One of my fondest memories from attending sleep away camp in upstate New York as a youngster was heading into the mountains and picking blueberries. When my bunk mates and I returned with our haul of blueberries, the camp chef would make us a fresh blueberry pie. This time of year blueberries are ripe and plentiful.
Here are the nutritional facts of 1 cup of fresh blueberries:
- 84 calories.
- 0 g of cholesterol.
- 1.1 g of protein.
- 0.49 g of fat.
- 21.45 g of carbohydrate.
- 3.6 g of dietary fiber.
- 14.74 g of total sugars.
The fiber, potassium, folate, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and phytonutrient content in blueberries supports heart health. The absence of cholesterol from blueberries is also beneficial to the heart. Fiber content helps to reduce the total amount of cholesterol in the blood and decrease the risk of heart disease.
Probably the only drawback of eating blueberries is the relatively high caloric and sugar contents.
Keeping portion control under consideration, blueberries can most certainly be a part of your dietary strategy for long-term health and weight control.
And here is the one song I could find about blueberries…kind of a sweet song by Sabrina Carpenter from the movie “Clouds”.
