"EAT TO GET SLIM"

Dieting usually involves abstaining from food. Fortunately, there are certain kinds of food that actually help you lose weight and lower your body's fat content. These foods raise your metabolism, curb your appetite and burn calories. Some of them are listed below.
Foods that are rich with appetite-suppressing fiber are a good place to start. Grapes, peaches, plums and strawberries pack a lot of these, as well as cancer fighting carotenoids. In addition to its fiber content, grapefruits contain less sugar, and therefore, calories, than oranges. Yes, weight loss can taste good.
Harder fruits, like apples, can also help you lose weight. These fruits take a longer time to be chewed and digested. This will give your stomach a feeling of fullness, so you won't be looking for your next meal too soon.
Black beans, chickpeas and other protein-rich legumes will leave you with a similar feeling. The low fat and high fiber content of these foods are slow to digest. Your blood sugar levels are also kept steady by eating lentils and the like. All these factors contribute greatly to your weight loss.
Certain bulky foods won't leave you with a massive waist line. Raw spinach, thanks to its high water content, will leave space in your stomach. Other, less healthy foods will have a hard time finding space there. Spinach is also filled with calcium and foliated iron. Along with vitamins A, B, C, and E, these nutrients help your body lose weight.
The very act of eating celery burns more calories than it contains. Additionally, Vitamins C & E (crucial nutrients that help you lose weight) are present in celery. You can also speed up your metabolism by eating certain foods. Food that is rich with calcium, as well as drinks like low fat milk, help greatly. It has recently been discovered that women and girls who have dairy products in their regular diets are prone to greater weight loss(along with lesser body fat) than those who don't include dairy in their diet.
Tuna, mackerel and other fatty fish contain Omega-3. When Omega-3 is added with the mix of fat and protein in these fishes, your appetite will be significantly reduced. The fight against fat gets easier.
It's important to keep things in perspective. Eating right is crucial, but it is merely one facet of any weight loss program. However, if a proper diet is coupled with the appropriate exercise program, your ideal weight will be reached in no time.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Mahon

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"GREAT NEWS ABOUT THE BENEEFITS OF POMEGRANATE"

(NaturalNews) Emerging research continues to strengthen the evidence that pomegranate extracts can be used to treat chronic inflammation, and the diseases that go along with it.

Short-term inflammation is a normal immune response, but chronic inflammation has been linked to a number of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, dementia and autoimmune disorders. Scientists are increasingly coming to believe that pomegranate helps combat inflammation, in part due to its exceptionally high content of antioxidants, particularly those in the ellagitannin family, such as punicalagins and punicalins.

Prior research has already suggested that pomegranate may help prevent a number of inflammation-linked diseases. It has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer, to slow or even stop the formation of prostate tumors in mice, to increase the amount of oxygen available to the heart and to fight the onset of heart disease by preventing LDL ("bad") cholesterol from oxidizing. Long-term consumption of pomegranate juice has also been linked to improvement in the symptoms of erectile dysfunction.

A research team from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland was the first to demonstrate that pomegranate extract can act directly to combat inflammation. In a 2005 study, they showed that when injected into human cells, pomegranate extract lowered inflammation and levels of enzymes that can cause cartilage to break down, as in arthritis.

The researchers followed this up with a study, published fall of 2008 in the Journal of Inflammation, in which they fed 175 milliliters of pomegranate extract to four rabbits, then compared them with two rabbits who had been given only water. All the rabbits were experiencing chronic inflammation.

The researchers found that the levels of antioxidant markers significantly increased and the levels of inflammation markers significantly decreased in the rabbits after they were given pomegranate extract.

Compared with the rabbits that had been given only water, the animals in the pomegranate extract group had 7 and 26 percent lower levels of the inflammation markers COX-1 and COX-2, respectively.

In addition, the levels of inflammatory compounds produced by cartilage cells also decreased.

"Consumption of pomegranate fruit extract may be of value in inhibiting inflammatory stimuli-induced cartilage breakdown and production of inflammatory mediators in arthritis," the researchers wrote.

The study was particularly significant because it demonstrated that pomegranate extract can reduce inflammation even if digested, and not just when injected directly into cells.

Most recently, researchers from Case Western Reserve University teamed up with researchers from the University of South Carolina to carry out the first study on whether the same effects could be observed in human cells. This study was also published in the Journal of Inflammation.

"No studies have been undertaken to investigate whether a polyphenol-rich pomegranate fruit extract (POMx) inhibits the inflammatory activity of activated human mast cells and basophils," the researchers wrote. "The aim of this study was to examine whether POMx modulates inflammatory reactions using human basophilic cell line KU812."

Mast cells play a role in immune function and in healing the body from injury.

The researchers first stimulated these cells with a chemical known as PMACI in order to produce an inflammatory response. Then they dosed them with pomegranate extract.

They found that after receiving pomegranate extract, the cells began producing significantly lower levels of the inflammation-linked cytokines IL-6 and IL-8.

"POMx or POMx-derived compounds may be of value for the treatment of inflammatory diseases in which mast cells play an active role," the researchers wrote.

Pomegranate extract also appeared to inhibit activation of a gene complex known as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB).

NF-kB plays a role in regulating healthy immune responses, and malfunction of the complex has been linked to autoimmune disease, improper immune development and viral infection.

Sources for this story include: www.nutraingredients.com; www.foodnavigator-usa.com.
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"HOW GOOD IS THE QUALITY OF YOUR FOOD"

Research Shows Mass-Produced Foods are Weak on Nutrition and Taste

If time travel ever becomes a reality, and if you ever find yourself back in the 1950s, you've got to try the tomatoes. And while you're at it, try the strawberries, peaches, broccoli, and onions too. They'll be so delicious that you might not want to return to the 21st Century.

Taste won't be the only difference. A colleague recently sent me an article that makes this claim: You'd have to eat more than half a dozen 2009 peaches to equal the nutritional content of a single 1959 peach.

The article features a 2004 study in which United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers compared nutrient data published in 1950 with similar data published in 1999. The match-up included more than 40 garden crops, including broccoli, carrots, spinach, corn, tomatoes, and strawberries.

Results showed overall declines for several nutrient factors, including protein, calcium, iron, riboflavin and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). For instance, the representative ascorbic acid value per 100 grams of spinach in 1950 was 59. In 1999 that value dropped to 28.

The USDA team believes that changes in cultivated varieties are responsible for the sharp decrease in nutritional value, adding: "...there may be trade-offs between yield and nutrient content."

Trade-offs? That's a nice way of saying that varieties have been purposely cultivated to create extra hardy fruits and vegetables that withstand long-distance shipping with minimum damage or spoilage. And you can see the result in the average supermarket: beautiful unbruised fruits and vegetables...with bland flavours and dense textures.

Mineral infusion

The article about the USDA study appears in an online magazine called Natural Foods Merchandiser. And a couple of readers' comments about the article are worth noting.

A reader named Cyndi points out another reason why mass- produced garden foods are weak on nutrition and taste: Fertilizers increase water uptake, but not vegetable matter. She advises sticking with heirloom varieties of foods – that is, the same varieties found in gardens in 1950. Those varieties didn't ship well, but they were packed with nutrients and had rich, satisfying flavours.

Another reader, Joanna, participates in a wider strategy to promote nutrient-dense produce: soil remineralisation. She's involved with an organization called Remineralize the Earth (remineralize.org), which works with farmers, scientists, retailers and other groups to replenish farm soils with mineral nutrients.

Meanwhile, what steps can you take to ensure a nutrient-rich diet?

You can use heirloom seeds in mineral-rich soil to grow your own fruits and vegetables. Next best: If you're fortunate enough to have a farmers' market in your area, that's a likely place to find organic heirloom produce.

Of course, dietary supplements provide a nutrient insurance plan for millions of people who don't have ready access to nutritious foods. Beyond multivitamins there are a number of supplements designed to naturally boost your nutrient intake.
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