adminA Youtube diet “guru” from Australia puts her ultra-slim body down to an extreme diet, which can see her eat nothing but bananas for an entire day. Known as “Freelee the Banana Girl” she advocates an extreme, low processed, low-fat, high-carb raw vegan diet.
It’s a regime that recently came under fire when fellow Australian Loni Jane Anthony announced she had kept up the diet throughout her pregnancy, insisting that both she and her baby suffered no ill-effects.
Consuming between 2,000 and 5,000 calories a day, Freelee remains “raw until four” — meaning she eats no cooked or heated food whatsoever until 4pm.
She usually eats “mono meals” consisting of a huge amount of a single fruit, such as two entire pinapples, five mangoes, two litres of orange juice, 1.4kg of apricots, or 20 bananas.
After 4PM she will often eat a cooked meal, again, usually a single ingredient in large qualities, such as 3.5kg of potato baked in the oven, or another meal of fruit.
Having suffered from both anorexia and bulimia in the past, Freelee claims that adopting her low fat, high carbohydrate, raw, vegan diet saw her shed 40lb or 2st 12lb as well as clearing up her acne, chronic fatigue syndrome, low thyroid function and terrible digestion.
Often receiving negative comments for being too thin, Freelee, who also writes about her diet on her website, has nonetheless gained 166,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel preaching the benefits of her lifestyle.
Sporting a washboard flat stomach and lean limbs, it is easy to see why many are won over, especially since a key point of her diet is never to restrict calories, often eating well over daily calorie recommendations.
Freelee is so passionate about her way of life she has even authored an Ebook on how to follow her diet, as well as her Facebook page, website, blog and YouTube channel.
However several dieticians have spoken out about the dangers of cutting entire food groups out of your diet, and one aspect of Freelee’s lifestyle in particular, her excessive consumption of bananas, raises real concern.
Eating 30 bananas a day on a regular basis, Freelee has posted a video to prove to those who doubted her that she can eat up to 50 bananas in a single day.
In the video breakfast consists of 20 bananas in a smoothie with coconut water and vanilla drops, which adds up to around 2,000 calories.
Freelee follows this with a “lunch” of 10 bananas, again pulsed into a smoothie with coconut water, and a dinner of another 20-banana smoothie. In total, Freelee consumes 51 bananas in the video tutorial.
Totalling about 5,000 calories, Freelee claims that, apart from some initial bloating directly after each smoothie, her stomach remains totally flat throughout the rest of the day.
Freelee says: “You don’t have to eat this many bananas — I’m just trying to show you that you have to eat big to be lean.
“There are so many people out there saying restrict your calories to lose weight but it’s not true. You need to smash in the carb calories. And that’s why I do videos like this; to show people. I’m a lean bean; skinny arms and stomach, everything is lean on me and I never restrict my calories.
“But I have been doing this long-term, and the results are accumulating. I’m fit and I’m healthy and these are results that come with time from this lifestyle but you’ve got to carb up!”
Bananas are very high in potassium, a mineral essential for survival but which the body, especially the heart, is particularly sensitive to.
A single medium banana contains an average of 422mg of potassium, and while it would be nearly impossible to cause a cardiac arrest through consuming food, eating excessive levels can put a strain on the kidneys, which have to filter out the excess.
British Dietetic Association spokesperson, Aisling Pigott says: “This interesting and alternative diet advocated by the Banana Girl appears to have helped the lady that promotes the diet, however conflicts with traditional healthy eating advice which recommends variety, portion control and moderation.
“There are some benefits to the diet. For example, a well-balanced vegan diet can be extremely healthy if managed correctly, however all vegans should pay particular attention to their iron and calcium intake in addition to a Vitamin B12 supplement.
“Raw fruit and vegetables retain more vitamins and minerals than cooked fruit and vegetables. The Banana Girl promotes home cooked food and including less processed food as per traditional healthy eating advice. However, the negative points of this diet are quite concerning. This diet contains no food sources of vitamin B12, limited calcium and little iron.
“Poor intake of vitamin B12 and Iron over an extended time can lead to vitamin B12 and Iron deficiency anaemia characterised by tiredness, upset stomach, poor skin colour and easy bruising.
“Poor intake of calcium over a long time leads to low bone mineral density and brittle bones. There is no element of portion control incorporated into these recommendations and based on scientific evidence and research, this is unlikely to lead to any weight loss if foods are consumed in the quantities recommended.
“A small amount of fat is required for optimal health due to fat soluble, this diet recommends 10 percent of calories coming from fat (38g/fat/day) which may not be sufficient to meet the needs of all individuals.
“The sugar and carbohydrate content of this diet is extremely high. A high sugar and carbohydrate diet is linked with poor dental health and poor blood sugar control in those with diabetes or at risk of diabetes
“Eating large amounts of one food — for example bananas — can displace essential nutrients available from other foods. In summary, I would always encourage my clients to include more raw fruit and vegetables in their diet, aiming for a variety of raw and cooked fruit and vegetables alongside a healthy balanced diet of portion controlled (about the size of your fist at each meal) starchy carbohydrates (such as bread, rice, potato, pasta) and protein (meat, eggs, beans or pulses) with two to three portions of calcium enriched foods/day (dairy or dairy alternatives) and limited fat, sugar and processed foods.” — Daily Mail
Online Reporter