ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
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| The Bethany Lutheran Blogspot |
I almost wrote - "four new hymns." The hymns on the Bethany Lutheran Hymnal Blog are classic, but the illustrations are new. Thank you, Norma Boeckler.
The best known hymn tunes are linked to the Tacoma Lutheran Church site, where they have posted most of the tunes of The Lutheran Hymnal.
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| John Mason Neale was a prolific hymn writer and hymn translator. |
"In the struggle with conscience the feeling of sin, the wrath of God, death, hell, and all other terrors exert a powerful control, as we know by experience.
Then we must tell the tempted one: Brother, you desire to have a righteousness that one is able to feel, that is, you want to feel your righteousness as you feel your sin. But it will not be so…
Your righteousness cannot be seen, cannot be felt; rather you must hope that it will be revealed in due time. This is why you must not judge by the feeling of sin, which troubles and terrifies you, but by the promise and teaching of faith, by which Christ is promised, who is your perfect and everlasting Righteousness."
From Plass. What Luther Says_. p 668
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| Otto H. W. Heick taught at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary and befriended us. He took us out to dinner and ate at our apartment |
First of all, I thank God for placing in my life so many Lutheran leaders who were incompetent, apostate, and just plain dishonest. Some were laity, too. I can name them and match their paradoxical influence with things I learned from the Scriptures, Luther, and the Book of Concord, which they pretended to know. If everything had gone well instead awry, I would have been a placid, no-nothing, blander than milquetoast manager of sorts, very comfortable.
Secondly, I thank God for Christina, from the first day of college to her first day in eternal life, 55 years - almost to the day. The funny-hilarious-dramatic-genius moments with her are not so painful to recall now. She had everything to do with many blessings for me, her children, members, her friends - especially those almost friendless or overlooked.
I am thankful to God for this far-flung congregation and group of readers. Yes, I welcome and am thankful for those who read the blog out of fear, anger, or curiosity. Some have been angels unaware, thereby converted to the truth of the Scriptures, Justification by Faith, and the Means of Grace.
Someone asked the Yale philosopher-theologian Paul L. Holmer why he was a Christian. They expected something deep, cryptic, and incredibly complicated. He said, "My mother taught me." I can say the same thing. I remember my mother teaching me the 23rd Psalm (KJV). When she was dying in our house, 90+ years old, I said, "You taught me this, Mom." And I read it to her. She breathed deeply and passed into eternal life.
Ultimately, the Scriptures taught me, and I had my mother's deep knowledge of science and nature plus her trust in the Word of God. There was no contradiction.
The Book of the Holy Spirit is wiser than any man or book, so I feel like I just discovered a KJV at my doorstep because of the effect of defending and promoting this translation. In fact, a KJV did show up at our doorstep, the lectern Bible that rests on the stand which I built from an Amazon kit.
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| Paul L. Holmer, Guggenheim Fellow, Yale philosopher-theologian. |
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| Nils A. Dahl was head of the Yale New Testament department, devoted to the text, not the theories. |
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| He was selected by Dahl to teach at Yale. |
One of the key values of the KJV is its longevity as a translation. Updates have been rare and slight, except for the famous 19th century KJV Revision, which bombed worse than Paul Kelm's version of evangelism, absent the Gospel, packed with plagiarized droppings from Fuller Seminary.
But that is not all. The KJV team tried hard to make their words match the original, so the translation is the best possible experience for those who only know English (which now means almost all seminarians).
The WELS college faculty, now submerged into the ladies' school of ministry in New Ulm, hated the NIV - the "classic" NIV, the holocaust NIV exterminated by its greedy, rapacious publishers. The college professors murmured against the NIV in classes but said little or nothing when WELS made the new, even worse NIV their standard. The New NIV is truly the ideal bad paraphrase for the KJV-Never bumpkins who run the sect.
Those who respect the KJV also honor Justification by Faith - not just among Lutherans.
The KJV translators were not great, famous writers, but they lived at the same time as Shakespeare (actually the Earl of Oxford). English was at its peak, but that does not explain the beauty and cadence of the KJV verses, many passages welded into our memories - The 23rd Psalm, 1 Corinthians 13, and the Lord's Prayer.
The modernists skip all around with their Nida Dynamic Equivalence, so a word or phrase translated one way is changed in another location.
I am not arguing for a word for word translation, which only happens in clumsy interlinear Bibles. Those like Lenski who provide a translation showing off the Greek grammatical points will produce a New Testament that becomes humorous at times (yet effective for teaching Greek).
The KJV translators themselves were awed by the finished product, which gradually pushed the Geneva Bible into the dustbin of history. Nobody ordered the KJV to dominate. That kind of tyranny had to wait for WELS to ban everything except their precious New, Improved, NIV. You will notice that changing year by year, though English does not change so fast. They must think their original and subsequent editions were pretty bad, no?
The explanation for the KJV lasting 400+ years and dominating the reading of all English Bibles is simple. The KJV teams worked from faith in Jesus Christ and a genuine desire to take what was good from before and make it even better if possible.
Tyndale set the stage - and he was a rare genius in giving life to his work, which was most of the New Testament and a large part of the Old Testament. One writer said that Tyndale outshone Luther, but that is debatable and includes Luther's entire team. Nevertheless, the KJV's genius began with Tyndale. Honest scholars give credit to the earlier efforts, to Luther, to the Geneva Bible, and 50+ faithful scholars of the KJV translation.
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| If you hate the New NIV, don't worry, they will keep changing it, year after year. The WELS clergy nicknamed it the Nineveh Bible, but they whispered in Gath lest the joke be heard in plush carpeted halls of the Love Shack. |
Harold Bloom, The Shadow of a Great Rock: A Literary Appreciation of the King James Bible.
I knew that Harold Bloom was famous at Yale, in the English department, so I ordered his book on the KJV, via Alibris used books, which usually means almost brand new condition.
The back cover made it sound positive, but the entire book is in praise of himself - Harold Bloom, atheist - no he likes the term "gnostic" better. Mild praise of the KJV is followed by superficial, snide remarks, as if he can look down his nose at the Bible because he is a famous critic, no longer chasing the skirts of his students, having met his Maker.
The Harvard book - which reviews the precision and style of the KJV - is so much better. I will be using that for the second edition of The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God.
Bloom is an excellent example of someone who does not believe the Scriptures and therefore becomes blinded and hardened. The Spirit is always at work in the Word, so someone who uses that powerful and effective Word for mockery will pay a terrible price.
That mockery is standard for those tenured professors who teach the Scriptures and "world religion." My informant about world religion in the Phoenix community college network said, "They are all atheists and hate each other. I wish you could get the position but you would not be happy there."
What people sense, and also act upon, is the chill of apostasy among the Lutheran synod leaders and teachers. Those apostates are devoted to their perks and privileges, and mock the KJV.
When offered the chance (for free) to teach Lutherans to use the Gospel Word about faith in Jesus Christ, the Wisconsin sect chose to buy the Unstuck Program. Most of the real work of evangelism is free or almost free. Unstuck is just an echo of Fuller, Willow Creek, Waldo Werning, and the gimmicks of Floyd Luther Stolzenburg.
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| Spener brings it home, and the pigs love it. Woo, pig, souie - Church Growth Hogs. |
The last celebration, July 10, 2021 - was for 9 million views. I know many are praying for me - to stop. So I want to discourage them as much as possible.
That gives us a million-per-year viewing rate. I wonder how that matches the Calvinist News (nee Christian News, nee Lutheran News). They turned that into a goldmine, or rather, a lead mine. Those who dig up lead for a living find traces of gold, so the analogy is apt.
CN is out of gold but the lead can be polished to look like silver.
Interest in the KJV is very high. When my eyes work together, after the second cataract surgery, I will be able to finish up the second edition of The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God.
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| Let me count the ways - NIV or ESV Bible, KJV-Never, praise band, Luther only used for funny trinkets, Melanchthon and Chemnitz unknown, frequent trips to Fuller, Willow Creek, and other doctrinal dens of iniquity, clergy drunk or adulterous or both. |
The atrocity of my food habits is becoming obvious as I dethrone the Standard American Diet (SAD) and replace it with Furhman's nutritional ideas. Each day I study the two Fuhrman books I have, because they are so full of information.
That did not happen at once, because I was paring down the fat-producing foods in favor of nutrition. In the last month I have lost weight and increased in energy. I also sleep through the night, which is another improvement.
My new kick is leafy greens. I had two piles of them yesterday, for lunch and supper. I will have one today for breakfast. There are two basic reasons:
They are almost calorie free but add a lot of nutrition, especially when eaten with some nuts (almonds, walnuts) and some seeds (flax ordered).
I used to read things like "four fruit servings a day" and think - I will try for one a day. When protein and desserts are a priority, fruit is a distant goal, a long-distance goal. Now fresh fruit replaces dessert 100% and I consider fresh oranges and apples dessert. Juices are banned, whether sugared or sugar-free, because they have the same bad effect. Diet juices and sodas can be very addicting.
Furhman calls this a relying-on-fat diet, because it is possible to avoid eating fats with so much stored around the waist. Some call this a fat-burning diet, which also makes sense. Relying on sugar and fast-acting sweets for energy, the liver quickly lays down a new row of sandbags - fat layers. When this is denied, stored fat is rousted from its comfortable position and used for fuel. That is energizing while storing new layers makes us tired, sleepy, and unambitious.
That explains why sensible eating helps us lose weight while giving us more energy. Crash diets lose weight in a miraculous fashion, but they do not change habits. The rebound is something to see, gaining it all back, adding another 10% for margin, and feeling like a dope.
Long ago I spotted a diet book-of-the-month club, which is as hilarious - or as sad as - the Church-Growth-Book-of-the-Month club. Both assuming that one idea per month is a complete failure, so they try the new one. Church Growth soldiers on because the apostates love it and cannot digest Biblical doctrine.
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| Mencken was a bit harsh on the WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC combine. Add a boatload of Thrivent salesmanship. |
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| Barbara and Kurt Aland. They remind me of the stars in Frankenstein. Kurt is Boris, and Barbara is... |
I had two big finds on KJV information. One was about the literary style and translation art of the KJV. Yes, translating is an art. Simply knowing the language is not enough. More on that later.
The other one was a big shock, because many books go over the background material most know about. This one has a lot of new information gathered about how the 19th century revision of the KJV utterly failed - so bad the leaders knew it was unfixably bad. They printed zillions and hoped to make a fortune. Nope. Everyone wanted the KJV.
The book also describes the devious, dishonest tactics used - not as bad as WELS changing the vote to yes on the DMLC-NWC merger. But close to that level of crookedness. The revisers pushed the traditionalists out and promoted their own wacky ideas. They were also very close to the Roman Catholic leaders and friends.
I hope to make the point clearer (since I know more now) that Roman Catholics were invited in and given the leverage needed to challenge the faithful KJV and Majority Text and replace both with pieced-together paraphrases and Roman Catholic frauds - Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. The public thought their work stunk like a dead, rotting elephant corpse, but the radicals took over in the name of the "oldest and best, scientific, accurate and awesome text," except it does not exist.
The "eclectic text," as they call it, does not exist anywhere except in their parboiled minds. They snipped and pasted and looked in wonder at what they invented - "This is truly the original Greek New Testament, because we ourselves fashioned it on our computers."
Chickpeas boast an impressive nutritional profile.
They contain a moderate number of calories, providing 269 per cup (164 grams). Approximately 67% of these calories come from carbs, while the rest comes from protein and fat (
Chickpeas also provide a variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as a decent amount of fiber and protein. A 1-cup (164-gram) serving of cooked chickpeas offers (
I was walking Sassy a bit late this morning when a big black dog met me in the middle of the road (no traffic) and began hugging me. "Alaska! Are you out again? Let's go home."
Alaska, full of energy and love, loped in circles around me and came back to hug me some more.
"Come on Sass, Alaska has to go home. Alaska, I will be your advocate, your protector." Sassy was audibly annoyed and barked some displeasure.
We were close to the house, so I rang the bell, and out came one of the staff. He said, "Oh yeah, he took off running this morning." Alaska went inside. They love Sassy, and I love Alaska and Atlas.
Once we got to the turn-around, Pat and John needed a lift to the bank and auto repair. We went back and got the Voyager and took them both places. I wanted some Walmart vegetables, so I got them the milk they needed.
The errand worked out well, and we came back. Sassy got lots of attention in the car, from petting where she lies down, between the front seats. When we drove onto some new streets for car repair estimates, Sassy spoke up with her special "I don't know where you are going" cracked bark. It is pitiful and sad -- and very handy for getting attention.
Surfer dude
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I wrote to someone that I weighed less than I have for a long time. I was lighter when we were on a tight budget and food was carefully picked and eaten with elan. A transient came to our home and we borrowed money from him!
The recipient said, "I need to lose some weight." That was a major part of my problem, because I never faced the necessity of dealing with nutrition first and last. Once the warrantee ran out on my pancreas, I faced the facts because I had to. My habits ranged from horrible to SAD - Standard American Diet, long on carbos and fat, short on beans and greens.
I already had Fuhrman's (unread!) Eat To Live and read that back and forth, a great source for nutrition in all the major food groups. I ordered Furhman's book, The End of Heart Disease, a hardback in new condition from Alibris.com.
Blood sugar, blood pressure, and heart problems are closely related, and I wanted some focused material on such things as blood pressure medicine, insulin, and the relationship between food and heart problems.
Arkansas is the second most obese state in the Union, beaten only by Mississippi. (We beat them in literacy, too!) Nothing is talked about more than football contests, sweetened tea, and biscuits with gravy. And it shows. Everyone who doubts the relationship between weight and illness should spend some hours at a hospital waiting room. Unfortunately for me, the men I saw made me feel like a contestant for Mr. Universe (in the elderly category, of course).
Some look at body mass, but body girth will do the job, too. Riding on a scooter is a hint as well.
Complete Change in Eating Habits
First I woke up to foods on the banned list - favorites:
Here is the challenge, getting to the place where those are undesirable and not a bit tempting.
Here is a coffee parallel. I drink various kinds of coffee. If it is the one of the best I have ever had, I drink every drop - I savor every drop! If it is an ordinary bean, I drink 2/3rds and lose my desire for more.
Behold, the key to desiring good food - cut out the SAD calories. Why eat an orange after bacon, eggs, toast, and butter? "No, barrumph, I am full."
Fruits are very nutritious and not sugary because of the pulp, etc. Juices are sugar syrup. Fake sweeteners do not help because they make the body think sugar is being consumed.
Beans are loaded with nutrition and very satisfying. So are the crucifers, members of the cabbage family. A bowl of kidney beans or brussels sprouts are very enjoyable warmed up.
Greens are super-foods as well - with no calories. Fuhrman emphasizes the micro-nutrients and the many overlooked virtues of greens. The big one is - No calories! I am a big fan of spinach, so I will be getting canned spinach and work into other leafy greens. Kale? - I used to make fun of it when I could see it green in the snowy garden. I am changing my mind.
Nuts and seeds. I am already keen on walnuts and almonds. I will work on the seeds next.
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KJV Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The Lutherans could fix their problems easier than the MT project. They would have to give up their Calvinist-Modernist Bible paraphrases (ESV, RSV, NRSV, NIV, TEV) all of them departing from the well established KJV Majority Text which goes back to the apostolic era.
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| Concordia Publish House gave you Here I Stand socks plus the Gospel of Mark commentary based on Codex Vaticanus - written by Judas Voelz and sold for a king's ransom. |
They would have to stop using Luther for "humorous trinkets" and reconsider him at the greatest Biblical exegete and preacher of all time, with a genius team that carried on his work - Melanchthon, Chemnitz, etc.
They would have to stop using their titles, robes, and wormtongue assistants for covering up scandals and rewarding adulterous alcoholics.
In short, there is no plausible solution, because they rely on their own merits and despise the truths comprising the Reformation, intent on copying the Deformation of the Calvinists and Papists.
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| Lutherans - you have been defrauded. |
Left eye done. No pain. No discomfort.
Special lens, stent for glaucoma.
Follow ups, plus next eye next week.
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| These apostate leaders are KJV-Never while their membership is about 60% KJV. Do we discern a great blunder in mainline liberal marketing, just to get some fast bucks from the NIV and ESV salescritters? |
I will have cataract surgery today, so I am going easy on the eyes. The second operation will be a week later.
Someone mentioned a book I had on the KJV and the specific essay I overlooked. I found it last night and it is exactly what The Bible Book second edition needed. I will quote it here, soon.
Many say the KJV is beautiful, poetic, and even musical in its expressions. Most of us know that, especially comparing it to the simpleton NIV, the phony ESV, and the ridiculous TEV (Good News for Modern Illiterates).
A few like to say, haughtily, that the ESV is "better than the NIV." I could eat a ream of paper and puke a better translation than the ESV. Oh no, I have ELDONA crying in their hankies again and burning up the Internet.
The essay explains how and why the KJV became the favorite English Bible (still is) and the foundation of the English language - with Shakespeare's help.
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| Blueberries are a medicine we can enjoy without a sour look on our faces. |
The blueberry bush (Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus) is a flowering shrub that produces berries with a bluish, purple hue — also known as blueberries.
It is closely related to similar shrubs, such as those that produce cranberries and huckleberries.
Blueberries are small — around 0.2–0.6 inches (5–16 millimeters) in diameter — and feature a flared crown at the end.
They are green in color when they first appear, then deepen to purple and blue as they ripen.
The two most common types are:
Blueberries are among the most nutrient-dense berries. A 1-cup (148-gram) serving of blueberries contains (1):
They are also about 85% water, and an entire cup contains only 84 calories, with 15 grams of carbohydrates.
Calorie for calorie, this makes them an excellent source of several important nutrients.
SUMMARYThe blueberry is a very popular berry. It is low in calories but high in fiber, vitamin C and vitamin K.
Antioxidants protect your body from free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can damage your cells and contribute to aging and diseases, such as cancer (
Blueberries are believed to have one of the highest antioxidant levels of all common fruits and vegetables (
The main antioxidant compounds in blueberries belong to a family of polyphenols antioxidants called flavonoids.
One group of flavonoids in particular — anthocyanins — is thought to be responsible for much of these berries’ beneficial health effects (
Blueberries have been shown to directly increase antioxidant levels in your body (
SUMMARYBlueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of all the popular fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids appear to be the berries’ antioxidant with the greatest impact.
Oxidative DNA damage is an unavoidable part of everyday life. It is said to occur tens of thousands of times per day in every cell in your body (10).
DNA damage is part of the reason we grow older. It also plays an important role in the development of diseases like cancer (
Because blueberries are high in antioxidants, they can neutralize some of the free radicals that damage your DNA.
In one study, 168 people drank 34 ounces (1 liter) of a mixed blueberry and apple juice daily. After four weeks, oxidative DNA damage due to free radicals was reduced by 20% (
These findings agree with smaller studies that use either fresh or powdered blueberries (
SUMMARYSeveral studies suggest that blueberries and blueberry juice reduce DNA damage, which is a leading driver of aging and cancer.
Oxidative damage is not limited to your cells and DNA.
It is also problematic when your “bad” LDL cholesterol is oxidized.
In fact, oxidation of “bad” LDL cholesterol is a crucial step in the heart disease process.
The antioxidants in blueberries are strongly linked to reduced levels of oxidized LDL. This makes blueberries very good for your heart (
A daily 2-ounce (50-gram) serving of blueberries lowered LDL oxidation by 27% over eight weeks in obese people who were obese (
Another study determined that eating 2.5 ounces (75 grams) of blueberries with a main meal significantly reduced the oxidation of “bad” LDL cholesterol (
SUMMARYThe antioxidants in blueberries have been shown to reduce a predominant risk factor for heart disease by preventing oxidative damage to “bad” LDL cholesterol.
Blueberries appear to have significant benefits for people with high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease.
In an eight-week study, obese people who had had a high risk of heart disease noted a 4–6% reduction in blood pressure after consuming 2 ounces (50 grams) of blueberries per day (
Other studies have observed similar effects — especially for postmenopausal women (
SUMMARYRegular blueberry intake is tied to lower blood pressure in numerous studies.
While eating blueberries may lower blood pressure and oxidized LDL cholesterol, it’s important to keep in mind that these are risk factors — not actual diseases.
It would be much more informative to know whether blueberries help prevent hard endpoints like heart attacks, which are the world’s leading cause of death (
A study in 93,600 nurses found that those with the highest intake of anthocyanins — the main antioxidants in blueberries — were at a 32% lower risk of heart attacks compared to those with the lowest intake (
Because this was an observational study, it cannot prove that the anthocyanins alone caused the reduction in risk.
More studies are needed before any claims can be made.
SUMMARYSome evidence indicates that eating fruits rich in anthocyanins — such as blueberries — is associated with a reduced risk of heart attacks.
Oxidative stress can accelerate your brain’s aging process, negatively affecting brain function.
According to animal studies, the antioxidants in blueberries may affect areas of your brain that are essential for intelligence (
They appear to benefit aging neurons, leading to improvements in cell signaling.
Human studies have also yielded promising results.
In one of these studies, nine older adults with mild cognitive impairment consumed blueberry juice every day. After 12 weeks, they experienced improvements in several markers of brain function (
A six-year study in over 16,000 older individuals found that blueberries and strawberries were linked to delays in mental aging by up to 2.5 years (
SUMMARYThe antioxidants in blueberries seem to benefit your brain by aiding brain function and delaying mental decline.
Blueberries provide moderate amounts of sugar compared to other fruits.
One cup (148 grams) holds 15 grams of sugar, which is equivalent to a small apple or large orange (1).
However, the bioactive compounds in blueberries appear to outweigh any negative impact of the sugar when it comes to blood sugar control.
Research suggests that anthocyanins in blueberries have beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. These anti-diabetes effects occur with both blueberry juice and extract (
In a study in 32 obese people with insulin resistance, two blueberry smoothies daily caused major improvements in insulin sensitivity (
Improved insulin sensitivity should lower the risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, which are currently two of the world’s biggest health problems.
SUMMARYSeveral studies demonstrate that blueberries have anti-diabetes effects, improving insulin sensitivity and lowering blood sugar levels.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common problem for women.
It is widely known that cranberry juice can help prevent these types of infections.
Because blueberries are closely related to cranberries, they boast many of the same active substances as cranberry juice (
These substances are called anti-adhesives and help prevent bacteria like E. coli from binding to the wall of your bladder.
Blueberries have rarely been studied for their impact on UTIs, but they likely have similar effects as cranberries (
SUMMARYLike cranberries, blueberries contain substances that can prevent certain bacteria from binding to the wall of your bladder, which may help prevent UTIs.
Strenuous exercise can lead to muscle soreness and fatigue.
This is driven partly by local inflammation and oxidative stress in your muscle tissue (
Blueberry supplements may lessen the damage that occurs at a molecular level, minimizing soreness and reduced muscle performance.
In a small study in 10 female athletes, blueberries accelerated muscle recovery after strenuous leg exercises (
