Acai Berry

Oprah And The Magical Acai Berry

December 16th, 2008

Would Oprah Winfrey lead you astray on such a vital issue as your health? Certainly not, so when she promotes a food product such as acai fruit juice on her TV program and her website you have to listen up. The Acai is the berry of a palm tree that is known to Brazilians as “The Tree Of Life”. This is because of its health-enhancing properties. Dr. Perricone, Oprah’s health guru rates it at number one in his top ten of super foods.

So what is so great about this acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) berry juice? Why would the TV food guru put a totally unknown plant at number one? Well of course, TV is all about hype and melodrama and frankly the whole idea of ranking foods is ludicrous and unscientific. So don’t go out and line up a supply of acai juice to put yourself on an acai diet to the exclusion of everything else. However this grape like fruit from the Amazon basin is a nutritious alternative to one of your daily fruit portions in your balanced diet.

Açaí is said to taste like a mixture of blueberries and chocolate. When ripe it is a beautiful dark purple color that is nature’s way of saying “come and eat me I will be really good for you”. And so Brazilians, especially in the Para region have been pulping it and juicing it and putting it in drinks and foods for centuries. Obviously you can’t go out into the rain forest and harvest a handful so you will need to find a specialist grocer or health food store. Oprah recommends the pulp in as natural a state as possible, without added sugar.

What really excites Dr. Perricone, apart from the sexy exotic nature of this cult berry is the large amount of antioxidants in each humble berry. Antioxidants, as all foodies know, help to slow down the body’s aging process. Red grapes are similarly blessed with antioxidants but only to about one tenth of the level in acai. The acai also has a life giving mix of mono unsaturated fats, those are the good ones, fiber and phytosterols all of which give your heart and digestion a really good shot in the arm.

Acai doesn’t stop there because it is a source of essential amino acids and trace minerals that are necessary to proper muscle function. In terms of fatty acids the acai is as good as olive oil. Oleic acid is a nice substance because it helps another nice substance omega 3 fish oil (also in Dr. Perricones top ten list) to get into your cells. And what fruit is rich in oleic acid? You guessed it, acai berry juice.

Entry Filed under: About Acai Berry