Portable, delicious, and nutritious, bananas are one of nature's most perfect snacks. Although they do the body good in many different ways, they can be especially beneficial for gut health.
Bananas are a "gift of nature." Beyond their own carrying case (the shell, of course), they are inexpensive and contain an excellent supply of nutrients with potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, magnesium, copper, and fiber.
Green or yellow, bananas help us maintain electrolyte balance. They offer considerable doses of potassium and magnesium, two essential macrominerals. Potassium is vital for fluid balance and muscle contraction, among many other vital functions, while magnesium is necessary for bone health, neuromuscular transmission.
They are also an excellent source of whole food carbohydrates, which is our body's main source of energy. The popular fruit is especially great for those managing high blood pressure and athletes who need to replenish electrolytes after exercise.
Benefits of bananas for digestion
As for the intestinal benefits, you should pay close attention to the color of your banana, especially when your stomach is finicky. The nutrition of a standard yellow banana changes as it ripens and has different benefits depending on its hue.
Green bananas
Bananas that are green or about to turn yellow are higher in pectin y starch, that help nourish gut microbes in the large intestine.
Green bananas can be very helpful for bouts of diarrhea, as they help absorb water and help make stools larger and firmer, and they also cause slower rises in blood sugar levels.
Ripe bananas
As bananas yellow and eventually form brown spots, much of the starch is converted to sugars, which have a laxative effect naturally soft. These riper fruits can help combat acute constipation.
It is recommended to people with sensitivity to FODMAP, particularly those with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with diarrhea, to consume ripe bananas in smaller amounts to avoid symptoms, although tolerance is different for everyone.
How to use bananas?
There are countless ways to eat bananas – they are a versatile fruit that benefit breakfasts, desserts, and even savory dishes. Although ripe bananas are famous for making banana bread, there are many other wonderful ways to include the fruit in your meals.
make a good cream
When blended in a blender, frozen bananas transform into this dreamy, creamy texture that's similar to ice cream. You can make your sweet dairy-free ice cream using non-dairy milk alternatives, and since bananas are fairly neutral in flavor, you can add just about any type of flavoring you'd like.
When you have overripe bananas in your bowl, peel them and store them in the freezer: that way, when you're craving an ice cream treat, all you have to do is decide what combinations you want to mix up.
pancakes banana pancakes
Pretend it's the weekend or make pancakes a new tradition. The consistency of the fruit is ideal and allows you to skip the stuff you don't want, be it flour, eggs or something else.
Toss chemical and sugar filled baking mixes in the trash and make these super simple Banana Pancakes. If we're banana fans, we may have put sliced bananas on top of pancakes, but have you ever made a banana batter? It is so easy that it only requires 2 ingredients: banana and eggs. In a blender, we will mix two large eggs and a ripe banana. For fluffier pancakes, add ⅛ teaspoon of baking powder. As bananas are a particularly starchy fruit, they easily substitute for flour in this breakfast staple.
Drink a banana smoothie
Bananas are very often used as the base of smoothie mixes due to their creaminess. We recommend freezing the bananas as they will make your smoothies even creamier.
Few people have made a smoothie without this oblong fruit, but have you ever tried making the frozen mix with a green banana? Before ripe, bananas are rich in resistant starch, a hard-to-find form of fiber that digests slowly for a prolonged feeling of fullness and more efficient fat oxidation.
In addition, resistant starches feed beneficial bacteria in the stomach, which then converts the starches into anti-inflammatory compounds that help suppress appetite and boost the immune system. For an exotic concoction, we'll try combining half a frozen banana, half a cup of frozen pineapple, half a teaspoon of ground turmeric, a piece of fresh ginger (peeled and minced), the juice of half a lime, and 1 cup of coconut water.
Combine them with oats
Together they're a true power couple—offering abundant fiber and keeping you full until your next meal. Instead of adding empty calories like refined white sugars that only spike your blood sugar and cause it to crash soon after, why not flavor your oatmeal with bananas?
Cut a banana in half, mash it with a fork, then fold it into your favorite bowl of steel-cut oats along with a sprinkle of cinnamon. These cut oats have a lower glycemic index than rolled or instant oats, which means they will keep us full for longer.
And if we are in a hurry to prepare it in the morning, we can do it overnight. We will simply boil four cups of water in a pot. We will add a cup of steel cut oats and cook over low heat for 1 minute. Cover the pot, let it cool. Then we will store it overnight in the refrigerator.
Mix with nut butter
There's something so classic about peanut butter and banana toast, but there are plenty of other ways to enjoy bananas with crushed nuts for the satiating combination of protein, carbs, and healthy fats.
Bananas are full of potassium, a mineral that helps your muscles recover from a workout, strengthens development, and allows us to exercise more. We'll combine it with some protein-packed peanut butter to repair and rebuild lean muscle mass.
caramelize them
If you've never tried a grilled plantain, prepare yourself for something incredibly sweet. Grilling the fruit produces a caramelized effect that you won't regret. Try some grilled fruit skewers or put it on bread with whipped yogurt.
with a little chocolate
We believe that we do not need to add much more. Made with cocoa powder and coconut oil, the chocolate sauce provides a dose of slow-digesting healthy fats to help stave off hunger pangs, and plenty of antioxidants to keep inflammation at bay. To make the dark chocolate sauce, we will mix 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil and 1 ½ tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder.
We will cut the banana into 2 centimeter pieces, pierce it with a toothpick, dip it in chocolate sauce and then add our favorite topping: walnuts, pistachios, grated coconut, sea salt or chili powder rich in capsaicin if we want to speed up the metabolism. We will freeze for at least 15 minutes.