Acai Berry Diets
On first gulp, acai — a gritty fruit drink of crushed, powdered berries — sticks to the teeth.
But the real esophageal reaction comes when downing the “cleansing” liquid — a sickly sweet elixir concocted of every vegetable you likely hated as kid — Brussels sprouts, radishes, cauliflower, lentils and more.
Two weeks ago, my husband and I embarked on the acai diet, one that has been touted across the Internet to fight a variety of ills, including extra pounds, aging and cancer.
Surfers use it as an all-natural energy drink. Celebrities rave about it. Dermatologists say it makes you look younger. But what really makes the acai (ah-sigh-ee) fruit special is the way that much of it is harvested and brought to market.
In early 2000, eco-savvy entrepreneurs Ryan Black and Ed Nichols founded a company called Sambazon after trying acai with surfers during a trip to northeastern Brazil. Sambazon, short for Saving and Managing the Brazilian Amazon, buys its organic acai from 1,500 local families. The families harvest the fruit by hand in the Varzea Flooded Forest ecoregion, part of the biodiversity-rich Amazon basin. The company is committed to preserving the ecoregion by providing a sustainable, income-generating activity for these local growers.
“Neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz endorse or are associated with any acai berry product or on-line solicitation of such products,” said Harpo spokeman Don Halcombe. “Harpo lawyers are aggressively pursuing all of the companies that we know about or are reported to us.”
What Oz did say to television viewers is that acai “looked like a health food with nutritional benefits.”
“We were looking at foods that have deep colors,” said Oz. “These naturally colorful ones reflect antioxidant power.”
As far as those weight-loss properties, Oz said, “I’d be surprised if by itself acai could help.”