30 Bananas a Day!

Hi community, I have an inquiry about HCRV eating and I always get lots of great responses here when I post, thank you all so kindly.

My first issue is that I spend about six hours/day preparing and eating food. Here I have some samples of how I eat over a day (during this time of year, in Maine). I am a bit compulsive so I eat most things either 1, 2, or a dozen at a time. This hasn't really gotten in the way too much, in fact it often gets me to eat more, which I usually should.

Sample day 1: bkfst: 2l H2O, 12 oranges. lunch: 2l H2O, 12 apples. dinner: 1 pound spinach, 1 cucumber, 2 tomatoes

Day 2: bkfst: 2l H2O, 12 apples. lunch: 2l H2O, 1 pound dates. dinner: 1 pound lettuce, 1 cucumber, 1 medium head celery

Day 3: bkfst: 2l H2O, 12 oranges. lunch: 2l H2O, 12 bananas. dinner: 4oz blueberries, 1 pound arugula, 1 young coconut (water+fat)

It takes me a long time to eat all that food. It takes about 75 minutes for me to peel and eat 12 oranges, about 3 hours to eat 12 apples, around 2.5 hours to prepare and eat those salads, and about 60 minutes to eat a pound of dates, and maybe 65 minutes to eat 12 bananas. And about 20min to drink 2l H2O.

Thus we're looking at 5 hours at the very least spent preparing and eating food in day, but I can easily hit 7. That's a lot of time for someone looking to spend time meditating, lifting, stretching, reading and writing, and soon (I hope) to be working full time, and especially spending time with the people I love dearly. And oh yeah... sleeping.

I greatly prefer to eat everything whole. Also, I prefer to eat as juicy as possible, which is one reason there are so few dense fruits like dates listed up there. I guess what I'm looking for is some opinions on how long people think should be spent eating in a day, what you do to save time, or just some support in continuing to live this lifestyle. I FEEL SO AMAZING so I hesitate to look for quick solutions like incorporating dense, cooked foods like rice+potatoes. 

Also... I eat everything organic. I would just eat more dates since I can get hella more calories in less preparing+chewing time, but there are very few options for organic dates around here, and the sites I know of only ship dates during the good season. 

Remember if you eat massive salads you have to finish eating at least a couple hours before bed. Otherwise, you'll be digesting and not really sleeping. That puts more time strain on me, as I have to start thinking about dinner around 5. But I'm usually just barely finished digesting lunch at that point! I spend the beginning of the day doing yoga and in general don't get to breakfast until around 10. Not to mention, certain breakfasts take me a couple hours to eat, and then another hour or more to digest. That often puts lunch at around 2 or 3, which can put me eating lunch right up until dinner time starts! I live like a king right now because someone else is supporting me but it won't last forever.

By the way, I don't drink water before dinner because drinking it that close to bed time makes me pee all night, and I mean all night. Not that the salad doesn't already make me empty my life into the toilet in a big way...

Last issue but not least, I am easily hitting $250/week at the very least when I eat this way (lots of juiciness, huge salads, all organic, no wholesale markets for many hours around). This is fun while it lasts but... Frankly, it can't last. Not until I win the lottery at least ;) I'm in Maine now, but I am looking for a job in California (where I just graduated from college w/ a cognitive science bachelors), if anyone has any ideas for someone who aspires to be a wellness/weight loss/healing consultant.

You're all so beautiful and helpful, thanks for your ideas and support! 

Many thanks again and again to DR and Freelee... I owe plenty of my appearance and my divine experience to their advice and support over the years.


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One way to look at this is you are investing in you and your health and possibly saving money on medical bills or days lost in work, etc.  

For me, this diet actually simplified my life and my time in the kitchen.  I eat simple meals, but a rainbow of fruits over a period of time.  Most of my meals last about 20 minutes.  I understand in the beginning, you have to get used to chewing this volume of fruit and fiber.  However, with the passage of time, you will develop strong jaw muscle and bone, and your stomach will adjust to the volume of food.  

I usually drink outside of meals.  In the am, I get up and drink 3-4 cups of water, then get ready for the day, and then eat breakfast about 20-30 minutes later.  

When to eat for max life performance. « Durianrider's Blog

Breakfast might be 5-10 bananas right out of the peel and I chuck them away in about 10 minutes, and yes, I am chewing my food.  If properly ripened, bananas will melt in the mouth.  

Lunch will be oranges, and I peel while I eat, and depending on the size, 1/3-1/2 of an orange can be eaten at a time.  

4 pm is a snack of nuts.  

Dinner is 7 pm and starts with a lettuce greens.  I need about 1/2 of a head a day.  Some people need up to 2 heads a day.  Sometimes I just cut the head in half and chow it as it is no slicing dicing etc.  Other times I dress it up in a salad with something juicy like tomatoes.  

There are a few fruits like apples and berries that yes, take a long time to eat and or I cannot eat enough calories.  I just save those for snacks.  For your meals, eat calorie dense fruits like bananas or mangoes.  

I shop a lot at places like Costco, BJs, or Samsclub, and I watch sales. You can also check you local big city for any ethnic stores like Arab, Jewish, Mexican, or Korean for exotic fruits at good prices.  I am not sure why you are hitting 250 a week unless you are eating organics.   I might be between 250-300 a month, and I would expect if you are athletic and need more calories, to spend between 300-500 a month on conventional foods. 

Some of the foods you mentioned like kale are also difficult to chew and digest and are not necessarily recommended here.  Some of these foods are also high oxalate.  

For optimum results on our diet, you can read our articles from here:

Aloha to 30BaD's Welcome Wagon! - 30 Bananas a Day!

Good luck and Peace, PK

hi PK,

what excellent advice!! as for the $, i am indeed going all organic. I wonder what you think- how much benefit per dollar do you get for organic compared to conventional?

and... there is a walmart here, but no costco or anything like an ethnic store (i'm in downeast maine. here they eat lobsters and deer). I guess I can't complain about excess cost if I have the walmart option, but i guess the stigma of the chain really affects me.

i will start simultaneously peeling and eating. that will save me up to a half hour or so a day probably.

also- great idea about having the dense fruits for meals, and eating other less calorie-dense fruits for snacking supplements.

about eating kale- i actually didn't mention it. are you referring to the arugula or...?

thanks a million for sharing. i knew i could find some good ideas here!!!


I eat a lot of bananas, oranges, apples, and lettuce greens from my local Walmart.  Not necessarily everyday or week, rather if I need something from Walmart  I will pick up fruits I might be short on just to save some time.  My two favorite sources for fruit right now are my local Giant grocery store and my local Costco.  

It is up to you what you whether you choose organics or not.  I eat 100% conventional for several reasons.  One is budget of course.  But organic can have a lot of meanings, and you may want to research more where your organics are coming from.  Organics can get a lot of cross contamination from rain and wind at their source fields. And some farmers find loopholes to use products that are not defined as oraganic or otherwise. Also, almost all of them get sprayed by insecticides by their shippers and or the grocery stores that sell them.  I tried some organic products, but many times they smelled bad or were half rotten by the time I got them home and could eat them.  At this time, I just do not see any benefit in spending twice the money on something that may or may not be better.  

Yea, my bad on the kale thing, I think I meant to say spinach.  

Thank you for your kind words too and Peace, PK

I am getting such great ideas from you, thank you! I think I will be looking simply for higher quality fruits now as opposed to organic-only. Prime advice!

And I'm glad you mentioned that about spinach. I notice a BIG difference in digesting lettuce vs. spinach and I always attributed it to the 'potency' of spinach which I thought was a good thing, but maybe it's something to appreciate only in very mindful moderation. 


What some people do is buy conventional fruits that have thick peels or rinds like bananas, oranges, and melons.  They spend their organic dollars on the more tender and delicate foods like lettuce greens and berries.  This might be a compromise for your budget right now.  

Have you seen this blogpost on lettuce greens yet?  (verses the spinach kind of stuff)

30BaD FADs: Benefits of Lettuce Greens - 30 Bananas a Day!

Peace, PK

i was actually just reading that over due to your previous suggestions :) synchronicity :)

Turning meals into smoothies... say an orange/banana smoothie... shortens meal times considerably while simultaneously ingesting the number of calories we need :-)

definitely have more smoothies like banana/mango or dateorade, I only spend about 2 hours a day eating.. sometimes less.

12 apples in one go is impressive :O 

friends, i greatly appreciate the tips so far. i know my original post is lengthy, so i'll just reiterate one quick point- although i recognize smoothies as a quick and easy solution, i just intuitively don't want to blend things as much as possible. for me, smoothies are occasional treats. 

maybe i'm being too obsessed? i know DR and others do lots of smoothies but he and i are different people. if anyone does want to keep suggesting smoothies, please tell me more about how i am not losing any nutritional or other benefits of eating foods whole foods... (as in wholesome foods)

I'm going to take all of this advice, I can sense the middle road approach in this and it makes sense to me. I realize that I am usually reading or web-surfing or otherwise attached to a screen while I eat, and I can probably cut down time (as well as improve digestion!) by focusing on food. I think I do eat kind of slowly... I have always been that way, I'm always the last to finish my food when eating in groups. 

Thanks a million for your support!

Good topic! I eat alllll day. :-)

do you have to peel oranges?  I just cut them in quarters and bite out the fruit.  I usually get about 90% of the fruit inside in one bite.  I love oranges and I too did not like peeling them.  The people at work get freaked out when I'm hunched over my trash at work downing oranges but it's quick.

Like PK said it seems like 250 a week is a lot.  Some organic is really expensive I've seen.  I feel bad that you have to out that kind of cash to eat this way.  I'm sure you are getting some awesome stuff.

Also I've read dates will keep for months in a cool dry fridge.  You can buy a whole lot and have a nice little calorie war chest, that's what I did.

Also I admire your stance on smoothies.  We didn't evolve with Vitamixs and Blendtecs.  I do a smoothie a day though...haha, so I'm a hypocrite.



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