An Apple a Day

They say that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."  Eating apples regularly can absolutely improve your health, and they taste great too!

• Fiber and Vitamins: A medium-sized apple has a whopping 4 grams of fiber, and is a great source of vitamin C, which boosts your immune system.
• Craving Control: Eating an apple can help you avoid the temptation to eat a lot of junk food, since it's a filling snack with only 95 calories. 
• Heart Health: If you make apples a regular part of your diet, the antioxidants found in the fruit will lower your risk for heart attack and stroke.
• Energy: Eating an apple before you work out boosts your stamina. Apples deliver an antioxidant called quercetin, which aids endurance by making oxygen more available to the lungs.

Raw apples taste good on their own, but there are many other ways to get your daily serving.  Here are some healthy and delicious recipes that have creative ideas on cooking with apples:
Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal
Light Apple Crisp
Celery Apple Salad
Whole Wheat Apple Pancakes

Even if you don't like apples at all, there are other ways they can come in handy:

• Fruit Ripener.  Apples give off ethylene, a gas which accelerates ripening. Place unripe bananas, avocados, tomatoes, etc. in a paper bag with an apple, and in no time they'll go from being green and bitter to ripe and ready to eat.
• Keeping bread fresh.  Putting a sliced apple in the bag with a loaf of bread will keep the slices fresh for longer.
• Long-range weapon.  As the saying goes, "An apple a day keeps anyone away - if you throw it hard enough."

~Caitlin Brown, Cinematography '16