Health Articles > Health-and-nutrition > The ABCs of Healthy Fruits (Part One)

All fruits are healthy to the human body in specific ways. A combination of fruits in your diet can help to keep you healthy, and cure certain diseases as well. There is a huge variety of fruits that can help you, including apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, cantaloupe, cranberries, figs, grapefruit, grapes, kiwi fruit, lemon/limes and oranges. Other healing fruits include papaya, pears, pineapple, plums, prunes, raisins, raspberries, strawberries and watermelon. Here we take a look at a variety of the healing properties of a selection of fruits. Amaranth is a food that not everyone is familiar with. While technically a fruit, amaranth is commonly used as a type of grain that is found in many different types of breads, muffins, pasta and other foods that are as an adjunct to flour. The seeds of amaranth are extremely high in protein that builds muscle. Amaranth is much richer in protein than most grains. Amaranth seeds are also excellent at building up the immune system because they are high in zinc, copper and magnesium. Apricots are excellent antioxidants. They are chock-full of vitamin C and beta-carotene. Research studies have yielded the fact that beta carotene is beneficial at protecting the body against lung cancer. Apricots are great sources of fiber. Apricots are more nutritious if you buy them fresh as opposed to canned. Bananas are full of potassium, and therefore great at reducing blood pressure. Bananas are full of vitamin B6, which is good for encouraging the strength of the immune system. Bananas are particularly good to start off the day. Eat a banana with a glass of low fat milk and a piece of whole wheat bread (or toast) with peanut butter for breakfast and it will give you plenty of energy. For a change of pace whip up a banana shake in the blender and drink your start to a good day! Cantaloupe is full of plenty of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, potassium and fiber. Research studies have shown that beta-carotene is particularly helpful at fighting cancers that originate in the lungs but more recent studies have shown that it is also worthwhile for fighting other types of cancers such as cancer of the cervix, uterine cancer, stomach cancer and oral forms of cancers. Evidence also supports that vitamin C decreases the incidence of mouth cancers, throat cancers, pancreatic cancer and stomach cancer. Figs are beneficial to health and that is the case regardless of whether you choose to eat figs fresh or in their dried form. Figs have plenty of vitamin C, fiber, magnesium and potassium in them. Figs contain a type of fruit fiber that is able to decrease blood pressure, and in particular, systolic blood pressure, which is the top number of the blood pressure reading which in turn, calculates the pressure of the contractions of the heart. Fiber in general is connected to decreasing the bottom number of the blood pressure equation, which is the diastolic blood pressure. The diastolic blood pressure stands for the pressure of the heart when it is resting between its contracting action.