Nutritious, Calorie Conscious, and Delicious!

Do you shy away from eating grapefruit? Maybe it is too tart and adding a lot of sugar seems to defeat the purpose of eating a healthy piece of fruit? Well I have a solution for you. You need to give baked grapefruit a try!

Change your mind about grapefruit with this recipe!

Some varieties of grapefruit are sweeter than others. However, you can improve the flavor of any grapefruit by adding just a touch of natural sweetener and doing a little baking.

This recipe adds a bit of maple syrup or honey but not enough to rack up the calories. In fact, each 1/2 grapefruit serving will have approximately 70 calories. How’s that for a low calorie nutritious addition to a breakfast?

Grapefruit is a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C. It’s also refreshingly juicy and fun to eat when you are not in a rush. You can easily keep one or two on hand all the time because they can be stored in the fruit bin of your refrigerator for as long as 6 to 8 weeks.

Baked Grapefruit

Ingredients for 2 servings

1 grapefruit

2 tsp. maple syrup or honey

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Cut the grapefruit in half around the “mid-section”

2. Loosen the sections with a small paring knife or grapefruit knife if you have one

3. Drizzle just a teaspoon of maple syrup or honey on each half.

4. Top with cinnamon.

5. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes.

Wonderful! The warmed up juices have just a touch of sweetness and no more tartness or possible bitterness.

Approximate nutrition per serving:

Total calories: 70

1418 I.U. of Vitamin A

38.8 mg Vitamin C

2.6 grams of dietary fiber

18.4 total grams of carbohydrates

NOTE: The original source of this recipe is Food.com. 2011 Details have been slightly modified for this post.

I have a wonderfully simple smoothie recipe for you. Try this one to see how richly satisfying and nutritious a smoothie can be without an excessive amount of calories. The secret ingredient is low fat buttermilk. It gives a fruit smoothie a creamy taste without the calories of an ingredient like ice cream.

Smoothies are wonderful BUT are you making the best choice when it comes to calories and nutrition?

Berries and Buttermilk Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup low fat buttermilk (about 100-120 calories)

1 medium ripe banana fresh or frozen

1/2 cup frozen berries of choice (blueberries or strawberries work well)

1/2 -1 tsp. vanilla extract

All you need to do is add all the ingredients to a blender or small food processor and blend. Couldn’t be easier. The recipe makes just enough for one very filling serving.

Take a look at the approximate nutrition breakdown:

Total Calories: 282

Total Fat: 4 grams

(Saturated Fat: 2.5 grams)

Dietary Fiber: 5 grams

Protein: 10.3 grams

Carbohydrate: 51 grams

Sugars: 34 grams

Calcium: 305 mg

The carbohydrate and sugar count is high, however, the source is all natural with no added sugars. You’ll get two servings of fruit along with the accompanying nutrients and antioxidants plus one serving of milk. To increase the protein a bit you could opt to add a small amount of whey protein powder.

This smoothie is enough for a full meal for breakfast or otherwise. It’s surprisingly good. Give it a try!