Tremendous Health Benefits of Frozen Strawberries

Strawberries are a super-food being a storehouse of many nutrients. However, this is an extremely delicate and fragile fruit and withers very quickly. So, unless we can eat them within a few hours after picking, we can’t get all their health benefits. Is there a solution? Yes, it’s freezing strawberries! You might wonder, whether frozen strawberries can impart equal health benefits as that of fresh ones. However, the good news is frozen strawberries, if they are unsweetened, offer majority of the nutrients as they have in their fresh form. Plus, in the frozen form, strawberries can be available to consume throughout the year.

Nutrients in Strawberries

Calorie Content: A cup of unsweetened, thawed strawberries provide our body with only 77 calories and no fat. They also contain more than 150% of the RDI (Recommended Daily Allowance) of vitamin C. They are also rich sources of folate, manganese and vitamin K. Frozen, unsweetened strawberries are much more nutritious than high-calorie foods like chips, donuts and candy. However, if you want to maintain or reduce your weight, you will have to stay away from the temptation of sweetened strawberries because they provide 199 calories per cup.

Fiber: Fiber should be an essential constituent of your food in order to keep your bowels and thereby your entire body healthy. Fiber keeps your body clean of unwanted and unhealthy substances, by thrusting them from blood vessels and bowels. So, you can steer clear of constipation and atherosclerosis. Strawberries provide you this essential ingredient and help you be in top health condition. Each cup of unsweetened as well as sweetened strawberries provides 5gm of fiber. As recommended by The Institute of Medicine, women should consume at least 25gm of fiber and men should consume 38gm of fiber every day.

Sugar Content in Strawberry – Is it Harmful?

If you are consuming unsweetened frozen strawberries, you need not worry of sugar, because one cup of them contains only 10gm of natural sugars. However, the same serving size of sweetened strawberries provides you 47gm of sugar, an amount exceeding 9 teaspoons of sugar per cup. As per the American Heart Association’s recommendation, women should limit added sugar to 6 teaspoons while men should limit it to 9 teaspoons per day. The natural sugar contained in unsweetened strawberries should not be counted in this limit, but that in sweetened strawberries should be counted because it is added sugar and does not occur naturally in strawberries.

Full of Nutrition

Another consideration is about the nutritional quotient of frozen strawberries vis-à-vis fresh strawberries. Frozen strawberries are packed when they are fully ripe so they reach the maximum level of nutritional potential. Fresh strawberries on the other hand are picked unripe so that they can get ripe till they reach their destination. So, they may be short of nutritional content. Also, during transport they may lose whatever nutrition they have due to exposure to sunlight and heat. Frozen strawberries are also full of intense flavor and texture and can be made into purees or smoothies easily.

Visit FreezingStrawberries.net to know everything about strawberries, their health benefits, various methods of freezing strawberries and more.