Acai Berry Diet - Can Acai Really Help You Lose Weight?

Many people are interested in the acai berry diet and acai cleanse. This article is going to discuss if it really works and if not, what else the acai berry is good for, and give you some great natural weight loss tips.

First of all, it is true that the acai berry and juice is a fantastic superfood and that many have reported all sorts of health benefits from acai, including:

• Improved sleep, mood and mental clarity
• Increased energy and stamina
• Healthy libido
• Healthy immune system
• Healthy hair, skin and nails
• Healthy blood pressure and cholesterol
• Detoxification and cleansing

On the other hand, you need to know the truth: that the acai berry diet was not part of the traditional use of the acai berry. In other words, acai not been traditionally used for weight loss, and is certainly not any type of magic bullet for losing weight. That said, if you are on a diet, a high quality acai juice will contain needed proteins and fats that can help create energy and curb cravings. It also contains lots of fiber that will promote a feeling of fullness, which may help when dieting. In addition, acai also is high in B vitamins that help you metabolize your food, and high in minerals that many of us are lacking. Minerals help the vitamins to work better and hence are very important whether you are trying to lose weight or not.

But if you decide to try an acai cleanse or acai berry diet to lose weight you need to do more than just take some capsules. In fact, many of the acai capsules out contain less than 1000 mg per capsule, so remember, most acai products out there are inferior products and contain only a small amount of the actual acai. You need to look for a potent product made with at least 25,000 mg per serving. Second, look for a juice product as that is how the natives traditionally took the acai and got the benefits from it. Most powders and tablets lose much of their nutrients in the processing. In fact, you often need 50 or more capsules to get 25,000 mg of acai, the recommended minimum serving. Third, many acai products are not made with the whole fruit: the meaty pulp, the seed and the outer skin. These all contain important nutrients, and are traditionally used in making acai juice in the Amazon for medicinal purposes. Last, you need to look for a product that is not diluted with water or other juices, nor contaminated with pesticide residue or toxic preservatives. So in summary, for a potent acai product, we recommend the following characteristics:

• 25,000+ mg of acai
• In the form of a potent juice, not a pill
• Whole fruit used: pulp, seed and outer skin
• Not diluted with water or other juices
• No toxic pesticide residue or preservatives

In addition, you might want to consider one other "super" juice for your weight loss plan:

We Recommend Goji for Weight Loss

If you could only pick 1 super juice to take while dieting, we might actually recommend Goji over the Acai, because it is very high in vitamin C. Researchers have shown that vitamin C can help boost your metabolism and also help you to burn more fat while exercising. It also seems that having adequate levels of vitamin C can help you flush fat out of your body, so when on a weight loss diet, vitamin C is very important. Last, but not least, Goji is known as the "happy berry" and can help boost your mood, which all of us know tends to take a hit while dieting. This can help you stick to your diet and lose more weight.

In addition, some other natural weight loss tips include the following:

• Avoid junk food and most processed foods, especially fast foods - these often contain MSG and vegetable oils, both ingredients that have been shown to fatten you up!
• Try a low carb diet - more people lose weight cutting back on carbs than those who cut back on fats - plus we need good fats in our diet, like those found in wild salmon, pastured chicken and eggs, and in the acai. But not too low carb - that often backfires, as we seem to need some carbs to keep our mood up. If you tend to put on fat around your midsection, you need to watch the amount of carbs you eat more than those who put more weight on the thighs and buttocks.
• Try adding some virgin coconut oil (VCO) to your diet - the medium chain fatty acids found in VCO are burned off faster than other fats and help to boost your metabolism.
• Nourish your thyroid and avoid thyroid-blocking foods like soy, peanuts and raw cruciferous vegetables - a sluggish thyroid means a sluggish metabolism, and many today have this because up to 70% of all foods on the grocery store shelf contain soy!
• Cleansing your colon with a gentle herbal colon cleanser can help jump start your weight loss program and help you to better absorb your nutrients.
• Exercise will also help you to not only burn calories but boost your metabolism as well.

So there you have it, if you are serious about losing weight, it will take more than an acai berry diet with a few capsules of acai to help you to do it. However, if you combine some natural weight loss tips with a potent whole food supplement like pure goji or acai, made the traditional way, it might very well help you in meeting your weight loss goal by adding some much needed nutrients to your diet and helping to boost energy and metabolism and curb cravings and flush fat out of the body.

Acai Berry - Superfood Extraordinaire for Anti Aging

Even if the acai berry diet may not be the miracle it has been purported to be, the acai berry is a great superfood and many believe it is especially good for its anti aging properties. This is because the acai berry is very high in antioxidants as well as omega essential fatty acids that help to nourish the skin. Antioxidants play a key role in anti-aging. Antioxidants are contained in foods like tomatoes, blueberries and broccoli, but also in the acai berry. In fact, the acai (pronounced 'ah-sigh-e') berry from the Amazon rainforest contains twice the level of antioxidants found in blueberries and ten times that found in red grapes. Essential fatty acids also play another key role in anti aging, like the omega3s found in fish oil and also other EFAs found in olive oil. These essential fatty acids are also contained in high amounts in acai berry juice and that's why so many drink this juice to help combat aging in their lives.

In conclusion, the acai berry diet is not a miracle weight loss plan, however both acai and goji can play a role in your weight loss, and if you find a potent product, they are full of nutrient like antioxidants and essential fatty acids that can definitely be part of any healthy eating plan.

- Karen Pijuan