I can remember when the only time I thought about the word “cranberry” is when the word sauce was attached (and that was usually around the major holidays). At Thanksgiving I would smear the deep jelly-like substance all over my dad’s famous cornbread stuffing. Back then, I couldn’t have cared less about any nutritional value this crap from a can held, I only cared that it was sweet, and it seemed as if the can was endless.

Now as an adult I find my self running into these scarlet red berries much more often. Usually in salads or used in many organic vegetarian dishes and occasionally accompanied by vodka.  I have even bought the dried ones in the grocery store to have as an in between snack. Cranberries are tart but sweet but like many fruits they carry healthy benefits if consumed in the proper form. Fresh cranberries, which contain the highest levels of beneficial nutrients, have been linked to treatment for many common day aliments. The biggest benefit being protection from urinary tract and bladder infections. Without giving huge explanation for the uses of this wonder berry here are a few other health issues in which cranberries can be beneficial, oral hygiene, lowering cholesterol or raising HDL (good cholesterol), and Cranberry Juice Ranked among the Highest in Antioxidant Activity. Hard to believe but in recent years cranberries have even been linked to the deterioration of cancerous cells in men and women.

If that’s not enough information to encourage you to give this healthy snack a try, how about focusing from a weight loss point of view. A half cup of cranberries is only aground 25 calories, and in those calories you gain a sufficient amount of Vitamin C, K and dietary fiber.