Bananas are incredibly healthy, convenient, delicious, and one of the most inexpensive fresh fruits you can buy. This makes them an excellent choice for anyone interested in eating healthy.
While they’re native to Southeast Asia, they grow ubiquitously in many warm climates, making them available worldwide. The Cavendish variety, the most common type found in grocery stores, starts out firm and green but turns yellow, soft, and sweet as it ripens.
Bananas contain many essential nutrients and may benefit weight loss, digestion, and heart health.
Bananas contain a fair amount of fiber and several antioxidants. One regular-sized banana (126 grams) also boasts (
- Calories: 112
- Fat: 0 grams
- Protein: 1 gram
- Carbs: 29 grams
- Fiber: 3 grams
- Vitamin C: 12% of the Daily Value (DV)
- Riboflavin: 7% of the DV
- Folate: 6% of the DV
- Niacin: 5% of the DV
- Copper: 11% of the DV
- Potassium: 10% of the DV
- Magnesium: 8% of the DV
One banana provides about 112 calories and consists almost exclusively of water and carbs. They hold little protein and no fat.
The carbs in green, unripe bananas are mostly in the form of starch and resistant starch — a type of indigestible fiber we’ll get to shortly. As the fruit ripens, its flavor becomes sweeter while its fiber content drops.
Just one thing
Try this today: I love using bananas to make healthy treats for my kids.
You can make the easiest, most delicious pancakes by combining one mashed banana with two beaten eggs and cooking the mixture just like you would any other pancake batter. Add some quick oats to the batter for extra fiber and bulk.
If you freeze banana slices, you can use a high powered blender to blend them with some cocoa powder to make chocolate “nice cream.”
I also combine overripe bananas with unsweetened applesauce, oats, milk, baking powder, and a sweetener like agave nectar or maple syrup to make a batter for simple, baked oatmeal muffins.
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