Instinctivorism

In France, there's this group of raw foodies that call themselves "Instinctos" and that adhere to a philosophy known as "Instinctivorism".

As well as all the stuff you'd expect to find in their kitchens, they habitually eat raw butchered animal flesh too.. The flesh is not just raw, but also left to lie around fermenting for a few days before consumption..

Their theory and reasoning is that primitive Homo Sapiens were never themselves hunters, but belonged primarily to the collection of species classified as scavengers..

Me and my niece Amelia, 2006

Carnivorous animals they basically divide into 3 distinct groups.. Those that hunt and kill, those that hang around and wait for the killers to have their fill, so's they can move in and feast on the leftovers - (lacking the correct sharp appendages, this is where they hypothesize we humans fit snuggly).. The last lot are the rodents and worms and maggots that eventually help to clean the carcass from sight..

Fun on the beach in Campello, Spain

Now, I'm not going to argue one way or the other about how humans may or may not have eaten in the distant past.. My personal view is that we all once ate fruit, and that the garden of Eden diet allowed us to all live long and prosperous lives of many hundreds of years or more.. I also admit very openly to extreme skepticism concerning the whole Darwinian evolution theory.. But, hey, what do I know??

But.. Even if it could be proved categorically that we did once upon a time hang around with grumbling tummies waiting for the wolves to finish their dinners first, it still would make no difference to how I feel today.. No theory will persuade me to feast upon the flesh of others as the Instinctos habitually do..

Resting on the park bench

No amount of intellectually persuasive argumentation could ever convince me that I must eat another, or die prematurely of malnutrition. I know that this is not the way the universe runs.. Flesh eating is the grossest of all diets.

The universe is built on love.. Love is what makes it all go around. Even the most cold blooded murdering individuals would not survive in their present corporal forms without love.. Love is the driving force.. Taking the life of another, and feasting on it's dismembered flesh, is, the greatest of atrocities.. - Totally out of sync with our true natures, which are nothing less than Divine hugfilled lovelynesses..

My sister Helena, with her daughter Amelia

To give them credit, the Instinctos are generally of above average health, but this does not in the least surprise me, as the average is far lower than it could or should (or will) be.. And to give them even more credit where credit is due, the main principle on how they eat is otherwise quite inspirational..

Generally speaking, they let their noses have first choice. Whatever on their raw tables smells most appealing is given highest priority to the mouth.. They will eat a particular food, whether it be oranges, carrots, durian (a food they have a particular fondness toward), dead sentient being flesh, birds eggs or plates of wriggling insects, and they will continue feeding on that one particular foodstuff until the body, through subtle messages, indicates that it has eaten enough.. This may be signaled by a slight tingling on the lips or tongue, a change in taste, or another message from deeper within the body. This they call "l'arrêt instinctif" - the instinctive stop - and once it has been reached, they will push their food aside, and if they still feel their appetites have not been satiated, they will return to their tables, and once more smell each item, and choose the one with the most appealing odour.. The pattern will continue, such that one meal may consist of 2 or 3 different types of food, until their hungers are satiated.

Playing on the beach..

I can see where the sense is in doing this.

Instinctive eating only works provided your choice is of foods in their natural states. As said, the Instinctos eat live insects, rotting fleshful morcels, fish in decomposition and birds eggs, and consider it important that these be included regularly whenever the nose doth choose.

Their philosophy does not accept milk nor any dairy stuff to be valid table options, as these were clearly, to them, never a part of our original diet. It is a very well structured method of eating, but lacks compassion. The founder of the movement (Guy-Claude Burger) based his thoughts on how he believed primitive man once ate, (and lived - their philosophy covers far more than diet alone).

Summer of 2006

Instinctive eating can only be practiced with a valid selection of foodstuffs.. Given also the choice of mixed conglomerations - combination abominations, and cooked monstrosities, the nose will generally lie to ones body about what it needs.. These types of smell were generally never around at the dawn of time, so the human body does not know how to analyze correctly their value as food..

Our sense of smell is a highly powerful organ rarely given its full credit..

My overall feeling is that there is much to be learnt from the Instinctos, but that they themselves have a lot to learn about the true nature of life....

Why traditional nutritional science fails..

I was just watching the Simpsons.. I used to be a big fan, but lately it doesn't do so much for me, but occasionally there'll be a little pearl of humorously shared wisdom..

Take this last episode, Homer, in one of his hair brained schemes to earn some extra cash, signs up to be a lab rat for the testing of new drugs.. One drug he takes as a supposed appetite suppressant, has the additional side effect of turning him blind.. The following brief dialog ensues..

First scientist: Who in the world will buy a pill that turns you blind?
Second scientist: Don't worry, we'll let marketing take care of that..

Durian on the Beach

And such a profound truth there is there, for few of us are genuinely capable of seeing just how powerful the world of commercials and effective marketing truly is..

They managed to sell cigarettes and alcohol to the masses, despite the long term health effects associated with both, and they have manged to sell all kinds of other detrimental health products, with little more than a few catchy slogans, jingles, glossy magazine ads, and colourful tv commercials..

I suspect that it's probably true that much of so called nutritional science that the majority of us take as common knowledge and quote freely, has it's roots in advertising..

Opening the durian

Take the protein thing.. large financial institutions have had vested interests in telling us how important protein is for us.. Who do you think has paid vast sums of money to tell the public just that? Making us believe that without the vasts amounts they propose, we will likely shrivel up an die.. You don't win a prize if you guessed correctly the butchered-flesh industry.. Think about it, it's very clever advertising.. Of course, humans were eating flesh long before advertising became such a lucrative means to sell things, but I'm sure never to the extent that we do now..

The same goes with the whole calcium thing, which no doubt was kick started by the dairy industry, in a once more ingenious attempt at selling their wares..

There's this TV ad at the moment, for some kind of fish oil, they show you a whole load of food that one would need to eat daily in order to get ones recommended daily dosage of omega 3s.. (But recommended by who?) .. It's so much food, that we'ld have to be more or less continuously stuffing ourselves in order to reach our supposed safe level of intake.. And their smart solution? Just take 3 of their fish oil capsules a day, and you'll be ok..

Now that's clever.. Dark side clever, that is, not light side clever.. sly, artful, conniving, devious, covert clever.. Because most of us are unquestioningly hoodwinked into accepting their story as indisputable truth..

Real food..

Even the nutritional scientists that have no real vested interest in selling any particular wares (if such exist?), are caught up in it all, and already have their foundation knowledge set by facts that have never actually been unbiasedly proven to be facts at all..

Statistics, based on blood analysis and similar, taken from the general masses, are based on people that eat in, let's say, traditional ways still generally accepted as being sound, when long term observation shows (to those that can step back in honesty) that this is clearly not the case..

The laboratories where research is conducted are sterile, and everything is sliced so finely that before it can be microscopically investigated, it is already void of any meaningful substance.. most particularly it's life-force, thus rendering the results of no real and consequential value..

This is why I don't do nutritional science, and why I often refer to it as a pseudoscience.. Try to defend fruitarianism with science, and you will likely loose.. OK, you may be able to defend certain aspects, but for every evidence one way, there is likely conflicting evidence that points elsewhere..

Eating fruit just makes common sense. It is, I believe, the ideal food for all humans.. I don't believe that some of us are inherently different, I don't believe in doshas, different diets for different blood types and all that jazz, i don't believe we need to have any knowledge of minerals, vitamins or callories. Eating correctly does not require us to be rocket scientists..

I believe a fruitarian diet makes sense, because love, if you'l pardon the cliché, is what makes the world go round, and no diet is more loving than fruit.. so either love makes the world go around, or it doesn't.. it's your choice..

Leave the dark side, eat fruit, live long, and prosper..
mango.

Useful Website - 22 - Track your emails.

Ever sent an email and not known whether it reached it's destination, and was read by the recipient?

Well, wonder no more.. For now there's this neat little website that lets you send an email, and will track when and where it was opened.

It's free to sign up, and you can send a max of 5 emails a day through it.. (they get sent from your primary email address). Not only will it keep track of the emails you send, but it'll also send you an email notification each time an email is opened or an attachment is downloaded (telling you how many days, hours and minutes since you sent it!!) It'll also tell you the location of the recipient, based on their IP address at the time of opening the email.

I don't email much myself these days, but I like the idea of keeping track of the emails i do send, so if you would like to do the same, just signup and start emailing by clicking the banner below:

Apologies for my backlog..

I'm behind with everything..

Emails, interviews, writing here,my book and more.. and that's just the computer related stuff..

So I'd like to apologize to all those who have emailed me recently and not received a reply.. I can't promise that I'll ever get around to it, my email box is chockas, and I just find the thought of opening it quite daunting..

Honestly, for those of you that have written and asked me questions, offered suggestions, encouragement or words of gratitude, or otherwise commented directly to me on particular blog posts I've posted here.. or are thinking of doing so.. much as I am incredibly grateful, please consider instead commenting directly to my blog..

For some reason I am able to much more easily keep up, follow, and find time to respond to comments left here (even if not immediately), and of course, others can benefit from opinions given, or offer their own thoughts on others' queries and questions.. Not to mention sharing ideas, interesting websites, etc. etc..

As time passes, I realise that I should focus my energies elsewhere, this does not mean that I plan to stop blogging, at least not just yet (though, cutting down is definitely in the pipeline..), but it does mean that I acknowledge that I should be focusing at least some of my computer time on picking up on my book where I left it (- sadly, no progress what-so-ever over the past year or more!!), and definitely I wish to clean up my email life, and reduce the use of that to an absolute bare minimum.

So sorry once more if I've not replied to your emails, or gotten back to you regarding an interview (I have several people that have agreed to be interviewed, and really need to get those done.. - and will get round to those eventually!!)..

My long tem plan is to leave the whole blogging scene behind and concentrate my life entirely on healthy living, growing fruit trees, being outside as much as possible, exploring nature and basically just enjoying life.. I recognise that my somewhat dependance (for want of a better word.. (maybe adiction would be more honest?)) on computers and stuff, is contradictory to my goals, and has caused my arms to weaken due to straining carpal muscles/tendons.. Nothing that is not ultimately repairable, but probably not while I continue to make things worse by writing and clicking too much.

Peace to all,
Mango.

Fruitarian Book - 5 - The Fruit Hunters

Well.. Not exactly a fruitarian book, it's more of a fruit lovers book, and recounts the story of the author's adventures in search of some of the worlds rarest exotic fruits..

The front cover describes the book as a story of nature, adventure, commerce and obsession.. It's written by a guy named Adam Leith Gollner, and is an account of the world of fruit, and of those that appreciate it..

He describes in great detail many of the most delightful fruits he's encountered, as well as some of the fellow fruit loving enthusiasts he's met on his travels, - creators of new fruit varieties, fruit smugglers and even a few fruitarians!!

There's info about the history of fruit, and of the dodgy practices of the international fruit trade, with info on biochemical growth inhibitors, hormone-based retardants, dyes, waxes and corrupt USDA inspectors.

Enjoy..
Peace to all,
Mango.

Cute Stories - 2 - Bird uses it's own body as a dam.

A bird used her body as a dam to stop overflowing drainpipe water from soaking her chicks. - Story found on the UKs Telegraph website

The female thrush's body is semi-submerged in the water of the gutter as she holds back the flow, protecting the nest and her chicks

This Mistle Thrush had built her nest on top of a downpipe, blocking the water's passage and causing the gutter to flood.

But desperate to protect her young, she puffed herself up to twice her size and sat in the drainpipe to stop the tide of rain water swamping the nest.

She was so occupied with her task that her mate was left to feed her and their young.

The images were captured by amateur wildlife photographer Dennis Bright at a house in Fareham, Hampshire.

Mr Bright said he was astounded by the female bird's behaviour. [Mango's comment: The intelligence of animals is all too often underrated.]

"The nest was tucked away from the weather in the shade of the roof but it was so close to the downpipe the gutter flooded when it rained.

"It was only a matter of seconds before the pipe flooded, and water cascaded over the sides."

Mr Bright said he was amazed by the bird's ingenuity.

"She had to come up with a solution so she puffed herself up so she was twice the size of her mate and used her body as a cork to stop the water - it was absolutely amazing.

"She was very dedicated, sitting there even when the rain was hammering down. Then every half an hour she would get out, dry herself off and come back.

"The male was doing most of the work - feeding her and the chicks when she was sitting in the pipe. I feel so lucky to have witnessed something so rare and unique."

Hester Phillips, from the RSPB, said she had never seen such a situation.

"We've heard of them nesting in some unusual sites before, namely on the top of traffic light, but we've certainly not come across anything like this before.

"Birds can be amazingly hardy creatures, their endurance is incredible - especially when protecting their young."

Entrevue avec un fruitarien - 6 - Cappi

This is a French translation of the interview with Cappi.

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Merci a Kristo pour la traduction française de cette entrevue avec Cappi. Il est le fils de Fruitbat Anne.. élevé sur une alimentation de fruits, cappi n'a que 4 ans (au moment de l'interview), et a accepté d'être interviewé.

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Bonjour Cappi.
Merci de participer à cette interview !
Donc, tu es l'un des heureux enfants qui a la chance de se nourrir de bons aliments. Que penses-tu du fait d'avoir été élevé avec des fruits ?

C'est bon et on se sent bien.

As-tu déjà mangé autre chose que des fruits ? Et si oui, qu'en penses-tu et comment t'es-tu senti après ?

Non.

Je sais que tu manges aussi parfois des noix, penses-tu que c'est aussi bon que des fruits, ou préfères-tu les fruits ?

Préfère les fruits.

Quel est ton fruit favori et quand en as-tu mangé pour la dernière fois ?

Durian, hier.



Qu'aimes-tu le plus dans ce fruit ?

C'est vraiment miam-miam.

Quel est le fruit le plus marrant que tu aies vu ?

Un durian avec ses piquants.



Y a-t-il des fruits que tu n'aimes pas ?

Il n'y a rien qui me vient.

Manges-tu comme les autres enfants à heures fixes ou manges-tu seulement quand tu as faim ?

Juste quand j'ai faim.

Manges-tu des salades de fruits ou juste un fruit à la fois ?

Juste un fruit à la fois.

Que penses-tu quand tu vois d'autres enfants manger des glaces, des sucettes et autres sucreries ? Penses-tu parfois que tu voudrais manger ces choses-là ?

Non.

Et le pain et ce genre de choses, est-ce que tu en a envie parfois ?

Non.

Es-tu parfois malade ou enrhumé ?

Non. J'ai déjà eu le nez qui coule mais pas de mauvais rhume.

Qu'est-ce que tu aimes faire ?

Jouer, chanter, danser, dessiner, peindre et aller à la plage.

Aimes-tu grimper aux arbres et cueillir toi-même tes fruits?

Oui.

Peux-tu me raconter une fois où tu l'as fait ?

J'ai grimpé sur un mûrier et j'ai cueilli un fruit sur les branches basses. J'ai aussi cueilli une papaye dans le jardin.

As-tu des amis qui aiment autant les fruits que toi?

Non.



As-tu des rêves ou des idées de ce que tu voudrais faire quand tu sera grand?

Je crois que je voudrais être pilote danseur d'hélicoptère.

Crois-tu que tu continueras à ne manger que des fruits, ou penses-tu que tu pourrais manger aussi autre chose ?

Je crois que je ne mangerai que des fruits.

Combien de personnes as-tu rencontré qui ne mangent que des fruits comme ta maman et toi ?

Jamshed, Mango et Kveta.

Aimes-tu aussi les jus de fruits frais ? Si oui, quel est ton jus préféré ?

Oui, le jus d'orange.

Quels fruits poussent dans ton jardin ?

Myrtilles, papayes, fraises, tomates, pastèques, fruits de la passion, mangues et bananes et quelques bébés-arbres fruitiers qui n'ont pas encore de fruits.

Quels endroits aimes-tu le plus (plage, forêt, verger, rivière, ville, autres endroits) ?

Je préfère la plage, j'aime aller à Brisbane, Maleny en bus, j'aime aussi prendre le train et aller dans la forêt primaire à Big Pineapple.

Pour conclure, as-tu quelque chose d'autre à rajouter, un encouragement pour ceux qui veulent devenir frugivores ?

Miam-miam les fruits !!.



Merci Cappi! J'ai hâte de te revoir quand que ce soi.

Je t'embras,
Mango.