Someday Isle is an imaginary futuristic place where people go who likely will not achieve this, that, or their next stated goal. Banana Island, on the other hand, is a place where much is accomplished. For the past twenty-five years, I’ve been leading tours through two very different experiences, each named (admittedly somewhat confusingly) Banana Island.

Out of the popularity of these two experiences was born a third foray into mono eating, also named Banana Island. For the sake of clarity, we can refer to these three unique experiences, each appropriately called Banana Island, as Banana Island Guided, Banana Island Retreat, and Banana Island Solo.

Going Solo to Banana Island

Many people have heard of my various excursions onto Banana Island. When I first went there, in the 1980’s, it was to help myself overcome

various dysfunctional emotional relationships with my food.

I hoped that by eating solely bananas for a period of time, (usually a week, but not always,) that I could break free from some of my food addictions, and overcome some of my negative eating habits. Most notably, on cooked food, and to a lesser extent on raw, I often found myself over-eating, frequently to the point of experiencing discomfort, and sometimes till I was actually in pain.

By removing the stimulation that accompanies variety, I found myself far less prone to ever overeat. Once I had experienced satiation without pain, I discovered that I could successfully carry that skill into my regular eating patterns.

To my great surprise, I accrued many other benefits from my Banana Island experiences. I began making subsequent trips to Banana Island for different reasons, including to gain a different perspective on the importance of food, to help my body heal when I didn’t feel “right,” to ease food planning at the beginning or end of trips, and even for financial considerations.

The mono program serves many functions:
By eating solely bananas, or any other one fruit, a baseline attitude towards food and eating is discovered. Your baseline calorie needs can also be assessed, though not as obviously as it might appear on the surface, for various mineral changes within the body will affect the amount of water carried.

No better approach to getting in touch with your true hunger exists than Banana Island. The feedback obtained after every meal on Banana Island is irrefutable, and provides a huge impetus for personal growth.

The Banana Island experience helps you get free of a variety of addictions.

By simply committing to Banana Island, and following through on that commitment, you cease participation in a variety of potentially addictive habits, such as coffee, alcohol, grains, and possibly even tobacco. Quitting cold turkey has been clearly demonstrated to be among the most effective of all behavior changing approaches.

When you minimize taste sensations, such as is done on Banana Island, your taste buds’ sensitivity heightens. Strong flavors, irritants, salt, and other powerful flavors often result in a dulling of the taste sensation, and a reduction in enjoyment when eating.

Banana Island changes your relationship with food, and with yourself. You will never look at food in the same way once you have spent some time on Banana Island. Your appreciation of the mere fact of having choices of food, its flavors and textures, and all of the variety provided by nature increases dramatically. You heighten your awareness and ability to treat your body like the temple it truly is, and to be kind and loving towards yourself.

Of course, spending time on Banana Island makes eating raw really simple and very easy, and also shows you how little preparation is really required from raw foods.

One very effective way to limit variables, usually known as an “elimination diet” is to visit Banana Island. The information gained will give you a better picture of what is going on with you in terms of signs, symptoms, and feelings.

Eating mono meals of ripe bananas is relatively easy on your digestive system, and allows your system a chance to have a rest and to regulate itself.

If you really want to find out just how serious you are in your desires to eat healthfully, a solo visit to Banana Island will prove quite enlightening.

I also found that there could be negative interpretations to my Banana Island visits.

Issues such as developing an “all or nothing” approach to eating, questions about over and under-eating, opportunities for emotional self sabotage, and psychological uncertainty relating to the question, “How then should humans truly eat,” each took their respective turns in the queue of the mind games I played while learning to gain confidence in my food decisions.

Self Help Item: See the Making Friends With Your Food program

Many people start Banana Island Solo and don’t make it through the first day. Without support and guidance, their confidence lags, fears overwhelm, addictions call, and motivation dissipates. Many others find that without ongoing education through their Banana Island Solo experience, they simply go back to their old ways after leaving the island.

Related Article: Monomeals by Neda Guiv an 80/10/10 CLC Student

Related Article: Fruit Feast, The Original Monomeal by Janie Gardener

Learning as a Group at the Banana Island Retreat

FoodnSport offers an annual retreat known as Banana Island, which provides all of what is garnered from Banana Island Solo, plus so much more.

While people mention gaining many benefits from their visit to Banana Island, the focus of the retreat is to help each attendee gain emotional poise. The goal is achieved through specific use of exercise, lectures, workshops, and discussions that challenge and foster emotional grace.

Every meal is a “show and tell,” and features bananas, but is not limited solely to bananas. Meals almost always include optional greens such as lettuce, cucumber, and celery, and sometimes include other compatible fruits, such as dates, figs, mango, apple.

Ambiance at mealtimes is as important as the meal itself, so attention is paid to lighting, music, temperature, decorations, table settings, and much more.

Immersion into the Banana Island Retreat experience provides fantastic group support, a sense of safety, and great motivation. Discussions on goal setting,
our reasons for eating well, overcoming challenging situations, emotional release techniques, letting go of attachments, and many other topics that support personal growth.

Evening presentations are designed to foster the development of community, family, and personal friendships. Many “best friends” have been discovered at the Banana Island Retreat.

Even the fitness classes are designed to create friendships, build teams, and provide mutual support, while challenging each individual to raise his/her personal expectations, to dig deep, and to develop a higher standard of performance, all while emphasizing the critical importance of having fun while developing a playful attitude towards activity and exercise.

The Banana Island Retreat provides an opportunity and creates a space for quantum leaps of personal growth. Many attendees have said that their Banana Island Retreat was the most powerful and most meaningful experience of their lives.

Emotional eating, disordered eating, eating and exercising for weight management, body sculpting, and many other topics are covered in depth at FoodnSport’s Banana Island Retreat.

Banana Island Tailored for YOU

For some, the timing of our Banana Island Retreat isn’t ideal, or they may prefer the privacy and comfort of staying home for their Banana Island experience, but still want the benefits of having a coach. I offer private daily email coaching through and beyond Banana Island, coaching that often lasts for a month or longer.

Typically, the Banana Island Guided program is designed as a step towards helping people successfully overcome negative eating habits, while the continued coaching is geared towards helping them succeed with 80/10/10.

The success rate is phenomenal. Daily email exchanges, goal setting practices, personal development drills, and a variety of personal accounting procedures are covered via relaxed and convenient conversations. The most common feedback from Guided clients is that the Guided program is the most direct, easiest, and most successful route for getting onto and staying on 80/10/10. Personal coaching brings results like no other program possibly can.

The beauty of the program is its flexibility. Individualized, custom coaching is added to the framework of the Banana Island Guided program, resulting in the best of all possible worlds. With a focus solely on successful results, the stumbling blocks become learning experiences, the day to day practice is perceived as just that, practice, and not judgment, and encouragement is the rule of every day. For the best of the best, personal coaching with the Banana Island Guided program will get you onto the 80/10/10 diet, and help you stay there, like nothing else can.

Whether you choose Banana Island Solo, a Banana Island Retreat, or our Banana Island Guided experience is totally up to you. Many people attend more than one Banana Island experience, because each serves a different purpose, and also because they enjoy the Banana Island experience.

Whichever you choose, I wish you a wonderful and meaningful visit to Banana Island, and hope you achieve all you hope for and more while you are on The Island.