NEW PRODUCT

Hi, I'm Susan Bowerman and today I'm going to give you a recipe makeover for hummus. It's usually made with garbanzo beans or chick peas but today I'm going to make it with black beans and show you how easy it is to put together.

I'm starting with a can of black beans that I drained. I didn't rinse them, but, I did save the liquid from the beans because I might need to add a little in case in ends up being too thick. I'm going to put the beans into my food processor. You can do this in a blender too, if you prefer.
Normally hummus is made with olive oil, but instead of olive oil I'm going to use some avocado to add a little bit of healthy fat and some creaminess. Instead of the usual lemon juice I'm going to add some lime juice. 

I'm also going to add a little bit of salt, and a little bit of garlic. These are all optional you can decide how much or how little flavor. I like things strongly flavored so I'm putting in a little bit of cumin and finally I'm putting in some cilantro...

Fruit salads are easy to make, so today I'm going to show how to make one that looks as good as it tastes. I'm Susan Bowerman, registered dietitian, and today I'm making a colorful and healthy fruit salad. Fruit salad mixtures are very healthy; you get more of an antioxidant punch when you eat fruits together than when you eat them separately. Fruit salad is also a great way to introduce some new fruits into your diet. My fruit salad recipe for today has watermelon, pineapple, berries, kiwi, mango, and an exotic fruit; but you can create your own fruit salad mixture too. Tell me how your fruit salad turned out in the comments section. For more nutrition advice from Herbalife, visit http://www.DiscoverGoodNutrition.com or take a look at my YouTube playlist: http://hrbl.me/VJ6XEl.

Is it water or is it fat?

The good news is that temporary water weight gain is just that – it’s temporary, and it’s water… not fat. (it would be nearly impossible to gain three pounds of fat overnight. To store a pound of fat, you’d need to eat 3500 calories more than you need – which means you’d need to eat more than 10,000 extra calories to gain 3 pounds of fat in one day.)

Tips for reducing temporary water weight gain

Temporary water weight gain can often be tackled with a few simple dietary changes.

• Reduce your salt intake
  Focus on foods that are as close as possible to their natural state, since the more processed a food is, the more sodium it’s likely to have. Keep salty snacks, soups, condiments and sauces to a minimum and use the salt shaker lightly in cooking and at the table.
• Cut back on refined starches and sweets
  Rather than highly refined carbohydrates like white bread, regular pasta and white rice, turn to whole grain varieties. Since they take longer to digest, they’re less likely to cause a big spike in blood sugar – and insulin – when you eat them. And, switch from sugary drinks to water or tea instead.
• Drink plenty of water
  It seems like that last thing you’d want to do – put more fluid into your body when it already feels overloaded. But drinking fluids will help your body to eliminate excess salt and water. Aim for 6-8 glasses a day.
• Push potassium
  Potassium plays a critical role in maintaining fluid balance in the body, and needs to be in the proper balance with sodium. Potassium is found in abundance in fruits and vegetables, but most people don’t get nearly enough potassium in the diet. Try to have a fruit or vegetable at every meal or snack.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife