LILL's LIST

Many times, when we try to lose weight, the first thing we do is give up dessert. After all, you can’t lose weight eating sweets, right? Wrong. As long as you eat the right ones, adding something sweet to your meal can actually be good for you.

Now that summer has finally arrived, it’s even easier to indulge in a little treat after you eat. Let’s start with summer’s most powerful health boosters: berries. Strawberries, with their ellagic acid and vitamin C are superstars and so are blueberries, which are loaded with antioxidants.

Of course, if you dump spoons full of sugar on them or slather them with whipped cream, they’re not going to help you lose weight. But if you add a half cup of either or both to a cup of lowfat or fat-free yogurt, you’re doing your body good. You can even sprinkle a tablespoon or two of lowfat granola on them to make them a perfect parfait.

Blueberry pie and strawberry short cake are certainly not on the list of approved diet desserts. Or are they? Well, if you make the pie with just a bottom crust, as little sugar as possible and just a few little cutouts of crust on the top, you could have it once a week and still lose weight.

Or, how about strawberry shortcake, made with lowfat biscuits made with lowfat biscuit mix, and just a spritz of canned “whipped cream”, which has very few calories, fat or sugar in it? As long as you don’t have them every day, they won’t add enough calories to sabotage your weight loss. Just compensate by making sure that the rest of your meals are on the light side for calories.

Besides berries, there are other super healthy treats in the summertime. Watermelon, grapes, plums, cherries and peaches all are low in calories and high in vitamins, fiber and antioxidants. All of them can be combined with low calorie options like yogurt, cottage cheese, granola, a few nuts or a sprinkle of coconut. Use your imagination and your calorie counter to come up with innovative ways to indulge your sweet tooth.

If you really want to top off a low cal meal, you can melt a square of chocolate and then dip fresh strawberries in it. Chocolate is good for your heart, your blood pressure, your immune system and your mood. Pair it with strawberries and you have the perfect healthy dessert to round off your summer meal.

Xenoestrogens are so pervasive in our world, that no one can avoid them. So, how can you detoxify your body and eliminate them as much as possible? Luckily, there are many natural xenoextstrogen detoxifiers to add to our diet or supplements.

Phytoestrogens are probably at the top of the list. Why would you want to put MORE estrogen into your body, you ask? It’s because phytoestrogens, found in plants, bind to the receptors that xenoestrogens bind to and keep them from accumulating in your body.

These weak estrogens, found in beans, leafy green vegetables and oils, are a very good way to detoxify and remove xenoestrogens naturally. Another good detoxifier and cancer preventive is Indole 3-Carbinol found in cruciferous vegetables like kale, cabbage and broccoli.

You can find Indole 3-Carbinol in capsules, but getting it from vegetables also gives you the rest of the plant’s nutrition. It helps your liver remove xenoestrogens and also provides vitamins and minerals that enhance your body’s immune system.

One thing that may NOT be good for reducing xenoestrogens is coffee. Some studies show that caffeine boosts estrogen levels at more than a single cup a day. Of course, there are many more foods and drinks that contain caffeine, so it would be wise to be aware of this when choosing beverages and meals.

By choosing natural foods and personal care products and avoiding plastics, it’s possible to cut way down on the xenoestrogens that enter your body, but you can’t eliminate them entirely. To avoid the weight gain and health risks they pose, use the tips in this article to detox naturally.

Every day, most of us unwittingly put toxic substances into our body. These substances – xenoestrogens – increase our risk of everything from obesity to cancer. They’re in our food, our water and our personal care products. They’re even in the washer, so while you’re washing out the dirt, you’re washing IN toxins that are worse than any mud stain you’ve ever encountered. No one ever died from a grass stain, but people die from the effects of xenoestrogens in increasing numbers.

They also get fat. Xenoestrogens, which mimic the natural estrogen that our body needs and produces in appropriate amounts, increase belly fat. For this reason, alone, even without the extra risk of cancer and reproductive system problems, it would be a good idea if we could avoid them.

Unfortunately, that’s very hard to do. They’re in plastic, pesticides, animal feed, dish and laundry detergent and too many of the lotions, potions and cleansers we pour onto our skin every day.

When we eat xenoestrogens, they go through our liver, as it tries to detoxify them and eliminate them from our bodies. Our livers know what’s good for us and what’s bad and it valiantly tries to get rid of the bad stuff. It does a pretty good job and may eliminate up to 90% of xenoestrogens. But the other 10% gets into our system.

When we apply xenoestrogens to our skin though, they go into our bloodstream without going through the liver at all. That’s why we get 10 times as high a dose as when we ingest them. So, pour some dandruff or body shampoo on your hair and it goes right to your scalp and into your bloodstream. Because almost all commercial, non-organic shampoos – even the so-called “natural ones” contain xenoestrogens, there’s a pretty good chance that you got some along with the nice shiny body the shampoo promised you.

What to do? Well, there are a lot of things you can do to avoid this fat-increasing, cancer causing menace. Stop storing, freezing, cooking, eating or microwaving food in plastic. As much as possible, use alternatives to plastic. Glass or ceramic is the best choice.

Eat organic. This avoids pesticides, herbicides and the xenoestrogens in animal feed that gets into your steaks, chicken breasts and eggs. Also avoid using pesticides or herbicides at home.  Buy personal care products that are certified organic by the USDA. Ditto for detergent for dishes and clothes. Avoid caffeine, because it raises estrogen levels in the body, which can contribute to the effect of xenoestrogens.

The best way to minimize damage from the chemicals and harmful substances in our food supply and in what comes in contact with our bodies, is by being very aware of what’s in them. Read labels. Research before you buy. Most of all, realize that it’s your responsiblility to do as much as you can to avoid what makes you fat and sick.

Studies show that people who eat breakfast lose more weight than people who skip it. One way to turn yourself from a breakfast-skipper to a breakfast-eater is by making sure that you have something that you’ll really WANT to eat in the morning.

Muffins are a great choice. They’re easy to eat right out of hand. They can be as healthy as you want them to be with the addition of fruits or veggies. Best of all, if you make them yourself, you can keep the calorie count to a minimum and the nutrition to the max.

Here’s a recipe that uses a boxed mix as a shortcut, although you could also use your own Oat Bran Muffin recipe. Just remember that this will probably change the calorie count.

The apricots can be exchanged for any similar fruit. Dried apple, pineapple, cranberries or blueberries are good substitutions. Also, you can vary the juice to suit the fruit that you use. Think cranberry juice cocktail or pineapple juice.

Apricot Muffins

Number of Servings: 9

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 box oat bran muffin mix or recipe for oat bran muffins, prepared according to directions except for the liquid

3/4 cup juice (apple, orange, etc)

1 large apricot, peeled, pitted and chopped

1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 ºF. Use light olive oil to just coat 9 muffin cups. In a medium mixing bowl,

combine muffin mix and juice just until moistened. Do not over-mix. Gently stir in raisins and apricots. Spoon the batter into muffin cups until almost full.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when you insert it into the center of a muffin. Remove muffins from pan and cool them on a wire rack.

Nutrition Facts

Servings: 9

Serving size: 1 Muffin

Calories: about 260 when prepared from boxed mix