Chances are, you already have some preconceived ideas about acai berries from all the media coverage they’ve been getting recently. While acai berry products and supplements have been basically promoted as weight management aids, the stuff that no one’s talking about are all of the other benefits you get from consuming acai berries.

Acai berries aren’t a new phenomenon. They’ve been growing in the floodplains of the Amazon river in South America for hundreds of years, and have been consumed by natives of the area for equally long as a normal part of their diet. The reason why they haven’t been heard about till now is on account of their highly perishable nature, implying that they must be consumed reasonably quickly after they’re harvested.

The berries themselves are tiny, alike in colour to blackberries but about the size of a little cherry. They grow on a tree called the Acaizeiro, a name that means ‘tree of life’. Find out more.

Now that we’ve established that acai berries aren’t some new concoction thrown out by the health foods industry to con gullible shoppers into spending large quantities of money, here are some of the advantageous aspects of including acai berries in your diet:

– Acai berries have a highly anti oxidant property, even more so than other fruits known for their antioxidising properties, and nearly 30 times as much as red wine!
– Acai berries are historically used as a source of fibre in the Amazon. They are given to new mothers after childbirth to help them thru the period of nursing.
– The reason why acai berries have been talked about so much in the area of weight loss and nutritional supplement products is they are believed to raise the metabolic rate that fat is converted to energy by the body. While this has clear benefits, it is one effect that is not straight away observable and must be taken with a touch of salt.
– The berries contain the essential trans-acids Oleic acid (Omega 9) and Linoleic acid (Omega 6). The reason why these are vital is because firstly, they are not produced naturally by the body and must be consumed in one’s diet. 2nd, Omega 6 is necessary to maintain the skin’s health and pliability and also has a role to play in augmenting sexual performance, and is also thought to lower the risk of heart problems. Omega 9 is what is in olive oil, and is a healthy metabolism booster.

Acai berries therefore , have more benefits than their standing as a weight control product implies. They are a good addition to any healthy, nutritious diet if consumed carefully and in their natural form or in any other form that’s both recognisably qualified by a standards body as containing natural acai berry extract.

There are many ways to consume Acai berries including in smoothies and other drinks.

While acai berries themselves might be favorable and do all the stuff they claim to, there are several people on the web who are milking the puzzlement and doubt surrounding them to earn some cash. The thing to do is be smart, be mistrusting of not possible sounding schemes and you may be ready to weather the acai berry phenomenon without losing sleep through inappropriate stress.

Many websites selling acai berry products offer free trials of their products. Now this in itself should make you suspicious. With the kind of media coverage this little fruit has been getting, why would any company need to offer potentially loads of folks free examples of their products? That’s right, it's a swindle. Many of us have protested about being billed for acai berry products they hadn't really ordered, after having signed up for a cost-free trial. Always remember to read the fine print! You may incredibly get the products for nothing but the delivery charges will certainly be billed to you.

Another common sting is a franchisee scheme, involving an acai berry product manufacturer who offers superb deals for potential franchisees, but requires a large down payment. This is something to immediately put you on guard. There ought not to be a giant down-payment on the right to allot the products because this is usually incorporated into the quantity of your first order with the company. The undeniable fact that you need to pay before you purchase any products for further distribution should be suggestive that all isn't as it looks!

The key reason to remember is never give out your ATM card details on the web indiscriminately. Always confirm the company's credibility before you commit to anything. Many firms have run fraudulent schemes, and then shut down and disappeared and their clients have lost cash for free. And in any case, giving a company your ATM card details is a decision you have got to make after checking every possible loophole, and making sure that it's a valid organization. Find out more.

There are numerous standards organizations whose ratings are to be trusted and whose approval typically denotes a firm's legitimacy. Registered trademarks are also a good indication that a company is not just a here today, gone tomorrow kind of affair. These are organisations that try to protect clients from exploitation, so it’s a smart idea to read up on possible rating organizations and seals or stamps you can look for, before you choose on getting a product from any website.

Acai berries in themselves are excellent for you! You, as a consumer, simply have to remember that there are people willing to exploit all the current media attention to their own ends.

There’s tons more great info about kids smoothies and other health topics on our website.

Acai berries are being touted as the new weight-loss phenomenon. Everyone’s talking about them, try searching in Google for ‘Acai ‘ and see how many results come back! Well, certainly there’s also a huge gap in terms of real clinical research which verifies some of the claims made by acai berry product vendors. But the fact remains that, whether miracle weightloss aid or not, acai berries are superb for you generally.

They’re a good source of dietary, and are rich in phytonutrients and Omega-3 fatty acids. On the weightloss front, they are believed to boost the metabolism, so speeding up the rate at which fat is burnt up. Learn more.

While acai berry products come in varying shapes, textures and sizes, it’s often a healthy idea to stick to the fruit in its natural form as that is where you get the greatest nutritional value. If the concept of eating tons of plain fruit does not sound appealing, here are three fast, straightforward to follow recipes for giving yourself a berry treat:

1. Acai Power Breakfast

Ingredients: 1 cup acai berries, diced or sliced, 1 cup muesli (or cornflakes), 1/2 cup soy milk.

The ingredients speak for themselves! Combining acai berries and breakfast cereal is a great way to start the day, since it kick-starts your metabolism and gives you sufficient energy to power thru your day and still feel really good at the end of it. It’s always possible to add other seasonal fruit to this bowl of breakfast goodness to make it even healthier.

2. Chocolate and Acai Super Smoothie

Ingredients: 1 cup milk, 2 tbsps chocolate mix or protein powder, 21/2 tbsps acai berry pulp, 1 scoop low fat vanilla icecream and 1 banana

Extraordinarily simple to prepare: just put all of the above ingredients together in your blender, give it 1 or 2 bursts and your super smoothie is prepared! This is packed with nutrients and energy and will keep your going for hours.

3. Cooling Acai Tonic

Ingredients: 200 ml Acai juice, 2-3 tbsps each of orange and lemon juice, 200 ml club soda, mint leaves, ice.

It’s summer, the sun is blazing down, the heat is intense and you’re very probably dehydrated. The best way to rehydrate, while also giving yourself a pleasant, cooling break from the heat is to make yourself an Acai tonic utilising the ingredients listed above. Crush the ice and mix it along with the acai, lemon and orange. Slowly pour in the soda while stirring, and ultimately top the mixture off with some crushed mint leaves.

James Perron enoys wrting about health and nutrition at smoothies for kids. Check out his website today.

Acai berries in themselves look pretty unimpressive: they’re tiny, grape-like, and dark colored. Hardly the definition of the health food story that is going around making this small berry out to be some kind of superhero among health foods. But the fact is, acai berries are outstandingly good for you! Weight loss aside, they boost your metabolism, make your skin and hair look and feel better, give you more energy and have heaps of great things which make your body feel lighter, quicker and better altogether.

The thing is, besides the natural berries themselves, there are heaps of other forms that you can get Acai extracts in. The debate that is all the rage at the moment though, is what’s best, juice, berry or capsule? Here 1 or 2 reasons for and against each of those forms, to help you decide what will work best for your lifestyle:

Juice:

Acai berry juice is so convenient and easy because you can just swap it for your breakfast glass of juice. It’s also a great way to rehydrate your body throughout the day. Juice also tastes good, and is sometimes mixed with other fruit juices which will give you the nutrition of more than one fruit all in one bottle. Nonetheless, some users say the added preservatives are not to their liking.

Berries:

The berries are commonly available but also spoil quickly. The advantage of buying the simple acai berry is you can use it in recipes of your own (try this recipe), by combining acai berries with other fruits in a salad, or making a creative use of them in cupcakes, puddings, crepes, smoothies and breakfast cereal mixtures. The difficulty with berries is that they damage simply and as asserted before, they spoil quickly too. Frozen berries are available though, should you really want to try the fruit in its natural form.

Capsules:

Acai capsules are definitely convenient, because you can take one wherever you are. If you do not like the flavor of the berries (and there are some who don’t) or the juice, or want to avoid the additives in juice, then capsules are a great option. Some capsules contain additional chemical substances though, which if you don’t want them, you should check what they are to avoid them. Pure acai berry extract capsules are available nonetheless if this option seems the best one for you.

The thing to make certain of is that the product you are buying, whether it’s in any of the forms noted above, is 100% pure acai. There are way too many folk who have found out that what they paid real money for isn’t really doing them any good. But if you stick to reputable sites and stores, with accreditation and some standing in the market, then you ought to be capable of finding a good source for all of your acai berry needs.

James Perron writes about diet and nutrition at Smoothies For Kids on topics such as How To Make A Smoothie.

Acai berries come from the Acai palm tree. They have recently come under plenty of media interest due to their supposedly beneficial effects as a part of a weight control program. Their effects, according to assorted sources marketing them, are as follows:

– Improved digestion
– Higher energy levels
– Lower cholesterol levels
– Improved skin and hair
– Better sexual performance
– Detox

As a consequence, the web is flooded with companies offering acai berry products in the form of powders, capsules, pulp, juice and the berries in their natural form. Most companies promise clients that acai berry products will help them to reach a perfect weight within a set period, and accompany this with only a passing emphasis on a healthy approach to life and routine exercise.

The main thing to note when using dietary supplements like acai berry extract is that first, it is necessary to find the right kind of product and more importantly, find a product that is genuine, authentic and accepted by a recognized standards body. Second, weight loss does not happen by magic. We all wish that we could take a miraculous tablet and wake up the day after to find ourselves with the perfect body but unfortunately, this doesn’t happen with any of the products currently available on the market. Therefore, to be safe, it is really important to supplement the use of such aids as the acai berry products mentioned above with a good way of living, a balanced diet and regular exercise.

That being said, there are particular foods that have shown to be advantageous in boosting the body’s metabolism and aiding the quicker conversion of fat to energy. It is entirely possible the acai berry is one of those products, but there hasn’t been enough scientific research to prove conclusively that it has only positive or negative effects, or even adequate exploration of potential side-effects from overuse, prolonged use or misuse. Read more.

As always, everything used moderately is the key phrase. Acai berry products have been used by locals of the South American jungles they grow in over long amounts of time, and they haven’t experienced any substantial complications. However, it does remain to be said that metabolisms differ widely, being especially impacted by ethnicity, environment and general habits. What’s good for one set of people may not necessarily be good for you.

If you’re in the mood to play around with acai berry products, my best advice to you would be: do the research. Read as much as you can, visit your doctor or food consultant and understand the pros and cons of using these products. Just as you would not medicate yourself indiscriminately, you should be as careful about other items which go into your system!

James Perron writes a variety of articles about health and nutrition at his website Why Do I Sweat So Much including what to do about sweaty hands and feet.