Goji Berries

[Duke]

Do you think the dried Gojis have the full nutrion spectrum of the fresh fruits?
The dried counterparts are sold as a superfood. Legend has it that Li Qing Yuen has lived for 252 years thanks to a handful of gojis eaten everyday. It's not clear whether the Goji's he ate were fresh or dried, but i would think they're harvested straight from the source -fresh.

What about you, Do you eat Goji Berries?
 

[TylerDurden]

This notion of "superfoods" like algae and goji berries etc. is bunk, I believe. They never worked for me, anyway. I used to go in for them a lot during my raw vegan phase. I think I tried goji berries only once or twice, though.

[raw-al]

I heard they were good for vision. However here is a some info from this site http://www.webmd.com/balance/goji-berries-health-benefits-and-side-effects;
(I have no idea if it is accurate)


Goji Berries: Health Benefits and Side Effects
Have you been wondering about the health benefits of goji berries and goji juice? Some claim that goji berries are the next fountain of youth. But what is the goji berry and can it really prevent chronic illness? And do dried goji berries have side effects? Here are answers to your questions.

What Is a Goji Berry?

The goji berry is also called the wolfberry. It is a bright orange-red berry that comes from a shrub that's native to China. In Asia, goji berries have been eaten for generations in the hopes of living longer.

Over time, people have used goji berries to treat many common health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, fever, and age-related eye problems. Goji berries are eaten raw, cooked, or dried (like raisins) and are used in herbal teas, juices, wines, and medicines.

What Are the Benefits of Goji Berries?

Research shows that eating berries -- like blueberries, acai berries, cranberries, strawberries, and cherries -- offers some definite health benefits. Berries like the goji berry are filled with powerful antioxidants and other compounds that may help prevent cancer and other illnesses, including heart disease. Antioxidants may also boost the immune system and lower cholesterol.

Eating foods high in antioxidants may slow the aging process as well. It does this by minimizing damage from free radicals that injure cells and damage DNA. When a cell's DNA changes, the cell grows abnormally. Antioxidants can take away the destructive power of free radicals. By doing so, antioxidants help reduce the risk of some serious diseases.

Goji berries also have compounds rich in vitamin A that may have anti-aging benefits. These special compounds help boost immune function, protect vision, and may help prevent heart disease.

Some research suggests that goji berry extracts may boost brain health and may protect against age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Other studies using goji berry juice founds benefits in mental well-being, and calmness, athletic performance, happiness, quality of sleep, and feelings of good health. These are preliminary studies that need to be repeated before definitive conclusions can be drawn.

While goji berries are a rich source of antioxidants -- and early research shows a potentially powerful health benefit -- it's still unclear how they stack up against other berries. Researchers also don't know whether goji berry supplements have the same health benefits as the actual berries.

Do Goji Berries Have Side Effects?

There may be some possible herb-drug interactions with goji berries. If you take warfarin (a blood thinner), you may want to avoid goji berries. Goji berries may also interact with diabetes and blood pressure drugs.

Also, if you have pollen allergies, you may want to stay away from this fruit. However, when eaten in moderation, goji berries appear to be safe.

[goodsamaritan]

Do you think the dried Gojis have the full nutrion spectrum of the fresh fruits?
The dried counterparts are sold as a superfood. Legend has it that Li Qing Yuen has lived for 252 years thanks to a handful of gojis eaten everyday. It's not clear whether the Goji's he ate were fresh or dried, but i would think they're harvested straight from the source -fresh.

What about you, Do you eat Goji Berries?
 

I bought dried Goji berries for the heck of it.  They are not native in my country.
Maybe if you lived where goji berries are grown and you eat it freshly picked.
I can believe in those tales of it being a super food.
Our native guavas help turn white hair to black again, that's super.

[CitrusHigh]

I have eaten them dried and fresh-frozen (meaning picked and frozen immediately). I was not terribly impressed with the flavor of the frozen variety. And they did not radiate energy the way things like quality liver, brain, adrenals, raw garlic, fish roe, or grass fed heritage cream seem to where you can just sense the immense density of nutrients. But having them fresh might be a different deal. The frozen ones I had were just on the edge of having a bitter taste, they were sweet to be certain, but a hint of bitterness to them.

But really I think raw foods are super period for the most part. Most of them contain so many thousands of nutritional compounds in living food, the transferable light energy of the DNA biophotons for example, not the least of these. Plus there are so many compounds that we don't even know about or haven't identified yet. People chase after this or that nutrient but the fact is that these basic vitamins and minerals that we have known about for sometime are bound to and affected by a host of other biochemicals. Some of these activate nutrients, others help digest them, others hinder digestion. Plus one person's superfood might be another person's superpoison.

But any raw food is a superfood compared to it's lifeless and warped, cooked counterpart. If the public at large really understood how destructive cooking is they wouldn't be surprised at all that food is, for most of us the number one factor in health (IMO).

[raw-al]

I've been eating dried (but then soaked in water before eating) GB for many years for vision. Not sure if they work but I am 58 and rarely wear reading glasses and even then only 1.0 . However I also sungaze which helped them quite a bit.

I also go through periods of eating raw blueberries for the same reason.

I have seen a huge difference from eating a lot of blueberries. When I first seriously started to consume them after being told about them by a homeopathist, they worked almost immediately but you have to eat 1/4 to 1/2 cup of them for results. Small print went from being fuzzy to clear after eating the BB.

I can't eat too many at once or for longer than a few weeks at a stretch as they are a bit too sour after awhile.

[HIT_it_RAW]

I use dried goiji berries regularly. The give me an instant mental energy boost. Not the physical sugar boost you get from most fruit. My mind is noticeable sharper/more focussed. I just bought a goji shrup and planted it in my garden last week. The are supposed to grow very well were I live. So i hope to have fesh goji berries in oktober this year.

I think berries in general are beneficial fruits. I bought 20 berry shrubs; several ribes species, goji, blueberry, aronia, honeysuckle, blackberry, buckthorn. All of them went in the garden last week. next year they should all start to produce fruits, can't wait!!

[superja]

Berries in general are just awesome. Before I went fully raw, I noticed a huge difference when I started eating lots of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. I just felt full of energy in a way that other fruits just didn't provide.


Whenever I get the urge to bring bison to work, I tend to cover it in berries- adds awesome flavor and disguises the fact that it's a piece of raw meat.

[cherimoya_kid]

I'm unimpressed by dried fruit of all kinds, including dried goji berries.

[Duke]

Our native guavas help turn white hair to black again, that's super.

I have read about claims that drinking wheatgrass juice would retain the natural hair color andturns it from whit or grey to its natural color and now you're adding another claim to that with the usage of Guavas / Native Guava, GS.

How true is that by the way? Did it happen to people you know? Reason i ask is because as far as i know there are no supplements or medicines on the market that have this effect; and it is really rare to hear about anecdotal success stories from normal people.

And mre importantly, if i may add, what's the reason behind those success stories; for example, what was missing in the nutritional spectrum and what did the native Guava introduce to fill this shortage? How come big pharma doesnt invistigate about the hidden nutrient and manufacture products they can capitalize on. 

[Duke]

I'm unimpressed by dried fruit of all kinds, including dried goji berries.

I have read that it is easy to grow your own shrubs of Goji Berries and that they thrive in any weather and soil conditions but preferably alkaline soils. They start fruiting only after the third year though.

That would provide you with the fresh Goji Berries produce if you re interested.

It still make you wonder whether all the claims about its longevity effects are actually true. It's also said that the Gojis are a very rich source of polysaccharides which educate and strengthen your immune system. That's in addition to the many other health benefits that the other guys have stated and more.

[raw-al]

I have read about claims that drinking wheatgrass juice would retain the natural hair color andturns it from whit or grey to its natural color and now you're adding another claim to that with the usage of Guavas / Native Guava, GS.

How true is that by the way? Did it happen to people you know? Reason i ask is because as far as i know there are no supplements or medicines on the market that have this effect; and it is really rare to hear about anecdotal success stories from normal people.

And mre importantly, if i may add, what's the reason behind those success stories; for example, what was missing in the nutritional spectrum and what did the native Guava introduce to fill this shortage? How come big pharma doesnt invistigate about the hidden nutrient and manufacture products they can capitalize on. 

Ayurveda says that eating salt will make your hair turn grey. Not the only cause no doubt, but it makes sense as my two sisters used to eat tons of it, and their hair was very prematurely grey.

Probably the guavas heal the part of the GI Tract that was damaged by poor nutritional habits.

The nutritional spectrum story doesn't add up, because people don't change their diet during the period that their hair turns. This would imply that in our youth we eat foods that are hair healthy.

Big pharma just hasn't thought about it as they are making money off of dyes. Give them time. There will be a big BS campaign about natural this and natural that guava pee being nature's gift to your hair........

The problem with the guava is that they would have to prove that it worked instead of just saying that it worked as with aloe vera which is such a load. The aloe vera used by big pharma has the stuffing beat out of it by the time it gets to the consumer.

The Conned sumer is told something that is very etherial. Your hair will improve. What is that supposed to mean?

[cherimoya_kid]

I have read that it is easy to grow your own shrubs of Goji Berries and that they thrive in any weather and soil conditions but preferably alkaline soils. They start fruiting only after the third year though.

That would provide you with the fresh Goji Berries produce if you re interested.

I tried planting some goji seeds, but they never sprouted.  I think it's because the dried fruit is heavily irradiated.

I think you'd have to pretty much go to Tibet/China and get some seedlings, and then sneak them through customs when flying home.

[cherimoya_kid]

 Actually, apparently there's a farmer in California who's growing and selling them fresh.

http://thelivingkitchen.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/fresh-goji-berries/

Interesting.

[raw-al]

I have lots of the dried berries, I will try to plant some.

[raw-al]

Goji berry germination

For making newspaper planter pots for starting the plants use this method. You can use any round or square shape as the male part of the mold. To make the sides stronger just roll the paper round and round then press in the bottom. Either way, the dirt is necessary to make it stay in shape.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-organic-planting-pots-using-old-newspa/