Only 1 in 10 Americans meet their recommendations for a certain food group. Can you guess which one? The answer is fruit! So, I have partnered with Sunsweet Growers to provide ideas on how to help you to get more fruit into your diet. Eating fruits can provide many health benefits including keeping your heart healthy, boosting your immune system, improving your digestive health, among others. With all of these advantages, one may wonder why Americans find it so hard to fit it into their diets.
One big reason my clients tell me they don’t eat enough fruit is because they don’t have the time to cut, peel or prepare the fruit. Other people may just not have the skill such as knowing how to get the seeds out of a pomegranate. The second big thing I hear is that fruit always ends up going bad and being thrown away before my clients can enjoy them, so they are hesitant to purchase more in the future.
To address my clients’ first concern, I do recommend cutting fresh fruit during the weekend so it’s ready to eat during busy weekdays. You can do this along with your meal prep and store the fruit in containers or little plastic bags to have as a sweet, refreshing snack. To address the second concern, while eating fresh fruit is great, I also recommend dried fruit as an alternative to fresh fruit. Dried fruit has many advantages that you may not have thought of before.
The first being that dried fruit has a longer shelf life and won’t spoil as quickly as fresh fruit. This also means that you don’t have to worry about refrigeration which can mean that making dried fruit your go-to portable snack is that much more convenient. Second, with dried fruit, since most of the water is taken out of the fruit, the nutrients are concentrated so you can get more of them in a smaller volume.
But not all dried fruit is created equal. I recommend looking for dried fruit that contains no added sugar, like Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes. Compared to other dried fruits, prunes are lower in naturally-occurring sugar and have a low glycemic index of only 29. This means they are digested and absorbed slowly by the body, which helps keep your energy levels higher for a longer period of time compared to foods with a higher glycemic index. Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes are also an all-natural source of fiber, with 3g of fiber per serving for 4-5 prunes, which makes for a great way to get in a serving of fruit.
Here are some snack ideas to help you start adding Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes in to your diet:
- Eat prunes as snacks such as:
- 5 prunes + 1 ounce of parmesan cheese
- 5 prunes + 12 almonds
- 5 prunes with peanut butter (each prune will have a dollop of PB on top)
Cook your main dishes such as stir fries or stews with prunes. They add moisture and flavor to meat entrees and baked goods while also supporting your fruit intake for the day. You can also add prunes to your oatmeal, cereal or smoothies for a boost of fiber and nutrients.
For recipes and to learn more about the benefits of eating Sunsweet Amaz!n prunes visit Sunsweet.com
