My diet is constantly changing and adjusting as I get stronger in my health and the seasons change. I like to experiment with what foods work best and help me feel my body to feel it's best. Over these past couple of months I have noticed how great I feel when I eat fruit all day and then after 4pm I have an early salad dinner.
We as humans are frugivorous animals and closely related to apes. If you look at the table below you will see how similar how physiology and anatomy is to a frugivore. Most of society now classes humans as omnivores who evolved from frugivores. I do agree that one can survive as an omnivore who eats fruit, vegetables and meat. Yet I truly believe one can not thrive in life unless eating a frugivourous diet which suites our digestive system and its physiology. This means as frugivores a humans optimal diet is that of fruit. Of course most frugivores like chimpanzees will also eat nuts, seeds, flowers, greens and insects yet most of what they consume in a day is fruit.
It also important to remember that since fruit is higher in water and carbohydrates it digests the fastest in a frugivore and can digest through our digestive system in as little as 4-6 hours. Most other vegetable matter will take up to 24 hours to digest completly. Cooked meat for example will take up to 48 hours to digets and be eliminated and raw meat can sometimes not leave the human body for approx 58 hours. For more information on Raw Vegan food and physiology head over to Dr Robert Morse Youtube page or his The Detox Miracle Source Book at Amazon as both will help you understand the role fruits plays in a healthy body, mind and soul with out needing a Biochem degree!!
Fruits contain a high levels of fructose and glucose this also means fruit is the perfect food is fuelling cells of the human body.Why is this? Because our body's cells need glucose for energy, by eating fruit you are fuelling the the cells of your body and remember we are cells.
The other great benefit of fruits is it's a complete package of vitamins and minerals which our bodies also need. Other edible plant matter such as raw seeds, flowers and vegetables can be great for you as well. Greens are great especially if your body is depleted from extensive illness. Greens like spinach, kale and herbs contain high amounts of amino acids and these are great for cell repair. Just keep in mind that they do not contain as much hydration as fruit and due to their highly fibrous structures that take longer to break don in the body.Most greens contain very little sugar, and it is sugar in the form of glucose which is vital for the human cells of our body to run.
I have watched and followed many Raw Vegan's journey's over this past year and it seems very clear that most thrive on a higher fruit based diet. Peopple seem to be healing anything from eczema to cancer with fruits and then many of these people go onto live disease free and very active lives. Everyones journey is different and when I started eating a Raw Vegan diet I was eating high amounts of greens, vegetables and avocado fat. Some would say this is not optimal for digestion and yet after visiting my doctor last week and being told I put on over 12kg in one year and cured multiple health conditions I am reminded of the rebuilding power of vegetables amino acids and minerals which helped me to heal.
Now that I am well, healthy, working, socialising and exercising my body's needs have changed. I am finding countless benefits to eating ONLY fruit til 4pm each day and having one of my salads between 5-6 pm. These last few months I have felt that if I want to exercise as much as I do and some days this can be up to 4 hours of dancing, swimming and running. My body will only achieve this if I eat a high amount of fruit all day and the as I slow down in the evening my body likes to replenish with a salad high in leaf greens. I do not exercise after dinner often as I slow down while my body diverts a higher amount of energy toward digestion. I also rarely eat after 7pm as I use intermitted fast (I will talk more on this in later blog posts).
My days generally run as follows*:
6am Wake up.
6:15am Run 3.6km.
7am Floor exercises 15 min.
7:15am Ocean Swim .75km.
8am Shower,dressed and prep my fruit for the day.
9am Work.
11am First fruit meal of the day usually Papaya or melon or acai eg 2 papayas
2pm Second fruit meal more papaya or mango eg 3-4 mangos.
3pm usually home from work and will start working on my Roar website.
3-4pm Sometimes snack on some medjool dates.
5-6pm I will enjoy a huge salad
7pm I will go for a relaxing dip in the ocean.
8pm Do more work on my Roar website and Health Coaching calls.
10pm Sleep
*I also drink a couple of litres of spring water during the day 7 the example above is of an average week day for me as every day is different.
What is most important about my current diet is that I am now fuelling a healthy body. I am very sure I am still healing from all I went through as I suffered from many many health ailments for over 32 years of my life. Yet since eating higher fruits over the past couple of months I have been able to increase my fitness level, I have lost a couple of kilos and my body toned up. I am thinking clearer, have more energy through the day and I feel much lighter eating fruit all day.
The key with Raw Vegan foods is do what works for you. If you find you combine the wrong raw foods or eating you eat a raw food that doesn't agree with you your body will let you know. You might feel sluggish, slow, gassy, some Indigestion or some change in bowl movements. All these are not extreme discomforts and all of this is simply your body talking to you. Most of these symptoms are not serve and you can simply adjust your digest accordingly to what does note agree with you (please note here that if you ever have any serve alllergic reaction after eating a food please call an ambulance).
In my experience and many in many other Raw Vegans lives it seems better for us frugivores if we eat fruit!! Yet you always do you on your Raw Foods journey and never stop listening to your body!