The banana diet craze that swept Japan...

...is being promoted by the banana distributor, Dole.

The banana diet was created by an Osaka pharmacist, whose husband dropped 38 pounds by following it. Word spread and Japanese grocery stores couldn’t keep bananas on the shelves.

Now, Dole is trying to get Americans to join the bandwagon but with a healthier banana diet that helps you lose weight while enjoying the benefits of increased fruit consumption.

The Dole banana diet substitutes well-balanced meals and nutritious recipes for the “all you can eat” approach.

I've always felt that bananas got a bad rap in diet literature. When you think of it, so did fruits. The sugars in all fruits were considered dietary villians. But apply commonsense and fruits should be a large part of your losing weight strategy.

• The vitamins, minerals and other nutrients found in fruit work synergistically with each other, so much so that your body absorbs these essentials much easier than in supplement or 'fortified' food form.
• You can attack hunger cravings a lot easier with a piece of fruit than with a granola bar or other snack food.

The Dole Banana Diet may be a little extreme, but the recipes on the web site include a lot of fruits which I give a two thumbs up.

Strawberry Salad with Greens, Feta Cheese and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Here's the recipe suggested for Dole Spring Mix lettuce with my own improvements (seriously salt on this salad?).

Ingredients
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed
1 pkg. DOLE® Spring Mix lettuce
2 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Directions

• Combine vinegar, olive oil, basil in small bowl with a dash of pepper.


• Gently combine the lettuce and strawberries in large bowl.


• Add vinaigrette and toss gently. Serve and sprinkle each salad with cheese and pine nuts.

Dole's Salad Guide: New entry in the bagged salad line proves interesting

Who hasn't seen the add with the gent suggesting what you can eat with a particular bagged salad.

At first the new bagged salads showed promise indicating how mild or bold the lettuce is or how tender and crunchy the lettuce is. I didn't know you could characterize lettuce that way; and unfortunately, I don't know what to do with that information.

A little more reading on the package gives a good suggestion or two. For Spring Mix, it pairs well with balsamic vinaigrette, crumbled goat cheese, julienne sliced sun-dried tomatoes and Mediterranean herbs (what are Mediterranean herbs?)

Digging deeper, the Dole web site gives several recipes per bagged lettuce type. The recipes are a little hard to find. You have to know to search for 'packaged lettuce.' Anyway, here's the home page for bagged salads. The recipes really let you add some sophistication to your at-home-eating experience. I've tweaked a strawberry lettuce combo salad. See what you think.

Before I forget, the bagged salads all have new easy open packages. Thank goodness. How many times have you cut open bagged salad only to spill some leaves.