Why Strawberries Are Healthy For You

The strawberry is among one of my favorite fruits of all time not just because they taste so wonderful and are fun to pick if you get the chance to pick up your own basket of strawberries at a nearby farm and go a foraging….  but these delicious red treats are exceptionally healthy for us all.

By now, most people have come to learn much more about the benefits of taking advantage of antioxidants and foods that are chockfull of beneficial nutrients..  Know one wants to deal with inflammatory diseases, heart attacks and cancer and while the strawberry is not a bonafide cure for these serious health problems, eating fresh and cleanly washed strawberries weekly is a darn good idea and can provide you with an expansive list of healthy benefits.

So with all of the studies performed over the years, what have we learned about this little red fruit.  Let us explore:

• Freeze dried strawberries and extracts from strawberries can potentially help you with beating the odds and risk of a variety of cancers from cervical, breast, and esophageal cancers and birth defecgs.  Its the antioxidants found in this fruit and other embedded nutrients that are the main players, not to mention a nice potent dose of vitamin C  and beneficial acids.
•  The USDA has gone out of their way to put a stamp of approval on strawberries as these little red delights score the highest on their ORAC scale.  So get on the bandwagon and ride it to prosperous health.
• When you peel back more of the research about strawberries you discover they have been attributed with contributing to lower death rates due to cardiovascular diseases and while one may need to look at the reason from a holistic perspective, one of the key contributing factors is that high strawberry consumption results in a robust intake of folate, potassium, and high fiber.  Folates are important and lower amounts of folates have been show to correlate with a higher incidence of coronary disease.  So more strawberries eaten translates to higher folate levels and higher potassium levels and invariably lower blood pressure and cholesterol and the reduction of inflammation throughout your body.

So how many strawberries do you need to consume?  Well, if you are me, its everyday and in many forms whether it be fresh, mixed in with your smoothie, or on your cereal.  I recently went to a farm called Frobergs, located in Alvin, Texas, where they give you a bucket and you can go pick your own fresh, sweet strawberries.   They also will sell you fresh strawberry jam and preserves and just about anything that can be eaten with strawberries.  So I love eating a lot.  But research suggests that just 8 strawberries a day will provide a plethora of health benefits.  These little delights are available year around and if you have not made it a habit of consuming strawberries in some form, then you need to start thinking about how you can make strawberries a bigger part of your daily life!