How can I incorporate fruits into my diet

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  • gerimarriott
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    The best way to have fruit, other than whole, blend it or use a juicer. taste fab.
  • dardell77
    dardell77 Posts: 8 Member
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    Hi!

    I have just the recipe for you!! I struggle with getting in all my fruits as well even though I actually do like them, they just don't seem to be my first choice unfortunately! I'm making this fruit salad this week so I can get my fruit in as well as curb my nightly snack attacks.

    Creamy Dreamy Fruit Fandango

    PER SERVING (1 cup): 131 calories, 3g fat, 67mg sodium, 26g carbs, 3g fiber, 18.5g sugars, 1.5g protein -- PointsPlus® value 3*

    Is it a dessert? A snack? A side dish? YEP, it's all of the above. And it's gooooooooood! Chocolate chips and slivered almonds invade this sweet 'n creamy fruit salad...

    Ingredients:
    1 cup Cool Whip Free, thawed
    1 tbsp. Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Vanilla Instant pudding mix
    2 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped
    3 cups seedless red grapes, halved
    2 cups chopped strawberries
    1/4 cup thinly sliced dry-roasted almonds (like Almond Accents)
    2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

    Directions:
    Place Cool Whip in a large bowl, sprinkle with pudding mix, and stir until smooth and slightly thickened. Add fruit and toss to coat. Add almonds and chocolate chips, and gently stir. That's it. (It's really easy.) Eat up!

    MAKES 8 SERVINGS
  • Coyla
    Coyla Posts: 444 Member
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    Fruits...bah, almost as boring as vegetables.

    My somewhat hard-nosed way of getting fruit into my diet was giving up all sweets. I mean, even fake sweeteners. It's made fruit a lot more appealing when I have a sugar craving, which is pretty much all the time.

    Otherwise, eat the fruits you like. Like others have said, you don't have to eat fruit to be healthy. :)
  • skshephe
    skshephe Posts: 2 Member
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    I grab the already cut up fruit ready for smoothies that is in the freezer section of the grocery store (make sure it's the no sugar added variety- check the ingredients) and I use the fruit as ice cubes for plain soda water- it doesn't water down your drink and then they are somewhat defrosted when you eat them and I just think everything is more fun when it's frozen :) Another fun frozen fruit in the freezer section is frozen cherries!
    Ok so you hate bananas and I see everyone trying to talk you into eating them in another form and I have to say I'm also going to tell you frozen bananas made into soft serve is awesome but if you hate bananas you still probably won't like it. I use ripe bananas in my oatmeal to sweeten it and don't use any other sweetener- you don't have to change the water to oatmeal ratio, just add it into your bowl before you microwave and then when they come out "whip" it all together and the bananas basically dissolve into the oatmeal and give it such a yummy creamy texture!! Top with a teaspoon of any nut butter you like and it's perfect for a colder morning.

    Recently I have been chopping up kiwi and adding it to a high fiber cereal with fat free cottage cheese- it's so good!!
    Bottom line is fruit has tons of sugar and when I eat more than 3 servings a day I definitly can tell in my mid section and when I replace those servings with veggies instead it goes away pretty quickly, so not loving fruit isn't such a bad thing :)
  • katzav
    katzav Posts: 67
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    i'm allergic to most fruits. all rock fruit (peaches, plums, cherries, etc.) and apples, pears and that type of fruit. i didn't become allergic 'til i was about 14, and i used to love to eat them. now i sometimes eat dried fruit, but mostly i don't eat any. i miss it, but somehow i survive with out eating much fruit.

    if you don't mind the texture of citrus, (which i am not allergic to) pineapple has almost the same texture i feel.

    i don't have any amazing recipes to 'hide' fruit, but i guess i'm just saying you can live on a diet with out it.
  • DorothyR87
    DorothyR87 Posts: 113
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    Thank you everyone so much for your ideas. I'm really going to look into trying some of them, though I still don't know about those banana ideas!
  • ChrisRN75495
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    Fruits turn into sugar.
    Not exactly. Fruit has sugar in it, but not granulated sugar that is calorie dense and completely lacking in nutrition! Fruit's sugar is fructose, it's more complicated, takes more energy for the body to use. It's a better source of carbohydrate (which is starch, all of which turns into "sugar") than, say, pasta. Plus, you have to have carbohydrates, that's where energy comes from. In addition, fruit has fiber and vitamins and minerals, plus it's interesting to eat, just just have to find some you like, and ways that you will enjoy it. If your goal is to stay healthy, fruit's important, along with vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats, and I applaud your wanting to figure out how to eat it.
    Take vitamins and supplements and drink lots of water and make sure you get calcium somewhere in there.
    Again, I respectfully disagree. It is never, ever better to get the nutrition you need from manufactured supplements. Who benefits most from us using supplements are the people who make them and the people who sell them. Supplements are never pure, they have other stuff connected to the material you are trying to eat, and it wasn't put there by Mother Nature, so no telling what it's going to do once it's inside you! You are absolutely right to want to eat the real thing, even if you don't like it!
    Exercise at least 15 min a day, for three to four days out of the week and you can eat most the stuff you want, just in moderation.
    Again, I beg to differ. If I ate most of the stuff I wanted, it would be tiramisu, lasagna, spaghetti, cheese anything, cheeseburgers, fries. I know these things are "slippery slopes." Exercising 15 minutes a day, 3-4 days a week is not going to burn off the thousands of calories we can potentially put on just eating in moderation. If you want to lose weight, you have to decrease your calories, eat balanced, exercise enough so that you use up more calories than you take in!

    There are a lot of different fruits and as many different ways of seeing if you might like them. Incidentally, I don't like bananas either. I have eaten them occasionally, but generally, ew. And frozen? No way. In a smoothie, I don't think so. If I wanted to eat a banana, I'd eat a banana!

    You mentioned grapefruit. Check out a fruit called pomelo. Sometimes it is spelled pumelo. It looks like a grapefruit, isn't quite as juicy (so not at as messy). You peel it like an orange--make a cut in the thick hide and pull it off, or you can cut it off with a knife. The white stuff is not very tasty, but if you like it, it has loads of minerals and vitamins and FIBER!! I used to eat it as a kid, now I pull it off and give it to the dog, who loves it. The actual flesh of the pomelo is inside the same kind of membrane as a grapefruit, but you can open it and take out the edible part and eat it with your hands. Very clean, very neat, and not bitter like a grapefruit can be. It is wonderful without any sugar or other sweetener on it. I think you'll like it. One probably will give four servings, but (being portion control damaged, myself), I usually eat the whole thing at once.

    Kiwi. Probably one of the very best fruits you can eat, the paper thin skin comes off by rubbing the edge of a spoon on it, then lifting it right up and off. You can slice it, or, just eat it.

    What about dried fruits? There are some new freeze dried fruits that are amazing. I mentioned I don't like bananas either? I liked them freeze dried. I also enjoyed freeze dried apples and berries.

    Speaking of berries. All kinds of them are pretty tasty, but if they aren't appealing fresh, try them dried and add them to other foods, like oatmeal. They are also interesting in yogurt (although I like mine plain, frankly). You can also cook dried fruit into rice and grains. AND, if you like curry, you can add fruits with that, like on the top. In Indonesia, that's (sort of) "rice taffel" (aka "rice table").

    I don't know if this helps, but I have my hat off to you. I spend a lot of effort focused on what I don't like and don't want (mostly exercise!). You are focusesd on how you can learn to change so you like something you know is good for you.

    You're a good role model! Good luck.... :flowerforyou:
  • Marty_D
    Marty_D Posts: 39 Member
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    there is no rule that you have to eat fruit to be healthy. if you dont like it, dont eat it.

    but if you don't like an apple with peanut butter smeared on slices, then you are whack! lol

    Apples with peanutbutter is a staple of mine! Some people scoff but it be tasty! Can't imagine someone not liking fruit, allergies I can understand but with as many types and varieties, perhaps its time to give them another try? Tastes change over time.
  • hiker282
    hiker282 Posts: 983 Member
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    <Gollum> They are sweet, they are juicy, they are nice. Eat them! EAT THEM!!!! </Gollum> Is there really more to it than that? <Samwise> Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew. </Samwise> Put grapes on salad...a banana sliced up on toast with peanut butter. Wrap an apple in bacon. We all know bacon makes everything better.
  • JamesonsMommy
    JamesonsMommy Posts: 771 Member
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    take pineapple and dip in some sugar free chocolate syrup and freeze :) I also like strawberries dipped in yogurt.. put in the freezer until the yogurt is hard.

    Some other favorites are apple sauce in brownies instead of oil, You can pretty much puree any kind of fruit and add it to stuff :)
  • eating4balance
    eating4balance Posts: 743 Member
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    Banana "Ice Cream": Freeze banana slices and then process them in a food processor until smooth. Voila! Ice Cream!

    uhh....she said she hates bananas

    I know, but some people can't even tell that this is made with bananas! Especially if you add cocoa powder and peanut butter. Yum :smile:

    If she doesn't want to try it, no harm done. Sorry!

    oh...didnt know you add peanut butter...everything is better with peanut butter:smile:

    Haha. Totally true!