10 easy tricks to boost your fruit intake

Eating to lose

Eating to lose

Research shows that following positive weight-loss messages or diets that promote eating more of a certain food provides better results than following negative messages or diets that promote eating less of a certain food.

Everybody wants a weight-loss plan that lets them eat as much as they want while satisfying hunger and reducing calorie intake. The trick is to choose foods with a lower energy density, or fewer calories per gram weight of the food. The more water and fiber in a food, the lower its energy density, and the more it helps you stay full while you reduce your calorie intake and lose weight.

One of the best ways to fill up on foods with low energy density is to eat more fruit. But not just any fruit will do. Canned fruit packed in heavy syrup has twice the energy density of canned fruit packed in light syrup. Dried fruit has four times the energy density of fresh fruit, because almost all the water has been removed. The best choice is fresh, whole fruit for the least amount of calories and the highest amount of fullness and satisfaction. The top fruits for weight loss include grapefruit, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew), berries (strawberries, raspberries and blueberries), papaya and peach.

10 easy tricks to boost your fruit intake

According to mypyramid.gov, women should aim for at least two cups of fruit per day; more if they're physically active. Here are some suggestions to help you boost your fruit intake to healthier levels—and you might just lose a few pounds along the way.

- We know you'd rather order the cheesecake, but we've come up with a fair compromise. Many restaurants serve fruit dishes with a tasty indulgence—like a sugar cookie, a scoop of sorbet or a selection of cheeses—on the side.

- Feast away on apple slices throughout the day, and you'll be less tempted to hit up the vending machine to satisfy your sweet tooth.

- Are late-night ice cream cravings your diet downfall? Snack on frozen grapes instead. They're sweet, crunchy and cold—and they'll make you forget about the pint of Ben & Jerry's in your freezer.
When eating at fast-food chains, order a fruit cup instead of fries.

- Doughnuts and bagels may be the usual morning snack at work, but wow your colleagues with a parfait of frozen berries, yogurt and low-fat granola.

- If you usually eat chips with your lunchtime sandwich, try eating grapefruit instead. Peel and section a grapefruit in the morning before you go to work, and toss it in a plastic zipper bag.
Jazz up your breakfast by tossing a handful of berries on cold cereal or adding sliced peaches to oatmeal.

- Need to whip up a tasty dinner party dish? Try making a fruity dessert. Slice strawberries and mix with raspberries and blueberries. Top with a quick syrup: Simmer 1/2 cup water with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon amaretto until reduced to 1/4 cup. Cool and pour over the fruit for an out-of-this-world dessert dish.

- Appetizers can be a dieter's downfall, packed with calories and loaded with fat. Amaze your friends with a delicious, colorful and low-calorie fruit kabob appetizer. Cut a variety of fruit to skewer on a bamboo stick, including red and green grapes, pineapple chunks, strawberries, sliced bananas, cubed pears—the sky is the limit! If preparing in advance, drizzle the fruit with lemon juice to prevent the bananas and pears from turning brown.

- Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on your kitchen counter. You're more likely to grab an apple, tangerine or peach if it's in sight.

Reviewed by Susan Janoff, MS RD LD/N | Source: http://www.ivillage.com/10-ways-fight-fat-fruit/4-a-142438#ixzz0zV4h34YL

Top 10 Foods That Help You Lose Weight

Magic Diets don't exist. But because they're rich in fiber, some foods take longer to eat, yet have fewer calories per gram. They may also alter intestinal hormone levels and lead to your feeling less hungry. That's the idea behind the following foods which because they're also tasty-trick your body into feeling satisfied with far less fat and fewer calories:

Salads: Make salads with tomato, car rot, beetroot, cabbage, capsicum, lettuce, or cucumber all low in calories-your diet staple, to liven them up, you can use curd or lemon as a salad dressing. Sandwiches too, are a goods way to have these raw vegetables. The bread helps fill you up, but don't use butter-spread a coriander-and-mint chutney instead would do good.

Grapes: Instead of munching your way through a packet of biscuits after a hard day, try grapes instead. They're high in sugar, but as long as you don't overdo it, they offer the same soothing hand-to-mouth action with none of the fat. They're especially good chilled besides, a hundred grams of grapes contain only 70 calories. For a complete workout routine log on to WF SILVER FITNESS PROGRAM. WF health and fitness experts will design a personalised fitness program especially for you depending on time available, level of fitness and the kind of results desired.

Oranges: The more slowly you eat; the easier it is to recognize your body's satiety signals. And what snack takes longer than peeling and sectioning an orange? Oranges have only 48 calories. (200 ml of orange juice, with all the fiber gone, has about 115).

Potatoes: Surprised? The problem is not the potatoes, but the way they are cooked . Finger chips or other forms of fried potatoes are high in fat. But if baked or boiled and eaten without fatty accompaniments, potatoes are great for your diet. Have them mashed, adding pepper and a dash of lime. Or stuffed-as in aloo parathas, prepared without oil or ghee of course. (If you must have finger chips make them in the microwave). Potatoes contain only 97 calories.

Sweet potatoes when boiled have a naturally rich taste and creamy texture. They have 120 calories more than potatoes – but they're delicious even without accompaniments. And although they belong to a different botanical family, calorie they're just as nutritious as regular potatoes.

High fiber cereals: By providing bulk, some cereal-based foods, too, fill you up on relatively few calories. They include chapattis, roasted corn on the cob, dhokla or idlis, and white rice upmas. Other breakfast choices could be oats, poha, or rice wheat-or- corn-flakes low in sugar'. Pour skim milk on the flakes. If you prefer them sweet, add chopped fruit.

Sprouted pulses: When pulses are sprouted, they gain vitamins and fiber. Eaten raw, they're good for slimming. Moong, for instance, sprouts quickly and its sprouts taste good raw. A 50-gram serving has about 140 calories. Raw sprouts of other pulses-rajma, broad beans and dried peas for example-can be made more palatable if they're steamed, though this lowers their nutrient value.

Curds: If made from skimmed cow's milk, curds contain only 56 calories and are a good source of protein, calcium and vitamins, Plain curds with a little fruit is delicious as a dessert.

Water: Research shows that snacking in particular is often the result of mistaking thirst for hunger; write Tarla Dalal and Dr Swati Piramal in East Your Way to Good Health. Water has no calories, so it's great for filling up. Those who find it a plain bore can quaff low-calorie drinks that contain mostly water such as buttermilk, coconut water, and watermelon juice. Clear vegetable or dal soups are nutritious and don't have many calories, avoid cream soups.

Air popped popcorn: That's popcorn made without butter, oil or salt. Pop it your self in a container with a lid, either over a stove or in a microwave oven. If quantity affects the quality of your eating experience consider that four cups of air-popcorn have only 100 calories and one gram of fat. Compare that to potato wafers-four cups have about 600 calories and 40 grams of fat.

Chocolate bar: To avoid binges, it's important to indulge yourself once in a while. An occasional 20-gram chocolate bar-about the size of a small 5 star-is a good choice for sweet-tooth cravings, because it's individually pack aged and thus less risky than cake, ice cream, or puddings.

A diet containing these foods can help you lose weight, but don't neglect exercise. Scientific studies have shown that calories intake is not necessarily higher in the obese than in normal people. It's energy expenditure that's often lower in those who are overweight. So make sure your weight-reduction plan gives equal importance to exercise So the next time when each one of you is off to shop for food or sit down to eat, don't forget to incorporate these foods in some or the other way to achieve a healthy and balanced diet.

How To Make Aloe Vera Juice

Aloe Vera Juice Recipe

All of us want to stay fit and healthy, and above all, crave to have a flawless and glowing skin. If you attain this above combination, it would be nothing less than a dream come true!! All this could be possible, just by drinking a glass of Aloe Vera Juice everyday. Aloe Vera has been proved to be a natural healer, because it has many essential vitamins, proteins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes. Whenever you feel low, just give yourself a dose of Aloe Vera juice and experience the difference instantly. With the easy Aloe Vera Juice recipes, know how to make the juice at the comfort of your home. Along with Aloe Vera, these recipes have other fresh fruits also, which would add to make the drink a complete health tonic.

How To Make Aloe Vera Juice

Recipe 1

Ingredients

* 1 Cucumber
* 1 Apple
* 1 Lemon (juice)
* 2 tbsp Liquid Aloe Vera (extracted from natural leaves)

Procedure

* First of all, cut cucumber and apple into pieces.
* Extract their juice by using a juicer or blender.
* Now, add lemon juice and aloe vera to the extracted juice.
* Stir the mixture.
* Serve chilled.

Recipe 2

Ingredients

* 2 Carrots
* 2 Green Apples
* 1 Orange, peeled
* 1 tbsp Aloe Vera Gel

Procedure

* The first step would be to cut the carrots and green apples into small pieces.
* Slice out the orange in such a way that each piece is secluded from the other.
* Put the sliced carrots, apples and orange into the juicer and add to it a tbsp of Aloe Vera gel.
* Blend the mixture in a juicer and drink it.

Recipe 3

Ingredients

* 1 to 2 cup Fresh Pineapple
* 1 Carrot
* 1 Green Apple
* 1 tbsp Aloe Vera Gel
* A few tbsp Coconut Milk (optional)

Procedure

* First of all, put all the ingredients into the juicer and to this, add a tbsp of Aloe Vera gel.
* Blend the mixture well.
* You can even add a few tbsp of coconut milk to increase the anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties of the drink.
* Just pour the drink into a glass and serve.

Recipe 4

Ingredients

* 2 Carrots
* 2 Pears
* ½ Red Papaya (small one)
* A small piece of Ginger, to taste
* Aloe Vera Gel

Procedure

* The first step would be to cut the carrot, pears and red papaya into small pieces.
* Now, shift the above cut pieces into the jar of a mixer.
* Add to this a 1 tbsp Aloe Vera Gel.
* Combine the mixture until it is well-blended.
* Drink the juice immediately.

Recipe 5

Ingredients

* 1/4th of a small Beetroot
* 2 large Carrots
* 1 stalk Celery
* Aloe Vera Gel

Procedure

* The first step would be to cut beetroot, carrots and celery into small pieces.
* Now, put the contents into a juicer.
* Add 1 tablespoon Aloe Vera Gel to the mix.
* Once blended, serve the drink.

Note: In case you are not familiar with beetroot juice, just use a small wedge. It can be a little overpowering.