A few tips on healthy eating

If your aim is to lose weight and also enhance your all round well-being, among other things you really should follow a thoughtfully planned healthy-minded dietary regime. In a perfect world, this ought to include five helpings of grains and vegetables every day and take in the right proportion of nutrients.

Some low carb diet guidlines:
* Food labels can be misleading Be sceptical of food labeling that boasts 'low carb' - check the nutritional information figures on the reverse of the tin or package. Many are only slightly less and in some cases still more than a competitors usual brand. Also, beware of 'low sugar' and 'low fat' labels - 'low sugar' doesn't always mean 'low carb' - usually the carbs are exactly the same.

Lycopene foods
(includes grapefruit, red peppers and spiny bitter gourd)

The nutrient lypcopene is a simple chemical compound and member of the same group of phytochemicals as carotene. It is the reason for the red colour of some types of food.

Usefully, unlike numerous other healthy agents, lycopene does not become less effective if subjected to heat, but is genuinely strengthened by cooking.

. Its most interesting medical value is that it acts as an antioxidant and appears to be an asset in the fight to lower the risk of developing cancer.

Lycopene is the most powerful eliminator of singlet oxygen, which is linked with aging of the skin. It is also believed to prevent the growth of diseases affecting arterial blood vessels.