I have been eating at least one dried fruit a day for the last 10 years and I would never go back not eating them.
These are very healthy and have great beneficial properties for your body.
However, very few of us know which dried fruits are best and what these can do to your health.
That is why I decided to write this article where I briefly spell out why is dried fruit good for you.
Are dried fruits good for you?
Yes, Dried Fruits are excellent for you.
Unfortunately, from experience with my friends, I have learned to know that quite a lot of people find dried fruits quite unattractive. They also believe that these are not as tasty as fresh fruits.
But in my family, dried fruits have become the norm to eat in the morning, and as a snack instead of the usual sugary bar.
So, if you’re among the group of people that believes eating a sugary bar is good, then I invite you to reconsider. In fact, I strongly invite you to change your opinion.
First, dried fruits are an exceptional energy source. And you need this energy during the day for your brain to work properly. But you also need it for performing at the highest level in sports.
Here is an excellent example of this.
Chelsea football club winning the Premiership with dried fruits
I am unsure if you are a football fan, but here is the perfect example of why you should consider dried fruits.
In 2017, Chelsea football (1) club in the United Kingdom got a new coach. His name is Conte, Antonio Conte from Italy.
When he arrived at the club, he noticed that his players (high performing football sportsmen) were not at their best during the matches.
He investigated and found out that they were eating pizza, pasta, chicken, scrambled eggs, etc.
In his eyes, what the players were eating was the cause of their dizziness (if I may put it that way) or heaviness (meaning that they were not able to run and play at their best).
So he decided to change this by asking them to eat dried seeds, dried nuts and what the subject of today is: dried fruits. (2)
In the beginning, the players could not believe this.
But as they got used to eating the new diet and as their performance increased, it was clear to them that what the coach Conte (or the boss like they call him) was right.
They ended up winning the Premier League (3) that year and very few players were taken off injured. Maybe dried fruits played something in this?
Surely, the players believed in it and certainly the Chelsea staff.
Dry fruits are good for health
So now you know that dried fruits are good for your health and to support your sporting efforts.
They are a good addition to support your brain function.
But you need to know something quite important. There are two main groups of dried fruits:
- Dried fruit; and
- Meat fruit.
You may ask yourselves what is meat fruit?
Well, if the inside of the so-called ‘dried’ fruit is juicy, then this fruit falls within the meat fruits.
On the other hand, if it is not juicy, then it is called dried fruit. That wasn’t that difficult to understand.
Why is dried fruit good for you?
There are literally hundreds of scientific studies showing that dried fruits are really good for your health.
Several studies show that dried fruits associated with nuts are highly efficient to counteract metabolic diseases.
For instance, I am constantly asked: are dry fruits good for diabetics?
Are dry fruits good for diabetes
And the answer is ‘Yes’. Eating these can help you fight against type 2 diabetes. And this is scientifically proven (4).
They have unique properties that are of interest to us. They contain plenty of macronutrients, micronutrients, and other bioactive compounds.
These are at the heart of their beneficial effects observed on human bodies.
Although we now know that dried fruits are good for diabetic patients, we do not really know the exact mechanisms by which they modulate glucose and insulin on our bodies.
Researchers are still investigating this so that they can provide better medical support to people affected by type 2 diabetes.
You also need to know that these fruits contain a lot of fiber, fat, minerals and a number of bioactive molecules.
All of these helps modulate some of your gene mechanisms. And they do so at the cell and molecular levels.
Dry fruits are good for the heart
Again, you may ask which dry fruits are good for heart patients? There are many, but the most common and cheap enough are raisins, prunes, dates, and figs.
Eating these can reduce cardiometabolic risk factors (5).
The Best Dried Fruits to Consume
Here I list three of the best-dried fruits in the world. These are highly recommended and I personally eat them all the time.
1- Raisin dried fruit
I love raisins whether I use them in a cake or just eat them as a snack.
These should be top of your list as they are so cheap nowadays.
They are highly recommended by experts.
This is because dried raisins are rich in terms of their nutritional value.
But what I like about them is that they have the ability to aid fast recovery from diseases, infections, and problems with digestion.
On the other hand, they somehow improve the work of the sex drive in men, though I cannot guarantee this one. It is researchers who are adamant about this.
2- Almonds as dried fruit
I love this dried fruit, though I qualify it as more of a nut. Many people keep arguing about the fact this is a fruit and others about the fact it is a nut.
I personally do not mind either.
But almond is a fruit that contains a huge calorie value.
So if you want to lose weight, I would advise using almond milk. It is definitely a healthier option than cow milk.
Almond milk is really easy to digest. And on top of this, it doesn’t cause that many issues related to lactose-intolerant people.
3- Dates dried fruit
I left my favorite as the third and last dried fruit.
I wrote a complete article about Dates. These are a mine of gold if not a diamond for your health.
They are rich in natural sugar from glucose and fructose types.
This fruit has the ability to reduce cholesterol, hypertension and heart attack.
So if you like a sweet in the late afternoon, I would highly recommend to change it with a set of dates. I usually eat three to seven of these on a daily basis. Yes, you read right, I eat 7 dates a day, and it sure does work for me.
Conclusions
It is clear that if you want to maintain good health, you need to, first, exercise regularly.
But you can do more than this. You can also start eating dried fruits.
These are good against cardio heart problems.
Eating dried fruits also helps fighting diabetic issues, especially type 2.
And I showed you above that an entire football team’s success was build-out of the consumption of dried fruits and nuts/seeds.
This is to tell you that these can lead you to better health and better sporting conditions.
Eating these can also help your brain function.
In fact, dried fruit plays a substantial role in providing your body with the minimum level of fruits, minerals, vitamins, and enzymes that you need to keep healthy.
What I really like about them is that they give me that little bit of boost when I need it. They provide a good supplement to my body to increase my energy levels.
If you think about it, people who eat dried fruits on a daily basis have incredibly good health. Think about the Nomades in the desert.
They eat dried figs, dried dates and they are incredibly healthy. And they need to be so healthy as they have to travel under temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celcius. You definitely need to be strong to handle these temperatures.
The other good news is that dried fruits are good for weight loss. They make you feel full, so you do not need to eat much.
In summary, though they are small in size, dried fruits supply your body with huge amounts of energy. And that is true throughout the whole day.