 Acai Berry Diet & Weight Loss
Firstly, the acai berry isn’t some “magic key” to weight loss. It’s not an “amazing weight loss secret from the Amazon” that will cause you to lose “20 pounds in one week” as some marketing hype might try to lead you to believe. Ever since the acai berry diet was mentioned on Oprah, crazy products and claims are popping up everywhere.
Such claims are rarely backed by scientific studies and proper research. Like the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
However, combined with proper diet and exercise, the acai berry can be an excellent weight loss aid. Its natural combination of antioxidants, essential fatty acids, amino acids, phytosterols, and amino acids work together to help your body function better, process food easier, and burn fat more efficiently. Let’s break down how the acai berry helps people reach their perfect weight…
Acai Berry Boosts the Metabolism
The acai berry contains Omega fatty acids – the same medically recommended fats found in fish oil, olive oil and flaxseed. These fatty acids can’t be produced by the body, and must be obtained from the food we eat. Instead of being stored as fat, they are used by the liver to “kick-start” the metabolism. If you’re a slow starter when it comes to losing weight, or if you’ve reached the frustrating “plateau” phase of weight loss, adding some form of acai to your diet might be just the ticket to get over the hump.
Acai Berry Aids Digestion
The acai berry contains a generous amount of fiber which promotes a healthy digestive system and helps cleanse your system of fatty foods.
Acai Berry Suppresses Appetite
As mentioned above, the acai berry has a generous amount of fiber. High fiber foods like acai help you to feel fuller faster and cut down on nagging cravings, needless snacking, and late night trips to the refrigerator.
Acai Berry Builds Muscle Tone
The acai berry is rich with amino acids, which your muscles need in order to function properly and grow from exercise. These amino acids combined with the fatty acids in the acai berry allow your body to burn fat more efficiently and help your muscles grow. Muscle, of course, makes your body look fit and toned. In addition, the more muscle your body has, the more calories you will burn, and the faster you’ll lose weight.
Acai Berry Increases Energy & Stamina
Jiu-jitsu practitioners and soccer players in Brazil often have a large meal of acai berry pulp before a competition. Why? Aside from being a perfect source of nutrition and carbohydrates, the high levels of antioxidants in the acai berry lead to a drastic increase in energy levels and stamina.
Final Word on Acai Berry & Weight Loss
Although it’s not the miracle weight loss solution that some claim, the acai berry has been medically and scientifically proven to contain ingredients that aid in weight loss. Not only does it provide a valuable boost to the metabolism, it also suppresses appetite, helps build muscle, and gives a much-needed shot of energy and stamina for those fat blasting workouts.
 Acai Berry & Cancer
The popularity of the acai berry is growing every day. As a result, more and more nutritionists and scientists are researching its unique nutritional qualities and healing abilities. It was only a matter of time before someone ran experiments regarding the acai berry’s ability to fight cancer.
The exciting results of that experiment are below, but first let’s cover a few things that may help you understand the acai berry’s cancer fighting abilities a little better.
Free Radicals & Antioxidants
Free radicals are nasty little molecules that come from pollutants, pesticides, cigarette smoke, etc. They attack the cells in the body and can even damage DNA. Free radical damage within cells has been linked to a range of disorders including cancer, arthritis, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes. Your body, of course, has a way to fight back. It does so in the form of antioxidants, which strengthen cells and fight off free radicals.
 ORAC Attack
The USDA has a method of measuring the levels of these antioxidants in foods. It’s called the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity score (ORAC for short). Where does the Acai berry measure up on this score? Well, it pretty much blows away the competition. Take a look below.
It’s been estimated that 80-90 percent of the world’s population fails to consume even half of the recommended antioxidant intake to fight the free radicals the body encounters in a day. Foods with a high ORAC score (like the acai berry) are worth their weight in gold to the health-conscious person.
Acai Kills Cancer Cells in Lab Study
Now that you know how the acai berry theoretically fights cancer; let’s talk about that experiment we mentioned earlier.
The University of Florida published a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that found that acai berries triggered a self destruct response in up to 86% of human cancer cells.
Assistant Professor Stephen Talcott says “This was only a cell-culture model and we don’t want to give anyone false hope. We are encouraged by the findings, however. Compounds that show good activity against cancer cells in a model system are most likely to have beneficial effects in our bodies.” The University will now study the effect of acai antioxidants on healthy human subjects.
Talcott adds “A lot of claims are being made, but most of them haven’t been tested scientifically. We are just beginning to understand the complexity of the acai berry and its health-promoting effects.”
The Final Word
While the acai berry certainly isn’t proven to cure cancer, exciting research indicates that, at the very least, the high level of antioxidants may help your body fight it. Hopefully further research will reveal more benefits of this amazing food.
 Acai Berry & Sex
On a recent trip to the Amazon, NBC’s Matt Laurer was surprised, and more than a little amused, to find that the acai drink he had just finished is commonly referred to as “Amazon Rainforest Viagra”.
The Amazon native who gave him the drink certainly wasn’t lying to him. People in Brazil wholeheartedly believe that acai gives you strength, energy, endurance, and is great for sex. Some doctors even recommend acai to couples who are having difficulty getting pregnant!
Endurance, Energy...and More?
Brazilian people are some of the most active and healthy in the entire world. Walk the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and you’ll invariably see fit (and usually half naked) people swimming, surfing, playing soccer, cycling, jogging, and practicing Brazilian JiuJitsu. You’ll also notice that many of them are eating bowls of dark purple acai from one of the many juice bars that line the beaches.
Acai is such an energy booster that Amazon warriors used to eat it before going into battle. More recently, a different type of warrior named Carlos Gracie helped acai to gain popularity by recommending it to his Jiu Jitsu students. The majority of his students were young men in excellent shape, and soon acai became part of the lifestyle for active Brazilians.
Why It Works
It’s no wonder why acai is used as fuel for Jiu Jitsu fighters. The berry is packed with high levels of iron, calcium, carbohydrates, and antioxidants. The nutrients impart a huge boost of energy and stamina while the antioxidants cause the entire body (including sexual response) to function better. It’s simply high performance fuel for any activity (especially the bedroom).
So is it just the powerful boost of stamina and energy that makes acai such a great aphrodisiac? Possibly. However, natives swear that there is something in acai that boosts the sex drive and simultaneously improves the mental state. Judging by the amazing berry’s track record, we wouldn’t be surprised if the next scientific study finds out they’re right.
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