When I was watching Biggest Loser the other night I heard someone say to make sure there weren't banana in the fruit bowl they were ordering.
I didn't know bananas were bad. I eat a banana every morning before I work out.
Are they not worth the calories?
Bananas have a high glycemic index. Unless you're in the middle of a multi-hour intense activity you shouldn't eat it, as the glucose will go straight to fat.
ReplyThe GI of any meal is a result of the averages of all the foods in the meal. So if you eat something with a high GI you can mediate or even negate the it's impact on your blood sugar by eating it with something with a low GI.Eating a banana with something like peanut butter won't have much of an insulin response.
ReplyA tip, eating a lower GI food together with a higher GI food will not negate some of the ability of the higher GI food to raise your blood sugar. The lower GI food will also contribute to the Glycemic Load (GL) of the meal/snack, just as the higher GI food contributes to the GL, simply because it is additional carbohydrate that is being added to the meal. Adding more carbohydrate to the meal/snack will give the meal/snack the ability to increase the blood sugar more. The GL of the meal/snack is even more important than the GI. GL takes into account both the GI and the amount of the particular food that you're eating. For example, a snack of 1/2 a banana will result in less of an increase in blood sugar than a snack of a whole banana, even though they are both banana snacks and banana has the same GI whether it is a whole one or a half. If you wish to mediate the blood sugar increase, then add some fat and protein to your ½ banana snack. Protein and fat eaten with carbohydrate will slow the entry of the carbohydrate in into your blood stream. But if you then add some more carbohydrate to you banana snack protein and fat snack, such as some strawberries which have a relatively low GI for fruit, the snack will then increase your blood sugar more because of that additional carbohydrate. Whether the additional carbohydrate has a low GI or a high GI, it will still increase the GL of the meal. The lower the GI and the smaller the amount of that additional carbohydrate food you add to the banana snack, the less of an increase in GL that additional carbohydrate will produce, but it will still be increased.
ReplyBesides the energy is only stored as fat if there is a calorie surplus. A small to medium size banana is around 70 calories. That amount of calories can easily be burned with a half hour of leisurely walking or bicycling.
ReplyBananas are one of our best sources of potassium, an esssential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. Since the average banana contains a whopping 467 mg of potassium and only 1 mg of sodium, a banana a day may help to prevent high blood pressure and protect against atherosclerosis. The effectiveness of potassium-rich foods such as bananas in lowering blood pressure has been demonstrated by a number of studies. For example, researchers tracked over 40,000 American male health professionals over four years to determine the effects of diet on blood pressure. Men who ate diets higher in potassium-rich foods, as well as foods high in magnesium and cereal fiber, had a substantially reduced risk of stroke.
ReplyYou are absolutely right. Also bananas are one option to replace the electrolytes lost during exercise.
Reply