Eat more Fruits -delicious recipes

By Steffi Reuter, MSc Exercise and Health Sciences

Fruits are important for us to live healthy lives! They give our immune system a boost, provide the energy and the nutrients we need AND they are delicious in taste. Fruits are full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, glucose and phytonutrients. And they are grown in Nature. Fruits are good choices for your life!

For a healthy diet it’s recommended to eat 5-9 Servings of Fruits and Vegetables a day. Even to me, living and eating healthy most of the time, it’s not easy to reach those daily recommendations. What I need is planning, ideas to keep fruits attractive for everyone in the family. A weekly Farmbox full of Fruits and Vegetables delivered to my house makes grocery shopping also easier!

If you live in the Seattle area I recommend Full Circle, use this code (Fullcircle.com use STEF8865) so you and I will receive a reduction. With the Farm box you get a variety of organic produce that is in season.

More advantages of fruits: If you or your kids like sugary treats or craving sweets, fruits are the perfect substitute. While treats made with sugar or white flour will spike the blood sugar level to a short term high, the sweetness of the fruits won’t spike your blood sugar as quickly and as high. The reason is the fiber in the fruits. Make sure to eat the entire fruit. In fruit juices those fibers are missing and blood sugar will raise higher.

What we want to stay healthy is a balanced blood sugar level!!

To me, fruits are a wonder of Nature. Nature produces them for us in abundance. If you can appreciate that you will feel connected to Nature while preparing and eating fruits. Imagine next time the tree or bush the fruit you eat comes from.

Here some ideas to prepare your fruits:

My favorite way is cutting fruits that are in season into pieces. I like to eat fruits most in the morning in the oatmeal and as a afternoon snack. When I feel low energy in the afternoon, I drink 3-4 cups of water with add a bit of coconut water and eat at least 1 whole fruit or half a melon. This boosts my energy level and I stay energized for hours to come!

Here I created some more creative variation how to use fruits as desserts, snacks, pre- or post-workouts or as a late night shake.

· Bananas:

Steps

• cut the Bananas in halves,

• put some raw honey or peanutbutter on the bananas.

• Sparkle with coconut flakes and blueberries.

Makes the perfect dessert.

Bananas are great before or after a workout.

Mango Lassi:

Ingredients:

• Greek yogurt or diary free substitute

• Mangos and

• if needed some milk to make it more smoothly

Steps:

• cut Mangoes in pieces like in the picture

• then mix all the ingredients together

• pour the Lassi into Cups

· Blueberry-Banana-Yogurt Smoothie

Ingredients:

• Blueberries (fresh, organic or frozen wild blueberries)

• Bananas

• Raw Honey

• Water or Yogurt

Steps:

• Cut bananas in pieces

• add the blueberries

• add water

• add 1-2 tablespoon of honey (optional)

• add yogurt (optional)

Oatmeal with lots of different fruits:

Perfect for breakfast:

Steps:

• Prepare oatmeal or other kind of muesli,

• add pieces of fruits: for example apples, peaches, berries and others.

· Pies with seasonal fruits: here a prune pie recipe

Find here the recipe

· Dates and nut snacks: find here the recipe

Click her to find a nourishing snack

this one is perfect before or after a workout!

How do you like your fruits most?