The All Fruit Diet: Pros, Cons + How It Stacks Up Nutritionally (2024)

We have all heard the nutritional advice to “eat your fruits and vegetables.“

But, this is generally assumed to be in the context of eating fruit and vegetables in the context of a more complete diet with other food groups.

However, some people follow an all fruit diet or a fruit only diet. Eating only fruit is sometimes considered a fruit detox or a fruit diet plan, which is typically followed for weight loss or “detoxing“ or “cleansing“ the body.

But is a 3 day fruit fast or a 3 day fruit diet helpful? What can you expect from a fruit diet for weight loss in 7 days? Are there fruit fast benefits or fruit diet benefits?

In this guide, we will discuss what a all fruit diet entails, the pros and cons of the fruitarian diet, whether a 3 day fruit fast works, its benefits, and what you can eat on a 3 day fruit diet weight loss plan.

We will look at:

• What Is a Fruitarian Diet or an All Fruit Diet?
• How Do You Do a 3 Day Fruit Fast?
• Pros and Cons of a 3 Day Fruit Diet Weight Loss Plan

Let’s get started!

What Is a Fruitarian Diet or An All Fruit Diet?

The fruit only diet or fruitarian diet is an extremely restrictive vegan eating plan that involves eating only fruit and drinking water.

Most people who follow an all fruit diet plan use the fruit and water diet as sort of a short-term “fruit detox”—something along the lines of a 3 day fruit fast or 3 day fruit diet weight loss plan—rather than a long-term sustainable lifestyle eating pattern.

That said, there is a small subset of people who adopt the fruitarian diet as their everyday eating pattern.

However, instead of eating only fruit and water, a fruitarian diet often also includes some vegetables, nuts, and seeds but no dairy, meat, processed foods, alcohol, eggs, or grains, and fruit would constitute about 80% of the diet.

Most nutrition professionals do not recommend the fruitarian diet for health or weight loss, as a all fruit diet plan is devoid of many key nutrients, including protein, fat, and certain vitamins and minerals.

A short-term fruit diet for weight loss or trying a fruit fast by following a fruit and water diet plan can be an approach to weight loss.

However, it is again important to note that an all fruit diet will not provide the nutrients your body needs for optimal health, and depending on how you structure your “detox with fruit,“ you may or may not lose weight.

Finally, a fruit detox or the idea that you can do a detox with fruit is a misconception in the sense that the body already has inherent processes to detox, such as through the kidneys, liver, and sweating.

How Do You Do a 3 Day Fruit Fast?

There isn’t one defined 3-day fruit fast diet plan or “fruit diet for weight loss in 7 days meal plan.”

Rather, the concept of an all fruit diet simply involves eating only fruit and water with the note that the fruit should be raw rather than cooked or processed in any way.

This means that you would eat fruits in their natural state as if picked right off the tree, vine, or bush rather than dried or turned into jelly, sauce, pie, or even boiled or baked down.

Some fruitarians who follow the all fruit diet on an ongoing basis do eat dried fruit (and sometimes even some tubers and vegetables).

But, if you are trying to do a 3-day fruit weight loss diet, you should avoid dried fruit as the caloric density of dried fruit is surprisingly high, and consuming raw fruit only will give you more water and fiber to increase satiety and support weight loss.

Pros and Cons of a 3 Day Fruit Diet Weight Loss Plan

There are some potential fruit diet benefits if you only follow an all fruit diet very briefly—such as a 3 day fruit fast—but there are also some serious drawbacks.

You should speak with your doctor or a nutritionist before taking on a 7 day fruit diet weight loss plan or any fruit-only meal plan that is longer than just a couple of days, particularly if you have a history of an eating disorder, diabetes, a metabolic condition, or take medications on a regular basis.

A 3 day fruit fast is not safe for someone who is pregnant or breastfeeding.

Here are some potential fruit fast benefits:

• Weight loss if you are creating a caloric deficit. People will generally experience fruit diet weight loss because it is much harder to eat as many calories on an all fruit diet when eating only raw fruit than when you have no restrictions in your diet and can eat calorically dense processed foods, fatty foods, foods with added sugars, grains, etc.
• Fruit is rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, which may help decrease inflammation from oxidative damage by combating free radicals.
• Eating only raw fruit on a fruit detox will help reset your palate and steer you away from processed foods with added sugars. This may make it easier to choose healthier foods (because your perception of sweetness will be reset and cravings/addiction may be reduced) moving forward after your 3 day fruit detox is over.
• Another benefit of a fruit weight loss plan for a couple of days is improving digestion or cleansing the bowels because fruit is high in fiber.

Here are some of the risks of an all fruit diet:

• Nutritional deficiencies if followed long-term because fruit does not contain an appreciable amount of protein, fat, and certain essential vitamins and minerals.
• Highly restrictive and difficult to follow long-term.
• May increase the risk of cavities and wear away dental enamel due to the acidic nature of fruit.
• Can be expensive.

3 Day Fruit Diet for Weight Loss

Rather than create a specific 3 day fruit weight loss diet meal plan, we have put together a list of what you can eat on a 3 day fruit detox diet plan.

From here, you can choose how to structure your own fruit diet weight loss plan, keeping in mind that choosing different types of fruits will be the best way to maximize the swath of nutrients your body is getting and minimize any nutritional deficiencies.

Here are some 3 day fruit diet meal plan fruits to eat:

Particularly if you are going to be following an all fruit detox for a few days, it’s important to have some of the oily fruits (coconut and avocado) to have enough calories, healthy fats, and fiber.

You can also make smoothies with different fruits and consider incorporating other plant-based foods like seeds and nuts.

Although adding nuts and seeds or other vegetables to a 3 day fruit diet plan will mean that you aren’t eating fruit and water only, it will make your fruit detox more nutritionally sound and may help balance blood sugar levels.

Tropical fruits, such as bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and papayas, are particularly high in sugar, so just eating fruits like these on their own can therefore cause a rapid increase in blood sugar and insulin.

Eating fruits like avocado and coconut or some of the botanical fruits like cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini alongside whatever high-sugar fruits will help decrease the blood sugar response by making the “all fruit meal” a lower glycemic fruit diet meal.

This will help regulate blood sugar levels and your appetite while decreasing the total sugar intake relative to eating only fruits high in sugar.

Overall, we do not recommend a fruit diet plan that involves eating only fruit, even as a short-term fruit diet weight loss challenge.

For an alternative to a fruit detox diet, check out our guide to foods that burn belly fat here.