Even with the wide variety of fruits available today, people are still naturally turning to bananas as a regular part of their diet.
This may explain why, according to the Produce Marketing Association, as many as 75 percent of consumers tend to purchase bananas. Luckily, bananas can be enjoyed on their own or baked into a tasty healthy banana bread.
Banana bread can be as delicious as it is healthy but it depends on how you prepare it. With the right recipe, you can prepare a banana cake or bread that doesn’t interfere with your Adrenal Fatigue recovery.
Nutritional Value of Bananas
Bananas are an amazing fruit. They’re an excellent source of vitamin C, protein, magnesium, folate, and fiber. Moreover, bananas are rich in dopamine, which can enhance your mood.
One of the tastiest ways to enjoy bananas is by baking them into fresh banana cake or bread. However, for those suffering from Adrenal Fatigue, there are some health concerns associated with bananas that you should be aware of.
Concerns About Potassium and Adrenal Fatigue
In general, physicians and nutritionists recommend eating a diet full of vegetables and fruits. However, in some cases, eating certain fruits may actually do your body more harm than good. This seems to be the case with Adrenal Fatigue sufferers and bananas.
The potassium content of bananas may be a significant problem for those suffering from Adrenal Fatigue. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Composition Database, a small-sized banana contains 362 mg of potassium and a medium-sized banana has 422 mg.
Although potassium is beneficial to maintaining healthy blood pressure and protecting your body from osteoporosis, the mineral may be problematic for the adrenal glands. In fact, if your adrenal health is already compromised, consuming significant amounts of potassium-rich foods can make the condition even worse.
Today, people are often exposed to more stressors than ever before. Typically, your body deals with stress by eliciting the help of the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response system, composed of six organs or system circuits working synergistically to combat stress.
The adrenal glands play a major role in the NEM stress response system by producing cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. In addition to preparing your body for a fight or flight response, cortisol is also involved in potassium and sodium ion regulation.
Under chronic stress, however, your body may no longer be able to produce enough cortisol to deal with stress and other important functions of the body may also be compromised. This can create a significant imbalance in your sodium-potassium levels, thus, consuming potassium-rich bananas can worsen the situation. That’s why if your suffering from Adrenal Fatigue, experts typically advise you to avoid or limit your banana intake.
Why Bananas Can Still Be Good for Adrenal Recovery
Despite concerns related to the potassium content of bananas and their potential to aggravate the symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue, bananas may not be all bad. Bananas are also rich in nutrients that promote adrenal health.
For starters, bananas are known to contain a significant amount of vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, which is essential for proper adrenal gland function. In fact, vitamin B6 plays an important role in the production of adrenal hormones and is involved in your body’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to stress. This is perhaps why, according to a study conducted in Australia in 2014, supplementing B vitamins—including vitamin B6—is recommended for treating occupational stress.
Apart from vitamin B6, bananas are also known to have a high magnesium content, which is an essential mineral for overall health and required to maintain over 300 biochemical reactions in your body. Magnesium is involved in strengthening bones and teeth, maintaining normal blood sugar levels, regulating blood pressure, and stabilizing your heartbeat. In addition, magnesium is required to maintain the optimal flow of energy flow throughout your body, critical for those suffering from Adrenal Fatigue. This is perhaps why if your body is low in magnesium, you have a tendency to suffer from symptoms of depression and fatigue.
As you can see, your body derives numerous benefits from eating bananas despite the potassium concerns. Fortunately, there is a way to make bananas much safer for Adrenal Fatigue sufferers to eat that simply requires preparing them differently.
How to Make Bananas More Adrenal-Friendly
You have to admit, bananas are an amazing food. They taste delicious, are full of essential vitamins and minerals, and offer an excellent source of energy throughout the day. That being said, the potassium content of bananas remains a huge concern for Adrenal Fatigue sufferers.
But if you’re on the road to adrenal recovery, you can still enjoy bananas without putting further stress on your adrenals. Simply boil or soak the bananas in water prior to consuming them.
Several experts have noted that soaking bananas in water allows a significant amount of potassium to leach out, making them much safer for people on low potassium diets to consume. According to one study conducted by the Université Montpellier 2 in France, soaking bananas in water decreases their potassium content by as much as 41 percent. Another study performed by the Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Uganda also found that boiling bananas removes a significant amount of their potassium content.
Soaking or boiling bananas is not only a great way to remove some of the potassium from bananas, it may also help prepare bananas for cooking and baking. When incorporating bananas into a recipe, if they are less firm then they’re much easier to mash and mix together with other ingredients.
According to a study conducted by the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, cooking bananas in water for 10 minutes makes them less firm. As a result, the bananas are much easier to mix with other ingredients, which is useful when you’re making a healthy banana bread or cake at home.
A Banana Bread Recipe That Promotes Adrenal Health
What’s great about healthy banana bread is that you can make a loaf over the weekend and have it for breakfast or a snack throughout the week. If you’re suffering from Adrenal Fatigue though, you may want to speak with your physician or nutritionist before making it part of your daily diet.
So, here is a low potassium banana bread recipe that promotes adrenal health:
Adrenal-Friendly Banana Bread
Ingredients:
2 to 3 medium bananas
Ingredients A:
1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Ingredients B:
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:
Preheat your oven to 325 F and grease a loaf pan.
Boil the bananas in water for around 10 minutes, then drain them, mash them, and set them aside.
Mix all of Ingredients A together in a bowl.
Mix all of Ingredients B together in another bowl and stir in the bananas.
Then, stir in the Ingredients A mixture into the Ingredients B mixture and mix well.
Pour the entire mixture into the greased loaf pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing up your bread and tucking in.
As you can see, there is a safe way to enjoy bananas even if you’re suffering from Adrenal Fatigue. Maintaining a healthy diet while you’re recovering from Adrenal Fatigue can go a long way towards making your body feel better as soon as possible. Feeding your body all the nutrients it needs can help you stave off Adrenal Fatigue for life.
© Copyright 2019 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.
