Top Blueberry Nutrition Tips for Your Smoothie

Most people know about blueberry nutrition... very few people really understand how valuable blueberries are to us. Since smoothies are a very popular thing to have on almost a daily basis, you may want to consider adding the benefits of blueberries in your blueberry smoothie recipes.

Not only do they help to improve the taste of the smoothie but they will also add nutrients that you may not be regularly getting throughout the day. While adults can find foods that contain wonderfully healthy things for them, it gets tricky to get an entire family to eat that food, including picky eating children. I have not run into many people who would pass on fresh berries.

Benefits of Blueberry Nutrition

The health benefits of blueberries seem almost endless. The following are some key benefits that may come from adding the blueberry nutrition to your smoothies:

•Prevents urinary tract infections

•Prevents macular degeneration of the eyes

•Slows down the aging process

•Promotes better brain function

•Fights against Alzheimer's disease and memory loss

•Prevents constipation

•Helps digestion of foods

•Helps prevent and fight cancer

•Strengthens the cardiac muscles

•Boosts the immune system

But how does the tiny and simple blueberry do all of these things? Blueberry nutrition have antibiotic properties that help wash away the bacteria build up in the tract, which means urinary tract infections are avoided.

The role blueberry nutrition plays in eye care is that they contain carotenoids, which are antioxidants and flavonoids such as rutin and quercetin. This part of the make up of the blueberry along with the vitamin C, vitamin A and E, zinc, phosphorus, and selenium are why blueberries are so good for the eyes.

As you can see, it is easy to understand how a simple blueberry can do so much for a body. All of the benefits of blueberries listed here and others that have not yet been discovered are the reasons why you should add blueberries into your diet and the diet of your loved ones. Grab a handful as a snack or better yet, throw a bunch in with your smoothie. If you find your child giving you a hard time eating the blueberries any other way, don't worry about it and just stick with the smoothies. Not only are smoothies fun to make, delicious to drink, but extremely healthy for you as well, at least when they are made with the right ingredients.

Check out some awesome blueberry smoothie recipes!

Shopping For Blueberries

You do want to make sure that you are purchasing the best blueberries out there and storing them in the right manner in order to make sure that you are getting all of the health benefits. One key fact is to make sure that the blueberries you are purchasing are very blue. The more of the blue color there is in the blueberry, the better for you it is.

When it comes to shopping for blueberries, try to get the fresh variety if possible. Of course, the fresh varieties are only available from May through September. When looking at the sizes, the smaller ones are wild and the large ones are cultivated. The dark blue color is the color that you want with a little bit of a silvery bloom, which is the best way to judge quality. The silvery bloom is a protective waxy coating that naturally forms on the blueberries.

Make  that the blueberries are firm, uniform in their size, dry, and plump. You also want blueberries that do not have the leaves or stems attached to them. If the blueberries are leaking, soft, or appear to be mushy then you need to avoid them, as they are no longer ripe.

What about getting frozen blueberries? Great! Go for it. A lot of nutritionists are now saying that frozen is actually better, because it is frozen at its peak of ripeness. So the nutrients are all intact.

Another benefit of buying frozen blueberries is that you save money. You can buy in bulk from a co-op, such as Azure Standard. Or just watch the sales around your local grocery stores and stock up your freezer.

Frozen strawberries actually cost less than blueberries, usually around half as much. So a lot of times, I will use half strawberries and half blueberries. That saves quite a bit of money in the long haul.

Storing Blueberries

Fresh blueberries are very easy to store. All you need to do is to place the blueberries in a container with a lid. By doing this, you are able to refrigerate your blueberries for up to ten days. Once you are ready to use them, simply pull them out, rinse them well, and then enjoy.

Now that you know all about the benefits of blueberries and what it can do for your family, it is time to get started bringing these little wonderful berries into your diet and the diet of your family. And now you know how to shop, store, and use them in smoothies. Gain all of the benefits that come from the blueberry nutrition in a variety of ways.