Monday, October 25, 2010

I'm allergic to Calories.

I'm allergic to calories. They make me sweat and fart and froth and burp. Carbohydrates are killing me slowly, when I look at photos from 30 years ago, I can see how much they've aged me. Vitamins have played their role too, with some hair loss, and not to mention the minerals that have destroyed my teeth. And then there's those dreaded glycogens, proteins and fats which who knows what havoc they've inflicted upon my body over the years.

Oh how I wish I had grown up in a world full of fruit and with guardians with sense enough to understand it's life giving properties. I could have avoided all those ghastly amino acids and sugars that have (rav)aged my body.

My simple understanding of a calorie, is that it is a unit equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree at one atmosphere pressure, and as such I fail to see what business they have playing vital parts of our diets. It's rather like eating empty hot air don't you think?

In my opinion, all that pseudo science, of microscopically dissecting the molecules of our food before eating them distances us from the pure simplicity of eating the fresh juicy ambrosial heavenly scrumptiousness of fruit. It degrades the sweet and saporous nectarine to a mound of health threatening sugars and other pathogens. The durian gets transformed from a delectable lump of tantalizingly custard creamy peerless irreproachable bliss into a bunch of dead and decaying vitamins, nefarious fats (god forbid!), and gremlinous amino acids.

The truth of fruitarianism, lies in simplicity, but we live in a world that revolves around fear and scaremongering that simplicity renders simple, and that the true pillars of reality are too complex for the likes of the simple masses..

Thus we have the meat and dairy industry that cleverly marketed us the protein myth, the raw fooders that sell us their goji berries and all it's miraculously magical built in ingredients, and now the new set of fruitarians that want us to think that still wish to insist that we need to understand food content before we can do it properly.. Suddenly, we can't do it ourselves, but need expert opinion and guidance to get there.


I've written this before, but I think it's worth repeating. Take a simple apple and cut it in half. After barely 10 minutes what do you observe? The 2 halves exposed to the air are likely already beginning to discolour.. Slowly becoming increasingly more brown. Put very simply (because, let's face it, I aint no scientist), what's happening is the life force of the food is slowly dissipating. The longer you leave it, the less value it will have as a food.

Now, try grating a different apple, if your observant, you'll notice that the smaller the pieces, the quicker they'll discolour (oxidize). IE, the quicker the true value of the food is lost.. (If you start doing stuff like subjecting the morsels to heat or similar, then the process is yet more rapid and devastating!).

In order to observe those pesky elusive little vitamins and their ilk, food has to be dissected so small that by the time it's sandwiched between the glass under the microscope, you can be sure that any vital, once present, life force is long gone..

Same goes for the amino acids, glycogens, carbos and who really understands what a calorie is? I mean, yeah sure, you might text book quote me any of it, but really you're just blahing stuff that you have no idea about.. How many of us would even recognise a plate full of pure b12 if we saw it, and yet so many tend to talk about it, feigning a familiarity that is entirely within their imaginations.

I don't care for any of it. I also don't believe that anyone can rightly say what anyone else should specifically eat at any given meal.. If you think that you need someone to guide or tell you, then you surely haven't understood the simplicity of fruitarianism. I don't care if someone tells me I ate 40 calories yesterday, or 4000, to me it means nothing, so I'm not into calorie restriction, or the opposite of forcing myself or guilting anyone else into believing they need to get a certain amount each day. I don't give a damn how many (douglas) grams of food I ate in my last meal, and i'm not into ritually forcing drink down my gullet to stay hydrated in the future.

The simple truth of true fruitarianism, 100% fruit, is eat what you want, when you want, drink and eat when hungry, don't eat or drink for tomorrow. we're not camels living in a desert. To avoid issues of not getting enough, avoid situations where there isn't an abundance around you. It's no good planning to do a bike ride or long walk, and eating and drinking everything you think you need before you start out.

If you stick to just fruit, ie fresh raw fruit.. (no leaves, seeds, roots, flesh, etc and none of this dried fruit and nuts that many raw fooders subscribe to), then you will also observe that the desire for water will diminish and provided you are not manically exercising for the sake of it, then probably disappear altogether.

If you stick with fruit, only you can know what and how much appeals at any given point in time, don't ignorantly expect someone else to tell you what to eat. It is folly to believe that anyone knows better than you do.


HaHa!

Don't be mistaken in thinking that avocados are fat. avocados are a fruit. the 801010 people have made a grave mistake in lumping avocados in with the nuts in their pseudo science. All commercially available nuts are cooked. There are no exceptions, even if someone tries to convince you they are not.. the truth is they've all been heat treated, thus their overall effect on the human physiology is bound to be, comparable to cooked food, ultimately detrimental. Avocados are not nuts, and not cooked, or heat treated so their effect is very different and not comparable to that of nuts. Don't be afraid of them, be afraid of the pseudo-scientists that would rather blind you with their half-arsed science and bring you to a sense of fear that they alone have the complex knowledge you need to stay healthy. The truth is free, it's lies that must be paid for.

The next time someone comes up to you and tries to get you to eat protein or calories, be strong, say "no thank you", and turn and walk the other way.. resist the temptation, eat fruit and prosper.

PS don't take this article too seriously. I'm aware that it's unlikely that fruitarianism would stop the aging process completely, I'm just writing tongue in cheek, is all..

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Topsy-Turvy world - 14 - Reconstituted Flesh.

Any reader out there a fast food addict? If so, you need to see these pictures..



This is what is known as mechanically separated chicken, which is pretty much how all fast food chicken nuggets and burgers originate prior to being burgered or nuggeted.. It is also where most processed frozen store bought chicken comes from..

This video with it's sickening elevator music shows the latest 21st century technology to manufacture mechanically separated meat (AKA MSM)..



Basically, bones with some flesh, tendons, fat and muscle still intact are forced under high pressure through a type of sieve.. The idea is to separate the supposedly edible parts of the carcass from the inedible bones (thus squeezing every last cent from Gods innocent slaughtered creatures).. However, machinery is a crude mechanism for such a delicate process, and inevitably some of the bone gets crushed through to fine powder, and I have read too that it's often the case that occasionally even pulverised fur, feathers, beaks, eyes, intestines and more make it through to the finished blob of seemingly regurgitated flesh product..

Due to the abundance of thriving bacteria inevitable around such a process, additional ammonium hydroxide is regularly included with the meat mix as an antibacterial agent, meat packing plants typically also use anhydrous ammonia for refrigeration purposes, which occasionally results in ammonia leakages that have been known to infiltrate the processed reconstituted meat destined for sausages and the like..



In order to satisfy consumer preferences for colour taste and texture, additives (those often carcinogenic little E numbers!) are frequently used to artificially enhance the finished product.. Making it appeal to the eye (beauty is surely in the eye of the beholder! because I see nothing appealing about it), and taste so yummy yum yum.. NOT.

This final video I find particularly disturbing.. It shows how mechanical even the people are working in that industry, and how totally unfeeling, cold and lacking in love their environment is..

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Fruitarian Interview - 39 - Stacey Barrington

This is the 39th Interview with various fruitarians scattered around the globe, it is with Stacey Barrington, a Canadian actress.. You can read more about her here: Stacey Barrington, and on her frequently updated blog: Go Fruit Yourself.
For further such interviews, please see the list of interviews with fruitarians.

Hi Stacey,

For the record, can I first ask what year you were born in, and where you grew up?


Sure, I was born in 1969 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I lived in Vancouver until I was 9 then moved to Coquitlam and grew up there until I finished high school.

Is that where you're currently living too?

After high school, I finished my BFA in Theatre and English at Simon Fraser University, then moved to Los Angeles, CA, for almost 6 years. I've been back in Canada now for almost 8 years and have bounced back and forth between Vancouver and Coquitlam a couple times. Funny timing... I'm currently living in Coquitlam but will be moving back to Vancouver at the end of October.

Actress Stacey Barrington - 1995
Stacey Barrington
(Celebrating Graduation from SFU - 1995)

How is that corner of Canada as a place to be on a fruitarian diet? Do you find you get enough variety of fruit readily available and affordable there?

We get great fruit here! Whole Foods popped up here just as I was returning from LA and they get in some of the most amazing fruit. Affordable? I really only have LA as a comparison, so some things seem a little more expensive, some a little less... But it all seems to work out to about the same at the cashier.

You've been an actress since an early age right?

You've done your research! Yes, I started acting in Film & Television when I was 9 years old. Mostly commercials and some local print work. I trained in Theatre full time at SFU and it was an incredible experience... However, after I graduated, I found myself gravitating more toward film and television again. I've since worked on a variety of projects from TV series to independent films.

I guess that means you probably travel a far bit too, or is most of your work done within your State?



Actress Stacey Barrington - 2009
December 2009
Most of my work is in Vancouver and the surrounding suburbs. A few years back, I had put it out there to the Universe that I'd like to travel more with acting and modeling... The next job I booked was in Whistler. I laughed and thought, okay, a little further than Whistler. The next job? Pemberton! Literally 30 minutes past Whistler. The Universe has such a funny sense of humour.

Do you find whichever studio you are with filming caters well for your fruit needs?

Fruit seriously has to be the easiest food to get on set. That being said, it usually gets gobbled up in the first 6 hours of the day and pickings get a little slimmer after that. I usually bring a bunch of bananas with me in case I get hungry at the end of a long day when the craft table is looking a little light in the fruit department.

I'm sure you've not always been fruitarian though, what was your diet like growing up, and what brought on the changes toward a fruit diet??

I would have never imagined myself being a Fruitarian when I was in university. I lived on Honey Nut Cheerios, Licorice, Pizza, Vodka, Bailey's, Coffee and of course, diet soda of all kinds. Not exactly the poster child of perfect nutrition. Growing up we always had lots of sugary processed snacks in the house and fish or meat at every dinner. Food really became a big issue for me in my teenage years. I found it very difficult to maintain a body weight I felt comfortable with. I tried every diet out there. I'd list them all, but I'd literally have to list them ALL! If you can think of it, I've probably tried it.


Stacey - Pre Raw - September 2005

Then, a little over 4 years ago I had a series of "irregular" pap smears. My doctor was very concerned with the results and had told me that if my next pap smear (scheduled for September) came back irregular again, we'd have to do a cone biopsy of my cervix. She explained this could possibly limit my chances of carrying a child if I ever decided to get pregnant.

Inspired by the desire to possibly have kids one day, I spent the next week researching my options on the internet. I came across raw food. I'd never heard of the concept before but what I read fascinated me. I went 100% raw overnight, but not vegan. I included everything and anything raw: fruit, veggies, nuts, seared rare steak, sashimi, raw milk cheese, vegetable juices, fruit juices and water. It was a pretty drastic change but I was determined to help my body heal itself.

How did that change effect your health and state of mind?

Three months later in September, still 100% raw, I had my first normal pap smear in almost 2 years. I was elated! ... And pretty darn proud of myself. During that time I had lost a little weight but nothing really drastic. At least I wasn't gaining weight anymore. I should also note that in the last 4 years of being raw, all of my pap smears have been normal.

Since my first transition to raw, over the past 4 years, I've slowly taken out the raw meats, fish, cheese ... Mostly for ethical reasons. I had tinkered with Vegetarianism eating cooked food but it never sat well with my body. I always felt bloated and gained weight. After I'd taken out the animal products, I significantly began to reduce the amount of raw dehydrated foods in my diet. Then I stopped juicing vegetables. Juicing veggies just never felt natural and I always felt a little queasy after drinking green juice. Eating Raw Vegan food is by far the best choice I've ever made for my body.


September 2006 - 3 Months Raw

I feel happier eating a Fruitarian diet. I never have to think about my weight anymore, I have almost no body odour, and I've gotten really good at picking the best ripe fruit in the market.

So are you currently eating 100% fruit, or are there some exceptions in your diet? Is everything raw, do you sometimes eat dried fruit? what about supplements?

I'm currently eating about 95% Fruit. I order romaine with guacamole for dressing at restaurants if they don't have any fruit (maybe once a month) and I do make raw dehydrated macaroons at Christmas for family and friends. That's pretty much it. I have been struggling the last couple months with those sugar free energy drinks but have finally put those to rest again and am back to drinking water only.

As far as vitamins go, I had been taking a multi daily over the past couple years. I'm beginning to find them a little hard on my tummy when I eat just fruit so I'm considering switching to a B12 supplement. I'm still a work in progress in that area.

Do you have a partner/family? If so, what is their opinion of your fruitarian diet?

My family is so used to my crazy diets over the decades they just ask me what I'm eating this week then buy it for me, lol. The've been very supportive of my transition to raw food having seen the health benefits I've experienced... And I've finally stopped talking about my weight!

Do other actors you might socialise and work with know of your fruit diet?

I'm actually very vocal about my food choices. If someone asks why I'm not lining up at the catering truck, I tell them I do this crazy fruit diet that I love. Being an actress, people tend to think I'm a tad eccentric anyway. What's funny is lately, when I tell people I only eat fruit, they are quick to respond that they eat a lot of fruit too! That's an interesting shift I've noticed in the last 6 months... Universal consciousness at work? Hmmmm....

What's the strangest question you've ever been asked about your diet?

I don't know about the strangest, but everyone asks me where I get my protein from. I've tried a few different answers over the years. Now I just say I don't really know.... And that there are well documented cases of people living on fruit for over 20 years and they seem fine so I thought I'd give it a try.


Do you know of any other fruitarians living in your area?

No I don't. In sharing my experience with others over the years, several of my close friends are now high raw vegetarians. I'm really happy for them and all the changes they've made.


May 2008 - She ate the fruit on the cake!

If you were to hazard a guess, how many fruitarians would you say there are in Canada.. in The world?

I honestly have no idea. I wish there were a whole lot more! It is such a kind, ethical, environmentally friendly way of living one's life. I really don't understand why everyone doesn't get it. It seems kinda obvious that a Fruitarian lifestyle is the best choice for our bodies and our planet.

As a fruitarian, do you sometimes find yourself facing or making compromises and taking on jobs that you don't necessarily agree with. I mean, how would you feel if some fast food joint wanted you for an ad?

My point of view is that they're going to hire someone for the job. Whether it's me or someone else will not make the difference as to how many people eat meat or frequent fast food restaurants. They can advertise their product all they want but when people, like myself, stop buying it, they'll have to change their product or go out of business. I'm more than happy to cash the cheque and buy fantastic fruit.

Have you ever suggested to someone within the field that they make a documentary on fruitarianism?

Funny you should ask... That's been on my mind lately. I don't personally know a lot of people who make documentaries but I truly believe the general public is almost ready for it. I say almost because I think the majority of people out there are just beginning to grasp the concept of eating raw food. Eating only fruit? I'd love to say everyone could do it tomorrow, but I don't think most people would be comfortable with that idea yet.

There is a great documentary out there called "Earthlings". (See below this paragraph). It's interesting when I mention it to people. So many people don't want to watch it because they don't want to know where their food comes from or how the animals are treated or how their food choices impact their health and the environment.



People do seem to show a little more interest in raw food and fruitarianism when it pertains to losing weight. That seems to be a sad statement to me on where people's priorities lie in the big picture.

Are you able to find enough work acting, or do you sometimes take on other lines of work too?



I've worked as an actress and an acting coach for a very long time. A few years back I got into buying, renovating and flipping residential properties. I really enjoyed it and recently got my licence as Realtor. It's my first "civilian" job (other than waitressing) since I graduated from SFU in my 20's. It's been fun to meet a whole new group of people and my brain is enjoying working in a different way. Acting will always be my number one passion, but Real Estate is becoming a very close second.

Could you give us a rough overview of what (and when - time of day) you might eat on a typical day?

I'm big into mono fruit meals at the moment. Some days I might eat 8-12 bananas and that's it!

Other days I may have a mini watermelon for breakfast, 8-10 Medjool Dates for lunch, then indulge in a Durian for dinner.

I like to eat early in the morning. I'm usually up at 6am every day and find a big fruit breakfast gets my system "moving". I like to nibble on something small for lunch around noon then dinner is usually between 4-7pm. When I'm alone, I eat dinner early. When I'm socializing with friends and family, dinner is usually later.

Do you perhaps have a garden where you grow some of your own food? fruit trees? How much do you think you spend a week on your fruit/food?

Nope, no garden. I'm terrible with plants! I've killed cactus with kindness... I over water them. I buy organic when it's available and otherwise look for the freshest ripest conventional fruit I can find. I probably spend about $100 a week on Fruit and Water. That would include eating out as well.

Have you done much travelling, and if so, any particular places you'ld recommend for fellow fruitarians?

Travelling as a Fruitarian is so easy. I found great little fruit shops in Paris and in North America, you can get fresh bananas at Starbucks and even gas stations! I'd love to travel to Thailand and have fresh Durian right off the tree. I usually buy it frozen and really enjoy it, but it would be awesome to get it at the source.

Any regular pass-times/hobbies?

Raw food nutrition is my biggest hobby. It is slowly morphing into some type of career and I'm excited to watch it take shape. I'm really enjoying developing my website www.gofruityourself.com.

Otherwise I really like hiking, snowshoeing, downhill skiing and ice skating. Gotta do something to make it thru the cold winter months! I also really enjoy taking long hot baths and drinking hot water to warm up during the colder winter months.

Can you name some fruits that you've not tried yet but are looking forward to trying?

Chocolate sapote!! I read Anne Osborne's book "Fruitarianism The Path to Paradise" and she made it sound amazing.



The infamous Chocolate Pudding Fruit
(AKA Black Sapote/Black Persimmon).
Tastes like chocolate mousse

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

That's a good questions. I miss the warmth of LA, but love the beauty of Whistler, and then there's the lure of Europe... I really don't know where I'll be living in 10 years, but I do know that wherever it is, I'll be a happy Fruitarian eating fruit and drinking water.

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

Everyone has their own path to follow. I never imagined my raw food curiosity would lead me down a path to Fruitarianism... But I'm really glad it did! Allow yourself to experiment and find what works best for you at your pace. It's not a race and remember to enjoy the process. We all get to the end of our journey eventually.... Why not make it a fruitful one!


February 2009

Thanks Stacey!
Mango.