How to Find the Best Fruits for Consumption

If you want your diet to be well-balanced and contain all the necessary nutrients, fruits should be an essential part of it. They come with minerals and vitamins that boost your immune system and keep you healthy and fit. An adult should consume at least two servings of fruits for a healthy lifestyle. So, if you are thinking of incorporating fruits into your daily meal plan, here’s how you can choose the best fruits for consumption.

Benefits of eating fruits

There’s a long list of benefits of making fruits part of your diet. They are a good source of vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and fibre. Consuming a diet rich in fruits can bring down the risk of heart failure, cancer, diabetes, and inflammation.

Fruits also benefit your skin, hair, and nails by delivering wellness from within. So, the next time you order something from a place like McEwan Fine Foods, make sure it contains fruits.

Pay careful attention

You should be very careful when buying fruits at your local fruit and vegetable store. Steer clear of ones with cuts, bruises, decay, mould, and insect bites. However, you should also keep in mind that fruits don’t necessarily have to be in pristine shape to be good and tasty. You just need to use your judgement when choosing fruits.

Fresh might not be the best

Seasonal fruits are best consumed fresh; however, if your country imports fruits from another country, chances are they have travelled for weeks and will arrive in your country frozen. This does not mean they are bad. Frozen fruits are just as nutritious as fresh fruits. However, you need to be aware of canned fruits. They usually come with sugar and loads of corn syrup. The nutritious value of the fruit can get lost in the syrup. So, avoid buying canned fruits with sugar, salt, and syrup.

Ripe fruits

When fruits are ripe, they change colour and become soft. The process of ripening varies from fruit to fruit. Melons and citrus fruits don’t get any sweeter than they already are, but bananas change colour and become sweeter.

Some farmers pick fruits before they are ripe; this is done in order to prevent any bruising that’s likely to happen when they are ripe.

To ripen fruit, you can place it on the kitchen counter for a few days. To speed up the process, you should place it in a paper bag and place another ripe fruit in the bag. Once the fruit is ripe, you should consume it right away or place it in the refrigerator.

Buy fresh fruits in the season

Buy fruits that are colourful and nice to look at. You should buy them and consume them right away. The ones that are limp and brownish are not a good buy. To save up, you should buy seasonal fruits.

As soon as you bring your fruits home, refrigerate them; you can even clean and cut them into pieces before placing them in the refrigerator.

If you don’t have a lot of time, you can buy prewashed and cut fruits. There are packaged fruits, but you should inspect them very carefully to make sure they are in good condition.

Buy frozen fruits

You can buy frozen fruits and keep them for weeks or months. Keep them in the deep freezer and add them to your meal whenever you want. You can defrost and eat them too, but they are more suitable for smoothies and juices.

What are organic fruits?

Organic fruits are grown without the addition of fertiliser. These fruits usually come in packages and carry a label stating that they are organic. Needless to say, organic fruits are a healthier choice, but they are more expensive than regular fruits.