Well, fruits are all healthy. They all come with amazing health benefits.
Be it the juicy watermelon or those luscious strawberries.
The brightly colored blueberries or the humble guava.
Most fruits are rich sources of fiber and highly effective anti oxidants besides being laden with essential vitamins and minerals.
Having lots of fruits helps you keep your blood pressure under control, lower the level of blood cholesterol and delay the onset of heart disease too. Many fruits possess cancer fighting properties. Some fruits have also been known to be beneficial for the eyes.
Add to this the fact that most of the fruits are negative calorie foods and can actually help you burn some calories and thus get rid of fat deposits !!
Suggested reading: The best fat burning fruits.
The best thing about fruits for me is that you do not need to cook them. Cooking takes time, and also kills many nutrients present in the food. It is so convenient to just dig your teeth into a deliciously sweet pear rather than cook up a small meal. Isn�t it?
That, for me, is reason enough to love fruits.
But, there has to be a ?first among equals�.
So, what is the healthiest fruit???
I talked to several nutritionists and health experts about this. And, surprisingly, they all seemed to agree about this!
You do not normally expect experts to agree on anything. Do you?
If you put one question to 10 different �experts�, you are likely to come up with 10 ?brilliant� answers, which leaves you more confused than you were before having put up your query.
However, there was no debate on this and all of them seemed to agree that the apple is indeed the healthiest fruit.
Apple health benefits
What is it about the apple that gives it the coveted title of �THE? healthiest fruit?
Read on to know about the amazing health benefits of apples:
20 Amazing Health Benefits of Apples
�1. Loaded with nutrients: Now, this is the most obvious quality that apples possess. A medium sized apple also contains 4 grams of soluble fiber (which is quite a lot!) and has 95 calories.
Most nutritionists would suggest an average adult to have 2 cups of fruit a day. And a medium sized apple is almost 1 cup! Apples are rich sources of vitamin C which helps to boost immunity.
Apples: Loaded with nutrients
Apples: Loaded with nutrients
�2. Filling: Apples are filling. They help you make �full? and that too with a very small calorie intake. Most of these calories do not come from carbohydrates and fats. So, not only are you filling up your tummy with healthy calories, but also with lesser calories than you would if you had a small pack of chips, 2-3 cookies or a slice of cake.
?3. Prevent heart disease: Researches carried by the Florida state, Iowa Women�s Health Center and Finnish scholars have proved beyond doubt that eating apples regularly lowers the risk of both cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease. People who do not eat apples were found to be more vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes than the ones who ate lots of them!
Apples: Keep heart problems away
Apples: Keep heart problems away
?4. Check the level of blood cholesterol: Apples have been found to contain pectin, a chemical which helps regulate the levels of bad cholesterol or LDL in the blood. Eating two apples a day regularly can bring down the level of your blood cholesterol by 15-20%, due to the presence of soluble fiber.
?5. Prevent diabetes: Eating an apple every day for 5 years reduced chances of getting Type II diabetes by 28%. The pectin present in apples supplies the body with galacturonic acid which helps keep blood sugar levels under control.
Apples: Prevent diabetes
Apples: Prevent diabetes
?6. Boost immunity: Antioxidants called quercetin present in red apples help step up body?s natural defenses and make us fitter and stronger. Better immunity ensures that we fall ill less often.
?7. Strengthen bones: A flavanoid called phloridzin present in apples helps pre menopausal women (who have low calcium levels) cope up with osteoporosis by increasing their bone density. According to French researchers, another chemical called boron which is found in apples in abundance also helps strengthens bones.
�8. Help in weight loss: Due to their high fiber content, apples are highly effective fat burners or negative calorie foods. They help you burn calories, because your body spends more calories in digesting an apple than it would get from it! It has now been discovered that ursolic acid, a chemical found in apples, helps fight obesity too. So, all those weight watchers better make it sure to have their apple with the peel on!
Apples: Your weight loss companions
Apples: Your weight loss companions
Suggested reading:The best fat burning vegetables,
Apple peel to fight obesity,
GERD Diet: Best foods to fight acid reflux
�9. Give you whiter and healthier teeth: When you bite into an apple and chew on it, the saliva production in your mouth gets stimulated and that lowers the risk of getting tooth decay and infections besides giving you whiter teeth.
Apples for healthier teeth
Apples for healthier teeth
?10. Prevent Alzheimer�s disease: A study conducted on mice has proved that eating apples can help prevent Alzheimer?s disease or at least delay its onset. The quercetin present in apples protects the brain cells from damage caused by free radicals thereby helping prevent the Alzheimer�s disease.
?11. Prevent Parkinson�s disease: The antioxidants present in apples help fight the free radicals and thus prevent the damage caused to the dopamine producing cells of the brain. This, in turn, can help prevent Parkinson�s disease.
�12. Detox your liver: Liver helps the body get rid of the toxins which we consume from time to time through our food, drinks, etc. One of the best foods which can help to detoxify the liver are apples.
�13. Prevent lung cancer: A research carried out on more than 10,000 people proved that people who ate apples regularly were 50% less likely to develop lung cancer. Though the exact cause for this has not been pinpointed yet, it is attributed largely to the presence of flavonoids, quercetin amd naringin in apples.
?14. Prevent colon cancer: Another lab experiment carried out on rats proved that consuming apples with their peel on lowered the risk of getting colon cancer by 43%. The pectin present in the apples helps maintain the health of the digestive tract.
?15. Prevent breast cancer: A study carried out on rats has proved that eating an apple a day helped prevent breast cancer. Eating 3 apples a day reduced breast cancer risk by 39% and eating 6 of them everyday cut it by as much as 44%!! Time to go on an apple diet!
?16. Prevent gallstones: The main cause of formation of gallstones is high level of cholesterol in bile. The excessive cholesterol in bile causes it to solidify and thus leads to the formation of gallstones. Doctors recommend a high fiber diet to prevent gallstones and apples help in that too!
?17. Prevent Irritable Bowel Syndrome:Fiber present in apples helps avoid both irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. It also helps control diarrhea, bloating and abdominal pain.
Apples: Prevent IBS
Apples: Prevent IBS
?18. Prevent hemorrhoids: Since apples are good sources of fiber, eating them regularly helps avoid constipation. Passing out stool at regular intervals without having to strain too hard helps prevent hemorrhoids.
?19. Boost stamina: Apples are great foods for stamina building too! Being rich in antioxidants, they help boost up stamina by making more oxygen available to the lungs. Eating an apple just before a workout has been known to push up the capacity to exercise.
�20. Good for the eyes:Apples are good for your eyes too. Though earlier researchers were divided on this issue, recent studies have proved that eating a fruit rich diet (particularly foods rich in antioxidants) reduces the chances of contracting cataracts by 10-15% too!
Apples: Good for the eyes
Apples: Good for the eyes
The amazing health benefits of apples listed above easily make them the healthiest fruit!
Now that you know what is the healthiest fruit and the 20 health benefits associated with apples, you should be eating more of them!!
Just remember: Eating an apple is no longer sinful, not eating it is!