(S7E13) Nutrition & Wellness with Alli, MS, CN - Oranges

Hi everybody, welcome to Relished. I'm Allie, I'm a nutritionist and a yoga teacher and author of The Smoothie Book, and I'm here to talk to you every week about nutrition topics. Super excited this week, we're talking about oranges, the history, the types of oranges, all the health information about oranges, how we should store them, and an awesome recipe called Orange Cure, which is kind of like a pudding with oranges in it. Super excited. Welcome to the show. I've put the recipe in the chat, hopefully you can see it. I'll add it again. Sometimes I think if I add it before, you can't quite see it. There we go. So I added the recipe to the show, it's called Orange Cure, you can find it on relished.com. So many good recipes there, especially with oranges. So if you have any questions or comments during the show, I would love to have a discussion. So put your questions, put your comments in the chat, I've got it pulled up right here, I can see anything that comes through. Please take notice of my beautiful flowers, my husband picked these from our lovely yard. So I thought that the orange looked really nice compared to the orange here. It looks like little oranges there. Okay, so oranges. What is an orange? An orange is a round fruit, the color orange, and it grows on a tree and is super delicious and produces a lot of juice. So where do oranges originate? They originally come from southern China, northeastern India, and Myanmar. So over in the Asian countries, some of the Asian countries. According to the data, oranges were found to be the most cultivated fruit tree in the world, excuse me, as of 1987. I don't know if that's still true, maybe it's a different fruit now, but that's pretty amazing. And, you know, of course, oranges can be eaten fresh, you just pick them off the tree or take them from the grocery or the farmer's market, peel them and eat them, you know, use them for juice, you can use the peel and the zest for other baking needs, or there's the orange peel extract that is used sometimes as well, medicinally. And so many things you can do with oranges, oh my goodness. The sweet orange, I found out, was never actually something that grew in the wild. It is a cross between a version of a mandarin orange and a pomelo, is what the typical orange that we eat these days, that's where it comes from. So pretty interesting. But now, of course, you can find them everywhere. So, so many different varieties, I'm going to go over some of the main ones. So the most popular one in the U.S. that we know about is the navel orange, which I have here today, because it looks like it has a belly button on it, so there's just a small part of the orange where it grows out and it looks like a navel. These are great for travel and for exporting and things like that, because the peel is thick, it's not crazy, crazy juicy, but still delicious. So it makes it easier for exporting and transporting. And they are, in the U.S. they're available from November to April, which is a long season, and the peak of the season is January, February, and March. So again, really pretty available. Then there is the Valencia orange, which originally came from Valencia, Spain, that's why it got its name there, and it's a sweet orange fruit. It's a summer orange, and then it was brought over to the U.S., and in the mid-19th century somebody named William Wolfskill hybridized it in California, and it's grown there. Then there is the Hamelin orange, which I was not familiar with this orange. It originated in Florida by a guy named A.G. Hamelin near Glenwood, Florida, in the late 1800s, and the fruit is small and smooth, not super orange, it's kind of more of a yellow, and this is the most popular orange used for juicing in Florida. So I have noticed sometimes you get orange juice that's just kind of more yellow than orange, and it must be from the Hamelin. So I thought that was interesting. Then of course there's the Mandarin orange. We're all familiar with that orange. It's small, darker in color, super sweet, a lot of times doesn't have seeds, and originated in China, which is how it gets its name. I think my first experience with Mandarin oranges was the canned version, super delicious. Then there is the Cara Cara orange, C-A-R-A, C-A-R-A. I always wondered if that was called Cara Cara or Cara Cara. It's Cara Cara. I looked it up. Cara Cara oranges, they're also known as red navel oranges because it is a version of a navel orange, but when you slice into it, it's much darker. So this is the typical navel orange. But the Cara Cara is darker, almost like a pink grapefruit. It's so pretty, and they are just delicious. They're mainly grown in Venezuela and South Africa and in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and super sweet, lower in acid than other oranges, and yeah, just that really pretty bright color when you cut into it or bite into it, whatever. Pinkish red. Then there's the Jaffa orange. I was not familiar with the Jaffa orange, also known as the Chamuti orange. It has very few seeds. It has a tough skin, and it gets its name from an area in Jerusalem named Jaffa, where farmers started exporting them in the 19th century. So you should try that sometime. Then there is the blood orange, which is a very distinct orange. The skin is darker, the flesh is darker, the juice is darker. Everything's darker red. It looks like blood. There are higher concentrations of anthocyanins, which give it that dark red color. They were originally cultivated in Sicily in the 15th century, which, wow, that's a long time ago, but it has a very distinct color, very distinct flavor. It's become really popular to use it. I was looking up recipes. There's a blood orange margarita recipe on Relish.com. I thought that sounded really good. And just so many other different versions or different recipes that you can use the blood orange for or just eat it. Apparently, there is a Spanish marmalade made with it as well that is also very popular. So very specific in its color. Then there are the acidless oranges, which they have less acid than other oranges, and they're called sweet oranges in the United States and other parts of the world. And because the lack of acid protects it from spoilage, it's primarily eaten rather than used for fruit or for juice, excuse me, eaten rather than juiced. So those are kind of the main orange varieties. We've got navel, we've got Valencia, we've got Hamlin, we've got Mandarin, Caracara, Jaffa, blood oranges, and acidless oranges. So those are the main kinds. You'll notice them when you're at the grocery store. So that's that. We are going to jump into our recipe right now because there are a few things that have to be done with the recipe, and I want to be able to show you the final result at the end, and then we'll go back and talk about the health information because there is a lot. There are a lot of good things about oranges. Really, doing all this research and then getting ready for the recipes today really made me want to eat oranges more. So they're delicious. Okay, we're going to do orange kheer, K-H-E-E-R, which is an Indian dessert. I think it looks and sounds like a pudding. We'll see how the result is. So the recipe calls for milk, but I wanted to do something that didn't have dairy, so we're doing coconut milk. So this is one can of reduced fat coconut milk. You can do any kind of milk you want. I just thought this would be delicious for a dessert. So this is one can. It calls, the recipe calls for 500 milliliters, but we're doing 400 because that's close enough, but you can always do more. We're going to put it in the pan. Oh boy, this is going to be good. Okay, and we're going to heat it on medium, medium low. Okay, I'm going to check back on that. So we have to heat it until, is it just about what we're doing? Heat milk and allow it to simmer so the quantity reduces to half. So we're basically going to thicken the milk. Okay. Okay, so I'm going to set the timer so I don't forget. And while that is heating, partially. Okay, while that is heating, we'll talk about the health benefits. So many health benefits. Okay, so basically every variety of orange out there is going to give you about 100% at least of your needs of vitamin C. So it's great that you can get that much vitamin C just from one food item. Let's see, I'm just going to give a quick overview of some of the things and then we're going to go into more detail. But there have been studies that have shown that it could help with age-related macular degeneration, which is a version of vision loss as we get older. And of course, vitamin C, antioxidants, and those are kind of the main overviews. Let's go into specifics because there are a lot. Okay, oranges can be anti-inflammatory, which is great, great news. So we know inflammation is not good on an acute level or a chronic level. If you're experiencing inflammation chronically, that can lead to other diseases like diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, cancer, or Alzheimer's disease. So we want to eat as many things as possible that would be anti-inflammatory. Oranges are one of those such things. Okay, oranges are high in fiber. So one medium orange has about three grams of fiber, which is great. And, you know, orange versus orange juice. Orange juice, you're not going to get any fiber. One orange, you're going to get three grams of fiber. So typically, that's going to be the better choice. Orange juice, of course, does have the vitamin C in it too, but you're not going to get as much of those really good nutrients that you would in an orange. So three grams of fiber, that's about 12% of our daily needs, which is good. Fiber is good. It helps keep our digestive system healthy. It may help lower cholesterol levels and which then could help reduce the risk of heart disease. So fiber also has been shown to help with diabetes because it slows down our absorption of sugar, so that we don't have spiked blood sugar levels, helps regulate our insulin, all that good stuff. So fiber is good. Fiber is good for everybody, but fiber is also good if you have diabetes. So two of the three grams of fiber is soluble fiber, and that's also been shown to help reduce our cholesterol. So that's good too. Okay, let's check on this. Okay, looking good. I'm going to move on to the whisk now just to make sure things aren't burning on the bottom. Okay, we'll do two more minutes. I just want to get it up to a simmer and then I can lower the heat down again. Okay, so the oranges have the fiber. Okay, so next up, oranges have a small amount of calcium, which is great. And we know calcium helps us keep our bones strong and solid. So we like calcium. Oranges are also a good source of folate, which is especially important for pregnant women. Because pregnant women, it does help the developing baby in your body. It helps prevent birth defects. Folate is super, super important. Multivitamins for pregnant women always have extra folate in it. You can also get some of it from your oranges. And your body uses folate to divide cells and make DNA. So super important for everybody, but especially for pregnant women. Oranges are really rich in antioxidants, which antioxidants protect ourselves from cell damage. All those free radicals out there that aren't great for us attacking our body. We need those antioxidants to help our bodies against those. And so oranges have the flavonoid antioxidants, which also provide the anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antimicrobial benefits. And there was a study done in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition talking about antioxidants. I just want to read it because I just thought the conclusion of the study, I just thought it was such a nice reminder of how good antioxidants and flavonoids are for our well-being. So this was the conclusion. Higher intake of flavonoids. Oh boy. Let's check on that. Hold on. Okay. This is definitely warming up. Okay. Excuse me, everybody. I don't want it to overflow. I also want it to start heating up. Okay. The quote, the conclusion of the study is higher intake of flavonoids at midlife, specifically flavones, anthocyanins, and flavanols is associated with greater likelihood of health and well-being in individuals to older ages. So basically, our well-being will be improved by having antioxidants and we can get some of those from oranges. I really liked that. So oranges are also a really good source of potassium and they don't have any sodium in them or just like one gram, milligram, excuse me, one milligram, which is nothing, which is good for our blood pressure. They say, they're starting to say that a diet that has a good amount of potassium can counteract the high sodium diet. So we want to have a lower sodium diet, add some potassium, and that is great for our blood pressure, which is also great for our health. Oranges may also help with kidney stones. I know that we talked about this with our lemon week and we talked about this with our lime week episode. So the citric acid and citrates that are found in citrus fruit, fruits like lemons, limes, and oranges may help prevent kidney stones from forming and may help people that get kidney stones, may help the process be less painful. So that's great news. That's great news. Great, great news. So oranges are good. Oranges are good. If you're prone to kidney stones, maybe eat some oranges more often. And orange peel extract has been found to help prevent cancer. There have been some research, there's been some research done on this and they found that it can help with that. So that's a very concentrated version of the deal. Here we go. I'm not going to set a timer so that we won't have to repeat that. We'll come back because we're getting close to the end of the notes on health information. So I'm going to go back. Hello there. I'm going to go back to the orange peel extract. So research has shown that flavonoids in citrus peels may help prevent reproduction, growth, and spread of cancer cells. So that's pretty awesome. Of course, talk to your doctor about what that may mean, orange peel extract. But there's just been some research done on that. So that's good news. Oranges are a great source of hydration. One whole orange provides about half a cup of water. So that's really good. That's really good. The water, the fiber, the vitamins, so much good stuff. But it is a hydrating fruit, a piece of fruit. I did a whole episode probably about a year ago now on the importance of hydration where I talked about what each food, it was like a whole list of all the foods that are really hydrating foods. Oranges are on there. So I touched on the fact that they're a good source of vitamin C, but we'll talk about why a vitamin C is so good. So an orange has more than 100% of your daily needs of vitamin C. We know vitamin C is an antioxidant. We know that vitamin C helps us boost collagen, which is good for our skin, keeping it youthful, keeping it elastic, keeping it strong. Also, vitamin C helps us absorb. Hey, hello. Okay, we've got two visitors. Thanks, everybody, for joining in. Hi, Mercedes. Hi, Tony. Vitamin C, we've talked about this in the last couple of episodes, I think. Vitamin C helps us absorb iron better, which that is very important for absorbing iron. It helps improve oxygen availability in our bodies and reduces tiredness and fatigue as well. So it's important for us to have a good amount of iron. So if you're eating something that's iron rich, like spinach or what else? Lentils, beans, things like that. I'm just going plant-based right now. Vitamin C helps us absorb that iron better. So it's good to pair it with each other. Oranges are also good for our heart, which we kind of touched on that before. Helps with our cholesterol, helps with our blood pressure, and helps prevent diabetes. Or if you do have diabetes, it can help with processing our carbohydrates slower. So yes, so the fiber, the blood pressure, potassium, all of that can help support our heart health. And I have this in my notes again, but oranges may help with diabetes. The fiber especially can help with diabetes control. And this, I'm wondering your opinion about avocado milk. I'm not familiar with avocado milk, but I can look into that. I'm not sure. I don't know if that would be like a pureed avocado with something else or what, but that sounds interesting. Okay, so oranges also contain choline and zeaxanthin. So choline is important. It's an important nutrient that we find in oranges. It helps us sleep. It helps our muscles. It helps with our brain and memory and learning. So super important. And zeaxanthin is a type of carotenoid antioxidant that can help reduce inflammation. So two good things that just made me think when I was talking about the helps with our muscles, I always remember getting orange slices when I had soccer and my son, our neighbor's son, they're taking soccer now and she always brings orange slices for them to eat afterward. And I just think that's so great. So nostalgic, but yeah, it's just so refreshing after you've been eating or after you've been exercising, playing soccer, but maybe there's something also good about it too. That's for our muscles. So that's pretty awesome. Okay, let's go check on our milk. Oh, yeah, it is simmering. This is great. Okay, after it is reduced, let's milk this. Oh, we're going to add. Okay, so I'm going to increase the heat just a little bit. Okay, we might not get to the final product because it does have to cool, but I will be taking pictures and check them out on my Instagram. And that's my Instagram. I will definitely be posting the final outcomes of this because it looks so, so good. But I'm just going to tell you what we're going to do next. We're going to add, it says sugar. I'm going to put a little bit of maple syrup and chopped cashews. You put in those next and then you let that sit for a little bit. And then you add chopped oranges and then you're supposed to add ground cardamom. I'm not always the biggest fan of cardamom, so I'm going to put vanilla in ours instead because I love vanilla orange things. So those are the ingredients. It's going to be really good. I'm going to show you the chopped oranges. I had to take some samples of them at our house. So and chopped cashews. There we go. How do we store oranges the best? You can store them in a bowl on your counter away from sunlight. If you think you're going to eat them quickly. If you think you're not going to eat them quickly, store them in the drawer in the refrigerator. And are there any health risks with eating oranges? Not really. If you have issues with GERD, the gastro esophageal reflux disease, acidic things, then maybe don't have as many oranges. But also, and the other only thing is kind of what I touched on before. If you have an orange or if you have orange juice, the healthier choice is going to be eating the orange because you're going to get the fiber and a lot more of the vitamins. But orange juice is also a good choice if you're going to have juice because they don't add extra sugar to it. So that's a good thing. So, yeah, that's kind of the info on oranges. Oh, yeah. Now this is looking good. It's got a nice simmer going on. I'll show you. And it is reducing. So that's good. Okay, I got nervous there. All right. So oranges. So, so good. Our local gelato store apparently had orange blossom gelato, which I've never had that before. But I thought that sounded really interesting. Made from the blossoms of the orange tree. I'm sure there was some orange in there, too. But they said it was a very different flavor. Very different than what you would expect. And these California poppies look just like blue oranges, too, the exact same color. Okay, so this recipe is going to be so good. Okay, so we're reducing it down to halfway. I'm going to go ahead and pour in the cashews. So it's about a fourth of a cup of chopped cashews. Okay. I really love that idea. And, you know, I think when we eat it, I'm going to put some pistachios on top. And then, how much? Oh, sugar as required. So I'm just going to put a little splash. Because I think the oranges are going to add a really nice amount of sweets. Because you put four to five medium sized oranges that have been chopped. So that's kind of a lot of oranges. Okay. So you've got to be here for most of that process of the cure. I will most definitely post it more on my Instagram this week. So stay tuned. And that's about it. If you haven't gotten my smoothie book, it's called The Smoothie Book. You can get that on my website. And I'm also getting into many more bookstores lately. Let's see. And we'll also be having it on relish.com down the road. So that's very exciting as well. Hopefully, you can see that. It looks a little different on my chat. But it's alishercliffwellness.com. Okay. So oranges, antioxidants, vitamin C, hydration, fiber. Good for our heart. Good for our blood pressure. Anti-inflammatory. So many great things about oranges. So grab a few. Add them to your life. Add them to your diet. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining the show today. I always love questions, comments, everybody watching the show. So have a great rest of your day. Next week, we'll have another topic. It's going to be a lot of fun. Good night, everybody.