Friday’s Fruit (and Vegetable) of the Day
Hello, my name is Zach and I will be writing about healthy eating/food a couple times a week to help inform on all the amazing aspects of food. Each post will have a bit of a theme, as you can see this first one is about a specific fruit and vegetable. Seeing as it is Friday, this post will be a little bit shorter. I understand people want to get the weekend started, but I think it is important to continue healthy habits even into the weekend. So, the goal of the Friday post will be to try and convince you to try one of the foods I talk about over the weekend to broaden your vegetable and fruit palate.
Pears are a local fruit; they also happen to be in season during late summer. Per the USDA, the average pear is 95 calories, but the pear offers something much more than a low-calorie snack. Pears provide 5 grams of fiber per serving, and this equates to approximately 15% of the daily recommended amount of fiber. The Harvard School of Public Health states that fiber comes in two forms, soluble and insoluble, and both are beneficial. Soluble can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels and insoluble can help with digestion. You can incorporate pears into a diet simply by substituting one pear for a sugary granola bar or other popular processed snack.
Zucchini is another low-calorie, healthy food that is currently in season. One cup of zucchini amounts to only 19 calories. Most people are unaware that zucchini is a good source for vitamin C with 22mg per cup, or about 22% of the daily recommended amount. Another wonderful aspect of zucchini is that is versatile. Zucchini can be eaten raw, cooked, or baked so there truly is an endless amount of ways to incorporate zucchini into a meal or snack. The USDA recommends at least 3 cups of vegetables daily for adult men and women in order to get necessary nutrients, so integrating vegetables into your diet is important.