Today's SuperFood is Blueberries! Dr. Pratt states, "Blueberries contain more powerful disease-fighting antioxidants than any other single fruit. They're absolute powerhouses in the world of health-promoting foods."
Bueberries are an excellent source of:
- Polyphenols
- Carotenoids
- Fiber
- Folate
- Vitamins C and E
- Potassium
- Manganese
- Magnesium
- Iron
Blueberries have been shown to preserve congnitive abilities, precent Alzheimers, prevent cancer, improve cardiovascular health, prevent diabetes, improve capillary circulation, combat UTI's, strengthen blood capillaries and improve circulation.
Some sidekicks to blueberries are: Purple grapes, cranberries, boysenberries, raspberries, strawberries, currants, blackberries, and cherries.
Blueberries are perhaps most revered for their effects on brain health. Blueberries can help protect the brain from oxidative stress, which reduces age-related conditions, like Alzheimers and dementia.
It has been discovered that Wild Blueberries contain more anti-oxidant power than commercial blueberries, and those are more commonly found frozen year round.
Every summer, my mom and I go to a you-pick blueberry orchard that is only open 1 Saturday per year from 8am to noon. It's so much fun, and a wonderful tradition. We freeze some of the berries, but they tend to never make it that long! Last year we picked 18 lbs.! I highly recommend checking out you pick, it's much cheaper, it's fun to do, and it's good exercise on the quads when you're squatting under the blueberry bushes for a few hours!
For dinner tonight, I made a 3 course meal featuring blueberries: Blueberry Chipotle BBQ Meatballs with Blueberry, Mint and Lemon Quinoa Salad and Mixed Greens Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette.
Here are two other things I've made with blueberries: Blueberry Oat Pancakes, Double Crusted Blueberry Pie.
My family practically had a religion based on the you-pick blueberry farm! There are quite a few in our area, so we'd go to several over the course of a couple weeks. I always seemed like no matter how many pounds we picked, our supply in the freezer was gone in just a few months.
ReplyDeleteI really love this superfood month you're doing. Your blog just keeps getting better!
I'm enjoying the superfoods series too!
ReplyDeleteMay we see the week two results sooon please? I want to see how we are all doing!
back home, in northern saskatchewan, we pick for weeks on end - there's nothing like wild blueberries.
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