Advice on losing weight

If you enjoy your food, but want to become thin and also improve your overall physical condition, then, as most people know, you should follow a meticulously prepared wholesome dietary regime. Theoretically, this needs to involve 5 standard portions of grains, cereals and vegetables every day and also contain the optimum fusion of important nutrients.

Some low carb diet guidlines:
* You can make delicious smoothies using reduced carb yogurt. Admittedly, you can't really describe it as cooking, but if you must have smoothies you can make them with reduced carbohydrate yogurt and fruit. Of course, you will need to make sure you use fruit that is low in carbs and use the whole fruit as the fiber is important too.

* Understand the food labels Watch out for the food label that proclaims 'low carb' - check the actual nutritional information on the reverse of the tin or package. A good number of are only marginally decreased and in some instances still higher than a competitors standard brand. Also, beware of 'low sugar' and 'low fat' labels - 'low sugar' does not always mean 'low carb' - usually the carbs are identically 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.