Acai: Full of Antioxidants, Tastes Like A Chocolate Blueberry
An affair with Acai
There you are, jogging in place in the line of the smoothie store that you always stop at when your workout for the day is coming to a close. You're winding your body down, getting ready to fill it with some energy boosters or immune-fighting juice add-ons and your eye is caught by a word that you think you've seen before. Acai. You aren't quite sure how to say it and you don't really know what it is, but you know that it's something that's been popping up a lot lately between the covers of your favorite health magazines and now on the list of smoothie-boosters here at your juice place.
When your turn comes at the counter, the bored-looking teenager asks what you want to order and you hesitate for a minute. You pick your drink and then ask, "so what is this Acai stuff?" The teenager's eyes light up a little bit because you've given him something to talk about which kills time at this job that he's not sure he likes. As he begins to give you the information that you were seeking about Acai, you get involved in the conversation. Your in-place jogging comes to a halt and you get the five-minute rundown on the wonders of Acai.
The teenager corrects your pronunciation of the word first. "It's ah-sigh-ee," he enunciates for you and you let the word kind of struggle to leap off of your own tongue because it sounds a bit funny in that foreign kind of way. "It's the hottest new thing," your new juice store buddy tells you, informing you that the reason is because, "it's supposed to be all healthy and stuff."
"Healthy, how?" you inquire.
He continues making your drink while he answers, "oh, you know, it has those antioxidant things in it". He finishes making your smoothie and hands it to you, along with a little packet of information about Acai.
You pay for your smoothie and turn away, but your ear catches his voice and you turn back. "What was that?"
"I just said it actually tastes really good." He lowers his voice and looks around, probably to see where his manager is standing, and then he turns back and says, "Most of the healthy stuff in this place tastes nasty, but that Acai stuff is like those fancy chocolate bars that have berries in them or something. It's really good."
You look down at the bland strawberry banana smoothie in your hand and say, "thanks". Seated at the outdoor table of your juice place, enjoying the breeze, you read about this tropical fruit which comes from Brazil's rainforests. In between daydreams of running off to Brazil, you learn that Acai is filled with quality fatty acids which help to improve the health of your heart. You also learn that this chocolate berry fruit has a particular kind of amino acid complex which helps to improve the health of your muscles.
And, as the kid behind the counter told you, Acai is filled with those antioxidants. In fact, it has more of them than any other fruit you've had in your diet. You think about the health benefits of this new food. And you think about the fact that antioxidants are good for your health. Then you look at the kid behind the counter again and wonder if he's in college yet. What you're thinking is that Acai could make you look and feel younger and that you and he might have a terrific trip to Brazil's rainforests as long as he's already eighteen. You dump your strawberry banana smoothie in the trash and go in to order something with Acai in it.
