Do Bananas Make You Gain Belly Fat 2024? Can It Help You To Reduce Belly Fat?

Is there anything better than a perfectly ripe banana right when you need something sweet?

Like all fruits and vegetables, bananas are full of fiber and micronutrients. They’re rich and delicious, too, which may have some dieters wondering whether or not overindulging in this healthy snack might throw them off track. 

We’re here to separate fact from fiction. Do bananas have a place in your weight loss diet? Can bananas help you flatten your stomach and lose belly fat?

Do Bananas Make You Gain Belly Fat? Bananas And Weight Loss

Bananas, in moderation, are a great alternative to junk food and other unhealthy snacks. Choosing a banana might actually help you burn belly fat instead of gaining belly fat. 

According to the FDA^[2], the average, medium-sized banana contains 110 calories. With this in mind, bananas make a great snack any time you’ve got 110 calories to spare for a meal or for the day. They are no different from any other type of food when it comes to losing weight. There is no difference aside from what you like to eat and what you have time to prepare for yourself.

So, with that being said: how can bananas help you achieve reduced body weight? If you like them, there are plenty of ways that you can incorporate bananas into your balanced diet plan.

Bananas: Nutrition Profile, Health Benefits, Things To Avoid

What are some of the other health benefits of bananas?^[3] Aside from being very tasty, bananas are rich in potassium. They’re an excellent source of resistant starch content and dietary fiber, making them perfect for digestive health. 

Aside from these essential nutrients, yellow bananas provide ample doses of B6, magnesium, manganese, and even Vitamin A, C, and D. Bananas also contain antioxidants^[4] that might be able to protect you from things like heart disease as you age. Like most fruits, bananas also contain a fair amount of unrefined sugar – approximately 15 grams per medium banana.

The Glycemic Index: Are Bananas High-GI?

It’s no secret that foods low on the glycemic index satiate the appetite^[5] more effectively than their refined counterparts. The glycemic index, or GI, is essentially the relationship^[6] between the food being eaten and the resulting increase in one’s blood sugar levels after consumption. Those with insulin sensitivity issues, such as diabetics, will already be familiar with this concept.

Many things influence a meal’s GI score, such as the type of food being eaten, the method of preparation, and what we eat and drink alongside it. Low-GI foods give us more energy for a sustained period of time than higher-GI foods, and those who choose whole grains and whole foods tend to eat less later on after making this healthy choice.

Ripe bananas, on average, boast a GI of 51[7], and unripe bananas score 42. Unlike high GI foods and other high-sugar fruits, the resistant starches found in bananas are not metabolized in the intestines as quickly as, say, something like a tangerine. This results in reduced blood sugar levels when compared to one eating other fruits or simple sugars with a high GI, even if they’re eating fewer calories.

High GI foods leave you starving, cranky, and much more prone to a cheat meal to make up for the feeling. The “hidden” resistant starch in one medium banana is one of the superpowers that many low-GI foods will bring to your table. While the sugar content and the number of calories in bananas may have some dieters thinking twice, fiber intake is one reason bananas are so popular for weight loss.

Three Ways To Use Bananas To Reduce Belly Fat: Quick And Easy Banana Recipes For A Flat Belly

Can bananas help you lose belly fat? To be fair, there is absolutely nothing in this world that will make you gain or help with weight loss, aside from you and the choices that you make in your own life. We will never try to provide medical advice sans Ph.D., but one thing that we can assure you of is that there is no conclusive evidence favoring one type of fruit or another when it comes to weight loss. All that matters is your caloric deficit. 

If you don’t like bananas, choose other foods and fruits; forcing yourself to eat bananas instead of other fruits will only make you miserable. If you love to eat bananas, all the better. We’ve got plenty of great tips to share. 

Green bananas? Not so tasty. Your diet is what you make of it, and if you like the food that you’re eating, you’ll be much more likely to stick with it. 

Banana Ice Cream Recipe

If you’re trying to keep it light but green smoothies make you gag, we highly recommend our favorite banana nice cream recipe. Nice cream is basically an extremely thick smoothie that you eat out of a bowl with a spoon. You can add any flavor that you like and even top it off with nuts, crunchies, and even more fruits.

For the healthy ice cream sundae of a lifetime, minus all the sugar and crap:

• Slice a few ripe bananas into thin coins; if you would like to add another type of fruit to your ice cream base, you can freeze those slices alongside the bananas on a plastic-lined baking sheet. Strawberry, coconut, and mango are all great combinations to try.
• Freeze the fruit overnight, or at least for a few hours.
• When the fruit is frozen, blend it with some sort of liquid, water, juice, milk, or a plant-based alternative, according to preference. You can add things like vanilla, cocoa powder, and cinnamon to give the fruit a little bit of a kick.
• Scoop it into a bowl and throw whatever you want on top. Simple, quick, and delicious.

Easy Banana Bread Recipe

We’re talking about a lot of kid’s stuff, but don’t be fooled. Beyond being great for losing weight, bananas are also highly beneficial in their ability to stabilize^[8] crashing blood sugar levels.

For those with blood sugar issues, weight gain might not be the only thing that you’re worried about. If you’re looking for a healthy snack that you can prepare in advance, banana bread is an excellent treat to meal-prep before beginning the week ahead. You can even increase the fiber content by incorporating superfoods like ground flax seeds or chia seeds into the mix.

• 2 Cups of Blended Oat Flour
• ½ Cup of Flour
• 1 Egg
• ½ Cup of Milk
• ¼ Cup of Vegetable Oil
• 4 TBSP of Sugar
• ¼ Cup of Splenda or Other Zero-Cal Sweetener
• 3 Extremely Ripe Bananas, Blended
• 1 TSP of Baking Soda
• ½ TSP of Salt
• 1 ½ TSP of Cinnamon
• 1 Cup of Mix-ins – Chocolate, Walnuts, Anything That You Like (As Toppings Pre-Bake, Too!)

Combine ingredients and bake in a parchment-lined loaf pan at 375F for at least forty-five minutes. Poke with a tester stick; the banana bread is ready when the pick comes out clean. Let cool and slice to serve.

If you’re diabetic and feel your blood sugar falling, a slice of this loaf can be kept handy in a baggie in case of an emergency. Of course, we will always recommend that you seek professional medical advice if you do struggle with insulin issues in a life-threatening sense. As part of your doctor’s prescribed caloric and nutritional regime, this banana bread recipe will likely fit right in.

Banana And Peanut Butter On-The-Go

Finally, we arrive at an all-time classic: peanut butter and bananas, one of the greatest duos of all time. There is no recipe here. If the kids need to be picked up from school, the laundry needs to be folded, and dinner won’t be ready for another couple of hours, we implore that you resist going for your favorite bag of chips.

For the ultimate mood-boosting and life-giving banana-based snack, simply peel one back, stick your spoon into the jar, and get a taste of what all the hype is about. Try not to balk at the fat content of the PB; fruit alone will only leave you starving in an hour^[9], diet is damned. Thinking long-term in situations like this will generally lead to a greatly reduced risk of spoiling your diet in a moment of weakness as the afternoon rolls on.

If you’re a mom on the run or a professional with better things to do than cook, this treat will likely end up playing a vital role as you continue to diet your belly fat away. If you’ve got an extra thirty seconds to spare, you could also throw a bowl of heart-healthy oats into the microwave to have along with it.

Conclusion

A banana a day may very well help you keep the doctor away. We’re not legally qualified to provide medical advice, but if you’re struggling with weight gain and need to try something new, bananas might be the ace in the hole that you need.

Half of the battle is avoiding the junk that weighs us down. The other half is finding new ways to delight ourselves with whole foods that we know are good for us. The answer to the problem might already be in your hand, no pun intended.

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