As an athlete, we are always striving for better performance. Generally, if given money and opportunity, we would pursue our goals till we achieved them. Being married to a cyclist, who’s goal is to compete against the Masters racers and be competitive and not just “pack fodder”, he is always looking for the pieces of equipment, training and nutritional supplements that will give him the edge over the local “talent”. For myself, if money and time were not issues, I’d love to pay a coach, nutritionist, massage therapist, to help me get the results I want. But, I am not Oprah, so I will have to do the research and do the best I can with what the time and opportunity that I have. Mona-Vie, have any of you heard of it? It is an expensive, high quality drink that has been marketed (correctly), I guess, to athletes because of its high nutritional qualities and because it has an outstanding ORAC value of over 1000. My husband tried it for a month and supposedly did better in his bike races than he’s doing now (since we drank it all).
Acai Berry
Acai Berry is the main ingredient in the drink along with 19 other “super foods” that has been combined to make a 2 ounce drink in the morning and evening a mandatory duty in the lives of many people. I am NOT one of those people. I’d like to steer clear of any commitment to the tune of $30-$40 a bottle! So being the little researcher that I am, I went to my local health food store to see if the Acai Berry can be purchased on it’s own. Guess what, it can! For as little as $6 you can get 8 smoothie packs of freeze dried Acai berries offered by Sambazon Juice of 6 oranges + 2 bananas + 1 smoothie pack yields 3 large glasses (we all drink it with our protein pancakes- 1/2 cup Oatmeal, 1/4 cottage cheese, cinnamon, 4-6 egg yolks: mix and cook like a regular pancake.
Thanks Fitarella for the recipe.) The Acai Berry has the highest ORAC value of all fruits. ORAC means Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity. The higher the number, the more antioxidants are circulating in your blood stream to fight the free radicals. You need to eat a diet that is rich in antioxidants for good health. Read more here. The World’s Healthiest Foods site does not list the Acai berry as one of the healthiest foods! In an article, it said that the research on the berry is not completely researched and it is not accessible to the general public. Here is that article. You tell me can you find it in your freezer department? The Sambazon. website lists stores such as Whole Foods, Vons, Kroger, or Juice it Up as retailers so it should be fairly easy to obtain and as always you can purchase online here.
Edited for all new mommies regarding nursing and acai berry. This information comes directly from Sambazon (Nov 08).
Acai is considered by ethnobotanists to be a lactagogue and has actually been used by Amazonian mothers to facilitate milk production since beyond recorded history. Please keep in mind that it would be most appropriate to seek out our caffeine free products. Here is a list of all of our products and a delineation of which contain caffeine and which do not.
Smoothies:
Strawberry Samba – no caffeine
Supergreens Revolution – no caffeine
Mango Uprising – no caffeine
Juices:
Original – no caffeine
Antioxidant Trinity – no caffeine
Rio Energy – guarana & yerba mate (yielding about as much caffeine as a cup of tea)
Frozen Smoothie Packs
Original – guarana (yielding about as much caffeine as a cup of decaf coffee)
Pure – no caffeine
Acerola – no caffeine
Sorbets:
Original – guarana (yielding about as much caffeine as a cup of decaf coffee)
Strawberry Samba – no caffeine
Mango Uprising – no caffeine
Whole Foods Acai Powders:
Powercaps – no caffeine
Powerscoop – no caffeine