The Banana Diet! .....Say What???
Thought I'd heard of them all, but apparently Japan is in the midst of a banana shortage because of a crazy new diet called the Banana Diet. Bananas started flying off the shelves when Japanese Opera singer Kumiko Mori claimed to have lost 7 kilos on it. Once the weight loss claim of this famous Japanese star hit the airwaves, it started a banana buying frenzy.
Fad dieting seems to be big in Japan, and this is the most recent one to come down the pike. As a result, banana sales in Japan are up between 70 and 80% compared to last year.
Now, what I want to know is how the heck eating a banana is supposed to make you lose weight? I've been eating them all my life, and I haven't seen them do anything except kill my hunger for a couple hours. Hmmmmm..... maybe that's part of it.
According to the plan, you're supposed to start the day out with a banana and a glass of warm water, eat what you want for lunch and dinner, eliminate desserts, alcohol and sweets, and eat dinner by 8pm. It also recommends that you be in bed by midnight. According to those who follow the diet, exercise is optional.
Well, it sounds good at first, and then it doesn't. First of all, I know that fad dieting is one of the worst things you can do to lose weight. No matter what the diet, if it's not well balanced and giving you all the nutrients you need, you're going to end up making yourself ill, or you'll end up binge eating. Totally defeats the purpose. Secondly, any program that's telling you that you don't have to exercise is leading you down the wrong path. Being healthy includes exercising in some fashion or form. Sorry, but there's just no way around that. Once people get that one point alone, half of their weight loss issues will start to disappear.
Anyway, back to this crazy banana diet. Taking a closer look, this would be easy for me to test out. I eat bananas just about every morning already. The other things that go along with the rules of this diet just make sense, when you think about it. Cut out desserts, sugar and alcohol, eat your last meal by 8pm, and go to bed at a reasonable hour. There's no magic here. Just some basic rules that anyone who's trying to lose weight should follow anyway.
Now, the "eat anything you want" along with the bananas..... I'm not buying that.
You cannot just stuff your face with fatty food, go eat a banana, and then "poof", those extra calories disappear. Uh uh! No way! Not gonna happen!
Anyway, I'm curious. I'm gonna play with this banana diet for a few days and see if some pounds do just roll right off. If done following the basic rules, I'm thinking that at best, I should maintain the weight that I am right now. But if some major miracle happens, you bet I'll be back here to tell it!! ')
You can read the Time magazine article about the banana diet craze here: Banana Diet
24 comments:
Yeah it seems the no alcohol/desserts/sweets is more important than the actual bananas. Bananas are delicious though.
Hi Fitness Diva,
I love the title of your post. Especially the part Say What??? I was thinking the same thing. I really enjoyed your input on this post. I have to agree with you, you have to try to make healthy food choices and get some type of exercise in. I am curious as to hear how this goes for you. I like to eat bananas, I think I will get more of this fruit in my snacking. My husband works for Japanese people and most of them are all skinny. Thanks for sharing The Banana Diet with us. :-)
Remember the duct tape idea? Sounds far fetched to me. What a great marketing idea for the humble banana. At least everybody's buying them. Then again, it just may work. Anything is possible. Let us know. :-)
Thanks for stopping by, Stud, and welcome!
Thanks for the compliment, Robin!
Yes, I still don't see too many Japanese people with a weight problem (with the excetion of thoss sumo wrestlers....)
Wonder if it's something that we Americans have influenced, this fad dieting madness.
i think we can do that diet just by following the no alcohol sweets and deserts, or we can even choose not only bananas we can choose potato or sweet potato in that diet
Hmm, very interesting. I think the most important thing is we have to eliminate the sweets, alcohol and et cetera in our diet but I don't think banana is the key for losing weight.
Good luck with the banana diet! I do find that they are quite filling and keep my blood sugar pretty stable so that might be part of it.
How interesting!! I read something about this and they said that Japanese grocery stores keep running out of bananas because of this diet. CRAZY!
Hi Fitness Diva,
Perhaps the Japanese are going bananas over the impact of the financial crisis on their savings.:-)
Also, Japan is well known for its fad waves, some of which are really funny, others crazy, and some we could consider sexual harassment.
Anyway, I'll look forward to your better judgment on this. :-) --Durano, done!
Besides the no alcohol/deserts/sweets
maybe it has something to do with the high amount of fiber in the banana which helps curb the appetite and gives you that feeling of fullness (along with a warm glass of water...ugh...are you kidding me?)
I wouldn't think Japanese food is very high fat to begin with or that their portions are all that large. Maybe if they just needed to drop a few pounds it might work.
Well, that is interesting. I am giving away a juicer they could use with those bananas on my blog at www.thepost-itplace.com
Health Assistant, I think that's true. The article does mention eating potatoes somewhere in there!
I'm sure they don't mean french fries, though! :D
I agree, Raquel, I don't think it's just the banana. I bet you could substitute just about any food that's filling and fibrous like a banana, and get the same results.
Rachel, with me it will only last a few days! lol But we'll see. I like bananas anyway, so this is not a stretch for me.
Heidi, I wish I had bought some stock in Dole company. Dole Co in Japan is raking in the dough on these bananas right now!!!
Durano and lala....what's up with the Japanese and fads?? I swear, I have yet to see an epidemic of obese Japanese, or even Chinese, for that matter. Most that I see are slim and trim, size 2 or size 0. I guess these diets are just a challenge for them? Something to accomplish?
Hey, lala, from what I know and have eaten, most Japanese food is not fatty. As long as they keep the mayonnaise off of it!
I think that it's just a case of taking on America's obsession with being skinny. It's an import for Japan, just like McDonald's! ;)
Jillybean, thanks for stopping by!
I just might go for it....could use a juicer right about now! ;)
I thought I heard of all the fad diets. This one is really new to me and sounds like it's full of crap.
But I also saw a report said that eating a banana with empty stomach was very bad to health. So I never eat banana in the early morning before.
This is not related to this post but instead to you. You look amazingly, sexily, beautifuly, awesome! keep up the good work
Maybe Dole paid the famous girl to say she was on a banana diet. If I had enough money, maybe I'd pay Paris Hilton to say she loses weight by spending her time reading my comic instead of eating at Taco Bell... Shed the pounds, read Stud Kickass! :)
I did not realize the Japanese were having an obesity problem!
That's very interesting. I've never heard of that one. Although, there are so many "fad" diets out there. And half of them don't work. I'm curious about this one. Looking forward to reading about your results.
My colleague is doing what call is apple diet. She's been eating all types of apples for 3 days. Can you believe it? I wonder how long she'd last.
Banana Diet??? From my previous understanding, banana is full of carbohydrate and it will make me fat! I don't even like to touch it, and now Japan is on Banana Diet??? I can not believe it, let me know if you really loss weight!
I was a fruitarian for two years - like a vegetarian, only a fruitarian eats nothing but fruit. I was the healthiest I have ever been - but I did not lose any weight at all. (I guess I was already my ideal weight?) It just got too monotonous, though, and after two years, I'd had enough!
Great! Thanks for sharing informative post with all. And another thing I like and follow your fitness tips and tricks.
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