I’ve recently become familiar with a fruit many have probably never heard of before.
So, I did a little research.
According to Wikipedia,
“Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), also known as the purple mangosteen,[2] is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to tropical lands surrounding the Indian Ocean. Its origin is uncertain due to widespread prehistoric cultivation.[3][4] It grows mainly in Southeast Asia, southwest India and other tropical areas such as Colombia and Puerto Rico,[3][5][6] where the tree has been introduced.
The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, with fluid-filled vesicles (like the flesh of citrus fruits), with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind (exocarp) when ripe.[3][5] In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanically endocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary.[7][8] The seeds are of similar size and shape to almonds.
Genus Garcinia also contains several less-known fruit-bearing species, such as the button mangosteen (G. prainiana) and the charichuelo (G. madruno).
Viral fighters and prevention of infections (Vitamin C and Antioxidants)
Helps prevent gum disease (Vitamin C)
Energy boosters – anti-fatigue
Anti-aging
May promote weight loss
Improves insulin resistance
Anti-tumor benefits
Cancer: Mangosteen helps in the prevention of cancer with its powerful antioxidants.
Lowers blood pressure
High in xanthones, powerful antioxidants
May help with blood sugar control
Many say it tastes good
Upon further research, I discovered other fun facts.
For example, the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) is a tropical evergreen tree, believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas. The tree grows from 7 to 25 meters tall. The edible fruit is deep reddish purple when ripe. In Asia, the mangosteen fruit is known as the “Queen of Fruits,” while the durian (Durio spp.) is known as the “King of Fruits.” It is closely related to other edible tropical fruits such as button mangosteen and lemon drop mangosteen.
The outer shell of the fruit is rather hard, typically 4-6 cm in diameter. Cutting through the shell, one finds a white, fleshy fruit 3-5 cm in diameter. Depending on the size and ripeness, there may or may not be pits in the segments of the fruit. The number of fruit pods is directly related to the number of petals on the bottom of the shell. On average a mangosteen has 5 fruits (round up figure).
I have eaten a lot of different fruits in my life, but I have never seen or tasted this “Queen of Fruits.”
And now I know why!
Fresh mangosteen is rarely available in the US! Not only that, but apparently it and other Asian fruits were banned in the US until 2007 due to concerns over fruit flies.
The good news is that there are freeze dried versions of it as well as multiple different powdered forms.
If you’re interested in learning a bit more about mangosteen, click the links below:
Okay, so, let's get real. No matter how healthy we want to eat, no matter how much we want our kids to eat the perfect diet, no matter how much we want to avoid processed food, real life exhausts us sometimes.
Even the natural born chefs among us don't always feel like cooking.
And even the most frugal among us end up eating out eventually. Not only that, but like I mentioned in my last post on fast food, we don't just eat out for the food. We eat out to be social, to relax, to feel closer to our loved ones and our friends.
So, what do we do when we find ourselves in the “forbidden” restaurant? Sip on a lemon water? Pretend we're not hungry?
No! We choose healthy or we balance what we eat the rest of the day with what we eat at the restaurant.
Firstly, lets talk about balancing what we eat the rest of the day with what we eat at the restaurant.
When my family decides to eat out, we often eat at Sweet Tomato (Soupplantation). This is because (I'm laughing) Sweet Tomato is our son's favorite restaurant. Why? Because he likes the macaroni and cheese! I have to twist his arm to get him to eat a tablespoon of shredded carrots or a slice of cucumber with his macaroni and cheese, but he does drink apple juice (that is actually his preference).
Even at Sweet Tomato, the calories add up fast. I generally will eat some of the green salads and my favorite Broccoli Madness as well as a tad of Tuna Tarragon pasta salad. And the herb focaccia is fabulous! I like to try out the monthly soups, though there are a few classic favorites like cream of mushroom, chicken noodle that are my mainstays.
MyFitnessPal has most of the menu items from Sweet Tomato in their database, so I can estimate my calories eaten. Usually, when I eat there, it ends up being around 700 calories. This is over half of my calorie allowance when I don't work out.
When I eat at Sweet Tomato (or any other restaurant), I try to make sure I go to the gym and workout.
This increases my calorie allowance by an extra 300-500 calories. Also, at Sweet Tomato, the salads and soups have calorie and fat information next to the food. So you can estimate as you go, if you're into doing that.
So what else can we do when eat out to make sure we don't completely blow our diet?
Here are 10 healthy choices when eating out I have found to be helpful when eating out.
Check the nutrition facts information on the restaurant's website. Restaurants are required to make nutrition and allergy information available to customers. 99.9% of restaurants nowadays have websites that you can access anywhere, including your mobile device.
Choose the lower calorie option. For example, if you're at McDonalds, and you're itching for a hamburger, buy the smaller hamburger. You can also ask for no sauce. For example, with the Big Mac, you can save 90 calories by ordering it without the sauce.
If you must have the high calorie option, eat half at the restaurant and save the other half for later.
Order just the sandwich and a salad instead of French fries OR order just a salad.
Pay special attention to calories in salads, however. Salads sometimes have more calories than a large cheeseburger, depending on what's on them.
Use low calorie salad dressing or limit the amount of regular dressing you put on your salad.
Order the sandwich without cheese.
Drink water instead of soda.
Remember that just because it's healthy doesn't mean it's lower in calories. For example, the Green Burrito Bean, Rice and Cheese burrito has more calories than a Carl's Famous Star with Cheese (Green Burrito and Carl's Jr exist together at many restaurants, in case you didn't know that).
What attracts kids to Fast Food? I recently received an email from a subscriber. She wanted advice regarding her 17-year-old son. Her son was raised on a healthy diet since birth, but now only wants to eat at fast food restaurants. This is a concern that I believe many parents have as their kids hit the teen years.
So, what is going on here? Why do teens often prefer to eat at fast food restaurants to eating at home? Is it just about the food? Or is there something else going on that causes so many kids to want to eat more fast food as they get older? In other words, what attracts kids to fast food?
Teens are Exerting their Independence
One of the things about teens is that they are exerting their independence. They want to call the shots. One way they can do that is by taking charge of their own food intake. When they go out and eat at a restaurant, mom and dad don't have to be there. So, the teen can eat whatever he or she wants. Plus teens usually like being around friends, so eating out becomes an opportunity for social interaction. They could bring their friends home, but that wouldn't be the same because mom or dad would be there too.
So What Attracts Kids to Fast Food?
I read a book years ago titled, “Fast Food Nation.” It was an excellent book that discussed the psychology behind eating at a fast food restaurant. For example, the author, Eric Schlosser, discusses how eating at McDonald's is an “experience.” People don't go to McDonald's simply because the food is so amazing. They go to McDonald's because McDonald's is effective in creating a positive image of themselves as a “Trusted Friend.”
Not only that, Schlosser writes,
“Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American Society…Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music–combined…
“The whole experience of buying fast food has become so routine, so thoroughly unexceptional and mundane, that it is now taken for granted, like brushing your teeth or stopping for a red light. It has become a social custom as American as a small, rectangular, hand-held, frozen, and reheated apple pie.” (emphasis mine).
In other words, kids are growing up in a culture where eating at fast food restaurants is promoted as part of what you're supposed to do if you're an American.
In another book, “Consuming Kids,” the author Susan Linn is helpful making the reader more aware of how much money and effort fast food manufacturers spend to make their products attractive to kids. For example, McDonald's spent $1.3 billion in advertising in 2002 in the US alone. PepsiCo spent more than $1.1 billion. I'm sure it's much higher today.
So, we can come up with recipes and find healthier “fast food” alternatives that fit in with our busy schedule. And I'm sure this will help encourage our kids to eat healthier at least some of the time. However, we should remember that no matter how good the food is at home, our kids will probably want to eat out more as they get older, especially if they have a lot of friends.
Healthy Fast-Food Picks for Kids
So, what can you do to tempt your child to eat more at home so that you can be sure she is getting the nutrients she needs?
If your teen likes hamburgers, you can serve hamburgers at home.
A hamburger served at home with lean beef or turkey is definitely healthier than a fast food hamburger. Especially since you can use a whole grain roll and offer healthy side dishes, including homemade French fries (see below for recipe). And if making a hamburger from scratch is a burden to you time-wise. There are pre-made burgers available that are definitely more healthy than a Burger King burger is. We shop at Costco, and they have delicious chicken burgers that you can buy and pop in the microwave, pan or BBQ grill for a quick burger. That could help with the time factor.
If your teen likes to eat chicken at fast food restaurants, like KFC, there are alternatives for that too. Again I mention Costco, because they have the best rotisserie chickens! Costco actually loses money when they sell their chickens for $3.99 (not a typo). I have done my research. Costco's chickens are raised humanely and are free-range, plus they have no added hormones or other junk.
We are a family of three, and one chicken lasts several days. My husband and son like dark meat, and I like white meat. So, we always have extra white meat to use on sandwiches, chicken rice soup, or chicken tomato tacos and burritos.
If you don't have a Costco nearby or aren't a member, you can also get Rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. We sometimes get chickens at our regular grocery store, but they aren't quite as good or as inexpensive. It's still an option, however. If you are concerned about the ingredients, ask the deli manager about the food prep process.
The chicken nuggets recipe calls for frying the chicken. However, because you are making it at home, you don't have to worry about the artificial additives used in fast food restaurants. Also, the sodium will be a fraction of the amount of sodium you will get in a restaurant. For example, in our recipe, there is only 91 mg of sodium per serving. In contrast, a four piece order of McDonald's chicken nuggets contain 340 mg sodium, not to mention a long list of questionable ingredients.
When we made the chicken nuggets the first time, I felt guilty afterward because we fried them and could have baked them. However, my son loved the fried version, but may not have liked the baked ones because they would have been drier.
What Attracts Kids to Fast Food? It's All About Balance
Like I've said in previous posts, homemade will almost always be healthier than processed. Just make sure you use canola, corn, or other unsaturated oil.
Speaking of the oil you use. Years ago, McDonald's and other fast food restaurants used beef tallow to fry their French fries. Now they use whatever is acceptable at the moment because they don't want to lose customers. A little trivia for you! 🙂
As an alternative to fast food french fries, homemade fried or baked fries made from fresh potatoes would count as a vegetable. Because french fries are technically a vegetable. The main problem with French fries from a fast food restaurant is that the potatoes aren't fresh, so the vitamin C is long gone. However, fresh potatoes made at home are high in vitamin C, and the skin is high in iron and fiber. See below for homemade French fries recipe.
A Few Other Ideas
Does your teen like to cook? Maybe he can help with the prep.
It's obviously a lot more work to make homemade burgers and fries than it is just picking up a burger and fries at your local fast food restaurant. However, if your teen likes cooking, or has elective requirements to meet for high school graduation, you can use this as a teaching and family bonding opportunity.
Does your son or daughter have a favorite vegetable they will eat? One that others in the family like as well? Buying already cut up fresh or frozen is one way to save time. I don't recommend canned because canned vegetables are filled with sodium. But frozen is almost as healthy as fresh. Plus it has a longer shelf life, so you can stock up for when you are in a hurry or are too tired to cut up vegetables.
Does your teen sometimes grab a burger and bring it home to eat? If he brings a hamburger or something else home with him, you can encourage him to eat a salad or other favorite vegetable with it. There's also fruit! Making his favorite vegetables and fruits readily available for him to eat can also help to balance the fast-food habit.
The good news is that there are healthy choices at most restaurants. If your teen eats out a lot but tries to order the healthier choices, praise her for it. If not, you can point her to the restaurant food site for nutritional facts to help with making the best decisions.
I'm a Registered Dietitian and I make use of restaurant websites to help me control my calories when I plan to eat out.
Because of government regulations, all restaurants are required to make the nutrition facts available on their menu items.
Hopefully, these tips will help relieve some of the anxiety you have about your teen's growing independence, attraction to fast food, and other not so healthy food choices.
If you have any other questions, feel free to comment on this post or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you!
For further reading, my own articles on this site:
Not low fat, but still delicious and made from fresh potatoes which are high in Vitamin C and potassium. If you keep the skin on, you also increase the fiber and iron.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time15 minutesmins
Total Time25 minutesmins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: frugal, kid friendly recipes
Servings: 4Servings
Calories: 292kcal
Author: Deborah Hanyon, MPH, RDN, ACE-CHC
Ingredients
1CupAvocado oilAmount will depend on size of pan, amount of potatoes made
4LargePotatoesOne potato per person; Russett are best; wash and scrub thoroughly
1tspGarlic SaltLawry's is the one we use because it doesn't have any artificial ingredients
Instructions
Add oil to large non-stick pan
Heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
While oil is heating, cut potatoes into wedges. Cut potato in 1/2, and then in 1/2 again, and then 1/2 until wedges are about 3/8' square size.
When oil is ready, add potatoes carefully to pan using a pair of tongs
Cook potatoes until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Drain on a paper towel covered plate for at least five minutes. Pat french fries with paper towels to remove excess oil.
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