Healthy Food Choices: Canned Fruits

Canned fruits can be healthy parts of a convenient diet and used for cooking at home. Try these tips for buying canned fruits in this healthy shopping video.

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Fresh produce is ideal
Avoid fruits packed in "heavy syrup"
Nutritional value similar to fresh fruits
Refrigerate after opening

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Michelle Cooper has been a registered dietician for more than 10 years. She currently works for the state of North Carolina for the New Hanover County School District in the Child Nutrition Department as the supervising registered dietician on staff. She specializes in child nutrition, child fitness and overall child health. She enjoys her job because it allows her to be a pivotal piece of child development.

MICHELLE COOPER: Next, we're going to talk about canned fruit. Although, fresh produce is ideal, sometimes canned fruit can be an economical alternative to this, especially, if you can find canned fruit that's been packed in its own juice or packed in natural juices. You don't want to buy the canned fruit that's been packed in heavy syrup. It's going to add a lot of sugar and calories to your fruit; other than that, the nutritional quality seems to be--is just about the same as the fresh produce. Make sure that when you're purchasing your canned fruit that you don't buy any cans that are rusted, dented or bulging at the top. Also, how you store them is going to affect the nutritional quality. You need to keep them in a dry cool place away from the sunlight. Next, make sure after opening that you refrigerate them. Last, you check the manufacturer's date on the bottom. After about a year, they start to lose about 5 to 20 percent of some of the nutrients in them. So remember, number one, if you can't afford fresh produce, canned produce can be just as healthy. Number two, don't buy cans that are bulging, dented or rusted. Number three, store them in a cool, dry place away from sunlight. And lastly, try to use them within a year.

Healthy Food Choices: Canned Fruits Video

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