By Chef Kathy Fang
When you walk down the aisles, you always see various berries and exotic fruit labeled as Super Fruits! Any fruit that is loaded with a high level of antioxidants are often marketed as the best fruit to consume when you want to be healthy and feed your body the essential nutrients. What you don’t see often is banana being marketed that way.
Banana gets mixed into a lot of carb heavy products on the shelf and is highly misunderstood. I for one use to avoid bananas as a fruit because I associated it with only high levels of sugar and carb content. After having my first baby, I started to cook for her 3 times a day, I found myself buying bananas every week.
I discovered how nutritious banana was for my baby. I also found myself utilizing it in so many different ways that I started using it for the adults in the household. All of a sudden, this fruit became one of our favorite household staple and it should be yours too.
Here are the Top 5 Reasons, why?
1. Versatility
Bananas are one of the most versatile fruits you can have at home. You can snack on it as is. You can slice it over toast, waffles, oatmeal, and acai bowls. You can freeze them to make smoothies with, in the morning. And how many fruits do you know that can be eaten even when it’s overripe to the point of it looking inedible? In fact, most fruits that become overripe start to mold and decompose while bananas turn into this amazing soft, sugary flesh that goes into making incredible banana bread, pancakes and muffins (just to name a few).
2. Nutrition
Bananas contain a healthy source of fiber, potassium, Vitamin B6, C, antioxidants, resistant starch and catechin. These nutrients help lower blood pressure, reduce risk of heart disease, and even help promote a healthy gut. As long as you maintain a healthy lifestyle and consume in moderation, the banana should be a part of your daily diet or at least a few times a week.
3. Banana an Energy and Mood Booster
Skip those expensive protein/energy bars before your workout and eat a banana or make a protein banana smoothie instead. Bananas have enough calories, carbs and sugar to get your body amped up for a long hard work out. It also has vitamin B6 which helps give you a little happy boost (serotonin).
4. Available and Delicious All Year Round
Almost every fruit you can think of is seasonal. While all fruits can be found all your round, they don’t necessarily taste the best all year round. Try finding a delicious watermelon during the winter or sweet berries. Even typical staples like apples and oranges have seasonality to them, a time when they taste the best. But not your best friend banana. It’s delicious all year round!
5. Highly Affordable
Fresh fruit can get expensive, especially when you need to feed an entire household. Berries, cherries, peaches, kiwis are just a few examples of fruits that can break the bank if you got many mouths to feed. Bananas on the other hand are one of the cheapest fruits you can buy and is more filling than most other fruits.
Talk about bang for your buck!