A typical banana plantation.
What was once considered to be an exotic delicacy; the banana has become a household item all over the world, and with good reason. This perfectly packaged and low calorie fruit is packed with nutrients and provides you with all sorts of health benefits. If you’re looking to improve your physique, bananas should be a staple in your diet.
The Perfect Snack
With just 105 calories on average, bananas fit the bill as a healthy and energizing on-the-go snack. They don’t contain nearly as much sugar as most snack foods but yet they provides an athlete or average gym-goer with a nice little jolt of energy. Bananas are a great source of dietary fiber, meaning they’ll help keep you full for longer when compared to other fruits. This fiber also helps keep your blood sugar low, preventing the spike of insulin associated with high sugar snacks (which then leads to binging).
Bananas are very low in saturated fat and cholesterol and are also chalk-full of vitamin B. If you compare a banana to an to an apple, it has roughly 4 times the protein, three times the phosphorus, 5 times the iron and vitamin A, twice the carbohydrates (great if you need the energy), and twice most other vitamins and minerals.
An Added Benefit For Athletes
Bananas are an extremely good source of potassium. If you know anything about potassium, you know that it’s essential for normal muscular function. Being deficient in potassium is a huge problem if you’re an active purpose as it leads to muscle cramps and a greater risk of injury. Particularly for runners, having a good supply of potassium is necessary to avoid that dreaded running stitch. If you exercise a lot, a banana a day will go a long way in giving you the energy you need and preventing muscle cramps and injury.
Tips
Eat bananas just before they’re fully ripe. If you wait until they’re fully developed, they’ll have a higher sugar content. Albeit, it’s not a huge amount, but if you’re watching the carbs, every little bit helps.
A banana is completely yellow when it’s ripe. Try eating it when the tips are still slightly green to avoid the excess sugar. It’ll be less sweet and a little tougher, but still give you all the other benefits that bananas provide, without as much of the only known negative (sugar).
Article by JoshVales
Josh is an Expert Trainer and Best-Selling Fitness Author. His mission is to cut through all the B.S. about losing fat and gaining muscle that's spread by so-called 'gurus' and broscience. He wants to help people reach their fitness goals through truth and knowledge.
Josh has written 61 awesome articles for us at Last Stop Fat Loss
Twitter: @laststopfatloss
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Never go to a contest without then; bananas.