Saturday, April 26, 2008

Interview with a Fruitarian - 12 - Robert Everett

12th in my series of interviews with fruitarians. (If you are fruitarian, and would like to be interviewed too, please contact me, or leave a comment - read this first: List of Fruitarian Interviews)


Hi Rob, www.myspace.com/fruit4life

Many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed!

Could you please start off by telling us all a little about yourself, how old you are, where you are living/grew up?


Rob on  fruitarian dietI'm 39 years young, will be 40 in October. I'm originally from Houston, Texas. I now live in Idaho Falls Idaho. I moved here in 1979 from Texas, well because thats where my dad moved us and I've been here ever since.

I don't like the cold here, winter months are long, but spring and summer here is beautiful. Hiking for me is what I like to do. I like to go mountain biking also. I have a back pack I use to pack my fruit in and it works well.

I am divorced, I have 2 awesome boys, one is 15 his name is Austin and the other is 12 and his name is Ian. I am a local truck driver.

Just to give us an idea of how it all used to be for you, could you tell us What kind of diet you grow up with? What did you used to eat on an average day?

Well I ate whatever was put in front of me, your basic meat, vegetable, and potatoes or mac-n -cheese or something. Hamburgers, fries, candy, soda, cookies, you know, the typical western SAD diet. And I was a pig! I INHALED my food literally! didn't take the time to properly chew or anything, just huffed it down.

I was overweight all my teen years, VERY overweight to the tune of about 230 lbs at 13. I smoked my first cigarette at 16, then began drinking.

I dropped out of school in the 11th grade. I got married at 18. We had 2 kids, made it 12 years and divorced. I quit smoking 3 different times and this time is the final time! I WILL NOT smoke again! I stopped drinking, and I was a bad alcoholic and also used drugs but thats all behind me.

Rob on the omnivore diet

Compare that to now, what does a typical days food intake look like for you now?


Well now a typical day would be:
6 oranges after I run 2.5 miles
mid-morning 1 bundle of bananas (usually 7)
lunch time 2 lbs of grapes
mid-afternoon another bundle of bananas (7)
late afternoon 3 to 4 avocados and tomatoes mixed
evening 4 to 6 more oranges or
sometimes strawberries about a pound of them

I fast 2 days a week, usually Mondays and Tuesdays, water fast

I've never tried dry fasting.

To break the fast I eat oranges.

I'm working on more variety of fruits as spring comes in and there's more available.
And I like to eat the avocados during the day while I'm active.

I only mono eat with the exception of avocados sometimes i mix with tomatoes, because its really GOOD!

Especially if the avocado is soaked in fresh juiced lemons!

So when did things start to change for you? Did you progress slowly to vegetarianism, veganism, raw food and fruitarianism, or was it more of a sudden change for you?? What sparked those changes?

I stopped eating meat January 2007 and became vegan. November 8, 2007 I went 100% RAW after completing 14 days on the Master Cleanse. December 2006 I weighed 250 lbs.

Rob prior to discovering fruit

December 2006 I peaked with a weight of 250 lbs, that's where it started. this was the heaviest i'd ever been. I was sick of it! I immediately stopped meat in January '07 and also cut out soda pop, candy, processed foods, anything in a can or box etc i stopped, and began eating veggies and fruit instead. I still steamed the veggies or boiled them, so at that point I guess I became vegan. then on the 8th November 2007, I went 100% raw after the 14 days master cleanse. (That was truly an awesome experience. To not eat for 14 days for me was incredible!) and In January 08 I went 100% fruit.

After fasting and eating raw and the master cleanse, I now weigh 165 lbs. I bottomed out at 155. My BMI is 23 so I'm at the normal weight.

I feel incredible and have a TON of energy!

There were 3 particular people who sparked me to do this and they are the fruitarian one AKA F-1 or Blackman. Mango, Lol, YOU! And Suvine. I saw how y'all have done it for long periods and are thriving and doing well so I jumped in the boat and went for it! And I absolutely love it! it is truly the way we were designed to eat! fruit and fruit only. It is also best for digestion.

So I would say the change was gradual for me.

So you have complete faith in the 100% fruit diet right? - What's your take on supplements - Stuff like vitamin pills, spirulina or similar? Are you at all concerned about not getting enough calcium/protein/B12/whatevers??

Absolutely! Fruit is all we need! Protein and calcium, its all there in the fruit,and variety is key to get all the nutrients. Oranges and grapes are great sources for protein and calcium and avocados to me are the balance of the diet. I dont use any supplements, i dont feel we need them, we have all the nutrients we need in the fruit. Super foods to me are also unnecessary.

I don't worry about calories, nutrients, or any of it. I just eat when hungry and eat till full although I over eat a lot but hey, I LOVE fruit!

How do you feel eating just fruit?

Fruit is MAGIC! I feel unstoppable! I have a ton of energy and I need less sleep now than I used to.

I wake before my alarm goes off ready for the day! I love not having to do dishes or anything in the kitchen other than peel and eat!
Taking my fruit with me on the go is simple, its all so easy and the best way to live!

Well, your body really went under radical changes to get to where you are now! That's an incredible transformation!

Yes, Like I said, I was 250 lbs, overweight, miserable and I had high blood pressure too. I now weigh 165 and my blood pressure has been normal and remains normal since I gave up meat and especially since i switched to fruit, and running 2.5 miles 4 times a week and riding my bike has helped as well.

Do you know of many other fruitarians, online or offline?

I only know 4. You, the fruitarian one, suvine, and Dave mason, and as far as where I live I feel pretty isolated.

What do your parents think of you being fruitarian? What about the rest of your family, do you have brothers/sisters?

They are of mixed emotion about it. they feel I need protein and calcium which they don't understand I get PLENTY of! They are simply not used to me being so skinny now. they feel I'm malnurished.

"you cant just live on fruit" they all say. But they just don't understand. I have 1 brother and 2 sisters and they are just like "whatever" do what you want! But they are finally seeing the results of my transition and I'm looking real good. I went thru a period of looking like complete crap when i was detoxing and I was pretty bad looking. but people don't understand we are pretty much rebuilding our bodies! Cleaning out the junk and rebuilding! Old cells with new healthy ones!

Do you or have you suffered at all from cravings, or have you ever binge eaten? how do/did you deal with such times?

No suffering here. I miss things but I have adapted so well to fruit i feel that I've overcome the old ways(cooked). I still binge eat, I eat when I'm not hungry simply because I love fruit! Especially bananas! and avocados! I am working on that at this time though trying to only eat what I need and not what I want.

What's the fruit quality and choice like where you live now?

We have a co-op opening up in May finally so the quality will definitely be there. but as for now organics are limited and expensive. I just eat conventional fruit. When one regularly fasts and the fruit itself is clensing I dont worry about pesticides and such. Our bodies are designed to clean up and when your collon and intestines are clean and your immune system is working well there is no worries about conventional fruit

Have you done much travelling? Do you have a favourite place, or somewhere that the fruit suply really impressed you?

I haven't been anywhere But Idaho since 1987 when i went back to Texas for a reunion, I miss Texas because I love the heat, and don't like the cold.

If I had a choice place to live being fruitarian it would definitely be Hawaii!

Do you normally tell people how you eat? If so, what do you think is the most common question(s) people ask you about your diet, and how do you answer it/them?

Sure if they ask. And the most common question is where do I get my protein, lol, almost getting annoying! I just tell them Oranges and grapes, avocados.

Do you perhaps have a favourite fruit?

Definitely ripe bananas!  the spotted ones!

Can you recall the first time you tried one?

I can't recall the first time but i will say that after the master cleanse, when i went for 100% fruit, I never realized until then how GOOD fruit really is!

I never ate fruit when I was on the SAD diet, just chips, candy, and junk. Now that's SAD!

Just as I am! Eating fruit and playing outside like I was a kid, and I am a kid, lol. I would love to go to a warmer tropical climate but that's up to my kids.

I want to spend all my time with them, they are my whole world! I love my kids very much!

While on the subject of your boys, what's their take on dads change in food -  do they eat more fruit too?

My boys are amazed at the vibrant health I have and my energy levels daily. I dont get sick even when they are sick around me.

They are eating more and more fruit when they are with me but sadly enough when they go back to moms they have to eat what she feeds them which is the SAD diet of cooked and processed foods. they have asked their mom if she would buy fruit and she says no and that their dad (me) is stupid for only eating fruit and that I'm malnurished and unhealthy, which is far from the truth! My x-wife has no idea how healthy I am and how great I feel. So all I can do for now is feed them fruit when they are here. My oldest will be 15 on sunday the 27th of april and pretty soon he can make his own choices where he isn't doomed to what his mother feeds him.

I've tried to explain things to her but she just laughs at me but thats ok. I've done my homework on fruitarianism, and I am 100% sure its right for me. My boys will soon come around I feel!

Do you envisage any further enhancements to your diet or do you feel happy with how it is now?

I am happy with it! It's the BEST way to live. I'd like to eat more organic eventually but for now all I can afford is conventional.

How do you feel if people tell you that you must be crazy, and that you can't possibly survive eating the way you do??

I just laugh at them! because I know they're wrong and I'm healthier than I've been in YEARS! Like when I was 6! LOL! they can say what they will! I just shrug it off! and of course i love to see others interested in this lifestyle and have no problem telling them about it!

I love to see before and afters. I have some of those for this interview,

Do you have a website or blog?

www.myspace.com/fruit4life

Finally, is there anything you'ld like to add as words of encouragement to those that are aspiring toward fruitarianism?

You will go thru DETOX! And feel and look like crap but never fear! It passes, as far as how long depends on the individual. I made it thru it and I feel like a new man and I mean it! Just do it! you'll love it! There is much more to life than eating, only eat to live not live to eat! Food is fuel not a hobby or something to do.

Fantastic, thanks Rob, I am sure with your story you'll really be able to influence others to eat better!!

Previous Blog Post - Extreme Fruitarianism
      Next Blog Post - What we ate last month (March '08)

Previous Fruitarian Interview - Kveta
      Next Fruitarian Interview - Rudolf

List of Fruitarian Interviews
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5 comments:

Anne said...

Congratulations Rob on your wonderful health advances.
Your before and after shots would be such an incentive for others.
It is great to see your happiness and heath on a fruit diet.

Also thanks to Mango for these great interviews.

Fruitarian Mango said...

Thanks Anne,

Rob's story is truly awe inspiring isn't it? There must be literally millions of people out there that could really relate to where he came from and benefit from reading this..

regards,
Mango.

Anonymous said...

You will surely loose the healthy way with fruits.. It's always been a good source of natural vitamins and minerals.. Thanks for sharing

Anonymous said...

IMPRESSIVE! well done, Rob.
How long did the detox last and is there anything to ease the symptoms?

Anonymous said...

I loved this! I am so so happy for Rob. He seems ecstatic about his new life :)
I would love to present some of these interviews and posts on this website to my college class. Fruitarianism is in one of the course modules in a few months, and people are encouraged to try out different diets than their own as part of a project. I'd hope this blog would convince them that this is the one diet to definitely try ;)...Blah blah blah ramble ramble, oops, sorry :O