Anyone who follows modern trends in the culture world won’t be surprised to realize that many of the popular fad diets that take on a short run of extreme popularity come from Japan, a nation which sets a lot of trends. With hundreds or even thousands of fad diets out there to choose from, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a few started out in trendy Japan and made their way over here. One thing to note: although fad diets have a reputation for being bad for you, each diet plan varies greatly and you need to examine each one individually to get a truly good idea of the value (or lack of) from any given eating plan. Two major Japanese fad diets are the Macrobiotic Diet and the Banana Diet.
The Macrobiotic Diet features a base of grains, with the additional requirement of this food being very well chewed. Vegetables and legumes fill up the next section of the diet and heavy emphasis is put on food being very thoroughly chewed and overeating being avoided. This eating plan can be very balanced when done properly, to the point where maybe it shouldn’t really be considered a fad diet at all when properly executed.
The most recent fad diet from Japan to really catch on is the Japanese banana diet. This one became popular because of a Japanese actress mentioning it on a morning show as a way to lose weight by focusing a lot of a diet on eating bananas in the morning and for lunch. This led to a run on bananas throughout the country of Japan that was so intense many retailers doubled or tripled the price and still sold out the same day as the interview.
These diets are far more balanced than most fad diets, and while they might not be the best plan for you, they’re worth at least a decent look.