Some lower carb diet tips:
* It is possible to make wonderful smoothies by using low carbohydrate yogurt. Admittedly, it is not really cooking, but if you must have smoothies you can make them with low carb yogurt and fruit. Of course, you should make sure you only make use of fruit that is low in carbs and make use of the whole fruit as the fiber is beneficial.
* Don't miss meals Most low carb recipes are, well...., low in carbs. Your body requires energy, and carbs are a highly efficient energy source. A lower carb diet needs more care in controlling your energy intake, as the energy provided by non-carbohydrate sources is much slower acting.
* Replace sugar with splenda. Many recipes that use sugar can be changed to make use of splenda instead. It doesn't weigh the same so you will have to do a bit of trial and error and it may not work for every recipe, but it gives very good results once you get the measurements right.

Diet tips

In planning a meal plan, the important thing is to try to cut down your ingestion of fat, salt and refined carbohydrates.

Lycopene superfoods
(includes melon, red peppers and tomato sauce)

The chemical lypcopene is a naturally occurring pigment and part of the same group of phytochemicals as carotene. This chemical is accountable for the deep red hue of quite a few fruit and vegetables.

Usefully, unlike many other nutrients, lycopene is not damaged if it is cooked, rather it is observably strengthened by being heated.

. Lycoprene's most valuable value is that it serves as an antioxidant and appears to help to lower the probabilty of cancer.

Lycopene is the strongest carotenoid quencher of singlet oxygen, which is correlated with skin aging. It is also believed to hamper the growth of atherosclerosis.