Enjoy your autumn fruit with these 10 tasty apple recipes!

This season get your apple on with these delicious new ways to enjoy apples!

Crunch, crunch. Munch, munch. I love the crisp, crunchy sounds and sweet flavour of autumn's signature fruit, the apple. But sometimes if I have had too much of it, I get bored of apples and they lose their appeal. This is exactly what I don't want to have happen! Apples are excellent for your health!

Apples fall in the lower end of the glycemic index, containing a high volume of water and fibre. What does that mean? It means that you would have to eat a lot of apples before you significantly raised your blood sugar levels. Apples can help you add nutrition to your meals and keep you full longer!

So how can we keep this nutritious autumn delight in our diet without getting bored of it? Shape Magazine shared fresh ideas and tasty recipes in their slideshow: 10 New (Delicious!) Ways to Eat Apples.

Enjoy your apples!

Image source: epris_de_ciel via WeHeartIt

Wendy Tao explains how to Shape Up by naturally lowering bad cholesterols.

High levels of LDL “bad” cholesterol signal a need for changes in lifestyle and diet. While HDL cholesterol should be above 40–50mg/dL (milligrams per decilitre of blood); your LDL cholesterol should be kept below 140mg/dL. Eating low cholesterol foods is important but additional factors need to be considered.

Increase:

• Fibre Intake. Cholesterol is used (thus lowered) when you digest fibre-rich foods.
• Garlic and Onions. These provide sulfur, B vitamins and flavonoids and promote lower cholesterol levels.
• Antioxidant intake. Antioxidants prevent damage to artery walls where plaque forms.
• Healthy fat intake. Essential fatty acids from fish or flax can improve heart health.
• Exercise. Even small amounts of regular physical activity have great benefits for cholesterol levels.

Decrease:

• Sugar and Refined Carbohydrates. They contribute to high “bad” cholesterol and lower “good” cholesterol levels.
• Bad” fat intake, including trans fats, hydrogenated fats and rancid fats. These can damage and clog artery walls.
• Smoking. It increases free radicals in the body, damaging cells and artery walls.
• Weight. Fat cells contribute to cholesterol levels.
  

Fibre is Important

Fibre is any type of plant-component that the body cannot absorb or digest. While fibres supply no nutrients or calories, they perform many important biological functions.

There are two main types of fibre,

Soluble and Insoluble:

• Soluble fibre dissolves partially in water and its components include pectin, mainly found in fruit such as apples, in vegetable, legumes and oat products.
• Insoluble fibre does not dissolve in water and its components include cellulose or lignin, the fibre mainly found in grains such as wheat and corn.
  

A high fibre diet offers many benefits:

• Incorporating high-fibre foods into the diet may help lower the risk of heart disease.
• Soluble fibre helps stabilize blood sugar levels by delaying stomach emptying ultimately slowing the rate of carbohydrate absorption, improving regulation of blood sugar and lowering insulin requirements.
• The water-holding capacity of fibre relieves constipation by adding bulk to stool and speeding its transit through the gastrointestinal tract.
• Fibre increases satiety (the feeling of fullness) by adding bulk to foods without additional calories.

Increase your intake of dietary fibre

• Choose whole grains foods such as whole grain breads, pasta and rice
• Choose whole grain cereals for breakfast
• Consume whole fruits instead of drinking fruit juices
• Snack on raw vegetables instead of chips, crackers, or chocolate bars
• Add ground flax seed, chia seeds to cereals, yogurt and baked goods
• When increasing the amount of fibre in your diet, do so slowly, because large, sudden increases can cause discomfort, gas, and bloating. It is also important to drink more water when you increase fibre intake.

Image Source: Profilaxis

It's our Friday Weekend Windup at Webber!

Check out these fun and fabulous links from around the web this weekend...

Got a spare moment this weekend? After some internet surfing, I've found some great ideas, recipes and insights to share with you! Check them out! Meanwhile, I'm off to escape the heat and swim on this tropical, humid Philippine afternoon...

Need a fun pair of sunglasses this summer? Put on a pair of Spektre Sunglasses and protect your eyes!

Don't forget to protect your skin from the sun as well! BC Living investigates the most effective sunscreens for 2012...

Want to eat oats but don't know what type to add to your diet? Check out this post from Nutrifit4Life!

Shape Magazine shares 10 Summer Snack Recipes that are all under 200 calories!

Trying to lose weight? Don't stress! Check out this post from the past to see how stress can affect your efforts to get healthy.