The Cleansing Power of Fruit

Apples
There are many varieties of apple, many with distinctive flavors and textures which make them valuable for eating out of hand or making applesauce, pies, juice, cider, and vinegar. Apples are interesting in that they are bound to grow in the temperate zones of the world because they require a certain number of days below freezing every year for them to bear fruit. This places them in close proximity to the major population centers of the world and modern transportation makes them available world wide and all year long. Like bananas, they are universally available and very rich in vitamins A and C.

Grapefruit
Luther Burbank developed the Grapefruit by crossing the orange and the lemon. Grapefruit has become an important commodity in the winter fruit market. The sweet red fruits are a popular gift item during the winter holidays. As is typical of citrus fruits, grapefruit is rich in vitamin C.

Grapes
The varieties of grapes are varied with corresponding differences in taste according to color. The bright taste of the purple grape, the spicy taste of the red grape and the sweetness of the white grape offer a palate of flavors with which to satisfy a wide variety of tastes. The grape seeds are rich in pycnogenol, also called grape seed extract. The benefit of the seeds may be had by processing the whole grape in a blender. The pycnogenol is a nutrient that the body uses as a precursor to many materials used in healing the body of disease.

Always wash commercially grown grapes carefully as they are sprayed with poisonous materials to protect them on the vine.

Lemons and Limes
Summertime and lemonade go together. Nutritionally, they are rich in vitamin C, bioflavonoids which are vitamins that maintain the strength of the walls of cells and capillaries. Bioflavonoids are found in the soft white inner skin of the lemon.

Melons
The varieties of melons are rough skinned, orange-fleshed varieties such as the Rocky Ford and the Tender-skinned honeydew with its pale green flesh. They are the most nutritious of fruits, ranking ahead of oranges and watermelon. They are excellent sources for vitamins A and C and they also assist in treating anxiety, so if you are worried, eat a cantaloupe.

Oranges
Through 1800's oranges were not universally available, but now they are abundant everywhere. They are a seasonal fruit and they are best during the winter months, but they can be found year round with their cheery flavor. As with all vitamin C bearing fruits, they are at their nutritional best when freshly squeezed. The universal orange color of commercially grown oranges is produced by treating the skins to make them uniform and to give them sales appeal. An orange that has a pale skin is nutritious, so don't let the color of the skin dissuade you from enjoying locally grown oranges if you are fortunate enough to be in a semi-tropical land.

Pears
Pears come in several varieties. The usual ones we find are the commercially grown ones that have been carefully selected for commercial use. Unlike apples, they have a very short period when they are ripe and before they spoil. They are shipped green and ripened in the store or at home, like bananas. They are ripe when they are soft and the stem pulls out easily. They are rich in vitamin C. They also provide calcium, potassium, phosphorus and other minerals.

Pineapples
The pineapples that are available in most stores are picked green and are ripened in transit. Field ripened pineapples have a distinctively sweeter flavor and a yellow skin. They are rich in vitamin C and minerals. They are also rich in bromelain which is a powerful digestive enzyme and is very beneficial when taken with some dietary supplements.

Tomatoes
The tomato was long considered to be poisonous to the western world. They were used as ornamental plants and called 'love apples'. It was after a man who had visited India and saw that tomatoes were good food, sat on the court house steps of an American city and actually ate a 'poisonous' love apple in full view of the public - and he didn't die, that tomatoes became a staple in the diet of the western world. Incidentally, we think of tomato paste, and pizza in the same thought. Actually, Italy imported their first tomatoes from the United States

Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C. Also the peak of their nutrition is achieved on the vine just hours before they are over ripe, so, grow your own tomatoes if you can. Commercial tomatoes that are picked green and store ripened may look pretty but they are missing the nutrition that is available in a vine ripened tomato.

Watermelons
We all know about watermelons but we may disagree on how to pick out a perfectly ripened one. It should make a hollow sound when it is thumped with a knuckle. Watermelon rinds make tasty pickles but the best nutrition of the rind is gotten by juicing.

his article was written by our guest writer, Mr. Bob Davis.
Founder of the Alternative Cancer Treatments website!