Do bananas make you fat? Food is fuel so why do we think about it any other way? We talk heavily about this in my Nutrition Ninja Program.  Is the reason you have extra body fat because you ate too many bananas?  I received this message from a client: “Hey Trina, I’m reading online, do bananas make you fat?”.  She sent me a screen shot of the photo that came through her Facebook feed.

Have you ever been on the internet or social media and you see photos that say “bananas and fruit make you fat”.

Do Bananas Make you Fat?

Bananas Aren’t Making You Fat

They are full of potassium and natural sugars.

Bananas come from the earth and they are unprocessed.

If you eat too much natural and processed sugar or ANYTHING you will gain weight but how many bananas are you eating?

If you are insulin resistant or diabetic, bananas could be an issue for you.  For a healthy active person, bananas can be a great addition to your diet.

What Makes Us Fat and Gain Weight

  • Bad choices
  • Stress
  • Not moving
  • Too much late at night sugar and social media
  • Not using your body the way it was designed to move
  • Sitting is the new smoking
  • Not enough sleep
  • Bad decisions and negative thinking

Things in excess make you gain weight *excess sugar, alcohol, too many late night carbs while Netflix binging”, this is where you insert your bad habit (you know what they are)

I like to pair a banana with a healthy fat and fibre to balance the high natural sugar content. do-bananas-make-you-fat

Peel the Banana!

One medium size banana has roughly (in daily recommended values):

  • 110 calories
  • .5 grams of fat
  • 27 grams of carbohydrates
  • 14 grams of sugar
  • 3 grams of fiber
  • 1 gram of protein
  • 25% vitamin B6
  • 16% manganese
  • 14% vitamin C
  • 12% potassium
  • 12% fiber
  • 10% copper
  • 10% biotin
  • 8% magnesium

Half a banana in your morning smoothie is a great way to sweeten your Protein Smoothie naturally.  Try this recipe.

Eat them after a workout with some Almond or any nut butter.

Bananas are a great way to replace your sugars quickly.

Avoid eating bananas late at night as they will spike your insulin, earlier is better.

Remember the cabbage soup, Atkins and 1500 calorie diet?  Those things make you fat because you are restricting your calories and you feel unhealthy.

Two Recipes to Keep You Lean

With protein powder:  Chocolate Banana Protein Smoothie 

No protein powder: Chocolate Energy Smoothie

Skip the drive thru trip and consuming excess calories, stop spending your money and make this at home!

As always, thanks for reading and leave a comment!

Trina Medves

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