By Joan L. McDaniel March 18, 2015
This blog is about how I got well from what I ate, but it wasn’t easy figuring out how to eat healthy with plenty of fruits and vegetables without also having to watch how much sugar or fructose you’re eating.
Breaking my love of carbohydrates was tough enough without having something sweet to eat. I found you can mix a saturated fat like a walnut with something high in sugar and the glycemic reaction is slowed it takes it longer to digest but that wasn’t the answer. It still is sugar and I may not get the high and low roller coaster side effect, my body was still getting too much sugar. I did not want to stop eating fruit because of its tremendous enzyme, nutritional and antioxidant values. The best ways to ingest live enzymes is through eating large amounts of fruits and vegetables. So I just kept looking.
Fruit is a Source For Vitamin C and A Great Health Food
You cannot regain your health or stay healthy eating heavy amounts of sugar including fructose. As I have written before here that fruit is an excellent health food source but you have to watch out for the hidden sugar called Fructose.
I got all excited about my morning dish of berries (cranberries and blueberries and the sour cherry when in season). I have a mixture of berries with my fresh goat yogurt, cinnamon, and shredded coconut (saturated fat). But I found especially with this long cold winter I needed to increase my Vitamin C so I added a small orange. An orange is great but high in fructose.
Fruit is Great but – Watch Out for It’s Excessive Sugar (Fructose)
The best way if not the only way to get good Vitamin C in your diet is to eat citrus fruit or drink fresh fruit juice. But don’t race to the store to get a container of Orange Juice.Before you pour that great glass of OJ look at the label, you will find it is loaded with sugar. Most fruit is also loaded with sugar including an orange.
Then I suddenly remembered the Grapefruit.
Give your Immune System a VitaminC Power burst with Grapefruit
Citrus fruit is the best source for Vitamin C especially the peel. The lemon and lime are the lowest in fructose and then comes the Grapefruit. A Grapefruit about the size of a softball contains half the fructose of a small orange that is a little bigger than a golf ball.
Our Mothers told us about Vitamin C now didn’t she?
We don’t need a team of Nobel Price winning scientist or the “collage educated” group think Old Boy Network “Food Police” to tell us we need Vitamin C to help our immune system fight disease. We should know all about the power of Vitamin C by now (because our mom’s told us). Right? Vitamin C has become so important it is added to more than half of the processed foods I find on the Grocer Store Shelf. But I have also found that food to be void of nutrition, loaded with sugar, and the vitamins are artificial (synthetic means created in the lab).
Grapefruit the Bitter Sweet Forbidden Fruit
History
Grapefruit has a rather recent history, it was first discovered in Barbados in the 18th Century. The name Grapefruit means Citrus + paradise. It comes from a subtropical citrus tree know for its sour to semi-sweet fruit. A Grapefruit was first bred in Barbados and when found it was called the “forbidden fruit”.
Our ancestor of the grapefruit was the Jamaican sweet orange (Citrus sinensis). The name we call it “grapefruit” a name which reflects the way it’s arranged when it grows—hanging in clusters just like grapes.
Grapefruit trees were planted in Florida in the early 19th century, although they did not become a viable commercial crop until later that century. Florida is still a major producer of grapefruits, as is California, Arizona and Texas. Other countries that produce grapefruits commercially include Israel, South Africa and Brazil.
GrapeFruit Grows in Clusters like Grapes
Was Eve’s Forbidden Fruit a Grapefruit?
I could not find out exactly why the grapefruit was originally called the forbidden fruit. No one seems to know exactly what fruit was the biblical Eve’s forbidden fruit. I doubt it was the Grapefruit for it is hard to take a bite out of it. Tradition has identified it more likely to be an Apple
Warnings about pharmaceutical drugs and Grapefruit interaction
Before I go on too much further I better give you the warning. Check with your healthcare practitioner about consuming grapefruit or grapefruit juice if you’re taking pharmaceutical drugs. Certain pharmaceutical drugs combined with grapefruit juice become more potent. These including Antibiotics, Antihistamines, Antiviral, Calcium Channel Blockers (hypertension), Hormonal drugs, Immunosuppressant, Statins, and many others.
Compounds in grapefruit juice, including naringenin, slow the normal detoxification and metabolism processes in the intestines and liver, which hinders the body’s ability to breakdown and eliminate these drugs.
Side/Effects can be severe such as kidney or respiratory failure so be sure and check with your healthcare practitioner.
I Grew Up Eating Grapefruit
I’m not talking about the Fad Grapefruit Diet to lose weight, I’m talking about the fruit that is about the size of a softball that can be fun to eat. It is tart and tangy with an underlying sweetness, grapefruit has a juiciness that rivals that of the ever popular orange and sparkles with many of the same health promoting benefits.
But eating a Grapefruit isn’t the easiest thing, it takes real talent. I remember my father’s morning grapefruit routine. He would take his spoon and slowly remove each piece of fruit like a skilled surgeon leaving all the bitter membrane behind. When he finished all the fruit he would squeeze the hull to get every drop of fruit juice. We liked the pink grapefruit best for it did not have seeds. We did add a teaspoon of sugar just to make it taste less bitter. I now add a smidgen of Stevia for the bitterness.
Health Benefits
Grapefruit and other citrus fruit can be classified as “nature’s medicines” as they help control many diseases. Grapefruit is a great way to eat fruit, control fructose and strengthen your Immune System all at the same time.
Health Benefits of Grapefruit
Loaded with Vitamins and Minerals
Fiber a fiber called pectin a soluble fiber
Lycopene – a carotenoid found in the pink and red grapefruit but not the white. This Carotenoid helps deliver oxygen to free-radical damaged area or helps relieve inflammation and pain. Lycopene is also found in apricots guave, papaya, tomatoes and watermelon.
Phytonutrients – Called limonoids help inhibit tumor formation
Vitamins – Grapefruit is Loaded with Vitamins A, and C.
Helps Fight Diseases
Helps balance the body’s pH by making the body more alkalinity and reduces acid balance.
Helps reduce Blood Pressure
Blood Sugar – Helps lower Blood Sugar
Cancer – Naringenin, helped repair DNA in human cancer cells.
Repairs DNA
Helps reduce inflammation and pain like with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Helps Insomnia
Strengthens the Immune System thus helps fight colds. Helps sooth sore throats, eliminate coughs and reduce fevers.
Helps reduce calcium Oxalate that causes Kidney Stones
— and last but not least, grapefruit contain fat burning enzymes that are instrumental in promoting weight loss.
Description
The grapefruit is a large citrus fruit related to the lemon, orange, and pomelo. The fruit of the Grapefruit come as either ruby-red, pink, or white (blond). The skin color is either yellow or pinkish yellow.
Grapefruits range in diameter and can come with seeds or seedless.
How to Store a Grapefruit
A Grapefruit is famous for its fruit but you can’t stop there it needs to be squeezed for every last drop. I pour a part of a smidgen of Stevia to help with the sudden bitter tastes. I also love juicy grapefruit so I will not put them in the refrigerator. When the grapefruit is warm or room temperature it is juicier. I eat them within the week. The refrigerator crisper will keep them up to two or three weeks.
How to Eat and Enjoy a Grapefruit
Preparing a Grapefruit
I am not the master of grapefruit eating like my father was but I am equipped with special grapefruit utensils including a special knife and a special spoon.
Grapefruit tools 
Grapefruit Spoons note the edge of the spoon this is also great for removing the seeds and slime in my winter squash.
Grapefruit Knife this is one very handy tool. The bottom shown is curved like the round grapefruit. You can cut the fruit from the bottom. The blade make this as easy as … My grandma use to say “…as falling off a log”. The top part is the interesting part it has two blades with a small space for the membrane to fit. I’m not always so cleared eyed in the morning to see so clearly but it works good enough especially if I have that segregated spoon to finish the job.
Is There an Easier Way to Eat A Grapefruit
I was doing my research and look what I found — A Whole New Way to Eat A Grapefruit – It may even be a little easier and much less mess. Take a look and see for yourself.
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-some-uses-for-orange-peels.htm#didyouknowout
Two Methods: Segment a Peeled Grapefruit and Segment a Grapefruit While Still in the Peel
Grapefruit is a wonderful fruit to enjoy for breakfast in the morning, as a snack or as part of a heart healthy dish, such as a salad. An average grapefruit can be friendly to the waistline as well, packing only 97 calories. Also, like many other citrus fruits it is high in vitamins. Just one grapefruit provides 120 percent of the recommended daily dose of vitamin C and over half of the suggested daily requirement of vitamin A and a small amount of calcium. Here are several ways to segment a grapefruit so that you may add this well-balanced food to your diet on a regular basis.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tbf9fGAC10
Chef Tip – How to Peel and Segment a Grapefruit – LeGourmetTV George Brown Chef School
Don’t Throw Away Those Hulls
On a final note, grapefruits can also be beneficial to the environment, itself. Little known facts are that grapefruit hulls can be used to condition soil. Old grapefruit trees can be salvaged for firewood, and, lastly, grapefruit hulls and dried grapefruit can be used to feed cattle when combined with dried pulp.
Sources
http://www.naturalnews.com/029489_grapefruit_health.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/039703_hybrid_grapefruits_Big_Pharma_toxicity.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/047413_grapefruit_weight_gain_diabetes_treatment.html
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=25
http://blog.anytimefitness.com/food-focus-everything-wanted-know-grapefruit/
http://www.gotquestions.org/forbidden-fruit.html#ixzz3TomCHaSg
