Open your senses and let your taste buds enjoy the fresh seasonal fruits and greens nature provides us. The months of summer shine not only with sunshine, but also with a spread of colors in the fruits and vegetables sprouting up.
This is a great time to take advantage of wonderful food combinations that can be easily prepared in the comfort of your own home! The best part is that it won’t take long to notice the benefits of how you look and feel.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are great to consume for your health. When fresh, fruits and vegetables are in its most natural form and contain the most vitamins and minerals for the body to absorb. This is ideal to keep your body healthy and energized.
Hottest Summer Produce
Here are a few of the hottest fruits and veggies that you must include in your diet this summer season. I’ve also included a few excellent smoothie recipes you can make with your FITBLAST protein by Total Gym.
ARUGULA
This is a tasty leaf for delicious salads and is great in shakes too! Its slightly peppery taste contains an excellent source of folate, calcium, and vitamin C. It pairs up with citrus fruits well. You can never get enough green goodness!
CUCUMBERS
Cucumbers are primarily comprised of water, making it a refreshing and hydrating hot summer item. It contains a good source of vitamin C and silica, which is important for connective tissue health as well as reducing swelling or redness on the skin. Cucumbers are great in shakes, especially when paired with mint and berries!
HOT PEPPERS
Spice up a raw, cooked, or liquid meal with an array of hot peppers. Peppers have many healing benefits for your body. Hot peppers contain capsaicin, which is a compound that can alleviate the symptoms of migraines, arthritis, upset stomach, inflammation, and reduce the risk of various diseases. Due to their ‘heat’, they also serve as a thermogenic agent to speed metabolic activity and aid in weight loss. So turn up the summer heat and add some hotness to your shakes!
SHALLOTS
Shallots are part of the onions and leek family. They contain one of the highest concentrations of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, and anti-bacterial properties! They are also associated with reducing risks for several diseases (cancers, heart disease, and diabetes). This is an amazing food to add into sauces, salads, or in other dishes in place of onions.
MELONS
Summer melons such as watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew serve as the perfect treat on a hot summer day, making it a perfect snack for parks, picnics, barbeques, and gatherings. The refreshing taste and high nutrient content makes melons an excellent fruit to consume regularly. Their content is mostly water which helps ward off dehydration, especially in the heat. The juicy flavor makes eating it raw delightful, but they’re also enjoyed in salads, shakes, or deserts too. Melons are packed with vitamins and minerals such as; vitamin A, C, & B6, folate, and potassium. I have to mention they are also excellent for the skin, vision, fighting infections, weight loss, and contain antioxidants to heal the body.
CHERRIES
Cherries are a summer favorite fruit that can be eaten fresh (raw), baked in deserts, or used in smoothies. They contain anthocyanins and cyanidin, which are powerful antioxidants that help fight disease. They also contain fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids, and have an anti-inflammatory effect that helps reduce pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis. I’ve included a tasty smoothie recipe below for you to try with this special fruit.
CITRUS FRUITS
Citrus fruits such as limes, lemons, grapefruits and oranges are refreshing in the summer months, but are an all-season fruit. These fruits are not only refreshing, but they’re also beneficial for your health. They contain natural source of vitamin C, which helps destroy free radicals in your body while providing a radiant glow to your skin. Therefore, your skin rejuvenates from the inside!
Most citrus fruits contain flavonoid glycosides (termed hesperetin and naringenin) and when combined, they deliver a free radical zapping effect. Free radicals are damaging to blood vessels, contribute to cholesterol build up in the arteries, and can cause heart disease! So, including citrus fruits can prevent this from occurring.
Here’s a short list of some citrus fruits and their health benefits:
- Lemons: Lemons are one of the worlds most widely consumed tropical fruits! They provide a large amount of vitamin C, which helps fight infections. They also contain excellent sources of antioxidants to help fight off disease, promote healthy skin, and vision health. Lemons even help with weight loss! They also contain sources of thiamin, riboflavin, iron, magnesium, fiber, calcium, Vitamin B6, potassium, and pantothenic acid. Try including lemons in juices, shakes, water, dressings, and cooking.
- Grapefruit: This citrus fruit delivers a juicy, tart taste with a sweet burst of refreshing flavor. They are tasty by themselves or added into salads, salsa, juices or smoothies. Grapefruits provide a great source of vitamins A, C, & B6, folate, calcium, magnesium, and fiber. Of all fruit juices, grapefruits are ranked the highest in antioxidants. They help increase immunity to fight infection, reduce inflammation, and fight off free radical damage as well as protect your skin from the harmful UV rays!
- Limes: This tart, yet flavorful little green citrus fruit packs a powerful blend of healthy qualities. Limes are being showcased in this blog due to their special healing properties!
Limes have an irresistible refreshing scent and can flavor foods to perfection. They are reliably used as medicinal purposes. The health benefits include weight loss, skin care, improved digestion, eye care health, and helps fight against peptic ulcers, respiratory disorders, gout, gum disease, urinary disorders, along with many more. Amazing right?!
Here’s a more detailed description of what limes can do for your health…
Digestion: The scent in itself can actually aid in primary digestion. Adding lime juice to flavor your water can help digestion as well.
Skin: Lime juice and its natural oils are very beneficial for skin when consumed orally or applied externally. It rejuvenates the skin, keeps it shining, and protects it from infections.
Eyes: Limes contain healthy doses of vitamin C which is an antioxidant property that protect eyes from aging and macular degeneration. On top of that, flavonoids help protect them from infections.
Inflammation: Citrus fruits in general have anti-inflammatory properties, and can be used for a number of inflammation issues, especially asthma, arthritis, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Immune System: Limes also contain other important nutrients such as folate, vitamin B6, and carotenoids, which are needed to help the body maintain a healthy immune system.
Now you’re ready to learn some simple, refreshing, and great tasting smoothies using the summer’s ‘hot’ seasonal citrus fruits!
Citrus Smoothie Recipes
Citrus flavors offer a light, refreshing, and detoxifying effect for your body to enjoy. Here are a few tasty smoothie recipes you easily make at home with a tart citrus twist.
COCO LIME TART
1 freshly squeezed lime or cold pressed lime juice
2 tablespoons coconut flakes
1 cup coconut water
1 scoop FITBLAST
2-3 ice cubes
Blend until mixed. Sip and enjoy!
Check out the video to see how this amazing smoothie is made!
Please feel free to ‘share’ & ‘like’ with others to enjoy this tasty drink!
VANILLA CITRUS
1 whole orange (peeled and de-seeded)
1 freshly squeezed lemon or cold pressed lemon juice
1 cup coconut water
1 scoop FITBLAST
Dash of turmeric
2-3 ice cubes
Blend until mixed.
CHERRY-CICLE
1 cup frozen or fresh-pitted cherries
1 cup coconut milk
1 scoop FITBLAST
2-3 ice cubes
Blend until mixed. Sip and enjoy!
This summer, experiment mixing up some of the most colorful and nutritious blends of foods that allow your body to feel good on the inside as well as look great on the outside.
Happy Blending!
Maria
