iGaming companies in Malta provide fully stocked fridges to make the workplace a nice place to be. In this article UK-based personal trainer and nutrition advisor Tara Marsden tells you why eating fruit is important and how it will affect your performance in the office.

Fruity facts

Everyone knows that fruits are healthy — they are real, whole foods. Businesses that are providing their staff with free fruit at work are helping to boost their employees’ productivity, energy, and well-being.
Fruits are a high source of
– Fibre
– Essential vitamins
– Minerals
Having fruit in your diet is health-boosting as they contain antioxidants such as flavonoids. Including fruit daily in your diet is beneficial, and a healthy varied diet can help prevent heart diseases, stroke, and cancer and help control lower cholesterol. Fiber aids your digestion and fills you up so you eat fewer calories.

All fruits contain vitamins, here is a selection of vitamins that are in a high percentage of fruits and how our bodies use them
Vitamin A – Water-soluble, important for vision, immune system, reproduction, and development
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) – breaks down nutrients for energy
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) – Keeps skin eyes and nervous system healthy
Vitamin C – helps to repair the body’s cells, and maintains healthy skin and bones
Folate (Folic Acid) – helps to form healthy red blood cells, and reduces birth defects in unborn babies
Fruits are delicious and healthy but to say that they can also help build muscles because i.e bananas are rich in both potassium and carbs and anti-oxidants is incorrect. Protein builds muscle.

How much fruit should we eat?

An adult’s recommended optimal amount of fruit per day is 2 -5 servings, approximately 80 grams per serving, however, there is no harm in eating more fresh fruit, bear in mind that fruit is quite high in sugar, fructose – which is naturally occurring in fruit, higher in some more than others. For example, an average size apple contains 23 grams of sugar, 13 grams of which are fructose. A can of coke on the other hand has 52 grams of sugar of which 30 grams is fructose! Apples will be more filling than a can of coke and healthier. The fruit with the least amount of sugar is limes and the fruit that contains the most amount of sugar is dates.
There are thousands of varieties of fruit, nevertheless, each has different nutrition compositions, so when you are working out your calories for the day if you like to track your meals, you will have to make sure if you change your fruit for breakfast, you consider the new calorie content.

Be careful with fruit juice
Fruits such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and limes contain acids, and juices from these fruits are also especially acidic and that’s why some people avoid drinking a lot of fruit juice. We are talking about a concentrated source of sugar and it could even cause tooth decay. Fruit juice also lacks fiber and this leads to a real spike in blood sugar. Don’t get me wrong, calories are a necessity for life but always keep an eye on your calorie intake.

Food ideas with fruits

So, on that note, which of the wide choices of fruits are my favorites to eat throughout the day. I’ll give you a little insight into some of my favorites, and a few ideas on how I incorporate fruit into my day.

Breakfast
I like to start with a handful of blueberries mixed in with my porridge in the morning. Lovely and sweet to take the bland taste of the porridge away, sometimes if they are not ripe, they can be a little sharp. So, I like to make sure that they are squishy and ripe.

Snack
Banana, thinly sliced on top of a nice helping of peanut butter on a rice cake. Bananas are slow-digesting, so will keep my energy levels up until lunchtime time. If I’m at home on a weekend ill make a smoothy in my Nutri Bullet, I will put in almond milk, avocado, a handful of walnuts, banana, and pineapple, and a helping of vanilla protein powder.

Lunch
I will usually have fruit after my lunch, a little fruit salad in a Tupperware pot, grapes, apple, and the seeds of a pomegranate. I also like easy peeler tangerines which are nice if kept refrigerated in the hotter months and are quite refreshing.

After a workout 
I like to have pineapple in a shake after a workout, Pineapple has enzymes that help to digest food in the stomach. If I’m out walking the dog, I grab a handy grab bag of dried fruit (it still counts as a portion), so I can eat whilst I’m walking – no mess or sticky fingers, however, dried fruits are quite high in sugar.

Dinner
I like to have tomatoes if I’m having a salad, along with olives, don’t forget that they are fruits also! For dessert, I, might have a handful of mixed grapes or a kiwi, or incorporate fruit into a low-calorie jelly.

Recipe
I eat most fruits, so I chop and change all the time. Here is a recipe for a shake that you can have on the go that has fruit and a healthy balance of foods.

This shake contains 18% carbs Fats 80% Protein 32%. You will need:
7 g honey
2 g cinnamon
12 g of walnuts
35 g Avocado
35 g spinach
250ml almond milk
30g protein power
Pour almond milk into the blender and add the rest of the ingredients and pulse blend in the blender until smooth. Then drink. Enjoy!

Conclusion

Fruits are healthy snacks and it’s associated with living longer. Employees say fruit makes them feel more valued and happy. Happy people are more likely to be healthy people and that means the staff has fewer sick days.
Fruits provide nutrients that are vital for the health and maintenance of your body and skin. You will increase your energy levels and you feel better throughout the day and especially during a busy night shift dealing with casino players in an office in Malta. Although everyone is different, with varying schedules, commitments, and personal challenges, eating healthily is an investment in your iGaming career.