The banana is a superstar fruit that contains 12% of your recommended daily does of potassium along with 3 grams of fiber along with containing 20% of vitamins C and B6.
They naturally suppress your appetite and they are a delicious additive to smoothies, oatmeal or in baked goods. But according to one nutritionist, you really should be eating the peel too.
“Specifically, you will increase your overall fiber content by at least 10 percent as a lot of dietary fiber can be found in the skin of the banana,” Australian nutritionist Susie Burrell shared in a blog (about bananas.)
“You will get almost 20 percent more vitamin B6 and almost 20 percent more vitamin C and you will boost both your potassium and magnesium intake.
And while she does not suggest actually eating the skins she does suggest cooking the skin to soften it first, as it will “break down some of the cell walls within the skin helping to make the nutrients easily to absorb,” then blending it into recipes or smoothies.
The color of the banana also makes a difference nutritionally as green banana skins are chalk full of amino acid tryptophan (which correlates to good sleep quality) as well as resistant starch, which helps your gut.
In addition, a ripened banana with yellow skin offers a higher proportion of antioxidants which has anti-cancer effects.
But when it comes to truly shedding pounds on the stuff, don’t go buying bananas by the pound just yet.
“There is no published research on this, so we don’t know for certain how eating them may impact weight loss,” Cynthia Sass, RD, Health’s contributing nutrition editor, reveals.
So for now folks, your classic balanced diet wins yet again!