Date Fruit and Diets

Eating healthy looks different for everyone, and with so many dietary lifestyles out there, it’s important to find foods that work for your needs. Whether you’re focused on reducing inflammation, following a gluten-free plan, embracing the Mediterranean diet, or anything in between, whole, natural foods are always a great choice. Enter dates—nature’s candy, packed with fiber, antioxidants, and essential minerals. In this article, we’ll explore how dates fit seamlessly into various diets, offering a naturally sweet and nutritious option no matter your eating style.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Dates

There isn’t really an exact plan for an anti-inflammatory diet, as it’s more about eating whole unprocessed foods and avoiding the highly processed stuff, which is almost anything pre-packaged. Microwaveable dinners, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, baked goods—all of these are considered highly processed and don’t fit into the anti-inflammatory group. Products that are made with refined flours and white rice are considered “inflammation-promoting” and are best to be avoided if following this kind of diet.

The best practice is to find whole foods that are unprocessed without any added sugars. These include fruits and veggies, of course, as well as whole grains, beans, lentils, fish, poultry, nuts and seeds, and olive oil. Some low-fat dairy products can also fit in here, but it’s important not to go overboard (5).

If this is the diet you follow, we’ve got something you’ll love: Barhi dates. Our dates are whole and unprocessed, without added sugars, so they make a great addition to this kind of diet as well. We do our best to keep our products as unprocessed and whole as possible; in fact, our products are made from whole dates without added sugars!

Chef Michael Symon, author of “Fix it With Food: More Than 125 Recipes to Address Autoimmune Issues and Inflammation”, lives with arthritis and lupus and manages much of his pain through this diet (11).

Need inspiration? Here’s a mouth-watering dish with chicken, figs, and grapes to try by Adeena Sussman.

Gluten-Free

The gluten-free diet is pretty straightforward as it really just has one rule: avoid gluten! So, what is gluten? Gluten is the proteins in grains that acts as a sort of glue to help them hold their shape (6). The most popular are wheat, barley, and rye, though there are a few more that contain gluten, so it’s always a good practice to check labels! Oats are generally gluten-free, but are often processed alongside gluten-containing grains, so this is another case of looking for the proper labels!

And guess what? Our dates and products are all gluten-free!

We have a list of gluten-free recipes on our website which can be found here: https://ilovedatelady.com/blogs/date-lady-recipes/tagged/dessert+gluten-free

Kosher

Kosher is a diet based on Judaism law and practices. These laws are quite extensive and often require Rabbinical supervision or approval to be truly Kosher. From ingredients to preparation, there are many details to follow for this diet. (8).

All of our products are certified Kosher.

There are a ton of influencers who practice a Kosher diet. We love Melinda Strauss.

Mediterranean Diet & Dates

The Mediterranean diet is based on traditional foods from countries that border the Mediterranean Sea and encourages fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and heart-healthy fats. This diet limits processed foods, added sugars, and refined grains as well as alcohol consumption (9).

As dates are native fruits to the areas East of the Mediterranean, they fit well into this plan!

Suzy Karadsheh, author of The Mediterranean Dish Cookbook, uses dates in some of her recipes (10).

Organic

Eating organic is also one that isn’t a specific list or diet of foods but more about the labeling and how the food is grown and classified. Foods that are USDA certified organic are grown and produced according to regulations without the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, or bioengineered genes (GMOs) (7).

All of our products are USDA certified organic except for our seasonal fruitcake and certain varieties in our Date Club.

A tasty chia pudding recipe that can easily be made organic by ensuring the ingredients are certified:

Paleo Diet & Dates

The Paleo Diet is, in short, the way our ancestors would have eaten before industrialized food. Think about the way humans would have eaten before we could run to a store and grab a quick snack–they were finding food in nature and doing pretty basic things to meet their hunger needs. By avoiding highly processed foods and sticking to more simple and basic things that are found out in the wild naturally. Paleo also avoids grains, legumes, and dairy as these are pretty highly processed today and further from what they would have been in nature. Added sugars and salt are also not considered paleo (3, 4).

The big question to answer for the paleo diet is: is it natural? Some good news is that dates are completely natural so they do fit into this diet!

Try these Paleo banana muffins:

PCOS & Dates

While this doesn’t technically classify as a diet, dates have several minerals and properties that play important roles in supporting a healthy body, and many of them overlap with supporting women’s hormone levels.

Some diet recommendations for those with endometriosis include foods that are anti-inflammatory and possess antioxidant properties, are high in vitamins D, A, E, C, and the B vitamins. Incorporating high fiber, monounsaturated fats, Omega-3s, folic acid, magnesium, and potassium into an endo-focused diet is also highly encouraged (13). Each of these vitamins and minerals play their own part in helping support the body’s system against endometriosis and the painful symptoms that come with it.

Vitamin D has been shown to help balance out estrogen and progesterone levels, while vitamin C helps balance cortisol and adrenaline (12). Keeping these hormones leveled out can help reduce inflammation and symptoms associated with any of these being either too high or too low. Magnesium helps support healthy blood sugar levels (14) and helps your body process and absorb potassium, which is important for healthy blood pressure regulation and balancing sodium levels (15). This is where you can start to see the balancing act of multiple factors—magnesium helps support healthy potassium levels which helps support healthy sodium factors.

Whole30 Diet & Diets

The Whole30 diet has two options: the original diet plan and the plant-based Whole30 plan. Regardless of whether you’re doing the original or the plant-based, date syrup is on the list to avoid, but not to worry! You can start adding it back once you’re in the reintroduction phase! Added sugar of any kind is to be avoided for the first 30 days of the plan. The only exception to this rule is 100% fruit juice. When you’re back in the reintroduction phase, you can add some form of sugar to your meals, but until then, date syrup and other sugars are to be avoided for the elimination phase (1).

If you find that date syrup works for you in the reintroduction phase, here’s a recipe to try! Looking for a Whole30 friendly recipe? Try these 3-Ingredient Non-Dairy Strawberry Creamsicles:

Vegan

The vegan diet is all plant-based without using or consuming any animal products whatsoever. This diet is sometimes confused with the vegetarian diet, which comes in many forms and often allows for certain animal products, such as eggs, but restricts meat itself (2). In the vegan diet, honey is not allowed since it is technically an animal product. For those looking for a vegan sweetener, our date syrup makes a great alternative to honey.

Chef AJ is an expert vegan foodie who uses dates in her recipes as well! In fact, here is a recipe we shared on her channel: Vegan Chocolate Mousse

All of our products are vegan except for our seasonal fruitcake which contains eggs.

References

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Date Fruit and Diets: How This Natural Sweetener Fits Keto, Paleo, Vegan & More