Help! How many Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans with Real Fruit Juice and enriched with Vitamins A, C and E equal 1 fruit serving?
That was a recent status update for me on Facebok, where I got answers ranging from three beans to three bags.Or this:
"I would think the correct answer would be .... As many as makes you feel like a fruit. The beans for sure deliver a bigger amount of sugar than a real apple or orange. But the jelly beans are easier to pop into the mount. Therefore reducing the amount of water and soap used to prepare the fruit and cleanup afterword.
Long story short. I have not had a Jelly bean since last year."
or
"I've had so many jelly beans this season that I"m sure I got a serving or two in."
Seriously, I am trying very hard to eat at least 1 serving of fruit per day. I'm almost into three weeks into this so it should be a habit soon. Right?
I was delighted to find these goodies in the Easter basket at my house: Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans made with real fruit juice. Plus look I get extra Vitamin A, C and E.
The Easter Bunny was smart and brought me the originals, not sour, so I'm eating a few Grape, Cherry, Apple, Strawberry, Lemon and Orange flavored beans.
Healthy is goal
I have always tried to eat healthy but sometimes convenience wins over nutrition. Then, a few years ago I discovered - OK, my doctor and I discovered with the help of prick tests and elimination diets - I am allergic to some food. Some things I loved almost always triggered a migraine. Other foods made life miserable other ways.
Unfortunately, the list includes about 20 things. I've even stumped two professional nutritionists who tried to work with me on a balanced diet. If you've seen me, you know I'm not starving. But go ahead and try to avoid nitrates, pears, pickles .... I"ll stop boring you.
Cancer changes diet
When my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer and moved back home, we worked at hard at eliminating as many unpure foods as possible. That meant becoming a regular at Whole Foods and trying to eat as little processed food as possible. We read labels to avoid hormones and preservatives. We tried new recipes. Some very interesting meals turned up.
My daughter even learned to make bread from her grandmother and tortillas from her then boyfriend's grandmother. Unfortunately, she's living 1,000 miles away so we've lost that option here.
Researching our family's history as part of my daughter's care means I've learned that celiac disease runs in the family. From the
Mayo Clinic:
"Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients."
New allergies
Also, unfortunately, I've learned that sometimes when you recover from allergies new ones show up. I'm almost done with a no-dairy diet, where I've learned I eat and cook with a lot of cheese.
Or maybe old ones come back. I've learned I was picky as a baby and finally learned to live with goat's milk. I suspect some of that was because I was my parents first.
My youngest brother's first bottles were filled with a powder we mixed with water to create milk. The doctor assumed after five kids my mom knew what to serve an infant, my mother was too busy to remember formula, or at least, whole milk.
So what was in your Easter basket?
