Berries

Now is the month to eat the huge variety of berries available. Raspberries, strawberries and blueberries mixed with cream and meringues are a delicious pudding, but now smoothies are a very common breakfast we see blueberries being mixed often to add antioxidants as well as flavour. 

Many use the berries to make jams or crumbles, blackberries are abundant in the hedgerows and free for those happy to collect them. Almost all berries are 85% water so a perfect choice for those watching their weight. They are packed with fibre which will help to keep your bowel healthy. When I am trying to keep my calorie intake down I will take a bowl of berries with me to eat instead of a packet of crisps or something else as equally calorie full and poor in nutrition. A medium sized strawberry has between three and six calories, a large handful of blueberries has only about 80 calories.  

Previously I have mentioned how important it is to ‘eat a rainbow’, just look at the colours of the berries around, red, purple, green, blue, black and yellow! I was lucky enough to grow up with a mulberry tree in the garden, we used to climb this wonderful tree and enjoy eating the berries there and then. Berries have numerous health benefits including folate, vitamin K, vitamin C and Manganese. So if you like smoothies or a summer pudding enjoy them knowing you are helping your body and mind a little more.