We have all heard stories about how this person went on a grapefruit diet and lost 50 pounds, and that person eats an apple a day and it keeps the doctor away. Although there is no better way to lose weight than a well balanced diet of proper nutrition, there is one food that is very close to being a so-called superfood... Blueberries!
Just like grapefruit and apples, we have all heard stories about how healthy blueberries are. What we all want to know, however, is how blueberries can accelerate our weight loss program! Simply knowing that something is healthy will not encourage us to change our eating habits. We need to see an end result somewhere, right? Here are several ways the healthy benefits of blueberries can cause your weight to drop enough for you to take notice!
Blueberries have a magical ingredient called antioxidants. Antioxidants fight off all the free radicals that enter our bodies and wreak havoc on our immune system. This means blueberries are packed with healing power! In order for a person to lose weight successfully and keep it off for good, a person must lead a healthy lifestyle. The healthier you are, the easier it is to lose weight. If anti-oxidants keep you healthy, you can easily see how they will accelerate weight loss.
Another reason to consider blueberries for weight loss is that they are low calorie. Most fruits and vegetables are and this is not breaking news. Even though we already know this, why is it that we would rather grab a bag of low calorie apple chips and convince ourselves we are eating healthy? You think, well, calories are calories so what difference does it make if I eat 100 calories of apple chips or 100 calories from an apple? A lot!
Low calorie only works when you do not add preservatives, carbohydrates and sugars into the equation. You know real fruits and vegetables are healthy, so stick to the produce department. Do not trust the labels on any food package that boasts how fat free or low calorie it is. Chances are good that you will be falling for a marketing trick.
Blueberries are relatively low in sugar, which is another reason why they will help with weight loss. Sugar is not part of the vocabulary of someone who is truly living a healthy lifestyle. Sugar turns to fat and fat is what you want to get rid of. The more exercise you do on a daily basis, the more you can eat sugar because you will burn it off as energy during your workouts. If you want to burn fat, eat blueberries until you are too full to grab a Hershey bar.
Blueberries are also high in fiber. How does this accelerate weight loss? Fiber is the part of plant-based foods that our bodies can not digest. It passes through our digestive tract without providing nutrition or calories, but it is very healthy for us because it helps to keep our bowel movements regular and ward off certain diseases. Fibers greatest value, however, is in helping to keep us slim.
Fiber makes us feel full sooner and longer because and stays in our stomach longer than other substances we eat. Due to its greater fiber content, blueberries can be more filling than white bread! Need more convincing? Fiber also moves fat through our digestive system faster so that less of it is absorbed into the body.
I know that the first thing you want to do now is figure out a way to pop blueberries into your mouth all day long. Now you should know things just are never that easy! You simply can not eat a pound of blueberries a day along with your McDonald's lunch and Taco Bell dinner. Blueberries must be consumed as a replacement of high-calorie, high-sugar American diet foods in order for the benefits to take effect.
You can get all these amazing health benefits just by eating half a cup a day of wild or frozen blueberries. I lost 70 pounds in 4 months and have kept it off for 15 years after deciding to replace junk f ood with foods like blueberries. I throw them into a soy-based protein shake every morning and sprinkle them on cereals and oat meal when I feel snacking during the day.
The most important part of losing weight is having the mindset of knowing that the health benefits of blueberries outweighs the yumminess of a candy bar. Does this mean you can never eat a candy bar? Absolutely not. However, the candy bar should become the sometimes food and the blueberries should become the every day food. It is all about changing the choices you make...and for things to change, YOU have to change.
