Coffee

[BuhNahNuh]

I am doing the room temp water - but is Coffee okay to have also? I typically have just one cup a day with splenda and lowfat milk - is that okay?

[Mango]

I have the book, so I'll look to see what it says about coffee with milk. Give me a little time.

[Mango]

Well, it seems like they're kind of strict on the water. They do allow beer or wine on social occasions.

They specifically say you should just eat a banana in the morning and not put it in milk or yogurt or other dairy products. The reason seems to relate to the extra stress or work that would be put on your digestive system to process dairy, but they mention that this is more of a problem with Japanese.

I think if you're following the diet literally, there would be no coffee, but you could try your variation of it and see how it goes.

[BananaGurl]

They are really strict about the water, but during the diet I have slipped a couple of times to feel very bloated afterwards from the fruit juice. I rarely drink coffee (maybe twice a year) but it is very hard to give up orange juice. Best of luck

[topbanana]

I think orange juice would actually be a diet beverage for me, since although I like it, I can't drink it with food. The flavor is just to strong, sour, and overpowering that it overwhelms food.

But before I got used to Japanese milk (which has a slight odor), I used to use orange juice on cereal!

[Grigsy]

Originally Posted by BuhNahNuh

I am doing the room temp water - but is Coffee okay to have also? I typically have just one cup a day with splenda and lowfat milk - is that okay?

Just started today. Need some help in determining the best course for fluids. I'm good with room temp water with meals. However, I need guidance regarding consuming fluids outside of meal time. Is cold OK then? How about black coffee? What is acceptable after exercise?

Appreciate your reponses.

[Mango]

From what I can tell, the diet in its strict form doesn't really allow beverages other than room temperature water in reasonable amounts (plus occasional beer and wine in social situations). This means you can't use liquids to wash down food, and you are prevented from getting calories in liquid form. It also would mean that you can't use diet cola as a "snack," as many people on a diet do, so that's pretty tough. You get your one midafternoon snack of chocolate or whatever, but the diet restricts your eating to three meals and the snack for the most part.

One of the Japanese books about the diet has a comic/manga version of the diet, and part of one of the pages is reproduced below. In the center bottom frame the salaryman office worker is taking a swig of bottled water, saying "I've learned to appreciate the delicious taste of water." So I guess you're just supposed to drink water "mindfully," and over time you'll get to think it's refreshing and delicious, even at room temperature.

[BananaGurl]

Water is one of the most important factors of the MBD. But I can see how its hard to only drink water when we are bombarded by drinks/soda/teas at least a million times a day.

[Marco's Mom]

My baby can't always sleep through the night. To cope with my sleep deprivation, coffee has become my best friend... almost every morning at work.

I started my MBD yesterday and I did have my regular cup of coffee.
Can this diet work with a little exception? (i.e. one cup of coffee each morning)

Many thanks,
Marco's mom

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Marco's Mom

I started my MBD yesterday and I did have my regular cup of coffee.
Can this diet work with a little exception? (i.e. one cup of coffee each morning)

Give it a try and let us know how it works. In the original book, the Morning Banana Diet inventor (Hamachi) seems to say that milk is not good, and that water should be drunk with the banana. But at one point he says that 15 to 30 minutes after eating the banana you can drink whatever you want (and you can also eat more -- Hamachi himself ate four bananas at 6:00 a.m. and a rice ball at 8:30 a.m.).

To me, the way the diet is presented, a lot of it is "It's really flexible," while at the same time there is an implicit assumption that you won't really take advantage of all the outs and escape hatches. For instance, they say you can eat a piece of fruit after dinner, but they seem to discourage it. In other words, it's there as an exception if you are just going crazy from hunger, but ideally you try to avoid it.

[Marco's Mom]

Thank you!!

It is hard for me not to have coffee in the morning... so, I will have my bananas with water at 7 am then a cup of coffee around 9:30.

[anny]

Many of us wake up really early in the morning (I wake up at 6) and have a long day ahead of us. So coffee is pretty essential.
I love coffee and if I don't have any I will be miserable and stressed all day long, and the book says to avoid stress.
I tried not to drink since last Saturday and I didn't do well. I had a small shot of espresso yesterday at noon, for social reasons.
Tomorrow I have classes at 8, and that means I have to wake up at 5.30 am. If I don't drink coffee I'll be yawning in classes and embarrass my self.

[topbanana]

O.K., by popular demand I went through Hamachi's book, and at the very, very end, in the section where he answers the 10 most frequently asked questions on Mixi, he responds to a question about coffee and vegetable juice. On coffee, he says that it's a diuretic and dehydrates the body, so he doesn't recommend frequent consumption.

I think he can easily say this in Japan, since coffee is not drunk as much as in the U.S., and people can function without it (and Japanese have long days too!), so it's not that much of a sacrifice for them.

The diuretic angle doesn't sound like it would really affect weight loss one way or another. It's a separate health issue that may or may not be a real problem. So from a diet standpoint, it probably doesn't hurt to drink coffee, in my opinion.

The only thing to watch is your sleep and bedtime. The diet stresses a good, solid night's sleep every night, and if coffee is drunk after the late afternoon, there might be a problem.

[topbanana]

The actual answer by Hamachi to the coffee question in Japanese.

[jonneyboy25]

i wish i could speak Japanese

[secretbanana]

could anybody can help to translate the japanese?? i really want to know the answer. Can i take any black coffee during my MBD??


Thanks a lot

[asagi722]

I'm going to try to sip lukewarm green tea throughout the day (It increases fat oxidation up to 20% and has no calories or sweet) and I will let everyone know in my blog how it goes.

[lori l]

I too am a morning coffee drinker. I think I can do anything on a diet except not have coffee in the morning. One cup, thats all no sugar and a little cream (very little) I'm gonna start the diet tomorrow and let everyone know what

[Mango]

I just read in a FAQ on one of the Japanese MoBa forums on Mixi that coffee is OK 30 minutes after the banana-water breakfast. So if your schedule allows it, that is a solution.

[shiuri]

Hi everyone!

I am too a coffee drinker! I get headaches if I go cold turkey on my morning coffee. I am a black coffee gal....no cream, no sugar, just straight up black. Will this pose a problem to the diet? I've been reading the thread and I know it's been mentioned that the actual diet doesn't allow coffee. But if the coffee is straight up?