You may have heard that glucose is the body's main source of energy. When you eat, your body obtains glucose by metabolizing the carbohydrates in your food. One food that contains a lot of carbohydrates is a banana. A large banana contains, on average, about 31 g of carbohydrates. This means that eating a banana will most likely cause a rise in blood sugar levels. The extent to which this rise occurs depends on several factors.
One factor is your individual metabolism. (We won't go into detail here.)
The other factor, and this is probably more surprising, is the level of maturity.
Like all fruits, bananas contain carbohydrates, which can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly.
The greener the banana, the more resistant starch it contains. Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that cannot be adequately digested and therefore does not cause a rise in blood sugar levels.
So if you have a choice between two bananas, choose the greener one because it won't raise your blood sugar as much as the riper one.
In addition to carbohydrates and thus energy, bananas also have other benefits for your body. They are an excellent source of micronutrients such as potassium, magnesium, vitamins B12, and C.
In case you missed the time to eat your banana as a snack (when the banana is already too brown and sweet), we have some tips for you to prevent it from ending up in the trash.
You can use a very ripe or overripe banana as a sweetener for your baked goods. You can use it in pancakes, bake banana bread, or mix it into a cream filling. It tastes delicious, and you can reduce (or even eliminate) the added refined sugar. Enjoy! 🍌
Source: Johns Hopkins University .
