Tomatoes!

Bright red in color and round in shape, tomatoes are not only look appealing, but also very tasty to eat. Many people thought that it's in the veggie group, when it's actually a fruit.

image credit to free-extras.com

Besides its freshness, tomatoes are rich in antioxidants, which are effective in fighting those free radicals. The antioxidants in tomatoes fight them by adding an electron into the free radicals, neutralizing them and stop the chain reaction of the free radicals that disrupts the health. One of the antioxidants tomatoes is lycopene. Lycopene is an important antioxidants that can help prevent the formation of cancer cells, like prostate, rectal, stomach, and throat cancer.

Lycopene is a part of the "pigment family" called carotene. Carotene is a natural component in fruit and vegetable colors. For example, beta carotene is an orange pigment in carrots.

Our body does not produce lycopene, therefore it needs a supply of lycopene from the foods we consume. Tomatoes actually contain more lycopene than other fruits, such as carrots or watermelon.

Nutritional Content in 100 grams of Tomatoes

• 27 mg of phosphor
• 360 mg of potassium
• 0,6 mg of iron
• 11 mg of calcium
• 23 mg of vitamin C
• 0,06 mg of thiamine (vitamin B)
• 1 g of protein
• 1000 iu of vitamin A

Health Benefits from Tomatoes
Except its merit in preventing the formation of cancer cells, tomatoes also have 5 other important benefits for our health, and they are:
1. Prevent the Premature Aging
With its high content of antioxidants, tomatoes can prevent premature aging from free radicals. Tomatoes also contain citric acid, which can make our skin looks fresh and cleaner.

2. Lower the Blood Cholesterol
The nicotinic acid in tomatoes can help you lower the high blood cholesterol, therefore preventing any heart disease.

3. Maintain the Blood Sugar Level
Tomatoes also contain important mineral, chromium. Chromium is useful in maintaining the stability of the blood sugar. Therefore, tomatoes are good for diabetic people.

4. Lower the Effects of Smoking
Tomatoes are highly recommended for smokers. The chlorogenic acid and the coumaric acid in tomatoes help smokers fight carcinogens, the dangerous substance in cigarettes which can cause cancer.

5. Maintain the Bone Health
Besides chromium, tomatoes also contain other important minerals such as calcium and vitamin K. These two nutrition are important in repairing the broken bone tissues while preventing the osteoporosis.

Start consuming tomatoes today, and get ALL the health merits!

Watch Out, We Got a Fat Belly Over Here! (Part 2)

After the reading the previous article, you know what caused the fat belly. In this post, we will explore more about the health risk of having a fat belly.

- Cancer
Fat belly is associated with many risks of cancers, including endometrial (cancer in uterus layer), colon, gall bladder, prostate, kidney, and post-menopausal breast cancer. Women who gain weight more than 10 kg since they're 18 until they are middle-aged increased the risk of post-menopausal breast cancer twice than women with stable weight.

-  Fatty Liver
The main cause of fatty liver for non-alcoholic people is insulin resistance, a metabolic interference where the cells are not sensitive to the effects of insulin. One of the most common risk factors for insulin resistance is obesity, especially central obesity. Study shows there are close association from obesity and the degree of liver damage.

- Breathing Problem
Obstructive sleep apnea (breathing disruption whilst sleeping) generally occurs to overweight people. Obesity is related to the increase of asthma risks and severe bronchitis, and also obesity hypoventilation syndrome, and breathing insufficiency.

- Arthritis
Musculoskeletal disorders, including osteoarthritis, generally occurs to obesity patients, especially patients diagnosed with chronic obesity. Health research indicates that obesity is a strong predictor for osteoarthritis disorders, especially in the knee. The risk of osteoarthritis increase with every 1 kg of weight increase.

- Social and Psychological Impact of Obesity
Emotional impact might be one of the hurtful fact of being obese. Our society these days emphasize on physical appearance which is close to being thin (or skinny), especially on women. This will make overweight people feel like they are not attractive.

image credit to fat2abs.org

Preventing instead of Curing
After knowing the health risk of the accumulation of visceral fat in a fat belly, it's only natural if you want to prevent it before it risks your health. Therefore, if you still have a fat belly right now, or have no problem having a fat belly and still want to prevent it, start doing these steps regularly:

- Do 30 to 45 minutes of cardio 4 to 5 times a week
- Consider to start lifting some weight. Lifting some weight regularly will increase your muscle mass, and the more muscle you have more fat will be burn, lowering the risk of fat accumulation in your belly.
- Adjust your diet. It's better to not consume high fat and high calorie food to prevent the accumulation of new fat. Eat more veggies and fruits.

Therefore, if you want a six-packs abs, you have to get rid of all the fat in your belly. The abs muscle won't show up as long as there are some fat layering your belly. Aside from that, avoid central obesity earlier by working out regularly and eat healthier food to have optimal health quality.