More Flat Stomach Foods You Must Have In Your Kitchen: Tropical Fruits
What do you think of when you think of the tropics?
Warm weather.
White sandy beaches.
Impromptu Dancing to live music from an even more impromptu band.
Eating healthy delicious foods.
The always on hand native (for there) fruits.
No, not the blended and mixed with alcohol kind.
I talking the fresh kind. Like just fallen from the tree fresh.
Even though you can’t get them as fresh here, you should still be eating the soon to be mention fruits. Not only are they delicious but they are also nutritious. And anything that is delicious and nutritious is a good thing. Right?
RIGHT?
Yes, ok good.
Now that we’ve gotten that taken care of let’s go over the six tropical fruits that you should be eating.
1.) Coconuts. – When you think tropical fruits the first thing that probably pops into your mind are coconuts. Coconuts, which aren’t actually nuts by the way, have two edible parts. The meat and the water.
I wonder how many macaroons you can make with this?
The water, which is touted as Mother Nature’s energy drink, is loaded with essential vitamins and minerals, electrolytes and only has around 45 calories per 8 oz. Try it next time your are working out in place of that sugar ladened concoction you normally drink.
The meat, on the other hand, has about 280 calories per cup with 220 of them coming from saturated fat. I heard that gasp. Even though coconut meat is high in saturated fat, the saturated fat from coconuts is of the medium change triglyceride (mct) variety. Why does that make any difference you ask? To make this quick MCt’s are treated differently in your body from regular saturated fats and will most likely be used as energy and not end up around your middle.
If you are adventurous, next time you are making a stir-fry try using coconut oil instead of what you normally used. The sweet and salty make a mouth watering combination.
Bonus: If you need to get out some frustrations. Step 1: buy a whole coconut and a hammer. Step 2: have fun.
2.) Guavas. – There are more than 100 types of guava that come in all sorts of colors but the one you probably think of when you think guavas is the apple guava.
An apple guava a day keeps the doctor away.
To get the full benefit of a guava, you want to eat everything but the stem. If you do that you get 3 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein, more vitamin c than an orange and too many other vitamins and minerals to list here. You get all that for only 37 calories. It would take 3 guavas to equal the calories of 1 apple. Try not to feel full after that.
Bonus: Extracts from Apple Guavas have been shown to help fight against cancer, bacterial infections, inflammation and pain.
3.) Mangoes. – Mangoes are in season between Januray and September so you better hurry or you’ll have to wait a few months to get them again.
With 105 calories per cup, mangoes are one of the higher calories fruits. But with 3 grams of prebiotic fiber (aides in digestion), loads of phytochemicals and all sorts of vitamins and mineral who cares. Don’t like tomatoes (also a fruit)? Your in luck because mangoes also contain cancer fight lycopene. Mango sauce anyone?
4.) Papayas. – As mentioned in Eat These Foods For Fat Loss This Summer, papayas are very good for aiding digestion and helping to fight inflamation.
If they have coconut water, why not papaya juice? Papayas are also loaded with electrolytes.
Like mangoes, papayas are also loaded with lycopene. In addition to lycopene, papayas also contain loads of other vitamins and minerals (it contains enough vitamin C to make an orange look wimpy by comparison), tons of electrolytes, 5 grams of fiber and around 120 calories for an entire fruit. Click here to leran how to make a Papaya Protein Splash.
5. Passion Fruit. – Want an easy snack, just just open a passion fruit and eat the inside, seeds and all.
Do the above and you will get 2 grams of fiber, loads of vitamins and mineral, 17 calories and give one hell of a hit in the fight against cancer.
6.) Pineapples. – What list of tropical fruits would be complete without pineapple.
Just like every other fruit mentioned here pineapples are loader with vitamins and minerals. If they weren’t, do you really think that I would have added them to the list. In addition to all those vitamins and minerals, one cup of pineapple has 2 grams of fiber and 84 calories. Now when I say pineapple, I mean the whole fruit not the rings that come in a can.
Bonus: Pineapple also contains bromelain which has been shown in studies to have anti-inflammatory properities.
Right about now you should be getting ready to go to your local super market to which of these delectable beauties awaits you. Once you get them I suggest you go home, crank the heat, put on a grass skirt (that coconut will make a great bra), and pretend you are a little closer to the equator on the aforementioned white sandy beaches.
Your friend and trainer,
Paul F. Sweatt
Posted by Paul | in Nutrition | No Comments
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