You eat bananas because: a. they taste good, b. they’re healthy, c. you’ve been told to, or d. all of the above.
Bananas are packed with potassium, vitamin B-6, vitamin C, and other nutrients. Did you know that a banana’s peel can reveal benefits depending on its color? When the banana’s skin changes from green to spotty, firm to soft, so does its inside.
A sweet fruit like this can provide a quick glucose boost between meals, but we each have different levels of sweet tolerance. We’ll go over what makes each stage of banana maturity good or not so good while you evaluate your own preferences.
1. Unripe and green
Unless they’re cooked, green bananas are hard to digest. Once cooked, however, they taste like potatoes and are quite tasty. Caribbean cuisine uses green bananas in many dishes.It might surprise you to learn, however, that green bananas have a low glycemic index – perfect for those who need to monitor their sugar intake.
Unripe bananas also provide the stomach with probiotics, which strengthen the immune system. Additionally, green bananas contain resistant starch, a type of carbohydrate that improves insulin sensitivity and lowers blood sugar levels.
Since green bananas are high in starch, they help you feel full for a long time and help you lose weight. Boil, mash, or fry them.
The downside? As bananas ripen, their antioxidant levels increase, so green bananas have fewer antioxidants than mature bananas.
2. Firm and Yellow
This stage of banana life is easy to digest and tastes sweet. Antioxidants in yellow bananas help protect the body against disease, aging, and inflammation.
3. Spotted
Spotted bananas are sweet, tasty and packed with antioxidants when it comes to fighting disease.
A banana with more brown spots is more mature and contains more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors. TNF inhibitors are cells signaling proteins that can be used to fight cancer and abnormal cells in the body, but more research is needed in this area. One study from 2008 showed that spotted bananas produce this substance.
Overripe bananas are easy to digest if you have a sensitive stomach, but because they’re sweeter, they’re not the best choice for diabetics or anyone watching their sugar intake.
4. Brown and Kinda Soft
There aren’t too many of you who eat leathery, brown bananas. You can put them in a smoothie or other edible form right before they start to decay. Brown bananas are mostly sugar.
However, they also contain high levels of antioxidants and TNF. Those who suffer from iBF or other issues will find that boiled bananas are also easily digestible. Just make sure you eat them before they go bad.
It doesn’t matter what banana ripeness you prefer, here are just a few qualities all bananas have in common:
It contains tryptophan, which helps to combat stress, anxiety, and depression by releasing serotonin
Contains fat-burning choline to help you lose weight.
Contains magnesium, potassium, and manganese, which assists bone and muscle health.
Lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, improving heart health.
Iron content prevents anemia.
By boosting your glucose stores, it boosts your energy and brain power.
In order to slow down the aging process of bananas, you can put them in the fridge to slow down the loss of micronutrients. Bananas are good for you morning, noon, and night! Don’t forget to check out the peel.
How mature do you like your bananas? Can you think of any other benefits of bananas?
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