Prebiotic, blood sugar friendly banana split snack

I am not a fan of the 70’s dessert ‘banana split’, but the other day, I was hunting around for a snack and whipped up a gut supportive, blood sugar balancing banana split inspired concoction. I posted it on my Instagram Stories, and I had more views than I’ve ever had, and lots of questions and requests for the recipe.

Now, this isn’t a recipe so to speak. It’s just a few ingredients arranged together on a plate, but because these ingredients are so beneficial I felt that they warranted a recipe post, not just a quick story. Additionally, when you’re living with endometriosis, quick and easy is often exactly what you need when it comes to food.


I also wanted to add a few extra ingredients to mimic the flavours of a banana split (without all the sugar) if you wanted to get fancy. A traditional banana split features a banana topped with chocolate ice cream, strawberry ice cream and vanilla ice cream, often drizzled in a sauce, with whipped cream, chopped nuts and maybe a cherry. The nut butter with vanilla represents the vanilla ice cream, you then have the cacao or dark chocolate playing the role of chocolate ice cream, and then we have an optional freeze dried strawberries or chopped strawberries for the strawberry ice cream. I’ve offered yoghurt as a whipped cream replacement, as well as chopped nuts for that extra something-something! Of course, you can add a cherry if you’d like.

This isn’t a healthier version of a banana split - my intention was never to mimic the traditional dessert with ice cream, etc. I was just using inspiration from a banana split for a healthy snack, that can be put together in a couple of minutes! If you’re after an actual banana split, you could experiment with some of my recipes like this vanilla ice cream and this chocolate ice cream.

So, this recipe…

• Is low FODMAP to prevent endo belly flare ups and bloating.

Many of us with endo suffer with endo belly bloating which can be a result of the microbiome alternations we see in endo, as well as small intestine bacterial overgrowth (there are other causes too!).

Low FODMAP foods are foods low in rapidly fermentable carbohydrates. Fermentation is when our good gut bugs eat and as a result, create gas, which can trigger bloating and IBS reactions in some people.

Whilst working on the root causes of these issues, a low FODMAP diet may help those of us with gastro symptoms and endo - however, if you’re planning on doing this, you must work with a professional as a low FODMAP diet shouldn’t be done long term and needs to be done correctly to see results.

So whilst I am absolutely not saying you need to go full low FODMAP, it’s nice to know a snack is less likely to cause lots of bloating and abdominal discomfort! So this recipe is low in fermentable carbohydrates, whilst still being good for the gut microbiome (see below for tweaks that could affect the FODMAP levels).

• Is blood sugar balancing to keep oxidative stress at bay and support optimal hormone health.

When I posted this recipe, a lot of people asked me if fruit and bananas were okay to eat, because they’re high in sugar. The thing is, fruit is packed with antioxidants that can actually support us to manage endo, so yes - I do recommend eating fruit, but for some people, how we eat fruit can help us.

Bananas contain naturally occurring sugar and starch, which can cause a lot of fear around blood sugar. Bananas are considered to have a low to medium glycemic index, meaning their impact on blood sugar is most likely to be moderate (learn more about that here). However, with the rise in continuous glucose monitors, and the variability that occurs between individuals and their unique responses to blood sugar, I have seen and other practitioners/clients have seen that bananas can sometimes cause quite significant spikes. Does that mean we should throw them out? No, it just means we may want to adapt how we eat them.

In this recipe, I’ve used green bananas. Green bananas are rich in resistant starch, but as the bananas ripen, the resistant starch turns to sugar, which can have a greater impact on blood sugar because it’s super easy to digest. Resistant starch on the other hand, has many benefits (see below) with one of them being that it resists digestion in the small intestine, and heads to the large intestine instead, where it feeds good gut bugs, this means that less glucose is absorbed from the banana, having a lesser impact on blood sugar.

But you didn’t think I’d stop there, did you?

I also added our sidekicks fat, fibre and protein in the form of chia seeds, nut butter and the extra chopped nuts if desired. All of these can help slow down the release of glucose to the blood stream, creating a steadier stream of glucose vs. a big spike. And let’s also give special attention to chia seeds, which provide viscous fibre, a type of soluble fibre that forms a gel in the gut, and is particularly beneficial for blood sugar because it significantly slows down the digestion of glucose.

So why does this matter?

Keeping blood sugar levels stable helps to prevent oxidative stress, which leads to more inflammation in the body and that may trigger further pain and symptoms. In fact, oxidative stress is higher in people with endo, and it’s a key driver of endo growth.

Additionally, constant blood sugar swings can take their toll on hormones, leading to issues like elevated androgens (think testosterone), which can affect ovulation and cycle length. Blood sugar swings may also cause oestrogen excessor dominance and low progesterone if ovulation is interrupted or stopped entirely.

• Is a great source of prebiotics to boost short chain fatty acids and support the gut microbiome.

Every ingredient in this recipe provides prebiotics - fibre that our good gut bugs like to munch on, fuelling a balanced and healthy microbiome. When bacteria eat prebiotic fibres, they produce short chain fatty acids, short chain fatty acids are types of gut friendly fats that play a major role in our gut and overall health - and may be low in people with endo.

Now, whilst every ingredient is providing prebiotics, the star of the show in this recipe is the resistant starch, which is found in high levels in under ripe, green bananas.

Resistant starch is a type of starch that resists digestion in the small intestine and makes its way to the large intestine, to be eaten by our good gut bugs, and resistant starch is a particular super hero for producing butyrate, a type of fatty acid.

Butyrate plays a role in keeping gut inflammation down, healing leaking gut, stabilising blood sugar and also, inhibiting the inflammatory reaction to LPS, that triggers endo growth. In mice, treatment with butyrate actually reduced the growth rate of endo lesions due to its protective effects against LPS. Butyrate actually inhibits these reactions, and was shown in mice models to reduce the growth of lesions. Learn more about butyrate and endo here.

• High in vitamin E, if you choose to use sunflower seed or almond butter.

Did you know that just 30g of almonds or sunflower seeds can provide nearly 50% of your RDA?

Vitamin E can help us manage endo and the associated pain that comes with it. A recent meta-analysis of over 589 participants, concluded that vit E supplementation can reduce period pain, pain with sex, daily pelvic pain and even improve quality of life with endometriosis patients. And a systematic review and meta-analysis of eight studies and over 1000 people concluded that vitamin E significantly reduced period pain and could be used as a treatment for dysmennorhea.

But it’s not just supplements that help - food helps too! One study found people with endo had a 40% reduced intake of vitamin E, but levels increased after following a high antioxidant diet, and oxidation levels reduced by 20% - this study actually used sunflower seeds as their main vitamin E provider.

• A good source of B6 to support hormonal health and mood.

Bananas are a significant source of B6, providing roughly over a quarter of your daily requirements.

B6 is one of the most important B vitamins for balanced hormones as it supports progesterone production and oestrogen metabolism.

In terms of mental health, many people with endo suffer with depression and anxiety, but also, if you suffer with hormonal imbalances like low progesterone, this can also cause significant mood shifts because our sex hormones support neurotransmitter production and regulation. B6 plays a pivotal role in the production of feel good neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, whilst also supporting GABA production, our calming neurotransmitter.

So, whilst this snack is great all month long, it’s especially powerful in our luteal phase. Oestrogen regulates both serotonin and dopamine, and so when oestrogen dips in our luteal phase, some of us can feel the effects of this, especially if we’re low in progesterone. Progesterone upregulates GABA receptors (basically, makes us more sensitive to GABA so it’s more effective) and so when progesterone is low, we can really feel the lack of GABA support - in fact, low levels of GABA have been linked to PMDD.

Finally, research has shown that B6 treatment can help reduce PMS, especially the mood challenges that can come with the syndrome.

• A source of omega 3 fatty acids from the chia seeds to lower pain producing prostaglandins.

Studies have shown a link with low omega 3 and endometriosis risk, and higher levels of omega 3 intake with a reducedrisk of endo.

Omega 3 can help modulate the amount of inflammatory prostaglandins we make - and it’s these prostaglandins that fuelendo growth and pain. A type of omega 6 called omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid makes the inflammatory endo fertilisers prostaglandin E2 and prostaglandin F2α (don’t be afraid of omega 6, we need some of these prostaglandins, they just need to be balanced), but omega 3 makes anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. What we eat and how much omega 3 we consume can literally raise or lower these prostaglandins as well as other inflammatory compounds that are involved in endo progression.

Research has also demonstrated reduced pain with endometriosis with omega 3 incorporated into diet and/or via supplements.

• Rich in gut supportive probiotics to help fight endo belly.

Good quality yoghurt contains live cultures, provides our gut microbiome with new and healthy bacteria to help top up and diversify our own. Because research suggests that people with endo may have gut inflammation, high levels of unhealthy gut bacteria and low levels of beneficial bacteria, restoring the microbiome is essential to endo belly and endo management overall.

Important notes to help you tailor this recipe to your own body and needs (and tastebuds!)

FODMAP considerations

Green bananas are low FODMAP, and you can have up to 95g of a firm, underripe banana without it getting into moderate FODMAP territory. So, this means that typically, underripe bananas may be better tolerated for those with IBS or bloating issues.

If you don’t like green bananas and want to go for yellow, it’s worth noting you won’t get the benefits of resistant starch, but also that this changes the FODMAP amounts. Once a banana is brown and fully ripe, only a small portion (37g) is low FODMAP, and you won’t have much resistant starch left in it, if at all.

In these serving sizes, almond, sunflower butter and peanut butter are all low FODMAP. Cashew butter is high FODMAP, but in my opinion makes this combo the best tasting because it gives the most vanilla ice cream vibes.

In terms of the chopped nuts, pistachio is the prettiest but are high FODMAP. Chopped hazelnuts would work well and are low FODMAP at under 24g, which we won’t be going anywhere near! 

Greek yoghurt is low FODMAP at 23g per serve, however, if you’re intolerant to lactose, swapping for lactose free or dairy free can help ease bloating and gut reactions. If you’re going dairy free (see below for why), be sure to check the ingredients for high FODMAPs, like chicory syrup or fibre, and cashews. See Monash University app for good dairy free alternatives that are also low FODMAP.

Dairy - is it okay for endo, and what about alternatives?

Some people with endo don’t do well on certain types of dairy, or dairy full stop, you can find out more about this here.However, probiotic dairy, like yoghurt, comes with significant benefits for gut health, inflammation and even hormones, and you may find you tolerate it if you tweak the type of dairy, for example, swapping cow’s yogurt for sheep, or lactose yoghurt for lactose free. Definitely check out this series on dairy to understand all of the pros and cons and whether it’s right for you.

If don’t do well on dairy, that’s fine! The protein content of this recipe will be lower, but you’ll still get lots of lovely probiotics. Just make sure you go for a good quality yoghurt and cream cheese with live cultures. These links are not sponsored, but I like Coyo and Nush.

Can I eat dry chia (unsoaked)?

Yes, you can! But it’s important that you’re hydrated when eating foods like chia, flax and psyllium, which all absorb water, as if you’re not, they can dehydrate you further and cause constipation. I recommend enjoying this with a glass of water to be safe. Have a read/listen to this episode on how to use chia safely.

Optional toppings

When I made this snack originally, I literally just used the banana, vanilla, cashew butter and chia seeds and it was such a satisfying and easy snack! However, to play on the banana split vibes, I added the chocolate and then wanted to provide some fun toppings to further mimic the ingredients, with the strawberries, yoghurt, etc. But just do what’s easiest and most fun for you!

Further resources

If you’re struggling with your endo nutrition or gut health, you might find my courses and one to one coaching helpful. You can find out more here. I’ve also got endless podcast episodes on gut health and blood sugar.  

To understand more about the low FODMAP diet, start here.

Prebiotic, blood sugar friendly banana split snack recipe

Method:

• Slice the banana lengthways in half.

• If using vanilla extract, combine the cashew butter and vanilla in a little dish or glass, and then spread or drizzle over the banana. If using vanilla powder or the seeds from a vanilla pod, you can just sprinkle them over the cashew butter for ease.

• Sprinkle over the chia seeds.

• At this stage, add a dollop of yoghurt if using, and then scatter with the freeze dried strawberries or freshly chopped strawberries. If you’re not using these, just jump to the next step.

• If using a square of chocolate, chop or gently shave the chocolate with a knife and scatter over the top. If you’re using cacao powder, just use take a pinch and sprinkle across.

• Decorate with chopped nuts if desired.

Carob Caramel Eggs

Method:

Melt the chocolate and combine as above, and pour half into the Easter egg moulds.

Refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up.

Whilst the chocolate is chilling, cut the dates lengthways in half.

Once the chocolate is a bit firmer (it’ll be a slow moving, fudgy liquid), place half a date, and one one tsp of nut or seed butter. Sprinkle with salt and vanilla powder if desired. Pour over the remaining chocolate.

Chill for 20 minutes, and then move to the freezer for another 15-30 minutes until set.

Best stored in freezer.