A Banana a day keeps your Nerves at Bay

I just got back from a 3 day trip and I realized that, once I returned home, I wanted to talk about Bananas.

I did not have a single banana on this trip as unlike New York, where we have a fruit vendor every few blocks its not as easy to just buy one.

For the last 3 months, I have tried to eat a banana every morning either before or after my coffee. I cannot begin to explain, how that banana fuels me through my mornings. Initially, I just thought its in my head but when I don’t eat a banana, I really do have a sluggish morning and I start my day more stressed or anxious.

So, I started doing a lot of research, bananas are chock full of Potassium and Magnesium. Teaching Nutrition, I know that a lot of us are very deficient in these two Minerals. When I do food intake analysis on clients and students, the nutrients that a lot of us don’t get enough in our diet are as follows. In various posts, I will discuss each of these in different foods I  try to eat.

• Vitamin D
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Folic Acid a B Vitamin
• Fiber

I myself am lacking in all of them and the benefits of these are very important in today’s busy world. Magnesium and Potassium are   important for increasing energy and calming nerves and anxiety. The processed foods we consume are devoid of all these nutrients.

Bananas have 60.8mg Magnesium,806mg Potassium and 45mcg Folate.  Each Banana has 5.9grams of fiber, which also helps in the morning.

My husband gets his Banana from my banana bread, which is not my recommendation for the day as it is high in sugar and fat but I will add my healthy banana bread recipe for a treat once in a while.

The recipe Amir loves is the Williams Sonoma Whole wheat Banana bread, its moist and delicious and has a lot of fiber. It does have sugar and fat and so I have over the years modified it to try to make it healthier.

I cut down the sugar and flour and instead add an extra banana and flax seeds and coconut. Amir and the kids also love a handful of dark chocolate chips.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas mashed
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 stick grass fed organic butter softened
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
• 2  organic grass fed eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup flax seed ground
• 1/4 cup coconut shredded
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Beat the butter coconut oil and sugar till fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, then add the mashed banana. The mixture may look curdled, which is okay.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda coconut and flax. With a spoon stir the flour mixture into the banana mix and add the yogurt. Stir in the nuts and optional chocolate chips.

Bake in a heated oven at 350 degrees in a loaf pan for 45 minutes.

Enjoy and let me know your opinions.

I sadly do not have a picture but will post it when i make it next.