Is Banana a Healthy Fruit?

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Banana is considered to one of the beneficial and nutritional fruits that provide with lots of nutrients and vitamins. Adding a banana to your daily diet will offer an array of benefits to your body. This fruit is available almost right through the year and is the third most popular fruit worldwide after apples and oranges.

Banana is a very healthy and excellent fruit rich in potassium, other minerals and vitamins. Bananas are the basic food in many tropical countries and a lot of dishes can be made with the unripe and ripe banana. Unripe banana can be cooked, fried or deep fried. Some of the very popular recipes from southern India are the banana fry,  banana bajjis and banana dosai etc. In Eastern Africa, beer is brewed from bananas.

Banana or plantains can be used for cooking at any stage of ripeness. Plantains from the yellow to black stages can be used in sweet dishes. Steam-cooked plantains are considered a nutritious food for infants and the elderly. A ripe plantain is used as food for infants at weaning; it is mashed with a pinch of salt and is believed to be more easily digestible than ripe banana.

There are about 5 different varieties of bananas that include the Red banana which has a green or red peel and pink fruit flesh. They taste the same like yellow banana and the redder the fruit the more carotene it contains and healthier than the yellow ones.

Fruit banana are the normal yellow banana 15-30 cm in size. Apple bananas are smaller about 8-10 cm and ripen faster. They are also yellow in color. The baby banana (pisang susa) is yellow as well and measure 6-8 cm. This variety is the sweetest of the banana family.

Baking bananas are 30-40 cm large and are either green, yellow are red in color and cannot be eaten raw. They fulfill the role of the potato in the tropical countries. Nendran, a variety of banana that is ripe yellow fruit is the local variety in the South Indian state of Kerala.

They are deep fried after dipping in a thin batter of gram flour. This is a staple breakfast in this region of India. The ripened fruit after removing the skin can be sliced and pan fried in oil until golden brown or also baked in oven adding little cinnamon powder over the enhance the flavor.

Ripe Plantain is a great energy food being mostly carbohydrate, with a small amount of protein and fiber. This food is an excellent source of potassium and contains vitamin C, vitamin B6, and magnesium. It also supplies the carotenoid beta-carotene and contains folic acid, a B vitamin, which is especially important for pregnant woman and the prevention of birth defects.

A fruit that is good for people who want to put on weight as they contain lot of starch (more starch than sugar) and not advised for diabetic patients! High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect way to beat high blood pressure. High in fiber, bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives. They have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. As potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels.

These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack. Having a ripe banana at breakfast every day does adds nutrients to your body to support normal heart function. Bananas are rich in a mineral electrolyte called potassium.

When potassium enters your body, it absorbs directly into your bloodstream through intestinal walls and then travels around to cells all over your body and dissolves in fluid inside of cells. It travels across cell membranes if needed to keep fluid balanced in and around cells.

This process keeps electricity flowing throughout your system, which is required to make your heart beat. In cases of severe potassium deficiency, your heart rhythm may become irregular, which can be deadly. Bananas provide more than 360 milligrams per 6-inch piece of fruit.

Bananas can do wonders right from curing hangovers, relieving morning sickness, protects against kidney cancer, or cure the itch of a mosquito bite and put a great shine on your shoes. Eating bananas aids digestion and truly stomach filling. They are natural antacid providing relief from acid reflux. Finally bananas make great snacks and luscious mouth-watering smoothies.

When bananas are used as a substitute for high calorie desserts, they can be a healthy addition to a weight loss diet. Otherwise, if you're intent on losing weight, eat bananas in moderation and explore some of the other lower calorie fruit options such as apples and berries. These fruits are low in calories but also provide a great deal of vitamins and antioxidants which are important to any healthy diet.

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