Results tagged “fruit”

Apricots: Fresh versus Dried

By: Tanya Patrice | Jul 13, 2006

On a recent trip to the Super Target, I came across the Archer Farms brand of Dried Apricots. This got me thinking about the difference in nutrition facts of dried versus fresh fruits. The table below lists the nutrition facts of one serving (3) of fresh apricots, and a serving of dried apricots, (5 pieces) - each piece of dried apricot is about the size of a large prune. Surprise surprise - if you eat 3 apricots, you are still enjoying less calories, less sugars and more vitamin content that when you eat the dried fruit.

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Mango: Good for the Eating

By: Tanya Patrice | Jul 8, 2006

It's summer time and that means an abundance of fruits are available for the eating. One of my favorite fruits is the Mango. Not only does it taste great, but it is almost like a perfect fruit when it comes to what it provides nutritionally. Lots of vitamins, minerals, and energy. Not only can you eat the mango fruit, but it adds a sweet, unique flavor and thickness to other fruit juices and smoothies. Also, if you have never had a mango chutney, check out this recipe from Allrecipes.com.

According to the USDA nutrient database, one mango, without the skin, has 135 calories, less than 1 gram of fat, 1 gram protein, 30 grams of sugars and 4 grams of fiber (16% of the recommended daily allowance). There is also 95% vitamin C, 31% vitamin A, 15% vitamin B6, 10% vitamin K and copper, 7% vitamin E and folate, 6% thiamine and niacin ... and more [link]. That might be a bit too much sugar for some, but I'll cut out something less healthy and take a mango - thanks!

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Apples and Oranges

By: Tanya Patrice | May 25, 2006

As I was reading "6 ways to improve your diet at work" over at Diet-blog.com [I am going to start working in the next few weeks after all], the second tip was take fruits to work! I hope by now that everybody buys fruits weekly! And I hope that I didn't just hear somebody whispering that fruits are expensive, because when it comes to maintaining your health - I don't think $3.00 a week for a 5 pound bag of apples or oranges is too much - and you may need to read Save Money: Some Insurers Pay You to Get Healthy and Staying/Becoming Healthy Helps You Spend Less and Earn More from the folks over at Free Money Finance.

One medium orange has 70 calories, no fat, 28% of the RDA for fiber (7 grams), 14 grams of sugars and 130% of the RDA for vitamin C. I particularly love oranges and this is probably the fruit which I eat the most often. They are great as a healthy snack with easy, ready-made portion control - no need to make a 100 calorie pack for these! So juicy, so sweet, sometimes messy, but always filling. There are three different types, Navel, Valencia and Blood oranges, but let's not forget about the cousins, such as clementines, mandarins, tangelos, and tangerines. Hormel has quite an informative page all about oranges [link] which gives details on the different types, pictures and directions on how to peel oranges.

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Pineapples, Fresh

By: Tanya Patrice | Mar 14, 2006

I was the teaching assistant for an introductory "Science of Food" college class for a few semesters, and in the 'fruits' lab, we bought a few different kinds of fruits for the students to try, including canned and fresh pineapple. What always surprised me was 1st: quite a few of the young uns' have never had fresh pineapple; and 2nd: the students were always amazed at the difference in taste and texture of the two types. Canned pineapple is much softer and much less sweet than fresh pineapple - not that it tastes bad. In fact, it's actually quite tasty. But when you bite into a fresh pineapple, and that juice is dripping down your chin, I guarantee you'll think, "Ahhh. So that's what fresh tastes like." It's sweet, but also has a little tartness to it, and it's very firm in texture as well. There's a difference in color too, as canned pineapple is like a pale cousin to the vibrant yellow color of fresh pineapple.

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