Can Bananas be a Diet Food?
This is in the same vein as Ed's question about peanut butter being a diet food...I need opinions.
I have this feeling that all those bananas (only about 1/2 of one per day) are not helping me lose those few pounds I want to lose.
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20 Comments:
Uhm... what? Bananas are great for diets. You get your fruit serving and some fiber all rolled into one!
Bananas =/= Peanut Butter.
modysoul at 5:54PM on 10/03/08
Plus bananas are a good source of potassium.
izatryt at 6:08PM on 10/03/08
Everything is "diet food" if you eat it in proper quanties. There are no magic diet foods. To lose weight, you have to eat less than the calories you burn. You can choose to burn more or consume less, or both.
If you choose to consume less, you can moderate your portion size, or you can substitute lower calorie foods for higher calorie ones that you would normally eat. So if you're eating a banana instead of a hunk of cheesecake, it's a good substitution. If you're eating a banana instead of a celery stick, it's not a good substitution.
But the goal, if you're trying to substitute lower calorie foods, shouldn't always be to find the absolutely lowest calorie item, otherwise you'll end up gnawing on plywood. If you're not eating foods that satisfy you, you'll never stay on the diet.
If this isn't about a weight-loss diet but is about health/allergies/intolerances, then it's a whole different conversation.
dbcurrie at 6:08PM on 10/03/08
Yeah, its all about total calories. Record everything you eat and chart it in something like www.sparkpeople.com and make sure you have the right amount of calories.
jennywenny at 6:13PM on 10/03/08
@db ~ you are always the greatest voice of reason! (((((H)))))
izatryt at 6:26PM on 10/03/08
This reminds me of when I was in Stage Door in high school and one of the characters is on a diet where she eats nothing but bananas and milk.
I actually hate bananas, but if I did like them, I would find them to be excellent diet food because they prevent muscle cramps when you run for a long time. It's all the potassium. So eat a little banana and run for an hour and you'll probably lose some weight!
RunnerChef at 7:05PM on 10/03/08
Whoa. Wait a second. I click this thread and the original poster is worried about eating 1/2, or 50 calories worth of bananas, and everyone is giving lectures about portion control and calories and running off the banana that you eat.
First of all, I assume you're worried about carbohydrates, not calories, because if you think 50 calories is a lot that's a bit...um...much...
Secondly, while I realize there are many Atkins devotees out there, most people find that a balanced diet (balanced between energy intake and expenditure) is the best long-term solution to weight loss and maintaance. Yes, eating too many sugary foods can increase hunger, but although bananas have a high glycemic index value, the brain runs on glucose, so most people think some carbohydrates are necessary for normal functioning--to think as well as to have energy to run. Bananas have fiber which decreases blood sugar 'spiking' and have only about 100-110 calories per fruit. As a treat, I consider that quite modest. And yes, it's possible to over-consume anything, technically, but to eat and binge on a thousand calories of bananas would take a strong and capacious stomach, and probably give you such terrible indigestion you wouldn't want to eat anything else for quite some time-versus eating peanut butter from a jar with a spoon, in which it would be very easy for a pb lover to suck down a thousand calories without batting an eye.
HeartofGlass at 8:46PM on 10/03/08
Thanks, @iz. Actually I'm more of a waffle. I tend to see both sides of an issue, which seems reasonable until I need to make a decision. Then I waffle back and forth.
But food hype just bugs me. Stuff that was good for you before, was then bad, and is now good again. Companies advertise that their product is good for you, good for your diet, good for weight loss, or a cure for some minor illness and everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Meanwhile, other foods get labeled as "bad" because if rats are force fed the stuff they eventually get sick. Oh really?
Read enough hype and pretty soon you're neurotic about food.
I (barely) remember when you could buy granulated sugar that was made from either cane or sugar beets, and the cane sugar advertising won the day -- somehow that was deemed to be a better sugar, probably because it seemed exotic.
And then there was a time when ketchup was thickened by using sugar beet pulp, no doubt left over from making sugar, and it probably also helped to sweeten the product. That beet pulp was deemed "wrong" and next thing you know, we've got HCFS doing the sweetening instead. I remember my dad being all offended about the beet pulp, because it didn't "belong" in ketchup.
But I digress. Bananas are a fine food. And when they're old and mushy they make a lovely banana bread which can be either decadent or reasonable, depending on what you put into it. Or how much of it you eat.
dbcurrie at 9:21PM on 10/03/08
@dbcurrie - Have you read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food? It talks a lot about how food hype got started in the first place, and how ridiculous it all is. Really a great read.
jenilowrance at 12:46AM on 10/04/08
I lost 40 lbs on a modified version of South Beach. I ate as much fruit as I wanted, including bananas.
AnnNY at 10:02AM on 10/04/08
bananas are good for you. i eat a whole one every morning during my break. on the weekends i throw it in a blender. the whole thing. some strawberries, ice and some frozen yogurt. smoothie heaven. i lose anywhere from 1 - 2 1/2 lbs a week. enjoy your banana. and eat the whole thing.
dearrie at 11:29AM on 10/04/08
Really? My smoothies usually consist of a frozen banana, frozen berries, and a cup or so of orange juice. Why do people like putting dairy products in their smoothies so much?
nightowl at 5:11PM on 10/04/08
Some of us need more calcium than others, for one thing. And some of us find the protein very helpful for keeping hunger pangs down.
Different strokes for different folks. Right, nightowl?
lemons at 6:45PM on 10/04/08
Yes, bananas are great, as are all fruits and vegetables. At the end of the day, they do count towards your overall calories, though, just like with anything you eat. One of my favorite things to eat are frozen bananas (they are very sweet and are great for dessert). I love all frozen fruit, really.
To make frozen bananas just un-peel a banana, cut it in half and put it into a ziplock bag. Then put it into the freezer for a few hours.
yummydietfood at 3:39PM on 10/05/08
I also love bananas, and eat them plain, WITH PEANUT BUTTER for a treat, sliced on cheerios (with soymilk), and in smoothies! My go-to smoothie recipe is 6 oz light vanilla yogurt (or plain yogurt, with agave nectar, if I have it) + one unfrozen ripe banana + about 1 cup frozen fruit (I like strawberries or peaches, or a mixture of either with frozen berries) + about 1/2 cup skim milk (or orange juice). It's absolutely delicious, and while it's not a super-lean smoothie of just ice and fruit, or something like that, it's much healthier than store-bought smoothies, and has enough protein and fiber to keep me going for a while!
ChristineB at 4:57PM on 10/06/08
And if you're worried about eating bananas and losing weight, seriously listen to everyone else on this thread! Bananas are very very good for you, and definitely shouldn't be preventing you from reaching your weight-loss goals.
ChristineB at 5:01PM on 10/06/08
Bananas are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. Any time you're eating something in its natural form, you're doing something good for your body.
buffy at 7:24PM on 10/06/08
niteowl
i use the yogurt because i like it. i can't have juice. wish i could.
dearrie at 7:42PM on 10/06/08
do note that should you ever choose to consumer six bananas in one evening, you are likely asking to be woken up in the middle of the night with the most intense muscle cramps you have ever felt in your entire life, as is the result of too much potassium. Um, not that I know from experience or anything...
Shelby at 8:11PM on 10/06/08
Earlier this afternoon I was thinking about what people did to lose weight before there were a gazillion gurus to tell them what to do (and confuse them!). They ate less, they didn't snack and they cut down on sweets. The more active you are, the more you can eat. Simple -- and it works.
The diet gurus have made us fear food. What food to fear depends on which guru you listen to. My take on it: if Mother Nature made it, it's good for you to eat. If man made it, be more careful.
Bananas, good; banana bread -- be careful.
Potatoes, good, potato chips -- be careful.
If it comes in some kind of manmade container and is "ready to eat" or requires minimal cooking -- be careful. Some things that fit that description probably shouldn't be eaten at all; others should be consumed in moderation.
IndyGal at 8:24PM on 10/06/08