The Healthy Diet »

The chief appeal of many fruits is that they taste sweet yet are relatively low in calories., What keeps their calorie content down is water — most fruits are 80 to 95 percent water, which also makes them juicy and thirst-quenching. Moreover, since they typically contain a great deal of fiber, fruits can add satis­fying bulk to your diet. Besides water and fiber, fruits provide fructose (natural fruit sugar), starches (complex carbohydrates), a very small amount of protein and a healthy assortment of vitamins and minerals. Except for avocados, olives and coconuts, fruits usually contain only a trace of fat and no artery-clogging cholesterol. Raw fruits make nutri­tious, low-calorie desserts or snacks, unlike most baked goods, which are loaded with saturated fat and refined sugar.

Fruits, along with vegetables, supply virtually all the vitamin C in the American diet — 92 percent — but only nine percent of the calories. Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is crucial for maintaining healthy blood vessels, capillaries, teeth and gums. It also helps your body absorb iron. And because this vitamin is used to make collagen, the ' fabric of your connective tissue, it aids in the healing of cuts and burns.

Citrus fruits, including oranges, grapefruit, pineapples, lemons and limes, are the most dependable year-round sources of vitamin C. just one orange fulfills your daily requirement of this vitamin — 60 mil-grams. Half a cup of strawberries also provides your daily requirernad;, of vitamin C and more fiber than a slice of whole-wheat bread, fewer than 40 calories. Such exotic fruits as papaya, kiwi and guava also high in ascorbic acid.

Some fruits are rich sources of beta carotene, which your converts to vitamin A. This vitamin promotes good vision and form and maintain healthy skin as well as the linings of the lungs and urinary tract. Recent studies have shown that beta may also protect against some types of cancer. Yellow and fruits like apricots, peaches, mangoes and cantaloupes tend to be highest in beta carotene. Thus, half a cantaloupe — with oar Dries — supplies you with more than enough vitamin A for a day, while a honeydew has less than two percent of the daily requirement. (The cantaloupe also provides a day's worth of vitamin.

One of the most important minerals found in fruits is essential for maintaining normal blood pressure, heartbeat and contraction. Bananas, pears and oranges are among the best sources of potassium. Fruits also provide some iron (in black raspberries, strawberries, dried apricots, prunes, dates and figs) even small amounts of calcium (in dates, figs and oranges).

Raw fresh fruits are generally more nutritious than fi canned varieties. Most fresh fruits suffer minimal loss of Nitamin beta carotene and other nutrients during storage. While can lose a quarter of their vitamin C after one day in the re 7 many whole fruits retain this vitamin for seven to 10 weeks. V in fruit is destroyed by exposure to air, however; whole fruits more of this vitamin than fruits that have been sliced, cooked otherwise processed.

The peel plays a vital role in supplying and preserving n For example, peeling an apple can lower its modest vitamin C by 25 percent. If you do peel a piece of fruit because a recipe it, peel it as thinly as possible to minimize nutrient loss, and & peel it until shortly before using it. To minimize the loss of . - do not slice fruits very thinly. The thinner and smaller the pieces are, the more surface area you expose to the oxygen in the air which destroys vitamins.

Drinking fruit juices, either store-bought or made in your own juicers, is another good way to incorporate fruits into your diet?vitamins and minerals make them healthy substitutes for soft which contain only sugar, water, preservatives and artificial flavoring. Freshly squeezed citrus juice or juice freshly made front concentrate, if refrigerated, remains high in vitamin C for at week. Apple, cranberry, grape, -pineapple and prune juices have very little vitamin C, unless they have been processed by a manufacturer has fortified them. Even then, it has been shown that vitamin C down much more quickly in these juices than in orange or juice.

Died fruits — such as apples, apricots, dates, figs, peaches, prunes have more calories than an equivalent amount of the varieties because drying reduces the water content by about 75 t, thus increasing the caloric density. Although you should not on dried fruits too often, particularly if you are watching your they are richer in various nutrients, particularly potassium and higher in fiber than many other snack foods. And sulfuring which are often used in drying to keep the fruits' colors darkening, help preserve vitamins A and C. For anyone who is to sulfur or who wants to avoid preservatives, health-food stock preservative-free dried fruits. Some people dry their own at home.

Using fruits to add sweetness to prepared dishes is one of the best ways to eliminate high-fat, high-sugar foods from your diet while improving your vitamin and mineral intake. The following recipes fruits with a wide variety of foods. As your palate becomes to more fruits and less refined sugar, you should find it to cut back on the amount of sugar in your diet.

Buying and Storing Guide

Fruits do not have to look perfect to be good. Some quite edible citrus fruits, for example, have superficial patches and scars. But, as a rule, you should look for relatively unblemished fruits and avoid those that have obvious insect damage or are wrinkled, overripe or otherwise injured. Buy fruits drat are at least beginning to ripen, rather than unripe ones; the fruits should be firm rather than hard ad in many cases should smell faintly — sweet. Whenever possible, buy fruits in season, when their quality at its peak.

In general, berries should be bought ripe enough to eat immediately. Blueberries can usually be stored up to two weeks in the refrigerator in a covered container. Strawberries should have their caps intact until just before they are served; this preserves their vitamin C. Raspberries are best within 24 hours of ripening.

Pick out grapefruit feel the densest, and smoothest. All. grapefruit increase in vitamin C content as they ripen, but pink grapefruit have. Substantially more be carotene than the white variety Oranges should feel heavy and firm spongy oranges will not be as juicy Both grapefruit and oranges last longest when they are refrigerated.

It is usually best to purchase bananas that are slightly green and let them ripen at room temperature. You can accelerate the ripening process by putting the bananas in a paper bag. Once they are ripe, store them in the refridgerator.