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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Healthylicious Avocado


Dear Friends

The first time I ever ate an avocado was this year - that’s 49 years of missing out on this amazing fruit! Well, better late than never. Since discovering it, I have been eating at least 3 or 4 pieces a week, if not one a day!

Reason for my late discovery: no one in my family ever ate avocados before; it was simply non existent in Chinese cuisine. But now, I know just how versatile this fruit is - there are literally hundreds and hundreds of healthylicious recipes featuring the avocado - I really can’t seem to get enough of it!

Here’s why you should add eat an avocado a day:

1. Essential Nutrients.

It is an excellent source of some essential nutrients like: vitamin K (36% of daily value in one cup), dietary fibre (30%), potassium (25%), folate (23%), vitamin B6 (22%), vitamin C 20%), copper (20%).
2. Better Nutrient Absorption.
Not only does avocado contain a spectacular array of carotenoids like beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lutein, as well as many lesser known carotenoids including neochrome, neoxanthin, chrysanthemaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, and violaxanthin, it has also been found to increase the absorption of two key carotenoid antioxidants—lycopene and beta-carotene from other foods when eaten together.
3. Prevent Breast Cancer.
Avocado, like olive oil, is high in oleic acid, which has been shown to prevent breast cancer.
4. Good for the Eyes.
Avocados is a great source of lutein, which helps protect the eys against macular degeneration and cataracts, two disabling age-related eye diseases.
5. Glutathione Support.
Avocados are an excellent source of glutathione, which is your Master Cell Protector against aging, cancer and heart disease.
6. Lower Bad Cholesterol.
Avocados are high in beta-sitosterol, a compound that has been shown to lower cholesterol levels.
7. Heartilcious as well.
Besides glutathione, avocados is also a great source of folate, which has been found to protect against heart disease and strokes. One cup of avocado will give you 23% of the recommended daily value of folate.
8. Vitamin E Powerhouse.
Avocado is rich in vitamin E, which will protect your skin from ultraviolet light, prevent cell damage from free radicals, allow your cells to communicate effectively, help protect against prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease
9. Anti-Inflammatory.
Avocados have received a lot of bad press because of its high fat content. What most people don’t realise is that these fats are unusual - they are good for us. They are the phytosterols - beta-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol; and the polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols (PFAs), both of which are key supporters of our inflammatory system to help keep inflammation under control.

If that doesn’t convince you to go out and buy a basket of avocados now, then we hope our tasty Healthylicious Recipes will help persuade you!

Healthy for Life
Jessica

P.S. If you are suffering from debilitating arthrithis, check out: My Healing Kitchen.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Take the Long-Term Approach


It’s estimated that over 95% of all people who lose weight on a diet, gain it back. They started a diet and gave up feeling discouraged when they don’t lose much weight, or they started a diet, lost weight, gained back more weight, and then gave up in discouragement. Or some started on a different diet and repeated the same depriving, discouraging, demoralizing process.

If you want to be successful at not only losing, but keeping the kilo’s off, you need to take the long term approach: Look at what you are about to undertake not as a short term, quick, weight loss, but rather a change in lifestyle to last a lifetime. Remember, you did not go to bed skinny one night, and woke up the next morning, grossly overweight!

Deprivation diets don’t work long-term, because you just end up with a bigger craving for what you have cut back on. Yes, you will lose weight in time for that big event you were targeting to lose weight for, but after that, you will pile on the kilo’s again as you double your intake on what you felt “deprived” of.

That’s why I recommend you to work with a weight loss or health coach who can tailor an integrative program just for you, based on your specific lifestyle – what you eat, when you eat, even how you eat, what physical activities you do. You will begin to make more nutritious food choices, add exercise, and cut back somewhat – no more than 20% – on your eating.


If you falter along the way, you don't need to look at it as a failure because you know that you have a long time to make the changes. For example, if you go for a big Chinese wedding dinner, and you indulge in more than what you normally take, there is no need to feel guilty because you know that eating so much is not a regular habit, and that at the next meal you will eat more sensibly.

What you can also do is, at each meal, take 20% less than what you normally take on your plate, eat slowly, taking care to chew your food well, and enjoy it. More often than not, you will find the amount is actually enough. For many of us, why we overeat is because we have been taught from young to finish the food on our plate and not “waste” it. Also, our brain takes at least 20 minutes to get the signal from our stomach that we are full, so if we eat too fast, we tend to overeat.

"The best diet is the one you don't know you are on." Dr Brian Wansink


THIS WEEK'S LESSON:
Set a realistic goal for yourself how much weight you want to lose or how many inches you want to take off your waist in the short as well as long-term. A good goal is to lose only 5-10% of your body weight at a time. Also, your waistline should be less than half your height, so if you are 5'2", your waist should be below 31".

The key to successful weight loss is to enjoy what you eat. So start looking for healthier options and learn to enjoy the taste. You can go to my website Healthylicious Meals to get some great recipes you can try.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Healthylicious Meals


Dear Friends

I am so excited... today, my dream of launching a website to help people discover - for themselves - how healthy meals can be great tasting as well is finally realised. I have started a new company with my good friend Alicia called Healthylicious Meals and together, we are going to cook up a storm!

Our mission is to introduce all the wonderful foods that Nature has provided us, and make them exciting again! As Man became more "sophisticated", our food became more artificial. We wanted the best taste, the fastest way. We were seduced by attractive commercials touting "good" food. As a result, our bodies grew weaker and new diseases that our great grandparents never heard of, descended upon us.

It's time for a Healthylicious revolution! Let's rediscover the wonderful gifts from Mother Nature - in beautiful colours and smells and tastes to excite all our senses.

Join the revolution NOW - it all starts with YOU. Your kids and their kids will follow the example you set. Let this be your mantra - "I am what I eat, so I want to eat what's best for my body."

Please go to my Healthylicions Meals website and register for the monthly ezine - we will send you a free Healthylicious recipe every month!

Healthy for Life
Jessica See