Are coconuts part of the fruitarian diet?

I recently blogged about mushrooms on a fruitarian diet: here, to which, in a follow-up comment, Orange pondered my views on coconut water..

Well, I see no need to make this a lengthy post at all. I stand by what I wrote in the mushroom post, about my redefinition of the food pyramid. With the aspiration to eat as high within the triangle as possible. (before possibly transcending food altogether and entering into the realms of breatharianism! .. aah.. but I dream, and don't intend to go into that right now).. So where are the coconuts placed within the pyramid I propose?.. Well, for sure they are far from being the coarse food of butchered flesh. And being generally uncooked, surely better than most other foods.. But, they are most clearly notfruit, and therefore, although high in the pyramid, in my mind, do clearly not occupy the same ranking as fruit, and thus I don't see them as ideal as I do fruit.


Where are the coconuts?
Just a couple of little facts about coconuts that likely most of you may be aware of already.. Coconuts are eaten at pretty much any stage.. Initially the outer husk is green or light brown, and internally they bear very little flesh, and are mostly of liquid content.. As they mature, flesh begins to form, and the liquid lessens.. These are often called Jelly nuts, or Green coconuts. Maturing yet further, the juice slowly gets converted into flesh which hardens yet further.. It is at this stage that people in the western world are likely to see them dehusked and on supermarket shelves.. This was about the only stage I'd ever seen a coconut until first visiting the tropics, and I recall being amazed at just how tough that outer husk is! - I recall also, watching "Jungle Book as a kid", and realise that the artists rendition of what a coconut tree looked like, with dehusked coconuts forming on the palms, gave an altogether false view of coconut palms..

As the coconut moves yet further through it's lifecycle (provided the husk has not been removed!), the flesh softens some once more, and swells to fill up much of the interior of the coconut. At this stage, the coconut interior swell is called "the angel" or "the fairy", and the texture of it is, well, fluffy and quite different. What's happening is that the coconut is preparing to sprout, and if left unopened, will likely begin doing so shortly..

In the tropics the jelly nuts are often sold by street vendours who will dehusk, and/or machete open them for you on demand. In this way, I consider them to be much more physiologically compatible with our needs, than pretty much any other commercially available nut, that have all been subjected to heat and consequential dehydration, but knowing the nut grows, the fairy forms, and the seed sprouts, I personally choose to let be. Given the availability of an abundance of more suitable food (fruit), I don't believe coconuts should truly ultimately be part of a fruitarian diet.

Mushrooms on a Fruitarian Diet.

Another question I received in my inbox a short while ago, from a guy named Bernard in Stavanger (Norway), pertained to the eating of mushrooms on a fruitarian diet:

Is eating mushroom ok for fruitarians?

He then clarified that he wasn't referring to blue meanies, gold tops or other psychedelic mind altering trippy mushrooms..

Well, firstly, I think I'm going to apologize in advance for once more being repetitive, because I know that much of what I'm going to write I've already said before, albeit no doubt slightly different word orders.. But anyhow, here goes..

Firstly, I wish to reiterate that I am fully aware that the term fruitarian pertaining to fruitarianism, is habitually loosely interpreted by many, and much as I'd love to see it mean eater of solely fruit, colloquially this is clearly very much not the case. And even when my definition is agreed upon, there exists much confusion as to what exactly a fruit is. So I would like to refer you to my previous blog posts, My definition of Fruitarianism, and What is a fruit?.

So bearing in mind that I'm defining fruitarianism as a lifestyle that revolves around eating purely fruit, then the simple yes/no answer to the question of whether or not mushrooms are part of a fruitarian diet, is no, they are clearly not fruits..

However, all things said and done, I tend to have my own little vision of what qualifies as food.. sort of my own internal "food pyramid", similar to the traditional food pyramid, knocked together by the meat and dairy industry as part of their ingenious flesh marketing strategy, mine is also a simple pyramid with layers..

My pyramid supposes that all this food be eaten in a 100% raw natural state. Once the cooking process is added as an ingredient, the pyramid I propose would become much more complicated, and require additional layering with a great deal more potential for overlap.

Fruitarian Food Pyramid concept:

The bottom layer contains the edible(?) flesh portions of animals, every mammal, fowl and fish you can name etc. Slightly above it, with some overlap, I'd stick the bi-products of the animal flesh trade, and other items that originate from deliberate animal abuse, dairy products, milk, cheese, yogurts etc, eggs, lards and oils of animal sources etc, the overlap is diffuse, and not altogether clear. The next layer up, are the root vegetables, the carrots, parsnips and turnips etc.. things that necessitate the direct and unavoidable intentional killing of plants. Above that, I would have another layer, again with a slight overlap perhaps, depending on production methods, with tubers, like potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, and Jerusalem artichokes, things which on a small scale can potentially be harvested gently from the ground with minimal harm to the plant, and if care taken the food can be eaten, and eyes cut out from the potato or similar to regrow new plants. Moving up the triangle one more notch, once more with a potential for overlap, I would place nuts, seeds and grains.. Grains and seeds being potentially far more destructive, so perhaps I might place them further down the pyramid. Truth be known, my pyramid is far from finalized.. Anyhow, above the nuts and stuff, I'd place greens, again, there is definitely room for overlap, as method of growing and harvesting surely plays a role, as with small scale home gardening, many greens can be harvested in a far less destructive manner than traditional farming methods allow. Above the greens, again overlapping, I would place mushrooms, especially self picked forest & field ones. and then right at the top, is the fruit.


Clearly I've missed out some of what gets eaten, like crustaceans, snails, frogs, insects, grubs and the like, which I'd probably place in that vague area between layers 1 and 2 and 3, then there's seaweed, algae I don't know, probably more that I've forgotten, legumes, and the seeds I would differentiate as to whether sprouted or not, but I think you get the rough gist of things..

Unlike the traditional food pyramid, the aim is not to eat balanced from all food groups, but to aspire instead to the pinnacle of foods, and just eat fruit. Obviously, if there is no fruit around, and one must eat other things, then move down the pyramid as far as you feel comfortable. In the grand scheme of things, mushrooms are most definitely not the worst choice. Of course, the ultimate goal is to settle in an environment where the food you are comfortable with is readily and affordably available.

Knowing what our goals are is a matter of individual choice, attempting to keep sight of them, is crucial to attaining them.