Eat Blueberries and Strawberries!
Well, I have no problem complying with those study results. I love berries and can eat them all year round. These are two of my favorites.
From Harvard:
You won't need a spoonful of sugar to help this medicine go
down: eating more blueberries and strawberries may be a tasty way to protect
your heart.
The finding comes from a new study led by Dr. Eric Rimm,
associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical
School. "The sooner people start the type of diet that includes a higher
intake of blueberries and strawberries, the better," Dr. Rimm says.
Study findings
Dr. Rimm’s team gathered data from 93,600 women, who, at ages 25
to 42, signed up for the Nurses' Health Study. Over the course of 18 years,
they reported how often they ate various kinds of food. Why look at relatively
young women? They're a group at low risk of heart attack. Factors that increase
this risk should be easier to tease out in this population than among older
people with many heart attack risk factors. And risk factors seen in young
women likely apply to older women and men.
And a risk factor did turn up: women who ate the fewest
blueberries and strawberries were at increased risk of heart attack. Those who
ate the most were 34% less likely to have suffered a heart attack than were
women who ate the least of these fruits.
How much do you have to eat? There wasn't much difference
between women who ate just a few berries now and then and those who didn't eat
any at all. There seems to be a threshold effect—that is, one has to eat a
minimum amount of berries to get heart benefits.
"The people with heart benefits had three or more servings
of a half a cup of blueberries or strawberries each week," Rimm says.
Berries good for everyone
The study focused on young and middle-aged women. But the
findings likely apply to everyone, including men.
"If you do feeding studies where they feed people a
specific diet for four weeks, the biology of what happens is similar in a 60-
and a 25-year-old," Dr. Rimm says. "So I don't expect the benefit is
much different for others."
Why just blueberries and strawberries? These berries are
particularly rich in chemical compounds called anthocyanins. Research suggests
that anthocyanins have several effects on the body. They lower blood pressure,
and they make blood vessels more elastic.
How to get enough berries into your diet
|
| STATS | |
| Journey Day: | 100 |
| Today's Calories: | 1805 |
| Daily Calorie Goal: | 1800 |
| Next Weigh In: | 5/7/14 |
| Days till Weigh-In: | 15 |
| Starting Weight: | 351 |
| Current Weight: | 336 |
| Lost So Far: | 15 |
| Daily Calorie Tracker | |
| Tuesday 4/22/14 Goal: 1700 calories | |
| Calories | |
| Breakfast | |
| Multi Grain English Muffin | 120 |
| PB2 & Strawberry Jam | 120 |
| Hazelnut Crème Decaf | 60 |
| Sliced Strawberries | 40 |
| Organic Mixed Greens | 0 |
| Total: | 340 |
| Hazelnut Coffee | 60 |
| Fresh Carrots | 30 |
| Total: | 90 |
| Lunch | |
| Cosi Club MG Flatbread sandwich | 455 |
| Kettle Chips | 150 |
| Dasani | 0 |
| Total: | 605 |
| Snacks | |
| Golden Delicious Apple | 60 |
| Total: | 60 |
| Dinner | |
| Wrap w/lean white meat chicken, onions, peppers, mushrooms, sweet & sour sauce | 450 |
| Total: | 450 |
| Snacks | |
| Hazelnut Crème Decaf | 60 |
| Trail Mix | 200 |
| Total: | 260 |
| Daily Total: | 1805 |
