FRUIT-EATING - ITS
BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
©
October 2021, LD Wilson Consultants, Inc.
All information in this article is for
educational purposes only. It is
not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health
condition.
SUMMARY
Most people
enjoy eating fruit, and most health authorities recommend it. After all, it is a natural food that
contains many nutrients. It is
also tasty and convenient because it does not require cooking. Children will often eat it, and this is
another benefit for parents.
However, we
find that fruit is harmful for development, especially for children.
Fruit is
mainly sugar and water, with a small amount of minerals and other
nutrients. The potassium and some
of the phosphorus fruit contains today is toxic, and the balance of its
minerals is not correct for most people.
Fructose
found in most fruit is a very harmful sugar that puts on weight, causes AGES,
feeds parasites in the body, and contributes to cancer, heart disease and
diabetes. Fruit is also much too yin for regular use. This article discusses these and other aspects of eating
fruit.
PROBLEMS
WITH EATING FRUIT
This section incorporates our own
research findings and that of many others who have worked with those who eat
fruit or have eaten a lot of fruit for a period of some years, in most cases.
Formation of AGES. We wish more doctors would discuss AGES
with their patients. AGES stands
for advanced glycation end products. They literally age the body and cause
heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many other serious health conditions. More of them form when a person eats anything
containing sugar, which includes fruit.
For details, read AGES.
Birth defects. Mothers of unborn
children are deeply affected by vegetarian, vegan and fruitarian diets. This can cause more birth defects. This is due mainly to very low zinc in
fruits, and a deficiency of the sulfur-bearing and other amino acids in
fruitarian and vegetarian diets.
Vegan diets are among the worst.
Attention deficit disorders, autism, cancers and other problems in
children. Eating fruit
is particularly harmful for fast oxidizers, which includes most young
children. Fast oxidizers must eat
fat with each meal. The sugar in
fruit upsets the metabolism severely.
Deranged digestion. Eating fruit
seriously deranges the digestive system in many people. Sugar in all fruit feeds yeasts,
parasites, and other harmful pathogens in the intestines. The digestive tract becomes more yin,
more fragile and often more ÒleakyÓ.
This affect the digestion and absorption of all nutrients. It always seems to aggravate or cause
overgrowth of yeasts such as candida albicans.
Fruit acids and the toxic potassium
found in todayÕs fruit also irritate the intestines. Most fruit is also sprayed with pesticides, and the residues
often also irritate the intestines, even with organically grown fruit. Fruit requires pesticides in many areas
to grow it at all. Even the
natural pesticides used on organic fruit are somewhat toxic.
Interferes with sulfur metabolism.
This may sound esoteric, but it is extremely important. Fruit is very low in sulfur, and sulfur
is a critical nutrient. Many
fruits also contain copper, a sulfur antagonist.
Cardiovascular problems. Fruit can weaken
this body system and can cause a shortened lifespan, among other disorders and
problems. Fructose affects copper
metabolism, which may be the reason for its negative effects on the
cardiovascular system.
Pain syndromes. Stopping all fruit and returning to a diet with plenty of cooked,
and not raw, vegetables often stops joint pain and other types of pain within a
few weeks. Causes for pain with
fruit-eating may be a zinc deficiency, inflammation due to fruit acids, toxic
potassium, too much sugar, or possibly other causes.
Diabetic symptoms. The combination of low zinc, a higher-sugar diet, and B-vitamin
deficiencies that can develop from eating too much fruit may result in diabetic
symptoms. The most prominent is
often peripheral neuropathy, which causes tingling, burning or numbness in the
legs and feet and rarely in the hands or elsewhere. Other symptoms may include frequent urination, fatigue,
depression and others.
Weight gain. Many people believe that eating fruit will cause weight loss, and
they are seriously disappointed.
Fruit is not a low-calorie food.
Also, eating sugar in any form causes weight gain by many mechanisms,
such as stressing the insulin mechanism of the body, impairing the activity of
the thyroid and adrenal glands, causing some water retention, and perhaps other
mechanisms, as well. Yeast
infestation from eating fruit can also cause bloating and weight gain.
Parasitic infections. Eating fruit makes
the digestive tract much more yin and toxic with chemicals, in some cases. This makes the gut much more
susceptible to parasites, which are ÒcoldÓ infective organisms that love sugar. Other reasons may be that fruit may
carry some parasitic organisms if it is not washed properly and is eaten raw.
Also, a damaged and somewhat delicate
digestive tract cannot protect itself against some parasites that are found
commonly in some foods and water supplies.
Pesticide poisoning. This occurs because
most fruit is sprayed heavily, even if it is advertised as being organically
grown. Even natural pesticides
that must be used on fruit can build up in the body in a toxic fashion,
affecting the liver and kidneys, in particular.
Toxic metal poisoning. Those who eat a lot
of fruit seem to be particularly prone to the accumulation of mercury and
copper, perhaps because fruits lack the balancing element of zinc. High-fruit diets also lack
sulfur-containing amino acids that are needed for liver detoxification of the
metals and of many toxic chemicals as well.
Mental/emotional symptoms. These are
very common and include anxiety, depression, irritability, and even panic
attacks. We know this because when
a person who is eating a lot of fruit and having any of these symptoms stops
eating fruit, often these symptoms vanish within a few days to a few
weeks. If a person has eaten fruit
for a long time, symptoms may take longer to reverse.
The cause of the symptoms can be the
upsetting effects of a high-sugar diet, or perhaps the effects of candida albicans infection, which
produces alcohol and acetaldehyde in the body.
Anger and belligerence. Another interesting
symptom that occurs at times from eating a lot of fruit is the development of a
stubborn, and often belligerent and angry nature. This could be due to a zinc deficiency or perhaps a
B-vitamin deficiency of some type.
It may be due to a more yin condition, which makes a person more fearful
and anxious.
Loss of mental acuity. This symptom, also called brain fog,
is very common in those who eat a lot of fruit and sometimes seen in those who
eat any fruit at all. It is often
due to yeast overgrowth in the brain.
Low iodine may also play a role, or perhaps
low levels of some of the B-complex vitamins. Taking supplements of these nutrients may help, but
frequently they are not enough to stop the progress of this mental degeneration
that is very sad to observe.
Yin disease. This is a harmful alteration of the
body toward a more yin condition. It is a
very serious imbalance in the body.
Modern Western medicine does not yet accept it.
Yin is an ancient word in Chinese,
Japanese and Hebrew. The English
language does not have an equivalent word. It is a physics term that means cold, expanded, too damp,
and today it means much more ill.
The word is also used in Macrobiotics.
This is a teaching we make use of in many aspects of the development program.
Eating fruit is one of the most worst ways to upset the balance of
the basic physical forces in the body that in older books are called yin and
yang.
Symptoms usually include a feeling of
malaise or weakness, often coupled with many of the symptoms mentioned
above. For details, read Yin Disease.
Slower development. Eating fruit slows the process that on this website only is
called development.
For details,
read Introduction To Development and
other articles on this subject on this website.
Low in etheric
energy. This is a way to assess the value of
many foods. It has mainly to do
with the mineral content of the food.
Fruit is very low in this energy.
Low in souls. Fruit is relatively low in souls. Vegetables, meats, dairy products
contain many more souls. This is
an unusual topic, but an important one.
For more details about souls, read Soul
Science.
A shorter lifespan. In our experience, vegetarians and
fruitarians live shorter lives.
They may live apparently healthfully for years, but suddenly their
health declines and they die quickly at an earlier age than most other people.
We do not know exactly why this occurs, but it may
have to do with depletion of vital nutrients or the accumulation of a toxic
substance due to fruit-eating.
Eating food containing sugars also causes glycation,
a toxic process that eventually destroys the body.
WHY
DOES FRUIT-EATING CAUSE THESE PROBLEMS?
1. Fruit
is one of the most yin foods one can eat. In the Macrobiotic
conception of yin and yang, fruit is an extremely yin food. Yin refers to certain qualities such as
cold, expanded, and sweet-tasting or sugary. Fruit also grows above ground and often up in the air,
another quality associated with yin.
In botanical terms, fruits are expanded ovaries of plants. This Òbody partÓ appears to make them
even more yin.
In the traditional Chinese conception of yin and
yang, fruit is not uniformly yin.
However, it is uniformly yin in the macrobiotic view of yin and yang,
and we find this to be most accurate.
The problems with yin foods are:
1. Most peopleÕs bodies today are already extremely
yin. Eating more yin food tends to
unbalance their bodies even more.
This tends to cause more weakness and illness in the body, even though
fruit is a source of certain vitamins and other nutrients. This is very important to know!
2. The problem of becoming
yin is even worse if a person is a slow oxidizer (even more yin), if a person
is ill (also more yin) or if the person eats large amounts of fruit. Eating more of a yin food tends to make
the body even more yin.
3. Tropical fruits are even more yin, and thus the
worst from this perspective. They
include common fruits such as bananas, pineapple, coconut in all forms and
preparations, dates, figs, papaya, citrus fruits and others. It also includes the tropical fruit
drinks such as noni, goji, nopal, acai and others (see Tropical
Fruit Drinks for more on this subject). A little of these is not too bad, but a lot is definitely
very yin.
4. Eating anything raw is
even more yin, and fruit is often eaten in the uncooked state.
5. Fruit juice is even more yin. It is more concentrated, contains much
more sugar and less fiber to buffer the acids and sugars in the fruit.
For
much more on the serious problem of yin with fruit, read Yin Disease and other articles about yin and yang on
this website.
2. Fruit
upsets the blood sugar level and causes excessive insulin release. The
relatively high sugar content of almost all fruit causes this reaction. This adds stress to the body, can cause
weight gain or impair weight loss, and causes other imbalances deep inside the
cells.
Many people are unaware of the high sugar content
of most fruit. It can be extremely
high, especially with fruit juices, dried fruit or fruit that is packed or
dipped in sugar. These are even
worse than eating fresh fruit.
3. Fruit-eating often contributes to yeast overgrowth.
Most people, even those who do not eat much fruit, already have an
overgrowth of intestinal yeast such as candida albicans and others.
This is due to toxic metal poisoning, and especially copper
imbalance. Other mineral
imbalances may also contribute, as does overeating on carbohydrate foods.
The high sugar content of most fruit
worsens this important condition.
The yin nature of fruit also tends to worsen all fungal and parasitic
infections because fungus and yeast conditions are yin infections. That is, they tend to be cold and
parasitic in nature. For more on
this subject, read Candida Albicans
Infections and Parasites on this website.
4. Fruit is a carbohydrate food, and most people are overeating on
carbohydrates already.
5. Fruit
dehydrates the body. This may
seem very strange. Some health
authorities even tell their followers that the water in fruits is Ònaturally
distilledÓ and that one does not need to drink other water.
This
is very bad advice. First, eating
anything that contains sugar, including fruit, tends to cause dehydration due
to an osmotic process in which sugar draws water with it wherever it goes.
Also, the water that is in fruits is not distilled
at all. It contains many minerals,
and unfortunately it often contains residues of pesticides, which are often
used on fruits even if the fruit is supposedly organically grown. For more on this important subject, read
Hydration on this site.
6. Fruit
seems to send the bodyÕs energy in an outward and upward direction. This
is a very subtle, but critical problem perhaps related to the yin quality of
fruit, and also with its sugar content.
Our bodies are polarized. Downward moving energy is healthy and life-giving, while
upward moving energy and outward-moving energy is not as healthful. For more on this, read Downward-moving Energy And Healing.
7. Fruit is
extremely harmful for babies and children because it enhances the oxidation
rate, especially in the short term.
This is a stimulatory effect due to its low fat content and higher sugar
content. This is particularly
harmful for younger children, whose oxidation rate is already too fast.
For this
reason, please do not give babies and children ANY fruit or fruit juices, or
for that matter, any sweets at all. This is hard for many parents, since
children often love sweets and doctors and television personalities often
recommend it highly. They are
wrong! It will help your childÕs
health immensely if you keep them away from all sweet foods, including fruit
and fruit juices of all kinds.
This is very important for children.
Some
people may respond to the above by saying that milk is sweet, and milk is good
for babies. This is true. However, milk also contains a lot of
fat and protein. This counteracts
some of the yin and the other effects of the milk sugar. Also, milk sugar or lactose is a
disaccharide and is therefore burned or utilized more slowly than fructose or
glucose found in fruit.
8. Fruit can
actually be acid-forming in the body.
I know that this statement goes against that which is found in most
nutrition books. However, we find
it to be true in clinical practice.
Several reasons for this are:
A. Fruit
acids. Textbooks of nutrition
often say that even though fruit contains some mild acids, the mineral content
of the fruit eventually causes an alkaline reaction in the body. However, we find that this is no longer
the case because of the genetic modification of fruit and its lower mineral
content today.
As a result, the acids in the fruit can give many
fruits an overall acidic reaction, which is not healthful at all. This applies particularly to acidic
fruits such as citrus, which is often picked unripe and never ripens
properly. However, it applies to
other fruits, as well.
B. Fruit
sugars. Sugars tend to be
acid-forming in their internal reaction, especially fructose.
C.
Imbalanced minerals in most fruit today. The mineral content of
fruit is not optimum for our bodies.
Today, this is due in part to the use of superphosphate fertilizers used
on most farms, including
organic fruit orchards. The
mineral content seems to cause unpleasant reactions and deficiencies of zinc,
in particular, especially if one eats a lot of it. It does not seem to matter if the fruit is organically
grown. More on this topic is found
in the article entitled The Acid-Alkaline Balance.
9. Fructose, a
prominent sugar in fruit, is one of the worst sugars to consume. Fructose does not directly raise the
blood sugar as fast as glucose, for example. Instead, it is sent directly to the liver, where it should
be converted to glucose. However,
most people cannot process it very well and it can instead be converted to
triglycerides and other fats. This
is related to obesity, in some cases.
Medical evidence also indicates that fructose may
interfere with copper metabolism, is inflammatory, and may contribute to
metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes.
Read more about fructose in the article entitled Fructose.
10.
Fruit-eating is often damaging to the enamel of the teeth. Fruit acids can damage the dentin or
outside layer of the teeth. This
is well known by some dentists, and is another reason be careful with eating
fruit. The worst offenders are the
acid fruits, such as citrus – oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons,
and limes.
11. Fruit is
often sprayed with pesticides, even if labeled organic. In order for fruit to grow in most
areas, particularly some parts of the United States, it needs to be sprayed. Even if fruit is labeled organic,
it is often laced with some pesticides and insecticides, even if they are
natural ones. Many of them, even
the natural sprays, add more toxins to the fruit.
One of the most commonly sprayed fruits are grapes
grown to make wines. We find that
people who drink a lot of wine usually have higher levels of arsenic and often
lead in their hair. Lead arsenate
and other compounds containing these metals are often sprayed on grapes.
Also, even organically grown fruit can suffer from
the residues of pesticides and other chemicals that had formerly been sprayed
on the fruit, or small quantities that somehow find their way into the
fruit. Because fruit is so yin, it
picks up more of some toxic metals that are less yin such as lead and some
chemicals.
12.
Genetic Modification and Hybridization. Fruit today is not the
same as it was 100 years ago.
Modern fruit is often hybridized and genetically modified. Few people realize this unless,
perhaps, you have an old crab apple tree where the fruit was small and it was
not as sweet as it is today.
Most fruit today is grown for mass consumption and
is larger, sweeter, less nutritious, lower in mineral content, and for these
reasons even more expanded or yin.
For more, read GMO Foods on this site.
13. Fruit seems to tire out the body.
Fruit seems to have an irritating quality for many people.
Perhaps this is due to upsetting the yin and yang balance, or just its
higher sugar content.
Also, the seeds of some fruits are slightly toxic,
such as seeds of apples, peaches, pears, strawberries, blueberries and
others. This may also tire the
body somewhat when eaten regularly.
Eating very cold foods, such as fruit kept in a refrigerator, is even
worse. The body literally has to
warm up the food, which may also tire it somewhat.
14. Fruit
is rich in potassium, but a lot of it is a toxic form of potassium.
People who eat a lot of fruit, when placed on a nutritional balancing
program, often begin to eliminate a biounavailable
form of potassium. When it is
gone, the person feels much
better.
Fruit, more than any other food, takes up a lot of
toxic potassium from N-P-K fertilizers or superphosphate fertilizers that are
used on almost all fruit trees, even organic commercial fruit-growing
operations. Not only does this
form of potassium cause physical illness, it also influences the mind and slows
development and maturity.
For details, read Toxic
Potassium, Superphosphate Fertilizers and
The Child Minerals.
15.
Cleanliness is often a problem with fruit. Fruit may be picked by
hand by workers whose cleanliness is not always the best. The surface of the fruit always
contains bacteria, viruses and other micro-organisms. If it is not washed thoroughly, eating it can cause
hepatitis, parasites and other subtle infections.
If you must eat fruit, always wash it carefully and
never eat it right from the store or even from a tree, without washing it
carefully. Also, do not leave
fruit sitting out on the kitchen counter overnight and then eat it without
washing it again. Fruit attracts
flies, mites, ticks and other tiny insects that can quickly infect the fruit with
disease.
16.
Eating a lot of fruit can demineralize the body. This
appears to occur because eating a lot of fruit raises the sodium and potassium
level of the tissues. This, in
turn, lowers calcium and magnesium in the soft tissues, in part because sodium
and potassium are solvents.
There may be other reasons for mineral depletion as
well, such as the upsetting effects of sugar on the body, the pH of fruit, the
improper balance of minerals in many fruits, and more. The two minerals most affected are calcium
and magnesium, which are already somewhat low in most people. This, in fact, is a tragedy.
FRUIT-EATING
AND HAIR MINERAL ANALYSIS
1. The
oxidation rate. Fruit tends to unbalance the oxidation
rate, in general. Therefore, those
who eat a lot of fruit may have a very fast oxidation rate, or a very slow
oxidation rate. Many factors can
do this, however, so it is just an observation.
2. Beam
Me Up pattern.
Those who eat a lot of fruit sometimes have a hair mineral analysis
pattern I call Beam me up,
Scottie pattern. It is a
fast oxidation rate, often with a good or fair sodium/potassium ratio. It is a tipoff that a person may be
consuming a lot of fruit. For more
on this pattern, please read Beam Me Up Pattern
on this website.
WHAT
IF I CRAVE FRUITS?
When the body is out of balance or ill, food
cravings are common. These slowly
disappear with the development program.
Sometimes the cause is low protein or low fat in the diet. This is common with vegetarians, for
example, who do not eat enough meat or eggs. Other reasons are low levels of zinc, manganese or chromium,
which is also very common.
To
reduce cravings for fruit, be sure to eat every few hours and be sure to
include some animal protein and perhaps a little fat or oil with most meals,
especially if you are in a fast oxidation state.
If you
must eat a little fruit. For those who cannot stop their fruit
intake immediately, here are some guidelines:
a) Eat as little fruit as possible.
b)
Eat fruit from
heirloom (or very old) trees, as it will be less hybridized.
c) Eat smaller,
cold-weather fruits such as a little apple, peach, pear or a few berries either
by themselves or perhaps added to some raw milk yogurt.
d)
Ideally, eat
fruit alone as a snack. It does
not combine well with other foods.
e) Totally avoid all fruit juices, dried fruit, canned
fruit packed in sugar, and all tropical and citrus fruits such as oranges,
lemons, limes, and grapefruit.
Sub-tropical fruit to definitely avoid are coconut, avocado, dates, figs
and other sub-tropical fruits.
This is true for babies and children as well.
f)
Dried fruit is
more yin in some ways, and certainly more sugary. Avoid it, please, even as a snack. It is far better to eat some leftover cooked vegetables,
turkey or beef jerky, almond butter, blue corn chips, a piece of cheese or
other protein-rich snacks, than a piece of dried or fresh fruit.
WHAT
ABOUT EATING VEGETABLES THAT ARE REALLY FRUITS?
In a word, avoid most of them except for green
beans, winter squashes and one or two botija olives
per week! So-called vegetables
that are really fruit are those with seeds, such as:
All tomatoes (red, green, cherry, and others).
All peppers (red, green, and hot chili peppers).
All squashes (zucchini,
summer squash, butternut, spaghetti, acorn and perhaps others).
Others
include okra, cucumbers, eggplant, olives, peas and string beans.
Recommendations.
String beans are a preferred food for development and are excellent to
eat as often as one likes.
Winter squashes (spaghetti squash, butternut squash
and acorn squash) are not too yin, and may be eaten up to twice a week if one
wishes. However, summer squashes
(zucchini, sunburst, yellow squash or others) are more yin. They are not recommended at all, or
only on rare occasions.
I suggest avoiding the other vegetables that are
really fruits. These are all of
the nightshade family vegetables.
These include all tomatoes, white and red potatoes, peppers of all
kinds, and eggplant. These foods
are all quite yin, and they contain a toxin called solanin
that is irritating and inflammatory.
Always
cook vegetables and do not eat them raw.
WHAT
ABOUT CONSUMING FRUIT OILS SUCH AS OLIVE, GRAPE SEED, COCONUT AND PALM OILS?
Olive oil is okay, but not as good as butter. Grapeseed oil
is another fruit oil. It is also
okay, but not as good as butter, a much more yang fat.
Coconut oil is not good, no matter what other
benefits they have. A little is
okay now and then, but do not use it regularly, no matter how nutritious it may
seem. It leaves a toxin in the
liver.
One can also buy walnut oil, hazelnut oil and other
nut oils. These are also fruit
oils, and they are also very yin.
We suggest avoiding them for rapid development.