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Are blueberries good for weight loss?

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(NaturalNews) While the little blue fruit is a delicious addition to muffins and pancakes, blueberries are more than a sweet addition to baked goods. Although they may be small in size, the nutritional punch these little berries carry makes them a great addition to one’s diet.

Abdominal fat is linked to greater health risks

While it is healthy to have a certain amount of body fat to maintain healthy bodily functions, excessive body fat in certain locations, such as the belly or abdominal area, can place an individual at a greater risk for developing certain health conditions. Where body fat is carried appears to be more important than the overall body weight or body fat content, having a large amount of fat accumulated around the abdominal area can lead to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, and colorectal cancer.

Blueberries help to reduce abdominal fat deposits

One of the components contained in blueberries has been found to help in the reduction of fat cells within the abdominal area. Catechins, which are found in blueberries, were found to be a valuable addition to a healthy weight loss plan. Studies have shown that consuming foods rich in catechins, such as blueberries, helps to decrease the amount of abdominal fat as well as increase the total amount of weight loss. It is thought that the catechins activate fat-burning genes located in the fat located in the abdominal region, which can help in weight and fat loss.

Blueberries help to fill you up without filling you out

Blueberries contain a high amount of fiber and water and are considered to be a low energy density food. One cup of blueberries provides 3.6 grams of fiber and 125 grams of water all in only 84 calories. Fiber can aid in weight loss goals by slowing the digestion of food, which can help to stave off hunger. When combined with a healthy diet and regular physical activity, blueberries can be a great addition to the diet and can help to reduce dangerous abdominal fat deposits.

Sources:

http://www.mayoclinic.org

http://www.care2.com

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com

About the author:
Raw Michelle is a natural health blogger and researcher, sharing her passions with others, using the Internet as her medium. She discusses topics in a straight forward way in hopes to help people from all walks of life achieve optimal health and well-being. She has authored and published hundreds of articles on topics such as the raw food diet and green living in general.

Learn more:  http://www.naturalnews.com/050507_blueberries_abdominal_fat_weight_loss.html#ixzz3gk6UdWXb

Metabolism Boosting Tips to Optimize Your Weight

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Some Great Tips Here:

By Dr. Mercola

Do you feel like your metabolism is stuck in first gear? Is your body refusing to let go of that stubborn extra body fat, in spite of making good dietary choices and exercising? Fear not—there are a few simple tricks you can try that are backed by solid nutrition science.Your lifestyle can be “tweaked” in a variety of ways, from what you eat to when you eat, how and when you exercise, and other daily habits such as sleephygiene and stress management. ALL of these play a role in your metabolism

People today move much less and consume more inflammatory foods than they did hundreds and thousands of years ago, and this takes a toll on your metabolism.

A recent article in Time1 makes some excellent metabolism-boosting suggestions, and we will take a look at several of these in detail. But first, let’s examine one of the most common causes of metabolic sluggishness: chronic inflammation.If Your Metabolic Engine Has Stalled, It Could Be Inflammation

If your metabolism is stalled

—or stuck in reverse—it would be helpful to look at what might be keeping your body in a state of low-level inflammation. It’s well established that weight gain is often a sign of chronic low-level inflammation, and frequently this is related to the foods you are eating.

Food sensitivities can lead you down the road toward insulin and leptin resistance and can seriously hamper your metabolism.2 When you have a food sensitivity or allergy, your body feels “attacked” by a food rather than nourished by it.

Inflammatory molecules are then produced and circulated to protect you from your body’s perceived threat, causing you to decrease insulin and leptin sensitivity. Your body is under stress so it uses its resources differently. This is typically accompanied by a gut dysbiosis, an imbalance in the microorganisms in your digestive tract.

In addition to food allergies and sensitivities, inflammation can be caused by a number of different factors, including poor sleep, environmental toxins, stress, and other factors. Even overexercising may stall your metabolism by triggering inflammation, pain, water retention, etc.

The foods most likely to be pro-inflammatory are junk foods and highly processed foods, grains, foods high in sugar (especially fructose), and GMOs. For help with dietary strategies, please refer to my Optimized Nutrition Plan. However, many people have food sensitivities to what would normally be consideredhealthy foods, such as gluten, nuts, and dairy products.

It’s important to not rule out the possibility that you may be having an unhealthy reaction to a “healthy” food. These food sensitivities can be very subtle, so they can sometimes be challenging to identify, requiring some trial and error.

Whey Protein Fuels Muscle Growth and Repair

The featured article suggests that whey protein may be effective for kicking up your metabolism, and I couldn’t agree more. According to Paul Arciero, a professor in the Health and Exercise Sciences department at Skidmore College:

“Whey protein increases calorie burn and fat utilization, helps the body maintain muscle, and triggers the brain to feel full.”

Protein in general has a tendency to rev up your metabolic engine due to its thermogenic effects—meaning, it makes your body produce more heat and in turn, burn more calories—but whey is particularly effective for this.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that fat oxidation and thermogenic effects are greater with whey than with soy or casein.3

Consuming a high-quality, rapidly absorbed, and easily assimilated whey protein concentrate, not isolate within about 30 minutes of resistance training may maximally stimulate muscle building in young healthy individuals, but this is equally important, if not more so, for the elderly.

People tend to lose muscle mass as they age. The leaner you are, the better your metabolism will be, regardless of your age. There is only about a two-hour window after exercise for optimal muscle repair and growth, and supplying your muscles with the right food at this time is essential—and whey is among the best.

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The Night Before Breakfast Idea: Coconut Blueberry Chia Pudding

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by Sheleana Jennings – Sep 20, 2014

If you have a busy morning schedule, breakfast can be the most insane part of your day, up until lunch that is! To bring a bit of systemization into your life, try creating breakfast solutions that can be made the night before or even a few nights in advance. While chia seeds can lower blood pressure and may not be the most optimal solution for daily consumption for certain people, they are generally a very healthy option that provide good fats as well as support in flushing the body and supporting a healthy digestive tract.

Do you ever find yourself constipated? Chia seeds are a pretty sure way to get things moving due to their fibre content and gel like texture. Feel free to get creative with this recipe and switch up some of the ingredients by adding alternative fruits or even spices to the mix.

Ingredients:

1 cup chia seeds (white or black)
1 cup full fat coconut milk (add more water if you need extra liquid)
2 tsp vanilla bean or extract
1-2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
3 tbsp shredded coconut
pinch of salt to taste

Instructions: Use a large glass jar to store your breakfast in or separate the mixture into smaller “to-go” jars that people can grab and go with. You’ll want to combine your ingredients in a larger bowl to start and let sit with the liquid for at least 5-10 minutes until the chia seeds have absorbed the liquid and begun to expand. You’ll be able to tell if you need to add more liquid if the mixture gets extremely dry and difficult to move around with a spoon. Once the mixture is finished, store for up to 4 days in the fridge without fruit, 3 with fruit. You can add a different fresh fruit topping each morning or go without.

Are GMO Foods Safe?

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The FDA has declared that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are safe for human consumption and the corporation producing GMO seeds, Monsanto, in its website declare that GMO foods are presumed safe, there is no need to test GMO modified crops, no reason to test its effects on humans.

What exactly are GMO foods? To give an example, it means taking a pear mixing with an apple and creating a new fruit, with a new DNA which does not exist in nature, a Frankenstein food. GMO foods are altered in laboratory by money driven scientists which work for the most evil corporation in the world: Monsanto.

What happen when we consume these foods and what happen within our body? We are just starting to discover the damage of GMO on human health. Cell Research just published a study which shows the mechanisms for which GMO foods may alter organ function. In the study, it is shown that micro RNA pass from the food, to digestion, blood and then attach to the organs. When we eat, we eat more than vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein and fat… we are eating information for cells and organs. The study shows that GMO foods can alter the expression of organs, the LDL receptors in the liver and the communication between cells making it a perfect candidate for cancer. More studies have linked GMO foods to infertility, digestive disorders, auto immune disease, skin damage and cancer.

One of the effects of GMO foods is that it “naturally” produces a pesticide which kills insects due to neurological problems and their intestine explodes. So this is very profitable for the food industry but not for our health.

Our immune system controls everything that comes into our body and when we eat GMO foods with a DNA which does not exist the immune system recognize it as an invader and inflammation is triggered. If to an insect its intestine explodes, what do you think happen to the human gut consuming those “foods”? It is not a case that since the introduction of GMO foods digestive problems and neurological disorders have increased dramatically and it originates a new condition known as “leaky gut syndrome” where bacteria and undigested foods go where they do not belong, triggering auto immune disease, allergies and cancer. When we eat GMO foods and it ultimately it reaches our gut and our friendly bacteria, our gut becomes a pesticide factory.

The same GMO foods is the one used to feed the animals we eat, dairy, baked foods, to make corn syrup, the “healthy” cornflakes for children, tortillas and many more foods.
Now that you know the dangers of GMO foods, you have another reason to buy ONLY organic food to be sure to avoid these Frankenstein foods. Stay informed because more jaw dropping discoveries on the dangers of GMO foods are to come.

2013 | Shantih Coro
http://www.v-artofwellness.com/wellness/the-expert/