5 Benefits of an Apple a Day

It’s apple season and apples are one of the best choices for snacks.

Apples are full of antioxidants, flavonoids, and fiber. They are a convenient snack with so many benefits.

Apples have been shown to help in weight loss, reduce the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. They are full of Vitamin C, B Vitamins, phytonutrients and minerals such as calcium, phosphorous and potassium. A medium apple contains only 75 calories, but the fiber helps you feel full making it a great snack as well as being considered a nutritional powerhouse.

Benefits of apples include:

1. Prevent obesity. A compound in some types of apples affects your gut bacteria and improves the good bacteria that help to prevent obesity. Braeburn, Fuji, Gala, McIntosh, Granny Smith, Red and Golden Delicious apples all contain this compound.
2.  An apple a day could help prevent breast cancer. High consumption of fruits and vegetables with phenolics, found in apples, is helpful in preventing certain types of cancer.
3. Prevent type 2 diabetes. Eating 3 apples a week can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by almost 10%.
4. Lower cholesterol. Older women that ate an apple every day reduced their bad cholesterol by 23% in 6 months.
5. Keep your brain healthy. People who eat apples regularly have better brain health with reduced risk of having a stroke or being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The quercetin in apples helps to reduce oxidation and inflammation of cells in the brain.

Eat an apple before you go grocery shopping and you will buy 25% more fruits and vegetables!  Not only will the apple keep you from “shopping while hungry” it also primes you to buy more healthy foods.

The best way to eat apples? Just the way they are, wash and eat. Eat the peel, 30% of the fiber is in the peel and that great nutrient, quercetin, it’s mostly found in the skin too. Apples are a super snack and a superfood for you anytime.

If you have too many apples you can always make crisp and you know what is so great about Apple Crisp? You can add another seasonal berry to it, Blackberries!

Blackberries are full of fiber, manganese, Vitamin C and Vitamin K! Plus they are delicious.

Apple Crisp

(with or without blackberries) courtesy of my sister Diane.

Preheat oven to 350 F

6 c. apples
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Combine these ingredients together in a bowl.
Place in baking dish and add 1/4 cup of water

(Optional 1 cup blackberries or cranberries)

Topping

2/3 c. flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. vegan margarine
2/3 c. rolled oats

Combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Mix margarine until the
texture is that of coarse crumbs. Mix in rolled oats.
Sprinkle over fruit; shake lightly.

Bake until topping is brown and crisp (40 minutes)

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla

PS I am the one without hair.