APPLES! APPLES! APPLES!
Why apples are amazing
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Most of us know this old Welsh proverb, but it could actually be true. Apples come in many forms, colors and sizes. Red, yellow and green. Small, big and everything in between. Apples are the most cultivated and consumed fruits in the world. Apples tend to be abundant in antioxidants, flavonoids, and dietary fiber. Here are five reasons why apples are amazing.
- Want whiter and healthier teeth? Eat an apple.
Apples probably won’t replace your toothbrush, but biting and chewing an apple stimulates the production of saliva in your mouth, in turn reducing tooth decay by lowering the levels of bacteria, the single thing that causes most teeth issues.
- Control your weight.
Apples are high in fiber and water — two qualities that make them filling. In a study done on apples, people who ate apple slices before a meal felt fuller than those who consumed applesauce, apple juice or no apple products. In the same study, those who started their meal with apple slices also ate an average of 200 fewer calories than those who didn’t.
- Give your immune system a boost.
Red apples contain an antioxidant called quercetin. Quercetin is a type of flavonol, found in large doses in apples, that has chemopreventive (anti-cancer) effects on the body. Recent studies have found that quercetin can help boost the immune system when you are feeling stressed out.
- Fight Asthma.
Antioxidant-rich apples may help protect your lungs from oxidative damage. A large study in more than 68,000 women found that those who ate the most apples had the lowest risk of asthma. Eating about 15% of a large apple per day was linked to a 10% lower risk of this condition.
- Apples have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease.
One reason may be that apples contain soluble fiber — the kind that can help lower your blood cholesterol levels.They also contain polyphenols, which have antioxidant effects. Many of these are concentrated in the peel.
There are also many ways to eat apples. You can bake them, eat them whole, make applesauce or apple juice, put them in a pie etc… So many ways! Here are a few of my favorite recipes.
5 simple recipes using apples.
1 After school loaded apple slices