What is the banana diet
The banana diet or "Morning Banana Diet" is a diet aimed at weight loss. To invent it (in 2008) was Sumiko Watanabe, a pharmacist from Osaka, who experimented on her husband Hitoshi Watanabe making him lose 16 kg. Initially advertised on Mixi, a Japanese social network, it sold over 730, 000 books.
Metododologia
What is the banana diet?
The "banana diet system" allows unlimited consumption of these fruits with room temperature water or a glass of milk for breakfast. Food choices regarding lunch and dinner are unrestricted. It is possible to eat one or more bananas again as a snack between meals, in case of hunger, but no other type of dessert is allowed. It is forbidden to eat after eight o'clock in the evening and the subject must go to sleep by midnight.
Rules of the banana diet
- Eat one or more bananas for breakfast (up to 4 small fruits are allowed, ie those that the first tester of the method ate, beyond which obviously the effectiveness of the system is not guaranteed)
- At lunch, it is "advisable" to eat a banana accompanied by a small vegetable salad. In fact, even this meal could be consumed freely
- Avoid any other sweet food
- Drink water at will, as long as at room temperature
- Consume dinner before 20:00 (the food choice is unlimited)
- If necessary, eat a banana in the snacks, even in the evening
- Go to bed before midnight.
Example
Banana diet example
| Example of a daily banana diet menu | ||
| Breakfast | ||
| Bananas | 450 g | 3 peeled bananas |
| Cow's milk, skimmed | 150 ml | 1 glass |
| Snack | ||
| Green tea | QB | |
| sugar | 5 g | 1 Teaspoon |
| Lunch | ||
| Dry Pasta with Tuna and Zucchini | ||
| Integral semolina pasta | 80 g | |
| Tuna in brine, drained | 56 g | 1 box of 80 g drained |
| Zucchini | 100 g | |
| Extra virgin olive oil | 10 g | 1 tablespoon |
| Snack | ||
| Banana | 150 g | 1 banana |
| Dinner | ||
| Chicken Breast and Grilled Aubergines, with Bread | ||
| Chicken breast | 150 g | |
| Eggplant | 200 g | |
| Rye bread | 50 g | 2 slices of bread |
| Extra virgin olive oil | 10 g | 1 tablespoon |
| Snack | ||
| Banana | 150 g | 1 banana |
Nutritional translation of the example
| water | 1044.1 g | |
| Protein | 77.7 g | |
| Lipids TOT | 27.99 g | |
| Saturated fatty acids | 5.93 g | |
| Monounsaturated fatty acids | 16.96 g | |
| Polyunsaturated fatty acids | 5.10 g | |
| Cholesterol | 113.10 mg | |
| TOT Carbohydrates | 241.85 g | |
| Starch | 144.21 g | |
| Soluble sugars | 97.64 g | |
| Dietary fiber | 35.6 g | |
| Soluble | - g | |
| Insoluble | - g | |
| Power | 1469.7 kcal | |
| Sodium | 837.25 mg | |
| Potassium | 4003.35 mg | |
| Iron | 8.69 mg | |
| Football | 331.55 mg | |
| Phosphorus | 1105.35 mg | |
| Magnesium | - mg | |
| Zinc | 6.94 mg | |
| Copper | - mg | |
| Selenium | - µg | |
| Thiamine | 1.49 mg | |
| Riboflavin | 1.34 mg | |
| Niacin | 32.77 mg | |
| Vitamin A | 45.90 RAE | |
| C vitamin | 77.10 mg | |
| Vitamin E | 11.03 mg | |
How does it work
Banana diet mechanism
A "plausible" explanation of the effectiveness of the banana diet is that these fruits constitute a natural source of dietary fiber, both soluble and insoluble. Six grams of fiber introduced at breakfast, respectively contained in about two bananas, could increase satiety, reduce appetite and consequently regulate caloric intake. Resistant starch, one of these fibers, ferments in the colon thanks to the intervention of physiological intestinal bacterial flora, creating by-products such as short-chain fatty acids that can confer different health benefits, for example the increased cellular oxidation of fats and (in the long term) the possible reduction of adipose tissue.
Note : on the basis of what science has shown us in the field of energy metabolism, the tendency to adipose accumulation is caused above all by the combination of large quantities of fat associated with equally important doses of carbohydrates, especially refined like sugar. To ensure that the banana diet works properly, given the high percentage of carbohydrates in the fruits, it is therefore necessary to limit the introduction of fat from other food sources.
Disputes
Disputes on the banana diet
While it is important to look for an explanation regarding the effectiveness of the system, on the other it is also necessary to give an explanation for the bankruptcy cases. The banana diet may indeed prove ineffective. The main cause is food abuse in lunch and dinner meals, which are not strictly regulated. As reported by the "American Dietetic Association", whenever a diet suggests eating "what you want", there is a high probability that people prone to overeating fail to lose weight.
Conclusions
Final comment on the banana diet
The banana diet is a very rough diet system. It does not have a well-defined guideline and relies totally on the consumption of these fruits which, on the other hand, do not have any miraculous properties.
As can be seen from the nutritional translation of the example, structuring a banana diet can be very distracting. In the reported case it was specifically chosen to moderate the global energy intake; the same we could have done by doubling the portions. This would inexorably compromise the success of the strategy for most subjects. Also from the point of view of nutritional distribution, the diet of the banana does not squint and seems potentially unbalanced; it is however necessary to specify that, as well as the content of minerals and vitamins, this aspect varies considerably based on the food choices of all the meals of the day.
Ultimately, this diet does not seem to provide any guarantee of success and does not have any characteristics that can be recommended for the slimming strategy.
