The Morning Banana Diet

When it comes to bridal beauty, moderation is key whether you're talking about cosmetics, skin care, or...yup, fitness and weight loss. Yes, some brides buy a wedding gown that's two sizes too small or go on crash diets runway models might admire, hoping they'll lose weight before the big day, but that's not a healthy attitude. Remember, your intended asked you to marry him/her -- or said yes when you proposed -- at the size you are now. If you want to buff up before the big day, that's one thing, but your wedding shouldn't be an excuse to engage in unhealthy weight loss behaviors.

One diet that brides-to-be have recently gotten excited about is the Morning Banana Diet.

The main feature of the Morning Banana Diet is the recommendation of eating two bananas, with room temperature water, for breakfast. While the dramatic popularity of the Morning Banana Diet has been fueled by anecdotal evidence of many Japanese who've lost weight by following the regimen, decades of nutrition research validate the idea that increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables in general, and bananas in particular, can help support healthy, sustainable weight loss.

Sounds faddy, right? I'd be inclined to agree if it were not for the fact that the point of the diet is to get calories into those people who would otherwise skip breakfast. Skipping breakfast, as you may know, is a real metabolism killer, while having even a small snack in the morning helps you burn calories all day long.

The Morning Banana Diet recommends that bananas be eaten for breakfast, which could provide a metabolic boost for chronic breakfast-skippers. Research shows that breakfast-eaters burn an extra 200 to 300 calories a day. A healthy morning start may also cut down on total daily calorie intake: A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who ate breakfast consumed about 100 fewer calories a day.

If you feel the need to diet before you tie the knot, do it sensibly. Stay away from things like the ever-popular cabbage soup diet and those nasty shakes, and exercise in moderation. You could do worse than to have a few pieces of fruit in the morning, along with a sensible lunch and dinner.


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