Posts Tagged ‘antioxidants’

The Importance of Antioxidants

Tuesday, May 18, 2010
posted by Acai4Health

For the last several years, “antioxidant” has been a buzzword in the health industry, but few people actually know what an antioxidant is or how it is supposed to benefit them. In order to answer these basic questions, first we must define what a free radical is. During natural metabolic processes, our bodies produce free radicals, which contribute to a myriad of health problems. Typically, our bodies are capable of combating free radicals, but other external factors, such as smoking, sun exposure and pollutants, can raise our levels.

Essentially, antioxidants work to eradicate free radicals from our system. Antioxidants can be found naturally in fruits and vegetables, such as the antioxidant acai berry. Different antioxidants target various free radicals and areas of the body, so it is important to get them from a range of sources.

Açai berry, a fruit that is packed with numerous amazing compounds which are essential to development and maintenance of our body, contains a high concentration of antioxidants which are effective in eradicating free radicals which are inherent in our modern living.

Açai berry has an extremely high fat (good fat) content that it needs to be preserved immediately after harvest as it will deteriorate very rapidly.  No fresh açai berries will make it out of the country at all. 

One of the most effective ways to preserve this amazing fruit is to freeze dry them and encapsulate them for consumption outside the country.

These Açai berry freeze dried capsule products can be found online or in any health food stores.  The typical dosage of açai berry is 500 mg, which is better than none.  Studies have shown that taking a daily dosage of 500mg to 1000mg of açai berry is recommended.

Keep in mind that when you find a 100% pure Açai berry capsules, your intake is a food product and nothing else.  There are no side effects to taking the açai berry.  So for those who are truly interested in improving your overall health, the minimum dosage should be 1000mg and up to 4000mg would be beneficial.

Açai Berry – The Purple Fruit

Monday, January 11, 2010
posted by AcaiMom

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.

Add Açai Berry To Your Healthy Eating

Thursday, December 31, 2009
posted by AcaiMom

Happy New Year!

The holidays are always great reasons to get together with families and friends. With laughter and joy of reunions and the reason for the holidays, scrumptious feast follows right behind. Turkey dinners, with cranberry sauce, potatoes, yams, brussels sprouts, cheesecakes, puddings, ice cream, and lots of happy alcoholic beverages.

During the holidays, were you being active and eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables?

If you were like me, my being active was raising the glass, seesawing my dinner with my knife, and major walking activity in the malls. After all, I had to use those elbows to fend off my lutes.

Being active is vitally important in our daily routine. It keeps our body moving, joints flexible, and mind active.

Eating healthy with less saturated fat is also vitally essential in keeping nutrient rich balance in our bodies.

Research suggests that up to 35 percent of cancers are related to poor diet. By modifying what you eat and being active, you can reduce your risk of cancer and other health problems

High fiber diets are clearly beneficial. Foods with high phytonutrients, like those found in plant foods, help fight diseases.

The Açai berry, found only in the Amazon jungle, is high in fiber, omega fats, and exceptionally high in antioxidant properties. These berries deteriorate within 24 hours of being harvested. Therefore bringing them outside of the country is impossible. It is found that the Açai berry skin has the high nutrient values in fiber, omega fats and antioxidant properties and these can be preserved when freeze-dried. They could then packaged in freeze dried capsules and be available around the globe.

So keep up with your daily recommended nutrient intake and try some freeze dried Açai berry supplements.

Antioxidants & Free Radicals

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
posted by Acai4Health

freeradicalsIn the 1990s the thousand-year-old acai berry was finally introduced to the western world. The berry possesses countless health benefits and was first used by the tribes in the Amazon to treat various illnesses. One of the berry’s most prolific benefits is its antioxidant qualities. The berry also helps reduce the bad cholesterol in the blood.

Many Americans have been inundated with information about the benefits of an acai berry diet. This type of diet is an effective way to get the body freed of its free radicals. The acai berry contains nearly 300 percent more antioxidants than fruits like strawberries or blueberries. Free radicals are what causes our bodies to age, and antioxidants fight against free radicals, so an acai berry cleanse is a great way to make sure your body stays young looking.

Açai Berry – Fair Trade Market

Friday, October 23, 2009
posted by AcaiMom

How would like to contribute to the well beings of developing countries?

Would you like to see them thrive?

Would you like to see them get fair wages so they could support themselves, their families, and their economy?

Would you like to see children in these developing countries get a proper education and contribute to society?

Children deserves more than being hungry constantly, living in an unhealthy environment, drinking unclean water, and lacking a solid education.

The Açai berry comes only from the Amazon jungle where local natives have the opportunity to make a decent living supporting their families and local economy by harvesting the fruits, provided that they are fairly traded in the marketplace. The local natives climb these Açai palm trees for the harvest. It is a way of life for most inhabitants of the jungle.

Harvesting the Açai berries instead of cutting down these towering Açai palm trees for lumber and other by-products preserves the ecological biodiversity of the rainforest and its habitats.

These dark purple fruits are packed with much more nutrients than any products that man could make and contains high antioxidant properties. They are the major part of the native’s daily diets. Only about 10% of the fruits are edible. The skin and the minimal pulp are separate from the seeds. As these berries have a high fat content and spoil within 24 hours after harvesting, it must be turned into a puree or a powdered form immediately, prior to transporting outside of the country.

How these berries are processed is the key to retaining as much of the nutritional values as possible. Producing freeze-dried açai berry capsule is one of the ways to keep most nutrients intact.

Of course, there are always demands versus availability. Overharvesting depletes the stock even though these Açai palm trees produce millions of berries each year. However, with the high demands around the world, it created motivation for local farmers to protect the acai berry palm and to plant more of them. This creates employment and preserves local cultures, support the local economy and benefits the local inhabitants.

Acai and Antioxidants – Part 1

Monday, September 21, 2009
posted by Puma

Acai Berries are rich in antioxidants, but what are they?

Antioxidants are nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. When our body cells use oxygen, free radicals are naturally created.

How is Oxidation harmful?

Oxidation is the chemical reaction associated with the transfer of electrons from one substance to an oxidizing agent. This is how free radicals develop, these free radicals are responsible for the chain reactions that cause cell damage. While normal amounts of free radicals help break down toxins and combat disease, too much lead to an imbalance in the body and causes stress. The antioxidants eliminate the harmful chain reactions within the body caused by too many free radicals.

The Benefits of Antioxidants

A diet that contains foods high in antioxidants helps balance the body and fights the cell damage that can causes medical problems. These problems can show up as blocked arteries, cancer and diabetes. Studies show that people who consume a good amount of antioxidants reduce their risk of heart disease and some diseases of the neurological system.

Antioxidants are also seen as a way to help regenerate the body after a session of heavy physical activity. Consuming high levels of antioxidants helps the body to repair and recuperate at a quick rate, and lowers the risk of disease and injury.

Antioxidant-rich foods usually contain vitamins, such as E, C, and carotene. Minerals, such as copper, zinc, selenium, and manganese are also included.

The level of antioxidants in foods are in line with its colors, such as orange, red, blue, and purple. This is why Acai berries are quite powerful when it comes to delivering an energy boost.

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.

acai-berries-with-pulp

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.

Açaí Berry: The Super Supplement

Thursday, September 10, 2009
posted by Kittie

Acai berryWhile the Açaí palm tree has many commercial uses such as the leaves being made into hats, masts and baskets, it is best known as a dietary supplement. The açaí berry is sold by companies and individuals in the form of tablets, juice, smoothies, instant drink powders, and whole fruit.

Açaí juice contains high levels of antioxidants-the same as or higher than Concord grape, blueberry, and black cherry, cranberry, orange, and apple juices. Studies have shown that antioxidant supplements help in maintaining health and preventing diseases such as cancer and coronary heart disease.