Foods That will Suppress Your Appetite Naturally

These food are safe readily available in the food group that should be part of your healthy diet.

Water is the best appetite suppressant. Drinking water can immediately fill the stomach and you will no longer feel hungry. So whenever you feel hungry, have a glass of water. Also, having water before meals will reduce your appetite to a great extent.

Green Tea: Green tea stimulates the release of certain hormones that control food cravings. It also helps to burn fat. Green tea is the most common ingredient in appetite suppressants that are prepared using a combination of natural substances.

Vegetables: Choose vegetables with high fiber content such as; carrots, cabbage, spinach broccoli, green peas have a low calorie-content and a high amount of fiber.

Fruits: Apples, Strawberries, Boysenberries, AvocadoBananas, Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries. These fruits work on signaling the satiety portion of brain sending the signal of fullness. Apple cider vinegar is also recommended natural suppressants that can help you deal with hunger pangs.

Chocolate: Dark chocolates can suppress your appetite. However not all chocolate on the market is the same, or good for your health. Only dark, Belgian chocolate with over 70% unprocessed cocoa holds true nutritional health benefits.

Proteins: Proteins are essential in building muscles. Growth of muscles result in the burning of fats. Whey protein powder (high-quality protein powder made from cow's milk) has been used as an appetite suppressant since a long time.

Oatmeal and flax seeds: Oatmeal is rich in fiber and carbohydrate. Raw flax seeds act as appetite suppressants. A breakfast consisting of oatmeal and flax seeds suppresses appetite.
Glass of cranberry juice with tablespoon of flaxseeds is an excellent way to stop your food craving almost instantly. Suggestion; best to use drinking straw for this concussion.

TEN WEIGHT MANAGEMENT TIPS

Eat your fruits and vegetables.
Exercise every day.
Eat fat free foods in moderation.
Eat your food slow.
Snack from a plate, not a package.
Ask yourself if you are hungry.
Address your emotions.
Watch leaving a clean plate at mealtimes.
Avoid the “Now I’ve blown it” thinking.
Practice one step at a time. Aim for a slow weight loss.
Keep In Mind Maintaining A Healthy Lifestyle.
Source: American Institute for Cancer Research

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are friendly bacteria that help maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Probiotics promote good digestion, optimal nutrient absorbance from food and healthy immune function.
Why Are Probiotics Important?
There are numerous nutritional and therapeutic uses of probiotics. We need beneficial bacteria doing their job in our gut to be healthy. A disruption in the micro flora of the digestive tracts can contribute to in many ways to poor health. The studies of probiotics for digestive health have revealed a wide range of benefits:
Aid digestion
Prevent and help diarrhea
Produce B Vitamins
Enhance calcium absorption
Produce natural selective anti-biotic like substances
Inhibit food pathogens, yeast and fungus
These are just a few of the many benefits of probiotics.
Things that can destroy good bacteria:
(a) antibiotic use
(b) too much alcohol
(c) eating foods impregnated with pesticides, herbicides, antibiotic residues, and hormonal pollutants
(d) Over consumption of sugars and other refined carbohydrates
(e) Too much stress
(f) Lack of nutrition from living fresh foods grown in nutrient-rich soil
(g) Chlorinated water
Natural Sources of Probiotics:
Yogurt and Kefir
Cheese
Acidophilus milk
Sauerkraut
Tempeh
Dark Chocolate

Is Chocolate Good For Your Health?

By Dan Fields: 10 Hidden Health Secrets of Chocolate
A 2007 study from Germany showed that eating just one-quarter ounce of dark chocolate a day for 18 weeks lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure without increasing weight.

More recently, scientists at Yale University reported that consuming a single bar of dark chocolate or two cups of natural cocoa reduced blood pressure and improved blood-vessel function in overweight adults.

A pair of 2008 studies found that eating dark chocolate reduces blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker for chronic inflammation that indicates an increased risk of heart disease.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University reported that volunteers who consumed 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate a day for one week lowered their CRP levels by 23 percent. And Italian researchers discovered that just two-thirds of an ounce of dark chocolate every three days reduced CRP.

Dan Fields is a freelance writer and editor in Framingham, Massachusetts. He is the former editor of Dr. Andrew Weil's Self Healing newsletter

Dr. Oz answers: what's the difference between pant size and waist size?

Another day, another video Q+A. Today I answer Maureen Hinds from Facebook, who asked about the difference between waist size and pant size, and how to know if you're in a healthy range.

Amazing Berry That Changes Your Taste Buds

The Miracle Berry BBC News
By Adam Fowler
Imagine an extract from a berry that would make sour things taste sweet and help you lose weight. Then imagine not being allowed to take it.

The world is getting fatter. One billion people are overweight, and 300 million of those are clinically obese.
The search is always on for replacements for those things that, eaten in excess, make us obese - fatty and sugary foods. There is no miracle pill that can replace either. Nearly four decades ago one man came close to providing a tablet that could reduce our love of sugar. In the 1960s, Robert Harvey, a biomedical postgraduate student, encountered the miracle berry, a fruit from west Africa which turns sour tastes to sweet.

FIND OUT MORE...
The Miracle Berry, presented by Tom Mangold, is on Radio 4 at 2100 BST on 28 April
Or listen again on the BBC iPlayer
"You can eat a berry and then bite into a lemon," says Harvey. "It becomes not only sweeter, but it will be the best lemon you've tasted in your life."

More importantly, this "miracle" can be used to manufacture sweet tasting foods without sugar or sweeteners, which have always been plagued by an after-taste.
Spotting the potential health benefits, and the healthy profits, that the miracle berry promised, Harvey founded the Miralin Company to grow the berry in Jamaica and Puerto Rico, extract its active ingredient in laboratories in Hudson, Massachusetts, and market it across the United States. At first, Harvey aimed his products at diabetics.

"In market testing, diabetics thought our product, as the name implies, was a miracle."
But Harvey's sweet dream of making the world healthier came to an abrupt end. On the eve of the launch in 1974, the US Food and Drugs Administration unexpectedly turned against the product.

MIRACLE BERRY
Also known as "miracle fruit" or Synsepalum dulcificum
Grown in Africa, first documented in 18th Century
Acts on the sour receptors of the tongue, turning sour tastes sweet
Effect lasts 30 mins - two hours
Effect is destroyed in hot foods - eg coffee and baked foods
Renders an accompanying dry white wine sickly sweet
Legal advice and contact with the FDA had led Harvey to believe that the extract from the berry would be allowed under the classification "generally recognised as safe". Having been eaten before meals for centuries in west Africa, without anecdotal reports of problems, it could be assumed not to be harmful.

But the FDA decided it would be considered as an additive which required several years more testing. In the poor economic climate of 1974, this could not be funded and the company folded.
"I was in shock," says Harvey. "We were on very good terms with the FDA and enjoyed their full support. There was no sign of any problem. Without any opportunity to know what the concern was and who raised it, and to respond to it - they just banned the product."

He remembers a number of strange events leading up to the FDA's decision, beginning immediately after one particular market research test.
His investors, including Reynolds Metals, Barclays and Prudential, had put up big money. They were looking for big returns.

"From the beginning my interest was in the diabetic market but my backers wanted to put double zeros after the numbers we were projecting."

Miralin promotional literature

So, in the summer of 1974, miracle berry ice lollies, in four different flavours, were compared to similar, sugar-sweetened versions by schoolchildren in Boston. The berry won every time.
Don Emery, then vice president of the Miralin company, recalls the excitement.
"If we had got beyond the diabetic market we could have been a multi-billion dollar company. We'd have displaced maybe millions of tons of sugar and lots of artificial sweeteners as well."
A few weeks later, things turned sour. A car was spotted driving back and forwards past Miralin's offices, slowing down as someone took photographs of the building. Then, late one night, Harvey was followed as he drove home.

"I sped up, then he sped up. I pulled into this dirt access road and turned off my lights and the other car went past the end of the road at a very high speed. Clearly I was being monitored."

Sugar denial
Finally, at the end of that summer, Harvey and Emery arrived back at the office after dinner to find they were being burgled. The burglars escaped and were never found, but the main FDA file was left lying open on the floor.

A few weeks later the FDA, which had previously been very supportive, wrote to Miralin, effectively banning its product. No co-incidence, according to Don Emery.

Obesity is a massive problem in the West
"I honestly believe that we were done in by some industrial interest that did not want to see us survive because we were a threat. Somebody influenced somebody in the FDA to cause the regulatory action that was taken against us."

The Sugar Association, the trade body representing "Big Sugar" in the US, declined to be interviewed on the subject but flatly denied that the industry had exerted any influence over the FDA.

The Calorie Control Council, which represents artificial sweetener manufacturers in the US, has failed to respond to questions on the issue.

The Food and Drugs Administration also refused to be interviewed and has indicated that a Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation request to look at the relevant FDA files will not be considered for a year. Robert Harvey had requested the same files over 30 years ago.
"We got back the most redacted information I've ever seen from FOI. Everything was blacked out. There would have been material in the file that would have embarrassed the FDA, I believe."

Faced with this silence, it's virtually impossible to assess what actually happened to prevent the miracle berry's progress to a sugar-free market.

This would be the best lemon you ever tasted
But one thing is certain, it never got the chance to prove whether it really would have provided a miracle in our ever fattening world. And for Robert Harvey, that's the biggest shame of all.
"It was a big loss not only for my employees and shareholders but, even more importantly, for diabetics and other people with special dietary needs. It was tragic."
But all hope is not lost for the berry's champions.

Today a firm called BioResources International is trying to produce freeze-dried miracle berry at a plant in New Jersey. Dieters will watch the outcome closely.
Below is a selection of your comments.

Are we to assume that the non-US market simply wasn't big enough? The FDA, for all their power, have no jurisdiction in, say Canada, Mexico or France. Make it there, sell it for seven years as proof of safety and then ship it back to the States.Mark Bell, Guildford, England
What a surprise. How many foods now have sugar added, that never had sugar before? Things like tinned soups and most heat-and-serve savoury convenience foods have sugar in, and make the food unhealthy. Nobody needs sugar in mince or in any meat foods. Sometimes we need a quick ready meal, and the convenience foods play a role. Are people so used to sugar nothing tastes right without it? We need a Claire Rayner type of person to start a campaign. Fingers crossed for BiResources - this berry could well save lives. The sugar industry has a lot to answer for. Marian, Hull

"Faced with this silence, it's virtually impossible to assess what actually happened to prevent the miracle berry's progress to a sugar-free market." It's easy to assess what might have happened. The sugar companies happened. Far too big an industry to be brought down by a berry. The same would happen with oil companies too, if "they" ever come up with a viable alternative...Hazel Love, Brighton, UK I remember, years ago, talk of a water injection system for petrol engines to reduce fuel consumption. The inventor claimed he was sabotaged by the big oil companies. So, budding Woodward & Bernsteins, do these big-business conspiracy theories stack up?Stan Thomas, Wrexham, UK

I am a little surprised that the big backers were unable to get to the bottom of it but "Big Sugar" is a massively powerful lobby, with the same approach to health as the cigarette companies.Dr AGP Laxton, Carmarthen

Try putting salt on a grapefruit and you get the same effect. I believe it also sweetens lemons.Peter Leach, Epping

Perhaps he should be invited and welcomed with open arms by the UK govt. to set up business here ? It's an obvious long-term health benefit in the western world, and a potentially valuable cash crop for the developing world.Peter Jones, Lancaster, England

I am diabetic 2,and need to control my diabetes by tablets and watching my diet/food intake. This sounds like someone did not want this to come to market, where it could possibly be of great help to people like me.Mr John Bryan Jackson, Euxton, Lancs

I fail to understand authorities who simply ban such a product, with the potential to perhaps save lives of people who through no fault of their own have a "sweet tooth" and therefore put on weight which simply destroys their quality of life. This "miracle berry" seems to me to reduce the chemicals used to produce sugar substitutes. Margaret Moore, Portavogie, Co Down, N Ireland

Fruit Viagra

Berry good for you?
By Claire Heald
BBC News Magazine
Slender celebrities have been singing the praises of goji berries and now Tesco is stocking them. Does this "miracle" Himalayan fruit match up to the marketing hype?

The goji berry is the latest so-called super-food name to trip off the tongue and into the mouths of health-food evangelists. Small, red, dried, and a bit like a savoury cranberry, the nutritionally-rich fruit is making the leap from specialist store to supermarket.

Already popular in the US, celebrities like Madonna, Liz Hurley and Mischa Barton are said to munch them for their rich properties.

"Fruit Viagra"
Pronounced "go-gee", they're supposed to contain, weight for weight, more:
• vitamin C than oranges• beta-carotene than carrots• iron than steak
But there's no messy peel, and the berries are so light that a "daily serving" is just 10-30 grams.
The hype machine calls them "fruit Viagra", "cellulite-busting" and claims one pack will have you "jumping for joy".

A more sober scientific explanation says the beta-carotene in the fruit is thought to help fight heart disease, defend against cancer and protect skin from sun-damage. The berries are a good source of B vitamins and anti-oxidants - which may help protect against the fallout from chemical reactions in the body.

A lot of people believe that they give a huge boost to your libido
Jonathan Foreman

"It sounds like quite an amazing berry," says dietician Jacqui Lowdon, of University Hospital, Cardiff. "But a lot of things like that are a novelty."

"A serving of one berry is not going to turn your life around. That requires a combination of things: overall weight, attention to fat intake and types of fats, fibre intake, vitamins and hydration. It's an overall package."

But as one of your five portions of fruit and veg a day, Ms Lowden gives gogis the thumbs up, saying a "novel alternative is great".

Health trend
But will the average shopper be cast under the goji spell? Organic grocery shop Fresh & Wild, in London's Notting Hill, is hardly a reliable barometer of public opinion, but if a health trend is awakening, this is where the pulse can be felt.

"Where are the goji berries?" is the most-heard phrase from customers as they come in to stock up on healthy goods.

GOJI BERRY BOOST
Contain beta-carotene, thought to help prevent heart disease
Highly-concentrated in vit C
Polysaccharides to help immune system
18 kinds of amino acids
Slightly chewy, taste like a savoury cranberry
From £1.99 for a 60g bag of the shrivelled fruit, to £14.99 for the maxi size, goji berries are not cheap, compared with a home-grown apple or an orange. But the packets, berry bars and muesli have been selling by the trolley-load in recent weeks.

"They've been flying off the shelves," says manager Alan Green, who likes them mixed with nuts and seeds as a snack.

At the shelf stacked with goji produce, Jonathan Foreman, 40, from London, is picking up a couple of packets.

"They're nice with cereal, crunchy, not that sweet and a little bit like a cross between a raisin and a dried strawberry or raspberry," he says.

He likes the taste and nutritional value, but adds: "A lot of people believe that they give a huge boost to your libido, but I certainly haven't experienced that."

Food mile impact
Gojis, or wolfberries, are grown on vines in China, Mongolia and Tibet, where they are also drunk in juice form.

But isn't their feel-good factor somewhat compromised by the fact they have to be carried thousands of miles to reach their Western market? After all, aren't "food miles" every bit as worrying these days as poor diet? Stockists are armed with a response to this accusation - saying the dried fruit is shipped, not flown.

The berries fail Sarah and Katasha's taste testWhether that popularity grows will depend not just on how health conscious people rate them, but on their taste for the masses.
Outside Tesco, after a slow start, nibbling gingerly on the berries, Katasha Rose's, 23, and Sarah Jaques' verdict is strong and unequivocal.

Noses wrinkle as they chew and Sarah, who is not a berry fan, rejects them. A more enthusiastic Katasha says: "They taste like tea."
Would goji berries make it into her shopping basket? "Yes, if they were cheaper," she says, "and tasted better."