Why you should consider eating the whole banana — skin and all
BUZZ NOTE: Articles about bananas are presently in vogue on this site, so I thought I'd amuse you with this one.
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Why you should consider eating the whole banana — skin and all
An uncooked banana peel can be tough and bitter tasting. (Photo: Jamesiez/Shutterstock)
Peeling a banana doesn't require the nimblest of fingers. It's basically Nature's version of a twist-off bottle cap. Anyone with any kind of digits can get to the tasty slip of sweetness inside. But what if even that was too much of a bother? Why not just chomp right through the skin and be done with it?
Well, some experts suggest you can do just that. As Australian dietitian Susie Burrell notes on her blog , eating the whole banana may go a long towards reducing food waste and upping your nutritional intake.
But the real question is, would you like to bite into a whole banana? Or does the idea of eating a banana peel sound more like an insult you might sling at someone? Maybe you're face is all puckered up right now at the very thought of it.
There's an important caveat. Burrell, mercifully, doesn't advise hunkering down on the whole banana. Instead, you're going to want to remove that skin and cook it on its own — breaking down the tough cellular walls and making those nutrients more readily absorb-able (and the whole affair, perhaps a little less gag-able.)
Burrell is hardly alone in endorsing whole-banana consumption. As our sister site, Treehugger, points out, Americans devour 12 billion bananas per year. That's 12 billion banana peels needless discarded — and maybe even 12 billion opportunities someone will slip and have a terrible accident.
Just think about all the accidents we might prevent if people ate their peels more often. (Photo: Levent Konuk/Shutterstock)
It also represents a lot of nutrients and other potential benefits being chucked to the curb. According to a study published in the Journal of Immunology Research by scientists at Seoul National University, a typical yellow peel packs substantial amounts of potassium, dietary fiber, polyunsaturated fats and essential amino acids.
Those nutrients do a lot of good for a body — particularly all that potassium , which can regulate blood pressure and keep hearts and kidneys healthy.
Sure, there's plenty of potassium already in nature's sweetest candy — about 422 milligrams in the average serving. But with an added 78 milligrams of the stuff — along with so many other nutrients — why not eat the wrapper too?
Well, aside from a banana peel needing a little preparation to be fully digestible, there are also those agricultural ne'er-do-wells known as pesticides . The outer layers of fruits and vegetables tend to stockpile somewhat worrisome levels of pesticide residue, although federal bodies like the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were established to keep undue amounts of pesticides out of the food chain.
Still, as with just about anything you aim to put in your mouth, a banana peel needs careful washing. That's likely to minimize any potential pesticide menace. Even better, if you're going to try eating the skin, consider picking up the organic variety at your local farmers market.
If you happen to like the taste — it can be a little bitter — congratulations. You're making a more positive impact on your body, and the world.
And yes it's possible to simply like the taste of banana peel. Check out how one woman goes completely, err ... bananas, for it in the video below:
BUZZ NOTE: Because I could not open the video to post it, click this link to go to the original article and scroll down to the video, which is at the end of the article.
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I kind of like fried banana - but without the skin.
I do eat at least one banana every day. I ingest so much phosphorus I glow in the dark.. How many do YOU eat?
I can't stand bananas ever since I entered an eating contest and got sick after eating 28 of them. The same goes for goldfish.
Please tell me you're referring to the crackers.
In what TV series did a journalist think that the woman he was interested in meant the fish, when she really liked the crackers.
Nope. It is a story for another time.
I'll have to take a pass on that one, Buzz. I don't recall seeing it, and can't even cheat and find it on Google.
Okay, it was a West Wing TV series episode, when Danny (White House correspondent) brought C.J.Clegg (Alison Janney) a bowl of goldfish because he liked her and she had previously mentioned that she liked goldfish (eventually it was indicated that they must have married or at least lived together) and on seeing it she laughed and told him that it was the crackers she liked.
Danny and C. J. dated, but didn't marry. I had forgotten about the goldfish thing.
Well, then they had their baby out of wedlock, or adopted. When they went to the opening of former POTUS Bartlet's Presidential Library, Bartlett asked them if they brought any photos of their baby for him to see.
Oh, wait. I forgot, I didn't get to see the entire series, so maybe they did marry, and I missed it. I didn't know about the baby. I moved to an area where cable and satellite weren't available during the last season, and never did go back to watch those episodes.
Yes, it was the final season. At the point of opening the Bartlet Presidential Library Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) was POTUS.
I have always eaten entire apples, core ,seeds and all, even the stem. I dont know why I started doing it but I dont consider it unusual at all.
Banana peels sound indigestible , but maybe I will try it one day before I die.
You eat apple cores? That could explain your core beliefs.
I'm sure the banana skin is indigestible - but doesn't that article suggest that you cook it first?
Eat it? I will just duct tape it to a wall and get rich instead.
Somebody just ate that banana;