My little one just loves crunchy foods (so do I)! He will eat many fruits and vegetables, but if the texture doesn’t appeal to him, he tends to chew the food and then spit it back out (lovely I know!). So to help boost his fruit intake (without him returning it back to his plat after a few chews!), I turned to freeze dried fruit.
You may have seen freeze dried fruits (and even vegetables) and wondered if they are a healthy option or just a sugar-filled snack. Well first, you want to look at the ingredient list. The product should contain only the fruit in its ingredient list and no added sugars. I also like to look for organic fruit options when possible (especially for fruits like strawberries), since I am feeding this to the baby. Studies have shown that the antioxidant phytochemicals found in the fruits’ fresh state are retained at levels almost as high after freeze-drying. These studies have also found that the phytochemicals in freeze-dried fruits can reach our bloodstream. Which means that freeze dried fruits offer many of the same benefits as fresh (and can often be a lot easier to get our kids- or even our spouses- to eat them!).
I stopped at Stop & Shop the other day and found a new brand of freeze dried fruits I had not seen before, Little Duck Organics. They come from New York, so I’m not sure if they are available nationwide yet or just locally. What I loved about them though is they offered a variety of fruits, are already broken up into bite sized pieces appropriate for toddlers, and most importantly Joey can’t get enough! These are definitely a win in my book!
Leave a Reply