Breakfast, lunch, dinner melon - What is a mono diet?
In this context, the word 'mono' stands for eating just one fruit only. This term is used for 'mono meals' like eating a big portion of just peaches for lunch or munching on mangos for breakfast. When you talk of a 'mono diet', this often means eating a certain fruit for a longer period of time. There are people that went on grapes only for several weeks, and Anne Osborne even did a mono diet of melons for 6 months. Can you imagine? So why would someone commit to such a simple diet instead of munching on all the delicious delights the fruit and veggie world has to offer?
Mono mealing for power healing - The detox effect
Most of our daily energy goes into the work of our digestive system which means that less energy is available for the detoxification and regeneration processes taking place in our organism all the time. A temporary mono diet boosts your body’s detox, since it has more energy to get rid of toxins that we ingested with a poor diet, pharmaceutical drugs and vaccinations, alcohol, pesticides, heavy metal residues (for example from the amalgam fillings in your teeth), chemical substances in our cosmetic products or others.
So although you might feel fit and healthy, a mono fruit diet like a melon island can help you to expel some unwanted toxins that might harm your body in the long run. In today’s society it is pretty impossible to stay away from any toxins within your environment, so everybody can regularly benefit from a proper cleanse of their system.
What kept me going - Healing the body, mind and soul
I did a watermelon island for the duration of 5 and after a little break even 10 days a few weeks ago. Besides cleaning up in my body, on the first melon island I was hoping to loose some stored fat and accumulated water in my body and to improve my skin. And I can proudly say that both was accomplished during this melon feast - I not only lost about 1,5kg, my skin especially in my face became so clear and smooth. Before the mono diet, I had some digestive issues which quickly resolved after two days on melons only. Apart from that, my mind was more focused, I had a greater ability to concentrate and my meditations became deeper.
The second island was meant to enhance my overall health on the long run and it definitely proved to have cleansed my body on a deeper level, since the detox symptoms were much stronger. I can not really say if my health has improved through that, since it was just one step within a longer journey for a more vibrant health. But it certainly taught me to better understand my body and find comfort in the discomfort - a good foundation for the other detox regimes that I am planning to experiment with in the upcoming months such as other mono diets, intermittent dry-fasting and water fasting.
Your fruity path to success - How to start
Of course, if you have never even tried to eat one meal of just a certain fruit, this might sound absolutely bananas to you. But every transition to a different lifestyle is a journey of many little steps. Every great surfer also had to learn how to swim in the beginning. As well as jumping into the waves as a toddler head first, a spontaneous dive into a mono diet can be too hard on your body. Therefore you might want to prepare properly by eating a healthier diet beforehand. That means avoiding meat, diary, nicotine, alcohol and other drugs for maybe four weeks and then switch to raw foods and veggies for two weeks before starting your monodiet.
Sounds pretty harsh to you? Well, a healthy and vibrant lifestyle is something we have to earn and our body will definitely thank us for every little step towards a more nourishing way of treating it. Alternatively to a full mono diet, you can also first start with mono meals for breakfast only and incorporate a mono lunch after some days or weeks if you feel good with that. Try to listen to your body and if it does not feel right you can still switch back to other foods. If you are coming from a diet or lots of processed foods, meat and dairy you might want to just check out Steemit accounts like Ishappy, Amy Goodrich or Healthy Food for some inspiration towards a healthier diet for preparing your mono island. If you jump onto the raw food train later in your journey, browse through my own recipe posts to get an appetite for this new world of eating.
Enjoying the ride - A roadmap for your melon trip
It’s not that complicated in the end, just eat as much watermelon as you like. Don’t overeat and don’t go hungry - that is pretty much the best advice for any sustainable diet you might follow. In the beginning, you might struggle with consuming enough food since melons are low in calories and your stomach is not used to such great amounts of food. But it adapts quickly and you will soon be able to eat as much as you need to keep your energy levels high. To get an idea of the meal sizes I ate - about 3 melons landed in my tummy daily, each weighting on average 3-4kg. But everyone is different in that regard and you have to listen what your body is telling you.
For choosing the perfect watermelons you want to be picky. Only ripe fruit is as nutritious, easy to digest and mouth-watering as it should be. Don’t settle for less. Check out this post for learning how to choose the ripest, sweetest and juiciest watermelons.
Stormy weather on melon island - How to deal with challenges
Of course, if your body gets the change it really starts to clean up. And it will show you naturally when you need to rest a little more. Symptoms that you could face on several detox regimes might be fatigue, nausea, digestive issues or finding yourself in an unusual emotional state. Don’t be afraid of that, embrace the fact that your body is working for you to become more energetic, vibrant and healthy. Take some time for yourself, engage in activities you like such as reading a great book, doing some gentle yoga or watching a joyful movie. And of course, if your symptoms should worsen you can ship off the melon island back to the mainland any time by eating other fruits again (continue reading to learn about a successful transition back) and the detox processes will slow down.
You can also support your body in its cleansing processes with some powerful herbs like licorice root, milk thistle, slippery elm, burdock root, chaga and Siberian ginseng - in form of teas, powders or capsules. This might ease uncomfortable detox symptoms and make the whole journey a little easier for you.
Between enjoyable journey and tough ride - My own detox symptoms
My own experiences where totally mixed. On the 5 day melon island I felt some nausea and fatigue now and then, but it was totally manageable and I just try to listen to my body and its needs - sometimes this was movement, other times resting and relaxing.
The 10 day experiment was a little tougher and I had to fight with more uncomfortable detox symptoms, some days less and some more intense. These included pain in my joints for a few days, weakness, dizziness, strong emotions, nervousness, unpleasant body odor and expelling excessive mucus through my stool. This might sound a bit gross and also intimidating to some of you, but it might help to deal with the uneases you might face during your own detox journey. I knew beforehand what symptoms could arise and tried to embrace the discomfort as my body’s sign for expelling the toxins and starting to heal.
Final countdown - The importance of ending it right
Breaking a watermelon island in the right way is very important for your wellbeing. If you introduce hard to digest foods right after eating just melons your body will be overwhelmed and might give you a stomachache or digestive problems as a payback. So be gentle with yourself and slowly add other fruits like mangos, peaches or bananas into your meals, until you then try green salads with avocado or some slighty cooked veggies after a few days of transitioning. You will be so thrilled to feel how your taste buds became more sensitive through this melon journey and everything will taste like a delicious firework in your mouth. Some people even experience a loss of cravings for refined sugar, fast-food, salt, nicotine or other addictive substances - a cleanse can have such astonishing results!
I hope I could stir up some curiosity for embarking on your own detox journey and support your body in reaching its full health potential. Maybe I even inspired some of you to experiment with their own cleansing melon island. Nevertheless, be kind to your body and remember that any small step in the right direction makes a difference to your wellbeing!
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Have a wonderful day and a fruitful journey ahead!
Yours, Anais
Nomadic adventuress since 2018 | Raw foodie | Health enthusiast | Minimalist | Freedom seeker | Passionate believer in a life full of bliss.
🍓Hungry for more healthy nuggets? Check out my other raw vegan posts:
- Taste the Paradise - Explore Bali’s Raw Cuisine
- Green Coconut Smoothie - Tropical Vibes Included
- Avocado Gone Nuts - Raw Cake for Adventurers
- Zucchini Noodles with Avocado-Mango Sauce
🗺 Time for some adventures - follow me around the world:
- Roadtrip Through Bali - Between Beaches and Rice Fields
- Tropical Fruit Hunting in Kuala Lumpur - Chow Kit Market
- Hiking Under the Stars - Volcano Sunrise Trek in Bali
- Off the Beaten Path in Hpa-An - Discovering Myanmar's Beauty
🌟Let me inspire you to explore your full potential, with these lifestyle stories:
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Disclaimer: I am not a registered dietitian, doctor or trained detox expert. My goal is to share my knowledge from conclusive research and personal experiences to inspire you on your own raw adventure. I do not give medical advice and am not liable for any negative consequences you might face by following any information from this post - even if it is too much energy from a newly gained vibrant health and no idea how to deal with it. Always do your individual research when it comes to your precious health, it is absolutely worth the extra effort!
Did you get sick of eating watermelon? Did you also take a multivitamin and minerals while doing the detox? I've read about people doing a potato diet for 6 months and losing a ton of weight, but never with melons. I've interested in doing a 4-day water fast. Are you considering doing something like that?
Oh yes, in the beginning I was struggling with eating just melons and was definitely craving other foods, but after a few days I stared to love them and it was a shame that I had to end it, because I moved to a different place where there were no good melons around - great produce is the key to success on a mono diet!
I did took some herbs to support the detox process and strengthen my body - milk thistle for the liver, a herb mixture for my colon and kidneys as well as drinking chaga tea with licorice root, ashwagandha and Siberian ginseng daily for supporting my adrenals.
Well, about the water fasting - If you have no experiences yet with such detox regimes, you might want to consider doing a mono diet or just fruits for a certain time instead. Water fasting can be very powerful in healing but is also a very strong detox for the body, not suitable for every state of health. I myself am also planning to do a water fast, but right now I am still preparing my body for this with several mono diets, intermittent fasting and other detox regimes.
Let me know how your own detox journey goes and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions 💚 Have a great day!
I like thise
Thank you, @reemy 😊
Wow, what an informative and interesting post, and it's actually tempting me to try! I've never done a mono diet before, it's never even occurred to me, but I see the benefits and am curious now. I've bookmarked it so I can re-read and refer to it when I try it myself... I think I'm really going to! Thank you!
Thank you, that is so great to hear! 🤗 It can be a lot of fun experimenting with these kind of things and you definitely learn a lot about yourself during such detox regimes. On top, I‘ve heard about many people achieving unbelievable healing during their mono diets - it can be quite a powerful tool for more health! Let me know if you need any more input, I am happy to help 😉
Thank you, I definitely want to learn more about the benefits of mono diets, and what it could do for me. I wonder if it would have any kind of positive impact upon fibromayalgia symptoms... would you know anything about this? Just recently I am so stiff and achey, but my diet hasn't changed, and am curious if a mono-diet-detox then re-introducing foods gradually might be a good way to figure out if something in my diet is the culprit. Am willing to try as my body drives me crazy when it feels like this!!!
There is a study from Helsinki conducted in 2000 showing that a raw vegan diet can have tremendous effects on the reduction of fibromyalgia symptoms. See the summary of their results by Dr. Gregor here and here .
I can also recommend this YouTube video where Dr. Morse explains why raw fruits and veggie have such positiv benefits like in the study shown above, since acidosis (acid-alkaline imbalance) is causing the fibromyalgia.
Mono diets are a great tool for regaining this balance, especially in combination with certain herbs to support your body in its detox processes. But in the long run, a balanced alkaline-based diet is the key to an overall healthy body and mind.
Another valuable resource for learning more about fibromyalgia is Anthony William, who goes deeper into the cause of health conditions like yours. This article gives a short overview of the underlying cause for fibromyalgia and guides you through his vast amount of resources for healing methods on his blog and podcast. I can also highly recommend his books.
Of course, I don’t know your whole background and how your current diet looks like, but it is always a good idea to transition slowly into a mono diet so that the detox does not hit your body too hard. You might want to get rid of diary and all other animal products first as well as refined sugar, oils, salt, gluten, coffee and of course alcohol and nicotine.
Let me know if you have any more questions, I am happy to support you on your healing journey. All the best for you 💚
Thanks for such a detailed response, and so much info to look at, I'm very grateful!!! Perhaps instinctively I recently started reducing my dairy intake, which wasn't that much really, but I read someone else saying even a small amount can have a surprising effect. Coffee would be something I'd find hard to give up, since I quit smoking 3 years ago I still miss it and caffeine has been the substitute! But I'm definitely at the point where I'm willing to make changes in order to be comfortable in my own body :-) Now I will go off and check out all this info, and many thanks again, I really appreciate the advice and support! x
I am happy to help! It is such a blessing that so much great and supportive information is out there for free, we just have to find which is useful for our situation.
That sounds great, every little step in the right direction is part of making a change for the better 💚
It just occurred to me that the mushroom teas from Foursigmatic might help you to get rid of your daily coffee. I am currently drinking the chaga elixir every day for health reasons and for me, it tastes exactly like coffee. I never liked coffee, so it is not a great pleasure for my taste buds, but you might love it 😁 I am not sure if the other varieties taste similar, but it is worth a shot. On top, they all have super powerful healing properties.
That sounds interesting... I will look into it. Thank you! :-)
@rawadventuress, That would be perfect blog sharing to steemit. Your blog has advantage contents to follow. You tell true words. Eat fruits has more benefits than eat meats.
Thank you, @madushanka - that means a lot to me! Especially in the health and wellbeing area honesty is so important for supporting other people in their own journey towards a more vibrant health.
And fruit is the number one healing food when it comes to a number of diseases. Meat definitely does not belong into the healthy corner, so true.
Have a good start into the week!
Hi rawadventuress,
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This is amazing! Love your energy and words! I love mono fruit fasts! Gotta do one sooon
Thank you @stefunniy!
I was thinking about a rambutan mono diet lately, since they are so super delicious here in Malaysia and have also a high water content, are high in antioxidants and all in all packed with nutrients. But I just moved to a new part of town and can't get my hands on them here 🙈
Let me know how your mono island will turn out, happy to hear from you 😉
This melon detox sounds interesting, and I love how you call it a melon island. :-) Do you choose just one type of melon or will eating a variety of melons work just as well?
Thank you! I actually prefer watermelon since it has the highest water content which helps to stay hydrated and on top it contains many nutrients that support the detox processes.
But if it helps to stay on track, you can definitely include other varieties as well or choose a different kind of melon altogether, especially if you might not be a big watermelon fan. 😉
Have a great weekend! 💚
Thanks! I'm going to try this out soon. Perhaps I'll post about it later.
Wow, amazing, I just found your post when I think about the watermelon diet. Will 2 - 3 days of such a mono diet give any effect?
A useful article, thank you!!
Great experience and advice Sweetie.............congratulations to your big upvote 🍒 🍌🍑🌿🍍🍓🍇
Thank you, Lena! It is so exciting for me to experiments with such detox regimes - I am already curious to start my next detox adventure soon 😊
You are most welcome Sweetie and all thd best with your next one 🍉💚🍉
Thank you! That card is awesome, by the way, so true 😄
Sometimes the truth is too simple to believe! You are most welcome. By the way watermelon is my most favorite fruit! Love it!
Well, then I hope you have access to good ones, so that you can make use of this powerful fruit! 💚
I was just looking up different gut detoxes today. I found one that was a 3 day jumpstart and seemed quite feasible to achieve. This mono-melon detox is pretty fascinating though. I may have to come back to this.
Sounds great, what does the detox consist of? I find mono meals quite pleasant since you don't have to turn your back to solid foods and can still reap a lot of benefits from this regime. A grape mono diet should give you the most intense detoxification, I will try this in a few months when I am in Australia ☺️
The one I found is specifically for cleansing/detoxing the gut. It’s consists of 3 days drinking a prebiotic shake like spinach, berries, kale, apple cider vinegar, plant protein… followed by a probiotic. Afternoon: Berberine, l-glutamine and light lunch like melons or veggies. Dinner veggies with grain and take a multi-enzyme before each meal, a magnesium before bed and lots of water and lemon water.
I think your melon cleanse sounds great too but maybe a little too ambitious for me just yet. I eat pretty well but know that my gut needs a reset.