“I need to ask my father!” my friend said as we were playing a card game, snacking on fresh grapes. She continued, “He always had the answer to my random questions about life. He loved cards and magic tricks. A great friend, father, and magician!”
Fathering, friendship, and food go together. Father’s Day, in June, reminds us of the value, love, and friendship of those that do the ‘fathering.’ The guidance. The tough love. The words of wisdom. The listening and stare. The eat your vegetables at dinnertime look. The fruit for dessert commanding suggestion.
June is also National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month. Fruits and vegetables provide an abundance of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, and fiber. All that good stuff to help you grow and be healthy. “Chew, swallow, and finish your peas!” My dad’s words. My brother would put the peas in his mouth, ask to go to the bathroom, and spit them in the toilet. A true story!
My friend continued to pontificate during this card game. “A sea of confusion!” was her next response. My mind wandered… Can I see your sea of confusion? Confused over the sea, what you see, the letter C, or Vitamin C? I could hear my dad saying, drink your orange juice. It is full of Vitamin C.
My mind does see a sea of confusion about Vitamin C, otherwise known as ascorbic acid. Our bodies do not store or make this vitamin. Vitamin C assists with many body functions including brain health. Vitamin C is required daily to be and stay healthy. Dad was correct, again!
Vitamin C loves to be in a dark place, hiding from the sea of confusion. It is content inside the unpeeled fruit, not disturbed by any person or thing. Happily, this vitamin C sits inside until… Until what, you may ask? Until the fruit is peeled, exposed to light or heat. Then this sensitive Vitamin C gets confused, swims in a sea of confusion, and changes to the oxidized version of Vitamin C. This alien, oxidized Vitamin C has no nutritional value to our bodies.
I love fruit. No swallowing a Vitamin C pill in my household. I get my Vitamin C naturally from a peeled mandarin orange or from freshly squeezed orange juice, courtesy of my citrus juicer. My citrus juicer is easy to use, to clean, and a healthy way to have fun with fruits.
Citrus fruits are the best source of Vitamin C. Hence, a freshly peeled mandarin orange daily at breakfast. Hey, Dad, Vitamin C, my way, every day! Thanks for the fathering!
EveryWAY Nutrition honors the month of June, full of fathering, friendship, and food.
Share your favorite with me at DrMarlene@DrMarleneMD.com. Read more about EveryWAY Nutrition at DrMarleneMD.com.
Food Crumbles Improving and Understanding Food with Science, (October 11, 2019), Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) oxidation & Preventing Vitamin C loss, https://foodcrumbles.com/vitamin-c-orange-juice/
Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, (2022), The Nutrition Source Vitamin C, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-c/
