Grab an apple for a healthy breakfast on the go! Apples are one of the most substantial fruits out there, and studies have shown that eating one before a meal will help control your craving for less healthy foods; apples are packed with fibre, vitamin C, potassium, and tons of antioxidants. It would seem that the Doctors are right! Here are some uses you may not have thought of;
Health & Beauty
1. Improve Lung Health. Apples contain several phytochemicals that are thought to promote lung health. Studies have shown that apples help people suffering from allergies and asthma!
2. Treat Your Skin Right. Apples are a great way to give your skin that glow it deserves.
3. Get Rid of a Migraine. Take a whiff of a green apple the next time you feel a migraine coming on. Studies have shown that the smell of green apples helps ease the pain and shorten the time they last.
Food
1. Ripen Other Fruits. It may sound weird, but there’s science to back it up! Apples can help other fruits ripen because they naturally emit a gas called ethylene, a hormone that speeds along the ripening process. If you’d like to ripen fruits like bananas, avocados, pears and tomatoes, place them in a paper bag with an apple. It’s the same gas that many commercial growers use to ripen these fruits.
2. Keep Baked Goods Moist. Apples give off moisture, so when you’re storing cakes and other baked goods, store them in an airtight container with half an apple. No drying or refrigerating necessary!
3. Soften Brown Sugar. Has that brown sugar turned into a brick? Soften it back up by putting an apple slice, into the container with the sugar. Your brown sugar will be good as new in a few days.
4. Sweeten food the healthy way. Apples are a great natural substitute to processed sugars. In baking, applesauce is a way to get the taste you love with fewer calories. You can also add some sliced apple to your morning (plain) yogurt or smoothie, and forget sugar-sweetened stuff all together.
Projects
1. Make Potpourri. Love the smell of apples? Make some potpourri!
2. Make Candle holders. Easiest project ever! Make adorable candle holder by coring out the center of an apple and placing a tea candle in the hollowed out part.
3. Make an Easy & Chic Centrepiece. Flowers are so expensive! If you’re planning a wedding or even just having a dinner party, fill a clear vase with some bright green apples.
Pets & Garden
1. Grow an Apple Tree! If you dry out apple seeds for a few weeks, you can plant them and, perhaps, have your own apple tree one day.
2. Give Your Dog a Treat. Many dogs’ love apples (“H” does) and they make a great nutritious snack. Just make sure that they don’t eat any of the seeds, and don’t feed them to dogs with kidney problems.
3. Make like “Mary Poppins” (1964) and “Feed the Birds”. Apples draw many species of wild birds — put them in your bird feeder and enjoy the show!
The humble apple is just so good for you in so many more ways than we knew.
...and remember...have a fabulous retirementLIFE....
