are​Over the years, one diet that has gone in an out of popularity is the all fruit diet. The premise behind this way of eating is that we are related to apes who eat a lot of fruit so humans should be eating a lot of fruit to be healthy.

One obvious argument against an all fruit diet is that humans are not apes. It has been noted by earlier natural diet advocates, the natural hygienists that many people can’t do well on even two thirds of their diet being fruit.
 
Like most extreme diets that lack substantial amounts of critical nutrients, people can be okay for limited amounts of time.  The two most common repercussions of long-term attempts at fruitarianism are usually that the teeth are the first to go, then people's blood-sugar processing abilities, along with nutritional deficiencies.

One of the reasons that people may do well at first is because they are living off of past nutritional reserves. When the stored reserves run out, the game's over. This is a similar occurrence that happens with vegan diets and vegan macrobiotic diets. My experience has been that eventually diets missing nutrients have serious health consequences including life threatening diseases if a person managed to stay on these types of diets for years or decades.

Fruit diets and high veggie diets are sometimes called clean diets.  It is not enough for a diet to be "clean"-- it must also be a sufficient diet. Fruitarianism and near-fruitarianism are the worst possible case, because in addition to progressive long-term deficiencies, the body's insulin-production capabilities are being simultaneously overwhelmed with the high carbohydrate load in the form of higher glycemic-index foods containing simpler sugars like glucose, sucrose, and fructose.

Advocates of "fruitarianism" frequently change their definition of it over time. Like other restrictive diets, many who initially promote a strict diet or fruit or all vegan diets, are forced to back off and begin allowing the use of some nuts, seeds, and green vegetables or other foods. This may extend the period that they can maintain their regimen, but it doesn't remove the underlying problem of the long-term consequences of excessive sugar consumption and/or hyperinsulinism, not to mention low intake of B-vitamins, certain minerals, etc., that are likely to result if the diet is continued long enough.

Some fruitarian gurus weren't actually practicing what they preached, but followers who did ran aground. Over the years, what they discovered was that none of them--and this included famed fruitarian advocates like Johnny Lovewisdom, Walter Siegmeister (pen name Raymond Bernard), and Viktoras Kulvinskas--were actually living on fruitarian diets, even as they defined the diet for themselves. I find this interesting because it was the same case with well-known natural health macrobiotic teachers. Many were known to frequent restaurants and eat meat, eggs, dairy products, desserts and fish while encouraging students to be very strict in a grain and vegetables vegan style of eating. Like the fruitarians, the students would suffer from many health problems once their storehouses of nutrients were exhausted.

An all fruit diet is a way to create serious malnutrition of multiple nutrients including protein. No humans ever ate such a diet. Apes have a different physiology than human beings. Apes are equipped with a rumen, a large stomach that breaks down raw food. Humans do not have a rumen. The ape’s diet consists of a huge amount of leafy greens and fruits humans could not and should not consume in a day.
 
Extreme diets such as all fruit or all vegetable diets will create illness and food obsessions or eating disorders. This has been documented at this excellent site: http://www.beyondveg.com/index.shtml. it is interesting to delve into the false arguments made for vegan and fruitarian diets. They are very similar to my experience of some of the arguments made for macrobiotic vegan diets.  Many theories for macrobiotic vegan diets don’t hold up.
 
Several cultures around the world have been studied for their great longevity. All these cultures ate grains at almost every meal, natural animal foods every day, and none lived on fruit alone. Fruit played a part in healthy diets. In colder climates, fruit was cooked and eaten dried. In hot climates, it was mostly consumed raw but in moderation.

Starches are not mucus forming. This is obsolete idea promoted by early raw foods advocates, who mostly died at younger ages. There is no science behind the theory that starches create mucus or that animal proteins in moderate amounts (4-6 oz or even greater amounts) hurt the kidneys. These are all pseudo-scientific ideas.

The natural hygienists were the first to recommend a raw diet. After more than 100 years of natural hygiene teachings and experiences, a group of natural hygienists is speaking up against total vegetarianism. http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet2.html
 
Humans are designed to eat cooked foods as their main foods with raw being a choice depending on the weather and climate. In hot climates, small amounts of raw fruits were eaten but never as a staple. The science is explained in this excellent book, Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham. 

Read Catching Fire for the summary of the theory that humans do not have a stomach with bacteria in it, a rumen,  to break down the fiber in raw foods. All animals that eat raw vegetable diets have rumens. The cow has four. Humans cannot extract many nutrients from fibrous raw foods. Small amounts in one’s diet are fine mostly for its cooling effect on the body in hot weather.

One twentieth century macrobiotic theory that does hold up is presented according to the science in Catching Fire. Wrangham makes an excellent argument backed by decent science that humans are not designed to eat a high raw foods diet. Twentieth century macrobiotic teachings presented the same idea but without the better explanations leading to further mistakes down the road about raw food consumption.
 
If a person decides to be vegetarian or vegan, I have suggestions that can keep one healthier on my website. https://www.macrobiotic.com/how-to-be-safe-on-a-vegan-diet-not-vagen.html

Voice diagnosis has been practiced to understand a person’s health in Asia for thousands of years. My IDX Diagnosis® system of health diagnosis utilizes voice diagnosis to more accurately and deeply assess a person’s state of health.

I developed IDX Diagnosis® after many decades of studying traditional diagnosis systems of China, India and Japan. My system integrates a traditional eastern medical way of seeing the body interpreted through the eyes of modern biology.

After studying eastern systems, I came to realize that they were talking about the same systems that modern biology discovered through anatomy, analysis and experimentation. The eastern medicines were based upon observation and clinical experience.

In ancient China and many other cultures in the same area, dissection was prohibited. Some say that doctors on the battlefield did look at the organs and make notes. The charts of the organ locations are surprisingly accurate given the prohibition against dissection.

The depth of the voice is related in traditional oriental medicines of China and nearby cultures to the health of the lungs and the colon.  I’ve found that there are physical correspondences to most of the diagnostic signs of oriental medicines. In this case the function of the colon and lungs is closely related to the diaphragm.

The diaphragm is the dome-shaped sheet of muscle and tendon that serves as the main muscle of respiration and plays a vital role in the breathing process. Also known as the thoracic diaphragm, it serves as an important anatomical landmark that separates the thorax, or chest, from the abdomen. Modern biology recognized the connection to the lungs, but not the connection to the colon. Oriental medicines recognized that if the function of the colon and lungs is healthy, this can be heard in the voice because the voice is affected by the strength of the diaphragm.

This is why I believe that one of the major practices of qigong exercises from China and other countries in the area is diaphragmic breathing.
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A healthy diaphragm will create good circulation both in the lungs and colon. The lungs, of course, are important because they take in oxygen, a catalyst for every metabolic function of the body’s cells and get rid of excess carbon dioxide. Oxygen is needed to burn the fuel [sugars and fatty acids] in our cells to produce energy.

I have discovered that if you strengthen the colon, you strengthen the lungs. If you strengthen the lungs, you strengthen the colon. TOM or Traditional Oriental Medicines recognized this connection.

The way to diagnose the lungs and colon through the voice in IDX Diagnosis® is based upon Traditional Oriental Medicine’s method of listening to the depth and resonance of the voice. If the voice is deep and resonant like a bell, the colon and lungs are in a healthy state. This means that the diaphragm is moving well when speaking.  If the voice is shallow and thin with no resonance, the lungs and colon are weak. People with a shallow voice will suffer from fatigue, a tendency to depression, constipation and other colon related problems, skin issues and or weak immunity.  Some people will have one or several of these symptoms. These are the links known over the last few thousands of years in Traditional Oriental Medicines.

People can also have an overly deep voice. This sign indicates a stagnant condition of the lungs and colon.
In IDX Diagnosis®, I see underlying conditions as overall metabolic or energy imbalances. A person with a shallow voice has a deficient energy or low metabolism. This is caused by stress in diet and lifestyle leading to depletion or exhaustion. To reverse this condition, dietary practices that weaken the metabolism have to be stopped while a healthy balanced Full Spectrum Macrobiotic Approach to eating with ample nutrition must be followed.

How to do this depends on the condition of the rest of a person’s body. In some cases, the deficient condition is caused by missing nutrients such as adequate calories or natural concentrated animal protein, excess work or exercise. In other cases, a person is eating or doing something that is sapping their energy such as taking excessive amounts of stimulating substances such as drugs, alcohol, medicine, sugar, coffee, not getting enough sleep or working too much. The strategy for this person in diet, lifestyle, exercises and supplements is to strengthen the metabolism.

A person with an overly low voice is a sign that there is stagnant condition from overeating poor quality meat and animal foods, poor quality fats and flour products with a low amount of physical exercise in their lifestyle. Lighter foods that are mildly cleansing such as lightly cooked greens, mild spices, other foods, supplements and herbs that release stagnation are recommended along with a well-balanced Full Spectrum Macrobiotic Approach to diet. Other adjustments in a healthy diet may be suggested.

In my consultations I first have people tell me about the health issues that they are coming to see me for. I listen closely to their voice while there are telling me about their health problems, listening to the depth and resonance and many other qualities of the voice that indicate different health and organ imbalances.

I do a lot of long distance health counseling. Voice diagnosis over Skype or the phone has been very insightful to me as an aid to helping understand a person’s health condition. Voice diagnosis acts as a guide in recommending suggestions to improve the person’s overall health.

The depth and resonance of the voice is just one important aspect of IDX Diagnosis® for the voice. There are other sounds of a person’s speaking that give insights about the health of the different major organs in the body. 

​It has become very popular for people to avoid all carbohydrates to improve their health. There are many different reasons for doing this that are given by low carb gurus.

Eating carbs has been blamed by the health gurus for diabetes, insidious weight gain, brain fog and even serious diseases.  Carbs are usually lumped all together from whole grains to refined grains, natural sugars, refined sugars and fruits.

The problem is that there is very little evidence for the claims of the low carb advocates. After the initial honeymoon phase of low carb eating, often related to the idea of eating like a caveman, the same and even more serious health issues arise.

Substantial and undeniable improvements, particularly in the first 6-12 months of eating a diet based more on meat and vegetables and less on grains and sugars, can occur. Many of the benefits are often from switching from a junk food-based diet that is low in nutrients and high in industrial chemicals, oxidized fats, and other nasty elements to a very nutritious whole foods diet. It is not usually just from eliminating carbs.

Low carb diets tend to increase adrenal activity - increased glucocorticoid production as well as catecholamines – like epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine. These are the same chemicals released when taking amphetamines/stimulants or during stress.

Adrenal activity also occurs due to increased consumption of animal protein and fat and decreased consumption of carbohydrates – and because a whole foods diet spontaneously decreases calorie consumption (and absorption) for most people – putting their bodies into a catabolic state (high adrenal state). Even if animal proteins are not emphasized, the lack of carbohydrates puts people in this high stress mode.

There are hundreds of ways to increase your production of catecholamines. Catecholamines make you feel absolutely incredible. Doing methamphetamine, for example, raises catecholamines through the roof. They feel so good that you are likely to become so addicted to the feeling that you will ruin your life in pursuit of it.

Catecholamines blunt appetite while increasing fat mobilization (fat burning). The best supplement ever created to achieve this was Ephedra, an herbal amphetamine. Not only did it help people to lose weight without hunger and have legendary workouts, it made people feel superhuman – with great mental focus and energy.

Because of the addiction that develops to these brain chemicals, it becomes very difficult to resume eating food as this triggers withdrawal symptoms with a big crash in mood and accompanying sluggishness, brain fog, and other negatives to accompany the digestive pains, bloating and reactive hypoglycemia. This is the primary reason why eating disorders are self-perpetuating.

Many people on low carb diets start to turn to other ways to stimulate adrenal activity and catecholamine production after the honeymoon of feeling good is over. For most people on these diets, as with much restrictive diets such as vegan and raw foods diets, the time that people feel good only lasts from 6- 12 months. The time one feels good depends on the state of your adrenal glands.  If the adrenals are in a weakened state, the honeymoon may not last long at all.

Intermittent fasting, or a fancy way of saying skipping meals, vigorous exercise, and increased caffeine consumption are some of the ways that people try to keep the adrenals burning to make them continue to feel good.  

The many ways that a person eventually starts to feel poorly on low carb diets occur to a large extent because carbohydrates in the form of starches, grains, vegetables and sugars - such as natural sweeteners and fruit, stop catecholamine and cortisol release.  When the body doesn’t have these natural antidotes to stress, many symptoms of ill health arise. Carbohydrates are one of the antidotes to stress.

Human bodies run on sugar. The brain function will get affected if you don’t eat enough natural sugars and starches. The brain needs large amounts of sugars.  If you exercise or are just active in the day, you need muscle glycogen from carbohydrates to perform at a high intensity as fatty acids are not sufficient to sustain intense activity.
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Many people at this point of reading the article will think, but I eat carbohydrates, I eat vegetables. Starchy vegetables such as carrots and squashes have very small amounts of carbohydrates. These vegetables contain good quality carbs, but the amount is not concentrated enough for a human body’s requirements.
People on low carb diets will try to increase fat to get more energy. Running on fats is a disease state, not a normal state of health.

The healthiest traditional cultures known for their longevity such as the Sardinians, Quichua Peruvians, Okinawans, Nicoyans and Ikarians ate starches as their main sources of carbohydrates along with the regular use of natural sugars.

Stress signs that occur on low carb diets are not limited to these diets alone, but they do occur for many: cold hands and feet, sexual disorders, reduced sex drive, loss of menstruation, infertility, frequent urination, night sweats, irritability, anxiety, waking at 4 am, lightheadedness, constipation, delayed stomach emptying, acid reflux, high LDL cholesterol, low testosterone, puffy eyes, auto immune disease, increases in allergies and sensitivities, chest pain, low blood sugar, bad breath and body odor.  These are all stress signs that can occur on diets missing nutrients or that are too low in calories.

Whole food diets are notoriously low in calories. The stress response of eating animal proteins and vegetables with no or extremely little carbs cuts the appetite, a typical high stress response.

As with other things that stress the body, severe muscle tension occurs. This is made worse by over exercising in an attempt to stimulate those feel good catecholamines.
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If you have been restricting your carbohydrates, add in whole and naturally refined grains, fruit, fruit juice and natural sweeteners slowly. With any diet that has been restricted, there will initially be a reaction to adding foods that have been previously eliminated. Be careful not to take reactions as a sign that you need to keep restricting carbohydrates or any healthy food groups.

Recommended Reading
 
Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live
by Marlene Zuk

The Problem with Paleo: Taking a Deeper Look at the Popular Myths and Fallacies of Eating Like a Caveman by Joey Lott