Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category
A Step In The Right Direction
How are you starting 2012? Any new year resolutions? Have you been thinking of your health lately? Our household have been consciously been watching our food and nutrition intake for a while now. One of my Christmas presents includes a book on longevity – hundreds of ways to live to be 100. It’s always interesting to increase the knowledge of what’s healthy and what nutritional properties each food groups have. There are some “oh yeah” moments but there are those “that food does that” kind of moments as well.
Age causes oxidation which literally mean rusting of our bodies and they show up as ailments, clogged arteries, heart conditions, diabetes, liver diseases, cancers, or painful joints. So to counter that rusting process, it is highly recommended that we take in some anti-rust nutrition, or antioxidant to neutralize the free radicals that causes these ailments.
Blueberries, available widely in North America, has one of the highest rate of antioxidant properties. Ten times the antioxidant properties than blueberries are the acai berries, from the Brazilian rain forest. These are available in capsules or frozen form. In whichever way we like to take this amazing little fruit to supplement your daily diet, find one and try it. You’ll be amazed.
Avoid Acai Extracts
The acai berry is becoming well-known as a super fruit. Acai berries contain anthocyanins, antioxidants, dietary fiber, and helpful fatty acids. These nutrients have been shown to improve the health of those who eat the berries or take acai supplements. As access to fresh acai berries is incredibly rare outside the Amazon, most people get their intake of this super fruit through supplements.
When purchasing an acai supplement you want to look for products that have been freeze dried. Freeze dried acai retain much more of their nutrients, particularly if the method used to dry was practical freeze drying. (Spray drying is cheaper, but the heat used in the process depletes the nutritional value). Avoid supplements labeled acai extract; the whole fruit is nutritious so only getting a sampling doesn’t do you much good, and really cheats you out of the benefits you could be getting.
Weight Loss Fact or Fiction
The acai berry is many things. It is rich in antioxidants which help your skin, hair, and nails. It is also a great source of dietary fiber. One thing that people have claimed about the acai berry is that by eating acai berries or taking acai berry capsules fat will melt right off your body, no matter how bad your eating and exercise habits are.
This is simply not true. It’s not true of any weight-loss supplement, despite claims to the contrary. This doesn’t mean that acai isn’t a powerful ally in the war against fat. Taking acai berry capsules, in conjunction with moderate diet and exercise, can help you lose more weight than just diet and exercise alone.
Natural Aids for Digestive Health
Antacids are not the long-term answer for digestive woes-they cover up symptoms. It is essential to determine whether the root cause of digestive problems is food sensitivity, acid overproduction, or another problem. The first plan of action to combat digestive problems is to try eating less, eating earlier in the day, and eliminating foods that cause negative reactions for you. Including adequate fiber in your diet is the easiest way to improve your digestion, assisting your body in eliminating toxins and reducing your risk of high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, and colon cancer. A diet rich with beans, grains, and vegetables is a good way to begin. Many people have also recently turned to the acai berry diet, which is also touted for regulating digestion.
Digestive health supplements contain herbs known as cholagogues, which increase the flow of bile by assisting with liver and gallbladder function for more efficient processing of fats. Cholagogues boost saliva, digestive juices, and enzyme secretions to allow the body to take care of itself rather than simply reducing stomach acid temporarily as an antacid does.
Blend a Healthy Snack
It can be difficult for women to get all the essential vitamins and minerals they need. Often, women do not eat enough servings of fruit and vegetables each day to maintain optimum health. For example, calcium is a necessary nutrient for everyone, especially women. It strengthens bones and helps prevent osteoporosis. Women can get it through milk, cheese and yogurt, but those who don’t like milk or are intolerant to dairy products may be deficient in calcium. Fruits like oranges, blackberries, kiwi and tomatoes can provide calcium.
An easy way to take in several servings of fruit and nutrients is to drink fruit-filled smoothies. You can use a blender to make delicious, nutritious fruit smoothies at home that are much less expensive than smoothies you can buy at smoothie shops. Throw in some blackberries for calcium and iron, kiwi for copper, bananas for magnesium and acai berries for antioxidants. Add a powdered nutritional supplement to add even more health-benefitting nutrients.
Açai Berry Capsule, Juice or Frozen Pulp
The Açai berry is a volatile fruit and must be processed within 24 hours after harvest before it deteriorates and perishes away quickly. Local inhabitants are able to consume the Açai berry fresh whereas countries outside must consume it in a different form.
Açai berry could be processed into pulp and frozen before exporting out to other countries. The frozen pulp can be added to drinks, like a fruit smoothies. There are more obstacles in exporting pulp outside of the country – one of them would be weight – heavy to transport – and the second is the requirement for refridgeration during transport. The cost for additional precaution would be passed on to the consumers.
Pulps could also be turned into juice. However, as Açai pulps need to be diluted with water or other juices, the high nutritional values of the Açai are greatly diminished as a result.
Açai berry are also freeze-dried into a powder form which could then be mixed with water or other juices. Again the nutritional values of the berry are greatly diminished.
The most popular form of freeze-dried Açai to take with the maximum nutrients retained is in capsules. They could be taken any time, any where and any place. The freeze-dried Açai berry capsules are the most convenient and versatile supplement packed in a little parcel.
Nutritional Values of Açai Berry
There is a ton of vitamins and minerals packed in a little purple fruit called the Açai berry – the size of a blueberry. This berry is grown only in the Amazon jungle.
19 different amino acids have been found in Açai. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. It is essentially a super fruit for bodybuilders and there are approximately 8 grams of protein in every 100 gram serving of Açai berry.
Half of the Açai berry is fat, with close to three quarters of this fat being unsaturated fat, including Omega 3, Omega 6, and Omega 9. These omega fats are essential in the muscle recovery period after an intensive workout. Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids are good fats that cannot be produced by the body but must be obtained through healthy food intakes. These fats serve many functions, one of which is to increase the rate at which the body burns fat.
There are close to 15 grams of fiber in every 100 grams of freeze dried Açai powder. Fiber works as a cleanser scraping the inside of your intestines and cleaning out any toxin buildups. Fiber makes you feel full, warding off food cravings and temptation to eat more than you need. Consuming Açai berry products or supplements is also a tasty way to get the extra fiber your body needs to maintain proper blood sugar levels- an important way to keep fat from accumulating in your tissues.Açai Berry Facts, Health Risks, and a Source to Reduce These Risks
Açai Berry Facts
- Taste: sweet berry and chocolate
- Consumable products: juice, pills, powder or directly as a berry
- Native Brazilians eat the frozen pulp with bananas as their daily diet.
- Has 10 times the antioxidant level of grapes and over double that of blueberries
- Has about 30 times on average the power of the Anthocyanins of red wine. It is a powerful antioxidant (antioxidants protect cell damages).
- Eat a rainbow-rich diet to obtain as much vitamins and minerals as your could and supplement it with Açai berry products.
- Since Açai berry has exceptionally high values of omega fat, once harvested, it must be preserved immediately or it will quickly go bad. So to bring the berry outside of Brazil and to keep the most of its nutrients intact, the Açai berries are freeze-dried before leaving the country.
Health Risks
What does your daily intake of food looks like? Are you aware of what goes into your food? Are you aware of the toxins in the environment and eventually into our food and drinking water.
Toxins get accumulated in our body because of unhealthy eating habits like artificial food, fast food, oily and spicy food, red meat, consumption of alcohol and cigarette smoking. A majority of the toxins come from our regular food as most of vegetables and fruits carry pesticides or due to high pollution in the atmosphere.
These harmful toxins ruin your overall health. As a result, serious health problems will occur. Toxins cause major ailments and inhibit blood circulation process, which ultimately lead to serious heart conditions and other medical problems.
A Possible Source to Help Reduct Health Risks:
With high antioxidant and high fibre properties, Açai berry helps to remove and flush out harmful toxins from your body. Regular and consistent consumption of Açai berry will get your body cleansed naturally.
In addition, the Açai berry can help you achieve your weight loss goals by complimenting a regular healthy lifestyle, diet, and exercise regime. The extra energy, as testimonies from consumers had noted after taking the Açai berry supplements, will help you with your endurance for a longer exercise program.