E2G EAT TO GROW
NUTRITION, SUPPLEMENTS, MUST HAVES AND MORE
THE POWER OF PINEAPPLE
Eating this fruit can help boost your muscle gains and performance.
By Emily Schneider-Green
D
o you like pina coladas?
Then you need pineapple.
But, pineapples aren’t
only useful for their decor-
enhancing abilities or as
a key ingredient of pina
coladas. This fruit is a powerhouse
that could provide you with a natu-
ral boost to your muscle gains and
athletic performance. How so?
Pineapple can promote better heal-
ing ability and increased strength
and endurance.
Scientific research has been look-
ing at pineapples for their healing
and anti-inflammatory properties
for years. This, combined with the
pineapple’s naturally perfected
stack of nutrients, makes for a fruit
that can definitely play a role in
increased muscle mass, heightened
performance and reduced soreness
and inflammation. So it definitely
deserves a regular place beside your
sweet potatoes, oats, chicken and
other menu mainstays.
Doesn’t Fruit Have A Bad Rap?
In recent years you might have
heard about the drawbacks of fruit.
There will always be a diet claiming
16 AUGUST 2017 | ironmanmagazine.com
that the sweet stuff is to be avoided,
and that, natural or not, sugar of all
kinds is evil. While no one’s arguing
against the perks of cutting down
on sugar, cutting fruit out of your
diet shortchanges your body of a
host of micronutrients and vitamins
that nature intended us to have.
Enter pineapple as the perfect ex-
ample of why fruit still needs to be a
part of your life, sugary or not. Be-
yond their spiny exterior and sugary
flesh, pineapples actually pack in
a wallop of nutrients, vitamins and
key minerals your body requires for
optimal performance. Despite being
sweet, pineapples are far more than
just sugar water. They’re very low in
calories. A one-cup serving of fresh
pineapple only clocks in at 82 calo-
ries. And, as long as you’re grabbing
fresh pineapple, their sweetness
is all natural, so it’s not an issue
when considering the ample
health benefits.
Benefit #1: Key Minerals
And Vitamins
According to the FDA, high on the
list of pineapple’s perks is the shot
of vitamin C it delivers. Pineapple