Fruit: A Sweet Road to Nutrition and Better Health

There seems to be a lot of confusion lately regarding which foods are healthy and which are not. There's talk of good and bad carbs, good and bad fats, and the right and wrong sugars. In all the confusion good old fashioned fruit, which has been around forever, sometimes gets a bad rap. Fruit contains sugar, one only has to take a bite to come to this realization, but there is more to this wonder food than just the sweetness. Here's some reasons why you should keep eating fruit (as well as vegetables) and how to make the most of the fruit on your plate.

The fructose in fruit

More than likely, you've heard some terrible things about High Fructose Corn Syrup, the sugar that laces soda pop, candies, processed foods and many other unhealthy foods. Yes, High Fructose Corn Syrup is unhealthy, but eliminating fruit from your diet because it contains fructose is the dietary equivalent of shooting the messenger. Before the last century the average fructose consumption was 15 grams a day, today the average is up to 70 grams. The increase is not coming from people eating too many apples; it's from sugary snacks and processed foods. That apple may be enough to put your sweet tooth at bay, and will give you much less sugar than the processed alternatives and will actually make you feel better.

Fruit nutrients and antioxidants

It is recommended that people eat at least two servings of fruit a day. Some sources recommend as many as five servings of fruit of different colors. Different color fruit gives different benefits, not to mention it keeps you from getting bored. Blue fruits have potent anti-oxidant properties, remove free radicals from the body and thus offers protection against cancers, aging, infections etc. Yellow and orange color fruits are rich sources of alpha and beta-carotenes, zea-xanthins and crypto-xanthins.

Fruit has much needed fiber

Fiber is an important indigestible carbohydrate that helps in weight management, cholesterol control, colon health and more, but most of us don't get enough. The average American gets only 5-12 grams of fiber a day, but the daily recommendation is 25 grams for most women, and 38 grams for most men. Consuming fresh fruit is a great way to get some of this fiber without many added calories. A pples have 2.3 grams of fiber per 100 grams (or 3.5 ounces) and only 49 calories, blueberries have 8.4 grams and 48 calories, oranges 1.8 grams with 47 calories, pears 2.1 grams and 47 calories, strawberries 2.2 gramsand 23 calories, plums 2.2 grams and 42 calories.

Fruit improves memory

Whether you are studying for a big test, or just want to get some of that sharpness back fruit is among the foods that can help. Blueberries are noted especially good for the memory, but other memory rockstars include b lueberries which can improve motor skills and learning capacity, strawberries that help with memory recall, blackberries and raspberries boost brainpower through their antioxidant content, and include cantaloupes, watermelon, tomatoes, plums, pineapples, oranges, apples, grapes, kiwifruits, peaches and cherries help you recall information quickly.

With all the benefits of fruit, apart from those who have allergies, there seems to be no good reason not to eat it as part of a healthy diet. The sugar in fruit will most likely keep you from eating as much refined sugars which could wind up saving you from many health issues ranging from fatigue to diabetes or even cancer. You have to admit, that is a sweet deal.

The Fruit Pages

Well and Wise Online

Living the Nourished Life

Nutrition and You

Medicinenet

Online University Lowdown