Live and let live is the motto of fruitarians, which is why they only eat what nature voluntarily gives. This means that no animals should be killed, and no plants destroyed. After living as fruitarian for 6 months, notorious optimist and sunshine Zu wanted nothing more than to kill her boyfriend.
Zuzanna Ngolskii is a ray of sunshine. Her smile is the kind that lights the whole room. Not a lot can bring her down, she claims, but fruitarianism did.
When the 24-year international relations grad met personal trainer Pierre it was love at first sight. After a shared work-out he took her out for a meal. Over “a shared bowl of fruit and “handful of seeds”, seeds for a relationship were sawn.
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“His skin looked so soft and clear, and his smile,” she reminisces, “his smile was the only motivation I needed from that day on to make it to the gym.” “He had been a fruitarian for over 2 years,” Zu says. “Fruitarians take veganism a step further and extends the intention to save all living things from animals to plants too.” The two started dating a few weeks later and it wasn’t for long before Zuzanna adopted to her new boyfriend's diet.
“After reading a few articles I was sold. All these people said how light and free and inspired they were after only eating fruit. I had to give it a go.” According to the sports addict, she never felt more alive than in the first few weeks.
For some the extreme diet is based on health motivation for others it is ideologies. Gandhi, da Vinci and, at times, Steve Jobs are among the best-known fruitarians. The ideological reason for eating fruits, nuts and seeds is the assumption that not only humans and animals but also plants are animated. An unnatural death, that is, the harvesting of fruits and vegetables before their actual decline, is just as irresponsible as the killing of animals. A Nobel approach, but how healthy is it to live on fruit, nuts and seeds?
“The first few weeks, I felt amazing,” Zu recalls, “my body felt light, I had energy and I could eat as much fruit as I wanted.” Her eyes move to the floor, she breathes heavy, “I used to love fruit.”
After two months however, Zu started to get cravings. She started to daydream about bread and pasta. Everywhere she looked all she could see was prepared food. “It was emotional torture. All I wanted was something to eat. Like proper food that fills you up. And nobody told me how much time I would spend on the toilet. I don’t understand how anybody can live like this.”
One day at her best friend Stine’s birthday party she couldn’t stop herself. “I stayed strong for an hour. But then came the cake.” While her friend opened her birthday presents, Zu snuck into the bathroom basically swallowing the whole thing whole. Stine recalls, “all we heard from the living room was some strange animal noises coming from the bathroom followed by crying.”
6-months in, a trip to IKEA turned into a wake-up call for Zu. Emotionally unstable and incredibly hungry, Zu ended her life as a fruitarian in the kitchen department of the Swedish furniture heaven. “I don’t remember what Pierre said, but I just exploded. That was the scary part about being a fruitarian. I had no control over myself anymore, so I ran off to get some meatballs”
While the relationship didn’t last Zuzanna and Pierre stayed good friends. “I have enormous respect for the people who can do it,” she says, “but nobody should force themselves.”
