How many Carbs in a Banana

Some of you out there, reading this article, are desperate and exasperated to find out the carbs in a banana! You might have heard grannies and mommies say this innumerable times "Eat a banana everyday. The energy it delivers is immense". Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It has, in the actual, become an adage of sorts. I am sure you might have never thought the carb content in a banana before devouring one, not even when we happily relish a banana split!

What are Carbs, Anyway?

I believe in a simple policy of going step by step. Therefore, let us first understand what are carbohydrates and what good and bad do they do to us and our bodies. Carbohydrates are a great source of vitality and vigor. They are easy to digest as they convert readily into glucose - a type of sugar that is utilized by our body. Proteins and fats do not disintegrate as easily as carbohydrates. However, a diet that is too rich in carbohydrates can disturb one's system and create an imbalance in the sugar levels of the body. If the blood sugar level of the body is not maintained, it is probable that mood meters start oscillating, irritation sets in and fatigue grips you tight. To err on the side of caution, one needs to maintain a balanced diet plan that has the adequate amount of proteins, fats, fiber and carbohydrates.

To support the claim, here is a dietary recommendation right from the experts. WHO recommends a 55 - 75% of carbohydrate intake that should constitute the dietary requirement for an adult. Making the carbohydrate consumption all the more specific, WHO recommends that 10% approximately should come from simple carbohydrates, which brings us to the subject of types of carbohydrates. Simple and complex carbohydrates are the two branches that carbohydrates bifurcate into. Complex carbohydrates could be referred to as foods rich in starch, found in their natural state in foods and processed or refined carbohydrates in processed or tinned foods. Simple carbohydrates also known as sugars are found in either their natural or processed form.

Carbohydrates in a Banana

Getting back to bananas now! Well, bananas consists of complex carbohydrates. Bananas are ideal if you are looking out for a snack break and fill your tummy and fuel up your system. They supply our system with vitamin A, niacin, vitamin B6, thiamine, riboflavin and folic acid. It is a healthy source of potassium and other minerals that aid in maintaining health and fitness. The calories have its major source from carbohydrates. Carbohydrate in this fruit are medium to low in content being a combination of simple sugars and starch. Nevertheless, the carbohydrate content in the fruit is predominantly built from complex carbs.

A fact worth mentioning is that the content of carbs in banana change as the fruit ripens. The ratio of calorie content changes where the starch content plummets and the sugar levels rise. This means that eating a banana could be all the more fruitful, when it ripens completely and has a yellow skin on the outside. Digestion becomes easier when the banana that has turned yellow - a sign that it has ripened. It consists of just 1 to 2% of protein, its fat content being less than half of the protein content.

The question on the amount of carbs in a banana has a vital answer lying in the size of the banana. If we consider one small banana, it consists of 23 grams of carbohydrates. A medium-sized and a large one will have 27 to 27.2 grams of carbs and 31 to 31.3 grams of carbohydrates, respectively.

The glycemic index diet is a method to comprehend the effect of a banana on the blood sugar levels of the body. It measures the rate at which carbs make way into the bloodstream and what is the range that it maintains to raise the blood sugar levels in the body. A banana that has completely ripened has a rating of 51 on the scale of 1 to 100. The glycemic index for this fruit has an ideal range of 42 to 51.

After clearing the air about the carbohydrate store in bananas, I hope you would be able to cherish a banana split, now. Enjoy the benefits! After all, you have the carb intake of a banana spelled out on paper, right here!