Because eating healthy is just way too mainstream, diet-goers and weight-loss gurus have found yet another diet promoting food salvation— this time in bananas. Also known as the Asa-Banana Diet, The Morning Banana Diet is founded in traditional chinese medicine, and has made its way from Japan to the U.S. in almost no time.
What Are The Rules?
The rules are relatively simple, cost-effective, and easy to incorporate into your lifestyle:
1) Eat a banana for breakfast. You can eat more than one if you're not fully satiated. You can only eat bananas in their raw form (not cooked or frozen). Wait 15-30 minutes, and if you're still hungry, you can have a snack.
2) Eat until you're about 80% full. This means eating until you're satiated but not stuffed with food, and requires mindful eating skills.
3) Drink only water. Sodas, milk, orange juice, etc, have to be eliminated from your diet. More specifically, the water has to be room-temperautre and should be consumed regularly throughout the day.
4) Dinner must be eaten by 8:00 PM. There are no food restrictions for lunch or dinner besides the fact that you cannot have dessert (fruit can be substituted as a dessert item).
5) Get adequate sleep. This diet suggests going to sleep before 12:00am, and getting anywhere between 7-9 hours of sleep. Chinese medicine has confirmed the close link between healthy eating and a good night's sleep (a.k.a it's super important).
It Seems So Simple, But Does It Actually Work?
The Pros:
1) This diet requires less effort than your typical diet, and you don't have to make any signicant lifes changes to partake.
2) Bananas are one of the cheapest items at the grocery store (less $.60 per pound).
3) Studies have shown that the more sleep you get, the less you'll give in to unhealthy foods and the more consious you'll be of the foods you're eating.
The Cons:
1) Dieting can promote unhealthy eating habits and can bring about mental health problems. Typically, dieting works only for the short-term (people end up gaining back the weight they lost).
While I don't recommend this diet in its entirety, parts of it promote healthy lifestyle changes. It's as easy as getting more sleep, drinking more water, eating more fruit (yay fiber) and less sugar, and being more consious of what you're putting into your body.