Bananas
Admittedly, I’ve put on a few pounds over the past few (20) years and I’ve made several attempts to shake it off. All have been successful and all results eventually come back to level. It seems the balance of the weight Mother Nature intended for me lies far north of the height:weight charts. Six feet tall = 155lbs to 175lbs. I’m 240. Something isn’t right. Under 200 and I feel like I’ll break.
Over the years the most successful program has been to start with Atkins to shake some weight really fast then mellow into Agatston’s South Beach Diet until I can run without blowing my knees out….then the exercise takes over (or is supposed to). No diet seems to make sense without excercise, which is where it all goes to pot. Agatston is a proponent of the glycemic index - some mathe
matical equation that says that just because the food is natural and “whole” doesn’t mean it won’t make you fat (something to do with the carb to fiber ratio). Bananas get lumped in with Pineapple and Kiwi as forbidden fruit. Corn is off limits too but that’s another sore spot. What afflicts me seems also to afflict these fruits. Mother Nature is either cruel, imperfect, she doesn’t watch 90210 or she’s dead on and I’m dead sexy.
All of this just to say that I’ve re-discovered bananas as a dessert…or a sandwich meat. I was consulting for a restaurant in the Meat Packing District in New York a few years ago when I learned of a local favorite: toast with sliced bananas and honey. Bananas and peanut butter is old news but what about one I saw on famed Atlanta burger restaurant “The Vortex’s” menu: the Elvis Presley - a half pound burger with peanut butter, bacon and fried bananas? Recently I was trying to figure out how to do a “banana creme brulee canoli”…it just sounds good…get some banana creme pie filling with fresh chunks of bananas and somehow candy the ends like a creme brulee without burning the canoli shell, then drizzle with honey. Everyone, of course, loves Bananas Foster. Banana Parfait. Banana Creme Pie. Granola, or just some Corn Flakes, with fresh bananas. Banana Split. Banana crepes with vanilla ice cream and caramel. Banana Tart Tartin. Candied bananas dipped in cinnamon and served with hot Mexican chocolate? Speaking of Forrest Gump, did anyone notice that the actor who plays “Hastings” in the 2010 season of 24 is the same actor who played Bubba? Of course when bananas start to turn spotty, toss them in the blender with a bunch of other high glycemic index stuff and call it a smoothie…add some rum and call it a day.
