The bananas and milk diet involves exactly that -- bananas and milk. This diet purports to allow you to drop weight quickly while providing you with minimal fat, a small amount of protein and a modest amount of carbohydrates from just bananas and milk. Like all very low calorie diets, negative effects from extreme caloric restriction become quickly apparent. Consult your physician before beginning any dietary program, particularly one like this.
Bananas and Milk
The only real recommendations for this diet are three bananas and three glasses of milk a day. This is well under 750 calories, or less than half of what an active person will need to maintain healthful activity levels. The diet provides only 27 g of protein per day, 129 g carbohydrates and no fat. According to Peter Sterns, author of "Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West," variations of this diet were first proposed in the 1930s. Unfortunately, data about the long-term consequences is lacking.
Effects of Very Low Calorie Diets
Even in the short-term, a very low calorie diet can cause metabolic difficulties. Very low calorie diets have been shown to decrease the output of thyroid hormones, particularly thyridoxine, or T4. This hormone contributes to fat loss. Because the bananas and milk diet does not allow you to eat even 800 calories a day, your thyroid output will plummet. As this happens, your metabolism slows, and your ability to lose fat decreases. This is a long-term problem caused by a short-term solution.
Lack of Protein
You would not get enough protein on the bananas and milk diet. This results in your body consuming amino acids to fulfill critical functions within your body. The easiest place for your body to scavenge amino acids from is your muscle tissue. The amino acids that make up your muscle tissue are broken down and used on an as-needed basis. And given the low caloric content of the bananas and milk diet, you will wind up converting amino acids to energy as well. So you lose weight, but you are going to lose muscle mass. And the more muscle you lose, the more your metabolism slows. This slowdown is in addition to the decrease in thyroid hormone output.
Modifying the Diet
The safest way to modify the diet to avoid problems is simple -- do not use this diet. Your body needs protein, and if you are active, you require nearly twice as much protein as an inactive individual. This diet does not provide you with any fat, and fat is essential for hormone production and regulation. If you want to lose body fat, do so by slowly modifying your caloric intake and exercise program. Lose-weight-quick plans are about as effective as get-rich-quick schemes -- they rarely allow the participant to achieve the desired result. Do not short-change your health in pursuit of a short-term goal.
References
- "Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West"; Peter Stearns; 2002
- "Hormone and Metabolic Research"; Resting Metabolic Rate, Body Composition and Thyroid Hormones. Short Term Effects of Very Low Calorie Diet; E. Cavallo, et al.; December 1990
- "Journal of the American College of Nutrition"; "Beyond the Zone: Protein Needs of Active Individuals"; Lemon; 2000
- "Journal of Steroidal Biochemistry"; Decrease of Serum Total and Free Testosterone During a Low-Fat High-Fiber Diet; Enko Hämäläinen, et al.; July 1983
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