Full of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and phytonutrients, bananas are the perfect power food, providing a long-lasting burst of energy to fuel your busy, active life. Pack a banana wherever you go and you'll always have a quick, convenient source of nutrition to pick you up and keep you going.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 recommend several goals to help consumers make better food choices. Some of them include balancing calories by avoiding oversized portions, making half your plate fruits and vegetables, making at least half your grains whole grains, drink water instead of sugary drinks and compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals - and choose the foods with lower numbers.
Tips for getting more Fruits and Vegetables into your diet:
- Sip Smoothies - fruit smoothies are a great way to get more fruits into your diet and they are fun to make, too. Get creative - try something new today!
- Make fruit pops with cubes of bananas and other fruit. Eating fruit cubes as mini popsicles can be fun and easy to make.
Keep it colorful - try to eat a range of fruit and vegetables that have different colors to get a broad range of nutrients. From white or tan/brown bananas to yellow/orange pineapples and green avocados, you can create a rainbow on your plate.
Good for Your Health
- A low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce your risk of some types of cancer.
- Bananas contain 15% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, which helps your body heal, absorb iron and synthesize connective tissue and blood formation.
- Bananas supply 20% of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin B6, which supports your immune system, plays a significant role in the synthesis of antibodies, helps with protein metabolism, red blood cell formation and central nervous system function.
A Dieter's Dream Food
- There's even more good news if you're trying to lose weight safely and sensibly. The fiber in Chiquita bananas makes you feel full and satisfied when you're dieting. That, in turn, helps you to eat less.
- Soluble fiber slows digestion and adsorption of carbohydrates, which leads to a more steady release of natural energy.
- Bananas include complex carbohydrates, an important part of a sensible weight loss plan.
- When you're reducing calories, your body still needs nutrients to function properly. Bananas are a nutrient-rich food. Yet this amazing package of natural energy, minerals, vitamins, fiber and phytonutrients is also fat free!
Banana Diet
In 2008, the Morning Banana Diet was created in Osaka, Japan by a pharmacist for her husband who wanted to lose weight. After he wrote about the diet on one of Japan's largest social networking sites, Mixi, the media grabbed hold of it and it quickly gained popularity. In fact, it was so popular that it led to a shortage of bananas in food stores! The general concept of the Morning Banana Diet is to eat bananas for breakfast, drink water, eat a normal lunch and dinner, sip water any time you are thirsty and finish dinner before 8pm. As with any diet like the banana diet, it should be evaluated for your specific dietary and caloric needs. Always consult your doctor or a nutrition expert to find the best food and lifestyle plan for you.
An Athlete's Friend
- There are approximately 30 grams of carbohydrates in a Chiquita banana supplying the fuel your body needs for muscle and central nervous system activity.
- The banana's combination of carbohydrates, simple sugars, starch and dietary fiber gives you the quick boost and sustained release of energy over time to help improve your endurance and concentration during physical activity.
- The potassium in bananas helps your body maintain fluid balance in blood and tissue cells. Potassium is also an essential mineral for protein synthesis and the building of muscle because it stimulates nerve impulses for muscle contraction.
- Eating a banana will raise your energy level by 20 percent for two hours straight, according to Tufts University researchers.