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If it's not there already, apple cider vinegar deserves a home in your kitchen cupboard. It's rich in vitamins E, A, and P, magnesium, iron, calcium--the list goes on and on. If the vitamins and minerals alone are not enough reason to have you hooked, here are five reasons you should always have apple cider vinegar on hand.
SUPPORT WEIGHT LOSS: If you are looking to shed a few pounds, it's time to start using apple cider vinegar. Studies have shown that vinegar may help keep you from feeling hungry by slowing stomach emptying; it also lowers the glycemic index of high-carb foods like pasta, meaning it can help you feel fuller longer by slowing the release of glucose into your bloodstream. IMPROVE DIGESTION: The pectin in apple cider vinegar has been known to move things along when bellies get backed up. Up your fiber intake with a green salad with plenty of roughage topped off with apple cider vinegar in your favorite dressing recipie to improve your digestion situation. ZAP WARTS: This may come as a surprise, but soaking a cotton ball in apple cider vinegar and securing it on a pesky wart with medical tape can get rid of it quickly and naturally. Keep this in mind before you immediately call your dermatologist next time! ADD PEP TO YOUR STEP: Apple cider vinegar is also credited with improving energy levels. If you're cutting out caffeine at work, just a few tablespoons of ACV mixed with a full glass of water can keep you from feeling cloudy and get you back to work. BOOST IMMUNITY: When you're adding that many healthy vitamins and minerals to your system, it's going to help your immune system ward off illness. If you're already sick and in need of a little help, drink hot apple cider vinegar brew that combines cayenne, lemon, and honey, which will help open up you sinuses and replenish your body with the minerals it needs to recoup.
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Lay's was on to something there, "Betcha can't eat just one." The potato chip company coined the slogan in its advertising campaign in the 1960's. And, they were right. It's truly a challenge to eat just one chip.
Many times, you sit in front of the TV with a big bag and eat mindlessly. We've all been there. Over time it becomes a habit, and before you know it you favorite shirt feels tighter, you pants fit a bit more snug than usual, and your dress doesn't zip up as quickly and as easily as before. That's when you realize that you've put on a few pounds. What's next is that you decide to try and eat less, and only when you're hungry. So, you make sure to read the nutrition facts and eat just one serving. Instead of two slices of pizza, you have just one. Instead of buying a 2 liter bottle of soda, you pick up one of those cold-pressed juices that promise to cleanse your body of toxins--hoping it'll also magically flush out some fat. But, wait one second. What if the type of food you're eating can alter brain function and promote overeating? That's right, certain foods can make you more hungry! According to a 2013 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, certain types of meals can increase hunger. More specifically, they found that a high glycemic index (or high-carb) meal stimulated the reward and craving regions of the brain, and affects eating behavior at your next meal. And it's not just the foods high in carbohydrates. Thanks to a phenomenon known as sensory specific satiety, you can fill up on a whole bag of potato chips and feel like only your salty stomach is full. That leaves you wanting to fill up your sugary stomach, your sour stomach, your spicy stomach...well, you get the picture. So, we've come up with a list of 10 foods that make you hungrier and eat more! If your clothes are feeling a bit too tight lately, we'd suggest you avoid the following items to get you back on the right track. Remember to check with your doctor first when starting on a crazy diet and eliminating the following foods, please!! 1.) Artificial Sweeteners Put down that yellow, pink, or blue colored packet of artificial sweetener. Every time you drink a diet soda that's artificially sweetened, or you put an artificial sweetener in your coffee, your brain expects the energy boost you would get from ordinary sugars. But when it doesn't get it, the body tries to make up for the lack of energy it's expecting, and creates hunger! The artificial sweeteners can satisfy your taste buds for a moment, but can;t fool the brain into producing dopamine, which is linked to a feeling of reward. Therefore, these sugar substitutes are not really substitutes, as artificial sweeteners make you more likely to binge on sugar later, the Daily Mail reported. 2.) Kid's Cereal Or any other cereals with high sugar content and a low amount of dietary fiber. These unhealthy cereals will lead to a spike initially, then a crash in sugar levels. And we've already told you what happens when you blood sugar levels are lower than normal. 3.) Juices Let's think about how juices are made. The drink fools many people because it's made of fruits and vegetables which sounds healthy. But in the juicing process you are removing all the fiber and are simply left with a sugary drink. Fiber is key to keeping you full. Just like choosing whole wheat bread instead of white bread, you might be better off by eating a whole fruit instead of drinking fruit juice. 4.) White Bread Similar to pastries, white bread is made of white flour, spiking you insulin levels. It is a high hypoglycemic index food, so it's digested quickly, leaving you hungry and maybe even eating more than you had planned to eat. Opt for whole wheat bread which contains the bran to get that fiber, and keep you full for longer! 5.) Pizza Let's take look at the making of a pizza pie. It's generally a combination of white flour dough, hydrogenated oils, processed cheeses and preservatives that makes a delicious easy dinner for all. But, it's on this list for a reason. Those four ingredients can throw off your blood sugar levels, satiety hormone production, and hunger-regulating regions of your brain. Stay away from those tempting dollar slices. 6.) French Fries Ugh, sorry this potato is so good!! A potato is a starch made up of simple carbohydrates, which means our body absorbs and metabolizes it very quickly because of their small molecular size. Therefore, it will most cause an insulin surge. The insulin surge causes too much blood sugar to be transported out of our blood sugar levels to fall. Since our blood sugar level can affect how hungry and how energetic we feel, a drop below normal levels leave us feeling tired and hungry and wanting to eat more. It also makes us want to eat something else with a high sugar content--which of course, starts the cycle all over again. Add to that, the hydrogenated vegetable oil used to fry them plus the salt to top it off. Not healthy at all. 7.) Pastries Oui, oui, oui! You want to eat them all, right? The white flour used to bake most of these delicious treats have been stripped of the bran, its outer shell, leaving you without the grain's feel-full fiber content. Eating it spikes your insulin levels as well. Add to that, sugary jelly, custard cream, and chocolate to make whatever pastry and you get a food that does not fill your stomach for too long. 8.) MSG Monosodium glutamate or MSG is in many processed foods. It's a flavor-enhancer. You've probably heard of it if you eat Chinese food or canned soups and veggies. One animal study form Spanish researchers concluded that the chemical triggers a 40% increase in appetite and could be one of the key factors behind the problem of obesity, El Pais reported. To make things worse, the effects can compound over time, so the more frequently you eat MSG, the more you'll eat! 9.) White Pasta If you look at the serving size of pasta, chances are you'd be shocked. One serving is one-half cup of cooked pasta. It's hard to get full from eating one-half cup of pasta, right? Restaurants regularly serve up about four cups in a single entree--that's eight servings you're eating! When you overload your body with simple carbs, your pancreas goes into overdrive churning out insulin. Too much insulin as you know, drops your blood sugar levels, making you super hungry. 10.) Alcohol Who doesn't love a nice glass of vino at the end of a long day. Be careful. Whether it's after a tough day at work, or a long night of partying, drinking alcohol is known to give you the muchies. According to research published in Alcohol & Alcoholism, just three servings can lower levels of leptin, a hormone designed to keep hunger at bay, by 30%. Scientists have found that alcohol directly interferes with the appetite controls of the brain called the hypothalamus, triggering this part of the brain to make us crave high calorie foods. In the world of marketing, image is everything. If you're James Franco or Roger Federer or Taylor Swift, your name and face can be used to sell anything from phones to watches to perfume--even if you're not necessarily famous for the your tech-savvy, your promptness, or the way you smell.
In the food world, the biggest celebrity of all might be kale--the Shakira of salads, the Lady Gaga of leafy greens. It's universally recognized that kale anything--kale chips, kale pesto, kale face cream--instantly imparts a health halo. Even 7-Eleven is making over its image by offering kale cold-pressed juices. And yes, kale has plenty of benefits--including high levels of folate and more calcium, gram for gram, than a cup of milk. (It's head and shoulders above these items found in our Eat This, Not That! Special Report: "Health" Foods Worse for You than a Donut.) Still, kale's actually not the healthiest green on the block. In fact, in a recent report published by the Centers for Disease Control that ranked 47 "powerhouse fruits and vegetables," kale placed only 15th (with 49.07 points out of 100 for nutrient density)! Here's a roundup of the 10 leafy green cousins that researchers say pack a greater nutritional wallop. Read 'em, eat 'em, and reap the benefits. SUPERFOOD # 10 Collard Greens Nutrition Score: 62.49 A staple vegetable of Southern U.S. cuisine, collard greens also boast incredible cholesterol-lowering benefits--especially when steamed. A recent study published in the journal Nutrition Research compared the effectiveness of the prescription drug Cholestyramine to steamed collards, Incredibly, the collards improved the body's cholesterol-blocking process by 13 percent more than the drug! Of course, that won't do you any good if you insist on serving them with ham hocks. SUPERFOOD # 9 Romaine Lettuce Nutrition Score: 63.47 Even more so than its cousin kale, the humble Romaine lettuce packs high levels of folic acid, a water-soluble form of Vitamin B that's proven to boost male fertility. A study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility found supplemental folic acid to significantly increase sperm counts. Get the man in your life to start craving Caesar salads, and you may soon have a baby Julius on board. (Ladies, this green packs health benefits for you too! Folate also plays a role in battling depression, so change out your kale for Romaine and, while you're at it, stock up on these other 8 Foods That Boost Your Mood.) SUPERFOOD # 8 Parsley Nutrition Score: 65.59 Yes, that leafy garnish that sits on the side of your plate--the one they throw away after you eat the rest of your meal--is a quiet superfood, so packed with nutrients that even that one sprig can go a long way toward meeting your daily requirement for vitamin K. Moreover, research suggests summer-y aroma and flavor of chopped parsley may help control your appetite. A study in the journal Flavour found participants ate significantly less of a dish that smelled strongly of spice than a mildly scented version of the same food. Adding herbs, like parsley, creates the sensory illusion that you're indulging in something rich--without adding any fat or calories to your plate. SUPERFOOD # 7 Leaf Lettuce Nutrition Score: 70.73 The nutritional Clark Kent of the salad bar, this common and unsuspecting leafy green is ready to take its place among the superfoods. Two generous cups of lettuce provides 100 percent of your daily vitamin K requirement for strong healthy bones. A report from the Nurses' Health Study suggests that women who eat a serving of lettuce every day cut the risk of hep fracture by 30 percent than when compared with eating just one serving a week. (What other foods might you be underestimating? Find out which are in your kitchen now in our 6 surprising Superfoods.) SUPERFOOD # 6 Chickory Nutrition Score: 73.36 Chickory is a family of bitter greens, but its most well-known member is radicchio, the small red or purple leaf that comes in a head about the size of a softball. It's one of the best dietary sources of polyphenols--powerful micronutrients that serve a role in preventing disease. A study in the Journal of Nutrition found that people who consume 650 mg a day of polyphenols have a 30 percent chance at living longer than those who consume less than that. A cup of chicory leaves clocks in at 235 mg (double that of spinach!), so consider adding a little leafy red into your leafy greens. SUPERFOOD # 5 Spinach Nutrition Score: 86.43 Spinach is to kale what Michael Jordan is to LeBron James--the once unrivaled king now overshadowed by the hot new thing. But like MJ, spinach had a few more championship rings than its more current rival--primarily its position as a top source of biceps-building iron. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, a 180 gram serving of boiled spinach provides 6.43 mg of the muscle mineral--that's more than a 6 oz hamburger patty! Recent research also suggest compounds in the leaf membranes called thylakoids may serve as a powerful appetite suppressant. A recently published long-term study at Lund University in Sweden found that having a drink containing thylakoids before breakfast could significantly reduce cravings and promote weight loss. On average, the women who took the spinach extract lost 5.5 pounds more than the placebo group over the course of three months. SUPERFOOD # 4 Beet Greens Nutrition Score: 87.08 Yes, the stuff they cut off and throw in the garbage before charging you an arm and a leg for "beet salad." A scant cup of the bitter green serves up nearly 5 grams of fiber--that's more than you'll find in a bowl of Quaker Oats! Researchers at the University of Leeds found that risk of cardiovascular disease was significantly lower for every 7 grams of fiber consumed. Try them in stir frys and eat to your heart's content! SUPERFOOD # 3 Chard Nutrition Score: 89.27 Chard. Sounds like "burnt." It's not as fun a name to drop as, say, "broccolini," but it might be your best defense against diabetes. Recent research has shown that these powerhouse leaves contain at least 13 different polyphenol antioxidants, including anthocyanins--anti-inflammatory compounds that could offer protection from type 2 diabetes. Researchers from the University of East Anglia analyzed questionnaires and blood samples of about 2,000 people and found that those with the highest dietary intakes of anthocyanins had lower insulin resistance and better blood glucose regulation. SUPERFOOD # 2 Chinese Cabbage Nutrition Score: 91.99 Taking the silver medal in the powerfood Olympics is Chinese cabbage, also called Napa or celery cabbage. Rich sources of highly available calcium and iron, cruciferous vegetables like the cabbage have the powerful ability to "turn off" inflammation markers thought to promote heart disease. In a study of more than 1,000 Chinese women, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, those who ate the most cruciferous vegetables (about 1.5 cups per day) had 13 percent less inflammation than those who ate the fewest. Superfood # 1 Watercress Nutrition Score: 100 The top dog, the unrivaled champion, the chairman of the cutting board, watercress may also be the closest thing yet to a true anti-aging food. Gram for gram this mild-tasting and flowery-looking green contains four times more beta carotene than an apple, and a whopping 238 percent of your daily recommended dose of vitamin K per 100 grams--two compounds that keep skin very dewy and youthful. The beauty food is also the richest dietary source of PEITC (phenylethyl isothiocyanate), which research suggests can fight cancer. Results from an eight-week trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggest daily supplementation of 85 grams of raw watercress (that's about two cups) could reduce DMA damage linked to cancer by 17 percent. Exposure to heat may inactivate PEITC, so it's best to enjoy watercress raw in salads, cold-pressed juices, and sandwiches. |
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