Happiness is out there! And sometimes, it’s in the food you eat. Throughout the day, we experience a whirlwind of emotions as we react to stimulus around us. However, maintaining a positive outlook radiates joy and helps overall well-being and productivity. Need a pick-me-up for not-so-sunny days? Here are the top ten fruits that make you happy.
- Eat Bananas!
Bananas are just around the corner! Native to Southeast Asia, they are now grown in many warm parts of the world. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The most common is Cavendish, a dessert banana that is green when unripe and yellow as it matures.
The fantastic superfood contains high amounts of fiber and antioxidants. It is rich in Potassium, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Magnesium, Copper, and Manganese. Moreover, a banana has only about 105 calories and consists almost exclusively of water and carbs. Bananas hold nearly zero fat.
However, Bananas are on top of our “fruits that make you happy” list because of tryptophan, a type of protein that converts into serotonin and makes you more relaxed and happier. The vitamins also calm the nerves while the fiber and other nutrients give you sustained energy.
Finally, bananas are excellent for the heart, mind, and kidneys. The vitamin B6 in the fruit promotes cognitive health so that you can be as bright as a yellow banana!
- Avocados
When stressed, the body uses more vitamin E and depletes your stores. Consuming avocado, which contains high amounts of Vitamin E, helps the body cope and relieve anxiety, stress, and depression. It restores your natural balance and keeps the skin radiant.
Other foods that have vitamin E include almonds, kiwi, spinach, sunflower seeds, and trout.
- Tomato
While generally prepared and eaten like a vegetable, tomato is botanically a fruit. It is the primary dietary source of the antioxidant lycopene, which has many health benefits, including preventing heart disease and cancer.
Lycopene promotes positive emotions by reducing pro-inflammatory compounds in the brain that cause depression.
The best thing about tomatoes? It can be enjoyed as fruit or vegetable, and it makes our favorite food tastier. Pizza, pasta, soups — everything is better with the balance of sweet, tart, and tangy feel of our favorite red fruit. The perennial fruit goes well with mango and grapes in a salad. While rarely offered in smoothie shops, tomatoes are excellent as juice.
Other lycopene foods include grapefruit, papayas, mangoes, persimmons, guavas, red bell peppers, and red cabbage.
- Strawberries
Strawberries are famous for their bright red color and heart shape, and indeed, they are the sweetest thing. They taste sweet and juicy, with a delightful aroma. The tiny fruits are fun to pick and look so pretty in your fingers.
The superfood is beautiful inside out. The seeds outside the fruit contained omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid that improves people’s mood. Strawberry is also packed with vitamins, fiber, and high levels of antioxidants known as polyphenols which may improve brain function, digestion, and blood sugar levels.
Finally, these bright red berries are rich in vitamin C, another antioxidant that fights unstable molecules in the brain. Vitamin C does not occur naturally in the body, so we need to include it in our diets.
Other fruits high in vitamin C include blueberries, watermelon, kiwi, bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, guavas, kale, mangoes, oranges, papaya, and pineapple. Now, go to your smoothie bar and combine five of them in your favorite smoothie.
- Apples
You’ve been doing something right all your life: putting those Apples on the table. They are among the fruits that can make you happy.
While it’s sinfully sweet and juicy, you don’t have to feel guilty taking a bite of the lovely red fruit that’s rich in fiber, vitamin C, antioxidants, and potassium.
Always in season, Apples brighten the skin, reduce puffy eyes, work as a natural toner, moisturize skin, and treat acne and blemishes. They increase serotonin levels which keeps you calm and energetic all day.
So eat an apple a day. Wash them properly, and eat them unpeeled all the way.
- Berries: Blueberries, Blackberries, and Raspberries
Berries like blueberries and raspberries have the nutrients anthocyanidins and anthocyanins that improve mental health and reduce depression and stress. They combat free radicals and support heart and cognitive function.
Responsible for the pink to purple pigment in fruits, anthocyanidins and anthocyanins make berries superfoods by promoting heart health, skin health, normal blood pressure, diabetes
management, and cancer prevention.
- Red Fruits: Red Cherries, Watermelon, Pomegranate, Cranberries
Red Cherries, Red Apples, Watermelon, and Pomegranate are the reddest fruits they are among the top fruits that make you happy. They cleanse the body and aid in healing serious diseases so you can be back at your 100%.
Further benefits of cleansing include reducing the risk of prostate cancer, cervical, and lung cancer and reducing tumor growth. It keeps away free radicals and makes the body younger.
It also protects the body against heart disease, lowers blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, supports joint tissue for arthritis, and promotes gastrointestinal health.
- Coco Water
When someone says coconut, it’s easy to recall walking barefoot in a tropical paradise, sitting under the shade of a coconut tree, and finally quenching one’s thirst with a sip of coco water from the freshly picked fruit.
Coco water contains plant compounds and electrolytes, such as potassium, sodium, magnesium, and phosphorus that invigorate the body on a hot summer or after exercising.
It is also scientifically proven to diminish feelings of anxiety.
Better yet, consume the entire coco fruit for more health benefits including improved heart health, weight loss, and digestion. Coconut meat is rich in protein, several important minerals, and small amounts of B vitamins. Coconut oil is used as an herbal cure for many serious diseases and is being studied as a possible Covid cure. Meanwhile, coconut roots are said to cure kidney diseases. The coconut tree has earned the name “tree of life” for all its health benefits.
