Live on a healthy diet with PRUNES

Prune Facts
Prunes are dehydrated plums. The total production of prunes worldwide over the past 3years has averaged around 300,000 tons with California averaging just under 200,000 tons. Per capita consumption of prunes for the world population amounts to ONLY 7 prunes per person per year.

A prune per day surely could improve your health! ...and beauty as well...

Prune Benefits
Prunes are a good source of fiber and have long been recognized as a nutrient-rich fruit with multiple health benefits. But according to a recent study from Tufts University in Boston, prunes may also help slow the aging process in both the body and brain. The study ranked the antioxidant value of commonly eaten fruits and vegetables using an analysis called ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity). Prunes topped the list with more than twice the antioxidant capacity as other high-scoring fruits such as blueberries and raisins.

SUNSWEET...my favourite brand~ =) Do you know that prunes can be made breakfast too?


Prunes for breakfast~! Play little tricks and enjoy fabulous breakfast treats...
1. Creamy Chocolate Banana Smoothie


2. Yogurt Nog


3. Purple Power


Or DIY healthy desserts...

4. Warm Apple-Prune Crumbie


5. Elegant Prune Whip with Custard Sauce



Want more recipes? Click on the links below for prune recipes.
LoveToKnow Prune Recipes
FoodDownUnder Prune Recipes
SUNSWEET Recipes

A 100 ways to lose weight

Lazy to go to gym? Not interested to calculate the cal and carbs? Try these...simple steps that do not require major changes or additional $$ or time in your daily life. See how many you can practice.

1. Walk to work.
2. Use fat-free milk over whole milk.
3. Do sit-ups in front of the TV.
4. Walk during lunch hour.
5. Drink water before a meal.
6. Eat leaner red meat and poultry.
7. Eat half your dessert.
8. Walk instead of driving whenever you can.
9. Take a family walk after dinner.
10. Skate to work instead of driving.
11. Avoid food portions larger than your fist.
12. Mow lawn with push mower.
13. Increase the fiber in your diet.
14. Walk to your place of worship instead of driving.
15. Walk kids to school.
16. Get a dog and walk it.
17. Join an exercise group.
18. Drink diet soda.
19. Replace Sunday drive with Sunday walk.
20. Do yard work.
21. Eat off smaller plates.
22. Get off a stop early and walk.
23. Don't eat late at night.
24. Skip seconds.
25. Work around the house.
26. Skip buffets.
27. Grill, steam or bake instead of frying.
28. Bicycle to the store instead of driving.
29. Take dog to the park.
30. Ask your doctor about taking a multi-vitamin.
31. Go for a half-hour walk instead of watching TV.
32. Use vegetable oils over solid fats.
33. More carrots, less cake.
34. Fetch the newspaper yourself.
35. Sit up straight at work.
36. Wash the car by hand.
37. Don't skip meals.
38. Eat more celery sticks.
39. Run when running errands.
40. Pace the sidelines at kids' athletic games.
41. Take wheels off luggage.
42. Choose an activity that fits into your daily life.
43. Park further from the store and walk.
44. Ask a friend to exercise with you.
45. Make time in your day for physical activity.
46. Exercise with a video if the weather is bad.
47. Bike to the barbershop or beauty salon instead of driving.
48. Keep to a regular eating schedule.
49. If you find it difficult to be active after work, try it before work.
50. Take a walk or do desk exercises instead of a cigarette or coffee break.
51. Perform gardening or home repair activities.
52. Avoid laborsaving devices.
53. Take small trips on foot to get your body moving.
54. Play with your kids 30 minutes a day.
55. Dance to music.
56. Keep a pair of comfortable walking or running shoes in your car and office.
57. Make a Saturday morning walk a group habit.
58. Walk briskly in the mall.
59. Choose activities you enjoy and you'll be more likely to stick with them.
60. Stretch before bed to give you more energy when you wake.
61. Take the long way to the water cooler.
62. Explore new physical activities.
63. Vary your activities, for interest and to broaden the range of benefits.
64. Reward and acknowledge your efforts.
65. Choose fruit for dessert.
66. Consume alcoholic beverages in moderation, if at all.
67. Take stairs instead of the escalator.
68. Conduct an inventory of your meal/snack and physical activity patterns.
69. Share an entree with a friend.
70. Grill fruits or vegetables.
71. Eat before grocery shopping.
72. Choose a checkout line without a candy display.
73. Make a grocery list before you shop.
74. Buy 100 percent fruit juices over soda and sugary drinks.
75. Swim with your kids.
76. Flavor foods with herbs, spices, and other low-fat seasonings.
77. Remove skin from poultry before cooking to lower fat content.
78. Eat before you get too hungry.
79. Don't skip breakfast.
80. Stop eating when you are full.
81. Snack on fruits and vegetables.
82. Top your favorite cereal with apples or bananas.
83. Try brown rice or whole-wheat pasta.
84. Include several servings of whole grain food daily.
85. When eating out, choose a small or medium portion.
86. If main dishes are too big, choose an appetizer or a side dish instead.
87. Ask for salad dressing "on the side".
88. Don't take seconds.
89. Try your burger with just lettuce, tomato and onion.
90. Try a green salad instead of fries.
91. Bake or broil fish.
92. Walk instead of sitting around.
93. Eat sweet foods in small amounts.
94. Take your dog on longer walks.
95. Drink lots of water.
96. Cut back on added fats or oils in cooking or spreads.
97. Walk the beach instead of sunbathing.
98. Walk to a co-worker's desk instead of emailing or calling them.
99. Carry your groceries instead of pushing a cart.
100. Use a snow shovel instead of a snow blower.

......adapted from eDiets.com

I Love GREEN TEA =我爱绿茶=

Green tea is always my first choice whenever I feel thirsty; be it at home or at office, I always have plenty of green tea tea bags for spare. I love the smell of 'greeny', which makes me feel as if I have a Genie in my cup.. And at most of the time, I can't resist green tea desserts too...


Maybe because I love green so much, I fell in love with green tea. Chinese old folks used to drink a lot of tea but I am not familiar with all the Chinese tea names; seriously I am more familiar with black tea. In my uni days I used to drink a lot of black tea, almost every night I drank at least a cup, then mom started nagging me because she thinks that black tea is not good for girls because it is too 'cold' (in Chinese '凉') and it would affect my health if I drank too much. So after I came back from Korea, I slowly changed my habit of drinking black tea to green tea, then I fell in love with it! Partly because of the colour as I mentioned, and partly because of the benefits of green tea.

If you're wondering what am I doing right now, I am sipping my cup of green tea while writing this article. Now that I have put on a little weight after a few luscious buffet meals during my training, I sure need to drink more green tea to slim down. Adapted from Chinesefood.about.com, I would like to share the 7 reasons WHY I love drinking green tea.

7 Reasons to Drink Green Tea

1. CUT YOUR CANCER RISK
   Several polyphenols - the potent antioxidants green tea's famous for - seem to help keep cancer cells from gaining a foothold in the body, by discouraging their growth and then squelching the creation of new blood vessels that tumors need to thrive. Study after study has found that people who regularly drink green tea reduce their risk of breast, stomach, esophagus, colon, and/or prostate cancer.
2. SOOTHE YOUR SKIN
   Got a cut, scrape, or bite, and a little leftover green tea? Soak a cotton pad in it. The tea is a natural antiseptic that relieves itching and swelling. Try it on inflamed breakouts and blemishes, sunburns, even puffy eyelids.
3. PROTECT YOUR SKIN
   In the lab, green tea applied directly to the skin (or consumed) helps block sun-triggered skin cancer, which is why you're seeing green tea in more and more sunscreens and moisturizers.
4. STEADY YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE
   Having healthy blood pressure - meaning below 120/80 - is one thing. Keeping it that way is quite another. But people who sip just half a cup a day are almost 50 percent less likely to wind up with hypertension than non-drinkers. Credit goes to the polyphenols again (especially one known as ECGC). They help keep blood vessels from contracting and raising blood pressure.
5. PROTECT YOUR MEMORY, OR YOUR MOM'S
   Green tea may also keep the brain from turning fuzzy. Getting-up-there adults who drink at least two cups a day are half as likely to develop cognitive problems as those who drink less. Why? It appears that the tea's big dose of antioxidants fights the free-radical damage to brain nerves seen in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
6. STAY YOUNG
   The younger and healthier your arteries are, the younger and healthier you are. So fight plaque build-up in your blood vessels, which ups the risk of heart disease and stroke, adds years to your biological age (or RealAge), and saps your energy too. How much green tea does this vital job take? About 10 ounces a day, which also deters your body from absorbing artery-clogging fat and cholesterol.
7. LOSE WEIGHT
   Oh yeah, one more thing. Turns out that green tea speeds up your body's calorie-burning process. In the every-little-bit-counts department, this is good news!

Useful tips - HOW TO BREW A CUP OF GREEN TEA

Producing the perfect cup of green tea is a tricky process. If not handled properly, those same polyphenols that provide health benefits can ruin the flavor, making the tea taste "gassy." It's particularly important not to overbrew. While it's best to follow the manufacturer's instructions for each variety of green tea, here are some general instructions:

• Use one tea bag, or 2 - 4 grams of tea,* per cup.
• Fill a kettle with cold water and bring to a boil.
• After unplugging the kettle, allow it to stand for up to 3 minutes.
• Pour the heated water over the tea bag or tea, and allow it to steep for up to 3 minutes. If using a tea bag, remove the bag.
• Allow the tea to cool for three more minutes.
  *One to two teaspoons, depending on the variety of green tea you are brewing.

---- More articles on green tea:
The Miracle of Green Tea
How much green tea should you drink?

Starbucks Coffee - Indulgence for dieters

This is interesting!! Dieting with coffee has a way too... Now check out the lists below before you order your coffee at Starbucks. Indulge in your Starbucks Coffee with a planned diet!!

Source: Starbucks.com & Dietbites.com
How many calories in Starbucks coffees? Although plain coffee contains 0 calories, flavored coffees can pack on the pounds when the calories are not included in your daily calorie total. Let's see just how much damage that cup of tasty java can do to our hips - but before you look, keep in mind that if you account for that special cup of coffee or treat throughout the day, then it's totally OKAY.

Diet Tips when visiting Starbucks Coffee:

• The fancier the drink, the fancier the calories - especially when you opt for the whipped topping. On average, the whipped topping will cost about 130 calories.
• Most of Starbucks Coffee 'flavoring' additives contain 70 OR more calories per shot - so go for the sugar free varieties to save calories.
• WHENEVER you are calculating 'milk' calories, remember that skim milk contains about 80 calories per cup, low fat milk contains 120 calories per cup and whole milk contains 160 calories per cup. Each are separated by 40 calories as we move up the scale from skim to whole.

p.s/ I spent quite some time to categorize the per serving calories into 3 categories with the following colour codes:
GREEN - below 200 cal; ORANGE - between 201-400 cal; PINK - above 400 cal
Grande= 16 fl oz; Tall= 12 fl oz

A little more about yOgurt

The YOGURT "Do you knows"

1. Millions and millions of beneficial bacteria in yogurt that can boost one's immune system have made it one of the healthiest food and the best natural remedies.


2. Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillis have been proven effective in relieving digestive issues, while the active culture Lactobacillus casei fortifies one's immune system.


3. A daily dose of just 3 ounces can lower your cholesterol, and because calcium-rich diets have been linked to fat loss, may actually help you slim down faster. One cup of organic, fat-free yogurt (plain) has 110 calories, 9 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.



4. Plain yogurt is good enough to provide a thorough cleansing that also moisturizes the skin, leaving it soft and smooth. Click here for homemade yogurt facial mask.


5. The lactic acid in yogurt soothes, softens and tightens the skin and refines the pores. Its high nutrient content and natural antibacterial and antifungal properties also get rid of germs and other bacteria.


6. Yogurt is a natural meat tenderizer, and it's even healthier and cheaper! So start using yogurt as your meat tenderizer today.

The benefits of plain yogurt as compare to fruit added preparation:

1. Plain yogurt contains around half of the calories of the same amount of fruit adder yogurt.
2. Plain yogurt contains almost twice the amount of protein.
3. Plain yogurt contains fewer filler.
4. Plain yogurt contains more calcium.
5. Plain yogurt contains no added sugar.

Yogurt's healthful properties:

1. Yogurt Help Prevent Osteoporosis: Studies show calcium rich yogurt can help slow bone loss, thereby preserving bone mass and reducing the risk of osteoporosis.


2. Yogurt May Reduce the Risk of Hypertension: Eating low fat yogurt contains calcium, potassium, and magnesium - three nutrients that have been shown to reduce hypertension.


3. Yogurt Help Prevent Colon Cancer: Yogurt contains lacto bacteria that foster a healthy colon, and lower the risk of colon cancer. Yogurt is a rich source of calcium that contributes to colon health.


4. Yogurt May Discourage Yeast Infections: Research suggests that when eaten regularly, yogurt-containing L. acidophilus may decrease vaginal infection in certain individuals.


5. Yogurt May Enhance Immune System: Studies suggest that live and active culture yogurt may enhance the immune systems of certain individuals by boosting certain markers associated with a healthy immune system.


6. Yogurt can lower cholesterol: Studies have shown that yogurt can reduce the blood cholesterol, may be because the live cultures in yogurt can assimilate the cholesterol or yogurt binds bile acids.