The Health Secrets of Your Favorite Summer Fruits

Posted: August 5, 2024 | By: Shanon Peckham

The sun is blazing overhead, the pool is the perfect balmy 80 degrees, and you’ve got your favorite feel-good playlist on – the only thing missing is an ice-cold treat! We’re thinking something tropical and sweet, but maybe something a little healthier than the Red 40-filled sodas or slushies from the corner store…

This summer, let’s dive into our favorite seasonal fruits and flavors and see if we can mix up a cup of refreshing health!

Pineapple

Whether or not you love it on pizza, you have to admit that pineapple is a spectacular fruit. From its dramatic appearance to its rich, sweet flavor, it’s instantly recognizable in any drink or food. Piña Coladas, the most famous of pineapple cocktails, are beloved the world over thanks to their rise in popularity in Puerto Rico in the 50s and 60s.¹ Though there’s some controversy over who actually invented the drink, we think we can safely say it’s a winner, especially during summer!

Despite how indulgent it tastes, this fruit is actually pretty good for you. Pineapple is loaded with vital nutrients and potential health benefits. In every cup, you get a healthy serving of fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, and a whopping 142g of water, which goes a long way for hydration in heat waves and hot climates.² It’s the perfect fruit for a hydrating poolside drink!

Throw some frozen pineapple squares in your Stanley cup or favorite tumbler for an instant electrolyte water punch. For a sweet pineapple dessert without the added calories or sugar – plus a clarity and focus boost – try our Dole Whip dupe recipe!

RECIPE

SMART Pineapple Whip

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon honey
1 SMART stick

Instructions: Blend all ingredients until smooth. Serve and enjoy!

Watermelon

Watermelon, another luscious, juicy summer fruit, is the ideal barbecue companion and makes excellent slushie drinks. And we should be thankful to have it, because these melons weren’t always so sweet. The original wild watermelon, native to Africa, is plenty juicy, but a far cry from the dessert-like fruit we know and love today. It was described as “hard-textured, pale-colored and bland or bitter.”³ Yikes! Even some modern varieties are inedible – purposefully. Square-shaped watermelons, a popular luxury gift item in Japan, rocked the world in the 2010s when they became available overseas for the first time.^4,5 But you can’t eat them because of how they’re harvested! To each their own – some of us are craving something sweet though…

But is our modern so-called “sweet dessert watermelon” even healthy? It turns out the watermelons we buy from the store are pretty similar to pineapples when it comes to nutrition content. In addition to key nutrients and a big dose of H20, one cup of watermelon also boasts vitamin A, beta carotene, and lycopene,^2,6 all of which support beneficial antioxidant activity and healthy vision.^7,8 So grab that blender and let’s celebrate centuries of foodie innovation!

For happy hour, there’s nothing better than a watermelon margarita – especially if you use the empty melon as a decorative dispenser. For the whole family, we recommend blending and freezing watermelon into refreshing popsicles. For this recipe, we included our Watermelon Mist multivitamin probiotic powder for additional health benefits!

RECIPE

Watermelon Mist Popsicles

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups watermelon, seeded and diced
½ cup water
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (use more for a less-sweet flavor)
1-3 packets of Kidsprinklz Watermelon Mist – Multi-Vitamin Powder (adjust for taste preference)

Instructions: Blend all ingredients together, pour the mixture into popsicle molds, and freeze until solid.

Peach

August is National Peach Month – what better time to add this succulent fruit to your drink menu? It turns out we can thank President Ronald Raegan for this holiday; he founded it in 1982 to help bring awareness to the amazing benefits of this fruit (both for our health and the U.S. economy).⁹ And thanks to the popularization of Kawaii aesthetics and the rise of emojis in recent years, you can find bags, clothes, and all kinds of other accessories decorated with images of this tasty fruit. It’s so cute and fuzzy, how could you NOT love it?

But it’s not all about looks or taste! Peaches are loaded with important nutrients like choline, fatty acids, and antioxidants, in addition to your essential vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes.² Choline helps regulate memory, mood, and muscle control,¹⁰ while fatty acids support a healthy heart and metabolism.¹¹ Antioxidants are a great overall health booster too, thanks to their natural ability to scavenge for free radicals (which can damage and age your cells).¹²

We recommend grabbing a bag of in-season peaches from your local farmer’s market to use in your recipe. There are over 700 varieties of peaches grown worldwide, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get your hands on some for summertime!¹³

For an icy afternoon treat packed with Youngevity’s cornerstone nutrition, try our Coconut Peach Shake recipe below!

RECIPE

Coconut Peach Shake

Ingredients:

1 scoop Beyond Tangy Tangerine 2.0
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup water (use fresh peach juice for a stronger, sweeter flavor)

Instructions: Blend and enjoy! Optional: Add 1/4 cup pistachios.

Mango

Ah, mango. We love adding this buttery, nectary fruit to just about everything, including our favorite beauty and haircare products. It’s the maker or breaker of salsas, sauces, mixed drinks, and salads alike. In Mexico, the kids love their spice-dusted mango flowers, while adults sip Mangonadas. Despite being one of the most challenging fruits to actually slice and eat, this superfruit reigns supreme among the other fruits on our list.

It’s not only its popularity and versatility that have earned the mango the title “superfruit”. “Mango is often called a superfruit because it’s chock-full of nutrition,” dietitian Carly Sedlacek told Cleveland Clinic.¹⁴ And she’s right! Mangos contain more than 20 different vitamins and minerals, plus fiber, fatty acids, amino acids, and so much more.^2,15 Young green mangos reportedly start out with loads of vitamin C (as much as 70 percent of your needed daily value!)¹⁵ and generate more vitamin A as they ripen.¹⁶ Together, this wide array of nutrients supports a healthy digestive system, metabolism, heart, and immune system (not to mention skin and hair). Definitely don’t skip out on mangos this summer!

Pro tip: Mango’s silky texture makes it ideal for use in blended drinks. Try our SOUL Mango Frozen Yogurt recipe – boost your mood and energy with botanicals, nootropics, and vitamins.

RECIPE

SOUL Mango Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients:

4 cups frozen, diced mangoes
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1-3 SOUL Sticks (adjust for taste preference)

Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Serve and enjoy!

EXTRA: Use your DIY mango froyo in your favorite Mangonada recipe for a next-level frozen drink!

Orange

What would any summer punch, cocktail, or sangria be without a splash of orange juice? From the classic Screwdriver and Painkiller, to the timeless Tequila Sunrise and Old Fashioned, this refreshing citrus fruit doesn’t miss an opportunity to make an appearance at parties. And with orange juice shortages going around, the best way to ensure you’re getting 100% pure, delicious orange juice is by getting the juice straight from the source¹⁷ – you can grow your own oranges or buy them local! Bonus: In some climates, you may be lucky enough to get both a mid-winter and springtime harvest.

Though oranges are best known for their high vitamin C content, they’re also packed with calcium, potassium, fiber, amino acids, phosphorus, and vitamin A.² In a review of 29 studies, researchers found that while vitamin C doesn’t prevent you from catching a cold, it can shorten the duration of it,¹⁸ making oranges a vital ally for flu season and beyond. Multiple studies have also shown that compounds like antioxidants and hesperidin, which are both found in oranges, may help reduce the risk of heart disease, kidney stones, and other chronic diseases.^19,20,21,22

Our Orange Sunrise Shake recipe will wow your tastebuds and help you cool off while bolstering your health! The added protein from the TMR Shake will keep your energy up for long days at the pool, too. Check it out!

RECIPE

Orange Sunrise Shake

Ingredients:

2 scoops TMR Vanilla Shake mix
1 cup cold water
Juice of 3 fresh oranges
3-5 ice cubes

Instructions: Blend, serve, and enjoy!

Why Use Whole Fruits?

There are so many advantages to using whole, natural fruits in your recipes instead of buying premade kits or drinks! Not only will this practice help you make food or drink in bulk easier (let’s be real, even mini watermelons are far from a single serving), it also gives you the freedom to add your own special flavor twist, tweak sweetness levels, and make alcohol-free versions for the whole family. Additionally, you’ll save on single-use packaging and avoid unwanted ingredients, additives, or dyes, many of which have been linked to serious health problems.²³

When it comes to nutrition, the whole fruit will always be better for you than just a flavor add-in, even if it’s naturally derived. If you want the health benefits, go for the real deal! We recommend buying local, organic produce from a farmer’s market if you can – this way you can get the best possible flavor and give back to your community all in one shopping trip.