Fruit is great. We are all aware of this and we get most of our information on this from health and medical sources. The reason for this is often that doctors and health professionals are looking for ways to improve general health levels and particularly obesity levels. This often leads to stated facts about fruit and vegetables which is not necessarily true and can certainly be improved upon. Today we will look at some commonly head thoughts about fruit and look at their validity and viability in a world where fruit is both available and wide in its variety.
An Apple a day keeps the doctor away…
Apples are good quality fruit. They are tasty, versatile and readily available. This means that it has been held as an excellent source of vitamins and minerals as well as a useful immunity booster, but this isn’t the case in the grand scheme of fruit. Apples have limited vitamins and minerals, and while vitamin C, a major immune boosting vitamin, are the apples main vitamin, the overall levels are low compared with other fruit. One hundred grams of apple will give you 7% of your RDA of vitamin C, and only 1% of vitamin A and E, both fantastic antioxidants. If you compare this to the humbled kiwi fruit, with 1% of your vitamin A, but 9% of your vitamin E and an amazing 154% of your vitamin C, the apple isn’t looking great. So if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, a kiwi a day puts the doctor out of a job! Find out more about immune boosting fruits here.
Bananas are a Great Source of Potassium
Potassium is a mineral which aids in muscle contractions, reducing cramp and ensuring that your body has a good level of hydration. Quite often we here that bananas are a good place to get potassium from, and this is certainly true, with 100g of banana offering 10% of your RDA of potassium. So what’s wrong with the banana? Well, nothing really, but again, there are better, less well known sources of potassium. Raisins for example contain a whopping 23% of your RDA in 100g, double the amount of the banana while prunes are packing 30% RDA of potassium. That’s three times as much if you choose prunes instead of banana and the prune has amazing levels of copper, iron, magnesium and manganese to really boost your mineral levels.
Blueberries are Good for Losing Weight
A lot is being said now about blueberries and their usefulness to those who are looking for a snack which is low calorie. It is true that berries in general are very good (you can find out more about berries here http://www.fo-od.co.uk/2013/01/berry-good.html) and that is no different for the blueberry. In fact, 100g of blueberries contains only 57 calories, with 9g of sugar, so they are hardly full of bad stuff, but can fruit do better? Well, yes, it can, in the form of blackberries and raspberries. Blackberries will only give you 43 calories and 4g of sugar in 100g and raspberries contain 52 calories and 4g of sugar. That means that you get more benefits in calorific terms. In addition, blackberries and raspberries also have a lot more vitamin C for immune support compared to blueberries, making them both all-round champions.
Fruit is ‘free’ on a Diet
Sadly, fruit might be good, but it’s not that good. Fruit is full of vitamins and minerals which are excellent for a healthy diet, but fruit also contains carbohydrates, often in the form of sugar, which add calories to your diet. Sugar in fruit is often a mix of glucose and fructose. There is no such thing as bad sugar and natural sugar, but fruit naturally occurring sugars, which can be bad! Too much of a good thing can be bad, and this is the case with some fruits. Pomegranates and mangos contain 13.7g of sugar in each 100g serving. That’s more sugar than a can of cola! On the plus side, some of that is fructose, which is easier to digest than glucose and doesn’t have such an immediate effect on the body, but it still adds the calories. Ensure you don’t have too many high sugar fruits and find low calorie fruits like rhubarb and acerola.
Grapefruit can Actually Burn Fat
I’m not sure where I heard this first, but even no it seems so silly as a fact that it gets almost instantly dismissed. There is a small consensus that grapefruit actually burns fat just by eating it, but no food does that, ever. The fact is, fat burning requires a use of energy, also known as exercise. The link between grapefruit and weight loss comes from its calorie levels. 100g of grapefruit only contains 32 calories, and that means it is only adding small amounts to your diet. The overall effect of grapefruit ingestion and exercise is most likely weight loss so you can see where the original idea might have come from.
Fruit Facts – Fixed!
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