The media goes on about superfoods a lot. I'm not sure they really exist but they are big business these days.There is one "superfood" that has been a regular in our household though and that's something called CherryActive. We first discovered it when following the exploits of Run Geordie Run running across the USA. They were one of his sponsors and he used it daily to help him with his recovery from running long distances every day. (Side note - he's currently doing it again, across Australia in 70 days for charity, please give generously, he's mad).
The husband, gadget man that he is, decided he had to try it. In fairness to him, he was training for marathons and then for an Ironman triathlon and was swayed by the prospect of fewer aches and pains. Since then, he's taken it religiously when training.
CherryActive was started by John Carrey in the USA when he discovered that Montmorency cherries helped his gout pain. The concentrate has nothing added to it - sugar, colourings or flavourings - and can be used neat or mixed with water or yogurt. The only problem is that they are sour cherries so it's quite hard to give to children. There are capsules if you don't like the taste but again, not very child friendly.
Beyond its benefits in aiding sports recovery, it is meant to help sustain proper joint function and can also improve your sleep. The level of antioxidants is also meant to help protect against diseases and all sorts of conditions associated with ageing.
CherryActive have now come up with a child friendly alternative, BlueberryActive. Blueberries are believed to have powerful antioxidant properties, but now also it's believed that it can boost brain performance and help protect against neurodegeneration. That should mean it's great for kids to improve concentration at school. Its major benefit is it tastes just like blueberries and a much less sour taste than the cherries. How do I know? Well, CherryActive kindly sent me some to try along with some BeetActive and some of the original CherryActive to try, along with some fancy glasses where you can measure out the right amount of your chosen drink and top it up with yogurt for a smoothie or just plain water. BlueberryActive is actually really nice diluted with sparkling water. I do find the cherry one too sour and beetroot is not my favourite (although perhaps I could use it in a cake...) as it tastes too earthy for me. The children, predictably, loved blueberry so our little bottle went far too quickly.
The only problem is the price. A small bottle of BlueberryActive works out at about £11 for 7 servings. You can buy CherryActive in larger bottles so it can work out cheaper. Still, both work out cheaper than buying smoothies in the shops. And if you want to try it for a bit less, you can buy anything from the CherryActive website and get 10% off if you enter the code KATE10 until the end of October.
(Thanks to CherryActive for sending me some samples to try and 3 of their drinking glasses for us to try.)
