Eating banana during pregnancy is an excellent thing since this fruit provides a long list of nutrient for your baby, and there are many benefits of eating ripe bananas during pregnancy, but do you know that you can also eat the flower beside the banana? Yes, the flower is edible and is amazing.
This food maybe not so popular especially as a superfood for pregnant women, but consuming banana flower during pregnancy does bring abundant benefits. Moreover, this unique food is even easy to be made into several different delicious dishes. Before you learn its benefits, it is better to know what is actually inside this unique dark purple flower.
Banana Flower Nutrition Value
Every 100 grams of banana flowers providing the nutrition below according to the African Journal of Biotechnology:
- Fiber 5.7g
- Protein 1.6g
- Carbohydrates 9.9g
- Fat 0.6g
- Iron 56.4mg
- Magnesium 48.7mg
- Calcium 56mg
- Copper 13mg
- Potassium 553.3mg
Health Benefits of Banana Flower
- Preventing Vitamin Deficiency
According to the list of nutrition above, it is clear that banana flower is packed with complete nutrients for the baby. It helps preventing the baby born with vitamin deficiency.
Not only for the baby, the nutrition in banana flower is also needed for the mother and both of them can get the benefits. One of the essential vitamins provided is vitamin C, which acts as an antixodant. You can also find it in orange and there are several complete benefits of orange during pregnancy in the first trimester.
- Increasing Breast Milk
As a future mother, you need to carefully plan how you can properly breastfeed your baby as it is an important part of their beginning life. You can try consuming banana flower during pregnancy to help your body produce more breast milk so that later you dont meet any hassle in breastfeeding your sweetheart.
- Reducing Morning Sickness
Almost every pregnant woman experience morning sickness and this condition is extremely uncomfortable. Luckily, simply eating banana flower can help you fight the nausea and vomiting that distract your activity.
- Treating Anemia
You should ensure that your iron intake is enough especially during pregnancy otherwise you will suffer from anemia. This condition could be harmful when you are pregnant because you maybe feeling fatigue and tired all the time. Get your iron level back to its standard by consuming banana flower is not a bad idea.
It is rich in iron and it is also high in other vitamins and minerals. Another great food for treating anemia during pregnancy you can try is prunes. The sweet and sour taste of prunes is perfect for an amazing dessert and you get the prunes health benefits for pregnancy as the bonus.
- Lowering Blood Sugar
One of the common issues during pregnancy is the rising of blood sugar happen in pregnant women that make them look like diabetic patients. To prevent and treat this condition, you can eat banana flower while reducing the amount of sugar intake daily. Consuming guava is another solution since one of the health benefits of guava during pregnancy is to manage the rising of blood sugar level.
Caution in Consuming Banana Flower
There is almost no side effect of banana flower to be afraid of, but still, eating in moderation is necessary as too much eating a food will always lead to bad situations in the later. So you can add banana flower as one of your weekly menus so that you can get various nutrients your baby need. One thing to pay attention before eating banana flower is that you should be ready for the bitter taste of the flower.
This is the part between the dark purple petals that make them bitter so you should remove the flower inside until nothing left and then soak the petals in a mix of lemon juice and water for 30 minutes. Ensure that every petal is well soaked to reduce the bitterness so you can enjoy the banana flower pleasingly.
Banana Flower Recommendation Intake
It has been mentioned above that banana flower carries almost no side effects. So you can just enjoy it without worrying while still limiting the amount because too much of eating every food, no matter how healthy it is, is always bad. Maybe you can limit to one portion or just 100g, which is already high enough. You can turn the banana flower into salad or other delicious dishes because the recipes are numerous out there to try.
Since you have another unique superfood as a natural supplement during your pregnancy, you can start going out of the box for your daily menu. There are still many kinds of healthy foods to eat during pregnancy and you have limited options.
Don’t worry about the myths about food to eat during pregnancy as long as they are halal, healthy, natural and containing no preservatives or other chemical ingredients, just try it. If you need something sweet and fresh during your morning sickness in the first trimester, a glass of sugarcane juice could be helpful. Not only it is delicious, but also it has a long list of health benefits of sugarcane juice during first trimester pregnancy,