Hej guys,

I think I am gonna try 3 days of mono eating bananas. I might aim for a week, depending on how I feel, but I have never done this kind of thing before and I don't know what to expect.

Has anyone here done a banana fast before? What was the experience like? What should I be prepared for?
-thanks
xxpeisi

Why put your body thru a high dose of sugar for days?

hey there peisi....don't listen to negative thoughts from negative people....a banana fast is a great thing and just a few weeks ago a lot of people on this forum were on it and loving it....it helped a lot of people breakthrough some cravings and feelings..it is an amazing fast because it is a cheap and healthy organic way to get the results of a fast.....and if you love bananas and always think you can't have them this is the way to go to deplete cravings and wants!!! look up banana fasts in the search box and you should be able to pull up some posts on all the people on it...bryan had been suggesting it to a lot of people.....and everyone took him up on it...so good luck hun and do what your body is telling you!!!
love earth angel
xoxoxoxoxoxoxxo

Check out this thread that Uma started at Rawschool called "My banana week".

djatchi- high dose of sugar? I'm only planning on eating maybe 10 bananas a day. How much sugar do you eat every day?

Earthangel- thanks love!!
I feel pretty good about doing this fast. I even ate 4 bananas today just thinking about starting the banana fast tomorrow morning, so I think it will be good. I am going to aim for 7 days, eating maybe 10 bananas a day but if it starts to feel strange, I will take myself off it after 3 days.

Bryan- thanks again for the links, info and help! I see that you are an advocate of bananas. Any particular reason for that? I heard from a friend that bananas are actually an herb. Another raw friend of mine in Sweden tells me that bananas have no cleansing effect, and I wonder if this is true? Is it better to fast on citrus fruit?

Thanks again guys for the prompt replies!
Good on yah!!
xxpeisi

The "tree" is an herb, but the banana itself is still a fruit [www.askoxford.com].

-Erin
Raw Done Light
dogma-free RAW
Gazpacho For The Soul

hey Peisinoe i think its a kool idea, tho i couldnt do it i need more stuff lol, plus i cant go 2 the bathroom wen i eat those things...
2 much info haha
do u have a really huge banana craving?
i can see why youd wunna do it tho, all the creamybanananess mmmmmmmmm :]
thats awsome, good luck!:]]

hey fuzzy.....welll the banana fast isn't really from a craving it is another wway to fast and cleanse like the water fast or juice fast...when you eat mono (only one food at a time) then your body has more time to digest and fix and heal other things...so it is good to do this if you want to fast somehow...and banana's are a good way and they are also cheap so you don't spend too muhc if you are crunched for money!!!! oh and btw make sure your banana's are compltely ripe which means tehy have a lot of brown spots on the outside peel...or they are the banana's thrown in quick sale bins for being over ripe when really they are just ripe...then they are not as starchy and constipating they move right through!!!...or you can smash them in a bowl and eat them so it will digest or mix them in smoothies or other thigns!!
good luck hun
love earthangel
xoxoxoxoxoxox

Peisinoe
The main issue is not how many bananas, the issue is that you are eating nothing else to counterbalance the sugar in the bananas. I eat raw sugar from fruit but I eat a lot greens or drink green juice. You will get better result fasting on water alone.

Positive earthangel
Where is the evidence on your statements, just because Bryan said it. Can you think for yourself?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2007 11:04PM by djatchi.

well hi there djatchi...my evidence is in my own trial and experience on the banana fast i did myself.....i can think for myself and positive thoughts at that ...maybe you should try it.....i was letting her know that bryan had suggested it to others who had tried it and succeeded and loved it.....obviously you don't do mono eating or believe it in because eat just bananas is a mono thing as well...she never said she was going to do it forever just as a fast.... to help her body..........

so my evidence is within in my own experience that it worked great with my body...and as for you worrying about all those sugars in the body....don't be your body knows how to use them i have Type 1 diabetes and have to take insulin even though i am 100% raw...and while i was on my banana fast suprisingly ididn't have to worry about my blood sugar anymore then when i was eating all greens all day...it was stable...so you see i have personal experience in this ...and you just think because she isn't eating anything else the sugar is too high without having your own experience in it..
love earth angel
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Ok kids play nice in the sand box this is place to elevate and support not split hairs and devide now guys hug and be nice earthlings,
ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

i went 12 days on bananas and water.....felt amazing.....
averaged around 18 bananas a day...i am quite active...

totally helped me deal with cravings....feelings....it was so simple and i felt fresh all the way around....really i did not want other foods or feel like i was missing out....

make sure bananas are super ripe...like heavily freckled....no green on them whatsoever...otherwise they tend to back people up...i had wonderful elimination on while eating just bananas...even now at least once a week i ll spend the day eating only bananas and celery....love it...


there were NO sugar issues....at all....clear skin....no brain fog....i really rocked....hope it works for you

djatchi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


> green juice. You will get better result fasting on
> water alone.


what quantifies 'better results'?

people fast on juice because its easeful, they fast on mono-fruit becuase its more easeful and pleasurable. the fact that bananas are not so 'cleansing' would be a positive.

wow, I want to do this. Great post. I will try this. I need to try to get the body off of so many fats/combos.

I recently did almost 10 days of bananas. It really served me. I bet a juicier fruit would have been even more cleansing (less digestion work) but this level of cleansing was really perfect for me at this time. more than I had been experiencing on my regular diet, but less extreme than a water fast.

I was surprised to find that I needed to drink some water because the bananas were kind of dry for me. I sipped it with the meal but I guess I could've just waited until later and drank it if I was thirsty.

I had a lot of resistance at first but after 5 days I got into a groove and liked it more and more each day.

I am inspired now and am looking forward to the next mono diet I will do. Will it be bananas again? Grapes? Watermelon? Tomatoes? In the fall I'd love to do persimmons!

We talked a lot about mono diets in the recent Grape Cure thread and the Eating Lots of Citrus thread. And thanks Bryan for posting that link to my RawSchool discussion while I was on the bananas.

Have fun!

Love,
Uma

Fuzzysox that is a beautiful rose!
Love,
Uma

djatchi- hi there... I want you to know that earthangel is a good friend and valuable support to me on this forum, and I do not appreciate you posting on a thread I have started to be rude to her with the comment "can you think for yourself?". When you make mean statements like this, it makes it difficult for me to read what you are saying and take your advice seriously, as I don't warm up readily to rude people.

About the sugar- I chose bananas specifically because they will give me more energy. I am a mailman and I don't think I am fit enough to go for one week on grapes, watermelon, and certainly not just water without having a bad experience. This is my first time fasting, and the mildness of bananas is what I think is just right for this first experience. It doesn't hurt that naners are cheap either!

Water fasting to me is glorified anorexia. I don't mean to insult the people who swear by this, but at this point in my life, it is simply not for me. Maybe if I felt I was at a point that I was extremely toxic, I would consider this. But I am of good health and I do not want to shock my body. I feel (and this is personal choice) that the best thing for my body is to do things slowly and with ease. It took me over two years to make the transition to 95-99% raw, and it works for me.

I also don't understand what you mean by "counter-acting" the sugar? Do vegetables counteract sugar? Can you show me some studies on this because I have never heard about one food counteracting another. If that was the case, we could ask all the SAD eaters to eat broccoli before their hamburger and fries to make everything alright, eh? Seems strange to me.

Fuzzysocks- Before I was raw, I couldn't stand bananas, and now I love them! I began eating them when I craved things like doughnuts or pastries, and now I don't crave these things at all anymore! But as earthangel says, I am not just going mad on a banana frenzy. I am looking to do a mini-cleanse- not as abrasive as a fast. Just a sweet little mono-cleanse.

Meinleben and Uma- thanks for the tips! I have been eating very yellow organic bananas with "medium spottage" on them, not completely covered and brown, but not solid yellow either... It is hard for me to find organic bananas with lots and lots of spots on them, but I will look today.

Today is my first day and I have had 4 bananas so far... Not feeling any hunger pains or anything, but I have eaten all the bananas in my kitchen. I am gonna run down to the store to look for some more really ripe ones. I am not feeling a strange sugar kick, not feeling spacey or tired. I feel pretty good actually. My mouth is a bit dry and I have a hunch I will be needed to drink a lot of water during this banana experiment.

Do you think it would effect the cleanse if I drank mineral water? Perhaps I should stick to regular water, eh?

I am really excited about this fast and I feel good on it so far- most of the good feelings are the proudness I have for doing this for myself, and how sporadic it all was! I think I read one of Bryans posts and the thought just got stuck in my head. I went to the forest to sit in the sunshine with some friends, and one of them handed me a banana, called me a monkey or something, and it hit me! I am going to be a monkey for a week! (No, I am not mentally ill, just a bit strange sometimes).

I considered putting up my start and finishing weight, but as this isn't a real "fast", I don't think it is necessary. If anyone wants to know, I will share the information, but I am not doing this for, or expecting any weight loss.

Anyway, day 1 and everything is very good so far!
much love to you all,
xxpeisi

Peisinoe
Your positive friend was the first to write:

Quote

hey there peisi....don't listen to negative thoughts from negative people....

That is why I responded to her with those words. I have been on this forum for a year and my points have always been on the strengh of the argument or evidence. If your positive friend is insulting I will continue to respond to her in the same way.

From what I understood, you were being negative. You didn't show me any evidence that eating 10 bananas a day is high sugar and you presented yourself in a way that would give someone starting a fast a lot of insecurity- all this is negative. You didn't address me in the post or show any sign that you wanted a dialogue at all. I gather that your point was "it is wrong to do a banana fast" and you came across negatively. You carried yourself in the same way a negative person trying to disuade someone of doing something would. However, in her response, earthangel did not insult your intellect- which is what you did to her. Not only that, but in arguing with you, she was in fact thinking for herself.

If you want to respond to people in a negative way, please don't do it in my post. It brings me down. If you want to give me advice, I welcome it- but if you just bluntly question my choice and that is all, it isn't really productive for me. Or you either really.

That's all I have to say on that.
xxpeisi

Peisinoe wrote:

"I also don't understand what you mean by "counter-acting" the sugar? Do vegetables counteract sugar? Can you show me some studies on this because I have never heard about one food counteracting another. If that was the case, we could ask all the SAD eaters to eat broccoli before their hamburger and fries to make everything alright, eh? Seems strange to me."

Raw broccoli with a burger and frys couldn't hurt. The enzymes in the raw vegetable would help a little in the digestion of the other foods, but just a little. Obviously this is not an optimal way to eat, but the principle is good.

Foods taken together do balance one another out. A vegetable taken with a banana would help to slow the absorption of the sugars to the bloodstream, thus lowering the effective glycemic index of the banana to the body.

I'm not suggesting with djatchi that you do add vegetables in your banana fast, but I do agree in principle with what she is saying regarding foods "counteracting" the affects of other foods.

khale

Jaha! I didn't know that vegetables slowed down sugar absorption in the body!
Why didn't I know that?
Well, I guess I do now!

Thanks!
Heheh, see guys? This banana fast is teaching me stuff already!

Normally, I am more of a veg. person than a fruit person, but I think this might have been what caused me to eat lots of greens and fewer fruits, feel less satisfied because my sugar intake was too low and compensate with nuts and fats, which I thought would give me more energy. This reinforces my thoughts on exchanging the calories I've been getting from fats to eating more fruits instead.

xxpeisi

Peisinoe
I think Kale expressed very well the point I was trying to make.
As for your post, this is a public forum. Once you post something we all have the right to respond. I do not know where your friend met me and concluded that I was a negative person for suggesting that bananas loaded with sugar as they are are not the ideal food for a fast when no other low sugar fruit is taken with them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2007 12:31PM by djatchi.

I didn't demand that you not be rude in a public forum or tell you what to do. I didn't take away your right to respond.
I ASKED you to respect me enough not to be mean or say negative things without fully explaining yourself, because it is bringing me down.

I explained how you came across negatively at the beginning of this post, but based on other posts I have read of yours, that is just the type of person you are. It is up to you to focus and work on how you are coming across.

It is clear to me that you are stuck in a self-defense mode and what I am saying isn't really getting through to you, so... I am not gonna let it be my problem anymore. Respond as much as you wish, but I am no longer taking your input into consideration. I hope your raw lifestyle works out for you, as mine is definately working for me.

xxpeisi

My raw life style works. Just go for your fast and good luck

*Nudges her way into the argument*

This has nothing to do with what you're all fighting about and not a whole lot to do with bananas BUT:

When I was on the SAD, I had this whole theory about how if I ate too many cupcakes I could have potato chips to fix my health. The logic was salt cancels out sugar. So I proceeded to torture my body lots and lots because of it. Looking back on it though, it's still kind of funny.

I thought of this because of something djatchi said earlier, about having nothing to balance the sugar out...I realize it's different with raw foods. Totally different reasoning, it just jogged my memory.

Anyway, good luck with your banana fast! I like the mono concept lots and I don't think a few days of that sugar should harm you much. Though, bananas are high in sugar, so I wouldn't try living off of them! 3 days seems like a good, short time though...the benfit of the mono eating might outweigh the harm of the sugar especcially since you usually eat lots of veggies. :-)

Why a banana fast? Why not apples, or grapes, or...? I'm just curious. Is it because of certain nutrients they contain, or merely because they're cheap? I've heard bad things about bananas being hybridized and not a "real fruit," being that they don't have seeds anymore.

Also, I found the posts about eating only *ripe* bananas interesting. I've always had problems digesting bananas; they make me feel sluggish. However, 1) that's when I was eating cooked, and 2) I always ate them when they were still ever so slightly green. Maybe a banana fast (or at least trying to eat a single banana at its proper ripeness) would be worth a try?

djatchi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My raw life style works. Just go for your fast and
> good luck

dj, I often think there is some valid point that you are making, but the way it comes out does often seem unsupportive and based entirely on what works for YOU. I can even appreciate your frustration with the 'its all good' attitude sometimes flowing through this board and agree lots of viewpoints should be seen and heard. I agree that adding greens would stablize sugar, even people like Bryan etc... has stated that adding celery with bananas, dates etc...will help with this 'problem'

however, Is there danger in this 'unstable sugar' causing harm to the person during a short fast? Maybe thats a good place to share your opinion.

In my opinion it isn't and would be far more easeful and even less harmful than a water fast, especially since she has claimed she wishes to continue with her daily activities, which would negate the 'superiority' of a water fast. It seems she wants energy to continue with her day but wants to leave out alot of the other stuff and get a feel for how much energy she requires. do you have a suggestion for that?

UPDATE:

Holy hell!
I was doing fine until about 6 pm today, and then BLAM! I have a mean headache. Can a detox come this soon? I really feel ill. With the fast I was expecting detox, but I think I am too wimpy to handle this while working.

Also, the thought of eating one more banana at this point is making me extremely nautious.

I am most likely going to stop the fast tomorrow morning at breakfast. I miss my veggies and in conclusion:

I am not a happy monkey.

I am going to lay down and "enjoy" the rest of the hours of the day, and we'll see how I feel in the morning.

xxpeisi

Peisinoe,

A headache happens when the body is removing poisons out of the body. When the toxin level is high in the bloodstream because of an ongoing detoxification, the blood vessels in the head contract and this causes pain in the head. If you lie down and rest for a while, the pain will eventually go away. To stop the cleanse while your body is in the height of the cleanse is a bit of waste of effort in my opinion.

Maybe telling things the way they are seem unsupportive. In most cases our minds are already made up on what we want to do and we come to this board and post a message looking for peers to support our views, to confirm it, they become our friends. Others with different views are not supportive and labelled negative.

Evidence and common sense should be our guide. Bananas are a poor choice for a fast because they are starch and sugar making them difficult to digest. For people with good disgestion it may not be a problem but for many it may create a disconfort when the main purpose of a fast is to cleanse the body. If sombody wants a sweet fruit for a fast then there are many to choose from including oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes. We live in a society where we are already eating too much so not eating for a few days and fasting on fruit juice will not lower our energy level.