found in certain foods.
They help your body to
replace its own cells with more luster!
We hear about them often in the media, but what are antioxidants and why do they matter so much?
Oxidative stress is believed to be an integral part of many human diseases, and antioxidants are the solution to oxidative stress! But, are you getting enough antioxidants in your daily diet?
Your body is made of tissue and your tissue is made of cells. Ultimately, the point of healthy living is to keep the cells of your body whole, healed, and happy!
You can think of antioxidants as the opposite of oxidative stress. Antioxidants are a nutritional compound — present in certain plant foods — that have an uncanny ability to assist our bodies in feeling vital.
“…antioxidants can prevent, or halt, the damage
that reactive compounds are doing inside of our bodies”
If looking and feeling younger is important to you, then you’ll need more antioxidants inside your body and the best way to do that is to consume more fresh fruits and vegetables each day. This is especially important for those of us over the age of 40. Perhaps, like me, you lead a very busy lifestyle. If that’s the case, then you might find it helpful to try my delicious and energizing solution for easily getting more veggies into my body each day: freshly made green smoothies.
Remember to also pick-up radishes during your weekly visit to the grocery store or farmers market.
Radishes give your salads a welcomed flavor accent and they’re also high in antioxidants!
Optimizing Your Health with Antioxidants
A small percentage of the oxygen we breathe is converted into reactive compounds. These compounds can cause damage to our bodies at a cellular level. This is the reason that antioxidants are a vital part of creating optimum health.
Our bodies use the oxygen in the air we breath to help create the energy we need in our daily lives. The O2 we breathe in is then converted to H2O and CO2. These are easily discarded by our bodies. But for that O2 that gets caught inside, antioxidants can effectively neutralize those reactive compounds that might result.
It gets even better. Antioxidants protect our cells’ ability to accurately reproduce themselves. This slows down the aging process and helps us fight off a variety of diseases.
One of the reasons that raw food enthusiasts believe so passionately in uncooked food is that there are often more antioxidant enzymes and vitamins present in their most natural state (as opposed to supplements) accompanied with that dietary fiber that the body also loves!
Antixoxidants help prevent cell damage from oxidants, by stopping those free radical chain reactions at their source. Insufficient levels of antioxidants in a human body can create an environment in which disease can flourish.
“…adding whole foods high in antioxidants to your daily diet
is one easy and delicious way to stay younger and healthier”
As I mentioned, one extremely effective (and scrumptious) way that I use to increase my own daily intake of antioxidants is by preparing and drinking freshly made green smoothies:
When your body recreates and replaces a particular cell, it’s not quite as effective as it was the time before. That’s part of what “aging” is. The cell loses a bit of its luster and perfection.
There is good news: adding foods containing antioxidants to your daily diet is a delicious way to stay young and healthy.
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How to Use Your Blender to Become Lean and Energized! ~ eBooklet
What Foods Have Antioxidants?
Here is a handy list of foods rich in antioxidants that I found over at CalorieLab.com:
- Apples: polyphenols
- Blackberries: anthocyanins
- Black tea: theaflavins
- Blueberries: anthocyanins
- Broccoli: polyphenols
- Cherries: anthocyanins
- Cherry Tomatoes: quercetin
- Coffee: phenolic acids
- Cranberries: procyanadin
- Dark Chocolate: epicatechin
- Green Tea: polyphenols
- Oranges: hesperedin
- Peaches: epicatechin and phenolic acids
- Plums: epicatechin and phenolic acids
- Raspberries: anthocyanins
- Red Grapes: anthocyanins and phenolic acids
- Red Onions: quercetin
- Spinach: polyphenols
- Strawberries: anthocyanins and ellagic acid
With the exception of onions, all of the above listed ingredients go beautifully into freshly prepared smoothies. All you need is a quality blender with a high-powered motor… and a sense of adventure!
Smoothies are great for breakfast, lunch, and dessert, and for dinner you can have super salads as a way of getting more of these antioxidants into your daily diet. Hint: if you’re going to make super salads a regular part of your nutritional regimen, I recommend you pull out that food processor from the back of your kitchen cupboard and dust it off — it will save you hours of time each week!
Which of these foods listed above are you willing to try more often? Let me know in the comments section below.
Dane,
Thanks for the list. I use most of the those but there were some in there I will try in my next smoothie.
It’s helpful to remember: when you’re addicted to something, you can’t imagine your life without it (coffee, wine, sugar…), yet later, as you taper-down in your nutritional vices, you’ll think back on the days when you thought you “couldn’t live without” something… and realize it was the cravings talking! So take heart! It does get easier with time!
{ twitter = @danenow }
I consume most of the things on the list, except the teas and coffee — caffeine makes me jumpy. And I haven’t had cranberries in a while either, but with fall fast approaching I’m sure I can work them in! Thanks for the reminder.