Skin of Fruits and Vegetables: Why You Should Not Peel

It is time to drop your peeler and consider first if you should use them on the skin of fruits and vegetables on your table. A lot of these foods are better eaten with their peels on. Throwing away the skin of these foods is tantamount to throwing and wasting the nutrients needed by your body. Of course there are fruits and vegetables whose skin should be taken off. Majority though has nutrients but people are not used to eating them with the skin still on.

The color of your fruits and vegetables are usually on their skins; the pigments are actually the healthful parts. Phytochemicals are basically concentrated in these parts. So, why should you remove the skin of fruits and vegetables if they are edible? I will help you discover these foods but let me start with the skins or peels that you are likely to eat with no hesitation.

Apples  

Half of the dietary fiber in apple is found in its skin. The exterior peels that you throw are about two to six times more nutritious; these have more insoluble fiber than the flesh that you retain. The skin also contains flavonoids that are helpful in regulating your blood pressure. This is all attributable to the inhibited ACE enzyme. Apple contains Vitamins A, C and potassium; removing the skin is taking off one-third of the total of these nutrients.  Vitamin K helps you prevent blood clots and the amount of this vitamin in the peel of apple is four times more than there is in the flesh.

Skin of fruits also contains a lot of anti-oxidants and apple’s skin has three exceptional – the quercetin, triterpenoids and ursolic acid. Quercetin aids in breathing, protects the lungs and the brain. Triterpenoids inhibit the growth of some kinds of cancer cells. The ursolic acid aids in growth of muscle.

Grapes

Grapes are the greatest source of resveratrol that is mostly concentrated on the skin. This phytochemical is a hundred times more in the skin than in the pulp. This grape nutrient has been found to inhibit growth of cancer cells and aids in prevention of heart problem and Alzheimer’s disease. The seed of grapes that we also discard contains Vitamin E and linoleic essential fatty acid. This means that we should not only eat the skin of grapes but ingest the seeds as well.  Thus refrain from picking the seedless grapes; instead go for those with seeds.

Cucumber 

The dark green peel of cucumber is the storage of antioxidants, potassium and insoluble fiber. This cucumber part also holds huge amount of this food’s vitamin K content. If you want smooth hair and sturdy nails, don’t peel the cucumber. That green part has the mineral silica for beautiful hair and nails.

Zucchini 

Zucchini flesh is 95% water. The nutrients are in the skin; these are vitamins C and K, potassium and fiber. Other nutrients in the skin are lutein, zeaxanthin and beta carotene.

Potatoes

Potato and its cousin, sweet potato, have tons of fiber in their skins. Other nutrients in the skin that you throw are the minerals potassium, copper, calcium, magnesium and iron. For the vitamins, the skin has vitamins B6, C and K. Ditching the skin of these root crops is wasting 90% of the iron content. It is also a waste of half of the fiber. For the sweet potato, the skin contains vitamin A and beta-carotene.

Carrot

Carrots are good for the eyes and most of the nutrients are in the skin. The biggest amount of the phytonutrients is just under the skin and this is the reason why you should not remove this. Also in carrots are beta carotene and fiber.

Eggplant 

The flesh of this vegetable has no color and the fact that the color is in the skin means that the nutrients are there. The purple skin has the nasunin antioxidant. This is a flavonoid that is said to be a “radical scavenger”. This means that this is cancer cell killer. Nasunin also has anti-aging properties.

Had you been peeling the skin of fruits and vegetables? It is time to change that habit and begin keeping the peeler out of these foods’ skin. By keeping the skin, you are not only preventing nutrient deficiency but you are saving money from the purchase of food supplements that otherwise are better gotten from the peels that you put in the trash bin.