Carb Factor for Banana WITH peel?

[frizzyrazzy]

Does anyone have a carb factor for a banana WITH the peel still on? I'm going to be testing it over the next few days myself but if someone has come up with a successful one already then I'd like to hear it.

If my theory holds true, the peel is probably always going to be the same proportion to the banana so if so it should be easy to figure out. I don't really notice that some peels are thicker than others - they all seem about the same to me.

But just wondering if anyone has tried this already, dont' want to re-create the wheel.


We're not eating the peel - just clarifying - I'm trying to find out the carbs IN the banana by weighing it WITH the peel still on. I don't care how many carbs are in the peel itself. :)

[Amy C.]

Why in the world would you want to eat the banana peel? I would think it is the equivalent of eating a corn husk or a bunch of leaves. It is mostly fiber.

[frizzyrazzy]

lol...no no we wouldn't be eating the peel!! haha....

we're trying to prebbolus for breakfast and a big chunk of his breakfast carbs are usually banana. I don't want to peel the banana 20 min early and let it sit there before he gets to eat it. And the other thing is that I'm trying to convince him to skip the banana at breakfast and take it to school with him instead for morning snack. If he takes it to school I need to know the carbs in the banana - again - don't want to peel it early in the morning and I don't want to have to send a scale to school and have the nurse do it. Id' rather just know (with the peel) how many carbs are going to be in the banana once it's peeled. :)

Hope that makes sense. :)

[Amy C.]

A small banana (6-7") is 23 grams, a medium (7-8") is 27, and a large (8-9") is 31.

CalorieKing.com is a great resource.

Otherwise, experiment yourself. Weight the banana with the skin, then without and make your own calculations.

[frizzyrazzy]

I just like it to be accurate to the gram weight because we have such problems. I never estimate any foods that give us trouble.

I prefer the USDA's website myself but I agree calorie king is a good resource for certain items. :)

I just didn't know if anyone had already done this.

[PattyK]

We keep a scale in the health room so Jake can weigh foods that he needs to like pizza on Friday's, apples,bananas and cupcakes...but if his #'s are amazing that day we let him guess the cupcake:o

[Mom2Madi]

I think I'd start weighing bananas with and without peels just to see what the difference is. I started doing that with apples and found with and without the core it was only a few carbs off.

We, like you, have trouble when I guess at foods because carbs/insulin affect Madi so much - but I'm comfortable now weighing and apple and just taking off a few carbs for the uneaten core.

Patty's suggestion of keeping a scale at school is a good one too - although it may take a lot of time to keep going to the nurse to do that. Can you keep one in the classroom for times like that and just sending Ian in with the carb factor?

[staciebco]

#32 10-27-2007, 12:21 PM
Lorraine
Member Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 75




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We use it too - daily. For almost everthing.
Re: Bananas - I have found that weighing the banana with the peel, subtracting fiber and then taking 62% - 65% gives you the proper carbs. Caleb likes to eat his banana with the peel so I weigh the peel afterwards. But the other day I sent one into school with him for lunch, used the above method and it worked like a charm!

Here's a great YDMV example - I weigh cooked pasta and that typically gets him through the 2 hr point, but then need to add some insulin for the next couple of hours. Kindof like pizza.

Love the scale - I take it with us wherever we go. I wish the touchpad was a little "friendlier" - I find it's slow, but I'm always in a rush. Nonetheless it's an essential took for managing Caleb's D.

Lo
__________________
Lorraine

Mom of Caleb, 4 - born 1.29.03 diagnosed T1 1.3.07 pumping Omnipod
4.24.07, Colin 7 and Lila 2


I found this looking at another post, I thought it might be helpful in your with your banana issue.

[BrendaK]

I completely understand your question!!!

If you weigh the banana on the Salter Scale, it only gives the carbs for a PEELED banana. I am not good with measuring in inches, either, by sight. And some 6" banana can be much thicker than others.

So other than clarifying your question, I'm no help. But I really want to know what you come up with :)

The previous post about subtracting fiber and then 62% was a little complicated for me. I just need a simple carb factor, too :cwds:

[Gwyn]

OK call me crazy, but I just googled "banana peel ratio" and apparently there is something called the "pulp to peel" ratio that figures quite promiently in "banana science". :p

It appears that the ratio varies depending on the moisture content of the fruit and the level of ripeness. Also, different varieties of bananas have different ratios. The pulp to peel ratios seem to hover between 1.4 and 2.5 for the articles I looked at.

Taking those numbers, a 120 gram banana should be roughly between 70g and 80g pulp, with the rest being peel.

With a carb ratio of .228 the 70 grams of pulp would come to 15.96 grams of carbs. This figures out pretty much the same as the previous post that said to take .228 times the weight with the peel, subtract the fiber (about 2 grams) and then bolus for 62%. (120 x .228 = 27.36) (27.36-2 x .62 = 15.72 total carbs)

A simpler approach would be to try taking 58% of .228 (which is .1322) and use that as your "banana with skin ratio". This would be the carb factor for a banana with the peel (and a pulp to peel ratio of 1.4). Likewise, if your pulp to peel ratio is 2.5 you multiply .228 by 65% which gives you a "peel on" carb factor of .1482 for that particular banana.

Using these data (and if I did the math right;)), the average carb factor for a banana with peel should be somewhere between .1322 and .1482.

Interesting stuff--let us know how it comes out in practice!

[BrendaK]

Wow! I'm glad Carson doesn't eat too many bananas!

[Bsbllmom]

:confused:Hmm?!?! Holy moly Gwyn, are you a math major? I was really confused until the end when you said the carb factor was between .1322 and .1482. That I can understand.:D

[Gwyn]

No, not a math major, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night:D

[milfordj]

Keep it SIMPLE! I very consciously purchase all my bananas exactly the same size, thickness and length, even if this means pulling off one or two bananas from various bunches. I carefully weigh the first one, without peel, write down the carbs (cause of my very poor memory), and then use that same figure for each time I consume one of the bananas. I repeat this process each time I purchase bananas at the grocery. Good Luck.

[Mary Lou]

Well....this isn't very scientifc, but we sat there and weighed bananas with peels and then without and averaged it all out, and came up with 4 carbs per ounce (or 28 grams) of banana with the peel.

It worked for Brian and now it works for Andrew. No spikes or problems since.

We use ounces b/c Brian can do that math by himself, even with 1/2s and 3/4s.

We need to keep things as simple as possible around here :rolleyes: