Striving4Zen

In the vast majority of cases, four bananas per day are probably too many. One large banana contains about 18 grams of sugar and 125 calories. Four would contain about 72 grams of sugar and 500 calories. If a person ate about 2,000 calories per day, that person's diet would be approximately 14% sugar from the bananas alone, and about 25% of all calories would come from the bananas. From my perspective, that's too much daily sugar and too many daily calories from a single food.

I have no way of knowing, of course, whether or not four bananas per day are supportive of your personal health. That answer depends upon your individual health status, your daily diet, the amount and type of exercise you are doing, and your current nutritional needs. A healthcare practitioner who can take all of these factors into account would be the best person to help determine the number of bananas that would be best for you to consume to meet your nutrient and health needs.

But I can suggest a set of questions that you might ask yourself about your banana-plus-protein shakes. Does your diet have room for the calories that four bananas per day provide? Do you have to cut out any other nutrient-rich foods that provide other nutrients in which bananas may not be concentrated in order to make room for the bananas? Do you feel good when you eat the bananas? Do the bananas give you the energy and stamina that you desire?

In general, our website approach is to encourage consumption of whole, natural foods. We believe that the benefits of these foods are so unique and so overwhelming that major changes in lifestyle are worthwhile in order to make way for these foods. While you may be getting the nutrients you need from your protein shakes, you also might not be, and you will always increase your chances of getting the full spectrum of nutrients you need by eating a variety of whole, natural foods.

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Labels: bananas, diet, nutrition, question of the day, Whole Foods, world's healthiest foods

Instant rice (also called "rapid cooking" or "precooked" rice) is simply rice that has been fully cooked before you buy it. Once this rice has been precooked in the factory, it's dried to a low moisture level so it can be packaged and be shelf stable.

Because it's been precooked, instant rice doesn't need to be fully cooked again, which is the reason for its short cooking time right out of the package. Yet, while it may be a convenient option, instant rice is usually more expensive than regular rice that needs to be fully cooked.

Both white rice and brown rice can be precooked and can be featured as "instant rice" products. Since the nutritional quality of the instant rice that emerges out of the cooking process depends on the nutritional quality of the rice going into that cooking process, instant brown rice is a much better choice than instant white rice for your Healthiest Way of Eating.

I like to prepare my rice from scratch using regular brown rice as I prefer its flavor, smell and texture over that of instant rice; yet, I do understand that the difference in cooking time (a few minutes for instant rice compared to about 45 minutes for rice prepared from scratch) may be important for some people. Since there is little nutritional difference between instant rice and rice prepared from scratch, I would support the use of instant rice when necessary. But I would make a point to purchase high-quality instant rice like organic, whole grain, instant brown rice rather than instant white rice or even conventionally grown brown rice. You'll still get the convenience but you won't have to sacrifice as much nutritional value, and with an organic instant rice, you won't have to risk unnecessary exposure to contaminants.

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Labels: brown rice, instant, organic, question of the day, white rice, Whole grains