Walking my dog I caught the scent of grapes, so I looked over and saw these right within reach.  Naturally I grabbed a few for the trail.  I found out the place was loaded with them.  I’ll have to bring a bag next time.

Wild grapes like these are just about as healthy a snack as you can possibly find.   They are loaded with antioxidants and polyphenols like resveratrol – which is the basis for the healthy aspects of drinking a glass of wine every now and then.  But when it comes to nutritional value these wild guys totally knock out the ones you find on the grocery store shelves.  Particularly if your choice is the big, fat, juicy seedless variety like this:

But why are the wild ones so much healthier?  Why are their antioxidant and other ingredients so much higher?  It is because they are in the same unchanged natural state as they were to our early ancestors.  Back in the early days of human development the body never created a way to manufacture certain types of nutrients.  These are called essential as opposed to the ones we can make in the gut, etc.  In the interest of saving energy the body wouldn’t need to make a nutrient that was so readily available in nature.  Thus we do make certain enzymatic antioxidants like SOD, Catalase, Glutithione Peroxidase, but not vitamins  C, E, and the flavonoids, etc.  We can grab those anytime.  But the kicker is unfortunately  many people do not. 

I think that we in modern society have lost our taste for healthy natural foods to an extent.  It’s probably just a negative habitual trend, but it is responsible for some pretty nasty things.  It follows that if you truly want to improve your dietary habits you want to rekindle this enjoyment of natural stuff.  Highly processed foods should be left to the laboratory rats!

So grab those berries and grapes.   Eat like your ancestors.  (Note:  I make it a point to only pick the high hanging grapes.  Other walkers take their dogs with them and dogs like to stop frequently 🙂

What are your eating habits?  Check out this earlier post.