Nutrition Nugget: The Confusing Case of Bananas
Bite-size reads for your health and your waistline
Let’s get it out of the way…cue Gwen Stefani! “It’s bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!” No but for real, when it comes to our health and specifically weight loss, bananas are…well…bananas. It’s not straight-forward.
It’s likely you’ve been told to eat bananas for potassium and other vitamins. It’s possible you’ve been told to stay away from them if you’re watching your sugar or looking to shed a few pounds. How do we balance these two ideas? Keep reading to better understand how bananas impact our bodies.
While I am not an advocate of counting calories, I understand many prefer to monitor their food intake this way. For you calorie and point counters, a banana has (give or take) about 100 calories. The reason I’m not the biggest fan of sheer calorie counting is because what impacts our health is more the quality of the calories we consume. With the banana, those 100 calories are made of approximately 3 grams of fiber and 1 gram of protein, plus they are rich in potassium, B6 and Vitamin C. How do we interpret these facts?
Let’s start with the fiber. While 3 grams of fiber is on the lower end compared to other fruits, it’s still 3g on our way to 25g of fiber per day so it’s nothing to ignore. Next is the Potassium (remember the symbol ‘K’ from your middle school science class periodic table of elements?) which is a really important mineral. It can lower blood pressure, support proper fluid levels in the body, regulate the flow of nutrients and waste in the body, promote proper bone health, reduce the risk of kidney stones and keep our hearts beating. WHOA! Important for sure.
Vitamin B6 supports our mood, cognitive function, hemoglobin production, helps alleviate nausea, and can help with PMS symptoms. So if you have cramps, an upset stomach, or in just a bit of a crappy mood, eat a banana (if only it were really that simple!). Finally, Vitamin C. This vitamin is a powerful antioxidant that supports healing in the body through the use of collagen, which maintains our bones and teeth. Sounds like bananas are a good idea given these nutrients!
Then why have we been told to avoid them? What about the sugar? The sugar content of a banana changes over time; as it ripens, there’s more sugar. With more sugar in the food, it’s more likely to spike blood sugar and our blood sugar is a major factor in metabolic health, often determining if we are storing fat. So when a banana has a little green left on it, it contains a resistant starch, known as pectin, which acts as a prebiotic nutrient for the gut (Hello Gut Health!), and is lower on the glycemic index…better for your waistline.
Of course, listen to your body! Pay attention to how your body responds to bananas. If you have an allergy… Steer clear! And they can be contraindicated with some medications (i.e. beta-blockers), so always double check when taking meds.
The moral of the story? Eat your bananas on occasion, and choose ones that are yellow with a little bit of green, avoid them once they have those brown spots. One more time, cue my girl, Gwen “B-A-N-A-N-A-S!” (Sorry! That’s definitely stuck in your head now.)
