Hostage to Blueberries

If you’re eating blueberries regularly because you’ve been told they’re a superfood, then you may have been duped. Yes, blueberries have a great nutritional profile. Yes, they may play a role in disease prevention. But let’s use our critical intelligence. A frequent serving of blueberries is nothing to write home about and certainly not worth upwards of $20 a pound.

Here’s why. A 68- year- old acquaintance of mine, I’ll call him David, eats blueberries religiously as cancer prevention. Five years ago, in a Diet Consultation, I showed David how the swelling alongside his nose suggested an enlarged prostate. David concurred and said his doctor was also concerned. Thus, for cancer prevention, he now regularly eats blueberries.

We’re all in agreement that, fresh fruits and vegetables provide important nutrients. But that’s not the whole story. Let’s first find out what’s causing our symptoms, in David’s case, the swelling. Once he has  eliminated the causes, then his body will naturally self- correct. That gluten intolerance was a primary contributing factor to his various symptoms, including an the enlarged prostate, became obvious in our Consultation. I urged him to eliminate gluten from his diet.

Five years and $1800 worth of blueberries later (that’s 8 ounces per week at $15 per pound, 2 pounds per month for 60 months equals $1800) David has significantly cut down on wheat. But he still eats it, especially on social occasions. He’s a “social wheater.”

His incontinence and incontinence and needing to get up in the middle of the night to pee have slowly increased, as has the swelling along side his nose. Of course, we don’t know the other extenuating factors that play into David’s health, such as stress, exercise, and genetics, etc. There’s more to disease than diet.

But from his first hand observations, David now clearly knows that gluten exacerbates his symptoms. For him, it’s a toxin. One crumb of this irritant, even if smothered in one pound of blueberries, compromises his assimilation, engages his immune system and intensifies his prostate problems. Let’s trust that David musters the gumption to go 100% gluten free.

When the price of eating wheat is too high in terms of nasty symptoms, then avoiding wheat becomes an easy choice. So on your next trip to the store, as you’re about to reach for a carton of blueberries, take pause. What else will land in your shopping cart?

Again, when its blueberries that you want, they are indeed a great food. But must you eat them daily? As that sounds like a chore it is the antithesis of true dining.

One last note, you might consider wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium). Berries harvested from the wild, contain more of the powerful antioxidant anthocyanin than do cultivated blueberries. According to the USDA, the ORAC value of wild blueberries is 2,400, the highest of 20 common fruits rated. My favorite wild blueberry supplier is Eden Foods.

May you be well nourished,
Rebecca