Starting a new weight loss plan can be a challenging and daunting task to some. There are so many things to consider; what to eat, what not to eat, the right weight for you, how often to exercise, what’s the best exercise for you, and more. No wonder so many people put it off day after day, year after year. How do you know where to start? How do you know who to trust? Well, Bob Greene, Oprah’s fitness trainer must have got it right. She slimmed down and kept it off… for a long time, anyways. She gained it back eventually, but you have to realize that she also has a thyroid problem.

The New Year brings millions of resolutions, many of which are to be healthier and lose weight, and Oprah is no exception. This month she will be getting back on path with Bob Greene by her side. Think you don’t have time to exercise, diet, and try to lead a healthier life? Greene works with well known clients and celebrities, writes for the Oprah magazine and website, has written a new cookbook, and has a family. Yet, he manages to do it, which is apparent with one look at him. Here are his top two tips to starting a weight loss plan, staying motivated and sticking to it…

His first tip is to not try to jump in head first, but to ease into your new weight loss plan. Don’t drastically go from one diet and lifestyle to another. Instead, slowly make changes to incorporate your plans into your day to day life.

The second tip is to say no to the scale. It’s tempting to want to run to the scale day after day to check on your progress. However, he says to steer clear of any scales for at least a month. Instead, calculate your progress by how your clothes are fitting.

Ringing in the New Year with New Year’s resolutions has always been popular, and the most popular resolution among women in the United States is that they’ll finally shed those extra pounds. Well, now you can actually honor that resolution you made by adding the acai berry to your diet. The acai berry is a small round berry which must be produced as pulp and juice in order to be shipped outside of Brazil because of its fast deterioration. Many people describe the acai berry as a cross between a raspberry and a chocolate bar. So what’s the big deal about a berry grown in Brazil and how can it help you lose weight? The acai berry is extremely high in antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids. It can help you lose weight because the Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids it contains help to increase your metabolism, thereby causing you to burn more calories. The fiber fills you up and it takes you longer to digest your food, so you’ll find that you’re not as hungry as often as you were before adding the berry to your diet. The acai berry has been around for ages in Brazil and has been consumed by the native South Americans as a regular part of their diet for well over a century.

Because the berries are extremely perishable, preservation techniques have just now made them available outside of the immediate area. This is good news for you, since you can now find acai products in your local supermarket in the forums of acai juices, pulps, powders, extracts, and supplements, for those who find they don’t like the taste of the juice or the pulp. Just as with any good food, the real challenge is finding a way to incorporate the new food into your diet without spending an arm and a leg to do so. If you can get your hands on some acai juice, here is a great recipe which you can make on a daily basis. Consuming this smoothie everyday at least once will have a positive impact on your quest for weight loss and you just might find that you get addicted to the wonderful taste!

Acai Fruit Smoothie:
1/2 cup acai juice
1/2 cup of yogurt
Mix in a blender with handful of your favorite fresh fruit and enjoy.

You can also blend acai pulp with applesauce, green tea, or sparkling water for a great treat when you’re on the go and don’t have access to a blender. The amount you should use depends on the powder or extract you decide on, as all acai products aren’t made the same. There have been no confirmed side effects from the acai berry, so while its not unusual for someone to be allergic to something, there are no long-term side effects so you’re safe to eat acai and find your way into those skinner jeans in 2010!

photo credit: Jeff Karpala

There are literally tons of different diets and dieting products available on the market which all claim to be a quick way to lose weight. Some of these diets can work wonders for you, but the way in which they help you lose weight can be unnatural, unhealthy, or even worse, it simply doesn’t work as a reliable weight loss method. That’s one of the reasons people turn to the acai berry for their dieting needs. The acai berry is an all-natural fruit which grows on the acai palm in Central and South America. The acai berry has been harvested by the native peoples of the land for centuries. However, the berry has only recently made an explosion onto the global market after spas and health bars in Rio De Janiero began serving the drink as a supplement for weight loss.

The reason the acai berry has become so popular in recent times is the extreme amount of benefits you can gain from its consumption. In fact, weight loss is just one of the many benefits the acai berry offers. It’s loaded with antioxidants with a huge ORAC value, which is a value the FDA assigns foods with antioxidants to determine their worth to the body. Antioxidants are extremely important to the body for the number of functions they help regulate and maintain. In fact, recent studies have shown that when the acai berry is taken correctly as a dietary supplement, it can promote weight loss, increase energy, raise your metabolism, as well as being a cornerstone to helping science find the cure for cancer.

There are some things you should be aware of before you decide on an acai berry supplement for your daily diet. You should look and see how the berry was preserved, if the product states. Freeze dried berries are always more beneficial than berries which are not. The product should state how the berry was preserved, so you know you’re getting the best for your money. In addition to supplements, the acai berry often comes in many forms. You’ll find the fruit plain in regions closer to its growing location, but further out around the globe, you can get it in yogurt, juices, and even freeze dried for including it in your own recipes. Many people enjoy the taste of acai berry, describing it as a chocolate raspberry. If you do try acai and decide you don’t like the taste, its always available in supplement form. So if you’re looking to lose weight in a healthy and natural way, don’t discount the acai berry as a great supplement, especially when coupled with a regular regimen of exercise and eating properly.

photo credit: Lanci Daniele

It is quite well known that the acai berries are extremely rich in health benefits, especially weight loss and anti aging, for which it is renowned all over the world, but very few people know that these berries are quite effective for those who are looking for bodybuilding benefits too. Of course, acai berries cannot be relied on completely for bodybuilding – there’s too much needed to achieve that – but they can definitely act as healthy supplements to accelerate the process. More research is still going on into this relation of acai berries and their bodybuilding benefits, but the studies done so far have been highly encouraging. Let us look at this little-talked about relationship in closer detail.

The core reason why acai berries are good for bodybuilding is the presence of the high amounts of amino acids in it. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. In fact, if you look at a protein structure in detail, it is nothing but several amino acid molecules (same or different) connected end to end with a kind of linkage known as the peptide linkage. Hence, when acai berries are consumed, the body takes in the different amino acids that it consists, which are at least nineteen in number. That means, the body gets a boost in the building blocks that it requires for the manufacture of proteins.

Bodybuilders must definitely take acai berries seriously because they need to have a great deal of proteins in their bodies if they need to develop those rippling muscles. In this regard, there are very little foods that come close to the effectiveness of the acai berries. These berries contain up to 7.59% of pure amino acids when they are made in the pulp form (this is the form that the acai berries are usually marketed in). If you think about it from a quantitative point of view, it comes to approximately 8 grams of pure proteins in an acai pulp product weighing 100 grams.

It is now established that the acai berries have direct benefits in helping people who are looking at bodybuilding benefits. However, there are several indirect methods in which they work too. One of these is the tendency of the berries to remove the harmful LDL cholesterol from the blood by introducing healthy HDL cholesterol. There are high antioxidant levels present in the berries, which is again a big advantage because the antioxidants can improve the efficiency of the metabolic processes that take place in the body, thus resulting in a fitter body. Even bodybuilders have fears of accumulating cholesterol and fats in their bodies; acai berries work wonderfully in putting these fears to rest.

Due to their healthy antioxidant levels that keep the body always functioning at its optimum best, the acai berries not only build the muscles and tissues of the person, but they also see to it that the person remains intrinsically healthy. If you are bodybuilder who is looking at remaining healthy within and not just muscular outside, acai berries may be the right dietary supplements for you to adopt. They are also great for people who consume vegetarian diets to get more than the required supply of proteins.

That the acai berries are nature’s most amazing fruits is a fact that no one denies. These berries have proved that there is no ailment that they cannot treat, no health benefit that they cannot provide and no body that they cannot improve in health. The berries have a vast wealth of natural goodness, which comes from its tumbling oeuvre of vitamin and mineral goodness. But recent researches have proved that there is yet another factor that is responsible for making the acai berries as potent for health as they are. These ingredients are the anthocyanins.

We are all quite well acquainted with anthocyanins though we might not know their name. Red fruits usually have anthocyanins in them, including red apples and grapes. In fact, anthocyanins are the pigments that give them their red color. If you notice, these foods are both considered to be very healthy foods. Who can deny that an apple a day keeps the doctor away?

However, there is more to this. Anthocyanins belong to a class of chemical compound known as antioxidants. They have the effect of antioxidants on the human body when they are consumed. Let us try to understand what this does for the body.

The human body is not as it seems from the outside. There are thousands of chemical processes going on in the body at every given instant. The secret of maintaining the body functioning normally is to allow these reactions to take place in a systematic manner at every living instant. But that definitely does not happen all the time. These reactions produce several byproducts, some of which are known as free radicals. Paradoxically, these free radicals have the potential to stop further reactions from taking place. Now, when that happens, the body loses its regularity of functioning and problems begin to occur. This is also the reason why the body becomes more infested with problems as age advances. Body processes become weak and free radicals have a free role to play in deteriorating the body’s health.

The anthocyanins have a great effect in this scenario. They can react with the free radicals and eliminate them from the body. This is definitely very beneficial to the body because in the absence of the free radicals, the body’s normal metabolic processes will be able to go on consistently. This keeps the body functioning well and various health problems – and even problems of aging – are averted.

Acai berries have a very high proportion of anthocyanins in them. The actual content is about 3.19 mg of anthocyanins per gram of the product. This is over 33 times the concentration of antioxidants present in another extremely rich anthocyanin product – red wine. Red wine is actually recommended by doctors for people who wish to have a healthy heart and a long life. Now, if the acai berries have several times more antioxidants than the red wine, the benefits are only multiplied by that amount. This has made acai berries virtually unshakable in the world of natural health foods today.

The little dark blue brown acai berry has been studied a lot in recent years and has been shown to have some of the most amazing health benefits that humankind has ever known. Never before has a health product come under so much scrutiny and research and actually proven itself to be meritorious in all the claims that have been made about it. The significant fact is that the berry shows to have more and more health cures even when so many are already discovered and scientifically and medically proven. Now, experts are going as far as saying that with the acai berry a person can actually stay healthier for the entire life, keeping diseases at bay.

This has naturally captured global attention. Keeping away from diseases is something not many health foods do effectively, even if they do it at all. However, acai berries have been proven to keep diseases such as diabetes mellitus, heart disease, osteoporosis, skin conditions, hypertension and even cancer, as recent researches prove. This is the longest list of health benefits ascribed to any one food, and that is what makes the acai berries truly special.

But why do the acai berries work in this manner? What makes them so beneficial from a health perspective? Scientists who have spent years researching on the berry and its benefits ascribe these benefits to the huge concentration of antioxidants that are present in the berries. Antioxidants work by eliminating the destructive free radicals that work at slowing down the metabolic processes. During our body processes, several free radicals are released, which are nothing but incomplete chemical molecules. Being incomplete, they tend to complete their structures by combining with the useful enzymes and hormones present in the body and hence hamper the effectiveness of body processes.

Acai berries act so effectively against disease protection because the poly phenolic antioxidants present in them play a role in removing these free radicals from the body. In the absence of the radicals, it becomes much easier for the various metabolic processes to function more effectively. This is what unlocks the secrets for the various benefits of health provided by the acai berry. A body that performs well will also stay healthier.

The reason for the added body immunity that acai berries provide is also because of the presence of the antioxidants. Our body has various internal mechanisms to fight against diseases, such as the action of white blood corpuscles in fighting against infections that threaten the body. However, in some people, the immune system is weak due to which such protective mechanisms do not take place. Acai berries, with their free radical removal action, see to it that these mechanisms are functioning effectively and that the body is protected at all times.

In fact, acai berries are also known to mitigate the symptoms of aging. People are able to have a more youthful skin because the acai thwart the negative processes that bring on conditions such as wrinkles, scars and other age-related problems. This in itself helps people to stay healthier for a longer time.

If made in the way it should, the freeze dried acai powder is the best form of the acai berries that exists. Acai berries are packaged in other forms too, such as juice and pulp, but because these are ‘wet’ forms of the berries, there is always scope for dilution. The benefit of a powdered form is that all the water content is effectively reduced and so what you get is a completely pure and nutritionally rich form of the acai berry.

It is important that you buy the acai powder from a reputed company though. It is important that is freeze dried too, because other forms of drying such as steam drying or sun drying will effectively remove the nutritional value of the berries from the powder. A lesser company that does not know its methods might be culpable of afflicting such a monstrosity on the acai. At the same time, you must know that there are some unscrupulous acai packagers who actually add filers like corn, rice and other products to add to the bulk of the acai powder. Be careful of who you buy your acai berry powder from; make sure that the company knows what it is selling and has a good track record.

Now, having said all that, we are in a position to understand why the freeze dried powder form of the acai berry is the best. The fact that it is the most concentrated form devoid of all water content is already understood, but there are other advantages also.

The powder form can be easily stored. Juices and pulps are inconvenient to store and they need to be consumed soon because even with the preservatives added in them, there is a chance that they might degrade in their nutritional content. The same is not true about the freeze dried acai powder, because the water content has been completely removed from this form. If you can think about the longevity of tea powder on your shelf, you will get a good idea of the longevity of acai powder too. You can retain it for a long time without worrying whether or not it will lose its goodness.

Speaking of preservatives, that brings us to the other problem with the pulp and juice forms. These forms need a lot of preservatives, and not all packagers will take due care to use only natural preservatives. You might be saddled with a product that says acai on the label but has a high concentration of dangerous synthetic preservatives inside it. With freeze dried powders of acai, this possibility is highly reduced mainly because the powder form does not require as many preservatives to keep fresh.

It is better to consume too. With juice and pulp you will occasionally be hunting for good recipes. But with the acai powder, this problem does not exist, because you can have it directly. Since a teaspoonful of acai powder will pack as much punch as half a cup of pulp can, it is more convenient to have it in the powder form than any other.

If you are anything like me, then you get pretty tired of hearing the tons of outrageous promises made by every new health product to hit the market: “Grow muscle in your sleep!”, “Tone and sculpt abs in only two weeks!”, “Take this pill and regrow hair!”. No matter what you are doing, whether it be reading a magazine, watching TV, or simply driving to your nearest bookstore, we are inundated by ad campaigns touting false claims and guarantees that could never be delivered on. But every so often, one of these products proves to be the real deal. Acai is one such product, and because of its ability to deliver the goods, word of its health benefits are now sweeping the nation. Lets take an unbiased look at what acai promises compared to what acai can actually deliver:

What acai promises:
• Antioxidants for a strengthened cardiovascular system
• Fiber for aiding natural, comfortable digestion
• Lipids for the production of energy
• Amino acids for muscle regeneration
• Essential fatty acids to fight negative effects of aging
• Vitamins, nutrients and minerals to replenish the body’s storehouse
• All natural alternative to manmade health supplements
• Tastes great and comes in many forms

What acai actually delivers:
• Antioxidants for a strengthened cardiovascular system
• Fiber for aiding natural, comfortable digestion
• Lipids for the production of energy
• Amino acids for muscle regeneration
• Essential fatty acids to fight negative effects of aging
• Vitamins, nutrients and minerals to replenish the body’s storehouse
• All natural alternative to manmade health supplements
• Tastes great and comes in many forms

That’s right: what acai guarantees it actually provides. But don’t take my word for it, here’s what the specialists are saying:

Dr. Mehmet Oz: “[Acai] has twice the antioxidant content as a blueberry, so it’s a wonderful alternative….”

Dr. Nicholas Perricone: “Hidden within its royal purple pigment is the magic that makes it nature’s perfect energy fruit. Acaí is packed full of antioxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids.”

Stephen Alcott of University of Florida: “Acai berries are already considered one of the richest fruit sources of antioxidants. This study was an important step toward learning what people may gain from using beverages, dietary supplements or other products made with the berries.”

Don’t waste your time on health products that are all bark and no bite, instead take advantage of pure, all natural acai and begin feeling the difference today!

Improve Your Mental Health

Out of the innumerable health benefits of the acai berries that have been studied, researched and confirmed, some of the most significant benefits pertain to the mental health and wellbeing. It has been now established for sure that the acai berries can go a long way in keeping people’s mental skills active despite their advancing age, and can in fact, improve their mental faculties as they go along.

The properties of the acai berries at maintaining proper mental health are ascribed to the high levels of the mineral manganese that are contained in it. There are about 174 milligrams of manganese present in 100 grams of acai berries, which is a healthy amount of the mineral, which can be easily absorbed by the body.

Manganese performs the following tasks for preserving and honing mental and related skills in humans:-
? Manganese is necessary for stimulating the brain to function in an analytical manner so that it can slowly grow in its applicative faculties. The stimulation that manganese provides to the brain helps it to keep functioning even as age advances.
? Manganese is an essential component for the proper functioning of the brain in committing bits of information to memory. With a manganese
deficiency, the person might suffer from memory loss.
? Manganese is also needed for maintaining the optimum level of functioning of the brain. Without this balance, there is a tendency that the brain would fall into emotional problems such as panic, anxiety, nervousness and depression. People without adequate manganese in their bodies are often of an unstable state of mind and have complaints of mood swings.

Hence, by providing the requisite amount of manganese to the body, the acai berries help in improving mental functions of the person, keeping them free from emotional disturbances and keeping them working with their full mental faculties for a longer period of time.

There is another side to the mental health benefits of the acai berries. Acai berries are also quite rich in vitamins, notably the vitamin B1 (thiamine). Among other things, vitamin B1 is essential in improving the assimilation of minerals in the bloodstream. It also facilitates the easy assimilation of manganese into the human bloodstream, without which there is a chance of the mineral being eliminated from the body without providing any of its benefits. Hence, acai berries do not just provide the minerals that are needed for proper mental health, but they also see to it that these minerals are retained in the body so that their goodness is maintained.

There are various palatable forms in which the acai berries can be consumed. They are available in the forms of juices and pulps which can be used for making delicious recipes for the young and old alike. This is an important point in its favor. Though acai berries are classified as health foods, they are also delicious and that is the reason most people do not have any qualms in using them. Resultantly, their health benefits have a potential to reach out to a broader cross-section of population than any other health foods.

This is particularly of note in respect of mental wellbeing. The good taste of acai berries ensures that children consume them without being too finicky about them, and enjoy their health benefits for a long life to follow.

It is beyond any consternation that the heart is the most vital organ for the human body. We are only as healthy as our heart is. In our present time and age when most people are succumbing to heart conditions, it is becoming only more and more important that we take care of this vital organ of ours. Also, younger people are falling prey to heart diseases each year. In the light of this, it is never too soon to begin taking care of the heart.

Heart health does not come just through medicinal approaches; in fact, these should be the last refuge when we are speaking about the heart. The road to a healthy heart is through a healthy lifestyle. Most of the health industry concentrates on heart health. Many foods and supplements have become popular in this respect. Among the long line of foods that are considered to prolong the healthy life of the heart, the acai berries occupy a very prominent position.

Acai berries act in various ways to promote heart health. The most significant way is by increasing the amount of the healthy cholesterol (HDL) in the body. Acai berries themselves are a rich source of good cholesterol. Hence, when you are consuming them, you are directly introducing good cholesterol in your body. One of the chief functions of good cholesterol is to stimulate the functions of the liver so that the harmful cholesterol (LDL) is utilized properly. This is what happens when you consume acai. Within a short time of regular use of this fruit, your body will correct its cholesterol balances so that you now have a higher proportion of HDL and a lower proportion of LDL.

Bad cholesterol has a fatal tendency to accumulate in the arteries. This is known as atherosclerosis. Naturally, when that happens, vital organs of the body are not able to get their proper supply of blood as the fat layer becomes an obstruction. The coronary artery has the highest propensity of accumulating this fat, because all the blood in the body has to pass through this artery connected to the heart. This is what causes heart diseases. However, when there is a proper amount of acai in the body, the bad cholesterol that tends to accumulate in the coronary artery is removed and the risks of atherosclerosis and hence heart disease are minimized.

A regular intake of the acai berries is also known to improve the metabolic processes of the body. This makes various systems work faster in the body, including the circulation of blood. This is because of the high level of helpful antioxidants, such as the anthocyanins, present in the acai berries. When the blood flow improves, the heart does not need to pump as hard and it can live a healthier and longer life.

Another thing that puts pressure on the heart is obesity. However, the acai antioxidants help immensely in weight loss because they improve the fat metabolism of the body, converting them into energy and not allowing them to accumulate. As the body becomes leaner, the heart does not need to exert as much.

The acai berries have several amazing effects, but nothing compares to the effects they have on the health of the heart. If there was one food that could be called as a complete health food, it would be the fruits of the acai palm.