Banana Diet Rules

Every diet has rules. If a diet works for you, it’s simply because the rules have had the effect of making you eat less food (nothwithstanding whatever magical claims a diet may make). Diet rules generally do this by making eating a little harder or less convenient, through restricting when or what you can eat. Throw in a little “scientific theory” for motivation, and you have a diet. And remember, no diet works for everybody.

Banana Diet Rules

Eat a banana for breakfast

* You can eat more than one, and in fact the inventor of the diet often ate four (smallish Philippines) bananas in the morning, but don’t stuff yourself to the point of fullness or discomfort.
* Eat only raw, uncooked, unfrozen bananas.
* Other fruit may be substituted.
* If other fruit is substituted, some variants require it be restricted to one type of fruit per meal.
* If you are still hungry 15 or 30 minutes after your banana, you can eat other food (the Japanese inventor of the original Asa Banana Diet sometimes ate a rice ball two and a half hours later, about 200 calories worth; Morning Banana forum members have suggested oatmeal, although it’s not as portable as a rice ball).

Eat normally for lunch and dinner

* Dinner must be eaten by 8 p.m. at the latest (6 p.m. is better).
* There are no explicit limits on the types of food you can eat for lunch and dinner, or the amount. But in practice dieters report on Mixi that they try to cut the amount of rice they eat and find substitutions for fried foods. As with many diets, the mere fact you have decided to go on a diet tends to make you more aware of what and how much you are are eating and how healthy it is. The diet avoids strict food rules to prevent a sense of deprivation.
* However, you should not eat a dessert with dinner or any of your meals; you’ll need to satisfy your sweet tooth during a snack, but we’ll get to that later.
* At all meals you should eat only until you’re satisfied but not full or stuffed. The Japanese have a proverb, Hara hachibu ni isha irazu, “A stomach eight-tenths full needs no doctor.” American dietitians define this level of fullness or satiety as a 7 on a 1-to-10 “hunger scale,” and they teach their clients to recognize this feeling.

Drink only water

* The only beverage allowed at most meals is water, preferably mineral or filtered.
* The water must be at room temperature, not chilled or hot.
* The water should be drunk in small sips and not used to wash down food.
* There is no quota of water to drink, and you should not drink it in excess.
* Outside of meals non-caloric beverages like tea, coffee, and diet soda are generally allowed but somewhat frowned upon, and in general water is encouraged as much as possible; frequent consumption of milk products is discouraged.
* On social occasions you may drink beer or wine.

Eat your food mindfully

* Chew your banana and other food thorouoghly and be mindful of its taste.

You may eat an afternoon snack

* A sweet snack of chocolate, cookies, or the like is allowed at about 3 p.m.
* Ice cream, a donut, or potato chips are not recommended.
* Some substitute fresh fruit for their snack, but if you want sweets you should not deny yourself.
* Some Japanese who like salty snacks eat salted konbu (seaweed) snacks and some Japanese who are very hungry in the afternoon substitute a filling, fist-sized rice ball for sweets.
* A good alternative if a salty or more filling snack is needed is popcorn according to Morning Banana forum members, but watch out for excessive fat content.
* If you are hungry after dinner, you may have a second snack of fresh fruit, but this should not be a habit.

Early to bed

* Go to bed by midnight. If you can manage to go to bed earlier, all the better.
* Try to aim for a four-hour period between your last meal or snack and bedtime (which is why 8:00 p.m. is the latest you should eat dinner).

Exercise only if you want to

* Put no pressure on yourself to exercise.
* If you want to exercise, go ahead: the test is to do what puts the least stress on you.
* But try to get some walking in every day if possible (but again, don’t force yourself if it stresses you out).
* If you want a traditional Japanese light workout, consider taking up the kendama.

Papaya Diet

Search Yahoo for “papaya” and “kirstie” and you’ll find at least a hundred sites that claim papaya is single-handedly responsible for melting literally dozens of pounds off the body of a popular actress.

Virtually every food known to man being touted as the key ingredient in a new “miracle diet.” Grapefruit, broccoli, cabbage and even chocolate have been “scientifically proven” by a panel of seven-year-olds to “literally melt away the pounds” before your very eyes.

But what about the papaya? Is it the key ingredient, the silver bullet, the big kahuna and the magic potion all wrapped up in a low fat, gluten-free tortilla?

Searching the web for “papaya” and “diet” turns up some interesting results. Clicking from site to site one finds nearly identical copy on each site, as though there is one main “mother lode” of papaya information from which all papaya data flows.

A cursory scan of the available data shows that papaya is a great food that offers a good amount of benefit in a relatively small package. There are two varieties of papaya, one typically comes from Mexico and the other from Hawaii. The Mexican variety can grow to be rather large and the taste is more subtle than it’s Hawaiian cousin, but otherwise they are very similar and available year-around at most grocery stores or produce shops.

Papaya are high in Vitamin C, a good source of fiber, and probably best known for the enzyme papain, which is used commercially as a meat tenderizer. The more educational sites report that the enzyme (papain) helps the body to break down protein, which explains its use as a meat tenderizer.

As you move from the academic to the commercial sites, papain seems to evolve into “Super Enzyme” capable of not only breaking down protein, but also increasing your metabolism, digesting fats, assimilating carbohydrates, and even repainting your house while you sleep. Now that’s SUPER!

Follow the simple steps below and the pounds will begin to (slowly) melt away.

Step 1: Go to the grocery store and buy a nice papaya, about one pound in weight. Make sure that the papaya is not too ripe. When traveling to the store, it is preferable that you walk, as you’ll burn calories and fire up your metabolism. If not possible, park far from the store and walk across the parking lot.

Step 2: Bring your papaya home and keep it with you at all times. The key to this fantastic diet is keeping the papaya healthy and happy. Be sure your papaya gets plenty of sleep. Seven and a half hours each day is recommended. Keep your papaya hydrated. It should drink a gallon of water each day. Since your papaya doesn’t have a mouth, you’ll need to drink the water yourself. You’ll also have to eat for the papaya. When eating your papaya’s meals, keep your portions small and choose only healthy foods with a good mix of fruits and vegetables. It’s okay, the papaya will not be upset by this. Eat your food slowly and stop eating at the first sign of being full. Your papaya will become very agitated if you overeat. Skip desserts, as your papaya is most effective when you do not eat dessert.

Step 3: Be certain your papaya gets plenty of fresh air and exercise. The simplest and easiest way to accomplish this task is to set aside time to walk your papaya each day. Your papaya can be held in your bare hand or kept in a backpack/napsack. Purchase a pedometer and set a goal of carrying your papaya at least 10,000 steps each day. Doing so will almost ensure the success of the Papaya Diet.

Step 4: Eat the papaya and return to Step 1.

Most people think that the beauty of the Papaya Diet is its simplicity.