The newest diet craze to hit the world is bananas. Literally. The Morning Banana diet has become so popular in Japan that it has caused a nationwide banana shortage and a media frenzy.
Created by Hitoshi and Sumiko Watanabe, and promoted on the social networking site mixi, the Morning Banana Diet has taken on a life of its own. Hitoshi, who studied preventative medicine in Tokyo and his wife, who is a pharmacist, introduced the diet to the world and have not looked back since. The Morning Banana diet has caused such a craze among Japan's youth, that supermarkets have been reporting banana shortages throughout the nation.
The Diet
Following the morning banana diet is easy. Almost too easy. However, many in Japan are experiencing fairly rapid weight loss furthering the diet's legend.
Breakfast
For breakfast, you should eat one or more bananas and drink a glass of lukewarm water. You can have as many bananas as you like until you are full. The reason for the water to be lukewarm is not known and has come under much speculation on the Internet. Most diets suggest that you can burn more calories by drinking cold water.
Lunch
Here comes the easy part. Lunch can be just about anything you like. This diet places no restrictions on what you can or cannot eat.
Snack
With the Morning Banana Diet, you can eat one snack around 3:00 pm if you are hungry.
Dinner
Dinner can be anything you like as long as you eat before 8:00 pm. Avoid ice cream and other dairy products, as well as dessert after dinner.
Other
One other rule of the diet is that you must go to bed before midnight each and every night. This makes sense because studies have shown that a lack of sleep leads to obesity.
One of the primary reasons this diet works is that bananas aid in digestion and improve metabolism. The diet has received much attention in Japan and that attention is beginning to make its way over to the United States.
Makino Publishing Ltd has been featuring the diet in its monthly magazine Sokai. The feedback they received has prompted them to run more feature articles on the diet each month. The company has also produced a book called "Asa (morning) Banana Diet' by the Watanabes . It has been a huge hit, selling 230,000 copies so far, with many more projected for this year. Meanwhile, Japan has been considering several solutions to deal with the country's banana shortage.
Jennifer Brister - I am a freelance writer currently located in Northeast Louisiana. My interests include music, love and theoretical physics. I have been ...
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