Meet the Fruitarian Couple

They say they haven't brushed their teeth in two years as the fibre from the fruit cleans .

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Part 1 of 2 ???? What a year it has been! I want to thank you for being a part of this crazy journey with us, reading my musings here on Insta, watching our videos, and a special thank you to our front-line supporters on Patreon. Huge thank you to the amazing friends that have joined our fruitarian retreats this year and are joining our adventures this January - we will be scouting out totally new territories in 2019 to bring you guys the very best fruits this planet has to offer! ???? On a personal note, I think this year has been more eventful than any other year in my life! Lets recap: The year started with us sitting at the curb of a road outside a petrol station deep in Sumatra, which may have been the only place in the world without fireworks. Later that month we durian-hunted thru Borneo, discovering the trees of the 2 rarest edible durians growing within meters of each other. February we celebrated community with many new & old friends in north Bali. March & April we headed to the most remote places we’ve been to - West Papua and the Maluku islands where we lived on the beach and out on ppl’s balconies for weeks, without electricity, internet or homestays. On the upside we had the top 2 durians of our life there - in West Papua and on Seram island, both times deep in the jungle, freshly fallen given to us by the indigenous people who didnt speak a word of English but insisted we take all their durians for free. Later on we boarded the infamous Pelni ship and moved to the Banda islands where we lived without internet or anything to eat but coconuts for several weeks, but the once-in-a-lifetime snorkeling experience made it all worth it! In May we had our parents join us and meet each other for the first time - to our delight they got along instantly like old mates! On my 39th Birthday, whilst I was naked on a rock drying myself from our ritual jungle river dip, Simon asked me to marry him! It was so unexpected at first I didnt get what he meant but of course I said yes, a coconut-shell ring shining on my finger ever since! (Cont in next post!)

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Dec 31, 2018 at 4:51am PST

They now live in Bali and claim there are many benefits to being a fruitarian, including having more energy.

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Finding this durian was like finding Yeti: we heard myths it existed but never truly believed it possible. Presenting a natural DURIO DULCIS HYBRID - the red on the outside fire durian, sweetest & smelliest durian on the planet and my personal favorite durian species - mixed with zibethinus for size! It doesnt get more exciting than finding these cross-species durio hybrids, does it?! When Chippy saw them, he came running to me with tears in his eyes repeating ‘you wont believe this’. The durian itself - amazing, soft, flufffy flesh with that minty-cherry edge of the dulcis. Can you see the red in between the spikes?! Woa. What a find. So happy we were with such amazing friends we could share them with like @danieldemasoni, a huge fruit enthusiast and rare fruit hunter, can you see the happiness in his eyes? Dear universe THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! ??????

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Jan 11, 2019 at 12:36am PST

Tina says her diet has helped her to cope with the weight issues she has struggled with for most of her life.

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Part 1 of 2 ? This is going to be a bit of a personal rant, inspired by one of the conversations I had with my best friend. I was trying to explain to Joanna in what ways I am different to the person she has known for 2 decades. The first thing that came to my mind is that I am FREE. Free from a voice inside my head that my made the vast majority of my life miserable. We all have these self diminishing voices in our heads whispering ‘Im not pretty enough’, ‘Im not successful enough’… Only you know what is your personal brand of ‘not-enough-ism’. Mine has always been ‘Im not thin enough’. I cannot explain to you just how much room that single thought occupied inside my head. I thought about it millions of times each day and everything I did was motivated by the need to get smaller. If only I could have used all the energy I put into dieting into something more purposeful, I could have made president of my country or done major things for humanity instead ???? Yet since when I was pre-teen till when I was 36, my sole focus in life was getting thinner, the aggressiveness of my pursuit sharpened by the fact that the more I dieted - the more overweight I became. I engaged in periods of overeating, purging and restricting for over two decades, stuck in this evil cycle, none the wiser with each rodeo. Eventually I reached 83kg (183 lbs) at just 153cm tall (5 ft). That is 32kg or 70 lbs bigger than I am now. Not that it matters now - now that the weight is gone for good, I never even think about weight related stuff, which is why I talk about it so seldom. Whats interesting, now that my body has reached its ideal weight, my weight hasn’t changed the slightest in three years. With little to no exercise I am able to eat as much as my boyfriend - a 26yr old male - and not gain any weight! Perks of the fruitarian lifestyle? Certainly. Weight maintenance is just so easy on fruit. Did I loose weight as soon as I started eating just fruit? Absolutely not. (Continued in next post)

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Sep 9, 2018 at 4:47am PDT

Tina and Simon share their fruity adventures on their YouTube channel, Fit Shortie Eats. Check some of them below:

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This is happiness in a picture for me! ? Not exactly in Jerantut, but on the small off-roads leading into the jungle, we’ve found orang asli - the native people selling these jungle durios by the bucket. Tiny and intense Id describe them as cousins of the purple punk or our Sumatra lowianus. So freaking good they reconfirmed the status of this durio being my favorite (well, maybe a tie with durio dulcis but Id have to eat them at the same time and thats never gonna happen dulcis being only in Borneo and lack of lowianus there!) Insanely aromatic, they are like alcohol-filled pralines. Can you tell the top 2 fluo durians are of a different kind? Just before this pic was taken we dipped and meditated at a river just below, antsy to sit down to this huge monomeal of durio lowianus. Happy, happy times! ???????? . . . . #rawfood #rawvegan #durian #801010 #fruitarian #tropicalfruit #cuticutimalaysia #malaysianfood #vegantravel #foodtravel #visitmalaysia #lovetoeat #plantbasedfood #plantbaseddiet #plantpowered #vegandinner #highcarb #superfood #intermittenfasting #edrecovery #fruit #veganmeal #highcarbvegan #exoticfruit #pahang #tamannegara #jerantut

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Aug 19, 2018 at 2:49am PDT

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Simon & his happy meal: durio lowianus ???? . . . . #rawvegan #fruitarian #801010 #durian

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Aug 21, 2018 at 2:38am PDT

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Presenting the best bunch of bananas we’ve ever eaten, randomly found on a hunt for morning cocos in Gerik [heading back, Jerantut-Penang stretch] The owner of the fruit stand called them ‘awok lego’ bananas, but for us they fell into the category of what we call apple bananas. Juicy, moist, creamy with tiny seeds inside and a great chewy apple freshness. Think: banana-apple ice cream with arabic gum. The bomb! We bought the whole branch and devoured them over the next days in Penang. Never have we had a better ‘nana. Yes, sometimes they are better than durian! ? . . . . #rawfood #rawvegan #durian #801010 #fruitarian #tropicalfruit #cuticutimalaysia #malaysianfood #vegantravel #foodtravel #visitmalaysia #lovetoeat #plantbasedfood #plantbaseddiet #plantpowered #vegandinner #highcarb #superfood #intermittenfasting #edrecovery #fruit #veganmeal #highcarbvegan #exoticfruit #bananas #gerik #banana

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Aug 27, 2018 at 3:22pm PDT

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Ive waited over two years for best friend @joanna_kulczynska to visit me in Bali and now my excitement has no ends. First off - its my fav place in the world - the ambience, the nature, the gentleness of the local folk, the stunning heritage and architecture - in my eyes it compares to no other place on Earth. Not last on this list was great food - yes great fruit as well but also raw restaurant food. You see, before I went fruity, Joanna was my life long dining companion, in Warsaw and on many holidays - this practice brutally cut short by my diet change. Its fair to say Joanna is a food connoisseur and I don’t know anyone who brings more life to a dinning out experience than she does. With Ubud’s being the world’s biggest bubble of raw vegan restaurants we could have a mutually satisfying dining experience for the first time in years. Lets add that in the time I had been in Asia, Joanna changed her entire family’s kitchen to plant based, her husband and son jumping on the veggie wagon too. In the concept store she runs @mysia3official she banned the use of plastic straws and now organizes vegan weekend events four times a year at the start of each season - Vegan Spring, Vegan Summer, you get the idea. Ive waited two years but it seems like she comes at the perfect time - she came to Ubud super excited for the raw and vegan restaurants and I was tickled pink with excitement of showing her my favorite raw food joints in town! It has been a blast - get ready for some serious gourmet raw food debauchery coming up! I didnt eat everything in the pictures you’ll see. I shared some, nibbled on some but then again there was so much of it that I enjoyed very much. Stay tuned to see just how much raw food magic Ubud has to offer. Pictured above: Sayuri’s galactic salad bowl (centre), papaya salmon ‘gravlax’ on ‘toast’ (right) and a raw cashew cheese platter (left) ? All raw & vegan! . . . . #sayurihealingfood #ubud #bali #rawvegan #rawfood

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Sep 1, 2018 at 5:31pm PDT

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Ive had a mixed relationship with gourmet raw food. In fact, Ive only had it twice in the last two years! Once - to celebrate the end of North Bali and the winter before that when I had waaay too much in a sitting and then broke out in a fever for 10 days. But two years ago - that was a different story. You see, this was the time when Chippy and I ‘dated’, which basically boiled down to finding every excuse to hang out with each other late into the night whilst still being just friends. I still remember speeding on the scooter to Seeds of Life hoping they still have lasagna left. Dating a fellow raw food enthusiast in Ubud - man, that is the stuff dreams are made! ????I think Chippy’s monthly expenses must have tripled that month, but as they say true love has no price tag. Now, two years later while Chippy sits a Vipassana, my best friend @joanna_kulczynska visited my in Bali for just nine days. You can imagine the sort of crazy gymnastics I had to pull to fit everything I love about Bali into just 9 days. The result you can check out on YouTube now. This video is a degustatory experience, a total culinary trip - get a napkin, you’re gonna salivate! If that wasnt all - at the end of the vlog I do a ranking of my top 5 restaurants along with tips what to order in which. ( Curious to see if @seedsoflifebali is still the best restaurant in the world? ) Not only that - you get my personal theory why Ubud became the world’s biggest raw food bubble plus a very personal rant about how I feel on raw food as a primarily fruits-only muncher. In other words - everything I could tell you about Bali’s raw and vegan food summarized in one video. Uff!????

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Sep 10, 2018 at 5:12am PDT

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Brace yourself everyone. DURIAN. SEASON. IS. COMING.???? Big, unexpected, freakish durian season is here in Bali. 5 months away (!!!) from the usual season peaking in February. This is very, very unusual. And its not just the 10% of the trees that are said to fruit outside of regular season, all the trees in Ubud are LOADED with fruit ready to drop next month. Just at the sunrise market in Ubud, which is by no means a place to buy durian, there were already 6 ladies selling freshly fallen in the night Bali durian. Same in north Bali, the Bangkok Durian - as they call Monthong - is also ripe on the trees. The other amazing fruit species that come in durian season are also starting to appear: baskets of mangosteen, wani white mango, utu fruit, even some rambutan - its all here. We came to Bali at peace with our decision to be out of the durian loop for three months - BUT looks like we manifested plenty durian again! ???? Tag a friend who needs to hear the good news! . . . . . #durian #durianbali #bali #ubud #tropicalfruit #duren #exoticfruit #rawvegan #rawfood #fruitarian #801010 #highcarb

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Sep 19, 2018 at 6:08pm PDT

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I dont understand anything said in this video as its in Spanish, but its my favorite one yet! @upsoclsabores did such a good job picking the most beautiful captures, crazy cool music, its absolute perfection! ???? See for yourself link in the bio above! . . . . . #vegan #rawvegan #801010 #fruitarian #durian #rawfood #rawfoodretreat #fruitarianretreat #durianfestival #fruitfestival #rawfooddiet #rawveganretreat #tropicalfruit #vegantravel #foodtravel #plantbasedfood #plantbaseddiet #vegandinner #highcarb #superfood #greensmoothie #edrecovery #veganmeal #highcarbvegan #exoticfruit #bali #ubud #sabores

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Oct 13, 2018 at 4:09pm PDT

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Chippy making citrus juice for me in the morning from Bali’s amazing jeruk - a jungle twist on tangerines. No equipment needed - just squeeze by hand. Whereas I like juice, Chippy prefers denser stuff, going straight for the jackfruit. He’s wearing my favorite scarf and my leggings as the nights get cold in the north, you might have seen me wearing a hoodie in the morning in our videos, whilst in the day it gets crazy hot. We were surprised by the huge temperature differences - we have never experienced it before in Bali. Not even the oldest local folk remember a season as dry as this one - not a single drop of rain has fallen in the last month. The sky is stripped of any clouds that typically cover this volcanic island making the starry nights a feast for the eyes ????? . . . . #orangeuice #veganboy #vegan #rawvegan #801010 #fruitarian #durian #rawfood #jackfruit #jeruk #healthybreakfast #juicing #rawfooddiet #pineapple #tropicalfruit #vegantravel #foodtravel #plantbasedfood #plantbaseddiet #vegandinner #highcarb #superfood #greensmoothie #edrecovery #veganmeal #highcarbvegan #exoticfruit #juicing

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Oct 22, 2018 at 3:17pm PDT

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Happy airport dragonfruit muncher ?? . . . . . #22weeks #22weekspregnant #pregnant #fruitarian #pregnancy #rawvegan #pregnantbelly #rawfood #pregnancyannouncement #bali #veganpregnancy #dragonfruit #plantbasedpregnancy #801010 #naturalpregnancy #fruitdiet #crunchymama #crunchymom #rawfood #fullyraw #pregnancydiet #pregnancyjourney #plantbaseddiet #pregnancybump #babyontheway #bellybump #plantbased #expecting

A post shared by Rare Fruit Hunters (@fit_shortie_eats) on Nov 24, 2018 at 2:31am PST

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For over two years, we explored SE Asia from the back of the motorbike, but since Im 6 months pregnant (24 weeks!) and seeing how long the stretches of the road are in Borneo - we hired a car for the first time. And Im so glad we did! After our 2 month road trip thro peninsular Malaysia during my first two months of pregnancy, I dont think I could repeat doing 200km stretches in the equator heat on the scooter again ???? Our tiny car seems ridiculously luxurious in comparison! As you can see the contents of our trunk changes depending on our cravings and fruit availability in each region. What you cannot see is the backseat stashed with more coconuts and up to 5 kgs of dabai! . . . . #durian #graveolens #cempejack #rollinia #801010 #fruitarian #rawfood #rawfoodretreat #vegantravel #veganfoodporn #healingfoods #rawfooddiet #rawveganretreat #tropicalfruit #vegantravel #foodtravel #plantbasedfood #plantbaseddiet #vegandinner #highcarb #superfood #greensmoothie #greenjuice #waterfast #fruit #highcarbvegan #exoticfruit #rawvegan

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