South Beach Diet is originally created to prevent heart disease by cardiologist Arthur Agatston and dietician Marie Almon. The original purpose of the program is replacing low fat diet suggested by American Heat Association in 1980s which is turned out to increase the risk of heart disease instead of decrease it. It is gain popularity quickly in the early 2000s as a powerful weight loss program.

The diet basics are actually really simple: replacing “bad carbohydrates” and “bad fats” with “good carbohydrates” and “good fats”:

Replaced foods that contain heavily refined sugar with relatively unprocessed foods such as vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Eliminate trans fat and saturated fats which contribute to LDL cholesterol and replace it with unsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids which will contribute to HDL cholesterol.

The diet will not expect you to suddenly change your lifestyle and following its rules. Instead, it will divide the process into 3 phases where the first two phases are aim to make you familiar with the concept and lose weight at the same time. The 3rd phase is a maintenance phase which will be last for life where you are expected to understand the basic principles and apply it in your every day’s life.

Pros

Prevent heart disease; remember that weight loss is only the nice “side effect”. Low saturated and trans fats; most diet author, nutritionist, or physician will suggest you to minimize consumption of these kind of fats. South Beach Diet food list will help you do that. Fast weight loss; up to 13 pounds during the first phase. Restrict bad foods; it based on eating low Glycemic Index (GI)) foods which restrict junk food consumption. Various food choice; it consists of various foods and doesn’t eliminate certain food groups. Simple; no calories counting or portion control, just choose your foods from the food list provided. No hunger involved; it suggests eating in regular portion size with 2 snacks time, so hunger is not part of this diet.

Cons

The 1st phase is very strict, limiting the consumption of all carbohydrates completely. Some people believe that the weight loss gained during the phase is all water loss, not fat loss; this will cause you to gain weight again after you resume your carbohydrates intake. Various side effects; during the strict phase 1, there are lots of side effects, including fatigue, dehydration, lack of vitamins and minerals, and weakness. Not all medical community agree on using GI as indicator; there are doubts in using GI to determine good and bad foods since the program will eliminate high GI food even if the food is nutritionally beneficial. Lack of proper exercise; although there are some tips on exercising, some people still wondering if it is important while following this plan since the creator doesn’t put exercise in the program priority. The high protein intake will make the kidneys work harder. Require extra cost; especially on the first phase since the high protein foods are more expensive than the carbohydrates foods. Does not support vegetarian dieter or people who can’t eat dairy products; soy, which is considered as meat substitute by most of the vegetarian is prohibited for the first two weeks and most of the snacks are dairy products. It require the cook to be creative; this especially during the first and second phase since the food choice is limited and it could lead to boredom very quickly. Most of the recipes are time consuming and complicated in preparation.

South Beach Diet is just another alternative for you to lose weight. After you read the pros and cons you should be able to judge whether it can fulfill your need or not. The main issues I want to pinpoint here are this diet offer lifetime maintenance, but ignore the importance of exercise in a healthy diet and difficult to implement due to its high cost, time consuming and complicated food preparation, and the need of creativity to avoid boredom. Overall, I’d say you can do it if you are a good cook, have lots of free time in your hand, and have extra budget for the diet, but otherwise, if you are a busy man/women with little time to spare, just go with another alternative.

By: Stefan Vincent

Despite the repeated emphasis on Acai berry’s weight loss capabilities and its ability to promote overall health; there are some myths about its miraculous health benefits. No doubt, this fruit is full of nutrients, essential fibers and various other vitamins but it does not work properly unless you go for colon detoxification first.

Contrary to common belief that Acai berry is a panacea for every life style disease, it works well only if you know how to use it correctly. The most important thing about using this wonder fruit based supplement is that you should get a good quality product that contains more that 75% of pure acai in it. No sugar or preservatives have any role in helping you shed weight.

We are often impressed by the colorful ads and labels of products that have Acai in it. We hardly notice the percentage of acai essence in it. Remember, you will not gain any of the health benefits this berry is known for; unless your supplement contains enough acai essence in.

The most important and the number one myth about acai berry diet is that it is a magic formula that can help you shed weight just by taking it regularly. What is more important than taking acai formula is to detoxify your colon so that your fast metabolism triggered by acai berry can flush out excess fat from your body. If fat remains deposited in your colon; no acai product can make you slimmer. It is therefore essential that you go for both colon cleanse and acai formula simultaneously. Keep your colon clean and watch this miracle weight loss formula work.

By: Alexa Martin

Everybody is talking about the South Beach Diet today. It is the best thing, that is happening to people who really want to lose weight yet hate dieting. This is a new program in the market. However, it is already making waves as one of the most effective weight loss programs available.

Dr. Arthur Agatston has developed the South Beach Diet. This diet was initially designed for controlling the cholesterol in heart patients. This was meant to help reduce the threats of cardiac problems in people who were prone to it. However, the diet that Dr Agatston had engineered for his heart patients turned out to be an especially effective weight loss program. Since Dr Arthur Agatston was practising in a clinic in Miami South Beach, this diet was baptised as the South Beach Diet. So the question is asked, what is the South Beach Diet?

The South Beach Diet is an unusual diet, which concentrates on what type of carbohydrates you consume rather than stopping you from eating them.

Most of the diet programs would advice to eliminate all carbohydrates. However, the South Beach Diet helps you separate the good carbohydrates from the bad carbohydrates and allows you to eat to your heart’s content as long as you consume only the good carbohydrates.

The South Beach Diet emphasizes on quality of food and stresses. The fact that if your diet is balanced and you learn to consume the right carbohydrates in the right proportions, you would be able to eat all that you wanted to eat and still loose as much as 10 pounds per fortnight.

The South Beach Diet allows you to eat just as you always ate – you can have three meals and two snacks. However, you should pay close attention to what goes into your mouth.

The good carbohydrates are meant to keep your hunger satisfied for longer period than the bad carbohydrates. The latter would promote hunger instead of satisfying it. Hence, the South Beach Diet promotes that you eat only good fats and good carbohydrates and in turn you would be able to loose weight almost effortlessly.

Many people have said that the South Beach Diet is similar to the Atkins Diet; actually it is an improved version of this successful weight loss program. What Dr Agatston concocted as a preventive for his patients have turned out into one of the most successful weight-loss programs in USA. The best thing about the South Beach Diet is that side by side with weight loss, it keeps your heart healthy and improves the insulin levels in the body.

By: Sandra Maria Stammberger

The old South Beach Diet reviews would indicate how well it worked in the past, but since these reviews are outdated they have no information about the new adaptations that the diet went through. New South Beach Diet reviews would include just how well things are going for those that have tried the diet. Most of these diets would even include information about the new South Beach Diet Supercharged. The South Beach Diet Supercharged may have a changed a few things in some of the phases but one thing is for sure, things just got better.

First of all before looking at the different phases we should first look at the reason how we became fat. When we eat our bodies convert what we eat into sugar so that it may be used for all its functions. When we eat our bodies would release chemicals called insulin which would be responsible for working on this task.

As we eat more the cells in our body would actually grow certain resistances against insulin. The problem with this is that since the sugars wouldn’t be processed and used immediately the body would then release more insulin to force the process to work faster. Once the insulin gets to work what would happen next is that the sugars would be processed way too much leaving the blood sugar amounts at below normal.

After all that has been explained it is time to look at the phases that made this the best diet for weight loss. The first phase is what may be seen as the short term phase because this would usually only last for up to 2 weeks. What would happen in this phase is that you will be taught how to eliminate your cravings; no cravings equal to weight loss.

This phase is actually the reason why this is the best diet to lose weight fast. Since your body was used to eating hard to digest sugars, that has to be changed. You will be taught what foods contain easy to digest sugar and once your cravings are disappearing you will then lessen what you eat and turn to more healthy foods.

The next phase is seen in a longer time frame because this will help you to lose more weight. The second step is concerned with teaching your body that it is healthier to eat fruits and vegetables rather than processed foods. You will even be taught what kinds of meats are right for you to eat. This usually takes week, and even months to complete. Since there are a lot of foods that you have to go through you have to take your time to learn all of them. In case you’re wondering if you’ll be able to keep on doing this diet then worry no more. This diet is designed so that you won’t crave unhealthy foods.

As for the last phase this involves you using this diet for the rest of your life. Not to worry this is easy to accomplish. The South Beach diet is not only the best diet for weight loss but it is also the best diet to lose weight fast.

By: Martin Fisch

I have received the weirdest looks and some of the dumbest questions by folks when they discover that I am a total vegetarian. The looks make me want to quickly run and find a mirror and make sure that I don’t have two noses or possibly even manure on my face. The questions range from “what do you eat?” to “where do you get your protein?” to “how can you live without meat?” The majority of people seem to think that such a lifestyle choice is extreme.

One such person looked utterly flabbergasted when he offered me one of four hot dogs which were going to be his lunch and I told him that I would rather eat my tennis shoe than one of those abominations. He just could not rap his brain around the fact that I was a vegetarian. He thought this type of lifestyle was extreme. He didn’t feel that his fifty pounds of excess weight was extreme nor the fact that he was eating 4 hot dogs made of many different cow parts to include hoofs, lips, and many other parts of the cow that are too horrible to mention, and for that pale red coloring, cancer causing sodium nitrate in each mouthwatering bite.

His processed white flour hot dog buns were another nutritional nightmare. The process of making the flour that he was ingesting had fully removed the outside bran layer of the seed and the germ. These are the most nutrition packed parts of the seed and also the most rich in fiber. His hot dog buns had been chemically bleached and a whole bunch of unpronounceable chemical additives were present in every bite. Then he washed it all down with a cherry coke. I won’t even go into how bad a cherry coke is for a human to ingest. His lunch was nothing short of suicidal, yet he was strenuous to the point of obnoxious in his belief that my dietary habits were extreme.

The Definition Of Extreme

If you want to get a taste of extreme you should start reading the labels of the processed food you buy every day for your family. When you find it difficult to pronounce the myriad of names of chemicals in the food you eat it is because that chemical could very well be used as a rust inhibitor on jet airplanes, lacquer in paint, antifreeze, petroleum, car wax, or plastic, just to name a few of the disgusting, disease causing toxins which are added to your food. And don’t get me started on the ingredients found in your child’s happy meal at the neighborhood McNasty. You would be better off giving your child a cigarette and a shot of whiskey than feeding him a McDonald’s hamburger, fries, and shake. At least the shot of whiskey would deaden the pain while the cigarette was killing him.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is the most extreme diet in the world. It has caused cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, stroke, and just about every other infirmity that the majority of Americans suffer. The (SAD) diet has bankrupted a society with rising health care costs and doctors who prescribe statin drugs as though they were candy. These drugs do nothing in the world but mask the symptoms that you suffer because of the food you eat. Oh yeah, they also make the pharmaceutical companies rich! This is the definition of extreme and yet is considered normal by almost all Americans. Most Americans think it absolutely normal to wolf down a diet consisting solely of processed, manufactured, artificial foods loaded with a myriad of cancer causing chemicals. They think eating processed meat seven days a week at every meal is perfectly natural.

Tell the average American that your diet consists of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole unprocessed grains, beans, nuts and seeds and that you shun all animal flesh as well as their by products and they look at you like you needed to be put away. They think it quite strange that you would read a label on food and refuse to eat it if it had antifreeze, petroleum, or car wax in it. Tell them that a vegetarian diet is not only the healthiest diet for your physical body but also the most environmentally friendly and they might turn their back and walk away. Tell them that their foolish dietary choices are responsible for the untold suffering of multiplied billions of animals and they might strike you.

A Nation Of Sheep

Like sheep led to the slaughter, when it comes to diet and lifestyle Americans tend to follow one another to their death and find it strange when one of the sheep gets out of line and makes an intelligent informed decision about such grave matters. They find it strange that you don’t continue with them in their death march but through healthy dietary and lifestyle choices begin to take responsibility for your own health and well being and stop putting it into the hands of pharmaceutical companies and doctors who have a vested interest in keeping you sick.

In this writers opinion the most extreme diet in the world is the Standard American Diet (SAD). It is my prayer that more and more people become informed about what it is they are actually eating and then make intelligent dietary and lifestyle changes that coincide with common sense. Chemical frankenfood made in a laboratory is not an intelligent dietary decision nor is it a healthy one. Whole unprocessed foods straight from nature are the only reasonable and sane choice and it is high time that more and more Americans understand this.

By: Mark Brohl

Here is a break down of the Atkins diet, via three good points to the Atkins diet and three bad points of the Atkins diet.

The Atkins diet three good points.

1. The Atkins diet burns fat. When you begin the Atkins diet your body is switching from burning carbs for energy to burning ketones which come from fat for energy. The Atkins diet is designed to do this so your body becomes a fat burning machine.

Conventional diets use the concept of eat fewer calories than you use in a day which causes your body to burn fat reserves. The Atkins diet approach burns fat quicker because you take in less carbs and your body is forced into burning ketones.

2. You are not hungry on the Atkins diet. The Atkins diet has you eating your main source of protein from meats at each meal. By utilizing meat as your main source of protein your body feels full longer. Meat takes longer to digest which keeps you feeling full longer.

3. The Atkins diet has health benefits. In studies the Atkins diet has been shown in some people to reduce cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure. Also the Atkins diet may help to relieve the symptoms of acid reflux, diabetes and sleep apnea.

The Atkins diet three bad points.

1. The Atkins diet burns fat fast. Toxins that have built up in your body and stored in fat cells may be burned off too fast when you first begin the Atkins diet.

2. You may feel tired on the Atkins diet. When your body switches its fuel source from carbs to ketones in the first few days of the Atkins diet you may feel some form of fatigue. The tired feeling should begin to settle out as your body begins to adjust to the Atkins diet.

3. You eat fewer vegetables on the Atkins diet. The Atkins diet promotes more meat and fewer vegetables. Vegetables are an important source of minerals, fiber and calcium. When your body shifts to the Atkins diet you may suffer a loss in vegetable intake.

After you read the three good points of the Atkins diet and the three bad points of the Atkins diet it is up to you and your doctor to decide if the Atkins diet is the best choice for you.

By: Shauna Hanus

The following is an article I wrote for a now defunct local paper that I think does a fairer job of describing Atkins’ Diet than much of what I have read.

Dr. Atkins has left the building. We have lost our high fat guru, so available as a foil for those tofu munching, arugula crunching, low-fat health fanatics. Who will champion the cause for the all-you-can-eat lard smorgasbord now? Fear not, his legacy lives on, and you can still consume an entire chocolate cheesecake in front of your friends while mumbling something about doing Atkins.

While many will seek to wrap Dr. Atkins into a neat little package, medical research does not fully vindicate him or fully condemn him. As the different eulogies roll out, I have seen several already that misconstrue his diet and then half-heartedly defend it. Sympathy for his passing does not make Dr. Atkins right, just as his dying does not prove him wrong (slipping on the ice while getting exercise gives him credibility. He lived his recommendations). I am not an Atkins’ follower, but I am both a Naturopathic Doctor and a medical researcher, with a solid grounding in nutrition and biochemistry. My comments are based chiefly on the New Diet book, (Dr.Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, 2002) with a few comments on Atkins For Life.

Let me be clear about who might benefit from Atkins’ Diet. Anyone who has given him or herself over to apathy and morbid obesity. Actively involving yourself in your food choices and making conscious choices is always better than despair. The newest information we have is that being really large affects your quantity of life as well as your quality of life. Any readers who think this describes them should stop reading this and go pick up whatever health book looks the least bit interesting.

The hype surrounding Atkins diet far exceeds the reality, but the hype was of Dr. Atkins own doing. In the ads for New Diet, Dr. Atkins promises that you can eat all the delicious meals you love, never count calories, and reduce your risk factors for chronic fatigue, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Its not just weight loss, it is total wellness, and you too can be one of the lucky Atkins flock!

Dr. Atkins ability to sell a high protein/high fat diet has made him a cult figure, and he encourages this by referring to his diet as “doing Atkins.” Atkins didn’t “invent” his diet. A Banting diet from 1863 pushed high fat and protein. In the 1920′s uncontrolled epileptics were put on a ketogenic (60% fat) diet, a practice that is once again popular in medical circles. More recently, a horde of high protein diets have poured onto the bookstore shelves. Atkins was the beginning of this horde, having tried a low carbohydrate diet himself in 1963. His New Diet book dates from 1992, but he has been peddling the same ideas since 1972 (the first 1972 “revolution” sold 10 million copies).

While it is true that Dr. Atkins’ diet does not require calorie counting, Dr. Atkins does not mention in his introduction that instead of counting calories with a calorie counter you now must count carbohydrates with a carbohydrate counter. And these arent normal carbohydrates, they are an Atkins creation called net carbs, where you take total carbohydrates and subtract out the fiber, so be prepared with a calculator.

Supposedly people can eat as much fat as they want, but at the beginning of the diet part of New Diet Dr. Atkins encourages people to: “feel satisfied but not stuffed.” (p. 123). It is clear that Dr. Atkins is aiming for a ketogenic fat burning state, which he tries to call lipolysis instead of ketosis, and to pretend that it is a separate state from that of advanced diabetics (who enter ketosis because their body cells can no longer use glucose). In fact, it is the same ketosis (no fair inventing new body processes) but people are much less likely to go into ketoacidosis (out of control ketosis) than diabetics.

So the Atkins Diet is all hype? Not at all. The Atkins weight loss plan is an effective way to lose weight. Under the Atkins diet, you will immediately lose ten to fifteen pounds of water weight as the liver loses all its stored glucose. Then you will switch to ketotic fat burning, with protein providing some glucose inefficiently. When protein is burned for fuel by the body, only 55% converts to energy, the rest converts to heat. Add to that the two hormones that slow down your urge to eat whenever high quantities of fat are present, and you have a recipe for rapid weight loss. The trouble is that when you go off Atkins you’ll gain it back. He is quite clear about that, which is why it is so important for Atkins to defend his diet plan as a plan for life, not short term weight loss.

But to defend his diet for life, Atkins makes some claims he can’t back up. Dr. Atkins says that: “low-fat fanatics have claimed that a high-protein diet would impair kidney function. Yet, I have never seen or heard a single accuser provide a single example of a single case in which that happened.” (New Diet, p.xiii). This is where he really loses me. As a medical researcher, it should be impossible to miss the evidence to the contrary. Consider the following U.S. study result: “Consumption of an LCHP (Low-carbohydrate high-protein) diet for 6 weeks delivers a marked acid load to the kidney, increases the risk for stone formation, decreases estimated calcium balance, and may increase the risk for bone loss. Copyright 2002 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.” (Am J Kidney Dis 2002 Aug;40(2):265-74) In a group of Argentinian epileptic children placed on a ketogenic (60% fat) diet:

“The side effects and complications during admission were delay in onset of the ketotic state (10.5%), intolerance of the rapid onset of ketosis (21%), hypoglycemia (47.37%), refusal to drink fluids (15.79%), lack of appetite (15.79%), and nausea and vomiting (26.31%). During treatment the serum cholesterol rose in 64.7% of the children, 40.91% were constipated, 31.82% had periods of anorexia, symptomatic metabolic acidosis occurred during intercurrent infections in 9.09%, renal calculi in 9.09%, carnitine insufficiency in 9.09% and severe complications which led to hospital admission in 21.05%.” (Rev Neurol 2001 Nov 16-30;33(10):909-15)

While these children represent the far end of the spectrum for side effects, the high-fat/ high protein approach to diet is far from risk free.

At this point, if the Atkins aficionados are still reading, they are prepared to cite chapter and verse, study after study to support Atkins. While the studies in the back of Atkins’ books are valid studies, he has cherry picked the supporting studies from among others less supportive. Atkins has, for example, a study that says: “Phosphorus and protein intakes do not contribute to the wide variability in calcium absorption efficiency. (Am J Clin Nutr 2000 Sep;72(3):758-61) The study does say that, but the author was doing a metabolic analysis of nuns over a twenty year period. A much more specific study that Atkins ignores actually measured calcium urine after protein and phosphorus ingestion in young men and found that: “Simultaneous increases in protein and phosphorus intakes caused a 28% increase in urinary calcium (excretion) whereas the increase in protein intake alone caused a 115% increase (in calcium excretion).” (J Nutr 1981 Mar;111(3): 553-62) When studies conflict, selecting the ones that just support our point of view is not good science.

In some cases, Atkins is a viable option despite the risks. Cherry picked or not, Atkins does have studies that support his diet plan. In particular, diabetics and pre-diabetics with sugar imbalances do better on Atkins than on carbohydrates. Morbidly obese and obese people who have not been successful on low-fat diets will lose weight on Atkins total diet regime (diet and exercise). Losing a significant amount of weight will, as a recent Duke University study shows, lower cholesterol and other lipid markers despite high fat intake. And six month studies of people on Atkins show that, while the kidney changes with high quantities of protein, it was not as severe as the critics had thought. Atkins puts in the beginning of his book that people with severe kidney disease should not do Atkins, so on some level he realized the risks.

Despite Dr. Atkins protestations to the contrary, it is also possible to lose weight on high carbohydrate, restricted calorie diets, particularly if those diets are full of complex carbohydrates instead of simple ones (think whole wheat and brown rice instead of takeout and white bread). Nowhere in Dr. Atkins’ book was there any mention of the dietary habits of the rest of the world, where high carbohydrates are often a necessity, and obesity is not rampant. Given a choice, low fat may be safer, and long term studies have shown that consistent replacement of high fat snacks with low fat snacks (day-glow chips with air popped popcorn) gives the most consistent long-term weight loss.

For the vast majority of people, those who do not yet require a full two airplane seats but who still cringe at the sight of a scale or a BMI index, Atkins provides some interesting insights, but is not the best route to a magazine cover figure (better invest in a good airbrush and some digital retouching).

But while I may not admire the diet, I admire the man. Dr. Atkins withstood an amazing barrage of criticism over the years, and continued to change his dietary recommendations to take into account new information.

In his newest book, Atkins for Life, Atkins has backpedaled so far from the “all the fat you can eat” idea he is practically in the same dietary range as Andrew Weil and the Harvard Diet. He discusses bad fats and good fats, transfats and the evils of barbecuing. When Dr. Atkins started into the joys of nuts and berries, I checked the front of the book again, thinking I had mistakenly switched to a raw foods book or a vegan cookbook. I don’t know if I could recommend Atkins for Life for life, but it definitely leaves the New Diet Revolution in the dust. Had he lived a few more years, Dr. Atkins would have doubtless published the New Improved Diet Revolution, which would have been still closer to the mark. Goodbye, Dr. Atkins, you will be missed.

All rights reserved. Portland Seacoast Spirit article.

By: Dr. Christopher Maloney

Have you heard about the famous Acai juice? For sure, you have been bombarded with emails, pop-up ads, and articles about the benefits a person can get from Acai berry. There are even some who have claimed that they did lose some weight using this remarkable product.

Acai berry has generated positive reviews from different fields of expertise world wide. This has even brought the attention of doctors, scientists, and researchers to check on whether or not Acai berry does work or it is just a pure hype that every one wants to join in. But the truth of the matter is, we all do have seen it from the variety of products swirling in the market like mushrooms, you can see that indeed it is a good fruit that can transform the many lives of many. Now the question is, does the berry delivers what has been said and promoted about this highly hyped product? Read on to find out.

The berry or the juice itself contains the following: vit. B, vit. E, amino acid, antioxidants, micronutrients, proteins and even vit. A. If you are going to look at what’s inside every berry, it seems like you are going take a multi-vitamin tablet in its raw form. That’s power of nature and how it brings wonders to the lives of the people.

But there is one Acai berry product that creates lot of raves from customers and even experts alike, Acai berry juice. Yes, it is the closest form of Acai berry where in manufacturers take out the skin and pulp and makes it into a juice. The best Acai berry juice that you must pick for yourself is one that is unfiltered, no preservatives or chemicals added, the container is a glass bottle, and made out of skin and pulp of Acai berry and not the seed. The berry has been proven to be effective and can enhance a person’s health to a more stable and healthier one.

The following are some of the health benefits of Acai berry:

1. Increase a person’s energy level

2. Provides the body with all the essential vitamins

3. Fights back cancerous cells

4. Boosts up the immune system

5. Detoxifies and cleanses the body of unwanted toxins

6. Contains minerals important to the body.

7. Enhances a person’s desire in sex and performance level is increased

8. Slows down aging

9. Improves circulation of the blood

10. Minimizes inflammation

11. Promotes and aids in getting younger-looking face and skin

12. Prevents the occurrence of arteriosclerosis

Another cool trivia of berry, don’t you know that it does contain more antioxidants than a regular red wine. Acai berry contains a lot of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants which you rarely see on fruits. The berry in its raw form gives off a lot of benefits to a person taking it. But it is rarely you see this product being sold on the market freshly picked. Since the berry is rare on the market, a lot of people had came up with the idea of bringing berry near to every one by creating different berry products. There are different products or forms of the berry the most common ones are berry tablets or supplements and the juice. Between the supplements and juice, it is the Acai berry juice that can give you the ultimate 100% pure berry and you can reap the good benefits. Don’t go for the powdered juice cause all the amino acids and nutrients died in the process. The only thing that’s left on the Powder is the taste and that’s about it.

By: Walter Hart

Health conscious people know that the healthiest oils contribute essential good fats to their diet. However, it can often be quite difficult to determine whether or not a food is healthy for you. To increase sales and profits, the manufacturers of a food will tout its benefits while neglecting to tell you about any of the downsides to it. One of these foods is canola oil, which many believe is very healthy. Those that favor the oil point out the fact that it is high in polyunsaturated fats, which are good for the body. However, they do not mention that it is derived from rapeseed oil, which has the toxin erucic acid in it.

While it is true that canola oil has much less erucic acid after it has been hybridized, it is still refined in 300 degree Fahrenheit temperatures. This leads to nearly 5% of the fatty acids in it being trans-isomers. Trans-isomers are similar to plastic. The healthiest oils are pure and don’t contain plastic like substances.

In addition, some canola oils are actually hydrogenated, which means that there are even more toxins present. The trans-fats and hydrogenated oils lead to coronary heart disease. Various studies have been done using lab animals to determine what type of effect this type of oil might have on humans that ingest it.

In one study, the canola oil diet turned out to kill the lab animals. Shortly after, another study was performed on pigs. What the researchers found was that canola oils decreased the amount of Vitamin E in the pigs to a level that was dangerously low. The reason that this is so bad is because Vitamin E is necessary for the health of humans.

Another problem with canola oil, clearly not one of the healthiest oils, is the fact that it contains isothicyanates, which are compounds that contain cyanide. This slows down mitochondrial production, which in turn slows down the fueling of immune cells.

While it can be very difficult to determine which are the healthiest oils, the best bet is to examine studies. As more independent, non industry funded studies are conducted on canola oil, it is becoming clearer that the food is actually very unhealthy. While there may be some benefits to ingesting it, the amount of problems it can potentially cause far outweighs them.

By: Mary Ann MacKay

In the early years of the 21st century, the Atkins Diet burst into the public consciousness with the momentum of a freight train. Developed and publicized by Dr. Robert Atkins and his low-carb franchise, the Atkins Diet was hailed as a revolutionary way to achieve weight loss goals. During the heyday of the low-carb diet craze in 2003 and 2004, it was estimated that nearly 10% of American adults were on the Atkins Diet. However, the popularity of the Atkins phenomenon waned almost as quickly as it rose, and by 2005, Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. was forced to file for bankruptcy, though various manifestations live on, with moderate success, even today.

Almost from the beginning, the Atkins Diet was surrounded by both accolades and accusations; the height of its popularity was also the height of controversy. Opponents of the diet, which included prestigious organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association, were highly skeptical of the claims made by and premises behind the Atkins Diet. Some representatives went so far as to label the diet dangerous to the public health, citing, among other things, an increase in heart disease risk.

On the other hand, proponents of the Atkins Diet were equally fanatical. They asserted that most objections raised against the Diet were based on faulty assumptions and common misconceptions. Both sides cited a variety of different scientific studies to support their position, and even today a definitive conclusion has not yet been reached.

The Tenets of the Atkins Diet

The prevailing public image of the Atkins Diet is as a low-carb, high-fat, high-protein diet. Given the restrictive guidelines of most diet plans, it is easy to see why so many flocked to try out Dr. Atkins’ strange new approach to weight loss. However, the preceding summary of the Atkins Diet, while pithy and catchy, is not entirely accurate.

The Atkins Diet actually consists of several phases. During the first phase, known as the Induction Phase, participants impose serious limits on their carbohydrate intake. The source of the small amount of allowed carbs is also carefully monitored. On the other hand, foods such as meats and fish are liberally permitted, giving rise to the mischaracterization of the Atkins Diet as a plan centered around unlimited fat and protein intake. In reality, the induction phase is only the beginning; during subsequent phases the proportion of carbs to other nutrients changes significantly.

Proponents of the Atkins philosophy point out that the most noticeable weight loss typically occurs during this initial Induction Phase. Opponents, however, counter with the argument that such a dramatic weight loss pattern is a fairly common occurrence in diets, attributable more to water loss than any particular diet’s effectiveness.

Conclusion

Whether or not you believe in the Atkins Diet, it is an indisputable fact that the food you eat has a significant impact on your weight, appearance, and health.

By: Joseph Devine