About the medical herb Acai
Acai or aqai is a group of species
in the palm genus Euterpe. The fruit are small with a fairly thin fleshy
outsideand with a stone inside in which the
seed lies.
The fruit is consumed as food and
as juice. In the form of concentrates, pouder or extracts it is also used as a health
remedy.
Content of nutrients
When the originally fleshy parts
are dried and powdered, it contains per ecah 100 g typically 44.2 g fiber, 8 g
carbohydrates, 8.1 g protein, and 32.5 g total fat.
The typically also contains small
amounts of vitamin C, 260 mg calcium, 4.4 mg iron, and 1002 U
vitamin A, as well as aspartic acid and glutamic acid; the amino acid content
was 7.69% of total dry weight.
The fat content of açaí consists mostly of omega-3acids: 56.2% oleic acid and
24.1% palmic acid.
Medical properties
Acai has a medium total
antioxidsnt activity, but it has a very high activity against certain oxidative
agents, and this specific activity zones may be of important for the value as a
medical plant.
Powered acai pulp contains these amounts of substances that have or may have
antioxidant properties: anthocyanins (3.19 mg/g), flavonide-like compunds like, homoorientin,
orientin, taxifolin, deoxyhexose, isovitexin, scoparin, and also proanthocyanidins (12.89 mg/g), and low levels of resveratrol (1.1 μg/g).
White species of acai investigated for antioxidant activity did not seem to have
significant activity, but the purple variants was excellent against superoxide
and
peroxyl radicals, good against peroxynitrite, and poor against hydroxyl radicals.
The powder was reported to
inhibit hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidation in neutrophils, and to have a slight
stimulatory effect on nitric oxide production by lipopolysaccharide-stimulated
macrophages in vitro.
Extracts of açaí seeds were reported to have antioxidant capacity against
peroxyl radicals,.similar to the antioxidant capacity of the pulp, with higher
antioxidant capacity against peroxynitrite and hydroxyl radicals.
Many people report that they find
acai useful to help loose weight, and especially if they combine acai with colon
cleanse. These experiences have probably not been investigated thorroghly
scientifically yet.
The high fiber content in acai may
have a beneficial effect on the function of the intestines and this beneficial
effect can also influence other organs positively.
There are claims that acai help to get better heart and circulatory health.
These claims may be thrue because of the content of specific antioxidative
activities and because of the fiber content, but the claims have pårobably not
been investigated thorroughly yet.
Is obesity an infectious disease?
The incidense of obesity has
doubled in adult populations the last decades and trippled in children. The
increase is seen in the whole word, also in poor countries. It is difficult to
explain the weight increase as only the rustlt of diet changes and of a tendency
to have less physical daily workload. Therefore one begins to suspect that some
kind of infection by a slowly working virus can explain some of the weight gain.
The virus type most suspected for
inducing obesity are the adenoviruses. On has tried to inoculate young animals
(chuckens) with several human-infection strains of these viruses and observed
the development of body weight as the animal children grow. Ad-37 is a strain
that has swoqn to be cositivelly corelated with obesity devlopment through these
experiments. Also Ad-36 also seems to be assiosiated with obesity, since 30% of
obese people investigated for having this virus, are chronically infected by it.
Animal studies have shown that also Ad-5 can cause obesity in animals, and
therefore they may also cause obesity in humans.
Adenoviruses are the same virusa
that cause common cold. It seems that these viruses sometimes infect the lungs
without actually causing a severe lung inflammation. From there it seems that
they spread through the blood stream and infect fat cells. The infections in the
fat cells can then be chronic. The fat cells do not die from the infection, but
istead they replicate faster so that the number of tat cells increase.
It seems that on third of obese
people have such an infection. Still the infection is surely not the only factor
that contribute to obesity in these persons. Also lifestyle plays a role.
Therefore lifestyle changes will always be important to cure obesity.
One may ask why infection with
such a common type of virus has increased this particulary aspect of its effects
in the last decades.
Perhaps more people are infacted
now than before, and especially early in life. The higher mobility of all
populations in the world may give a higher incidense rate of infection in young children of these vira.
Perhaps people react otherwise to
such infections before so that it become chronic. There may be aspects of modern
life that make the immune system less effective so that this kind of infection
settles more easily in the lungs and in adipose tissue. Perhaps the steadily
increasing practice of vaccinating young people against a lot of infections have
a side effect that alters the effectivity of the immune system in a negative wey.
Perhaps the life is more stressful nowadays than before, and that alters the
immune function. Perhaps the rate of breastfeeding and young children have
decreased and the children therefore get a less effective immune system. Perhaps
a lot of new chemical agents that young people are exposed for in the
environment interfere with the immune system. The primary causes can be many. Or
perhaps the environment of young people has become too sterile so that their
immune system does not get the proper training.
Get a Flat and Nice Stomach - Practical Advices
A thick or bulging stomach can be due to several factors: Too much fat under
he stomach skin, too much internal fat, weak stomach muscles and engorged
intestines due to trouble with the digestion. To get a really nice stomach all
these factors must be taken care of with appropriate measures.
THE RIGHT DIET
A right diet is one important key to getting a nice stomach. A good diet will
help you loose fat, regulate your stomach function and help to build strong
belly muscles.
The diet should not contain great amounts of fat and carbohydrates, but it must
contain a good portion of full valued proteins at each meal. The diet should
also be as natural as possible, without much added sugar, much added fat,
chemically altered fat or refined carbohydrates.
Good protein sources are fish, seafood, foul, mushrooms, lean diary products,
eggs, spawn, lean meat, nuts, almonds and sunflower seeds.
You need of course some carbohydrates and fat even though you should not
exaggerate the consume of these. Good sources of carbohydrates are full corn
bread or cereals, peas and beans. Good sources of fat are nuts, sunflower seeds,
fat fish, almonds olive oil, rape oil, almond oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil,
sunflower oil and nut oils.
Try to vary between many oil types to get a right mixture of fatty acids. Do not
only use soy oil, palm oil or corn oil as some do, since this will give you too
much of only some fatty acids.
Food sources with much fibre, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants will help
your body to get rid of excessive fat, help to build muscles and help against
bulging of your stomach due to digestive trouble. Full corn bread or cereals,
vegetables and fruit contain good amounts of these necessary substances.
EXERCISES
Another necessary means to get a nice stomach are muscle exercises. You can find
many good stomach exercises from a detailed instruction book, but here are three
simple ones. Do at least 4 series with at least eight repetitions of one of the
exercises at least every second day.
- This exercise strengthens your lover stomach area: Lie on your back. Use your
hands as support under your buttocks. Lift your legs so that your feet are
higher than your pelvis. Hold that position some seconds. Then lower your feet
again. If your legs are straight, the exercise can be a little hard for your
back. In order to make it less demanding for your back, you can flex your knees
somewhat when you do the exercise.
- This exercise strengthens your upper stomach area: Lie down straight on your
back. Place your hands under your neck. Lift your upper body some distance over
the floor. Your whole lower body shall all the time have contact with the floor.
Hold the position some seconds. Then lower your upper body again.
A variation of this exercise lets the effect work more on the sides of your
stomach than at the central part: Flex up your knees and twist your knees and
lower body to the left side. Then lift your upper body some times. Then flex
your knees and lower body to the right side and lift up your upper body some
times again.
- Training devices that allow you pull or press down with your arms are also
good to strengthen your stomach muscles. You stand on your knees, then stretch
your arms right out, and then push or pull down at the device. Such devices are
also good to strengthen the sides of your stomach. To do so you straighten out
one arm to the side and push or pull down some times, and then do the same with
the other arm.
Of course you should not only exercise your stomach muscles, but have a complete
exercise program for the whole body where the stomach exercises are just one
module. Regular condition training like running, cycling, swimming or skiing is
also valuable, because they help you to loose fat, including fat on your stomach.
It is also important not to exaggerate the stomach exercises. If you do so, you
can end up with thick abdominal muscles that make your stomach look fat.
SUPPLEMENTS
On the market you can find supplements of fibres, minerals, vitamin and
probiotics that are meant to increase your fat or sugar burning, regulate your
digestion or stimulate tissue development. Such supplements may be of use to
loose stomach fat and stimulate the strengthening of your stomach muscles.
By knut Holt
A Receipt for a Nutritious and Low Calory Tuna or Chicken Salad
This is a receipt for a simple and nutritious salad that you can eat in the morning, in the evening or even as an easy dinner. If you are slimming, this kind of salad gives you the absolute control of the intake of nutrients and calories you need to be successful.
You use these ingredients for one portion that is made in a small bowl and eaten from the same bowl.
- 150-200 g crushed or sliced cooked tuna, or sliced cooked chicken.
- Finely sliced raw broccoli. Only use the outer thin branches with the flowers.
- Finely sliced raw tomato or paprika.
- Finely sliced raw onion.
- You take so much of these vegetables that the bowl is well filled.
- Some finely sliced garlic.
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil.
- A little vinegar if you like it.
- Some cayenne, ginger or other spices you like. Be aware that cayenne has a very strong taste.
- Some salt if the tuna or chicken is not already salted.
You firstly put the tuna into the bowl and blend in the spices and the garlic. Then you slice the vegetables and blend them with the spiced tuna. At last you blend in the olive oil and the vinegar.
You can of course blend in other vegetables, fruit or things like cheese or feta. Be aware that cheese and feta are fat. These two ingredients are also best together with chicken. Some sliced orange or raw blueberries give the salad some sweet and fresh taste that combines very well with the taste of the other ingredients.
As a drink to the salad, you can use pure water or fruit juice without added sugar. You should blend concentrated juice with water to avoid too much sugar. Grape juice fits especially well to this salad.
Cooked tuna or chicken can be bought in every supermarket. But you can of course cook some amount of it yourself beforehand and store it in the freezer to make many salad portions from.
This salad gives you proteins, vitamins, minerals and some healthy fat. But you need some carbohydrates too. You can get that by eating some sliced full corn bread to the salad. Smear some olive oil upon the bread to make it soft. A little honey upon the bread is also tasty. You can also eat some cooked beans, peas or corn to the salad. Do not blend these ingredients into the salad, but you can put them in the same bowl beside the salad.