Bananas, This is interesting.

After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.

It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and Stressed at work ? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking & Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine, "eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

Not Sparkly's father .... my ex's father. His doc suggested he eat a banana a day. He's been gone well over 20 years, so I don't remember much of the specifics of the 'why', but I clearly recall him being advised to eat them.

I wonder who else might have an affinity for these yellow jewels ........

Hmmmmmmmm ...........

I really don't like bananas. Part of that may be that, when we lived in India, when I was very small, we lived very near a wood furniture factory that used banana oil to treat the wood to prevent mildew and discoloration. Our neighborhood ALWAYS smelled like bananas, and everything tasted like bananas all the time.

I don't mind the little red fingerling bananas so much, but the yellow ones are only good (in my book) for banana bread.

I hate them when they are overripe and squishy.

:spank:

"Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief."

I can't eat bananas at all. They give me vicious heartburn. I can't eat banana bread or banana cream pie either. The odd thing is that I'm not the only member of my family who has the same problem with them. My sister couldn't eat them until she started taking Prilosec. Go figure.

:(

in the 80s one of its basic theories is that eating foods originating from the place that you live in is best for health....that foods from non-local places will not match/ be compatible with your genetic makeup.

For example, people with roots in Scotland would do better eating oats, foods that were eaten there for centuries, while those from tropical zones eating tropical fruits and veggies, ....I thought that it was an interesting theory at the time.

:hi:

DemEx

A few of my cousins have the same problem. The worst part is I really like bananas. I take a diuretic for blood pressure control so eating them daily would be helpful. I can eat them in Special K with milk without a problem but I can't stand milk.

However, once I became pregnant for my second or third child, they started making my stomach upset--that "like a rock" feeling. I can eat them cooked just fine, but raw I never know what's going to happen. My ex's grandmother used to make us eat a fruit salad she concocted every Sunday dinner that had bananas in it (I know she was hoping I'd miss one). I would pick out the bananas and the fruit salad would still make me violently ill. Once I got a little tipsy and ate a whole banana to see what would happen. My kids thought I was trying to commit suicide. Nothing happened. I eat them sparingly now and then (banana cream pie), but I'm a little afraid of them. I really miss sliced bananas on plain cheerios though!