by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) A cereal offered by General Mills called "Total Blueberry Pomegranate" cereal has been characterized as a "total fraud" by investigative journalist Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as part of a non-profit Food Investigations documentary being shown at www.FoodInvestigations.com

Volunteering his research efforts under the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center, the Health Ranger found that Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal contained neither blueberries nor pomegranates.

Source: General Mills website nutrition facts label, downloaded January 19, 2011:
http://www.naturalnews.com/images/T...

Yet it is called "Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal" and positioned as a highly nutritious cereal with the words "100% nutrition," "Blueberry" and "Pomegranate" appearing prominently on the front of the box, in a very large font size.

While the cereal contains no actual blueberries or pomegranates, it does contain eight different sweeteners: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Brown Sugar Syrup, Malt Syrup, Sucralose, Molasses and Honey.

The blueberry-like appearance of small bits in the cereal are accomplished through the use of artificial colors like Red #40 and Blue #2, combined with various oils and sweeteners such as soybean oil and sugar.

"When consumers buy Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal, they fully expect it to contain at least some amount of real blueberries and pomegranates," explained award-winning investigative journalist Mike Adams, who narrates the Food Investigations video. "For General Mills to use these words on the front of the box and then fail to deliver any actual blueberries or pomegranates in the product is extremely deceptive."

"By choosing to pursue this deception, General Mills has tarnished its reputation among consumers worldwide who are now learning they cannot trust General Mills products to be honestly labeled," Adams added.

Adams is a strong proponent of real blueberries and pomegranates, which he describes as "plant-based medicines" that offer powerful nutritional support for preventing degenerative disease. Over the last several years as the news about the health benefits of blueberries and pomegranates has spread, large food companies have jumped on the bandwagon and attempted to use blueberries or pomegranates in their formulations. "General Mills jumped on the blueberry bandwagon but forgot to bring the blueberries," Adams added.

Adams suggests General Mills should change the name of their cereal to "Totally NOT Blueberries and Pomegranates."

This episode of Food Investigations is available for free at:
www.FoodInvestigations.com

Join the online protest against General Mills

General Mills is not an evil company, at least not in the sense of "Monsanto evil." Although they made a huge mistake with their misleading Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal, they do provide several healthy brands such as Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen. They also bought Larabar a year or two ago, and that's a decent food bar (although it's still not organic).

We want to help educate General Mills to the fact that customers are smarter than they think. We are paying attention, and we will boycott General Mills when they decide to treat us like consumer morons.

Join us in contacting General Mills and urging them to stop their deceptive marketing practices that deceive consumers about what's really inside the box.

Use the following contact page to offer your feedback:
http://generalmills.com/en/ContactU...

Sample comment you may wish to submit:

I am a General Mills customer who is appalled at the dishonest product naming and labeling used to promote Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal, which contains no blueberries nor pomegranates. I am joining an online protest organized by NaturalNews.com and the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center to urge you to recall this falsely-labeled product and either change the product name and labeling or reformulate it to contain actual blueberries and pomegranates.

As a health-conscious consumer, I strongly object to your use of these superfoods in the name and labeling of your Total cereal when your own ingredients reveal the blueberries to be faked through the use of artificial food coloring chemicals, vegetable oils and processed sugars.

Until such time that you announce your intention to remedy the misleading labeling and marketing of your Total cereal product, I will join NaturalNews.com in boycotting all General Mills products as a measure of protest against deceptive marketing practices.

Regards,
(Type your name here)

Keep in mind that if you give General Mills your *real* email address in their contact form, they will obviously have your email. (And I'm not sure how they will use it.) So you may wish to use a throwaway email address when using their feedback form. That's up to you. I personally don't want General Mills sending me promotional emails for Lucky Charms.

by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer (NaturalNews)

The rate of prescription drug use among children and teens continues to rise, with a new report from Medco Health Solutions Inc. saying that at least a quarter of all U.S. children are now regularly taking pharmaceutical drugs. And according to the report, many of these drugs were originally intended for adults, and carry with them unknown side effects for long-term use in young people. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that in addition to taking drugs for conditions like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and asthma, children are now taking things like sleeping pills, diabetes drugs and even statin drugs, which are typically only prescribed for adults. The report cites an eight-year-old boy, for example, who has been taking blood pressure medications since he was a baby. Dr. Danny Benjamin, a professor of pediatrics at Duke University, admitted to the WSJ that prescribing chronic medications to children is a serious problem. "We know we're making errors in dosing and safety," he said, noting also that parents must do more to question the safety of medicines their doctors prescribe. Experts worry that the increasing prevalence of children on prescription drugs is causing these young people serious harm, and that parents should instead seek out dietary and lifestyle changes for their children. But because many doctors continue to dole out the drugs like candy, despite known dangers, many parents just accept them for their children without giving it a second thought. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has done little, if anything, to warn the public about the dangers of using chronic prescription drugs, especially in small children. Safety studies in young people are not necessarily required in order for doctors to prescribe adult medications to children, as long as the drug is already FDA-approved. Sources for this story include: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...

As the first trial in Vaccine Court explores the relationship between vaccines and autism, a new survey released today indicates a strong correlation between rates of neurological disorders, such as ADHD and autism, and childhood vaccinations. The survey, commissioned by Generation Rescue, compared vaccinated and unvaccinated children in nine counties in Oregon and California. Among more than 9,000 boys age 4-17, the survey found vaccinated boys were two and a half times (155%) more likely to have neurological disorders compared to their unvaccinated peers. Vaccinated boys were 224% more likely to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and 61% more likely to have autism. For older vaccinated boys in the 11-17 age bracket, the results were even more pronounced. Vaccinated boys were 158% more likely to have a neurological disorder, 317% more likely to have ADHD, and 112% more likely to have autism. Complete survey results are available at http://www.GenerationRescue.org. Generation Rescue commissioned the phone survey. Data was gathered by SurveyUSA, a national market research firm, which surveyed parents by phone on more than 17,000 children, ages 4-17, in five counties in California (San Diego, Sonoma, Orange, Sacramento, and Marin) and four counties in Oregon (Multnomah, Marion, Jackson, and Lane). The survey asked parents whether their child had been vaccinated, and whether that child had one or more of the following diagnoses: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Development Disorder -- Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), or Autism. The phone survey was chosen to mirror the methodology the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) uses to establish national prevalence for neurological disorders in their national phone survey. Timed to the release of the survey results, Generation Rescue also ran full-page advertisements in Washington's Roll Call, The Oregonian, and The Orange County Register today. The ad compares the 36 pediatric vaccines the CDC recommends today to the 10 recommended in 1983, and asks, "Are We Over- Vaccinating Our Kids?" "No one has ever compared prevalence rates of these neurological disorders between vaccinated and unvaccinated children," said J.B. Handley, co-founder of Generation Rescue, whose son was diagnosed with autism. "The phone survey isn't perfect, but these numbers point to the need for a comprehensive national study to gather this critical information." In Washington, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has been advocating for such a survey. Co-sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), the "Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Population Act of 2006," or H.R. 2832, was introduced on June 22, and would require the National Institutes of Health to complete this research. "Generation Rescue's study is impressive and forcefully raises some serious questions about the relationship between vaccines and autism. What is ultimately needed to resolve this issue one way or the other is a comprehensive national study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children," said Congresswoman Maloney. "The parents behind Generation Rescue only want information. These parents deserve more than road blocks, they deserve answers. We can and should move forward in search of those answers. That's why I've introduced a common sense bill that would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a comprehensive, comparative study on the possible link between autism and thimerosal." From 1983 to 2007, autism rates have climbed from 1 in 10,000 children to 1 in 150 children, a growth rate of 6,000% (boys are significantly more affected by neurological disorders, accounting for approximately 80% of all cases). ADHD currently affects 1 in 13 children. In the same period, the CDC's recommended vaccine schedule more than tripled. The simmering debate over the cause of childhood neurological disorders shows no sign of cooling, but no study had ever been done to look at unvaccinated children. Lisa Handley, co-founder of Generation Rescue, adds, "Everyone working with autism wants to identify the cause so we can focus on treatment and prevention. A national study like HR 5940 could help end this debate and focus all of our resources on helping our kids. Its time has come, and we hope Congress will choose to put our children first." About Generation Rescue Generation Rescue was formed by parents of children who have been diagnosed with childhood neurological disorders (NDs), and is dedicated to examining the causes and biomedical treatments for Autism, Asperger's, ADHD, ADD, PDD-NOS, and other learning disabilities. Visit http://www.GenerationRescue.org for more information and to see complete survey results. Generation Rescue http://www.GenerationRescue.org

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) A doctor says that taking just four teaspoons of coconut oil per day reversed her husband's dementia.

Mary Newport is the medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit of Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Florida. In 2003, her husband Steve began showing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

"The symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are progressive mental deterioration characterized by an inability to carry out daily activities, a loss of cognitive functions, and a loss of memory functions," writes Tom Bohager in his book Everything You Need to Know About Enzymes.

Alzheimer's disease is fatal, and has no cure. The various drugs on the market have shown only limited effectiveness at slowing the progression of the disease. Indeed, Newport's husband continued to worsen even after being prescribed three different drugs.

"Many days, often for several days in a row, he was in a fog; couldn't find a spoon or remember how to get water out of the refrigerator," Newport said.

Newport began researching the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease in the hopes of finding alternative treatments. She learned that researchers attribute many of the disease's symptoms to the starvation of certain brain cells due to an inability to process glucose.

Researchers have wondered if supplying the brain with more energy from an alternative supply known as ketones might prevent this cell death and thereby halt the disease. The easiest way to get the body to produce ketones is to consume medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), a type of fat.

Newport learned that MCT oil derived from coconut or palm kernel oil has shown great promise in treating Alzheimer's, so she began feeding coconut oil to her husband. Within two days, he was showing signs of improvement. Within 60 days, he was once again alert, happy and making jokes. Within a year, he regained the ability to complete self-directed tasks and to run, and experienced great improvements in reading comprehension and short-term memory.

Scans confirm that the atrophy in his brain has come to a complete halt.

To learn more about how to fight disease with nutrition, read the free NaturalNews.com report Nutrition Can Save America! at
http://www.naturalnews.com/report_N....

Sources for this story include:
http://www.anh-usa.org/coconut-oil-....

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) How do you eat more while losing more weight at the same time? One of the best answers is to eat "negative-calorie" foods, meaning that these foods actually take more energy to digest than they deliver to your body. While these foods may be an important source of phytonutrients, they are not sources of fat-packing calories.

Because of their surprising lack of calories, these foods can essentially be consumed in unlimited quantities without you gaining weight (body fat). That works because your stomach senses when it is physically full, and it will trigger your brain to stop eating when you can't handle more food. You know that "I feel stuffed" feeling? That's your stomach (which has its own complex nervous system, by the way), telling your brain to tell you to stop eating.

This is why, believe it or not, the simple act of drinking a glass of water before each meal is a proven weight loss strategy. It fills your belly with water, thereby reducing the amount of space left for other foods. So your stomach gets full more quickly, triggering the "stop eating" signals in your brain.

Eating an apple before each meal also works in much the same way. This is true even though apples are not negative-calorie foods. But they are rich in water, and water takes up space in your stomach.

In fact, that's the common property among all negative-calorie foods: They all contain a lot of water locked in a fibrous matrix. Apples are essentially "water fruits," as are grapes and watermelons (hence the name). Many vegetables are also "water vegetables," meaning that they're loaded with water. Celery, for example, is the classic example of a water-rich negative-calorie food (see below).

As you read this list, remember that all foods contain calories, and that the term "negative-calorie food" is a bit of a misnomer. It refers to the effective net calories subtracted from your body through the preparation, eating, digestion and elimination of these foods. In other words, you expend more calories eating them than they deliver to your body.

The upshot is that the more water you consume in your foods, the more quickly you'll feel full and stop eating. Water, it turns out, is the most effective appetite control substance in the world.

So here's the list of the five best negative-calorie foods that you can enjoy every day as part of a healthy weight loss diet:

#1) Celery

One cup of celery (120g) contains only 19 calories. It takes far more than 19 calories to prepare, eat, digest and eliminate this one cup of celery, and that's what qualifies it as a negative-calorie food. You can eat as much celery as you want, and you won't gain body fat.

Even though celery contains effectively no contributing calories, it does contain powerful medicine. Celery juice is a powerful anti-inflammatory medicine (http://www.naturalnews.com/024135_c...), and one of the active constituents in celery -- apigenin -- slashes the risk of ovarian cancer, too. (http://www.naturalnews.com/027449_c...)

Celery juice is fantastic for your health, but if you want to feel more full, eat whole celery with simple seasonings (see below).

#2) Lettuce, onions and greens

Lettuce is basically just structured water locked into a vegetable matrix. One cup of typical iceberg lettuce contains just 8 calories, meaning you can munch on this to your heart's delight and you'll never gain an ounce of body fat.

Much the same is true with onions, which contain only 64 calories per cup and yet deliver an amazing assortment of anti-cancer nutrients and immune-boosting medicine. (http://www.naturalnews.com/022364_p...).

Virtually all salad greens are "negative-calorie" foods, meaning you can eat as many of them as you want. But be careful: Slopping on 300 calories worth of oily salad dressing changes the entire equation. While lettuce by itself is a negative-calorie food, salad dressing is mostly definitely NOT. In fact, salad dressings are often loaded with cheap soybean oils and even MSG (monosodium glutamate), a chemical taste enhancer linked to neurological damage and obesity. MSG is almost always found in "Ranch" flavor dressings, in particular.

#3) Kelp noodles

Eating noodles is not normally known as a way to lose weight. That's because traditional noodles are made with calorie-rich starches derived from grains like wheat. But even spelt noodles, brown rice noodles and quinoa noodles still contain a lot of calories.

That's why kelp noodles are so amazing: They're made out of sea kelp, and they're packed with water. Yet they perform amazingly well in soups, raw noodle dishes and even Italian-style dishes like spaghetti.

Kelp noodles contain just 6 calories per serving, and yet they take up a lot of physical space in your belly, contributing to that "full" feeling that reminds you to stop eating.

You may be able to find kelp noodles at your local health food store. You can also find them at the NaturalNews Store, where we've just introduced them to readers who have replied with an overwhelmingly positive response. I've personally been eating these kelp noodles as part of my own health maintenance program. For example, during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, I went on a juice fast that involved drinking fresh vegetable juice every morning, then eating steamed broccoli and cabbage with kelp noodles every evening.

It was a very cleansing and healthful experience. I also used several key supplements such as Oxy-Powder from Ed Group's Global Healing Center (www.GlobalHealingCenter.com) to help speed my cleansing.

Kelp noodles are also great for adding substance to light soups or vegetable broths. They make a broth eat like a full soup (and they make you feel full, too).

#4) Pickles

Pickles are, of course, made from cucumbers, and cucumbers are themselves a "negative-calorie food" because they're so sparse in calories. One cup of cucumbers contains a mere 16 calories.

Does that mean one cup of pickles contains 16 calories, too? Well, not exactly. You have to watch out for the sugar content in some brands of pickles. Just pickling cucumbers in vinegar, water and spices won't add any calories, but a lot of today's most popular pickle brands contain added sugar. This typically adds only a slight amount of calories to the food. Dill pickles made from cucumbers, for example, have 17 calories per cup.

So they're still a negative-calorie food because it takes more than 17 calories to consume and digest them. If you're looking to lose body fat or maintain a healthy weight, eat all the pickles you want.

Beware, however, of this: Many pickles are made with artificial yellow food coloring chemicals. In fact, I recently checked this out at the grocery store and found that 95% of the pickles sold there were contaminated with FD&C Yellow #5. This chemical should be avoided by everyone -- especially children.

So only buy natural pickles made without the yellow #5 food coloring!

By the way, speaking of pickled foods, you can also eat unlimited kimchi and raw sauerkraut as those are also negative-calorie fermented foods (they're actually good for your digestive tract because of all the probiotics they contain).

#5) Grapefruit

Grapefruit technically isn't a negative-calorie food, but it deserves mention for another reason as you'll soon see. For starters, it's still fairly low in calories, delivering only 74 calories per cup.

But the best part is that grapefruit contains naringenin, an antioxidant derived from the bitter flavor of grapefruits, which triggers the liver to break down fat. So as part of a fat-loss strategy, grapefruit is truly essential to your daily diet!

Fascinating research about the fat-reducing properties of grapefruit was just published in the online journal PLoS ONE (http://www.plosone.org/article/info...). It shows that naringenin activates two kinds of PPARs (dubbed PPAR-alpha and PPARy) and blocks LXR-alpha -- resulting in fasting-type benefits to the body (http://www.naturalnews.com/029684_n...).

"It is a process which is similar to the Atkins diet, without many of the side effects," Martin L. Yarmush, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Center for Engineering in Medicine and one of the paper's authors, said in a media statement. "The liver behaves as if fasting, breaking down fatty acids instead of carbohydrates."

To get more grapefruit into my diet, I like to peel it, remove the seeds, then blend the whole grapefruit into a fruit smoothie. This is how I get the white grapefruit inner skin, too. And that contains the best medicine of the grapefruit!

Drinking so-called "grapefruit juice" does not offer the same benefits, especially if it's pasteurized. Only raw grapefruit that includes the white inner skin (the bitter part) offers these health benefits.

Don't forget full-spectrum sea salt

Believe it or not, full-spectrum salt (not processed salt) is actually a kind of negative-calorie substance. I'm including it as an addition to the list of five for reasons you'll see below.

There's a lot of mythology surrounding salt that needs to be dispelled here. First off, I'm not talking about processed white salt (sodium chloride). That's a dietary poison and should never be consumed. Only full-spectrum salt that's rich in sea minerals can be considered real food. In fact, many food cravings are really just cravings for minerals.

All land animals (and humans) have an innate biological need for real salt. That's why animals go crazy over salt licks. It's also why deer wander onto the roadways when they're salted in the winter. Land animals need salt, just like you and I. When we lack the trace minerals found in salt, we get cravings for salt.

Many cravings for salty snack foods are really just your brain telling you to eat more salt. And yet the salt used in processed foods isn't real salt -- it's fake salt; a shadow of real salt that lacks the trace minerals found in real salt.

So if you're craving chips or salty snack foods, you're probably deficient in real salt minerals and need to correct your nutritional deficiency. So sprinkling full-spectrum salt on your meals (steamed veggies, smoothies, etc.) can actually satisfy your cravings and reduce your consumption of unhealthful snack foods.

That's why full-spectrum salt is, for many people, an effective "negative-calorie" substance; because in those who are mineral deficient, eating full-spectrum salt can ease cravings by satisfying your body's desire for minerals.

However, if you show symptoms of high blood pressure, be sure to check with your naturopathic physician before adding salt to your diet. Most people consume far too much (processed) salt and need to drastically reduce their consumption of it before adding full-spectrum salt to their diets.

Some recommended full-spectrum salts include Royal Himalayan pink crystal salt, Celtic sea salt and other truly natural brands. Watch out for cheap "sea salt" at your grocery store -- it turns out that any salt can claim to be "sea salt" even if it's highly processed white salt. The thing to look for in salt is the color of the salt. Real salt will look pinkish, sandy or brown. The "dirtier" the color of the salt, the more real it is. The whiter is looks, the less healthy it is, just as in white bread versus wheat bread.

Feel full and drop the pounds anyway!

To summarize, then, here are the five negative-calorie foods that may help you feel full while greatly reducing your caloric intake:

• Celery
• Lettuce, onions and greens
• Kelp noodles
• Pickles, kimchi and sauerkraut
• Grapefruit

... and the additional item of:

• Full-spectrum sea salt

Isn't it nice to know you don't have to starve yourself to reduce your calories? Just eat more of these negative-calorie foods and you'll get the benefits of calorie restriction with all the suffering. Fill your grocery shopping cart with these foods, and you'll be the healthier for it!

Watch for more healthy tips and strategies here on NaturalNews. And be sure to check out some of the amazing juicing videos on www.NaturalNews.TV

For example, watch this video to learn a cool recipe for making fresh, healing juice right in your own kitchen: http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=9...

Enjoy!

By Dr. Axe

 Weight loss is almost always a topic of discussion. With the holiday season just behind us and new year’s resolutions on everyone’s mind, eating, weight loss, and how to shed those unwanted holiday pounds comes up in many conversations. In fact, according to an article in the New York Post the average person gains about one pound during the six week holiday season. Doesn’t sound too bad until you take a closer look at the whole picture. According to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine that one pound gained in the short six week period is never lost and accounts for more than fifty percent of the weight the average person gains all year. What’s more is that it was reported in a study out of Tufts University for the USDA that overweight or obese people gain even more weight during the six week holiday season averaging in at five pounds. This year you can forget worrying about your waistline when you add these seven amazing little fat burning foods to your daily diet. Of course that doesn’t mean you should give up exercise or eating a diet of mostly ‘real’ or ‘live’ foods. It also doesn’t mean you should overeat. What it does mean is if you want to maintain the perfect weight for you then adding these seven essentials to your diet is key. When you give your body the right nutrients in the correct amounts it will reward you with a vibrant, youthful body inside and out. The body is created perfectly by Our Maker to balance itself, heal, and live at a healthy weight. Our job is to provide it with the nutrients it needs to do so. Top Fat Burning Food #1: Cayenne Pepper Touted by the likes of supermodel Giselle Bundchen and pop star diva Beyonce as weight loss secrets, cayenne pepper or capsicum has been used medicinally for centuries. Originally used by natives of Mexico and Africa this spicy pepper helps the body’s diet induced thermogenisis or production of heat. Studies on cayenne pepper also indicate that it aids in the increase of lipid oxidation. Lipid oxidation is when fat is burned for energy – a highly desirable action for weight loss. But cayenne pepper’s connection to weight loss doesn’t end there. Cayenne peppers have been linked to decreased appetite and retarding or slowing the growth of fat cells. All of these are important factors in losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight. Top Fat Burning Food #2: Cinnamon The smells of cinnamon take me to a place of comfort and warmth. This spice was once more valuable than gold and the medicinal uses for cinnamon date back to the days of the Egyptians. When it comes to weight loss and cinnamon, new research out of a Maryland USDA research center revealed a surprise. Cinnamon was found to lower blood sugar levels. As this discovery was ‘accidental’ the team went on to further investigate cinnamon and blood sugar. In a separate study conducted on sixty adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes the researchers found that taking as little as one-quarter to two teaspoons a day of cinnamon dramatically changed the sufferers blood sugar levels and insulin output. High blood sugar levels are closely associated with weight gain and obesity. Add this spice to your coffee, tea, and sweet snacks for added flavor and a health boost. Top Fat Burning Food #3: Ginger Ginger is traditionally associated with the pickled type you get with sushi. However there’s a lot more to ginger than cleansing your palate. Ginger was once so popular in Europe it appeared on every dinner table as does today’s salt and pepper. Ginger is a known metabolic activator and has been thought to increase metabolism by as much as twenty percent. Some people swear by ginger’s appetite suppressing abilities too. Although there is no scientific data on ginger and weight loss specifically, adding this to your daily diet is a powerful way to help balance your body. A balanced body is a healthy body. Ginger can also help improve digestion and even soothe an upset stomach. Top Fat Burning Food #4: Citrus Fruits Most people know that citrus fruits are high in vitamin C. And we all know that vitamin C is great to fight off colds and flu’s, but did you know that research reveals that the higher amount of vitamin C found in the blood the lower the body fat? A study published in the Journal of Nutrition showed that the higher the levels of vitamin C found in adult blood samples, the smaller the waistline of the adult. Vitamin C oxidizes body fat or burns fat which is the theory behind the higher vitamin C levels and slimmer waistlines. So eat up those oranges and grapefruits, and add some lemons or limes to your water! You’ll not only be fighting off winter sickness, you’ll be burning fat too! Top Fat Burning Food #5: Berries and Apples Berries and apples are not only loaded with great nutrients they also come perfectly packaged with pectin. Pectin is a water-soluble complex carbohydrate. Simply put pectin is sort of like a natural gum or gel. When you eat fresh fruits or veggies with pectin the cells absorb it up instead of the fat. Top Fat Burning Food #6: Wild Salmon There’s a lot of talk about losing weight with no-fat and low-fat foods. But somewhere along the way we forgot all about the healthy fats that are in fact essential for our well being. Essential fatty acids or EFAs are a key nutrient to keep the body balanced and healthy. Wild salmon is one of the best sources of EFAs. They work to help fight obesity in a number of ways. One way is that Omega-3 fatty acids found in wild salmon work to decrease the body’s insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a strong factor in weight gain and diabetes. Additionally, wild salmon’s omega-3’s encourage the body’s production of leptin. Leptin is a component of the body’s natural weight control process. This vital hormone works to burn fat and suppress the appetite. Make it a priority to eat wild salmon, not farm-raised salmon [1], a few times a week. Top Fat Burning Food #7: Garlic With all the craze for vampire movies these days you’d think garlic was just to ward off these mythical creatures. But as you probably already know garlic offers an abundance of health benefits, including helping to fight obesity. Garlic acts as a thermogenic in the body which revs up the heat producing process of the body. In addition, garlic has been linked to lower blood sugar levels, and as a fat burning enhancer. Garlic contains allicin which is known to reduce unhealthy fats in the body. Remember when the body has the nutrients it needs, it’s better able to balance and heal itself. This includes maintaining or achieving a healthy weight. Now, don’t get me wrong, don’t expect to sit in front of the television day after day eating ice cream, chips, and greasy fries then sprinkle some garlic on your pasta the next day and lose weight. But what you can do is continue (or begin) on a regular, daily exercise regimen, eat real foods as much as you’re able, and reduce your intake of fake foods, then incorporate the above seven weight loss super foods into your daily life for an added boost. These seven foods are highly nutritious in numerous ways and will give your body the additional tools it needs to lose weight. Give it a try and see how you feel. Sources USDA (2009) [2] Nutraceutical (1996) [3] National Institutes of Health (2000) [4] New York Times (2007) [5] National Institutes of Health (2003) [6] Arizona State University (2006) [7]