3 Berries that are Good For You

Super-Berries?

Superfoods

If you have recently flicked through the pages of a healthy eating magazine, read a food blog or follow a foodie on Twitter you’ve almost certainly heard that berries of all varieties are one of the newest superfoods. Superfoods are, according to The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk) are “foods packed with nutrients that supposedly have health-giving properties”. Now the obvious falsity with that as a statement is that ALL nutrients have health-giving properties, is we get the correct amount of each for a balanced diet. So what makes a superfood different from any other food?

It would appear that the big difference is similar to the difference between the average man on the street, and a super hero. Inside, there is more good stuff. Something generally classed as a superfood has little ‘wrong’ with it from a nutritional viewpoint. Check out our superfood blogs, part 1, part 2 and part 3.That said, all heroes have their dark side, and so do superfoods.

This article will be addressing one of the types of superfood, and trying to find the kryptonite, if any exists, that can take the superfood down. That superfood is berries.

When we say berries, we are talking about a group of small fruits, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Each of them is a sweet tasting fruit with seeds that can be bought whole and eaten raw after washing.

1. Blackberries

Are these berries the best?

Blackberries appear to have an excellent balance of nutrients. They are low in fat, with only 4 calories coming from 100g of them, and no cholesterol whatsoever. So if you’re on a low fat diet, they are great. As for carbohydrates, these berries are great. They contain 5g of sugar, and 5g of fibre per 100g. That’s only 1.5% of your daily recommended amount of carbohydrates. The fibre is 21% of your RDA, which can be problematic if you’re heavily invested in wholemeal products, and push the limits of your fibre intake, as this can result in cramping and intestinal issues, but as long as you’re careful you should be fine. There is little protein in them, but you don’t eat fruit for protein purposes. They are also full of vitamins and minerals. With 32% of your daily manganese, you are getting plenty of that, which is essential for bone growth, healing and it works as an antioxidant. They also have 35% of your daily vitamin C, which is great for your immune system and you can’t get too much of it. But the blackberry does have a weakness. Vitamin K is essential for healthy bones, and is made naturally in the body. Your body can store it in fat, and excrete is as urine if we have too much. But for the extra health conscious who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, while taking multi vitamins can overdose, causing bleeding from the nose, skin and organs. With 25% of your RDA vitamin K coming from just 100g of blackberries, you have to watch how many berries you have.

Could a raspberry be the perfect snack?

2. Raspberries

Raspberries are another excellent source of quality carbohydrates. In fact, they outdo the blackberry in this department. With 12g of carbohydrates in 100g of raspberries, but 6.5g of those as fibre, there is actually less sugar in raspberries, so it’s excellent for your low sugar diet. They contain slightly higher amounts of fat, but only by a single calorie per 100g, as well as low levels of protein. If you’re ill and you want extra vitamin C, these are great, as they contain 44% of your RDA, and the vitamin K level is only 10% of your RDA, so the weakness of the blackberry is removed. The lack of cholesterol and sodium, and they have a really low glycaemic load, so the sugar doesn’t immediately affect your blood sugar. The raspberry has very little wrong with it really, though they are quite tasty, so you might be tempted to keep eating them!

Blueberries - Really a superfood?

3. Blueberries

The blueberry is the final ‘superfood’ for this blog. But this berry is not so super, and is to be approached with care. Firstly, although its packet might show it has similar levels of fat and cholesterol as the other berries, it does contain more carbohydrate, and more importantly, it contains 10g of sugar per 100g. This means a significant amount more calories in 100g of berries, and those are not calories you need for the taste! In addition, the blueberry have less vitamin C and manganese than there superfood friends. They are also fairly low in all other vitamins and minerals.  The blueberry is the least nutritious of all the berries seen here, but you could be fooled in the shop by the lack of information on the label.

Conclusions

So, it appears superfoods might exist. Certainly the blackberry and the raspberry are main characters in the nutrition universe. Low salt, fat and protein, limited sugar, and good vitamin and mineral content mean that you get good quality nutrition from them. If you take into account some recent research from the Society for the Study of Study of Ingestive Behaviour sound that food in small parts makes us feel more full, so you’re going to feel fuller, faster, and eat less berries. Combine the psychological fullness with the high fibre creating physiological fullness and you are onto a healthy snack that satisfies your hunger. But be careful, because some innocent looking berries can be worse for you, with higher sugar levels and lower antioxidant properties. Always think about how snacking on these fruits might impact on your overall diet, and ensure that you have a varied nutritious balance.

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Red Lentils

A whole range of lentils are available,
but the orange ones are the red lentils

Ingredient

Red Lentils

Information

Lentils are a member of the legume family of foods. Uncooked they are a small hard circular legume the size of a small pea. They are orange when uncooked, and turn yellow after boiling. They need to be properly cooked before eating, and boiling or stewing is a commonly used method. After cooking they turn yellow in colour

Nutritional Information

Per 100g of cooked lentils

Nutrient	Value per 100g
Energy	116 kcal
Proteins	9
Carbohydrates	20
Sugar	2
Fats	Trace
Fibre	8
Folate	181 micrograms
Potassium	369 micrograms

Where it is usually eaten?

Lentils are great in stews and soups. They are regularly used in indian dishes, as they grow well in the subcontinent, but are also commonly added to vegetable dishes. Lentils have a fairly neutral taste, and so it is not uncommon to add soaked lentils to any other dishes, including pasta and rice, to add good quality protein and roughage.

What are it’s uses?

Lentils have excellent levels of protein, so vegetarians find them very useful as part of a varied diet. They contain all the essential amino acids, though you still need additional protein sources for a balanced diet. The carbohydrate level in good, and heavily strachy, meaning a low level of glycemic index and slow release energy.

Hidden Benefits

Lentils have many benefits, but its trump cards are its levels of fibre and folic acid. Fibre is essential for digestive transit, and at 8g per 100g of lentil, with the RDA between 18g and 30g, this is a significant contribution to your fibre intake.

Folic acid is essential for good health, with about 300 micrograms needed for the average adult daily diet. But the hidden benefit is for pregnant and breastfeeding women. The need for folilc acid in these groups is double the average, and regularly supplements are taken. Lentils are a natural source, with 181 micrograms per 100g of lentils when cooked, they are a great source of this essential vitamin.

Pros

·         Good carbohydrate levels

·         Low in sugar

·         High in protein

·         High in fibre

·         Excellent folic acid levels and low levels of vitamin D.

Cons

·         Low levels of methionine, an essential amino acid needed to use other amino acids

·         Low fat levels for those looking for a rounded diet

·         Shorter cooking times than other lentils, but less nutritional content.

Summary

Red lentils are an excellent source of carbohydrates, protein and fibre. They are great with many types of food, particularly soups and stews. They are great for pregnant women as they have no vitamin D, and lots of folic acid. An all round great source of nutrients, but make sure your protein intake is vaired beyond legumes.

Scoring

Carbs 4/5 – high starches, low sugars

Fats 4/5 – no fats here, so great, unless your looking for them

Proteins 3.5/5 – high levels of protein but be careful about the methionine

Vitamins 4.5/5 – great levels of folic acid and other B vitamins

Minerals – 4/5 – zero sodium and high amounts of potassium

Fibre – 5/5 – great levels of fibre for a healthy diet

Water 5/5 – as a cooked ingredient they are saturated with water, so a great way to take in extra fluid

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4 Exercise Drinks, Which is Best?

So you have decided to get in shape. You might be trying to shed extra tyres from around your middle, getting back to fitness for sport or training for an upcoming charity event, you will need to eat and drink right to ensure you get the most from your training.

Often when we begin a new exercise routine, we spend time thinking about eating right and staying hydrated, hoping that this will assist in meeting our goals. The question we are aiming to answer today is, what is good hydration?

Most people think about being hydrated, and instantly go to water. Water is of course one of the essential parts of nutrition, and it is significantly important to maintain optimal water levels before, during and after your workout. But pure water as a liquid for exercise is sometimes not the best thing for you. This is because hydration is less about liquid and more about solute balance.

Solute balance is an essential aspect of your body’s ability to maintain function. It is a term for the levels of water mixed with mineral salts that aid your body in many ways. Calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium and just some of the essential minerals our bodies need, and these are collectively known as electrolytes. Many of these facilitate neuromuscular function, and a lack of them causes many problems, particularly headaches, cramping and muscle spasms.

So it is important not just to take in water, but also consider replacement of lost electrolytes, to ensure that you feel great after exercise!

This article aims to discuss 4 commonly used drinks for exercising; water, isotonic sports drinks, energy drinks and fruit juice.



1. Water



Is water best for you?

Water is an important aspect of your solute balance as we have already discussed, but can it be used as an effective hydration drink? Well, for the most part, yes. Most of hydration imbalance is caused by sweating, which is 99% water, and therefore, it needs replacing. Water is also calorie free, which if your goal is weight loss, is an important plus point for your diet. If you drink water as you exercise, you will remove feelings of thirst, and generally feel quite good. But water has its downsides, because sweat is about 1% electrolytes. Over time, if you exercise without the additional salts, you will find that you might cramp up, develop dizziness and headaches or feel lethargic. Water can be great before exercise, as it digests quickly, refreshes you and if you have a good balanced diet, has no ill effects on solute balance.

2. Isotonic Drinks

A second option is an isotonic drink, like Lucozade or Gatorade. These drinks are specifically designed for exercise, as they contain about 7g of sugar per 100ml and a small amount of electrolytes. These drinks are marketed as fuelling you during sport, as you need more sugar for energy production. At about 7g per 100ml you can drink these without a key side effect, digestion. Your digestive system requires blood flow to function, and when exercising, this blood is diverted to muscles. If you fill the stomach with a certain amount of food, your stomach cramps up as it doesn’t have the required blood to function. Your stomach requires additional blood when it contains food or a liquid with a higher nutrient content than 7g per 100ml. This means that isotonic drinks provide just enough sugar to help you exercise, but not too much. These drinks are also 94% water, which is very useful for your hydration. The obvious downside with these drinks is that they are expensive and not easily available, but you can make your own at home, with a recipe you can find below. A second issue with these drinks is that if you are trying to lose weight, the extra sugar is not what you want. In that case we have a second recipe that will be great for you below.

3. Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are usually carbonated sweet tasting drinks, available in most supermarkets, and brands like Lucozade and Mountain Dew make them. These are important for exercise, but NEVER during your work out. Firstly, the carbonation is horrible for your stomach to deal with while you are moving around. Exercise can be tough enough without the addition of a gas filled stomach. Secondly, as explained above, too much sugar means that your digestive system needs to work hard, diverted blood from muscles and taking a long time to digest. Energy drinks generally have about 13g of sugar per 100ml, so they are not great for during exercise consumption. They have lower levels of water and less electrolytes than a typical isotonic drink, and are never a sound choice. After exercise they can be great, as they replace used sugar, giving you energy back, and increase insulin levels, making your body anabolic. But make sure you keep energy drink usage to post exercise.

4. Fruit Juices

Is juice the right drink for you?

Fruit juice can always seem like a health alternative to other drinks, but it comes with its own issues. It contains about 10g of sugar per 100ml, which means that your digestive system has to work to use it. It also adds extra calories to your diet that you might not be aware of. Its levels of electrolytes are low, and it doesn't balance your solutes well. It has reduced water levels as well, which may not help your fluid loss replacement. With a bit of home development, juices can be an excellent source of exercise fluids, but you need to make them just right, using the recipes below…

So there you have it, the best drinks depend on your goal and diet. Most people looking to lose weight should use water, with electrolytes and flavouring, a recipe for which is below. An athlete looking for good performance should use an isotonic drink. Try to avoid juices and energy drink as these rarely help during exercise. Think about what you want from your training and remember that you should aim to replace all sweat with fluid intake. You can do this by weighing yourself before a workout, and after, and replacing the difference with drinks. Happy exercise!

FO-OD

Energy Drink 1 – Home Isotonic Drink

Makes 1 litre

500ml Orange Juice

500ml Water

½ tsp salt

Energy Drink 2 – Home Sugar Free Sports Drink for weight loss

Make 1 litre

800ml Water

200ml Sugar Free Cordial of choice (Grapefruit is nice)

½ tsp salt

This recipe works for any concentration of juice as long as its sugar free.

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