The Secrets to Happiness: Secret #3

The Not-So-Secret Secrets seem to be all about the physical aspects of life. Well, we're only on the third one and I can't bring myself to talk about emotional and social "secrets" without addressing some very basic things. It's tough to be happy when dehydration is making you feel listless and depressed, for example.

So we're keeping with the physical for now, though at some point everything is going to be intermingled.

Remember that awfully clever post from last week entitled "POTUS"? That was all about my feelings for pears as the perfect commuter fruit. This secret expands on that:

Eat fresh fruit

I know, you are in shock at such a revelation. But you'll have to trust me on this one. Instead of an entire grande Snickers or a pint of Ben & Jerry's, eat some fruit.

To make that work you have to have some fruit on hand. This is where the concept usually bugs me. You see, candy bars, bags of chips, cartons of ice cream, they all keep for some period of time as long as I store them properly. Fresh fruit can be overbought and if it isn't eaten in a certain period of time, your left with trash or compost. So, I think you need to plan a bit on how much fruit you're thinking you might eat.

For me, I use fruit as snacks during the day. I mix it in with pretzels or nuts of some sort to get that sweet and savory mix that I seem to need for culinary balance. So that's three servings during the day. Then I usually eat at least one more after dinner. Four per day then.

Notice that I haven't mentioned any government recommendations, mainly because I don't know them and I am too lazy to look them up (I'm on a laptop! How lazy is that?) Plus, I have no desire to lecture anyone beyond what works for me. These "secret" posts are pretty borderline in that regard already.

What follows is just a list of fruits. At some point, like the pear post, we'll look at them in more depth. Not all fruits are easy to eat fresh, like pineapple which requires all sorts of hefty bladework. And then some fruits aren't really that tasty without cooking like cranberries, unless you like tartness. Makes me cringe.

Pears
Apples
Quince (prep work!)
Peaches
Apricots
Cherries
Nectarines
Dates
Plums
Blueberries
Strawberries
Blackberries
Raspberries
Grapes
Currants (tartness alert)
Cranberries (tartness alert)
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
All the varieties of melons (I should've treated the berries this way)
Oranges
Kumquats (should be coming into stores soon)
Grapefruit (the one I really dislike, but will eat if starving)
Tangerines
Ugli fruits
Limes
Lemons
Tangelos
Guavas
Bananas
Prickly pears
Cherimoyas
Figs
Carambolas (star fruit)
Kiwi fruits
Pineapples
Papayas
Persimmons
Passion fruits
Pomegranates (a pain to get to, but oh, so good)
Lychees (first tried these in Hawaii)

There must be more. Which ones have I missed? Which are your favorites?