10 Amazing Benefits Of Eating A Banana Every Day
Why should apples get all the credit for keeping the doctor away? Love them or hate them, bananas not only pack a powerful nutritional punch, but they’re one of the most affordable and accessible fruits around.
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We all know that bananas are high in potassium, but what exactly does that mean for your health? And what other health benefits are there for eating these tropical yellow fruits daily?
Also Read: 10 Delicious Banana Smoothie Recipes
Here are 10 reasons to consider eating a banana everyday.
1. Beat High Blood Pressure
The average banana contains 500 milligrams of potassium and very little sodium, making them an ideal weapon for battling high blood pressure. Potassium lessens the effect of sodium in your system, so try eating a banana after an exceptionally salty meal.
2. Increase Bone Density
The potassium in bananas is equally important for preventing bone loss, especially in women, who, as they age, lose bione density at a faster rate than men. While potassium itself doesn’t directly affect the bones, potassium can neutralize acids that remove calcium from the body and cause bones to weaken.
3. Stabilize Your Mood
Bananas contain tryptophan, a protein that your body converts into serotonin, your feel-good chemical. The potassium in bananas also stabilize your heart rate and send oxygen to your brain. Stress reduces potassium levels, throwing off your heart and disrupting oxygen to the brain, so re-balancing yourself with a high-potassium snack, like a banana, can leave you feeling calm, cool and collected.
4. Ease Menstrual Symptoms
Next time you start feeling the effects of PMS, don’t turn to the medicine cabinet; a banana may be all you need. The vitamin B6 in bananas regulate blood glucose levels, which can calm even the most severe mood swings. Potassium also protects against muscle cramps and aids in digestion, relieving menstrual cramps, aches and pains.
5. Protect Against Iron Deficiency And Anemia
Iron deficiency anemia is a lack of red blood cells in the bloodstream, negatively affecting the amount of oxygen your tissues receive. Symptoms of iron deficiency anemia include dizziness and fainting, brittle nails, cold hands and feet and low energy. Bananas contain easily assimilable iron and help stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood.
6. Regulate Digestion
Bananas are a good source of fibre. A high-fibre diet regulates the digestive system, easing symptoms of irregularity.
7. Cure Hangovers
One of the best and simplest hangover cures is a banana smoothie, sweetened with a little honey. Banana have a soothing effect on the stomach and, along with the honey, can help restore depleted blood sugar levels.
8. Help You Quit Smoking
The B6 and B12 vitamins found in bananas, along with potassium and magnesium, may help the body recover from the miserable effects of nicotine withdrawal, which include headache, nausea and of course, nicotine cravings. Exercise also helps, so eat a banana and work out daily to make quitting smoking that much easier.
9. Treat And Prevent Ulcers
Bananas help ulcer-sufferers neutralize over-acidity and reduce irritation by coating the stomach lining. And eating bananas regularly may help protect against developing ulcers in the first place: the compounds in bananas that protect against irritation create a protective barrier in the stomach against hydrochloric acid. Bananas also contain protease inhibitors, which help eliminate bacteria in the stomach that causes stomach ulcers.
10. Prevent Heartburn
That same protective coating that protects your stomach against ulcers, combined with the naturally antacid effect, makes bananas a great natural remedy for heart burn and acid reflux.