{"id":97624,"date":"2014-05-08T08:49:21","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T13:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=97624"},"modified":"2014-05-07T19:49:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T00:49:49","slug":"goji-berries-healthy-for-everyone-vital-for-vegetarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/05\/goji-berries-healthy-for-everyone-vital-for-vegetarians\/","title":{"rendered":"Goji Berries: Healthy for Everyone, Vital for Vegetarians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes the best things come in the smallest packages! What am I referring to? The tiny goji berry, which is one of nature\u2019s most nutritionally complete foods.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/05\/goji-berries-healthy-for-everyone-vital-for-vegetarians\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-98009\" alt=\"goji berry\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/goji-berry-e1399504625587.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"398\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Never heard of it? Goji berries are referred to as \u201cred diamonds\u201d in their native Himalayan China and Tibet. The bite-size super foods contain 18 different amino acids, aka the <strong><a title=\"Building Blocks of Protein\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/top-7-protein-sources\/\">building blocks for protein<\/a><\/strong>, including 8 of the 9 essential food-based amines that our body cannot produce on their own. This makes them especially crucial for vegetarians and <strong><a title=\"Vegan Diet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/topics\/vegan-diet\/\">vegans<\/a><\/strong> who are not eating complete animal proteins like eggs, fish, and meat products.<\/p>\n<p>Goji berries are sold around the world and are usually packaged as dried berries. (They kind of look like pink raisins.) You can find them in most health food stores and increasingly in regular grocery stores too. The berries are pretty sweet in taste, but they&#8217;re also pretty complex tasting overall because of all the nutrients and minerals they deliver.<\/p>\n<p><strong>History of Goji Berries<br \/>\n<\/strong>Goji berries have always played an integral part in Chinese medicinal practices since ancient times, dating back as far as 5,000 years! They are still prescribed for their eye, liver, and kidney-supporting properties and they are also believed to boost \u201cchi\u201d, or invigorating life energy, in those who eat them. There are many well-documented claims that daily consumption of goji berries played a key role in unbelievable longevity: one man even claimed to have lived 252 years! (I&#8217;m not convinced of his math, but still!)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Super Food Superpowers<br \/>\n<\/strong>Here&#8217;s a cheat sheet on the benefits you can expect from go-go-goji berries:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Contains 21 trace minerals like zinc, iron, copper, calcium, and phosphorus<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Richest source of <strong><a title=\"Carotenoids Key to Health\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/11\/alpha-carotene-may-hold-key-to-longer-life\/\">carotenoids<\/a><\/strong> of all known foods on earth.\u00a0Way more than even carrots!\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>500x more Vitamin C than oranges by weight\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>8 of 9 essential amino acids, almost a complete protein<!--more--><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Supports eye, liver, and kidney health<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Boosts energy<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Promotes longevity\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Get Your Goji Fix<br \/>\n<\/strong>You can eat the berries on their own, but here are some more options for taking them in:<\/p>\n<p>1)<strong> Blend into fruit smoothies.<\/strong> Take your favorite fresh or frozen fruit, blend with your favorite nut milk, then simply add a scoop of goji berries. They go great with chia seeds, pomegranate powder, or any superfood powders, too!<\/p>\n<p>2)<strong> Sprinkle onto oatmeal or cereal.\u00a0<\/strong>Checkout these other ways to <strong><a title=\"Keep your Oatmeal Boredom at Bay\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/healthy-toppers-keep-oatmeal-boredom-at-bay\/\">keep your oatmeal boredom at bay.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>3)<strong> Add into trail mixes and nut mixes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>4)<strong> Soak in water to create goji tea.<\/strong> When soaked in hot or cold water, goji berries swell and release their nutrients into the water.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Raw Cacao is Nature's Best Kept Secret\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/04\/superfood-series-pt-1-chocolate\/\">The Power of Raw Cacao is Nature&#8217;s Best Kept Secret<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Chia foods live up to the hype\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/04\/chia-seeds-live-up-to-the-hype\/\">Chia Foods Live Up to the Hype<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Superfoods to the Rescue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/videos\/super-foods-to-the-rescue!\/\">Superfoods to the Rescue<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes the best things come in the smallest packages! What am I referring to? The tiny goji berry, which is one of nature\u2019s most nutritionally complete foods. Never heard of it? Goji berries are referred to as \u201cred diamonds\u201d in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/05\/goji-berries-healthy-for-everyone-vital-for-vegetarians\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[350,3695,93,16,58],"tags":[1225,10902,8097,4600],"class_list":["post-97624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diabetes","category-diet-and-nutrition","category-mens-health","category-recipes","category-womens-health","tag-goji-berries","tag-recipes","tag-superfoods","tag-vegan-recipes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97624"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97633,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97624\/revisions\/97633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}