The latest wonder food: More and more crave banana flour as a way of curbing the carbs because it helps you feel fuller for longer
- Green banana flour could be a healthier way to satisfy your carb cravings
- The flour, from unripened Brazilian fruit, does not actually taste of bananas
- Contains resistant starch, a type of carbohydrate which behaves like fiber
- This helps to control our blood sugar levels and keep us fuller for longer
By Sophie Freeman (Daily News) (edited)
It might sound, well, a bit bananas, but making your bread and cakes with green banana flour could be a healthier way to satisfy your carb cravings.
The flour – which does not actually taste of bananas – contains resistant starch, a type of carbohydrate which behaves like fiber by helping to control blood sugar levels and keeping us fuller for longer.
And because resistant starch cannot be completely absorbed by the body, we take fewer calories from it.
Green banana flour sold by Hearthy Foods comes from unripened bananas.
Like bananas, the flour has high levels of potassium, which helps control the electrical activity of the heart, and magnesium, which aids nerve and muscle activity.
You use about 25% less than normal wheat flour when baking.
‘Taste-wise it has a slightly nutty, clean flavor, but it is almost flavorless. It can also be added to smoothies and salad dressings.’
Ursula Philpot, consultant dietitian and senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, said banana flour could also help those who needed a high-fibre diet.
The flour – which does not actually taste of bananas – contains resistant starch, a type of carbohydrate which behaves like fiber by helping to control blood sugar levels and keeping us fuller for longer. Gluten-free, and with a subtle nutty flavor, the banana flour can be substituted for ordinary wheat flour in nearly every recipe, converts claim.
Ordinary starch, found in regular bread, potatoes, and pasta, is rapidly digested in the small intestine and absorbed as glucose into the blood.
But not all resistant starch is absorbed by the small intestine, so sugar is released into the blood more slowly, and insulin levels don’t rise as quickly.
This prevents a subsequent drop in blood sugar levels - which makes us feel hungry.
Ursula Philpot, consultant dietitian and senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, said: ‘The resistant starch in green bananas slows the release of food through the gut which helps slow the insulin response.
‘This will have a knock-on effect on weight management by controlling blood sugar levels throughout the day.
‘It can help some types of IBS sufferers as well – those who need a high fiber diet.’
One of the advantages of buying baking mixes is they have already been tested for perfection. What makes ours unique is there are no unnecessary preservative and additives.
Our gluten free baking mixes can change the life of someone who suffers from celiac disease, making it easier for them to lead a more normal life as far as food is concerned.
With our mixes, you can make gluten-free brownie mixes, muffin/cake mixes, cookie mixes. Also, with our specialty flours you can add apple, butternut squash flours, yam flour, etc. to enhance, sweeten, and improve any recipe. We also added Hearthy gelatin and collagen to our website that will make your meals more creamier, healthier, and delicious (more on that later). We are also an exclusively gluten-free facility. When you purchase our products, you do not have to worry that the product may have been cross-contaminated. There is no outside copacking or out of country manufacturing.
The average person consumes about twenty-two teaspoon of sugar a day. The American Heart Association suggest only nine teaspoons per day. By eliminating the sugar, you will be reducing plenty of calories. Also, you will lower your risk from diseases linked with being overweight.
Most added sugar lurks in packaged goods. So swap the sugar for apple flour, and others flour to make your favorite recipes. Go to our recipe page for simply reduced sugar and sugar-free recipe ideas. Also, we are going to start selling reduced sugar and low carb cakes using our flours. We look forward to helping you to be better you in 2017.
We are so excited to introduce our new line of 100% natural flours made from organic, non-GMO, gluten-free sources.
People are using our flours to make their recipes healthier by eliminating the sugar, adding fiber and vitamins, eliminating the use of white flour, enhancing taste and helping to improve their overall health.
Some examples of using our recipes:
Use carrot flour to add to your soups or sauces to add vitamin A to your kid's meals, add to meatloaf to give it a boost of flavor, and make reduced sugar or sugar-free bbq sauce.
Add apple flour to your shakes, waffle mixes, brownies to add a natural sweetness. One of my favorite things to do is is add apple flour to my sugar-free yogurt and protein shakes to make it taste like dessert.
Use Sweet potato flour to make baked goods. An easy recipe is to use sweet potato flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar and coconut oil to make the healthiest best-tasting brownie on the planet.
The oat flour can be used to make cakes, brownies, bread, pasta, etc. We made banana oat muffins with banana flour, oat flour, coconut oil, coconut sugar and honey.
First Post
February 16, 2016 12:43
The Beginning
People ask me how we started making gluten free pies. One day I had an appointment to see a buyer at a major grocery store chain in June 2010. I was presenting them a gluten meat pie. He agreed to buy the meat pie, but he also said can I make a gluten free sweet pie that tasted good. I said, "I'll try, but how much time do I have?". He said in two to three months. So I called my flour company to ask for their stock gluten free flour. I was so excited thinking that it would be so easy. But I was so wrong.
At the Bakery
I open the stock gluten free flour to make a pie, but it was far from ideal. The mix was good for cake and brownies. However, it lacked texture that is ideal for pies. It needed a harder flour to give pie that texture where it will be crispy/flaky on the top and soft. Then I thought of my late mother who told me to buy a chana flour (bean/lentil flour) for the house one day. This memory was so unrelated to pies, but I thought let's give it a try. The next day I go to the local Indian grocery store to buy this flour. There were plenty of unique flours that I never knew of like juwa flour, atta flour, brown rice flour, etc. At the bakery, I start using the chana flour to make pies and pie crust. After a few days of messing around, we did our first generation of gluten-free pies.
It works!
We start mass producing these pies to groceries store and food service companies. We were so happy to see the sales of these pies. There were so many people who said this was the first time they had a pie in years. Now six years later, we have continued to evolve our recipe to what it is today. Now we are one of the largest gluten-free pie makers in the US. Heathy Pies 3.0
