Bananamania has gripped Japan. The banana craze started in March with the publication of the Morning Banana Diet by a pharmacist in Osaka which claimed that consuming only bananas and room temperature water for breakfast fuelled weight loss regardless of what was eaten during the rest of the day.
Supermarkets in Tokyo and Osaka have reported that sales of bananas have increased as much as 70% with some stores completely sold-out of bananas by early afternoon. “It’s the first time bananas have been quite so scarce,” a spokesman for Dole Japan Company, the largest banana importer in the country, told Japanese media.
The bottom line is to have a banana for breakfast. Here are the basic rules:
Have a banana for breakfast
* You can have more than one, but only if you really feel the need
* Eat only raw, uncooked, unfrozen bananas. You can’t have milk, coffee, yogurt or anything else with it
Have anything you want for lunch and dinner
* You must have already eaten your dinner by 8 p.m. (6 p.m. is the ideal time to have dinner)
* There are no limits on the amount of food you can eat, you can also have fried food
* You must not eat sweets before and after your meals
Drink only water
* The only beverage allowed for almost all your meals is water, it is better if it is mineral or filtered
* Water must be at room temperature, not chilled, or hot
* Water should be taken in small sips and must not be used to wash down food
* There is no quota of water to drink, but you should not drink it excessively
* On social occasions you may drink beer or wine
Eat your food slowly
* Chew your banana and your food thoroughly and be mindful of its taste
You may have an afternoon snack
* At around 3 p.m. you may eat a sweet snack (chocolate, cookies or a similar snack)
* Ice cream, donuts and potato chips are not recommended
* You could have fresh fruit for your snack, but if you really want a sweet you should have it
* Some Japanese eat a filling, fist-sized rice ball (onigiri) instead of their afternoon sweet if they are particulary hungry
* If you are still hungry, after dinner you may have a second snack of fresh fruit, but this should not become a habit
Go to bed by midnight
* If possible, go to bed earlier
Exercise only if you desire
* Put no pressure on yourself to exercise
* If you want to exercise, go ahead, but do only what doesn’t stress you
Keep a Banana Morning Diet journal
* Because the Morning Banana Diet was developed on the internet, many Japanese that succeeded on losing weight naturally documented their daily food intake and progress online via blogs, forums, or social networking services, and they felt this gave them extra support.
Legislators in the Philippines are lobbying for their growers to produce and export more bananas to help replenish dwindling Japanese stocks.
