Looking for a sexier body? Try the natural herbs that can help you to become slimmer and more beautiful within you.

#1   Ginger 

Ginger has been much sought after for over 5,000 years by the people of China and India for its health and life enhancing properties. A component of most Chinese herbal remedies and medicines, ginger has proven to be very effective against indigestion, nausea, arthritis and wind.

Research reported in the International Journal of Obesity in October 1992, shows that ginger help boost weight loss by calorie burning. By measuring a complicated series of reactions in small animals, researchers found that ginger made the tissues use more energy. Thus it suggests that ginger has the ability to help offset the lipid elevating effects of a high-fat diet.
 

# 2 Cayenne

Another name is hot chilli pepper known for its spiciness and hot burning sensation in your mouth when eaten.  There are many varieties some species are small while the bigger are called capsicum. Cayenne is also an important ingredient for most Asian foods due to its known ability to improve health. It contains a substance called capsaicin that stimulates saliva, stimulates digestion and boosts your metabolism at a higher level.

Some researchers believe that cayenne may act as a healthful detox for eliminating toxins from the body when combined with lemon juice. Cayenne may help increase your blood circulation causing you to burn more calories.

Add a dash of cayenne or chilli pepper on your food. It will do your weight good the nature way.

# 3 Garlic

Garlic is a herb used for centuries and is a commonly used in Asian cooking, A natural fat burning food as it contains the compound allicin that has anti-biotic properties and helps to eliminate bad cholesterol and fats.

Garlic oil or the juice of garlic has a significant protective quality to cells that help to reduce fatty deposits when rub on the body. Garlic when lightly cooked and added to vegetables, it spiced up the dish for it gives a nice pungent smell and taste. Garlic should not be over eaten in its raw state for possible toxicity it can cause to an empty stomach.

Don’t worry of the pungent smell; you’ll soon get used to it and can’t go without some chopped garlic added to your favorite dishes. Its anti-microbial properties are fantastic, you’ll appreciate the wonder of it.

#4 Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar has been used for centuries and has proven safe and effective for many health issues for young and old. The vinegar is made from fresh natural apples that contain pectin, a water soluble fiber that absorb water and also binds to cholesterol globules resulting in fat loss.

ACV is a completely natural product resulting from a two-step fermentation process of apples, from which it retains all the nutritional benefits of the apples plus gaining the extra acids and enzymes from fermentation.

Studies have shown that Apple Cider Vinegar helps to slow down the blood sugar level after a meal thereby suggesting that the taking of apple cider vinegar before or during a meal reduce the amount of insulin produced by the body. ACV can also help in suppressing appetite resulting in a weight loss.

Besides there are a multitude of other health benefits that you can get from these herbs such as :

• Support digestive health
• Assists in controlling inflammatory responses
• Help to maintain healthy lipid and heart circulatory system
• Aids in body detoxification process
•  Acts as anti-oxidants
•  Support healthy organs

Now you can benefit from the harmony of these nature herbs.

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Yogurt is milk that has gone sour and turn semi-solids, so to speak. But it contains the friendly bacteria called Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermopiles. Usually yogurt is made from cow’s milk and it contains all the nutrients one can find in cow’s milk – the protein, calcium, minerals, enzymes, water, fats and vitamins too. Milk contains a carbohydrate called lactose and most are converted to lactic acid by the friendly lactose-eating bacteria in the process of fermentation. It is this sour tasting lactic acid that causes the casein protein in the milk to turn semi-solid.

Meanwhile there are comments made that milk is bad for our health. So if milk is bad, so is yogurt that comes from milk. One report says that pasteurization diminishes or destroys most of the good vitamins and minerals like calcium and iodine in the milk. Another report says that the milk that we drink comes from cows that have been injected with milk production hormones for commercial reasons. Plus dairy products are acid-forming and mucus causing that often lead to increased frequency of colds and flu.Pasteurized milk is also known to cause allergies in some people, small children aren’t exempted. The milk of mammals is species-specific and cow’s milk is a species-specific food for calves according to Dr. Frank Oski,  in his book Don’t Drink Your Milk!

But to those people that are lactose intolerant, yogurt may well be a miracle food because the lactose factor has changed to something more digestible to the stomach whilst the composite benefits derived from drinking milk remain unchanged. Most people swear by the goodness in eating yogurt as the probiotics nature can aid in relief of many digestive complaints such as IBS. Daily consumption of yogurt is also known to help in preventing or treating the commonly yeast infections for both men and women.  Taking antibiotics can give a temporary relief but will also deplete you of the good bacteria. Which is why you need the good micro-organisms in the yogurt to balance and replenish what was lost to the bad bacteria. There was even a published report that eating yogurt everyday has contributed to remarkable life longevity! Though this was based on some observations carried out but there is no scientific basis to support this piece of news. Briefly, the well known benefits of yogurt are:

•  Better colon health
• Fight bad breath
•  Boosts immunity by fighting harmful bacteria
•  Eliminate yeast infections such as Candida albicans
•  Aids in healing intestinal disorders
•  Inhibit growth of bad bacteria
•  Stronger bones

What are the bad effects of taking yogurt? Are there any?

First, avoid all fruit flavoured yogurts, yogurts that contain processed fruits, which are usually artificially sweetened for taste, yogurt drinks and yogurts that contain colorings and preservatives.  Simply go for the natural plain yogurt without any of the harmful stuff so it is important to read the labels before buying them. Instead, you can add your own organic fresh fruits and nuts to suit your own taste buds.

Now the best yogurt has yet to come - yes, make your own. It’s pretty easy to make yogurt in the comfort of the home.

Here is how you can make your own yogurt:

Start with a quart of any milk - pasteurized, homogenized, raw, organic, skimmed, low fat or whole milk. Tip: a better option is to use raw milk. You need about 2 tablespoon of live cultures form any existing plain yogurt you can buy from any health store. Make sure that it contains ‘live cultures’ as the label should say.

1. Heat the milk slowly in a pot stirring all the time till it gets to almost boiling point. The temperature is about 80 °C to be ideal. Pour the milk out onto a clean glass container and allow it to cool at room temperature till it drops to about 40-45°C. Dried milk powder can be added if you wish at this stage. Tip: Use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature level.
2. Add 2 tablespoon of the plain yogurt to the milk and stir lightly. Tip: The plain yogurt should be removed from the refrigerator at least 5 minutes before using.
3. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrapper and let the bacteria grow at room temperature about 40-48 °C.  The yogurt should turn thicker and make sure you don’t shift the container around. This incubation takes at least half a day to see good results.
4. When the yogurt appears to have thickens, transfer it to the refrigerator. It can keep for at least a week. Tips: you can keep in the freezer first before transferring to the refrigerator for better smoother texture.
5. Finally, throw in your favourite little fruits such as berries or maple syrup for additional fiber-licious benefits.

That’s it. Be smart and eat wisely as always!

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You may have probably been advised before that you should avoid eating fruits if you want to lose weight or if you do not want a spike in your blood sugar levels. Eating fruits can contribute to tooth decay, chronic fatigue or other health issues that are linked back to the high sugar content found in fruits. Sound familiar?

Fruits contain fruit sugar called fructose that was believed to put a strain on the pancreas to produce insulin to burn glucose into energy. The claim was that a high amount of fructose can raise blood sugar level as more insulin is required to process them.

Our body needs energy, which are derived from a conversion of the complex or simple carbohydrates that we consume. The diet that we take, the starchy food such as wheat and grains are broken into simpler sugars whilst the sugar in the fruits we eat requires no further breakdown. In the case of refined sugars found in white rice and white bread, the difference is in the ‘empty’ calorie content of these refined foods. The natural sugar found in fruits are packed with an ultra load of vitamins, anti-oxidants, fibers, amino acids and minerals that our body can truly utilised and appreciate in its purest content.

Eating fruits such as apples, berries, lemon, pomegranates, and figs offers a multitude of sweet benefits including the fact that fruits are alkaline forming, easy to eat, great taste, refreshingly juicy and a great source of energy for the body. The role of the anti-oxidants to remove harmful free radicals from the body itself speaks volume of the benefits of taking fruits. You heard about juicing as a way to detox - another sweet reason for eating fruits. 

Eating fruits that are hybridized due to commercial reasons may have the sugar to mineral ratio altered to a certain extent. However, you can make healthy choices to go for the less ripe varieties, or not one particular type alone but a variety of them in order to get different nutrients from different fruits. Pay attention to the fat content of certain fruits such as avocados (contain about 200-250 calories), if you do not want to over consume on calories.

Some do’s and don’ts advice you may wish to consider:  don’t start with the sweet fruits in the morning and don’t eat immediately after meals. The reason is you don’t want to blame the fruits for any spike in your blood sugar levels and you don’t want to cause any indigestion complaints either. It is advisable to start the morning with some light protein drink first before consuming the sweeter fruits. On the other hand, fruits eaten after meals when mixed with the other food such as rice, potatoes, meat, nuts, vegetables, can result in fermentation in the stomach to happen if it stays too long.

Not all fruits are sweet though - fruits like tomatoes and eggplant are non-sweet fruits very often categorized under vegetables due to its nutritional contents.

One of the sweetest and juiciest fruit is watermelon. An interesting research done recently reported that eating watermelon has Viagra-like effects on the body. It is because they contain an amino acid called citrulline that can trigger production of a compound that helps relax the body’s blood vessels, much like Viagra, said scientists in Texas. Citrulline reacts with the body’s enzymes to change into arginine, an amino acid that is beneficial to the heart and the circulatory and immune systems. However, the report adds that one would need to eat about six cups of watermelon to get enough citrulline to boost the body’s arginine level.

To get the sweet natural goodness that your body needs, take a variety of at least 3-5 types of fresh organic fruits in your diet each day. There can be no optimal diet without adding them as part of your diet plan just as God had intended.

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