Oops. I forgot to post April's FOTM

The food of the month for April at Trinity Church is LOW SUGAR CANNED FRUIT.
If you follow such things, and I tend to, you know that children, teens and adults don’t get enough fruits and vegetables.   One study reports that 88% of teens don’t get the recommended amounts of fruit, another that 25% of teens don’t eat fruit daily - meaning there are days when they don’t eat any.   Adults, I’ve learned, over estimate the number of servings of fruit and vegetables they consume.
Educators work to change these habits, but there are many reasons why we don’t eat enough fruit.
One is accessibility.   Fortunately our local schools are working hard to offer healthful food to their students.   But for many families struggling to make ends meet, fruit is an “optional” on the grocery list.   Food dollars go first to things that fill the hole, stick to your ribs - and do it cheaply.
There’s some fruit in season most every month of the year in California, but if, in the interests of health and a healthy environment, you favor local and seasonal produce, this is a challenging time of year. Citrus is on the wane and local strawberries haven’t come in yet.   Stone fruit is months away, apples and pears even longer.
It’s a time of year when I am happy for the applesauce and apricots I put up last summer, and for the abundance of California dried fruit.  For our neighbors whose cupboards are bare, it’s a good time for us to donate some canned fruit.
Not all canned fruit is created equal.   Do look for no added sugar (in applesauce, for example) or canned in juice.    
Wouldn’t it be great if we all had access to - and ate - our 2-3 servings of seasonal, local, healthful fruit every day?