Keeping with my juice and raw foods only pledge during the lenten season, last week I made this simple salad with blueberries and grapes. You can’t get much simpler than that, right?
- Simple Fruit Salad: Blueberries and Grapes
- 1/2 White Grapes
- 1/2 cup Blueberries
- Rinse off grapes and blueberries
- Combine in a bowl
- Enjoy!
Simple to make, but oh my goodness were they delicious. Like candy from heaven.
Health Benefits of my Blueberry and Grape Salad
And even though this salad was simple, it is loaded with nutrients that are good for you also.
Blueberries
- Blueberries have more antioxidants than any other fresh produce
- Blueberries contain anthocyanins, which are great for your heart
- Blueberries contain chlorogenic acid which is helpful in lowering blood glucose levels
- Blueberries are mineral rich; they contain minerals like potassium, manganese, copper, iron and zinc.
I make sure I have blueberries when I’m doing any intense physical activity. I work out daily; through exercise at home, various chores around the house or stepping into the gym. Blueberries high antioxidant capacity is so effective against muscle soreness is because it helps eliminate and neutralize free radicals formed as a result of strenuous activity, environmental pollutants, etc. Despite the intense activity I do, I don’t experience muscle soreness anymore and that has a lot to do with consuming blueberries.
White Grapes
- Grapes contain phytonutrients, phytonutrients are believed play a key role in our longevity.
- Grapes help lower blood pressure.
- Grape consumption might also help prevent platelet aggregation which can lead to clot formation.
I don’t eat processed (unless it has been processed by myself) or fake vegetarian/vegan foods. So the foods you find on this page won’t be processed.
That puzzles some of my friends/acquaintances (veggie and non-veggie) since they view my whole food way of eating as extreme. Really, eating nothing but whole foods is extreme? It sounds like how God planned it to me. The thing is, I don’t force my lifestyle onto anyone.
Why do I mainly consume whole foods? Because of the amount of pollutants that are prevalent in our society today. I believe one of the most effective ways for me to combat that is to nourish my body with produce. It’s how God originally designed it after all, why should I mess with perfection?
Also, when I made the switch to mainly whole foods (years ago) I noticed my taste buds changed. What used to appeal to me now didn’t taste so great. I realized, that most likely had everything to do with me swapping to mainly whole foods so when I’d try to enjoy something processed I could easily detect the lack of freshness and the ‘food like items’ included and my taste buds rejected them.
An added bonus was how great I felt. Since I’d eating healthy before, I didn’t think I’d see a noticeable difference in how I felt, but that’s exactly what happened. Additionally, I don’t need additional supplementation (unless I’m focused on a certain cleanse) I still am receiving a lot of my nutrients from my whole foods lifestyle.
I will say even though I eat very clean, I have found that when I go onto a juice cleanse, when I only consume raw fruits and vegetables the taste of those produce is more profound. Wild, I know…
References:
- Medical Daily: Blueberries Help Improve Muscle Recovery in Athletes
- The Blueberry Council: Blueberry Nutrition
- Medical News Today: What are the Health Benefits of Grapes?
My daughter loves grapes. We get the imported ones here but we did hear of how they spray chemicals on fruits to prevent them from ripening of spoiling in transit.
@suituapui, Yes, it’;s a shame that this is done. We have our own grapevine, which reminds me that I need to prep it before it’s time to fruit.