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Fruits
Fruits are usually classified in different categories according to their nutritive value. The most nutritious fruits are more commonly known as cereal grains and beans; then come what are commonly known as nuts and seeds; and last are the succulent fruits, the sweet sugary fruits.
This last group of fruits has long been touted as especially healthy foods; researchers in the latter part of the twentieth century even went so far as to claim that fruit may help to reduce your chances of developing cancer and heart disease.
The word fruit is derived from the Latin frui, which means “to enjoy or to delight in.” How true it is, too, for many are so delicious.
From a nutritional perspective, fruit contains the following ingredients: water, fiber, vitamin C, enzymes, phytochemicals, vitamins, some minerals, and lots of sugar. Additional properties of fruit can be understood through what each fruit is in relation to the environment it grows in and the potential effects it can have on the human body.
Fruits, because of their energetic nature and the ingredients they contain, have a cooling effect on the body. One of the express purposes of fruit is to cool organisms that have become excessively hot. This is why most of the more luscious and juicier fruits grow in hot tropical environments, and most fruits grown in temperate and colder climates grow mainly in the summer months.
Paradise Lost
Fruits are eaten as a primary food source by many herbivores, birds, and nonhuman primates. Historically, the use of fruit in human diet has been mostly as a supplemental food within a broader based diet, rather than as a principal food.
Numerous examples of fruit in mythology link it both with times of ripeness and with periods characterized by the disintegration of mental, moral, and spiritual values.
The 1960s through the early 1970s ushered in a wave of alternatives in health and spirituality in the United States and Europe. The cultivated seeds of Catholicism and the mid-twentieth-century version of the Protestant work ethic, strongly linked to the materialism of previous generations, left a sour taste in the mouths of a new generation of budding flower children. It was a time ripe for change, and the sweet fruits of Hinduism and Buddhism, along with some of their dietary practices, served to satisfy the need for physiological expansion from the confines of materialism. They also offered escapism through foreign yet appealing views on spirituality.
These Eastern approaches to spirituality offered Westerners the opportunity not to fear the wrath of God, as they had previously been taught, but to actually “be God.” Moreover, this God, unlike the God of the Old Testament, would be peaceful, humble, and loving to fellow humans. Regardless of whether or not it succeeded in establishing the fruits of peace and godliness through its unique mix of Eastern cultural influences, Western middle-class affluence, abundant drugs, and free love, this era—one of the most unusual and interesting turning points in American history—helped to lay the foundation of a new way of viewing life and living that would influence generations to come.
Above all else, this era and the people associated with it desired expansion—and fruit, along with vegetarianism, drugs, and Eastern mysticism, helped to fulfill this desire.
While the sixties were a fairly recent manifestation, the themes of escape and ripeness for spiritual change—and their association with fruit—echo through the pages of history. The story of Adam and Eve, their relationship to ripe fruit and subsequent decline, is only one famous example. In its mythic depiction of good and evil, innocence and decadence, this allegory interestingly uses a people-fruit relationship to establish its point.
The “innocents” of the sixties might maintain that their Eden was found, not lost, through this more recent episode of escape. In any case, fruitarianism, a remnant of our more recent past, lingers as a “spiritual” lifestyle, and undoubtedly will continue to do so until the dangerous effects of this practice are realized among its followers.
The Big Chill
The “dangerous effects” I allude to stem from fruit’s strong tendency to promote an emptying and cooling of one’s inner fire and vitality. People who choose to eat or drink copious quantities of fruit and fruit juice must have enough internal heat reserve in order to consume fruit in large quantities. In other words, they need to have eaten large amounts of heating foods, such as animal products or fried or trans fat–heavy foods, or they must presently be eating these foods, in order to balance the cooling effects of large quantities of fruit.
Naturally, it is easier to eat large quantities of fruit more regularly when one lives in a hot, tropical climate, where one would naturally want to stay cool to create physiological balance between his body and the environment. However, if an excessive quantity of fruit sugar is introduced into the bloodstream (and the person is not physically active enough to discharge the accumulated excess), it can easily result in fatigue and weakness, even in a tropical climate.
The high sugar content of fruit can also contribute to weight gain, especially for inactive people. The human liver has a limited storage capacity for sugar. When one’s sugar intake exceeds the liver’s capacity and the sugar is not burned off through activity, it is converted to fat (triglycerides) in the body.
Fruit and Blood Sugar
A slightly more detailed view of how the simple sugar of fruit is converted and effects the body is as follows:
Once carbohydrates are consumed, they are converted to glucose in the body; insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, causes glucose to enter cells, where it can be used by hemoglobin, the iron-carrying part of red blood cells. In order to be used by the body, glucose must enter the cells—and insulin is the key that unlocks the cell doors and allows the precious fuel to enter.
When too much glucose enters the bloodstream, the excess is carried to the liver, where it can be held up to a capacity of about 150 grams, and stored there in the form of large storage molecules called glycogen, which the body can use when it needs sugar. When the liver’s 150-gram capacity is full, a second sugar-storage mechanism comes into play.
Insulin, in addition to unlocking cell doors to allow sugar to enter, also has the ability to pull excess sugar out of the bloodstream and convert it into fat for storage in body tissue. This accumulated storage form of fat is called triglycerides. Once in this form, unfortunately, it becomes far more difficult to convert the substance back into usable glucose.
All carbohydrates must be broken down into simple sugars before being absorbed by the small intestine. In fact, personality in many ways is defined by one’s ability to transform complex sugars (grains, beans, vegetables) into simple sugars. These complex carbohydrates are the kinds of carbohydrates that support physical and mental stability. Refined sugar, along with other simple sugars such as the fructose from fruits and juices, forces insulin into an emergency mode until the blood sugar level is balanced and stable. Unfortunately, high insulin levels lead to more fat storage and less fat removal from storage.
For example, let’s look at three variations of the effect on blood sugar of the fructose in apples. 1) Chewing a raw apple causes a peak insulin level in the bloodstream that measures twenty-four units. 2) Consuming the same apple processed in a blender, where the fiber is broken down and sugar released, raises the insulin peak to thirty-three units. 3) Consuming the same apple juiced with its pulp removed raises the peak insulin level to forty-five units.
Most Westerners have been overworking their livers and pancreases since they were children, starting out with diets loaded with orange juice, bananas, and other fruits, and large amounts of refined sugar products. Because of this, converting to a more complex-carbohydraterich diet can be difficult, and the effort can easily produce strong cravings for simple sugars. It would be far healthier if these cravings could be satisfied by fresh fruit—but for the most part, they are not.
It is interesting how easily things can be misconstrued through advertising. I recently saw an ad supporting the low-carb diet that claimed a baked potato raises the blood glucose faster than a bowl of (whatever their brand name was) ice cream. The real reason for this, of course, is that the ice cream has such a high level of fat (cream), which buffers the high sugar content. Throw a generous dollop of butter and sour cream on the potato, and suddenly you wouldn’t be able to make the same claim!
Botanically, a fruit is the fleshy organ that surrounds either a single seed or numerous seeds, and is derived from the ovary of a flowering plant. Grains, beans, and nuts are called “simple dry fruits,” and sweet, sugary fruits are called “fleshy fruits.” While both are sources of carbohydrate, energetically and nutritionally they have little in common.
Fleshy fruits can be eaten raw, cooked, or dried and supply the body with sugar, energy, and fiber. Of the three ways fruit can be eaten, raw is the most cooling to the human body. Dried fruit contains little water, yet a stronger concentration of sugar, as well as high fiber. Dried fruits will tend to absorb more internal fluids when consumed. This is not surprising, since like any dried food, they have the strong tendency to rehydrate.
For people with cold dry conditions, cooked fruit with added cinnamon would be more beneficial than plain fruit, as this preparation adds both moisture and warmth to the fruit. Cooking fruit helps to break down the fiber and further concentrate sugars; cinnamon has a warming effect on the body. On the other hand, dried fruits could be helpful for those who are water retentive and tend to bloat easily. How one chooses to eat fruit is best determined by one’s individual condition. While it is not in any form a building food for the body, it does assist in the breakdown of excess mass for those who might need it.
Primates (monkeys, apes, etc.) do well with fruit as a primary food because their intestines are designed to accumulate and ferment large quantities of plant matter, which they eat continuously. Fruit-eating primates also exist naturally in hot climates, where cooling fruits help to keep them comfortable. The larger primates move slowly though life and spend most of their time relaxing and eating.
Individuals with strong digestive abilities and those who are physically active have less difficulty digesting fruit in any form, compared with those who have weaker digestion and are inactive. Climate is also an important consideration when deciding how much fruit to consume. Humans can easily consume more fruit when living like primates. Living like primates? Yes: if and when you should happen to be in a position where you are living a lifestyle that requires continuous eating, along with little physical activity and absolutely no thinking.
It is interesting to note that traditional cultures from hot climates consume moderate amounts of fruits as a regular part of their varied diets—but not exclusively.
The sugar content of temperate-climate fruits can range from 10 to 15 percent sugar, while tropical varieties range from 20 to 60 percent sugar. The lemon is unique among tropical fruits in that its sugar content is an average of only 1 percent.
Tropical Fruits
Semitropical and tropical fruits (orange, papaya, mango, grapefruit, banana, etc.) all have similar characteristics that energetically place them in the same group, due to environmental factors. These particular fruits all have a thick outer peel that protects a soft and juicy inner flesh. The sweet, fleshy inside is the part that is eaten and the peels are usually discarded. In contrast, the majority of nontropical or temperate-climate fruits can be eaten with their peels.
Tropical fruits are more fragile than most temperate-climate fruits, as they cannot adapt well to extreme climate changes. There have been numerous instances where an early or sudden cold spell has devastated entire groves of oranges and grapefruit. (With the current drastic changes in climate afoot, this is happening with increasing frequency.) Their attempt to grow tough outer coatings to protect their delicate insides does little good for tropical fruit when the environment makes a sudden shift.
The citrus varieties of tropical fruits (orange, grapefruit, tangerine, etc.) are composed of sectioned compartments. These individual compartments are called carpals and are actual portions of the plant’s ovary. The diversification of a sectioned ovary in citrus varieties of fruit can adversely affect fertility and sex drive when eaten in excessive quantities.
The potential effects of large quantities of tropical fruits on our psychophysical bodies include: a tough yet pale exterior with a soft inner core, a fragile and delicate physiology, a self-protective attitude, perishable (easily bruised) and swollen muscle tissue, thin and weak blood, often with low iron levels, fatigue, and body coldness.
The energetic effects of the banana on the male reproductive organs may be obvious, but I had better clarify them by pointing out that shape is only one of many characteristics. Notice how soft, flaccid, and prone to rapid spoilage the banana’s substance is? A little imagination, and you get the point. The same energetics of bananas, applied to the female reproductive organs, can contribute to menstrual irregularity, sexual frustration, and certainly minimal satisfaction. Very cooling, indeed, are bananas, for both male and female.
While it is true that citrus fruits have ample amounts of vitamin C, the largest amounts of this vitamin exists in the peels of these fruits, with only small amounts actually existing in the fruit’s flesh. Vitamin C is one of the most fragile vitamins and is easily destroyed when heated. The fruits of this group are highly acidic and quite high in sugar, and when consumed beyond moderation or as an extreme dietary program may contribute greatly to the depletion of our internal mineral balance, resulting in kidney weakness.
On the other hand, for conditions of excessive heat that often manifest as anger and elevated body temperature, these are the most effective fruits for producing a cooling effect. Like one’s environment, one’s individual condition is an important factor in determining which tropical fruits to consume and how much.
Temperate-Climate Fruits
Temperate-climate fruits (apple, pear, peach, plum, berries, etc.) are fruits that grow in the summer and late summer months of a four-season climate. The majority of these fruits are categorized as members of the rose family.
The rose family consists of numerous subcategories, one of which is called pome fruits. These fruits contain a compartmented core that holds the seeds. Pears and apples are two examples of this group.
Another group is the drupes, or stone fruits. Each fruit in this group contains a single seed surrounded by fleshy fruit. Peach, apricot, plum, and cherry are examples of this group and represent some of the most luscious and sensuous nontropical varieties of fruits.
Still another group or subspecies of the rose family is the rubus, which includes raspberries, blackberries, and boysenberries. Actually, these “bramble berries” are aggregates of numerous small stone fruits or drupes, each tiny section being a drupe in itself. The strawberry is often called the “false fruit,” because it is derived from the base of the flower, as opposed to other fruits, which are derived from an ovary. Blueberries, currants, and cranberries are drupes, and are considered by botanists to be true berries, as they are single fruits derived from an ovary.
The squash family includes still another family of fruits, and these are the melons. They fall under the genus of cucumis, which also includes the cucumber. Each of these fruits has specific energetic characteristics as well. We can discover the energetic potential of all fruits first by categorizing them according to their growth patterns.
Fruit from the Trees
These fruits tend to grow up high and have an energetic effect on the upper part of the human body, particularly the lungs, heart, and throat. They include semitropical and tropical varieties: orange, grapefruit, avocado, mango, papaya, and so forth; and temperate varieties: apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry, apricot, and the like.
Upon ripening, a tree fruit will detach from its stem and fall to the ground, where it rapidly decomposes—that is, if animals do not eat it first. Although this image of ripened fruit falling from a tree might seem to suggest the energetic qualities of detachment and freedom, it is quite the contrary.
The stem by which the fruit hangs is what directs the nourishment from the tree to the fruit. When the fruit detaches from its source of nourishment, it will continue to ripen and eventually decompose. This need for tree fruits to accumulate nourishment from the tree actually reveals a characteristic of attachment—for without their source of nourishment, these fruits would gradually decompose.
This is true of all foods, yet among plants there exist many stages of decomposition, as well as different means of nourishment. You can observe an interesting contrast between fruits and vegetables in the way that each grows and develops.
The leaves, stems, and roots of many vegetables can be eaten at just about any time during their growth and developmental stages. A fruit, on the other hand, is ready to be eaten when the seed is fully mature and the fruit has reached its final stage of ripening. The ripening of fruit is the beginning of its rapid decay. The disorganization of the fruit’s cells and tissue becomes more obvious when a fruit is bruised or punctured; due to its high sugar content, it will then change color and decompose very quickly, as compared to most vegetables.
Fruits that grow on trees have the extra burden of weight from water buildup in their tissue, causing them to fall to the ground if not picked first. Falling from grace, separating from the source, and increased heaviness of mental gravity are some of the energetic properties that accrue from a diet high in tree fruits.
Among tree fruits, there exist two types: stone and multiseeded. Both types affect the upper part of the body, and because of their high sugar content, can adversely affect blood sugar, and therefore one’s mood and thinking.
Stone fruits (peaches, plums, cherries, nectarines, dates, mangos, etc.) each have a single seed surrounded by a soft, fibrous, and fleshy tissue. Their ability to organize tender flesh around a single seed gives them energetic qualities that differ from multiseeded fruits.
For example, stone fruits tend to affect the fibrous tissue of the body, thus increasing the circulation of sugars throughout the body and brain. These fruits affect one by cooling the blood vessels and deeper body tissue, and this effect is most noticeable in the upper part of the body, where the lungs and heart reside. Also, the flesh of these fruits tends to be soft when ripened, and this contributes to cooler as well as softer muscles and damp skin.
Psychologically, stone fruits tend to concentrate and organize their energetics toward the center of the brain. Suppose, for example, you are writing, painting, or drawing. The sugar in any fruit, once it reaches the bloodstream, will flow to the brain. If you are unable to stick to or concentrate on a particular idea during an artistic endeavor, stone fruit will tend to have a more organizing effect on your thought processes than other fruits. On the other hand, in the same situation, multiseeded fruits (orange, apple, pear, etc.) will tend to have a more diversifying, dispersing effect on your thoughts. Multiseeded tree fruits have the tendency to connect thoughts loosely with other thoughts. This could be helpful for the individual who might be stuck on one idea.
Multiseeded tree fruits consist of two types: multiseeded fruits with a porous flesh, such as apples and pears; and multiseeded fruits with sectioned compartments, including oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines. As mentioned above, these fruits tend to diversify thoughts and ideas. Apples and pears have a porous flesh that gives them energetic properties of superficial expansion and cooling. These tend to affect the surface of the body, the skin, and extremities (the hands and feet). Sectioned multiseeded tree fruit (especially citrus) tend to affect deeper organ tissue and glands with a deep, cooling effect that causes internal heat to rise to the surface of the body and dissipate.
There is a wide variety of tree fruits because nature has given them all the unique characteristic of natural genetic mutation. When a seed from a tree fruit is planted, it will result in a slightly different variety than the parent plant. Most tree fruits are propagated for consistency of type by grafting.
Unusual Fruits
A few unusual tree fruits are the avocado, the banana, the fig, and the coconut.
Avocado
Evidence for avocado consumption from Mexico goes back as far as twelve thousand years. There are three distinct varieties of avocado and all are excellent sources of nutrition. Ample quantities of potassium, vitamins A, C, B2, and B6 are just a few of the many vitamins stored in the creamy rich flesh of avocados.
The avocado is a green, pear-shaped fruit and a member of the laurel family. The word avocado comes from nahuatl, an Aztec term that means “testicle tree.” This fruit grows in pairs, and a number of historical references praise the avocado as having aphrodisiac qualities.
Unlike most other tree fruits that are juicy and sweet, the avocado has a soft, creamy flesh, a mild flavor, and a large quantity of monounsaturated fats. Also, while most other fruits ripen and soften while on the tree, the avocado matures on the tree but does not ripen and soften until it has been picked.
An anomaly among fruits, the avocado has twenty times the fat of other fruits; also, cellular division in the flesh of the avocado continues throughout the life of the fruit. In tropical and subtropical climates, the avocado grows all year round, offering a continuous supply of food.
It is a delicate fruit, highly susceptible to oxygenation and chilling injury. Most are hand-picked to avoid bruising. If deprived of oxygen they will not ripen, and once oxygen is restored they will spoil quickly.
Energetically, the avocado has a cool and damp nature. The creamy flesh is easily digested and soothing to the digestive system. It is high in protein and its high fat content contributes to healthy skin color and tone.
Banana
Cultivating the bananas we are familiar with today was indeed a remarkable accomplishment for our ancestors. The suggested forerunner is a giant herb with soft stem and fruits that are hard and full of seeds. Once domesticated, it became seedless and is now grown as a rhizome into a tall green plant.
The banana is a berry, botanically speaking, and is an exception to the rule that all staple foods are either root crops or cereals. Bananas have been the staple food of many tropical areas in the world for thousands of years. These traditional bananas, however, were not like what most people in developed counties eat on their breakfast cereals or as a snack. For one thing, they were not very sweet. They were more like the plantain, a starchy plant typically eaten cooked and still used as a carbohydrate staple today in many tropical environments. In fact, starchy, nonsweet bananas were cultivated in the Indus Valley six thousand years ago and are mentioned in the Indian historical classic Ramayana. Ancient wall inscriptions seven thousand years old found in Assyria depict banana cultivation.
In modern times, man has managed to rid the banana of seeds and alter the flavor. Shoots from an underground stem now propagate them. This cultivated version is sterile and unable to reproduce without human assistance; when assisted, however, a banana plant can grow to the height of an average man in three months. It takes six months for the fruit to begin to form and another four before it is ready to be harvested. At this point, the plant will bear only one bunch of fruit, but this one bunch may contain more than one hundred bananas. To get more bananas, the remaining part of the plant must be chopped down and a new one planted.
Almost all fruit experience fertilization of the female ovule by male pollen, a process that initiates the production of growth hormones that cause expansion of the ovary wall. The banana plant is one exception: it is one of the few fruit plants that carry the genetic trait of developing fruit without fertilization.
With the exception of people from countries where bananas originate, Americans are the world’s most avid consumers of this unusual fruit. To most Americans, bananas represent a “source of potassium,” a topping for breakfast cereals, or a snack. In fact, they are much more than this. Sweet bananas, more than almost any other fruit, are energetically influenced by a tremendous flow of centrifugal energy—upward, unwinding, dissipating energy. A food with this much centrifugal energy, combined with an extremely high concentration of sugar, has an exceptionally strong, deep, cooling effect on the human body, especially on the bones. This may very well be the single most cooling fruit there is.
For an excessively hot condition, bananas can sometimes be helpful, especially for individuals with an excessive sex drive.
Plantains, on the other hand, have a different effect than sweet bananas. Plantain can be eaten when hard and starchy or after they have ripened to become soft and sweet. Either way, they are traditionally cooked, usually fried and served with beans and other traditional foods from South and Central America or with traditional Asian foods. For that matter, plantains, like other bananas, have adapted nicely to regional diets in tropical and subtropical locations around the world.
These bananas are a healthy source of starch and have a warm and damp effect when cooked. They also have a soothing and relaxing effect on the middle organs of the body (spleen, pancreas, and stomach).
Fig
There are hundreds of varieties of figs; one of the most popular and unusual is the Calimyrna fig. These figs bear fruit by a process called caprification, which is one of the most fascinating “mating” rituals in the plant kingdom.
First, a tiny blastophaga wasp grows inside an inedible male fig. When the female wasp is hatched and begins to crawl out of the fig, she picks up pollen on her wings. The goal of the wasp is to lay eggs inside of another male fig, but she ends up inside one of the more numerous female figs, where she tries to lay her eggs. However, the structure of the female fig makes this virtually impossible—but while inside the female fig, the wasp introduces the pollen of the male fig to the female fig, and this results in pollination of the female fig. This bizarre transspecies soap opera repeats itself in endless cycles—and is the natural way the Calimyrna fig can pollinate.
Figs are native to Asia Minor and, like dates, have been valued primarily for their sugar by Egyptians and Greeks for thousands of years. They were also used to tenderize flesh foods. This “fruit,” actually the swollen flower base of fig, contains both male and female flowers. Anatomically, the fig resembles an inverted strawberry: the flesh surrounds, rather than supports, the true fruits. They develop without the fertilization of their flowers, and their seeds contain no embryos. Growers of the common fig must tie caprifigs (male figs) containing wasp eggs to the branches of the female fig tree in order for pollination to occur.
Figs have a higher concentration of sugar than other common fruit and are easily susceptible to deterioration. Fig trees produce no blossoms, as the flowers grow inside the receptacle of the fig itself.
Like many other foods, the fig is steeped in mythology. The Bible tells numerous stories of the fig, and many other stories abound throughout western Asia and the Mediterranean. To some, the fig stands for veiled fertility, while to others it is a symbol of infertility.
Energetically, figs are very weak fruits. The female fig is edible while the male is not. The need to be pollinated by a wasp (and only one specific type) via the caprifig gives the fig qualities of consistency in species; yet at the same time, its deeply intimate relationship with the insect world gave it special qualities to ancient Egyptians.
It is a private fruit, unwilling to expose its flowers or fruit (the seeds are the fruit) in reproduction. Human reproduction is also an internal and private affair and the eating of figs can have a strong influence on this process.
When used to tenderize meats, figs have a strong ability to weaken and soften ligaments and flesh. Figs have dark and secretive qualities, combined with cold and damp energetics that primarily affect the fleshy tissue of the reproductive organs.
Coconut
Not only is the coconut an unusual fruit; it is in fact an amazing fruit with astounding natural healing qualities.
How coconuts came to be, no one really knows. Like so many other superfoods, its origin is shrouded in mystery, although some botanists suspect an origin in the Malayan archipelago. For those traditional people who live where coconuts are plentiful—and that includes many coastal and island locations around the world—the coconut tree is recognized as “The Tree of Life.” This well-entrenched belief is due to the fact that the coconut tree can produce more than one hundred useful products. Bowls for food, jewelry, fibers for bedding . . . then there are the nutritional benefits of the fruit. The water inside the coconut has the same level of electrolyte balance as human blood and is so pure and clean it has been used as intravenous fluid to save lives in some South Sea islands. The water is in fact quite similar to the blood plasma that makes up 55 percent of our blood. As a food, it is a blood purifier, rich in minerals and vitamin C.
The products made from the meat (kernel) of coconut have supported the health of traditional peoples in many obvious ways. Healthy hearts, regulated metabolism, smooth and silky skin tone, strong and pliable muscle tone, and healthy teeth and gums are just a few of the benefits derived from coconut milk and coconut oil.
Coconut milk is made by first drying and shredding the white kernel (called copra when dried) and then pouring boiling water over the copra. The resulting thick liquid is coconut milk and is one of the most metabolically satisfying foods one can eat. Traditional uses of coconut milk include sauces, broths, desserts, and marinades.
It is almost impossible to heap too much praise upon coconut oil. It is often considered a functional food—a food that provides health benefits over and beyond basic nutrients. In other words, it has many energetic properties. Here is a list of a few of these benefits:
We can learn about additional energetic properties of coconut by observing some of the tree’s unique characteristics. The coco palm is a tree that can grow from sixty to one hundred feet tall over a period of nine months. It is a natural water filter that filters water by drawing it up through a complex network of fibers to the coconut, where it is stored in a completely sterile state. Nine months is of course a prominent human cycle of conception to birth; this correspondence underscores the fact that this unique food is supportive to pregnant and nursing mothers.
The coconut tree prefers light sandy soil and has shallow, widely spread roots that allow for a much needed air supply. It also tolerates and filters salty water. These functions closely mimic the functions of human kidneys, making foods from coconuts supportive to kidney and adrenal functions. Coconuts (milk, water, and kernel) can help with the regulation of minerals and sodium levels, assist in the maintenance of urinary tract health by helping to reduce infections, and enhance sexual functions by helping to increase sperm quantity and vaginal lubrications.
The coco fruit takes from eleven to fifteen months to reach maturity; while one coconut is on its way to maturation, another may be just beginning to sprout. All stages of fruit are bearing life at all times on the coconut tree, from the youngest to the oldest. The whole process is truly a family affair and makes the “Tree of Life” one of the most fascinating and nutritionally supportive food crops of the world.
Vine Fruit
Vine fruits include watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and others.
Melons have their origin in Persia, except for watermelon, which supposedly is native to Africa. Melons grow low to the ground on sprawling vines and are related to squash and cucumbers. All belong to the same species, Cucumis melo.
Melons are very social among their own genus. They tend to interbreed when grown together. If different varieties are not grown far enough apart, insects will cross-pollinate them, producing a new variety.
Watermelons differ from other melons in that the flesh of the watermelon is placental tissue, while in other melons the flesh is derived from the ovary wall. Energetically, they tend to affect the lower part of the human body. Melons tend to be water-heavy and can affect the soft tissue in the intestines, bladder, and reproductive organs. Historically, they were purported to have anticoagulant properties.
Vine fruit do not fall from high altitudes as tree fruits do, nor do they have the intricate filtering system of nourishment found among tree fruits. In addition to sunlight and other external environmental influences, tree fruits get their nourishment filtered through the trunk of the tree; it then continues to be filtered through the branches, followed by the stems, and finally to the fruit itself. The vine fruit (melons) appear to have a single long siphon hose that rapidly feeds water and other needed nourishment to the developing fruit.
Unlike tree fruits, melons become larger as the greater water content causes a swelling of the fruit’s tissue and cells, thus making it larger and heavier than other fruits. Melons can grow more than five cubic inches a day and are over 90 percent water. This type of stem-to-fruit feeding also accounts for the fact that melons have a short growing season. This, in addition to the fact that they grow at the hottest time of the year, reveals the plant’s insatiable need to drink and store water in order to produce fruit.
When fully ripened, a melon will detach itself from the vine with ease.
The seeds of melons are not usually consumed as food, except for a chosen few who persist in the belief that it best to eat the whole food. The lightly textured inner flesh is the portion of melon eaten, and unlike other fruits, melons begin to lose their characteristic sweet taste the closer one gets to the skin (rind.)
Grapes are vine fruits, but do not grow on the ground. They are climbing vines, and energetically tend to affect the lungs and respiratory system.
Shrub Fruit
Shrub fruits include raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, boysenberry, and others. These berries grow on shrubs or bushes and usually are small, sweet, and tart fruits. There are hundreds of varieties of berries, including both edible and poisonous types. Berries tend to grow at a height between that of tree and vine fruits; thus, they affect the middle region of the body, the liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, and stomach. Another correlation with this section of the body is shrub fruits’ uniquely sweet-and-sour taste combination.
Fruit plants of the bush variety occur in various sizes, some large (up to four and five feet) and others smaller, anywhere from six inches on up. These plants all have similar mechanisms in terms of feeding and nourishing their fruit. Their structures consist of numerous branches, sometimes accompanied by protective thorns that make some berries unapproachable, especially for small children. Nevertheless, blackberries, raspberries, and others of this sort have such an appeal, particularly the wild varieties, that it doesn’t take long before most children—and adults—will submit themselves to the pain and irritation of cuts and scratches wrought by the bramble and thorns of these plants in order to get to that single perfect berry or group of unreachable perfect berries. The thin, firm, and wiry stems of the branches give berries a sharp infusion of concentrated nourishment that results in their characteristically tart flavor.
Berries are easily the most charismatic of fruits, and they tend to have this effect on people. I like to call them the “shy exhibitionists” of fruits because of their uncanny ability to attract attention, and to keep it. They exhibit strong qualities of both feminine and masculine natures. Berries like to reveal their ripened splendor for all to see. Many types of berries have this characteristic, and it is developed early on in bramble varieties (unlike other fruits) as they begin to group their seeds in clusters around a central core.
Berries can also be shy; some will hide behind the plant’s leaves. You may recall a time while berry picking when it seemed as if you had picked the last of the ripe berries in an area—and you suddenly lift a leaf, or ever so slightly move a branch, and there before you is the best clump of berries you have ever seen. A child will usually express herself with a surprised or astonished yell. Some adults do, too, but most adults respond to the situation mentally with a silent “ah hah!” or “wow!” The more serious adult might address the berries personally with, “You thought you’d get by me, didn’t you?” And they did think that, didn’t they . . . or were they just being coquettish?
Berries, the ones with seeds on the outside, are communal fruits and have energetic properties that can assist an individual in expressing his or her character. They can help introverts come out of themselves a little more. They can help to add color to a flat or boring personality by attracting attention.
Physically, they push excess to the surface of the body. Strawberries (one of the most popular fruits in the world, and grown almost everywhere), raspberries (the most perfumed of fruits), blackberries, and the others have long been associated with hives or skin rashes. Many foods may contribute to hives or rashes, but it is the natural tendency of these types of berries to move their energy (and yours, when you eat them) from the center to the periphery.
Other berries, such as blueberries or loganberries, have similar characteristics, yet they do not have their seeds on the outside. People tend to be more particular about blueberries, in that they either despise them or they are the only fruit they really feel comfortable eating. In my experience with people and their relationships to fruit, I have frequently been told how blueberries are the only fruit that seem to satisfy and sooth the tension in the middle organs. This does not surprise me, considering the soft, juicy texture and cool, blue color of blueberries.
Blueberries are a Swedish folk remedy for digestive disorders. Blueberries and black currants are high in therapeutic agents called anthocyanosides, substances that have proven lethal to bacteria and pathogenic viruses.
The above categories of fruits and their energetic properties may be applied to common problems. For example, a person with a tendency to retain water in the lower abdomen may desire to eat fruit. This may not be the best food to eat while having such a problem. However, if he wishes to do so, it would be wise for him to choose a tree or shrub fruit, rather than a vine fruit, because vine fruits tend to be heavier, contain more water, and thus have more of an accumulating effect on the lower body.
Since this condition is one of excess fluid retention in the abdomen, melon would not be the best choice, since melons contain lots of water. Any of the smaller and less watery fruits would be a better choice. On the other hand, if an individual was experiencing constriction and heat in the lower abdomen, melon might be an appropriate choice, since it has the tendency to resonate in the lower body and has expanding, relaxing, and cooling properties.
Again, note that simply because a food, whether fruit, vegetable, or animal, has a tendency to affect a certain part of the body, it does not necessarily follow that it is “good for” that part of the body. What is important to determine is not simply that a food will resonate in a particular part of the body, but specifically what kind of effect that food will have on that particular part of the body.
As with all other categories of foods, each fruit is unique in its own characteristics. It is important to get to know fruits, as it is all traditional foods, some intimately and others more as casual acquaintances.