Consumers are going crazy about superfoods that promise exceptional health, incredible fat-burning results and a ton of other “magical” benefits. Are superfoods something you should include in your fat burning diet, or just a fancy buzz word?
Beware: Scam Ahead
Have you ever clicked an ad on the Internet and ended up on some “Dr. Oz approved” website selling miracle açai or coffee berries weight loss supplement? I know, I know. You would NEVER buy such supplements, because not only are these not endorsed at all by Dr. Oz, Oprah or any other celebrity; they also don’t work.Simply put, there’s no way on Earth extra antioxidants will dramatically increase your fat burning ability – except if the last time you ate a veggie, Nixon was still president.But we all want to believe in magic. That’s why these açai berry scammers are able to spend millions advertising their website and still end up making profits. If you really wanted to use a fat burner – to boost your results by around 10% – I’d tell you to first make sure your diet and exercise are both near perfect, and then to stick with a product that optimizes your leptin hormone like BioTrust LeptiBurn™.
What’s a Superfood anyway?
The word “superfood” is completely unregulated by the FDA or any other regulatory agency. So in reality, it can refer to anything food marketers feel like. Generally, superfoods combine two things – a fascinating origin and an impressive nutritional content.A good example is the very famous açai berry, which is grown in the beautiful jungles of Brazil and South American (fascinating origin) and is said to contain 30X more antioxidants than red wine (impressive nutritional content). 30 times more antioxidants!? If you think this sounds appealing, you’re not alone:
- Sales of goji berry-enhanced products were up nearly 75% from 2000 to 2006 at natural-food supermarkets.
- In the same amount of time, sales of açai products grew by more than 50%.
- A startling 350 new pomegranate beverages were introduced in 2006 alone.
-And the list goes on and on…
There’s no doubt these fruits will be beneficial to your health and support your weight loss in some way – but are they really better than common fruits at the supermarket? Let’s see…
4 Myths about Superfoods
This superfood has just been discovered
Even if it seems like some superfoods have just been discovered by Indiana Jones in a jungle far, far away… they’ve actually been around forever. The fact is that we consume only a small amount of the hundreds of fruits available on the planet, and that these "new" fruits are really just new to our country.
This superfood will transform your health
Anyone claiming that a certain superfood will cause magical effects on your health, weight loss or anything to that effect is trying to scam you. Some superfoods show impressive vitamin, mineral or antioxidant contents, but won’t have as much of a dramatic effect as some food marketers would like you to believe.
This product is healthy because it contains superfoods
This has to be the biggest scam around superfoods. Manufacturers now include superfoods in virtually anything, ranging from fruit juice to sugary desserts – giving the impression that it makes them any healthier. Usually, these food products contain a negligible amount of the superfood and still pack all the wrong ingredients. Sugary juice with 1% pomegranate is still sugary and fattening.
Superfoods contain more nutrients than other foods
The nutrient content of most superfoods is often overhyped.A study showed that açai berry – said to contain 30X the antioxidants of red wine – actually contained much lower levels of anthocyanins, proanthocyanadins, and other polyphenol compounds compared with blueberries and other antioxidant-rich fruits. Another study that compared the antioxidant content of juice mixes that contain açai juice and other common beverages. The superfruit juices ranked lower than pomegranate juice, Concord grape juice, blueberry juice, and red wine on the antioxidant scale.
Common Superfoods
If we determine a superfood by its impressive nutritional content – that means superfoods can be found virtually everywhere. I know how appealing superfoods from Asia or South America may be, but the truth is that a lot of superfoods can be found in local farms or health food stores. here’s a list of the very common superfoods I try to consume every week:
- Raw almonds
- Chia seeds
- Fresh herbs and spices
- Dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa content)
- Wild-caught fish
- Grass-fed or pasture-raised meats and poultry
- Pastured eggs
- Miso (fermented soy)
- Organic spinach and leafy greens
- Tea
- Raw honey
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Raw milk and raw dairy products
- Avocados
- Fermented veggies (like sauerkraut and kimchi)
- Coconut oil and other coconut products
- Hemp seeds
