You may have heard that glucose is the body's main source of energy. When you eat, your body gets glucose by metabolizing the carbohydrates in your food. One food that contains a lot of carbohydrates is a banana. On average, a large banana contains about 31 grams of carbohydrates. This means that eating a banana will most likely cause your blood sugar level to rise. How much it rises depends on a few factors.
One factor is your individual metabolism. (We won't go into detail here).
The other factor, and this is probably more surprising, is maturity.
Bananas, like all fruits, contain carbohydrates that can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly.
The greener the banana, the more resistant starch. Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that cannot be digested sufficiently and therefore does not cause blood sugar levels to rise.
So if you have a choice between two bananas, choose the greener one because it does not cause blood sugar levels to rise as much as the riper one.
Besides carbohydrates and thus energy, bananas have other effects on your body. They are an excellent source of micronutrients such as potassium, magnesium, vitamin 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 so it doesn't end 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 addition of refined sugar. Bon appetit! 🍌
Source: Johns Hopkins University.
