Berries Are Berry Good For Your Heart
March 11, 2008 by Kel
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We’ve all heard it said at some point - There are foods that are beneficial to changing things in relation to your cardiovascular health…and there are foods that….well, let’s just say you want find any of them in any of those “Healthy Eating Recipes” books.
So when we talk about the heart, what are healthy eating foods? What do they look like? What do they have in them that a Big Mac burger does not? Taste? (just kidding)
The answer is Polyphenols. (Good luck teaching your parrot to say that) Polyphenols are Water-soluble plant pigments also known as bioflavonoid, which encompass more than 4,000 chemically unique flavonoids.
You can find Polyphenols in things like Green Tea, Red Wine, Coco and ….Drum roll please – Berries. (Some delicious Berry recipes later)
A new study in Finland has looked at the effect of Berry Consumption on blood pressure and Cholesterol in a group of non-medicated, middle aged people with cardiovascular risk factors.
The results were interesting. They showed that a moderate consumption of berries had significant increase in HDL cholesterol concentrations and decreased systolic blood pressure significantly.
So the regular consumption of berries might help reduce cardiovascular risk.
*Notice how I’ve resisted the urge to do a play on words with “”berry” – you know… being “Berry” good for you….I’m disciplined…..Oh, except in the title…oops.
Unfortunately though, the bit I read in this research didn’t go into what type of berry they used for their testing. However, Blueberries recently topped one of those lists of best foods because of its antioxidants.
Another berry getting limelight at the moment is the cherry tasting Goji Berry - Also known as Chinese Wolfberry or Gou Qi Zi.
Here’s the bottom line ______________________________ (sorry) it can’t hurt to add the odd berry to your diet…. any berry would do. But if you’re like me and can’t stand eating them the way nature intended, there are lots of delicious and healthy Smoothie Recipes you could try.
We think we’ve found the ultimate healthy lunch recipe here….perfect for the sweet tooth among us.
You’ll find more healthy Berry recipes at weightloss.com.au. Being a weight loss website you know the recipe is going to be low fat and now you’ve read this article you know it’s good for your heart as well.
[...] Wilderness Family Naturals website summed it up best “Goji Berries are gathered from plants growing in the mountains of Tibet. They are wild-grown, and [...]