"Healthy" Soda in Japan, and Bananas as a Diet Aid?

Hello everyone!


 I saw that Pepsi is coming out with a "healthy" soda in Japan called Pepsi Special.  Here's the commercial.



What the company claims the soda does is block fat from being absorbed.  How it does this is by containing fiber.  Does it work? I can't say, but I do have an opinion.

I think soda like that should be marketed here in the United States moreso than Japan. (The US is a MUCH fatter country on average than Japan by far)

While we are on the subject of Japan, there is a diet that came out in 2008-2009 (I forget) called the Morning Banana Diet. (I think I did write about it before).

The basics- there's details to it but here's the rundown.

1. Eat as many bananas as you like for breakfast with water. (If you do not like bananas, then you can choose a different fruit)
2. Eat what you want for lunch
3. At 3 pm, have a small sweet snack.
4. Eat dinner (same guidelines as lunch) before 8 pm
5. Sleep before midnight and get a good night's rest.
6. Exercise is optional- do the kind of exercise you enjoy if you choose to.

Here's where it gets tricky.  The diet says eat what you want, etc.  However, here is the next, quite possibly the most important rule- Eat mindfully.  Chew food slowly and eat until you feel 80 percent full.  So sure, eat all the bananas you want in the morning, but if you really take the time to slow down and eat, you will get full on less than you think.  Same goes for any meal.  This means basically chew slowly and eat until you are comfortable, not full.

My 2 cents- I do not see this as a "diet" but more of a common sense approach to eating.  It's proven that people who get adequate sleep have a much better time losing the weight and keeping it off (stress causes excess cortisol in the body and that can make your body hold on to fat more).  As for stress, this diet really pushes the avoidance of stress. (Hence the no exercise, if you get stressed by it. Some people do.) I believe that if someone really follows this method to the T, they may really not HAVE to exercise, as your calories would be reduced from the way you used to eat, the better sleep will help, and all the water you drink helps flush you out.  The magic is not in the bananas themselves, however they do contain a good amount of fiber and tend to fill me up more than other fruits.  Eating a couple bananas in the morning is already far lower in calories than most breakfasts. 

I have read that for best results, make that lunch and dinner a healthy meal (the website says Japanese food is best, which makes sense being that Japanese food is often a small bit of rice, vegetables, and some kind of protein and is often lower in calories).  No alcohol and no dairy. The preferred drink of choice is room temperature water (which is how I take my water anyway but some people might be less than eager) but any water could be good. 

So in short- Yes, I believe this diet (I personally think it would be a good plan for life and teaches good eating habits in terms of HOW you eat, as this can affect weight) will work for most people when done properly. 

For more information, visit the official website (in english) http://en.asabanana.net/