Written by Laura on Oct 24th, 2008 | Filed under:
Acai,
General
Lose Weight with Acai Berry
Acai Berry can be a great weight loss aid. The berry’s incredibly high levels of essential fatty acids, fiber, phytosterols and amino acids work together to help your body burn fat more efficiently, process food more quickly and shed the unwanted pounds that you’d like to lose.
Antioxidants
Acai berries have far more antioxidants than any other fruit – three times as much as blueberries, which is second. Besides that, the nutrients in acai berry help many other diseases, from diabetes to arthritis to blood clotting. Here are some of the ways adding Acai Berry to your diet may help you:
Boosts energy levels
Improves digestive function
Provides many important vitamins
Minimizes inflammation
Is an extremely powerful antioxidant
Acai has high levels of fiber
Cleanses and detoxifies the body
Strengthens the immune system
Fights cancerous cells
Helps maintain healthy heart function
Prevents atherosclerosis
Promotes healthier and younger-looking skin
Helps alleviate diabetes
Slows down the aging process
Improves circulation
Improves mental clarity/focus
Enhances sexual desire and performance
Contains several important minerals
Normalizes and regulates cholesterol levels
Promotes sound sleep
Enhances visual acuity
Fatty Acids
Did you know Acai Berries are the only fruit to contain appreciable amounts of fatty acids? Don’t be fooled by the terminology though, some fatty acids are good. Our bodies need essential fatty acids to maintain proper health. We are unable to produce Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. It just so happens that these fatty acids are plentiful in Acai berries. Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids help increase your metabolism. The are also very effective at inhibiting hunger. Both of which helps you to lose weight more quickly. In providing these Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, the Acai berry can help you shed those extra pounds.
Fiber
Acai contains a generous amount of fiber, which helps your digestive tract to move food through your body. In this way, excess food is eliminated rather than absorbed and turned into fat. Similar to the fatty acids mentioned above, fiber also helps to satiate hunger.
Amino Acids
The Acai berry is rich with amino acids, which are widely known as the building blocks of protein. Your muscles need these amino acids in order to operate properly, and to regenerate from resistance training trauma or other exercise stress. Since the fatty acids in Acai increase your metabolism and the amino acids build your muscles, we can say that the nutrients in Acai berries help your body burn fat and energy more efficiently, causing you to lose weight.
Phytosterols
These building blocks of cell membranes help fortify your digestive tract, moving waste materials out and absorbing nutrients more efficiently. Acai berries are an excellent source of Phytosterols.
Disease Fighting and other Health Benefits
Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a study showed that extracts from acai berries triggered a self-destruct response in up to 86 percent of leukemia cells tested.
Acai berries are already considered one of the richest fruit sources of antioxidants,” said Stephen Talcott, an assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “This study was an important step toward learning what people may gain from using beverages, dietary supplements or other products made with the berries.
Why Use Acai ?
I personally enjoy the Acai Berry because of it’s antioxidant properties. In this day and age of phytoestrogens, chemicals, pesticides, and other nasty environmental toxins, we can’t get enough antioxidants. Others swear by it as a weight loss aid and energy booster. Less proven, but also important, are the disease fighting properties that are being subscribed to the wonder berry. Whatever your reason for interest in trying Acai Berry products, below are the 2 most common forms that you will find outside of Brazil.
Acai Berry Supplements
Supplements are the most convenient way to get your Acai Berry. But beware – there are some unscrupulous sellers who push garbage and dissappear tomorrow. In particular, stay far away from the “Free Trial” offers. They say you only need to pay some nominal amount for shipping, like $3.95. But they get your credit card number, then keep shipping you more product at exhorbitant amounts like $89. They hide the fact you signed up for a subscription, and make it very hard to contact someone to cancel. A huge rip-off. So, which should you try? The best we can recommend right now is Acai Pure This is a 100% acai berry product is not gummed up with fillers or additives. It is not loaded with accessory supplements for marketing purposes. AcaiPure includes only the highest grade Acai powder available anywhere on the planet, and is America’s #1 anti-oxidant cleansing formula! You can find numerous polls around the web that rank Acai Pure higher than most other acai berry products. Acai Pure is always ranked in the top 3 and is often rated #1.
Acai Juice or Drinks
You can get acai juice products from various MLM companies like Monavie. You can also go to your local health food store, GNC, Vitamin World, etc… and get an acai juice product. Unfortunately, these Acai berry juice supplements are notoriously full of sugar or are diluted with other fruit juices so much that they are not even worth taking for the health benefits. The only one I have been able to find that is 100% Acai, with no water or other fruit juices mixed in is Amazon Thunder.
You know it’s not diluted as soon as you open the bottle and try to pour it out. I say “try” because its sometimes like pouring ketchup. It’s closer to a paste than a juice. This tells your right away you’ve got nothing but mashed acai berries. I must say, I found the taste a little strange at first, but am now totally addicted to it! I believe this is by far the most concentrated, undiluted, and intact form of Acai and the best way to get all the nutritional benefits from this wonder berry. The only problem is the convenience factor is not as great as a supplement form.
In a study of three traditional Caboclo populations in the Amazon region of Brazil, acai palm was described as the most important plant species because the acai fruit makes up such a major component of diet (up to 42% of the total food intake by weight) and is economically valuable in the region (Murrieta et al., 1999). The juice and pulp of acai fruits (Euterpe oleracea) are frequently used in various juice blends, smoothies, sodas, and other beverages. In northern Brazil, açaí is traditionally served in gourds called “cuias” with tapioca and sometimes sugar. Acai has become a fad in southern Brazil where it is consumed cold as açaí na tigela (”açaí in the bowl”), mostly mixed with granola - a fad where acai is considered as an energizer. Acai is also widely consumed in Brazil as an ice cream flavor or juice. As acai deteriorates rapidly after harvest, its raw material is generally only available outside the immediate growing region as acai juice or acai fruit pulp that has been frozen, dried acai, or freeze-dried. However, several companies now manufacture acai juices, other health drinks, and sorbets made from acai berries, often in combination with other fruits.
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