Beginners in a fruitarian/raw vegan lifestyle

Comment

Comment by Lauren on November 15, 2010 at 10:04pm

A quick question about bananas and calories. I am keeping a record to help me get used to how much to eat and when weighing bananas is this with or without the skin? I am assuming without but just want to check. :)

As for ripening bananas I have discovered a great way to help them along, especially in the summer anyway. I have been keeping my box of unripe nanas in the boot of my car with a blanket over them and instead of taking a week they have been turning spotty in 3 or 4 days!

Comment by Don Bennett on November 15, 2010 at 12:43pm

One more tip about bananas. Many people place them on their counter "tips up" but this puts a lot of pressure on the middle of some of the bananas and can cause bruising there. Better to store them "tips down", that way only the ends rest on the counter.

Comment by Bethany Gabruck on November 15, 2010 at 8:02am

Thank you Don I will supplement my vitamin D then as well get outside. I think I will freeze my Bananas when I have to. Otherwise try to eat fresh. Thank you for everybody who commented it has been a big help.

Comment by Don Bennett on November 14, 2010 at 1:48am

RE: the ripeness of bananas: If there is still some green at the ends of the banana, even if there are spots on the skin, the banana may not be as ripe as it should be when eaten. When I've made banana ice cream in class for my students, I make it a point to show a ripe and unripe banana, but still some students email telling me that they made banana ice cream but it didn't taste like mine; it wasn't sweet. And this was because they were using unripe bananas. As a society, we've gotten used to being able to consume something as soon as we get it home from the store. After all, you needn't ripen anything from a box, bottle, can, or package. So the idea that after you bring things home from the market you must wait, maybe even a week, before you eat them takes some getting used to. And remember, if you've got a bunch of ready-to-eat bananas but you're not ready to eat them, chuck 'em in the fridge to slow down the ripening/rotting process. The skins will turn brown when you remove them from the fridge, but the pulp inside will be unaffected. (And if it's winter, let them get to room temp before eating them.) Also, to speed up the ripening, put them in a bathroom along with a dehydrator to warm up the room... this is especially helpful in the winter months.

Comment by Don Bennett on November 14, 2010 at 12:00am

What if I ran my blender until the bananas were close to room temperature again? Do you think that could have an ill effect?

It's far better to let the blended mixture sit so it gets more towards room temp, and here's why. First, even if you place your hand on a hot frying pan only for a split second there's damage. Second, keep in mind this term "heat of friction"; if you rub your two hands together, fast and hard, you can experience this. Third, we know that if you put water into a Vitamix and run it long enough, it will boil. And forth, if the temp of the ingredients that are going into the blender is 75 degrees, and after blending the mixture is 79 degrees, you might be tempted to think "no big deal", but read on. When a part of the mixture in the blender is pulled down and comes in contact with a Vitamix's blades, the temp of that part of the mixture can go way above 79 degrees for a brief moment in time due to the heat of friction, but it then moves away from the blades and circulates and "gives up" that high heat to the rest of the mixture that is not at the blades, in-other-words the temp of the mixture is an average temp except at the point of contact at the blades. Fascinating huh! So the million dollar question is: how high does that temp get at the blades. Unfortunately I can't say with any degree of certainty. You could try and measure the temp of the blades when you are done blending, but you'd have to do it very quickly because once you turn off the blender, that heat will dissipate into the lower temp mixture by convection. So since I apply one of my favorite philosophies to this issue, tis better to be safe than sorry, I opt for pulsing (or if you have a blender with a variable speed, use a slow speed), and then if the blended mixture is still too cold, I'll hand stir it as I let it stand until it's the temp I like. And again, even if the temp of your banana ice cream is cold enough to disrupt gut bacteria, after it spends some time in your mouth and esophagus, its temp can rise to the point where its no longer a threat to gut flora. But keep in mind that the cold has to go somewhere (actually cold doesn't go anywhere; it's replaced by heat that's robbed from your mouth, and because of blood circulation if you eat enough ice cream, your core temp can be affected so the body will "crank up" the heat to keep it stable. This is why ice cream can get you shivering if you eat it in cool weather).

Comment by Chris P. on November 13, 2010 at 6:15pm

Great question Lia! I have heard they like to put things into produce to "make it the right color" and like to put petroleum jelly or wax on the outside to make it shiny. It wouldn't surprise me if they sometimes put something on/in to alter smell.

Comment by Chris P. on November 13, 2010 at 5:28pm

Hi Joshua and Don, thanks for the tip on cold!

Don, thanks for the further info on tanning beds!

Freelee posted a great pictorial on ripeness in the notes area. It's here:
http://www.30bananasaday.com/forum/topics/how-does-ripe-fruit-look-...

It sounds like your bananas are ripe. That's funny how sometimes the skin/smell is more ripe appearing that the fruit. I've found that at times as well.

Comment by Lia de Lancey on November 13, 2010 at 5:19pm

Interesting question Joshua, I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any answers...I have another question to add - does anyone know if they spray fruit with smell enhancing chemicals? You don't say if your bananas are organic Joshua, mine aren't, and I also get a smell that seems too strong. The same with the fruit in my non-organic wholesaler. I never buy strawberries there because they smell way too strong it's off putting.

Comment by Don Bennett on November 13, 2010 at 3:55pm

Re: Eating frozen fruit. The higher the water content, the more it "holds onto" the cold. My understanding is it has to do with thermal mass. So a banana, being a lower water content food than frozen strawberries, won't be as cold when it hits the stomach. Then there's the issue of how cold is your freezer, meaning how cold are the bananas. Bananas at 25 degrees F are not as bad as bananas at 0 degrees F. And remember, they do gain some heat when put through the blender or juicer. And then you can eat the banana ice cream as soon as it comes out of the machine, or you can wait a few minutes, and this makes a big difference. And a goodly amount of the cold is absorbed by the mouth. So there are a number of variables to consider. I'd be more worried about how the cold affects the teeth... especially ones with metal fillings in them; the metal contracts and expands at a different rate than the enamel, which can cause crazing (micro cracks) which can weaken the tooth.

Comment by Don Bennett on November 13, 2010 at 3:00pm

Nyki, Some fruits blend "okay" with other fruits, and some fruits don't. The best fruit a banana blends with is... another banana :) Bananas and dates, not bad. Bananas and oranges, bad. A meal of a single fruit is best, not just for reasons of digestion (if you're not mixing different fruits together, you can't go wrong), but because your body gets used to a meal of just bananas, and comes to "understand" what this meal consists of, nutrient-wise. For example, bananas are high in potassium, so if your body is in need of some potassium, it looks at its database and sees that a "banana" is rich in potassium, and you'll get a craving for bananas. This is what accounts for the "I'm in the mood for _______". But if you're eating more multi-item meals than mono-meals, you don't get to make use of this wonderful bio-physiological trait.

The rules of thumb when combining:

* the number of ingredients? the lower the better

* make sure to mix fruits that combine "okay" together

* when using a blender to mix fruits, go easy on the blending;
try to only pulse the blender vs running it continuously

* be sure to eat some "mono-meals" too

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 157
• 158
• 159
• 160
• 161
• …
• 167
• Next ›
• Page