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December 16, 2008

how squeezing an orange made my morning (despite my aversion to juice)

   
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oh, juice. the bane of my mama existence. and probably the topic of many posts to come.

this is from a february 2007 policy statement from the american academy of pediatrics entitled The Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice in Pediatrics:


"Fruit is 1 of the 5 major food groups in the Food Guide Pyramid.33 It is recommended that children consuming approximately 1600 kcal/d (depending on size, 1-4 years old) should have 2 fruit servings and those consuming 2800 kcal/d (depending on size, 10-18 years old) should consume 4 fruit servings. Half of these servings can be provided in the form of fruit juice (not fruit drinks). A 6-oz glass of fruit juice equals 1 fruit serving. Fruit juice offers no nutritional advantage over whole fruit. In fact, fruit juice lacks the fiber of whole fruit. Kilocalorie for kilocalorie, fruit juice can be consumed more quickly than whole fruit. Reliance on fruit juice instead of whole fruit to provide the recommended daily intake of fruits does not promote eating behaviors associated with consumption of whole fruits."

basically, juice doesn't provide the full scope of nutritional benefits as whole fruit and it's a lot easier to feed beyond the daily recommended intake (which means a whole lot of sugar) when fruit is served in juice form.

but fighting the requests for juice sometimes feels like a never ending battle. plus, as it turns out, organic juice, at least, can be a great source of vitamin C. (check out the section A Glass of Orange Juice More Protective than Vitamin C Alone.) good to know, especially in the winter months.

this morning i managed to give isaac a small cup of freshly squeezed orange juice without having to contend with begging for more. i bought juicing oranges for mulled wine this weekend (mama juice?). i grabbed one in my pre-coffee haze and decide to make a spectacle of squeezing it "special" for isaac. it yielded almost exactly 1/3 of a cup of juice (just about 3 oz)--a perfect serving size! once i had extracted all of the juice, which took all of 2 minutes, i let him play with the orange halves. you know how we're suckers for tactile food experiences here. plus it was fun, distracted him from wanting more juice, and gave him a concrete way of seeing that the juice was "all done" (as opposed to me sneakily slipping a full container back into the fridge while dishonestly--and guiltily--repeating, "all done").

-S

 

 

Filed under  //   cooking   drink   eat   juice   nutrition   tricks and techniques  

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