Yes, we have no bananas (in Japan ;p)
p2pnet news view | Advertising:- Japan has gone viral over bananas.
I’m Chiquita Banana and I’ve come to say
You eat the banana in a special way
And when it’s fleck with brown and has a golden hue
That’s when bananas are the best for you….
That’s the trademark Chiquita Banana jingle created in 1944 for the United Fruit Company.
Now, “A string of television programmes and diet books hailing the fruit as a new superfood that assists weight loss is fuelling a boom in banana sales,” says The Telegraph, going on:
“The soaring popularity of the banana has resulted in sales rising by as much as 70 per cent in the past week in some supermarkets, prompting prices to increase and importers to purchase more of the fruit.”
And it’s or because of a diet which claims if you have a banana or 10 in the morning, and then whatever else you want to eat for the rest of the day, you’ll lose weight. Lots of it. And quickly.
“It’s the first time bananas have been quite so scarce,” the story has a spokesman for Dole Japan Company, the largest banana importer in the country, saying.
A cany entrepreneur has even created a web page devoted to the morning banana diet and it’s called, appropriately, Morning Banana Diet.
“It’s a diet for people who don’t want to bother with a diet, who don’t want to read a book (although there are books on it in Japan), who are basically in control of things but need a little structure,” it says.
“It’s a diet for a Japanese level of overweight, 5 to 35 pounds overweight, perhaps up to 50, not an American Biggest Loser level of obesity, where a more hardcore, but less simple, diet regimen is called for.”
“I just googled ‘morning banana diet‘ and got only a thousand hits,” says Seth on Seth’s Blog, adding:
“Surely that will change. It is the most popular diet in Japan right now, so popular, Mark Schrimsher of CalorieLab told me, that ‘You can`t buy bananas in Japan now. It’s crazy. We found some little green ones and some really expensive ones, but the rest are sold out.’ Fytte, a woman`s health magazine, has covered it three months in a row. Three books have been written about it.
“Like the Shangri-La Diet, it derives from (a) self-experimentation by (b) someone who was not a weight-control expert and (c) was spread by the Internet.”
Explains the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Although whippet-thin by the engorged standards of Western eaters, Japanese are apparently as determined to shed kilograms. Many have decided the best method is that advocated by Hitoshi Watanabe, 31, a salaryman who ballooned after leaving university and entering the rat race – until he discovered the nutritional appeal of the banana.
“The former printing company employee says he “tried so many diets as well as swimming, running, walking, skipping, [Japanese martial art] aikido, even ‘calorie-off’ menus. But I only lost 4 kilograms”.
“In 2006, his girlfriend Sumiko, a pharmacist with training in Chinese herbal medicine, recommended a simple, stress-free diet that revolved around one straightforward (nutritionists say questionable) premise: a breakfast of raw bananas and room-temperature water can boost the metabolism so much it allows the dieter to eat almost anything for lunch and dinner and still lose weight.
“Over the next six months he dropped a further 13 kilograms, married Sumiko and posted his story on Mixi, Japan’s version of MySpace, to instant acclaim from other desperate dieters.
The Telegraph – Banana diet craze sweeps Japan, September 29, 2008
Seth’s Blog – The Morning Banana Diet, September 26, 2008
Sydney Morning Herald – Japan becomes a banana republic, October 18, 2008
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October 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I am sorry to say that this is actually old new over here, the main Banana Boon hit during the summer, and while there is still a shortage of bananas here, the major reason for the lack of Bananas in Japan, is that the fad has now swooped to Korea and Taiwan.
Due to the rapid interest of Bananas to these countries, imports of Bananas have been reduced.
This is starting to become a regular occurrence with different food exploding into popularity, after being introduced on TV or in a book.
A while back, it was Natto (fermented Soy beans that smell like a old pair of Gym socks after an intense workout, but is actually very delicious) which become so popular, that stores were limiting the purchases to 1 pack a customer (then when the boom subsided, shops were overflowing with excess Natto that was produced to feed the former demand), and before Natto, it was red wine and Grape juice-which ran into the problem of people drinking too much alcohol to be healthy.
There was also a major scandal where a program professing to introduce health foods and eating habits, was found to have faked results, and incorrectly translating interviews with American and Canadian Doctors/scientists, to fit the results that they wanted.
Just my 2 cents
October 17th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
“Natto (fermented Soy beans that smell like a old pair of Gym socks after an intense workout, but is actually very delicious)”
Thanks.
Cheers!
October 17th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Hard Gay Cooking with Natto;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7elKLjcVTY
October 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
O_o …