when we used to play hide and seek with Geest ships I was sure they were full of bananas that were refrigerated
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana#..._and_transport
says
Bananas must be transported over long distances from the tropics to world markets. To obtain maximum shelf life, harvest comes before the fruit is mature. The fruit requires careful handling, rapid transport to ports, cooling, and refrigerated shipping. The goal is to prevent the bananas from producing their natural ripening agent, ethylene. This technology allows storage and transport for 3–4 weeks at 13 °C (55 °F). On arrival, bananas are held at about 17 °C (63 °F) and treated with a low concentration of ethylene. After a few days, the fruit begins to ripen and is distributed for final sale. Unripe bananas can not be held in home refrigerators because they suffer from the cold.[citation needed] Ripe bananas can be held for a few days at home. If bananas are too green, they can be put in a brown paper bag with an apple or tomato overnight to speed up the ripening process.
Carbon dioxide (which bananas produce) and ethylene absorbents extend fruit life even at high temperatures. This effect can be exploited by packing banana in a polyethylene bag and including an ethylene absorbent, e.g., potassium permanganate, on an inert carrier. The bag is then sealed with a band or string. This treatment has been shown to more than double lifespans up to 3–4 weeks without the need for refrigeration

Perhaps explains why last year I came across boxes of bananas being put out on display in Sainsburys that were chilled.
So, not wishing to diss you in anyway with your direct experience, there would appear to be an element of both refrig and gassing along with just plain old eating when the time is right.
May I say that my mistake about the starch and sugar cycles has at least opened up the thread a bit

So optimum temp 13 to 16c.
That also partly explains why bunches of bananas still on the trees are often covered in blue polythene prior to being harvested.
I have a neighbour who often does the same thing with grapes on the vine.

If you store them in the fridge in a Lakeland Plastics banana bag they keep really well for about 2 weeks without going horribly mushy.

I was talking about household fridges, which tend to be lower than 13 C, during sea transport they are kept at this or just a bit lower to stall the ripening(at this point they so green and hard,you knock nails into wood with them.) Adding ethylene gas aids the ripening process, which is normally done at the wholesaler's ripening rooms.

As a diabetic it is scary to know how much sugar is in food that we think is healthy.
Keep away from sugar and salt. IMO they are the two worst things you can have. I try to avoid processed food, ready meals and most breads and cereals.

Yup, I was talking to someone today who couldn't understand why she was putting on weight over the summer, because she was "only eating fruit". It is loaded with sugar - that's why it's sweet!!!

We do need to eat more salt when it's very hot though, as we lose so much in perspiration. If you stick to the British RDA of 6g during heatwaves like we've just had in Southern Spain, you can end up with muscle cramps. (I think the RDA in Spain is 8.5g now, it used to be higher.)

please see the other thread for my response about the "salt problem"

as to the sugar from fruit - it is natural sugar not processed therefore should be doing good not harm
the "only eating fruit" statement is usually a coverup for pigging out on other things, using the fruit as a cover.

like all diets, a good balanced diet is essential, no short sharp shocks but a gradual reduction in the calories taken in with a responding exercise regime of calories used. So long as there is a reasonable difference in favour of the second then there will be weight loss.

I managed 2 stone loss over 6 months since moving to Spain - Sun, Sea and Sangria having nothing to do with it. Sensible Diet and Daily Exercise has.

.

Well done you!

I totally agree about balanced diet and exercise, but I'm sure there is no nutritional difference between "good = natural" sugar and "bad = processed" sugar. They all metabolise into glucose once you digest them and have the same calorific value. The advantage of fruit is that you get a load of other good stuff like vitamins, as well as the sugar.

Now I'll find the other thread and we can argue about salt.

http://rense.com/general65/salt.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...t-disease.html

Having read the reports above my attitude to salt has not changed. One of the reports measured salt in the urine not salt intake. It is more important to look at salt in processed foods, which is not natural. But I agree that a blanced diet and regular exercise is the recipe for a healthy lifestyle. Withe regard to losing weight, it is quite simple. If you take in more calories than you burn, you will put on weight.

A lot of you are always going on about processed foods, what are they? I can't think of any I eat

I am slim and healthy so is OH ( no pills for anything!) so we must be doing things ok.

Yes, I agree - a lot of people go on about 'Processed Foods' (as if processing foods is always bad), similarly 'Fast Foods' (always bad), 'Natural' (always good) and 'Chemicals' (always bad).

I usually turn off when people use these terms - they are almost meaningless.

Ah OK Bye then.

I think you are confusing salt with sodium?

Salt is sodium chloride, whether it is added to canned food or bread or added at the table. It's a preservative and flavour enhancer, and there is no "natural" food source for salt.

However you can get sodium from some food sources, e.g. tuna, milk and potatoes.

Your body needs some sodium but too much can cause hypertension. What the experts can't agree is how much is too much - it varies with age, climate and how active you are!

Yes probably. Sodium forms about 40% of salt. Unfortunately sodium is in almost everything we eat.