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What if your cup of joe had health benefits? You heard it right. City-based health and wellness company, Emprove, has launched pre-mix green coffee drinks that help you deal with weight loss in a natural way. Ayush Agarwal, the founder of the month-old venture says, “For fitness reasons, we see coffee lovers sacrifice their tastes and shift to green tea. We want to provide a healthier alternative to their favourite drink.” The brand was co-founded by Sushanth Yellapantula and Harshita Singh. Green coffee also renders benefits like improved metabolic health, which helps you deal with obesity.

Green coffee refers to unroasted coffee beans that have a mild aroma, unlike the strong fragrance of roasted coffee. The beans usually go through a three-step process – pulping, washing and roasting, before they’re packed into boxes for sale. During the process of roasting, about 70 per cent of essential nutrients like Chlorogenic Acid (CGA) are lost. Whereas, green coffee doesn’t include the process of roasting, thus retaining the nutrients and caffeine level at one percent.

While there are a few companies that offer green coffee in India, it’s the mix of garcinia cambogia with green coffee that makes Emprove stand out. Garcinia cambogia is a popular weight-loss supplement that keeps blood sugar and cholesterol levels in check. 

During their months of research, Ayush shares, it was found that this tropical fruit provides faster results when blended with green coffee, adding to the health quotient. “People usually consume garcinia cambogia in the form of capsules. We offer a better combination of the two,” he adds. The beans (sourced from Karnataka) and the fruit (native to Indonesia) are grounded into a fine powder, giving the person drinking it 100 per cent nutrients. For the taste, a bit of stevia, a natural sweetener, is added. Presently, Emprove has two flavours – natural coffee and lemon. 

Rs. 350 onwards for 50 gm (serves 25 cups). Also available on Amazon.in

Pics: Sayantan Ghosh

Kim Kardashian West is back at it with more #sponcon. This week, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Instagrammed a photo of herself standing in a kitchen in a white crop top and underwear, sipping on something called “Shake It Baby.”

The meal replacement drink is another offering from Flat Tummy Co, the makers of “Flat Tummy Tea” (you’ve likely seen an “influencer” or five shilling for the brand on Instagram). In her sponsored post, Kardashian West wrote that she’s struggled to “fit in [her] regular work outs [sic] and eat healthy” during the holiday season (OK, relatable) and touted this product as the antidote: “These meal replacement shakes are so good and it’s helping me get my tummy back to flat in the new year.” OK, Kim — but what’s in those pricey shakes, anyway? We asked a nutritionist Keri Gans about whether we mortals should be shelling out $71.20 for Flat Tummy Co’s recommended four-week program, and in a word, she was skeptical.

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According to Flat Tummy Co’s website, the Shake It Baby drinks are designed to replace one to two meals a day for two or four weeks. Each shake apparently contains 20 grams of plant-based protein, ingredients from fruits and vegetables, and something called “Super CitriMax.” The brand says this ingredient makes its Shake It Baby program three times “more effective than diet and exercise alone.”

So what is this Super CitriMax, anyway? Its key component is garcinia cambogia, a fruit that contains hydroxycitric acid (HCA). HCA fans say the compound boosts fat-burning and reduces appetite, but there haven’t been large-scale trials to prove it works better than a placebo: “There’s no convincing evidence that garcinia cambogia will help you lose weight or control cholesterol,” the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health goes so far as to say. There was a Georgetown University study of 60 people that suggested the ingredient may have weight management potential — but Gans tells Allure this study and similar ones should be taken with a large grain of salt. “Perhaps there is preliminary research that suggests effectiveness, but not conclusive evidence,” she says.

That doesn’t mean people who use products like Shake It Baby won’t lose weight, but if they do, Gans says this can likely be chalked up to other factors — like consuming less and exercising more. While Shake It Baby’s ingredients don’t appear to be harmful, per se, Gans points out, “It’s not like somebody can continue eating a cheeseburger, and fries, and pizza…[then] pop this Super CitriMax and expect to lose weight. [For] people who use shakes, usually, the calories are a lot less than they’ve been eating. That Flat Tummy company’s website…even say[s] [people should] eat less.” According to MyFitnessPal’s calorie content database, one Shake It Baby shake contains just 130 calories — a lot fewer than in a typical meal.

If you are really looking to change your body (and more importantly, your health), Gans says to avoid the temptation of quick fixes and focus instead on establishing positive eating and exercise habits you can maintain in the long run. “People should rather save their money for fruits and vegetables. It really is that simple,” she says. Meal replacement diets, she adds, don’t provide whole “fruits, and vegetables, and fiber, and whole grains, and other things that are needed for a healthy body [and] feeling great.” Energy, she stresses, comes from real food.

After all, Gans notes, Kardashian West is touting Shake It Baby now, but she’s previously endorsed other weight loss products — implying none of them is a silver bullet. “Maybe she should just start trying healthy eating for the long run,” Gans says. Of course, something tells us posing with a fistful of fresh kale would be a lot less lucrative.

Related:

• Kim Kardashian West Posts Topless Photo on Instagram
• 5 People Died After Getting This New Weight Loss Surgery
• Here’s What Causes Abdominal Bloating — and What You Can Do About It

Find out what happens when you add food coloring to your shampoo:

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Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane while explaining his side’s home draw in Wednesday’s Cup fixture once again defended his players.

A Lucas Vazquez brace helped send a very unconvincing Real Madrid to the Copa del Rey quarterfinals after a 2-2 draw in their Round of 16 second leg with second division side Numancia on Wednesday night at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.

Real 2-2 Numancia: Los Blancos held in Copa Dey Rey

The result gave Real a 5-2 win on aggregate after last week’s 3-0 first-leg triumph in Soria. the underfire Zidane who has previously insisted that he thinks the current squad is good enough repeated that rhetoric again in his post-match briefing.

“I’m pleased with everyone’s performance, I’m happy for the guys who get less time on the pitch and I’m thrilled to have come through the tie. I’m pleased with the team’s performance and with the tie as a whole. We’re in the quarter-finals and that’s that.

“I don’t think it’s a case of lacking rhythm. The opposition is important in football, they can make life difficult for you. You have to stay switched on at the end of both halves. We didn’t play well towards the end because we were struggling a bit physically. I’d like to have won because it’s what the players deserved, but we shouldn’t lose our heads.

“We’re getting back to what we know and we’ll do so calmly and with no problem at all. All the questions and what you’re saying about poor playing style… that may be the case but we’re convinced that we’re going to come out the other side. I leave here satisfied, as do the players.

Florentino Perez and Zidane in transfer tussle

Real Madrid coach Zidane predicts when he will be sacked

“We didn’t win the Fuenlabrada match. We did the same as now: we won the first leg and we drew the second leg. We can’t be happy when we don’t win at home. But I’m pleased because it was a serious game. We can do things better, physically we have dropped off a bit at the end.” Zidane told Real’s official website

Next up for Real Madrid as they aim to return to winning ways is a home match against Villarreal this Saturday.