It’s no secret that if weight loss is your main aim, you should boost your diet of fruits and vegetables according to nutrition experts. In fact, having half of your plate be composed of veggies is an excellent goal for each meal.

Regretfully, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that just 12% of Americans consume the recommended amount of fruit each day. Frozen fruit can assist you in achieving your objective if you’re among the nine out of ten adults who don’t quite measure up. Frozen fruits are readily available, affordable, and always ready to consume without the need for cleaning or chopping.

Discover the six frozen fruits that registered dietitians usually have on hand, along with several delicious ways to use them to aid with weight loss.

Can You Eat Frozen Fruits?

Let’s first dispel the myth around frozen fruits. They are indeed in good health! Frozen fruits are exactly as nutrient-dense as fresh, despite popular belief. “The best nutrition is captured when frozen fruits are harvested at their peak freshness and flash frozen,” explains Toby Amidor, M.S., RD, author of Up Your Veggies: Flexitarian Recipes for the Whole Family. According to her, the nutritional makeup of frozen fruits is comparable to that of fresh fruit, and in some cases even higher.

Dietary fiber, an essential component that promotes weight loss and keeps you feeling fuller for longer, is abundant in frozen fruits. A 2020 review in Nutrients concluded that increasing fruit and vegetable intake can help women lose weight, especially if they simultaneously choose to reduce high-fat diets. Fruits include fiber, are often lower in calories, and can help you slow down your eating, all of which help you lose weight. In fact, the study found that overall fruit consumption was more strongly associated with long-term weight control than vegetable consumption.

The Top 6 Frozen Fruits to Help Lose Weight

1. Bananas

Frozen bananas are one of the greatest essentials to keep in your freezer fruit hoard, says cookbook author and culinary nutritionist Wendy Jo Peterson, M.S., RDN. According to her, frozen bananas are the ideal way to add sweetness and a creamy, creamy smoothness to smoothies while also boosting their nutritional value. According to the USDA, a small banana has 3 grams of satisfying fiber, as well as potassium that lowers blood pressure and prebiotics that are good for the gut.

You can keep a bag in your freezer to throw those “slightly overripe” bananas into, in addition to purchasing a bag of frozen, sliced bananas from the store. Furthermore, smoothies don’t always have to contain frozen bananas. To make your favorite banana bread, such as our reader’s favorite High-Fiber Banana Bread, you can simply take them out of the freezer, thaw them in the microwave, mash, and bake.

2. Wild Blueberries

All kinds of blueberries are a great addition to any kitchen, but wild blueberries, the little gems you find in the freezer department, are a veritable nutritional gold mine. According to Amidor, “Wild blueberries are sweeter and contain less sugar, but they are smaller in size than traditional fresh blueberries.” According to the USDA, a cup of wild blueberries has 10 grams of natural sugar and 6 grams of dietary fiber. According to the USDA, a 1-cup serving of normal blueberries has 4 grams of dietary fiber and 15 grams of natural sugar.

According to research published in Advances in Nutrition in 2020, both wild and farmed blueberries are rich in anthocyanins, significant antioxidants that are responsible for the blue color of their skin and have a significant impact on heart health, diabetes, weight maintenance, and neuroprotection. However, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension notes that one unique benefit of wild blueberries is that their smaller fruits contain higher concentrations of these antioxidant chemicals.

Wild blueberries that have been frozen are a terrific addition to quick breads and muffins. They also taste great when put straight into warm oatmeal.

The Best Frozen Fruit, Per a Gastroenterologist, for Gut Health

3. Tart Cherries

Your neighborhood grocer’s fresh cherries are probably of the sweet kind. However, year-round in the freezer department of your market are tart cherries, another seasonal treat.

Because sour cherries reduce inflammation, Amidor loves to include them in her daily protein smoothie. Amidor states, “Anthocyanins, which are abundant in tart cherries, have been shown to help speed up muscle recovery after a workout.” “In addition, anthocyanins have an anti-inflammatory effect that helps reduce inflammation,” the author continues. This frozen fruit can become your new best buddy if you’re increasing your physical activity to assist you reach your weight loss objectives. Try them with our Tart Cherry Nice Cream if you can get your hands on a bag.

4. Mangos

Mango enjoyment could indicate a healthy diet. A 2022 study that was published in Nutrients discovered that diets of adults and children who ate mangos were of higher quality than those of people who didn’t enjoy the fruit. Mango eaters, especially men, are more likely to have lower body weight, waist circumference, and BMI than mango avoiders. All things considered, the study indicated that including mango in your diet raises the likelihood that you’ll receive less added sugar and more fiber, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins A, C, and E. Maybe there’s something about mangoes’ inherent sweetness that appeals to your palate. Mangos are nature’s candies.

While fresh mango is great, it’s not always widely available. “My entire household loves mangoes, so keeping frozen mango on hand is essential to keeping everyone happy. Frozen mango defrosts beautifully, making it easy to sub out for fresh mangoes in a recipe,” says Peterson. Pick up a bag and try it in our Mango Smoothie Bowl.

5. Pomegranate

You’re in luck if you dislike scuffing up a whole fresh pomegranate to get at the juicy arils: pomegranate arils are in your freezer area. According to Peterson, “they can be used in any recipe calling for fresh pomegranate.”

As per the USDA, a ¾-cup serving of these ruby red gems packs 6 grams of fiber, making them an excellent source of fiber. Pomegranate arils also include polyphenols, which are significant antioxidants that aid in scavenging free radicals that eventually cause cellular damage.

According to a Nutrients study published in 2022, a review of 20 clinical studies on pomegranates revealed that the fruit may be helpful in the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome, a group of illnesses that include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and a large waistline and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Consuming pomegranates has been demonstrated to help improve insulin resistance and lower blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein in addition to helping reduce body weight. You can be sure that consuming these arils is beneficial for your health, even though more clinical investigations are required to confirm these results.

For your next get-together, try incorporating those frozen arils into Whipped Feta with Pomegranate, Pistachios, and Honey.

6. Strawberries

Dietitians’ refrigerators are usually stocked with strawberries. “I always stock up on frozen berries whenever my three kids come home from college because they used to be begging for them in their smoothies. It has become a household staple,” Amidor adds.

According to the USDA, a cup of frozen strawberries provides only 50 calories and 3 grams of nutritional fiber. Owing to their naturally sweet taste and low calorie content, they’re the ideal treat to sate your sweet tooth and support your aims beyond weight loss.

A 2021 study published in Nutrients found that individuals with obesity and increased “bad” LDL cholesterol who consumed 2.5 servings of strawberries daily for four weeks experienced improvements in lipid markers and insulin resistance.

Strawberries also include flavonoids and ellagic acid. According to Amidor, “flavonoids have been shown to help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, and cognitive decline, while ellagic acid has been shown to act as an antioxidant to help protect cells from free radical damage.”

Do you have an abundance of fresh ones that you would like to freeze for use in the off-season? Find out how to freeze strawberries for optimal results.

The Final Word

Whether or whether weight loss is the primary focus of your health goals, frozen fruits are a great addition to any kitchen. Frozen fruits are essential for helping you reach your daily fruit requirement because they are just as nutrient-dense as their fresh counterparts. Your next market haul should include a range of frozen fruits, including bananas, strawberries, pomegranates, wild blueberries, mangoes, and sour cherries.

Topics #Frozen Fruits #lose weight