Why do some not eat bananas, etc...?

[jnoelj]

I've noticed that some raw foodists do not eat bananas, carrots, beans (and a couple of other things I can't remember at the moment). Even a raw food restraunt owner in Santa Monica, CA has on the menu,
"No Bananas, Carrots, Beans..."

Why is that? Is it the sugar content? I just wondered if anybody else knows...

[**jessireebob**]

I've wondered this too. Some people seem adamantly opposed to bananas! Why is that??

[vgloveforlife]

That's interesting, I was just wondering the same thing the other day....

[Revvell]

Because they're hybrids is my understanding.

Revvell

[Veganforlife]

Yeah, it's a shame when hybrid people take it out on good fruits!
:p

[Sharon in Colorado]

Usually the ones who avoid eating bananas are the ones who eat a lot of processed superfoods, extracted oils, etc. They'll pass up the banana tree so they can find the coconut oil plant, adjacent to the maca powder bush.

[Elizabeth]

Usually the ones who avoid eating bananas are the ones who eat a lot of processed superfoods, extracted oils, etc. They'll pass up the banana tree so they can find the coconut oil plant, adjacent to the maca powder bush.

LOL.....:D so true..... I have realized that my being so much a purist in many ways has kept me from doing and being...always worrying about how..rather than just doing it..lol...



Elizabeth

[**jessireebob**]

Yeah, it's a shame when hybrid people take it out on good fruits!
:p

Hahahahaha!! :D

[**jessireebob**]

Heeheeheeheehee. I'm still giggling at that! :D

[Revvell]

Usually the ones who avoid eating bananas are the ones who eat a lot of processed superfoods, extracted oils, etc. They'll pass up the banana tree so they can find the coconut oil plant, adjacent to the maca powder bush.

Isn't that the truth???? Ummm, there's a maca powder bush???? *looks around the house* :confused:

[Veganforlife]

Isn't that the truth???? Ummm, there's a maca powder bush???? *looks around the house* :confused:

I have one - you don't? Look harder, it's right next to the coconut oil plant! :p

[Rawzula]

What maca powder bush? *tries to sneak away with it, but gets caught red-handed:eek:*

[Sharon in Colorado]

Isn't that the truth???? Ummm, there's a maca powder bush???? *looks around the house* :confused:

Oh! Sorry about that!

I forgot to tell you that it's 3 yards east of the cocoa butter shrub but if you pass the nama shoyu vine, you've gone too far!

Didja find it, huh huh?

[Sharon in Colorado]

Oh - I forgot to mention, do NOT mistake it for the truly raw cacao powder plant, which has been fermented under 118 degrees under warm blankets.

I know, I know, they look very much the same but there is a huge difference, you see.

If in doubt just follow the Celtic Salt and Apple Cider Vinegar trail and it'll lead you right to it! :p

[Sunshine9]

The basic idea around not eating bananas, dates, carrots, ect, is they are just as unnatural as the "coconut oil plant." If you go deep into nature you wouldn't be ABLE to find your beloved bananas, and if you even found an old ancestor of one it wouldn't be particularly tasty with it's huge black seeds and entirely non-sweet starchy wood-like texture. Now to me, the idea of eating a product that has been mutated into something that is UNABLE to reproduce, and something NOT found in the wild... how is that any more natural than coconut oil? or goji berries?

Granted most produce found in the grocery store has been cross-bred to some degree, but can usually revert back to a semi-wild state. It's the foods that have "gone too far" that some of the gurus are hard on. The mark of going too far is being seedless.

Now I personally don't eat many bananas, not because of the science but because I feel better and look better without them. I also don't live on raw items out of a jar. But I would surely think goji berries are more natural than a banana ;)

[Naiad]

Where do more bananas come from then? :eek:

Haha... "Mom, where do baby bananas come from?"

Seriously though... ??? :confused:

[sbaker]

so forgive me for still learning.....

do you guys avoid such things as raw cocoa, olive oil, coconut oil? Like...altogether?
I admit I don't feel 100% guilt free when I make something out of the raw food real world book that really doesn't lead me to believe I'm getting optimum health or weight loss benefits.....but I do sorta kinda want to keep those options around, especially thinking that raw is a lifestyle change for LIFE and I'm a sucker for freezer fudge:) Also I do see very good things written about coconut/olive oils, that make me want to include them.

Obviously I understand that fresh is best...but do you guys do the 100% fresh route as a rule?

PS Sharon, so sorry I haven't gotten back to your email, I've been a flake lately;)

[eatyourbroccoli]

so forgive me for still learning.....

do you guys avoid such things as raw cocoa, olive oil, coconut oil? Like...altogether?
I admit I don't feel 100% guilt free when I make something out of the raw food real world book that really doesn't lead me to believe I'm getting optimum health or weight loss benefits.....but I do sorta kinda want to keep those options around, especially thinking that raw is a lifestyle change for LIFE and I'm a sucker for freezer fudge:) Also I do see very good things written about coconut/olive oils, that make me want to include them.

Obviously I understand that fresh is best...but do you guys do the 100% fresh route as a rule?

PS Sharon, so sorry I haven't gotten back to your email, I've been a flake lately;)some people do i suppose. i think this thread though was just being playful about some of the raw gurus who are adamantly against bananas and such, but are equally adamant proponents of even more "unnatural" foods than bananas such as raw cocoa powder and raw maca root powder.

i may stick to whole, raw fruits and veggies the majority of the time only because a) its quicker and b) i digest simple foods better, but i still use coconut oil, cocoa powder, olive oil, etc. in recipes for a treat, and dont think of myself as any less raw for doing so. the general view here is that even people who live almost exclusively on the raw recipes that use these items are still equally raw..just far more creative and patient than me :p :)

[trinity082482]

What a shame to not eat banana's or any other fruit or vegetable because they are changed my man to be edible. They are still uncooked so I eat them. Very tasty!! :D

[Ariannah]

if you ask "you guys" you're going to get as many different answers as there are people ;)

I, personally don't consume oil. I prefer a whole food. I've never eaten coconut oil (unless you count the actual coconut I had that took me a good 5 days to eat <G>)

I go through banana "phases". It's the only thing so far that gets my smoothies nice and creamy. There are many people who do still eat them, even long term raw-foodists so it's all up to everyone what they are comfortable with.

For instance, I'm not comfortable with frozen corn used in enchiladas (frozen corn is often blanched), so I'll keep the filling the same, and just use collard leaves as the wrap instead :-)

I'm going through a phase of eating more sprouts in the winter as luscious fruit is not nearly as available (locally) until warmer seasons. I'm trying to transition to a whole foods diet, but for now, 100% raw is making a significant difference.

[Revvell]

Oh - I forgot the mention, do NOT mistake it for the truly raw cacao powder plant, which has been fermented under 118 degrees under warm blankets.

I know, I know, they look very much the same but there is a huge difference, you see.

If in doubt just follow the Celtic Salt and Apple Cider Vinegar trail and it'll lead you right to it! :p


*snif* I am sooooo lost!!!! :(

[Veganforlife]

Oh, it's easy. Go to the fork in the road, it's next to the knife and spoon, make a left onto Dehydrator Alley, go about 400 yards to Spiral Lane, make a right, proceed down to Cashew Court (not to be confused with Macadamia Road), continue on until you see Wheatgrass Way. If in doubt just follow the Celtic Salt and Apple Cider Vinegar trail (if you turn around on Wheatgrass Way, you'll see it) and it'll lead you right to it! You will find what it was you were originally looking for. Um, I believe it was a banana, right?

Seriously. Monkeys eat these man-made bananas. They seem to like them. I haven't seen too many monkeys at the local fast food place, but then again they might be there, as I don't ever go in them.

I can see where wanting to be pure and right with nature can take folks to extremes, well, maybe not extremes - not sure if that is the right word, but I like bananas and will continue eating them. Until they come in cute little wrappers and are offered at a drive-in window - I'll still keep eating them! :p

[Sharon in Colorado]

LOL Veganforlife! I think Rev is baiting us now! :p

Was trying to be playful but in all seriousness, I have on occassion used some of those unconventional ingredients that are not grown on plants, or at least originally from a plant, but has been extracted, isolated, dried, etc. and/or other processes before they've been packaged for the raw world.

Just trying to show that the hybrid theory does not agree with everyone, and that the ones not eating fruits for those reasons are not avoiding everything "unnatural".

From what I understand all fruits and vegetables at present are now hybrids and many people have found seeded and seedless fruits growing together on the same plant.

I am sure I've written this before, but there are some newbies here that would like to know this, instead of reading my silly posts about maca powder plants and cocoa butter bushes.

[Revvell]

Oh, it's easy. Go to the fork in the road, it's next to the knife and spoon, make a left onto Dehydrator Alley, go about 400 yards to Spiral Lane, make a right, proceed down to Cashew Court (not to be confused with Macadamia Road), continue on until you see Wheatgrass Way. If in doubt just follow the Celtic Salt and Apple Cider Vinegar trail (if you turn around on Wheatgrass Way, you'll see it) and it'll lead you right to it! You will find what it was you were originally looking for. Um, I believe it was a banana, right?


*sits down in the corner and eats bananas* :D


:rolleyes:

[Revvell]

LOL Veganforlife! I think Rev is baiting us now! :p


*dangles a carrot in front of you* :p

[mongomango]

A banana is nutritionally a near perfect food for humans. It also provokes serotonin and dopamine in our brains which are relaxants and has a narcotic affect which some people have critical views on, and others simply view as natural mood enhancers. But without adequate levels of both of these substances, depression and addiction results along with a myriad of other health problems.

All of our food plants seem "unnatural" if you take even a very cursory glance at nature. Look at the vast majority of plants; their seeds are so tiny that they are not suitable foods for us, yet our trees grow hand sized fruit/seed. Tiny seeds are more advantageous to the plant as they are more easily dispersed and that is the norm in nature. As for fruit size itself, granted, our cultivation and selection (non gmo) has caused fruits to get larger than they were 5000 years ago, but they are totally unnatural in the general scheme of nature. Broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, all of these very large food plants of ours are the exceptions in nature. We take them for granted because it's what we eat. But look at what we don't eat and you'll see an entirely differnt story and size. Have you seen wild lettuce? You would need to pick a great many plants to have a meal, yet our lettuce is a pretty good size and pharoah and all the egyptians cultivated and extolled the benefits of lettuce..which was pretty big comparatively even back then. Lettuce also produces a calming effect upon us. A grain seed should be about the size of the grass seed that you plant in a yard, yet our grains are colossal compared to other "grain" (grass) seeds. And yet again our grains and beans exercise a calming effect upon us provided we do not eat them together, although I am not an advocate of grain and bean usage.

Now some will assume that we have cultivated and domesticated these plants and changed them from their natural state. They also assume that we've domesticated dogs from wolves, cows from aurochs, kitties from wild cats...ROFL. Besides the fact that no one would have considered doing any of these things way back in the day, we have yet to truly domesticate anything to anywhere near the level of domestication that our domesticated animals and plants have supposedly been domesticated by our ancestors. Go take a look at teosinte, ancient ancestor of corn...and corn, like bananas cannot reproduce without human aid. And also like bananas it wouldn't even have been thought of as food and no effort would have gone into producing a more edible end result...but yet we do have a more edible end result.

So imo, someone engineered EVERYTHING we eat. The only question is whether what was made was for our best interests or not. And back to bananas, they were, relatively as we know them, actively being cultivated in 600 BC. There are historical records attesting to this. If then, they were being fairly extensively cultivated 2600 years ago..it's plausible to assume that they were in existence much longer than that. Who or what developed them? I do not believe it was man, but I believe it was done for man. I tend to think that the intelligence behind it did not "go too far" at all with this fruit that is so supremely tailored to our nutritional needs and our hands, for that matter. The grains...hmm, I dunno about them. On the other hand, cultivation of our foods lead to the abandonment of hunter/gatherer, a more healthy if challenging lifestyle, with a greater variety of plants and nutrients consumed...and to the adoption of agriculture which led to civilization, which can be alternatively termed as a type of domestication and control of humanity... I do so wish I had a time machine or a magic mirror into the past to see what the truth is. Heh. Unfortunately, I don't. But I will eat my bananas and pass on the grains...

Sorry...hadn't intended to write a book here, lol.

[Sharon in Colorado]

Sorry...hadn't intended to write a book here, lol.

And it was a good one! :)

...awaiting the sequel....

[Missrawdiva]

[QUOTE=eatyourbroccoli]some people do i suppose. i think this thread though was just being playful about some of the raw gurus who are adamantly against bananas and such, but are equally adamant proponents of even more "unnatural" foods than bananas such as raw cocoa powder and raw maca root powder.

How is raw cocao and maca "unnatural"??

[Sharon in Colorado]

How is raw cocao and maca "unnatural"??

They wouldn't have been naturally eaten long ago on their own. And they have to be processed a certain way to be palatable and eaten. However, I've heard that the fruit the cocoa beans are in is delcious.

[Pierre]

Oh, it's easy. Go to the fork in the road, it's next to the knife and spoon, make a left onto Dehydrator Alley, go about 400 yards to Spiral Lane, make a right, proceed down to Cashew Court (not to be confused with Macadamia Road), continue on until you see Wheatgrass Way. If in doubt just follow the Celtic Salt and Apple Cider Vinegar trail (if you turn around on Wheatgrass Way, you'll see it) and it'll lead you right to it! You will find what it was you were originally looking for. Um, I believe it was a banana, right?

Your directions are driving me bananas!

The Cavendish banana, which is the type you usually find in the stores, is triploid, which is why it has no seeds. But I don't see why one couldn't invent a banana just as sweet that does have seeds. Although most bananas eaten here are from Central or South America, the species came from Africa. (Contrariwise, Capsicum chinense was unknown in China before 1492.)

[adrienne]

I got lost today on Banana Alley, I made a wrong turn onto OCD Boulevard.
I am SOOOOOOOOO thankful for this thread YOU HAVE NO IDEA!
I am eating raw and that is that. I cannot get caught up in this and that right now because I will drive right to (no stopping mind you) Cooked Food Circle (it's a cul-de-sac in the suburbs that is hard to find your way off of)
So there!
Thank you guys for making me laugh and making me relaxed! Now I won't well up with tears tomorrow morning when my daughter asks for a banana! HELLO!?!?

[Apasaraw]

Golly...everything is a hybrid. Carrots used to be purple until national pride came into it. Navel oranges are a cross breed as are many other veggies and fruits...and squash cross pollinate like the wind. You've see the weird ugly/pretty frankenstein squash marketed at Thanksgiving. We almost lost the dear breeds of avocado to disease and had to rebreed from the 2 trees/some seeds left. Dates are bred by man and huge fans...cars are hybrid. I'm hybrid. :)

[Daddeln]

After all, the monkeys doesnt seem to care that much if a banana is a hybrid or not so why should we.

God bless!

/Henrik

[Mira Sheri]

"US scientists are harnessing the health-giving powers of purple, and breeding a totally purple tomato! The new super fruit would be packed with health-protecting anthocyanidins - antioxidant pigments that give grapes and blueberries their dark colour." (From the UK magazine Health & Fitness' latest edition.)

Why not eat grapes and blueberries then? Or maybe they are trying to squeeze every possible nutrient into a tomato so people won't have to eat more than one fruit from now on? :confused:

[everclear]

I couldn't imagine not eating bananas! I have to eat at least 2 a day, I couldn't live without them, they're too yummy! :p

[Ariannah]

"US scientists are harnessing the health-giving powers of purple, and breeding a totally purple tomato! The new super fruit would be packed with health-protecting anthocyanidins - antioxidant pigments that give grapes and blueberries their dark colour." (From the UK magazine Health & Fitness' latest edition.)

Why not eat grapes and blueberries then? Or maybe they are trying to squeeze every possible nutrient into a tomato so people won't have to eat more than one fruit from now on? :confused:

Hehe ROFL

No matter, they'll be busy boiling it to death to suck all the lycopene out of it :rolleyes:

[Daddeln]

...not that we are monkeys I might add, but anyway.

[jnoelj]

Thanks for all the input, and humor :) I think that basically as long as it isn't cooked, it should be fine - especially when we are starting out, or having major cravings! And, it's a bit confusing when there are so many "raw" websites that sell things I wouldn't consider raw (but then again, I'm by no means an expert!)

[Nectarine]

Oh, without a doubt, the banana ranks as THE number one fruit in my book: easily peelable, tasty and sweet, non-sticky, bursting with nutrients, low-fat, and doesn't get stuck between your teeth when you eat them. Bananas should be included in every fruitarian, vegetarian, and vegan's diet. With just 4 or 5 of these energy-packed bad boys, I can get through a three hour work-out no worries! :cool:

[Xanadu]

Me, I don't care, seeing as how hardly anything is "natural" anymore with all we've done to the earth, so long as it is indicated that it's organic, the enzymes are still alive in it, and/or it hasn't been heated to a damaging degree which seems to vary with the advisor. One author said something about "how hot is still raw" that made sense to me by comparing our getting into a sauna or hot tub and what temps are healthy and for how long for our bodies which she applied to foods. Seemed logical to me. Eating this way is such a huge improvement over SAD that I feel like I am doing very well, for now at least. With further study I might change my mind some day, I don't know. :D I am just grateful to Carol Alt for drawing my attention to the idea and Alissa for filling out my education on it and making it plain that this is a doable thing, eliminating the intimidation factor with her wonderful book, dvd, website and this board.....and to God for answering my prayers. :)

[RawNut]

Where do more bananas come from then? :eek:

Haha... "Mom, where do baby bananas come from?"

Seriously though... ??? :confused:

Rhisomes. As the roots spread, they put up little baby plants, genetically identical to the parent plant.

Craig