Have you been to the doctor lately?
If you haven’t, you probably don’t attribute it to any unusual health benefits from eating apples.
Is it true that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”?
I’ve heard this saying from childhood, and as an adult, I’ve repeated the proverb to my children and grandchildren many times.
Most cultures have proverbs, which are general truths or old wise assertions or advice.
We know and use the saying, ‘as American as apple pie.’ But neither apples nor the proverb, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, is American in origin.
How did apples come to America?
Apple trees were cultivated in Europe and Central Asia, and Mayflower Pilgrims brought apple seeds to America.
And what about the apple/doctor proverb?
The adage originated in Whales with the earliest version, “Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.”
Eating apples is an excellent alternative to a doctor’s visit. Oh, how we wish this adage were scientifically true!
If apples were a miracle fruit proven to prevent illnesses, many of us would have apple orchards or at least an apple tree.
Who doesn’t love apples? And who doesn’t want to avoid doctors’ visits?
I don’t know anyone who likes going to the doctor, even for a routine checkup. I think this is the case for many people. Some people even have a fear of doctors. The excessive or unreasonable fear of doctors is called latrophobia. This phobia also includes the fear of medical tests.
Whether eating apples will decrease doctors’ visits or not, doctors and scientists agree that eating apples is a good thing. There are health benefits to eating apples and doctors’ visits.
Eating apples and other fruits is a part of eating well, which reminds us of other familiar sayings:
Eat well, live well, be well. You are what you eat.
Health benefits or not, like apples or not, America is one of the world’s largest apple producers.
Some previous versions of the modern apple adage, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, include:
An apple a day, no doctor to pay.
An apple a day sends the doctor away.
Without downplaying Europe and Central Asia in the apple saga, we can pinpoint the first apple tree at the place of all firsts.
Where was the first apple tree?
The first apple tree was in the Garden of Eden, the place of all firsts.
Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. Many infer that the eaten fruit was an apple. We don’t know whether the forbidden tree was an apple tree.
Genes 3:6 of the King James Bible states, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes…., she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”
Was the “fruit” an apple? We don’t know.
I love a good apple! And I don’t neglect my doctors’ visits.
What about you?
Be well.