Apples happen to be my favorite fruit. They’re easy to take with me where ever I go and make a wonderful healthy snack. As a personal trainer, a lot of my clients struggle with hunger during the day and snack on unhealthy foods at the office. I recommend that they bring some fruit with them to snack on so they don’t fall into the trap of eating junk. The health benefits of apples very high for such a tasty snack.

Apples are full of nutrients and a great source of fiber. Apples taste great and come in a bunch of different flavors. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be adding this to your diet.

Here are the health benefits of apples

High fiber

One apple contains a little over 4 grams of fiber per serving. The daily recommended amount of fiber is 25-30 grams per day. Adding a couple of apples to your diet will keep you on track to hit that number. Most of the fiber in the skin of the apple is soluble called pectin. This kind of fiber effective in lowering cholesterol. Keeping your cholesterol levels in check is a great reason to add apples into your diet.

Nutrients in apples

 Apples are a good ok source of vitamin C and have a decent amount of potassium about 195 mg or 4% of your daily value. Apples are high in flavonoids and antioxidants that provide a lot of different health benefits. The antioxidants in apples include phlordzin, catechin, quercetin and cholorogenic acid. All this helps fight free radicals which prevents our cells of breaking down. Some of the nutrients in apples provide anti- inflammatory effects and may help prevent some forms of cancer. Remember that the nutrients are in the skin of the apple not the core so eat the whole thing.

Healthy gut

 The bacteria in the gut love apples because of the fiber. Healthy bacteria feed on the fiber from the foods we eat and this helps to keep our gut in check. Instead of reaching for that probiotic try eating a diet high in whole foods packed with fiber. When you snack on junk food you don’t get healthy fiber and this won’t provide any benefit to the gut.

Apples are good carbs

 I’m sure you’ve heard of good carbs and bad carbs? Apples fall into the good carb family. Apples have a glycemic index score of 38 which is low. When you’re looking for carbs the best bet is to find foods that have a low score on the GI index because the body absorbs them slowly. Apples fall under this category. The reason that apples have low GI index score is the high fiber in the food. Fiber slows down the digestion of sugar into the blood stream. Apples provide a slow release of energy which can help keep blood sugar stable.

Apples and weight loss

 As we said before apples are full of fiber but the kind of fiber that’s in apples may help you lose weight. The fiber itself doesn’t make you burn extra calories or melt the fat away with some magic. It has pectin which is a gelling agent in some foods. This means that the fiber in apples will create bulk in the stomach which will keep you full longer. When trying to lose weight keeping calories down is the name of the game.

Apples are good for working out

 When we workout we burn a lot of carbs and need to put the carbs back into our body when we’re done. Apples are a good choice for this because they also contain electrolytes which we need after a workout. Apples release carbs slowly which is ideal for someone trying to lose weight during a workout program. You can also use apples as a pre-workout snack to have energy before you head to the gym.

Conclusion

 The health benefits of apples are high. The old saying eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away might be true. This high fiber low caliore food is a good choice for those trying to lose weight. Apples are low on the GI index which makes them a good carb. Apples are an easy snack and you can bring them anywhere.

Check out or blog on weight loss myths

https://www.onthegofitnesspro.com/busting-the-biggest-weight-loss-myths/

References

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/apples-health_b_1418993

https://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/a20428876/apples-as-a-weight-loss-food/

https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/nutrition/what-is-the-healthiest-apple/