Fruit is a Food

Until quite recently the majority of English-speaking people have been accustomed to look upon fruit not as a food, but rather as a sweetmeat, to be eaten merely for pleasure, and therefore very sparingly. It has consequently been banished from its rightful place at the beginning of meals. But fruit is not a "goody," it is a food, and, moreover, a complete food. All vegetable foods (in their natural state) contain all the elements necessary to form a complete food. At a pinch human life might be supported on any one of them. I say "at a pinch" because if the nuts cereals and pulses were ruled out of the dietary it would, for most people, be deficient in fat and proteid (the flesh and muscle-forming element). Nevertheless, fruit alone "will" sustain life
if taken in large quantities with small output of energy on the part of the person living upon it, as witness the "grape cure."[2] The percentage of proteid in grapes is particularly high for fruit.

Those people who desire to make a fruitarian dietary their daily "régime" cannot do better than take the advice of O. Hashnu Hara, an American writer. He says: "Every adult requires from twelve to sixteen ounces of dry food, "free from water", daily. To supply this a quarter of a pound of "shelled" nuts and three-quarters of a pound of any dried fruit must be used. In addition to this, from two to three pounds of any "fresh fruit" in season goes to complete the day's allowance. These quantities should be weighed out ... and will sustain a full-grown man in perfect health and vitality. The quantity of ripe fresh fruit may be slightly increased in summer, with a corresponding decrease in the dried fruit."

Florence Daniel

FOOTNOTE:

[2] Recent years have witnessed a modification of the original cure. Other food is now included, but I have not heard that the results are better.