A wonderful tidbit of information about one of my favorite fruits!
In my ever-continuous search for the truth, I saw right off that bat that there are entire blogs devoted to this topic, most likely in health blogs of some kind. I also saw that WikiAnswers and Ask.com both claim yes, this is true. Ask even says that the natural sugars that come in an apple are the cause of this. But I shall dig deeper than a one minute Google browse.
The natural sugar found in an apple (and other fruits too, but not to the same extent) is fructose. This is a very good sugar. Fructose can "wake you up naturally and help keep you going. It also moves slowly through the body, reaching areas where you may not wake up immediately, but once an apple [is] in your system it'll wake you up and keep you awake. There's no crash either" (Burgett). Apples also contain fiber and good carbs that your body needs to stay moving.
Reference.com backs Burgett up while adding more facts. Apples do not contain caffeine and the amount of sugar in an apple is actually less than most people put in their morning coffee (13 grams). The natural sugar in apples (which also contains glucose, by the way) is far easier for the body to digest than the artificial sweeteners we tend to put into so many foods and drinks today. Apples come loaded with Vitamin C and other nutrients, which will give the body an overall daily boost. The high vitamin content of an apple
also helps increase alertness. The vitamins are absorbed slowly and increase the energy levels slowly. There is no jolt of energy as there is with coffee, but the energy is more lasting.There are several other aspects of the apple that help wake people up. First of all, the crunch really helps increase alertness. The feel of crunching on an apple and the sound that it makes helps wake people up in the morning. The scent is also said to help one wake up. It is gently, sweet and lingering. All in all, the apple is a great choice for a morning meal and should leave one feeling refreshed and ready to face the day (Refernce.com).
There's no doubt that apples are better for you than coffee, and now there's another reason to love this multipurpose fruit.
I love apples. I ought to...I grew up in the apple state (aka Washington) where my family has an apple tree in the backyard. Apple pie just doesn't taste the same when the pie hasn't been made with your own apples picked fresh that day and been made with my mom's perfect pie crust recipe. Apples are the only fruit I will eat whole. Call me a picky eater if you want, but most fruits taste great to me...I just struggle with texture. So smoothies are my friends. Unless they contain peaches. I can't do peaches.
There's one part of apples I don't like. I miss caramel apples.
Yes, those treats look amazing. I'm drooling over this picture. Yet I may never eat one as along as I live. No, I don't have an allergy to any ingredients (I'm only allergic to fish, and now's not the time to talk about it). There isn't an ingredient I don't like (if I ever dislike chocolate, may the M&M characters come to my home and beat me senseless with Snickers bars). It's actually a small dental issue.
Many people who know me well know I have a history of dental procedures. We discovered that when my adult teeth grew in my adult incisors (my "two front teeth") have abnormally short roots. That means if I bite into something extremely hard I could wrench a tooth loose. On either side of those teeth I have dental implants (I have no upper adult laterals, so we had to put fake ones in surgically). Because the area is so fragile, whole apples are off the menu. If I really need a caramel and apple fix though, I can slice up an apple and use some dip. Works just as well.
While I like my apples, I also like my coffee. I picked up the "joe habit" in college because it was freely available and I could put all the cream and sugar into it I wanted without a parent standing over me chiding "you want a little coffee with your sugar?" I drank it so much that one year I gave it up for Lent and had headaches for over two weeks. Whoops!
Now I drink coffee on work mornings. As of the day I posted this blog entry, no job exists. So right now I drink coffee...never. It's a treat that will return when the paycheck does. And yes, I have drank it to wake up. But it's more than the caffeine...it's the taste, the smell, and the cup of something warm between your fingers when driving to work on a dark, frozen Colorado morning. I'm not picky about my beans...as long as it's coffee (and I can put cream and sugar in it) I'll drink it.
I may love my coffee, but when I need to get up in the morning, I will give the apple trick a try. After all, apples are better for you than coffee, won't make you crash, and are cheaper (apples here in Colorado run about $1.99 per pound while a tall mocha from Starbucks can run you double that). So if you're looking for a healthy way to wake up, want to change your morning routine, or are just curious, give it a try! You never know...it may be the best part of waking up. ;-)
References:
Burgett, Joe. "10 Things That Can Wake You Up Better Than Coffee." Oddee. Oddee, 28 Feb 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. <http://www.oddee.com/item_98510.asp&xgt;.>
F., Isabella. "Can Eating Apples Keep You Awake."Reference.com Answers. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 11 Apr 2014. <http://www.reference.com/motif/health/can-eating-apples-keep-you-awake>.
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