I was born and raised in Argentina, a country known for it’s bovine based diet. Growing up, my diet include daily consumption of meat and dairy with some vegetables and sporadic fruit. For me, this was normal and for most people it still is. Never in a million years I would have imagined there was such a thing as a fruitarian diet.

My Diet Growing Up

As a child, my typical breakfast consisted of one or two large glasses of milk plus four to eight white toasts with butter and sugar. For lunch I would have another glass of milk and some meat, grains or some starchy vegetables. My favorite vegetable dish was mashed potatoes. These, of course, where cooked with milk and butter. Dinner would include more meat (cow, chicken, fish or eggs) and some cooked vegetables. I honestly do not remember eating many fruits, perhaps a banana or some apples here and there.

My favorite desserts included ice cream (again, more milk and sugar), chocolate (milk, butter and sugar) and Argentina’s most famous desert Dulce de Leche (Milk with sugar cooked together). This, to many people, is the clear reason why Argentina has one of the highest populations of overweight and obese citizens, with 35% of individuals being overweight and 15% of them being obese.

Diet Changes During High School

At the age of fourteen my family and I moved to Puerto Rico, and island in the Caribbean. The country was portrayed as an enchanted island full of healthy and beautiful people. The truth was far from that (no offense intended).

The current Puerto Rican diet is based on cooked and fried food. Most meal plans consist of rice and beans and the only fruit that is served semi-regularly is fried plantains. Other than that, most people adhere to the standard american diet, meat and potatoes. The other option is whatever is in the menu of the same harmful fast food chains that are found in the United States. That being said, it is no surprise that data from 2014 shows that 66% of the people living in Puerto Rico are obese or overweight.

Diet Changes During College

After four painful years in Puerto Rico I graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles. In California most people follow the standard american diet as well. As a result, the health of Californians is quite similar to those in Puerto Rico. The numbers speak for themselves, showing that 24% of the state’s population is obese, and many more of course are overweight.

During my first two years of college I lived in Santa Monica. My diet consisted mostly of whatever was served at home and the food I would buy in the cafeteria. This would usually include fried Chinese food or fries and burgers from the local Carls Jr. This period of my life (as well as my four years of high school) included the consumption of large amounts of alcohol.

Towards the end of my sophomore year I began to make some changes in my diet and began to include more vegetables. The reason for this inspirational change is unknown to me. When I transferred to San Diego State University I chose to live in a house so I could cook my own food. I knew that the cafeteria food and dorm lifestyle would encourage poor eating habits.

During my first year I did my best to cook healthy meals. That being said, I had no idea what healthy meant. I was buying lots of canned food and still consuming large  quantities of animal products. Salads in my apartment where unheard of and fruit was non-existent. Weekends where filled with long nights of drinking and munching on pizza, burgers, fries, tacos and of course, burritos.

Diet Changes Studying Abroad

On my last year of college I studied abroad in Spain. Before I left San Diego I weighted 210 pounds and when I came back I was closer to 185 pounds. This was a huge surprise to me because during my stay in Madrid I consumed large amounts of alcohol and animal products on a regular basis. I could say with accuracy that I would spend half of the week going out to bars and clubs and staying up until 7 or 8 am in the morning. After that I would eat tapas until the break of dawn.

I believe that the only reason why I lost so much weight during my trip was because I was walking many miles every day. I did not have a car so I pretty much walked everywhere. I also did a lot of traveling around nearby countries and most of my transportation was on foot.

From my experience and the research I have done, it is clear that the Spanish diet does not look much better than the Argentinian diet, the Puerto Rican diet or the American diet. The data shows that 23% of Spain’s population is obese and and other 39% are overweight.

Diet Changes After College

When I returned from Spain I was happy and surprised to notice all the weight I had lost. This, among other things, inspired me to be more careful with my diet. I also began to cut down on the amount of alcohol I was consuming.

A year later I graduated from SDSU and began my career as an independent consultant. During this time I went through some heavy ups and downs which lead me into a series of spiritual awakenings. Following these awakenings I began to practice yoga and meditation. The wisdom I acquired from these practices allowed me to continue to improve my diet and consumption habits. Within a year I drastically cut down my consumption of canned foods, processed foods and other toxic substances.

From then on the process of refinement continued and within a year I began to cut down my consumption of meat and animal products.

My First Transition to Vegetarianism 

This was the time when I began to transition into a vegetarian diet. Some of my yoga teachers practiced vegetarianism and some students where doing it as well. Learning the negative effects of killing animals was a big factor on my renewed food choices. Another factor was the understanding that meat (a.k.a dead flesh) is not healthy for the human being.

This transition took several years. I probably went in and out of the vegetarian diet for three years. I was constantly doubting its benefits and struggling to keep up with the diet’s restrictions. I even moved into a house that had vegetarian rules (no meat consumption indoors) because I thought it would help me with this process. In fact it did, but please do not tell my landlord that once in a while I would sneak into my bedroom some pre-cooked stake from the Whole Foods meat department…

Living in a vegetarian home definitely helped my transition into veganism. It also helped me understand how many other options I had to substitute meat. Unfortunately, I did not yet understood how to transition properly and the lack of animal products in my diet lead me to indulge on nuts and seeds. My nut dependency lasted for six months. I actually remember having such strong cravings for nuts that I would eat massive quantities at a time, specially almonds and cashews. I use to joke saying that was addicted to them.

Needless to say, my digestion suffered a lot during this transition. My energy levels where always low and my stomach felt inflamed almost all the time. To add insult to injury I was also consuming fairly large quantities of cheese and chocolate. Neither of these did any good to my health.

Discovering Veganism in Boulder, Colorado

By the time I moved to Boulder my diet was back to “balance”. I was again consuming meat and my consumption of nuts had leveled. Upon arrival to my new home in Boulder I decided to get into bodybuilding. This of course was paired up with the assumed need for large consumption of protein. I tried this new regiment for approximately three months. During that time I ate lots of eggs and chicken with some red meat here and there. I was able to put on muscle, but I also put on some extra fat. Once again I was lost in my attempt to reach true health.

I think the biggest tipping point was during my friend’s Mike visit. Mike was my roommate in San Diego and we had a history of partying, drinking and eating lots of meat products together. He stayed at my house for a week and during that time we indulged in the consumption alcohol and meat products. This was by far the most meat I had eaten in a long time. Towards the end of his stay, I could really feel how bad my body was feeling from consuming these large amounts of toxins and acidic compounds.

Swallowing Information about the Vegan Diet

This is when I decided to explore the world of veganism. I started by reading about it, then by watching YouTube videos. I soon found myself consuming massive amounts of information about the vegan diet. This went on for a whole month where I was spending three to four hours a day researching the vegan diet. I was absolutely fascinated by it, all of the information I was looking was very logical. I was surprised (and fairly ashamed) to admit that I had not seen the clarity of this truth earlier.

After a month of researching, I finally chose to adopt a 100% vegan diet. Since then, I have never looked back. Today, October 4, 2016 is my 6 month anniversary on a very strict vegan diet. Being super honest, I have never felt better.

The reasons for this decisive transition where very clear: Vegan diets are healthier, more rational, more ethical, more sustainable, better for the environment and more affordable. If you have not realized this I highly suggest you start looking into it because the truth is clearer than water. Some great books to read include: Main Street Vegan, The Plant-Based Journey, How Not to Die and Esther the Wonder Pig.

Becoming a Strict Vegan

My first couple of months as a vegan where quite challenging. Do not get me wrong though. Adapting to the vegan diet was actually easy and following my new meal plans was easy as well. I did not have any cravings for meat or meat products and my digestion was feeling better than ever. The biggest challenge was talking to people about my diet. My roommates where mocking me for not eating meat and I struggled trying to convince my parents to become vegan as well (I will take the blame there for pushing them too hard).

This friction around my relations lead to many stressful arguments which I soon learned to avoid and ignore. Instead of arguing with non-vegans I chose to surround myself with fellow vegans. Unfortunately, I did not know that many vegans in Boulder so I didn’t have many people to hang out. Instead, I chose to continue to spend my free time watching vegan diet related videos on YouTube and learning more about the vegan lifestyle.

Moving on to the Fruitarian Diet 

At that time, it seemed like I had reached the highest level of dietary understanding. I truly felt that there was nothing better than following a vegan diet. That is why, when I first learned about fruitarianism, I thought it was a joke. I actually began to joke with my friends about it, telling them that I was going to become a fruitarian.

I am not sure why I was doing this, perhaps it was a fun way of avoiding the vegan diet argument. I truly thought fruitarianism was a joke. I would have never guessed at that time that anyone could really survive eating only fruit. Time would prove me very wrong.

There must have been something to it, perhaps it was the charisma of the fruitarian personalities I was meeting on YouTube. Perhaps it was the sound logic that came with each one of their arguments. Perhaps it was the fact that something in my vegan diet still did not feel perfect. Perhaps I was becoming totally crazy and there was no way of going back 🙂 …

Becoming Enlightened by the Fruitarian Diet

For one reason and another I continued to learn about the fruitarian diet. I learned that fruit farming provides the largest amounts of calories per square foot, compared to meat farming and farming of other vegetables. I realized that fruits are mostly water, just like our human bodies are mostly water. I remembered how our digestive system is built up and realized that fruits are the easiest foods to digest. I shifted my whole understanding of nutrition and allowed my self to rethink the habits and traditions I had taken for granted  for so long. I soon came to the conclusion that human beings are fruitarians by nature. At that time,the only logical thing to become a fruitarian…

… and so I did.

One day, after a month of research and much consideration, I chose to start my transition. I started slow. First by focusing on eating more bananas. I also added lots of figs and apples. In time I took both of those fruits out of my meal plans. I could tell that they were not the best choices for me.

Learning More About the Fruitarian Diet

I continued to educate myself, spending more and more time online researching the fruitarian diet and listening to people who have been fruitarians for many years. (Read: Destination Eden and The Detox Miracle Sourcebook).

The more I learned, the more sense the fruitarian diet made. Perhaps all these books and videos have brained washed me but I do not feel that way. From where I see things now, all this fruitarian advice cleaned my brain from false assumptions and erroneous information. I am referring to the same information that most people continue to believe. The information that is most likely causing all the obesity and overweight epidemics that we see world wide. The information that preaches: Animals products are good, fruits are bad.

Sticking to the Fruitarian Diet and Growing Strong

Today marks 29 days since I began my transition to fruitarianism. I can once again say that my digestion has never been better. My sleep has improved drastically and my energy levels are higher. I also have gone a whole month without consuming alcohol or marijuana, which were two addictions that I struggled with for many years. I also have stopped masturbating and watching porn, which is something I have been doing for as long as I had a penis. Ok, maybe not that long 🙂

These last 29 days have been days of transition. This means that some of those days, specially in the beginning, included meals that contained some vegetables, sometimes cooked and sometimes raw. This has allowed me to see how my body reacts to the different variations. I can honestly say that my body, mind, heart and soul prefer fruits over anything else. This is why I continue to fine tune my fruitarian diet. I make adjustments and change my restrictions, stacking up on the good and leaving out the bad.

Over the last four days I have eaten fruit and nothing else. I feel great, and I could feel better, but I am probably not eating enough fruit. My schedule is busy and my fruitarian set up is still a work in progress. There are times when I don’t have enough fruit around, but at this point I rather be hungry than eat something my body does not prefer.

Making Changes to Live a Better Life

My latest realization is that I want to (and need to) move to the tropics. Right now I am looking into moving to Hawaii and working at a fruitarian fruit farm for at least 6 weeks. I crave to be surrounded by fruit trees and beautiful forests. I crave to work on the land and live off the land. I crave to be in community. I crave to sleep under the stars. I crave to stare at the sunrise and the sunset. I crave to find my self and to be in love.

It is very likely that I will be moving to Hawaii soon, perhaps in December, maybe earlier, I don’t know. If I go, I may never come back. This is a choice I am clearly willing to make. In the meantime, I plan to continue eating a fruitarian diet and training hard. My goal is to be able to prove that it is possible to grow muscle by consuming only fruits. Most people think this is impossible, I know that it can be done. In fact, many people have grown muscle with fruits and this is why I built this site. To share with others the truth of what can be achieved on a fruitarian diet.

Diving Into The Unknown

I may succeed or I may be wrong. I may be very wrong and perhaps I am hurting my body. Perhaps all the warnings I hear are true. maybe I will develop all sorts of health issues for following a fruitarian diet, but this is not what my heart says, this is not what my mind understands.

Both my heart and mind say “keep going!”. I am following their lead. I trust and believe that this is the way to go. Perhaps this is not for you. Perhaps it is not your time. It took me a long time to get here, much thinking and much exploring.

This may be the pinnacle, the diet of all diets, or perhaps there is more, perhaps there is a diet beyond them all. Perhaps breatharianism is the way to go, or maybe sun gazing is the optimal source of nourishment. Only time and experience will tell.

I could live a lifetime basing my choices on other people’s opinions, but I rather do my own research. I rather live by my own rules. I rather follow my heart and die, than live as a slave to other people’s minds and fears.

I will keep you updated as my journey goes on. If this fruitarian diet is the way to go, I will surely find out.

Thank you for being,

Bruno Treves

 

Raw, Organic, Nutrition

 

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