The morning banana diet, created by a Tokyo-based couple, gained popularity in Japan in 2008 through social media and celebrity endorsements. Participants eat one or more bananas for breakfast, with warm water, and follow few other rules, including eating dinner before 8 pm and going to bed before midnight. The diet’s success is attributed to various factors, including reduced calorie intake and improved sleep habits.
Also called the Asa banana diet, the morning banana diet was started by Hitoshi Watanabe, a Tokyo-based preventive medicine student, and his wife Sumiko, who works as a pharmacist. Sumiko Watanabe created the diet for her husband after he gained weight when he graduated from college and stayed up late at night at work and had no time to 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, spoke publicly about her own weight loss, starting the spread of the diet craze. After gaining popularity through multimedia, many Japanese citizens credited the morning banana diet with helping them lose weight. The diet became so widespread in Japan in 2008 that many grocery stores had a hard time keeping bananas in their inventory. Some reports claim that banana manufacturers were forced to increase their imports to Japan by nearly 25% to keep up with growing consumer demand.
The procedure to follow the diet is simple. Participants must eat one or more bananas for breakfast, with a glass of warm water. The remaining rules of the morning banana diet are few. Dieters, although allowed to eat whatever they want for lunch and dinner, should also eat their dinner before 8:00 pm and go to bed before midnight. Exercise is not a requirement, although low-stress forms of movement are allowed. The morning banana diet does have some restrictions, including ice cream and dairy products. Candy and alcohol are allowed, but should be kept to a minimum.
There are many conflicting theories as to how the morning banana diet was so efficient in helping people lose weight. Some claim that bananas promote weight loss by adding enzymes that speed up digestion and elimination. Others argue that rapid weight loss is possible on the morning banana diet because it increases feelings of satiety and burns fat by introducing resistant starch. While many nutritionists agree that bananas are a healthy breakfast option, few agree that they have magical weight-loss properties. Many argue that the reduction in calories from eating fruit for breakfast and the reduction in sugar, dairy, and alcohol play a significant role in the success of this diet. Others, who claim that sleep deprivation is often a component of obesity, claim that the full night’s sleep required by the diet can be an important part of the diet’s success.
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