More than 16.8 million tons of bananas moved around the world in exports and imports as of 2006, according to statistics from the United Nations. The easily transportable banana is sweet, relatively low in calories and packed full of important nutrients. Dieting often means giving up sweets, but there is no need to give up bananas while dieting to lose weight.
Nutritional Benefits
Bananas are a high in potassium, which the National Institutes of Health explains impacts your body on both the cellular and electrical levels. If you become potassium deficient, you may experience irregular heart rhythms. Bananas contain 1.3 g of protein, 14.4 g of naturally occurring sugars, 27 g of carbohydrates and 422 mg of potassium. You need about 4.7 g or 4700 mg of potassium each day. The nutrients in bananas help you eat a balanced diet, which helps your immune system, energy level and organ function, both during and after weight loss.
Low-Calorie Food
The 105 calories in a medium banana or 134 calories per 1 cup of sliced banana are a relatively small part of your calorie intake. Eating a half a banana or a few slices of a banana gives you about 50 calories. If you consume 1,300 to 1,600 calories on your diet, 1 cup of sliced bananas makes up 8 to 10 percent of your calories. Compared with less dense 100-calorie foods such as two small cookies, 0.75 oz. of chips or a handful of chocolate candy, the calories in bananas leave you with a feeling of fullness that junk food snacks lack.
Expert Insight
Bananas contain 3.1 g of fiber per medium banana and 3.9 g per cup. Consuming enough fiber enables your body to digest all the food you eat more easily and benefits your cholesterol levels, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. A study published in the May 2010 edition of the "International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health" investigated whether obese patients would lose more weight if given a native banana starch supplement. The results indicated that the participants who took the supplement lost more weight than the participants in the control group.
Strategies
The versatile banana is not just for snacks or a cereal topping, although those are two good ways to use bananas when losing weight. Additional uses include including a banana in a protein or fruit shake, adding chopped bananas to yogurt or using banana puree in whole-wheat muffins. To add healthy fats to your banana, roll a peeled banana in 1/8 cup of crushed peanuts or almonds. When you eat a banana as part of your weight loss plan, one banana equals one serving of your recommended 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fruit on the United States Department of Agriculture's food pyramid.
References
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: Banana: Market
- National Institutes of Health; Potassium in Diet; David Zieve, et al.; May 2010
- USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory: Banana, Cookie, Chips, Candy
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Fiber
- "International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health"; Effects of Native Banana Starch Supplementation on Body Weight and Insulin Sensitivity in Obese Type 2 Diabetics; Jorge L. Ble-Castillo, et al.; May 2010
- United States Department of Agriculture: What Foods Are in the Food Group?
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