Food Diet

The pomegranate has been cultivated since before America was even a country yet very few Americans have ever eaten one, let alone drink its juice. This amazing exotic fruit is coming to light because of some interesting research into the antioxidant content of its juice. When compared to red wine and green tea, this amazing fruit is almost 3 times as powerful in protecting against free radical damage.

Antioxidants are naturally occurring substances that protect the body against free radicals. These important compounds are getting loads of attention since it has been shown that they reduce the numbers of these free radical molecules in the body. Free radicals are very reactive and in the body tend to ‘oxidize’ other molecules and cause damage. If you leave a piece of unprotected metal outside, the oxidation of weather will cause it to rust. A similar process happens in the body with free radicals. For example, they are thought to oxidize cholesterol into a form that is responsible for speeding up the hardening of arteries. In a study done at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, pomegranate juice has been shown to slow down cholesterol oxidation by almost 50 percent.

The juice of the pomegranate contains polyphenolics, tannins and anthocyanins - compounds that are thought to have a beneficial effect. In addition, the juice has many vitamins and minerals. It is rich in iron and vitamins A, C and E.

Many parts of the middle east and central Asia include this delicious fruit in their local cuisine. When you open a pomegranate you will be surprised to discover hundreds of bright red, juicy seed pods. The process of separating the seed pods from the white pulpy fruit is a chore that both children and young of old will delight in. The seed pods themselves taste a little bit like concentrated watermelon, but slightly sweeter and tangy. After opening one, you will quickly understand why they chose juice in their study and not the fruit itself. The pods easily burst open revealing the red juice. Caution here. The red juice will easily stain a lot of fabric so be careful when handling them.

The Western part of the world has been slow to adopt this wonderful fruit. It is still an exotic fruit that is more of a novelty than a staple like it is in other parts of the world. As more and more people begin consuming the protective juice, that is certain to change. An easy way to get it is in juice format and for fun, try picking up the fruit itself. Adding the seed pods to a salad is a wonderful way to enjoy them. Another way is to warm chopped walnuts in the juice and use the mixture to stuff tomatoes. No matter how you choose to eat pomegranates, try adding some to your diet today.

A raw food diet that is rich in antioxidants is a great way back to health. At Cleansing Raw Food Diet, you will find many articles about antioxidants and juicing to improve your health and lose weight.

Share This

Do you have that sinking feeling about needing to lose weight and being forced to go hungry and eat nothing but dull diet food?

There’s no need to be gloomy - you can eat deliciously and have more than enough food to stop you from being hungry all the time and still lose weight.

1. Divert your Food Budget

Whatever money you save by not eating out, buying take-aways or splurging on chocolate and snacks, spend on special healthy foods from the delicatessen such as exotic fruits, smoked meats or lobster. Delight your taste buds with the finest foods instead of bombarding them with sweet or salty fattening snacks and meals.

2. Try New Recipes

Avoid boredom by eating a variety of foods and not going for the same old safe diet options. Try new foods and recipes. Actively seek out light dishes you’d like to try and experiment a bit. Look for new ways to serve everyday foods you like and you’ll end up eating more delicious meals than you ever did before.

Vary your lunches as well as dinners. Replaces the boring old sandwiches you usually buy at the local shop with home-made healthy mixed salads including lean protein and whole grains.

3. Choose Filling Food

It’s important that you don’t get too hungry while you lose weight. Raging hunger and no healthy food on hand is a situation guaranteed to have you reaching for the nearest fattening snack. Make sure your meals are filling enough to last until your next meal or snack without overloading on calories.

Typical dietary advice is to fill up with vegetables or salad but that’s difficult if you’re not a fan. If you don’t like vegetables, get a healthy filling quota anyway by adding them to soups and stews (in pureed form if they’re really not for you).

Also eat the whole grain varieties of carbohydrate foods so that you get the advantage of a slower release of energy along with the bulk they add to your diet. For snacks choose fruit and a little lean protein to provide a balanced slow-release of energy to keep you going to your next meal.

4. Make every Meal an Occasion

When you’re trying to lose weight it helps to focus on the food you’re eating, to eat it slowly and enjoy every mouthful. You have to register that you are eating. We often fail to do that when we mindlessly pop food into our mouths standing at the fridge - we feel unfed and still hungry in our minds.

Always sit down to eat and avoid distractions like reading, TV and answering your email during your meal. Set the table every evening, use your prettiest china and glassware and make your meals something to look forward to - an occasion rather than just an opportunity to wolf down whatever is available and quieten hunger pangs as fast as you possibly can.

5. Plan to Succeed

Before you go food shopping plan ahead for the next few days so that you know exactly what you need to buy. Don’t let yourself get diverted from your list. It’s a lot easier to avoid the temptations of buy-one-get-one-free pizza if you have a range of delicious, nourishing and filling foods to look forward to by sticking to your list.

Include at least one emergency meal on your list for those occasions when you find you get home unexpectedly late and are too tired to cook the one you’d planned. If you always keep eggs in your fridge and whole meal bread in your freezer you can whip up an omelette on toast. Or choose some of the better ready-made meals that keeps well in the fridge or freezer such as the quality chilled soups or pasta sauces now available in the shops.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of “The Diet Exit Plan”, an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report “How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn’t want you to know” at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Share This

Now this is the real American Dream! I’m here to let you know that it is totally possible to lose all the fat you want while eating nothing but junk food. The only hitch is that all the fat you want to lose is going to have to be zero!

Here are some tongue-in-cheek (or burger-in-belly) suggestions for how you can turn even the greasiest, sugariest, most overprocessed calorie bomb into lean, mean diet food.

How is this done? Here’s a hint: it’s all in how you choose to look at the food…

1. Eat donuts instead of solid pastries. You will be saving a tremendous number of calories by eating something with a hole in the middle. You can save upwards of 3 to 5 calories per pastry by doing this. That means if you eat 10 donuts, you’ve saved yourself almost 50 calories! Besides, everyone knows nuts are good for you…

2. French fries can help prevent heart attacks. It is a fact that French people suffer fewer heart attacks and have lower rates of heart disease. French fries are obviously from France, therefore it naturally follows that French fries can prevent heart disease.

3. Pizza is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. There are many reasons for this:

   • The bleached flour in the crust sucks up all the grease that drips down from the toppings, trapping it so you don’t see it while you’re eating. If you don’t see it when you eat it, it has no calories.

   • It’s round (stay with me here). Because square-shaped foods have corners, they contain a lot more calories than round foods. To save even more calories, cut a hole in the center of the pizza (refer back to #1 for full details).

   • The cheese on the pizza is loaded with calcium - even more than the Tums you’re going to need after eating the whole thing.

   • You can easily reduce your servings without sacrificing enjoyment. Instead of cutting the pizza into 8 slices, try cutting it into only 4. You’ve just eaten HALF the number of slices you ate before! Imagine how many calories you’ll save by doing that!

   • Vegetables covered in grease are still vegetables. Never mind that all the nutrition has been baked out of them, you’re still getting you’re recommended daily servings of veggies.

   • There is plenty of fiber in the paper that’s stuck to the bottom of the pizza. Don’t be afraid of it.

4. Beer is the absolute best beverage you can drink when you’re watching your waistline. It helps to put it right out there in front you where you can see it.

5. Look for foods that have air bubbles in them. Examples include chocolate bars, Twinkies (after you suck the cream filling out), soda pop, sponge cake, and cheese puffs. As you know, air has no calories. Look at these foods as the wrapping for a low-calorie, low-fat serving of air.

6. Putting ketchup on anything makes it healthy. Think about it. You’re getting your vegetables in a concentrated paste. It’s like stepping into the future… today!!

7. Here are a number of delicious, zero-calorie foods you may not be aware of:

   • Anything eaten while standing has zero calories.

   • Anything eaten off somebody else’s plate has zero calories.

   • Food sampled for “tasting” purposes during preparation has no calories.

   • Food sneaked from someone after you distract them is also calorie-free.

   • Anything eaten after the expiration date contains no calories.

8. Eating ice cream can actually help you burn an enormous amount of calories. The key to this lies in its temperature.

   Ice cream is very cold. When you eat ice cream, your body must expend energy (a.k.a. calories) to warm it up to your internal body temperature.

   When you work through the scientific formulas for heat conversion, you can see you will end up expending approximately 6,000 calories to heat up a small dish of ice cream to body temperature. Drinking ice cold beer with your ice cream amplifies this effect.

These diet tips should have you well on your way towards effectively peeling off pounds of unsightly fat.

Think of me next time you’re eating a pizza with french fries and ketchup on top, dunking your donuts in a glass of cold beer, and shoving down Twinkies (with the filling sucked out) mashed into a dish of nice cold ice cream!

DISCLAIMER: The preceding information is not medical advice and should not be taken as such. If you feel the urge to take any of this “information” seriously, please lie down until the feeling goes away. Thank you.

About The Author

Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” at http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com. You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com.

Share This