Apples Are Good For You.
How I know Apples are Good for You
We've all read or heard stories about some miracle cure where someone who has suffered an ailment or felt lousy for a long time turned it all around after finding 'the cure"(medicine, herb, product).
Some of these stories you may be skeptical about as they sound far-fetched or are a sales pitch designed to sell you a product so may or may not be worthwhile.
But one thing that has been around for a long time is the humble apple, which curiously enough is related to the Rose Family.Maybe that's why they have such a beautiful aroma when you crunch down on a fresh one.
But perhaps the most persuasive knowledge we have that apples are extra good is the way their virtue has been exploited. The science of nutrition doesn't come close to being this entertaining or persuasive!
You see no-one suspects an apple so they can be used to hide poison. Who can forget Walt Disney's Snow White - the amazing scene with the wicked witch offering a juicy looking apple to Snow White.
The apple is a symbol of such virtue that the unscrupulous can exploit them for their devious ways.
The story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden is probably the
precursor to much of this thinking. In fact, there is no specific mention in the bible
that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, was in fact an apple. It could have been an orange or anything else for that matter but if you check out Google's gallery of pics on Adam and Eve you will see that the fruit of choice artists use to depict for the Original Sin is...you guessed it! The humble apple.
But heh don't blame the apple! - it's not this fruit's fault that they don't have arms and legs to escape an unscrupulous person who decides to use them for the wrong motives. And when people start using these good guys to hide their mischievious ways, well doesn't that say it all.
They're an amazing food - perhaps a miracle or super cure that have a long history of attraction.If you are using an Apple computer to read this, it's a good time to have a look at the logo. Notice a byte (sic) taken out it!
"An apple a Day keeps the Doctor away" was drummed into us kids when I was young and whenever I'm feeling a little off in the tummy, I go stupid on apples. Old habits die hard, but after eating loads of them, without fail, lo and behold, it doesn't take long before I'm feeling right again.
So how do apples do their special job?
OK, let's bring back the nutritional scientists.
Pectin,Fibre and other Health benefits
Research has shown apples contain more cholestrol lowering pectin than any other fruit - which means they lower the chance of heart disease.
Apples have a low glycemic index which means your body has a more gradual and therefore healthier glucose response. Compare this to sugar which is like a quick high followed by a "debilitating" low for your body.
Apples contain fibre and are good for your colon They may in fact have anti-carcinogenic qualities in this part of the body.
Apples may help in cases of asthma in children.
Apples contain anti-oxidants which reduce the effects of aging.
Studies have also shown apples have neurological benefit including delaying the onset of Alzeithmers.
OK that's enough nutritional science. Let's get back to the idea of apples in history and intuitive knowledge.
Ancient Greece
Eris, the Goddess of Discord was not invited to the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, but that didn't stop her turning up with a Golden Apple which she slyly suggested should be given to the fairest Goddess. Paris chose Aphrodite over Athena and Hera and this doomed the City of Troy to years of Trojan War.
Then there is Atlanta, fabled as the fastest maiden and hunter of the Calydonian pig. No man could take her hand in marriage because she kept getting away or at least ran too fast! The only man to defeat her was Hippomenes but he couldn't do it without the help of Aphrodite who helped him by dropping three Golden Apples in Atlanta's path.
Reference to apples is found elsewhere too, in The Garden of the Hesperides which belonged to Hera. Hera did not trust the Hesperides to look after her Orchard and placed a hundred headed dragon called Ladon in the garden to protect it and it's immortality giving Golden Apples. This didn't stop the Hesperides from helping themselves to the fruit!
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
In this story, Prince Ahmed is one of three sons of the Sultan of the Indies. He brings back an apple from Samarkand which can cure a sick person of their disease if he or she smells it. He rescues Princess Peri Banu.
King Arthur
The legend of King Arthur is ripe with reference to our fruit of choice through Avalon which has it's origins in the word for apple in Celtic. Avalon was supposedly an island renowned for it's beautiful apples. It is the place where Arthur's legendary sword Excalibur was forged and where King Arthur went to recover from his wounds . The 'Isle of Apples' (Insuls Avallonis from The History of Kings of Britain (by Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1136AD) was also his final resting place so the story goes.
Johnny Appleseed
American historians tell of a person born John Chapman in
Massachusetts. He was kind and generous and a missionary of The Church
of Jerusalem. As a nurseryman he walked barefoot through America's
midwest (Ohio, Indiana and Illinois) planting acres and acres of apple
trees. He is an American Legend.
The Apple of My Eye
This phrase has a long history and basically means a person cherished above all others. Again, it is the apple that gets the accolade ahead of any other fruit. Apple of My Eye appears a number of times in the Bible. In Deuteronomy, from the King James Version, you will read "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."
The Big Apple
"There's only one big apple. That's New York" wrote Fitz Gerald for the Telegraph in 1924.