JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Kiwi orchard, Mount Manganui, New Zealand. Photo by JZ.

You want to be a vegan? Fine. You want to follow a macrobiotic diet? Fine. You choose to subsist on nuts and berries or air and mesclun, good for you. Bravo, you are a stronger person than I. But never attempt to lecture me about my choices. Do not try to convert me to your dietary regimen. Such a move would be more dangerous to your health than eating a whole cow at each meal. You know how werewolf hunters pack a silver bullet? I carry a special bullet made of lard and gristle, and I won’t hesitate to use it on you.

At one time or another many of us have sworn to abide by some health regimen that will allow us to live forever. Apart from the over-promise, these regimens fail because they are too difficult to stick to. A radical overhaul of your lifestyle and habits is not easy to do, no matter what talk show hosts and motivational speakers say. (I suspect that many of them remain in business because no one has stuck with their programs long enough to debunk their premises.) So the wonderful health regimen remains a statement of intentions.

I like my regimens fuss-free. If it’s essential to my wellbeing, stick it in a pill. That’s a lot of pills. Unfortunately, vitamins and nutrients ingested in pill form may not be as accessible to our bodies as the vitamins and nutrients available in food. How do we deal with this?

Citing key studies in health research and nutrition, the global kiwifruit marketer Zespri says the solution is to eat two kiwifruit everyday. Kiwifruit are those funny-looking fuzzy balls you see in fruit stands. They come in two varieties: the Green, which has an oval shape and light brown skin, and the Gold, which is smoother and has a pointy top. Green kiwifruit is tangy and citrusy, Gold is sweeter.

For maximum benefits, the fruit should be eaten raw and whole. Cut it in half and scoop out the flesh; the seeds are tiny and edible. That takes care of the vitamin C requirement for most people. Vitamin C boosts our natural immunity to infection and disease, and is a powerful antioxidant. Every other product claims to contain antioxidants, but what exactly are they? Basically antioxidants remove damaging oxidizing agents in our cells. (“Oxidize” is a synonym for “become rusty”. Imagine your systems rusting away: gross.)

Our brains, white blood cells, liver, adrenal glands and other tissues need high levels of vitamin C to function at optimal levels. Studies show that kiwifruit is ten times more effective at delivering vitamin C to the tissues than supplementing drinking water with vitamin C. The number one nutrient deficiency in the world is iron deficiency, which leads to impaired physical and mental performance. Low iron levels are usually treated with iron supplements. Recent studies show that Gold kiwifruit promotes the body’s ability to absorb iron from food. Gold kiwifruit also contains high levels of vitamin C, which enhances the body’s uptake of iron.

Kiwifruit has high levels of antioxidant vitamin E, potassium for nerve and muscle regeneration, folate for healthy skin and blood cells, magnesium for stronger bones and teeth, zinc for good hair, lutein to lessen the possibility of vision loss with aging, and fiber to efficiently detoxify the body.

Apart from its nutrient content, Green kiwifruit helps improve protein digestion. It contains an enzyme called actinidin that breaks down protein in meat (Green kiwifruit is widely used as a meat tenderizer). This enzyme breaks down protein from meat, milk, legumes, and cereal faster and more completely than the enzymes in our digestive system.

Say you’re a meatatarian like me. If you eat Green kiwifruit with your meal, you digest the meat or fish faster, and you don’t get that feeling of over-fullness (Unless you have eaten way too much again, in which case you need to learn self-control).

What exactly have we done to reap the benefits listed above? Did we make major changes to the way we live? No. Did we swear off the food we love to eat? No, although it’s always a good idea to consume things in moderation. Did we have to be good, virtuous, self-denying? No. All we did was eat two pieces of kiwifruit. No fuss, no drama. I can do this.

This piece appeared in my column in the Philippine Star last year.