Fruit

Fruits and Juices Important for Relieving Hemorrhoids - Part I by Rudy Silva

Foods you should be eating to help relieve hemorrhoids

A high fiber diet obtained from raw fruits and vegetables is what you need to eat for eliminating and for preventing constipation. When you don't have constipation, you won't have hemorrhoids.

The amount of fiber you should be eating is 25 35 grams per day. Most people only eat about 8-12 grams per day.

If you have not been eating a lot of fiber, you need to add fiber slowly to your diet, especially if you add it by using bran. Increase your use of bran or other bran cereals over a couple of weeks.

If you add fiber to your diet with fruits and vegetables, you can add them freely without much problem. However, since your stomach will not be use to it, you may experience more gas for a week or two. You can compensate for this by taking digestive enzymes to help you digest the extra produce.

The following list of juices and fruits are good for helping cure or relieve Hemorrhoids.

Juices

Juices are good for hemorrhoids but especially dark berry juices mixed with equal parts of apple juice. The dark berry juices to use are,

Cherries, blackberries, blueberries

These berries contain "anthocyanins" and "proanthocyanidins" which reduce hemorrhoidal pain and Swelling by toning and strengthening the hemorrhoid veins. Drink at least one glass of this juice mixture each day.

Cantaloupe

Cantaloupes are one of the best foods you can eat. It has a good source of vitamins and minerals. It has a high beta-carotene level and has anti-clogging properties.

Red and Black Currant Berries

Currants are high in Vitamin C, rutin, and minerals. This makes their juice valuable in clearing hemorrhoids. The also have a small amount of the fatty acid GLA, which produce prostaglandin that control body pain.

This juice is also good for cleansing the liver and blood. Good liver function is necessary for maintaining a healthy colon, rectum and anus.

Drink 1-2 glasses a day of red or black currant berries.

Pomegranate Juice

Although pomegranate juice may be hard to find, it is quite useful in reducing hemorrhoids, because of its strong astringency. Saturate a cotton ball with pomegranate juice and push it slightly into your rectum.

If you have pinworms, the tannins in pomegranate juice will help you get rid of them. You can also drink the juice. During the summer I have on occasion found pomegranate juice at a farmers market. It is slightly tart but it is easy to drink. However, it's hard to drink more than a glass full without getting a stomach upset.

Oranges and bananas

Eat 2-3 oranges and 2 bananas a day. Oranges provide vitamin C, bioflavonoids, and fiber. Bananas provide minerals that help to strengthen tissue and have plenty of fiber. Bananas can also be steamed to give more relief and even eliminate hemorrhoids. Steam two not quite ripe bananas with their peel until they are soft. Eat two in the morning and two in the evening.

Papaya

Papaya is an excellent fruit to eat. It has good mineral content, fiber, and has enzymes to digest protein.

These are the fruits and juices to use to for relieving hemorrhoids. Adding more vegetables to your eating habits is also important to get more fiber. These fruits, juices, and vegetables will help you keep regular and provide pain and inflammation relief for your hemorrhoid symptoms.

About Rudy: Rudy Silva has a Physics degree from the University of San Jose California and is a Natural Nutritionist. He writes a newsletter called "Natural-Remedies-ThatWork.com" and he has written an ebook called "How to Relieve Your Constipation with 77 Natural Remedies." You can get more information on this ebook and more hemorrhoid remedies at http://www.hemorrhoid-remedies.for--you.info

Best Recipes: Hot Buttered Rum Fruit by Donna Monday

Best Recipes: Hot Buttered Rum Fruit Donna Monday

Enjoying a mug of hot buttered rum is one of those long-standing holiday traditions. It recalls scenes of sitting by a fireplace watching the fire crackle red and blue as the snowflakes gently fall outside.

Maybe this is why hot buttered rum recipes are so popular around holiday time. It’s a nice drink to have with friends and family.

While serving traditional hot buttered rum is always a welcome idea, you might consider doing something a bit different this year. How about making your guests a nice little side dish of Hot Buttered Rum Fruit

Fruit goes well with any meal and the rum and apple cider give it a spicy twist. I think you’ll be pleased with the reactions you’ll get when they taste this delicious holiday fruit dish.

Hot Buttered Rum Fruit 1 20 oz can pineapple chunks, drained 1 15-1/4 oz can peach halves, drained and halved 1 15 oz can pear halves, drained and halved ¼ cup sweetened dried cranberries 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch ½ teaspoon nutmeg ½ cup apple cider or juice 2 tablespoons margarine or butter ¼ cup rum

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Arrange fruit in an ungreased 12x8-inch baking dish.

In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and apple cider; mix well. Cook over medium heat until bubbly and thickened, stirring frequently.

Stir in margarine; cook until melted. Remove from heat; stir in rum. Pour over fruit.

Bake for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Makes 10 half-cup servings.

About The Author

"Fruit Baskets" the most Unique Incredible Edible Gift Of All ! by Anna Teoli

"Fruit Baskets" the most Unique Incredible Edible Gift Of All ! Anna Teoli

Fruity Fresh Fruit Baskets Or Fruit gift baskets is the oldest traditional gift which still today is considered unique and one of the most overwhelming edible gifts of all .

Fruit baskets usually contain organic seasonal fruit combinations and are very often mixed with flowers , wines, gourmet foods ,NUTS and chocolates .

In Ancient times fruit gift baskets were given to kings on special events to show appreciation ,worthiness,and generosity .

The kings would then gather up with they siblings accompanied by wine and enjoy natures ultimate gift and celebrate.

Fruit baskets usually contain the freshest form of fruit , fruits must be carefully chosen in its peak of ripeness ,fruit baskets are usually accompanied by gourmet cheeses , wines ,flowers,and are neatly placed in wicker baskets and decorated accordingly .

There are 1000s of luscious fruit baskets online to choose from ,they are increasingly gaining popularity because they suit any occasion, romance ,business ,holidays,young ,old,weddings..its a safe bet

That is why today the fruit basket still remains the king of all gifts.

About The Author

Anna Teoli

Feel free to use this article on your website, but please give us credit by placing the following link on your page: http://www.buy-giftbaskets-online.com/fruit%20baskets.htm

Email : Buygift@buy-giftbaskets-online.com

Big Daddys Fruit Freezer by News Canada

Big Daddys Fruit Freezer News Canada

NC—Real men eat this yogurt! Its a truly fabulous frozen dessert or snack. So fast and easy that even your favourite I-hate-to-cook guy will like to make it, and so good that hell want to make it every day. Makes one delicious man-size portion.

Ingredients and Preparation

3/4 cup 175 mL or 175 g container vanilla yogurt

1 cup 250 mL raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, frozen

1/2 very ripe banana, peeled and frozen

Cut banana and large strawberries if used into small pieces. Mix fruit with yogurt. Using a food processor or powerful hand blender, quick puree starting with a rapid on/off technique. Dont puree it too long and dig in before it melts!

Heres what you get from a serving one recipe of our Big Daddys Fruit Freezer based on Health Canadas Recommended Daily Intake RDIs for nutrients.

Nutrient % RDI Nutrient % RDI

Vitamin C 188 % Vitamin B6 27 %

Vitamin B12 49 % Magnesium 25 %

Riboflavin 40 % Zinc 20 %

Calcium 32 %/353 mg Folacin 19 %

Phosphorus 27 % Pantothenic Acid 17 %

Per Serving

Energy 373 kcal, Carbohydrate 82 g, Protein 11 g, Fat 3 g

- News Canada

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

How to Effectively Juice a Fruit by Paul Hood

How to Effectively Juice a Fruit Paul Hood

Choosing the right tool for your juicing needs is crucial to maximizing the healthy benefits of your fruits. Like any other task, making a juice requires the use of appropriate device and techniques. It is without a doubt that juices enhance the body’s overall performance and it is very essential for us to have an adequate supply of it.

There are different types of juicers that have different levels of performance and choosing which one is the best is very important. Of course you’d want a juicer that delivers all the natural juice goodness and flavor you demand. More so, it also would be wise to have a juicer that that can handle any fruit, vegetable, leafy green, herb, or grass that you could ever want to juice. Versatility is a very vital issue that has to be considered in choosing the right equipment.

Bestjuicer.com lists the three types of juicers as follows:

The Masticating machine operates at a slower speed. It chews the fibers and breaks up the cells of vegetables and fruits. This gives you more fiber, enzymes, vitamins and trace minerals. It also is more versatile because in addition to extracting juices, the unit homogenizes making baby foods, sauces, nut butters, banana ice creams and fruit sorbets. An optional grain mill attachment is available for grinding grains into flour.

The Centrifugal machine first grinds the fruit and vegetables then pushes them through the strainer by spinning at a very high rpm similar to your washing machine on the spin cycle. This method usually yields a little more volume of juice

The Triturating twin gear machine, which turns at a slower rpm, has a two step process. The first step crushes the fruits and vegetables, while the second step wrings or presses the juice. This process gives you more fiber, enzymes, vitamins and trace minerals. These juicers also have magnetic and bio-ceramic technology that slows down the oxidation process, which is good if you want to make and store your juice.

It should be taken into consideration though when choosing your juicer the oxidation levels being churned out by each machine. A good choice would be the one the produce the smallest amount of oxidation and those that make the highest nutrient juice.

About The Author

Ariel Velasco goes by the author alias of Paul Hood. This author is into books and writing. Reading is an essential part of his life and this has lent a considerable influence in his writing. Well traveled and would always want to travel more. He loves learning more about people and their ways. Took up a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology to further this fascination and had a fulfilling educational experience having been exposed to a wide spectrum of people. Always ready for new opportunities to learn and have a great deal of interest in different fields of expertise.

For comments and question about the article you may contact the Author through The Online Home Medical Webmaster at 888 311 0666 or visit http://www.onlinehomemedicalsupply.com

joel@onlinehomemedicalsupply.com

Are Fruits Making You FAT by Dr Jeff Banas

Are Fruits Making You FAT Dr Jeff Banas

I want to make this perfectly clear, fruits are health and they are good for you. They are loaded with vitamins, fiber, and minerals. Fruits have also been shown to fight against cancer. However, when we are talking about weight loss we need to take a closer look at fruits.

It is pretty obvious to everyone that when you want to lose weight you watch your sugar intact, right Well, there is a reason why fruits are called, “nature’s candy”. In fact, you need realize that a glass of orange juice is just about the same as a glass of soda.

Fruits are loaded with sugar, fructose to be exact. This why athletes use them during endurance for energy, and why people suffering from hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, use them to raise there blood sugar when needed.

That is where one of the problems is. Fruits are carbohydrates. Never eat a carbohydrate by itself. This is basically all sugar. When you eat a carbohydrate by itself there is a sudden increase in sugar in the body. This causes the body to release insulin. However, the body releases too much insulin because it thinks more sugar is coming. The insulin basically grabs the sugar/carbohydrate and stores it to fat for use at some other time. Since your body released too much insulin there is not enough sugar to support the brain function. That is why you feel tired or sluggish. So you’re fatter and dumber. So, if you are going to eat a carbohydrate, eat some protein with it, it will slow the release of the sugar.

That glass of orange juice in the morning, the banana and apple for snakes, and the fruit salad for lunch, might actually be what is stopping you from losing the weight.

About The Author

Dr. Jeffrey Banas is a Chiropractic Sports Physician practicing in Mesa, AZ. If you would like to contact Dr. Banas, he can be reached at his office at 480-633-6837, or by visiting his web site at www.personal-weight-loss-help.com drjeffbanas@yahoo.com

Citric Fruits - A Healthy Food by Dr. John Roberts

Citric Fruits - A Healthy Food Dr. John Roberts

New studies suggested once again that citric fruits including oranges, tangerines, and grapefruits help fight cancer, high cholesterol, and obesity.

Studies both at Texas A&M University and Kanazawa Medical University in Japan showed that compounds in citric fruits can help reduce the risk of colon cancer. Researchers at Texas A&M University found that freeze-dried grapefruit, similar to the whole grapefruit, can reduce the incidence of early colon cancer lesions in animals. The Japanese researchers found anti-colon cancer properties in nobiletin - a compound found in tangerines.

Grapefruit can also reduce the risk of cancer caused by smoking. A study on the cancer prevention was done by the researchers at the University of Hawaii. The researchers found that drinking 6 ounces of grapefruit juice a day reduces the activity of a liver enzyme that is thought to activate toxic chemicals in the smoke.

On another front, scientists from the USDA and a Canadian company isolated a compound - polymethoxylated flavones PMFs - from orange and tangerine peels that can actually lower cholesterol in animals. They found that use of food containing 1% PMFs can lower cholesterol by 32 to 40%.

Grapefruits also promote weight loss. Researchers at Scripps Clinic in San Diego found that grapefruit may trigger weight loss by lowering insulin levels, an excess of which is linked to weight gain. Effect of grapefruits on weight loss was confirmed in humans. An early study by the same researchers confirmed that eating grapefruit or drinking juice with meal can help the obese lose weight.

Even the interaction of grapefruit juice with drugs, a bad trait for grapefruit, has been explored. Researchers at Texas A&M Citrus Center studied the interaction between grapefruit compounds and drugs in hopes that this interaction can be taken advantage of to increase bioavailability of drugs in humans.

These studies were presented in the American Chemical Society Annual Meeting being held in Pennsylvania during Aug. 22 through 26.

About The Author

John Roberts is a freelance writer for http://www.foodconsumer.com. This article was originally published at http://foodconsumer.com/forum/viewtopic.phpp=1241 kontact@foodconsumer.com

Cherries - The Supercharged Fruit by Tony Anderson

Cherries - The Supercharged Fruit Tony Anderson

The little red fruit that has been enjoyed by countless millions offers more than great taste.

Are cherries truly fruit for a healthy you Recent studies have revealed that cherries offer an assortment of health benefits including the ability to offer natural relief from joint pain caused from gout, arthritis and joint inflammation.

So what makes the tasty red fruit so beneficial The wonder of the cherry is the anthocyanins. According to research from Michigan State University tart cherries contain anthocyanins and bioflavonoids, which inhibit the enzymes Cyclooxygenase-1 and -2, and prevent inflammation in the body. These compounds have similar activity as aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen. Further investigations revealed that daily consumption of tart cherries has the potential to reduce the pain associated with joint inflammation. Many consumers are choosing to drink cherry juice, eat cherries or consume tart cherry pills to starve off the pain of gout, arthritis and joint inflammation.

Linda L. Patterson is a living testimony of the soothing affects of cherries on her joint pain. “I enjoy crocheting and lately my hands have been so painful, I couldn’t crochet for more than about 30 minutes.”, says Patterson. In an attempt to find relief from her pain, she located Fruit Advantage Tart Cherry capsules, a supplement made from red tart cherries. “Within the first week of taking the tart cherry capsules my hands felt so much better.”, says Ms. Patterson. “I am now able to crochet without the pain in my hands.”

In addition to the health benefits offered by cherries, many people are just eating the fruit for the taste. John Simms, a life-long resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, eats cherries for the convenience and taste. “As a short-haul truck driver, my diet isn’t the best, I would eat fast food every day. A year ago, my wife bought some dried cherries and I began eating them to keep my weight down. Now I eat a handful of cherries instead of eating fast food.”

Not only are cherries a great way to maintain a healthy body they are a natural product. According to Andrew LaPointe, Director of Marketing for Traverse Bay Farms, www.traversebayfarms.com “many of our customers are looking to eat healthier and fruit products fit this trend. It’s certainly better than fast food.” Traverse Bay Farms sells Fruit Advantage Tart Cherry capsules and cherry juice concentrate.

About The Author

Tony Anderson is a freelance writer. admin@youronlinebusiness.com

Captain Bligh’s Bloody Breadfruit – Discover Jamaica’s Blue Mountains by Kriss Hammond

Captain Bligh’s Bloody Breadfruit – Discover Jamaica’s Blue MountainsRead Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.comTo read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link:http://jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/Carib02/Jamaica/Bligh/Bloody.htmlMy American Airline flight landed on Port Royal pirate wreckage at the Kingston International Airport, Jamaica. Port Royal was once the richest and wickedest sin ports in the Americas, home for notorious Captain Morgan's "Jolly Roger" and his nefarious 17th Century entrepreneurial fleet, flying the flag for fortune and infamy, sold to the highest bidder.Kingston, the Caribbean's largest city, is now over a million plus, but back then it offered Black Beard, Morgan. and other souless seafarers the perfect port, protected by a spit of land, with Port Royal at the tip — where the airport now sits. Like Gomorrah, Port Royal was destroyed, but not by fire, but swamped by an underwater earthquake, triggering landslides into the sea, creating one of the world's most lucrative marine parks. Continually, Spanish doubloons, gold, and bullion are salvaged from the site — even today.DISCOVER THE BLUESRising from Kingston foothills the uneven Blue Mountains pierce low misty clouds in the distance. The 'Blue' range runs virtually the entire 145-mile length of Jamaica at varying altitudes, but at 7,200 feet, they are at their most majestic just out of Kingston, and the Caribbean's second highest mountains, after the Dominican Republic..After an impromptu airport shower provided by the tropical humidity, I learned my bags didn't arrive with the flight, so I put myself up at the Indies Hotel, a quaint East Indian inn in the heart of the Kingston financial district. At night, the area is the home of roving reggae rave parties, and the beat of the island resonates through the hotel garden walls. The next morning my bags are waiting for me in the hotel lobby.EXPLORING JAMAICAThe decrepit train station in Kingston doesn't move any bananas or sugarcane along it's rusted skeleton anymore, but it is the only spot in the city large enough to accommodate the dragon-breathing, polluting buses that patches Jamaica's faltering transportation infrastructure together. Screaming above the hubbub, I locate a bus heading in my general direction. I cram in, bags tossed on top, and from a rag tag kid, I buy a plastic bag of "sky-juice," reminiscent of Gator Aid/Kool-aid. I sit back, sucking the warm slush through a straw. The driver grinds a couple of teeth off the gears, the bus lurches forward, setting out in the general direction of Captain Bligh's Bloody Breadfruit.The road into the Blues is serpentine, craggy along the coast, rising significantly out of Kingston, dropping back on the other side for a coast into Morant Bay, famous for a slave revolt so long ago. Near Morant Bay I am ejected out of the sweaty ganga bus at a triangular cross roads. I await anything that moves in the direction further into the Blues. After an hour's wait in the sun at the shabby, barricaded gas station serving as a bus depot, I decide to take anything, anywhere. Eventually a ride shows up—an ad hoc Jamaican cab driver, who asks in proverbially Jamaican patois, "Hey mon. I de taxi mon; ned a liff, mon? Where to mon? Pay in dollars mon? J's no gud, mon. J's shit, mon."We agree on a U.S. dollar amount, equivalent to, I don't know how many J's, or Jamaican dollars.The crumpled car rattles over ancient roads and over 18th Century British Army Corps of Engineer built bridges, through the humid banana belt leading into the mountains.In the 1600s the British occupied most of Jamaica, carving banana and sugar plantations out of the rich Blue Mountain foothills. The agrarian tradition continues today, with the eastern end of Jamaica producing some of the island's most lucrative cash crops, including Captain Bligh's Bloody Breadfruit, and the world's most expensive and smoothest coffee—Blue Mountain, at about US$25 a pound. Recently the Japanese bought up most of the future coffee crop, paying a premium price. Suddenly, all the area farmers are in the coffee plantation business, planting crops on marginal, easily eroded soil.After crossing a jungle river, a body-double of a "Bridge Over The River Kwai," I arrive in the small community of Bath. Bath was a favorite community of the British colonialists over two centuries ago. It is still the gateway to the cool Blue Mountains, and still the sleepy home for a few hundred Jamaicans; granddads lazily bicycle in loopy circles in the middle of the street in the middle of any given day. The only open thriving business in town is a juice joint on the corner of the only paved street, and it was serving a brisk trade in sky-juice. spiked rum, and today's gossip. After bailing out of the cab, sweat pouring off my forehead, I stumble into the juice joint, tanking up on sky-juice, water coconuts, and a shot of rum. In the open-air bar I ask a friendly face pedaling slowly by, imploring the direction of the Bath Fountain Hotel, the only real accommodations in the area. At the time, I didn't know how close I was to Captain Bligh's Bloody Breadfruit.The Jamaican bicyclist stopped, pointed up a graveled road spiraling north of the juice joint. Nothing less that a four-wheel boulevard. "About a mile, mon," grins the gap-toothed kid. Soon all the kids in the neighborhood seemed to be peering through the juice joint door. "My brother Joe has a motorcycle, mon." Joe is volunteered into the pickup and delivery business. He shows up just in time on a sputtering 100 cc Honda, hair threaded with dreadlocks, smiling, a spliff permanently stuck between bad teeth. I jump on the back of the Honda, luggage tearing my arms out of their sockets.THE MAROONSBath Fountain Hotel rises majestically, with the Blue Mountains serving as an encompassing backdrop sentinel. Built as a hospital by the British in 1749, the stone hotel is now owned by the people of Jamaica. Revitalized after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, the hotel perches above the Bath River, more like a stream, like a moldy relic from a bygone era.In 1609 the Maroons, slaves of Ethiopian extraction, and other British slaves in the banana trade, escaped their tyrannical masters, marauded, hiding out in the rugged Cockscomb area of the Blues, an area that today is largely unexplored, and just getting mapped, and where the Maroons still do not welcome whites into certain regions. The Spanish word for runaways is Cimaroons, and in the Carib shortened to Maroons. For over a hundred years the Maroons and the British waged battles back and forth in the Blue Mountains, but eventually the Maroons drove the British out of the mountains and into the foothills.The British built the Bath Fountain Hotel as a hospital, not because of the battles, but because of the mineralized hot water that poured from the mountains. Clinically speaking, the hotel waters are claimed to be the most radioactive and healthful in the world, second only to Lourdes, France. The Maroons first discovered the healing waters, but the British developed the hospital with twenty clean, but spartan hospital rooms, and the 16 beautifully restored tiled baths in the basement.After checking into the hotel, paying with a wad of colorful J's, I relaxed on the restaurant terrace with a real jungle punch drink. I ask about the mineral baths. It takes about two hours to slowly fill the three-foot, by six-foot, by three-foot deep baths. The 105-degree water flows out of the mountains in the original British plumbing system that is slated for upgrading. The bath waters are tempered with cooler stream or spring water. I reserve a bath for the next morning. Why I need a reservation for the baths is incomprehensible, I am the only person in the entire US$15 a night hotel.Soothing BathsTo read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link:http://jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/Carib02/Jamaica/Bligh/Bloody.htmlKriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com

About the Author

Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Leave your email next to the logo for FREE e travel newsletter.

Benefits of a Variety of Fruits and Vegetables by Jane Oelke

Copyright 2005 Jane OelkeWe know we need to eat a minimum of 5 servings of fruit and vegetables everyday. Actually now, to prevent cancer, 8 to 13 servings per day are recommended. A serving is one cup of raw fruits or vegetables, or ½ cup cooked. At a recent lecture I asked a lunch audience to raise their hand if they had at least one fruit or vegetable already that day. No one in that group raised their hand. This is not uncommon. Our processed and convenience foods contain very few fruits and vegetables. To prevent chronic diseases, fruits and especially vegetables are very important. Vegetables especially have the antioxidants, minerals, and phytochemicals in the correct combination that help keep the blood sugar in balance, create better energy in the body, and along with fruits build up the immune system. Each color found in fruits and vegetables focus on building the immune system in its own way. It is important to get a variety of colors, so that you will get a full range of phytochemicals (beneficial plant chemicals) in your daily diet. Research is finding that eating whole fruits and vegetables gives you many more nutrients than you could possible add to a vitamin and mineral supplement. There are over 12,000 phytochemicals, and I have yet to see a supplement, unless it has whole fruits and vegetables in it, have all of the 180 different vitamins or minerals that are required by our body to function daily. The different colors in fruits and vegetables help our immune system react to different stresses in our daily life. So look at the different colors in your diet. See if they include each of the colors listed below. This is one way to know that you are getting the full benefit of nutrients possible in your diet.Green Foods – broccoli, kale, leaf and romaine lettuce, spinach, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Green foods are especially good for the circulatory system. They contain many minerals and B-complex vitamins. Some phytochemicals found in green foods are sulforaphane and indoles that are very powerful anti-cancer compounds. Researchers have tried to use these as isolated phytochemicals but find that they only work while in the whole food form. Red Foods – tomatoes, watermelon, red cabbage. Red foods contain many phytochemicals that reduce free radical damage. The phytochemical called lycopene is especially helpful to prevent prostate problems, and reduce the effects of sun damage on the skin. Lycopene is the phytochemical that make the red foods get their red color. Orange Foods – carrots, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, apricots, cantaloupe. The orange foods have the carotenoids the help prevent cancer by repairing the DNA. As our mothers told us, carrots, and other orange foods, are especially good for our eyes, and help with night vision. The deep orange foods help our bodies get the vitamin A we need, without getting excess that can lead to osteoporosis. Green/Yellow Foods – yellow corn, green peas, collard greens, avocado and honeydew melon. This combination of green and yellow foods contains the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin that help reduce the risk of developing cataracts and macular degeneration. These foods are also helpful in reducing the risk of osteoporosis. Orange /Yellow Foods – oranges, pineapple, tangerines, peaches, papaya, nectarines These foods that are orange and yellow in color are high in antioxidants, especially Vitamin C, and help to improve the health of the mucus membranes and connective tissue. They help prevent heart disease by improving circulation and preventing inflammation. White/Green Foods – onions, garlic, celery, pears, chives White and green combination foods contain a variety of phytochemicals. Garlic and onions contain allicin, the anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal phytochemical, and they can act as a poor man’s antibiotic. Add garlic and onions in your meals to reduce the effects of potential toxicity of high fat meats. Celery has many minerals, especially organic sodium, that keeps the fluid in the joints healthy. Red/Blue/Purple Foods – red apples, beets, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, prunes, concord grapes, blackberries. These dark colored red/blue/purple foods are very rich in powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins that protect again heart disease by improving circulation and preventing blood clots. They have many anti-aging phytochemicals that keep the blood circulating reducing the effects of the Standard American Diet rich in trans fats and processed foods.When you make a salad make sure you have a variety of different colors. Strive to get at least 5 colors on your plate. Use fruits to balance the rest of the colors needed. This way you will get closer to the 8 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables required, and you will get the variety of nutrients you need daily.

About the Author

Jane Oelke, N.D., Ph.D. is a Traditional Naturopath and Doctor of Homeopathy in southwest Michigan. She is the author of “Natural Choices for Fibromyalgia” and “Natural Choices for Attention Deficit Disorder.” She is a professional speaker on natural health topics. She can be contacted at DoctorOelke@aol.com or through her website at http://www.NaturalChoicesForYou.com

Bearing fruit in 2005 by Ps Hannes Wessels

God has called each one of us to bear fruit. Fruit is very specific in that it tastes best at the right time. If you eat fruit like grapes to early, it will be sour and hard, eat it to late and it is overripe and terrible.So bearing fruit at the right time in the spiritual realm is important. We must be able to discern the times and know what the Holy Spirit is saying for now.Seasons come and go over every nation, city, church, business and individual. It is your responsibility to know what is the time on the spiritual clock of Jesus for a specific time.Today we will look at Joseph and see how he could discern the times and influence nations.People hated Joseph and often did him in for instance his brothers, Pothifar’s wife, and the butler.God viewed him differently.Genesis 39vers 2: The Lord was with Joseph and he was a successful man. ( Even though he was a slave) All he did prospered in his hand. vers 5: The Lord blessed the Egyptians house because Joseph was in it. vers 21: The Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy. (Even though he was in prison) vers 23: whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. This super natural blessing combined with the hard work Col. 3:22-25 and patience that Joseph had resulted in him being blessed at all times.He resisted temptation many times. Jas. 4:7; 2 Tim 2:22He maintained his supernatural blessing it did not matter where he was, in prison, as a slave or wherever.He could really discern the times.. 1 Cor 4:1-2, Math 16:3. It resulted in blessing for those surrounding him Do we have the same result on our places of work?Genesis 41Pharaoh the evil Egyptian king understood that his dreams has spiritual meaning and insisted on a revelation he understood that this was a critical time in the history of Egypt. So we if we are in positions of authority should be in tune.Joseph was able to interpret what was happening in the spiritual realm. Due to the obedience of the pharaoh it resulted in blessing for Egypt. God wants to bless nations He wants to create an opportunity for his servants to be blessed even if they are in prison. Egypt was blessed but Joseph was mightily blessed. Joseph always gave God the glory.(verse16 and 28)I believe we are in a very specific time in our city. We need to be more in tune with God than ever before to experience the maximum of this time in God. Our ancestors will look back at this time and as a city we will give answer to them and to God about what we did with this time.Our city has been blessed by much growth in the last couple of years. We have prayed for transformation and are seeing it happen right before our eyes. We as a city could miss the opportunities that are coming our way. You might think, “well I am not a city councilor or a manager of a major company” all I can say was neither was Joseph. People of EastCoast have some backbone, trust God for a super natural blessing of wisdom and discernment. In your place of work or in this city God wants to bless you with the “fruit in season”. This will have a profound effect on yourself and many around you. Enjoy the sweet grapes of blessing, by hearing what the Spirit is saying.

About the Author

Pastor Hannes is the senior pastor for Eastcoast Christian Centre, a Church in Port Elizabeth. Feel free to redistribute this article, but please include this About section with an active link to our website.

Interview with Elisa Morgan, President of MOPS International and Author of NAKED FRUIT by Lisa M. Hendey

Interview with Elisa Morgan, President of MOPS International and Author of NAKED FRUITBy Lisa M. HendeyAs a busy wife responsible for the care and nurturing of so many lives outside my own, it's nice to be reminded that it's "God's job" to hand the "fruit production" in my life - to bestow upon me the fruit of the Spirit. Most days I'm just busy ensuring that four sets of teeth get brushed after every meal - the thought of being loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and exercising self control can be daunting. Thank goodness for encouraging authors like Elisa Morgan, who not only inspire the heart, but also offer the tools to keep me aiming at and running towards my spiritual goals. NAKED FRUIT: GETTING HONEST ABOUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT (Revell, August 2004, hardcover, 168 pages) gives moms the tools they need to open their hearts and souls to accepting the Spirit's gift, and equips them to grow in their relationship with God and with those whose lives they touch. Author and MOPS International President Elisa Morgan's concept that the "Naked Fruit" of a relationship with God is simply becoming (as best we can) like Jesus is as refreshingly satisfying as the first bite into a luscious orange on a hot summer afternoon! The book's brief, yet insightful chapters end in thought provoking (but manageable) "Fruit for Thought" exercised designed to help busy mothers see a clear path to growing more fruitful in their own circles of relation. Although the book is aimed at mothers, any Christian looking to honestly make the world a better place and wanting to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control will doubtless benefit from the experience of reading, savoring and digesting NAKED FRUIT.LH: I am pleased to share the following Book Spotlight interview with Elisa Morgan, president of MOPS International and author of the new book NAKED FRUIT: GETTING HONEST ABOUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. Elisa, could you start off by telling our readers about your background with MOPS and your own family?EM: MOPS International began in 1973 with a group of women in a Denver, Colorado suburb. I was hired as the first president in 1989. For the last fifteen plus years, it has been my pleasure and honor to lead this ministry to moms in a unique and challenging season of life. Initially, I felt very ill-equipped to lead this organization but after much soul-searching I realized that God wasn't asking me to be a perfect mother, but rather to lead as a "Mother Inferior", one mom helping another.When I began at MOPS, my children were three and five. Today my family includes my husband of twenty-five years, Evan, my eighteen-year-old son, Ethan, my twenty-year-old daughter, Eva, and her new baby, Marcus - all living with us at home right now!LH: NAKED FRUIT is such a refreshing book, especially for busy mothers who may be struggling with their vocation to motherhood. What message do you hope that readers will take away from the experience of reading this book?EM: That the fruit of the Spirit is attainable through God's help. And that if we really want to grow a life that matters, these characteristics should be our goal. One more thing: early motherhood is a very humbling and challenging season. God can grow fruit even in days that are filled with frustrations...i.e.: compost is necessary for fruit production!LH: In NAKED FRUIT, you emphasize the importance of the concept of stripping away the idea that Christianity is simply "being nice". What do you mean by this and how do so many moms fall into the trap?EM: We tend to think that the fruit of the Spirit is all about putting a sweet smile on our faces and being nice, nice, nice all the time, even when we don't feel like smiling or being nice. It's a misconception of Christianity. The fruit of the Spirit is really about being like Jesus. Jesus was always fruit-filled in his interactions with others but he wasn't always "nice". He was loving to the prostitute but told her clearly to stop sinning. He was loving to the Pharisees but told them not to make faith harder than God says it is. He was peaceful but expressed this quality by napping in the bottom of a boat in the midst of a storm on the Sea of Galilee while his disciples freaked out. Jesus was always loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled but he didn't always look "nice" according to the definitions of his culture.LH: What can I do as a mom to "make a difference" in the lives of my own children and other loved ones?EM: Focus on the big picture: are you and your children growing to look more like Jesus each day, each month, each year? Again, it's not about being nice but rather about possessing the characteristics of his personality in your own unique personality. Joy will look different in you than in your child. That's okay. But are you still growing joy?LH: Elisa Morgan, thank you so much for your time and for this wonderful book, NAKED FRUIT. Are there any additional thoughts or comments you'd like to share with our readers?EM: One other thing - Another reason we shy away from fruit production in our lives is that we believe that the responsibility for growing love, joy etc. is all up to us. We know we can't produce these qualities in and of ourselves. We've tried. And failed. And so we figure - forget it. The fruit of the Spirit is up to God to produce in us. Our job is to cooperate with him by connecting ourselves to him in a relationship with Jesus Christ. God's job is to grow the fruit.For more information or to order NAKED FRUIT: GETTING HONEST ABOUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT visit http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800718739/digitalcropper-20 Lisa M. Hendey is a mother of two sons, webmaster of numerous web sites, including http://www.digitalcropper.com, http://www.christincoloring.com, and http://www.catholicmom.com and an avid reader.

About the Author

Lisa M. Hendey is a mother of two sons, webmaster of numerous web sites, including http://www.digitalcropper.com, http://www.christincoloring.com, and http://www.catholicmom.com and an avid reader.

Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Fruitfulness by Andrei Yashurin

At some stage of our spiritual development, we’ve got to realize that the laws of life are often paradoxical. With such and understanding it is much easier to handle all seeming failures, which are mainly caused by our addiction to linear thinking. One of the greatest paradoxes of life is that people don’t become happy by pursuing happiness. Of course, some people do not pursue happiness at all – they lost their illusions long time ago, and their main goal is to get by, or, perhaps, to gain a small advantage over others. They are doing what is natural for a natural person, so there is no reason to condemn them. But how about those idealists who believe that life is governed by spiritual principles, the ones that people can know and apply for their benefit? Is it worthwhile for them to strive and to pray, asking God to make them happy? My personal experience, and experience of some people I know proves that the answer to this question is NO. Every time someone set his (her) mind to pursue happiness, he (she) is doomed for a disappointment. Have you ever heard phrases like that: "Let someone come to my life and make me happy", or "I will be truly happy when I’ll get this thing" ? The basic problem of the most seekers of happiness is that they look for it outside of themselves, but happiness just doesn’t belong to the world of things, or even human relationships. Truly, when we get what we want, or meet "the right" person, we experience fulfillment – but only for a short time. Unhappiness is a state of mind, and unless we deal with it at its root, it will eventually poison our prosperity and even our "ideal" relationships. There is also another category of people, who believe that happiness comes from an inside, from our intimate relationships with God, and they do their best to cultivate those relationships through prayer, meditation and religious observances. They are closer to the truth, but still don’t comprehend it, and still don’t happy. Why? Because when people say "I need nothing but God to make me happy", they continue to remain self-centered and blind to what He wants to do in their life. I guess, most of us have been acquainted with unhappy religious zealots, and wondered why God’s promise of an abundant life does not work for them. So, what is the solution? I am deeply convinced that we become happy not because we seek to be happy, but when we strive to be fruitful, when we do our best to find out and to fulfill our life’s mission. Happiness is a by-product of fruitfulness. Jesus knew that He came from God, and was going back to God. He was fully aware of the fact that God sent Him with a specific mission. Do we know that all these truths apply to us as well? "I choose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit" (John 15:16). This call is not something forced upon us from an outside by an arbitrary God. Our call consists of all that is the most natural and most essential for us. We cannot separate ourselves from our appointment without violating of ourselves. The cost of disobedience to our life’s mission is a life of an inner division and turmoil. "I am the wine, and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much fruit… If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire" (John 15:5-6). Jesus spoke of an inner fire of guilt, stress, dissatisfaction and tension that burns within minds of those who don’t come to the consciousness of their unity with God, and, therefore, remain unfruitful. However, to those who are obedient to their call, He gave a wonderful promise: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done to you" (John 15:7). All things are added to those who seek the Kingdom of God above all else.All desires will be granted to those who put God’s desires first in their life.But how can we be sure of that? There is only one way, and it is our personal experience. It does not matter whether you agree or disagree with the central thought of this article. What really important is whether you are willing to try and prove it for yourself. All the intellectual reasoning in the world cannot substitute one practical application of an idea.

About the Author

Andrei Yashurin is a non-denominational minister, author, translator and an Internet publisher from Russia. His ministry in 2 languages reaches more than 3,000 people every month. He can be contacted at: yashurin.geo@yahoo.comhttp://www.your-time-now.com

The Fruit of the Spirit by Stephen Kingery

There are those who claim to be "Real Christians" because they claim to speak in tongues, heal people, or have some other supposed gift. Then there are those who put on the air of being a "Super Christian" because of their following; such as some of the television evangelists. But neither of these is what real Christianity - being a true follower of Christ and His teachings - is all about. The apostle Paul tells us in no uncertain terms how to identify a real Christian. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." (Galatians 5:22-25) A true Christian is one who "walks in the Spirit" and has the fruit of the Spirit manifested in their lives.So, what exactly is each element of the fruit of the Spirit? Notice first that the word fruit in Galatians 5:22 is singular - not plural. We are not talking about "fruits" of which you may pick and choose the ones you want to have. They obviously come as a group. You can't have "one without the others", so to speak. You can't have love without joy, peace, and patience. And you can't have peace without kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. You either have them all, or you have none.LoveGod is love! His love caused Him to create us and all the universe. It caused Him to provide for us a Savior in the person of Jesus Christ. Love has provided for us God's Word so we may know how to live a Christian life. But love is also a part of us, if we are a Christian.God's love for us is unconditional and undeserved. Therefore, if we are to have in us Love, it will also be unconditional and unmerited upon those whom we show Christian love. We will not only have love for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; but we will also love our brothers and sisters in Christ. It will be a pure love not dependant upon the favor of the persons whom we love. They will not have to earn it, it will simply be there.We will love those outside of Christ - the sinner. We must be compassionate with those who do not know Christ and strive to win them for the Lord. To love them is to bring them to Christ.And we will love even our enemies - or those we perceive to be our enemies. This is perhaps the true test of Christian love. To give to those who have hurt us in some manner, regardless of how severe that hurt, true Christian love and compassion. To want what is best for them, to pray for them, and to forgive them for their transgressions.JoyChristian joy is not the excitement we feel when we purchase a new car or accomplish some difficult task. It is not the rush we get when a perceived danger is past. And it is not the happiness we feel as we plan an interesting and exciting vacation.Joy comes from God. It is that quiet sense of well-being we have as we lay our heads down on the pillow at night knowing that God will watch over us. It is that sense of belonging when we consider that we are a child of God - we are His child. To know that we have a Father who loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for us, joy is that realization. And finally joy is a taste of Heaven, but only a taste. Heaven will be full of joy. All the thoughts and feelings of joy we can have here on earth will be multiplied thousands and thousands of time in Heaven.Peace I don't know about you, but after I came to know what the Word of God had to say about the future of those who do not accept Christ, I had a lot of fear in my life. It took me several weeks to muster the courage to take that first step for Christ. But after I had taken that step and was buried in the watery grave of baptism, I had for the first time true peace.Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)I think the song writer says it very well; "There's a quiet understanding." It is the understanding that God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit are there for us. Our Heavenly Father to watch over us, His Son to intercede for us, and the Holy Spirit to guide us. With this "quiet understanding," we can truly have peace in our lives.LongsufferingLongsuffering (or patience) is also the mark of a true Christian. In my job as an administrator in public education, there are many trials I must endure. I have colleagues who say, "I can't believe the patience you have. How do you do it?" Actually it is not me that does it, but rather the guidance of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible. We are called upon to exhibit patience in many ways. When sharing Christ with a non-believer many times patience is required. They will try to twist what you say to mean something else. Or, in most cases, they will just not allow you to penetrate the wall of indifference they have erected around themselves. Be patient. Keep trying to reach them for Christ. Your efforts will pay off.Kindness"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." (Colossians 3:12,13) Kindness shown to a brother or sister in Christ and those outside of Christ is perhaps the most beautiful part of being a Christian. As an elder in my local congregation, I have the good fortune to be able to go out into the community on the Lord's Day and serve communion to the folks that are home-bound or in nursing homes. To be able to share Christ with these lovely people and to show kindness to them by visiting with them and holding their hand is a true blessing for me. They always ask for prayer and are so appreciative of the kindness we are able to show them. GoodnessWe are "ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20) while we are on this earth. As such, it is our desire to do goodness as we see the need. To do good deeds - to help others in need, to serve the local congregation, to help a neighbor, visit the sick, etc. - is to do the work of Christ. And we should not keep our goodness to ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said, "Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44) Spread the goodness around. You may be surprised when you do something good to help someone whom you think (and perhaps they really do) hate you. Goodness and kindness has a way of softening even the hardest heart.FaithfulnessHow could we even begin to think about being a true Christian and not be faithful. I know there are those who sit in church every Sunday morning thinking that being there is all they must do to show their faithfulness. They are deceived! Let us not be deceived. Faithfulness is much more than occupying a seat in a pew on Sunday morning.For sure, faithfulness is "being there" to worship God; not only on Sunday morning, but as often as we can. Faithfulness is also being faithful in our giving to further the Lord's kingdom in our communities and around the world. It is being faithful to meet around the Lord's Table each and every Lord's Day as did the early church. It is being faithful to study the Word of God daily, and to pray each day. It is being there to help those in need and to share Christ with those who have not made Him their Lord and Savior.But still, faithfulness is more. In John 14:15 Jesus said it all concerning faithfulness, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Faithfulness is loving Christ. Loving Christ is keeping His commandments. Keeping His commandments is following His word to the best of our abilities - to the BEST of our abilities! GentlenessIt always amazes me how someone who claims Christ as the Lord of their life can be so cold and matter of fact in dealing with others. Some people have a way of being brutally truthful and thinking that it is a virtue. "I tell it just the way it is!" I had someone tell me that one day. I gently responded, "You tell it the way you think it is, but that does not make it true." Being gentle in our words to others is very important if we are to let the Spirit bear fruit in our lives.Cutting words, no matter how truthful, is not of God. Gentleness is caring about others' feelings. Don't lie. But don't be cold, hard, and brutal either.Self-controlSelf-control is not merely keeping our tongue under control. It is making wise choices about our lives. It is avoiding the pit-falls of smoking, drinking, and riotous living. It is being disciplined enough to be faithful and using our talents for God. It is keeping our personal finances under control. It is rearing our children to be Christians and to love God. The fruit of the Spirit is what being a Christian is all about. We have just touched on these. Study them and have them in your life.

About the Author

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute. Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.orgPermission to use is granted if attributed to author and his website.

A Guide to Fruit Baskets by Kristy Annely

There is almost no occasion, event or holiday gift that can’t be properly addressed by sending some kind of fruit basket. From humble beginnings as a device fruit growers used to expand their business beyond supermarkets, fruit baskets have become one of the most popular categories of gifts in the country. No longer is this merely a device for fruit growers to send out more of their freshly grown produce at retail prices. Nowadays, many of the items advertised, sold and shipped as fruit baskets contain hardly any fruit at all. Fruit baskets have matured -- come of age, as they say -- and it’s possible to satisfy a gift giving need by ordering a fruit basket from any of literally thousands of suppliers across the country. You’ll find that many of the local retail stores in town have some form of fruit basket deal to ship their wares, if not all year round, then certainly at appropriate holiday times. For at least two major gift-giving holidays, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, fruit baskets surpassed flowers as the gift of choice on a national basis several years ago and have kept on growing ever since.Built around themes for the holidays, fruit baskets can contain any type, and almost any amount of high quality merchandise designed to make the receiver very happy upon arrival. Christmas baskets specializing in winter fruits -- especially popular in the colder, Eastern states -- have been stuffing Santa’s bag for many years. Valentine’s Day brings chocolate-dipped goodies, especially cherries and strawberries, which really say “I Love You” to that special person in your life. Baby baskets send the freshest of fruits for the new parents along with a few bottles of a healthy brand of baby food and other appropriate gifts for the newborn. For Mother’s Day, children delight in sending a choice selection of gourmet items to the woman who gave them life. And there’s no better way to say ”I Love You, Dad” on Father’s Day than by sending a basket brimming with Dad’s favorite items and a few new ones as well. Even giant corporations have gotten accustomed to sending out appropriately stuffed fruit baskets to their highly valued clients and special employees, instead of more traditional fare. Fruit baskets containing all sorts of items have become the easiest and most personal way people can give something to one another that is almost always appreciated. In addition to being one of the easiest and most satisfying experiences, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who’s ever returned a fruit basket for any reason whatsoever.

About the Author

Fruit Baskets Info provides detailed information about gourmet fruit gift baskets, edible, dried and fresh fruit baskets, fruit baskets delivery, and more. Fruit Baskets Info is the sister site of Picnic Baskets Web.

Fruity Fashion Picks & Tricks for Summer by Sher Matsen

Summer is here so it’s time to freshen up that wardrobe and make your fashion statement for the season.If you’ve had a look around the stores or boutiques you’ll notice some of the pretties clothes and accessories are displaying fruit. Very upbeat and refreshing after the winter blah.Well placed appliqués, amusing details, juicy colors make these articles of clothing girlish and flirty. The perfect look for weekends and casual days. We’ve got cherry print dresses, pineapple topped shirts, melon and kiwi print pants and host of other deliciously flavorable garments. If your wardrobe doesn’t consist of a lot of fruit why not added some fruit jewelry, Lemons, grapes, cherries – what ever your favorite you’ll be in style.Some of our favorite designer fashion fruit picks this month are:A cotton graphic T from J Crews selling for $28.00Satin cropped fruited pants from D&G seliing for $365.00 available at Neiman Marcus storesA Silk cherry print skirt by Beth Bowley selling for $170.00A cotton cherry print dress by Moschino Jeanna selling for $430 at SloanLeather shoes with faux wood heal from Faryl-robin selling for $89.00Rhinestone and Lucite lemon necklace from Alexis Bittar selling for $212Straw hat with glass fruit charms from Hat Attack selling for $88 at Big DropCanvas cherry wallet with strap from Louis Vuitton selling for $300Yes my picks are designer picks and a little bit on the pricey side, but you will find similar garments for affordable pricing at your local shops. You’ll find affordable blouses, t tops, pants, skirts, and dresses that fit this seasons look. Affordable costume jewelry in the fruity theme can be found online at several different stores including us at Estate Jewelry International. The fruity jewelry dating from the 1950s is a wonderful new addition for this seasonThis season is a season of nostalgia because the last time we saw fruity patterns so popular was back in the 1950s. Fruity in moderation is the key to wearing these prints. Here’s a good rule of thumb – if it looks good on a 5 or 6 year old then it’s not for a grown women. If you're in your 20s-30s you can choose one item that is a big and bold fruit to make your outfit standout. Don’t get carried away. One will make a statement.If your in your 40s fruity sweetness can quickly sour. Avoid big and bold, rather opting for mini fruit motifs. Small delicate non overpowering fruit is the key here.If your 50+ then no more than a hint of fruit is for you. How about a cherry tote bag or a pineapple brooch pinned to your blouse, or some strawberries on your flip flops. Remember light is much tastier!This season has a wonderful mix of cuts and styles, from tunics to fitted blouses, to convertible halter dresses. There are choices for all ages, shapes, and sizes. You’ll find fruity prints from head to toe, so enjoy and wear what feels right and looks good. Remember to you can always accessorize with fruity jewelry, belts, and shoes. Make your fashion statement!

About the Author

Sher from Estate Jewelry International has been serving customers for over 20 years, providing fashion, jewelry,and wedding help. Please visit us at http://www.estatejewelryinternational.com/

Why You Should Use Fruits For Constipation by Rudy Silva

Fruits are made by nature and are a perfect food. They contain the right balance of nutrients with distilled water. You gain enormous benefits from eating fruits especially if you eat the outer skin and eat them without cooking. They are easy to digest and absorb and do not stress your colon.Fruits contain fiber, which help to cleanse your colon and prevent constipation. Most fruits help provide the body with minerals that help the body reduce acid as it is created. And most important of all, fruits help cleanse the body of mucus slime that accumulates throughout the body.Fruits do not leave any slime residue in the body when eaten except when they have pesticides and preservatives in their outer skin. They do not ferment or putrefy in your colon, as do processed foods, dairy products and meats.Choose your fruits carefully. They should be eaten when they are fully ripe. Do not eat them if they are under ripe or overripe. In the under ripe condition they may be acidic and in the overripe condition the many contain more natural sugar.Fruits, vegetables, and grains contain fructooligosaccharides, FOS. It is this compound that helps to feed the good bacteria in your colon. Without an adequate supply of FOS, good bacteria will dwindle and bad bacteria will flourish.Just Plain FruitsEat fruits throughout the day but especially in the evening. This will help to promote a bowel movement in the morning. These are the fruits you should eat.* Apples* Apricots* Avocados* Bananas* Blueberries* Boysenberries* Cantaloupes* Cherries* Figs and dates* Grapes* Lemons* Papayas* Peaches* Pears* Persimmons* Plums* Prunes* RaspberriesApplesEat 3-4 apples a day to relieve constipation. It does not matter what type of apple you eat, but I like gala or Fuji apples since they are small and crisp.It is best to use fresh organic apples when eating apples as a snack since you will not know what pesticides were used in growing the apples. If apples are not organic, it is better to peel the apple before eating.Using baked apples also helps to clear constipation.Eat one baked apple at night, right before bedtime, and one just upon rising. Do this until you constipation is cleared.In his book, John Heinerman, Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs, describes how to bake apples:“Cut apples in half and clear out the centers. Add chopped dates to the center. Pour some cranberry juice over the dates and apples. Then sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg on the top. You can pour cranberry juice on some of the apples and see if you like the taste after they are cooked. Cook apples for 46-60 min at 375-400 C.”Dried ApplesDried apple slices are also a good source of fiber. However, when the slices are dehydrated most nutrients are lost but fiber is retained. Sulfur dioxide is typically used to dry apple slices and this can cause allergic or asthmatic reactions in some people. I do not recommend using dried apple slices in place of fresh organic apples.Just Apples and Mineral WaterJust after waking, eat two unpeeled apples, chew well, and then drink 8 oz of water that has two drops of Alkalife. Or, you can use any other mineral additive or supplement you use.This combination of apples and activated mineral water will stimulate your colon to become less sluggish and to move fecal matter out of the rectum.I find Alkalife on e-Bay. This product cost $29.00 on the Internet, but I have bought it for $17.00 on e-Bay.Using fruits to relieve or clear constipation is a powerful natural remedy. Eat fruits every day and between meals and you will relieve your constipation.Look for other articles that will tell about other fruits to relieve constipation.

About the Author

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid e-books. He writes a newsletter called natural-remedies-thatwork.com and his information on other topics can be seen at http://www.stop-constipation.com or at http://www.constipation-remedies.for--you.info

Fruits, Juices, and Food for Relieving Hemorrhoids - Part 2 by Rudy Silva

Eating the right kind of food and following good eating habits will speed up your healing of your hemorrhoids. If you have a diet that is hard to digest and moves slowly through your colon, then, expect to have constipation which will encourage formation of hemorrhoids or prevent the their healing.

Here are some foods that will help give you relief from hemorrhoids

Use the following foods to help reduce hemorrhoid bleeding:

Alfalfa Dark green leafy vegetables Blackstrap molasses Flax seeds are high in omega-3 oils, which reduce inflammation and pain. They are also high in fiber. Lima and butter beans are high in iron, which help to build more blood. If you have bleeding hemorrhoids, adding lima beans to your diet would be a good choice. Sweet potatoes provide fiber, B vitamins, iron, potassium and many other vitamins and minerals. This is a good body building food.

If after trying different hemorrhoid remedies listed here for up to two week and your hemorrhoids do not have shrunk or go away, you might consider seeing a doctor. You need to find out if your hemorrhoids exist because of a more serious medical condition.

See your doctor right away if you have a lot of anal bleeding, a lot of blood in your stools, heavy pain, or fecal incontinence.

Ginger, Garlic, and Onion

Add these three herbs -- ginger, garlic, onions - to your diet. Each one of these helps to break down fibrin. As I mentioned before excess fibrin creates inflammation and blood congestion by trying to repair arteries and veins.

Iron foods

Here are the foods that contain iron to help you build up your blood or to keep iron in reserve, if you ever need it.

Chicken liver, steamed crab Beef liver kelp Prunes Dried apricots Blackstrap molasses Spinach Sunflower seeds Pistachios Cashews, almonds, sesame seeds Baked potatoes Cooked Swiss chard Lima beans Raisins Cooked broccoli Tuna

Oils

At every meal, use olive oil, flax seed oil, and apple cider vinegar in your salad. In your soups or other food dishes where it’s appropriate, use olive and flax seed oil.

At the end of each meal take your capsule of fish oil. Fish oil is probably one of the most important oils to use daily. Read other articles I have written on fish oil.

Salads

Eat plenty of salads with raw vegetable. Vegetables and fruits that you heated destroy their natural enzymes and turn calcium into an inorganic form. You body can’t process this inorganic form of calcium.

This excess inorganic calcium moves into body areas that are sluggish and precipitates in these areas causing inflammation and disease. One area that can migrate to is the rectum where it activates the formation of hemorrhoids.

So eat plenty of raw vegetable sprinkled with apple cider vinegar, flaxseed oil, and olive oil.

There you have it. Plenty of food remedies that can give you temporary relief, reduce bleeding, reduce swelling, eliminate itching, and cure your hemorrhoids.

Starting Your Own Fruit Trees by Thomas Leo Ogren

*Note: This article first appeared in Grandiflora Magazine.Starting Your Own Fruit Trees Thomas OgrenI flat out love growing fruit trees and have been crazy about them all my life. Or at least, as much of my life as I can remember. Actually, the very first thing I can clearly recall involved fruit trees.I was about three, possibly four years old. It was a warm, lazy spring weekend and my older sisters were gone somewhere with my mom, but my dad was home, working in the garage. I wasn’t allowed to cross the street by myself, but down the block, across the street, was a beautiful pineapple guava tree growing in the middle of some grouchy old man’s lawn. The tree had a huge crop of large, green, totally delicious fruit, but the owner wouldn’t let any of us kids pick guavas from his tree, much less climb it. He claimed that we would break the branches. He would however let us have fruit that fell on the ground, but these guavas were generally too soft and mushy.That day I walked down the street by all by myself, seeing no adults or even any other kids around. I looked at that tree and dashed across the street. The old man was nowhere around and I climbed up his guava tree and started stuffing big, fat guavas in all my pockets. I picked as many as my pockets could hold and climbing back down I did indeed break a few small branches.Looking both ways (of course!) I ran back across the street with my loot. Back at home I found my dad still in the garage and I showed him my stash, expecting him to yell at me for crossing the street. But dad never did make the connection and thus my first episode of crime was all in all, a total success.Some fifty years later I now have five guava trees growing in my own yard, all grown from seed. I also have many other fruit trees, all of them homegrown ones.Fruit From CuttingsSome fruit is so easy to propagate I always wonder why everyone doesn’t try it. Grapes, figs, mulberries, and pomegranates are all easy to grow from directly-stuck cuttings. I cut off a piece of dormant wood, 12-18 inches long, and I bury almost all of it in the ground where I want it to grow. I leave at least one good bud above ground. Sometimes to insure a better take, I’ll stick five or six such cuttings in the same spot. If they all grow, then the next winter I dig up the extra ones and give them to friends. I use cutting wood that grew last year and find that wood that is about pencil thickness or somewhat thicker roots the best. I recently accidentally discovered a way to get plum wood to root for me. I used a long whip of plum branch (dormant wood) as a stake in a one gallon pot of some fancy gold heart ivy. To my surprise the plum wood rooted and started to grow the next spring. I now do this on purpose, using plum wood that is from last year’s vigorous growth. I select plum whips 2 to 3 foot long, with no branching on them, and stick each one all the way down into the center of a gallon pot of some well-rooted perennial flowers or herbs. A surprising number of these plums grow, and since they are "on their own root,” they don’t need to be budded or grafted. Try it.From SeedI have a spot in my backyard next to my compost heap, and here I toss any and all old pits from plums, apricots, peaches, and nectarines. I toss apple and pear seeds in here too. At the end of the summer I shake an inch or so of old compost over the area and see what grows. Since I do this every year, I always have a ready supply of seedlings each year.In the winter months, or in the very early spring months if you live in a zone 4-7 area, dig up some of these year-old seedlings, bare root, and pot them up one to each one gallon pot. I use a 50-50 mix of potting soil and garden dirt.I then water the pots, set the potted seedling on a table, clip off most of the top, leaving 4-6 inches of trunk above ground, and then cleft graft the seedling. Cleft grafting is, I think, the easiest method and it works well with apricot, peach, plum, nectarine, quince, apples and pears. I use a thin bladed knife and tap it (tapping the back of the knife blade with a small hammer or a piece of wood) directly into the center of the cut seedling, going down only about one inch. I cut scion wood (whatever you want to convert your seedling to) that is from last year’s growth. I like to use scion wood that has a diameter that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the seedling I’m going to graft it to. The grafts, or scions, should be about 3 to 4 inches long and each should have several good, dormant buds. The scions can be cut to shape with a sharp pocketknife. Try to get your scions cut smoothly, with a gradual taper.The scions are then tapped into place in the split seedling (the rootstock), making sure that the cambiums of both scion and rootstock match on at least one side. The cambium is the thin green layer of wood that is just inside the outer bark. To keep your work from drying out, cover the entire finished graft with a thick coating of grafting tar or grafting wax. I also put a dab of the tar or wax directly on the exposed cut tip of the scion. Be careful as you do this, not to knock the scion out of contact with the rootstock cambium.Now, unless a kid, bird, or a cat bangs into this graft and knocks the scion askew, if you did it right, come springtime the scion will sprout and grow. Voila! You’ve got a grafted fruit tree.You can graft peach onto almond, apricot, plum, peach or nectarine rootstock, and visa versa. For sandy soils peach or nectarine make the best rootstocks, but for heavy clay soils, plum is by far the best. Apples can be grafted on apple seedlings, as can pears. Pear can also be grafted on apple stock. If so inclined, scion wood from quince can also be grafted onto apple or pear. An apple or pear grafted onto a quince rootstock will be a dwarfed tree. If your soil is clay, a pear rootstock grows best. If sandy or loamy, apple is preferred.I grow these new fruit trees on in the gallon pots for a year, making sure to cut off any sucker wood that arises from below the graft. Keep them well fertilized and watered and they will often grow 3-5 feet in one summer’s time. The next year either plant them or give them away to friends.If you have a potted fruit tree seedling where the graft fails to take, simply cut off the unsuccessful grafted part. You can re-graft it the next dormant season. If you have year old seedlings left in the ground that you won’t get around to digging and grafting, consider chopping them off just above the ground in the late fall. The next spring these seedlings will grow up with multiple trunks. The next winter dig your second-year seedlings with multiple trunks, thin them back to the strongest 2 or 3 stems, and then cleft graft each of the stems to something different. I have made many three-in-one trees this way, part plum, part apricot, and part nectarine. These make extra nice presents. You can of course just as easily graft each branch to a different cultivar of the same species, such as three different kinds of plum on the same rootstock. A tree like this is often very fruitful, since it will cross-pollinate itself.BuddingJust a little here on budding. In zones 3-8 most budding is done in May,. June or early July. The easiest method is shield budding. A T cut is made on the rootstock stem, cutting through the outer bark and the cambium, down to the hardwood.. Next you cut a thin, shield-shaped slice of wood (from scion wood of the cultivar you wish to bud), containing one dormant bud. This shield will be about 3/4th of an inch long. This bud is then inserted in the T cut under the bark of the seedling rootstock. I use thin, clear plastic tie tape to wrap the bud up tightly. I will sometimes cut a tiny slice in the middle of the tape and wrap the tape over the tip of the bud itself, which should just peak out of the sliced portion of the tape. The tape serves to keep the bud in close contact with the rootstock and also to keep the bud graft from drying out. Keep an eye on the budded stem for several weeks and by then if the bud and the shield are still plump and green, consider it a take. Cut off the rest of the stem half an inch above the new bud graft, and this will force the new bud. Budding is not quite as easy to do as grafting, at least not at first. It has several advantages though. You can bud when the weather is nice and if the bud doesn’t take, you can try it all over again in a different spot. Budding is easiest on thicker rootstocks. I find that for me I have the best luck budding roses, apples, pears and apricots. Plums can be a little trickier. Cherries, by the way, are considerably more difficult to graft and bud than are the other stone fruits. If you are lucky enough to know an old gardener who knows how to graft, ask him or her to show you how to cut your scions. A little practice always helps as does a sharp knife. There are many books with drawings of cleft grafts and these too can be used as guides. It may sound a tad snobby, but once you can graft your own fruit trees, you join a rather select group. Almost all gardeners know what grafting is, but not that many actually know how to do it right. One last thought: cleft grafting is also easy to do on existing dormant fruit trees. There is no reason you can’t graft some different varieties on each of your trees. I have an apple tree with about a dozen kinds of apples on it and a pear tree that has five kinds of pear, plus quince and apple growing on it. I also have almonds growing on one branch of a plum tree, four kinds of plums on another tree, and both plum and nectarine on the apricot tree in my front yard. I have five kinds of roses budded on the climbing rose that grows on my front porch. I guess my plants are all mixed up, but then, what can you expect from an old guava thief?Tom Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, and, Safe Sex in the Garden, both by Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California.

About the Author

Tom Ogren's newest book, 2004, is, What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn, from Time Warner Books.

About Flightless Fruit Flies and Feeding Them to Your Pet by Mark Springer

From The Silkworm Shopwww.silkwormshop.comHOME | Shop for Silkworms | About Silkworms | Benefits of Silkworms | Shipping Information | FAQ | Contact UsAbout Our Fruit FliesThe Silkworm Shop offers flightless fruit flies that are high in protein and an excellentfeeder for a huge variety of small and baby animals, including reptiles, birds, spiders, mantis and amphibians. They are very useful and healthy as feeders for aquarium fish, which are particularly attracted by the fluttering flies. Surface feeding live bearers and bettas eat the flies voraciously.Our fruit flies are Wingless Drosophila.They are about 1/8 inch long and are completely harmless. These flies are genetically bred to be flightless, so you don't need to worry about escaped flies buzzing around your head. And, these fruit flies are USDA approved.Fruit fly cultures are self-contained and require no maintenance. Drosophilia's life cycle is between 12-15 days, and it takes approximately 14 days before a culture will start producing thousands of fruit flies for one month or more (until all feeding medium has been consumed). Your fruitfly culture will arrive at about 14 days old (the initial production stage) and will last for a month or more.The Silkworm Shop supplies extra-large 32 oz. cultures. Don't confuse these with the over-priced tiny vials commonly found elsewhere. Our fruit fly cultures contain twice as much medium, which means you'll get twice as many flies. These quality cultures generate thousands of Fruit Flies.Culture CareLarvae will continually pupate from eggs laid by the adults in the culture. It is important to allow your adult flies two days in the culture before being fed to your critter. These adult flies will be busy laying more eggs and ensuring that you will have a successful supply of flies. It is also important to feed the flies to your animals regularly so the flies don't reach the natural end of their lives and pollute the substrate. It is best to keep the fruit fly culture at room temperature (around 70° F). The higher the temperature, the higher the bacterial growth. But, you may want to raise or lower the temperature to control the lifespan of yourculture (see next section).Controlling the Lifespan of Your CultureBy controlling temperature, it's possible to control the rate of reproduction.Optimum reproductive rate occurs at temperatures of approximately 80° F. At around 60° F, reproductive rate slows, thus allowing longer feeding time and longer use from a single culture. Obviously, the more flies you use, the higher you will want the reproductive rate to be.Feeding to Your PetsWhen it's feeding time for your pets, tap the container lightly on something hard. This will cause the flies to fall to the bottom of the container so they won't escape when you take the lid off. Then, simply remove the lid and tap the container over your animal's home until the desired number of fruit flies fall out. If dusting the flies with vitamins, tap them into a plastic bag and dust.Buy Flightless Fruit Flies HereHOME | Shop for Silkworms | About Silkworms | Benefits of Silkworms | Shipping Information | FAQ | Contact Us

About the Author

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Big Daddy's Fruit Freezer by News Canada

(NC)—Real men eat this yogurt! It's a truly fabulous frozen dessert or snack. So fast and easy that even your favourite I-hate-to-cook guy will like to make it, and so good that he'll want to make it every day. Makes one delicious man-size portion.

Ingredients and Preparation

3/4 cup (175 mL) or 175 g container vanilla yogurt

1 cup (250 mL) raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, frozen

1/2 very ripe banana, peeled and frozen

Cut banana (and large strawberries if used) into small pieces. Mix fruit with yogurt. Using a food processor or powerful hand blender, quick puree starting with a rapid on/off technique. Don't puree it too long and dig in before it melts!

Here's what you get from a serving (one recipe) of our Big Daddy's Fruit Freezer based on Health Canada's Recommended Daily Intake (RDI's) for nutrients.

Nutrient % RDI Nutrient % RDI

Vitamin C 188 % Vitamin B6 27 %

Vitamin B12 49 % Magnesium 25 %

Riboflavin 40 % Zinc 20 %

Calcium 32 %/353 mg Folacin 19 %

Phosphorus 27 % Pantothenic Acid 17 %

Per Serving

Energy 373 kcal, Carbohydrate 82 g, Protein 11 g, Fat 3 g

- News Canada

About the Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

Okay Monkey Put Down The Fruit and Raise Your Arms by S N James

“I’ll get you, ya varmin”! Vermin - the scourge, tramps & vagabonds of the animal kingdom. This is the stereotypical view of vermin who are inconsequently considered a menace. In South Africa (SA) vermin paints a more disturbing picture. It is not overly well known of the disgraceful neglect the endangered wildlife have in the 3rd largest biosphere. I was shockingly made aware of this during a recent trip to the country.The reason for the trip was to volunteer in the rehabilitation of the vervet monkey, indigenous to SA. This small, black faced, green skinned primate is one of such “problem animals” who are disregarded by authorities, despite the fact that it is listed as endangered. I had no clue what a vervet was or aware of the vermin tag and what it meant when I had arrived. Rehabilitating the vervet was one of the possible rabbits picked out of the hat, my aim was purely volunteering and to see if I could make a difference.Killing for food, for survival or even to protect your livelihood would be natural. This would seem to be a valid reason, but what if the information available portrays a distorted and inaccurate image. Coupled with the typical view that comes with this classification, could other motives be involved or just making an opportunity from it? Consider the Matapatcha affair. It is an organisation that deals in the supply of monkeys to labs. One of their clients is one that conducted activities within a government owned nature reserve. Despite if there is or not a connection, there are organisations who will with no ethics exploit these animals for their own personal gain. Or even to justify the killing of them.The vermin laws in SA allow you to kill any “problem animal” without any consequential criminal charges. For example, the underlying reason for farmers in the agricultural industry for murdering these animals is the belief that they damage their crops and thus their income. Arthur Hunt of the Vervet Monkey Foundation has closely studied the vervet monkey for nearly two decades and dedicated for life to learning further. Part of his research has been whether they do cause damage to crops. Accompanied by the farmer in nearly every case visited Mr Hunt had shown with his acquired knowledge that the monkey doesn’t damage their crops. Out of these cases he has found that the monkeys do eat the crops. But, Mr Hunt says that the vervets do not consume unripe food. He has found that they only eat the edible part of fruit, fallen to the ground, caused from an insect. Therefore, as the fruit is unlikely to be sold and is thus perishable due to the insect, no original damage was caused to their income by vervets. Also, fruit sold in markets are picked unripe giving no reason for the monkeys to eat them. As you encroach upon an area, a point comes when human meets animal. The outcome of this interaction depends on our view and attitude towards the animal. So, when a troop of vervets came down from the hills near Ga-Rankawa Hospital near Pretoria it was reported that a nurse was injured from being scared and the hospital employees were victims. This would be a natural reaction given the negative image. The vervet are not only ones, even the African wild dogs have been the victims of this also. According to the WWF website [www.wwf] the killing “has resulted in immense decline in their range and numbers on whose populations continue to dwindle – only 500 or so remain”. Instead of being detested they are quickly becoming a tourist attraction. Hopefully this will help towards eradicating the vermin label. The Green Bank (a subsidiary of WWF) are even funding a project to aid this canine. There’s hope yet.Is there? Certainly not if people exist such as this following individual. He advertises killer instruments, the most efficient ways to kill vermin. They include gin traps , neck traps and 1080 poison. Possession of the former is banned in 90 countries including those in the EU. Even worse the poison is banned worldwide due to its potential threat. One spoonful of this stuff can kill a hundred people. Even with the well known Kruger National Park there is much to do for wildlife conservation in South Africa. The killing of the large animals may have stopped but given time and awareness of the vermin classification may hopefully change attitudes towards saving the grandfather of the ape world and other such problem animals.

About the Author

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9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit by Michael Bradley

As you will see I the Scripture verse I will give you in this article - there is one very special incredible verse that will tell you that God the Father wants to transmit 9 specific fruits of the Holy Spirit up into our personalities. The first three articles that we have listed in our sanctification section all set the stage as to what God is looking to do with each one of us. God wants all of us to enter into a sanctification process with Him so that He can begin the process of molding, shaping and transforming us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to make us more holy like He and Jesus are. He wants to transform us by the renewing of our minds. He wants to put right thinking into our thought process. In the first article we have listed under this section titled "Sanctification," I gave you the specific verses from Scripture that showed you that it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that this sanctification process is done with you in this life. However, you will not be a passive robot in all of this. You have to be willing to work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit once He begins to start this process within you. Your job is to get into the Word to find out exactly what it is God is going to want to change about you. You will need to find out what qualities God will want you to try and "put on" into your personality and what qualities He will want you to try and "put away." This article will be the first of a series of articles giving you all of the appropriate Scripture verses showing you exactly which qualities and attributes God wants to get worked into your personality and which qualities that He will want to pull out of you. And there is no better place to start this series of articles than with the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. If you want to start off by keying on some of the more positive qualities that God would really like to get worked into your personality - really study and meditate on these specific 9 qualities. When God the Father purposely isolates and spells out 9 specific qualities that will be coming directly from His Holy Spirit - He is really letting you know the extreme importance of these specific 9 fruits. These 9 fruits are major fruits and qualities that are coming directly from God Himself, and every Christian should do the best they can to work with the Holy Spirit in getting all 9 of these fruits worked into his or her personality. I'll first start off by showing each of these 9 specific fruits so that you can have all 9 of them isolated at the top of this article. I will then give you the Scripture verse that these 9 fruits are coming from. I will then do a brief commentary on each one of these fruits so you can fully understand what each one of these fruits are and how they can dramatically change the quality of your life and your state of being if you are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to start to work all 9 of these fruits into your mind, soul and personality. Here are the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit Love Joy Peace Longsuffering Kindness Goodness Faithfulness Gentleness Self-control Now here is the specific verse from Scripture where these 9 fruits are coming from: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22) Before I get into the appropriate commentary on what each of these fruits are all about, note the following: 1. The word "Spirit" is with a capital "S" - which means that these 9 fruits are coming directly from the Holy Spirit - not from us. 2. What this means is that God's love, God's peace, God's joy and God's goodness can be started to be transmitted up into your personality. These are His attributes and His personality qualities that will start to flow and mesh into the core of your personality. Think about the ramifications of this - that God the Father Himself is allowing us to share in a part of His divine nature by allowing His Holy Spirit to transmit and impart these nine qualities right up into our soul and personality! That is why God the Father is specifically telling us in this verse that these 9 fruits are coming directly from the Holy Spirit - so that we can fully appreciate the magnitude of such an experience. Jesus has already told us that He is the vine and that we are the branches. The branches draw their life from the vine - not vice versa. Just as the branch draws its life from the vine - so we too draw our life directly from Jesus. Jesus will release His life to us through the Holy Spirit in exactly same way that the vine will release the life of the tree into the branches. In one short, but incredible powerful Scripture verse, God the Father is giving all of us an incredible revelation on what can go on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm for those that are willing to work with Him in this sanctification process. About the author: Article written by Michael Bradley of Bible Knowledge Ministries. Their website is a resource of http://www.bible-knowledge.comThey currently have over 125 in depth Bible articles. All free of charge

Forbidden Fruit. by Barbara Rose by Barbara Rose

Astounding insight into how you can thrive in a rocky relationship Did you ever know a person or maybe even experience the fruitlessness in your own life, of trying to change someone else to suit your needs or desires?

Did you ever act a certain way to cause a reaction from another person?

Were you ever not authentic?

Did you ever own or see an apple tree? When was the last time you expected it to grow pears?

You may have someone in your life who is dear to you. If you don’t now, you may in the future, so this information will be close at hand should you ever need it.

People love nature, trees, and flowers because they simply are, as they appear to be.

Many people make intimate relationships far too complicated. We can learn a lot from nature; so the following are some analogies you can make use of.

Let’s say you have an apple tree in your backyard that you love. It provides you with shade when you feel stressed from the hassles of life. It provides nourishment when it grows shiny apples. You can lean on it when you feel like resting. You know it will be there when you come home.

You accept this tree as it is. If it dropped a bruised apple, would you chop it down? How many times have you chopped down someone when they had a bad day and did not fulfill your expectations of perfection?

The tree needs room to grow, branch out and thrive.

Do you give the person in your life the room he or she needs to grow and thrive? Or do you bombard them?

Would you like it if your apple tree bombarded three hundred apples on to your head every time you went over to it?

You are like a tree too. You have to know who you are, and be true to your nature. If you were a pear tree, a person would be quite a fool to expect you to grow strawberries.

You can’t twist yourself to fit the model of how you think another person wants you to be. You have to be natural: Yourself.

Likewise, you must respect the nature of the other person.

We each have different emotional temperaments.

Some trees need full sun to grow well. Others grow best in partial sunlight, or in the shade.

Some people need a lot of physical closeness. Others only require partial. And, others still, require a lot of personal solitude in order to thrive.

Accepting the person you care about is similar to honoring the atmosphere in which they need to thrive.

If your home has mostly shade, or partial sunlight, don’t buy a tree that requires full sunlight in order to grow well.

Likewise, if your home has full sun, don’t expect a tree to thrive when it needs mostly shade.

One of the most inspiring things about nature is to see how trees change, grow, branch out, become stronger, more authentic, shed old leaves, and blossom new ones as the seasons pass.

One of the most inspiring things about people is that they do the same.

When you have a garden, you tend to it, and then you tend to your own life and growth.

As the seasons pass, you see the garden grow. You remember the tiny buds, and smile as you see them come into full bloom.

It is the same way with the people in your life that you love.

You can’t tug at the roots of a baby sprout. When the sprout is ready, it will bud. You have to respect the process another person goes through. You also have to respect your own.

If you know you are about to drop a bushel of bruised apples as a result of a bad mood, find a way to either work it out in solitude, or share it with the person you feel most comfortable talking to.

Unconditional love is the most powerful force in this universe. You do not love the apple tree in your backyard on the condition that it brings you one thousand perfect apples each month.

You understand this tree is doing the best it knows how, and you are there to help it grow while you are also growing within.

Does a tree complete you as a human being? No. Neither does another person.

Is it nice to know you can count on your favorite tree to be there? Yes.

Sometimes trees go through their own storms. They cannot always produce perfect fruit when we may want them to. If this happens, do we ax the tree? No.

Likewise, we have to go with the flow of what we have.

We have to respect the person we are with. We don’t ax them out of our life because they did not fulfill our expectations.

The only “condition” is pure love, respect, and honesty for both the other person, and your self.

As long as you are authentic, real, honest, and attending to your own growth, the person in your life will most likely be doing the same.

There is no deception. That is the forbidden fruit.

An apple tree will never give you a pear.

Likewise, don’t give the person you love anything other than the real, natural you.

Bring out your entire real self. Then, and only then, will you be able to thrive, standing beside your equal in another human being.

About the Author

Barbara Rose discovered an amazing spiritual gift following a tragic loss. Author of: “If God Was Like Man,” and “Individual Power: Reclaiming Your Core, Your Truth, and Your Life” receive critical acclaim. She brings through information to create the highest vision of your life, and our world. Her nationally praised seminars and articles have helped uplift thousands. Visit her website at www.borntoinspire.com

Fruity Fashion Picks & Tricks For Spring by Sher Matsen

Spring is here and summers just around the corner so it’s time to freshen up that wardrobe and make your fashion statement for the season. If you’ve had a look around the stores or boutiques you’ll notice some of the pretties clothes and accessories are displaying fruit. Very upbeat and refreshing after the winter blah. Well placed appliqués, amusing details, juicy colors make these articles of clothing girlish and flirty. The perfect look for weekends and casual days. We’ve got cherry print dresses, pineapple topped shirts, melon and kiwi print pants and host of other deliciously flavorable garments. If your wardrobe doesn’t consist of a lot of fruit why not added some fruit jewelry, Lemons, grapes, cherries – what ever your favorite you’ll be in style. Some of our favorite designer fashion fruit picks this month are: A cotton graphic T from J Crews selling for $28.00 Satin cropped fruited pants from D&G seliing for $365.00 available at Neiman Marcus stores A Silk cherry print skirt by Beth Bowley selling for $170.00 A cotton cherry print dress by Moschino Jeanna selling for $430 at Sloan Leather shoes with faux wood heal from Faryl-robin selling for $89.00 Rhinestone and Lucite lemon necklace from Alexis Bittar selling for $212 Straw hat with glass fruit charms from Hat Attack selling for $88 at Big Drop Canvas cherry wallet with strap from Louis Vuitton selling for $300 Yes my picks are designer picks and a little bit on the pricey side, but you will find similar garments for affordable pricing at your local shops. You’ll find affordable blouses, t tops, pants, skirts, and dresses that fit this seasons look. Affordable costume jewelry in the fruity theme can be found online at several different stores including us at Estate Jewelry International. The fruity jewelry dating from the 1950s is a wonderful new addition for this season This season is a season of nostalgia because the last time we saw fruity patterns so popular was back in the 1950s. Fruity in moderation is the key to wearing these prints. Here’s a good rule of thumb – if it looks good on a 5 or 6 year old then it’s not for a grown women. If your in your 20s-30s you can choose one item that is a big and bold fruit to make your outfit standout. Don’t get carried away. One will make a statement. If your in your 40s fruity sweetness can quickly sour. Avoid big and bold, rather opting for mini fruit motifs. Small delicate non overpowering fruit is the key here. If your 50+ then no more than a hint of fruit is for you. How about a cherry tote bag or a pineapple brooch pinned to your blouse, or some strawberries on your flip flops. Remember light is much tastier! This season has a wonderful mix of cuts and styles, from tunics to fitted blouses, to convertible halter dresses. There are choices for all ages, shapes, and sizes. You’ll find fruity prints from head to toe, so enjoy and wear what feels right and looks good. Remember to you can always accessorize with fruity jewelry, belts, and shoes. Make your fashion statement!

About the Author: Sher from Estate Jewelry International have been serving customers for over 20 years, providing affordable estate jewelry, and a wealth of information on jewelry, fashion, designers, and beauty with on staff industry professionals. Please visit us at http://www.estatejewelryinternational.com/

Source: www.isnare.com

Knowing Them By Their Fruit... by Joyce C. Lock

A prophet is to be proclaiming things heard from God. Whenever God speaks, scripture supports it ... though probably not where someone points, "Thus saith the Lord," stealing God's words (running when He didn't send them).

Prophets guide people through their wilderness. You'll know them by their fruit, as God reserves spiritual gifts for those who have the heart for it.

Within the Bible is God's definition for most every word of significance given in scripture. God is His own best commentator. Teachers forgot to teach themselves.

If you're interested in God's intent, ask Him. Search the scriptures. If you seek God with your whole heart, He'll reveal himself to you. And when His Spirit writes the words upon your heart (which is the truth, as He cannot lie), you'll come to 'know' God in newfound ways. The words of His mouth are our necessary food.

Some teach, if you pick just one verse, you're taking it out of context. How, on earth could you have taken it out of context if God spoke it to your heart? However God speaks to your need, that word is infallible. Though, it might be true if you're selecting a verse to support your thinking (telling God what He believes).

Scripture instructs us to compare spiritual things with spiritual things, rightly dividing the words of truth. Deliberately written so the lost wouldn't understand it, you'll find the real truths in the hidden parts - as God reveals them to you.

Additionally, when someone speaks in the Spirit touching your spirit ... you can believe God, knowing He dwells within them and you.

In addition to being a published author and poet, Joyce C. Lock created the religion column, "Christianity Made Simple" for Peru Daily Tribune, continues to write inspirational articles for area newspapers, and shares further in online and e-mail ministries.

Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Fruitfulness by Andrei Yashurin

At some stage of our spiritual development, we’ve got to realize that the laws of life are often paradoxical. With such and understanding it is much easier to handle all seeming failures, which are mainly caused by our addiction to linear thinking.

One of the greatest paradoxes of life is that people don’t become happy by pursuing happiness.

Of course, some people do not pursue happiness at all – they lost their illusions long time ago, and their main goal is to get by, or, perhaps, to gain a small advantage over others. They are doing what is natural for a natural person, so there is no reason to condemn them. But how about those idealists who believe that life is governed by spiritual principles, the ones that people can know and apply for their benefit? Is it worthwhile for them to strive and to pray, asking God to make them happy?

My personal experience, and experience of some people I know proves that the answer to this question is NO. Every time someone set his (her) mind to pursue happiness, he (she) is doomed for a disappointment.

Have you ever heard phrases like that: "Let someone come to my life and make me happy", or "I will be truly happy when I’ll get this thing" ? The basic problem of the most seekers of happiness is that they look for it outside of themselves, but happiness just doesn’t belong to the world of things, or even human relationships. Truly, when we get what we want, or meet "the right" person, we experience fulfillment – but only for a short time. Unhappiness is a state of mind, and unless we deal with it at its root, it will eventually poison our prosperity and even our "ideal" relationships.

There is also another category of people, who believe that happiness comes from an inside, from our intimate relationships with God, and they do their best to cultivate those relationships through prayer, meditation and religious observances. They are closer to the truth, but still don’t comprehend it, and still don’t happy. Why? Because when people say "I need nothing but God to make me happy", they continue to remain self-centered and blind to what He wants to do in their life.

I guess, most of us have been acquainted with unhappy religious zealots, and wondered why God’s promise of an abundant life does not work for them.

So, what is the solution?

I am deeply convinced that we become happy not because we seek to be happy, but when we strive to be fruitful, when we do our best to find out and to fulfill our life’s mission. Happiness is a by-product of fruitfulness.

Jesus knew that He came from God, and was going back to God. He was fully aware of the fact that God sent Him with a specific mission. Do we know that all these truths apply to us as well?

"I choose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit" (John 15:16).

This call is not something forced upon us from an outside by an arbitrary God. Our call consists of all that is the most natural and most essential for us. We cannot separate ourselves from our appointment without violating of ourselves. The cost of disobedience to our life’s mission is a life of an inner division and turmoil.

"I am the wine, and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much fruit… If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire" (John 15:5-6).

Jesus spoke of an inner fire of guilt, stress, dissatisfaction and tension that burns within minds of those who don’t come to the consciousness of their unity with God, and, therefore, remain unfruitful. However, to those who are obedient to their call, He gave a wonderful promise:

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done to you" (John 15:7).

All things are added to those who seek the Kingdom of God above all else. All desires will be granted to those who put God’s desires first in their life. But how can we be sure of that? There is only one way, and it is our personal experience.

It does not matter whether you agree or disagree with the central thought of this article. What really important is whether you are willing to try and prove it for yourself. All the intellectual reasoning in the world cannot substitute one practical application of an idea.

Tips for Including More Delicious Fruits and Vegetables in Your Diet by Erin Rogers

Many people struggle with how to eat the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Here are some easy ideas for including these nutrition-laden foods in your diet. Just about everyone knows that fruits and vegetables are a very important part of a healthy diet. Even though we know this to be true, many of us still find it hard to include the recommended 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit per day in our diets. Once you learn a few easy tricks, soon you'll have no trouble eating a variety of fruits and vegetables every day.

First, you'll want to become generally familiar with serving sizes. They are not as big as you might think. Here are the some guidelines for one serving of fruits or vegetables:

* 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables (such as lettuce or spinach)

* 1/2 cup of other vegetables, cooked or chopped raw

* 1/2 cup cooked or canned legumes (beans and peas)

* 3/4 cup of vegetable juice

* 1 medium apple, banana, orange

* 1/2 cup of chopped, cooked, or canned fruit

* 3/4 cup of fruit juice

* 1/4 cup dried fruit

Here are some practical tips anyone can use:

* Be sure to include at least one fruit serving at breakfast, preferably two. Try a glass of orange juice and a whole piece of fruit, or a smoothie using both juice and whole fruit.

* Use snacktime to add a serving or two of fruits or vegetables to your daily diet, such as raw vegetables with some light dip or dressing, or a bowl of chopped fruit topped with some fat-free yogurt.

* Include at least two servings of vegetables with both lunch and dinner. A lunch example would be to add both lettuce and tomato to a sandwich, and some raw vegetables on the side. For dinner, try serving 2 sides of steamed vegetables. Or, eat a bowl of tomato or vegetable soup or gazpacho as an appetizer. Try a pizza with lots of veggie toppings.

* Before you prepare dinner, fix a bowl of fresh veggies to munch on and then place it on the table with dinner. You'd be surprised how easy it is to down a 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes or sliced cucumbers when you're munching away.

* Fill half your dinner plate with vegetables, and go for seconds on veggies before you'll allow yourself seconds of the entrŽe.

* If you don't have any fresh vegetables or fruit, keep frozen and canned on hand - they are surprisingly comparable in terms of nutrition.

* Drink an ice-cold glass of vegetable juice with a meal or for a snack.

* Make it a point to try a new fruit or vegetable as often as you can - it's a great way to discover wonderful new favorites!

* Include fruit in your dessert selections. You can serve it with angel food cake, yogurt, light whipping topping, chocolate syrup, light ice cream, or all by itself!

If you use all of the suggestions in this list, you'd get 5-6 servings of vegetables and 3-4 servings of fruit in a day. That doesn't seem so hard, does it? Happy eating!

About the Author

Erin Rogers, a work-at-home mom of two, is the founder of Health-E-Meals.com, providing practical healthy living resources for busy people. She's also the author of the Healthy Express Cookbook: 101 Fresh, Light & Quick Dinners (http://www.health-e-meals.com/ebook.html). Visit her website (http://www.health-e-meals.com/DOTD.html) to sign up for her FREE electronic newsletter, 'Dinners on the Double' - offering a quick and healthy, no-recipe dinner idea and more each week. Erin can be reached via email at erin@health-e-meals.com.

Big Daddy's Fruit Freezer by News Canada

(NC)—Real men eat this yogurt! It's a truly fabulous frozen dessert or snack. So fast and easy that even your favourite I-hate-to-cook guy will like to make it, and so good that he'll want to make it every day. Makes one delicious man-size portion.

Ingredients and Preparation

3/4 cup (175 mL) or 175 g container vanilla yogurt

1 cup (250 mL) raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, frozen

1/2 very ripe banana, peeled and frozen

Cut banana (and large strawberries if used) into small pieces. Mix fruit with yogurt. Using a food processor or powerful hand blender, quick puree starting with a rapid on/off technique. Don't puree it too long and dig in before it melts!

Here's what you get from a serving (one recipe) of our Big Daddy's Fruit Freezer based on Health Canada's Recommended Daily Intake (RDI's) for nutrients.

Nutrient % RDI Nutrient % RDI

Vitamin C 188 % Vitamin B6 27 %

Vitamin B12 49 % Magnesium 25 %

Riboflavin 40 % Zinc 20 %

Calcium 32 %/353 mg Folacin 19 %

Phosphorus 27 % Pantothenic Acid 17 %

Per Serving

Energy 373 kcal, Carbohydrate 82 g, Protein 11 g, Fat 3 g

- News Canada

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

Fantastic Fruit by Bob Bassett

The classic fruit gift basket is a great gift for family, friends and coworkers. The Christmas citrus sampler is almost a tradition in some families. But fruit gift baskets aren't just for the holidays, they are great anytime. In addition to the classic citrus fruit in a gift basket or box, there are options that include apples, pears, pineapples, and all manner of domestic and exotic fruits. If you prefer a little more variety, look for fruit gift baskets that also include crackers, cheeses, and sweet dips such as chocolate sauce or caramel. Fruit gift baskets range in price from about $20 for a small sampler to over $300 for deluxe arrangements. There are also a variety of sizes available, making suitable gifts for everyone from your child's teacher to the whole family. A fruit gift basket is a thoughtful choice for expressing sympathy, saying thank you, or corporate gift giving. With such a wide range of choices, it's possible to find something in any price range. For long distance gift giving, online retailers can ship your fruit basket. For something a bit different, try a fruit and flowers gift basket. Besides being tasty, a fruit gift basket is also among the healthier options for food gift baskets. If you know someone who is careful about eating well, they will appreciate your thoughtful choice in gifts. Fruit is also a great choice for families with children, rather than a basket of sweets or cookies, and can be enjoyed by everyone unlike more adult choices such as caviar or wine. A fruit gift basket is both decorative and delicious. Recipients will be delighted both with the appearance and the thought behind such a lovely gift. In addition, with people becoming ever more health conscious, a fruit basket is a guilt-free gift that the whole family can enjoy.

About the Author: Bob Bassett is the owner of Unique Gift Baskets Online which offers a wide selection of gift baskets for any occasion including baby gift baskets, food gift baskets, wine and corporate gift baskets. http://www.uniquegiftbasketsonline.com

Source: www.isnare.com

Fun and Fruity Recipes by Deborah Shelton

Sometimes the easiest way to get children to eat healthy is to let them have a hand in making their own snacks…and add whipped cream on top. Here are two fruity recipes that are fun and easy to make, and even more fun to eat.

Miniature Fruit Pizzas

1 package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

8 ounces softened cream cheese

1 cup confectioners' sugar

Assorted fresh fruit, cut into bite size pieces, such as bananas, kiwis, oranges, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, pineapple, etc.

Directions: Cut sugar cookie dough into 1-inch slices and place on ungreased cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake as directed, or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool.

Combine cream cheese and confectioners' sugar; mix well. Spread over cooled cookies. Decorate with assorted fruit. Yummy!

Strawberry Angels

1 angel food cake

6 large strawberries

1 carton whipped topping

Directions: First, cut the cake into serving-size pieces. Slice the strawberries and layer on top of the cake. Then spoon whipped topping on top of the strawberries. Serve and enjoy!

About The Author

Deborah Shelton edits The Five Minute Parent email newsletter. For your free subscription, send a blank email to mailto:Five_Minute_Parent-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://www.fiveminuteparent.com

deborah@fiveminuteparent.com

Fruit Phyto Bars by News Canada

(NC)-Forget those tasteless, over-processed energy bars you buy at the store which have been sitting on the shelf for who knows how long! These delicious bars will not only tempt your taste buds but will deliver some important nutrition benefits as well. Made with antioxidant-rich California tree fruits (pick your favorite or use a combination of plums, peaches and nectarines) these bars will help you keep the sun's UV rays at bay with phytonutrients critical to maintaining healthy skin.

11/2 pounds fresh California tree fruit (peaches, plums and/or nectarines)

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup liquid egg substitute

6 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup instant nonfat dry milk powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

11/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

1/4 cup dry roasted sunflower kernels

Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 teaspoons hot water

Preheat oven to 325º F. Butter and flour 11"x151/2"x1" baking pan and set aside. Pit and dice fruit to yield

31/2 cups. Measure 1 cup into blender or food processor. Add oil and process until smooth. Reserve the remaining fruit.

With mixer, beat puréed mixture together with sugar, egg substitute, honey and vanilla until sugar is dissolved. Stir flours, dry milk powder, soda, ginger, salt, oats and sunflower kernels together in another large bowl. Add all at once to mixer bowl with remaining diced fruit; mix just to blend. Spread evenly in prepared pan and bake at 325º F for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, mix ingredients for glaze together until smooth. Drizzle or brush on bars while hot. Allow to cool in pan. Cut 5x6 to make 30 bars.

Nutrition information (per bar) - PROTEIN: 3 grams; FAT: 3 grams; CARBOHYDRATE: 24 grams; FIBER: 2.6 grams; SODIUM: 20 milligrams; CHOLESTEROL: 0.2 milligrams; CALORIES: 134 calories

For more recipes and information on California peaches, plums and nectarines, visit www.eatcaliforniafruit.com.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

Fun & Fruity Recipes by Deborah Shelton

Sometimes the easiest way to get children to eat healthy is to let them have a hand in making their own snacks…and add whipped cream on top. Here are two fruity recipes that are fun and easy to make, and even more fun to eat.

Miniature Fruit Pizzas

1 package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

8 ounces softened cream cheese

1 cup confectioners' sugar

Assorted fresh fruit, cut into bite size pieces, such as bananas, kiwis, oranges, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, pineapple, etc.

Directions: Cut sugar cookie dough into 1-inch slices and place on ungreased cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake as directed, or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool.

Combine cream cheese and confectioners' sugar; mix well. Spread over cooled cookies. Decorate with assorted fruit. Yummy!

Strawberry Angels

1 angel food cake

6 large strawberries

1 carton whipped topping

Directions: First, cut the cake into serving-size pieces. Slice the strawberries and layer on top of the cake. Then spoon whipped topping on top of the strawberries. Serve and enjoy!

About The Author

deborah@fiveminuteparent.com