The Benefits of the Incredibly Alkaline Acai Berry

The Acai berry is one of the most alkaline fruits that you can enjoy on this earth. Adding acai berries to your diet is a wise thing to do if you want to maintain alkaline body tissues or just simply start your day out by eating a fruit that is incredibly nutritious and a counterbalance to all of the acidic foods most of us eat every day.

What is Acai berry exactly?

The Acai berry is the fruit of the Acai Palm that is a species of palm trees native to Central and South America.  The tree grows over 13 feet in height and bears big dark purple berries. The fruit produces twice yearly and just one tree usually produces thousands of the berries.

Brazilians have been using it to treat ailments and support recovery from illness for thousands of years. The Acai berry is so nutritious that it has sustained many populations who survive in the vast Amazonian rain forest in times of famine.

It is a small, perfectly round dark purple fruit that tastes like a slightly fermented blackberry or blueberry. It has a back taste that lingers that is reminiscent of bitter unsweetened chocolate.

The Acai berry has received rave reviews from some of the world’s biggest self-help experts.  Dr. Nicholas Perricone called it “one of the most nutritious and powerful foods in the world and natures’ perfect energy fruit.”

What is the nutritional profile of Acai?

The healing constituents of Acai are its antioxidants (double that of blueberries), protein, vitamins A and C, iron, omega fatty acids, protein, and fibre. Every 100 grams of Acai contains 1000 IU of Vitamin A as well as the minerals calcium, magnesium, copper and zincThis anti-oxidant is very prevalent in purple and black but Acai boasts more than any other food on earth.

Acai also contains more protein than an egg as well as Omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. A total of 19 different amino acids have been identified as part of the nutritional profile of this exotic fruit.

Acai also supplies the body with three plant sterols. B -sitosterol, campesterol and sigmasterol that affect the whole body on a systemic level to maintain a healthy heart and digestion.

What are the health benefits of Acai?

Acai berries also have a very high rating on the ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) score. The ORAC scale is a measure of antioxidant power.  Before acai came along, prunes topped the superfruit list with an ORAC score of 5,770 units per 100g. The Acai has 18,500 units per 100g and up to 50,000 units when freeze-dried. Scientists recommend we consume between 3,500 and 6,000 ORAC units daily to neutralize aging free radicals.This means that consuming even just a handful of Acai berries daily may have a powerful effect when it comes to preventing aging and helping us look young. The berries are also powerful anti-inflammatories and act as a mild anti-depressant.

The Acai berry also contains both omega 6 and omega 3 essential fatty acids and an astounding five hundred times more vitamin C than oranges, making it a valuable anti-aging food.

The Mayo Clinic in the U.S. also supports claims that the consumption of Acai berry can help lower cholesterol, correct erectile dysfunction and detoxify the body.

Acai fruit is one of the few fruits that contain protein and because that protein is also synergized with fatty acids the fruit is very good for your hair, skin and nails. Many people who eat Acai berries also experience a boost of energy thanks to the high level of B12 in this super fruit.

Where to find Acai berries …

You can find Acai juice quite easily in most grocery stores but be sure to check labels to make sure it is not “cut” too heavily with other juices such as grape or apple or loaded with sugar.

The most widely available Acai product available is the frozen pulp but once again be sure to read labels to make sure that there is no sugar added.  Acai should be the first ingredient on the label and not sugar or some other kind of fruit or additive.

Acai is a fruit that would be a welcome addition to a healthy and active lifestyle. 

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

---

Alkaline Diet Theory – A Brief History

Before it was called the alkaline diet, the alkaline-based diet that is now current part of the Happy & Active lifestyle program was known as the Ash Diet or the alkaline/acid diet. The reason it was called the Ash Diet is because alkaline foods contain minerals: mainly calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and copper. In biochemistry these elements are incombustible, which means they catabolize differently when they processed by the body.  When digested, they create ash in water, which in turn creates an alkaline state in the body.

Robert 0. Young’s Theory About Alkaline Foods

One of the most well-known contemporary proponents of the Alkaline was Dr. O. Robert Young, who created many of the Western alkaline/acid food charts still in use today. Since the early seventies, Dr. Young written a series of groundbreaking books on the subject with the most famous being The pH Miracle (2002).

Robert O. Young

His claim was that health depends primarily on proper balance between an alkaline and acid environment in the human body. According to this theory, when the blood becomes too acidic, the body does whatever it has to do to regulate the acid-alkaline balance. This can result in all kinds of symptoms including food cravings, digestive symptoms, weight gain, yeast overgrowth, fatigue, raised cholesterol, raised insulin resistance and more.

Young claims that this one sickness and one disease is acidosis, the over-acidification of the blood and then tissues due to an inverted way of living, eating, and thinking. The "one treatment" is to maintain the healthy design of the body through an alkaline lifestyle and diet.

The Alkaline Diet

The original Robert Young diet recommends eating fish, vegetable and some grains. This groundbreaking theorist also recommended abstaining from "acidic" foods — such as red meat, shellfish, eggs, dairy sugar, refined foods, artificial sweeteners, coffee, alcohol, chocolate, and sodas, However, long before Young and his series of miracle pH books came into the picture there was a wide spread recognition that alkaline foods and liquids restored health to the body in the spa communities throughout the world.

For example, many of the mineral springs and mineral waters in Europe were recognized to be alkaline in character and therefore healthy for the body.

Of course, Robert O. Young originally got his information from a much earlier work.  Young’s work was based on one of the first books on the subject. It was penned by an alternative health advocate named George S. Weger who wrote a book called The Genesis and Control of Disease which identified acidosis as the cause of a many conditions including fatigue, infections and “mental disharmony and sleeplessness.”  It was penned in 1840 and talked about acidic states in the blood. Revised editions of this book also were printed in the 1930s.

Alkalinizing Using Fasting

One of the most famous books about achieving body alkalinity through fasting was written a century later. The Master Cleanse included instructions for Three Day Cleanses, 21 Day Detoxification Cleanses and ones that last as long as three months. This book was written in 1940, by Stanley Burroughs and is considered to be a foundation text about how to use fasting to detoxify and alkalinize the body. The book made a comeback and was massively reprinted in the seventies.

Burroughs purported that consuming no food at all and drinking a concoction made from lemons, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and purified water for a period of days (as long as you can stand) is the key to getting rid of acid wastes in the body and restoring them to a healthier alkaline state that does not support disease.  

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.