Today I’m revealing How To Use Bananas For Sleep and giving you my Bedtime  Banana Elixir Recipe that will help you drift off into a more peaceful sleep than you’ve ever experienced.

Do you struggle to sleep?  Did you know that people have been using bananas for sleep for centuries with great success?  Funnily enough, when you eat bananas during the day they don’t have the same effect.  This is because bananas provide natural nutrients which work in combination with your body’s natural cycles and the hormones released by your body depending on how dark it is outside. So at night when you lower the lights, and your body recognises it is time for bed, the nutrients in bananas will start to convert in the body and release the natural hormones needed to trigger your body to get to sleep.

So basically, whatever time of day you eat bananas you’ll feel the appropriate benefit, energised during the day and tired at bedtime.

Proof This Bedtime Banana Elixir Helps You Sleep

Bananas

Bananas have quite a few nutrients that help you sleep better.  

Vitamin B6

Bananas contain a high level of vitamin B6.  You get about 38% of your recommended daily dose of B6 from the one banana contained in this recipe.  

Vitamin B6 plays an important role in the ability to get a good night sleep. 

Vitamin B6 converts tryptophan into niacin (B3) and serotonin.  B3 and Serotonin both play a crucial role in your body’s ability to get a good night sleep. 

However, taking too much B6 in supplement form can actually cause insomnia too.  That’s why it’s important to get nutrients from food where possible to avoid toxicity that comes from an excess of synthetic vitamins. 

Vitamin C

One banana also contains 16% of your recommended vitamin C daily dose.  Studies have show that people who have low blood levels of vitamin C had more sleep issues and were more prone to waking up during the night.

Manganese

One banana provides 20% of your daily manganese levels.  If you are low on manganese this can give you low blood sugar which interferes with your sleep. 

Magnesium

You get 11% of your daily magnesium minimum levels from the banana in this recipe.  Most people in Western societies are low in magnesium.  Magnesium has many functions in the role of a good night sleep.  Including regulating the hormone melatonin, which controls your sleep cycles, and helps you relax and wind down at the end of the day. 

So what about the other ingredients in this bedtime elixir?  Why did I choose those? 

Turmeric

Turmeric is another powerhouse of nutrition in this bedtime elixir.  

Studies have shown that a compound within turmeric called curcumin lessened the symptoms associated with lack of sleep.  Studies have also shown that taking turmeric relieves stress and improves your mood, which also helps you get a good night sleep. 

Lemon Balm

The liquid base of this banana elixir is made from lemon balm (Melissa) tea, which not only tastes amazing, but studies have shown that it does help people to get a better night sleep.  It also helps you improve your memory and mental function too. 

Herbs and spices

A variety of other herbs and spices are included such as black pepper which helps the turmeric be absorbed better in the body.  I also included  other immune boosting herbs which also make the elixir taste great such as ginger, cloves, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  These herbs also balance the blood sugar levels, satisfy the sweet tooth and help you to lose weight. 

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How To Use Bananas For Sleep

My Bedtime  Banana Elixir Recipe that will help you drift off into a more peaceful sleep than you’ve ever experienced.

Course All Recipes Published On GreenThickies.com

Author Copyright © GreenTHICKIES

Ingredients

• 1 cup lemon balm tea made from loose tea leaves
• 1 banana
• Pinch black pepper
• Pinch ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ginger fresh or powdered
• Pinch cardamom powder
• Pinch cinnamon powder
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon turmeric fresh or powdered I used fresh

Instructions

• Add 1 cup of boiling water to 1-2 teaspoons of lemon balm loose tea leaves.
• Steep the tea for 10 minutes.  Get the other ingredients ready while the tea steeps. 
• Add the banana, all of the spices and the steeped tea to a blender. 
• Blend for 1 minute or until smooth. 
• Drink 30 minutes before you go to bed for a great night sleep.

Notes

• This banana elixir recipe is fairly sweet due to the banana, but if you want to make it a little sweeter, I suggest adding some date syrup to the recipe.  Date syrup is a whole food, made up of whole dates, with nothing bad added and nothing good taken away.  All of the fiber is still there, and no nasty fillers have been added.  
• You can add 1-2 tablespoons of date syrup or other healthy sweetener to suit your taste buds and get even more body balancing nutrients from them.

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Use Bananas For Sleep (Bedtime Banana Elixir Recipe) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m explaining Why You might be struggling to Eat Your 5 A Day (And The EASY SOLUTION) that will help you eat 5, 10 or even 15 portions of fruit a day, which will definitely change your life.

Here’s some of the reasons why people don’t manage to eat their 5 a day:

1. They fill up on their meals and aren’t hungry enough to eat fruit in addition to what they’re already eating
2. Eating fruit IN ADDITION to what they’re normally eating will lead to weight gain.  This is because most people already eat too many calories each day and adding even more calories (even if they are healthy calories) will still lead to even more weight piling on. 
3. Eating fruit AFTER a meal can lead to digestive problems because fruit digests faster than any other food and it gets stuck behind slower digesting foods, leading to fermentation which causes bloating and gas
4. Most people really don’t want to eat extra fruit because they are craving something with refined sugar.  Most savory meals contain refined sugar which actually causes refined sugar cravings.  This is why, after a meal, most people fancy a cake or a cookie because their taste buds and addiction centers in the brain have already been hyper stimulated by all the processed and chemical laden foods.  When you eat chemicals – you just crave more chemicals. 
5. Most people are bored with fruit, they buy standard fruit like bananas and apples but are so bored of the taste of them that they never actually eat them.  They aren’t sure how to prepare more exotic and tasty varieties of fruit, or how to make delicious fruit recipes. 
6. Most people are eating unripe fruit and they aren’t sure how to ripen their fruit properly so it actually tastes good.  Unripe fruit also causes digestive problems.
7. People wrongly assume that preparing fruit takes too long, and opt for the factory foods instead.  
8. People buy the packaged pre-chopped fruit as a snack, which is expensive and disgusting and they don’t want to waste their money on something that costs the earth and tastes horrible – and rightly so. 
9. Fruit can be expensive.  Once you’ve bought all of your other groceries, buying enough fruit to enable you, or even your whole family to eat 5 a day can really push your grocery bills sky high if you don’t know what you’re doing.
10. People are confused into inaction.  There is so much negative talk about fruit these days that people don’t know what to believe.  And as they believe eating fruit is too difficult, they don’t eat any fruit at all, because they are worried about the high sugar content.  But then they binge on a packet of cookies instead…

As you can see there are SO many reasons for not eating any fruit at all, let alone 5 a day! Have you ever used any of these reasons for not eating fruit?  Today I want to bring an end to all of these problems by offering solutions to all of them.  I want you to lead a happy, healthy life, free from disease and exhaustion, and fruit can help you achieve this.  Are you ready to change your life?  I believe if you’re here now, listening to this… you can do it, I believe in you!

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post Why You Can’t Eat Your 5 A Day (And The EASY SOLUTION) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m showing you how to freeze bananas.  

There are 3 methods you can choose from when it comes to freezing bananas.  And I’m going to share the pros and cons of each method.

Freezing your bananas helps you avoid wasting your bananas if you have too many unripe bananas.  

It also gives you instant access to frozen bananas which will allow you to make thick shakes and banana ice cream in a flash.

If you’ve never frozen bananas, you’re really missing out.

For some reason freezing a banana totally changes the way it tastes.

Even if you don’t like bananas, I think you’ll love the taste of frozen bananas, because it is less banana and more creamy for some reason.

When you’ve frozen your bananas you’ll be able to make a number of tasty treats such as the popular banana ice cream, also known as ‘nice cream’ because well it is pretty nice.

You’ll actually be struggling to tell the difference between normal ice cream and banana ice cream so it’s well worth freezing your bananas just for that reason alone.

Below I give you my quick tutorial on how to freeze your bananas and there are 3 different methods to suit your own needs.

How To Freeze Bananas (3 Quick Ways)

1)  Freeze Banana Slices

This is my favourite method.

All you do is slice your bananas and arrange them on a layer of plastic wrap or a non stick baking mat inside your freezer tray.  Make sure the slices aren’t touching each other while they are freezing.

I like to use my Banana Cutter to slice the bananas as it makes this task so much faster and I get uniformly perfect banana slices.  

All you do is place the banana under the banana slicer and push down. The whole banana is sliced at once which saves you a lot of time when you are doing a big batch of bananas like this.

I like to prep a big batch of bananas at once as it lasts for months and it means I always have frozen bananas on hand when I need them. One of my freezer drawers is dedicated solely to frozen bananas.

Having thinner slices like this also makes it much easier to add the banana slices to recipes. It is much easier to blend or process a thinner slice of frozen banana than it is to blend a thick chunk or even a whole banana. Even the high speed blenders would struggle a bit with thicker chunks of bananas.

Although it does take longer to slice your bananas, it makes things so much faster and easier to add frozen banana slices to your blender when it’s time to make the recipe.

ll you do is leave your frozen banana in the drawer overnight or for a whole day, and the next day you can just add your frozen banana slices to a bag.

Once they are frozen it doesn’t matter if the slices touch each other.  If you want to avoid waste you can use reusable non stick oven mats in your freezer, and you can store the frozen banana in reusable freezer bags. I’ve ordered myself some reusable freezer bags too and you can get them here.

2) Freeze The Whole PEELED Banana

If you don’t have time to slice all your bananas, a good alternative is to peel the banana and freeze it whole.  

The advantages of this method is that it saves you time slicing the bananas, and you don’t have the problem of removing the peel from the banana.  

The disadvantages are that you won’t be able to use the banana straight away in your recipe. You’ll have to wait for the banana to thaw for at least 5 minutes and it is difficult to speed up this process.  

You can also try breaking the frozen banana with your hands, but this is pretty cold and you’ll probably not get very small chunks when you try this which won’t help too much.

I don’t often use this method because I tend to take my bananas out of the freezer, walk away and forget about them, and come back to brown gloopy bananas that have gone off and have been wasted. But perhaps you are bit more focused about your banana defrosting than I am.

After your bananas are frozen you can also store these together in a freezer bag.

3) Freeze The Whole UNPEELED Banana

And if you’re really in a rush you can freeze bananas in their skins, even placing the whole bunch of bananas with the skin left in your freezer.  

The advantage of this method is purely a time saver. I often do this if I’m going away for a week. I always have loads of ripe bananas and I just place them all in the freezer at the last minute.

So what about the downsides?  Well it all comes down to peeling these frozen bananas.

How to peel a frozen banana?  This is a bit trickier because banana peels are stuck tight on when they come straight out of the freezer.  

There are 3 ways to do this:

Method 1)

The first way is to wait 5 minutes until your banana has thawed a little bit.  Slice off the ends, slice the banana in half lengthways and peel using your hands.

Method 2)

The second way is to wait about 2 hours until your banana has almost completely thawed. Your banana will be a soggy mess by this stage so it’s tricky to peel as it’s so slippy. So simply use scissors to cut off the end of the banana and push the banana out in one go.  

Method 3)

Lastly, if you can’t wait even 5 minutes, you can run your frozen banana under hot water to thaw it quickly.

What I do most often is to just place a bunch of bananas in a washing up bowl of hot water for a few minutes and then I add them to my smoothie.

When I’m making ice cream I tend to use frozen sliced bananas as I just find it much easier. When I set bananas to thaw I tend to over thaw them making the bananas soft and warm which makes it impossible to make ice cream when your bananas aren’t frozen anymore.

So that concludes our 3 ways to freeze a banana.  

I practice a combination of having both frozen slices for ice cream and freezing bunches of unpeeled bananas for making smoothies with when I have too many ripe bananas.  

Which method are you going to try?

Now I have some frequently asked questions about freezing bananas.

Frequently Asked Questions

From Visually.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Freeze Bananas (3 Quick Ways) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m showing you How To Make Banana Chips (2 Ways). You can either bake the chips in the oven, or use a much healthier way to preserve the nutrients, which is to keep the bananas raw and use a dehydrator.

They are the perfect candy because they are made from fruit which is incredibly nutritious.

Snacking on banana chips will stop you from bingeing on other much more unhealthy snacks.

The only problem with banana chips that you buy in the stores is they are usually coated in some kind of unhealthy syrup or refined sugar. This will give you blood sugar spikes, and be damaging for your health.

So its healthier and safer to make your own banana chips at home. It’s actually really fast and easy to make your own banana chips.

This is a recipe I make every week without fail and I think you’ll be joining me once you learn how to do this.

I mainly make these for my kids, especially my son who doesn’t really like eating that much fresh fruit. He doesn’t like eating fresh bananas but he adores these banana chips and he could easily eat 2-3 bananas just in chip form.

So once a week I just prepare a batch of these from all of my ripe bananas. I usually fill my whole dehydrator with these and I might use about 80 bananas in one batch. It sounds like a lot but I’ve got a great tool that enables me to prepare a large batch very quickly. Check it out in the video or the recipe below.

Because using a dehydrator preserves most of the nutrients, that is my favourite method. I highly suggest saving up for a dehydrator as you can get a really good one for quite a reasonable price now. Get the links to all the resources I use in the Magical Resources section below.

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How To Make Banana Chips (2 Ways)

Today I’m showing you How To Make Banana Chips (2 Ways).  You can either bake the chips in the oven, or use a much healthier way to preserve the nutrients, which is to keep the bananas raw and use a dehydrator.

Course Raw Vegan Recipes

Author Copyright © GreenTHICKIES

Ingredients

• As many ripe bananas as you’d like to use that will fit in your dehydrator or oven. I suggest starting with 5 bananas.
• Cinnamon powder optional

Instructions

• Peel the bananas and slice them fairly thinly - about ¼ inch slices. Try and get them all similar sizes otherwise some will be ready and others will need longer. This is not so much of an issue in the dehdyrator but it does mean that the thinner bananas will become much harder than the thicker bananas. To avoid this problem, I use my Banana Slicer. All you do is put the peeled banana underneath it and push down. The slices of bananas are all cut at the same time and they are all the same width. You can get really fast at this very quickly using this tool.
• Lay out all of your banana slices on your dehydrator tray or non stick oven mat. It doesn’t matter if the slices touch each other as they are going to shrink in size.
  Sprinkle the slices with cinnamon if you are using it. You could also use carob or cacao powder instead of the cinnamon.
• Dehydrate for about 24 hours at 115F/45C until the bananas are at your desired hardness. The harder they become, the longer they will last.
• You can also bake them in the oven at 225F/105 C for 2-3 hours. But check on them every half an hour to see how well they are cooking as you might need to remove them earlier than planned.
• You can store the banana chips in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 months depending on how much moisture was removed during the baking.
• Another variation is to slice the bananas lengthways which makes great banana slices for cinnamon rolls.
  

I hope you enjoyed this recipe showing you how to make banana chips 2 ways .

If you liked this recipe you’ll probably like some of my other recipes in my “How To Eat A Banana Series” such as my Cinnamon Rolls Recipe using only fruit or my Banana Ice Cream Cones recipe.  

Why Minions Love Bananas

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Make Banana Chips (2 Ways) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing my delicious raw vegan banana pudding recipe that will make your tastebuds sing, allow you to have a treat that you deserve AND give you the RESULTS that you deserve.

The problem is most desserts are going to pile on the pounds, zap your energy and make you feel low the next day. Most recipes are full of harmful chemicals, dairy and factory foods.  

But not this one!

This Banana Pudding Recipe only contains unprocessed, raw, natural healthy ingredients.

The main ingredient is banana which are high in potassium which is great for your circulation. The next morning you’ll be leaping for joy after eating this delectable treat.

Here is my recipe for my raw vegan banana pudding. This recipe is extremely easy, requires no baking and is just as sweet and creamy as you’d been hoping for.  

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Raw Vegan Banana Pudding Recipe (Easy, NO BAKE, Sweet & CREAMY)

Today I’m sharing my delicious raw vegan banana pudding recipe that will make your tastebuds sing, allow you to have a treat that you deserve AND give you the RESULTS that you deserve.

Course Raw Vegan Recipes

Author Copyright © GreenTHICKIES

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 Cups Dates
• ½ Cup Pecans

Banana Layers

• 6 ripe bananas

Cream Layer

• 4 Bananas
• ¼ Cup Water
• 2 tablespoons dried coconut or half an avocado
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Optional: 2 tablespoons lucuma powder

Top Sprinkles

• 2 Tablespoons dried coconut

Instructions

• Pit the dates and add them to your food processor with the pecans. Process until they start to form a dough.
• Scoop them out into a glass bowl and press down
• Slice your bananas using the Banana Slicer.
• Add a layer of bananas on top of the crust
• Blend up your cream layer in either a food processor or a blender. For a smoother blend, use a blender. Add the bananas, water, dried coconut, vanilla extract and the lucuma powder if you’re using that.
• Blend for about 1 minute or until smooth.
• Add one layer of cream on top of the bananas.
• Add another layer of bananas and keep adding layers of cream and bananas until all of your ingredients are used up.
• Make sure your last layer is cream. Then sprinkle coconut on top.
• You could even freeze this pudding to turn it into a freezer cake.
  

Notes

*You could also use small individual portions instead of one big portion.

I hope you enjoyed this raw vegan banana pudding recipe.

If you liked this banana pudding recipe you’ll probably like some of my other recipes in my “How To Eat A Banana Series” such as my 1 ingredient Banana Pancake Recipe or my Cinnamon Rolls Recipe using only fruit. 

25 Powerful Reasons To Eat Bananas

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post Raw Vegan Banana Pudding Recipe (Easy, NO BAKE, Sweet & CREAMY) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing  16 Inventive Uses For Bananas (Genius!) that will help you use up ripe bananas and even the banana peel!

Sometimes all of our bananas ripen at once and we need some inventive uses for bananas that will avoid having to throw them away.  Because that’s a waste of money and a waste of nutrition that could be doing good in your body.

16 Inventive Uses For Bananas

1) Whiten Your Teeth

Yes bananas help your teeth to whiten. All you need to do is rub the inside of a banana peel on your teeth for 1-2 minutes per day. The results should show within 2 weeks.

2) Make A Banana Face Mask 

“Bananas contain many beneficial vitamins, including manganese, vitamin C, potassium, biotin and copper. Some of these vitamins are proven to be beneficial to skin,” says Dr. Boling.

Click here to get this simple yet very effective face mask. Go on and treat yourself today.

3) Relieve Insect Bites

Rub the inside of a banana peel any insect bite or on poison ivy and it will help to stop it from getting itching and inflamed.

4) Heal Bruises, Burns, Sunburn And Cuts

Rub the inside of a banana on any skin abrasion and it will help it to heal much faster.

5) Feed The Birds

I know everyone does it, but did you know that bread isn’t at all good for birds. It makes them sick, just like it makes humans sick due to all the chemicals and processing in most breads.

But bananas are actually good for birds – and they love them too. You can put the whole banana out for the birds as they’ll play and use the banana skins for other purposes too, like building nests.

6) Make A Homemade Fertiliser With Bananas 

Because of the phosphorus and potassium content of bananas, they make a great addition to the soil in your garden.

You can either bury the whole banana or peel in your soil, mix it with your existing compost, or blend up the whole banana including skins and mix it in with your soil for an added nutrient boost.

7) Heal Warts

Rub the inside of a banana peel on a wart every night or you can skick the peel on to your skin overnight using some tape. The potassium can make the wart fade away in 1-2 weeks.

8) Remove Splinters 

Tape the inside of a banana peel on to a splinter overnight. The splinter will work its way naturally to the surface.

9) Ease Headaches

You can alleviate a headache by rubbing the inside of a banana peel on your head, or sitting with the banana peel on your head while you lie down and close your eyes.

10) Improve Your Sleep

Did you know bananas can actually help you sleep? In this recipe I pair them with some other sleep inducing ingredients to give you the perfect sleep elixir.

Click here to grab my Bedtime Banana Elixir Recipe.

11) Freeze Your Bananas And Make Ice Cream

Believe it or not, bananas actually change in taste after they’ve been frozen. They taste less banana like and more creamy, which makes them a perfect candidate to make the healthiest tastiest ice cream from. This recipe is so simple.

Click here to grab the banana ice cream recipe.

12) Make Cinnamon Rolls

If a sweet bite is more up your street, dehdyrate or bake your bananas to make this easy and delicious treat that people won’t believe is so healthy.

Click here to grab my raw vegan cinnamon rolls recipe.

13) Make A Banana Pudding

Are you looking for the perfect healthy dessert to serve for your family or friends?

Everyone in my house adored this recipe, even my son who really isn’t a fan of fresh fruit. Nobody can tell how many nutrients are bursting out of this dish as it’s so tasty.

Click here to get the recipe for my Raw Vegan Banana Pudding Recipe (Easy, NO BAKE, Sweet & CREAMY).

14) Make A Banana Smoothie

The old classic… the simple old smoothie. Ready in a flash and will leave you bursting with energy and your waistband loser.

And did you know you can make a smoothie from bananas without even adding any liquid? I show you how to do it and give you some extra ways to jazz up this 30 Second Banana Smoothie Recipe For MIRACULOUS Weight Loss.

15) Make Banana Pancakes

Looking for a less stodgy, more nutrient dense pancake recipe that is low in fat and calories? Look no further than this 1 Ingredient Banana Pancake Recipe.

16) Make Banana Chips

Before I started making banana chips, my little boy would eat no bananas, and hardly any fruit at all. Once I started making banana chips, he would eat about 2 bananas every day in chips. I noticed a big improvement in his health at this time. He sees banana chips as candy, and can’t get enough of these healthy morsels.

Click here find out How To Make Banana Chips (2 Ways).

I hope you enjoyed these 16 Inventive Uses For Bananas.

If you liked this article you’ll probably like some of my other articles in my “How To Eat A Banana Series” such as 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts or 17 Banana Facts That’ll BLOW YOUR MIND.

7 Health Benefits of Bananas

The post 16 Inventive Uses For Bananas (Genius!) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing my healthy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe.  This delicious recipe contains only fruit, doesn’t require any baking, and is one of the tastiest treats I’ve tasted all year.

Indulgent? Guilty perhaps? Exhausted?

Certainly you’ll not be feeling like you’re able to go for a run.

But that’s how you can feel after eating these cinnamon rolls, because they only contain fruit. Fruit digests very quickly and gives us abundant energy and nutrients.

These tasty morsels are so healthy, you could even eat them for breakfast!

Below I give you my fruit only, no bake, raw, vegan, cinnamon rolls recipe and I think you’re going to be blown away by how good these taste.

Mmmmm I’m getting hungry just thinking about them!

I first tasted these luscious creations at the UK Fruit Fest that I attended for the first time this year. These delicious sweet oozing creations came straight out of the dehydrator, lovely and warm and I couldn’t get enough of them.

We were given a demo by the chef showing us how to make them, and one of the first things I did when I got home was whip up a batch of these beauties.

My kids then proceeded to wolf them down, and I continued to experiment making chocolate and caramel versions to add to my repertoire.

These are so good for you and your family because it’s an easy way to get fruit into people who don’t like eating fruit – like my little boy. I can’t get him to eat fresh bananas but he adores these cinnamon rolls and I tell them they are a special treat, so he’s even more likely to want to eat them.

And even though you do have to wait a little time for these to be ready, the active preparation time is really fast, so it is something you can whip up while you’re pottering around the kitchen.

And don’t worry if you don’t have a dehydrator because I’m going to show you how to make these in the oven too.

All you need to do to make cinnamon rolls is to slice your bananas length ways, then spread date paste down it, roll it up and place in either the dehydrator or the oven.

If you want to make chocolate cinnamon rolls, all you need to do is add some carob or cacao powder to the date paste. I prefer to use carob powder as it doesn’t contain caffeine, is high in protein and antioxidants, and tastes a lot sweeter than cacao. Plus who wants hyper kids who won’t go to bed at night?

Let’s make magic with fruit!

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Cinnamon Rolls Recipe (ONLY FRUIT, NO BAKE)

Today I’m sharing my healthy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe.  This delicious recipe contains only fruit, doesn’t require any baking, and is one of the tastiest treats I’ve tasted all year.

Course Raw Vegan Recipes

Author Copyright © GreenTHICKIES

Ingredients

• 5 bananas
• 1 cup dates
• ½ cup water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Optional

• ¼ cup carob powder or cacao or cocoa
• ¼ cup raisins
• Or use my 1 Minute Raw Vegan Caramel Sauce for creamy caramel tasting cinnamon rolls.

Instructions

• Peel your bananas
• Lay your banana flat on a chopping board and press down with one hand on the top of the banana
• Slice the banana lengthways into three sections
• Lay your banana slices flat on either a dehydrator sheet or a non stick oven tray
• Bake for 1 hour at 250F/ 120C or dehydrate at 115F/45C for 6 hours
• Make your date paste by blending your dates, water and cinnamon in a blender for 1 minute or until smooth.  If you want to make a chocolate sauce, include carob or cacao powder with this too. 
• Spread each banana slice with a layer of date paste
• Roll each slice up. 
• You can leave each roll up small if you want small bite sized cinnamon rolls, but if you want bigger ones, simply add more date paste to another banana slice and roll that round the outside of the small roll to make a bigger roll. 
• If you want to add a sprinkle of raisins to the top, you can do that now. 
• You can also make a glaze by mixing some leftover date paste with a little bit of water and pouring that over the top of each cinnamon roll.  They taste great without this though. 
• Return the cinnamon rolls to the oven at the same temperature for 1-2 hours until they’ve reached the firmness of your choice.  Or return to the dehydrator for 3-6 hours. 
• If you don’t gobble these all up in one go, and you do actually want to store these, they keep for longer stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.  The harder they are, the more dehydrated they are, the longer they will keep.  But I prefer them nice and soft and juicy.

Notes

* The raisins can be used as an added sprinkle if you fancy it.

Check out the Resources below to get the links to the equipment I used to create this recipe.

I hope you enjoyed this fruit only, cinnamon rolls recipe.

If you liked this post you’ll probably like some of my other posts too such as my Raw Vegan Banana Pudding Recipe or my 1 Ingredient Banana Ice Cream Cones recipe.

The post Cinnamon Rolls Recipe (ONLY FRUIT, NO BAKE) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m answering the question,  Will You Gain or Lose weight eating bananas?

Everyone has a different opinion on this topic.  Some people tell you to avoid bananas as they will make you gain weight.  Other people say eating only bananas is the secret to fast weight loss. So what’s the truth?  

Will You Gain or Lose weight eating bananas? 5 Things To Consider

1) Your Body Needs Enough Nutrients To Release Weight

There are two aspects to sustained weight loss.  

Firstly you need your food to be the optimal food for the human body, otherwise the body starts to become diseased, get water retention and hang on to weight. If your body is malnourished because you are not getting the right amount of calories, your body will hang on to the weight as it thinks it is starving. This happens even if you’re severely overweight, and even if you’re eating way more calories than you should.

So yes, the first key to weight loss, is that you need to be eating optimal food.  

What is optimal food? Fruits and vegetables are the optimal food for making sure you’ve got enough nutrients. When your body gets enough fruit in your diet, it will start to get enough nutrients. And when your body gets enough nutrients it no longer thinks it is starving anymore and doesn’t hang on to weight unnecessarily.  So at this stage it will start to release weight. But only if a second condition is present in the body…

2) You Need To Eat Less Calories Than You Burn

Yes, even when it comes to eating fruit.  

There are rumours out there that everyone should be eating 3000 a day of bananas and this will lead to fast weight loss for everyone who does it.  But I’m afraid this simply isn’t true. There is no magic number of calories that will drop weight for everyone. Everybody is different. Some are taller, shorter, some do more exercise, some have a faster metabolism, some have major health problems causing different reactions in their bodies.

You need to do what is right for you.  First you need to find out how many calories your body is burning in a resting state, and then you either need to burn more calories by doing exercise, or you need to eat slightly less than your body needs and put your body into more of a fasted state. This is calorie restriction.  

Calorie restriction is not a good method of weight loss in the long term because it can lead to feelings of deprivation and binge eating. Some people can effectively use it for weight loss in the short term though but it does depend on your own personality.

If you are going to use calorie restriction for weight loss, I also suggest that you don’t restrict too much as this will slow down your metabolism, causing health problems and make it impossible for you to lose any weight at all, even on a very low calorie diet.

I personally much prefer to add extra exercise, and drop a small amount of calories, around 10% of my calories needed to maintain my weight. Exercise is good for good health anyway, and if you do weight training, you have the added benefit of a metabolism boost and extra calorie burn when you’re not at the gym.  This is what I prefer to do and I notice I can eat a lot more food and still lose weight, than if I’m doing a lot of cardio only.

But if you’re feeling really sick, you probably won’t be able to do exercise to start with. If you’re really sick, the aim is not to get to your ideal weight to start with.  The aim should be to get well.

If you have blood sugar issues, this may mean that you need to eat even more than your body needs to provide nutrients and help you get through the period where you’re craving other foods really badly.  

If you are very overweight, you’ll probably still lose a lot of weight even if you’re eating more than your body burns to start with because your calorie intake will probably still be a lot less than you were eating previously which will lead to weight loss.

If you’re closer to your ideal weight, it’s a bit more tricky to lose weight and you need to be getting a bit more strict about logging what you’re eating at least to start with.

4) Eat When You’re Hungry and Stop When You’re Full

Counting calories can be very helpful in the short term so you have an idea of how many calories are in each piece of fruit.

When you first start eating a healthier diet, your body won’t have regulated itself enough to tell you when it’s hungry and when it’s full. And your cravings will send natural signals all over the place.  This is why it’s good to know how much your body needs and how many calories you’re eating with each piece of fruit.

Here is a link to a great calorie weight loss calculator where you enter your height and how much weight you want to lose.  It then tells you how many calories you need to sustain your weight now, how many you need to eat to lose weight and how many calories you need to eat once you have lost the weight. Click here to see how much you need to be eating for weight loss.

So with this in mind, will bananas cause weight loss or weight gain?

If you eat less total calories than your body needs, if a lot of that food includes bananas, you’ll lose weight.

But weight loss shouldn’t be our only objective, health should be our main focus, because without health, you won’t look your best anyway. If you only have a diet made up of just bananas, you’ll be missing out on other nutrients needed for optimal health, so yes you can lose weight eating ONLY bananas, but that doesn’t mean you should.

The mistake a lot of people make when trying to improve their diet is they take their existing diet which is probably making them gain weight and get sick. And they simply add some more fruit alongside it. They might have a sandwich and then eat a banana and declare their diet as healthy.

This will lead to weight gain because you are just adding more calories into a diet that is not optimally designed for weight loss.

So what’s the solution?

Fruit meals.

Meals made up of mainly bananas such as a banana smoothie, or banana ice cream (yes you can eat ice cream and lose weight!) Just make sure that the calorie content is right for you.

For example, I am quite small in height, so I generally need between 1600 and 2000 calories a day to sustain my weight depending on how much exercise I do.

So if I eat the following meals:

• Breakfast: 5 bananas
• Lunch: 5 bananas
• Dinner: 5 bananas

This is a total of 15 bananas, which assuming the bananas were round about 100 calories each. This is a total of 1500 calories consumed in a day, and is less than I need to sustain my weight, and therefore it will lead to weight loss. I’m not clogging my body up with toxic foods which cause weight gain.

This is over simplified and most meals will look more complex than this which is why it’s important to track everything you eat as you might be surprised, that handful of nuts that you forgot you ate, actually contained 500 calories.  So no wonder you’re not losing weight if you’re snacking on high calorie foods like this and not even noticing.

Of course, I don’t just want to eat only bananas, so I might choose to have just one fruit meal a day, or eat half of my breakfast and lunch made up from fruit and have some extra fruit as a snack. But I will include all of the fruit in my daily calorie count.

What Makes Bananas Specifically Good For Weight Loss?

• Bananas are very low in fat which is very beneficial for weight loss.
• Bananas are high in fiber which means they fill you up quickly and get rid of cravings
• Bananas have a low Glycemic index (GI) which means they stabilize your blood sugar levels and don’t leave you desperate to eat the nearest thing in sight
• Compared to other fruit, bananas are fairly high in calories, which make them a perfect food for meals, or measured, planned snacks.  But not for idle snacking just to relieve boredom or emotional eating.

5) Should You Do A Banana Only Diet? (Banana Island)

When you eat only one type of food for a sustained period of time, it is called going to the island of that fruit.  For example, if I’m only going to eat bananas I say “I’m going to bananas island’ for 1 week.

Is this a good idea to only eat one fruit to lose weight?

For a short period of time, it is a much easier, simple and fast way to lose weight.  It gives your body a rest from digesting the complicated meals you normally eat. And it’s simple to follow.  You don’t need to decide what to eat as it’s already been decided.

All you need to do is make sure you’ve got enough ripe fruit to last you the length of time.  So some organisation will be needed when it comes to going to banana island.

I have a  great video showing one lady’s results when she and her partner did a banana only diet. You can watch this video below ?

But eventually it gets boring and if you stay just eating fruit for too long you will be depriving yourself of other essential nutrients like essential fatty acids, proteins and minerals that come from vegetables and leafy greens. But eating a fruit only diet (banana island) perfect for a detox and fast weight loss.

So Will You Gain Or Lose Weight Eating Bananas?

Here’s a recap:

1. Start by eating a clean healthy diet made up mainly of fruit and vegetables
2. Find out how many calories your body needs and either eat slightly less if you’re not sick and close to your ideal weight, or ideally add in more exercise instead of calorie restricting.  If you’re very sick or very overweight, just sticking to the calorie intake or even eating more until you are full is the ideal starting place.
3. Bananas are a great food for weight loss but only if you replace your existing meals with fruit, not if you add bananas to your existing diet.  Bananas are not a free food, that you can eat as much of as you like without gaining weight.  If you eat more banana calories than you need, it will still be stored as fat on the body. And in fact, if you eat only bananas for a long period of time, you can end up slim, but what is known as ‘skinny fat’ because it is much easier to lose muscle and harder to build it by just eating fruit only.
4. Doing a banana only diet, called going to banana island is a great way to lose weight in the short term or as a detox. But even if you do this, I would still track your calories because it is just as easy to undereat as it is to overeat.  
5. And if you’re hungry, do eat, as it’s too hard not to.  Eventually your hunger signals will regulate and you won’t get hungry when you don’t need food. But to start with, eat when you’re hungry.

If you liked this article you’ll probably like some of my other posts too such as How To Tell When Bananas Are Ripe (And Good To Eat) or 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts. 

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• How To Ripen Bananas (Fast & Easy) Try It Today
• 1 Minute Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe (Blender, Raw, Vegan, No Refined Sugar)
• 17 Banana Facts That’ll Blow Your Mind
• FREE Weight Loss Smoothie Recipe Card

The post Will You Gain or Lose weight eating bananas? CALORIES DO COUNT appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m showing you How To Tell When Bananas Are Ripe (And Good To Eat) so you always eat bananas in their optimal state, avoid waste, maximise the taste and nutrition and be kind to your digestion.

Eating under ripe bananas causes digestive problems, they taste bad, the nutrients aren’t fully available to the body so the body doesn’t get the vitamins and minerals it requires and starts to deteriorate.  It is also bad for the teeth to eat under ripe bananas.

If you eat overripe bananas, they have started to ferment which also causes digestive problems, doesn’t taste good and also doesn’t have the nutrients available at the right time. So that’s why we need to make sure our bananas are the correct ripeness when we eat them.

Below I give you the exact blueprint so you know how to tell when bananas are ripe and good to eat, and you can save this for future reference when eating bananas.  

Here are 7 signs so you know exactly how to tell when bananas are ripe and good to eat.  

1) Brown Spots

There is always a massive debate about when a banana is good to eat, because when it comes to bananas, everybody has their own preference.  

So if you are a fan of green bananas, there’s probably nothing I can say to convince you to eat yellow bananas. But if you are thinking of making banana smoothies or banana ice cream then you could be persuaded to eat your bananas in a different way from what I’m about to say.  

A study done by Japanese researchers showed that a banana that has brown spots on it’s peel creates a substance called TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) that does a good job of fighting cancer cells. The effect on our bodies from eating brown speckled bananas rather than green bananas is 8 times higher.  

So the optimal time to eat a banana is when it’s got some brown spots on it. Be aware though, that black long patches on a banana are not brown speckled, but bruises usually from resting on a surface or being bashed. So make sure the brown spots are small and all over the banana, not bruises.

However, some bananas get brown spots and they are still under ripe, so it’s always good to be aware of some other signs of a ripe banana too.

2) Soft To Squeeze

Give a green banana a squeeze.  Now give a yellow banana and finally give a brown spotted banana a squeeze. You’ll be able to feel the difference. The brown spotty banana is so much softer. This shows the banana is probably ripe.

If it’s falling apart in your hands and the brown spots have increased so much in number that the whole banana is black, it’s probably over ripe and no good to eat.

3) No Green On The Stem

Make sure there is no green left on the stem otherwise the banana is still ripening.

4) Snaps Off From Stem Easily

If you try and peel a green banana, you’ll really struggle.  That’s because it’s natures way of telling us that the banana isn’t ready to be eaten.  If the banana opens easily it’s usually ripe.

When a banana gets overripe the stem will usually snap off just by moving a banana.  At this point I’d be reluctant to eat the banana because small holes may have already appeared on the stem and it may have started to ferment and attract fruit flies.

5) Easy To Peel With No Resistance

The peel should fall off effortlessly.  If it’s a struggle, again it’s nature’s way of telling us not to do it.

6) No Noise When Peeling

If you listen to the noise that peeling a banana makes, if you can hear a loud noise, it’s unripe, but if it glides off without much of a noise at all then it’s usually perfect to eat, unless it’s overripe.  

7) Doesn’t Leave A Film On Your Teeth

Unripe bananas are not so good for your teeth because they are very starchy and get stuck between your teeth.  Your body needs to work a lot harder to digest them and that includes from between your teeth. Unripe bananas will leave much more of a film on your teeth but after eating a fully ripe banana your teeth will feel a lot cleaner.  

Regardless of how you eat your bananas, I highly recommend you swish your mouth out with water after eating, and preferably use a water flosser to remove food from between your teeth. We need to look after our gnashers or we’ll be stuck drinking only  smoothies for the rest of our lives.

Here’s a funny fact for you…

When bananas were first introduced to America, they had to be taught when bananas were ripe and ready to eat. So Chiquita made the Chiquita Banana Jingle which was released in 1944. It was played hundreds of times over the radio across America.  

As for the problem of bananas turning ripe at different times, A Korean grocery store has solved that problem by packaging up bananas so that you get one banana of each color, so they never all ripen at the same time.

Read more about it here.

This is pretty genius for most people who don’t buy many bananas each week.

But as my mission in Magical Life Of Fruit is to encourage people to eat more fruit, so for those who eat more fruit, there is a simple solution.

Just buy bunches of bananas at different stages of ripeness if you can find them.  You might have to go to several different stores or do more than one shop a week though.

I usually buy over 100 bananas each week for my family of 4.  Check out my other post to find out how I easily get through so many bananas each week.

How many of these points can you remember now?  Not many? Let’s quickly recap them again.

Here are 7 signs so you know exactly how to tell when bananas are ripe and good to eat.  

1. Brown spots
2. Soft to squeeze
3. No green on the stem
4. Snaps off from stem easily
5. Easy to peel with no resistance
6. No noise when peeling
7. Doesn’t leave a film on your teeth after eating

I hope you enjoyed this post about How To Tell When Bananas Are Ripe (And Good To Eat). Check out the Magical Resources below where I give you details of my giveaway and another free gift.

If you liked this post you’ll probably like some of my other related posts too, such as How To Peel A Banana (10 Ways) or 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts.

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• How To Ripen Bananas (Fast & Easy) Try It Today
• 1 Minute Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe (Blender, Raw, Vegan, No Refined Sugar)
• 17 Banana Facts That’ll Blow Your Mind
• FREE Weight Loss Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Tell When Bananas Are Ripe (And Good To Eat) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing my  Banana Pancake Recipe, and believe it or not, it contains only 1 Ingredient!  And it doesn’t take a genius to realise that the one ingredient must be bananas!

Print

Banana Pancake Recipe (Only 1 Ingredient!)

Author Copyright © GreenTHICKIES

Ingredients

• 5 bananas

Instructions

• Peel all the bananas and chop them all very finely.  
• Use your hands to shape them into banana shapes on a dehydrator sheet or a non-stick baking sheet
• Dehydrate them for 12-16 hours at 115°F (45°C).  Or bake them in the oven at the lowest setting to preserve nutrients, or if you don’t want to wait, bake them at 250°F (120°C) for 1 hour. 
• They are ready to serve when you can peel them off the dehydrator sheet without breaking them.  
• Either serve them straight away or wrap them in plastic wrap or freeze them. 
• Add more sliced bananas or other fruit to them and drizzle them with my 1 Minute Salted Caramel Sauce.  I’ll leave the recipe for that below.  Top with some shredded coconut.

These pancakes are also portable.  I was never a fan of normal banana pancakes as they were too leathery, but I really enjoy these ones. And know I have food that will last a good few days if I go away, will be small enough to pack and won’t go brown and bruised within half an hour like bananas do.

I hope you enjoyed this 1 ingredient banana pancake recipe.  

I got this idea from ShineWithNature.com and I thank Tiasha because the idea is absolute genius.

Check out the Magical Resources below where I give you details of my giveaway and another free gift. 

If you liked this post you’ll probably like some of my other posts too such as my banana Cinnamon Rolls Recipe or my 10 Second Banana Ice Cream Recipe.  

Facts About Bananas

From Visually.

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• How To Ripen Bananas (Fast & Easy) Try It Today
• 1 Minute Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe (Blender, Raw, Vegan, No Refined Sugar)
• 17 Banana Facts That’ll Blow Your Mind
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post Banana Pancake Recipe (Only 1 Ingredient!) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m showing you How To Peel A Banana. You might be thinking, well I already know how to peel a banana? Well I’m going to show you 10 different ways that you’ve never seen before.

We might not be able to get any variety when it comes to the taste of bananas, but you can always get some variety when it comes to peeling a banana! Impress your friends with these impressive 10 ways to peel a banana.

How To Peel A Banana (10 Ways)

1. Standard

Hold one hand close to the stem, while the other hand pulls back the stem until it breaks. The riper the banana, the easier it is to peel this way.

2. Banana Share

This is great for kids who don’t want to eat a whole banana. Just put both of your hands into the middle of the banana and snap it in half.

3. Monkey Magic

Monkeys are very clever when it comes to holding a banana.  They give themselves the stem to hold the banana. Simply squeeze the end of the banana until it splits, then peel it from the bottom.

4. Twist and Peel

Grasp the banana in the centre.  Twist your fingers in different directions.  The skin will snap open and you can peel the banana from the middle.

5. Gravity Peel

Hold the stem with the banana upside down and throw it away from you.  It will snap the stem and start peeling the banana

6. Chef’s Chop

Use a sharp knife to cut off both ends of the banana, slice lengthways down the banana peel.

7. Baby Fingers

Slice the banana all the way down leaving the skin around each circle. This makes it fun for babies to push the banana out of the skin and easy for them to get a good grip on the banana.

8. Length Slice

Slice the knife lengthways down the banana which slices the whole banana in half.  This is a great quick way to slice a banana if you are dehydrating long strips of banana.

9. Frozen Peel

How to peel a frozen banana?  This is a bit trickier because banana peels are stuck tight on when they come straight out of the freezer. There are 3 ways to do this. But I’m just going to show you one way today.

The first way is to wait 5 minutes until your banana has thawed a little bit. Slice off the ends of the banana. Slice the banana in half lengthways and peel using your hands.

Click here for my full video tutorial on How To Freeze Bananas.  

10. 3 Section Pusher

Peel a banana as normal.  Use your thumb to push downwards from the top of the banana. The banana should split into 3 natural segments. This is also perfect for making cinnamon rolls. See my recipe Cinnamon Rolls  (ONLY FRUIT, NO BAKE). 

I’ve also got one more really cool banana trick I’d like to show you.  I have a video showing you my MAGICAL Banana Slicer Trick.  It’s pretty unbelievable.  Click here to check that out.

Do you remember all the different methods?

Here’s a quick recap for you of how to peel a banana, 10 ways.

1. Standard
2. Banana Share
3. Monkey Magic
4. Twist and Peel
5. Gravity Peel
6. Chef’s Chop
7. Baby Fingers
8. Length Slice
9. Frozen Peel
10. 3 Section Pusher

Health Benefits of Bananas

From Visually.

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• How To Ripen Bananas (Fast & Easy) Try It Today
• 1 Minute Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe (Blender, Raw, Vegan, No Refined Sugar)
• 17 Banana Facts That’ll Blow Your Mind
• FREE Weight Loss Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Peel A Banana (10 Ways) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing How To Store Bananas the correct way.  Now this is some secrets that nobody tells you.  But it’s really important so you don’t end up wasting your bananas with them all going bad too fast at the same time.

You may not have problems with bananas if you only buy one banana at a time, but if you buy multiple bunches of bananas or even multiple boxes of bananas like I do, then you can have a big problem when it comes to storing your bananas if you don’t follow these steps that I’m about to give you.

If you buy lots of bananas at once, a problem you may have is that they all ripen at exactly the same time and far too quickly leaving you with more ripe bananas than you can eat, and the result is most of them go bad, you’ve wasted all of your money and you have nothing healthy to eat anymore.

So here is my simple guide showing you how to store bananas properly.

Before you buy the bananas bear in mind…

1. Buy Bananas Of Different Stages Of Ripeness

When you are buying bananas, try and buy batches that are at different stages of ripeness, some green and some yellow, and if you’re lucky, some that have brown spots so you can eat them straight away.  But most stores won’t sell them like this. You might find them reduced in price though.

If you see ripe bananas but can’t eat them straight away you can always freeze them and make ice cream out of them. See my other post of my 10 Second Banana Ice Cream Recipe (Using ONLY BANANAS).  

It is better if you can go shopping more than once a week, but if you can’t, find bananas of different color.

Decide how quickly you want your bananas to ripen…

2. Store Banana Bunches In Different Rooms

When you get home, the first thing you have to do is separate the bunches into different rooms.  Some bananas should go in colder rooms and others should go in warmer rooms.

This is because heat makes bananas ripen more quickly so you want your bananas to all ripen at different times.  Storing them in different ways will help them to ripen at different times.

*Note bananas should be stored out of the fridge until they are ripe.

Decide where to store the rest of your fruit…

3. Decide How Quickly You Want Your Bananas To Ripen

When the bananas are in the room of your choice, the next thing to do is decide if they should be stored next to other ripe fruit or not.  

If you place unripe bananas next to other fruit or other ripe bananas they will ripen much quicker. So the bananas you placed in the warmer room would probably be a good place to store other fruit.  But you will have to determine the speed in which you want the other fruit to ripen too.

If you want to slow down the ripening process store your bananas like this…

4. Separate Bananas From The Bunch

Now you’ve decided the banana location and the other fruit in the same location.  

Next you have to separate the bananas in the coldest room from each other. So you only have single bananas, not a bunch that is joined together.  This is because bananas ripen more quickly when they are joined together in a bunch.

5. Wrap The Stems In Plastic Wrap

Next you have to wrap the stems of the single bananas in the cold room with plastic wrap. This prevents them from ripening for even longer.

6. Store In A Preserving Box Or Bag

If you want to go the extra mile slowing down the ripening of the bananas in the cold room, you can also place the bananas in a preserving box or bag. This controls the release of the ethylene gas and stops the banana ripening too quickly.

If you want to speed up the ripening process store your bananas like this…

7. Place In A Paper Or Plastic Bag

However, if you want to speed up the ripening of the bananas in the warm room, in addition to keeping them in bunches and putting them next to other ripe fruit, you can also place them in a paper or plastic bag to speed up the ripening even more.

If you want to preserve overripe bananas store them like this…

8. Store In The Fridge

If your bananas are already too ripe, you can store your bananas in the fridge.  The skins will go black but the bananas won’t ripen very quickly inside.

9. Store In The Freezer

Another thing you can do with overripe bananas is to freeze them for smoothies and ice cream.  See my video for instructions on making 10 Second Banana Ice Cream Recipe (Using ONLY BANANAS).

To store bananas in the freezer, you can either break them into chunks and place on a non stick sheet. When they are frozen, transfer them to a zip lock bag.

Or you can freeze the bananas whole or even with skins on.  You won’t need a non stick sheet if you are freezing unpeeled bananas. Simply place them in the freezer as they are.  The main thing to bear in mind is that you won’t be able to peel the bananas when they are still frozen. So you’ll have to leave them out of the freezer for a few hours to defrost or even run them under hot water to speed up the defrosting process.

If you’ve already peeled your bananas and want to keep them do this…

10. Cover In Citrus Juice

If you’ve already peeled your banana and still want to store it, dip it in lemon juice, or lemon water or other citrus juice which will preserve it for longer.

Get organised

11. Check The Weather Forecast

Another tip is to check the weather forecast for the next week.  If you get consistent temperatures in your house, you won’t have a problem but suddenly if the temperature drops from very hot to very cold, or the other way around, your bananas will ripen at a very different rate to what you are used to.  

This might influence how many bananas you buy at once if you predict that they are going to ripen too fast for you to eat them. You might need to start shopping more often.

12. Plan Shopping Trips

Try to decide how many bananas you want to eat each week and plan your shopping trips accordingly so that you will always have enough ripe bananas when you want them.  It takes a little time but soon you’ll get used to how quickly bananas ripen in your own home.

13. Check Your Home Temperature

The perfect temperature for ripening bananas is 65–68ºF (18–20ºC) so check your house heating is at an optimal temperature.  A fridge is too cold for ripening bananas.

Equipment Needed To Store Bananas

14. Don’t Store In A Fruit Bowl

I don’t recommend using a fruit bowl to store bananas in, unless you only buy a small amount of fruit and mainly use it for decoration.  

Instead of a bowl, you can use a banana tree, also known as a banana hanger to store your bananas. This allows the air to circulate and prevents bruising as the bananas aren’t touching any surface.  

Of course, when you have as many bananas as I do, it can get a little costly to buy so many of these, but perhaps one day I’ll make the investment.  

I don’t recommend those banana hangers with a fruit bowl underneath as the metal poles in the bowl will leave big lines and bruises across your bananas. I like this lovely wooden banana hanger.

15. Save Space With A Banana Bungee

Another great invention for storing your bananas, is one of these nifty little devices called a Banana Bungee (which is a very cool name).

It is great because you can either store one bunch, many bunches or just one banana on this little hanger. It sits under your kitchen cupboards which is a great use of space.

Click here to get your banana bungee.

16. Don’t Stack Bananas

Even if you don’t use any equipment, whatever you do, don’t stack fruit on top of each other, like in a fruit bowl. This will put too much pressure on ripe fruit, make skins burst, cause bruising and attract a million fruit flies.  

Wow, that’s a lot of information!

Information overload?  No worries, I’m going to quickly summarise it all for you now.

1. Decide how many bananas you want to eat and plan your shopping trips. Check the weather forecast.
2. At home, decide how many bananas you want to ripen more quickly and how many more slowly.  Check the temperature of different rooms in your house.
3. Move the bananas into different rooms. (Hot for fast ripening and cold for slow ripening)
4. For the bananas you want to ripen quickly, store in a warm room in bunches, next to other fruit or even in a paper bag
5. For the bananas you want to ripen slowly, store in a cold room in single layers with stems covered by plastic wrap and even in a preserving bag
6. When the bananas are ripe, transfer them to the fridge or freezer
7. If the bananas are peeled, preserve in citrus juice and store in the fridge
8. Look into gadgets that can keep your bananas from bruising and save space

I hope you enjoyed this post about How To Store Bananas – the secret methods that nobody tells you.

If you liked this post you’ll probably like some of my other posts such as How To Ripen Bananas (FAST & EASY) Try It Today or How To Keep Bananas From Turning Brown (10 GENIUS HACKS).  

25 Powerful Reasons To Eat Bananas

From Visually.

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• How To Ripen Bananas (Fast & Easy) Try It Today
• 1 Minute Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe (Blender, Raw, Vegan, No Refined Sugar)
• 17 Banana Facts That’ll Blow Your Mind
• FREE Weight Loss Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Store Bananas (NOBODY TELLS YOU THIS) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing my 10 Second Banana Ice Cream Recipe (Using ONLY BANANAS).

So why do we even need to replace normal dairy ice cream with dairy-free ice cream?

How about the fact that dairy is known to cause disease in the body, extreme allergies, eczema, asthma, and skin flare-ups, just to name a few.

Eating standard ice cream also leads to weight gain, because the combination of dairy, fats, chemicals, and refined sugar is a lethal combination when it comes to addiction.

It is actually designed to make you addicted to it. That’s why you can’t stop when you open that tub of ice cream.

This banana ice cream, on the other hand, will still fulfill that ice cream craving because it tastes just as good, but you’ll feel able to stop when you’ve had enough.

AND believe it or not, it’s so healthy you can actually eat it for breakfast. I regularly give my kids banana ice cream for breakfast and they think it’s the coolest thing in the world!

Hopefully, after trying this you’ll see how easy it is and will never again need to pollute your body with dairy ice cream.

When you make this Banana Ice Cream recipe, you’ll be so proud of yourself being able to have the option to eat ice cream for breakfast!

I hope you enjoyed this 10 Second Banana Ice Cream Recipe (Using ONLY BANANAS).

Check out the resources where I give you details of my giveaway and another free gift.

If you liked this post you’ll probably like some of my other posts too such as my Cinnamon Rolls Recipe (ONLY FRUIT, NO BAKE) which is made with bananas or my Banana Pancake Recipe made using Only 1 Ingredient!

Why Minions Love Bananas?

The post 10 Second Banana Ice Cream Recipe (Using Only Bananas) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m answering the surprising question, Is A Banana A Berry? I Reveal THE TRUTH in this article…

There are so many untrue rumours floating around about bananas, like they contain too much sugar, like they spike your blood sugar levels, like you shouldn’t eat more than 6 bananas a day or you’ll die!  

Crazy stuff like this that just isn’t true, and I address all that stuff in my post 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts.  

And there are also other statements like, a banana is a herb, also answered in the post 17 Banana Facts That’ll BLOW YOUR MIND.

But today I’m answering the question, is a banana a berry.  What do you think?

What is a berry?

So let’s start by defining what a berry is first of all.

Usually we think of a berry as a small fruit.  But the official definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary.  

If we use this definition, oranges, blueberries and even tomatoes are technically a berry.  

There are three ways of defining a berry:

1. A berry must have 3 distinct fleshy layers, the outer skin, the fleshy middle and the inner part which holds the seeds.
2. Also to be classed as a berry, the fruit must have two or more seeds.  So a cherry only has one seed and therefore isn’t a berry.
3. Berries must also develop from one flower that has one ovary

Using this definition, blueberries, cranberries, peppers, eggplants (aubergines), kiwis and even watermelon come from a flower with one ovary so they are also berries.

But the strawberry and the raspberry have flowers with more than one ovary, so they are technically not a berry.

And believe it or not, it turns out the rumors are true, that yes indeed a banana IS actually a berry.

The banana seeds are so tiny that most people don’t even know that they’re there.

So it turns out that a banana is a berry and a strawberry isn’t.  

So let’s do a quick recap of which category fruits officially fall into:

True Berry

• Blackcurrant
• Blueberry
• Pepper
• Cranberry
• Eggplant (aubergine)
• Gooseberry
• Grape
• Guava
• Kiwifruit
• Lucuma
• Pomegranate
• Redcurrant
• Tomato
• Watermelon
• Banana

Pepo

• Cucumber
• Melon
• Pumpkin

Hesperidium

• Grapefruit
• Lemon
• Lime
• Orange

Aggregate fruit

• Blackberry
• Raspberry

Multiple fruit

• Fig
• Mulberry
• Pineapple

Accessory fruit

• Apple
• Pineapple
• Stone fruit
• Strawberry

I hope you enjoyed this article where I answered the question ‘Is A Banana A Berry?’  

If you liked this article you’ll probably like some of my posts in my “How To Eat A Banana Series” such as 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts or 17 Banana Facts That’ll BLOW YOUR MIND.  

I’ll link to more related posts and video playlists in the resources below.

Banana Peanut Butter Green Thickie Recipe

Here is one of my most popular Green Thickie recipes for you to make.

Please feel free to share this infographic on social media or your website with a link back to this post.

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 30 Second Banana Smoothie Recipe For Miraculous Weight Loss
• How To Keep Bananas From Turning Brown (10 Genius Hacks)
• How To Ripen Bananas (Fast & Easy) Try It Today
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post Is A Banana A Berry? I Reveal The Truth appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts that will make you excited to start including more bananas in your daily diet.

We have all heard all our lives that fruit is good for us.  But lately, we’ve been hearing vicious rumors that not only is fruit bad for us, but the banana, in particular, should be avoided due to its high sugar count.  

Can this be true?

Here are 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts you never knew about the banana:

Fact #1

A medium to large banana contains about 100 calories, making it the perfect snack to fill you up in seconds, or eat a small bunch of bananas as a quick, filling and highly nutritious meal.

Some people think that bananas are too high in calories and will cause weight gain. But what matters is not going over the total calories needed for the day.

If you eat too much of any food it will cause weight gain, but with fruit, you’re more likely to be able to tell when you’re full up and not get those cravings that keep you eating more despite that fact you’ve had enough calories.

Check out my other post called Will You Gain or Lose weight eating bananas? CALORIES DO COUNT for more information about this.

Fact #2

93% of banana’s calories come from carbs.

One banana contains 27 grams of carbohydrates. Which doesn’t align well with a low carb or a ketogenic diet, which is why I don’t recommend those diets because they severely limit the amount of fruit you can eat.

Are carbs bad for us?

Not all carbs are the same.

Processed food carbs such as cakes and bread are very bad for us. But carbs contained in fruit are extremely good for us. This is why labeling all carbs as bad is a dangerous game to play when it comes to your health.

Carbs are converted to glucose in the body which quickly provides us with the energy we need. The thing that most people don’t know about low carb diets, is that when the body doesn’t eat carbs, it breaks down proteins and fats and turns them into glucose. It is just a harder process leading to tiredness.

Low carb diets are also low on fiber which causes digestion problems and increased risk of disease.

Fact #3

Surprisingly bananas have a similar level of sugars to a lot of other fruit such as a pear which has 103 calories and 27 grams of carbs, or an apple which also contains around 100 calories and 25 grams of carbs, or even pineapple and blueberries which are 84 calories per cup and 21 grams of carbs.

And despite what we are told by the low carb diet fanatics, sugar is actually essential for the proper functioning of the body.

We all KNOW that fruit is good for us. All the studies show the same thing.

So why are people so scared of the sugar in fruit that they avoid it completely?

The sugar in fruit is completely different from the added and refined sugar in processed factory foods.

When you eat too much refined sugar, it has a very bad effect on your body because the nutrients have been taken away and the body doesn’t know how to deal with it. There is nothing useful the body can take in.

Whereas when you eat fruit, it contains a perfect package of natural sugars, all the nutrients and all the fiber the body needs to digest perfectly. The fiber slows down the absorption of the sugars which balance the blood sugar levels and doesn’t spike them as refined sugar does. The body recognizes fruit as its perfect food and absorbs the nutrients and gives the body good health as a result.

So we can’t label all sugars the same. It depends on where we get the sugar that matters. Whole plant foods are perfect as including the perfect amount of sugar. Refined processed foods with high levels of high added sugars are disastrous for the body.

Continue reading because I share more banana nutrition facts that will convince you that bananas are actually essential for a healthy body.

Fact #4

Bananas continue to get a bad rap. They are reported to have a high glycemic index and cause your blood sugar and insulin levels to spike.

This is FALSE information.

Bananas are actually low on the GI scale and only have a glycemic index of 51. So bananas actually stabilize your blood sugar levels.

Fact #5

Bananas are high in potassium. Another false truth is that eating too many bananas is dangerous because you will get a potassium overload.

Again, this isn’t true. Bananas don’t even contain as much potassium as some other types of food.

Plus, it is close to impossible to get potassium toxicity from eating too many high-potassium foods. When you eat more potassium than your body needs, the kidneys will just excrete more of it. Your body is very good at maintaining its potassium and sodium balance.

The main reason for a potassium imbalance in the body is usually as a result of having a certain disease, which is exactly why we eat bananas in the first place – to prevent diseases.

You’d probably have to eat somewhere in the region of 487 bananas in one day to take in anywhere near the amount of potassium that could cause toxicity.

But, do you seriously think a single person could eat 487 bananas in one day? That would be over 51,000 calories!

The sad truth is that most people don’t actually get enough potassium in their diet because they don’t eat enough fruit and veg.

Potassium is critical as it protects against high blood pressure and helps the kidneys to excrete unneeded sodium from the body which helps to get rid of water retention.

Daily consumption of 1.3 to 1.4 grams of potassium is linked to a 26% lower risk of heart disease. Each banana contains about 4 grams of potassium. In one study, those who consumed 4 grams of potassium per day had a 49% lower risk of death from heart disease compared with those who consumed less potassium (about 1 gram per day).

Fact #6

A study by the Imperial College of London found that children who ate just one banana per day had a 34% less chance of developing asthma.

Fact #7

Consuming bananas in the first two years of life may reduce the risk of developing childhood leukemia.

As a good source of vitamin C, bananas can help combat the formation of free radicals known to cause cancer.

High fiber intakes from fruits and vegetables like bananas are associated with a lowered risk of colorectal cancer.

Fact #8

Studies have shown that type 1 diabetics who eat high-fiber diets have lower blood glucose levels, and type 2 diabetics may have improved blood sugar levels, lipids, and insulin levels.

One medium banana provides about 3 grams of fiber.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that women eat 21-25 g/day and men should eat 30-38 g of fiber. For a woman, you’d have to eat 7 bananas in one day to meet your daily minimum fiber intake.

This is why I recommend fruit meals. How else are you going to pack in that amount of fruit into your diet?

Fact #9

Research has shown that the amount of nutrients increases in bananas as they ripen.

Bananas with brown spots were eight times more effective in enhancing the power of white blood cells than green bananas, according to the study.

White blood cells are essential as they fight off infections from bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other pathogens.

So this is why it’s important to eat ripe bananas.

Check out my other post on How To Ripen Bananas (FAST & EASY) Try It Today for more information about ripening bananas.

Fact #10

Bananas can help you to overcome depression due to high levels of tryptophan, which the body then converts to serotonin. Serotonin is the mood-elevating brain neurotransmitter.

Plus, the vitamin B6 found in bananas can help you sleep well, and the natural magnesium helps to relax muscles. Synthetic forms of magnesium are very hard for the body to absorb so it’s much better to get your magnesium and other nutrients from fruit.

Additionally, the tryptophan in bananas is well known to help give you a good night’s sleep.

This only just scratched the surface of all of the extraordinary nutritional benefits contained in bananas.  

And don’t forget, you also get all the benefits that we don’t even know about yet. Science is discovering more benefits of fruit all the time.

What we do know though, is that bananas are pretty much the perfect food for humans, and they help your body to function optimally.

I hope you enjoyed this post about 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts.  

If you liked this post you’ll probably like some of my posts in my “How To Eat A Banana Series” such as 17 Banana Facts That’ll BLOW YOUR MIND or Will You Gain or Lose weight eating bananas?  CALORIES DO COUNT.

Benefits of the Banana Peel

Perhaps you might not have known, that even the peel of the banana that we discard has many uses. Here are some of them:

The post 10 Extraordinary Banana Nutrition Facts appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing my 30 Second Banana Smoothie Recipe For MIRACULOUS Weight Loss.

A lot of banana smoothie recipes are overly complicated or combine the bananas with other fruits you may not have on hand.

Most of us often end up with a bunch of ripe bananas that we need to do something with right now.  So adding them all to a smoothie is the perfect choice.

This banana smoothie is also a complete meal so it will help you lose weight by getting rid of the processed junk and rancid fats out of your diet, and replacing them with easily digesting, fiber-rich, nutrient-dense bananas.

There is only one core ingredient in this smoothie and that is simply bananas!  

Yes, a one-ingredient smoothie! Believe it or not, there is actually enough water content in bananas for you to blend them without adding any additional liquid at all.  However to do this you’ll need to make sure you chop your bananas fairly fine, and a high speed blender will make this job easier.

Using only bananas will make the smoothie nice and thick.

But if you prefer a thinner smoothie or you have a standard blender, or you want to add even more ingredients to the smoothie, you’ll want to add some liquid to the smoothie too.  

Even though this banana smoothie is perfect just the way it is, using only bananas, if you do want to jazz it up a bit, there are plenty of ways you can do it.

I give you a comprehensive list of all of these options in the recipe below.

Print

30 Second Banana Smoothie Recipe For Miraculous Weight Loss

This banana smoothie is also a complete meal so it will help you lose weight by getting rid of the processed junk and rancid fats out of your diet.

Course All Recipes Published On GreenThickies.com

Author Copyright © GreenTHICKIES

Ingredients

• 5 Bananas fresh or frozen
• 1 Cup Water optional for a thinner smoothie

Optional Extras - Liquid Replacemnts

• 1 cup of dairy free milk
• 1 cup of freshly squeezed juice
• 2 cups pineapple chunks
• 2 cups cucumber chunks
• 2 cups melon chunks

Added Flavors

• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons of cacao or carob powder
• 2 Tablespoons of lucuma powder
• 2 Tablespoons of mesquite powder Algarrobo powder
• 1 teaspoon of ginger
• 1 teaspoon of Acai berry powder
• 1 teaspoon of Baobab powder
• 5 drops of citrus essential oil food grade
• Pinch of cardamom
• Pinch of Cayenne pepper
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of sea salt

Herbs

• Small handful of mint
• Small handful of basil
• Small handful of lemon balm

Other Fruit

• 2 cups of other fruit such as berries apples, mangos, papayas
• ¼ cup dried or fresh coconut

Nuts and Seeds

• ¼ cup of any unroasted unsalted nuts such as pecans, cashews, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or any nut butters
• ¼ cup of any unroasted unsalted seeds such as sunflower, chia, pumpkin, flax, hemp or any seed butters

Leafy Greens

• 2 cups of spinach chard, kale, or lettuce
• 2 tablespoons of green powder

Extra Sweet, Thick and Filling

• ¼ cup dates
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup of any dried fruit raw and not coated in syrup or sugar

Grains

• ¼ cup oats
• ¼ cup of soaked rinsed and drained buckwheat
• ¼ cup of soaked rinsed and drained quinoa

Cooling

• 1 cup of ice
• 1 cup of frozen fruit

Instructions

• Add your chosen ingredients to the blender and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Notes

• If you use frozen bananas, you’ll definitely want to add some liquid to the blender and preferably use a high-speed blender. 
• You should always blend water-rich ingredients and leafy greens first as they take up a lot of space in the blender but they reduce down.  Then add harder ingredients later as it’s easier to blend harder ingredients once the blender already has more liquid in it. 
• If you are using harder ingredients you may need to blend for a lot longer to get a smoother blend. 

This is a perfect meal replacement smoothie because the 5 bananas will give you around 500 calories and that will keep you going until your next meal.  

If you want to add in other fruit, you can replace some of the bananas with other fruit but bear in mind that other fruits are usually much lower in calories than bananas so your smoothie won’t be as filling.

Other high-calorie ingredients are:

• Nuts
• Seeds
• Dried fruit
• Grains

Very low-calorie ingredients are:

• Added flavors
• Herbs
• Leafy greens

For the most effective weight loss, it’s pretty much essential that you either count your calories at least to start with, so you have an idea of how calorific your smoothie is.  

You’ll probably only need to do that a couple of times and then you’ll have your favorite smoothies that you make time and time again. But be aware that because nuts and dates are so high in calories, a 500 calorie smoothie can easily turn into a 1000 calorie smoothie, which will cause you to gain weight instead of losing it.

If you replace your breakfast and your lunch with a smoothie which is about 500 calories like this one, have a healthy dinner such as a salad, you’ll see the weight coming off fast.

Check out my other video called Will You Gain or Lose weight eating bananas?  CALORIES DO COUNT for more information about how to lose weight with bananas.

It’s great to experiment with your smoothie and come up with the perfect taste for you, as you’re more likely to stick with healthy eating if you’re enjoying it.

If you don’t have time to experiment, I recommend you check out The Essential Guide To Meal Replacement Shakes, where I have hundreds of meal replacement shake recipes.

My favorite is the Key Lime Pie smoothie.  It is SO good. You can get the recipe here.

I hope you enjoyed this 30 Second Banana Smoothie Recipe For MIRACULOUS Weight Loss post.

Why Minions Love Bananas?

The post 30 Second Banana Smoothie Recipe For Miraculous Weight Loss appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing 17 Banana Facts That’ll BLOW YOUR MIND. I’m excited to reveal some little known secrets about our beloved banana.

I share fascinating fruit facts, practical fruit demonstrations, and mouth-watering fruit recipes. I also bust some myths surrounding fruit so I can inspire you to start eating more fruit in your diet so you can experience the energy, happiness and lean, strong body that WILL come naturally to you when you start eating natural foods.

I think you’re going to LOVE the facts that I have to share about bananas!

The banana is one of the most well-loved and commonly eaten fruit, but how much do we really know about it? You’re about to know a whole lot more!

17 Banana Facts That’ll BLOW YOUR MIND

Fact #1

The scientific name for the banana is musa sapientum, which translates to ‘fruit of the wise men’. I agree, that it’s a very wise thing to do to eat bananas.

Fact #2

Bananas float in water, and so do apples, and also the heavy watermelon.

Fact #3

Here’s something interesting you probably don’t know about bananas. A banana plant is actually a herb! The largest herb in the world, and in the same family as the palm tree. Each plant grows a cluster of bananas called ‘hands’ of up to 200 bananas. Each hand contains 10-20 bananas which are called ‘fingers’.

What about the rumor that bananas are actually berries? Check out my blog post on that called Is A Banana A Berry? I Reveal THE TRUTH.

Fact #4

The only place in the U.S. where bananas are grown commercially is in Hawaii.  Most of the bananas America eats come from countries in Latin and South America such as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, and Guatemala. Most tropical fruit available in Europe is exported from Latin America and West Africa.

Fact #5

Bananas originated in Southeast Asia around 8000 to 5000 BC.

Fact #6

Bananas are believed to have been the world’s first cultivated fruit. From Southeast Asia, the fruit was brought west by Arab conquerors and then carried to the New World by explorers and missionaries.

Fact #7

The main type of banana that you see in stores across the world is the cavendish banana. Before the cavendish, we used to have the Gros Michel (pronounced Grow Michelle) but it became extinct by the 1960s due to a fungus called Panama disease.  The cavendish banana is under the same threat today. More about how devastating this can be later.

Fact #8

Although we only get to try one variety of banana, it is estimated that there are more than 1,000 types of bananas in the world, which are subdivided into 50 groups.  There are all kinds of unusual bananas such as the apple banana or the bubblegum pink banana! If you want to try some different types of bananas, get yourself over to a place called Going Bananas, in Florida, which grows over 79 varieties of bananas, and you can buy the banana plants there.  They also ship internationally.

Fact #9

Bananas used to contain so many bitter black seeds that they were pretty much inedible. Now the cultivated banana is extremely easy to eat and very delicious.

Fact #10

In Japan and other cultures, they use the fiber in the banana plant to make fabric and even paper.  I bought some banana paper myself when I was in Egypt.

Fact #11

We eat more than 100 billion bananas every year worldwide.  This helps bananas to repeatedly feature in the top 20 most popular agricultural products.

Fact #12

Bananas are very high in nutrients as they are full of potassium, fiber, vitamin c, calcium, iron, and many other nutrients. Studies have shown that eating bananas can protect you from heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. To find out more about the nutrients of a banana, check out my other post called 10 EXTRAORDINARY Banana Nutrition Facts.

Fact #13

The popularity of the banana is rising.  About 96% of American households buy bananas at least once a month. 

Fact #14

Bananas are one of the highest calorie sources of all fruits.  A medium to large banana can be around 100 calories. This makes them the perfect quick food source to stave off hunger pangs, a quick snack to keep sugar levels balanced, or a good pre or post-workout snack.  They’re great for people who expend a lot of energy.

Fact #15

Bananas are a staple food for many developing countries and only around 15 to 20% of all bananas are exported to the global market. 

Fact #16

Bananas are picked unripe from the tree and left to slowly ripen.  The hotter the environment, the faster they will ripen. Check out my other post  on How To Ripen Bananas (FAST & EASY) and How To Tell When Bananas Are Ripe (And Good To Eat).  

Fact #17

Bananas are extremely cheap, especially considering they are a tropical fruit. The reason bananas are able to be sold so cheaply is because of the way they are grown.  

Most fruits are produced by pollen fertilization. But when a farmer wants to grow a new banana plant they remove a part of an existing plant (either a side shoot, called a “sucker,” or an underground root-like structure called a “corm”) and puts it in the ground. Over time, it will grow into its own genetically identical plant.

Using this method, there’s no random variation among plants that growers need to worry about. Every banana you’ve ever eaten is a clone.  This enables banana growers to predictably grow and harvest fruit that grows in the same way and ripens in the same way, making it very cheap to grow bananas.

It’s great that the price of bananas is so low but it does come with some drawbacks.

Taste is one factor. We don’t get any variety at all in our bananas. They all taste exactly the same which does get quite boring in my opinion.

And secondly, it makes the banana plant more vulnerable to disease. As mentioned previously, we’ve seen with the Gros Michel which became extinct because of Panama disease.  The cavendish is under the same threat today. Because all banana plants are clones it makes them an easy target for a slightly different version of Panama disease (known as Tropical Race 4).  

Tropical Race 4 has already spread from Malaysia to Pakistan to Africa, and many fear it could hit Latin America at any time. It may not devastate the whole crops in the same way as Panama disease did, but as it wiped out plants, it will likely drive up the prices and make bananas less available than they are now.  

So enjoy your cheap bananas while you can!

Why Minions Love Bananas?

Summary

Wow, that was a lot of information!  So much good stuff here, so let’s do a quick recap so we don’t forget any of these fascinating banana facts…

1. The scientific name of banana is musa sapientum translating to ‘fruit of the wise men’
2. Bananas float in water
3. A banana plant is a herb
4. Most bananas are grown in Latin America  (only Hawaii in the US)
5. Bananas originated in Southeast Asia around 8000 BC
6. Bananas are believed to have been the world’s first cultivated fruit
7. The cavendish banana is the only type of banana we really have in stores in western society
8. There are more than 1,000 types of bananas in the world
9. Bananas used to contain so many bitter black seeds that they were pretty much inedible.
10. The fiber in the banana plant is used to make fabric and paper.
11. We eat more than 100 billion bananas every year worldwide.
12. Eating bananas can protect you from heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.
13. About 96% of American households buy bananas at least once a month.  
14. Bananas are one of the highest calorie sources of all fruits. (Around 100 calories each)
15. Bananas are a staple food for many developing countries
16. Bananas are picked unripe from the tree and left to slowly ripen
17. Bananas are so cheap because all bananas are a clone from just one plant.  This makes them vulnerable to a new disease which may drive up prices and decrease the availability of bananas.

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card 

Click here to pin this for later

The post 17 Banana Facts That’ll Blow Your Mind appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Today I’m sharing my MAGICAL Banana Slicer Trick, which is a really fun way to slice a banana and a party trick you can use to impress your friends and totally amaze your kids.

I share fascinating fruit facts, practical fruit demonstrations, and mouth-watering fruit recipes. I also bust some myths surrounding fruit so I can inspire you to start eating more fruit in your diet so you can experience the energy, happiness and lean, strong body that WILL come naturally to you when you start eating natural foods.

You’re going to LOVE what I have to share about bananas today.

MAGICAL Banana Slicer Trick

My little boy is really fussy with fruit. He gets bored with it very quickly. But when I make fruit exciting like this, he is much more likely to eat it, and seeing this banana slicer trick never gets old.

Imagine giving someone a banana and telling them to peel it. The banana has never been opened but when they open it they see that it’s already been sliced. Wow! That’s FRUIT MAGIC!

So how did I do it?

Here’s the secret….

1. Simply get a sewing needle and make small holes all the way down the banana following one of the lines.
2. Push your needle all the way into the banana and move it from left to right. This is the action that slices the banana.
3. Do this all the way down, and hey presto. An unpeeled sliced banana!

{GET AN EMERGENCY SEWING KIT HERE}

I hope you enjoyed this MAGICAL Banana Slicer Trick.

Continue reading below to see what my free gift for fruit lovers is.

Please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to Green Thickies and don’t forget to hit that bell.

Banana Peanut Butter Green Thickie Recipe

Please feel free to share this infographic on social media or your website with a link back to this post.

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post Magical Banana Slicer Trick (Unbelievable) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

A question I often get asked is how to keep bananas from turning brown?

Today I’m sharing 10 genius hacks that will stop your bananas turning brown, so that you can save money, avoid waste and always have perfectly ripe bananas to eat when you need them.

I share fascinating fruit facts, practical fruit demonstrations, and mouth-watering fruit recipes. I also bust some myths surrounding fruit so I can inspire you to start eating more fruit in your diet so you can experience the energy, happiness and a lean, strong body that WILL come naturally to you when you start eating natural foods.

Every month I focus on going deep into a different type of fruit. This month it is bananas and I think you’re going to LOVE what I have to share.

You know what it’s like when suddenly you’re hungry or you’ve decided today is the day to be healthy, or you need a quick pick me up as you’re walking out of the door?  

You know you bought bananas recently, but when you reach for one, you find it’s all black, swarming with flies and only good for the compost bin. I know, I’ve been there myself!

But thankfully I found 10 genius hacks to keep my bananas from turning brown.

And today I’m sharing them with you!

How To Keep Bananas From Turning Brown – 10 Genius Hacks

1. Wrap The Stems

Wrap the stems in plastic wrap.  The main way in which bananas ripen is by releasing gasses from the stems.  So if you cover up the stems, you’re able to slow down the ripening process.

{GET YOUR PLASTIC WRAP HERE}

2. Store Away From Other Fruit

Keep your bananas separate from all other fruits including other ripe bananas.  Fruits let off ethylene gas when they are ripening, so keeping ripe fruit with unripe fruit will cause the unripe fruit to ripen more quickly.

{GET YOUR BANANA HANGER HERE}

3. Store In A Colder Room

Unwrap your bananas from plastic bags and place them in the coldest part of a room (not the fridge). The heat from a bag or from a heated room causes bananas to ripen much more quickly.

4. Buy Green Bananas

Buy green bananas.  If you want your bananas to last longer, buy them greener in the first place.

5. Divide Your Bunch of Bananas

Divide your bananas up.  Bananas ripen faster when you leave them in a bunch together.

6. Rub Citrus Juice On Peeled Bananas

If you’ve already cut up your banana and want to keep it from going bad, rub some lemon, lime or orange juice over the flesh to keep it fresher for longer. 

{GET YOUR LEMON SQUEEZER HERE}

7. Use A Banana Saver

Use a banana saver to transport your banana to work or school with you.  This also helps to keep the banana fresher for longer.

8. Use A Preservation Box Or Bag

Use a food produce preservation box or bag to keep the banana from going bad.  

This box or bag can be used out or inside the fridge and can keep produce fresher for a week or two longer.  

{GET YOUR PRODUCE PRESERVATION BOX & PRODUCE PRESERVATION BAGS HERE}

9. Place In The Fridge

If your banana is perfectly ripe, you can store it in the fridge. The skin will go black but the inside of the banana will stay fresh for up to two weeks.

*Note: Don’t put your banana in the fridge if it’s not yet ripe as it will not turn ripe in the fridge.

10. Place In The Freezer

If you have ripe bananas and want to save them, either put them in the freezer with their skins still on. This is great for when you want to add frozen bananas to smoothies.

If you want to make ice cream, peel and freeze banana chunks to make it easier to blend.  You can store bananas in the freezer for up to 4 months.

Banana Facts

Summary

Phew!  That was a lot of information. Here’s a quick recap to help you remember these 10 genius hacks on how to keep bananas from turning brown:

1. Wrap the stems
2. Store away from other fruit
3. Store in a colder room
4. Buy green bananas
5. Divide your bananas
6. Rub citrus on peeled bananas
7. Use a banana saver
8. Use a food produce bag or box
9. Place in the fridge
10. Place in the freezer

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Keep Bananas From Turning Brown (10 Genius Hacks) appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.

Would it help you eat more fruit if you knew how to ripen bananas faster?  

A lot of people struggle to have bananas ripe and ready when they need them.  They are often not ripe enough for eating, or the other extreme which is they have been left for so long they have gone bad.  

I used to also have this problem.  

And the key is knowing at what speed you can ripen your bananas and how to speed up the ripening process. 

So today I’m sharing with you how to ripen bananas super fast. It’s very easy! 

You are going to feel so confident that you can now get organized with your banana ripening process and have healthy food at hand whenever you need it.

Continue reading to find out how to ripen bananas fast and easy…

How To Ripen Bananas Fast!

1. Using warmth

Store the bananas in a warm place in your house such as on top of the fridge, on a window ledge or in a boiler cupboard.  

The perfect temperature for ripening bananas is 65–68ºF (18–20ºC). Use a thermometer to check the temperature of your room.

{GET YOUR THERMOMETER HERE}

2. Using humidity

Bananas like humidity.  If your house is quite dry, try out one of the options below: 

1. Run a humidifier 
2. Or use a diffuser
3. Or leave out bowls of water.  

{GET YOUR HUMIDIFIER & DIFFUSER HERE}

3. Using a paper bag

Place the bananas in a brown paper bag

{GET YOUR BROWN PAPER  BAGS HERE}

4. Using a plastic bag

Place the bananas in a plastic bag.  Make sure the plastic bag has some air holes in it or the fruit might go soft.

5. Using another fruit

Add another fruit to the bag such as an apple to release ethylene gas which is a natural gas contained in the fruit that triggers ripening.  Use the ripest fruit you have.

*Note: Check the bananas every day.  The bananas will usually ripen within 2 days but may take longer if they are very green to start with.

How To Ripen Bananas Even Faster (Within 1 Day or 1 Hour)

It is much better for your health to wait until bananas are truly ripened before eating them.  

But if you just can’t wait, here are 2 ways to speed up the ripening process even more quickly.  

1. You can use a dehydrator

This gently warms up the banana making it ripen much more quickly.

1. Leave the skin on your banana and place on a dehydrator sheet. 
2. Dehydrate at 45C/115F for up to 24 hours.
3. Check your banana and feel how soft it is after 6 hours as that might be long enough depending on how yellow your banana was to start with. 

{GET YOUR DEHYDRATOR HERE}

2. You can use an oven

If you really can’t wait for a ripe banana and you’re not as concerned with lost nutrients, you can bake your banana in the oven.  

Being a raw foodist this is not something I would choose to do, but if I didn’t have any ripe fruit around me, I certainly would do this.  

1. Put your oven on the lowest temperature it goes to which might be around 77C/170F and place the unpeeled bananas on a nonslip baking mat.  
2. Bake for 20-30 minutes. The skin will go black.  
3. Check on them after 15 minutes to see if they are ripe enough.  
4. The banana will be mushy but they will be perfect for banana bread, banana pudding or a banana smoothie.

Banana Peanut Butter Green Thickie

Here is a delicious banana smoothie recipe to make with your ripe bananas.

Please feel free to share this infographic on social media or your website with a link back to this post.

Summary

I’ve shared 7 ways to ripen your bananas more quickly. Just to recap, these are:

1. Place in a warm place
2. Increase the humidity
3. Place in a brown paper bag
4. Place in a plastic bag
5. Add fruits to the bag or place next to ripe fruits
6. Dehydrate for up to 24 hours
7. Last resort: Oven bake on the lowest setting for about 20 minutes

FREE Recipe Book To Help You Lead A Magical Life Of Fruit

What do you get in the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book?

• The 5 basic Magical Fruit recipes that you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…
• Get the meals I used to help me recover from Chronic Fatigue and drop 56 pounds in just a few months…
• Learn how to work with the equipment you’ve got, no need for expensive blenders. I’ll show you how…

Click here to get your copy of the 5 Magical Fruit Recipes book.

Related Resources You Will Love

Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:

• Over 200 Fruit Recipes: Complete Guide To Fruit
• 21 Lowest Calorie Fruits For Weight Loss List
• 10 Awesome New Ways To Eat More Fruits For Health
• Is Sugar And Fruit Bad For Us? (I Reveal The Truth)
• 10 Best Fruit Based Meals (Raw Vegan)
• FREE Weight Loss Green Smoothie Recipe Card

The post How To Ripen Bananas (Fast & Easy) Try It Today appeared first on Green Thickies: Filling Green Smoothie Recipes.