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What You May Not Know About Fruit
Summer time is a great time of year to enjoy your favorite fruits and even try some new ones. It makes a great snack, and a fun fruit salad is the perfect side dish for a barbeque. Most importantly though, fruit is an easy source of nutrition during the busy months of summer when you would rather be outside than slaving away in the kitchen. The variety of fruits available means you will never get bored with your food and fruit is a great source of several different nutrients important to the body.
You probably grew up with the food pyramid as your basic guide as to what you should eat. On this chart, you were told you need to eat a certain amount of fruits each day. The reason for this is that fruit has some basic, and not so basic, health benefits. Many of the nutrients found in fruit help with immune defense and other vital processes throughout the body.
The color of a fruit is directly related to the type of phytochemicals within it and different phytochemicals have various health benefits. In addition, there are many fruits that are an excellent source of fiber such as apples, pears, oranges and bananas. Diets that are high in fiber promote low cholesterol, weight loss, stable blood sugar and proper bowel function.
If you desire a healthier physique, or to maintain one, then eating more fruit will help you attain this goal. It is true that as far as calories are concerned, fruits have less; however, this does not mean that it cannot curb your appetite and cravings. Fruit helps you eat less because you can eat more of it and feel fuller.
Tips on How to Stay Healthy by Eating More Fruit
- Replace comfort foods with fruit. You will not only eat more fruit, but less unhealthy foods.
- Instead of a glass of orange juice, eat an orange.
- Eat fruit for dessert instead of other more calorie intensive and fattening options.
- Replace one snack a day with a piece of fruit.
- Incorporate fruit in each meal.
- Try a new fruit that you have not tried before.
Not Your Average Fruits
Do you ever get bored with what you eat so you end up eating something that is not as healthy? This is a common problem because when your taste buds get board, they look to unhealthy foods for excitement. Fruit is an excellent way to not only curb a sweet tooth, but also add a little excitement to your diet.
There are some fruits out there that many people overlook, but if you try one of these, you may find you like it. In addition, a new fruit has new and different nutrients for your body. Some new fruits to try include:
- Pomegranate
- Dragon fruit
- Mango
- Dates
Pomegranate is another fruit that is high in fiber. If you want to get more of this fruit, you can try it in the form of juice also. Pomegranate contains antioxidants called polyphenols that are believed to help reduce the cholesterol that builds in arteries promoting healthier arteries as well as a healthier heart.
Dragon fruit may have an unusual name, but it has a couple of vitamins vital to your body. First, it has a plethora of vitamin C. You may not know this, but vitamin C is not just important for immune defense. Vitamin C also fights free radicals within the body. There is some evidence linking free radicals to preventing cancer.
Another vitamin found in dragon fruit is vitamin B, which will boost your energy level, improve your skin, reduce cholesterol and increase metabolism. Mango is another fruit high in vitamins C and B.
Dates are a great way to get potassium into your body. Potassium helps with muscle contraction all over the body. Muscle contraction is important to heart health and as you exercise.
If the wealth of information available on the many health benefits of fruit is overwhelming, try simply varying the color of fruit you eat. This is an easy way to know you are getting different nutrients because, as stated before, each color means different phytochemicals.
Perhaps the biggest take away point is that we need variety in our diet and fruit is a fun and easy way to add some variety.
Healthy Recipes  by Chef Noche
Fun with Fruit
Instead of the regular recipe I would include in this section, I decided to share with you some presentation techniques I started 20 years ago to get my children to eat more fruit.
Today, I make presentations like these when we are entertaining. Not only because it's fun, but because I love to watch my guests eat more fruit than the cakes and cookies my wife makes.
I think you'll be able to figure out how to make these presentations just by looking at the pictures. Some use vegetables too. I hope you give one or two a try.
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