The Powerful Pineapple

I've decided to eat a pineapple and a papaya every week. Remember what I said about habits? This is just something I do, week in, week out. Pineapples are a bit high in sugar, I know, but that's why I only eat one a week. I have digestive issues, and I need those enzymes. They are powerful especially for digesting meats. You want the papaya for papain and pineapple for bromelain.

Today we're focusing on pineapples.

I buy a pineapple (organic if I can afford it, but I feel pretty safe buying non-organic fruits that have a thick peeling that is removed) and I cut off the section I'm going to eat and only peel that part. Then I turn the pineapple upside down onto a flat dish so I don't have to wrap the exposed part with plastic and that's how I store it in the fridge all week as I slice off 1/7 of it a day all week. The bottom starts to go bad first, so start slicing from the bottom up. That way you can leave the stem on and it looks cheerful in your fridge, just sitting there on its little plate with its bottom gradually getting shaved away.

The trick to getting all the beautiful bromelain in the pineapple is to not cut out the center or much of the part close to the stem. The center is yucky and fibrous and hard to chew, I know, but eat it. It won't kill you. It will do you a lot of good.

I used to get pineapple slices or juice in the can for the enzymes, not realizing canned pineapple is pasteurized and all the good stuff is dead.

Pineapples are high in sugar. Don't eat them unless you eat them raw.

I don't even buy those pre-sliced pineapple in plastic containers in the produce section. The high-bromelain sections (the center and the area near the stem) have been cut out. Plus, I don't know what else has been done to them. If I'm going to ingest those sugars for the health benefits of pineapple, I'm going to make sure I'm getting the health benefits. Plus those slices have been sitting in plastic absorbing the phytoestrogens from plastic that are a big part of what caused my cancer. I stay as far away from plastic as I can. Sometimes it can't be avoided, but when it can be avoided I avoid it. Plastic is another post.

Buy your pineapple whole and eat your slice for the day right before or after you eat your biggest meat serving. Meat can really block you up and stay in your guts and rot if you're low on enzymes or healthy gut bacteria. A healthy probiotic and the enzymes from papaya and pineapple will really help.

If you are diabetic, it's a good idea to do what I do when I eat something sweet. I buy organic ceylon cinnamon in powder and oil form. When I eat something sweet, or I slip up and eat a heavy meal, I put 3-4 drops of cinnamon oil in a cup with a splash of milk. Cinnamon is so great for regulating your blood sugar levels. You've got to get the right cinnamon, though. Most store bought cinnamon is cassia,not true or ceylon cinnamon, and it sometimes has all kinds of additives. I'll make cinnamon my next post. We're talking about pineapples right now. I do digress, don't I? The journey is just all so interconnected.

World's Healthiest Foods is a great website. I don't agree with all of their thinking, but they give incredible nutritional information on different foods. Check out their article on the benefits of eating pineapple:

World's Healthiest Foods - Pineapple

And don't miss their intriguing little recipe for shrimp salad: just shrimp, ginger, pineapple and olive oil. Yum.