Cruciferous Vegetables, A Weapon against BAD Estrogen

Cruciferous vegetables contain a naturally occurring ingredient called 3,3′-Diindolylmethane or DIM for short. DIM is strongly anti-estrogenic, so it helps block xenoestrogens (sometimes called obsesogens)…otherwise known as BAD estrogen that accumulates inside your body from constant exposure to environmental toxins.

This hormone is the reason why women are storing more and more belly fat in today’s day and age – and it’s also responsible for chronically low testosterone levels in men. This causes all kinds of nasty side effects like facial hair in women and “man boobs” in men. Not to mention it makes it VERY difficult to lose weight.

DIM not only wards of off bad estrogen, it also acts as an immunostimulant, which means it can naturally “boost” your immune system and Wikipedia even touts this ingredient to have various potent anticancer properties. So including these foods in your diet could go a long way.

Obvious choices to add to your daily nutrition plan are broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and cabbage. Some other, lesser-known, super veggies include swiss chard, arugula, collard greens, bok choy, kale, and watercress.

IMPORTANT TIP: Since DIM is fat soluble, it’s best to consume these veggies with other healthy oils and friendly fats like grass fed butter. This will greatly enhance the absorption of these powerful fat-fighting nutrients

Lemon, For Purging Toxins in your Blood

The all-natural alkalizing effect of fresh squeezed juice, from organic lemons, has a very powerful detoxifying effect that can purge toxins from the blood and help assist in removing harmful compounds from your body.

Almost everybody has been misled to believe lemons are acidic, but inside your body lemons are an incredibly alkaline food that can help balance your body’s pH, which means better health and higher energy levels.

Lemon juice has also been shown to improve your digestive function, acts as a mild diuretic and is loaded with healthy nutrients (citric acid, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, bioflavonoids, pectin) that helps boost your immune function.

Combine all these benefits together and you have the PERFECT environment for faster fat loss. All you need to do to get all these healthy fat fighting benefits is squeeze a medium sized lemon (use organic to avoid residual pesticides) into a small glass of water every morning on an empty stomach.

Turmeric For Reducing Inflammation & Cleanse our Liver

Turmeric is now being touted in the innovative medical community as the “fountain of youth” super spice.

Used predominantly in Indian cuisine, the root of this spice is used for dozens of health benefits, including acting as a powerful, all-natural anti-inflammatory agent.

Often considered the forgotten spice, turmeric can assist your liver’s enzymes in flushing out carcinogens from your body.

This is critically important for optimal health and efficient fat loss because your liver acts as a natural detoxifier. It’s your body’s fat burning filter and turmeric will help you keep it healthy.

A poor functioning liver will ZAP you of your energy and make it nearly impossible to shed unwanted body fat because it’s responsible for the elimination of drugs, pesticides, and environmental chemicals from your body.

Turmeric not only helps you maintain a healthy functioning liver, research indicates curcumin, a chemical found in turmeric, may help reduce joint pain caused from inflammation and lower your blood sugar to eliminate cravings...all of which will keep your body in a “fat burning environment”.

As you can clearly see, this spice is definitely one you want to be making good use of. It will help you flush out more “trapped” fat.

Cinnamon for Weight Loss

The thought of cinnamon probably conjures up images of hot apple pie, warm cinnamon buns, cinnamon toast … not exactly the kind of foods you associate with weight loss. But amazingly, research has recently discovered that this sweet, tasty spice can play a hand in helping you drop a pants size or two.

Hard to believe? I’ll show you the evidence if you read on…

For this study, researchers at Ball State University recruited 30 adults, and gave them two separate meals, spaced a week apart.

Meal #1: A bowl of hot cereal
Meal #2: A bowl of hot cereal with two and a half teaspoons of cinnamon.

Both times researchers measured blood sugar before the meal and then again two hours after eating.

Here’s what they found…

The cereal with cinnamon significantly improved blood sugar balance. In fact, the cinnamon-spiked cereal resulted in a 24 percent reduction in total blood sugar during the two-hour post-meal period.¹ The reason for this appears to be cinnamon’s ability to help your insulin work more efficiently.

What’s weight got to do with it?

Everything … If you’re overweight, you’re likely experiencing some level of insulin resistance. What this means is that the insulin in your body has become less effective at lowering your blood sugar, making it harder to lose weight, even when following a low-calorie diet.

And when your body isn’t using sugar properly, you’ll often crave sugars or carbohydrates. It’s a losing game because as you consume more of the sugar you crave, less of it is being converted into energy… Instead it’s being stored as body fat.

This is why cinnamon’s ability to help your insulin work more efficiently² can have a direct impact on your waistline.

Tomatoes, To lower the risk of developing Breast Cancer

Italian food fans, rejoice. New research has found women who eat diets rich in tomatoes and products made from them face a lower risk of developing breast cancer.
 

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, suggests the culprit may be lycopene — an antioxidant found in tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables — that has also been linked to a lower risk of prostate cancer.

The National Cancer Institute estimates American women have a 12.4 percent risk of developing breast cancer at some point in their lives.
 

The new study, led by Adana Llanos of Rutgers University, found postmenopausal women may be able to reduce that risk by adopting a tomato-rich diet.

Their findings, detailed in Medical News Today, are based on a comparison of 70 women who followed two diets for 10 weeks — one rich in tomatoes and the other heavy on soy products. The results showed women who followed the tomato-rich diet had a 9 percent increase in their levels of adiponectin — a hormone that plays a part in the regulation of fat and blood sugar levels, which can boost cancer risk. Women who followed the soy-rich diet experienced a reduction in adiponectin levels, linked to increased risk of obesity and insulin resistance.
 

"Eating fruits and vegetables, which are rich in essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals such as lycopene, conveys significant benefits," said Llanos. "Based on this data, we believe regular consumption of at least the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables would promote breast cancer prevention in an at-risk population."