Have you ever wondered why berries are quite pricey? It is because they are among one the healthiest fruits that you can eat. If you are already a fan of berries. The benefits are already natural to you and that’s why you consume them now and again. Not only are they nutritious and delicious but the health benefits they add to your body are impressive. There are many types of berries that you can opt for depending on how available they are in your area. This all belongs to one family and the benefits are similar. Such as strawberries, grapes, blackberries, loquats among others. In this article, you will find reasons to add berries to your diet.
Improves insulin and blood sugar levels
Fortunately, either you are healthy or suffering from insulin resistance. Berries have positive effects on how they help your blood sugar and insulin response. Through the various studies conducted it shows how they help protect your body cells high blood sugar levels, in reducing blood sugar and increasing insulin sensitivity. Plus, helping in insulin response to meals with high-carbs. Therefore, incorporate berries in your diet as smoothies daily or thrice a week. This can be as a blueberry smoothie, berry paste on bread and you will improve insulin sensitivity. Thus having berries in your snack, salads, smoothies and high-carb foods is an easy way to get its benefit.
Contain many nutrients
To add on to the many benefits that berries have is how they contain many nutrients. Hence, it is vital that for you to get them you should add them to your daily diet. As they are extremely nutritious and low in calories they have no limit on how repeatedly you can have. They contain several minerals and vitamins and also they are high in antioxidants. They are high in vitamin C, especially strawberries, however, other berries still have similar mineral and vitamin capacities, just that vitamin C is highest in strawberries of all of them. Therefore, with all these nutrients in berries they also provide the lowest calorie among most fruits.
Assist to protect against cancer
As seen earlier that there are many antioxidants in berries. Some of this like ellagic acid, anthocyanin’s help to reduce cancer risk. How amazing is that? This is a great reason why you should add this fruit to your everyday diet. Some of the cancers that you can protect against are mouth, breast, colon and esophagus cancers. For instance, strawberries and raspberries are known to have strong and protective effects on liver and colon cancer cells. Therefore, eat berries to reduce markers that are linked to tumor growth especially with different types of cancers.
Keeps your heart healthy
Not only do berries help in lowering cholesterol but also they help boost your heart health by keeping your arteries healthy. By improving endothelial function, that is caused by excessive inflammation of the endothelial cells that help in aligning your blood vessels. As these cells help with controlling blood from clotting and blood pressure. Thus, if they are damaged it will lead to endothelial dysfunction. This is a risk factor for heart illness and it inhibits the proper function of the heart. As a result, consuming berries help improve endothelial function in smokers, healthy adults and those with metabolic syndrome. Improve your arterial function and consume berries either fresh, baked or frozen. In addition, you can also try one glove of garlic to your healthy regime as it also may help your body in terms of antioxidants that protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals. It also has positive effects on blood pressure and lowers cholesterol. With this, you can make sure that you can enjoy the berries and Health Benefits of Garlic at the same time.
Helps fight inflammation
Berries too have anti-inflammatory properties. This is beneficial especially in today’s world where there is long-term inflammation. This is due to current lifestyles that may lead to this excessive inflammation. Such as inadequate physical activity, unhealthy food choices, increased stress among others. All these modern lifestyle behaviors will then lead to conditions like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Hence berries help to lower inflammatory markers due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. People grow this unusual fruit since it reduces the risk of health problems.
They are undeniably delicious
Did you know, not everything consumed alone is delicious? However, not for berries. Berries are delicious in healthy recipes and alone as well. Therefore, mix one or two types of berries such as loquats, strawberries, raspberries and enjoy a delicious dessert or snack. There is no rule to not adding a sweetener as they are already sweet but yogurt, whip cream are some options to transform your dessert. On the other hand, you can have berries for breakfast with a simple mix up. For instance, top berries of your choice with Greek yogurt, ricotta cheese, and some nuts and you will repeat this option severally. Additionally, you can add this to your salad among other healthy recipes that you can find online. The versatility of adding berries to your diet are endless.
Good for the skin
Ladies, berries help reduce wrinkles. This does not mean you apply it directly to your skin as the antioxidants in them help in controlling the free radicals. These radicals cause skin damage that leads to aging. The ellagic acid in berries helps as well with some of the skin benefits. Since the skin has the collagen protein as part of the structure of your skin. It is responsible for helping your skin remain firm and to stretch. Since, when damaged it sags and develops wrinkles. Hence, consuming berries due to the rich antioxidants they provide protects from this by stopping the production of enzymes that break down collagen.
In summary, given the above reasons as to why berries should be added to your diet. There are many others like lowering cholesterol as berries are heart-healthy foods. This with others that are still to be researched shows how these fruits are a must-have to everyone. Their taste is great, is nutritious and the health benefits as discussed above are amazing. Where possible have them daily as part of your diet or as a snack. To boost your overall health with the many nutrients they provide.