The Hallelujah Diet itself is easy to incorporate. No more greasy pans, burnt pots and sticky ovens - I, personally, don’t miss any of those. Granted, the fresh produce is much more varied and plentiful during the summer than at other times of the year. We find however, that during the summer it is more tempting to consume much more than the recommended 15% of fruits. And, the next season will bring something different and just as flavorful!
Watch Your Fresh Fruit Intake!
Farmers Markets will be bursting with colors and displaying their unique vegetables and fruits soon. Tomatoes will taste like real tomatoes. Ann and I spend a lot of time every Saturday during the summer going from one Farmers Market to the next just enjoying the sights and tasting the freshest produce we can ever obtain. Our salads are filled with the bountiful array of asparagus, then squash and red peppers, sweet peas and yellow wax beans, then further into the summer, tomatoes, onions and fresh sweet corn and always sprinkled with lots of gorgeous greens.
Eat Fresh, Seasonal Foods Whenever Possible
Eating seasonally is the best way to enjoy God’s great garden. Although some of the seasons may seem brief, the flavors of the produce grown during that time can never be replicated the rest of the year.
From the early Spring strawberries and the late Spring blueberries to the Summer peaches, grapes, nectarines and plums, the abundance of fresh fruit is incredibly tempting. Every summer it seems like a great challenge to get a basket of peaches and not eat all of them within 24 hours! Even I am challenged—and I love watermelon! When we get one, Ann sees me enjoying those sweet, juicy slices like watching a child unwrap his favorite Christmas gift.
Why Should We Limit the Amount of Fresh Fruit We Eat?
Sugar is sugar. We would like to rationalize that whole fruit contains fiber, vitamins and minerals. While that is certainly the case, in the body, the fruit’s sugar-fructose-stirs a similar reaction to refined sugar. The reason that fruits should make up 15% of our daily intake of food is that although they are considered nature’s “cleansers”, they also contain fructose, which, when consumed in even moderate quantities, can cause as much damage and wreak as much havoc in people as if they had consumed refined sugar.
It may not be as severe of a reaction, but inflammation, metabolic imbalance and ultimately immune malfunction, is not our ultimate goal—ever. So, enjoy that peach while it is mixed in your green smoothie. Add those strawberries and blueberries to your salads and give yourself a large piece of watermelon as your picnic treat. Just continue to eat those greens and other veggies as nature is providing. We all want to come back next year and enjoy those sweet delectable treats again!
