Bananas Make Me Hungry–The Research Behind It


Wednesday: Matt and I went for a 4-mile run. It was precious, besides the fact that I felt like I weighed 500 lbs.
Last night: Pumped some iron while watching some trashy quality TV.
Today: Treadmill-ing it up most likely with my Mix It Up workout.

Do you ever feel hungry after eating a banana?

I’ve never realized it until recently but…what the heck? Weirdest thing ever.

I decided to do a bit of research to figure out this nonsense. On Livestrong’s website, I found the answer to my question. Here’s what I got from it…

why do bananas make me hungry thumb

That’s right…I made a graphic for this post.

Bananas are full of potassium, simple sugars, and amino acids, which is why they make such great recovery foods after a hard workout or run. HOWEVER, all these simple sugars spike your insulin levels, resulting in a crash in your blood sugar. Alas! You are now hungry.

For the average banana, there are 3g of fiber, which should actually suppress your appetite. Unfortunately, the boat loads of carbs go right through you, and the sugars confuse the heck out of your body. You just ate, but now you are hungry.

Simple enough, eh?

If you’re curious, here’s the nutrition facts for the average banana:

banana nutrition facts thumb[Source]

And now you just learned something. Either that or everyone knows this, and I live under a rock.

Questions for you:

Do you feel hungry after eating bananas? What about other fruit?

What’s your favorite way to eat bananas? Straight up? In oatmeal? On your pizza? I’m all about the Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal.

What exciting things are you doing for your father on Sunday for Father’s Day? (You’re welcome for reminding you.)



  1. says

    I guess I don’t typically feel hungry after eating bananas, but that’s because I never eat them alone. I had one today in some honey nut cheerios. I always use frozen bananas as a base in my smoothies, but I add so much stuff to them, that I think the banana part is just fluff at that point. I honestly can’t stand the consistency of bananas alone or I would probably eat them alone more often.
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    • says

      Ya, sometimes bananas gross me out. I don’t know what it is. I don’t always notice them making me hungry because I usually eat them with something as well. It’s been a weird discovery recently.

    • says

      Really!? That’s so weird! Smoothies usually hold me over for awhile, but anytime I eat a banana without a friend (like peanut butter) I usually get hungry.

  2. Lorraine says

    I have wondered about this for years. It doesn’t make sense, though, why a banana would make me so hungry, but drinking a soda (with way more sugar) does not. I’m thinking there is a more complex explanation for this.

  3. Kelly says

    thx! I needed to know this since I eat my whole fridge out by lunch whenever I just have a solo banana for breakfast. The hunger kicks in right away like within the hour for me and I usually get bad cravings for junk food too. You don’t even wanna know what all I ate last weekend after having a ‘lite’ breakfast of a single banana. Lets just say I emptied out my hubbys snack box. No more plain bananas for me.

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