Bananas and lettuce contribute a variety of nutrients and plant-specific phytochemicals that support your health. However, a diet of only bananas and lettuce has poor levels of protein, healthful fats and other essential nutrients. If you want to try a lettuce and banana diet, vigilantly monitor your overall nutrient intake.
Dietary Provision
If you require low calorie, low fat meals, lettuce and bananas can contribute. If you have digestive problems or are emerging from a period of illness or fasting, lettuce and bananas provide gut-friendly fiber, soothing water-content and potassium, a mineral vital for electrolyte balance, blood health and mental function.
Banana Nutrition
According to Oxford Dictionaries, a banana is both a fruit and an herb. As a fruit it contains the seeds of the plant, and yet the plant itself is herbacious, since it lacks a real tree's wood. A 9 inch banana has only 140 calories, 602 mg of potassium, 2 g protein, 4 g fiber and 36 g carbohydrate. Bananas account for five important B vitamins: thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, pyridoxine and folate, all of which contribute to healthy metabolism and proper physical development. Bananas also contain vitamins C and A, magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc.
Lettuces of Note
Generally, lettuce provides very few calories but a wealth of vitamins, cellulose and water. As "Juicing for Health" points out, different lettuces have different assets. Iceberg has a crunchy, mild quality and provides choline, an antioxidant. Romaine's long, green leaves are rich in folic acid, thiamine, riboflavin and vitamins A and C. Butterhead, a broad-leaved loose leaf lettuce, has sweeter flavor than iceberg or romaine. Among other loose leaf varieties, the University of Illinois recommends the curly-edged green lettuce and red lettuce for eating.
Add Some Protein
Protein foods that complement lettuce and banana include nut butters, cottage and ricotta cheeses, and soy powder. The last is a mild-flavored supplement made from dehydrated soybeans from which protein has been isolated and concentrated, resulting in 20 g to 24 g protein per ounce -- about 2 tbsp. -- and 120 calories. Cottage cheese and ricotta cheese are brethren by-products from cheese-making, with fat-free versions providing approximately 14 g of highly bioavailable protein and 100 calories per half cup. Finally, the old standby: peanut butter. Peanuts and other nuts, when turned into natural "butters," provide approximately 200 calories per ounce, 7 g protein and 16 g healthful fats that satiate and nourish.
Easy, No-Cook Recipes
For breakfast, a bed of iceberg topped with bananas and drizzled with honey and walnuts out-performs glazed donuts or sugar-sweetened cereal. A nutritious lunch can be as simple as a peanut butter sandwich incorporating sliced banana and green or red lettuce. For an afternoon snack, try a protein shake made with bananas, soy powder, low fat milk and a few leaves of romaine that have been juiced in a food processor. A dinner salad with multiple lettuces, cubed banana, ricotta cheese, sunflower seeds and whole grain croutons provides protein and complex carbs. A dessert parfait of yogurt, banana and low-sugar cereal with sprigs of red leaf on the side make a high-nutrient ending to the day's meals.
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