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Posts Tagged ‘fruits’

Fruits, goldmine of vitamins, minerals and fibre are ideal to consume at least 4-5 servings in a day. Since they are in the natural form, account for largest part of water and 100% bad cholesterol free, it’s much easier for the body to process and absorb the vitamins and minerals from the fresh fruit.

Apple – Round fruit with lots of fibre, vitamins A, C, E and folate. Available in green, red or yellow skin when ripe. Apples reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer. They also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol.

Bananas – Long thick skinned fruit yellow in colour when ripe. Good source of fibre, potassium, vitamins A, C, B6, E & folate. Unripe or green bananas are used in cooking.

Cherries – small round fruit with a seed, red or black in colour when ripened. Cherries always have to be ripe to eat. Cherries contain anthocyanins that reduce pain & inflammation.

Figs – Eaten either dried or fresh, figs contain vitamin A, C, folate and niacin. A small sweet fruit full of small seeds.

Kiwi – A rich source of vitamins A, C, E, B – complex, calcium, iron and folic acid, kiwi is a small oval fruit with thin brown skin, soft green flesh and black seeds. The skin is a good source of flavonoid antioxidants.

Lime – Lime or lemon is the most cultivated citrus fruit with green to yellow colour loaded with vitamins A, C and folate. Juice of lime is good for detoxification and has antioxidant properties.

Peach – Round juicy fruit with a yellowish red skin & flesh having a taste of acidic tang and sweetness contains a rough stone. Always to be picked and eaten ripe.

Orange – A round thick-skinned juicy edible fruit that is a reddish-yellow colour when ripe with sweet to sour flavour. Peeled and eaten fresh or squeezed to make juice. Contain vitamin C, flavanoids, provides pectin and rich in sodium when ripened in sunshine.

Plum – soft round smooth-skinned fruit with sweet flesh and a flattish pointed stone. It is high in carbohydrates, low in fat and calories. An excellent source of vitamin A, C, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, fibre and free of sodium and cholesterol.

Papaya – A melon like fruit with yellow- orange flesh with dozens of small black seeds enclosed in skin that ranges in colour from green to orange. Either round, pear-shaped, or long like a banana. Rich in vitamins A, B, C, and D; calcium, phosphorous and iron. It is high in digestive properties and has a direct tonic effect on the stomach.

Pear – A sweet juicy yellow or green fruit with a rounded shape narrow towards the stalk. Best eaten at room temperature, pear contains kalium and riboflavine. It is good for skin and contains plenty of fibres.

Strawberry – A triangular shaped red colour fruit. It is one of the richest sources of Vitamin C and fibre. It has high content of sodium and iron. It helps in whitening of the teeth. Used to relieve rheumatism.

Watermelon – a type of melon with smooth exterior rind and juicy sweet red interior flesh. Extraordinarily refreshing to drink as juice or eaten when ripe and fresh. Valuable for minerals, vitamins and sugar with useful amount of fibre and iron.

We all know by now that we should be eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. But knowing and doing are two different things, aren’t they? Sometimes it is just not easy to get them all in there. We are constantly tempted to fill up on convenience and junk food. If your family is anything like mine, they’d much rather fill up on a bag of chips or a bowl of rice or pasta instead of trying an apple or a plate of steamed broccoli. So we’ll have to get creative. Here are a few ideas to “sneak” some extra vegetables and fruits in your family’s diet.

1. Start the day with a breakfast smoothie. All you have to do is throw some fruits, low-fat yogurt and ice in a blender. You may also want to add a scoop of protein powder in there for good measure. Just blend for a few seconds and you have the perfect breakfast ready to go. I like to sip mine in a thermal cup on the way to work. To make it even more appealing for your kids, use some frozen yogurt or a scoop of ice cream in the smoothie. They won’t believe that you are letting them have ice cream for breakfast.

2. Dried fruit makes an excellent snack any time of the day. Add some small cartons of raisins to your child’s lunch box, pack some yogurt-covered raisins in your husband’s briefcase and keep some trail mix sitting around for snacking. You can also add dried fruit to oatmeal and cereal in the morning. My family loves banana chips in their breakfast cereal.

3. Add some fruits and vegetables to your family’s sandwiches. You can add some banana, sliced apples or strawberry slices to a peanut butter sandwich. Top a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and anything else they will eat. You can even make a sub shop style vegetable sandwich by combining several different vegetables with some mayonnaise and cheese on bread.

4. Have a salad bar at dinner. Set out a variety of chopped vegetables, some cheese and croutons as well as several choices of salad dressing along with the lettuce and let everybody create their own perfect salad.

5. Let them drink their fruits and vegetables. Keep an assortment of fruit and vegetable juices in the fridge and encourage everyone to drink them as a snack. Get creative. You could start “family cocktail hour” by pouring everybody a glass of his or her favorite juice over ice. Add some straws, cocktail umbrellas and sit together to talk about how everybody’s day went.

6. Try this for dessert. Put a small scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt in a bowl and top it with lots of fresh or frozen fruit.

7. Offer fruits and vegetables as snacks. You can cut apples into slices and top them with peanut butter or cheese. Cube cheese and serve with grapes. Cut up some fresh veggies and serve them with ranch dip. And of course there’s ants on a log. Spread some cream cheese or peanut butter on the inside of a stick of celery and sprinkle raisins on it (wow, fruit and vegetable in one snack).

8. Try some new fruits and vegetables. Pick something exotic to get your family’s curiosity. With a little luck their curiosity will outweigh their initial apprehension to trying something new. You could try artichokes, plantains, papaya, mango, star fruit, or anything else you can find in the produce department of your local store.

9. Make a pot of vegetable soup or a stew that’s heavy on veggies and easy on the meat. Both of these make some great comfort food when the weather gets cold.

10. Start “My Veggie Day”. Each family member gets to pick a vegetable one day of the week. They qualify to pick a vegetable as long as they tried each vegetable the week before, otherwise they loose a turn and Mom gets to pick.

Incorporate a few of these ideas and you will have everyone in your family eating more fruits and vegetables in no time.

Here is another tip:

Now that everyone in the family has gotten a taste for it, make sure you always have plenty of fresh fruits and veggies available and ready to snack on.