Superfoods | Fitness Know How Headquarters

10 Superfoods That Will Help You Look and Age Better

The benefits from eating healthy are endless. Here are 10 superfoods that will help you to look better and age slower!

1. Acai Fruit – This little berry is one of the most nutritious and powerful foods in the world. It can often be found in juice form in health food and gourmet stores.

2. Anything in the “Allium Family” – Garlic, onions, leeks, scallions, chives and shallots can all help the liver eliminate toxins and carcinogens.

3. Barley – This can be used as a breakfast cereal, in soups and stews, and as a rice substitute. Barley’s also high in fiber, helping metabolize fats, cholesterol and carbohydrates.

4. Green Foods – Green foods like wheat and barley grasses can be bought in powder, tablet or juice form, and offer greater levels of nutrients than green leafy vegetables. They also help cholesterol, blood pressure and immune response.

5. Buckwheat: Seed & Grain – Buckwheat is loaded with protein, high in amino acid, stabilizes blood sugar and reduces hypertension.

6. Beans & Lentils – You can reduce cholesterol while beefing up on antioxidants, folic acid and potassium. Try kidney, black, navy, pinto, chickpeas, soybeans, peas and lentils.

7. Hot Peppers – Both bell and chili peppers contain antioxidants, have twice the Vitamin C as citrus fruit and work as great fat burners.

8. Nuts & Seeds – You can’t go wrong with a handful of nuts a day; walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia and pistachio nuts contain Omega3 fats, which are great for your heart. Raw and unsalted are the best.

9. Sprouts – Numerous varieties of sprouts are great with any meal. They’re a great source of protein and Vitamin C. Try adding them to any dish and your immune system will get a boost.

10. Yogurt and Kefir – These cultured foods contain healthful bacteria that aid immune function, and the calcium helps burn fat. Try using them as a base for a smoothie.

Fitness Tip #13 of #31 Eat Yams/Sweet Potatoes (In place of regular potatoes)

Carbs are awesome. I love them. They are essential to your health and fitness. The benefits are huge! Carbohydrates are an immediate source of energy for your body. When carbohydrates are available your body doesn’t need to resort to protein (muscle) to keep you alive. The more muscle you can maintain the higher your metabolism will be and the leaner and fitter and healthier you’ll be as well.

But do you want to know the 2 most important reasons to eat carbohydrates?

1. Your body can only use fat as an energy source if carbohydrates (glucose/glycogen) are present. Ok did you get that? You won’t lose body fat if you don’t eat carbs!

2. Your brain only functions on two things. Glucose (carbohydrates) and Ketone bodies. Ketone bodies are the result fatty acid breakdown in the liver when carbohydrates aren’t present. Remember Ketosis from the Adkin’s Diet? Here’s the deal. Ketosis is a step away from death. Your brain needs to function for you to breath and for your heart to beat! It needs carbs to do it. So when you eliminate carbohydrates you are literally killing yourself in the name of weight loss. Don’t ever do that again. Eat your carbs.

Now carbs have gotten a bad rap because all sorts of things that are bad for you fall into the “Carbohydrate” categories. Simple, refined sugars such as:

1. Sugar
2. Brown Sugar
3. Sugar in the Raw
4. Honey
5. Maple syrup
6. Corn syrup (it is in almost everything)
7. High Fructose Corn Syrup (worst than corn syrup)
8. Refined Grains, white flour, White bread, white rice
9. All deserts have some of these things in them

So how on earth can one eat carbs without getting fat? Simple, eat natural whole grain foods and Fruits and Vegetable (Fitness tip heads up…I get into fruit and vegetables in more detail in future tips).

Today I want you to start with eating either sweet potatoes or yams instead of regular potatoes. While all three are great sources of carbohydrates; sweet potatoes and yams are much more nutrient dense and will improve your health far more that regular potatoes. Yams provide a very good source of fiber, so they digest slower. This helps to keep your full longer and improve blood sugar regulation. They also offer a good source of potassium vitamins B1, B6, and C. They also contain a unique phytoestrogen called diosgenin that is used as a starting material for the synthesis of the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Yams are a superfood especially since they possess phytoestrogen activity. They contain large amounts of vitamin B6, which is required by the liver, and also contain folic acid and other B vitamins which help to detoxify excess estrogen.

You’ll find sweet potatoes and yams in the produce section right by the potatoes. By my definition the sweet potato is white and the yam orange, but yams can come in many colors. So go grab some Yams. Eat some healthy carbohydrates and start getting fit and healthier.

You know I’ll be back tomorrow!!!