Fruits-13 must-have affordable ones with fantastic benefits for your good health

Part 1

Do you know that eating fruits in the early part of life can give you tons of good health later in life?  If you are still unaware of fruit-eating benefits, this article might be just for you.

Why should fruits form a part of your daily diet?

Fruits should form a part of everybody’s diet and here are 13 such fruits which are quite affordable that can keep you healthy, fit and fine. Nowadays, because of lack of time and a busy schedule, people are consuming processed and ready-made foods which cause more harm than good for one’s health.

Since my childhood and even today, I have been eating fruits regularly after my main meals. Every fruit contains measurable amounts of micro and macronutrients that are needed by our body. We will discuss the same in this article, and eventually, you will understand how eating fruits can ward off many ailments that affect us on a day-to-day basis.

Why am I writing this article on fruits?

In my past few articles, I have been writing mostly about diseases and ailments affecting us. Which, I feel, has been an overwhelming experience for most of you. This prompted me to write something more interesting, something delicious: something we eat regularly, i.e., fruits.

Ailments and diseases occur due to our own negligence. What if we can overcome this negligence and do something that can keep us healthy? So, this time, I decided that I should share my knowledge on something that would prevent illness and keep us healthy, i.e., by eating some delicious fruits as suggested by Harvard Health Education.

I have written this article keeping in mind some people who are skeptical about eating fruits and also dislike them. If these people read the beneficial effects of fruits, they might change their minds. To make it easier to absorb knowledge about different fruits in detail, I have split this article into 2 parts. In the first part, we will learn about 6 such fruits, and in the second part, the rest of the seven.

This article does not emphasize that you should eat only fruits throughout the day but advises you to add them to your daily diet if not already on it.

Why are fruits so important for us?

A lot has been written about the “good” and “bad” effects of consuming fruits. But if you were to ask me, I would say that there is nothing like fruit that can give us plenty of natural vitamins and minerals.

All fruits are a rich source of nutrients and antioxidants that are needed very much by our body to maintain good health. Now, what are antioxidants? To know more about antioxidants, read here on the Mayo clinic blog and have a look below to see how they work-

The more colorful a fruit or vegetable is, the more antioxidants you get. You can have a look at this Color Infographic on fruits and vegetables for more information.

How I enjoyed eating fruits in my childhood-

During my childhood days, my father used to feed us fruits instead of chocolates🍫. As such, chocolates were a rare commodity in those days, except for toffees or some plain candies. Present-day markets are flooded with these goodies. But these chocolates can cause future problems like-

• Causing dental caries
• Increasing our weight and abdominal girth
• Leading to heart disease, diabetes, etc.

These ‘goodies’ also do not improve our health (read here to know more). In this article, I have collected information from various sources and put them under one umbrella for you to easily understand why fruits should be an important part of our daily diet. Here is one more article that suggests you have 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day- Eating five- a-day fruits…

Before I go on, let’s have a look at this short video-

So let’s shun the sweet goodies and look out for something healthy such as fruits, so let’s begin-

1.Apple 🍎-the Healthy fruit

‘A for apple’ is what we are being taught as we enter kindergarten in our school. So, you see, Apple is No.1 alphabet-wise, and it is also truly so.

You may also have heard the popular saying, “An apple a day keeps the Doctor Away!” How very true. You must have noticed that whenever someone falls sick, their friends and relatives who visit them to enquire about their health tend to bring along some apples. Why do they do so? Obviously because of its great health benefits.

What are the health benefits of eating Apples?

Apples are a major source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Here are some nutritional facts about apples-

So, you can see what all 1 apple weighing 100 gms can provide us. All the nutrients and micronutrients present in the apple help in the recovery of an ill person. The DV mentioned in the brackets stands for the average daily value percentage of that nutrient required by our body.

2.Banana🍌-the fruit for Super health

Bananas are packed with so many nutrients that they can be considered a Super Healthy food for all. Plus, it is the most affordable of all the fruits as well as available throughout the year in our country.

If you have noticed sports carefully like tennis, the player will eat at least 1 banana at every break. Why? Okay, just have a look again at the picture of the nutritional facts about this fruit. Other than carbohydrates and proteins in high amounts, it contains potassium and magnesium in large amounts. These minerals prevent muscle cramps in such an exhaustive sport, as the game can last for more than 3 hours sometimes, sapping out all the energy as well as the minerals mentioned above. Plus, you also get added benefits from the various vitamins, which are also present in good quantity.

So, I suggest that you should have at least one banana per day to help you remain healthy, fit, and fine. More on a banana- read here.

3.Guava-the poor man’s apple

In my childhood days, we lived in a small, beautiful town in the Pune district of Maharashtra. My father was in railways, and we had a sprawling bungalow with a front garden and a backyard. The best part was that there were a few guavas trees 🌳 which gave us plenty of guavas to eat. Every day, in the early part of the morning, parrots used to visit our garden to feast on the delicious guava.

We used to eat these fruits throughout the year, and there was no fixed season for it. Other than the fruit, the leaves and seeds of guava are also useful for our health. Here are a few benefits of eating guava-

If you have observed the above image, you can see that the vitamin C content is very high. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and is being prescribed to boost immunity by doctors worldwide to fight the Covid-19 infection. So, eat this fruit as and when possible, to get a tasty dose of your vitamin C rather than vitamin-C tablets from the chemist.

So you can see how these fruits gave me the health benefits which I am still enjoying at this stage of life. Have a look at the benefits of eating this ‘ poor man’s apple ‘ in this short video-

 

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For more about the benefits of eating guava, read this article on this website.

4.Pear🍐

Pear is another fruit that I personally enjoy eating as and when it is available. The sweet, gritty taste appeals more to me than that of an apple. Plus, they are packed with some nutrients which are not available in other fruits.

Pears are like apples. They grow in colder climates and are therefore seasonal. In India, they are grown mostly in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Kashmir. As compared to an apple, they are sweeter, i.e., they contain more sugar [see the table below in the nutritional facts about pear] – almost double that of apple-

A plenty dose of dietary fiber(6gm) helps our digestion and also relieves constipation like guava. Nowadays, pears are comparatively cheaper than apples. So, go ahead, eat some pears as and when available.

5.Mango🥭-the King of Fruits

Mangoes are seasonal fruits [except for some variety in south India which are available almost throughout the year]. In India, the season of mangoes lasts from February to June. There are many varieties of mangoes, each with a unique taste.

But almost all are very sweet to taste. This is because of the high content of sugar in it [ see below].

As you can see, in 100 gm of Mango fruit, you will get 15 gm sugar as carbohydrates which makes it very sweet. Apart from the vitamins and minerals, mango also contains some phytonutrients as shown in the figure to the right.

These phytonutrients help maintain-

•  Vision in our Eyes
• The texture of our Skin
• Strength of our Hair etc.

To know more about different varieties of mangoes, Click on this website- balconygardenweb.com. Raw or unripe mangoes are also used for making pickles and chutneys in India.

Now let us move to another fruit in our list, i.e., Grapes.

6.Grapes🍇- the tasty fruit

Grapes are my favorite among the many fruits I enjoy eating. These are seasonal, available mostly from January to mid-April in India. There are various grapes with different colors- green( the most common), black, red, purple, yellow, and magenta. Each type has a few common and unique properties. The colored ones have more phytonutrients and antioxidants that help our body ward off chronic diseases like diabetes, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, etc.

Taste-wise, they range from sour(used to make wine 🍷 and 🍾champagne) to very sweet. The health benefits of eating grapes are also quite vast and unique to the fruit. You can read this article here on healthline.com to know more.

I usually consume about 200 gm of fruit after each main meal. 100 gm of grapes will provide you the following nutrients (see table below)-

Table 1

Nutritional Facts of Grapes

PRINCIPLE	VALUE	IN 100 GM
CALORIES	70
FATS	0 GM
CARBOHYDRATES	14 GM
PROTEIN	1 GM
SUGAR	12 GM
SODIUM	2 MG
FIBER	1 GM
VITAMIN C	27%	RECOMMENDED DAILY INTAKE [RDI]
VITAMIN K	28%	RDI
VITAMIN B1-THIAMINE	7%	RDI
VITAMIN 6-RIBOFLAVINE	6%	RDI
POTASSIUM	8%	RDI
COPPER	10%	RDI
MANGANESE	5%	RDI

I have now come to the end of Part 1. I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. If you want more such articles to be notified to you, please click the notification button to subscribe so that you do not miss my next post. And that will be about 7 more fruits which I will be posting 2 days from now.

As I wind up this article, I would like you to hear this article on how fruit can help us get good health you can read here on

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Teaching children to eat foods that will enhance their health, and offering them high-quality vegetables, fruits, and whole grains in school lunches, have a profound effect on our children's futures. Margaret Cuomo Click To Tweet