The Health Benefits of Pomegranates

A few months ago, I was having some pomegranates in the office, and to my surprise, a lot of my co-workers had never ever tasted one. Some of them didn’teven know what it was. Now you could say that I was sharing an office with idiots, and you might be right, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are still a lot of people who never give this incredibly strange fruit a chance, maybe because it’s a pain taking the seeds out.

If you don’t know what it is, it’s a red colored fruit that looks sort of like a shiny red-orange but the outer layer is incredibly tough (and inedible) while the insides comprise of just tiny edible seeds. Now these seeds may be tiny (and frankly, quite annoying to remove from the shell) but they are incredible nutritional powerhouses! In fact, pomegranate juice is known to contain more antioxidants than red wine and green tea!

Nutritional Profile

These tiny little seeds pack quite the nutritional punch. A 100grams contains only 85 calories, 19grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of heart-healthy fiber, 2 grams of protein and 1 gram of fat. Not bad for less than 100 calories.

Vitamins and Minerals

Fiber isn’t the only thing that makes these little red seeds so healthy. They are loaded with several essential vitamins and minerals, such as Potassium, Folate, Vitamin C and Vitamin K.

Antioxidants

Pomegranates contain a high number of antioxidants, such as, Punicic Acid and Punicalagins, which make these little ones a strong competitor in the fight against inflammation, cancer, obesity, bowel syndromes and various types of heart diseases.

Improves athletic performance

The pump junkies will be happy to know that pomegranates contain a high number of natural nitrates, which convert to nitric oxide within the body, leading to improved blood flow and thus, enhanced muscle pumps and stamina.

How to consume

My favorite way is to just take out all the seeds and then run them through a juicer. A cold glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice on a hot day just tastes amazing. If you don’t want to go through the process of removing the seeds, you can just buy the juice from the store but make sure it doesn’t have added sugars and preservatives. Pomegranates keep well refrigerated so it shouldn’t be too hard to find fresh juices.

You can even add them to your salads. It makes them look pretty and adds a nice sweet and tart element to your salads. Come thanksgiving and you can add the seeds to your turkey stuffing and it would give your bird a nice exotic touch.