I am on a mission to start playing more with mono-eating. I love input from those seasoned in this art and science, and I love to hear where others are playing who are starting to explore it as well.

The last couple days I have some personal experience to report:

Yesterday:
breakfast: OJ
lunch: tangerines followed by spinach
dinner: barhi dates followed by celery

Went to bed feeling satiated, satisfied, light, high, full of love, yum!!!

Today:
breakfast: OJ
lunch: a few asian pears (pears seem to be hard on my tummy, anyone else?)
dinner: nori wraps which included: nori, cauliflower & chia seed 'rice', carrots, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, cilantro, avocado, sunflower sprouts, clover sprouts, spinach.. With a dipping sauce of nut butter, OJ, lime juice, cilantro, cucumber & celery.

I ate dinner tonight until I was stuffed so full I could barely get up from the table, and still didn't feel satisfied or satiated. An hour later I started (and am still) eating tangerines. I can't seem to feel satisfied yet my belly is so full it's uncomfortable. I feel cranky.

Variety sure seems to stimulate my appetite but does not seem to lead to satiation in the same way that mono-eating does!! And I sure like how it feels to go to bed feeling so light! So I will keep playing....

Love,
Uma

Boy Uma...i thought when I started to be a raw foodist-it would be easy.Just eat raw stuff.I did not know about Gabriel Cousens or anyone. I went and got his book and now I hear of 811 and other people i could try there stuff. agh!! It is very interesting to read what u eat.so mono is basically eating alot of the same things???I am trying to get all this in my brain.There is more to learn than i ever dreamt.omega's and hemp powder and e3live and all these different foods.It is sort of overwhelming and then when i think I have it down.Nope! so i really appreciate your subject. i am thinking I need to do this as just trying to simplfy things in my mind.thanks.i WIL BE INTERESTED TO READ WHAT OTHERS SAY ON THIS SUBJECT.TAYLOR

When I am going to eat a fat meal, I make sure to eat fruit before I start eating the fat. How much fruit? This is what takes some trial and error, getting some experience. When I find after eating my fat meal that I want something sweet, then I ate too little fruit before eating my fat meal. It seems to me that being nearly full on fruit before eating my fat course seems to work well for me. It limits my fat intake, and after eating the fat, I am pretty satisfied.

I also find that sequential mono eating can be less satisfying that pure mono eating. By sequential mono eating, an example would be to eat 3 oranges, then 3 bananas, then 3 mangos.

Sometimes I'll be mono eating bananas, and I'm on my 6th banana, and I am almost full, and then my mind will kick in and say I'm bored with bananas, I want a mango now. So I'll get a mango and eat it, and though I was almost full before I ate the mango, my satiation has been completely reset, and now I'm ready to start eating a lot more mangos.

I definitely feel so much lighter and satiated when I do pure mono eating. When I follow fruit with greens, that doesn't seem to reset my satiation levels.

Taylor: Yeah, I did so much complicated stuff where there were all these products to buy. The simpler the better! In a way I feel for you that you are hearing so much conflicting information and feeling confused... but in a way I envy you because at least you are being exposed to different approaches from the get-go before you get totally committed to one! I didn't have that benefit. So you can listen to what people have to say and see what resonates.

Love,
Uma

Mono ...! I start work in the afternoon so when I have greens, and I do enjoy them, I'll have them in the morning. I often eat two meals. The second is between 4 and 6 pm or so, a little at a time because of my work schedule. There's no time to deal with vegetables at work. So easy to eat fruit is the best thing at work. And fruit with vegetables in the late morning. I do want to start out with some vegetables mostly every day because I feel ... it's ... sort of like arugula always argues, you gotta get your greens. But I also very much like the listen, trust, and follow approach.

I look at my past and see that I've been incredibly inconsistent with eating behavior. So I don't suppose I'll be real consistent with this either, but I'm excited to play around with this. I've got some kiwis, some late season persimmons, and some bananas. Kiwis in the evening probably. Bananas if they're ripe enough. Persimmons and some vegetables in the morning is an idea. I'll see how things go tomorrow morning time - wise and everything.

Thanks everyone for the motivation.

And thanks Taylor for using more capital letters. Really makes it easier for me to read your posts!!



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

Thanks for this Uma, Bryan, I am really struggling with cravings in the evenings. The mono eating message is sinking in.

My thinking was that because I've been at this for a relatively short time, a couple of months only, I'm not assimilating the nutrients like a long time raw fooder with a spanking clean colon does so I've got to eat a lot of variety and quantity to get the nutrients I need, it's a vicious cycle.

Should I just focus on eliminating cravings by mono eating?

When I first heard about eating raw a couple of years ago, I hadn't browsed sites on the internet. So, taking it literally, I bought my favorite fruits and salads, and just ate. I never felt better. I just ate food almost exactly the way it came from nature.

It wasn't until I read further that I discovered that other people were indeed doing what I was doing, and it was called "mono eating". It took a while to find this term among all the websites that were about "really raw" bottled, jarred, shelled, products and supplements and dehydrated recipes, etc etc.

For me, mono eating works best. Like Uma, when I had a multi-food meal the other day, after a mono eating morning and noon, (similar to Uma's in fact) I felt like I couldn't get enough.

So now I am working on eating more simply again, saving the recipes for when I really want something different.

Fear Uma-i also think what u said about having the benifits of everyones ideas/well! i think i like the sound fo the more simple -the better.this works for me.thanks for all the info.taylor

uma Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> lunch: a few asian pears (pears seem to be hard on
> my tummy, anyone else?)
> dinner: nori wraps which included: nori,
> cauliflower & chia seed 'rice', carrots, celery,
> cucumber, bell pepper, cilantro, avocado,
> sunflower sprouts, clover sprouts, spinach.. With
> a dipping sauce of nut butter, OJ, lime juice,
> cilantro, cucumber & celery.
>
> I ate dinner tonight until I was stuffed so full I
> could barely get up from the table, and still
> didn't feel satisfied or satiated. An hour later I
> started (and am still) eating tangerines. I can't
> seem to feel satisfied yet my belly is so full
> it's uncomfortable. I feel cranky.
>
> Variety sure seems to stimulate my appetite but
> does not seem to lead to satiation in the same way
> that mono-eating does!!

It looks as though your dinner was high in fat.
How can you be certain you are not confusing the
feelings one gets from a high fat meal with those of
a low fat, but a high variety meal?

It's a good point arugula. But I do notice when I have a veggie meal is when I want more variety because nothing tastes as good on its own as sweet fruit. And I need some fatty dressing or something to beef it up. I do get overstimulated mixing different types of fruits together in a low fat meal, it's true. Or even different varieties of the same fruit, so it seems.

So my experiment was not controlled, too many variables. I appreciate the input!

Being a control freak, I can better control the study.
So my plan is, the next time the craving for fat comes up, I'll just have one kind of fat and keep it as simple as I can, like (mmmm one of the funnest eating experiences...) peeling and eating an avocado whole, or cutting it in half and scooping it with a spoon... whichever I'm in the mood for... with some celery or lettuce or tomatoes. Or mono-eating those peruvian sundried olives with some cucumber. Mmmm!

Love,
Uma

two things

mono-eating isn't mono eating if you arn't paying attention to the wait times in between meals, which is dictated by volume as well as by the propeties of the food. if you are having nuts and seeds in the evening hours thats pretty much a done/finished senario, you certainly shouldn't be having juicy fruits anytime after that. thats like the first rule of food combining.

I think I recall reading a post you had on true hunger. the whole point of mono-eating is being in touch with the volume of food your body requires, like Bryan wrote, the other signals are from boredom and emotional type stuff or having to do with an existing deficiency of minerals.

Anaken: thanks for the feedback. So if I mono-eat a meal of one thing but then an hour later I want more of that same thing, that means I didn't eat enough of it the first time? With a successful mono meal i wouldn't want anything until the next meal?

About the fruit & fats, I don't eat any sweet fruit after a fat meal but somehow acid fruit like citrus seems to be OK... and my body is hypersensitive to food combining infractions. Have you experienced otherwise?

I appreciate the input. I was going to make a smoothie tonight but I read your post and decided to have just bananas!

Love,
Uma

I MEANT DEAR UMA-NOT FEAR UMA...I JUST CAUGHT THIS.SORRY.HEE HEE.TAYLOR

it depends I suppose

I think eating an hour after of the same thing would be preferable maybe then overeating in a single sitting, but both would be less preferable to simply under-eating at the first meal. but i'm not a lock/stock 80/10/10 believer of loading on a ton of calories.

the theory behind not eating juicy (especially acid) fruits after dense or fatty foods and possibly after any greens is that the fruit is delayed in digestion and ferments causing toxicity. I can't say this necessarily results in actually feeling crappy (i've always followed it), but that is the theory.

if its my second (last) or only meal, sometimes I eat bananas after salads that might contain fats like olives. but this is just something I do, it probably isn't ideal.

Me too! I want mono so bad. \I want to eat one of something and be satisifed..wow

iam on my 7th day of eating only bananas and water....and feel great....

i think i could go on like this for a while...its super easy.....

and cheap

Wow meinlelen that is really inspiring to hear that you are playing with that!

This is the second night in a row that I just mono-ate bananas (with greens) for dinner. I can say that when I let myself eat one thing and then switch to something else, I can somehow stuff myself to the point of lots of pain. But when I decide to stick to one fruit, I seem to get satiated much earlier before as much overstuffage. I am becoming very very intrigued with this mono-eating!

My tendency is to get really excited about something and then make a strict form around it and be hard on myself if i 'break the rules'. i don't desire to become an anal-retentive around mono-eating... we'll see!!

Love,
Uma

Uma, I want to echo your last words - they sound just like something I could have said!

I've been noticing that while I've naturally been eating a high proportion of mono meals in recent months, my tendency instead has been to overemphasize my rarer savory/complex meals or even my smoothie meals and beat myself up for them!

One of many things that I learned in Costa Rica was that despite the fact that I seem so far past the anorexia prison I was in when I first started posting here three or four years ago, I'm not yet completely comfortable with my body image or eating habits, and even though mono eating is definitely what feels best most of the time, it can also be a back door to obsessiveness for me.

The past couple of days the great majority of my meals have been mono, and generally light (more citrus than anything else, and I can't eat a huge amount of citrus at once). I've noticed that I've been very cold, more so than usual, I think. This could partly be adjusting to the winter having just been in Costa Rica but I think that before I went there I was also eating more dates, which definitely keep me warmer and which I'm not used to eating in the mono context, but usually would have three or four at the end of a fruit meal. Today I was doing my produce stand, out in the cold all afternoon, and probably should have had a few dates in there at some point.

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration - I'm enjoying talking about it as well as playing with it!
love
Ela



seeing is freeing
hearing is clearing
feeling is healing

Meinleben: what inspired you to do that many days of mono bananas? What are you experiencing with it? I would love to hear more about it.

Ela: surprise surprise we are on the same page!! LOL let's see how long it takes for uma's new healthful habit to turn into OCD!!!

Love,
Uma

uma

i am doing a consult with Dr Graham....its going well....

i have been working on 801010 for about 6 months....i just really needed some
fine tuning and support

will post more later...off to work......

The other day I ate mostly mono bananas, (but not the whole day) due to that being the most abundant fruit in the house at the time, and I felt extremely satisfied the whole day.

I'm finding that same experience with the mono eating of bananas. I feel more satiated throughout the day, not always thinking with anxiety about when I'll get to eat next!

Meinleben, I am inspired by your dedication! Does Doug commonly recommend that someone do mono for an extended stint when breaking into 80/10/10? I think someone else mentioned that on his board.

Love,
Uma

thanks uma....

i am actually not sure what doug commonly recommends...

it is my understanding that every consult is personalized and geared to whatever health concerns, fitness goals and/or questions that individual may have.....

today is day 9....it has not all been easy....the first 4 days i had to deal with my caffeine addiction....not fun...

although i know what is ahead and i am excited....

Interesting thread! Thanks for sharing, everyone. I eat all my fruit mono, it simply feels best, nothing to do with planning. Simply, when I eat some yummy sweet peaches, I do not find myself interested in anything else and I eat till full. Luke and our kids prefer eating that way too. Greens is something that I only begin to consider to eat mono. I have been often finding wanting to eat fruit after having a salad or salad wrap (both with some fat in it), so it's good to hear your experiences with it.

Gosia


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams

Hi Uma & everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I finished a mango only cleanse for 2 weeks. I experienced great results from it. My tongue was quite heavily coated most of the time until the end when it finally cleared up. My skin became smoother, most of my candida issues cleared up, eyes brighter, reset my eating patterns (overeating) to a great degree. More energy afterwards and fatloss. My cleanse was inspired by Dr Doug and I have just purchased a consult with him! Today I finished my first ever water fast (broke it on way too much fruit!) But feel great.
Worked throughout and feel more energized and healed then ever!
Dougie Rocks! High Fruit Rocks! So does mono!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2007 10:53AM by Mangolover.

Very interesting thread! Please keep us updated on your perogress with mono eating, positive or negative. If it works tell us about it and do the same if it doesn't.

uma,

you're an inSpiration. how long do you wait between
mono meals and would you approximate an average size?

this morning i had my first sapote which was on the
discount (ie: perfectly ripe) shelf for .49 fitday
figured it (ONE sapote) to be the exact same calories
as my lunch yesterday of 7 fuji apples. altho it did
have 5 grms protien to only 1 gm from the apples.

the sapote was a fun experience but since i REALLY love
chewing, im sticking with the apples.

blessings on your mission

Wow, fruitgirl, where are you to be getting sapote in the US?

I was enjoying them very much in Costa Rica - I'd take a sapote for lunch over apples any day of the year. But I have to say (echoing something Uma said earlier I think) - apples don't really work for me. I can eat a couple, but can't really make a meal out of them - they give me a bit of discomfort.

love
Ela



seeing is freeing
hearing is clearing
feeling is healing

Mangolover: That is SO inspiring!! A 2 week mango cleanse? Hmmmm..... I might have to try something like that, sounds like fun! So, you let yourself eat mangos whenever you wanted.. did you find that you didn't overeat--that your body would tell you when it did or didn't want food?

Fruitgirl: so far in my playing with mono, I am trying to see if it's possible to actually start trusting my body more -- like not planning how long it'll be between meals, but let myself eat when i want food, just eating one thing till I don't want more of it, and not switching to a new food (which stimulates more appetite). I am loving the exploration! My mind keeps wanting to go back to the stimulation of mixed foods/variety, but my body keeps saying "hey, we feel better this way!!"

Thanks for all the support everybody.
Love,
Uma

I am definitely a mono person. That's how I preferred to eat when I was a child and, thank goodness, now I give myself permission to eat the way I want, which is one thing at a time.

Right now valencia oranges are in and it is so easy to make a meal of oranges. It's a beautiful thing because each one tastes unique. One might be more sugary, another more orangey, another more spicey or sweet like honey.

Another thing I like to do is make date syrup. I put a few fresh dates in a cup and add some water. Then I massage the dates into the water until the water gets sweet and syrupy. Then I drink or spoon the liquid into my mouth. Then I add more water and do it again until all the sweet is gone. I look forward to this every night lately.

Let's hear it for the mono people!



Love,
Julie