Why You Should Be Eating Kiwis Like Apples — Skin and All (Really!)
When anyone in the office does anything remotely related to a fruit or vegetable, the information usually gets relayed to me. Who else does one tell stories about tomatoes and pineapples to other than the Be Well Philly girl? So naturally, when one of my coworkers witnessed another coworker wash a kiwi and then proceed to bite into it like an apple — yep, furry skin and all — she immediately ushered the kiwi-skin-eater into my office to explain.
Turns out, this entire-kiwi-eating coworker, Claire, saw someone working at a smoothie place throw an entire kiwi into a blender one day about a year ago. She went home and promptly googled whether or not it was okay to eat kiwi skin only to discover that, despite the stares from strangers that would suggest otherwise, it’s totally fine to do. In fact, eating the skin makes the fruit significantly more nutritious. As is noted over on Livestrong, “The skin is loaded with even more fiber and vitamin C than the fruit inside. Some studies show that the skin has triple the fiber as compared to the meat of the fruit.” And as all you regular Be Well Philly readers know, fiber is touted as a bloat-banishing and weight-loss superhero. Convinced yet?
According to Claire, the skin of the kiwi tastes like apple skin, just a little tougher. And she assures me that the texture of the furry outside is not nearly as gag-inducing as I’d assumed it would be. Claire doesn’t eat any other odd fruit skins, but plenty of other people do: Banana peels, loaded with Vitamin A, Vitamin B, antioxidants and fiber, are big in some cultures (you can stir-fry them). Then there’s watermelon rind, which packs in tons of fiber and potassium, along with the amino acid arginine, which does all sorts of magical things for the body (think: stimulates the immune susten, aids in muscle growth).
Do with this information what you will. Just be warned: If you work in an open office, confused stares from coworkers are guaranteed.
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