Born: Feb. 25, 1967, Canada.  
Is from Saskatchewan.

B.Sc. Computer Science program (1985-89).  Former employee of IBM Canada.  Taught a portion of a university Computer Science class.

Joanne Shaw has a passion and love for law.  She has passed laws, published extensively on law, and drafted actual legislation, 

(Disclaimer/Footnote.  She is not an attorney.   She is not liscenced, nor qualified, nor obligated to practice law.  If you need an attorney, please consult your yellow pages.)  

WHAT IS A FRUITARIAN?
By Joanne Shaw

A fruitarian is kind of like a vegetarian.  I became fruitarian about 15 years ago after being vegetarian for some time.  Once I read about it, I never looked for anything else as a way of eating.  It was me to a T, and entirely what I believed.  It's quite rare and was lucky to find a name for what I was doing, and a few others with knowledge so I could fine tune my diet.  I was surprised to learn that the few fruitarians, that I became aware of, were practicing in very similar ways to what I was doing and we had also reached many of the same conclusions by our experimentation.

 A fruitarian eats fruit, or has the base of their diet fruit, because there is a lot of evidence that that is what humans should eat, both for health reasons and to live in harmony with nature.  Fruit is more broadly defined and includes several vegetables that are technically and scientifically defined as fruits.  So, along with cherries and watermelon, there are some vegetables, which are actually defined as fruits by the type of seeds they contain, etc.  Some are tomatoes, chilies, peppers, olives, avocados, cucumbers, beans, eggplant.  

If your diet is fruitarian 30% (or 60% or 80%) of the time, you are still considered a fruitarian.  You are a 30% fruitarian.   It's a little liberal going than vegetarianism in that it is easier to adopt.  There are less foods that fruitarians eat, though.   I try to keep my diet 100 percent fruitarian, when I can.  But its more typically between 75 - 90 per cent fruitarian.   The rest is vegan , but fruitarians don't really eat cauliflower or broccoli, for example, and a number of others, and sometimes I just eat other foods.  I still follow my own beliefs instead of someone else’s, but I do consider myself a fruitarian.  Above all else, I eat what I am craving.  It's not dull.  There are a lot of foods.  I eat a lot.  And am very grateful that I am content with what I eat.   

There are a number of additional foods I make a habit of avoiding such as garlic because it is a bulb and if you plant it, it grows into a flower.  Fruitarians avoid garlic, for example because it is a bulb and if you plant it a whole plant will grow.  If I eat it, it is sharp and hot and burns my tongue and gives me heartburn.  There is no way around it; there are consequences for eating it.   (Some flowers are edible and I do eat them in a salad when I have the chance!)  

I don't eat rice, or rarely.  It seems to be made for other species like birds.  There are a number of researched ill consequences of humans eating rice, and it  correlates to various diseases, especially when it is eaten every day as a staple.  It is very bland tasting when you think about it.   Birds can eat rice raw; we can't eat it unless it is cooked, and that in itself destroys food, and is a clue that it is not meant for us.  Birds have beaks to eat rice with, and rice is tiny like birds.  I believe rice is for the birds.  

I drink coffee, but it is not good for me.  Coffee comes from a plant, but is acid forming, and it really shouldn't be consumed the way it is prepared.  I drink it black.  At least I don't put sugar and cream it it.    Coffee is the only thing I consume when I don't believe I should consume.   Fruit flies like coffee.  It might be more for them.  If you have a fruit fly problem, and have tried everything, check if you have coffee lying around.  Put leftover coffee bags in the fridge until you take your garbage out, and the flies will probably leave within about 3 minutes, even if they have been around for months.

Fruitarianism comes out of a respect for our own and other species, but also a respect for the integrity of plants or the food itself.  So if a vegetarian, aside from eating, dislikes harming animals, a fruitarian also dislikes disrupting a plant.

Fruitarian is a preferable way of eating, for me personally.  There are some food where there are absolutely no consequences to eating them, and fruit seems to be the only one for humans.  You don't really get sick, at least I don't ever get sick.  Most fruitarians (and vegetarians) don't ever get sick.  I haven't had a flue or cold it probably 20 years, and it is quite nice.  It is really easy to keep your weight down if your are vegan or fruitarian.  You can even gain muscle and a washboard stomach even when you don't go to the gym.  There are thousands of health benefits to it.   You can accomplish so much, if you stop eating other things, and every moment of life is pure gratitude and bliss.  

(You can subscribe to my free email list on the left of this page, and on occasion I will send you information on this and other things.)

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WHY I AM FRUITARIAN
by Joanne Shaw


These are the reasons I am fruitarian:

1.  Spiritual reasons.  I think it is wrong to destroy things.  I think it is wrong.  I think it is wrong to kill fish.  I think it is wrong to carelessly handle a mango and disregard it without any respect of what it is and where it came from.  I think it is wrong.   It is not that we are punished when we attack nature.  We aren't;  It dies, not us, and that is sad, although it might bight back.  Miracles do happen when we respect all life.  But there is much less risk of killing an animal when you won't kill a head of lettuce.   It is not like lettuce heads have a soul, or, are alive, but there is a respect for the integrity of the plant.  At the very least, we practice likeable human qualities, such as respect and peacefulness, but, truth comes out of this exercise as well..  I think anytime we approach another human being, there is a factual presumption that they exist as we do.  It is obvious, but it is often apparent as a presumption.--and then the response we receive is in line with that presumption.  Everyone should extend that respect to animals, to children for sure, and if you extend this respect even beyond that , others can see you have a respect for what they value and for them too, and life is a true gift.  Fruitarianism  arrives out of a deep respect for plants and life itself, as well as animals and of course our own species, and as well a preference to live in harmony with this nature, and choosing to eat what we are most compatible with..  

2.  Physical Pleasure.   Physical existence is pure bliss.  You can bend to pick something up and find you can touch the palms of your hands to the floor.  The wind hits your face and it is pure bliss and extacy, not cold.  You wake up in the morning and know you are awake and alive.  Food tastes better when you are fruitarian because your senses are more acute and you are eating better food.

3.  Spiritual pleasure.  It feels wonderful being true to yourself, and acting out of integrity  is marvelous.  As well, I have clarity as to what I think I should be eating.  Being fruitarian means you get to experience a lot more peace in your life, more often visit wisdom, and feel grateful, as well as strong, trustworthy and disciplined, and happy a lot of the time.

4.  Health. So I look and feel better.  I know I look better than I otherwise would.  It's nice being in shape, too.  There are countless health benefits.  Excuse  me for I'm about to be graphic, for just one sentence, but my urine is clear, the same color as  water, not yellow like most people's, which is a reflection of what I eat.  People should take care of their bodies long before anything radical develops.   I don't get constipation which is the largest ailment among the population.  I don't have trouble climbing hills or carrying things, or have much more serious ailments, nor things I have suffered from in the past, such as serious fatigue.  I can jump up and down, or dance or exercise for hours, and can almost do the splits at 43 years old -- and I know for certain that my diet is the reason for this.  I hope to have a long long life.  

It's really nice not having to worry about my weight.  I was never really too overweight, but as a child , and teen, I was about 20 pounds over weight, and it is a royal pain.  It is especially a pain, if you are trying to crack the code on what puts on weight, and what takes it off.  At least if you know the answer to that, then you know if you at it or not.  It is a lot of fun having a flat stomach , etc.  That's what it is; it is fun.  Most people want to, and never have experienced it, and it is a lot of fun.  It is most annoying and painful, for many people when that doesn't manifest, but it is how you were born and entirely universally achievable.  I'm really glad I don't have to worry about my weight. Even during a few times when I wasn't able to eat properly, I know I don't gain very much excess fat or become too far from my ideal, and that always returns when I do get back to normal.  It's very fun having a washboard stomach or a nice bum.  But that is what human stomach looks like, you can account it to not eating naturally.  As a corollary, if you eat naturally, you gain a washboard stomach, muscle, curves and everything that goes with it -- just the way you were born, just the same way your ears, or feet grow a certain way.  You have human ears because you were born as a human.  The same goes for an adult physique.  That's why I say having a flat stomach is universally achievable.  

(I'm going to be publishing something on the subject, and tell you exactly how that is done.  Please, in the meantime, feel free to sign up to my free email subscription list to get previews of information earlier.)

 I don't believe animals are carnivores.  I believe now that they are vegetarian.   (I could go on with a lot of reasons why this is all myth.  For one thing nature shows are almost always male commentated and the parts where a man says that an animal is aggressive and hunting sound entirely ridiculous if not alarming and frightening.  I do see that some animals do eat other animal corpses at times, but I don't think that is what they are trying to do, or that they are doing that in order to eat.  And I don't believe at all that they kill for food.  In some species, such as lions, the females hunt for food.  In humans, women breast feed.  I think we, as women can tell more sometimes what others are intending to do.   Quite a few vegetarians have argued that animals might be carnivores or omnivores, but humans are not, especially since we don't have as sharp as teeth or claws, nor do we eat it raw.  I would go one step further is I think they are vegetarian.  I think everyone is.  If animals weren't vegetarian, why would they eat any fruit or vegetables or plants at all? And their is nothing suggesting that claws or teeth were made in order to kill other animals.  And the main reason is that there is no way that anyone was born in order to be someone else’s food.

 A gorilla eats a lot of bananas and a bull eats a lot of grass, and they are very muscular.  Humans don't biologically require protein to build protein or muscle so much as amino acids found in build protein.  We don't have to eat an arm to build your arms or eat hair to build your hair.   I build a lot of muscle from fruits and vegetables.  It just drives me when meat is in food.  It looks as silly and barbaric, and out of place as toy tractor parts would look in your food.

But I had a cat.   She started to love to jump up and eat my watermelon juice off the plate.  And some pickles, which are basically cucumbers and dill.  I was watching TV and eating some olives, and my cat jumped up on my chest and stuck her whole face in my mouth, took my olives right out of my mouth and jumped off.  She didn't even hurt me.   She was assertive, not aggressive.  

I didn't want to make my cat go vegetarian in case they needed something in cat food.  Now, I think, "How did she live on cat food, dried up, dead food, with nothing for good food".   So I put some fruit she liked next to her cat food, to see what she would eat and so she would have a choice.  She loved it so much.  Interestingly enough, she did this when I was on a month solid fruit cleansing diet, which was just heaven, and I think she thought highly that this was here to stay.  You might like my joke, “Why Don't All Humans Look Like All Animals?” joke.  http://vegetarian.joanneshaw.com

5.  Special.  I feel special when I think about eating fruit.  It is just so much my personality.   And it is so much like me.  It is something I can automatically think about and feel immediate joy from.    But it is quite fun and interesting.

6.  Saves time.  I do like cooking, especially gourmet and am a great cook.  And I really like it.  But if you don't do it every day... you save a lot of time.  It usually takes an hour to cook dinner, half and hour to eat, an hour to do the dishes, some time shopping.  Then there is breakfast and lunch.  You know that apple in your fridge?  It is God, and tastes just as good..  

I have written several books.  I have passed laws.  I sing and do a lot of things.  And I am only 43.  I really became very ambitions about 20 years ago.  I do a lot of other things, but it never stops amazing me about how much I have accomplished and how generous time really is if you work with it.   There are other factors and decisions I have made that resulted in this, but there are good habits too that support your life, and eating raw food is one of them.  I mediate for at least an hour once or twice every day.  I sing several hours a week and exercise a lot.   And I have a lot of time left over for myself, for other things I really enjoy.  I don't know how, but I do.    I am not about to give up any of it to only cook or do excess dishes, even though I don't mind doing that once in a while.  But not every day, and not as a priority.   Remember when you were a kid, if you where outside having fun playing with your friends, and you were called in for dinner, you probably  resented that you had to stop what you were doing and go home for dinner, and then you had to eat what your family ate, instead of what you wanted.  What can you do with 28 - 42 extra hours every week?   You know that apple in your fridge?  It's God

7.  Energy.  I have so much energy.  It also helps me get a lot done, but life is easier by that.   Until you have energy, it is too much trouble to find it.  The whole thought of it sounds like a chore.  You do have some energy now.  Trust me.  You do have some energy.  You can have more.

9.  Fruit tastes great!