A Fruitarian’s Diet

A Fruitarian is a person who eats only fruits and vegetables, often including beans, nuts, and grains, usually raw. It is important that these things are taken from the plant without killing it. A person who follows this diet eats only raw foods.

Now, culturally we also follow a tradition of fasting. Such routine is recommended so as to detox the body (this applies for healthy individual only) and beneficial only if it lasts for short duration, extension of such a diet can lead to severe nutritional deficiency.

Here some quick benefits and downside of a Fruitarian diet:

Benefits

• Detoxifies toxins
• Helps in short-term cleansing
• Helps in losing weight faster

Fruitarians claim that this diet reduces the effects of aging, promotes physical, intellectual and emotional vitality, and leads to overall excellent health and stability

Downsides

• Since a fruitarian diet is extremely restrictive, it makes the nutritional adequacy impossible to a large extent
• This diet is known to cause deficiencies in calcium, protein, iron, zinc, vitamin D, most vitamins B (especially B12) and essential fatty acids
• A diet comprising of only fruits can also lead to hunger, cravings, food obsessions, social disruptions and social isolation
• Lack of proteins can make it difficult to sustain the lifestyle, hence resulting in hypoproteinemia

It is always recommended to have a balanced diet which includes all the nutrients in right amounts instead of a fad diet which contains only one nutrient in large amount. After all our tradition and culture teaches us that a person’s primary duty is towards it’s body.

About the Author 
Pritisha Jadhav 
Diet Specialist 
SRV Hospital