Back online....

Hi folks..

after basically several months of next to no cyber activity, kveta and i have finally gotten ourselves hooked up onto the wide eyed web once more..

we've been online for a little less than a week so far, and are slowly easing back into the comfort and pain of being once more able to check our emails on a regular basis, look up useless facts on wikipedia, check out what's happening in cyberspace.. etc etc..

but seriously.. i missed not having my regular internet fix, and even if we did connect up briefly and inoccasionally through internet cafes and the like, we did naught much more than check our most important emails and sign off again..

so now that we're back, what next?

to be honest, i'm a little uncertain of the direction of this blog, over the past couple of years, i think i've said pretty much most of what i've felt to on the subject of fruit, diet and ethics.. Sure, there's always more to be said, and no doubt, i'll be saying it.. as and when the inspiration takes me.. but as a regularly updated blog, i really don't know any more whether i need to..

I still want to keep posting new interviews, as and when they happen, (speaking of which, I have one video interview I need to get youtubed and uploaded still), and I'll still keep updating my journal on a semi regular basis too.. and i guess i don't really know fully what i'm saying here myself, because I don't think I've fully settled the destiny of my blog..

I guess, I just want to say, don't expect too much to be forthcoming... but then again, don't expect too little.. either.. What was it Kwai Chang Caine learned - expect the unexpected I think it was.. but don't expect anything too profound (that's me talking again)..

Anyhow, nice to be back and talk more later..
peace,
mango.

Mystery Fruit - 4

I have to say, I first tasted this fruit about 12 years ago, and was instantly hooked on it..

Unfortunately they are a rare breed, and I only got to sample them a couple of times back then.. however, fortunately, I am now in a situation with a relative abundance of them, and they are most surely one of my current favourite fruits.. probably among my top 5, along with durian, chempadek, white sapote and abiu.. but i'm sure if i think about it, i've probably got way more than 5 fruits in my top 5..

the mind boggles..

Anyhows, any guesses what it's called?

Fruitopia

We are currently staying on some land owned by a guy named Clinton, who primarily lives in Adelaide, but travels up here every few weeks to check up on the place.

The property has been christened Fruitopia, and is located just on the outskirts of a town called Mareeba, up on the "Tablelands" of Tropical Far North Queensland.. (North Eastern Australia)..

Swimming hole at fruitopia (click to enlarge)

Clinton had a vision of himself walking along rows of fruit trees, and eating/living off their multivarieted fruit offerings, and fruitopia is the child of that vision.

I'm unsure how many acres, this land covers.. possibly 100(?), and one side of it is bordered by an all year around flowing creek, which is, I believe, called Granite Creek, but again, that's not a statement originating from certainty..

Probably over half of the land, is already taken over by fruit trees (and the relentless weeds that grow around and between them!).. they are laid out in a pretty conventional line after line style, with a certain degree of intermingling of species, but mostly similar tree types all in a row.. All up, I am told there are over 2000 fruit trees out in the orchard, many of which I do not recognise.. Perhaps I would, if they were fruiting, but without the fruit on them, I lack the experience to do so..

I am uncertain how many different types of fruit are out there.. but for sure, a good deal more than most other farms would have, with fruiting Akee, peanut butter fruit, white sapote, ice-cream beans, ceylone olive (not an olive at all - tastes more like stewed apple with a hint of liquorice!), pawpaws, mangoes, passion fruit, jackfruit, guavas of various sorts, bananas and more.. and that's just whats currently on.. there're also black sapote, mame sapote, various types of exotic cherries, avocados, pineapples, i'm told there's a durian out there somewhere although the climate isn't quite ideal for them here, ankola (a sort of pink fleshed avocado), canistel, carambola, wax jambu, heaps of lychee trees, and I guess that's just the tip of the ice-berg..

"Tropical Fruit World" down in NSW, close to the Queensland border, claim to have the largest selection of tropical fruit in the world.. A bold statement, that may well be the truth.. Clinton boldly claims that he will eventually have even more than the they do, but unless he can attract more people here, I personally doubt that that will be the case.. Still, I've got to give the guy credit, he has managed to do most of what's been done here in the space of the last 6 years, when he first bought the property together with a guy named Eddie, who's an old friend of mine, pretty much the only fruit trees on the land were a few rows of lychees, and 3 giant mango trees near the main old house.. and everything else has been planted since that time.. So I'd love for him to prove me wrong..

I gather the previous owners were tobacco growers, or at least that's what the history of this land is.. Basically year in and year out of the same monocrops, which over the decades would have surely depleted the soil, making it really not suitable to grow anything, so they've chosen to bring in tonnes of fertilizers of various sorts..

The farm is certified organic.. organic it may be, but the stuff they spread everywhere under the trees is animal based waste products.. Quite recently a couple of tonnes of some kind of chicken shit blood and bone pellet mix was smeared everywhere (stuff stank pretty badly), followed by the spraying of some equally offensive smelling fine mist made from some kind of rotten fish paste..

Palm trees at Frutopia

But I guess this is the current nature of the world we live in, and whether or not things are organic, spray free, or chemically enhanced, or not, I'm sure one could always spot reasons why something wasn't ideal.. In fact, it's difficult to not question the environmental ethics of every item of food out there, whether it be the frozen chunk of factory animal flesh, or the ripe and ready organic mango.. Sadly, both will likely be tainted..(although obviously one far more than the other!)

That's why I'm personally into the whole vegan organic permaculture type food growing thing, better and more briefly known as "vegeculture".. I see the ideal situation for the world, is that we each have our own small parcel of land that we care take, and grow our food on, in such a way that biodiversity is encouraged.. no line after line of monocrops.. especially not annuals.. and ultimately not really even any need for irrigation.. I'm convinced that such small manageable chunks of land, could easily be maintained with minimal effort.. managing weed growth ultimately through thick layers of nutritionally life giving mulch for the trees, with the added bonus functionality of preventing the soil from drying out, and weeds growing back, thus reducing the need to water profusely as is often the sad case..

But that's for the future me I guess.. I give myself permission to dream on while waiting, sometimes impatiently, for our envisioned home to manifest itself.. Meanwhile, I am stuck with this earthly body that unfortunately still requires food and faced with the choices I have, there is always compromises..

Of the fruit available around this area, I'm sure Fruiotopia is likely to have the history I would feel most comfortable in supporting.. (perhaps it is a sort of blessing that I don't know too much of the history of more conventionally reared and commercially available crops)..

Anyhow.. Fruitopia.. yes.. it's where we landed on arrival, and we are still here.. Although desperately desiring our own private and affordable place to live..

For others that like the sound of this place, - home of the recent 801010 raw gathering, then I reckon it'd be a great place for many to visit and ultimately possible live.. The back of the farm is basically still wild grass and ultimately available to live on.. I believe Clinton may have long term plans to subsection the rear wilderness, and get some people to live out there.. (it borders the creek there!)..

peace,
mango

Just fruit.. No nuts, seed, roots or greens..

That's the kind of fruitarianism I'm ultimately in to.. I've been able to pull it off pretty consistently since joining up with Kveta back in 2006, although there were definitely times that the all fruit diet was my diet for extended periods, prior to us getting together..

Meeting up with Harley, Freelea and others recently, it has really made me aware of occasional divergence in consistencies.. Inconsistencies I don't want hidden..

I've been calling myself fruitarian for many years already, even at times when I may have forsaken my beliefs and picked at the occasional steamed potato or piece of broccoli.. Other times, too, I would be on an all raw vegan diet, with a high fruit percentage, but include some carrot or lettuce, dried seaweed or similar .. I make no real excuses, other than struggling to live on a budgeted existence where I often considered fruit to be unaffordable..

Perhaps I was just using budget and a shoestring lifestyle as an excuse to hang on to old habits that morally and from a physiological health point of view, I didn't consider ideal, but for whatever other reasons, I still found appealing..

I became aware that fruit was the ideal food probably in the early 1990's, and dreamt of myself living purely on fruits, despite putting myself in geographical positions where pulling my dream off, would have surely at times required me to often go hungry.. Something I didn't feel quite prepared to do.. So compromise I did.. And it certainly seemed like compromise was a necessity at many times..

I guess I've long been the philosophiser.. Questioning things that most people take unquestioningly for granted.. And often wondering if there is perhaps a better way to do things.. At times I'm quite saddened by how much madness, sickness and suffering this world has, and see much of it as self inflicted through ignorance..

Through my recent encounter with a few 801010ers that passed through this place we're currently staying at, especially, I guess, Harley, who has a challenging personality.. and Freelea and Nick, who I felt were ultimately more curious than critical (I consider questioning anothers principles to be a healthy way to understand ones own better).. I became more conscious of small irregularities, and his challenging ways have encouraged and inspired me to make improvements.

I guess, we presented ourselves as fruitarians that eat solely fruit and nothing else, and by doing so, we opened ourselves up for critisism.. I was asked how long I'd been doing just fruit, and replied basically, consistently, since getting together with Kveta, and Harley, who had heard that ABC radio interview with me from a year and a half ago, queried yes, but that's not strictly true though is it? .. For a sec, I was a little confused, but then recalled that I had confessed to munching on the occasional pea or 2.. Clearly legumes are not fruits, - fruits being the edible flesh that surrounds the seed of the plant, and he's right.. The true fruitarian diet doesn't involve eating seeds unless they are intricately entwined together with the appealing edible flesh that surrounds it.. as is the case with the tomato, kiwi, passion fruit, etc..

So, do I have to reevaluate how long I have been fruitarian? Part of me wants to get the facts right, and part of me wants to cling to being the long term fruitarian I consider myself to be.. I mean, botanically speaking, I believe we are all frugivorous, whether we realise and practise it or not, but words are important to me, and clearly the term fruitarian isn't being used here to describe ones anatomical structure..

So what's the deal with the peas? Well.. I guess it's confession time.. it hasn't been just peas.. Since arriving in Australia, I have eaten several things that botanically speaking are not fruit, and thus, in my own thoughts are not 100% ideal.. But then I confess also that much of my very existence on this plane goes against what I feel is ethically correct, and environmentally responsible.. I could make excuses until the fat lady sings for the cows to return home to be eaten.. But to what end?

I know that life on this level, on this planet, is full of compromise to my ultimate aspiring beliefs.. But despite fighting what many might consider a relentless futile uphill struggle toward improvement and seemingly unobtainable perfection, I believe that the struggle is ultimately for the benefit of all earthly existence.. And will strive onward questioning the very nature of our beings..

So what else have I eaten? I'm probably about to burst my own bubble, I'm sure many would love to hear, and use it as evidence to support their possibly already preconceived impossibility of a fruit only diet..

In addition to peas, I have also eaten broad beans, many of both, by the way, grown by myself in the little garden we only recently said goodbye to.. but that's no excuse.. I ate them. Yes.. I also confess to occasionally picking at leaves of various sorts.. Like if I walked passed a big display of rocket, I might pull one leaf out, and chew slowly on it.. or snap off a tiny piece of broccoli from the broccoli stall, munching on it in passing.. Or, and this was probably more common, if I passed a small wild growing edible weed, I might often tell someone I was with at the time, that this plant is edible, and break of a leaf or 2 to share, probably mostly always chewing on a leaf or 2 myself..

And the last non fruit I ate? Standing in the garden, here, where we are now at, Nick asked me if I had tried sweet leaf. I told him I used to eat it profusely, but stopped doing so, and yet still, I stood next to him, broke a leaf off, and chewed and swallowed it.. I guess I felt it was to give me a small reminder of the taste. I found it vaguely palatable, but not particularly appealing.. That was barely 2 weeks ago.. But also, on the way up here, we stopped off to admire some sea view, I think it was pretty close to that "Big mango" place, which is in Bowen, I think, but I could be remembering incorrectly, anyhows, irrelevant that is, the point was that at this place, we bumped in to a Ute (which for those of us unfamiliar with Australian slang is basically a "utility truck", just a small open backed truck) full of Islanders, Fijians, I think, that had been denutting some local coconut palms, and had a Ute load of nuts.. They offered us some, and thirsty I was, so I drank of one they opened for us.. (the first sip on one since Thailand 2006)..

Now, coconuts are one thing that I sort of felt OK about eating, despite thems being nuts and all that, and not fruit.. But deep down, I was aware that they are not ideal.. I guess equally so for sugarcane juice, which at times in my life I've truly feasted upon.. When I used to live up this ways, some 10 and more years ago, freshly pressed sugar cane feasts were a semi regular occurrence..

But back to the coconut.. I carried it with us and cracked it open on arrival here, with keen anticipation and hopes that it might be jelly like.. Again, coconuts have been at times a staple part of my diet.. basically a free and abundant food I endulged regularly in.. This nut was hard though, and I left it on the table in the communal kitchen where it was soon devoured by someone..

So.. am I done confessing? I reckon so.. that's about the brunt of it.. So go ahead and tell me I've been fruitarian for 2 weeks.. I guess at the end of the day, perhaps I shouldn't even really bothered about being attached to the label..

But now I feel I want to defend myself and my beliefs despite clearly nonsupportive hypocritical actions..

I know that not all my choices have been correct, or based on what I believe to be morally or ethically correct.. no denials there..

So why am I writing all this? I desire to improve, and base my daily decisions more on where my commitments are at, and also I want people to know and trust that fruit alone is enough, so to minimise indecision and avoid nagging doubts of others as much as possible, I will henceforth seek consistency more.... And to my defense again, the small exceptions I have made over recent years have been small..I mean, small enough to be basically insignificant, and void of any real dietary importance, or of any nutritional value.. I think the only food that I ever made a meal of, were a very inoccasional small bowlfull of peas.. All else was of such miniscule amount, that I don't see them as part of my diet.. Despite that at a certain level they clearly were.. Those nonfruity exceptions have been so rare, that they may have only taken place on a handful of days a year, with the rest of the time, eating purely fruit and thriving on it..

I'm aware Harley and others have their own ideas of what diet is correct, and that their belief is that eating a fruitarian diet, may lead to malnourishment, dehydration, and lack of energy.. True, yes, I'm not exactly budding with enthusiastic desire to run around the orchard, or bike 70kms into Cairns.. And he's certainly someone with a very high energy, having trained at elite athletic levels.. I intend to write more about my thoughts on the 801010 diet at a later point, but as I'm slowly regaining inspiration to write, I'll no doubt be channeling many of my thoughts out to my book instead of my blog..

Anyhow.. I've already waffled on for longer than intended, and sort of want to thank Harley for bringing to my attention the inconsistency of saying no seeds or greens etc, and then breaking my own rule.. so hence forth, I will endevour to stick by my principles, and continue on my path toward dietary perfection.. - I'd like to be able to truthfully write, "never again", but I know that on a practical level, it's likely that there'll be times when I eat against my beliefs.. Perhaps out of curiousity, or in situations where I'm no longer faced with an abundance of the right foods.. And I'm well aware of the need to make even further changes, even within the fruit diet itself..

hugs,
mango.

PS I've written a little more on were we're at over on my journal (there's a link to it up there on the top left somewhere), as I'm trying to get my thoughts updated..

Arrived in the tropics safely..

We've just arrived at Mareeba... Well.. strictly speaking, not exactly "just", we actually got here 2 days ago, but relatively speaking that's "just" enough, - especially after hanging out to get here for 3 years or more ..

We're currently staying on a tropical fruit farm, owned by a guy named Clinton, who we've not yet met as he's down in Adelaide at the moment, and not due back until the 23rd..

We've already made our minds up that we won't be staying at this particular place for any longer period of time, and will be exploring the area in search of somewhere else.. Our main criteria being some established fruit trees, land enough to plant more.. privacy, and an easily accessable pond or creek for bathing in..

This place has a beautiful creek and watering hole, but unfortunately also a very steep hill to get to it, and not the simplest to get into either.. making it virtually impossible for kveta to enjoy it..

Literally hundreds of fruit trees here, with a minimum maintenance setup.. currently really not much fruiting, although still an abundance for the few of us here at the moment.. Basically, mangoes, inga-beans (the infamous "ice-cream bean"), and a few different sapote varieties.. There are 2 giant mango trees that get raided by the fruitbats nightly, and the ground is literally carpeted by mangoes each morning. (they get cleared up by the wheelbarrow loads daily, and used as mulch amoung the banana plants)..

I've taken a wander around the fruit orchard, and there are a fair few fruit trees I don't recognise.. It'll take me a while to start to learn to recognise trees again, and it's a skill I'd love to nurture..

Early mornings, the orchard is visited by Kangaroos and wallabies, and nearly bumped into one this morning looking around, plus was welcomed by a chorus of kookaburras singing in the distance.. I love the fact that there are places like this, but for Kveta and I, we realise that there's no way we could look after so much land and fruit trees.. I think our focus in terms of getting ourselves up and fed from the garden will likely involve several pawpaws, passion fruit of various varieties, and other quick growing plants, plus a few other fruit trees we both love, like mangoes, oranges, avos, and more..

I think we are still a ways from finding a place to settle, but really, as we still are not familiar with area, we don't have any timeframe in mind, and it's a good time to be practising patience.

We've just empted the car from our stuff, into the room we are momentarily staying in.. The tent just seemed to break up on us.. with the poles basically flaking and breaking.. Not sure if we will be able to get any replacements, but we'll certainly try.

So the last couple of days we've been winding down from our journey, and happily doing so.. The guys from the US, Emile and David, are still with us filiming for another few days. Doubtful that their documentary will find a conclusion before it's time for them to leave, but we'll be filiming ourselves some, with a mini flip camera they've provided us with, after they have left..

More sometime later, but no idea when..

Mango.

On the Road!!

Kveta and I have up and left Sydney!! We left on Wednesday morning, (the 9th of December), saying goodbye to all our neighbours with a fully loaded car.. today is Saturday (12th).. Morning, to be more precise.. 09:00 ish to be even more precise, and so far we've traveled just over 1500 kms, and are in some place called Miriam Vale in a Motel, (i'm estimating a little over 200kms from Rockhampton - that magical town that rests snuggly on the lattitudinal line known as the tropic of capricorn.. where the coconut palms suddenly start appearing..

We spent the night in a small rest area, a little south of here, and have just caught up with the film crew who were ahead of us a short ways in Miriam Vale. We had our first shower of the journey in the guys room, and are taking advantage of the internet access they have in their room..

Otherwise, things are going well.. the travelling can be a little tiring at times, and we still have a good 1300, 1400 kms ahead of us.. so will be on the road for a few more days yet..

Very excited about having left sydney for good, and finally passed over the sydney harbour bridge, waving goodbye to the opera house and the big little city..

We've been camping in our trusty little tent since leaving, and buying fruit along the way.. munching mostly on cherries and lychees which are in season here now, but even managed to score a couple of durians from a woolworths yesterday, and after feasting on one last night, still have one left in the car.

We also visited tropical fruit world, and scored a few tropical fruits as small samples of what to expect once we find our new tropical home (white sapote, yellow sapote, mamey sapote, green sapote.. but no chocolate pudding fruit yet.. not the season for that one)..


It's a pleasure travelling with the 2 film guys who are filming us as we head northward, and are making their doco on fruitarianism, focused initially around our search for a new home..

anyhows, will sign off here.. not sure when we'll be online again, so ciao for now!!

hugs to all,
kveta and mango..
(Kveta says she'll blog too as soon as she gets a chance.. probably after we are a little settled somewhere - even if only temporarily - no real time frame on that one though!!)..

Interview with a Fruitarian - 34 - Tord Lyseving

34th in my series of interviews with fruit fruitarian fruit eaters

---

Hi Tord

OK, Could you please start off by introducing yourself? Just tell us who you are, where your from, where you're living now, your age, family situation, or anything else you think will give us a quick insight into who you are..



Once (I think it was in 1983/84) I was sitting in some meditation with closed eyes and saw 12 of my earlier lives. It came like tidal water waves, first one very clear picture, then one more and ….in some kind of historical time succession. I will only mention a few here. This experience was very strong and hit my mind with obvious consequences. It started in Africa where I was a medicine man treating a sick woman in my place, a little aside the village. I prepared a natural medicine with red berries in a wood vessel, I stirred and smashed the berries to a paste for her to eat and I also smeared this outside her body. Several people standing in a circle was expecting a healing miracle as before. I had a high position in this African village. Later in 1990 my former wife flew me to Africa, Gambia, where I stayed for a while and met many people, even an old medicine man in the bush who liked me to stay at his home to teach him my skills in natural medicine. I was honored to hear that and it was some kind of confirmation of my earlier life experiences.

Another strong "historical tidal water wave" hitting my mind was among Maya or Inca people in Mexico or Guatemala. I saw a colourful dressed man with a lot of power and also cruelty. Still I can paint this colourful man with a huge feather headgear on his head. In this life I have also visited Guatemala and came close to the old temples especially the Chichen itza temple was a great "deja vue", or recognition.

A third earlier life was in America, Canada, as an Indian chief. A funny thing is that even other friends in my surroundings expressed my connection to American indians as a famous indian chief. In 1960, in this life, I visited a place in Canada and at that time I was dancing with real indians in a camp, reserve. I was dancing with my history. In Russia I was, at different times a young and a famous piano player and very close to the Tsar Peter the great, helping to build warships. In this life I have also been in Russia twice, some kind of repetition to understand my own history!?

My last earlier life experience was as a war pilot in England during the second world war. I was a wing chief but quit, landing in the Netherlands on a farm and married a beautiful girl, the daughter of the farmer. In this life I have been (in a small scale) involved in aerobatic and gliding flight. Also some kind of recognition.

That was some of my background and of course I have also been poor, slave, put in prison and other life experiences but these 12 incarnations were so strong and clear like a branded pattern in my brow. I have also been involved in many battles....



In the present "Gregorian" time I was born in 1943 in the city of Luleå, in the very north of Sweden. I was a very active, sporty and talented boy and I never used any kind of drugs, cigarettes and just small amounts of alcohol. I was often put as a group captain in the school and the teacher often chose me to demonstrate things. Helping people has been an obvious "karma" to me. Probably because of my earlier life of cruelty and sacrificing other people. As a health, natural doctor I still have this task to help and inspire people to a better health and life. I have also been a so called coach for some top sportsmen and musicians in Sweden who got successful outcome.

When I was young I was very interested in art and I started painting very early and my drawings were often on the wall in my school to demonstrate how a good drawing should look like. Crazy thinking! Today, all the students paintings are on the wall.

I was studying at KTH (Technical collage) in Stockholm and as a researcher. I was also connected to FOA M (Swedish National Defence and M stands for section for material research, my speciality was plastic and rubber). I followed the studies for a doctor's degree for about two years at my institution of Polymer technology. I wrote several reports about my work and one international research article in Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 1973. At that time I was very proud to get this work accepted by the experts in the editorial board in USA. After that I was called "Dr. Tord Åredal" (my name at that time). This title, Dr., came on letters from all over the world and from the editorial board of the magazine. So I am not a real traditional technical doctor because I never got through the traditional trial with opponents.

I did not make any career in the common industry, just jumped on a new trail and bought two health food shop, where I could start my new life. I had all my patients in my shop and my loving mother (who became 92 years) often helped me with the customers.

I have three children (boy-40, girl-38 and girl-15 Gregorian years). My last wife was a flight captain and we travelled around the world with the hope to settle down in a place with a good climate and a lot of cheap and tasty fruit. We tried to settle down in Tenerife, La Palma or Brazil. We were anyhow and in some loving way taken back, by our spiritual friends, to Stockholm in 2006. Now I live with my girlfriend Lisa, look at the enclosed picture. We are helping Lisa’s parents to build at their farm and also in some extent in their business. My son is just going to start a new building company and I also help him in some matter. Lisa and I have, at the time, contact with people interested in the fruitarian lifestyle. Some young school people, mostly girls, like to make interviews with me and write project works about the fruitarian life and health in common. I am happy to see this interest especially from young people. The spiritual world sends old souls in young bodies to make the world more fruitful.

My website is: www.lyseving.com This site has not been updated for several years but my intention is to make a better one soon.

My best career of all was when I became fruitarian 1984/85 in Sweden. It has been my most exciting journey so far and I am expecting more interesting research and new discoveries in the future.

Congratulations to your nice website, Mango! Perhaps my site can be as good as yours?

I'm aware that in comparison to other Scandinavian countries, Sweden is more switched on in many ways regarding diet, especially with the work that Lily Johansson and Alf Spångberg did.. Were they at all influential in you becoming fruitarian?

In 1984, I was at that time fruitarian with nuts and some seeds, I was responsible for a health home in Norway for a time where we had a mixture of Raw Food diet and Lilly Johansson’s vegan diet. This health home was at the time close to a bankruptcy. They called for me and the business became successful. We were also in the Norwegian television and after that the ”flow” of people came to the place.



I visited Lily Johansson once with my mother to cure her gallbladder stones. She got out all stones, with help of olive oil cure and lemon juice and vegan food, and never after that any problem. I talked with Lilly and she said that she should like to eat more fruit and even to become a fruitarian but she could not because of her reumatic problems. She got pain when eating some kinds of fruit.

I tried to explain why and something about fruits ability to solve this but not with much success. Lilly died in 1999, age 79. Alf Spångberg was born in 1924 and I believe that he is still alive. I was already fruitarian when Alf Spångberg became a little known in Sweden.

I became a fruitarian because my spiritual guides helped me with this career. A common reaction when I became a fruitarian was that most of the people, including ”esoteric alternative", medial or not, looked at me to be very extreme. Even some medial friends thought I would die of malnutrition eating only fruits………????

So I'm guessing that growing up there, you would have been eating a more standard diet of the time and location? Can you tell us a little about how that was?

When I was young I loved fruit. When my father came home with a full box of oranges I could easily eat 7 to 8 of them directly. I also mention some of this behaviour in the book you got ”My Path to Freedom”. I could also eat lemons 4 to 5 at the same time without any problems. I loved tomatoes when I was young and some of my friends and I visited some tomato land where we could grab it. I was really born as a fruitarian child but my parents had no understanding of that. I was eating the food my mother served and not until the late 1970´s I became a vegetarian. In the beginning of the 1980’s my family lived on only raw food so called living food. My first wife and I went to Hippocrates institute in Boston to learn their program with sprouts and wheat grass and………..My wife got much better after that. We, my family and I, lived in that way for 2,5 years.

After my revelation (also in my book) in a state of meditation, 1983/84, I became a true fruitarian. During my transition I have of course, a few times, got some temptations sometimes for bread, potatoes, fish (salmon) and even a few times meat. The few times I tested the common food I got very bad reactions. I like to call it cleansing reaction. Once, 1993, I tested a chicken, potatoes and bread. The reaction after that was just a loving experience. I got a lot of mucus from my nose and my right foot went to sleep or became paralyzed so I could not lift it for one week. I had to drag my foot and I also got pain in my right leg and tremblings in some muscles.

As soon as I was eating common food, just a few times and only one meal for test, and also vegetarian cooked food I got directly a lot of mucus from my nose and a creeping feeling in my legs and of course I had a heavy, unpleasant feeling in my head. It was obvious how the food effected my brain. This ”food regression” can be seen as a part of my experiments and to give me better understanding of my body reactions. A god part of my private research work.

Do you know that Shakespeare’s (Hamlet..) once expressed ”I am a heavy meat eater and I am aware that this will harm my wit”. Still he is well known and famous. Do you know what Shakespeare’s mean? It stands for shaking pears, so perhaps he was a potential fruitarian……???

What was your health like growing up? And your weight?

I was a healthy boy with just a few colds. I was in motion all the time with different sports, dancing, cycling, boxing, swimming, running, jumping, table tennis, football, ice hockey, bandy, tennis………

How does your health then, compare to your health now? Do you feel your age?

My age is today 66 and I never before felt better. I am together with a 35 year old girlfriend and I don´t feel much older then she, physically. Her father, a nice and creative man, who is my ”father-in-law” is one year younger than me and my ”mother in law”, also creative and nice business woman, is one year older than me!


Tord and Lisa
When was the last time you felt at all unwell?

Thirty years back in time. It is a question of definition but no diseases during my time as a fruitarian. When I was on the raw food diet I could get some cleansing reactions which are both good signs and normal. I will, as long as I live, never get any kind of disease. I have decided that, and will live the rest of my life without any kind of so called disease. The people who read my book carefully will understand my point.

What does a normal days food supply look like for you? Do you eat fixed meals at fixed times of the day?

The time doesn´t direct my eating. My wish is that the Gregorian time will not exist after 2012. I only eat when I am hungry. Some days I don´t eat at all, I am only drinking some small amount of lemon water. My intention in the near future is to minimize the food and to be independent of food. Lisa and I have the same goal. Many days I make a mixture in a blender of a few bananas, avocados, blueberries and a little soaked dried fruit. (mango, dates and pineapple). I mix this with juice from two hand squeezed grapefruits. Nowadays I take some berries, strawberry, blackberry, cloudberry, raspberry or some berries I have due to the season. I put it on the surface of the mix and sometimes with a little shredded coconut. Sometimes even carob. This mixture can last for two days.

I know you wonder about Durian fruits in Sweden. Once I went to Indonesia and Sumatra with my former wife and 8 year old daughter (at that time). We where eating Durian every day and the cost for one Durian was less than half a dollar. We usually carried a sack full of Durian. For me Durian is a favourite fruit like Jackfruit which I was eating a lot of during my visit in Australia. It is possible to get Durian in Sweden but the taste is mostly not good and the price for one Durian is around 40/50 dollars.

I gather you've written several books on fruitarianism, mostly in Swedish, but also one in English, when did you write the first one?

The first book was a Living-Food-book i.e a raw food book in 1983. I printed it myself and sold every book I made, around 600 copies. My first fruit book was written in 1986, ”Maten Din Medicin-fruktstadiet (The Food Your Medicin-the fruit stage)”. Still this book is selling and I have sold around 1000 copies so far.

Where can someone order them from?

In some health food stores, bookshops and from me directly. People can also get them from a library in Stockholm.



You mentioned that the 2nd of July was declared as World Fruit day in Sweden, I really meant to blog about it, but the day slipped past and I plain forgot.. How did you go about declaring the day, and what kind of response did you get?

There were at least 120 people who participated in this first World Fruit Day in Sweden. You participate by eating only fruit that day and many people liked this idea and manifestation, so for Lisa and me it was a good start. We will of course declare the World Fruit Day even next year, same date. Maybe we will organize some public event that day, we will see.

How many fruitarians do you know, how many do you think there are in Sweden, and why do you think there are so few fruitarians?

I think there have been 2-300 trying to become fruitarians. Some for short times, some for a few years with fantastic experiences. Many of these people fall back because of social conditions. They can’t stand the social pressure.

Of course all temptations, old dependence and cravings of the common food play a roll. Many try for short times but slip back.

Can you tell us a little about your transition to fruitarianism, was it overnight, or more of a gradual thing?

As I said before, I was meant to be fruitarian already when I was born. All kind of food in the childhood and when growing up I like to look at as a regression of food energy and to fit into the social world. I created my own reality which was just given with love and meaning. In my books, even the last one ”My Path to Freedom” I mention 6 different stages which can be a help for people trying to become a fruitarian. All people are not meant to be it. My own transition was from vegetarian over to raw food and then a quantum leap over to the fruit stage. The spiritual guides helped me to take this leap.

What did your family and friends make of your revelations?

Just to be a vegetarian, in the end of the 1970s, made reactions and to be so called fruitarian was a very radical and frightening thing for most of the people in my surroundings. My way was starked out so I just followed that path without any regard to my family or friends.

Has anyone else in your family made such changes??

No one.



What kind of foods did you find most difficult to leave behind?

In fact, it has not been any difficulties to leave the old food for only fruits because of my love for fruits already in early years. When I became a fruit eater I was thinking, “at last I can eat and live on only desserts! What a wonderful world……”.(Louis Armstrong).

As I mentioned before I had sometimes longings for bread, potatoes, salmon….. My private research with my body as a laboratory gave me a lot of understanding of cause and effect from the food I took. This was a loving experience. When we make a food transition we have to be aware of that it is a kind of regression i.e. when we are cleansing the body cells the cell memory will act as finding archeological finds and sometimes these finds will take you back in the history even with your body.

I used to say that to become a fruitarian is equal to become an esoteric archeologist.

You are digging and polishing your own history and a lot will be found during this expedition of challenge.

Do you feel any need to supplement your diet at all?

Not at all!

Are you happy with the choice and quality of fruit you are getting in Sweden?

Satisfied, Yes! I know from all my travel in the world that the taste in warmer countries, eating directly from the trees is superior. I can find my paradise only inside myself so the geographical place is not the first priority. Once I was very close to settle down in Cooktown in Australia but……Sweden seems to be my land at the moment.

So any plans to travel or relocate to a warmer climate, or are you happy living where you are now?

I never say never but as the world looks like just now I am satisfied to stay in Stockholm or close to this capital (sounds like money because kapital in Swedish means money).

Sometimes I long for a warmer climate where I could grow my own fruit trees and have a fruit garden with at least 50 different sorts of fruits. What a Paradise!

If we could get more sun in Sweden with half a meter humus soil layer we could easily grow any kind of fruit trees in a short time. I hope this climate change will come soon.

Where and how do you see yourself living and eating in 10 years from now?

I will probably still eat fruits in a limited way making many lectures because of the increased interest in energy savings. Especially among young people the change in consciousness will influence a lot of scientists making many works for doctor's degree about food and how it will effect the society and the human beings brain and behaviour. This because the fruit energy will effect every subject in the society. This understanding will get a break through starting 2012. Then it will escalate.

Do you think you could improve on your diet at all??

Me and my girlfriend Lisa have a goal not to eat i.e. not any depending on food. The reaching of this goal could be in this lifetime or the next. We improve every day because we have a plan…

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??

Today, no one asks about that any longer. I just bless every question in that way.

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

Fruit is freedom and freedom is love!

Finally, I know you are working with a Hydro - Atomic Institute there, could you tell us briefly what that project is all about?

In fact I am not working in this company, just supporting it with little money, ideas, contacts and to integrate Free Energy into the building industry. I like to be a ”free radical inspirator for new thoughts”. If I am connected I am not free. The New World needs new thoughts. The project of free energy is built upon water and hydrogen, even to get water directly from the air. This is not any new but…… To succeed with an introduction of a ”new technology” in the traditional industry is a hard work and also dangerous because it creates a lot of threatening conditions. We need new leaders without greed and hunting for money and power.

Thanks
hug,
Mango.