A fruitarian couple based in Bali, that has earned viral internet fame after claiming to only eat fruit for the past several years, has turned to crowdfunding to sustain their “modest lifestyle.”
Polish native Tina Stoklosa of the Instagram account @fit_shortie_eats, says she’s experienced some pretty drastic physical changes after eating nothing but fruit for the past five years. She’s also publicly said that the diet makes her “feel high”.
The 39-year-old interior designer has said she started the extreme diet when she was frustrated after not being able to shed some pounds and wanted to do a “pre-Christmas cleanse”. She ultimately moved to Bali three years ago, in search of various exotic fruits to really enrich her diet, where she met her now-fiance, Simon Beun, 26.
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Stoklosa quickly converted Beun into a fruitarian and now the pair says they have not brushed their teeth for the past two years, insisting that the fiber from the fruits have kept their mouths clean. Though, we can only imagine how much damage all that sugar from the fruits could do to their pearly whites and wonder how exactly they’ve managed to stave off diabetes.
The pair says they consume the equivalent of 2,000 to 4,000 calories a day in fruit, which is roughly the same as 30 bananas. When thirsty, they say they drink coconut water.
In a video uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 12, titled “Let’s Get to Know Each Other!”, the couple discusses their launch of a Patreon page, where they will upload special videos for subscribers which they refer to as an “insiders circle”—at a cost of course!
“We’re even going to be doing private monthly Skype calls,” says an enthusiastic Stoklosa in the video.
There are different tiers of membership. Fans who apparently really want to see the couple keep producing content can choose between US$5, US$10, and US$50 “patron tiers”. The latter, referred to the page as the “Rockstar Patron” level, lets members get a private monthly hour Skype session with the couple where patrons can “dig deep”.
As of writing time, the pair has managed to somehow recruit 13 “patrons” into their circle and has reached US$144 of their US$500 monthly goal.
“For the last three years, we’ve been traveling in Southeast Asia to find all these beautiful fruits,” Beun chimes in.
Their travels have amounted to over 4,000 Instagram posts and more than 200 YouTube videos, says Beun.
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“But this just doesn’t create enough revenue or income for ourselves to sustain our lifestyle. On one side, we do live a very minimalistic lifestyle and we’re very modest, I’ve been wearing this t-shirt for like a whole month and it smells like crazy,” Beun explains in his pitch, as Stoklosa feigns plugging her nose in disgust.
“But on the other hand, we can’t support ourselves,” Beun says.
Well, at least he’s honest.
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