Strawberries Take the Cake!
I often find myself walking through the market unsure if I should buy apples or oranges, strawberries or raspberries, all purpose flour or bread flour. I would easily replace one with the other if I thought it was better for me. I like raspberries as much as I like strawberries, and so on. Although I know that VARIETY is the key to a healthy diet, there are times when one choice fares much better than the other.
The Philadelphia markets do not have NuVal, but I really wish they did! I have, on more than one occasion, texted my sister in law to ask her which fruit has more antioxidants, or which flour was better for my health. As you can see by my entire blog design, I really love berries, but I never know which one to buy! We can’t eat more than one pint at a time without some spoiling, so each week we need to make a choice… strawberries? blueberries? raspberries? blackberries?
I can only imagine the choices an uneducated person has to make.
At this point in my life I am comfortable making any changes to my lifestyle and diet that would make me a healthier, stronger woman. I could choke down wheatgrass shots every morning if I thought they would benefit me tremendously. Ok…. maybe not wheatgrass, but you get the point! I truly enjoyed my iced coffees with milk and sugar, but when I realized how harmful they were for me, I completely cut out the sugar over time. It was hard work, but now I enjoy plain iced coffee with a splash of skim milk even more than I used to enjoy the sugary stuff.
NuVal rates each food or food product on a scale from 0 to 100. The higher the score is, the better the nutrition (from NuVal.com). That means that in an instant I can compare two foods without having to read nutrition facts or ingredient lists. A NuVal rep recently gave me the score for my beloved berries.
Here they are:
Strawberries: 100
Blueberries: 100
Raspberries: 88
Blackberries: 91
All four berries I love have high scores, but with perfect 100s, I will definitely be picking strawberries and blueberries over their other friends.
The NuVal website shares lots of information about selecting the best food for you, so even if they have not hit your market yet, check them out! Now… if only they would add easy recipes to those unfamiliar vegetables…. Rutabaga, anyone?
24 Responses to “Strawberries Take the Cake!”
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I had no idea strawberries were a 100! Those are my favorite fruit. 🙂
Aww, raspberries score lower; they still take the cake for me!
I wonder if my strawberry-blueberry-spinach smoothie would be a 300?!
I have been reading The O2 Diet, and it can’t say enough good things about blueberries. Its a great book and really helps to choose a more antioxidant rich diet. . . and tells you WHY each item is good for you which is kind of interesting to read. I love the new header on your blog!
i’ve always heard blueberries are awesome for you, but didn’t know strawberries rank so high too. Raspberries are my fave though. 88 is good enough for me.
Not entirely on topic, but have you had wheat grass? I actually think it’s quite tasty.
Sabrina, This is a great post! I LOVE berries as well and I never knew they scored so high in nutritional value! I’ve been wondering something lately and I think this would be the perfect post to ask.
I think it is amazing that so many bloggers/individuals try to eat organic, sustainable foods, and sometimes local food. What I’ve noticed a lot is that many bloggers don’t eat seasonally and this post had me thinking about if you purchased berries over the winter season. Which most likely aren’t from the United States and not organic. I have found that the best thing about buying seasonal is there is more of an opportunity to purchase that produce from a local farmer, price and most of all the flavor is INCREDIBLE.
What are your/others thoughts on eating seasonally? Do you buy non-seasonal items?
@Stacy R, Thank you for your comment. I will discuss this in detail in a full post, but the basic answer is that we try. It is much harder in the winter than it is in the spring, summer and fall. Also see Jenn’s reply below for her answer!
@RhodeyGirlTests, Awesome! I know its impossible to buy EVERYTHING seasonal! I love strawberries as well, and get excited when I see them in the store right now, but I know they don’t taste nearly as good as they do in the summer!
@Stacy R, Just to add to the comment right now because I can’t help it, this fall our whole foods was carrying apples…. from Washington state. We have hundreds of orchards on the East Coast, yet they were bringing them all the way from the other coast! We did not buy apples until we found some good local ones at our farmer’s market, which came from 25 miles away. I was pissed.
I hope you are feeling better. I’m berry much a berry girl. (That was dorky!) We have AMAZING strawberries out here in Southern CA!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE blueberries. I think I could turn into Veruca Salt (wasn’t that her name in Charlie and the Chocolate factory?)
In response to Stacy – We eat mostly seasonally as we belong to a local CSA. I prefer to eat this way b/c the vegetables are super fresh and they only have to travel a few miles to my home. However I will buy some non-seasonal items but being in CA we have a ton of fresh local choices all year long.
@jenn, We get a CSA box as well so that is what spiked my question. That is one of the best things I LOVE about living in California, the fresh, local produce! Of course there are some non-seasonal items that we buy.
We love berries too! I love raspberries but we always stock up on strawberries and blueberries most of the time. So great to know they are so good for you.
I love blueberries in my oatmeal – they always score a perfect 100 to me! I think the Nuval system is a step in the right direction, helping people look at the nutrient density of a food rather than individual nutrients (which can be confusing anyway).
Your header picture always makes me drool 🙂
Strawberries also have the very highest ANDI score for fruits over at Whole Foods. Very nutrient dense!
Ask and you shall receive. I work for NuVal and write a blog about choosing healthy foods for my family using NuVal scores. I’m totally addicted to NuVal and to my job – how lucky am I? One feature I have on my NuVal blog (www.abetterbagofgroceries.com) is Incredible Vegetables, where I share my experiences in cooking through “that” section of the Produce department. You know, the one with all the mysterious vegetables with leafy tops. Rutabega is probably in that section!
I’ve read about NuVal on Carrots n’ Cake…thanks for showing us how it is put to good use! I wonder why raspberries score lower…they are my favorite!
how interesting! i love strawberries & had them in my breakfast today! i definitely like them the best of all the berries… especially when they’re really ripe & flavorful!
love this post – like I need more reasons to eat strawberries! 😉
I don’t know too much about it because I haven’t looked into it yet, but I have noticed that the Philly Whole Foods are using the ANDI Nutrition Ratings Index.
@Lauren, I saw the Andi scores at the Whole Foods in Denver, but I didn’t know Philly stores were using it? I haven’t seen them at Callowhill or Plymouth Meeting. Where did you see them? Please share!!!! (And thank you!)
@RhodeyGirlTests,
Whaaa? I’ve seen them at Callowhill. It’s not on everything, and actually not that noticeable. But maybe they took them down?! Now I need to investigate this weekend.
@Lauren, I will check again.. Maybe I just didn’t notice since I am always FLYING through there! I will investigate too! Thanks for the heads up!
mmmm..all this talk of berries makes me even MORE ready for summer!