The Undiscovered Wonders of Goji Berries!

The Undicovered Wonders of Goji Berries!

Posted on January 23, 2011 by healthyeatingandwellbeing| Leave a comment | Edit

Goji berries are amazing, I am so excited by them because I cannot believe that I have only recently heard of them.   There are numerous superfoods on the market but I believe that this is a superfood with a difference and not many people know about it.
The term superfoods is used to describe foods that are packed with nutrients that are extremely beneficial to our health.   There are many superfoods which you have probably heard of before, broccoli, baked beans, apples , brussels sprouts. You do not hear as commonly of goji berries.
Goji berries are grown in the Himalayas and are high in antioxidants and phytonutrients; they contain more vitamin C than oranges, more beta carotene than carrots and more iron than steak.  These berries have been used for over 6,000 years by herbalists in China, they have numerous health benefits, I have listed some of the uses below:

• Help to Prevent Cancer Goji’s antioxidant and unique molecular structure can stop genetic mutations that lead to cancer.
• Help to Manage and Fight Cancer Patients taking a cancer drug together with goji were found to have a recovery rate that was up to 250% better than those patients who took drugs alone.
• Eye Sight it was found in the study of the goji berry that they are able to reduce the amount of time that it takes for vision to adapt to darkness.
• Boosts the Immune Function due to the fact that it contains such high levels of vitamin C.
• Promotes Longevity when included as a regular part of your diet.
• Eliminates Fatigue especially when recovering from an illness.

Goji berries are readily available in health food stores and most supermarkets, they are reasonably priced and make a great snack that you can readily sprinkle into yoghurts, smoothies, cereals or simply eat as a snack when you are on the go.  They can be bought dried, as juice, herbal tea or the actual fruit.  I have only tasted them in the dried form and I would say that they look quite similar to raisins and I would say the taste is close to dried cranberries.

I hope that this encourages you to try them and check out the health benefits for yourself.

Mission Accomplished! Portion Control Revisited

It has now been a week since I set myself the task of controlling my dinner portions and serving sizes.  In order to do this I decided to eat from an 8 inch plate, which is only half an inch bigger than the plates that were used in the 18th Century, and 3 inches smaller than my usal 11 inch dinner plate.  It is important to note that a 3 inch increase in the diameter of a plate, for example from 8 inches to 11 inches, creates 50% more space for food, and in turn 50% more calories.

I can honestly say that I have not been hungry throughout the week, which makes me wonder why I would usually eat so much more food at dinner time.  One of the reasons has been explained as being psycholigical, as children we are always told to finish what is on our plates.  We carry this into adulthood and usually just continue eating until the plate is clean, regardless of the fact that we may be full before this happens.

Another reason is that when sharing dinner out, we like to fill most of the plate.  I am sure that everyone has had the experience of being in a restaurant, having your main course delivered, and wondering if the chef forgot to put the rest of it on the plate!  I have been in this situation and thought that I will till e hungry once I had finished, but I was surprisingly satisfied.  The point is that people do not tend to share out a dinner that only takes up a fraction of the plate at home, even though it may be sufficient.  By using a smaller plate the problem is solved because you can fill up your plate, finish everything on your plate if you choose, and yet you will still have had a smaller portion than usual and consumed less calories.

The hardest part of this challenge was the amount of food that was left in the pot each evening, I wanted to continue filling my plate just to reduce the amount of leftovers, which is not good.  I realise now that I cook too much food in the first place and in future I am going to cook smaller quantities.  Another important lesson that I learned was the importance of well spaced meals and having healthy snacks handy.  If I had skipped lunch for example, there is no way that I would consider going home and eating from an 8 inch plate as I would be too hungry.  I have discussed the importance of not skipping meals in more depth in a previous post 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight.

This week has been interesting and has taught me that I can be satisfied with much smaller portions than I would usually have.  Whilst I do not choose to continue to eat from an 8 inch plate, doing so for the week has made me much more conscious of my portion sizes and I intend to keep it that way.

The Benefits of Weight Lifting

Weight lifting does not appeal to everyone, especially women, in fact the number of women who include weights in their work out routine is very low.  This is a unfortunate as weight lifting has numerous benefits some of which I have listed below:

• Research has shown that regular training with weights can increase your basal metabolic rate by up to 15% which means that you will burn significantly more calories in a day.
• Weight lifting strengthens the bones and decreases the risk of developing osteoporosis.  It is especially good for older adults who typically suffer from reduced bone density.
• It helps in increasing the mineral density of the spinal bone by at least 13% within approximately 6 months.
• Weight lifting improves your overall health regardless of your age.  It actually helps to preserve your muscle mass as you age, which otherwise would naturally decrease.
• It helps reduce the risk of diabetes by improving the bodies method of processing sugar.

Many women avoid weight training as they believe that it will make them bulky when they would rather the long and lean look.  However there is no need to worry about bulking up as a high level of testosterone is needed to do this. Women have significantly lower levels of testosterone in comparison to men, which means that weight training will not lead to a very muscular bulky physique.

One important fact to remember is that weight lifting helps to lose fat.  A big mistake that people often make is doing cardio exercises and cutting their calories without doing and weight training.  This is not good because it can mean that you lose muscle along with fat, and when you lose muscle your body cannot burn fat efficiently.  When you weight train your body continues to burn fat whilst you sleep and the following day.

I hope to have convinced you to give weight lifting a try if you have not already.  A good way to start could be by joining a class at the gym, they are usually called 'Body' or 'Power' Pump classes.  This will give you the opportunity to learn the correct way to lift weights once you know this you can continue to lift weights in the comfort of your own home or at the gym.

Lastly, when you begin to lift weights try not to concentrate too much on what the scales say that you weigh.  Muscle weighs more per square inch than fat, so it may seem as though your weight is not decreasing as quickly as it should.  It will be more than likely that you are actually losing inches and  you should begin to feel more toned. 

With all of the above benefits I know that you will want to give it a try!

Portion Control and Serving Sizes

This week is going to be all about portion control and serving sizes for me.  Not too long ago I thought that they were both the same thing but I have now learned that a "portion" is how much food you choose to eat at one time.  A "serving" is the amount of food that is listed in the nutritional information on a product.  For example you may eat a whole packet of ready made macaroni cheese and think that you have had one serving, when in fact the nutritional information on the packet says that it contains 2 servings.

In modern day society we have much larger portions of food and this is the reason that our plates have gradually got larger.  In the 18th Century dinner plates were 7 1/2 inches.  By the early 20th century the standard dinner plate in the UK was 10 1/2 inches.  This increase in the diameter of the plate in inches, means that we are now able to put 50% more food on the plate, in turn that is 50% more calories without even thinking aout it.  When we combine this with the fact that we now do less physical activities than in past decades, higher food in take than calories burned up significantly raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes and other health threats that face society today.

There is said to be an association between the size of dinner plates and obesity and this may be true seeing as there is now more obesity than ever and plates are now larger than ever.

This week I am going to be using an 8 inch plate for dinner which is only 1/2 an inch larger than the plate that was used in the 18th Century.  I am also going to follow suggested serving sizes for breakfast and lunch.  I do not usually have extremely large portions but I would say that there is not much space left over on my usual 11 inch dinner plate!

It will be interesting to see if I am satisfied from eating my dinner on an 8 inch plate, if I am, I will aim to continue having smaller portions as there is no need to over eat every day.

Many people have found the portion control plates that you can buy online very useful.  I think that they would be of some use for a short period of time to show you what your serving size should be, but eventually you will just need to learn what is the right amount by looking at it because it is not practical to bring the plate every where.

Below is an example of a portion control plate, there are numerous plates on the market.

I will keep you guys posted.

10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight

I watched an excellent programme on BBC1 last night called 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight, in which medical journalist Michael Mosley investigated the latest scientific breakthroughs in slimming.  He uncovered 10 of the simplest ways to shed unwanted pounds.

This show was well researched and had lots of studies to support claims that were made.  Two points which I found most interesting were

• The Slimming Secrets of Soup A study carried out for the programme found that people who had a solid meal followed by a glass of water became hungry before others who had the same meal but it had been blended into a soup along with the water.  This is because the blended meal stays in the stomach for longer and in turn the stomach tell the brain that you are still full.  This is great to know because there is such a variety of soups on the market and soup is also relatively easy, cheap and quick to make at home.  Click on this link for some tasty ideas http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_soup_recipes

• The Brains response after skipping meals Many people skip meals and believe that it will help them to consume less calories throughout the day.  The BBC did an experiment for the show 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight and found that skipping meals actually does the opposite and causes us to eat more.  When we skip meals our bodies release a hormone called ghrelin which sends a message to the brain that our stomachs are empty, and also promotes fat storage.  Ghrelin tells our brains that we are starving and triggers us to want high calorie foods in order to compensate for the missed meal.  Once we eat the high calorie food because we are so hungry, our bodies then hold onto all of the fat and store it.  This links into my previous "Healthy Eating" post where I mentioned that you should not allow yourself to get hungry.  It leads to bad food choices and has a negative effect in the long run.

The 10 things that you need to know about losing weight are:

1. Don't skip meals.
2. Use a smaller plate
3. Count calories
4. Don't blame your metabolism
5. Protein staves off hunger pangs
6. Soups keep you feeling fuller for longer.
7. The wider the choice of foods the more you eat.
8. Low fat dairy helps you excrete more fat.
9. Exercise continues burning fat, even while you sleep.
10. Keep moving and lose weight.

If you missed this programme you will be able to view it on BBC iPlayer www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ksh7c/10_Things_You_Need_to_Know_About_Losing_Weight/
It is well worth watching.

Healthy Eating

At the beginning of the year everyone is concerned with healthy eating and setting new years resolutions to shift those stubborn pounds that creep on during the winter months.  However, more often that not, we are so strict with the new regime and make it so boring that it is impossible to stick with it beyond March.

I have set myself a few targets like eating less processed foods, drinking more water and sticking with my vitamins, but I always try to be practical and not put myself under too much pressure.  If you are not happy with your new style of eating, or you feel deprived, you will not stick with it.

Below I have listed a few tips that I believe are key to being able to stick with a healthy eating plan:

• Never allow yourself to get Hungry: its easy to associate dieting with a twinge of hunger, feeling full seems somehow like cheating. This is not good, it is better to have well spaced meals and healthy snacks throughout the day to avoid getting ravenous and grabbing unhealthy snacks or binging.

• Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time: A good way to do this is to bring a packed lunch to work for example, which often works out as being more cost effective.  It is the same with dinner, if you plan what you will be having beforehand it should help.

• Try a variety of fruits and vegetables: It is easy to stick with the same fruit and veg and not try new ones.  This gets boring very quickly, especially if you think that every healthy meal has to revolve around salad.  Try something new each week and then have a quick look online to see how it can be incorporated into a meal that is quick to prepare.  Click on this link for some great quick and healthy meal suggestions for during the week including burgers and fajitas. http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/dietandnutrition/dinners.htm

• Make your meals interesting and flavoursome: Aside from the fact that you will get bored from having the same meals each day, especially breakfasts, our bodies also get bored.  You body burns food more efficiently when it is given a variety rather than the same things day in and day out.

• Another good tip is using fry light in place of ordinary oils.  Fry light is an excellent alternative to conventional oils and it is only 1 calorie per spray.  It is worth trying out as it can be found in most supermarkets.

          

Whatever you new years resolutions or goals may be, try to make sure that they are attainable, be practical, and do not be too hard on yourself.

Starbucks Nutrition

From overhearing conversations in the office I know that a lot of women find it annoying when they treat themselves to a coffee in Starbucks and then cannot find out the calories.  I have had a search online and thought that I would list a few of them:

Chocolate Beverages

Short 8ozTall 12ozGrande 16ozVenti 20ozNonfat milkWhole Milk2% MilkSoy (United States)Soy (Canada) Whipped Cream

	Calories	Fat (g)	Carb. (g)	Fiber (g)	Protein (g)
Hot Chocolate	330	13	46	2	13
Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate	390	13	63	2	13
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate	390	13	65	2	13
White Hot Chocolate	450	17	61	0	15

Loading...

Espresso Beverages

Solo 1ozDoppio 2ozShort 8ozTall 12ozGrande 16ozVenti 20ozVenti Iced 24ozNANonfat milkWhole Milk2% MilkSoy (United States)Soy (Canada) Whipped Cream

	Calories	Fat (g)	Carb. (g)	Fiber (g)	Protein (g)
Caffè Americano	-	-	-	-	-
Caffè Latte	220	11	18	0	12
Caffè Mocha	290	12	40	2	13
Cappuccino	140	7	11	0	7
Caramel Brulée Latte	310	6	59	0	7
Caramel Macchiato	270	10	34	0	10
Cinnamon Dolce Latte	290	10	39	0	11
Eggnog Latte	480	22	53	0	16
Espresso	-	-	-	-	-
Espresso Con Panna	-	-	-	-	-
Espresso Macchiato	-	-	-	-	-
Flavored Latte	280	11	36	0	11
Gingerbread Latte	280	10	37	0	11
Iced Caffè Americano	-	-	-	-	-
Iced Caffè Latte	150	7	12	0	8
Iced Caffè Mocha	220	8	35	2	9
Iced Caramel Macchiato	260	10	33	0	9
Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte	220	6	34	0	7
Iced Flavored Latte	280	11	36	0	11
Iced Gingerbread Latte	210	6	31	0	7
Iced Peppermint Mocha	270	8	52	2	8
Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha	420	11	72	0	9
Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte	270	6	43	0	10
Iced Skinny Flavored Latte	130	6	11	0	7
Iced Toffee Mocha	290	6	51	2	12
Iced White Chocolate Mocha	360	11	55	0	10
Peppermint Mocha	350	11	58	2	12
Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha	500	15	78	0	14
Pumpkin Spice Latte	340	10	49	0	14
Skinny Caramel Macchiato	-	-	-	-	-
Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte	210	11	17	0	11
Skinny Flavored Latte	210	11	17	0	11
Toffee Mocha	380	11	58	2	16
White Chocolate Mocha	430	15	60	0	14

Hope that you find this information useful.