Berry Delicious
Berry Delicious
By: Royane Real
Long before winter
comes, black bears in the forest spend all their time eating everything they can
sink their teeth into.
During the summer, bears eat and eat and eat, trying to get as fat as they
possibly can, and when the weather turns cold, they look for a place to curl up
and then they sleep the winter away.
Now, the habits of bears might not seem like something you should try to follow.
After all, doctors are always warning us humans that we shouldn't overeat, and
that we shouldn't spend all of our time lying around, doing nothing.
But there is one part of the black bear's habits that you should actually try to
imitate, because it would be good for your health.
Black bears eat a lot of berries, of many different varieties, such as
raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.
Berries contain natural sugars and wonderful flavors. Unlike many other foods
that are really good for you, but which don't taste good, berries taste great.
And unlike many foods that taste great but which aren't good for you, berries
are among the most health friendly foods you can eat.
It's only been within the last decade that scientists have started to pay a lot
of attention to the health benefits of berries. And what researchers are
learning about the health benefits of berries has a lot of exciting potential
for human diets.
One of the first major experiments on the health benefits of berries took place
at Tufts University about ten years ago.
Researchers were working with a group of aging rats. They fed them diets of
various foods to see what the effects would be. Among the foods they tested were
strawberries, blueberries, and spinach.
Now these rats were fairly old in terms of 'rat years'. In fact, their age was
equivalent to humans about 70 years old.
The foods the scientists tested were all very high in beneficial antioxidants,
so the scientists wanted to see if any of these foods would boost the physical
and mental capabilities of these aging rats.
The researchers found that while several of these foods seemed to offer some
antioxidant protection, the rats that had been fed blueberries were the only
ones that actually improved in their abilities.
In fact, the rats which had been fed blueberries were able to perform like much
younger rats!
This was a very exciting find, and the scientists then wanted to find what it
was in the blueberries that produced this very beneficial effect.
It turns out that the chemicals responsible for making these aging rats act
mentally younger and perkier were the pigments in the skin of the blueberries.
The compounds that give ripe berries their beautiful colors are the very
substances that have such strong anti-oxidant powers. And antioxidants are
compounds that help repair some of the damage that happens to our body cells
every day.
Scientists have discovered that the darker the berry, the more health benefits
it has! Eating two thirds of a cup of blueberries will give you as much
anti-oxidant protection as five servings of apples or squash.
The dark pigments in these berries seem to offer protection against
cardiovascular disease, degenerative eye disease such as cataracts, and may
offer some help in preventing some cancers, and bladder infections.
If the exciting results of the rat studies turn out to also hold true for
humans, it may mean that compounds in these dark berries may help protect brain
cells from the degenerative diseases of aging.
You can get this fantastic antioxidant protection whether you eat your berries
fresh, frozen, or dried.
You can eat berries raw, add them to your favorite cereals, or make a smoothie
drink with various berries, fruits, milk and yoghurt. Get creative and find ways
to mix berries into your favorite recipes.
In North America, blueberries are available fresh or frozen year round. If you
can't get fresh berries, dried berries are also filled with very concentrated
levels of the valuable antioxidants.
If you live in a place where blueberries are not easily available, look for
other fruits and berries that have very dark red or dark purple colors.
Foods such as pomegranates, bilberries, cherries, black raspberries, saskatoons
or serviceberries also have high levels of these very beneficial dark pigments.
These foods offer benefits similar to the benefits of blueberries.
So, think about incorporating at least one habit of bears into your lifestyle --
and make berries a frequent part of your diet!
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