Weight Loss Guru

What's your favourite fruit?

I have a few and it seems to change throughout the year. At the moment I am really into pears. Did you know that this fruit inspired the Renaissance painters as they loved drawing still-life portraits of this fruit... I wonder if they liked eating them as well.

The Romans loved this fruit and would often carry them on their marches as they kept their freshness and taste so well.

So what's in a pear?

Well underneath its tender, nutritious skin, the pear is rich in vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and fibre. They are low in calories and taste really sweet.

One medium-sized pear meets more than a tenth of one's daily vitamin C needs. Vitamin C promotes health in the body and help fight free radical damage.

The flesh of this fruit contains virtually no sodium or saturated fat and is really rich in potassium.

Pears are also a great source of roughage as they are high in fibre, which, in turn, helps to keep our bowel movement smooth and regular.

Many great desserts include pears because they taste delicious when baked, roasted or fried.

So go on have a great pear today and let us know what you think of this great fruit!

If you pick up a magazine or newspaper; there's always a new idea on how to be healthy, a fad diet or celebrity endorsed fitness regime that claims to make you healthy and improve your life.

But the real truth is, experts consistently agree, that one of the simplest ways to maintain your health and improve the quality of your life is to eat a healthy balanced diet and have an active healthy lifestyle. We've been told this all our lives, from our parents, to medical science - as the old saying goes "an apple a day keeps the doctor at bay".

We've all heard countless times that were meant to have 5 portions of fruits or vegetables a day - at least (doctors are now saying we actually need more like 7 portions). It's not just a 'nice thing to do' - it's actually essential for maintaining a healthy body and mind.

If you're not having enough fruit and vegetables in your diet, you can feel tired, have difficulty concentrating, find it difficult to fight off coughs and cold and it can even make it harder to lose weight. And fruit and vegetables are even essential to your daily beauty regime - making your skin, hair and nails look good from the inside out.

But the reality is on a day-to-day basis; with our busy lives it can be incredibly difficult to achieve this daily requirement. And even if you are stocking up, because of the way we farm and transport our fruit and vegetables you can't always guarantee their quality and the amount of nutrients they contain.

And the irony is that because our lives are so busy, our bodies need an even more nutritionally rich and balanced diet. Some of you may have health kicks and stock up at your supermarket on fruits and veg, only to throw them away the next week when you haven't had time or the energy to eat or prepare them.

With this in mind we've been looking for easy ways to improve your health and get the nutrients you need and I think we've found it... with Juice Plus+®

Juice Plus+® is the next best thing to fruits and vegetables. It's a whole food-based nutritional support made using the highest quality, fruits, vegetables and other naturally sourced ingredients available. The fruits and vegetables are simply chilled, cleaned and washed, then juiced. The chilled juices are dried using specialised drying processes, which preserve phytonutrients and put in easy to take capsules.

Simply, these little capsules give you all the goodness from 7 fruits and 10 vegetables and grains.

Juice Plus+® Fruit Blend contains the essence of seven fruits including Apples, Oranges, Cranberries, Peaches, Pineapples, Papayas, Plums, dates and Juice Plus+® Vegetable Blend contains the essence of ten nutrient-dense vegetables and grains: carrots, parsley, beets, kale, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, and the fibre from rice and oats.

Can you imagine how difficult it would be to eat all of those fruits and vegetables everyday? Juice Plus+® offers you an all round solution, that's simple, effective and easy to take over time. It's even suitable for vegetarians, vegans and children.

To find out more or if you're interested please go to
http://www.juiceplus.co.uk/
and you can order online by clicking on the store

If you're also interested in weight-loss have a look at their product Juice Plus+ Complete® is a fortified protein rich high fibre drink containing 23 vitamins and minerals. Unlike protein based products it's free from artificial sweeteners, colours or flavours, doesn't include preservatives and is suitable for vegans. Mixed with water, juice or any type of milk it makes a healthy 'on the go' breakfast, pre-exercise energy drink and post-workout recovery drink.

Check out http://www.juiceplus.co.uk/ for more information

Enjoy, and stay healthy,
Pete :)

I do come across some strange things in my life - one of them was the other day when I walked past a sandwich shop only to see these packages of food. It kind of takes synthetic, processed foods to another level!

I am sure the real sandwiches in this shop were great but it got me thinking that so many people don’t realise that if they eat lots of packaged and processed foods that they’re probably not getting the necessary nutrients to be healthy.

You may have heard that apparently there are about as many obese people in the world as there are those who are starving. The difference between these groups is that one is overeating and one is under-eating: the similarity is that both are malnourished. Whilst those of us in the developed world have more than enough to eat, the food we’re eating is less nutritious than it used to be. In addition, we lead more stressful lives than we used to and our bodies need vitamins and minerals to help us recover from stress: so we are suffering both from how we live and what we eat, or rather what we don’t eat. Every process that takes place in our body (such as digestion, fat burning, thinking, breathing, walking and talking) requires vitamins and minerals. If we fill up on junk foods, processed foods, sugary foods, deep fried foods and takeaways all we deplete our body’s stores of nutrients. If we don’t replenish our stores, over time, we suffer from poor immunity and, ultimately, ill health; we’ll find it harder to concentrate and process information; we’ll have less energy; and we’ll find it more difficult to metabolise food and burn fat. The good news is that we can reverse this process. When we eat fresh, natural foods, we top up our stock of vitamins and minerals.

Let’s imagine for a minute or two that it’s mid-afternoon and you are hungry. You fancy a snack and you have two choices: an apple and a chocolate bar. What does each option give you? The apple will give you a steady release of energy; vitamin C, which is good for your skin, bones, blood and building immunity; potassium, which helps to regulate your water balance, blood pressure and your heartbeat; and fibre, which keeps your digestive system healthy and helps reduce the risk of colon cancer. The chocolate bar, on the other hand, will give you a sugar hit, which will cause your energy levels to crash; saturated fat, which increases your risk of heart disease – and nothing of any value. When you look at foods like this, don’t you think there’s little competition between them?

Food manufacturers refine foods to make them last longer and so they’re more profitable; but you deserve better than that. No matter what you might think about your body or how long you’ve been abusing it with poor quality food, your body deserves to have fresh, nutritious, natural food.

Recently I talked about the old saying that “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

So have you been eating more apples? I have, especially the Pink Lady apple. In fact I used to go out with a girl from Australia whose father was the horticulturalist who designed the apple!

However, is it just an apple a day that keeps the doctor away? I don’t think so. What about the old banana then?

When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorous, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around!

It contains three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fibre and a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

So maybe it’s time to update that well-known phrase and say:

"A banana and an apple a day keeps the doctor away”

Now, is there another daily essential we should add...? What's your can't-live-without food? Put it in the comments...