my oprah interview

Towards the end of last year, mango received an email from oprah magazine asking him for a fruitarian interview. he happily agreed, because me and mango like fruit publicity. i told him to say that he has a fruity partner and if they are also interested to interview me. they said yes, and so did i. shortly after we were interviewed and we were waiting for notification that it was published. a few days ago, a member of fruitariannirvana.ning.com, stephanie, told us that she had read some article about the fruit diet in an oprah magazine, we were surprised that we had not been notified about it, so mango wrote an email to the mag and they sent us a few e pages of the issue in question, and we could see that they printed only a very small segment of my interview. we were disappointed at first but then we were glad that even a little bit about raw fresh fruit diet was published.

Here is my interview in full.. (Mangos interview is available here.)

mango and me, last winter in sydney 2009

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1. Why did you decide to eat only fruit? Health? Ethical? Political?

i decided to eat only fruit purely for ethical reasons. love was always most valued by me, and it was directing my life. i'd been a passionate reader since early childhood, and when i was about 26, debating with some of my friends, someone said: " we are reading all kind of books, but we never look at the bible" those words inspired me to get one, and the first words i read in it were about love, so it grew on me straight away, and i was randomly reading on and off for a few years, when i came across the sentence: "do not kill" and i began contemplating those words. at that time, i was already vegan, also for ethical reasons, i just had a revelation one day, watching my father butchering a rooster, - one which he had been keeping in the garden along with chickens. that was unusual, normally i would run away from such a scene. so as i was watching, i thought to myself: "oh, how unfair this is, only a short time ago this rooster was happily living in our garden, enjoying the sunshine, our garden, chickens.. his life, and suddenly one man without thinking took his life at once, to bring food home for himself and his family." and that touched me deeply, and from then on i lost my appetite for meat. i was never tempted to eat, or have craved meat since.  i gained an awareness of the life of animals, i learned, that the rooster had not been as happy as i'd thought, living behind a fence, denied freedom to go where he desired, and i very soon became vegan.

so as i was preoccupied with the "do not kill" commandment, contemplating its meaning, i began questioning food too, and i come to the conclusion at first, that any form of cooking was also killing, so i decided to eat all my food raw. then i thought that even eating raw food i was killing, i was taking life of the plant. i always intuitively believed, that plants have an awareness, they feel and enjoy their existence. i did not want to prematurely put an end to their existence, i wanted the plant to live a full life circle, allowing it to produce seeds for another generation. i was vegan and all my food was from the plant kingdom. so i asked myself the question: 'what plant can i eat, without killing it?" and i came up with RAW FRESH FRUIT. eating fruit was a perfect solution, - the plant continues it's life unharmed, even after the fruit with it's seeds has been harvested. most plants will wither after they have seeded. oh, how i was excited it! i was so happy to find the solution, i was so glad that i could eat in peace without killing. i was on top of the world. more so, because after all, raw fresh fruit had always been my favorite food. so, just like with the rooster, i experienced the same with plants, after this revelation, i lost my appetite and desire for foods other than fruit.  that is how i became fruitarian over night.

today i am eating fruit for all reasons: ethical, health and political

yummy fruit in our kitchen with durian at center stage

2. What does your daily diet look like? What do you eat lots of? How much of certain fruits? Do you ever juice the fruits?

my daily diet consists of my favorite raw fresh fruits in season available from the local market. mind you, I love almost all types of fruit. so i choose fruit by its quality.

mostly me and mango feel to eat at the same time and the same fruit. we usually start with raw fresh fruit juice, mainly oranges, cucumbers or any melon. later in the day we may have another fruit juice or two.  we are eating fruit as is, mainly mono (one fruit at time) and 4 - 6 meals a day including juices. the amount of fruit each time varies, sometimes we eat more, at times less. but usually we share 1/2 kg of grapes, 1 -2 big durian or 3-4 small ones, 1/2kg of rambutan, 5 akee each, one and half of red pawpaw each, seven passion fruit each, 2- 3 grated apples each, 2 mangoes each, sharing one pineapple. longans 1/4kg each, lychees 1/4 kg each. yes, we juice fruit, only at home, and we drink it fresh straight after it is made, they are usually 1/2 litre each. our favorites are orange juice, pineapple juice, honey dew melon juice, rock melon juice, water melon juice (only me - mango usually shares one liter of juice with me, and i drink the rest throughout the day). i also drink watermelon rind, which mango is not keen on.  we are eating lots of mangoes, oranges (mainly juicing) grapes (juicing, eating), red paw paw, durians, akee, melons, mostly honey dew or rockmelon, (mainly drinking).  we also love blended fruit, like one of our favorites is mango blended in orange juice, red or yellow paw paw blended in orange juice, or just blended mango, or pawpaw. we blend melons to drink, we never juice them. we also regularly eat a mixed salad made of 250g cucumber, one or one and half tomatoes and 1/2 or 1 or maximum 1 and 1/2 avocados each. at times with red hot chili, mostly mango, i've been off the chili for a few months now.

i love arranging fruit we get from local marktets

3. Some people ask about things like protein—how do you get adequate amounts?

i never questioned things like protein, i had no need, and i was not interested in it either, i've been living on raw fresh fruit for almost 24 years,  i haven't noticed any deficiencies and i am enjoying good health.

colorful and magic beauty of fruit in detail

4. What do you feel like, after making the switch?

very soon after i made the switch i felt much healthier, even though i had not had any serious health problems, and thanks to my light diet, i was feeling ok the most of the time. i noticed that i gained more energy, i felt more light, my digestive system was working noticeably better, my mind was more clear and i was feeling generally more happy.

mango grapes and rambutan on our kitchen table

5. Do you know/live with other fruitarians? Do you socialize with others? Has it ever been an issue in social situations?

my ex husband joined me on a fruitarian diet straight away, and he also soon changed his lifestyle after we got divorced.  i've been living the last four years with my sweet fruitarian partner mango.

mango is the only frutarian i know who eats raw fresh fruit only. but i met some "fruitarians" who are eating nuts, seeds, greens, vegetables, dry fruit, B12 supplements, and all of them are drinking water. i do not perceive them as fruitarians, but raw foodists. my definition of fruitarian is a person who eats raw fresh fruit only. i was surprised when i found in wikipedia and on other websites this false definition of a fruitarian: "a fruitarian eats fruit, nuts, seeds and greens."

i socialize with others. i'm comfortable with being who i am and i have no issues being different and accepting the choices of others. despite that, there are some issues i have: i find the smell of cooked, and some raw foods, offensive it makes me at times nauseous. i feel uncomfortable around drunk people. in almost all cases, when i attend some social scene where food is present, i am accepted and served fruit with love. if i  attend a new social scene, with food, i take my own fruit with me, or i simply don't eat, 'even if i have some fruit with me, at times i just don't feel like eating. i also learned that most people don't notice whether or not i'm eating. if someone offers me food, and for some reason i want to avoid discussing the fact that i am fruitarian, i might say: oh, thank you, i'm not hungry right now, i just ate." if i still get pressured i would add: i'll have some later. but most of the time i would say: " thank you, i wont have any, i eat only fruit."

fresh from local markets: pineapple, durian, passion-fruit,
avocado, paw paw, grapes, rambutan, tomato, courgette :)

6. How has being a fruitarian impacted your identity, and how you think of yourself? How has it changed “Who you are?”

thanks to my fruitarian lifestyle i feel great, awesome, clear minded, light, more healthy than ever, more relaxed, more aware, more loving, more worthwhile, more beautiful, more positive, more playful, more creative, more grateful, more thankful, more spiritual, more intuitive, euphoric and satisfied. i  became a better person. i contribute much more toward a healthy environment. inspiring some people on my fruity fruitful path.

i think of myself as a very blessed child.

me and fruit