Seasonal Produce of the Month for October

Bananas are a great fruit to enjoy any time of the year, as they are a mighty fruit and taste delicious too.. Bananas are a great fruit to enjoy providing your muscles with the glycogen they need before a workout. A medium size banana has around 26g of carbohydrate.

Bananas are a rich source of potassium which help to promote healthy blood pressure. Also, vitamin B6 which is needed to make red blood cells. Thirdly, this delicious fruit is a source of magnesium which is needed for over 300 different enzyme reactions in your body and is needed for normal nerve and muscle function.

As bananas ripen the amount of resistant starch in this fruit decreases. Green bananas are a rich source of resistant starch. This type of carbohydrate resists digestion in your small intestine and is fuel or prebiotic fiber for the health promoting microbes in your gut. When the health promoting microbes eat the resistant starch, they create health promoting factors such as short chain fatty acids. These short chain fatty acids help to look after the health of many components of your body including organ health.

Bananas are also a good source of soluble fiber which helps to create a soft, easy to pass stool. Fiber plays many roles in keeping your body healthy such creating a slower release of sugar into your blood, help you to maintain a healthy weight by keeping you feeling fuller for longer and reduces your risk of certain cancers such as colorectal cancer.

Another reason to include a banana in your day is that they are a good source of antioxidants including amines and flavonoids. Antioxidants help to fight off free radicals which in excess can cause damage and disease to the cells of your body. It is true that Bananas really do make your body sing.