Navitas Naturals Goji Berries – an Easy Way to add Superfood Nutrition to Your Meals
Navitas Naturals Goji Berries are a super-delicious snack or tasty addition to any meal.
Before you wake-up to another winter morning and make yourself another bowl of boring-but-healthy (no sugar-added) oatmeal, give your hot breakfast stand-by a supernatural boost of flavor and nutrition by adding Goji Berry–a legendary Himalayan fruit some cultures believe is the secret to ‘eternal youth and beauty.’
Also known as Wolfberry, Goji berry is one of the most popular of the superfoods—foods known to be rich in antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, fiber, and phytonutrients that can enhance your health. The tiny, bright red Goji Berry resembles a raisin in shape and texture, but is bright red in color. For such a tiny berry, its flavor is robust—with each chewy bite, I detect a combination of mild raspberry, raisin and cranberry. Depending on whether you eat the berries as dried fruit, or use in cooking, you may detect variations in tartness or sweetness.
In my part of the world, the temps have dipped below 40 degrees, and my kids have complained about “hot oatmeal with nuts and raisins—again,” I’ve been experimenting with ways to turn ordinary oatmeal into something extraordinary. I’ve always enjoyed Navitas Naturals Goji Berries as a snack, straight out of the bag, or tossed into trail mix or gluten-free cookie batter. For whatever the reason, I’d never thought about adding the berries to oatmeal.
Hot Oatmeal topped with Goji Berry, Raw Nuts, Banana Slices, Macqui Powder.
If the picture, at right, doesn’t say enough…. To the sound of my children’s cheers, I recently served a beautiful bowl of oatmeal topped with Goji Berry, raw walnuts and pumpkin seeds, sliced banana, and a sprinkle of Macqui Berry powder (the dark purple). Now, there’s a lot of superfood nutrition in that bowl, but we’re going to focus on Goji Berry.
For over 2,000 years, Goji Berry has been enjoyed in Asian cultures as both a dietary staple and a healing food remedy used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Around the globe many traditional healing systems tap the medicinal power of Goji berries by eating the fruit; drinking Gojoi juice, wine, and tea; cooking with the berries; and using Goji Berries in tincture and powder form. Chinese herbalists have used Goji Berry in treating infertility, inflammation, low-energy, age-related changes in health, and to support the immune system. Only recently have Western scientists begun to appreciate the nutritional healing power of this tiny, tasty superfruit.
Goji’s Nutritonal Power
Like it’s other berry cousins, Goji Berry contains powerful nutrients known for the role they play in keeping your immune system healthy, reducing inflammation, and strengthening the body against the wear and tear of stress and aging:
- Antioxidants
- Beta-carotene (ounce for ounce, Goji contains more than carrots)
- B vitamins
- Fiber
- Iron
- Protein (contains 18 amino acids, including 11 essential amino acids, making them a “complete” protein)
- Vitamins A, C, and E
- Zinc
Goji Berry is a Legendary Fruit
If the science-y nutrition facts don’t thrill you, maybe the “fountain of youth legends” about Goji Berry will entice you to add the berry to your next meal. One legend claims that for thousands of years, monks in the Himalayan Mountains steeped Goji berries in hot water to make tea. The tea was believed to help aid meditation, and to obtain greater health, vitality, longevity, energy and stamina. Another legend, from China’s Tang Dynasty, tells of a Buddhist temple that built a reputation as a fountain of youth. The fountain had thick Goji vines growing all over the walls, where berries would fall into the well and sweeten and infuse the water with the health powers of the fruit. Villagers who drank from the fountain had radiant health, bright complexions and lustrous hair even into old age.
About Navitas Naturals Goji Berry Harvest
Goji Berry – sun-dried and delicious!
Navitas Natural Goji Berries are certified organic, kosher, and non-GMO. The company harvests its berries from the lush valleys of the Ningxia Province in China. Small purple flowers grow along thorny bushes and blossom into delicate small orange-red fruits. During the warm summer months when the berries on the vine ripen, they’re hand-picked, then sun-dried to preserve their maximum nutritional density.
A family-owned green business based in California, Navitas Naturals specializes in organic superfoods harvested from around the world. Their mission is to make it easy for people to experience premium functional foods that increase energy and promote health and they strive to be an industry leader in this fast-growing sector of the health food industry.
Karen M. Rider, Senior Health Writer with Medicine Talk
Written by: Karen M. Rider, M.A.
Karen is a contributing editor with Medicine Talk Pro. She has a decade of experience writing about holistic health and wellness. Karen holds degrees in kinesiology and health psychology and has training in wellness coaching, yoga, and health research. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the Association for Health Care Journalists. When she isn’t writing, Karen enjoys biking and kayaking with her family and relaxing with a home-brewed cup of organic tea. Learn More about Karen
Resources
The Wolfberry Nutrition & History
Berries: Anti-inflammatory Effects in Humans. Shama V. Joseph, Indika Edirisinghe, and Britt M. Burton-Freeman. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2014) 62:18, 3886-3903. DOI: 10.1021/jf4044056. Accessed 11/3/2015. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf4044056
National Geographic Guide to Medicinal Herbs: The World’s Most Effective Healing Plants. Johnson, Rebecca L. & Foster, Steven. (2014,2010). National Geographic Society.
An Evidence-Based Systematic Review of Goji (Lycium spp.) by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration. Ulbricht, Catherine, et al., PharmD (2015) 12:2, 184-240. Accessed 11/3/2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/19390211.2014.904128
