Acai benefits

The global superfruit is dinner in the Amazon.

Clustered high up in the slender, tilting palms of the eastern Amazon, the little purple orbs known as acai look mighty, like blueberries that took a very wrong turn out of Maine.

These are no mere muffin makers, though.

Acai benefits

Virtually unknown outside the Amazon two decades ago, and until 2000 not exported from Brazil, its major producer, acai (pronounced ah-sigh-EE) is now an international celebrity, riding the wave of the antioxidant craze and rainforest chic.

Acai benefits

On the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, surfers seeking an energy boost spoon acai smoothies from bowls. In the United States, companies touting its antioxidant powers blend the fruit into Snapple red tea; Red Brick Pizza’s frantically trendy multigrain, whole-wheat artisan crust; and acai benefits into everything from dietary supplements to beauty products.

But for families who live here along the winding, interlaced rivers at the hub of acai production, the fruit has long been a vital part of their diet, a cheap way to fill up and a taste of home. And now, for some, acai benefits are also a source of newfound prosperity.

In places like Cameta, a town of about 117,000, and Belem, the capital of Para State, a bowl of acai pulp is a filling side dish especially valued by poorer families.

Unlike the pulp used in Rio’s smoothies, the kind here is not pre-sweetened or frozen, but fresh from cylindrical machines known as batedores de acai, "acai beaters," that remove the thin layer of fruit from the pit.

Most every neighborhood has stands or small stores where customers get a daily or weekly supply.

Acai’s international reputation as an energy booster and diet aid tickles those who grew up with it as a caloric side dish.

"I find it funny," said LetÝcia Galvao, a psychologist who was having a lunch of seafood and acai with her husband and 1-year-old daughter at a restaurant called Point do Acai. "Generally, when you have acai here, you take a nap. There, it’s an energy drink."

Galvao said that her brother, a doctor living in the southern state of Parana, wasn’t a big acai fan growing up. But these days he asks anyone visiting him from Belem for a liter of the fresh stuff.

Read more:

NEW Jungle Love and Diet Amazon Energy

Sambazon has launched two new flavors of the Amazon Energy beverage you all know and love.

First off, they have added a lighter alternative - Amazon Energy Diet.

A touch of organic stevia (no artificial sweetener here) gives this energy drink all the flavor you want without the burden of unwanted sugars and calories.

Boasting only 40 calories and 9 grams of sugar per serving, this diet puts a guilt free spring in your step. And Sambazon's Amazon Energy Jungle Love and Diet are launching nationwide.

Second, Jungle Love is added to the mix. For this unique beverage, start with açaí, and add powerful love herbs and rainforest botanicals like guarana and yerba mate, giving you an organic passion potion that goes way beyond giving you an energy boost.

Jungle Love delivers 1000mg Jungle LoveTM Herb Blend per can including maca, catuaba, damiana, and passion flower.

Like original, Diet and Jungle Love don't skimp on the antioxidants and also deliver over 200% of your daily vitamin C and 80mg of natural caffeine per can.

Amazon Energy

Start with Acai, the amazing purple berry harvested from the amazon basin in Brazil. Add the Vitamin C superfruit acerola, along with rainforest botanicals like guarana and yerba mate, and you've got one potent, all-natural energy drink that heightens awareness while boosting your energy and immune system.

Since it is made with the finest organic ingredients, and not a drop of anything artificial, you can say goodbye to jitters and crashes. It's pure amazon energy through and through.

So, "get with the purple berry" and discover the natural evolution of the energy drink. To find out more about efforts to help protect the Amazon Rainforest – try the pure positive energy drink "Amazon Energy".

Super Healthy, Super Tasty Superfood

Amazon Energy

San Clemente–based Sambazon, the global leader in the Amazon superfood açaí, this month launched Amazon Energy, a new organic energy drink made with the açaí berry and other antioxidant-rich Amazon rainforest superfruits and botanicals.

“We’ve been working on this product for over three years and are very excited to finally bring consumers something they have been asking for: an organic, great-tasting energy drink made from high-quality superfood ingredients,” says Jeremy Black, vice president of marketing for Sambazon and San Clemente resident.

The product is available at sambazon.com, Tutor and Spunky’s Deli in Dana Point and soon nationwide at Whole Foods.

http://www.sanclementetimes.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,print,0&cntnt01articleid=949&cntnt01showtemplate=false&cntnt01returnid=99