Also called the Asa Banana Diet, the Morning Banana Diet was started by Hitoshi Watanabe, a Tokyo-based student of preventative medicine, and his wife Sumiko, who works as a pharmacist. Sumiko Watanabe created the diet for her husband after he gained weight as a college graduate who put in late nights at work and didn’t have time for exercise. The diet was first introduced on a Japanese social networking site called Mixi, and the movement gained momentum through television, newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, and a book written by the Watanabes.
Kumiko Mori, a former opera singer, publicly discussed her own weight loss, starting the spread of the diet fad. After gaining in popularity through multimedia, many Japanese citizens credited the morning banana diet with aiding in their weight loss. The diet became so widespread in Japan in 2008 that many food stores found it difficult to keep bananas in their inventories. Some reports claim that banana manufacturers were forced to increase their imports to Japan by almost 25% to keep up with increasing consumer demand.
The procedure for following the diet is simple. Participants must eat one or more bananas for breakfast, with a glass of lukewarm water. The remaining rules of the morning banana diet are few. Dieters, while allowed to eat anything they like for lunch and dinner, must also eat their evening meal by 8:00 p.m., and go to bed before midnight. Exercise is not a requirement, although low-stress forms of movement are allowed. The morning banana diet has a few restrictions, including ice cream and dairy products. Sweet treats and alcohol are allowed, but must be kept to a minimum.
There are many conflicting theories on how the morning banana diet was so efficient at helping people to shed pounds. Some assert that bananas promote weight loss through the addition of enzymes which speed up digestion and elimination. Others argue that fast weight loss is possible with the morning banana diet because it increases the feeling of fullness and fat burning through the introduction of resistant starch. While many nutritionists agree that bananas are a healthy breakfast choice, few concur that they have magical properties that aid in weight loss. Many argue that the reduction of calories from eating fruit for breakfast, and the reduction of sugar, dairy, and alcohol all play a part in this diet’s success. Others, claiming that lack of sleep is often a component of obesity, state that the full night of sleep the diet requires may be a larger part of the diet’s success.