Got Passion?
As late summer sheds her green cloak and the pseudo warm days, deep colors and “winds of change” transition us into fall —take advantage of the delicious pot liquor of this season now. Your health, wellbeing, beauty and love life will thank you …😉
Enjoy pears, avocado, grapes, eggplant, okra, apples, corn, blackberries and so many more. Fresh, local, and in-season plants of late summer are literally bursting with flavor, enzymes, bioactive compounds and nutrients to improve energy, heart health and circulation, as well as help boost your immune system just in time for “cold and flu season”. It’s still a little warm and a great time to enjoy beautiful hardy enzyme rich raw salads with all these vegetables and fruits. One last point to seasonal eating (when possible), these plants hold a specific wisdom and purpose that benefit us in the season we are in! Meaning many plants grow during a season when their specific compounds and flavors (like sweet flavors and slimy textures) benefit certain body systems and energy flow relevant to the organs and emotions associated with that season. (More on this in our fall blog post)
Today I’m spotlighting one of many late summer gifts: Passion fruit! This little yellow or purple lemon sized fruit, produced in many countries now including Brazil, Ghana and South Africa, grows on the gorgeous Passionflower vine you may have seen. This plant was unknown to this east coast city girl for years and I know I’m not alone!
I had so much fun taking a deep dive into her magic…
Here are 5 reasons to try passion fruit before it's gone!
…your health, wellbeing, beauty and love life will thank you.
Beautiful Skin and Hair! Antioxidants A and C in passion fruit along with B vitamins like B2 and B6 help skin retain moisture and improve blood flow, helping it to look younger and prevent premature wrinkling. These vitamins help with circulation to your scalp which creates healthy follicles for growing stronger hair!
Healthy heart, blood flow, pleasure and drive…Did you know that an active lifestyle and diet high in antioxidant and flavonoid containing foods help the heart and promote healthy blood flow. This in turn can help erectile function and performance. Passion fruit’s B vitamin composition can help regulate hormones (like estrogen, serotonin, and dopamine) that affect feelings of pleasure in general as well as sex drive. Its flavonoids also have beneficial anti-inflammatory effects that can protect your cells from damage that can lead to disease and other inflammatory conditions. Last but not least, this fruit has also been said to be an aphrodisiac…
Digestion and constipation support! Its fiber content supports smooth bowel movements to reduce constipation, increase nutrient absorption and improve bowel disorders. The pure fruit juice has been used to treat hyperacidity (an over acid condition) and gastric related issues. The same B vitamins help with the mucous lining in the digestive tract as well. Passion fruit is also low on the glycemic index! The glycemic load of passion fruit (which takes into account serving size) is also low, between 0.8 and 5.2.
Mood and sleep enhancer! passionflower (passiflora incarnata) – Its sedative properties, alkaloids, magnesium and other compounds especially in the leaf of its plant have been heavily researched to relieve anxiety, decrease stress and help you fall asleep faster, reducing insomnia. Passionflower tea has a calming effect on the mind, thanks to its ability to increase the production of GABA which helps the central nervous system calm down.
It’s delicious! Passion fruit is surprisingly sweet and sour at the same time and it's sweeter when you buy it slightly wrinkled - which will feel completely counter intuitive! Add it to recipes like chia pudding and no bake passionfruit vegan cheesecake! As well as add it to yummy drinks from medicinal tea to healthy smoothies and cocktails. Or if you keep things simple like me, just enjoying it straight-up off the spoon with your kids is fun!
All this goodness adds up to healthier skin, hair, digestion, improved heart health, increased blood flow, better sleep and feeling more relaxed and at ease. There’s enough going on…
Recipes that caught my eye…
Sweet and tart passion fruit smoothie
Raw passionfruit and lemon cheesecake
But there is a limit!
A tip for any of us working to reverse metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and shed excess weight…
“Don’t find your mama”… eating a small bowl of grapes is very different from eating the entire bag in a serving.
Whole fruit (with the peel whenever possible) is fantastic because it still has its fiber, nutrients and enzymes. The fiber slows the amount of sugar released to the body and liver. The recommendation is to enjoy that delicious super sweet ripe fruit in moderation. The CDC, US department of agriculture and the Heart association recommends a range of 1.5 - 2 cups or 2 servings of fruit per day.
Use your own best judgement, as some fruits have more fiber and or a lower glycemic index like avocado. Web md says “ Apples, bananas, oranges, strawberries all have around 3 to 4 grams of fiber. (Eat the apple peels -- that's where the most fiber is!) Raspberries win the (berry) fiber race at 8 grams per cup. Exotic fruits are also good sources of fiber: A mango has 5 grams, a persimmon has 6, and 1 cup of guava has about 9. Our star passion fruit has 24.5 grams of fiber per cup!
Here’s the research and why this matters to you
The fructose in very ripe fruit late summer can trigger what researcher Richard J. Johnson, MD calls the “survival switch”. To paraphrase the book “Nature Wants Us to Be Fat”, primates adapted to store energy as fat in the winter. Nature puts a “survival switch” in our bodies to protect us from starvation. When this switch is stuck in the “on” position, it's the hidden source of weight gain.
Bears (and humans) activate this switch by eating lots of fruit and honey. Bears eat up to 90 pounds of food daily during this time. Fruit, especially ripe fruit in the fall, delivers an overload of fruit sugar, specifically fructose. Flooding their system with fructose not only helps them get fat, it turns on a pathway that allows them to make even more fructose in their own bodies. And that kicks metabolic syndrome into overdrive, allowing them to gain easily 10 pounds a day. Americans obviously don’t eat that much fruit in our diets, but we do ingest a lot of fructose in sugary sodas, snacks, pastries, etc…
Worse yet, fructose is not the only thing that can turn on our survival switch. It also gets turned on any time glucose is high (the body can convert glucose to fructose), the body is dehydrated, blood pressure is low, oxygen is low (high altitudes), or uric acid levels are high.” *ruthsnutrition
Learn more in this Interview with the author!
Stay tuned for more seasonal wellness posts. As always, savor the flavors and eat the rainbow whatever the season!
To your wonderful health,
Makini
(All of Us can heal, have more energy and feel resilient and fantastic! Follow on instagram @makiniintegrativehealth…and sign up for our seasonal newsletter and updates on coaching/consulting packages, courses and programs coming this fall! )
