Why I Eat The Whole Orange — Here’s Why You Should Too
50-percent of the health benefits are from the skin
In the Western world, citrus peels are mostly just byproducts of juicing and treated as waste. That’s a pity, as they contain many phenolic compounds which are proven to be beneficial to our Western lifestyle and diet-induced diseases.
By consuming the whole citrus fruit, we gain far more health benefits than by just eating the flesh. There are more health benefits from compounds in the skin and membranes than from just those in the flesh.
The whole fruit is a powerhouse of antioxidants
The compounds in the non-flesh parts of oranges are so powerful that in some parts of the world they are used as a traditional medicine to cure fungal and bacterial infections, human colon and breast cancer by alternative therapists.
To me, that’s convincing. Especially since I am diabetic and the role of foods with a high content of phenolic compounds is surfacing as an important aspect of dietary blood sugar control. These foods help regulate blood sugar by slowing digestion, and the antioxidants help prevent the damage to the blood vessels caused by diabetes.
