Why you need to eat fruits

Why you need to eat fruits

Fruits are the edible sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contain seeds. They are nutritious and also essential to your health. Many studies have proven how beneficial fruits are to the human body.

However, there are still people who would rather go for junks instead of a healthy choice which is fruits and vegetables. Therefore, there is a need to educate everyone on the benefits of taking fruits, how fruits can help weight loss and how you can identify a good fruit.

Firstly, what are the benefits of taking fruits? Fruits provide numerous benefits as summarized below.

1. They keep diseases away

Daily consumption of fruits helps to keep illness away. Some of these illnesses are high blood pressure, stroke, indigestion, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases. This is made possible with credits to the combination of powerful flavonoids, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals and the countless micro and macronutrients which can be found in fruits.

2. Fruits give you smooth and radiant skin

Certain fruits like banana, papaya, cucumber have been attributed to facial treatment because they help fight acne and pimples. You can include berries, apples and banana into your diet and watch your skin look fresh and radiant. Fruits also keep your skin supple and hydrated and nourishes it with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

3. They supply you with instant energy

Fruits supply instant energy in no time. This explains why athletes take fruit before and after training because they supply instant energy; also, pregnant women are advised to take lots of fruits.

4. Fruits aid healthy hair growth

Fruits have always been good source of vitamins and nutrients, making them the main source of healthy diet. It is not surprising to know that fruits can improve hair growth, strength and quality. Fruits like orange, apples, strawberry, avocado and pineapple are very beneficial to hair growth.

Now, how can fruits aid weightloss?

Weightloss is often achieved through different strategies and one of those strategies is through healthy eating, which entails eating lots of fruits. Fruits help to achieve weightloss because they contain lots of fiber.

According to a report by the National Institute of Health newsletter, people on high fiber diets tend to eat about 10 percent fewer calories. In addition, other large studies found that people who have a high intake of fiber tend to weigh less. This is made possible because fiber is an indigestible plant-based carbohydrate which is quite filling and has no calories.

However, consumption of fruits alone cannot help attain weightloss. It can be achieved with the combination of exercise, dieting, and healthy eating.

How to identify good fruits

Look out for the following things below to identify if the fruit is a good one.

  • Check for molds on the fruit, if you find any do not buy it
  • Check the color if it is the right color of the fruit
  • Look for spots and bruises to know the handle rate of the fruit
  • Buy fruits during them the right season
  • Feel them carefully before buying

Conclusively, we will start a series on fruits and vegetables. The aim to help you get to know more about fruits and go for more healthy choices.

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Eating pawpaw for good heart and digestive health

Pawpaw

Everybody loves pawpaw. Either for its sweetness, bright color, beautiful seeds or butter-like consistency, or for no apparent reason.

I am yet to come across anybody that has an aversion for it. The worst I have seen is people with preferences. Some people prefer the soft ones to the hard ones or vice versa. But I have not seen anybody that says they do not consume pawpaw at all.

What makes pawpaw a widely accepted fruit?

It is one of nature’s gifts that comes to us in a complete package. It is packed with full health benefits from promoting good eyesight to promoting good digestive health.

In this post, I will discuss its benefits for good heart health and good digestive process.

papaya-771145_640For good heart health

Pawpaw takes the lead among other organic fruits When it comes to prevention of heart diseases.

It contains vitamin C and A which are very good in preventing oxidation of cholesterol.

Oxidized cholesterol in the body builds up in blood vessels and then form dangerous plaques that cause heart attack.

The vitamin A nutrient in pawpaw is concentrated with carotenes and the Vitamin C nutrient is associated with paraoxonase. These nutrients come together to inhibit cholesterol oxidation.

Other vitamins that help promote good cardiovascular health include flavonoids, B vitamins, potassium, copper, magnesium and fibre.

For good digestive process

Papain, also called papaya proteinase is an enzyme that is found in pawpaw. It aids the digestive process by breaking down tough protein fibres.

Even though it is generally not recommended to eat fruits after a meal, ripe pawpaw is exempted from this recommendation. You can eat it after meals especially if your meal contains meat, if you ate a large serving or if you rushed your meal. These situations can put great strain on your digestive system and enzyme producing pancreas.

Eating ripe pawpaw after a rushed meal goes a long way to prevent flatulence and other serious health issues that are associated with poor digestion.

It also helps to reduce the risk of having colon cancer. Its fibre represses the toxins that cause cancer in the colon and keeps them away from the healthy colon cells.

Other nutrients that help prevent colon cancer include papaya’s folate, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and beta-carotene.

Some other health benefits you can get from eating pawpaw include high immunity, protection against arthritis, stress reduction, good hair growth, good eye health, and prevention of prostate cancer.

Lastly, if you are on the weightloss train, add pawpaw to your diet. It is full of dietary fibre that gives a filling effect. Also, one medium size of pawpaw contains between 118 – 120 calories. It is a good substitute for unhealthy snacks whenever you are on the go and you feel hungry.

Now that you know the health benefits of pawpaw, how do you plan to incorporate it to your diet?

References
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Get fit with soy milk

Soy milk popularly known as ‘Soya Milk’ in Nigerian parlance is derived from soy beans.

It is a great alternative over dairy milk because it has a high level of protein, essential fatty acid, vitamins and minerals with exception to the cholesterol and extra saturated fat that is synonymous with dairy milk.

The content of sugar and calories in it is reduced, the lactose level is lower in soy milk than dairy milk because dairy milk has about 12g of sugar per cup as opposed to 7g. It also has high dietary fibre. A cup of soy milk is equivalent to 3 grams of fibre which gives you 12% of your dietary fibre need. It is highly recommended by doctors for diabetic patients.

Fibre is a vital part of our diet and it helps to speed up the transit of food through the body system and also suppresses your appetite making you feel full for a longer time.

Soy milk is the go-to drink for people who have high blood pressure and other heart related diseases because it helps to improve the lipid profile of the blood.

Soy milk fat is unsaturated with zero cholesterol. The mono and poly unsaturated fatty acid in the beans helps to inhibit the transport of fat into the blood unlike dairy milk which is high in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Research has shown that regular consumption of soy milk can reduce the blood concentration of triglycerides and increase the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL).

Do you know that soy milk has some fat burning vitamins? Riboflavin and Vitamin B12. These vitamins are involved in energy production and are important for the metabolism of fatty acids.

Mono unsaturated fatty acid in soy milk also inhibits the intestinal fats and absorption of cholesterol which is a plus for losing weight. Increased daily intake of this milk lowers your exposure to dietary fat.

Soy milk is a key source of protein which helps in development of the body and provides all-round nutrition for all your functional systems.

It also maintains a healthy amount of body muscle which contributes to weight maintenance and nourishes the bones with calcium and phosphorus.

Also regular intake of soy milk plus regular exercise can lead to reduced body fat and higher percentage of lean muscles.

It is beneficial to the men because of phytoestrogen, a unique plant hormone which inhibits the production of testosterone in men.

When the level of testosterone is reduced, the risk of having prostate cancer is minimal and this makes it the best dietary option for the prevention of prostate cancer.

Soy milk is also a great diet supplement because it has a high concentration of isoflavones which promotes bone health and helps to fight against osteoporosis.

Do you need expert help on how to incorporate soy milk into your diet? Contact us for assistance.

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