Making Healthy Homemade Fruit Salad

No one can ignore the great taste of fruit salad since it can also make our body healthy. Making healthy fruit salad is one thing, as you should consider several aspects to make it really beneficial.

In a hot day, making a big bowl of fresh salad will be nice. Imagining fresh fruits mixed with mayonnaise probably makes you hungry now. You do not need to be an expert to make delicious and healthy fruit salad. You only have to be more creative, especially in choosing the fruits. Remember that you are going to make healthy food for your family, so you should choose the best ingredients.

A bowl of salad gives you nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, water content, and (of course) dietary fiber. Women like it because it helps lose weight, since it contains low fat and increases the quality of digestive system. In short, it fulfills hunger without making fat.

When choosing fruits, you should choose ones which are totally ripe and ready to consume. You better cook them with the outer skins since the skins contain rich nutrients that are good for diet. Of course, you cannot do the same to bananas or oranges.

Combine some fruits to get maximum nutrients! For example, oranges are high in vitamin C, but low in other nutrients. This will be good to add apples, grapes, or pears to complete the nutrients. As a suggestion, try to avoid tender fruit as it can get mashed easily by the time you mix your salad. Use this kind of fruit only as topping.

You may think that you will make a bowl of salad then keep it in fridge. It is not recommended! After fruits are cut, they tend to oxidize. To get the best beneficial, consume it right after you make it. Avoid making too much salad in order to prevent storing it in fridge.

Try to use yogurt instead of mayonnaise to mix the fruits. Yogurt is much better, especially if you really need some foods to make your digestive system runs well.

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Is Fruit Juice Healthy?

All the advertisements on TV rave about how healthy orange juice and other juices are for us. We have been blasted by these commercials for years and most of us strongly believe this to be true.

Fruit juice may have up to 8 teaspoons of natural sugar in an eight ounce glass. This is not added sugar but the natural fructose. What may not be natural is squeezing juices. Fruits are meant to be eating whole in their natural state.

Fruit juices have many healthy nutrients and vitamins that are beneficial. Are these benefits being surpassed by the quantities of sugar in them?

Sweet drinks are linked to preschool obesity whether they are Kool-Aid or natural juices. Preschoolers are better off snacking on whole fruit.

One Head Start program banned juice as an anti-obesity effort after finding one out of five students was obese.

The American Academy of Pediatrics states that toddlers and preschool aged children should be limited to just 4-6 ounces of fruit juice per day. The APP states that fruit juice offers no nutritional benefits over whole fruit.

If you consume fruits whole in their natural state you consume them with the natural fiber and other ingredients that checks sugar absorption.

It is important for you to restrict your intake of fruit juices especially if you have any of the following problems.

High Blood Pressure

Overweight

Diabetes

Whole fruits are healthy but you may still want to eat them in moderation if you have any of the above issues. Whole fruits are more desirable then juices in any case.

Some of the healthiest fruits are berries specifically blueberries as their sugar levels are lower than most fruits and they contain an abundance of antioxidants.

So remember juices are high in calories and low in fiber. This will leave you hungry while rapidly adding excess sugar unnecessary. Sometimes just eliminating sugar water, pop, and juices will bring fantastic results.

If you want to try juicing stick with vegetables as they are lower in sugars than fruits.

Most of us have grown up thinking that fruit juice is one of the healthiest things for us. We may need to reconsider this. And then there are fruit drinks which aren't even 100% fruit juice. Just keep in mind that many commodities being sold are produced to make capital not to enhance your health.

You want to make intelligent informative decisions. Do research whenever you can. You can certainly track down a lot of relevant information on search engines but you will have to decide how correct this advice is.

Instead of grabbing calories in a bottle consider a fresh piece of delicious fruit. Blueberries are one of the top quality fruits containing plenty of antioxidants while maintaining lower sugar content then most other fruits. I find that nature knows best when it comes to nutrition. I still have not found that tree with quarts of OJ hanging from it.

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Mangosteen - A Healthy Tropical Fruit

Mangosteen juice is renowned for its health benefits, because of the presence of xanthones. However, the true benefit of a mangosteen is its unique and delicious flavor - so skip the juice and head straight for the fruit. Mangosteen, known as 'Queen of all fruit', has been used for centuries by Asian health practitioners for its nutritional benefits and delicious flavor. It is known as an antioxidant-rich fruit. Mangosteen is thought to have been traditionally used by natural health providers for thousands of years. In India, for example, traditional ayurvedic doctors used the rind of Mangosteen to support a healthy digestive system. Modern day science has recently begun to appreciate the incredible, nutrient-rich value of Mangosteen and its wide-reaching, health-promoting properties. We now know, for example, that Mangosteen contains a number of vitamins and minerals in trace amounts.

Xanthones in mangosteen have proven to kill this overgrowth of bacteria to improve and restore balance in the stomach. Xanthones are one of the important ingredients in the magosteen rind that possess great medicinal properties, along with several pharmaceutical properties. Benefits to note are increasing immune system strength, helping with joint flexibility and energy levels. Xanthones are natural, safe and free of side effects. Independent researchers world-wide have published dozens and dozens of papers on mangosteen and its xanthones.

Xanthones have been studied for their medicinal potential, as they demonstrate a number of pharmaceutical properties, including supporting microbiological balance, maintaining immune system health, promoting joint flexibility, providing positive mental support, and more. Xanthones A Family of Powerful Phytonutrients While most people know about the benefits of Vitamins and Minerals, far fewer are aware of the incredibly potent power and benefits of xanthones. Xanthones are potent antioxidants comprised of molecules and atoms that possess an extra electron. These extra electrons seek out and stabilize 'free radicals', which are short an electron and are blamed for a myriad of health problems caused as they seek out their 'missing' pieces.

Interestingly enough, it is the rind of the mangosteen that contains the large number and concentration of xanthones, not the fruit itself. A list of some of the papers published on mangosteen xanthones and their use can be found by doing a search in the National Library of Medicine. The fruits have a thick rind, which encloses 5 to 7 fleshy segments, in which the seeds are embedded. The pulp has excellent flavor and is proclaimed by many as the best among tropical fruits. The fruit is the size and shape of a tangerine, with a thick, dark rind and creamy flesh. Mangosteen is marketed as a supplement, available as a juice and in capsule form.

I personally think Mangosteen juice is something that all athletes from all sports should be using on a daily basis. Actually, Mangosteen juice is for the whole family and isn't contraindicated for any medical condition and has no side effects. It's all natural and tastes great, unlike many other dietary supplements out there that you can barely choke down.

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Healthy Fruit Smoothies and Their Benefits For You

Fruits are the best source of vitamins you may ever crave for. Apart from being quite palatable they also present the benefits of health to the individual. The inclusion of a fruit smoothie in your diet lets you absorb these nutrients faster into your system. As a result of its fluid nature, the fruit smoothie lets the vitamins be communicated faster to the body's systems. Vitamins will then help the body fight off disease vectors that would have compromised the body's immune system in other cases. Smoothies have the benefit of being quite easy to prepare. All that is required is a juicer and a couple of fresh fruits.

The smoothies should be prepared such that they have a good consistency, neither too runny nor too viscous. Regularity in using smoothies in your diets will let you develop a versatile immune system that is able to withstand all, if not most, vector attacks. Most of these diseases work in the body's deficiency of nutrients and are quite easy to fend off.

Apart from saving you money, smoothies let your skin have the needed hydration. The smoothies work in the function of an energy food and "hydrant". Upon ingestion, the body is revitalized and the digestive system washed out away of residue. Smoothies carry both fiber and antioxidants that help in increasing its biomass and neutralize the toxins in the body's organs.

The sugars contained in fruits are of a healthy type. They therefore affect your body positively since they're "brain food".

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Fruit Juices- A Healthy, Delicious Alternative To Soda

For anyone trying to maintain a healthy diet, soda is one of the worst things that you can put in your body. It is full of sugar, in addition to other chemicals that do nothing but harm your body. So if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you should start thinking about cutting soda from your diet. One option is to replace it with fruit juice. Whenever you feel the urge to drink soda, just throw back a cup of fruit juice. It will probably have almost as much sugar, but you replace harmful chemicals with beneficial vitamins.

Sometimes you can find a fruit juice that will combat other health problems. Grape juice is said to prevent blood clots. Urinary tract infections can be battled by cranberry juice. Pomegranate juice can clear your arteries.

To choose which juice you are going to drink, you should first look for something colorful, with a purple, red, or blue color. These have anthocyanins, which are beneficial antioxidants. You should also look for juice where you can see sediments in the bottom of the bottle, since this means that the whole fruit has been used in making the juice. Scientists say it's more beneficial to eat a fruit than it is to drink it, but if you insist on juice then you might as well get as close as possible to the real thing.

There are hundreds of different juice options, from domestic apple and grape juice, to exotic noni or goji juice. The best thing you can do is simply try out a few different juices, and research their effects on the body. Then you can decide on one that will be beneficial for you. But if you are replacing excessive amounts of soda, then almost anything is a step up on the healthiness level.

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Healthy Lifestyle - Benefits of Fruit and Vegetables

Everyone knows that consuming a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is very beneficial to our overall health. Fresh produce tends to be rich in various nutrients which aid our daily bodily functions. In this article I will provide some of the health benefits that we gain by consuming the daily serving of fruit and veggies.

As we all know by now, fruit and vegetables are rich in fiber and fiber is linked to the prevention of many diseases. Some of the illnesses which fiber aids in prevention of include: diverticular disease, colon cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Fiber also helps us maintain a healthy metabolism, wards off constipation and hemorrhoids and curbs our appetite. The fiber in the fruit expands in your stomach upon consumption thereby decreasing your overall food intake. This is why eating fruit is also beneficial for those of us who want to lose weight. Just like the hoodia pills, adding more fiber to the diet we are consuming can help suppress our appetite and help us feel full longer.

Fruit and vegetables are extremely rich in various vitamins and minerals. Because they are so rich in nutrients they are valuable to practically every single organ in our bodies. From vision to heart health, fruit can enhance the health of all body functions. The key is knowing which fresh produce aids in what area. This may require some research via the internet or medical books.

If you have a medical ailment, there is probably a fruit or a vegetable which can improve your health. The key is spending the time to do the research on various fruits, vegetables and herbal remedies. So as you can see, following the five a day rule is not just a gimmick. It is a fact and the first step towards longevity.

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Autumn Persimmons - A Deliciously Healthy Fruit

Persimmons or Sharon fruit are available now, and I have been looking forward to them for some time. In Pakistan they are called amlok or Japani phali although they originated in China and not Japan as is sometimes assumed. The Japanese certainly took to these fruit s in a big way and they are a national fruit. The Japanese make a tea from the fruit, which is a remedy for diarrhoea as it is rich in tannin and has astringent qualities. They also make a tea or tisane from the leaves, and this is rich in vitamin C and according to Japan's "Longevity" magazine, drinking persimmon leaf tea can help to reduce the risk of melanoma or skin cancer.

All persimmons are from the Diospyros genus, and are, according to this name, the fruit of the gods. The type of persimmon that grows in Pakistan is Diospyros lotus and unfortunately for the rest of the world, it is thinner-skinned than most so cannot be exported as the fruit bruises easily. It is a sweeter fruit than the one usually found in Europe Diospyros kaki, and doesn't leave and astringent after-taste in the mouth. To me it seems juicier too, although perhaps I have forgotten how juicy others are This persimmon is dark orange-red like a tomato which shows that it has a high beta-carotene content as well as being high in lycopene.

Persimmons contain many health-giving nutrients, as beta-carotene which gives fruit and vegetables (such as sweet potatoes) their distinctive orange colour, and which have potent antioxidant properties. This means that persimmons can help us in the fight against cancers as antioxidants combat the scavenging free radicals in the body which damage healthy cells and can make them cancerous. Beta-carotene has been found to have some anti-skin cancer properties and can reduce the damage caused by the sun. Lycopene is the compound which gives fruit such as tomatoes and watermelons their red colour and is thought to help reduce the risks of some cancers, notably colon, lung, prostate, breast and ovarian cancers, as well as others.

These delicious fruit also help eyesight as the vitamin A and E along with the zeaxanthin present in them helps to reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration and also these nutrients help to prevent night-blindness. Vitamin K is also in this fruit's arsenal of ailment combating substances.

Catechins and gallocatechins in persimmons help the body to fight infections and so does vitamin C which boosts the immune system. These substances also have anti-inflammatory properties and can help to prevent excessive blood-clotting.

Persimmons also contain several of the B-complex vitamins and the minerals zinc, potassium, manganese, copper, calcium, iron and phosphorous. The zinc, potassium, lycopene and help with erectile dysfunctions so these fruit are particularly good for a man's sexual health.

They are a good source of dietary fibre and help to prevent constipation. Even the leaf tisane can get rid of fats or lipids and so can help in a weight-loss diet.

You shouldn't eat the skin of a persimmon, although a little won't harm you; but in Pakistan 15 children were treated in a hospital in Hazira in North West Pakistan for bowel obstructions when persimmons were to be found on trees in abundance. However don't throw the skin away, put it on your face, as it is a good skin toner and helps stop blemishes and is said to stop wrinkles forming and smooth out the ones you may already have.

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