Acai Berry

It's nearing the end of winter but you wouldn't know it by how much snow and cold we still have in Chicago. I know Puxotany Phil decided we would have 6 more weeks to go, but could someone remind me why we are listening to a groundhog? Along with the winter comes the cold and flu season, which is funny because I don't remember seeing this season on the calendar. So what's my point? This is also the time when everybody has their own 'remedy' for either not getting sick or for when you are sick. Drink orange juice, feed a fever, take lots of zinc, snort water through your nose and I even been told to bath in vinegar. Ya right, like thats going to happen! My approach is simple, eat right, exercise and take in as many antioxidants as possible. Typically to me that meant eating a lot of fruit, especially blueberries. Then I moved in to pomegranate juice when this was widely available. My newest antioxidant craze is the acai berry. I first heard about the acai (pronounce a-sigh-ee) berry at a gelato shop in Denver. Turns out the acai berry is widely consumed in Brazil as juice and ice creams (This berry grows in the Amazon region of Brazil and looks similar to a blueberry and tastes berry like with a hint of chocolate.)

This powerful little berry has 10 times the antioxidants of grapes and twice that of blueberries.
It is now classified as a super food! I understand that an unsweetened pulp is now available, which is best form of acai to take. 3.5 ounces of the acai berry is also loaded with amino acids, dietary fiber and mono-unsaturated fats. If you Google the acai berry, your search will return about 3 million results. There is no question about the power of this little berry other than which brand to buy. Amazon Thunder gave some great product comparisons on their website; but please do your own search and see what works for you. Most grocery and whole food stores not stock some form of the acai berry, I picked up this bottle of juice at Dominick's. Be forewarned that this is not a cheap product and keep an eye on the ingredients, many juices can be loaded with sugar! But if these powerful antioxidants keep me from being bed ridden with sickness, help with energy, diabetes, arthritis, sexual drive and help my skin and digestive systems and tastes great, then it's worth the price to me. Let me know if the acai berry helps you and remember, take your antioxidants and be fat and happy!