Each of us dreams of eating deliciously and losing weight, but, unfortunately, this does not always become reality. Most attempts to go on another diet end with a gain of several grams or even kilograms. Those desperate to lose weight try not to eat after six in the evening. But what to do when, after 2-3 hours, your stomach reminds you with all possible efforts that it would be nice to have a snack. And sometimes everyone wondered: “Is it possible to eat a banana at night without harming your figure?” There really are many myths and legends about this product. We will learn about the benefits and harms of exotic fruits below in the article.
How many calories are in a banana?
Those losing weight need to remember that banana is a high-calorie fruit. It is high in calories due to its high carbohydrate content. 100 g of pulp contains about 90 kcal. Banana fruits come in different sizes and weights. There is a difference - to eat a small fruit weighing 150 g or a fairly large one, more than 200 g! For comparison, the calorie content of grapefruit is only 35 kcal per 100 g. Calorie content of mango.
Carbohydrates are a source of energy necessary for normal life. 100g of banana contains 25g of carbohydrates. The aforementioned grapefruit contains only 11 g.
Nutrients in 100 grams of banana
Banana composition
This exotic fruit is extremely healthy, as evidenced by its composition. Not everyone knows, but bananas also contain vitamin C, and not in small quantities, and ascorbic acid is an immune aid. The presence of magnesium and tryptophan in the product makes the fruit indispensable for the stronger sex - energy is restored, compensating for the deficiency of carbohydrates, potency increases and sperm quality significantly improves.
Bananas are very good for health
In addition, banana contains:
- sodium
- phosphorus
- iron
- manganese, etc.
However, frequent consumption of exotic fruit leads to blood thickening, since it was already stated above that bananas remove fluid from the body.
The product contains certain components that destroy pathogenic microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract. The fruit is recommended to be consumed for ulcerative pathologies. Often the fetus stops attacks of nausea.
It is important to know! The exotic fruit does not contain proteins or fats. The calorie content of one banana varies between 70-100 kilocalories.
Banana diet
There are two types of banana diet:
- Strict express diet, designed for 3 days. You are allowed to drink water and eat up to four fruits per day. In three days you can lose up to 4 kilograms. It is dangerous to follow a diet for more than three or four days.
- Classic banana diet. It includes bananas and skim milk or kefir. Different versions of such a diet allow additional products, and the duration of the diet depends on this. It is possible to lose about 3-4 kilograms in a week.
With any type of diet, water is allowed to be drunk unlimitedly. The amount of weight lost depends on the individual characteristics of the body. It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the contraindications.
The banana diet is effective if you follow it clearly and consistently.
One of the conditions of any banana diet is that the last meal should be at least three hours before bedtime. Let's look at why you shouldn't eat bananas at night.
About the benefits of the product
From the composition of the product described above, one can already judge its benefits in many areas of human life.
- It is recommended to include bananas in the diet for the treatment of certain diseases. Sometimes doctors even recommend taking a number of medications with this product for better absorption.
- The ability of the fruit to influence metabolism, remove excess water from the body, and affect the functioning of organs at the hormonal level has attracted those who watch their figure. Bananas are included in many weight loss diets.
- Exotic fruits are also used for external use. Compresses are made from banana pulp to treat burns, and fashionistas use it for nourishing masks.
- Banana will help men restore their former strength, giving them the opportunity to cope with impotence. But single fruits cannot solve the problem here - every breakfast should include these fruits in the menu.
Only ripe bananas are good for the body. They are lower in calories due to the lower density of starch contained in the fruit.
Should you eat bananas in the evening and at night?
The last meal of the day, dinner, traditionally raises many questions for all people interested in a healthy lifestyle.
To find out whether you can eat bananas at night while losing weight, you need to understand how the human body works. Eight hours of sleep requires approximately 480 kcal. The digestive system slows down at this time. If you load your stomach immediately before bed, some of the food will not have time to be processed, and in the morning you will be left with an unpleasant feeling of heaviness. Carbohydrates are converted into glucose, and since a person sleeps and spends little energy, it is safely converted into fat deposits. Therefore, to the question whether it is possible to eat bananas at night, we must give a negative answer.
Composition of the product and its beneficial properties
In order to understand what happens to the body when eating tropical fruits, you need to know what is included in its biochemical composition. It is varied, like other exotics. Therefore, taking into account all the beneficial substances, it will be possible to understand whether it is possible to eat in the evening:
- Banana is a source of potassium. Like no other, it contains simply a huge amount of this mineral compound in an easily digestible form. Fruit pulp normalizes the water-salt balance in the body, that is, it removes excess fluid. This moment means that it fights deposits of excess fatty tissue (cellulite). Another benefit of potassium is the normalization of the cardiovascular system. Two copies per day will replenish the daily potassium requirement.
- Lovers of beautiful shapes and appearance should definitely include a banana in their diet, which boasts a higher content of vitamins A, C, D, E than other products. It is this list that helps preserve the beauty and youth of your skin. Vitamin C is responsible for the immune system and resists viral and infectious diseases.
- It’s everyone’s business to eat a banana in the morning, at lunch or in the evening. But it should be remembered that it promotes the production of the hormone serotonin, which is responsible for a great mood. What else do you need for energy, vigor and happiness for the day? After all, if you eat a banana before going to bed, you will probably have wonderful dreams. This means that in the morning you will get up in a great mood, depression will be lifted as if by hand.
- Fiber is known as an essential substance that improves digestion. And there is enough of it in the fruit for the daytime stool to return to normal. Bananas are effective for constipation.
- The pulp contains a useful substance - tryptophan, which improves night sleep.
- The benefits of banana have been noted by athletes. He is especially fond of bodybuilding. The fruit can build muscle mass, restore expended energy, and improve mood. Therefore, you need to eat it at night after training, when the body is resting, but after eating you can watch TV or read books so that a couple of hours pass for digestion.
Is it possible for a person who is not on a diet to eat at night?
Is it possible to eat bananas at night? – people who do not follow special diets are interested. For all those who do not suffer from excess weight problems, eating too much carbohydrate before bed can lead to similar problems in the future. It is important to feel in moderation here. If sometimes, at least two to three hours before bedtime, you eat a banana at night (but no more than one), such a meal will not affect your weight either positively or negatively.
If you are not interested in losing weight, eating one banana at night is fine. Should you eat bananas during pregnancy and breastfeeding?
Is it allowed to eat before bed when losing weight?
If a person is aiming to lose weight, then he should know whether a banana can be eaten at night while on a diet or not. The habit of eating high-calorie fruits in the evening will slow down the weight loss process, at best. Simple carbohydrates should enter the body in the first half of the day, when a person is active and moves a lot. Excess calories must have time to be processed.
Some women don't understand why they shouldn't eat bananas at night if they haven't eaten much during the day. The fact is that during fasting, the body’s protective reaction is to make as many reserves as possible for the future.
You can't make yourself feel hungry. This will lead to an unhealthy increase in appetite later on. According to this mechanism, so-called “breakdowns” are formed, when after a diet a person eats everything uncontrollably.
If you really want to eat something in the evening besides dinner, you don’t need to eat bananas; it’s better to satisfy your hunger with a lower-calorie fruit or vegetable, or drink water.
The best PP recipes with bananas for weight loss
If you want to eat bananas while losing weight in the evening for dinner or in the morning for breakfast, then you can choose a variety of suitable recipes: smoothies, cocktails with milk and banana, oatmeal with banana and cinnamon, boiled bananas and other PP recipes.
With cottage cheese
The lower the calorie content of cottage cheese, the less caloric your breakfast will be overall. However, nutritionists do not recommend taking cottage cheese with zero fat content. It is better to take 5% - it contains fats that are healthy for the body, but it is not very high in calories.
The recipe is very simple: you need to mix cottage cheese with peeled banana. This can be done using a blender, food processor or fork, but it is after the blender that the final dish becomes airy and becomes more like a dessert than a main course.
With kefir
This breakfast is prepared almost similarly to the one described above. Choose kefir that suits your fat content and taste, mix it with a peeled banana, and breakfast is ready.
This version of the dish is best prepared in a blender. If you use a fork, the dish will be uneven, and keep in mind that the result will be a more liquid version than with cottage cheese.
Cocktail with milk
Peel the banana, cut it into several pieces and put it in a blender, pour milk into it, beat well. The recipe uses 200 ml of milk per 1 banana, but you can choose your own proportions. The less milk there is in the cocktail, the thicker it will be.
Usually ice cream is added to such a cocktail, but then the product will be quite high in calories, so for those losing weight it is better to make a lighter version.
To diversify the taste of such cocktails, you can add some dates, cinnamon, and dark chocolate to them.
Smoothie with banana and spinach
With oatmeal
Adding banana to oatmeal makes the oatmeal sweet, so it doesn't need extra sugar and is even healthier. This breakfast can be prepared in about half an hour. You will need 400 ml of low-fat milk or water, 5 heaped tablespoons of oatmeal, 1 banana.
You need to pour some water into the bottom of the pan if you plan to cook with milk. This will prevent your milk from burning while cooking. Then add milk or water if you will be cooking with it. Bring the liquid to a boil, then add the oats to the pan and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. When the cereal is boiled, add mashed banana, cover the porridge with a lid and leave to steep for 5 minutes.
Those who love lazy oatmeal for breakfast can also make it with banana. Just add mashed fruit the night before and leave the porridge to steep.
Smoothie
A banana smoothie has one undeniable advantage: it does not require additional sweeteners and goes well with almost all fruits and berries. But there is also a small drawback - the banana quickly darkens, so the smoothie does not always turn out a beautiful color.
There are a large number of cooking options. The milkshake and kefir with banana described above are also, in a sense, smoothies. But there are other interesting combinations.
Kiwi smoothie
To make this drink healthier, make it with natural yogurt, and you can add a little fresh spinach to the recipe. To prepare, take 2 kiwis, 1 banana, 250 ml of yogurt, half a bunch of spinach. Peel the fruits, cut them into small pieces and place them in a blender bowl. Tear clean spinach leaves into several pieces with your hands. Add yogurt and blend all ingredients. A healthy and tasty smoothie is ready.
Avocado smoothie
Take 1 ripe avocado, 1 banana, 1 orange, 250 ml coconut milk. Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit and scoop out the flesh from the skin. Peel the banana and cut into small pieces. You will also need the zest of half an orange and the juice of the whole orange.
All ingredients must be mixed in a blender until smooth. Coconut milk can be replaced with regular cow's milk, but then there will be no light notes of coconut in the smoothie. You can also add juice from a third of a lemon to the smoothie to add a slight sourness.
Smoothie with banana and muesli
