You can’t say I didn’t warn you. I told you early on that I have opinions. Specifically, I have an opinion about the quality and the quantity of food that we, an educated and affluent culture relative to the world’s population of 6.7 billion people, eat and feed our families. When I watched Wall-E, I was struck by the obese human characters who subsisted exclusively on nutritionally complete beverage-meals and engaged in zero physical activity. Eeegads, is that where we are headed? We’ve all had smoothies for lunch, right? Mmmmm, they are tasty, but a lot of them are packed with sugar. So, to me the Wall-E diet doesn't seem like much of a leap.
Sugar, at least refined sugar, is not my friend. Even if you don't eat sweets, the amount of refined sugar you may be consuming would no doubt shock you. Over two-thirds of the refined sugar used in this country is added to manufactured food products. This is one more justification for making your own baby food (as well as your own meals) from fresh ingredients.
Is it so terrible to have a little sweet something from time to time? No, of course not. Everything in moderation is a truism that applies to so much of life and one’s diet is as good of an application as any. I am probably a little more zealous about restricting my daughter’s sugar intake than most, so my definition of moderation may be different from yours. Has she ever had a cupcake? Yes. She’s even had chocolate rugelach, an occasional cookie, a few handfuls of ice cream, and once she even ate two lollipops back-to-back that were provided to her by (gasp) our pediatrician after a particularly nasty round of shots. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-sweets meanie-mommy. I’m anti-processed foods and anti-refined sugar which means that my daughter gets unfettered access to bushels of fresh fruit. And occasionally she gets a "home-baked" cookie or a few licks of daddy’s gelato.
Here’s a list of fruits (and suggestions for preparing them) that usually elicit a very eager “mmmmMMMmmm!” sound from Baby K.
For those of you who shop at Fresh Direct, the site offers a seasonal fruit guide. Each fruit gets its own daily quality rating to help inform your fruit buying decisions.
- Figs (late summer/very early fall) – If your child is starting to try to feed themselves, figs are quite lovely to provide at mealtime because they are very delicate. You can safely give your baby a whole fig to eat and the both of you will delight in the adventure of its consumption. I suggest that you cut off the stem. You may halve or quarter a fig to make it a little easier for autonomous feedings (if you are on the fastidious side, like me, it makes for a neater meal if the figs are cut). Figs pair really well with cheese. If you feed your child a late afternoon snack, one or two figs and a generous slice of mild cheese will do the trick. Figs are a terrific source of fiber.
- Cantaloupe and winter melon (late summer/fall/winter) – I like to buy ripe melons and cantaloupes during peak season because they are so juicy and sweet. Off-season they are often available but have very little flavor. Cantaloupe and winter melons provide a good source of potassium, folate and Vitamin B6. Cantaloupes specifically are a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Niacin, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. I usually save half the melon or cantaloupe for us and slice the other half into bite-sized pieces stored in single-serve containers for our daughter. You can mix these fruits into a fruit salad but I like to serve them as dessert or paired with a few slices of ham. The ham and melon flavors work nicely together and approximate the flavor combination of something I often order out: melon and prosciutto.
- Apples (fall/winter) – One of my fondest memories from childhood is one of my grandfather peeling and slicing apples for me to eat. In NYC we have the luxury of many, many locally grown varieties of apples in the fall. Before our daughter had teeth, I would lightly steam peeled, cut apples, mash them up and serve them (no sugar added) to her in a bowl with a sprinkle of cinnamon. You can mix this mash into oatmeal or add a spoonful or two to a squash or carrot puree. One year later (after a respectable number of her teeth have come in), I core and slice raw apples into matchsticks and serve them as snacks. Our daughter sometimes will eat the apple part and somehow spit out the skin if I don’t peel her apples first. I think my pop-pop would just love that. However, I don’t always have the time or inclination to break out the vegetable peeler, so this little compromise seems to work out okay for us. Apples provide baby with immunity-boosting Vitamin C and fiber.
- Pears (fall) – The discovery of pears at the market is one of those unique-to-fall pleasures. Pears are like apples in that there are many varieties. To me, pears are more about texture (crunchy to creamy) than flavor. They can be prepared and mixed into foods for baby just like apples. Another option is to quarter (length-wise) a pear, slice off the core and bake/steam them in aluminum foil "envelopes" at 400 for 7-10 minutes. Pears are good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and a very good source of dietary fiber.
- Grapes (fall) – I cut them in half after I wash them. Yes, that probably sounds a little crazy, but I was and continue to be worried that they are just too large and may choke my daughter. They are a tasty source of immunity boosting vitamins C and K. I usually have several 4 oz containers of cut grapes in the fridge as they are terrific snacks on the go.
- Bananas – I cut up or mashed bananas for a long time until I felt confident that Baby K could manage her own bites. Says Bettina RD: Bananas are a source of potassium, an electrolyte which improves bone metabolism as well as keeping baby calm and steady, and Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, which is important for brain development, immune function, and protein metabolism. No fruit salad is complete without a few slices. We add ½ of a sliced banana to our daughter’s oatmeal and she usually eats the other half by itself right out of the peel but we started with banana-only mashes. Bananas are the ultimate to-go food as they are easily portable and come in their own colorful biodegradable packaging.
- Kiwi – Cut a kiwi in half and scoop out the fruit. The fruit of a kiwi is good as a stand-alone spoon-fed snack or seamlessly mixed into a fruit salad (it will actually chemically react to help soften other fruit) or plain yogurt. Kiwis are an excellent source of Vitamin C, potassium but also contain magnesium and traces of iron and Vitamin A. One kiwi contains almost double the amount of Vitamin C of an orange the equivalent size!
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