Diet tips

At the start of a diet, people most certainly look at food store and big brand food items labelled 'low in fat'. To do this is far too often a miscalculation, in that an item could be significantly reduced in fats, but nevertheless elavated in calories and carbs.

Some reduced carb diet guidlines:
* Understand the food labels Watch out for the food label that proclaims 'low carb' - check the nutritional information on the rear of the can or package. Some are only a little less and in some cases still higher than a competitors normal brand. Also, beware of 'low sugar' and 'low fat' labels - 'low sugar' doesn't always mean 'low carb' - often the carbs are identical.

* Use reduced carbohydrate chocolate for chocolate muffins. If you have taken the time to convert your tasty chocolate chip cookie or muffins recipe using soy flour, it would be madness to mix in those high carbohydrate standard chocolate. Chop up a reduced carb bar of chocolate into tiny chunks and use that in its place.

Lycopene foods
(includes melon, red peppers and tomato puree)

The chemical lypcopene is a natural coloring compound and one of the phytochemical group known as 'carotenids'. It is the agent responsible for the vivid red hue of a good number of fruits and vegetables.

Intrestingly, unlike many nutrients, lycopene not only survives being cooked, but is essentially strengthened by cooking.

. Its most important benefit is that it works as an antioxidant and is believed to be of use in the fight to lower the risks of cancer.

This useful phytochemical is the most powerful fighter of singlet oxygen, which is associated with skin aging. It is also believed to prevent the progression of atherosclerosis.