One of the great things about summer is the extraordinary variety of fresh fruits that are available. Not only does fresh fruit taste great, consuming fresh fruits as part of an overall healthy lifestyle can help reduce your risk of some chronic diseases, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fresh fruits provide such vital nutrients as vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, and folate, and as an added bonus, the naturally-occurring sugar found in fruit does not count as added sugar in your diet. Now there’s something worth celebrating.
The USDA offers these tips for making fresh fruit a part of your healthy die.
- Keep a bowl of whole fruit on the table, counter, or in the refrigerator.
- Buy fresh fruits in season when they may be less expensive and at their peak flavor.
- Use fruits to sweeten a recipe instead of adding sugar.
- Choosing whole or cut-up fruit, rather than juice, provides the additional benefit of dietary fiber.
- At breakfast, top your cereal or yogurt with bananas, peaches, or strawberries; add blueberries to pancakes.
- At lunch, pack a tangerine, banana, or grapes instead of chips as a healthy side dish.
- At dinner, add crushed pineapple to coleslaw or include orange sections, dried cranberries, or grapes in a tossed salad. Try fruit salsa on top of fish.
But remember, just because fresh fruit is good for you, you still need to take reasonable precautions when preparing them. Always rinse fruit under clean, running water, rubbing the fruit briskly to remove dirt and surface microorganisms before serving or eating them.