Top Best Benefits Of Eating Deliciously Ripe Bananas In 2024

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Top Benefits Of Eating Deliciously Ripe Bananas

Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world. They are very healthy and can be added to any diet, even to weight loss or low-carb diets.

The dessert banana is the most cultivated one. They belong to the ‘Cavendish' group and can be eaten raw.

A banana is an elongated edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several herbaceous plants.

The fruit is variable in size, colour, and firmness. In some countries, the cooking version is called ‘plantains.'

Family: Musaceae
Genus: Musa
Order: Zingiberales
Kingdom: Plantae

History of the Banana

The banana was not always yellow. It probably started as a smaller, browner fruit around 8,000 BC. Then, it was grown only in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea.

Farmers took the early species of the banana, like the Musa Acuminata and the
Musa balbisiana and crossbred them to a more sustainable fruit with fewer seeds.
In the 15th century, Portuguese ships transported banana plants across the ocean and introduced them to Latin America and the Caribbean. That's where people planted them.
Now, over 80% of all exports come from these regions.
The legendary Cavendish banana had not caught on just yet. The softer, creamier variety of Gros Michel was trendy. This species was virtually extinct in the 1960s by an invasive and incurable fungus. That's when ‘The Cavendish, Gros Michel's cousin, became more popular, especially since it was successfully grown in the same soil as the extinct ‘Gros Michel.'

Benefits Of Eating Bananas

There are many benefits of eating this delicious fruit.

The Banana Is One of The Best Sources Of Vitamin B6

Our bodies easily absorb vitamin B6 in the banana, and it helps us to:

Produce red blood cells
Metabolize amino acids
Metabolize fats and carbohydrates
Remove unwanted chemicals from the liver and kidneys
Maintain a healthy nervous system

This Delicious Sweet Fruit Is A Good Source Of Vitamin C

Bananas contain quite a substantial amount of Vitamin C. This vitamin is essential for our bodies to:

Protect against cell and tissue damage.
Absorb iron better.
Produce collagen, which holds the body, bones & skin together
Help the brain by producing serotonin

They Contain Dietary Fibre And Manganese

Dietary fibre from raw fruit is good for our digestive health and regular bowel movement. It also helps you feel full longer and can improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels, preventing diseases like bowel cancer, heart disease & diabetes.

Manganese plays a big role in the metabolism of nutrients.

Bananas Are Nearly Fat-Free

100 g of this fruit only contains 0.3 g of fat:

Saturated fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated fat less than 0.1 g

They Are Cholesterol-Free

100 g bananas contain 0 mg cholesterol

Bananas Contain Tiny Traces of Sodium

100 g bananas contain 1 mg of sodium

Manganese

100 g of bananas contain 0.32 mg of manganese. This mineral plays a variety of roles, such as:

It aids the metabolism.
Manganese helps regulate blood sugar.
This mineral contributes to decreased inflammation.
It reduces premenstrual cramps.
It is essential for bone health.
It lowers incidents of epileptic seizures.
Manganese also contributes to good thyroid health.

Potassium

Potassium has some excellent health benefits:

It is a mineral which is highly important for heart health.
Potassium helps manage blood pressure by supporting your body with detox and to remove some sodium.
This mineral relaxes the walls of our blood vessels and lowers blood pressure.
It may reduce the risk of strokes.
Potassium can help keep your bones healthy until high age.
And it is essential for bodybuilding; potassium makes your muscles work better.

Bananas Can Aid Digestion And Help With Gastrointestinal Health

This fruit contains prebiotics, which is food for the probiotics
Bananas help people take antibiotics, replacing the removed or damaged probiotics.
It reduces allergy symptoms
It heals yeast & urinary infections
Bananas lessen lactose intolerance
A banana eases irritable bowel syndrome

Bananas Are One Of The Best Foods To Give You Energy!

They are an excellent source of carbohydrates, potassium & vitamin B6, all of which boost energy levels in our bodies. Energy is essential in our busy lives.

How Do You Keep Bananas Fresh?

They tend to ripen very quickly, especially during warm weather. There are a few tricks to keep them fresh longer.

This is how you buy organic bananas in grocery stores. You cover the stems of bananas with plastic wrap (see image)
It is important to recover the bunch after eating one of them.
My favourite version is to separate the bananas into single fruit and then wrap its stem. This slows down the ripening even more.
You can also cut them into slices and sprinkle them with lemon or lime juice.

Little Known Facts About Bananas

There are some fascinating facts about this exciting fruit which I didn't know myself:

The banana is “botanically” a berry, not a fruit.
The plants they grow on are not trees. The trunk is a pseudostem, which is all that supports the plant.
The banana “tree” is the largest herbaceous flowering plant.
99% of bananas we eat today are cloned from one original plant because the most popular banana, Cavendish, cannot reproduce independently.
You can use the inside of the peel to soothe itching from bug bites and poison ivy.
There is an international banana museum in Mecca, California/ It holds the Guinness world record for the largest collection of one fruit, with over 20,000 items related to bananas.

Conclusion

As you can see, bananas are a trendy fruit. Each year, humans worldwide consume an estimated 100,000 billion bananas.

The average American eats 27 lbs a year! They have many benefits for your health, body, and even brain.

The most popular one exported today is the Cavendish. There are some interesting facts about the plant. It is a herbaceous species, and the banana is botanically a berry.

There are many benefits to eating bananas regularly. I am on a raw fruit diet and eat 8 – 12 bananas weekly.

I trust you enjoyed this blog post about the Top Benefits Of Eating Deliciously Ripe Bananas. Please stay tuned. There are more blog posts to come soon. Take care!

JeannetteZ

Would you like to grow your own bananas? However, do you only have a small garden area? Please click here to read my blog about Follow 10 Steps To Grow Banana Trees In Containers. You can find many more ideas on container gardening on my close-to-nature.org website.

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