Tag: Banana

Categories
Supplements

5 Common Foods and Fruits To Supercharge Your Sex Drive

lettuce helps to activate sex hormones

Like it or not, you need to something about your sex drive if you are not feeling the urge at least once in every two days. Someone has even said that you need to have more drive to have sex than to go to sleep everyday. I don’t know about that, everyone with his own different body.

Often, when you need to improve libido (sex drive), we do know but sometimes, some don’t even know that their sex drive is not enough. If you recognize this issue with yourself, you are very lucky as this kind of thing breaks relationships. This is especially true if you have a partner whose libido is much more higher than yours.

When people discover that they have libido problem, they are usually shy to talk about it. Some are afraid they can become object of ridicule. Some people don’t even know that there is a solution. In fact, doing a little adjustment in the foods you eat can help improve your sex drive.

5 Foods That Boost Your Libido By Simply Consuming Them

Here are 5 foods you can get around to rev up your sex life. Some supplements will also be mentioned at end so that you can have more choices.

Watermelon hasViagra-like effects

I am wondering how many times I’ve mentioned watermelon in articles myself too. Yes, this wonderful fruit is majorly water (about 92 percent), but if you really want a sweet libido-booster, get a slice of watermelon every day.

Watermelon Boost Your Libido

Researchers at the Texas A&M Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center reported finding in 2008 that watermelon has ingredients that delivered Viagra-like effects to the human body’s blood vessels and could even aid in increasing libido.

Ginseng significantly increased libido in a month

Ginseng is now being sold in grocery stores around. Even if you can’t find it in its original form, they are available in form of supplements and now even added to tea and some other drinks.

ginseng increased libido in a month

A group of researchers at the University of Hawaii found that women who took a ginseng supplement significantly upped their libido in a month, and 68 percent also said their overall sex life improved dramatically.

Lettuce Contains Opiate that helps to activate sex hormones

Apart from the abundance of minerals in this vegetable called Lettuce, it also contains an opiate that helps to activate sex hormones. So, why not make it a habit to add this vegetables to your salad and sometimes slice it fresh on foods such as rice, pasta and beans.

lettuce helps to activate sex hormones

Pepper helps stimulate endorphins

In my last article I talked about how pepper could help us have a long life. Now, let me tell you that hot peppers increase metabolism and stimulate endorphins, makes you sweat, plumping your lips, and speeding up your heart rate. That gets the blood flowing to all the essential areas that end up in better sex.

Pepper helps stimulate endorphins

Bananas are top sources of potassium

In the past, we have mentioned the side effects of consuming too much sodium. We also list some foods that have high hidden amount of sodium. Aside from the side effects we listed there,  foods high in Sodium (generally salty foods) diminish blood flood to the genitals, which can make it more difficult to reach orgasm.

Bananas are top sources of potassium

Bananas are one of the top sources of potassium, which helps to counteract the effects of foods high in sodium. Eat more of Banana. They are not even expensive.

Food Supplements

If you are someone that finds it difficult to add all these to your diet for a number of reasons, you have the option of supplements. For example, it may not be easy to keep fruits for a long time and you cannot go to the market or grocery stores every day to get fruits.

People with low libido have seen great improvements and results from just using these supplements as recommended daily. These are not drugs but food supplements. They are made from foods, fruits and herbs and they even produce faster results that foods.

If you are interested in getting these supplements, you can easily send an email to foodsng2015@gmail.com and you will be pointed to the right direction. You can also call this number 08183430780 but you will get a better and detailed response via email.

ALSO SEE: List Of Foods That Help Remedy Low Sperm Count

Categories
Food Recipes

Learn How To Make Spicy Banana Chips At Home

baked banana chips

I have always supported the idea of home made snacks more than the regular processed snacks sold in many grocery stores. One of such snacks is banana chips especially when it is well made. Children and middle aged people would love it. Plantain chips seem to be more common here in Nigeria but the very first time I tasted banana chip, it became love at first bite.

baked banana chips

Ingredients For Making Spicy Banana Chips

  • Three big size, semi ripe fingers of banana
  • A table spoon of lemon juice
  • Water
  • Salt ( Optional)
  • Butter or non sticky cooking spray

Equipment Needed

  • Knife
  • Oven
  • Foil paper

Instructions For Making Baked Banana Chips Is Made

The process involved is quite simple and you could involve your teenage children in the process of making banana chips. It is as follows;

  • Peel you banana fingers one after the other. Mean while, as you are performing this activity, pull out the tray in the oven and set it to a temperature of between 180-200F.
  • Slice them into tiny pieces (1/8inch) in a slanting vertical version and set aside.
  • Pour a table spoon of lemon juice into about 50cl of water, add a dash of salt, mix well and submerge the sliced banana into the solution and take out immediately. Do not do all at once, do it in batches and set aside
  • Cover the tray with a foil paper and rub slightly with butter or spray with a non sticky cooking spray to avoid sticking.
  • Carefully place the sliced banana on it one after the other and return to the heated oven.
  • Keep in the oven for 80mins and check. Turn slices, once they are in your preferred baked colour and place in oven for another 30mins.  Do not forget to check at 20 min mark to avoid over burnt bananas.
  • Fetch them out of the oven once they are ready and air dry. The longer you air dry them, the crispier  they are.
  • Once they are dry enough, keep in air dry container.

Your crispy baked banana chips are ready for consumption. The good thing about this is that they can be included and portioned out as snacks for your children when going to school. It is healthier than the sweetened ones sold in supermarkets and not difficult to make.

When you do try this, do not forget to get back to us.

Categories
Food & Body

Foods That Help Relieve Your Headache

migraine and headache

When a headache strikes, it most times render all your body system useless. It makes you very touchy while reducing the extent to which you concentrate at work or at home. Many are quick to funnel some tablets of paracetamol into their bodies in order to reduce the discomfort but they are sometimes shocked to see no improvement. In fact, this has been the norm whenever there is an occurrence of headaches for many people.

migraine and headache

How Some Foods Can Help Get Rid Of Headache

Have you ever asked yourself; if your headaches could be a result of certain foods or micro-nutrients that are lacking in your diets? Yes, this can be very true and this is what has caused a headache in many people. Let us see some of the foods that will help you eliminated headaches if regularly included in your diet.

WATERMELON:

There is no gainsaying that the major cause of headaches is the lack of enough water and certain minerals in the body. With this understanding, to mitigate against the constant pounding of your head, it is essential to have an adequate serving of watermelon which has 90% water content and yet is loaded with a mineral such as magnesium that helps reduce the pains of headaches.

BAKED POTATO AND BANANA:

Alcohol-related headache is a common phenomenon, particularly among alcohol drinking men. Alcohol is diuretic and so causes loss of water from your body within a short period which leads to headaches due to loss of electrolytes such as potassium.

In order to restore your body back to normal, it is advisable to consume foods such as potato and banana that have the capacity to supply an adequate amount of potassium to your body.

ALMOND:

Almonds can be valuable food that can be enjoyed especially during stress time. Almonds have been researched to contain a good source of protein and amino acid with an abundant supply of magnesium, potassium, and even a little iron which are key minerals that can help relieve headaches.

SPINACH SALAD:

Are you hoping to quickly alleviate your pounding headache? then spinach salad with a combination of fruit like a carrot will help your condition. Like I itemized earlier, headache is majorly caused by dehydration with a lack of certain electrolytes. These vegetables are loaded with high moisture content and fiber which will alleviate the headache.

Having itemized some of the top foods that can help during headaches, it is important to state that you should at all times consume an adequate amount of water as dehydration is the major cause of headaches. Avoiding excessive alcohol would also help prevent alcohol-induced headaches.

Categories
Food & Nutrition

What People That Eat Banana Skins Know, That We Don’t

banana peel cooked

Some people in some parts of the world eat banana peels or skins — whichever way you call it. What many of us do after opening banana and eating the flesh is to thrash the peel. Yes, this is what many people do. This is just because banana flesh is soft and sweet while the peel is thick, fibrous, slightly bitter and sometimes dirty.

However, Apparently, they know some things about banana and its peel that people like us over here and in many other parts of the world don’t. They know the benefits that come with eating them and we don’t. This post will show you some of the health benefits of a banana skin.

banana peel cooked

We have mentioned banana in some articles in the past. It is one of the foods you can snack on at night if you are truly looking to avoid gaining weight. There was also an article that showed how to make a very healthy and delicious cream from banana and if you are looking to make your banana last for extra 5-7 days, you should read this. Now back to today’s topic.

Should Banana Peel Be Eaten? What Danger Does It Pose?

It has been established that banana peels are neither dangerous nor hazardous to the health if consumed. In fact, if eaten with the sweet flesh of the fruit, they come packed with many health benefits and straying a little away from the food angle, eating the peel is also better for the environment as a whole. 

So, what are the nutritional/health benefits?

Here are the benefits the skin has;

Laura Flores, a San Diego-based nutritionist informed LiveScience that the skin of banana “contains high amounts of vitamin B6 and B12, as well as magnesium and potassium. It also contains some fiber and protein”.

“It contains high amounts of vitamin B6 and B12, as well as magnesium and potassium. It also contains some fiber and protein.”

Banana peels have also been found to possess “various bioactive compounds like polyphenols, carotenoids and some others. So, why throw it away next time. Here are some ways you can enjoy eating banana peels.

Ways you can enjoy eating banana peels;

As mentioned earlier, banana skins can be dirty and there can also be leftovers from pesticides used on them during storage. Therefore, you should wash your bananas if you intend to eat the peel too. Here are some of the ways to eat your banana peel.

When fully ripen and soft, your banana peels can be eaten alone as you eat the bananas i.e. bite them and eat them together.

You can also blend the banana peels into smoothies. You can fry, bake, or boil them for at 10 minutes or more to make them less fibrous, easy to eat and digest.

So, when next you buy that hand of bananas, you might want to consider eating some. By the way, “a hand” is what a bunch of banana should be called. A single one is a finger.

ALSO SEE: How To Make Banana Last For 5-7 Days Extra

Categories
General Knowledgebase

How To Slow Ripening And Make Banana Last 5-7 Days More

banana with nylon tied to stem

You can actually make your bananas last more days — in fact for another one week if you store them in some particular ways. This is not just a an article that will tell you to store your banana in the refrigerator to make it last longer. If that is what you thought you would see here, you are wrong because these are just some tricks that I learnt about, tried them out and found to work.

Making Banana Last More Days By Delaying Ripening

First, let us quickly run through what makes bananas (and in fact all our fruits) ripen in two paragraphs. When fruits are mature, they are harvested or plucked from the trees and kept where they can now get ripen for consumption. Fruits that are not mature before harvesting will just stay that way and not become ripe — no matter what you do to it.

mature banana

When bananas get detached from their parent or damaged in some way, it commences ethylene production and ripening starts. Ethylene causes the banana cells to make all the changes involved with ripening — Chlorophyll (the green color pigment) is broken down, causing color changes; starches are converted into sugars, making the fruit sweet; acids are broken down, causing it to taste less sour; and pectin is broken down, making it softer.

So, how do you delay this ripening? Prevent all the agents of ripening from getting to your banana. How can you achieve this?

Buy Greener Bananas

Since banana ripens at a very fast rate — unless you want to eat your banana in a couple of days, get those bananas that are greener toward the stems (where the fingers join together) and more yellow on the fingers (not too yellow though).

mature banana

When you get them, make sure they have no bruises on them as this will accelerate ethylene production and lead to quick ripening of your banana. So, even when they don’t have bruises when you buy them, ensure you handle with care such that they don’t get bruised as you take them home in your shopping container.

DO NOT Refrigerate The Bananas

As against what many would be expecting, do no refrigerate the banana that you have bought in the state recommended in Tip number one. Why? When you put the banana in the cold temperature of the refrigerator, it causes the cell walls of the banana to break down prematurely.

This breakdown allows the production of melanin (the pigment that gives us the color of our skin), turning bananas completely black. However, the inside flesh of the banana will still remain unripe because the cold would have prevented ethylene production, and hence ripening.

Let these bananas ripen under room temperature, then store in the refrigerator.

Keep your bananas away from other fruits

It may surprise you that just like some diseases, ripening is also contagious. So, if you don’t want your banana to ripe too fast, keep it away from other fruits (and vegetables) that you have. They produce ethylene and that can trigger ripening your bananas too.

So, the best practice is to take your banana away from other fruits and keep at room temperature (without putting them in any bag). If they are already fully ripen and you want to prevent deterioration, you can keep in the refrigerator.

Cover the stem of the Banana with Nylon

This method can make your banana last for another five to seven days. When you get your unripe banana and you want to slow down ripening, get nylon and tie around the stem of the banana bunch to prevent passage of oxygen, hence delayed ripening.

banana with nylon tied to stem

Another way to do this is to separate the fingers, but care must be taken not to cause injuries to the banana fingers. After separating them, you can now tie nylon around their stem. This is way easier than thing them together as a bunch.

If you have any other method that you use to make your banana last longer, please share with us using the comment box.

ALSO SEE: How To Make Banana Iced Cream With Only Banana At Home

Categories
Food & Body

Foods That Help You Get A Good Night’s Sleep

foods that help you sleep
Photo: health.usnews.com

Sleeplessness is a condition that is fast becoming common in the lives of many and a whole lot of the people struggling with these are completely unaware that foods can actually be helpful in triggering drowsiness or sleepiness. The unhealthy thing about this condition which is technically called insomnia is that it affects the entire body function and activities.

Tiredness, sluggishness, and moodiness could become your daily expressions. It has even been reported based  on various researches that certain minerals are critical in the  remedy  of insomnia.

foods that help you sleep
Photo: health.usnews.com

Ask a  few of your friends or colleagues – How was your night? Did you sleep well? I bet many of them will tell you that they had a difficult time sleeping. Usually, so many factors are involved but foods can be a good remedy especially if you consume the foods at dinner. Let’s check some of the foods that can help induce sleep.

1. Herbal Tea:

Herbal Tea is one of the foods that has been helpful in making people get some sleep for many decades. In fact, there are many tea varieties that make people be more sleepy. These teas are known to put the body in a relaxed state.  A popular herbal tea known to be effective is chamomile tea.

A cup of tea before bed will help you relax and fall asleep faster.  Lemongrass tea is also known for helping you fall asleep. Caffeinated teas should be avoided as you all know they work in the opposite direction.

2. Yoghurt:

Dairy products are loaded with calcium and yogurt can be helpful in removing the stress out of your body and this helps you fall asleep more easily.  Calcium helps the brain make use of a certain amino acid called tryptophan to manufacture a sleep-inducing substance called melatonin.

yoghurt

This explains why dairy products, which contain both tryptophan and calcium, are one of the top sleep-inducing foods.  It is not advisable to consume whole milk products because they are not better tolerated at bedtime compared to healthy bacteria loaded yoghurt.

When taking Yoghurts, go for the quality brands that produce real yoghurt. See how to know those good yoghurts here (opens in new tab).

3. Banans:

Banana is a super night snack particularly for those hoping to gain few pounds of flesh. Asides this, research has shown that a certain mineral such as magnesium is effective as a natural remedy for insomnia.

A lack of this mineral may cause you to wake up after a few hours and not return to sleep. Other magnesium-rich foods include spinach, nuts, seeds, fish and whole grains. Fortunately, it is one of the foods you can healthily snack on at night.

4. Fish

We have said so much about fish before. As a person, I prefer fish to meat. They contain more nutrients and the fats in many of them are the healthy type and more beneficial. There is no way we want to look at it, eating fish is better than eating meat.

Oily fish

Most fish—and especially salmon and tuna—have a significant amount of vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 is needed to make melatonin – a sleep-inducing hormone triggered by darkness. This has also been confirmed by an article published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

5. Almonds and nuts rich in Magnesium

Almonds contain tryptophan and magnesium. These two components help to naturally reduce muscle and nerve function while also steadying your heart rhythm. You would note that many of the foods we have mentioned above too either have magnesium or tryptophan.

almonds

Other nuts and seeds that are rich in magnesium include, almonds, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts, cashews, pine nuts, flaxseed, and pecans.

You may want to add these nuts to your diet. They are even easy to snack on at night before you go to bed. They will relax you and help induce a good night sleep.

6. Sound Night Sleep? Eat Cherries!

I have heard and read uncountable times that the best way to get a good night’s sleep is to increase your melatonin intake. We talked about this melatonin under yoghurt as a sleep-inducing substance. Some other foods foods other than yoghurt contain it too.

Cherries, along with nuts and oats, are a natural source of melatonin and, when eaten regularly, can help regulate your sleep cycle. I guess this is why some people would ask that you add coffee to their oat when they take it as breakfast – they don’t want to be sleeping about.

People have reported that alcohol and milk chocolate help them sleep but I wouldn’t recommend that. Alcohol makes you wake up with a hangover and you don’t want to eat chocolate just before going to bed.

7. Honey

It has been found that honey contains glucose, which tells your brain to shut off orexin. Orexin is the chemical that is known to trigger alertness. So, when glucose tells your brain to stop the supply of orexin, you become less alert (somewhat dull) and feel sleepy.

When you are taking honey for this purpose, you should not overdo it. One tablespoon for a good night’s sleep is more than enough. Make sure you get the real honey though. See how to identify real honey.

Please note, you should avoid eating heavily at night particularly close to bed time as it will affect your sleepiness. Other foods that I find to be effective in inducing sleepiness include garri, potatoes and some other carbohydrate loaded foods.

Understand the saying “different strokes for different folks”. What works for someone might not work for the other. So, we would like to hear from you to share foods that you eat which triggers sleepiness.

Categories
Smoothies

How To Make This Healthy Delicious Fruit Smoothie

banana tangerine milk smoothie

There are many fruit smoothies all around but it does seem that many Nigerians do not find fruit smoothies as a healthy way to start their day. Certain people are used to consuming heavy high calorie foods like yam, rice and potatoes as breakfast while smoothies of different types exist for them to explore.

One of the best ways to kick start your day is to consume a light and healthy food usually in liquid or pureed consistency. In view of this I have decided to share with you a fruit smoothie that both children and adult will find delicious whether as breakfast or as snacks.

banana tangerine milk smoothie

Making A Healthy & Very Tasteful Fruit Smoothie

Yes, this smoothie looks very inviting and things you need to make it are very cheap and easy to come by. Just follow the rest of this post to make something like this for yourself.

Ingredients for making the Smoothie

  • One big size apple
  • Two fingers of banana
  • Water (To your preferred consistency)
  • Two oranges or tangerines
  • One sachet of Milk 25gram

Equipment

  • A blender

Method Of Preparation

Clearly, the step by step method of making this smoothie is so simple.  Thanks to my powerful blender that helps produce smoothies of creamy consistencies.

  • Wash your hands clean and also your fruits. Do not spare the blender. You do not want to battle with food contamination.
  • Dice your apple into smaller pieces for ease of blending and keep aside.
  • Peel and dice the bananas and keep aside.
  • Peel the oranges using your hands. This time you do not only need the juice but you also need the fibre. Usually, I prefer tangerines. Try as much as possible to remove all the seeds except you bought seedless variety.
  • Pour all the prepared fruits into the blender and add water based on your prefer thickness or consistency. Actually, I love mine slightly thick. Do not forget to add the 25g of milk.
  • Blend at both high speed and low speed until a creamy solution is made. Hey, your heathy fruit smoothie is ready.

I hope you will find this lovely. This is the way I make my smoothie. You could be adventurous with this recipe by adding a few carrots to increase the fibre content. But for every added fruit, you might want to add one more finger of banana. Anyways, the choice is all yours based on your preference. I definitely love bananas.Hey do not forget to place the whole mixture in the fridge to make it chill.

By my estimation, this smoothies is about 500kcal. It can be served for two people during breakfast or mid snack supplying an average of 250kcal of healthy food.

Trying to lose some pounds of flesh? This is a great way to start your day – low calorie, yet filling and highly nutritious to the body. Do give it a try.

Categories
Food Recipes

Learn How To Make “Ice Cream” From 1 Ingredient At Home

As a nutritionist for children with special needs, one of my job responsibilities is to come up with new food varieties and recipes that will be appealing to our children. Sometimes it can be quite difficult but the nutrition team which I belong to, tries its best. Some times last year we decided to give a new look to the mid-day food of our children at the centre. Then, we decided to make Ice cream.

Banana Ice Cream Recipe
Photo: imsa.edu

As at that time we had no Ice cream equipment and other important ingredients necessary for the making of Ice cream. As we pondered, one of us sighted at a food item and he said we could make a healthy nutritious Ice cream from it. If your guess is as good as mine…….then by now you should know the food item – Banana. Yes, you can make Ice cream from start to finish using BANANA only. Although, the procedure is simple and a bit different but the output is as creamy as your ice cream made from milk and other ingredients.

How Is Iced Banana Cream Made? – Ingredients and Method

Ingredients, Equipments and Method of Preparation!

INGREDIENT

Medium sized ripe banana (Two fingers)

EQUIPMENT

A powerful blender or a food processor. I usually use Kenwood Food processor.

METHOD OF PREPARATION

Wash your hand clean and keep them dry before handling the food item to avoid contamination.

  • Ensure that the blender or food processor is clean.
  • Peel the 2 banana fingers and slice each to six or seven pieces. A straight horizontal cutting will do.
  • Pour the sliced banana into a small glass container that has a lid. Cover it up.
  • Place in a freezer for about three hours if you are using a blender but over night if using a food processor.
  • When ready collect the already frozen banana and pour inside your food processor.

Turn on at high speed for about 30 seconds. Stop, scrape the banana to fall into place and start the engine again. Do this continuously until the banana turns completely creamy just like your ice cream. This process could take up to five minutes, less or more depending on your processing device. The colour of the cream may appear brownish depending on you banana.

Your Banana Ice Cream or better still, Iced Banana Cream is Ready.

One good and healthy thing about this recipe is that banana contains most of the other ingredients that regular ice cream contains. Banana contains sugar and pectin that keep it creamy and fibre to aid in proper digestion. You can also decide to add other ingredients to it if you so wish.

Milk, Peanut butter or Nutella chocolates will not be bad. Just add at moderate quantity. I do not advise adding sugar because Banana is already high in sugar.

Do not forget to give this a shot and share your comments here!