Ripe Plantains as Side Dish

Have you ever wondered how accurate the nutritional values that are given for foods are? How about produce; fruits, vegetables,etc? This thought crossed my mind today, well it does on and off but today it sort of stuck with me. I think it's because I am trying to monitor my caloric intake. Yeah, yeah, I am trying to do a diet; monitor what I eat, cut down on the carbs, proteins, etc., etc. I know that I not only eat too much, I eat too much of the high calorie foods and of course I don't burn up enough of it on a regular so it becomes a problem. I know the deal! I am making a conscious effort to change this pattern, again.

Anyway this is the thing. I got a good deal on green plaintains the other day so I bought them. I figured we'd use them over time and then some will become ripe and that will be a change. Well, I didn't cook any of them yet and now they are all ripe. Umm hmm, ripe plantains.

No problem ! I'll just made them as the sides dish for dinner or whatever meal for the family over the next few days. But because I am trying this caloric management thing, I wanted to know how the plantains stocked up nutritionally so I'll have a nice balance.

Well, I went on the hunt for information. Most of what I found, is not the same measure, but they are all close or similiar, which really kept the question live in my mind.

The good thing is that you could get nutritional information by cup, slices or mashed. I was all about slicing them so this is good. There were some values that was based on size; medium, for example. I find that tricky because it is not that easy to decide on a medium plantain. Like many produce items, determining the size is real tricky and could be miles off in terms of accurate measure.

In any case I was happy to find out that there are many desired nutrients in plantains and the amount of calories they have. So now I know that we can't have a full side dish of plantain every day for the next week if I am going to be true to my plan but I can enjoy them. I guess the rest of the gang will enjoy more of it at each serving since they have a more sensible eating habit and active lifestyle. I guess I will have to reduce the number of slices, one or two less pieces, than what is reported just to be within my plan since each of the report I saw is a little different.

For the value in terms of cost, of this bunch I got, and in terms of the nutritional value it is a good deal, try some! There are mmany tasty recipes for both ripe and green plantains for you to try!

Enjoy.