Archive | March, 2010

The Amazing Power Of Goji Berries

We should all get three to five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. If you really want to get the benefits of fruit, you should eat the healthiest fruit available: the goji berry.

Goji berries have been eaten for hundreds of years in China to combat aging and to promote good health. These berries have more recently become available for everyone else to benefit from.

You cannot get goji berries fresh because they will turn black if handled; they are usually available dried or as a juice. Dried berries may often be purchased at a Chinese food store. Goji berry juice is available from several different companies.

Dr. Earl Mindell is considered largely responsible for the introduction of the goji berry, in the form of goji juice, to the western world. Dr. Mindell was introduced to the goji berry by a chinese healer in 90′s. Dr. Mindell spent 7 years researching the berry and working on turning the berry into a quality juice that would bring the benefits of the goji to the western world.

The taste is usually described as a cross between a cherry and a cranberry, but really they have a flavor all their own. I personally think they taste great and are super for snacking. Goji juice has a particularily delicious, refreshing flavor.

Many people consider eastern medicine and cures to be more “hocus pocus” than medicinal, but modern science has shown us the benefit of the goji berry. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins; we need them to remain strong and healthy. Goji berries have 18 types on amino acids, including all 8 of the amino acids that are considered essential to a healthy lifestyle. They’re a great source of cartenoids: a vital ingredient to good vision. Goji berries are fully of vitamins like b1, b2, b6, and Vitamin E; all important for staying healthy. Dr. Earl Mindell is known for more recent research on these berries. His studies have found 4 polysaccharides in goji berries that help cells communicate more efficiently with each other and boost the immune system. On top of all this, these berries contain 21 trace minerals! Obviously goji berries are a great addition to any healthy diet.

No one knows for sure why goji berries have so many vital nutrients, but it’s been suggested that it comes from the power of the sun. These berries are grown in the Himalayas, at a higher altitude than any other fruit. While they’re generally advertised for their anti-aging effects; they have also been shown to help people sleep, increase strength, increase sexual potency, and even improve mood!

Research has show that these little berries are great for you and have many wonderful health benefits. Why don’t you take a trip to the health food store and try some today?

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The benefits of eating fruit

Close your eyes and imagine standing in the middle of a peach orchard on a hot August day. Can you smell the tree-ripened fruit? Don’t you want to pick one and savor its sweet, juicy, fragrant goodness? The pleasures of sweetness, flavor, fragrance, and texture are reasons enough to eat fruit. But besides those inviting wonders, fruits offer us many compounds of great benefit to our health.

We all know they provide vitamins and minerals, but there are many other compounds in fruit, some of which we cannot name, that give health benefits to those who consume them. We call those compounds, collectively, phytonutrients-that is, nutrients from plants (“phyto”=plant).

Many of these phytonutrients have antioxidant activity, and others may yield their benefits by different mechanisms, such as inhibiting an enzyme. In many cases, we don’t know how they work.

Cherries, for example, are known to reduce uric acid levels in blood and to increase the urinary excretion of uric acid. Uric acid is what causes gout, and eating cherries, drinking cherry juice, or taking capsules of cherry extract can relieve the pain of gout. What in cherries reduces uric acid? And how does it do it? We don’t yet have the answers to those questions, but while we’re waiting for the answers, we can use cherries to give us relief from gout.

The fruits best known for their high antioxidant activity are berries:

* Raspberries

* Blueberries

* Strawberries

* Blackberries

* Cranberries

* Goji berries (also known as wolfberries)

But many other fruits provide high amounts of the familiar antioxidant, Vitamin C:

* Cantaloupe

* Kiwi

* Kumquat

* Citrus fruits (e.g., orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, clementine, tangerine)

Fruits, even acidic ones, have an alkalizing effect on the body: that is, they make the body less acid. Evidence is accumulating that certain disease conditions, such as osteoporosis, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis are aggravated by excess acid in the body. Eating alkalizing fruits can reduce overall acidity.

Alkalizing fruits include (but are not limited to):

* Figs

* Dates

* Black currants

* Bananas

* Apricots

* Cherries

* Grapes

* Grapefruit

* Mangos

* Pears

* Pineapple

* Lemons

* Peaches

* Apples

Many people have been advised by their doctors to eat bananas to provide potassium to make up for losses caused by potassium-depleting medications. While bananas are a good source of potassium, so are many other fruits (and vegetables). There is no need for boredom when attaining your daily 3500 milligrams of potassium. Other high-potassium fruits include avocado, grapefruit, orange, watermelon, and raisins. If you eat 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 3 servings of fruit per day, you should have no trouble achieving adequate potassium intake.

Eating whole fruits has many advantages over drinking their juices. While nutritionists encourage eating 2 to 3 servings of fruit per day, they do not suggest 5 or 6, mainly because that could lead to excessive sugar consumption, a risk factor for diabetes and obesity. Drinking fruit juice is likely to increase the number of fruit servings consumed, since it takes, for example, three or four medium oranges to make an 8-ounce glass of juice. Juice also is devoid of fiber if the pulp is removed, whereas whole fruits can be a good source of fiber-a nutritional factor not only helpful for preventing or treating constipation but also for eliminating many unwanted compounds from the body.

So, enjoy your two or three servings of fruit daily without guilt. Delight in their deliciousness and appreciate their contributions to your health.

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