Bananas bananas are nutrient-rich and offer a wide variety of health benefits. For example, did you know that bananas might actually help you feel happy, or that the smell of bananas could act as an appetite suppressant?
1. The Smell of Bananas May Suppress Your Appetite
Bet we have your attention now. Yes, according to a study performed at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, smelling certain foods when you are hungry can trick you brain into thinking that you’ve actually eaten them. One of those foods is bananas. If that’s not enough to convince you that you can enjoy bananas while losing weight, smell one next time you are hungry.
2. Bananas May Improve Your Athletic Performance
There may be a reason why most of the world’s best athletes love bananas. Olympian Yohan Blake reportedly eats 16 bananas a day! A recent study from Appalachian State University’s Human Performance Lab found that consuming half a banana every 15 minutes during a cycling time trial test was as effective as drinking a carbohydrate matched sports drink every 15 minutes. If you’re active, bananas are a great option to fuel your muscles while providing antioxidants and other nutrients that sports drinks lack.
3. Bananas Are Diet-Friendly
A medium banana is 110 calories and provides 30 grams of carbs and 3 grams fiber. In addition to filling fiber, bananas contain resistant starch, a type of carbohdyrate you can’t digest, but helps you feel fuller longer. A banana can have 2-3 grams of resistant starch (the greener it is, the more resistant startch it contains). This makesbananas a great mid-aftenoon snack, or a perfect pre-workout snack if you eat them 1 hour before your workout.
4. Bananas Are Portable and Versatile
Bananas are an incredible versatile fruit that can be eaten on-the-go or used in delicous recipes, from smoothies to baked goods. We are tempted to say that there is not a single banana recipe we met that we didn’t like, but that would be pushing it.
For a healthy dessert option try this: get a couple of ounces of dark chocolate (over 70 percent cacao), and melt it. Slice up a banana, and dip each slice in the chocolate until the slices are fully covered. Place them in a container lined with parchment paper, and put it in the freezer. Let them freeze and enjoy a slice as a snack or dessert.
5. Bananas Give You a Boost of Vitamin C
It is usually oranges and strawberries that come to mind when think about Vitamin C, but a serving of banana provides 15 percent of the daily requirement for vitamin C. Vitamin C is an important antioxidant that helps neutralize damaging free radicals and helps keep systemic inflammation at bay. It also helps produce collagen that holds muscles, bones and other tissues together. If you need even more reasons, Vitamin C helps keep blood vessels healthy and is needed to optimally absorb iron and folate.
6. Bananas Are Rich in Vitamin B6
Maybe the saying should be “a banana a day, keeps the doctor away.” Bananas contain 20 percent of the daily requirements of vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 helps the body make nonessential amino acids to create healthy cells. It also helps produce insulin, hemoglobin and antibodies that help fight infections.
7. Bananas Provide Relief for GI Distress
Feeling a little under the weather? Bananas are great because they’re easy to digest and considered non-irritating for the stomach and upper GI tract. That’s why they’re part of the clinical BRAT diet -- bananas, rice, applecause and dry toast -- which is a diet plan registered dietitians use when patients have acute diarrhea.
Bananas are also one of the first fruits that are introduced to young children when they start eating solid foods.
8. Bananas Are High in Blood Pressure-Lowering Potassium
A medium banana has 422 mg potassium while being sodium- free. The high potassium-to-sodium ratio helps to neutralize the blood-pressure raising effects of sodium in your diet. Various studies show that those who have diets rich in potassium are less likely to have high blood pressure and have reduced risk for stroke. Adults need 4,700 milligrams of potassium a day, so a medium-sized banana provides nearly 10 percent of the daily requirement.
9. Bananas Can Help You Feel Happy
How about having a banana to help you feel peachy? A small banana provides 27 mg magnesium, which may help boost mood. Men and women need 420 mg and 320 mg of magnesium per day, respectively. Low levels of this mineral are linked to depression, anxiety, irritability and other mood disorders. Since many of us don’t get enough magnesium in our diets, consider a banana as your chill pill.
10. Trick to Ripen Bananas Quickly at Home
If you are at the store, and all of the ripes bananas are gone, don’t fret. Here is a tip to make them ripen faster. Place the bananas in a paper bag with an uncut and unpeeled apple, pear or tomato. The ethylene gas that the those fruits emit accelerates the bananas’ ripening process. Check them daily until they are as ripe as you like them.
Do you enjoy bananas? How often do you eat them? Did you know all of these facts about bananas?Were you aware that they might go extinct? What do you think? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Comments
Post a Comment