Strawberries and Nutrition

I’ve always thought that strawberries are good for you, but since I’m eating a fair number of Hidden Brook Farm strawberries this week I wanted to learn more.

I consulted Nutritiondata.com and there I learned that strawberries are a terrific source of Vitamin C! Surprise, Surprise. A serving size, which they list as 1 cup of strawberries, halved, or 152 grams, have 49 calories (4 from fat), and supply 149 percent of your daily need for vitamin C. They are also a source of dietary fiber (12 percent) and rate 28 on the anti-inflammatory factor scale, which means they are mildly anti-inflammatory. Since I have a tendency toward inflammation in some joints, this is a nice thing to see in the positive column.

As a vegetarian, I was interested to read more about the protein quality score on the Nutritiondata.com page. Of course, one needs all of the complementary amino acids that make up protein because they do all of the heavy lifting in your cells. Got to have those building-blocks. A quality score of 100 is what one should look for, according to the site, and strawberries rate a 48. So, the Web authors suggest that the amino acid Tryptophan is needed. I see that complementary foods include meat (nada), and, a little farther down the list, nuts. Milk and grains as is breakfast cereal are still farther down the complementary list, yet none the less complementary. I had strawberries on my breakfast cereal this morning that I also sprinkled with sliced almonds, so check. I’ve gotten my protein for today, Mom.

Strawberries also earned a score of 60 on a scale of 0 to 100 for nutrient balance. Few foods are nutritionally complete, of course, so I’ll accept 60 as a fairly good number. You’ll have to check out their little graphic for yourself since it would take too long for me to explain here. That’s my excuse. Nice graphic. Do check it out.

As I am about to head out to the Great Dismal Swamp Birding and Wildlife Festival I am pleased to see that strawberries are full of water. It’s nice to get a portion of those eight glasses of water a day in food. I’m packing a water bottle too, of course ... and lunch, to include strawberries and oat bars and nuts!