Jan
Articles, intermittent fasting, Mucusless Diet, Videos, Writings about Arnold Ehret
Are Avocados Mucus forming?
Are Avocados Mucus forming? Yes. Yet, this seems to be somewhat of a controversial question and answer in the world of plant-based dieting. Most fruits are fat-free and starchless, i.e. mucusless (mucus-free). Yet, as a testament to how profoundly addictive mucus-forming foods are, many people taking interest in various plant-based diets find themselves very much attracted to the mucus-forming items.
Avocadoes, nuts, rice, plantains, corn, white potatoes, beans, etc., are all mucus-forming and quickly become dietary staples for those pursuing plant-based diets (see list of mucus-forming foods). Although it should go without saying, the processed vegan and vegetarian mock meats, etc., are also mucus-forming (for more on Mucus Addictions, see Stages of Dependency and Recovery).
Please understand, these foods are not forbidden on the Mucusless Diet Healing System. All cooked foods are not forbidden. And the Mucusless Diet is not a ‘radical fruit diet’ as many uninformed people assume. As I continually try to emphasize in my writings and videos, the Mucusless Diet Healing System is about a simple yet eloquent transitional dietary system. When practiced with long-term goals in mind, the transition diet becomes a lifestyle. Some of the items mentioned above can and should be used during the transitional phases of the diet.
While practicing the Mucusless Diet, you will undoubtedly travel through vegetarian stages, vegan periods, 100% raw-food phases, fruitarian moments, juice fasting episodes, water fasting intervals, and times of relapse to mucus-eating after having experience all of these various levels. The Mucusless Diet Healing System is the only program that I know of whose practice can encapsulate the entire spectrum of plant-based dietary experience.
The Mucusless Diet was one of the first and most influential plant-based diets of the modern age, well before the invention of the term ‘vegan’ in 1944 by Donald Watson. And it was one of the first diets to assert that raw, mucus-free fruits and green-leafy vegetables are the best and most useful healing foods for humans.
As far as plant-based diets are concerned, the Mucusless Diet is the vanguard. I know of no other diet that goes beyond where it can potentially be taken. The speed and intensity of your own transition is based upon your own personal desires and goals, limited only by your internal uncleanliness, inherited (genetic) weaknesses, economic, and ecological factors (humans are a tropical species, and could potentially practice the diet more optimally in such climates).
Simultaneously, the eating and fasting plateaus of all other plant-based diets that I know of, including 80-10-10, Master Cleansing or other short-term detox diets, general vegan diets, etc., are contained within the context of the ‘transition diet’ or ‘Rational Fasting’ of the Mucusless Diet.
The major difference between the Mucusless Diet and all other plant-based systems is that the primary focus is on the eventual elimination of all mucus and acid-forming foods. Thus, mucuslessness becomes the fundamental factor in which a diet is based. This differs from a raw-foodist perspective that often focuses primarily on eating ‘raw’ regardless if it is mucus-free or not. For instance, from a Mucusless Diet perspective, it would often be better to periodically eat some cooked mucus-free foods instead of staying ‘raw’ by eating a lot of raw mucus-forming plant based items (see Ehret on Raw-Foodism).
For me personally, when I eat 100% raw, I am also eating 100% mucusless. The other major difference is Ehret’s revolutionary and challenging views on the concepts of human metabolism and nutrition. From a mucusless perspective, we do not need, nor can we use, fatty foods for anything other than ‘stimulation’. But like relying on any unnatural drug for ‘stimulation’, there is a cost for eating such foods trying to achieve vitality.
For Ehret, the primary reason that humans eat is to aid the body in its elimination of waste. And all mucus and acid-forming foods ultimately create wastes that obstruct the body and promote the degeneration of internal cells. Avocados do a poor job of aiding the body in eliminating wastes, and leave behind a slimy film internally (for more about the Transition Diet, download the new Annotated Mucusless Diet HERE.)
Are Avocados Mucus-forming?
The most popular mucus-forming fatty-fruit is probably avocados. My good friend and 32 year practitioner of the Mucusless Diet Brother Air always warned me to stay away from avocados because they can become an addictive comfort food for those endeavoring eliminate mucus-forming foods. Although avocados may be good for the early stages of the transition, people aspiring to achieve high levels of mucuslessness not want to use them on a long term basis. For Ehret, the two most important food categories to understand are mucus-forming vs. mucusless (mucus-free). His focus is on the way food aids the body in loosening and eliminating waste without leaving behind obstructions. His concept of using a raw mono-fruitarian diet to cleanse would focus on food selections from what is often identified to be sweet, sub-acid, or acid fruits, not the so-called fatty-fruits.
In my recently released Spira Speaks: Dialogs and Essays on the Mucusless Diet Healing System, I discuss avocados and Ehret’s contradictory statements on nuts in one of the notes. Here is an excerpt:
Does Brother Air Eat Avocados?
Question: “Spira, I am wondering if your friend Air eats any fat fruits like avocados? Are they mucus-forming?
Spira’s Response:
Are Avocados Mucus-forming? Yes. Does Brother Air eat them? No. Brother Air does not eat avocados because he finds them to be slimy mucus formers and are very addictive. Furthermore, it is prudent to just stay away from them unless you crave them, partly for psychological reasons. It is one thing to use them very sparingly at the beginning if they are craved, but they can become the type of mucus that people feel okay about eating and then they get to a point where they never intend to eliminate them from their diet. For both physiological and psychological reasons the mucus-forming fruits are strongly discouraged, even for the transition.
Brother Air always warned me to stay away from avocados because they can become an addictive comfort food. He once asked, “Why would I want to eat a ‘fruit’ that was like eating French fries?” And he really does not view them as a fruit, but a fatty vegetable. I agree. I prefer to have my fruit eating be mucus/fat-free.
The key area of analysis for avocados is its fat content. Many people do not realize that avocados, nuts, unripe bananas, etc., are potentially mucus-forming if not eliminated quickly enough from the body. However, it must be said that in comparison to other kinds of mucus-forming foods, grains, dairy, meat, etc., they are far less obstructing. Such items may be used during the transition, but as total mucuslessness is desired, these items would need to be avoided or eliminated completely.
Fatty Fruits and Ehret’s Nut Contradiction–Although avocados are not addressed specifically by Ehret–as they did not become a prevalent salad item until the 1950s–Ehret’s discussion about nuts can help us to understand the mucus-forming nature of avocados. With that said, the Mucusless Diet actually does contradict itself regarding nuts. Ehret writes: “Other kinds of grated nuts, or nut butter, may be served once in a while for this purpose, but are too rich in protein and will produce, if continually used, mucus and uric acid (Trans. Diet pt. II).” In another section, he explains
All nuts are too rich in protein and fat and should be eaten only in winter, and then only sparingly. Nuts should be chewed together with some dried sweet fruits or honey, never with juicy fruits, because water and fat do not mix. With the possible exception of nuts, the above represent about all of the foods which have to be prepared in some manner for eating; in fact they are tasteless unless specially prepared (Destructive Diet of Civilization, MDHS).
The contradiction arises when Ehret asserts “all fruits, raw or cooked; also nuts and green-leaf vegetables are mucus-free (MDHS; Confusion in Dietetics).” To be clear, nuts are mucus-forming. But why was this statement made? There are several explanations for this, but the two main ones are that 1) in comparison with meat, nuts are virtually mucus-free, and 2) that Ehret’s editor Fred Hirsch took editorial liberties during the assemblage of the book as we know it and may be responsible for the mishap. Many of these changes, or contributions, can be easily identified. The greatest example might be in the section “Vegetarian Recipes,” whereby the editor, obviously Hirsch, explains why he added the mucus-lean menus, although Ehret resisted requests to do so.
Ehret ultimately asserts that:
Fats of any kind, including the ordinary butter, are unnatural and therefore should not be eaten (“Transition Diet,” Mucusless Diet Healing System [MDHS])
All fats are acid forming, even those of vegetable origin, and are not used by the body. You will like, crave and use them only as long as you can still see mucus in the ‘magic mirror’ (“Destructive Diet of Civilization,” MDHS;).
One of the things that sets Ehret apart from allopaths (medical practitioners) and naturopaths alike is his assertion that the human body does not need, or is unable to use, fats and proteins of any kind. He explains that:
High protein foods act as stimulation for a certain time, because they decompose at once in the human body into poison (MDHS; “High Protein Foods”).
The concept of eating fats to build fat, or eating protein to build muscle is as problematic as saying that an adult cow must drink cow’s milk to produce milk. Many herbivoric and fruitarian animals grow to be much bigger, faster, and stronger than humans eating a mucus-free, plant-based, protein-free, and fat-free, diet.
I do have experience eating avocados. When compared to my long stints of living mucus-free on grapes and berries or oranges, avocados are very stimulating, addictive, and do leave behind slimy residue inside my GI tract. I was able to see why many rawists gravitate toward them. As mentioned above, during the transition diet they could be useful, but I would certainly not eat avocados alone without a salad.
Personally, I’d also combine them with some lightly steamed vegetables to aid in the GI brooming process that avocados do not promote. I agree with Ehret’s recommendation that if fats or protein are craved, a mucus-lean meal (or a meal that properly mixes mucusless and mucus-forming items) may be eaten. Avocados could be a part of such a meal. But, it is best to stay away from them for many reasons, especially during periods of intermittent fasting or detoxification.
Ehret’s Boiling Experiment
In the past, I’ve conducted observational/boiling experiments similar to Ehret’s (see below) on some of these foods to see what kind of residues would be left behind. As observed by Ehret, grapes, dates, etc., leave behind a mucus-free syrup/pap that does not smell bad, or become slimy. Yet, I found that masticated nuts or avocados do become slimy, smelly, and leave behind a sticky film. Ehret explains that “the waste from protein and starchy foods is STICKY (MDHS; Magic Mirror).”
This seemed to be consistent with all of the ‘fatty’ fruits I examined. This showed me that such items do not burn away clean, like grapes, but leave behind obstruction that, if not eliminated, can turn to mucus/uric acid.
Relevant excerpt from Rational Fasting regarding Ehret’s boiling experiments:
If potatoes, grain-meal, rice or the respective meat materials are boiled long enough, we receive jelly-like slime (mucus) or paste used by bookbinders and carpenters. This mucus substance soon becomes sour, ferments, and forms a bed for fungi, molds and bacilli. In the process of digestion, which is nothing else but a boiling, a combustion; this slime or paste is being secreted in the same manner, for the blood can use only the exdigested sugar transformed from starch. The secreted matter, the superfluous product, i.e., this paste or slime is being completely excreted in the beginning.
It is, therefore, easy to understand that in the course of life the intestines and the stomach are gradually being pasted and slimed up to such an extent that this paste of floral and this slime of faunal origin turn into fermentation, clog up the blood-vessels and finally decompose the stagnated blood. If figs, dates or grapes are boiled down thick enough we also receive a pap which, however, does not turn to fermentation and never secretes slime, but which is called syrup. Fruit-sugar, the most important thing for the blood, is also sticky, it is true, but is being completely used up by the body as the highest form of fuel, and leaves for excretion only traces of cellulose, which, not being sticky, is promptly excreted and does not ferment. Boiled-down sugar, owing to its resistance against fermentation, is even used for the preservation of food (“Common Fundamental Cause in the Nature of Diseases” in Rational Fasting).
Conversation with Brother Air about Avocados
I talked with Brother Air and he made the following statement regarding Avocados:
Peace Brothers and Sisters! I want it to be very clear: avocados are MUCUS-FORMING. There is no debate about this point. And for people who have never tried them, my advice is to stay far away! Avocados are not fruit, but fat. A bad fat, no matter how you combine them! You can’t really call it a fruit because fruits help the body eliminate waste, not add to it. Experimenting with avocados is like messing with drugs while playing with fire, don’t do it. Even when I ate meat 40 years ago, I was not into avocados. When I started to clean up my diet I thought to myself, why would I want to mess with a fruit that is like eating French fries? Why even go there? The purpose of the Mucusless Diet is to help the body eliminate waste, and avocados do not do this.
For some reason many vegetarians or raw-food eaters gravitate toward the fatty/starchy fruits and vegetables, even if they have never eaten them before. Why is this? It is as if they find these foods for all the wrong reasons. There are thousands of fruits, but the fatty and most stimulating ones become the staples. This is because they are mucus-forming stimulants that get you high.
If you eat or are addicted to them, just know that you need to transition away from them like any other mucus. And then tell us your story. How hard is it to get over an avocado addiction? The avocado should always be marked for elimination and tagged for deletion.
Peace and Respect!
-Brother Air (Long-term Mucusless Diet Practitioner and Professional Jazz Musician)
Clip from Spira Speaks eBook Table of Contents Review: Avocados **Spoiler Alert**
Thanks a lot Prof.Spira.
You have been helpfull to many people all over the world.
I need all the information I CAN GET
Thanks so much for posting this Prof.
I always wanted to know more about avocados and what long term mucusless practitioners thought about them, so it’s great that you came up with a whole article regarding them..
I’m approaching my 2nd year of eating raw living foods, rarely eat soaked nuts and seeds.. but I’ve really started to include more avocados into my dinner salad since Dan started talking more about them and the importance of the fatty acids in this day and age and how avocados are truly a great fruit..
I guess Dan’s talks were my trigger to eating more avos..lol
Loved the article, Brother Air’s words really put a smile on my face, thanks for getting his word on the matter.. Anyways, I don’t wanna make this loo long.. Thank you again.
Amor y Paz desde Mexico
Thanks so much for posting this Prof.
I always wanted to know more about avocados and what long term mucusless practitioners thought about them, so it’s great that you came up with a whole article regarding them..
I’m approaching my 2nd year of eating raw living foods, rarely eat soaked nuts and seeds.. but I’ve really started to include more avocados into my dinner salad since Dan started talking more about them and the importance of the fatty acids in this day and age and how avocados are truly a great fruit..
I guess Dan’s talks were my trigger to eating more avos..lol
Loved the article, Brother Air’s words really put a smile on my face, and now it’s clear they’re MUCUS FORMING, thanks for getting his word on the matter.. Anyways, I don’t wanna make this loo long..
Amor y Paz desde Mexico
Intersting! But what is with nuts when soaked in water for 12-24 hours? Same with seeds, grains,beans. They become transformed. Famous example is with wheat which is bad but wheatgrass very cleansing.
Although they change, most still remain starchy or fatty (mucus-forming). The key is to look at how the item eliminates from the body. It should eliminate without leaving behind a lot of waste. Also, combining mildly mucus-forming items properly with big raw salads (or dried fruit for nuts) is important. Take a look at the Mucusless Diet Healing System for more on how to eat such things in a transitional manner (https://www.mucusfreelife.com/mucusless-diet-healing-system-ecourse/) Peace, Love, and Breath!
Loren Lockman definitely doesn’t agree with the stance on avocadoes taken here.
Ehret did say to use a little olive oil on salad. Should we forget this?
No. I have no problem with a little olive oil on the transition. Ehret does make a huge distinction between items that he considers to be condiments, such as oils and seasonings, and something substantial like nuts/avocados. There is a huge difference between using a bit of oil on a salad and eating large amounts of fatty fruits/nuts/seeds. Also, it is not forbidden to eat any of them during the transition. It just most be understood that they are mucus-forming and should be transitioned away from sooner or later. With oil, it might be good to periodically go without all together every once in a while just to see how it feels. You might be surprised how well you like things without it.
Dear Prof. Spira,
how about olives (not the oil, but the fruits)? Would you consider them as mucus-forming as avocados or better?
Thank you very much and peace
Hello prof. Spira,
First of all sorry for my poor english, I hope you’ll understand well.
Thanks for those very interesting informations.
I wanted to know, there are foods that seems to be mucus forming by their degradation in the body like potatoes, avocadoes and others that seems to be mucus forming because of their irritating components like garlic, pepper …
What to think about products like olives that are very alcalinazing ? I don’t really understand the link between mucus, lymph system and acids.
If every acidic and acid forming food is mucus forming and is stocked in the lymphatic system where you get congestion, then why does olives that are some of the most alkalizing food would be acid forming too ?
In fast, lots of studies and datas seems to say that omega 3 is very anti-inflammatory and good for the nervous system and olives are loaded with it (when you can buy them debittered without salt) ?
I know the protein myth is a hoax but in the human’s mother milk we find very few proteins but a lot of fats (almost as much as sugar), so are fats so less needed than proteins ?
Thank you very much, peace.
To answer in short, all mucus-forming foods are acid-forming, insofar as they degrade into acids. But not all acid-forming items leave behind waste that turns to mucus-based obstructions. Both are damaging in differing ways. The latter leaves behind acids that damage the cells of body. Mucus-forming foods not only degrade into acids that harm the cells of the body, but also create physical “obstructions” in the body that prevent the body to operate as it should.
Thank you very much !
Could you explain why the babies need to drink their mother milk wich is rich in fat (so mucus forming) and why we have a digestive system if we are pure air-gas engine ?
Hey Spira,
Just wanted to start out by saying how grateful I am for finding your webpage and being introduced to Ehret’s work. Ehret’s views on nutrition and healing resonate with me on a very deep level and they make so much more sense than what I was taught in college. I’ve read through your Annotated version of the Mucusless Diet and have been practicing the transition on my own for a little over a month now and I can already notice a profound effect on my body and mind. Ehret’s work, as well as your own writings, have inspired me to pursue my study of nutrition with a revitalized passion and to truly understand the intimate connection between nutrition and health, so for that I thank you greatly.
The question I have for you pertains to the fact that as I was reading through your ebook “Spira Speaks”, I noticed somewhat of an anomaly that I couldn’t get past. You mention “observational/boiling experiments” in which you/Ehret boil foods to observe the residues that they would leave behind in the stomach. Specifically Ehret writes, “If potatoes, grain-meal, rice…are boiled long enough, we receive jelly-like slime (mucus) or paste used by bookbinders and carpenters…This mucus substance soon becomes sour, ferments, and forms a bed for fungi, molds and bacilli. In the process of digestion, which is nothing else but a boiling, a combustion; this slime or paste is being secreted in the same manner.” However, in your Annotated version of the Mucusless Diet, you make a side note on the erroneous and outdated concept of the “Calorie Theory”. Specifically you write, “But, how is it possible for a calorimeter to incinerate food like a human body does? It simply does not. The way in which the body metabolizes food does not resemble the burning process used in a calorimeter. The way in which calories are conceived of in the dietary realm has shifted a bit since Ehret’s time…The concept of calories is, at best, not useful and outdated, while the fanaticism surrounding it is most unfortunate”.
Therefore, my question is couldn’t one also claim that boiling a food in an environment dissimilar to the environment of the human stomach, in order to observe the by-products of digestion, be erroneous and misleading just like the Calorie Theory? I am not entirely sure of the methods used by Ehret or yourself in your experiments, but I would assume that to truly imitate the environment of the human stomach you would at least need to have some form of acid or other similar gastric juices present as well as a container that matches the lining of the stomach. From what I understand, the stomach secretes different substances depending on the composition of what is ingested and how it is combined with other foods instead of just one straight digestive process for everything. Perhaps I don’t know enough about the processes of digestion and assimilation, or maybe I am just overthinking the whole concept but I would greatly appreciate to hear your feedback on this topic. Maybe you could explain in more detail what Ehret means when he says the process of digestion is “nothing else than a boiling; a combustion”. Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Peace and Understanding,
-Eric
Hey Spira,
Just wanted to start out by saying how grateful I am for finding your webpage and being introduced to Ehret’s work. Ehret’s views on nutrition and healing resonate with me on a very deep level and they make so much more sense than what I was taught in college. I’ve read through your Annotated version of the Mucusless Diet and have been practicing the transition on my own for a little over a month now and I can already notice a profound effect on my body and mind. Ehret’s work, as well as your own writings, have inspired me to pursue my study of nutrition with a revitalized passion and to truly understand the intimate connection between nutrition and health, so for that I thank you greatly.
The question I have for you pertains to the fact that as I was reading through your ebook “Spira Speaks”, I noticed somewhat of an anomaly that I couldn’t get past. You mention “observational/boiling experiments” in which you/Ehret boil foods to observe the residues that they would leave behind in the stomach. Specifically Ehret writes, “If potatoes, grain-meal, rice…are boiled long enough, we receive jelly-like slime (mucus) or paste used by bookbinders and carpenters…This mucus substance soon becomes sour, ferments, and forms a bed for fungi, molds and bacilli. In the process of digestion, which is nothing else but a boiling, a combustion; this slime or paste is being secreted in the same manner.” However, in your Annotated version of the Mucusless Diet, you make a side note on the erroneous and outdated concept of the “Calorie Theory”. Specifically you write, “But, how is it possible for a calorimeter to incinerate food like a human body does? It simply does not. The way in which the body metabolizes food does not resemble the burning process used in a calorimeter. The way in which calories are conceived of in the dietary realm has shifted a bit since Ehret’s time…The concept of calories is, at best, not useful and outdated, while the fanaticism surrounding it is most unfortunate”.
Therefore, my question is: Couldn’t one also claim that boiling a food in an environment dissimilar to the environment of the human stomach, in order to observe the by-products of digestion, be erroneous and misleading just like the Calorie Theory? I am not entirely sure of the methods used by Ehret or yourself in your experiments, but I would assume that to truly imitate the environment of the human stomach you would at least need to have some form of acid or other similar gastric juices present as well as a container that matches the lining of the stomach. From what I understand, the stomach secretes different substances depending on the composition of what is ingested and how it is combined with other foods instead of just one straight digestive process for everything. Perhaps I don’t know enough about the processes of digestion and assimilation, or maybe I am just overthinking the whole concept but I would greatly appreciate to hear your feedback on this topic. Maybe you could explain in more detail what Ehret means when he says the process of digestion is “nothing else than a boiling; a combustion”. Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Peace and Understanding,
-Eric
Hey so i just discovered you last night as i was browsing about diets to help with digestive issues. 🙂
Is this diet you present for a healing purpose or a life long commitment in order to maintain health. I see you list acid forming foods as good, by acid forming does this mean it makes ur bodies ph level more acidic? Its my understanding an alkaline body cant develop disease.
avocado is concerted an alkaline fruit.
with to much acid creates a cancerous environment. How do you create a ph in the body if you have acid forming foods and dont alkalize your food wouldent this cause MORE health issues? in order for the body to heal it must be alkaline. Please explain.
People who practice the diet have used it for both short-term healing and long-term lifestyle. Mucus and pus-forming foods are all acid-forming. We disagree with the assessment that avocados are alkaline, and they are something most people that go down this path avoid. But keep in mind that there are some mucus-forming foods that are recommended to use during the transition diet. Check out this practical list of foods: https://www.mucusfreelife.com/mucusless-diet-food-list/. And definitely check out the new Annotated Mucusless Diet if you haven’t done so yet: http://bit.ly/mucusless-diet-amazon. Peace, Love, and Breath!
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Great article! Is Durian (30% fat) also considered a mucus-forming food?
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