Dates are sattvic and Ojas promoting - good for brain

What are dates? 

Dates are the fruit of the Date Palm. They are believed to have originated from the Middle East but are now widely cultivated in warm climates around the world. There are more than a hundred varieties of dates but the most common is Deglet noor. One of the most highly prized (and expensive) varieties is Medjool dates from Morocco - they are very large, very sweet and very succulent!

What are their qualities?  

From an Ayurvedic perspective, dates have the following qualities... 

Rasa: Sweet

Virya: Cooling 

Vipaka: Sweet 

Qualities: Heavy, Energizing

Actions on the doshas: Balance Vata & Pitta, increase Kapha in excess

Action on the mind: Sattvic

Special quality: nourish Ojas

What are their medicinal qualities? 

In Ayurveda dates are considered a ‘superfood’ because they are both Sattvic (promote peace in the mind) and directly nourish Ojas (the essence of our immune system). They are considered a nutritive tonic for the body - energising for the tissues and immune system. But they are also considered heavy and difficult to digest so eating just 1 or 2 a day is more than sufficient, otherwise they may overtax your Agni. Dates are often used as medicine in depleted plasma tissue (rasa dhatu) conditions and are also used as a tonic in the case of lung (pranavaha srota) problems. They are also useful in the case of low libido or infertility, helping to nourish and invigorate sexual reproductive tissues (shukra dhatu).

The Western viewpoint. 

Dates are very high in minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and also dietary fibre. On the mineral front, they are rich in selenium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese and copper. Interestingly, selenium is a trace mineral that plays an important role in antioxidant activity, thyroid and immune system function as well as sperm production.

In terms of vitamins, dates are rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin K, the B Vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5 and B6) and also folate. But, they are also high in sugar (especially fructose) so again, should only be eaten in small amounts.

How do you eat them? 

We mainly eat dates in date and coconut balls (see video on the right!) but also as part of a daily energy shake or sometimes used as a sweetener in baking.

Why do I love them? 

To tell you the truth, I don’t actually like dates on their own. I find them incredibly rich and a bit heavy. But, I do love them mixed or cooked with other foods, particularly in Stephen’s date and coconut balls! Then I love them because they are so sweet and nourishing. They make me feel grounded and strong.

Should anyone avoid eating them? 

People with Kapha constitutions or imbalances shouldn’t overdo the dates. In fact, no-one should overdo dates because they are very rich, heavy and difficult to digest. They should be thought of as a tonic, a densely nutritional sweet... not something you should eat huge amounts of daily.

Where do you get them from? 

You can get normal pitted dates from all supermarkets. If you’re after organic dates or medjool dates, try your local wholefood store instead.

http://www.muditainstitute.com/blogs/happybelly/dates.html

Cornell study finds some people may be genetically programmed to be vegetarians

Cornell study finds some people may be genetically programmed to be vegetarians.

Cornell University researchers have found a fascinating genetic variation that they said appears to have evolved in populations that favored vegetarian diets over hundreds of generations. The geography of the vegetarian allele is vast and includes people from India, Africa and parts of East Asia who are known to have green diets even today.

Researcher Kaixiong Ye said that the vegetarian adaptation allows people to “efficiently process omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and convert them into compounds essential for early brain development.”

Omega-3 is found in fish, whole grains, olive oil, fruits and vegetables, while omega-6 is found in beef, pork products and many packaged snack foods such as cookies, candies, cakes and chips, as well as in nuts and vegetable oils.

Nutritionists believe that getting a good balance of these two types of fatty acids in the diet is essential to staying healthy. The body can’t produce these substances naturally, so it must get them from food.

Omega-3 is anti-inflammatory and helps regulate metabolism.

Omega-6 contributes to inflammation and plays an important role in skin and hair growth, bone health and reproductive health. Inflammatory responses are essential to our survival. They help fight off infections and protect us from injury. But if the response is excessive, it can lead to all kinds of problems and may contribute to a higher risk of heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

Studies have suggested that humans evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids of 1:1 but that the Western diet has a ratio that is closer to 15 or 16:1. The Mediterranean diet, in contrast, is closer to having an equal balance of the two and is recommended by many doctors.

But this new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, shows that different people may need radically different ratios of the substances in their diet depending on their genes, and it supports the growing evidence against a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition and for highly personalized advice.

The existence of the vegetarian allele implies that, for people with this variation, straying from that diet — by eating a lot of red meat, for example — may make them more susceptible to inflammation, because their bodies were optimized for a different mix of inputs.

The research, published Wednesday in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, involved two parts. The scientists first analyzed the frequencies of the vegetarian allele in 234 primarily vegetarian Indians and 311 Americans living today. They found the vegetarian allele in 68 percent of the Indians and 18 percent of the Americans. Then they analyzed information from the 1,000 Genomes Project — a database of global DNA — to calculate an estimate of the frequency of the vegetarian allele in far-flung populations around the world. The differences were striking: 70 percent of South Asians, 53 percent of Africans, 29 percent of East Asians and 17 percent of Europeans had the gene variation.

Now here's where their work gets even more interesting. Ye and colleagues found a different version of that gene adapted to a marine diet, rich in seafood, among the Inuit people in Greenland. Technically speaking, it’s the “opposite” of the vegetarian allele. The vegetarian allele has an insertion of 22 “bases,” or a building block of DNA, and this insertion was deleted in the marine allele.

Ye, who is the lead co-author along with Kumar Kothapalli, a senior research associate in nutritional sciences, theorized that having the vegetarian allele “might have been detrimental” for the Inuit because of their seafood-rich diets.

The vegetarian and marine alleles appear to control the FADS1 and FADS2 enzymes in the body, which are critical to converting omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids into what the researchers called “downstream products” needed for brain development and controlling inflammation. People who eat meat and seafood need less of the FADS1 and FADS2 enzymes to get sufficient nutrition. “Their omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid conversion process is simpler and requires fewer steps,” they noted.

Another groundbreaking study about genes and food was published in 2014 in Nature Communications. It found that a higher percentage of people in Europe — and particularly in Ireland — have variants for being lactose-tolerant, or able to break down the sugar in non-human milk.

The authors said this ability appears to have evolved from a long history of milk drinking.

Ye explained that people with this kind of gene “absorbed enough end products from milk for long-chain fatty acid metabolism so they don't have to increase capacity to synthesize those fatty acids from precursors.”

There has been considerable debate and research on when — and why — these types of variants cropped up.

In the case of lactose tolerance, early research had estimated that it arose 7,000 or more years ago, when people in the region began making cheese. But the Nature study wasn't able to find it until 3,000 years back, which may imply that the populations had to rely heavily on dairy before the adaptation occurred.

Ye said the evolution of the vegetarian allele is less clear. It doesn't exist in our ape relatives the chimpanzee or orangutan, but there is some evidence it may have been there in early hominids Neanderthal and Denisovan. It seems likely, the researchers wrote, that it has to do with migration patterns and the pressures that came with the availability or lack of availability of different kinds of foods in certain environments.

Today, in a world where many people have ready access to a wide variety of foods at their local groceries, the adaptations can act more as limitations to the kinds of foods you can eat to remain healthy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/03/30/cornell-study-finds-some-people-may-be-genetically-programmed-to-be-vegetarians/?utm_term=.3703a5b6fec0

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This indicates that it was risky for vegetarian Indians to change their diets to a highly non-vegetarian diet.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vijayawada/evolutionary-advantage-is-lost-with-diet-change-study/article8412156.ece

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Original paper

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/33/7/1726/2578764/Positive-Selection-on-a-Regulatory-Insertion

Why No Garlic or Onions?

One of the most common questions asked to me is this: "Why don't you eat garlic and onions?"

Here's my short answer: As a devotee of Krishna and a practicing Bhakti-yogi, I don't eat garlic and onions because they cannot be offered to Krishna.

Here's my longer answer:

You may know that onions and garlic are botanical members of the alliaceous family (alliums) - along with leeks, chives and shallots.

According to Ayurveda, India's classic medical science, foods are grouped into three categories - sattvic, rajasic and tamasic - foods in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. Onions and garlic, and the other alliaceous plants are classified as rajasic and tamasic, which means that they increase passion and ignorance.

Those that subscribe to pure brahmana-style cooking of India, including myself, and Vaishnavas - followers of Lord Vishnu, Rama and Krishna - like to only cook with foods from the sattvic category. These foods include fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs, dairy products, grains and legumes, and so on. Specifically, Vaisnavas do not like to cook with rajasic or tamasic foods because they are unfit to offer to the Deity.

Rajasic and tamasic foods are also not used because they are detrimental to meditation and devotions. "Garlic and onions are both rajasic and tamasic, and are forbidden to yogis because they root the consciousness more firmly in the body", says well-known authority on 

Ayurveda, Dr.Robert E.Svoboda.

Some branches of western medicine say that the Alliums have specific health benefits; garlic is respected, at least in allopathic medical circles, as a natural antibiotic. In recent years, while the apparent cardiovascular implications of vegetable Alliums has been studied in some detail, the clinical implications of onion and garlic consumption from this point of view are still not well understood.

Nevertheless, there are still many adverse things to say about garlic and onions. Not so well known is the fact that garlic in the raw state can carry harmful (potentially fatal) botulism bacteria. Perhaps it is with an awareness of this that the Roman poet Horace wrote of garlic that it is “more harmful than hemlock".

It should be pointed out that Garlic and onion are avoided by spiritual adherents because they stimulate the central nervous system, and can disturb vows of celibacy. Garlic is a natural aphrodisiac. Ayurveda suggests that it is a tonic for loss of sexual power from any cause, sexual debility, impotency from over-indulgence in sex and nervous exhaustion from dissipating sexual habits. It is said to be especially useful to old men of high nervous tension and diminishing sexual power.

The Taoists realized thousands of years ago that plants of the alliaceous family were detrimental to humans in their healthy state. In his writings, one sage Tsang-Tsze described the Alliums as the "five fragrant or spicy scented vegetables" - that each have a detrimental effect on one of the following five organs - liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and heart. Specifically, onions are harmful to the lungs, garlic to the heart, leeks to the spleen, chives to the liver and spring onions to the kidneys.

Tsang-Tsze said that these pungent vegetables contain five different kinds of enzymes which cause "reactions of repulsive breath, extra-foul odour from perspiration and bowel movements, and lead to lewd indulgences, enhance agitations, anxieties and aggressiveness," especially when eaten raw.

Similar things are described in Ayurveda. 'As well as producing offensive breath and body odour, these (alliaceous) plants induce aggravation, agitation, anxiety and aggression. Thus they are harmful physically, emotionally, mentally nd spiritually'.

Back in the 1980's, in his research on human brain function, Dr Robert [Bob] C. Beck, DSc. found that garlic has a detrimental effect on the brain. He found that in fact garlic is toxic to humans because its sulphone hydroxyl ions penetrate the blood-brain barrier and are poisonous to brain cells.

Dr Beck explained that as far back as the 1950s it was known that garlic reduced reaction time by two to three times when consumed by pilots taking flight tests. This is because the toxic effects of garlic desynchronize brain waves. "The flight surgeon would come around every month and remind all of us: "Don't you dare touch any garlic 72 hours before you fly one of our airplanes, because it'll double or triple your reaction time. You're three times slower than you would be if you'd [not] had a few drops of garlic."

For precisely the same reason the garlic family of plants has been widely recognized as being harmful to dogs.

Even when garlic is used as food in Chinese culture it is considered harmful to the stomach, liver and eyes, and a cause of dizziness and scattered energy when consumed in immoderate amounts.

Nor is garlic always seen as having entirely beneficial properties in Western cooking and medicine. It is widely accepted among health care professionals that, as well as killing harmful bacteria, garlic also destroys beneficial bacteria, which are essential to the proper functioning of the digestive system.

Reiki practitioners explain that garlic and onions are among the first substances to be expelled from a person’s system – along with tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical medications. This makes it apparent that alliaceous plants have a negative effect on the human body and should be avoided for health reasons.

Homeopathic medicine comes to the same conclusion when it recognizes that red onion produces a dry cough, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose and other familiar cold-related symptoms when consumed.

These are just some of the reasons I avoid leeks, chives, shallots, garlic and onions.

http://www.kurma.net/essays/e19.html

Pomegranate

Foods for improving fertility

1. Drumsticks

2. Pomegranate (is mentioned both for men and women; and is highly recommended)

Check lot of other useful information on the links below

http://myhealthykiddo.com/dads-to-be/

http://myhealthykiddo.com/pregnant-ladies/

Bananas and health

Red Bananas 
By: Mayura Akilan Published: Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 16:11 [IST]

Caution: Do not let it over-ripe as it might develop dangerous bacteria.

Night blindness 
- best remedy for victims of eyesight
- those suffering from night blindness could continue to eat for 40 days to heal blindness.

Toothache
- In the event of dental-related diseases continue to eat for 21 days

Skin diseases
- Rash, eczema, skin rash, skin ailments
- eat for 7 days

Hysteria waning
- Hysteria in the event of reduced strength in the body.
- Following 48 days of receiving the strength of the nerves,

Fertility 

- Helps in conditions with lack of libido, thawing male character.

- The child's birth For a married couple, child-free couples, daily man eating a banana. Be sure to eat for 40 days, 

Prevents Infection 

- has the power of germicide

- Once a week eating has impact on the body to control the infection.

(Source: http://tamil.boldsky.com/health/herbs/2012/health-benefits-red-banana-aid0174.html)

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1.) Red bananas are a great source of Beta-carotene

Beta-carotene is converted to vitamin-A, in the body, and is essential for healthy skin, good eye-sight and strong immune system. 

2.) Red bananas are good for your kidney

Potassium, in the body, helps prevent the formation of kidney stones. 

It also helps in the retention of calcium, thus improving your bone health.

3.) A good source of vitamin C (Immunity & Fat Metabolism)

A 99g red banana contains 15% of your daily recommended value of vitamin C. This vitamin is crucial in strengthening the immunity system as well as for fat metabolism.

4.) Good source of dietary fiber

A red banana can provide close to 5% of your daily requirement of dietary fiber.

In countries like India, it’s quite common to eat bananas after a lunch or dinner, to help aid with the proper excretion of the food. Bananas are recommended for people who have issues with their bowel movement or constipation.

5.) Red bananas are good for your blood

It’s been found that red bananas can help improve your hemoglobin count and improve the quality of your blood thanks to the various vitamins and anti-oxidants present in this fruit.

People suffering from anemia will benefit by eating a couple of red bananas on daily basis.

Source: http://www.outofstress.com/red-bananas-facts/

Poovan Banana (shorter yellow variety from the south) 

baby poovan banana (shorter yellow variety from the south) 
-  My Mother-in-law told me that this variety of banana is usually not given to babies as they believe that it causes worms in the stomach
- if given,it must be de-seeded and given

miraclemagic, Jun 30, 2013

- Poovan is a banana which also causes a lot of gas. give it after your baby is 18months or so.

Dinny, Jun 30, 2013

- i had given banana from 6 months alternate day or so because ceralac caused constipation in my son... rather than medicines it helped... variety called elaichi (i dont remember now the south name) is very good for kids not other variety (it has very less seeds)... 

ammani, Jun 30, 2013

- Banana causes constipation in some kids. You can give banana and check.
- Hill banana is the safest one to start with. 
- Poovan banana variety inflicted with banana stem virus (when pesticides are not sprayed properly) are the ones that have seeds. Not sure how to de-seed them though. We have only trashed such bananas.

ramyaramani, Moderator, Jul 3, 2013

(Source: http://indusladies.com/community/threads/poovan-banana-for-my-6-5-month-old-baby.223000/)

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Best Bananas for Babies

August 14, 2016, Sunday   Post View: 696 Views   No comments

Banana is the best first food for babies. Smooth texture makes it easy for babies to swallow. Being rich in fiber, it is easy to digest and avoids constipation. Rich nutritional benefits of banana make it a healthier choice!

Always give ripe bananas to babies. Unripe ones may cause constipation, sore throat, indigestion. Do not let it over-ripe as that might be spoiled at times. Do taste for the quality before feeding it to babies.

Among the varieties of banana available in TamilNadu, here are some best choices for babies. Best age to start the type of banana is marked in the respective photos.

Viruppaachi aka Mazhai vaazhai is the best first choice for babies. The one in the above photo is the hybrid variety. Country-side variety would be much smaller in size. Though smaller ones are preferable, hybrid can also be opted if the former one is not available in your locality.

I clicked these pics just 2 days before my US travel. So, couldn’t wait for banana to ripen. Ripened virupaachi will have black skin, but the fruit inside tastes delicious. Peel off the skin, make a cross section cut and remove the seeds, just mash it well, mix some BM/FM and feed it fresh to babies.

Yetham/Nentharam/Nendhran pazham/Ripe Plantains is the “King of Bananas”. Its nutrition and taste is doubled when cooked(steamed/boiled). Do not cook clean yellow fruit. Wait for 2 -3 days to ripen to get black skin here and there.

Wash and steam/boil the banana with skin. Then, remove the skin and cut it vertically. Discard the seeds, just mash it well, mix some BM/FM and feed it fresh to babies. Click here to see how to make  steamed banana puree with step-wise pictures. After 2+ years, you shall steam and feed as such without milk. Steaming is recommended till 8-10 years of age.

Sevvaazhai/Red bananas are rich in Beta-carotene, Potassium and Vitamin C. This nutritious banana is advised after 1 year of age for proper digestion.

Do not let it over-ripe as it might develop dangerous bacteria. Fewer brown/black spots indicate ripeness. If you could touch and feel lil soft(not too softer), then feed immediately. Neither cooking nor removal of seeds required for red banana. Just peel the skin, mash well and feed. Mix with milk if you want to thin out.

Naatu vaazhai/Pachanaadan pazham is more fibrous and loaded with nutrients. But, it is not easy to digest compared to other varieties of banana. You shall feed this after 2+ years of age. Avoid giving this banana in the night. 

This variety is mainly preferred during summer for it’s cooling effect. Try to get greenish one and let it ripe in your rice sack, just to stay away from induced ripening techniques.

Source: http://myhealthykiddo.com/tag/red-banana-for-babies/

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Why not bananas?

OCTOBER 17, 2013 BY VAIDYA MISHRA11 COMMENTS

“I would like to know why banana is considered clogging. In my research I have only read good things about banana. I hope someone can help me with this question. I am a patient of Dr. Teilelbaum. Thanks, Faridah M.”

Dear Faridah: the ancient ayurvedic texts say that bananas are clogging because they carry “madhu rasa” and “guru guna” – in other words, a sweet taste and heavy aftereffect. But what does this mean? Another way to understand this would be through other fruits, such as the orange or the apple. These fruits also have “madhu rasa” or sweet taste, but in addition they are also characterized by an “amla rasa” or sour taste. In Ayurveda, the sour taste is known to support digestion and metabolism more because it carries more “agni” or digestive properties in it. The sweet taste is said to be made up of the water and earth elements, while the sour taste is known to be made up of water and fire elements. So the sweet taste is considered to be heavy, but the sour taste has some inherent fire to it that supports metabolism.
That’s why fruits that carry a little sour taste are not clogging. Clogging? It means they don’t make toxins or “ama” – the first kind of toxins result from semi-digested food, heavy food that the body cannot break down properly and gets to sit in your body without being processed. This is one reason why people tend to eat a banana for lunch, it helps them feel full because it is heavy and sits in the stomach giving a feeling of satiation, while all it is doing is not getting digested! Long term consumption of bananas will results in severe imbalances. The micro and macro channels will carry semi-digested residues not only of banana but of overall food, because the regular consumption of bananas will dampen metabolism overall and affect the proper digestion and absorption of all food items. This is the “rasa” or taste based answer to your question.

Another way of understanding the answer to your question is based on the dynamics of pharmacology in Ayurveda – that is: the ultimate effect and impact a food item has on your body, chemically and even beyond that, vibrationally. There is a property called “prabhava” in Ayurveda that concerns the post-digestive effect of any food item, long after it has been completely physically digested and assimilated. The ayurvedic texts explain that the “prabhava” of banana is also channel clogging. You may have food items that are clogging on an initial physical level, but not ultimately, this is an exceptional make-up and very healthy for all body types. For example, the pomegranate fruit is initially clogging due to its sweet and cold initial properties, but as it goes deeper into the stages of metabolism and digestion, it has actually a channel opening “prabhava” which makes it a unique medicinal fruit.

Your findings show that bananas are good to consume because modern nutrition evaluates all food materials based solely on nutritional facts. They determine the physical nutritional benefits in terms of fat, sugar, minerals, and other properties, and they are not able determine whether that material is good for one and not another. The Ayurvedic way of understanding encompasses nutritional facts but also goes beyond, because every individual’s condition is different, digestive and metabolic fire levels are different, and particularly, an individual may have a chronic condition where toxic residues or “ama” may be particularly unwelcome. Ama or toxic build-up from semi-digested food is considered to be the seed of all diseases, and the last thing one would want to do is to consume anything that can even remotely clog the macro- or micro- circulatory channels. Channel health and care is primary, because channels are detox pathways but they also nurture and nourish us by delivering life-supporting materials. So under no circumstances does one want to delay detox, or delay the delivery of the nutritional substances to are targeted to reach specific organs and organ systems.

Ironically, small bananas somehow have less channel-blocking after- effect. They also tend to be more aromatic. Aromatic principles are always channel opening. So if you must have bananas, favor the really small ones, but by all means, avoid the large ones if you want to maintain healthy and clear channel pathways.

Source: https://vaidyamishra.com/blog/q-a/bananas/

Shelley says:

October 17, 2013 at 7:45 PM

This was very enlightening! And speaking of bananas, I ate one today and noticed that it was difficult to digest. I attributed the difficulty to my weak digestion in general, which I’ve had for the last ten years. I never connected the dots until now, and to think that I use bananas regularly in my smoothies. Not anymore! Thank you for such a timely article 

Crit Taylor says:

October 17, 2013 at 7:21 PM

Eileen Poole, a student of Dr. Henry Bieler author of Foods Are Your Best Medicine, always told me if I were to eat a banana, to not combine it with any other food and to eat the ones that were not overly ripe or too sweet. In light of what is written in this article I can see that limiting the sweetness would help reduce the blocking effect.

1. Marcus says:

   July 24, 2014 at 3:38 PM
   Thank you for posting this Vaidya!
   I’d had a tough time searching ‘why bananas are best on their own’ after a freind, studying ayruvedic health, had made the suggestion.
   This search led me to learn how melons are best on an emty stomach because they need little (if any) diggestion.
   Should dates also be left out of recipes for the same reason as bananas??
2. Vaidya Mishra says:

   August 7, 2014 at 11:57 AM
   Marcus:
   Dear Marcus: melons are actually probably best on an empty stomach because they need a lot of digestive fire to be processed as well. Melons are high in sugar and water, and both ingredients can put out your digestive agni, specially if you are eating them with anything else. Not to mention that there may be mutually contradictory properties between the melon and the other food items you may be consuming. In addition, melons can be clogging, so they slow down circulation and distribution of nutrients too. That’s why it is best to have them when agni is high, and alone.
   As for dates, again, they are very high in sugar, and sugar is Soma and needs a great digestive fire to be broken down without creating ama or toxic residue. If you don’t have high digestive fire or the ability to metabolize sugar then it is best to steer clear of dates. However, dates are not channel-clogging like large bananas, or melon, but their sugar-content should be the thing to consider when you want to consume them. So you can actually eat them with other food items, unlike large bananas and melons.

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Word of caution while feeding your child with banana

Avoid feeding raw banana: Raw banana should not be given to your baby, as it is very hard to digest. Make sure that the bananas are yellow in colour without major black spots on them. Also make sure that the banana is firm and easily chewable. (HK Bakhru, Foods That Heal)

Do Bananas aggravate cold and cough?

Bananas can aggravate cough and cold and hence, it is better to avoid feeding banana to your baby, if he or she has cold and cough. The practice of feeding banana must also be avoided during winters and when there is an unexpected temperature drop all of a sudden. (Joshi, Nutrition & Dietetics).

What is the best time to feed bananas to babies?


Possibly, the best time to feed bananas to your baby can be during summer. As bananas can aid in temperature control during summers, it is the ideal time to feed bananas during that time. During other seasons, you can feed bananas, only during pleasant and sunny days and during day time. (Joshi, Nutrition & Dietetics)

Source: https://parentinghealthybabies.com/health-benefits-of-banana-for-babies/


Banana Varieties

Source: http://agropedia.iitk.ac.in/content/banana-varieties-its-characteristics

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Sunday, 25 October 2015

6 Top Health & Nutritional Benefits Of Red Banana For Babies, Fertility & Pregnancy

We call red banana sevazhai pazham in Tamil and it is so very highly regarded here in India for it's nutrient value. Red banana is cultivated all over the world now. Though we have only the regular yellow banana trees here in our farm, my parents always grow red banana trees. My father regularly sends red bananas insisting that we have it regularly. One single red banana is enough to fill our stomach as it is usually quite large. Since I have heard the benefits of the red banana from young, whenever there is red banana at home, I make it a point to have it. Even when guests say no to red banana when offered, usually it will be followed by an advice like "It is sevazhlai pazham! eat, it is so good for you". Red bananas have dark red skin, is larger and tastes sweeter than regular yellow banana. Red Banana Nutrition: Like all bananas red banana is also rich in potassium but it also rich in vitamin C, vitamin A and beta-carotene. Red banana also contains Vitamin B and Vitamin D and is also very rich in fiber. Red Banana Calories: A medium sized red banana has only 100 calories which makes it a perfect weight loss food. If you love bananas, I would suggest trying red banana too, chances are you might switch over to red banana. You can use red banana in any recipe that calls for regular banana. Traditionally people with low immunity (which is usually the case after a bout of illness) are advised to have red bananas for a period of 40 to 48 days daily. Eating red bananas regularly is said to increase the immunity and at the same time prevent tiredness. It is best to encourage children to eat red banana, in fact it is a perfect weening food. Since it is very sweet, they will readily eat it. It is also said to prevent heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Once the red bananas ripen, they turn mushy very fast so consume it as soon as they ripen.....   

 

1. Red Banana For Babies:

Like I mentioned before, red banana is a perfect weening food for babies. Just mash it up without any sweeteners and feed them, many children eat red bananas readily. If your child is suffering from constipation, giving them red bananas regularly will give good relief. Red bananas are also greatly recommended for children who are malnourished because of it's high nutritional content.

2. Red Banana For Pregnancy:

Pregnant women can safely consume red banana. It prevents constipation and also it is good for heart burn that many pregnant women experience during the last trimester. I suffered from heart burn during the last trimester of my pregnancy, If I ate any spicy foods, it caused heart burn so I relied on soothing foods like banana. The trick is to pick really ripe red banana. Eating ripe red banana will reduce the acidity in the stomach which will greatly help prevent the burning sensation...

3. Red Banana For Weight Loss:

Since red bananas are rich in fiber, it keeps one fuller for longer. Eating 1 medium red banana has only around 100 calories but most will feel fuller with just 1 red banana. My only problem with red banana is finishing up the banana. Especially if I eat it as an in-between snack, I will rarely be able to finish it as I feel fuller by the time I finish half of it. I will also not feel hunger for a long time after eating it, all the qualities needed for a good weight loss food :). And I have to add, ripe red bananas are very very soothing on the stomach too.  

4. Red Banana For Fertility: 

Another important use of red banana is it boosts fertility both in men and women. Eating red banana for fertility is a very common advise given in our place. Red banana also is said to increase the sperm count in men. I tried searching for any study supporting this belief but I couldn't find any. The B vitamins and bromelain enzyme in bananas are said to be the reason for increasing the sperm count. Since it also improves the overall health, having a red banana daily is a good idea...

5. Red Banana For Skin:

Bananas are great for skin both when applied externally or taken internally. Whenever a banana turns overripe, I usually mash it up and apply as a face pack. To make a simple, quick and effective face mask, first powder required amount of oats in a dry mixer to get a smooth powder. Mix the mashed up red banana paste and few drops of honey to the ground oatmeal to form a thick paste. Apply it as a face pack and wash it off once dry. This is a very hydrating face mask that will keep the skin supple and soft during winter months.

6. Red Banana For Hair:


Last time my red bananas turned overripe, I mashed up a banana with oatmeal and applied on my face and because the red banana was huge still half of it was remaining. I thought why not apply on the hair as a hair pack? I mashed it up with little bit of unrefined sesame oil and few drops of lemon juice and applied on my hair and scalp. I have dry hair so this hair pack suited me really well, I have done the treatment more than 4 times from then on and it is a safe hair pack that can be used by everyone. If you have very oily scalp, you can skip the sesame oil in the pack...

http://www.wildturmeric.net/2015/10/red-banana-health-benefits-nutrition-calories.html