What does it mean to be a fruitarian?
Adopting a fruitarian diet does not mean you will eat only fruit. However, diet descriptions say raw fruit should make up no more than 75 percent of foods consumed. Dietitians advise patients to keep their fruit intake to no more than 50 percent to avoid any nutritional imbalances. That’s All You Need to Know about Fruitarian Diet:
Transitioning to a fruitarian diet
If you choose a fruitarian diet, proceed slowly. Transition your diet to contain a lot of fruits. And ensure to include nuts, seeds, and vegetables with every meal because they will provide the fat and protein you need. Besides, they will help slow down any blood sugar spikes that come from eating only fruit.
Remember that healthy diets contain 3 fruit servings daily. Oily fruits, like avocados, bananas, and coconuts, are good fat resources.
Fruits are packed with vitamins and antioxidants, including vitamin C and beta-carotene, and some existing research shows fruits can reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.
You might lose weight on the fruitarian diet, but you can’t consider this a real benefit. Any losses are likely to disappear if you abandon the diet, and your weight will creep back up.
Fruit-based diets can be very restrictive and can cause a lot of problems.
Weight gain: Fruits are heavy in natural sugars. While there are a few people on this diet who could lose weight, eating large portions of fruit actually puts you at risk of gaining weight.
Diabetes: For diabetic or pre-diabetic patients, the fruitarian diet can be dangerous. Fruits include a lot of sugar that eating too much can negatively affect blood sugar levels. A fruit-only diet may also be risky for people with pancreatic and kidney disorders.
Tooth decay: Fruit’s high sugar content can put you at high danger for tooth decay. For example, apples have the possibility to be as corrosive as candy or soda. Some fruits, such as oranges, are highly acidic and can erode tooth enamel.
Nutritional deficiencies: Fruitarians often have low levels of vitamin B12, calcium, vitamin D, iodine and omega-3 fatty acids, which can lead to anemia, tiredness, lethargy and immune system dysfunction. Low calcium can also cause osteoporosis.
Cravings: Restricting your diet to main fruits can lead to cravings or food obsessions.
Starvation mode: By relying fundamentally on fruits and depriving yourself of needed vitamins, fats and proteins, it’s possible to push your body into starvation mode. If your body feels it’s starving, it will slow down your metabolism in an attempt to conserve energy for vital functions.
Talk to your doctor before thinking about starting a fruitarian diet
Before you start a fruitarian diet, dietitians highly recommend you consult your general practitioner. He or she will likely prescribe the dietary supplements you’ll need to take to overcome the vitamin and mineral deficiencies.