What to Avoid

The first thing you want to do is learn what to watch out for that might cause you problems. Some companies are outright SCAMS. For example, I have not found any legitimate company that is offering a free sample of acai berry supplement. These companies are usually trying to get your credit card number “for shipping charges” and then charge your card hundreds of dollars for supplements that sometimes are never sent. If you can’t find contact information easily available, don’t buy from the company. If there is a phone number, try calling and asking what the procedure is for returning the product for a refund. A great way to insure a legitimate company is one that offers a payment option of PayPal or payment by check.

Along the same lines, if the company does not list their ingredients for their product, you should probably avoid them. The reason for this is very simple. A Pure Acai Berry Supplement is just that…100% PURE ACAI BERRY, preferably organic and fairly traded. If the ingredient list is not available, the company does not want you to know that there are inferior or inexpensive ingredients, or fillers. Any company that is hiding the kind of acai berry it is selling is probably selling an inferior product, such as an extract that does not contain all the health benefits of the whole acai berry. If the ingredient list is not available online for viewing, don’t waste your money.

Also, look out for inferior production methods. Low-quality acai berry is spray dried rather than freeze-dried. Spray drying often uses chemicals in the process. Some of the worst offenders are companies which process the acai berry seed. Since the seed can account for the majority of the mass of a raw acai berry, producing the seed means you’re getting less nutritional value from the product. Since the seed has nothing to offer, it would be considered useless filler if it were in the product itself.

What You Want

The key word when asking where to buy acai berry is ORGANIC. Regardless of the manufacturing process, if you’re not starting with wild harvested acai berries, you might be getting all kinds of chemicals in the product. The second thing you want to look for is a FREEZE DRIED product. Only freeze dried products retain all the original nutrients of the acai berry. If the product is not freeze dried, organic acai berry, you shouldn’t even waste your time. Just as importantly, you shouldn’t waste your money on it. Since you are likely paying for as much nutritional value as you can get, the last thing you want is a product loaded with useless flavors and sugars for the same price. So look for 100% PURE ACAI BERRY. Last, but not least, you also want to find a company that uses a certified GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) manufacturer. This is really the only way to insure that you are getting the product you think you are because they are audited by a third party. It is actually a lot easier than you might think to find this high quality product so long as you remember that knowing where to buy acai berry is just as important as knowing where not to buy it.

What are Antioxidants?

It can be hard to explain free radicals and antioxidants simply. Basically, free radicals are molecules missing an electron. They steal this electron from other molecules in order to return to normal. When the molecule they steal from is a healthy cell in our body, they can cause problems like cancer. The reason for this is simple. A free radical that steals an electron is no longer a free radical, but it certainly isn’t of any use to our body. However, the blood cell the electron came from has now become its own free radical, missing an electron. This causes a cascade effect where healthy cells start robbing one another and can end up causing mutated cell growth, also known as tumors. Antioxidants supply the free radicals with the electron they want, meaning they don’t have to rob it from one of our body’s healthy cells. Since free radicals are present in our atmosphere from pollution, antioxidants have become even more important to modern people.

What are the Best Antioxidants?

It can be very hard to rate antioxidant levels even with the help of the ORAC chart, because foods are all measured differently. For instance, you can measure ORAC values based on dry weight or based on serving size. That means they can vary drastically. A recent rating for the antioxidant level of freeze dried acai berry was over 102,000 on the ORAC chart, easily the highest rating for any berry tested at the time of the study, hence its classification as a super antioxidant. But depending on the manufacturing process, this level can vary a great deal. Only the highest quality acai berry supplements will offer you what you want from their product.

While acai berry is not the only antioxidant-rich food you can find, it is one of the best. And it is far more appetizing as a smoothie than some other super antioxidants such as cloves or turmeric. Because of its great appeal and extremely high levels of nutrition, the acai berry looks to be making quite a name for itself in the health food market. If you have not already given the acai berry a chance, you should consider this super antioxidant for your supplement needs.

Quick Weight Loss

You have probably not seen acai berry on one of those loud and overhyped commercials about shedding pounds to reveal your hidden six pack. That’s because those fat loss supplements are concocted in a laboratory and specifically designed to cause you to lose weight, often at the expense of your health. Those drugs are intended not to help you build a healthy lifestyle, but merely to burn fat.

Acai berry is an all natural food product with healthy ingredients, but it should not be considered a weight loss aid. While it is good for you, there is no reason to believe that you will immediately drop pounds by taking acai berry pills. Instead, they help you in a much subtler and healthier way. Acai berry gives your body the nutrition it needs when you are eating properly and helps your body shed weight on its own.

Weight Loss Safety

Since so many people are unaware of the side effects of many weight loss drugs, they can be surprised at what they see. The chemicals in these drugs can cause any number of side effects, some more well known that others. For instance, ephedrine, a long time popular weight loss stimulant, is now under strict regulation in the United States after possible links to user deaths. Short term weight loss is not only a quick fix, but it can be very unhealthy. Often, the weight you lose is at a detriment to your body and may leave you weak and dehydrated.

What acai berry offers is nothing like those weight loss drugs. It is simply an amazing source of nutrition that will help your body get the nutrition it needs while you become healthier. If you aren’t willing to put in the work to lose weight the proper, healthy and all-natural way, acai berry may disappoint you. But if you are looking to become more active, lose weight and better the quality of your life, acai berry may be just what you are looking for.

Price Comparison

As with almost anything you buy, you have to consider the long term when you look at acai berry and fat loss supplements. Most supplements that offer immediate weight loss are only a bandage on a much bigger problem. They may help you lose weight, but they don’t help you keep it off because they don’t target the very basic reasons you gained the weight to begin with.

Think of your weight gain like a leak in the roof. You can put a bucket on the ground to catch the water that drips in, but you will have to constantly empty the bucket. You will always have to go back to the store and buy more pills when the weight comes back. But, by making a lifestyle choice to be healthier and take acai berry, you are patching that annoying hole in the roof. You’re finally making the decision to fix the problem and live better. That’s where acai berry can help you. While it isn’t a miracle fat loss supplement, it certainly is an incredibly healthy little berry.

If you look at the history of free acai berry trial scams, you will come across a few different cases. One case involved a fairly well-known company which offered a free trial. What people didn’t see was that when they signed up for the trial, they were signed up for numerous other subscriptions that they did not want. They started getting charged for these other subscriptions and, when they tried to cancel them, found it was nearly impossible to get out. The phone lines would put them on hold for hours, e-mails would go unanswered and this was exactly what the company planned. The longer they delayed, the more the customers paid. The story had a good ending as the company was forced to pay out $350,000 to the customers they had wronged.

But you probably just want to avoid these scams all together. The best way to do that is to avoid free offers completely. There is always a fine print attached to these offers and rarely do they come with no strings attached. While you may not find yourself scammed out of hundreds of dollars, you could end up having your e-mail address passed out to companies which will send you spam or, worse, try to scam you themselves. But not all free trials are scams and not all acai berry companies are bad.

The best way to determine if a deal is okay is to look at the company themselves. While it is unfortunate that scammers have given acai berry a bad name, it is not isolated to just acai berry. Any popular product can be the target of a scam company. So make sure that the company information is visible. Make sure they are easy to contact and that they have an established background. Companies which are brand new can often be a bigger risk than companies which have run a successful business in the past.

Unfortunately, scammers are very clever. They will almost always find ways to trick people into their scams. The only way to avoid these traps is to make sure you know about the company you are dealing with. While you shouldn’t write off any new company as a potential risk, you should be more wary of a company without an established background. And if you’re really looking to avoid scams, just stay away from free acai berry trial offers all together.

First, you have to understand that there is no medically proven way that acai berry alone can help you lose weight. If you still take the elevator up one floor or snack on a bag of greasy chips instead of fruit, adding acai berry supplement to your life won’t cause you to lose weight. Sure, you’ll get some great health benefits like loads of fiber and antioxidants, but you certainly can’t expect to see the pounds melt away. In order to get the full benefit of acai berry, you have to pair it with a weight loss program.

Acai berry has many things to offer and most acai berry success stories are quick to point these out. The berries contain plenty of essential fatty acids, important compounds which the body cannot produce and which need to be taken in through the diet. They also have fiber to help regulate your digestive system. A healthy digestive tract is essential to good health. They contain protein as well, a critical element to building lean muscle and burning fat. But none of these things can be said to single-handedly conquer weight problems. Instead, they act as a catalyst, elevating a weight loss program to the next level.

As always, the best and healthiest way to lose weight is to maintain a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise. By adding acai berry supplements to a great program, you’re giving your body the boost it needs to get the most out of your weight loss. Simply eating less is not a healthy solution. Instead, you need to eat right. And acai berry is a great aspect of a healthy diet. If an acai berry success story doesn’t tell you that you have to pair your supplement with diet and exercise, they may just be exaggerating what their supplement can actually do.

If you go into a weight loss program with the expectation that acai berry is going to solve all of your problems, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Rather than get frustrated with a lack of results, use the acai berry the way it was intended. It can give you some great benefits to help you lose weight, but you have to put some work in as well. If you use it properly, you may find that acai berry is just what you needed to kick your weight loss up a level. Pretty soon, you’ll be writing your own acai berry success stories.

Free Trials

Any time you come across an offer for a free sample of a product, you should take a step back. Free samples of the internet are not like free samples in the supermarket. You don’t just taste the product and walk away. Often, you have to sign up for what seems like a simple newsletter or maybe you just have to check a box that says you agree to get an e-mail every once in a while. Then, you just enter your information and your sample arrives in the mail. No problem, right? Unfortunately, you may find yourself being charged substantially because you unknowingly signed yourself up for a program that you now have to struggle to get out of. Even if you do manage to get free quickly, you can still end up owing hundreds of dollars in the end.

This Product Contains What?

You absolutely must know what makes a superior acai berry product and, thus, what makes an inferior one. Many acai scams are perfectly willing to do honest business with you. The problem is that they are selling you junk. You end up paying for a product with almost no nutritional value at all. If you check the ingredients and see additives such as maltodextrin or other sugars or flavorings, you might be getting a spray-dried product. Only buy acai berry products that have been freeze dried and make sure they use only the fruit and not the seed.

No Address, No Phone Number, No Deal!

If you are having trouble finding the contact information or location of the business that sells the product, don’t bother with them. No legitimate company has a reason to hide its location or make it hard to contact them. Most scam companies will try to disguise where they are because they don’t even have a base of operations. They may even use phony numbers so you can’t get a hold of them. These ghost companies exist only to steal your money. It never hurts to check with the Better Business Bureau if you are unsure about a company’s legitimacy.

The bottom line when trying to spot a scam is that you need to trust your instincts. If you ever have to wonder if a company is legit, the odds are good that they are not. A real company is one that puts work into its message and is open and honest with their customers. If you avoid too-good-to-be-true acai berry offers, companies with no contact information and inferior products you are already doing a great deal to avoid acai scams.

Acai Berry Smoothies or Popsicles

How about something healthy that you and the kids will enjoy? A homemade smoothie or popsicle can be just the thing you need. It’s easy to make, great during the summer and loaded with all the healthy benefits of the acai berry.

Acai-Berry-Banana Smoothie / Popsicle

1C berries (fresh or frozen)
1 banana
1 scoop Perfect Acai powder
½ C juice (apple, grape, etc.)
½ C yogurt
1C water
5 ice cubes

Acai Pina-Colada

1C pineapple chunks (fresh or canned)
3 Tbls shredded coconut
1 scoop Perfect Acai powder
½ C juice (apple, grape, or from the pineapple can)
½ C yogurt
½ C water
5 ice cubes
1 Tbls honey or maple syrup or other sweetener (optional)

Just blend the ingredients together and enjoy, or pour them into a popsicle mold with some popsicle sticks. If you don’t have a mold, you can just as easily use an ice cube tray. Simply wrap cellophane over the top and stick toothpicks into the individual cubes.

The recipe possibilities are endless when it comes to fruit. The more creative you are, the more fun you will have. And if you turn your supplements into recipes, you can get the whole family involved in churning out some delicious treats.

If you’re already going to enjoy a smoothie in the summer, why not add a scoop of Perfect Acai to the recipe to give your treat a little extra nutrition?

Many marketers have discovered that the biggest reason so many people avoid healthy foods is that they just don’t like the taste. In order to get the best of both worlds, companies have resorted to marketing their healthy foods all covered in chocolate. If you can make something good for you that tastes good as well, you can sell almost anything. Unfortunately, the process of making delicious health food can often lead to some unwanted ingredients being thrown in.

This is just as true for acai berry juice as it is for any other product. While you will get many of the benefits of acai berry in a delicious drink, you may be getting some extras in the form of sugar, artificial flavors and coloring. These extras, especially the sugars, can be great for the taste buds, but hard on the body. If you are on a diet or trying to lose weight, you certainly don’t want to add more calories to the mix. While the drinks offer a tasty way of getting your acai berry benefits, they may not be the best way for you.

Sure, the capsule is a boring little thing. They aren’t tasty, you can’t make smoothies out of them and they don’t usually come with all the colorful advertising. But most people aren’t taking acai berry supplements for the advertising, rather they want the health benefits. If what you are concerned about is getting the most bang for your buck, you can’t go wrong with pills. You can take them anywhere at any time and get the benefits of the acai berry. And you will only get the acai berry, none of those extras that companies try to sneak in to boost the flavor. And if you still need the flavor, you can always wash your acai berry pills down with some healthy orange juice.

There are benefits to both products, but if you are looking to get a serious boost and not spend every penny to do it, the pills have so much more to offer. While they may not have as many tasty benefits on the surface, they deliver where it counts. They are completely portable and nothing could be more convenient. Since most people who are looking to take acai berry are doing it for the health benefits, the pills offer the most logical option. Acai berry pills let you get all the nutrients of the berry without the added sugars and coloring from other supplements.

Acai berry may no doubt be a superfood that’s a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, and healthy fats, but the way promoters have been latching their particular brand of acai products on to well-known celebrities and health experts is just misleading and oftentimes downright false.

I came across a blog post that discussed the supposed acai berry diet on Rachael Ray. It talked about how the talk show host supposedly singled out the acai berry as the most important food on the planet and how losing weight is easy because of this fruit. Further down the article it even explicitly stated that the acai berry was now part of Rachael Ray’s weight loss plan. This is totally false, but statements like this aren’t uncommon as many marketers are capitalizing on Rachel’s and acai’s popularity.

It’s true that a certain brand of acai berry juice was featured on one of the episodes of Rachael Ray, but if you watch the video, you will see that the host never directly stated these things that she was supposed to have said. No mention of weight loss was ever made. In fact, it was the guest promoting the juice who practically did all the talking and even she didn’t mention weight loss as a benefit!

Not all websites are as bold as the blog I ran across about stretching the truth. Some simply just post a picture of Rachael Ray (or any other celebrity for that matter) with the words “My Weight Loss Secret” or some other sales pitch to that effect. While it doesn’t flat out say that the celebrity made that statement, the implication is clear. And then to seal the deal, the site almost always comes with a “free trial offer,” which is nothing but an acai scam.

Rachael Ray now has this statement published on the show’s official website:

“Rachael Ray Does Not Endorse Acai Berry Products. Many of you have brought to our attention concerns regarding solicitations involving Açai Berry and Wu Long Tea products that bear Rachael Ray’s name or photo. Please note that Rachael Ray has not endorsed any Açai Berry or Wu Long Tea products, and she is not involved with the solicitation of any such products. The use of her name or photo in connection with these solicitations is unauthorized. We want to apologize if you have experienced any confusion or inconvenience pertaining to this matter.”

While the statement certainly clears the matter on this one, it remains that there are thousands of people out there who continue to be lured by these acai free trials that are actually scams, simply because Rachael Ray’s name was attached to these products.

Now more than ever, consumers should be wary of scams proliferating on the internet. False claims of the acai berry diet on Rachael Ray could lead you to lose money and not weight!

Checking out the Oprah site, there is actually a feature on what Dr. Oz has mentioned on the show regarding acai. The write-up is entitled, “Dr. Oz’s Anti-Aging Checklist,” where he mentioned the foods that he thinks would best fight the aging process. He emphasizes the need for eating antioxidant-rich foods including sweet potatoes, broccoli, and tomatoes.

And then the article goes on to mention that there is a new addition to the list of foods packed with antioxidants as suggested by Dr. Oz – and acai berry is the name of this fruit. It is described as “a small fruit from South American rainforests that is often found in the United States in juice.” The article quotes Dr. Oz as saying, “It has twice the antioxidant content as a blueberry, so it’s a wonderful alternative,” and that “(Acai) is just sort of breaking through.” You can read the article yourself posted on Oprah.com.

There was never a mention of a particular acai berry supplement that he endorses. In fact, the article wasn’t about supplements at all. It was strictly about how antioxidants can help in the anti-aging process and what foods Dr. Oz recommends because of their high antioxidant content. Acai berry happens to be packed with antioxidants so Dr. Oz simply added it to his list of foods to include in your diet.

To help clear the issue once and for all, Oprah.com has this disclaimer published on the site:

“Consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any acai berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products. Attorneys for Harpo are pursuing companies that claim such an affiliation.”

You can see the disclaimer yourself at Oprah.com.

Acai berry supplements come in a variety of forms including frozen pulp, freeze dried powder, juice, and in capsules. Do your homework and find out which form is best for you. Once you do that, then make sure the product contains 100% pure organic acai berry like those products we recommend in our Perfect Acai review and Acai Roots review.

While implied celebrity endorsements can easily sway us toward one product, don’t forget that these are just one of the convenient marketing tools that can be easily used by any company wanting to make a quick sale. I for one would never go with a product sold by a company that makes misleading claims that there is some kind of “Dr. Oz – acai berry” supplement endorsement!

The image of Dr. Oz is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License