I want to improve my diet.  I am older (60), single, and don't need
much variety.  I eat to get it over with.  My question, is what is the
"best" fruit to eat, or the best two, as I don't want to have to buy a
variety.  Thanks

Hello henry60,

You may not *care* about variety, but a variety is actually better for
you than sticking to just one or two fruits. You can select just 1 or
2 each time you shop, that way you will have more variety, and won?t
get bored. Each fruit offers different nutrients; no one fruit has it
all!

Now, selecting the *best* overall fruit is somewhat subjective. I
didn?t realize that fruit was such a competitive food! I found rampant
?fruitism? as I searched, with each fruit claiming to be the top
banana!

I had always heard that bananas were the perfect food! However,
according to this site, guava is the best fruit, closely followed by
watermelon, then bananas, apples and others!
http://www.thefruitpages.com/bestfruit.shtml
and
http://www.cspinet.org/nah/fantfruit.htm

On the following site, cranberries tout their phenol levels (an
anti-oxidant) and claim to be the healthiest fruit.
http://healthplus.com.au/pages/news.asp?NewsID=162

Next we come to the prunes, not considered a very classy fruit by
some. This site claims prunes are the fruit highest in anti-oxidants.
Prunes are also high in fiber, potassium and wrinkles.
http://www.healthierliving.org/nutrition/prunes.html

The papaya came along next in my search. The papaya is high in
Vitamins C & A, fiber, and  potassium.
http://www.papayapower.net/


This web site mentions bananas, apple, guava, blueberries and more as
being the healthiest fruits, but more importantly, tells us that fruit
color is important! The brighter the color, the more nutrients it has
?and color is key  the brighter the color, the healthier the fruit.
from kumquats and red bananas to pluots, which are half apricot and
half plum, these funky fruits top the scale in vitamins and minerals.?
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/pulse/scripts/00_01/fyi_funky_fruit.html

Pluots you say? I had never heard of them either! A pluot is a 70%
plum and 30% apricot hybrid, from California, according to this
California Heartland web site:
http://www.californiaheartland.org/archive/hl_702/pluots.htm

Not to be outdone by its larger relatives, the blueberry also claims
to be the healthiest fruit! ?Blueberries have also found to contain
resveratrol, another potential anti-cancer agent.
Blueberries have also shown to not only halt the ageing process but
actually reverse it ! Experiments have also indicated that eating
Blueberries improves short term memory loss and improves balance and
co-ordination.?
http://www.suffolkblues.co.uk/health.html

On this chart, you can see the nutritional content of a variety of fruits:
http://www.thefruitpages.com/contents.shtml


This Men?s Health site lists lots of tips for getting fruit into your diet!
http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt/24_eating_well.html

Finally, don?t forget you can drink your fruit (and veggies)
Orange and citrus juice:
http://www.grovejuice.com.au/squeeze.htm

V8 vegetable(and tomato) juice
http://www.v8juice.com/v8_vegetable_juice.asp


In summary, henry60, if you are determined to stick to one or two
fruits, then it appears that bananas, apples and guavas would be the
best choices. However, I must say that a variety of fruits is the best
for your health. You could keep prunes on hand, as they last, and
rotate some of your favorites, trying to eat at least a small variety
each day. I have seen bags of frozen fruits such as cubed mango,
peaches, and strawberries. You can take out just enough for a day or
two, and mix to make a fruit salad. Keep some fruit and/or vegetable
juices on hand to round out your healthier menus!

Bon appetit, and good for you for wanting to improve your diet! 
If any part of my answer is unclear, or I have duplicated content you
have already, please request an answer clarification, and I will
respond as soon as possible!

Regards,
crabcakes-ga

Search Strategy:
Healthy fruit
Perfect fruit

Excellent answer.

From one point of view, I would answer that the best fruit are the
fruit which you find the most enjoyable to eat, since then it will be
a pleasure rather than a duty to eat them and you will be more likely
to achieve your daily quota.

From another point of view, you would need to look at what you want to
obtain from the fruit. Tropical fruit have many useful properties, for
example, papaya helps with digestion since it contains a digestive
enzyme, kiwi fruit is very high in vitamin C, bananas are thought to
contain anti-depressive substances.  Otherwise, raspberries have very
high levels of fibre, cranberries are considered useful against
urinary tract infections, etc, etc.

Thirdly, some people believe that local produce is more valuable,
since it can be obtained in a very fresh state.  According to this
mode of thinking, you should obtain whatever local fruit is in season,
preferably from an organic source.

I guess my own inclination is to go with No. 1.  Eat whatever fruit
you fancy and enjoy the experience.  All fruit will do you good in one
way or another.