5 Surpsing Fruit Parts with Amazing Health Benefits

We all know that fruit are good for us, but sometimes, special parts of the fruit may have even greater health benefits that we weren’t aware of!

Grape Seeds

Next time you buy grapes, get the ones with seeds, and don’t spit them out! Chew and eat them! A while ago, my mother told me that hey, why don’t we just eat grape seeds since that’s sold as a supplement. Rather than spending money to buy it, why not make use of what we have? Of course, that seemed like a brilliant idea. But what’s so amazing about grape seeds?

There’s a compound in grape seeds called proanthocyanidins that has amazing antioxidant properties that strengthens cells in the body, as well as the blood vessel walls, reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure.

Orange Pith

I was first aware of this when my mother’s workmates told her not to cut off the white part of the orange as it had so many health benefits it could cure diseases.

Flavonoids are one of the amazing antioxidant found in citrus fruits like oranges, and believe it or not, the most concentrated area of flavonoids is none other than the white part of the orange in between the fruit and peel, known as the pith!

Research has even shown that flavonoids containing naringenin can repair damaged DNA in tumours, burn excess fat, decrease bad cholesterol and increase the good ones.

Not only that, the pith contain a high amount of Vitamin C and fibre called pectin, which relieves diarrhea, prevents cancer and controls cholesterol.

You can easily get all the benefits of the pith by cutting off only a very thin layer of the skin off and leave most of the white part on the orange.

Banana skins

Think that a banana is packed with wonderful minerals and proteins? The banana peel has hidden away even more benefits. Banana skins are much more useful than secretly putting it on the ground to make someone slip (though, I have never even seen that happen).

Banana skins are particularly great for the skin problems. It can relieve itches caused by insect bites, treat wounds, psoriasis, acne and even skin warts! To treat skin conditions, just rub the peel over the affected area. Banana peels may also cure your headache, so mash up that peel and stick it on your head!

Papaya Leaves

We first heard these leaves were great because a friend of our family was looking for these leaves everywhere to help her someone in her family with cancer.

Papaya leaves has a rich source of nutrients, minerals and antioxidants that’s extremely useful for cancer prevention, heart health, skin problems, acne, intestinal worms, indigestion, dengue fever and even menstrual pain.

Papaya is often used for cancer treatment or prevention and clinical trials have shown that papaya leaves can help stop cellular growth of tumours and perhaps can even cut off the blood supplies. This is extremely useful for those going through chemotherapy.

Papaya leaves can also treat a number of discomforts with the stomach, ranging from heartburn, pains or Irritable bowel syndrome. Papain is the active part of the leaf and can help you break down food easily, particularly fibres.

The best way to take papaya leaves is to brew them as a tea.

Dried Tangerine/Mandarin Peels

Not a lot of people realise the amazing benefits of tangerine peels. Once, we had a huge load of peels in the back yard and a visitor asked why we were keeping these peels. Here are the reasons: Tangerine Peel is known as Chen Pi in Chinese and has a long history of benefits from Chinese medicine. There are a plethora of vitamin and minerals, such as Vitamin C, B1, Choline, Folic Acid, more than 60 flavonoids, beta-carotene, d-limonene, alpha-carotene, aldehyes and many more.

Tangerine peels are often used to treat diarrhea, hiccups, coughs, pain, peptic ulcers, nausea and vomiting, infertility, indigestion or digestive disorders and allergies. They are also known to enhance blood circulation, enhance liquid flow within the body and even act as a pain killer.

The best way to use tangerine peels is to dry them under the sun or around a stove (please be careful and don’t set it on fire!), then boil them with tea or soup with other traditional Chinese herbs such as Goji Berries, red dates and so on.