Fruits, Nuts, Greens - Charles Fraser (1978)

 

Blog Author note: This is an article, not an argument starter.
It's FOOD, you idiot. Fruits, veggies, grains . . . FOOD. 

Author's note: An increasing amount of interest in the vegetarian type diet among bodybuilders and lifters makes the following story very timely. Tho it is written as a story (YES!), it is an actual occurrence according to the author and the Mickey mentioned is a real person. 

The author also promises us an article about a leading powerlifter who is a vegetarian. We look forward to this and hope readers will give consideration to these things and report their own experiences.  

"If you want to be strong and have big muscles, you gotta eat meat and lots of animal protein," the big fellow admonished the slender young beginner as he put the squat bar back on the rack. The big fellow wasn't an outstanding example of bulk and strength, but nevertheless Mickey, sitting nearby, winced s he listened to the conversation.

"Yeah, I know," agreed the slim novice as he lay back on the bench and prepared for a set of bench presses, "lots of meat, eggs, milk, and milk products." 

Mickey winced again, but decided to put the conversation out of his mind until he finished his next set of squats with 250. "I'll take the same weight," Mickey said to the big fellow.

"Okay," said the big guy, and added with a friendly smile, "Man, you sure are strong for your size. Hey kid, look at this powerhouse squat." 

The kid finished his bench presses, sat up, and watched respectfully as Mickey squeezed out a hard set of 10 reps.

"Wow, you sure are strong," exclaimed the young kid when Mickey replaced the barbell on the squat rack. "How much do you weigh?" 

"One seventy-five," said Mickey and smiled. 

"Man, you're built. How tall are you?" 

"Five eight," Mickey replied, still breathing hard from the 10 reps.

"Man, if you gain any more muscle you'll look like a Mr. America." 

"Thanks. I would like to gain another 10 pounds or so and weigh in the 190-200 range. I think that would be the ultimate muscular weight for my height and bone structure." 

"I bet you eat lots of meat to do that," enthused the kid. 

Mickey paused a few seconds, not knowing whether to open the floodgates or not. Finally he smiled and answered. "No, I won't be eating any meat actually." 

"Really?" the kid ejaculated, astounded. (Couldn't come up with a better verb than ejaculated?). He hesitated a second. "Well, then I guess you'll be taking lots of milk and eggs, huh?" 

"No," Mickey laughed, now anticipating what was to come, "never touch the stuff." 

"What? You never touch the stuff," the kid was incredulous. "You must be kidding! A guy as strong as you?" 

"Yep, that's right," Mickey laughed, thoroughly enjoying the kid's amazement. 

While the kid stood there with his mouth hanging open, the big fellow, sitting nearby with a puzzled frown on his face, suddenly had just gotten a brilliant idea. "Well, if you don't eat meat, eggs, or milk products, you must be taking lots of protein supplements." 

"I hate to disappoint you guys, but no, I don't take supplements either." 

"Well, what do you eat?" The big fellow and the kid made the query in unison, visibly shaken by this revelation.

The two inquisitors were now all ears. Mickey sadistically took advantage of their anxiety, remained silent for several seconds and then using a dramatic pause between words, enunciated slowly, "Fruit, nuts, and greens."

"Fruits, nuts, and greens?" exploded the kid, ejaculating hard on the far wall as he hung by the neck from a weighted lat pulldown and took his final breath. 

 

           

No connection whatsoever to this article, but a wonderful trilogy to read:

Cities of the Red Night (1981) 

The Place of Dead Roads (1983)

The Western Lands (1987)

"And no animal products?" seconded the the big fellow (Black Pete, keeping with the Mickey Mouse fantasy). 

"That's right," beamed Mickey at his interlocutor's discomfort. 

"Well, I'll be," the big guy said. "You're a vegetarian." 

"Righto," Mickey now cleared his throat, preparing for the long verbal discourse that he knew he would have to deliver. "But then, you two are vegetarians also. You just don't eat like vegetarians, that's all." 

"But how can I be a vegetarian if I don't eat like one? The big fellow was now intrigued. The kid stood there uncomprehendingly. 

"What I mean is simply that biologically speaking all men are vegetarian animals -- or more correctly speaking, vegetarian-fruitarians." 

"Fruitarian?" responded the reanimated from a hanging death kid, with a glassy look in his eye. The big fellow began to stroke his jaw thoughtfully.

"Yes, fruitarian. We're frugivores as opposed to carnivores." 

"But where do you get your protein?" asked the kid, still shaken from his temporal trip into the new and and improved netherworld. 

"Well, nuts are high in protein, but I don't worry about it."

"But nuts have all the precious bodily fluids but not all the amino acids," the kid said triumphantly, as if he had pulled his cannibalistic 'ace' out of a somewhat twisted magician's bloody-red rabbit hat.

Enough already. Take a rest with this schtuff, a-hole! Pause it! 

Speakin'-a which . . . nicely put together book: 

 

"It doesn't matter. A cow eats nothing but grass and grains, but readily turns it into complete protein in the form of muscle and bone." 

"Yeah, but we're not cows. We're humans!" The kid was hot now. 

"Hey, shut up and let him talk," interjected the big fellow, now completely absorbed in what Mickey was saying. "Yes, we have a larger brain, can talk, think abstractly, and have considerably less hair, but biologically speaking we are just smart (shaven and lost in self-imposed illusion) apes. Our teeth, saliva, stomach, liver and intestinal tract are basically the same -- made for chewing, digesting and assimilating vegetation." 

Mickey paused, then continued now that he had the floor unopposed. 

"If we were carnivores, we would have the physical equipment for killing and eating other animals, such as claws, fangs rows of pointed ripping and tearing teeth, or poison ducts for killing our prey. We would have a huge liver, as does the lion or tiger, for filtering out the great amount of acidic waste found in meat. We wouldn't need the long digestive tract we have for digesting plant material. We wouldn't have the many molars we do for grinding up all kinds of vegetation, nor would we secrete the enzyme, ptyalin, in our saliva for pre-digestion of carbohydrates in our mouth while we chew. Actually all the physical attributes in apes that make them frugivores are even more highly developed in man. In other words, if apes are frugivores, which they are, then man is the ARCHETYPE OF THE FRUGIVORE. That is, he is a super-vegetarian. 

The big fellow thoughtfully shook his head and slowly repeated the words, 'archetype of the frugivore.'   

Note: I like food and am glad I have some at home, no matter what it is. There's nothing funnier to me than the agonizing nitpicking some anal dicktards put themselves through in order to be "healthier" or "live longer" or "be their best" by following a specific nitpicking nightmare of a diet that usually changes time after time after time depending on what "health experts" get paid to promote. No one cares what the fuck you eat, bozo. I know I don't give a shit how long you bloody live or if your just-plain brain gets worn down like an old bike tire and can no longer hold the air of what you believe human "thought" is Dementia? More like finally realizing you had jack shit to say all along that was even mildly original or creative. Shut up and lemme digest what food I do have. It's all a huge deal, ain't it just, when you're so fucking spoiled and blind that "diet" is oh so important to you. Not my kind of people, them types, not them at all. No sir. 

"Well, all I know is that the big bodybuilders and lifting champions eat lots of meat, and I wanna be like them, so that's what I'm gonna eat!" the kid indignantly walked out of the weight room with an "I've washed my hands of the whole affair" look on his face. Big mistake made by a small bozo. Fucking fool could've asked about Mickey's approach to getting a bigger squat, a more mature and rock-hard body, etc., etc. Nope. Duh, what do you eat? Fucking idiot kid. 

The big fellow now lumbered over to Mickey and said musingly, "You know, come to think about it, there was a strict vegetarian bodybuilder named Monte Wolford (center, below, not to be confused with Mickey's pal Bugs B. Did you know that the "sissy squat" was originally called the Monte Wolford Squat? 

"He was not only well built and strong, but had tremendous endurance as well."

"Yes, I remember," Mickey said.

"And then I read, not long ago, that Bill "Peanuts" West out in California ate a great amount of peanuts over quite a period of time, and he's very bulky and VERY strong. I hear that Chuck Sipes and Bill Pearl are getting into vegetarianism in different way as well. (One might mention Doug Hepburn's vegetarian diet in his later years as well.)

"But tell me, Mickey, just what do you eat?" 

"For breakfast today I had two grapefruits. For lunch I ate two whole tomatoes, a whole cucumber, a half-bunch of celery and about 1/4 pound of sunflower seeds. Before working out this evening I had two ripe pears. For supper tonight I'll probably have a large salad consisting of Romaine lettuce, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, and an avocado, and then a quarter pound of almonds or pecans." 

"In other words, you eat nuts or seeds at two meals a day." 

"Only if I'm trying to gain weight and want more protein. Otherwise I eat nuts only once per day or less. Then I eat more fruit, salads, or cooked vegetables such as broccoli, christina broccolini, cauliflower, green beans, beets, zucchini squash, and others. However, I don't like to eat cooked food too often." 

"Because cooking destroys much of the food value, right?" 

"Right." We really should strive to be 100% raw food eaters (go fuck yourself and that idea, Mick. Let's burn.), just like our friend, the gorilla. 

"Tell me then, said the big fellow seriously. "I can see that you're well built and strong on this diet, but don't you think that you may be an exceptional person and that others would do better on the standard lots of meat diet?" 

"No, I'm not a 'natural'. I think such a diet would be good to try for anyone; to see how they make out after several months experimentation on it. (Or, just blindly have "faith" in what some yahoo states as fact-for-all and never learn a fucking thing about yourself. ('Oh look! More fascinating links from the Times health section. Odd how they continuously change their tune, ain't it just?')

"Most, if not all the top bodybuilders and lifters in this country are big meat and animal products eaters. But that is to be expected in a meat-eating country. The meat and milk industry owners have done a very successful sales job on us by convincing us that we should behave like ravenous carnivores in order to be properly nourished (and claim our true "manhood!" when not blocked up in the bathroom every morning). 

"Nevertheless, we have the greatest number of hospitals, the most cases of  degenerative diseases, and the greatest number of medics in this country. Many of these top lifters and physique men are not as healthy as you may think (fast forward to 2026 for a laugh here). There have been a shocking (but pleasantly amusing) number of deaths of well known bodybuilders and lifters in middle age (younger now) from heart trouble, cancer and other degenerative diseases. There are many who suffer from arthritis, bursitis, asthma, colds and other ailments (choose your heroes wisely and without social pressure)."

Mickey now put a light weight on the bench press bar and sat down on the bench to do a warmup set.

"In other words, you maintain that a guy who trains with weights and eats fruits, nuts, and greens the way you do would build just as much strength and size, and possibly be healthier?"

"And be more enduring, youthful and long-lived to boot," said Mickey, beginning his bench presses. 

"Well, I won't say that I'm convinced, but I think that you've really got something with this vegetarian bit. With the price of meat nowadays (fast forward to 2026 again), it will give me something to think about. Look, it's been nice talking with you, but I've got to go now. I'll see you next time. So long." The big guy strolled out of the weight room.

Mickey got up from his warmup set of bench presses. "So long," he called after the big fellow as the door closed behind his broad back. Then Mickey loaded up the bar to 300 pounds for his next set of bench presses. 

 

 

Enjoy Your Eating!