A few tips on healthy eating

If you enjoy eating, but want to get in shape and improve your overall vitality, then, as most people know, you need to start a thoughtfully prepared well-balanced meal plan. In a perfect world, this needs to contain 5 standard portions of grains, fruit and vegetables daily and embrace the right proportion of food types.

Some lower carb diet pointers:


* It is possible to make superb smoothies with reduced carb yogurt. Admittedly, it is not really cooking, but if you are missing your smoothies you can make them with reduced carb yogurt and fruit. Clearly, you should ensure you only make use of fruit that is low in carbohydrates and use the whole fruit as the fiber is beneficial.

Lycopene foods
(includes melon, red peppers and tomato puree)

The chemical lypcopene is a natural coloring compound and one of the phytochemical group known as 'carotenids'. It is the agent responsible for the vivid red hue of a good number of fruits and vegetables.

Intrestingly, unlike many nutrients, lycopene not only survives being cooked, but is essentially strengthened by cooking.

. Its most important benefit is that it works as an antioxidant and is believed to be of use in the fight to lower the risks of cancer.

This useful phytochemical is the most powerful fighter of singlet oxygen, which is associated with skin aging. It is also believed to prevent the progression of atherosclerosis.