Dieting tips

In deciding on a meal plan, it is essential to also make sure you cut down your ingestion of refined carbohydrate, fat and salt.

Some low carbohydrate diet pointers:
* Understand the food labels Don't believe sales blurb that claims to be 'low carb' - check the real nutritional information on the rear of the tin or package. A good number of are only slightly lowered and in some instances still greater than a competitors standard brand. In addition, beware of 'low sugar' and 'low fat' labels - 'low sugar' does not always mean 'low carb' - often the carbs are identical.

* Replace sugar with a low carb substitute such as splenda. Many recipes that require sugar can be adapted to use splenda instead. It is much lighter so you will need to do a bit of trial and error and it may not work in every case, but it does bake up nice once you have it cracked.

Lycopene superfoods
(includes watermelon, red bell peppers and rosehip)

The chemical lypcopene is a non-synthetic coloring agent and part of the same family of phytochemicals as carotene. This chemical is the reason for the deep red color of many fruit, vegetables and pulses.

Intrestingly, unlike many other healthy agents, lycopene is not damaged during the cooking process, but is actually strengthened by going through the cooking process.

. Lycoprene's key value is that it is an antioxidant and is believed to help to lower the probabilty of cancer.

This useful phytochemical is the most effective quencher of singlet oxygen, which is correlated with aging of the skin. It is also thought by nutritionalists to slow down the development of atherosclerosis.