A healthy lifestyle is the key to longevity, optimum weight, abundant energy and balance. By using fruit to satisfy our taste for sweetness, we can leave behind the use of chemical, processed and refined sweeteners. Fruits are easy to digest, are cleansing and cooling and are great for those who are over- stressed and over-heated from excessive mental strain or hot climates. Fruits are filled with fiber and liver stimulants, which act as natural, gentle laxatives. Whenever possible, buy fresh, locally grown fruit as opposed to imported fruits shipped form far off places. This keeps you eating in season, so you feel more in harmony with your environment and climate.Eating fruit raw in summer months is highly cooling, while baking it in the winter months neutralizes this cooling effect. Fruit in the form of juice is a great choice for cleansing the body, but be aware that juice rapidly raises blood sugar levels, leading to an energy crash soon after. Frozen, whole, pureed or juiced fruit can make great summertime cool-down treats. Try frozen grapes, banana-coconut smoothie popsicles or lime juice ice-cubes in iced tea!

Whether you are having fresh fruit for a light early morning breakfast, a mid day snack or evening treat, enjoy nature’s sweetness and when ever possible buy organic. Here are a few summer fruits and their health benefits:

• Apricots: Great for lung conditions and asthma; used to help treat anemia due to their high copper and cobalt content.
• Bananas: Help to lubricate the intestines, treat ulcers, detoxify the body, and manage sugar cravings; rich in potassium, which helps hypertension.
• Blueberries: natural antioxidants that neutralize free radical damage; help relieve diahrrea and constipation
• Cherries: Slightly warming in nature; increase overall body energy, remedy arthritis and rheumatism, and are rich in iron, which improves the blood.
• Papayas: Tone the stomach, act as digestive aid, moisten the lungs and alleviate coughing; contain carpaine, an anti-tumor compound.
• Raspberries: Benefit the liver and kidneys, cleanse blood of toxins, regulate menstrual cycles, treat anemia and can promote labor at childbirth.

Filed under: Blood Sugar, Fiber, Fruit, Sugar and Sweeteners