I have a Testimony... of antioxidants

Ok, I know they don't look like blueberries, but they are. Before they turn blue, that is. I've been growing this little bush since last fall in hopes that I can have some fresh blueberries to eat with my breakfast. I started eating blueberries about two years ago, when my wife and I bought a big bag of them at Costco for some reason, but that reason did not use all of them so I had to eat the rest. These little blueberries changed my life. Or at least they changed my breakfast. I haven't paid a penny for my cereal for the last 4 years. How? Basically all the old bác I know who get food from the food bank but don't like cereal - they give it to me. Every month I get at least 6 boxes! And I eat about that much, too, since I have cereal every morning. In case anyone's interested, I also have a fridge full of cheese, another food that does not agree with most Vietnamese palates or digestive systems. Then I got poor, so I opted for raisins which are also found at Costco but for 1/4 of the price of blueberries. A trusted source (i.e. the chart on the back of the blueberry bag) informed me that next to the very berries I was holding in my hand, raisins have the highest amount of antioxidants. I figured that must be a good thing, so I've been eating raisins in my cereal ever since. I guess I got desperate after two years of plain "Crispy Hexagons" or "Crispy Rice" or "Tastee O's" and blueberries or raisins have fulfilled that need ever since.

Here's the cool thing. Even though sometimes my wife tells me I'm crazy about health stuff, I had no "health" motive in putting blueberries and raisins in my food. I just needed some variety in my life and in my cereal. But after several months of berry-raisin-eating, which happened to be the winter months that get me sick every year, I looked back realized that I hadn't even had a cold through that whole time period. I firmly believe in the power of the mind for healing the body, so I thought that this might just be the placebo effect, since blueberries are so high in "antioxidants" which are supposed to be healthy. But I didn't even care about that, I was just eating them for the taste. However, I just passed it off as coincidence, and went on my way. Now, two full years later, I have not had so much as a coughing spell and that's including the stress-filled graduate-marriage-car-stolen- new-job-wife-in-vietnam-general-election season late last year. So my conclusion: blueberries and raisins are a part of your balanced diet and will help you stay healthy (it probably helps that I ride my bike everyday and eat fruit like a monkey). I did my homework and I guess over time our insides "oxidize" and the "antioxidants" fight it. So I see it as keeping my innards from rusting.