An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but what happens when you eat a banana every day?

According to eatingwell.com, there are many benefits to eating bananas, including increasing your energy, maintaining a healthy weight, increasing your fiber intake, improving your heart health and reducing your risk for chronic disease. Actually, it seems like eating a banana a day may keep the doctor away.

And that’s why I eat a banana every day. Kind of. I actually like bananas because they are easy to eat, and I can take them on the road with me. Peeling a banana is much easier than peeling oranges or prepping strawberries. And don't even get me started on the challenges of pineapples or coconuts. I like my fruit simple, and I don't want to have to use a machete to eat it.

The other honest answer is that I didn’t grow up eating many fruits other than apples, oranges and bananas (Jell-O isn’t a fruit, right?). At 21 years old, that changed. Ken Kane was the manager of Easter Foods on the corner of Beaver and Douglas avenues in Des Moines in the early 1990s. I was working on an ad with him, and he was promoting a sale on kiwi. I told him I never tried kiwi before. He stared at me for a moment, took me by the arm and led me out from his office to the produce department, saying, “We are going to change that today.” He yelled to his produce manager, “Cut this young man some kiwi!” And we all shared a kiwi that morning. It was amazing, and that day opened my eyes — and my taste buds — to other wonderful fruits. Peaches. Apricots. Guava. Kumquat. Nectarines. Papaya. And my all-time favorite — mango.

I enjoy most any berry or melon, too, but I continue to struggle with grapefruit, plums and rhubarb (unless it is rhubarb crisp with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream). Baby steps, right?

Back to the Jell-O comment I made earlier. The jiggly gelatin-based dessert was a menu staple in our home in the 1970s, and it continues to be seen on hot lunch and hospital trays. And not just plain Jell-O. Mom would throw in various fruits as well in an effort to give it some nutritional value. My wife tried a variation of that trick with our kids and me, but she swapped out Jell-O with yogurt. I still like it.

As much as I love peaches and want to shake the tree (yes, that’s a Steve Miller Band reference… Maurice), for the sake of ease, I will likely be sticking with bananas. Without Jell-O.

How about you? What is your go-to fruit? Send me a note and let me know.

Have a magnificent Monday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman 

President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com

View Shane Goodman's archived columns from past issues here.

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