Apples and Weight Loss

Obesity is an epidemic in this country. Not only are adults overweight but children as well. How can we fight to regain a healthy weight? Try eating apples.

I know it sounds like the latest diet gimmick, but there is truth to the fact that apples can help reduce your weight. If you’re still not convinced keep reading and examine the facts for yourself. People who already eat apples will be thrilled. If apples just didn’t catch on with you, give them another try.

Let’s talk turkey. Apples are high in fiber. If you don’t believe me eat about three apples in one sitting and see what happens to you. The purpose of fiber is to provide bulk.

When the stomach feels full, there is no desire to keep eating. Also, fiber is not absorbed into the intestinal tract. It flows right out of us and carries any fat molecules it can hold on to with it. It’s like eating a free meal. Consuming apples with cheese will see that fiber clinging on to the fat before it can cling on to your thighs.

Apples are low in fat. Eating them as a snack on a daily basis won’t add significant calories to your daily intake. You can peel them or eat as is to get a dose of natural sugar and plenty of vitamins.

What is the one thing that women deal with on a monthly basis? Water weight gain attacks our waistline when our period does. Eating too much salt adds to the amount of water we retain. To stop this monthly bloat, eat apples. Apples are low in sodium. They help to flush excess water from the system instead of holding on to it.

Our bodies are ninety percent water. Most people don’t drink enough water to replenish what we have lost through daily activity and exercise. Some just don’t like the taste of water. For those people, apples contain a high water content. When you bite into a crisp, sweet apple, the body gets a drink of water.

Drinking water instead of soda works to help us lose weight. Water flushes out the impurities in our system. It helps us to exercise longer and with greater energy. Water also fills you up. They say that drinking a big glass of water before a meal means you will eat less.

Instead of drinking water (if you aren’t particularly fond of it) eat an apple. Apples have helped people lose weight without even knowing it. Imagine how much weight will be lost now that you know how good they are.

Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar

Apples come in many forms. You may be thinking of pies, cakes, and tarts, but we are speaking about vinegar. Apples are used to make apple cider vinegar. And, according to natural remedy literature, apple cider vinegar is practically a cure-all for what ails you.

 

Apple cider vinegar is made from apples so the natural conclusion would be that some of the effects of apples are transferred to the vinegar. Apples are an all-purpose fruit. They contain antioxidants to lower the risk of disease and illness. They also contain fiber which is beneficial for weight control and intestinal well-being.

 

Many of the natural remedies attributed to apple cider vinegar have not been scientifically proven. But, Granny always says that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The proof is in the results of using apple cider vinegar for a particular condition.

 

If it was good enough for Granny, it’s good enough for me. Medicines developed from these early remedies. Scientists took it and studied it to find out the how’s and why’s of these remedies but that doesn’t affect how well they work.

 

Drinking apple cider vinegar can calm stomach upset. People advocate a regular regimen of drinking apple cider vinegar to avoid the intestinal distress in the first place. It doesn’t taste good enough to drink every day, but you are the judge. They are also unclear as to exactly how much to drink. A few teaspoons should be enough to get the point across to your body.

 

Apple cider vinegar is thought to be a detoxifier. For people losing weight, these various weight loss programs use the first two weeks as a detoxifying period where the body retrains itself to process food. That can be achieved without starving yourself for two weeks or eating strange foods when you drink the vinegar.

 

Apples and therefore apple cider vinegar, contains potassium. It is a vital mineral to the body. Mixing a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar with water and drinking it puts back a lot of the potassium that we lose each day. The issue may be that you are not getting enough potassium in the first place. Boost your intake with some vinegar.

 

Diarrhea can be controlled with apple cider vinegar. We’ve all experienced eating a food that didn’t agree with us. For some reason, it feels like it runs right through you. Drinking some apple cider vinegar in water before a meal controls the effect certain foods have on our bodies.

 

Don’t have apples on hand? Use that apple cider vinegar to benefit your body. 

Do Apples Keep the Doctor Away?

We’ve all heard the saying about doctors and apples. But, is it true? There are many health benefits to eating apples and we are going to find out what they are.

 

Apples contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are everywhere these days. They are the chemicals in fruits, vegetables, and chocolate that combats the effects of free radicals in the body.

 

Free radicals are the by-products of cellular metabolism. It is the free radical damage to our bodies that causes us to actually “look” our age. Free radicals are hard on the body and that doesn’t let up as we get older.

 

In fact, it is worse. Age compromises our immune system. Just like when we are young, when we are old, our bodies are not in peak fighting shape to ward off illnesses and diseases like asthma and various forms of cancer. This is where antioxidants are so important.

 

Apples contain antioxidant substances called flavonoids: quercetin, phloridzin, and vitamin C are a few. These substances subdue the free radicals and prevent them from doing damage to our organs and vessels. With these free radicals out of commission, we are less likely to develop certain forms of cancer, neurological disorders (like Alzheimer’s), and other telltale signs of old age.

 

Why are many people living to the century mark and looking good while doing it? They aren’t eating a leaf of lettuce and drinking a gallon of water a day that’s for sure. They are better taking care of their bodies through exercise and choosing foods carefully.

 

Consuming many antioxidant rich foods like apples means more fight against aging and illness. Despite the color on the outside, each apple contains antioxidant properties that make it pack a punch each time you eat one. No one specifically knows how many antioxidants we should consume on a daily basis to achieve optimal health but getting as many into you as possible is best.

 

And, with apples on our side, consuming them is a very tasty proposition indeed. Apples have many tastes: tart, tangy, sweet, and not so sweet. Choose the apple that fits your taste and get healthy while enjoying yourself.

 

The pectin found in apples helps to reduce our cholesterol levels. Bad cholesterol chases after us all our lives. The foods we love to eat are always loaded with it. So, switch out some of those French fries for at least one apple a day and see the difference it will make to your body.  

Getting Kids to Eat Apples

Apples are an all around fruit that has universal appeal. There’s nothing like an apple picked fresh from the tree. The crisp natural goodness has many health benefits. Unfortunately, kids don’t worry about any of that. So, how do you get them to eat apples?

 

Well, you can tell them how good apples are for their bodies. They may listen and then they may not. We all know what we should and should not eat, but it’s more fun to eat something that is not necessarily best for us.

 

The thing about apples is that they taste good. The natural sweetness can be better tasting than candy. Most kids have a sweet tooth so use apples to satisfy it.

 

On one hand, you can sneak apples into their favorite dishes. When there is more than one taste present, certain tastes that you find less appealing are masked. You’re kids may not be opposed to apples, but this is one way to get them to try them and like them before they can say no.

 

Do they like salad? Dice a few skinned apples and sprinkle them on the salad like croutons. The sweet taste contrasts with tomatoes and cucumbers to provide something extra.

 

Apples are also a favorite addition to chicken salad. It lends a certain zing to the chicken, mayo, and other ingredients. Use apples to flavor turkey salad as well.

 

Kids enjoy finger foods. Something that they can pick up and carry around with them makes eating not only fun but convenient. Create apple sticks by peeling and coring them first, then slicing the apples to resemble French fries. Combine with cheese sticks and their favorite sandwich for lunch and you’ve got a winner.

 

Apples are appealing as a drink. For kids who don’t eat fruit that often, give them their fruits in liquid form. Apple juice retains many of the nutrients as the actual apple. It is not as filling, will do instead of orange juice at breakfast or as a midmorning sweet tooth satisfier.

 

Apples can be incorporated into muffin mixes, cakes, and of course, pies. Even apple flavored yogurt contains pieces of the fruit. If your child has a problem with the taste, substitute other apple varieties. Gala apples are crisp and sweet while Granny Smith apples are tart and crisp.

 

Find out what they like and give it to them. The best thing about apples is they don’t need any added sugar to liven them up. The natural sugars will do the job just fine.

How Apples are Stored

Ever wonder how those apples end up in your grocery store display? No, the apple fairy doesn’t bring them in and fill up the case overnight. The process is a little more involved than that to get those apples from the trees in the orchard to your grocery store.

 

Apples are harvested in the fall. When an apple is ripe it will fall off the tree. Ever notice how skinny and brown the stem is? It didn’t start out that way. It was thick and green. As the apple matured, the stem became smaller and smaller until it breaks under the weight of the ripe apple.

 

Apple orchard owners use special ladders called three-point ladders to be able to harvest all the fruit from the trees. Hundreds of pounds of fruit can be harvested from a single tree in a season. The harvesting requires a lot of time and workers to get as much fruit in as possible.

 

I’ve always been told that fruit shouldn’t be washed until it is ready to eat. Maybe the dirt preserves the fruit and slows the aging process in some way.  This is one reason why you should always wash the outside of a fruit before eating it even fresh from the tree.

 

So, how are apples available all year round if they are harvested in the fall? All of that luscious fruit would go to waste if it wasn’t for modern technology. Apples can be stored straight from the tree in one of two ways: cold storage or controlled atmosphere storage.

 

With cold storage, the apples are picked at the peak of ripeness when the fruit has reached the sweet and crisp stage. Picking too early can result in sour or mushy apples. The apples are then piled into cold storerooms in warehouses that have been cooled to thirty-two degrees but maintain a high level of humidity. The apples will ripen further, so any apple in cold storage is often sold within three or four months.

 

The other option is controlled atmosphere storage. This process is more expensive than cold storage. As apples ripen, they give consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide. In this airtight environment, the available oxygen is markedly reduced while the level of carbon dioxide is increased.

 

This technology slows, if not stalls, the ripening process. Apples can be stored for longer than mid-winter and shipped to markets all over the country. Apples in tiptop shape are rewarded with this type of storage. So when you bite into that juicy tart or tangy apple in the summer, remember that it could have been picked over half a year before.

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