acai berry weightloss

Archive for September, 2008

Acai berry products such as juice and freeze dried powder has been introduced only in the last several years. The natives of Brazil and its local population has been using this for recipes or as part of their diet in drinks and other food dishes. Acai bowls and beverages are quite popular and Brazil. Most people find the flavor appealing often tasting like blueberries with a hint of chocolate some have even suggested it has a slight flavor of cinnamon. Acai powder mixes well with yogurt and makes great smoothies due to its pleasant flavor. It is a taste explosion to e experienced. If you have not tried acai berries you have missed out on one of lifes truly amazing berries, fruit and flavors.

The locals and natives of the Amazon rain forest of Brazil are familiar with acai berries and have been harvesting and using them in their diet both as a staple and for making beverages. Due to the very deep purple color of the berry it has also been used as a dye. The powerful little berries grow to be about the size of a blueberry and look much like them in color, size and shape. They grow on the acai palm in swampy floodplains from where they are harvested. When searching for a good source make sure it is pure and organic.

Acai berries have one of the highest ORAC ( Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity ) which is a measurement of antioxidant capacity of foods or supplements. The best ORAC values usually come in food items or supplements that are fresh and fruits or vegetables. Due to the benefits and its ORAC value these berries have gone up in price in a short time. The nice thing about freeze dried powder is that it keeps a long shelf life without loosing a lot of its phyto nutrients so you can stock up on a years supple without worrying about a short product life.

A person who may see results from acai berry juice or acai powder is athletes and people that deal with diseases. Training coaches realize the importance of anti-oxidants and are finding out that such supplements may help with energy and overall endurance.

Health issues that a person has may seek relief by using acai berry products for anti inflammatory, antioxidant and improving immune function. The conditions that people may be seeking relief are, detoxing and cleansing, high blood pressure, heart issues, cholesterol reduction, losing weigh inflammation, arthritis and dry or oily skin conditions.

What makes these berries so amazing. They are loaded with protein and fiber and contain minerals such as phosphorus, iron, calcium and potassium. Also contains B1, B2, B3, C and E essential fatty acids Omega 6 and Omega 9 respectively Linoleic acid and Oleic acid which research indicates helps maintain normal cholesterol levels. When you looking to buy acai berry juice look for pure organic products. Some products claim to be acai berry juice but are actually a mix of other juices such as blueberry, grape, mango, pineapple or pomegranate juice.

Did you know acai berries are harvested in the rain forests of South America? Let us look deeper in finding out more about these humble purple berries.

The acai berries are a small round berry that are dark purple in color and resemble a smaller sized grape. The dark purple skin, which holds the berry’s health benefits, is often made into a pulp. Brazilian natives use this pulp as a puree that can be eaten by itself or in a variety of other wonderful foods. There is a lot more in store to discover what makes this little berry from Brazil taste so good and why it is healthy for our bodies.

In Brazil, the berries are harvested from acai palms as food. In a study of three traditional native populations in the Amazon, the acai palm was described as the most important plant because the fruit makes up to 42% of the total food diet and is economically valuable to the region. In order for the Brazilian farmers not to lose any more of the depleted forest cover from over harvesting, they are required to reforest up to 30% of their farmed land.

The majority of the population in Brazil enjoys eating the acai fruit. It is reported the people consume more acai juice than milk. Although it’s popularity only grew in the western world around 1990, the powerful punch this berry packs has been known in its native land for generations. Acai berries have ten times the antioxidant benefits of grapes and double that of blueberries.

The berry is a very tasteful fruit, combining the usual berry taste you would expect with the delicate sweet hint of chocolate. They contain essential omega oils, proteins, minerals, fibers, and vitamin E. Omega oils have shown the ability to raise good cholesterol and reduce bad cholesterol. The fatty acid ratio in acai is similar to that of olive in reducing heart disease.

The main benefits of acai are:

- Acai has more proteins than an average egg.

- The berries have essential minerals like Vitamins B, C, and E.

- They include minerals iron, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium.

- Acai has a high concentration of fiber content.

- The berry’s amino acid contributes to proper muscle regeneration.

- Acai berries improve mental focus to enhance sleep.

Much research is being done to help in finding out more about acai berries. As the berries have practically just arrived in the west, we can look closer at the lives of the Brazilian tribesmen to learn the benefits the natives discovered hundreds of years ago.

In a 2006 University of Florida study, acai berries’ antioxidants were studied to test the effects on healthy human participants. The university was one of the first institutions outside Brazil to commission a study, and they determined how well the compounds affected blood pressure, and were absorbed into the blood stream, effecting good cholesterol levels as opposed to bad.

With a vast array of products being offered within the past five years, researchers and consumers are finding out more about acai berries. Before consumption and research was limited due to the unavailability of information and product in many parts of the world. Now we have plenty of opportunities to add this worthwhile fruit to our diets.

Acai: A Delicious, Potent Superfood

This is how powerful Amazon berry, Acai, is: a 100-gram serving of the dark purple berry has 10 times more anthocyanins (the stuff that is great of the heart) than red wine, and twice as much caner-fighting antioxidants than blueberries. This low-caloric, low fat, no cholesterol fruit may be tiny in size but it sure packs a punch health-wise.

Acai (pronounced ah-sa-ee) is the fruit of a palm, coined “Tree of Life” that thrives in the Amazon rainforests. Although most of the small, round berry is its hard, inedible pit, the skin is really what holds all its treasures. The dark purple berry was once called “nature’s perfect energy fruit” by famous nutritionist Dr. Nicholas Perricone.

The indigenous tribes of Brazil have long used this rich, delicious fruit as treatment for a myriad of ailments. In the 1980s, there was a boom in using frozen Acai berries in smoothies, ice cream, and cocktails in Brazilian cities. But it was only when scientist Dr. Andrew Schauss did an ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) analysis of the Acai berry that spawned a sudden worldwide interest. Now you can find Acai supplements, health juices, and teas in many major health food stores in the U.S Europe, and Asia.

Let’s look at the Acai berry’s impressive nutritional profile: it is packed with heart-friendly omega fatty acids (oleic acid, a monounsaturated omega-9 acid, and linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated omega-6 acid), free radical fighting antioxidants, and essential amino acids. Acai also increases the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A, E, D, and K, while lowering bad cholesterol levels.

What’s interesting, too, is that the Acai berry offers anti-aging potential and can be found in beauty products now. The amino acids and trace minerals slow down sun and environmental damage to the skin. The flavanoids in Acai reduce inflammation, which is one of the major causes of aging. These flavanoids also have an astringent effect that effectively tightens tissues and combats wrinkles and acne. Essential amino and fatty acids regenerate cells that are also another solution to fighting saggy skin.

Even more groundbreaking is that a University of Florida research study found that Acai extracts destroyed leukemia cells in a laboratory setting. Some scientists caution that such action may fair very differently in human subjects, so more research needs to be done on its effect on cancer.

With its multiple health benefits, it is no wonder that this Brazilian berry has earned the title of superfood.

It is important for our bodies to receive the nutrients we need to maintain good health. Vitamins and minerals are available in our food but we often do not receive the right amounts through diet alone. It may be necessary to take supplemental vitamins to avoid any deficiency.

Everyone has different needs because of their age, genes or lifestyle. Even a slight deficiency can cause health problems and cause you to feel bad and lose productivity. Lack of energy, sleep disorders and mental fatigue can all be improved with supplemental vitamins.

The Acai Plus Drink

Acai Plus offers a delicious vitamin drink combined with over 100 nutritional ingredients. The flavor comes from the amazing Acai berry that is from the Brazilian rainforest in South America. This exceptional berry tastes like a blend of berry and chocolate. It is full of antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids. The Brazilians consider it to have remarkable healing and nutritional qualities.

The Acai fruit was featured on Oprah and other programs as a super food. The liquid supplement Acai Plus includes this fruit along with goji and mangosteen extracts. These are all exotic fruits known to have extraordinary healing and nutritional values.

Delicious and Healthy Fruits

The goji fruit is also considered a super food. It comes from the mountains of Tibet and Mongolia where it grows wild. Local people harvest the berries in late summer and package them to sell. They are completely free of chemical pesticides because they grow in remote areas. It has long been known that people in these areas have a longer life span than the rest of world. It could be partly credited to their exposure to this fruit and other native foods they eat. It is said to have a taste combination of a cranberry and cherry.

The mangosteen is a fruit from Southeast Asia. It has been used by native residents for centuries to treat health conditions. The xanthone rich rind is especially valued as a folk medicine. It has a citrus taste with a touch of peach.

These delicious fruits give Acai Plus its incomparable taste. Most vitamins and supplemental drinks have a bad flavor and leave an after taste in your mouth, but you won’t experience that with Acai Plus.

Acai Plus Benefits

This original health drink is high in antioxidants, fiber, protein, trace minerals and cancer-fighting xanthones. The combination of vitamins and minerals would be hard to find in comparable products. Acai Plus is sure to give good results. To help you get started, they will give you a free bottle. You will be able to experience the benefits before you buy.

Not only is Acai Plus a great nutritional product but it can also be a lucrative business opportunity. You can get started by buying one bottle a month and build up your business. It is a product that will sell itself because of its great taste and fine quality.

Try the Acai Plus nutrition drink and enjoy the delightful flavor! You will never want to try another vitamin drink. Let your friends and family know about it so they can take advantage of this great product.

Cardio Cocktail is being called a breakthrough all-natural cardiovascular product, with far-reaching implications for bettering human health! It is a great-tasting liquid supplement which can reverse many of the life-threatening conditions that have reached epidemic proportions in our culture! Its most active ingredient is L-arginine with a boost from Acai, Noni, Mangosteen, and Goji Berries. Arginine boosts nitric oxide production. Dr. Jacob Rajfer reported to the New England Journal of Medicine, as much as 80% of sexual dysfunction in men and women is directly attributable to some form of nitric oxide failure brought on by smoking, prescription drugs, diabetes, high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol and obesity (35 pounds overweight). Ironically, these are the same risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

But can raising nitric oxide levels in the body be the answer men & women are hoping for?

This year scientists proved definitively that nitric oxide translates sexual excitement into potency by causing erections. The pelvic nerves get a message from the brain and make nitric oxide in response. Nitric oxide dilates the blood vessels throughout the crucial areas of the penis, blood rushes in and the penis rises to the occasion.

Science Magazine 1992

Now, the Acai berry or Acai Fruit (ah-sigh-ee) grows on majestic palm trees in the Amazon Rainforest and looks like a purple marble or grape. Acai has a delicious tropical berry flavor and provides exceptional nutrition. Acai contains high levels of Antioxidants, Omega Fatty Acids (healthy fats) Iron, Amino Acids, Fiber and many other vitamins and minerals. The people living in the Amazon region in Northern Brazil have consumed Acai for hundreds of years and its healing and sustaining powers are legendary.

Acai is rich in anthocyanins, an essential anti-oxidizer that helps combat premature aging. In fact, Acai has 10-30 times more anthocyanins (purple colored anti-oxidants) than a glass of red wine.

Acai berries are natures best sources for Ellagic Acid. Ellagic Acid is a naturally occurring compound that also has very strong anti-oxidant, anti-mutagen and anti-cancer properties.

Ellagic Acid is a potent anti-carcinogen.

Ellagic Acid has the ability to inhibit mutations within a cells DNA.

Ellagic Acid is considered to be a cancer inhibitor which has the ability to cause apoptosis (deliberate cell death) in cancer cells.

Ellagic Acid has antibacterial and anti-viral properties

Drinking Acai can offer the following benefits:

Is an all-in-one multi-vitamin

Has essential minerals

Has more protein than an average egg

High content of Omega 6&9 fatty acids

Helps improve energy and stamina

Helps improve digestion

Helps improve mental clarity and focus

Helps improve restful sleep

Helps improve sexual function

Helps maintain normal cholesterol levels

Helps boost the immune system

Helps slow down the aging process

Helps improve cleansing and detoxifying of the body

Cardio Cocktail is the only product, which I am aware of, that combines the scientific evidenced backed, healing power of arginine with the ancient healing properties of noni, acai, mangosteen and goji. Cardio Cocktail provides your body with a host of essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants, and other vital nutrients. Cardio Cocktail delivers results in a highly absorbable, great-tasting liquid. In just a few seconds to take one ounce each day, you can give your body a powerful dose of science-based nutrition. Acai juice is just one of its powerful ingredients.

Do you remember Beta Carotene? In the 1980s, no one but doctors and nutritionists had ever heard that beta carotene even existed, until one day when some technician found that the high BC content in carrots does a lot of good for heart patients.

So in 1992 a major study (18,000 people) was done on the Antioxidant properties of beta carotene by giving it in pill form to cancer patients. It failed miserably.

Researchers are still scratching their heads over why it was such an utter failure, even though beta carotene is a form of Antioxidant.

Vitamin E has a similar story. It too is an Antioxidant; in fact it is the one that the ORAC scale is based upon. Unlike the solid beta carotene pill incident, Vitamin E is in liquid form, so its getting fully digested for sure, yet its effects as an antioxidant are pretty nominal.

Aside: Its a pretty shocking story too Two large studies involving more than 127,000 people in total were run in 1990 after Vitamin E was found to help Heart patients. Because of this, by the year 2000 an estimated 23 million US citizens were taking Vitamin E daily But in recent years 7 more such studies have been found to show little or no improvement at all!

Anyway, let me lay down one other scenario, a more modern one. Youve probably heard the French paradox, but if not, heres a recap:

French peoples diet is the only one higher in saturated fats and cholesterol than the diet of Americans. Its been well proven. However, with that diet, you might expect for the French to have a higher incident rate of Heart Disease than Americans, but they clearly do not.

Researchers believe that this paradox is caused by the very high amounts of Anthocyanins in red wine, which the French consume way more than the average amount of daily. Anthocyanins, of course, are one of the most potent Antioxidants.

So, what do you think will happen if they pack a pill full of Anthocyanins?

Id be willing to bet the exact same thing would happen that happened with beta carotene and vitamin E Nada.

These examples are hard evidence that Antioxidants must come in natural form in order to be effective free-radical scavengers. It makes perfect sense to me What is free-radical scavenging but something acting alive and moving around? If you stop that thing cold in its tracks, like say, compressing it into a cold, lifeless pill, then how is that going to preserve the scavenging property?

So, my overall point here today is to get your Antioxidants from a fibrous form, such as berries or berry pulp. Dont let it get encapsulated or worse yet, made into a solid pill.

Eating the berries off the tree is the best way to get those free scavengers rampaging of course, but since everyone outside of Amazonia doesnt have that option, your next best bet is to find it processed with consideration for preserving the fiber. Frozen pulp may be the best way to do that, but it really depends on the processing technique.

As for freeze dried Acai, I dont claim to have all the answers. It seems like that would stop the scavenging dead in its tracks, but then again, freeze-dried Acai has the highest ORAC rating And specifically with MonaVie, their patented process also includes re-mixing their freeze-dried Acai with fresh pulp So perhaps that gets both the high ORAC rating and the still-moving scavengers both inside at once. And who knows? Maybe the ones still moving can reanimate the frozen ones!