Superfoods part 16
Welcome to our health & self help blog.
In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.
Today’s post: Monday, 5-8-2006
Superfoods & Honor Roll Foods, part 16
Apples & Unsweetened Apple Sauce.
Both are high in pectin, a soluble fiber that helps keep your LDL cholesterol under control.
Even better, they both are low enough in glycemic index & Weight Watchers points to be great foods to enjoy & take off excess fat or prevent its return.
The fiber fills you up & the small amount of natural sugar they both contain satisfy enough to help keep you from getting hungry.
And, if you eat them with avocado, walnuts, or almonds which all have fiber AND good for you oils, Apples & Unsweetened Apple Sauce work very well to stave off hunger.
Both Apples & Unsweetened Apple Sauce have advantages & disadvantages.:
Whole Apples are more filling & have a lower glycemic index. And, many people like their crunchy taste when you bite into them. Their colors are often pretty to look at.
Even better, according to Marilyn vos Savant in yesterday’s Parade magazine, eating the apple skins & their added fiber & micronutrients in whole apples is associated with a decreased risk of several serious diseases. This likely includes the micronutrient that apples share with broccoli that reduces the risk of cancer.
The downside of whole apples is that they can be messy when eaten. They can be a bit time consuming to fix if you core them & quarter them. They can be more a chore to buy & store at home.
And, if you aren’t in the mood for it, apple skins can be as chewy as canvas.
The more serious problem is that whole apples often have pesticides on their skin. And, with the shiny red apples, often this is then looked away from easy washing by having an edible wax put over it to preserve their appearance.
So, for whole apples, make a special effort to buy organic ones. Or buy the green ones that aren’t waxed & wash them well before eating. Whole Foods Markets usually has several kinds of organic apples in stock & other stores are beginning to also.
Unsweetened Apple Sauce can be eaten straight out of the refrigerator.
It’s even pour-able, so you only need a spoon to eat it with & don’t need an extra spoon to serve it.
I’m quite fond of adding some powdered cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice for an extra treat.
You may also like it with ginger, cinnamon, & some dark molasses as that gives it a gingerbread taste. You can also add some 1 percent lowfat milk for a drinkable treat with more vitamins & protein,
It’s 3 drawbacks are that:
pre-sugared or sweetened applesauce has enough sugar to be a problem to eat. And, in some stores. the unsweetened may not be available;
even unsweetened applesauce is not as low in glycemic index as whole apples;
& the whole apples have a LOT more health benefits.
I find the unsweetened applesauce more convenient & tasty & easy to buy than whole apples; & I don’t like whole apples much.
By contrast, some people LOVE whole apples.
The ideal is probably to have some of each every week.
In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.
Today’s post: Monday, 5-8-2006
Superfoods & Honor Roll Foods, part 16
Apples & Unsweetened Apple Sauce.
Both are high in pectin, a soluble fiber that helps keep your LDL cholesterol under control.
Even better, they both are low enough in glycemic index & Weight Watchers points to be great foods to enjoy & take off excess fat or prevent its return.
The fiber fills you up & the small amount of natural sugar they both contain satisfy enough to help keep you from getting hungry.
And, if you eat them with avocado, walnuts, or almonds which all have fiber AND good for you oils, Apples & Unsweetened Apple Sauce work very well to stave off hunger.
Both Apples & Unsweetened Apple Sauce have advantages & disadvantages.:
Whole Apples are more filling & have a lower glycemic index. And, many people like their crunchy taste when you bite into them. Their colors are often pretty to look at.
Even better, according to Marilyn vos Savant in yesterday’s Parade magazine, eating the apple skins & their added fiber & micronutrients in whole apples is associated with a decreased risk of several serious diseases. This likely includes the micronutrient that apples share with broccoli that reduces the risk of cancer.
The downside of whole apples is that they can be messy when eaten. They can be a bit time consuming to fix if you core them & quarter them. They can be more a chore to buy & store at home.
And, if you aren’t in the mood for it, apple skins can be as chewy as canvas.
The more serious problem is that whole apples often have pesticides on their skin. And, with the shiny red apples, often this is then looked away from easy washing by having an edible wax put over it to preserve their appearance.
So, for whole apples, make a special effort to buy organic ones. Or buy the green ones that aren’t waxed & wash them well before eating. Whole Foods Markets usually has several kinds of organic apples in stock & other stores are beginning to also.
Unsweetened Apple Sauce can be eaten straight out of the refrigerator.
It’s even pour-able, so you only need a spoon to eat it with & don’t need an extra spoon to serve it.
I’m quite fond of adding some powdered cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice for an extra treat.
You may also like it with ginger, cinnamon, & some dark molasses as that gives it a gingerbread taste. You can also add some 1 percent lowfat milk for a drinkable treat with more vitamins & protein,
It’s 3 drawbacks are that:
pre-sugared or sweetened applesauce has enough sugar to be a problem to eat. And, in some stores. the unsweetened may not be available;
even unsweetened applesauce is not as low in glycemic index as whole apples;
& the whole apples have a LOT more health benefits.
I find the unsweetened applesauce more convenient & tasty & easy to buy than whole apples; & I don’t like whole apples much.
By contrast, some people LOVE whole apples.
The ideal is probably to have some of each every week.
posted by David at 12:26 PM
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