Superfoods part 5
Welcome to our health & self help blog.
In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.
Today’s post: Thursday, 4-20-2006 Superfoods & Honor Roll Foods, part 5
Blueberries. They qualify as superfoods in many ways.
They taste good fresh. They taste good when bought frozen & then thawed before eating. They add a lot of flavor when added to your breakfast cereal. Plus, they are a kind of berry that has virtually no seeds in it.
They are the highest in antioxidants of the berries that are easily available in most in most stores. One source says they are higher, in fact, than any other commercially available & commonly eaten fruit or vegetable.
And, like all berries they are high in vitamin C.
Like red wine & concord grape juice, they are high is resveratrol which is thought to contribute to good heart health.
They are high in the flavonoids called anthocyanidins, which give blueberries and grapes their dark blue and purple color.
And, anthocynadins apparently work directly with vitamin C & protein in your body to keep your arteries healthy by preventing tears in their surfaces & by keeping your arteries flexible & responsive.
Does this have health benefits? Oh yes !!
I saw a study once that said that people who eat blueberries regularly have far fewer strokes than people who don’t.
(I suspect the improvement in artery integrity eating blueberries causes helps prevent the kind of strokes that result from leaky blood vessels in the brain. And, the improved flexibility in the flexibility & responsiveness of the blood vessels helps prevent the high blood pressure that helps cause all strokes.)
But the most amazing finding is that eating blueberries regularly, helps prevent age-related memory loss & failing thinking skills in older people. In fact, the study found older people who already had these problems to some degree who added eating blueberries to their diet significantly improved their memory & thinking skills.
Green Beans. They are a decent green vegetable, like asparagus, with some nutrition but it’s not quite an honor roll food for vitamins & minerals.
So, why include them? Because they are a green vegetable !!
Green beans are available almost everywhere either canned or fresh or frozen.. Plus some people really like them.
One of the ways I’ve liked them is when heated in water with blanched almond slices.
The key point is that virtually all green vegetables are superfoods.
There are many opinions & versions of health enhancing & protecting styles of eating. But almost all of them include green vegetables. And, few people today get more than a quarter of the amount they should eat. So those besides greens that some people like & make a good change of pace from salad greens or a good addition to salads are great superfoods.
Another strong reason to include virtually all the green & nonstarchy vegetables, including green beans is that easily 90 percent of us don’t now eat enough of them for good health.
The other reason to include green vegetables is that you’ll be leaner & less fat without much effort by eating them or more of them. It’s virtually impossible to be leaner & less fat & stay that way by always eating less than you are hungry for. But it’s actually quite doable to eat MORE green vegetables.
In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.
Today’s post: Thursday, 4-20-2006 Superfoods & Honor Roll Foods, part 5
Blueberries. They qualify as superfoods in many ways.
They taste good fresh. They taste good when bought frozen & then thawed before eating. They add a lot of flavor when added to your breakfast cereal. Plus, they are a kind of berry that has virtually no seeds in it.
They are the highest in antioxidants of the berries that are easily available in most in most stores. One source says they are higher, in fact, than any other commercially available & commonly eaten fruit or vegetable.
And, like all berries they are high in vitamin C.
Like red wine & concord grape juice, they are high is resveratrol which is thought to contribute to good heart health.
They are high in the flavonoids called anthocyanidins, which give blueberries and grapes their dark blue and purple color.
And, anthocynadins apparently work directly with vitamin C & protein in your body to keep your arteries healthy by preventing tears in their surfaces & by keeping your arteries flexible & responsive.
Does this have health benefits? Oh yes !!
I saw a study once that said that people who eat blueberries regularly have far fewer strokes than people who don’t.
(I suspect the improvement in artery integrity eating blueberries causes helps prevent the kind of strokes that result from leaky blood vessels in the brain. And, the improved flexibility in the flexibility & responsiveness of the blood vessels helps prevent the high blood pressure that helps cause all strokes.)
But the most amazing finding is that eating blueberries regularly, helps prevent age-related memory loss & failing thinking skills in older people. In fact, the study found older people who already had these problems to some degree who added eating blueberries to their diet significantly improved their memory & thinking skills.
Green Beans. They are a decent green vegetable, like asparagus, with some nutrition but it’s not quite an honor roll food for vitamins & minerals.
So, why include them? Because they are a green vegetable !!
Green beans are available almost everywhere either canned or fresh or frozen.. Plus some people really like them.
One of the ways I’ve liked them is when heated in water with blanched almond slices.
The key point is that virtually all green vegetables are superfoods.
There are many opinions & versions of health enhancing & protecting styles of eating. But almost all of them include green vegetables. And, few people today get more than a quarter of the amount they should eat. So those besides greens that some people like & make a good change of pace from salad greens or a good addition to salads are great superfoods.
Another strong reason to include virtually all the green & nonstarchy vegetables, including green beans is that easily 90 percent of us don’t now eat enough of them for good health.
The other reason to include green vegetables is that you’ll be leaner & less fat without much effort by eating them or more of them. It’s virtually impossible to be leaner & less fat & stay that way by always eating less than you are hungry for. But it’s actually quite doable to eat MORE green vegetables.
posted by David at 12:58 PM
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