# avoid green bananas!?



## D_G (May 13, 2011)

Is there less sugar in more greenish bananas??

i usualy have a banana before i go to my cleaning job (otherwise my blood sugars will go low during) and the past two days when i went to the shop all the bananas were green!

Yuk tasted horrible lol but had to eat before work and about an hour after i finished i was hypo! same thing happened today as well...maybe best to avoid the green ones then!


----------



## shiv (May 13, 2011)

I think I have heard that as the bananas brown they release more glucose?? Someone back me up or shoot me down here?


----------



## everydayupsanddowns (May 13, 2011)

I'm pretty sure that's right DG. Riper fruit has more sugar in it.


----------



## D_G (May 13, 2011)

everydayupsanddowns said:


> I'm pretty sure that's right DG. Riper fruit has more sugar in it.



Or maybe im just working too hard....

will remember to not get green bananas next time 2 hypos i could have done without! and taste horrible anyway lol


----------



## Northerner (May 13, 2011)

Actually, it's the opposite! The riper a banana is, the more quickly it will convert to glucose in your blood - the green ones should be slower, although the overall carbs should be the same whatever the colour.


----------



## shiv (May 13, 2011)

Maybe that's it - Nikki needs the faster acting shot of glucose rather than the slower release of the green bananas.

And people think diabetes is 'easy'!


----------



## Ellie Jones (May 13, 2011)

Northerner is right..

The carb amount is the same for green and ripe banana's but has they rippen..

The carbs in a green banana is still pretty complex and the body has to do the work to break it down into a simple carb (glucose) hence why it takes it longer for the body to adsorb..   But as it rippens the complex carb breaks down to simple carbs so the body is able to adsorb it a lot quicker as it has less work to do...

I think if I remember rightly on the GI index there is over 20pts difference in a green and ripe banana a ripe banana is something like 70+ on the scale!

Me I love bananas but they don't like me, as they can make my stomach gripe like anthing


----------



## lucy123 (May 14, 2011)

I am type 2 and went on the juggle course, where we were told to only eat bananas that are green at the ends, otherwise they are quick release, the greener the banana the slower the release.


----------



## MargB (May 14, 2011)

I was told to stay away from bananas as they are too sweet!!!  Bananas and grapes are 'bad' fruit.  I don't avoid them but don't buy them so I only have the odd banana or few grapes.


----------



## Copepod (May 15, 2011)

Only good thing about greenish bananas is that they are less squishy - I really don't like the taste nor texture. For quick sugar intake, ripe brown bananas are best. 

Only other thing to mention is be sure a green banana, especially if large, really is a banana, not a plantain, which needs to be cooked. Once when hitching back from town (to make phone call as this was before mobile phones were common / affordable) to a community project in Costa Rica, a banana lorry stopped for me and when they dropped me at the village, they insisted I took a huge bunch of large banana like fruits, which turned out to be "platanos" (Spanish for plantains) which we deep fried as chips - delicious if not too healthy. I didn't have diabetes then, but there was a fellow staff member, a Canadian woman, who had type 1 diabetes and ate everything and kept herself well in hot humid conditions, working as hard as anyone.


----------



## David H (May 16, 2011)

MargB said:


> I was told to stay away from bananas as they are too sweet!!!  Bananas and grapes are 'bad' fruit.  I don't avoid them but don't buy them so I only have the odd banana or few grapes.



I buy my bananas green and wait till they are turned yellow before eating, then when they go brown I make banana bread.

As a general rule with berry like fruit (so I've been told) if you consume (at a time) only what you can hold in a cupped hand (singular) you'll be fine!


----------



## FM001 (May 16, 2011)

Not a lover of green bananas and always buy them nice and yellow, the green ones taste like acid to me but placing them with other fruit soon ripens them up.


----------



## D_G (May 16, 2011)

Well who would have thought an unripe banana would cause all this discussion 

Wont be buying them again! Im fine with the yellow ones now  as for that banana bread recipe.....care to share??


----------



## David H (May 17, 2011)

D_G said:


> Well who would have thought an unripe banana would cause all this discussion
> 
> Wont be buying them again! Im fine with the yellow ones now  as for that banana bread recipe.....care to share??



Bear in mind that I'm also a Coeliac so the recipe is gluten and dairy free.
you can substitute regular flour for all the GF flours and omit xanthan gum.

*Dry Ingredients:*
100g of Rice flour
50g of Cornflour/starch
40g of Tapioca flour/starch
35g of ground almonds

2 tsp of baking powder
1.5 tsp of xanthan gum
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp of salt

80g of chopped walnuts
60g of sultanas


*Wet Ingredients:*


1 tsp of vanilla essence
4 Tbls of vegetable oil
100g of demerara sugar (you could sub part of the sugar with agave or brown rice syrup)
2 large eggs

3 medium ripe bananas *(puree'd in a blender)*

*Method:*

Pre-heat oven to 350F?GasMark 4
Grease a 2 pound loaf tin

Beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until frothy

In a medium bowl mix all the dry ingredients (except the nuts and sultanas)

Add half the dry flour mix and half the puree'd bananas to the wet mix and stir well, add the balance of flour and banana and stir til fully combined.

sprinkle the nuts and sultanas over the top and stir until combined in the mixture.

Using a spatula dipped in water loosen mix from sides of the bowl.
transfer to greased tin and smooth out using a wet spatula.

again with the wet spatula cut a line along the length of the tin in the centre of the mix.

place in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 90 mins (GF timing) check centre with a kebab skewer for doneness (should come out clean)

Remove from tin and allow to cool on a rack.

I generally slice it completely and put 2 slices together in cling film and put these packs in a container or large Ziploc bag and freeze, removing a pack of 2 slices when needed.


----------



## AlisonM (May 17, 2011)

I adore bananas and they were so hard to give up when my sugars were sky high. Now when I get low I have a bit of banana, sheer joy. I like them greenish though, never did want them once they start to go brown and squishy.

The banana bread sounds gorgeous David, sadly, I'm allergic to eggs.


----------



## David H (May 17, 2011)

AlisonM said:


> I adore bananas and they were so hard to give up when my sugars were sky high. Now when I get low I have a bit of banana, sheer joy. I like them greenish though, never did want them once they start to go brown and squishy.
> 
> The banana bread sounds gorgeous David, sadly, I'm allergic to eggs.



You could use an egg replacer like *this* OR *this*


----------



## AlisonM (May 17, 2011)

Thanks David, I'll give that a go. Banana bread here I come!


----------

