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 lower carbohydrate diet tips:
* Know what is in your food Be sceptical of advertizing that claims to be 'low carb' - check the nutritional information figures on the back of the tin or package. Quite a few are only slightly reduced and in some cases still higher than a competitors standard brand. In addition, beware of 'low sugar' and 'low fat' labels - 'low sugar' doesn't always mean 'low carb' - usually the carbs are exactly the same.

* It is possible to make really nice smoothies by using low carbohydrate yogurt. Yes, you can't really describe it as cooking, but if you love smoothies you can make perfectly acceptable alternatives by using reduced carbohydrate yogurt and fruit. Of course, you will need to ensure you only make use of fruit that is low in carbs and use the whole of the fruit as you need the fiber.

Super foods containing lycopene
(includes apricots, red peppers & tomato)

Lycopene is a non-synthetic chemical compound and part of the carotenid family of phytochemicals. Lycopene is behind the deep red hue of quite a few foods.

Intrestingly, unlike many nutritional compounds, lycopene does not degrade if cooked, but is in fact increased in efficacy by being heated.

. Lycoprene's key value is that it works as an antioxidant and seems to be an asset in the fight to reduce the chances of cancer.

It is the most potent eliminator of singlet oxygen, which is linked with skin aging. It's also thought to curtail the progression of atherosclerosis.