1. Plantain can help with weight loss
When it comes to losing weight, it is about burning more calories than the calories that one consumes. One simple piece of weight loss advice is just to eat more fiber. Research shows that people who eat more fiber can lose as much weight as people on a low-fat diet. 100g of plantain provides roughly 8 percent of the recommended daily intake of fiber. Fiber has no fat-burning properties. However, it helps with weight loss because high-fiber foods tend to have a lower energy density, which means they provide fewer calories per gram of food. In addition, as a high-fiber food, plantains add bulk to food intake, which makes you feel full and also aids digestion. The feeling of fullness helps with weight and portion control. As a result, a person on a high-fiber diet can consume the same amount of food, but with fewer calories.
2. Plantain is Good for Your Immune System
Vitamin C is found to play a key role in boosting the immune system by increasing the production of white blood cells, and by making the cells of the body impenetrable to viruses. Plantains are an excellent source of Vitamin C with 100g of plantain containing 30 percent of the recommended daily requirement of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is found to play a key role in boosting the immune system by increasing the production of white blood cells, and by making the cells of the body impenetrable to viruses. Vitamin C also acts as an antioxidant, which helps the immune system to neutralise free radicals that may otherwise cause damage at cellular level cellular damage.
3. Plantain is Good for Your Mood and Brain
Plantains contain a healthy dose of Vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 plays a variety of roles in the body including activating enzymes, stimulating metabolism, promoting immune function, helping with hemoglobin formation, and contributing to cognitive development and function. Our moods are dependent on many factors, including the levels of a variety of dietary nutrients. Vitamin B6 is needed to produce numerous brain chemicals including serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and gamma-aminobutyric acid or GABA. These brain chemicals are all related to mood and behavior and an imbalance of any of these chemicals typically results in altered mood. For example, abnormally low levels of serotonin are linked to depression and anxiety disorders, whereas a lack of dopamine is associated with Parkinson’s disease. So want to feel good? Eat some plantain!
4. Plantain Can Be Beneficial Against Diabetes
Plantains are a good source of magnesium. 100g of plantain contains approximately 16 percent of the body’s daily requirement of magnesium. Magnesium is an important mineral because it affects several hundreds of bio-chemical reactions taking place in the body. One of these critical functions is ensuring that our blood sugar remains within the right range. Research has established that there is a connection between having adequate magnesium and diabetes prevention.
Insulin helps regulate the transport of magnesium within the body for use in glucose metabolism. And as part of the metabolism of glucose, magnesium promotes many of the processes involved with the breaking down of glucose in the body. Magnesium deficiency causes the body to require more insulin than normal to metabolize glucose, leading to insulin resistance.
While plantains are a good source of magnesium, they do have a high carbohydrate content and glycemic load. As such, they can raise blood sugar. Therefore, diabetics should take care to pair plantain with other foods with a low glycemic index and glycemic load.
5. Plantain Helps To Maintain a Healthy Digestive Tract
Plantains contain a high amount of dietary fiber which helps ensure healthy bowels and reduces constipation. The digestive system is lined with muscles that propel the food along the digestive tract from the throat through the bowels until the eventual waste is passed out of the body. Soluble fiber acts like a sponge and soaks up water as the feces passes through the intestines. This helps to bulk up and soften the feces, allowing it to pass through the gut more easily. It also slows down the rate of digestion of food by the body.
Very good information though it would be useful to know how to prepare the plantains for each point described.