Author Topic: how much is too much fruit?  (Read 1684 times)

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Offline *Becky*

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how much is too much fruit?
« on: September 24, 2010, 11:06:40 am »
so as a result of DS being soooooo hard to get veg into, I give him quite a bit of fruit and am starting to wonder if this is ok.
On a typical day he will have a banana, handful of strawberries, innocent fruit pouch, some fruit puree with his yoghurt and maybe raisins. Is this ok?
I am not sure if you can give too much fruit?
Becky x




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Offline koe2moe

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2010, 11:09:16 am »
it doesn't sound too much to me.  DS has way more on a daily basis but then there might be others who disagree with me hehe  i love your new photo!!! :)  big boy henry :D



Offline deb

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2010, 11:30:24 am »
That's about the upper limit of what I'd be giving, but mine are sensitive to fructose, so I have to be fussier.

You can try substituting some pureed veg for fruit in yogurt sometimes; when we were early on in the solids game with the girls, I found that pureed carrots or squash or sweet potatoes with a little bit of cinnamon and a dash of maple syrup in yogurt went over quite well, and sometimes we'd make it savory instead with some garlic and/or curry powder or dill and that also went well with yogurt. And pureed spinach and kale and broccoli went well with cottage cheese, come to think of it.

Do make sure you go easy on fruit juice, though - that's way high in sugar, and one cup of, say, apple juice is like the juice of a LOT of apples!

Offline *Becky*

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2010, 11:40:19 am »
do you mean the fruit pouch smoothie? I thought that was a good thing but better to cut it out?
He does not have any juice at all, just water.




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Offline deb

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2010, 11:43:29 am »
You can check how much sugar is in it. If it's not too big, maybe no problem. I know when well-meaning people give my girls juice boxes or similar, they get really out of sorts, but mine seem more sensitive than most.

I actually "make" cranberry "juice" with a little bit of straight cranberry juice at the bottom of a half-gallon container, sweeten with stevia (1/4tsp give or take), and top off with water, and you can do the same for lemonade. Fruity flavor without the excess sugar. Reminds me, the girls finished the last bottle yesterday, gotta go make more. :)

Offline *Becky*

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2010, 11:48:14 am »
ok it says - a piece of apple, 1/2 a strawberry, a slice of banana, 1 raspberry and a dash of red grape juice...no actual sugar in.
I am struggling a bit as he is so so picky about veg to the point where it is making me feel quite stressed but I don't want to overload the fruit if that is not so good either as that is how i am trying to compensate for the veg iykwim.




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Offline Mashi

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2010, 12:10:10 pm »
Most important is a balanced diet. So while fruit and veg are important so are other things in a diet. If he is eating fruit at the expense of proteins, meats, dairy, and cereals, then you'd want to cut down.  Each country has it's own method of "balancing" a diet - for instance in Canada it is a "Food Pyramid" and your personal food pyramid depends on your age, gender, etc.  A 2yr old toddler needs 4 serves of Fruit and Veg, 3 servings of cereals, 2 servings of dairy and 1 serving of meat/meat alternatives.  Serving sizes are spelled out in the food pyramids, etc.  I am most comfortable using the Canadian food guidelines, but you can look up the UK healthy eating guidelines for toddlers and see what they advise.  I know in the UK it's "5 a day" but serving sizes are smaller for kids than adults, once he's hit his 5 a day, I would try to get him to eat other things to balance his day/week out (we aim for a healthy week moreso than a healthy day). 

It's probably more important to change up his fruits often and have him eating a variety to expose him to different nutrients than it is to just make sure he eats loads. Ie/ if he is eating the same 4 or 5 fruits all the time it's getting the goodness of those things into him but a wide variety all the time is best. 

Offline Yazzie

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2010, 12:31:27 pm »
Agree, it doesn't sound too much to me, as long as he's getting other stuff as well, to ensure it's a varied diet with lots of different nutrients.
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Offline *Becky*

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2010, 12:32:13 pm »
thanks. yes I think he does have a pretty good diet apart from the lack of veg. Sigh x




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Offline deb

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #9 on: September 24, 2010, 16:10:27 pm »
It is worth considering also that different fruits and veg contain different nutrients, so sticking with just fruits or just starchy veg or just green veg even isn't really "balanced" IRL although it may be to one's governmental nutrition agency. *grin* Example: here in the States, a school lunch of pizza is considered to be basically a balanced meal b/c it contains grain, dairy, and a serving of "vegetable" in the form of pizza sauce. Ditto cheeseburger and fries, even though dietarily speaking (I think I made up a new word LOL), a potato (french fries) is probably more like the bun the cheeseburger is served on than say carrots or salad.

That said, fruit is better than sweets or too much bread, but as Mashi pointed out, it's also good to make sure they're getting some of the other basic food groups as well.

BTW, I've found I can hide a LOT of kale or spinach in pesto. :D

Offline Mom to M&M

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #10 on: September 24, 2010, 16:42:44 pm »
ITA with everyone - sounds fine to me as long as he's getting a good variety in general. Have you tried the apple carrot muffins yet? Or the mac n cheese with pureed b'nut squash hidden in there? I might cut back on the raisins some since those have a lot of sugar and focus instead on berries (blueberries have TONS of antioxidents) and also cantaloupe or apricots - which are a great source of Vit A.
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Offline firsttimemummy

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Re: how much is too much fruit?
« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2010, 19:36:04 pm »
As Mashi says the UK goes by the "5 a day", and a "serving" is the size of what you can hold in your hand (so a toddler's serving is much smaller than an adults as they can hold a lot less) - but as she pointed out it varies from country to country so as long as it isn't going right through him it would seem it isn't too much for him ...
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