Top Reasons to Eat More Fruits

Fruits! I must say I cannot go one day without them.

They are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. Everyone knows to eat fruits to prevent vitamin C and vitamin A deficiencies. People who eat fruit also have a reduced risk of chronic diseases. USDA’s MyPlate encourages making half your plate fruits and vegetables for healthy eating – I mean how many of us do this?? More often than not it is the opposite where we pile our plates high with meat and rice and we forgo vegetables and fruits. Well, something has to change, if you’re going to achieve your fitness & health goals.

Recommended daily serves of fruit and vegetables by age

A serve of fruit was defined as one medium piece or two small pieces of fresh fruit, one cup of diced fruit, a quarter of a cup of sultanas, or four dried apricot halves (approximately 150 grams of fresh fruit or 50 grams of dried fruit). Fruit juices were not considered to be fruit. A serve of vegetables was defined as half a cup of cooked vegetables, one medium potato or one cup of salad vegetables (approximately 75 grams). Tomatoes were included as a vegetable rather than a fruit, and legumes were excluded.

Also, did you know that it’s better to eat your fruits, juice your vegetables? 

God put a lot of fiber into fruits along with a lot of natural sugar in the form of fructose. When we eat the fruit whole, the fiber is eaten along with the fruit juice and that fiber acts as a buffer helping to slowly introduce the sugar into the blood stream. Otherwise, the fruit sugar alone would spike the pancreas to generate insulin to gobble up the excess amount of sugar in the blood. Then when the extra amount of insulin has done its job there remains too much insulin and therefore there is a low sugar situation i.e. hypoglycemia. So it’s therefore better to eat your fruits, and juice your vegetables to prevent this peak and trough phenomenon!

Fruit are a reservoir of nutrients and trace elements, such as potassium (reduce risk of heart disease and stroke), fiber, vitamin C and folate (folic acid). Try incorporating passion fruit, blueberries, citrus fruit, cranberries or strawberries which contain phytochemicals that are being studied for added health benefits.

Of special highlight is potassium that reduces risk of heart disease and stroke, reduces risk of developing kidney stones and helps to decrease bone loss as you age. Folate (folic acid) helps the body form red blood cells. Women of childbearing age who may become pregnant and those in the first trimester of pregnancy need adequate folate. Folate helps prevent neural tube birth defects, such as spina bifida.

Eating a diet rich in fruit may reduce risk for stroke, other cardiovascular diseases and type-2 diabetes, certain cancers, makes your skin and hair glow and makes you shine from the inside out! Clear breath, clear skin and bright eyes… let’s all eat more fruits and help our inner beauty shine.