Food & Recipes

The Morning Banana Diet

The Morning Banana Diet: Bottom Line

Eating whatever you like at lunch, dinner, and snacks is no recipe for weight loss. To lose weight, you need to be physically active and control calories. And to stay healthy, you should choose healthy foods.

Not eating after 8 p.m. is good advice for those who tend to mindlessly snack after dinner. But make no mistake about it: There is nothing miraculous about not eating after 8 p.m. What matters are how many calories you consume (regardless of the time of day), and how many calories you burn.

And while eating breakfast does help to get your metabolism percolating, there's nothing magical about having a banana for your morning meal. Eating a banana and water for breakfast is easy enough and certainly a low-calorie option. Bananas range from 72-135 calories and 10-20 grams of sugar, depending on size. But even though bananas have some fiber, a pure carb breakfast usually leads to hunger within a few hours, and hunger is the downfall of dieters.

Instead, you could blend a banana with a few cubes of ice and a cup of plain, low-fat yogurt (150 calories and 12 grams protein) for a delicious, nutritious smoothie with staying power.

The Morning Banana Diet: Food for Thought

To feel full on the fewest calories, focus on eating healthy foods high in water and fiber, like beans, soups, vegetables, and fruits. Be sure to include lean protein, such as low-fat yogurt, lean meat, eggs, or nuts, to help keep hunger at bay.

The truth is that fad diets that restrict calories can result in weight loss, but it's almost always followed by quick weight regain. And experts agree that there is no food capable of burning off fat. If there were, we would not be coping with an obesity epidemic.

It may not be sexy or exciting, but to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you eat. Period.

Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, is director of nutrition for WebMD and the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic. Her opinions and conclusions are her own.