Researchers are always looking for foods that can help people control their cholesterol. Your cholesterol levels will thank you if you love bananas. Bananas are a delicious and easy way to get some essential nutrients. Since the beginning of time, people have cultivated this tropical fruit.
For more than a century, it has been celebrated for its health benefits around the world. In addition to sucrose, fructose and glucose, bananas contain a large amount of fiber, nutrients and minerals. It lowers cholesterol and blood pressure because it contains a high percentage of potassium and fiber.
Bananas, like all fruits, are rich in fiber, especially soluble fiber. Plant foods contain more soluble fiber than insoluble fiber. Beans, bananas and oats barleyApples and pears are the best sources of soluble fiber.
Their high soluble fiber content contributes to a strong immune system and a healthy body. It also found that eating more soluble fiber lowered cholesterol.
Read on to understand the relationship between bananas and cholesterol.
Read more: Banana nutrition – calories, benefits and recipes
Understand your cholesterol levels
The American Heart Association recommends keeping total cholesterol levels in the blood at around 200 milligrams per deciliter. Cholesterol levels between 200 and 239 mg/dL are “boundary-high.”
In contrast, cholesterol levels over 240 mg/dL are considered “high.” If you have high levels of cholesterol, your risk of heart disease is higher.
Although cholesterol gets a bad rap, the body needs a small amount to produce hormones and other substances. For example, the liver makes cholesterol, a waxy substance. Since your body makes all the cholesterol it needs, problems only occur when you consume too much of it.
Foods high in saturated fat, especially animal fats, raise one type of cholesterol — low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol. However, when this LDL reaches an excessive level in the bloodstream, it starts to form plaque on the artery walls. This plaque slows blood flow, which greatly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and heart attack.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the majority of cholesterol in your body is LDL cholesterol. An ideal LDL cholesterol level is less than 100 mg/dL, even if an LDL cholesterol level between 100 and 129 mg/dL is considered healthy for most people.
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is considered a healthy type of cholesterol because it helps remove LDL cholesterol from the body. A healthy HDL cholesterol level, which should be at least 60 mg/dL, usually helps prevent heart disease.
Remember that taking a blood test is the most reliable way to determine your cholesterol levels. While making heart-healthy lifestyle changes can help reduce the problem, some people may also need statins to prevent future problems.
Bananas and cholesterol – the relationship
Bananas are among the healthiest, most convenient, delicious and least expensive fresh fruits. As a result, anyone who wants to eat well will find them to be an excellent choice.
Additionally, bananas contain several essential nutrients that may aid in weight loss, digestion, and balancing cholesterol for better heart health.
Banana nutritional facts
The United States Department of Agriculture provides the following nutritional value for 100 grams of bananas.
- Calories: 89 kcal
- Total fat: 0.33 grams
- Protein: 1.09 grams
- Carbohydrates: 22.8 grams
- Fiber: 2.6 g
- Sugar: 12.2 grams
- Potassium: 358 mg
- Vitamin C: 8.6 milligrams
- Calcium: 12 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Bananas do not contain cholesterol; They contain the fibers found in the cell walls of all plants. You get 2.6 grams of it from a medium-sized, raw banana. This is about 10% of your daily requirement. Bananas contain soluble fiber in large amounts. Eating enough fiber in your diet is good for your health.
It helps reduce inflammation, blood pressure, and manage cholesterol levels. High-fiber foods usually give you a filling meal without adding calories. It’s also a good option if you want to lose some weight because of it.
This soluble fiber keeps some of the cholesterol from being absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestines. The National Lipid Control Association (NLA) claims that eating 5-10 grams of soluble fiber per day can lower total cholesterol and bad cholesterol by 5-11 points.
However, the body cannot break down soluble fiber, and it becomes sticky when it comes into contact with liquids. Therefore, this gel-like substance can remove cholesterol from the body.
Green bananas are abundant in resistant starch. It makes your intestines work better and helps keep your cholesterol in check. Resistant starch also lowers blood sugar.
According to AHA data, a lower cholesterol level is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. For this reason, if one eats green bananas in moderation, they may improve cardiovascular health.
Soluble fiber does not have a daily intake recommendation, but total dietary fiber does.
According to UCSF Health,
- It would be best if you aim to consume at least 25% of your total dietary fiber
- Which is 6 to 8 grams per day of soluble fiber
- To significantly improve cholesterol levels.
Bananas are one of the snacks that can “significantly” improve blood glucose and lipids in patients with hypercholesterolemia. It has been proven by research conducted on thirty people with high cholesterol and fifteen people with type 2 diabetes.
Then, these volunteers followed the banana diet for twelve weeks. For breakfast, they ate 250 or 500 grams of bananas. According to the results of this pilot study, eating 250 grams of bananas per day is safe for both diabetes and cholesterol-lowering volunteers, but is only marginally beneficial for the volunteers.
HealthifyMe note
One way to improve cholesterol levels is to eat a banana every day, but eating more than that will make a difference. Risk factors for high cholesterol include obesity, inactivity, smoking, and a diet rich in red meat and full-fat dairy products. Improve your cholesterol levels by eating healthy, losing weight, exercising and quitting smoking.
How to incorporate bananas into your diet to control cholesterol?
Bananas can be eaten raw or added to your favorite smoothie. In addition, you can eat banana bread, muffins, or a homemade peanut butter and banana sandwich. There are a lot of options. some of them:
- Breakfast topping: Adding slices of chopped banana to your breakfast, whether it’s a bowl of cornflakes, porridge or even oatmeal, helps you get more nutrients from the fruit. Adding oats and bananas to your daily diet can help lower cholesterol.
- Salad: Enjoy a refreshing Banana Salad with some of your favorite fruits chopped and chopped with a little chaat masala. Enjoy your cholesterol management journey with this delicious and nutritious salad.
- Banana juice: Mix sliced bananas with a pinch of cinnamon powder and low-fat yogurt. Now blend them for 1 minute, and it is ready to drink.
- banana bread: Here’s the tip: make your banana bread healthier than regular bread. Instead of adding more butter to the recipe, Greek yogurt and one additional banana can be added.
- Banana pancakes: These pancakes have yogurt and cottage cheese in the batter, which gives you even more protein. We’ll just let you know if you decide to serve these meals for breakfast instead of dinner.
- Banana and Sweet Potato Muffin: If you want to make muffins that are free of gluten, dairy, and refined sugar, you must use this recipe. However, don’t worry: these sweet potato banana pancakes are still perfectly moist.
Bananas are also easy to store and available all year round at your local grocery store.
Keep your cholesterol under control like a pro
Eating more fruits and vegetables is standard advice for improving your health. However, some worry that fruits with a high sugar content such as bananas can lead to obesity.
Most fruits are high in sugar because they contain nearly 90% carbohydrates. However, the fruit is essential to a balanced diet due to its great nutritional benefits.
Consider your calorie intake and expenditure when trying to control your cholesterol. However, it is impossible to categorize fruits that may help manage cholesterol.
If you’re looking for a scientific way to control your cholesterol, choose a comprehensive program like HealthifyPro 2.0. He offers diet and lifestyle counseling, which may give you the best chance of success in the long run. In addition to counting calories, in-depth nutritional advice may make choosing healthy foods that support your long-term transformation easier. It is a way of life that will lead to lower cholesterol.
A wearable continuous glucose monitor (CGM), such as the BIOS from HealthifyPRO 2.0, is ideal for tracking your food and its response to blood sugar levels. cgm It is one of the five pillars of HealthifyPro to ensure a healthy metabolism. As part of this program, you also get ongoing nutritional guidance from nutrition experts to support a balanced diet and exercise routine.
For example, a dietitian will learn a person’s reaction to certain foods in a few days. Plus, you can have personalized two-way conversations with the interactive AI RIA, which is constantly scanning, examining, and providing information about your overall health.
Let’s say you adopt the HealthifyPRO 2.0 instructor-advised cholesterol management measures, use the smart scale, and repeat the metabolic panel test over the course of a few months. It can be considered as one of the best ways to reduce bad cholesterol levels.
conclusion
Poor dietary practices can increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL), sometimes known as the “bad cholesterol,” in your blood. A sedentary lifestyle, drinking alcohol, and eating fatty foods also contribute to high cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of obesity and heart disease.
Eating fruits, vegetables, margarine, eggs and cheese raises your “good” cholesterol. Eating fried foods, processed meats, and red meat will give you a lot of “bad cholesterol.” However, you should consult your healthcare provider before making any dietary changes.
Also, please note that superfoods are “good” depending on when and how much you consume them. For all of this, you need help from professionals, and HealthifyPRO 2.0 can help you better understand your body and your food.
