According to www.dolebananadiet.com, bananas are high in resistant starch, which boosts fat burning and calcium absorption. They also contain great deals of vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium, fiber and protein. Dole recommends people eat two bananas a day, which seems like a lot to us, since we don't usually even eat breakfast. But, according to Dole, women who eat breakfast eat an average of 100 calories less per day than those who don't.

On the Web site, Dole features a 2-week banana diet plan, which includes three meals and two snacks per day. There are also recipes, which include cantaloupe soup, shrimp salad and whole wheat pasta primavera.

By Wynter Holden

After visiting two reasonably healthful restaurants at Tempe Marketplace, I thought it would be fun to see how they compare in a Battle of the Bulge.

In one corner of the ring, we have Kabuki Japanese Restaurant, weighing in at a hefty couple of brightly-lit rooms and a full bar. This California chain has spread to the Southwest, offering sushi, tempura, teriyaki meats and family-style combos served in a cute wooden boat. Aww...

Kabuki's worthy adversary is none other than...Salad Creations, a design-your-own salad franchise which has locations throughout the US and in Dublin, Ireland and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Guests choose from a variety of salad fixings, which the "salad chefs" toss in the selected dressing and serve either in the metal mixing bowl or as a tortilla wrap.

Which restaurant's healthful meal will reign supreme?

By Wynter Holden

Could there have been a better weekend to have lunch outdoors in the beautiful, serene park-like oasis that is The Farm at South Mountain? I think not. The temperature was perfect, the setting lovely and the food amazingly fresh and tasty, as always.

If you're on a low-carb diet, or are a self-proclaimed "locavore" (foodie who prefers locally grown ingredients), The Farm Kitchen is great choice for you. Not only does The Farm grow some of their own produce on-site -- just walk around and you'll see folks tending the small crops -- but they also harvest incredibly delicious pecans from the rows of sheltering trees.

Salad with pecans, or Snickers bars? Hard choice...

The bad news? Pecans aren't exactly the best diet food. According to the USDA, they're about 753 calories per cup, with a whopping 78 grams of fat. I'd have to eat about five and a half Snickers bars to equal the amount of fat in a cup of pecans. Yeah, that's bad. But it gets better, I swear...

By Wynter Holden

So there I was, in the brand new Sign of the Whale restaurant at 1706 E. Warner in Tempe (in the old Voodoo Daddy's spot), when I was faced with a whale of a problem: guzzle down the high-calorie house special chowder and the fish & chips I was eyeing, or be good and try to find something non-fried and low-fat that I could stomach. Sigh. For you, dear readers, I sacrificed satiating my chowder jones and instead combed the menu for something less "fishy" -- at least, where calorie counts were concerned. Yes, the seafood-topped burger sounded scrumptious, but if I ate that way all the time, the restaurant's weird, drunk mascot wouldn't be the only whale in the place.

You can't go wrong with shrimp cocktail, which generally runs at about 200-300 calories including sauce. It's quick, it's light, and you can eat it with your fingers. So really, it's as satisfying as mozzarella sticks. Ok, now I'm lying, but it is a pretty decent starter. Sign of the Whale offers a peel-and-eat chilled shrimp platter with a baker's dozen of the little guys and a side of cocktail sauce, so I went for that. Technically, it's an appetizer, but you can always pair it with something else (like the cole slaw and pickles I snagged from my dining partner Mr. Y).

They say the slower you eat, the quicker you'll get full. And with having to peel these suckers and pull the little legs off (I'd get grossed out, but as my pseudo-vegetarian friend Miss M says, they're "sea bugs," so really it's no different than offing a cricket), this one's a real winner in that department. I was only halfway done by the time Mr. Y polished off his burger and chowder, and I was already getting a bit full. Yum...chowder. Diet column aside, next time I'm ordering the chowder.

Hell, I can always do some extra time on the treadmill to make up for it.

There aren't many places in town worse for dieters than the Indoor Swapmart near 27th Ave. & Camelback. Well, there's the state fair. Or the Heart Attack Grill. But a recent costume-hunting excursion to the 'Mart (don't even ask...you'd guffaw like a schoolyard bully at my geekiness) had me prowling for a lunch that wouldn't set me back three weeks on my weight loss goals -- or require that I down a triple-cocktail of antacid, Pepto and Imodium afterwards.

Ribs? Nice try. Tacos? Not unless there's a new "fatty, greasy, grade-D-but-edible meat" diet. Fry Bread? Seriously, you're killing me here.

The best I could do was Frenchie's Cafe (or possibly Frenchy's Cafe, as it was suffering from some sort of dual-signage crisis), a cute center-aisle booth with a couple of plastic tables and a wrought iron trellis out front. Honestly, I didn't hold out much hope for this one. I saw signs of a microwave oven and a grill press, but not much else in the way of cooking provisions. But, in the land of candy-coated taffy apples and puffy fried dough topped with grey, meat-like substance, this was the best shot I had. Sigh.

Color me surprised, but I found a new menu item on a handwritten card that actually sounded pretty tasty: grilled chicken panini with melted mozzarella, tomato and peppers. And it was a pretty decent little sammy for a place with no real kitchen to speak of. The bread was crispy, the white meat chicken tender and the green peppers still slightly crunchy.

I was a little confused by the 10-minute wait, especially when I kept watching my sandwich randomly move around to different parts of the booth. But considering that Frenchy's is the only decent option when I'm trolling the Swapmart for treasures, maybe it's just best that I don't know.

Dieters, beware! I'm about to reveal the greatest lie in dieting history. It's bigger than the DaVinci code. More annoying than Palin's "Troopergate" fiasco. Worse than imagined weapons of mass destruction. Are you ready? Here goes.

Salads are often the most fattening items on a restaurant's menu, especially when it's a Mexican restaurant.

I know what you're thinking. "Oh, God! Not salads! You're taking away my salad? What the hell am I going to eat now -- cilantro garnish and a side of beans?" But calm down, it's okay. Just hold on one sec, Loosie, and stop the high-pitched whining while I esplain a little.

Tortilla salads are a Mexican restaurant's way of assuaging our fat fears by pretending to offer something healthy. Wait. It's just a salad, right? Rice, lettuce, beans...healthful, no? Try adding mounds of cheddar cheese. Then shove two fistfuls of tortilla strips on top, add high-cal dressing and a delicious, but slightly greasy meat product.

Case in point: I recently ordered the award-winning Barbacoa Pork Salad at Cafe Rio in Gilbert. True, they use lard-free beans, fresh produce and lower-cal Cojito cheese instead of cheddar, but there are still a lot of diet destroyers in this "salad" served in a puffy white tortilla.

1. The size - I appreciate the value for the price, but seriously, do I need a salad larger than my head?
2. The barbacoa pork - Yes, the meat was tender and moist with a smoky sweetness. But I'm guessing that the sugar content in the sauce would rival some desserts.
3. The tortilla - When is a salad NOT a salad? When it's served in a giant flour tortilla that makes you want to wrap the whole thing up like a burrito.
4. Tortilla strips - One word: fried.

I'll offer two solutions to this little salad snag...

By Wynter Holden

After a visit to the lovely Phoenix Public Market last Saturday (where I scored some awesome tomato garlic pasta, plum spread and fresh-baked cinnamon bread), the hubby and I made a pit stop in the shopping plaza 3701 East Indian School Rd to peruse the pathetic linen selection at Tuesday Morning (guess that's why you should go on Tuesday, instead of waiting until the weekend, when the store's already been picked clean by shopping vultures).

We spotted Acacia Café, an unassuming little eatery in the corner of the plaza, flanked by a cozy outdoor patio sporting some rather sad-looking trees. Hey, why not? Dead foliage notwithstanding, we thought the place looked cute. I now thank the dieting gods we walked in, because this joint was heavenly.

I stood at the counter for about five minutes, perusing the mouthwatering selection of salads, grilled paninis and breakfast staples. Mmm...tuna salad? Veggie panini? Or maybe the waffles I was already salivating over? The guy behind the counter asked if he could help. I wiped the drool off my chin and told him I was looking for something healthy and I was leaning towards breakfast foods. "We can do egg whites only, or egg beaters, and all of our sausage is turkey sausage," he said. "And you can sub fruit for hash browns." Hot damn! I would've leapt over the counter and kissed him right there, but uh, my husband probably wouldn't have approved.

By Wynter Holden

I admit it. The name alone suckered me in. Every time I took one particular route home from work (or play), I passed a new-construction strip mall with a big, cartoon-y sign in the corner that read "Spicy Pickle," flanked by an animated icon of the tart-and-sour veggie. The little pickle beckoned, teasing me with its promise of a "spicier" sandwich sidekick. This weekend, I gave in.

Spicy Pickle's a great place to eat if you're on a diet. Sure, the cream soups are likely off-the-chart when it comes to calorie and fat counts, but the Pickle has three things dieter's adore.

1. salads - there's no shortage of them here
2. pickles - these little guys can be a dieter's best friend; more on that in a sec and
3. sandwiches - at this deli-style restaurant, you can literally design your own sandwich, sans cheese and fat-laden condiments

Now about the pickles...

By Wynter Holden

First, let me start by saying that if you're counting Weight Watchers points, avoiding carbs or (heaven forbid) taking Alli, just skip this blog. Don't read it. Shoo. Yes, I mean you.

Why? Because sometimes it's just about eating au naturel. No, I don't mean dining in the nude. I'm talking about scouring the menu at local sports bar Indigo Joe's (note: my friend Mr. Y's dining choice, NOT mine) for something remotely unprocessed to eat. No sliders or wings or mozzarella sticks, or any other "fried death" foodstuffs. No trans fats and heavy oils. Just plain ol', well, food.

By Wynter Holden

The first rule to dieting and still living in the real world (you know, where you actually go out to eat without your kitchen scale in tow) is to learn the “safe” hotspots in town and memorize them. That way, when your co-workers suggest lunch at Black Angus, you can casually steer them towards Ruby Tuesday and their low carb offerings. Or Applebee’s, whose menu provides handy Weight Watchers point counts.

But not all restaurant chains are that obvious when it comes to offering healthy dishes. Take Keegan’s Grill & Taproom, for example. Last weekend, when faced with the choice between Sweet Tomatoes and Keegan’s, I was ashamed to admit I chose the latter. I mean what kind of serious dieter chooses a bar over a salad restaurant? Turns out, a wise one.