Sweet and juice with a little bit of zing, adding Pineapple to your diet is not only delicious, it is super healthy. Pineapple contains a unique enzyme, bromelain, which offers some interesting properties. The plant compounds found in pineapple are being studied as to its many health benefits including improving digestion, boosting immunity, and shortening healing time. By upping your culinary game, you can see how to enjoy the health benefits of pineapple in your weekly menu.

Eating your colors when it comes to fruits and vegetables increases your intake of vitamins and minerals, ups your collection of antioxidants, improves your overall health, and tastes great. It’s time to jump into the tropical fruit scene by adding pineapple to your diet.

How To Incorporate Pineapple In Your Diet

Although the outside of a pineapple is intimidating with spiny skin and a flourish of leaves, the inside is sweet, succulent, and juicy. So how do you get to the inside of a pineapple? With a few simple techniques you will be slicing and dicing in no time, whipping up lots of great pineapple recipes and enjoying the health benefits of pineapple.

Cutting A Whole Pineapple

To cut up your pineapple into chunks, you will need a sharp knife and a solid cutting board, preferably one with a slip resistant pad.

Lay the pineapple on its side and slice off the top.
Tip the pineapple cut side down for 30 minutes. This will allow all the juice that has settled at the bottom of the fruit to redistribute throughout the whole pineapple.
After your pineapple has rested, cut off the bottom end.
Set the pineapple on the cut end and slice off the skin using long, top to bottom cuts.
Cut the pineapple in half lengthwise (top to bottom).
Lay the pineapple halves down on your board and quarter them lengthwise.
Remove the core by making a lengthwise angle cut down the center of each quarter.
Slice and dice as desired.
Enjoy!

If you want pineapple rings, simply follow steps 1 through 5 above, then use a pineapple corer to cut out the center and slice into rings.

If you want to skip all the chopping and cutting, many grocery stores now sell fresh pineapple already peeled and cored, primed for you to take home and enjoy.

Eating Fresh Pineapple

Once you start popping those sweet pineapple nuggets, they become addictive making it hard to stop. Some people notice a discomfort in their mouth after eating too much pineapple. This is caused by the enzyme bromelain found in pineapple. Bromelain works as a tenderizer to break down protein. The inside of our mouth is reacting to the enzyme’s tenderization properties. Not to fear, the tingling goes away in a short time, then you will find yourself craving more pineapple.

Pineapple Fruit Salad

A beautiful fresh fruit salad is perfect for a summertime picnic or barbeque. When you add healthy ingredients like pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, and cantaloupe and served your salad with a luscious sauce, what could be better. Packed with great flavor, vitamin C, and loads of immune boosting nutrients, a fruit salad is the way to go. Not to mentions, it is festive and colorful.

To make a classic pineapple fruit salad, combine one to two cups of fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries in your favorite bowl. Squeeze the juice of half lemon or lime over the fruit. Serve with a homemade sauce. Combine one cup of Greek Yogurt, two tablespoons of honey, one half teaspoon of vanilla extract, and the juice from other half of the lime or lemon along with some zest.

This salad makes a great dessert, light refreshing, and better for you than a slice of cake. It will provide your family with lots of anti-inflammatory goodies.

Other Fruits Packed With Vitamins

Check out our recent reviews of the Health Benefits Of Blueberries and the Health Benefits of Eating Cantaloupe. These reviews contain a wealth of health information about how these fruits may prevent heart disease, provide beta-carotene, and are a good source of vitamin C and B vitamins.

Savory Pineapple Dishes

Fancy sweet whole pineapple half salsa South American appetizer

Pineapple is not just for desserts and Pina Coladas, it pairs amazingly well with all sorts of savory dishes. Pineapples add a touch of sweetness and when balanced with a bit of spicy; you have got a party for dinner.

Pineapple Salsa

Mix pineapple with tomatoes, add a little spice, and serve. Enjoy the zesty flavor on your tacos, fish, chicken or as a dip for tortilla chips; while your body is grabbing all the anti-inflammatory goodness. This Easy Pineapple Salsa from Culinary Hill does just that. Super colorful, so you know it’s chock-full of healthy goodness, the fruit and jalapeno come together with the help of lime juice and cilantro. Served with tortilla chips, it’s time for a fiesta!

Grilling Pineapple

Grilling pineapple slices is super easy. Grilled pineapple slices are delicious on burgers and make a tasty and healthy dessert all on their own. Preheat your grill to about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add your slices to a bowl and lightly coat with a vegetable oil, you want an oil with a neutral taste. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Grill 3 to 4 minutes on each side to impart a slight smoky flavor, caramelize the natural sugars, and get a beautiful grill mark. The data is clear, pineapple is a versatile and tasty food.

Hawaiian Turkey Burgers

Martha Stewart, queen of the kitchen, offers her Hawaiian Turkey Burger recipe as a virtual trip to the islands. Sweet from the pineapple and Hawaiian sweet buns, pair with the ground turkey that is mixed with spicy ginger and garlic. The savory qualities of soy sauce, sesame oil, and Havarti cheese pair wonderfully with the heat from the jalapeno mayonnaise.

A tasty way to switch up burger night! Who would have thought that eating a burger could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis.

Sweet Pineapple Dishes

Sweet treats are a must occasionally. It is all about balance when it comes to eating healthy.

Pies And Cookies

For a once-in-while indulgence, pineapple baked goods are a yummy treat. The Spruce Eats has several pineapple dessert dishes that are quick to make, pretty to serve, and taste delicious. Try the Pineapple Coconut Chess Pie for a southern taste sensation or the Pineapple Oatmeal Cookies for a nod to good health. The healthful properties pineapple contains may not be as prevalent once the fruit is cooked.

Paleo And Gluten Free

If you are looking for a baked good that offers better health benefits, try these Carrot Pineapple Muffins. In a quick 30 minutes, you can be enjoying one of these yummy muffins with your cup of tea or coffee. A happy side benefit, you will be improving your digestion as you munch away.

Pineapple Beverages

Pineapple Juice

As with many healthy fruits, to reap the most health benefits from pineapple, you should eat them whole as apposed to juiced. Pineapple juice, however, seems to be an outlier in the juicing world. One cup of pineapple juice clocks in at 132 calories, which is not too bad on the calorie scale considering all the wonderful nutritional, anti-inflammatory goodies pineapples have to offer.

One drawback of drinking pineapple juice, it does not contain as much fiber and is higher in sugar than eating fresh chunks, so you might not experience the feeling of fullness that you would by eating pineapple.

Pineapple Smoothie

If you enjoy drinking your fruit, a pineapple smoothie made with whole fruit retains the fiber that you lose when juicing. A simple smoothie made with frozen pineapple, banana, nut milk, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice will have you dancing the hula with happiness. You can add all these ingredients along with a little ice for some added frozen frothiness to your high speed blender and enjoy all the wonderful healthy food properties of pineapple in a tropical frozen drink.

Pina Colada

We can’t ignore the classic Pina Colada. The delicious tropical drink that is a must-have when you are on a beachy vacation. I’m not sure if this recipe from Captain Morgan will lower your blood pressure, but sipping it by the pool will certainly help bring the numbers down.

Health Benefits Of Pineapple

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) originated in South America. When European explorers arrived, they named it after a pine cone because of its resemblance to the seed pod,

The pineapple flesh is packed with vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, and other wonderful plant compounds.

Be aware, the enzymes in pineapples may interact adversely with certain prescription drugs. It is always recommended consulting your doctor before adding new foods to your diet if you are on medications.

Nutrition Facts

One cup of pineapple chunks contains 82.5 calories, 1.7 grams of fat, 1 gram of protein, 21.6 grams of carbs, and 2.3 grams of fiber. Additionally, a cup of pineapple contains tons of necessary nutrients with Vitamin C at 131% of the Referenced Daily Allowance (RDI) as the standout, followed closely by Manganese at 76% of the RDI. Pineapples are filled with lots of other vitamins and minerals along with trace elements.

Nutrients In Pineapples

Pineapples are more than just a pretty face, they are packed with Vitamin C, a digestive powerhouse, full of minerals, and can improve your heart health.

Improve Your Immune System

Loaded with antioxidants, pineapples are a source for fighting free radicals in your body. When you have too many free radicals running around in your body, it is in a state of oxidative stress. That sets you up for cell damage that is linked to chronic inflammation. Additionally, oxidative stress can weaken your immune system leaving the door open for unwanted disease.

Pineapples are rich in phenolics, and studies show that the phenolics may provide a good source of antioxidants.

Vitamin C

Offering a whopping dose of Vitamin C, pineapples provide essential assistance for growth and development of a healthy immune system.

Vitamin C deficiency is being studied to see if there is a correlation on how the deficiency may affect cognitive development and function.

According to WebMD, Vitamin C may have skin protection powers like defending against damage from UV light, lighten dark ages spots, smooth out wrinkles, boost collagen production, promote healing, and reducing scaring. That’s a long list of benefits for pineapples.

Manganese

Manganese aids in growth, maintains a healthy metabolism, and has antioxidant properties

Manganese may help prevent bone loss leading to osteoporosis. One study found that manganese, combined with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, helped significantly improve mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis.

Bromelain Enzyme

Bromelain is a type of enzyme that is known for its ability to break down protein molecules. When the protein is broken down into smaller bits, it can be better absorbed by our digestive system.

Bromelain also appears to aid in immune therapy increase immunity and decreasing risk of viral and bacterial infections.

The Feel Good Fruit

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that can boost your serotonin levels. Serotonin makes your body and brain feel good.

Tryptophan has been shown to improve memory, mood, cognition, learning, and reduce depression and aggression.

Growing Pineapple Tops

Love the look of all those expensive tropical plants? Did you know you can grow a beautiful tropical pineapple houseplant from the top of your store bought pineapple? You most likely will never get any fruit from your plant, but you will find some pretty foliage and occasional blooms.

Cut the top of your pineapple about one and a half inches below the leaves. Trim a few of the lower leaves and the outer skin of the fruit down to the root buds. Allow your pineapple to dry for about a week, then root in a light soil mix. Keep it watered and placed in a bright spot with indirect sunlight.

Your pineapple plant will thrive in bright light, will benefit from occasional fertilization, and will provide you with air purifying foliage.

How To Enjoy The Health Benefits Of Pineapple