nutrition facts

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!