Acai products have now become big business as the pharmaceutical companies picked up on the spectacular and varied uses it could be put to. There are now many types of acai berry supplements on the market; tablets, dried berries, powders and even juices are sold. The acai berry is so popular due to it’s reputation as a weight loss aid. According to various studies, acai berries can help you quickly lose weight when combined with regular exercise and a healthy diet. Acai has now become so prominent in Western culture that it was even featured on the Oprah Winfrey show!

Acai is a small round berry, purple in colour and about 1 inch in diameter. The seed takes up most of the berry and they are harvested mainly in Brazil where the acai Palm is a major food source. The acai palm is hugely valuable to the Brazilians and provides a large amount of cash into their economy.

So what are the health benefits of the acai berry? Well, combined with a well structured exercise plan and diet it can help you lose weight. The acai has a unique combination of amino acids, healthy fatty acids, carbohydrates and many more substances that give you a boost to your metabolism. The fibre content of the acai can also speed up digestion and aids bowel movements. Effectively acai behaves as a colon cleanser which sends waste that your body has accumulated directly to the colon.

Some people are confused as to how to take the acai berry. The answer really depends on what type of acai product you have purchased. For the juices and blends it is a simple case of drinking the juice you have. It can be taken in tablet form, just swallow with a glass of water. If you have fresh or dried acai berries you can either eat it as is, or cook with it! It’s really a very versatile berry and can be consumed in so many ways that it may surprise you. The Brazilians eat it either salty or sweet depending on what mood they are in at the time, so don’t despair if you have a sweet tooth and want to use it!

Acai has now been studied scientifically and I think it’s fair to say that it does seem to be a promising diet aid. The way that I see it, the acai berry can provide excellent antioxidant properties like most fruit maybe even more so than most. Due to its ‘high in fibre’ status it makes you feel full much quicker than normal leaving less room for sweeter snack foods. I would recommend trying it even as an experiment to see if it will help you out with your dieting. Many natural remedies do have a positive effect on losing weight but acai could improve your health as well.

It seems that there's a product coming onto the market everyday claiming all sorts of things related to your health and weight loss.  It might be some form of exercise equipment, pills, teas or even food.  Sometimes there's so much talk of so-called "super foods" that's we lose track of good wholesome and nourishing foods that people have eaten for millennia.  Let’s have a look at some of the different foods that claim to be great for weight loss.

Acai Berries

You can buy these from a number of different outlets in either fresh, frozen, dried, liquid or pill form.  Lot’s of people are now taking them in pill form however you can cook with them and are great in smoothies, yoghurt and also ice cream.  In addition to looking for foods that help you lose weight from your belly, you should also look at foods that can give your health a boost.  Acai berries contain loads of antioxidants which are really important for your body as they help to combat free radicals that can damage your cells.  Acai berries are even more packed with ant-oxidants than blue berries and pomegranates.

So how do these acai berries help you lose weight from your stomach and other parts of your body anyway?  First off there’s the issue of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs).  Acai berries have a lot of both omega 3 and omega 6 and these are really good for general health and weight loss.  Then there’s fiber which helps your digestion.  The next thing that acai berries have are amino acids which is what our bodies use to build tissues within the body and to repair itself.

Goji Berries

There’s not a health food store in the land that doesn’t stock goji berries.  They have really become very popular these days as a health food and weight loss-aid.  Just like the acai berries, the goji berries contain fiber, amino acids, vitamins and antioxidants.  If you buy them dried you can eat them as a snack whilst you are working instead of a chocolate bar.  Alternatively you can buy goji berry juice, often referred to as Himalayan Goji Berry Juice.

Wheatgrass

There are different ways that you can take wheatgrass and one of them is to use the dehydrated form.  Basically it expands in your stomach therefore leaving you less hungry.  You can take the fresh wheatgrass juice which contains loads of enzymes, vitamins and minerals; however it doesn't expand in your stomach, which means some people say that the fresh wheatgrass isn't as effective for weight loss.  However others say that because wheatgrass can help to normalize the thyroid gland, this can help with weight loss too.

Sea Kelp

Kelp has been quite a popular weight loss product for some time and most health foods shops will sell it.  Apparently Sea Kelp helps with weight loss because it contains iodine which is good for improving the thyroid's function.  However there are people who say that there is no deficiency in iodine in the Western diet therefore extra intake of it isn't needed.  Now, if you like to be a bit more adventurous with your cooking, you could try and include kelp and other sea vegetables into your diet.  It's very popular in different Asian dishes and it certainly doesn't seem to do them any harm.  You can buy dried kelp from health food and Asian shops plus on the internet.  You then rehydrate it and add it to soups, stews and other foods.

Hoodia Gordonii

If you are going to be buying faddy foods for weight loss you really need to be very careful about this product.  Hoodia Gordonii is actually a cactus grown in South Africa which works as an appetite suppressant.  The main problem with it is that there are many unscrupulous companies who are only interested in taking your money.  Often what they sell doesn't even contain what they state on the label.  It might be that the wrong part of the plant is used; not enough is used or that they don't contain any Hoodia Gordonii at all!  Now, if you were to actually go to South Africa and eat a piece of fresh Hoodia Gordonii then you are more than likely going to experience a greatly reduced appetite.  The problem is that in the West, you will probably spend a small fortune only to find you aren't getting the product you should.

So if you are looking for foods that can help you shed the fat from your belly, you can certainly try the above faddy foods, however you won't necessarily get better results compared to just eating healthily.  Snaking on the Acai and Goji berries along with adding Kelp to your cooking probably will be pretty good for you.  But don't expect to wake up the next morning with the perfectly flat stomach you always dreamed of.  Instead, you should learn as much as you can about proper health and nutrition along with doing exercises.  It might not sound as exciting but it will be much better for you in the long run.