8 ways
pineapple
will
improve your health
& well-being today
Found in a wide variety of cuisines and in a selection of sweet and
savoury dishes, the pineapple could well be one of the most underrated
fruits, until now...
U
NAPPEALING TO THE EYE AND MORE
difficult than peeling a banana or
orange, the pineapple is considered by
some to be the black sheep of the fruit family.
Like Vegemite, there are those who love it and
others who simply loathe it. You just have to
take a look at the great pineapple pizza debate
that still continues to hit the headlines to see
what we mean. While many find it a perfect
accompaniment to ham and mushroom on
their pizza, the president of Iceland would
wholeheartedly disagree.
No matter your opinion on this foreboding
yet super tasty fruit, there are a whole host of
benefits of making it part of your 5 (or 10 if you
believe what you read) a day, many of them
health related. In this article, we will give you the
8 ways that pineapple will improve your healthand well-being, not just today, but for many
years to come. However, before we launch in,
first we’ll cover the fundamentals to help you get
a better understanding of this much maligned
and misunderstood fruit.How does the pineapple grow?
There’s a misconception among many people
that pineapples grow on trees, but they do in
fact grow out of the ground. The pineapple
grows when dozens of individual fruit-producing
flowers fuse into a single fruit, which is capped
with a ‘crown’ sporting numerous short leaves.
A healthy pineapple can sprout up to around
a whopping 5 feet (or 1.5 metres) in height. The
pineapple fruit grows out of the top of the central
stem. However, growth is at a snail’s pace, with
some taking up to 2 years to reach full size.Pineapple nutrition
Next, let’s look at the key nutritional facts of
pineapple and consider something that most
of us really like to talk about – and that’s carbs.
Pineapple is made up of mostly water (86%)
and carbohydrates (13%), with almost no fat or
protein. A fresh pineapple contains 50 calories
per 100 grams, while it is also a good source of
several vitamins and minerals.
One single cup of pineapple provides 132% of
the recommended daily intake for vitamin C and
76% for manganese.
For an age now, teachers and governments
have stressed the benefits of eating vegetables
and fruits to tackle many lifestyle-related health
conditions, and pineapple is no exception.
What gives pineapple its power is a little thing
called bromelain.