diet and lifestyle

Community Areas vs. Private Homestead Lots

Most of our guidelines pertain to the community areas at Fruit Haven, where we house renters, volunteers and long-term community residents.
Private homestead lots are not subject to the same guidelines. However, we encourage property owners to follow these “best practices” on their private lots as well. Read on for details.

Private Homestead Lot Diet/Lifestyle Guidelines

Property owners (and their invitees) living in a private homestead lot at Fruit Haven have more freedom, as we respect the autonomy of private land owners. However, we still ask you to respect the core values and vision of Fruit Haven Ecovillage as you live your life. Note: Users of illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin may find themselves at odds with local law enforcement. These substances violate Ecuadorian law, and threaten the peace of our community.

When you enter the community area on each property, you will be required to abide by the guidelines below.

Community Area Diet & Lifestyle Guidelines

• 100% VEGAN (NO animal products of any kind)
• We are supportive of raw food diets
• Please do not consume the following in our community areas: Meat, fish, eggs, cheese or any dairy products, honey, oil (see video here), processed foods with many ingredients that come in packages. Do not fry food in oil in our community areas. Keep it clean and healthy.
• You are welcome to enjoy: A wide range of varieties of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds!
• Personal hygiene: Please wash your clothes and bedding regularly to prevent bedbugs, lice, and scabies, and maintain a positive appearance. Please wash your body and hair, and trim your nails. Shivambu practitioners are requested to do their practice in a way that does not leave them smelling poorly. If you are unable to maintain a clean appearance and take care of yourself, we may ask you to leave.
• Eating disorders: If you have an eating disorder and reach an extremely low BMI, we may hold an intervention on your behalf and require you to take concrete steps to regain your health. However, we do not have the facilities or expertise to be an ED recovery center, so if it is determined that we cannot help you, we may ask you to leave.
• Physical activity and sunshine: Be active and get sun!
• Coffee: Please do not consume in our community areas.
• Cacao: Please enjoy cacao responsibly, occasionally. It is powerful and addictive!
• Alcohol (see video) and other hard drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, etc: Abstain from using these substances in our community areas.
• Plant-based spiritual experiences such as ayahuasca, san pedro, etc: May occur here under supervision, and only occasionally. See video
• Regular/daily use of marijuana is not encouraged here, check out this video or this video on the effects of regular marijuana use.
• Tobacco: Please do not smoke tobacco in the community areas. The only exception would be a tabaquero shaman giving a ceremony (this happens here from time to time.)
• Nudity: We respect people’s desire to sunbathe in the community area – nudity is permitted. However, we ask that people are modest about their nudity, as this is not specifically a nudist community, and our community areas tend to be in view of the public path/road and our neighbors. Ecuadorians tend to be Catholic and conservative, and to respect their culture, we do not recommend flamboyant/immodest nudity in publicly visible areas.
• Music: Some of our community members are musicians and we all share a great love for music. However, we also share a great love for the sounds of nature, and the importance of meditation and being able to experience your own mind without constant distraction. Therefore, while the occasional playing of loud music in the community area is fine for a celebration or enjoyment, we ask that people who prefer to listen to music for several hours every day, do so using headphones so as not to disturb others.