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The most immediate danger in a 'just fruits and veggies' diet is that you may not be getting enough Lysine. It's a critical Amino Acid, and may affect your moods/energy level (short term, that is. Long term, you'll have muscle loss).
Another something is that you need some fats with those fruits and veggies, or you will not be able to absorb the vitamins/nutrients/phytochemicals in your food. I've seen people try to live on low-fat salads, and go into deep, DEEP depressions, because without fats, those B Vitamins were not being absorbed.
This morning, I had a box of Blueberries. I sweetened them with a bit of Stevia extract, and tossed them in a bit of Coconut Oil. Generally, I add Coconut, Almond, or Walnut Oils to fruits, and Avocado, Olive, or Grapeseed oils to vegetables. I always add these AFTER cooking, as heating oils changes them in bad ways. Different oils do different things. We keep a whole array of them in the fridge, with the aim of maintaining balance in our oil intake.
I think that you should add some high-fat and high-Lysine foods to your diet. Avocados and raw Almonds for fat, and Nuts (or Nut Butters) for Lysine (Unsweetened Peanut Butter is a good one). After a few days, you need to start eating whole grains, too. Millet, Buckwheat, Quinoa... Rolled Oats, Barley Flakes, Rye Flakes... all good, and a wide range of them is best. (Buy in bulk, from a Whole Foods Co-Op, or order online..)
Low fat diets tend to backfire, as your body will not be absorbing the nutrients it needs, and will go into PANIC MODE, and start storing fat. DH & I have been vegetarians for many years... I know both the rewards and the dangers of this sort of foodway. If you get out of balance for more than a few days, you're just asking for trouble.
Nothing wrong with drinking just Lemon Water for 18 hours, if you've got a bad bug in your gut. Or juicing, briefly, as part of some specific medicinal regimen. But in general, an unbalanced diet is not a good thing.
I will add that the closer to raw your fruits and veggies are, the better they are, in terms of Glycemic Load and weight loss. Light steaming, generally, is best for vegetables. Raw, if possible, for fruits.
I can see that this thread was a mistake. Dear lord.
Ha, people take their nutritional knowledge very seriously.
If you're looking for a quick start to your diet, have you thought about trying to eat raw for a week or two? I read a book about it and I really liked the author's approach to the subject. I've often found vegetarians come off as pretentious and eager to accuse non-veggies of being unhealthy heartless murderers, but this raw book really just touted the health benefits without demonizing people who disagreed.
I wish I could remember what it was called (and now I'm thinking I might return to the bookstore to actually purchase it) but it included a lot of recipes, often in smoothie form, and had tips on how to jazz up the raw diet. She also suggested that those who are new to raw food and maybe a bit hesitant allow themselves two exceptions, peanut butter and balsamic vinegar, because they were flavorful and familiar foods.
I guess I should say I haven't actually tried this diet out, I've just always found it intriguing and it makes sense to me.
FYI, if you want to eat like a chimp, you need to eat:
Mostly fruit
leaves/leaf buds
seeds
blossoms
pith (the spongey stuff in fibrous plant stalks)
tree bark
resin
honey
soil
insects
birds
bird eggs
small-to-medium sized mammals, INCLUDING OTHER PRIMATES.
So in short, you need to eat a variety of foods, and be a cannibal too.
I'm thinking I don't want to eat like a chimp. I'd rather eat like a human. And that means, my cousin isn't on the menu.
FYI, if you want to eat like a chimp, you need to eat:
Mostly fruit
leaves/leaf buds
seeds
blossoms
pith (the spongey stuff in fibrous plant stalks)
tree bark
resin
honey
soil
insects
birds
bird eggs
small-to-medium sized mammals, INCLUDING OTHER PRIMATES.
The chimp diet is primary fruit, its supplemented with some vegetables and, in some populations but not all, meat as well. Bonobos, a very similar ape, eats almost all fruit and no meats.
Chimps aren't cannibals, the monkeys they eat aren't "cousins", they are distant relatives. We are Chimps "cousins".
Low fat diets tend to backfire, as your body will not be absorbing the nutrients it needs, and will go into PANIC MODE, and start storing fat. DH & I have been vegetarians for many years... I know both the rewards and the dangers of this sort of foodway. If you get out of balance for more than a few days, you're just asking for trouble.
No they don't....and there is plenty of research that shows that. There have been a number of long-term studies of people on whole food diets with no added oils, no nuts, etc. The people, even after decades, did not develop vitamin deficiencies.
A whole foods diet without any nuts will naturally be around 10~12% fat. That is sufficient for human needs and has been shown to be an effective treatment for those with heart disease.
No they don't....and there is plenty of research that shows that. There have been a number of long-term studies of people on whole food diets with no added oils, no nuts, etc. The people, even after decades, did not develop vitamin deficiencies.
A whole foods diet without any nuts will naturally be around 10~12% fat. That is sufficient for human needs and has been shown to be an effective treatment for those with heart disease.
Would love to see some of the research and long term studies that you are talking about.
The bonobo's primary diet is fruit (just like most chimps). They also (just like most chimps) enjoy leaves, insects, meat from flying squirrels and other animals, including lower-order primates, and there has been one documented case of cannibalism in the wild.
Though these diets are geared around treating people with heart disease, they also show that naturally low fat intakes from whole foods don't result in nutrient deficiencies. Many of these people have been tracked for more than 10 years.
The bonobo's primary diet is fruit (just like most chimps). They also (just like most chimps) enjoy leaves, insects, meat from flying squirrels and other animals, including lower-order primates, and there has been one documented case of cannibalism in the wild.
Their diets are more concentrated in fruits than chimps and meat eating isn't common.
You can find cases of cannibalism is just about every species, in fact even cows will eat other cow bones here and there. As far as primates go there is only one primate that has made routine use of cannibalism....and its one you're familiar with: Homo Sapien
Regardless, chimps, gorillas and bonobos all have a diet that is almost entirely based on vegetables or fruit. Chimps eat the most meat of the three but it makes up less than 5% of their total diet. These three primates show that a diet in vegetables and fruits works just fine for us great apes.....
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