“Bananas for Life“
“Going bananas,” is a phrase used by a professor at CCNY to his physiology class on a lecture on bananas to describe the effects of the fruit on the brain. I have always been eating bananas but I don’t know if my brain has been affected by it or not. What I do know is that at 60 years old, I don’t have arthritis or diabetes. My heart is functioning well, and my blood pressure is maintained at safe levels even if I only take my BP pills once every two days – contrary to doctor’s orders.
Oh, I do have pains in my joints but I play tennis to forget about it. When my wife died, I had bouts of depression and anxiety prompting me to check in into the hospital more than couple of times in a month. The prognosis were all ok except that I was prescribed anti-anxiety pills, which I seldom take for fear of becoming dependent on it and anti-depressant drugs, which I stopped taking after realizing that depression is all in the mind and, more seriously, these drugs exacerbate erectile dysfunction. I can’t afford to have problems over problems. And “that” one is a real problem.
Anyway, on a daily basis, I eat four “fingers” of these herbaceous plant of the Musaceae family – after breakfast, lunch, dinner and the last, before going to sleep. I’ve been doing this as far as I can remember and the reason why I do this is because I can’t afford to buy apples.
If placed side by side, a typical Filipino would take the apple rather than the banana. Colonial and bourgeois mentalities run deep in us. I don’t have either, so I take the banana anytime. Besides, bananas have four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorous, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals compared to apples. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods anywhere. This explains why I am brighter than most of my compatriots.
The banana is the number one fruit among the world’s leading athletes. This is not because it is easy to stow away a finger or two in the pocket but because the fruit is power-packed with three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose dispersed within the fibrous core of the fruit. Research shows that two banana “fingers” can provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout.
I’d love to see the day when Maria Sharapova would be eating applies during a grueling tennis match.
Tags: banana, depression, Health, high blood pressure
