals, it may be better to remove most - or all! - unhealthy foods from the diet, including: grains, seeds, meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, sugar, tubers, oils and fats. Next step is addressing lifestyle factors: stress levels, sleep, exercise, contact with nature, exposure to toxic products, etc. Once one has made these changes, the gastric irritation decreases, and so does the appetite; making it easier to reduce meals. But for some people, it would be easier to decrease the amount and frequency of meals, instead of the content. I recommend to start with the changes that requires the least effort so that every step towards a healthy life is a positive one.

Dr Shelton (78) suggests the following rules:

• Don’t eat when you feel unwell. Never eat with pain, mental discomfort, fever or digestive discomfort (bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, reflux, pain, etc.).
• Never eat during or immediately before or after a heavy mental or physical effort.
• Do not drink with meals.
• Chew food thoroughly.

• Don’t eat when you feel upset, worried, stressed, or after a positive or negative emotional shock.

Food combining

Shelton set the basis of food combining in his book, Food Combining Made Easy. (85)

The main problem in nutrition is not about how food is combined, it is about the food itself. Meat, for example, is not healthy, regardless of what food it is combined with.

One of Shelton’s rules is that fruits must be eaten alone, or mixed only with salad. My belief is that fruits with salads are fine because salads are acceptable - not because they combine well with fruit.

Another of his rules: acidic fruits and sweet fruits must be eaten separately. And melons should not be combined with any other fruit.

Neither my clients nor I have personally had any problems when combining different kinds of fruit, though I acknowledge that some people may.

Personally, I have never found two healthy foods which, when combined, become unhealthy.  Conversely: unhealthy foods never become healthy when well combined.

 

Example meal plans

The following examples are designed for a person that needs maximum about 1000 calories a day.

Spring:

Some examples following the Top 4 Fruit Diet include:

• 4 small papayas, 5 mangoes
• 3 small papayas, 4 mangoes, 30 lychees
• 4 mangoes, 40 lychees, 40 longans

• 18 small peaches
• 10 nectarines, 4 large peaches

• 4 persimmons, 2 papayas, 1 kg grapes
• 1 cherimoya, 8 persimmons, 500 g grapes
• 3 small papayas, 3 mangoes, 2 cherimoyas

• 2 small papayas, 3 mangoes, 2 cherimoyas, 5 lychees
• 2 cherimoyas, 2 mangoes, 4 persimmons
• 4 mangoes, 500 g grapes

Other life style factors

Physical exercise

After nutrition, the most important factor impacting health is exercise.

One must earn the food one eats. Before consuming a meal, the body must have a need for that meal, and must be ready to accept it. One should not eat hoping the calories will be burned afterwards.

Thanks to my dog, I now take long walks in the countryside, forest or mountains every day. Physical activity has improved my digestion, and has been an effective remedy and prevention against my circulatory problems (Raynaud’s disease).

The lack of exercise is a weakening factor and
an adequate level of exercise is a strengthening factor.

Sleep

Good sleep is the third most important factor for good health. It goes both ways: sleeping well helps digestion, and it is easier to sleep when you eat well.

Some foods that influence sleep:

• Coffee, tea and chocolate are well-known sleep-suppressing foods. Citrus fruits may also disturb sleep for some people.
• Meat, fish, lettuce and, of course, alcohol are sleep-inducing foods for almost everybody.

The need for sleep typically decreases with a frugivore diet, as less energy is needed for digestion.

Sleep recharges our vital nerve-energy.

The body is continually cleaning its tissues from metabolic waste, bacterial toxins, and environmental/external toxicity that it has encountered/generated during the day. During sleep, the voluntary functions of elimination – urination and bowel movements – are inactive, so it stores these waste in the bladder and colon. (86)

Upon waking, the body removes this waste through urination and excretion. Hypersensitive people also need additional means of elimination, for reasons covered in the chapter on Theories. This is why allergic reactions are frequent in the morning – in addition to triggers such as allergies to dust mites.

Poor sleep is a weakening factor and a good restful sleep is a strengthening factor.

Climate

Humans are made to live not in cold climates, but in warm ones, such as the Mediterranean coast.

Professor Hannu Rintamäki (87) declares that “Humans come from the tropics”. He adds that “The human body is at its best when it can regulate heat easily by adjusting blood flow – when we neither sweat to cool off nor shiver to warm up. Apropos skin temperatures: While the ideal is 33°C, we begin to feel discomfort when temperatures climb over 35° or are under 31°C, and our performance starts to decrease when skin temperatures drop below 30° or rise above 35°. Our health is at risk when the surface temperatures of our bodies dip below 15°C or rise beyond 45°C.” He is talking about skin temperature; in terms of air temperature, the ideal range is between 24ºC and 27ºC for a naked body, which is the same range of temperatures found in tropical rain forests.

We have adapted to live in cold climates, in part also thanks to a diet that includes stimulants such as meat, fish, alcohol and coffee. We survive that way, but at the expense of diseases. This is not our ideal way of life. We live better in mild or warm climates, consuming fruits.

My skin and circulatory system suffer in low temperatures. My health condition is worse living in Geneva than in Barcelona. The sun is comforting for me, and helps me feel better.  But even if I enjoy sunny days in the mountains, I don’t feel so well when I’m there.

The importance of the sun, even though it is not the only factor, should be highlighted in hypersensitive people. It is well known that there is “a high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in children with asthma and allergic diseases. Vitamin D deficiency was a strong correlate for asthma, allergic rhinitis and wheezing.” (88) In winter, for people who live above 42 degrees latitude – which includes all countries in Europe north of the Mediterranean – there is not enough sunlight exposure for the skin to produce any vitamin D. (89)

Sun hypersensitivity can be reversed when nutrition and other lifestyle aspects are improved. That was my case, when I switched from a Paleo diet to one based on fruits and vegetables.

The body can adapt to different climates and environments. While in the womb and during infancy, the body develops certain characteristics to cope with the environment. Of course, genetic factors determine our physical characteristics; but it’s well known that the environment can switch our gene expression on or off.

It is an interesting coincidence that my eldest daughter was born in Barcelona with brown hair and eyes, and is easily bronzed by the sun. Meanwhile, my youngest daughter, born in Geneva, has fair skin, light brown hair and grey-greenish eyes.

“Pregnant women who witnessed the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 passed on biological signs of stress to their babies, researchers suggest. Scientists from Edinburgh and New York say tests on infants when they were a year old showed they had low levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Their mothers also showed low cortisol levels, a sign someone is affected by PTSD the researchers say.” (90)

Many clients and friends that have changed country have said that they felt worse in the new country; when they return to their native country for holidays, they feel better again – regardless of their country of origin and new home country.

Thus, I find climate is an important factor for hypersensitivity.

Warm, sunny climate is a strengthening factor; dry, cold climate is a weakening factor.

Moving to a different country/region may be a weakening factor.


Transportation

Travelling by any means of transport may be a triggering factor for allergies.

When we travel, we are exposed to a completely different air composition when we exit the vehicle. This can be problematic for allergic individuals, as we lack the capability to adapt so suddenly - as explained in the section on Traumas of the chapter Theories.

Dr Graham states in The 80/10/10 Diet (8), “We can lose far more water than we realize in an airplane. […] Such insidious water loss is sometimes considered more dangerous than the overt sweating incurred with exercise in conditions of high humidity.” Car air conditioning and heating systems provide a desired temperature, but also produce overly dry air.

Another disturbing effect of transportation is the noise produced by motors, from which negative vibrations are captured by our bodily fluids and spread throughout our energetic system.

Travelling is a weakening factor and it can be a triggering factor.

Electromagnetic fields and grounding

“Earthing (or grounding) refers to the discovery of benefits—including better sleep and reduced pain—from walking barefoot outside or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive systems that transfer the Earth's electrons from the ground into the body.” (91)

The pernicious effect of electromagnetic fields created by transmission towers, mobile telephones, cordless phones, Wi-Fi and other electrical devices is controversial. But there is no doubt that many diseases originate from electromagnetic sensitivity: chronic fatigue, dizziness, fibromyalgia, tinnitus and other pains.

While grounding does not provide immediate relief for allergies, I believe that it has an important impact on long-term health. People with an electromagnetic sensitivity can feel better with frequent grounding, and it has been shown that grounding the human body to Earth reduces chronic inflammation and related chronic pain (92, 93).

Grounding is a strengthening factor and electromagnetic fields are a weakening factor and a possible triggering factor.

Spiritual nutrition

We must not forget that our spirit needs to be fed too. I recommend searching for the religious group that fits for each person and practice best, or finding a way to cultivate compassion, forgiveness, empathy, willpower, gratitude, unselfishness, charity, patience, humility, sincerity, consciousness; in summary, love.

The positive effects of practicing a religion on wellbeing and happiness have been very well demonstrated. (94, 95)

A calm spirit brings calm to the body and mind.

Spiritual practice is a strengthening factor.

Other strengthening factors

There are many simple daily activities that can help us to feel better. Here, I mention just some of them:

• Chanting or listening to music: mantras, any kind of religious or uplifting music, classical music; even better in a choir or community
• Volunteering for humanitarian causes or helping the society
• Laughing: watch or listen comedies, laughter therapy
• Having a dog, pet therapy
• Learning, reading books, becoming autodidactic
• Giving and receiving affection: hugs, caresses, intimacy
• Contact with nature, hugging trees, forest bathing (shinrin-yoku)

and the list goes on.


Conclusions

Many factors triggering hypersensitivity are beyond our control: the sun, environmental allergens, noise, light, odours, electromagnetic fields, weather, etc. But we can change our lifestyle to avoid weakening factors and favour strengthening factors, by:

• Adopting the Top Fruit Diet
• Avoiding drinking water when you don’t need it (for frugivores)
• Sleeping well
• Exercising regularly, outdoors
• Reducing stress, relaxing
• Avoiding long-distance travel
• Grounding
• Avoiding toxicity
• Living close to the sea or a lake, in a mild-warm, sunny climate
• Being aware of humidity and mould inside our homes
• Nourishing our spirit
• Singing, laughing, volunteering, reading, having a dog, experiencing affection, contacting with nature.

With such lifestyle changes, we will no longer need to fear hypersensitivity, or triggering factors of disease: germs, injuries, adversities, problems, etc.

We are not invincible, but with these changes our bodies are better able to heal.