Introduction
Dried fruit includes a wide class of food. It can be divided in two main types:
- Carbohydrate dried fruit, rich in sugars and low in fats, known as dehydrated dried fruit (apricots, ananas, apple, grapes, banana, dates, prunes);
- Lipid dried fruit, rich in fats and low in sugars (almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, pistachios, pine nuts).
In this article I want to talk about the second one, a set of basic elements for sports diets and not.
Nutritional properties
It’s an high protein and high-energy food. It contains also an excellent amount of fibers, vitamins (especially E vitamin) and precious minerals (like iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium). But it’s main feature is probably the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids. They have a protective action against the occurence of various diseases.
Because of the many fats contained in it, dried fruits contains a very high caloric intake. Therefore, it has to be consumed in moderation, replacing other less healthy fat sources, such as animal fats. And also you shouldn’t nibble dried fruit after a meal to avoid to introduce other unnecessary calories to the daily contribution.
Tips
As mentioned dried fruits should be eaten away from the main meals. The day-moment preferable for the recruitment is the morning snack, perhaps in combination with a fruit. If you not pratice much sport and your metabolism is quite slow, the daily consumption must not exceed 20 grams.
My personal advice is to try to eat as much as possible dried fruit with peel. It contains the highest content of dietary fibers and vitamins, that have a beneficial role for the organism.
Lastly the main tip is to try every kind of dried fruit and to choose then your favourites; buy a small supply and start to eat a small daily portion, up to 20 grams or to 50-70 grams if you are a bodybuilder in development of muscle mass.
If you want other information about daily consumption foods, read the articles below:
https://foodnhealth.org/honey-biscuit/
https://foodnhealth.org/coconut-oil/
https://foodnhealth.org/eating-brown-advantages-and-disadvantages/
