Grapefruit is considered a super food that can help your immune system and may even help repair any damage done to your DNA. On top of that, eating grapefruit is also a great way to lose weight. One cup of red or pink grapefruit is around 97 calories and these calories are far from being empty ones. Grapefruit is loaded with vitamin C, antioxidants, limonoids along with a plethora of other beneficial vitamins and minerals.

Here is what grapefruit is capable of:

Immune system support

Grapefruit contains a lot of Vitamin C, an essential vitamin for your body’s immune system. Vitamin C is needed to help fight colds, coughs, flu and other inflammatory conditions. As an antioxidant, Vitamin C helps reduce the risk of diseases like heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

Lycopene

Lycopene is the phytochemical that gives the grapefruit its pink or reddish color. It is also a powerful antioxidant that has anti-aging, anti-tumor, and anti-cancer capabilities. Along with Acai Berry, Grapefruit is one of the best sources for lycopene and a diet that is rich in these types of foods is a key to good health.

Lower Cholesterol and blood pressure

The soluble fiber is grapefruit can help lower the level of ad cholesterol your body contains. Eating a grapefruit a day is also a good way to lower high blood pressure.

Kidney Stones

Grapefruit juice is  can lower the risk of getting kidney stones. It also helps to balance the PH  valueof urine in women  lowering the risk of forming calcium oxalatstones.

Grapefruit essential oil

Research into grapefruit essential oil has also produced some interesting results. We all know certain smells and aromas can influence our appetites by encouraging or curbing it. Several clinical trial have shown that people who have inhaled essential oil of grapefruits  were found to have curbed appetites and tended to eat less.

Heart disease remains the number one killer of both women and men in the country. One indication of heart disease is having high blood pressure, which happens when fats, cholesterol and nutrients start to accumulate along the walls of your arteries restricted the flow of blood. This increases your blood pressure and makes you more susceptible to a heart attack. Here are some things that you can do to help lower your blood pressure.

The foods you  put into your body are critical in determining whether or not you will get high blood pressure. Eating less meat, prepackaged food, and salty snacks, and eating more raw fruits and vegetables is one way to help lower your blood pressure. One raw fruit in particular is virtually a wonder food when it comes to lowering your blood pressure. This miracle fruit is the grapefruit.

Partaking in grapefruit will not only lower your blood pressure, it will also lower your cholesterol, keep your trigylcerides (blood fats) level lower, help maintain proper insulin levels, and even help you lose weight! All this, and provide you with your daily dose of Vitamin C as well as other cancer fighting antioxidants. .

While both yellow and red varieties of grapefruit were shown to help lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels; a recent study found that the red grapefruit was the one that proved to be the most effective. The red grapefruit is apparently higher in anti-oxidants than the yellow, which help reduce your  triglyceride levels.  This study also found that eating grapefruit is more effective in lowering your blood pressure than statin drugs are.

While eating red grapefruit is preferable, eating the yellow one is an adequate alternative if the red grapefruit proves to be unavailable.  It is recommended that you eat at least one, if not two grapefruits a day in order to enjoy the full benefits. It is said that if you eat one half of a grapefruit, or drink one glass of freshly squeezed juice before each meal; you can expect to lose around 2 pounds a month

Another benefit of grapefruit is that studies have found that it can help people maintain their insulin and glucose levels. Researchers believe that enzymes in the fruit help control the increase of insulin that happens after you eat, helping you digest your food better. This results in less nutrients being stored as fat.

Grapefruit has also been found to be a strong cancer fighter. It contains high levels of phytonutrients, antioxidants (carotenoids, limonoids, flavonones) and lycopene, all of which been found to help prevent cancer. Grapefruits are also high in fiber, vitamins C and A.

Both red and yellow grapefruits are in season between November and May and are available at a store near you, and even online.