We all know fruit is good for us, but which should you choose: fresh or dried? Good question. Fresh comes as nature intended, packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants & phytochemicals - all of which are required for good health. Unfortunatley much of the vitamin C is lost in the drying process.... but, dried fruit is considerably higher in fibre, which is a great aid to weight loss! Dried apricots contain around 20g of fibre per 100g, whereas fresh have less than 2g. Another advantage of fresh fruit is that it holds a lot of water & is relatively low in calories... so you can eat a greater volume... eg. 100g of grapes has only around 60 calories, but the dried version - raisins - has about 275 per 100g.
The water content of fresh fruit adds to your daily water requirement & helps keep you feeling full - a great plus again if you're trying to lose a few pounds. That's not to say dried fruit isn't good for you... the remaining nutrients are concentrated into smaller volumes so a little amount is perfect as a snack between meals & helps to regulate your blood sugar levels.
So include both in your daily diet, but my tip is to make sure you eat more portions of vegetables than fruit each day - that way you should be having the right amount!
Happy healthy eating!
Bev
