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Here are some tips to help get you started and to serve as a reminder of some of the basic principles for practicing the HCRV diet. The forum is here to support you, so please introduce yourself, make friends, and feel free to ask questions!

For best results, keep it simple. Get plenty of rest, sunshine and fresh air. Learn how to choose and properly ripen fruits and have plenty on hand. Many ripe fruits smell very sweet and fragrant - quite different from unripe fruits - and often change color. Bananas should have spots and peel very easily. Some fruits do not ripen after picking, like citrus and watermelon. Please don't try to live on apples alone, that's not easy! And we do want this to be easy, right?

For best digestion, mono meals rule - eat one food at a time, when you are hungry, until you are full. If you are hungry again sooner than 3-5 hours after a meal, learn from that and eat more fruit the next time. And move your body before meals - take a walk in the morning before breakfast, dance to your favorite music before lunch, run around the house before dinner, just do whatever you like. Being active is really good for you and will help you so much, in so many ways.

Stay well-hydrated by drinking plenty of pure water first thing in the morning and prior to meals, and sipping water in between meals if needed. Wait at least 10-20 minutes after drinking before you eat and don't drink much for an hour or so after eating or it may impair digestion. You will be urinating a clear and plentiful amount, 8-12 times a day when you are properly hydrated. Yes, getting up during the night is normal and you will get used to it after a while. Just stay relaxed and don’t think too much.

In fact, the more you get out of your head and into your body, the easier this whole transition will be. Remember: there are no rules in life, only consequences. When you truly pay attention and learn from the results of the choices you make, then you will become the best teacher you could ever hope to find.

Breakfast: all the sweet fruit you care for, the juicier the better. Lunch: all the sweet fruit you care for, a more calorie dense fruit is good like bananas, mangos, or soaked dates. Dinner: all the fruit you care for followed by all the tender vegetables you care for. Make a soup and/or salad dressing with lettuce for dinner if you like, such as pineapple & sweet red pepper, mango & tomato, orange & sweet red pepper, just orange juice, etc. If you want a very small amount of fresh seeds or nuts or avocado, have that with a tender vegetable salad and only at dinner, and if you include fruit with that, make it an acid fruit like grapefruit or orange. Simplicity at mealtimes, variety with the seasons. Ditch the salt and spices. Choose to no longer be an addict!

It's really easy when you keep it simple! Just make sure you eat enough - don't be afraid to eat all you care for. Fruits and vegetables are the healthiest, most nutritious foods you can eat, and you must eat a lot more of them in volume to equal the same calories in cooked food! Seriously, a cup of cooked chickpeas has the same calories as 3 medium bananas, 10 medium zucchini, or 3 heads of romaine lettuce! And just 1/4 cup of whole almonds or 2 Tbsp almond butter would almost equal those in calories as well. Fruits and vegetables are much more nutritious than any cooked foods or fatty foods, but not even close in calories, and most fruits are even less calorie-dense than bananas. So eat a lot of fruit!

Monitoring calories and macronutrient composition can be helpful in the beginning. Use a site like CRON-O-Meter. Don't fret over the 'recommended daily allowances' for all the micronutrients; focus instead on the macronutrients (carbohydrate/protein/fat). 80/10/10 means a MINIMUM of 80% of your calories from carbohydrates and a MAXIMUM of 10% each for protein and fat! If you don't agree with calorie theory, that's alright - this works either way!

If you really feel that you must have veggies with fruit for breakfast or lunch, then eat only tender leafy greens like lettuce and spinach, or celery along with a sweet fruit. Those combine well with all fruits (except melons, which are best eaten alone). Basic food combining has been covered many times here at 30BaD, so search for more info.

You could just eat ripe bananas or bananas and celery/lettuce for the next week (or longer), ya know? Read the Banana Island threads.

You are doing great so far, so keep it up and hang in there! You ARE ready for this, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Keep looking ahead and moving forward! Love yourself! Best wishes...