Grapefruits are a hybrid between a citrus fruit called pomelo and sweet oranges. When these two fruits were planted close enough, the bittersweet fruit we have come to call grapefruit was created. Within the past couple of decades, grapefruit has come to be seen as one of the more beneficial fruits to eat and drink for your body.
Nutrition
Grapefruit peels have been shown to contain a variety of nutritious vitamins and chemicals that are quite beneficial. Partly due to this reason, grapefruit has found its way into many diet schemes and better-living suggestions as a key fruit to implement into your lifestyle.
One of grapefruit's best benefits is its high amount of vitamin C. According to Whfoods.com, a single grapefruit (including peel) contains about 78 percent of the recommended daily value for vitamin C. It's chock full of vitamin C, and being able to get nearly all of your daily need of this vitamin from one source makes it a very useful fruit. Grapefruit peel also contains pectin, which has been noted to lower cholesterol, and various chemicals like falvonoids, terpenes and limonoids. These chemicals have been known to help reduce the chances of cancer and tumor development.
Grapefruit Weight Loss
Along with their nutritious value, grapefruits have become a common fruit talked about when discussing weight loss through dieting. As noted by Dietbites.com, half a grapefruit (with peel) contains about 37 to 44 calories. Compared to most other snacks, grapefruits hold a nice caloric value to them when used as one of the five to six small meals during the day.
Preparedfoods.com points out a study conducted with 100 obese men and women who ate half a grapefruit before meals for 12 weeks. The result was an average of 3.6 pounds loss, with some participants losing more than 10 pounds. A portion of this is believed to be the fruit's temporary ability to reduce insulin, making the body store fewer calories after a meal.
Grapefruit peels have become so involved in weight-loss discussion that they have become the foundation of their own weight-loss diet. The grapefruit diet uses the fruit as one of its key foods. However, as noted by Webmd.com, most grapefruit-peel-diet variations average between 800 to 1,000 calories per day, a sum that will garner weight loss in nearly anyone who uses the diet. However, this doesn't discount grapefruit peels as an extremely nutritious and very healthful fruit that can help you lose weight if used as a replacement for those higher calorie snacks.
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