 |
|
BANG FOR THE BITE
We all know saving the world takes stamina, so go for drinks that boost energy, fight disease, and taste good to boot.
COCKTAIL FACT
Google employees get free, freshly made kombucha daily at the company's HQ in Mountain View, CA.
| SAVE TO MY BITES |  |
FORWARD TO A FRIEND:
RATE THIS TIP:
How useful is this tip to you?
(5 is the highest)
home › tip library › Superfoods
It's a bird...it's a plane...it's...
The Bite
...superfood. Spandex onesie or not, drinking superhealthy superfoods such as açai and kombucha will get you a little closer to your goal of moving skyscrapers with a flick of your pinky.The Benefits
- Lots of antioxidants, which hunt down cell-aging free radicals. And some superfood antioxidants go even further (for example, a recent study found that açai's antioxidants destroyed cultured human leukemia cells).
- New tastes. Whether they're sweet, tangy, or bitter, these drinks are a welcome departure from everyday OJ.
- Supporting eco-brands committed to sustainable sourcing (for example, fair-trade ingredients that ensure workers get paid a living wage).
Personally Speaking
Heather drinks plenty of Nutiva HempShakes and Kombucha, but - surprise, surprise - her favorite way to get antioxidants is drinking red wine.Wanna Try?
- Nutiva Berry Pomegranate HempShake - organic, fair-trade shake mix with nutritious pomegranates, hemp, and goji berries ($20/16 ounces).
- Amazing Grass Drink Powder - energy-boosting drink mix that contains healthy grasses such as barley and wheatgrass ($25/10 ounces).
- GT's Organic Raw Kombucha - for some, it's an acquired taste, but one study found that kombucha wards against E. coli and other microbes. First timers: start slowly, since some people have allergic reactions ($3).
- Zola Açai Power Juice - sweet, delicious drink from a brand that promotes sustainable harvesting of the açai fruit in the Amazon ($3).
- Best Food Sources of Antioxidants - a list from the USDA of common, antioxidant-rich fruits, nuts, and veggies you can find at your local grocery store.
May 15,2008
Sponsor
All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
In a Single Bound?
Gotta say I didn't buy the whole superfoods idea originally, until my mom started stockpiling MonaVie and convinced me to have a shot (it's a good day when Mom pushes a shot glass over to you). Quite the energy booster and I dig the tang, which is a blend of açai berry and another 18 fruits. Now, I've never actually seen a camu camu or bilberry fruit, but hey, they seem pretty super. And mom swears by the stuff as a cure-all (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that it comes in wine bottle, either. Nothing.)
Still, I tend to like my foods in whole, recognizable forms. Antioxidant-packed shake or a glass of Nero D'Avola? Mushroom essence powder (kombucha) or a windfall of local wild morels? Come on.
-Chicago Editor Alison..off to find a pan and some organic butter...
Biter Comments...
Yeah, I was on Monavie ...until I found a product called Ageless Xtra. It's made by Univera--has way more antioxidants and also Chinese herbs and other ingredients that give you energy--at the cellular level! HUGE dif over Monavie. I actually go to the gym regularly now thanks to this product.
Email me at oasistamlyn@aol.com if you would like to know more.
I understand that this is a health tip; but how is this a "green" tip? Shipping those items alone is a huge carbon load.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: would you please cite your claims!? "one study found that kombucha wards against E. coli and other microbes." What study was this? Here's what it says on Wikipedia:
"No clinical studies have been performed that demonstrate any adverse health effects of kombucha."
Ok, since Wikipedia isn't always the most reliable, how about the Mayo clinic? Here's what it says at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kombucha-tea/AN01658:
"As with any dietary supplement or natural product, it's critical to do your homework before considering using kombucha tea on a regular basis. First, determine the level of evidence that exists to substantiate the health claims for the product. In the case of kombucha, there isn't a single human trial that has been reported in the peer-reviewed literature. This doesn't mean that kombucha tea can't possibly have health benefits, it just means that at this time, except for some lab and animal studies, there's no direct evidence that kombucha tea actually provides any of the health benefits it's reported to have.
So where did you get the info? Off a bottle of Kombucha? From kombucha.org? Some other equally biased source? I can't be the only reader who likes your tip but would prefer you help me to draw my own conclusions instead of telling me what to think. You're being a shill for the alternative medicine racket right now. Some alternative medicines have merit. Some don't. Just because something's "alternative" and some indigenous community somewhere believes in its magical healing properties doesn't give it merit on its own.
The Mayo clinic link is
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kombucha-tea/AN01658
I didn't know this blog automatically hyperlinked or I would have put a space between it and the colon. That's why the link is bad.
At this time of year, there are lots of local foods that contain antioxidants. Why not encourage people to consume those rather than these items? However fair-trade they are, they still, as Ann points out, are shipped huge distances and have a huge cost in carbon emissions.
The hempshake sounds interesting; however, I'm pounding the pavement for a PT weekend position. By chance the require a drug test, will that cause a false positive for Mary Jane?
If you guys really want some natural health support in a juice - make sure it is non-pasteurized. I drink GoChi juice. It's Goji juice blended with pomegranate. An ounce or two a day is all you need.
I seriously love and rely on you guys but MonaVie is nothing more than overpriced juice with some fancy language about "synergy" (having worked previously in the vitamin industry, I know this bunk language well). Bilberries are just European blueberries. Antioxidants are best gotten through eating the whole fruit or vegetable. This is just the latest in a series of trendy folklore-steeped marketing: tea tree oil one day, aloe the next, goji berry, acai acai, pomegranate, kombucha, and so on. These foods all have nutritional and health value but you can easily get similar nutritional value from less exotic produce.
I do not agree. The produce you mention (fresh fruits and vegetables) gives us vital nutrients that we can't get from other foods. And, most of us do not eat enough (or the right ones) The fruits and vegetables that are grown and shipped today, in 2008, are not what they were 30-40 years ago. They are grown on depleted, chemicalized soils, are genetically modified (so are you really eating a peach? or is it part corn and wheat?) We need the nutrition from the whole food (skin, stems, seeds) Plus, you would need ALOT of organically, locally grown, in-your-own-garden produce to reap the benefits. When was the last time you sat down to a big bowl of cabbage, kale, or mustard greens? How about eating a bushel of blueberries? I think that you certainly cannot EASILY get similar nutrtion from our normal, everyday, common produce. We need supplements - good supplements. Not the synthetic ones you get at Walmart or GNC or Costco. Some of these "exotic" juices may have abit of hype to them - but, many of them can make a difference for people. If you are not supporting your health with lots and lots of "regular" fruits and vegetables - then I say go ahead and drink that Aloe, or Acai or Goji juice.
I've got a tip for Heather. Forgo those outrageously-priced Nutiva Hemp Shakes (TWENTY BUCKS for 16 ounces?!?! YIKES!!! Is the bottle gold plated or something?) and donate that money to an eco-charity instead, that way, we can ALL benefit. As for supplements, synthetic vitamin supplements have been proven to be just as beneficial as non-synthetic ones. As for drinking juices like aloe, goji, kombucha, acai (which I've never even heard of before), etc., FUHGEDDABOUDIT!! That's just a lot of New Age hooey! I'll take the organic veggies over those juices any day.
I am a loyal Kombucha drinker and have started making the tea myself. I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis last year (a chronic condition of the bladder) and all I know, lab studies or not, kombucha relieves my systems. That is all the proof I need. I will gladly drink kombucha rather than pop a bunch of pills with horrible side effects.
Hello Vivian,
You wrote:
"As for supplements, synthetic vitamin supplements have been proven to be just as beneficial as non-synthetic ones."
This is so not true Vivian, you have been hood winked. Check out the organic consumers association website they have a significant amount of information why synthetic supplements are not the same as whole food supplements.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/nutricon.cfm
there is too much information for me to get into right here on the blog, but I encourage you to go to the OCA website and read all about it.
Also if you want to learn more why synthetic vitamins are not the same as whole food vitamins go get this free report:
http://www.wholefoodnation.com/cmd.php?af=741084
As for the Mona Vie, it is challenging to find an ingredients list online but I finally found one.
If you are looking for a good antioxidant, that is packed with certified organic ingredients here is a comparison for you for Berry Radical and Mona Vie:
http://elyorganics.com/miessence-products/15111/
Original MonaVie is a blend of 19 different fruits which are: proprietary blend of acai freeze dried powder and whole fruit juice; fruit from concentrate (white grape, nashi pear, acerola, aronia, purple grape, cranberry, passionfruit, apricot, prune, kiwi, blueberry, bilberry, wolfberry, pomegranate, and lychee, camu camu); fruit purees (pear, banana, bilberry); citric acid, natural flavor, sodium benzoate
1 serving of ONE Group's Berry Radical has an ORAC score of 4,000
1 serving of Monavie (2 oz) has an ORAC score of 1,027
Monavie costs $40 a bottle for 25.35 fl oz
$1.58/oz or $3.16/serving (2 oz)
to get the equivalent of one serving of Berry Radical you would need to
take 3.9 servings of Monavie (7.8 oz)
so that would be $12.32 for 4 servings of Monavie which is equal to one serving of Berry Radical
Berry Radical is $89.75, there are 30 servings in a box
that comes out to $2.99/serving
it would take you $12.32 in Monavie to equal $2.99 in Berry Radical; Berry Radical has 4 times the ORAC score for one fourth the money.
Berry Radical is certified organic:
complete ingredients list:
organic raw unrefined cacao powder, dried coffee fruit extract, organic freeze-dried pomegranate powder, organic freeze-dried goji berry powder, organic freeze-dried acai berry powder, whole dried dunaliella salina marine microalgae, organic freeze-dried blueberry powder, organic freeze-dried raspberry powder, organic freeze-dried strawberry powder, Organic Olive Juice Extract, natural flavor
Regards,
Erin Ely
http://elyorganics.com/
For Erin Ely - please watch who you are posting to! Your blog comments are meant for Linda (see previous post).
As a licensed nutrtional counselor, I KNOW that all vitamins/supplements are NOT created equal. Synthetic supplements are pretty much worthless, and can be risky. These syntehetic vitamins (either from a lab beaker or isolated plant or animal) are not absorbed and utilized properly by the body. The main vitamin ingredient (e.g. A, E, C. etc) which is extracted by synthetic vitamin makers, does not include other ingredients that the main vitamin comes with in its natural form. The body needs these cofactors to absorb the main vitamin. It's alot cheaper to extract just the main vitamin. In non-synthetic supplements, the whole food is put in there, rather than just the isolated main vitamin or mineral.
So, I have not been "hood winked" - Linda has. You may direct your comments to her. I am very PRO natural, whole food supplements. I personally use them and recommend them to my clients.
Healthy Regards,
Vivian
www.ShareTheCause.com/PreventionIsBetterThanACure
Hi vivian,
Sorry about that, I see that now.
I apologize for this.
Regards,
Erin
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: HF | May 15, 2008 at 06:39 AM