Friday, August 15, 2008

Super Foods for Your Weight Loss Plan

Reverse the fat storage process.

Superfoods really countermand the aging process and keep you healthy. Making shifts to your diet are much more than just making you fat or thin, they can produce the difference between living a high-energy life and development of chronic diseases. Super Foods are not just vague promises, they are facts backed up by research. A nutritious diet integrating a mixture of super foods will help you hold your weight, fight back disease, and live a richer life.

Good For You Oils

Good oils, such as olive oil, sesame seed oil, flaxseed oil, grape seed oil and canola oil. Maximize the health benefits, by using good oils properly.

Keep oils in a dark bottle in the refrigerator.

Don't overheat good oils during cooking.

Cook the food not the oil. Use a small amount of oil - warm it - add the food - bring up to cooking temperature. This preserves the oil's properties

Good For You Beets

Beets bundle tons of flavor underneath their scratchy exterior. Beets are naturally more sweetish than any other vegetable. A great source of folate and betaine, beets are one of the best sources. Folate and betaine function together to lower the body's blood levels of - homocysteine - an inflammatory compound that can harm the body's arterial blood vessels and increase the body's risk of heart disease.

The natural pigments - called betacyanins that give beets their color have been tested to be potent cancer fighter.

Eat beets raw, not from a jar or cooked. Heating Up beets lessens their antioxidant power.

Packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, beet' leaves and stems are edible. Wash thoroughly and slice off the stems just below the point where the leaves start.

Good For You Garlic

Garlic is stupendous for our body. Garlic slacks up the blood vessels and may help oneself fight cancer. Garlic is fantastic for the good bacteria in your intestines.

Good For You Cabbage

One cup of chopped cabbage has just 22 calories, and it's heavy with valuable nutrients. Sulforaphane tops the list.

Stanford University scientists verified that sulforaphane encourages your levels of these cancer-fighting enzymes higher than any other plant chemical. Sulforaphane increases your body's production of enzymes that disarm cell-damaging free radicals and reduce cancer risks.

Good For You Tomato sauce

Lycopene is found in tomatoes.

Found in tomatoes and used in many antioxidant dietary supplements, lycopene is a powerful antioxidant of the carotenoid group.

Eating tomato sauce or paste with healthy oil is better than plain tomatoes. Raw tomatoes are fine but the addition of a little fat with it will help you absorb it easier

Good For You Guava

Guava is an obscure tropical fruit that gets sweeter toward the center.

Guava is high in lycopene, an antioxidant that fights prostate cancer, than any other plant nutrient, including tomatoes and watermelon. 1 cup of Guava provides 688 milligrams (mg) of potassium, 63 percent more than in a small banana. And guava may be the ultimate high-fiber food with almost 9 grams of fiber per cup. You can eat the whold thing, from rind to seeds. It's edible and nutritious. The guava rind has more vitamin C than your average orange.

Good For You Spinach

Jam-packed with nutrients, spinach is the most miraculous thing for your eyes. Spinach is better than carrots for eye health A lot of macular degeneration can actually be nullified by eating this food that is wealthy in carotenoids and folic acid.

Good For You Swiss chard

According to Harvard researchers, lutein and zeaxanthin protect your retinas from the damages of getting older. Both nutrients amass in your retinas, where they absorb the type of shortwave light rays of light that can damage your eyes. A little bit bitter and salty, this plant is native to the Mediterranean. A half cup of cooked Swiss chard offers a huge quantity of both lutein and zeaxanthin, supplying 10 mg apiece.

Good For You Raw nuts

Nuts should be eaten raw and stored in the refrigerator to maximize the benefits of the healthy oils contained in nuts such as hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts. Heating nuts damages the healthy oils they contain.

Good For You Cinnamon

Cinnamon helps moderate your blood sugar, which in turn regulates your hazard of heart disease. USDA researchers found that people with type-2 diabetes who consumed 1 g of cinnamon a day for 6 weeks (about 1/4 teaspoon) significantly minimized not only their blood sugar but also their triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol. Cinnamon's active ingredients, methylhydroxychalcone polymers, increase your cells' ability to metabolize sugar by up to 20 times. Sprinkle the cinnamon in your spice rack into your coffee or on your rolled oats.

Good For You Pomegranates

Pomegranates may help fight cancer and change the way your arteries age. Pomegranates have some promising health benefits. Pomegranates are a fortified antioxidant.

Good For You Purslane

Think of purslane as a great substitute or addition to lettuce. Purslane leaves and stems are crisp, chewy, and succulent, and they have a mild lemony flavor.

The FDA classifies purslane as a broad-leaved weed, it's a common vegetable and herb in China, Mexico, and Greece.

According to the researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio, purslane has the highest measure of heart-healthy omega-3 fats of any edible plant. Having 10 to 20 times more melatonin, an antioxidant that might curb cancer growth, purslane has more melatonin than any other fruit or vegetable tested by the researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Good For You Goji berries

About the size of a raisin, these fruits are chewy and taste like a blend between a cranberry and a cherry.

These powerful berries have been used as a curative nutrient in Tibet for over 1,700 years. Tufts University researchers discovered that Goji berries have one of the highest ORAC ratings, a method of gauging antioxidant strength, of any fruit.

And although modern researchers set about studying this ancient berry only lately, they've determined that the sugars that make goji berries sweet cut back insulin resistance, a risk factor of diabetes, in rats.

Found in specialty markets, mix dried or fresh goji berries with a cupful of plain yogurt, dot them on your oatmeal or cold cereal, or enjoy a fistful by themselves.

Good For You Dried plums

Dried Plums equals Prunes

Containing neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acids that are particularly good at combating the superoxide anion radical, prunes are a yummy source of antioxidents that battle cancer. The superoxide anion radical induces structural impairment to the body's cells, and such impairment is considered to be one of the underlying causes of cancer.

Good For You Pumpkin seeds

The piece we throw away is the most healthy piece of the pumpkin. Pumpkin seeds are a great souce of magnesium. French researchers recently found that men with the highest quantities of magnesium in their blood have a 40 percent lower danger of early death than those with the lowest levels. Eat pumpkin seeds whole, shells and all, the shells are a healthy source of fiber. Roasted pumpkin seeds hold in 150 mg of magnesium per oz.. Add pumpkin seeds to your usual diet and you'll easily score your daily objective of 420 mg recommended by the USDA. Look for pumpkin seeds in the health-food or snack section of your market store, beside the peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds.

Our diets composed of processed foods are killing us in the US. Our bodies are not fashioned for the overabundance of food obtainable, rather, we are fashioned hard-wired for starvation. Our bodies are fashioned to eat a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and wild-game, not fast-food, sodas, white flour, and sugar. Super Foods are not just about preventing chronic disease. Making the right food picks everyday will help prevent future chronic ailments. Most scientists concur that at least 30 percent of all cancers are directly related to diet. It's not just cancer that is nutrition connected, about half of the cardiovascular diseases are connected to diet as well.

No comments: