Archive for the ‘Supplements’ Category
Açai Berry – The Purple Fruit
Are you ready to invest in your health in 2010?
Did you make a new year’s resolution this year (actually year after year) that you need to eat healthier and exercise more?
If you have been unsuccessful before, it is never too late to start but this year, try to take one step at a time. Sometimes, too much of one thing may prove to be too much to handle. For example, if you drastically reduce consumption of what your body is normally used to, the results may cause more damage than if you were to reduce it at a slower rate.
Recently, a doctor of my friend prescribed a new medication for her high blood pressure. She was also diagnosed with diabetes so she had to watch her glucose intake. The doctor advised her that she must avoid all salt. So what does she do? She avoided all salt and ended up in emergency because her electrolytes were way below normal. On top of that, she had a nervous breakdown immediately after she left the hospital and ended up in a psychiatric ward.
Throw our bodies out of balance; it could cause some serious damage to our bodies and medical health issues.
Nine months ago, I made a choice to have a much healthier diet and commit to a more regular exercise routine. As I was searching for health and well being on the internet, I encounter some new vocabulary, like antioxidants, phyto-chemicals, detoxification, phyto-nutrients, saturated and unsaturated fats or free radicals. Then I read about foods to avoid, like alcohol, caffeine, meat and meat products, sugar, salt, fatty and processed foods.
Have you heard about eating a rainbow diet which includes a variety of fruits and vegetables that are good for you? If I were to live a healthier lifestyle, I needed to re-adjust my food intake.
I came across the Açai berry fruit (the purple fruit) that has the highest antioxidant properties and helps fight against free radicals and toxins that surround us daily and come from food we ingest into our bodies. This fruit has at least twice the amount of antioxidants than blueberries. It is also high in fibre, amino acids, and omega fats. By taking the Açai berry supplements, those vital components to your diet will be taken care of.
The Açai berry is a staple food in the Brazilian natives’ daily diets.
Due to the fragility of the fruit once harvested and in order to keep the maximum nutrients, the Açai berry must be made into either a freeze-dried powder, frozen or dilute with other juices and preservatives.
The Açai berry capsule with the freeze-dried powder is the easiest and most economical way to consume this super fruit.
Acai Berry Supplements: Beyond the Hype
It seems that a new weight-loss fad hits the Internet every other day, and many of these diets aren’t worth the bandwidth it takes to advertise them. In recent months, fly-by-night Internet startups have been touting the miraculous weight-loss benefits of the acai berry, a fruit that really does contain nutritional value. Unfortunately, there is no magical substance that can help people shed pounds and keep the weight off.
Supplements of acai berry can work in conjunction with a balanced diet and a dedicated workout regimen. Acai berry benefits include a high concentration of antioxidants, which are effective at staving off disease. With that said, it’s important that online consumers don’t get caught up in the hype surrounding this exotic fruit. It’s far from the cure-all that some people would lead you to believe, but it certainly has its benefits.
What Are Free Radicals?
Most health-conscious individuals have an abstract notion that free radicals are harmful to the human body, but few understand the nitty-gritty details. Free radicals sound like the name of a bad garage rock band, but in fact they are unstable molecules floating inside the body. They disrupt living cells by stealing their electrons, and excessive organic damage can result if antioxidants aren’t present to clean up the mess.
A limited number of free radicals appear in the body as a result of metabolism, but many more are acquired through pollution, cigarette smoke and radiation. Studies have shown that vitamins C and E are particularly effective at fending off free radicals and their destructive tendencies. Freeze dried acai supplements contain more antioxidants than any other fruit, so they can be used as the first line of defense against free radicals.
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.