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 pointers:
* Use splenda instead of sugar. Many recipes that need sugar can be changed to make use of a sugar replacement instead. It is not exactly the same so you will need to do a bit of trial and error and it might not work for every dish, but it does a decent job most of the time.

Lycopene rich foods
(includes apricots, red bell peppers & tomato puree)

The phytochemical lycopene is a simple compound used to color foods and part of the carotenid family. This chemical is accountable for the dark red color of a good number of fruit, vegetables and pulses.

Fortunately, unlike numerous healthy agents, this useful phytochemical does not become less effective if heated during cooking, but is noticeably enhanced by being cooked.

. Its most interesting nutritional contribution is that it behaves as an antioxidant and appears to help lower the risk of cancer.

Lycopene is the most potent fighter of singlet oxygen, which is correlated with skin aging. It is also thought to prevent the progression of atherosclerosis.