Category : 811rv While Dining Out

Day 53: Mass Update + Trips to China and “Banana Island”

Well I’m back from China, but I’m about to head off again – this time to Banana Island.

First, how am I doing?  Well, so far still no sugar and no alcohol!  However, my diet was a lot more slack than I’d like while on vacation.

Here’s a mass update …

The week before I left to China:  90% 811rv (80/10/10 raw vegan), 10% McDougall style (low-fat cooked vegan).

While in China:  1/3 811rv, 1/3 cooked vegan (not low fat), 1/3 whatever was on the plate in front of me (with no sugar and no alcohol, of course).

I’ve lived up to my commitment.  Yay?  Hell no … I’m an overachiever.  I have failed the extra-credit assignment of eating 811rv.  So, I am putting myself on self-imposed exile to Banana Island for at least the next two weeks.

Banana Island is not a place, but a way of eating.  According to Dr. Graham, it is the most safe and effective way to cleanse the body known to man.  It’s really simple.  All you have to do is eat only bananas for the proscribed period of time.  Apparently many people have done it for months and have only benefits to show for it.

But Banana Island (AKA “Mono-Fruit Island” as you can do it with almost any fruit) is deceptively simple.  There are many ways it can go wrong.  As I understand it (and I’m not an expert on any of this stuff yet, so do your own research), the common pitfalls are …

  • not eating enough (as with standard 811rv, it’s easy to under-feed which leads to binging)
  • eating unripe bananas (unripe bananas don’t provide enough nutrition which also leads to binging)
  • not drinking enough water (you’ll be detoxing hard so your system needs more water to dump all the junk … as always, drink enough to ensure your urine is clear)

Why two weeks?  Well, the standard is 7 days, but I’ll have a few minor interruptions.  I travel to L.A. this weekend and then NYC the following weekend.  I’ll be doing Banana Island during the trip as much as I can, but I’ll surely have a few meals with friends where this will be tough.  So, I’m going to allow myself a total of 4 cooked vegan meals during those two trips.

My biggest challenges will surely be resisting the Korean BBQ in L.A. and the pizza in NYC.  I won’t be eating either.  While my friends are eating Korean BBQ I’ll eat some vegan bibimbap and vegan panchan.   While my friends are eating New York pizza, I’ll be pretending that I’m morally superior on the outside, but secretly jones-ing for pizza on the inside.