While you hear about so many wonderful recipes with bananas, really give yourself five great reasons to add this tropical fruit to your daily diet: as an alternative to sugary desserts, improves blood pressure, prevents skin from aging, helps to control weight, and promotes general health. When you consider all of these health benefits, it is easy to see why you should add this tasty fruit to your list of ingredients to prepare a delicious banana cake. The following are only some of the reasons why this tropical fruit is a must in our modern diet. As you continue reading this article, discover even more reasons to add bananas to your healthy diet!
As an alternative to sugary desserts, bananas are a very healthy snack because of its high level of potassium and fiber content. Both potassium and fiber are important for regulating your body’s fluid levels. When you eat foods with fiber and potassium in them, you increase your body’s ability to lose weight by reducing your appetite and thus reducing your food intake. Potassium and fiber also help to regulate blood pressure and to lower cholesterol.
When you eat bananas, you help your body to remove toxins that build up in your colon and gastrointestinal system. High levels of dietary fiber and potassium reduce cholesterol and increase your vitamin B6. Both of these nutrients are important in preventing cardiovascular disease and in maintaining a healthy weight. Therefore, when you combine bananas with other foods rich in potassium and fiber, you greatly increase your overall nutritional benefits.
Bananas are a very good source of natural, unsaturated fat. Unsaturated fats are essential to maintain a healthy heart. This is why it is so important to eat a good source of fat every day. Unsaturated fats are found in walnuts, canola, safflower, and even some nuts, such as almond and cashew nuts. Unsaturated fats are the “good” cholesterol, and they actually help to cleanse the arteries and improve the health of the heart.
Another of the health benefits of bananas is their ability to provide a high amount of dietary fiber. Bananas have a lot of fiber, about 24 grams of fiber per one-ounce serving. High fiber intake is essential in fighting heart disease and other problems, such as constipation. Bananas are also a great source of a good, complex carbohydrate. The complex carbohydrate found in bananas is called resistant starch. Resistance starch is essential to healthy cell metabolism and to maintain healthy digestion and excretion of waste products.
In addition to providing a high amount of dietary fiber and potassium, bananas are also a good source of vitamins A, C, D, and E. As you may know, each of these vitamins is essential to good nutrition and proper function of all organs in the body. Vitamin A is particularly important for healthy eyesight. Keep in mind that the skin of bananas is also where the majority of vitamins is absorbed into the body. It is advised that daily consumption of at least one-fourth cup of banana juice is beneficial to overall nutrition. The skin of the bananas also contains an enzyme called lycopene that is highly beneficial to overall nutrition. Lycopene is the same type of natural tomato pigment found in tomatoes.
Some believe that eating bananas may help to boost the immune system. Lycopene may help to prevent HIV and cancer. Also, because it contains a potassium buffer, it may help to stabilize blood pressure. Studies are still being conducted on the effects of consuming bananas on human immunity and disease prevention. So far, there is no evidence that consuming bananas may help to prevent diabetes or heart disease.
One of the more recent studies suggests that bananas may help to lower blood pressure intake. The potassium contained in the banana seems to have a balancing effect on blood pressure. However, further research is needed to confirm this finding. The research appears to be promising, however.