If you’ve already added a few superfoods and supplements to your diet, congratulations, you’re on the right path to feeling and looking better. After all, with our hectic lifestyles, few of us eat correctly, which means our bodies lack many essential nutrients. That’s where superfoods and natural supplements come in; they provide your body all it needs to stay healthy and youthful.
And although sometimes, supplements are not all that attractive, they’re still good for you, so try to add them to your diet. Well, you don’t even have to try hard with goji berries — not only are they really good for your health but they also look and taste amazing! So what’s the deal with these ancestral berries? Why are they good for you? Read on for everything you need to know about goji berries.
What Are Goji Berries?
Goji berries are fruit; let’s start with that. Also called wolfberries, these pretty red bite-sized berries are traditional to Asia and have culinary and traditional medicinal uses.
The superfruit has many potential health benefits, thanks to its high nutritional content. Just 28 grams of berries have 500% of the Vitamin A you need for the day and plenty of vitamin C and iron. They’re pretty good sources of fiber and protein, too, with 3.6 grams of fiber and 4 grams of high-quality protein for the same amounts of berries.
Elevated nutrition is one of the most important things about goji berries, but that’s not all. There are many compounds in the fruit with potential health benefits.
Goji berries have been around for centuries, but the modern scientific community is only getting started understanding the fruit’s health benefits. To give you an idea of what goji berries could do for you, let’s take a peek into the traditional Chinese ways.
Why Are Goji Berries Used in Traditional Chinese Medicine?
The Chinese have a unique approach to medicine, and we can learn a lot from them. Traditional medicine practitioners have been using goji berries for at least 6,000 years for a wide variety of ailments. Here are the essential benefits of goji berries in Chinese medicine.
- Goji berries protect the liver and help detox it.
- The berries help with eyesight.
- Goji berries boost immune functions and protect the body from disease.
- The berries improve circulation, reduce high blood pressure and can help treat diabetes.
- Goji berries promote longevity and slow down ageing signs.
Some of these health benefits are now backed by modern scientific research, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about the superfruit. Let’s now talk about two of the most significant health benefits of adding goji berries to your diet: their anti-ageing properties and eyesight health.
Goji Berries' Anti-Ageing Properties
Goji berries are loaded with natural antioxidants, compounds that protect you from oxidative damage caused by free radicals in your bloodstream. This means goji berries can potentially prevent signs of premature ageing and much more severe conditions.
Did you know? Free radicals are unstable molecules created during metabolism but are dangerously high if exposed to UV rays regularly, if you smoke or are exposed to pollutants.
Tissue cells, including skin cells, are particularly susceptible to oxidative stress and, if not protected with antioxidants, it can cause skin dryness, loss of elasticity and wrinkling. That’s why antioxidant-rich foods, including olive oil, blueberries, acai berries and particularly goji berries, are essential to your diet.
In a way, goji berries will help you stay young and healthy, especially when part of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. That’s the secret behind preventing signs of premature ageing, and with goji berries, staying in good shape is tastier than ever.
Goji Berries Benefit your Eyesight As Well!
Most of the nutrients in goji berries, including their high amounts of antioxidants, directly impact your eye health. Studies have shown that consuming the berries regularly can enhance eye health and even protect against vision loss by macular degeneration. The condition causes blurred or no vision in the center of the visual field because of a damaged retina. Antioxidants in goji berries help dissolve fatty protein accumulated in the retina and even improve the macular pigments needed for a healthy vision.
Vitamin A in goji berries also protects your eyesight, as they promote the production of the pigments that allow you to see a full spectrum of light. After all, vitamin A is part of the retinol family, which is not only good for your eyes but your skin and immune system as well. Let’s just say goji berries have the perfect combination of nutrients to protect your eyes!
How to Add Goji Berries to Your Diet?
High-quality goji berries are all-natural products, and the finest are sun-dried and packaged without additives or preservatives. This means you can snack on goji berries while you binge-watch Netflix series risk-free, and they’re much healthier than most snacks out there.
You can also add goji berries to your bowl of cereal, combine them with your favourite granola to serve over Greek yogurt and even toss them in a salad.
Goji berries are actually dried berries, so we’re not talking about a powder or anything, but all-natural fruit. That opens many cooking opportunities! Throw a fistful of goji berries into the blender with other healthy food for a smoothie, or just add them to your baked goodies.
Get the Best Goji Berries!
Although goji berries are super healthy, not all are of the same quality. If you’re planning on adding them to your diet (and you should), at least get the right kind.
Spring Blossom Superfoods offers the finest sun-dried, 100% raw, all-natural goji berries harvested in the Tibetan plateau at very high altitudes. They are free of preservatives, pesticides, sulfites and other nasties. They are also 100% vegan, non-GMO and free of gluten; they are the real deal!
For a guilt-free snack that’s also good for you, there’s nothing like goji berries, and being part of a millennial Chinese tradition just feels right. Why aren’t all superfoods as tasty as goji berries? We would all be much healthier! Add goji berries to your diet and start feeling and looking better today!