So you have decided you want to get serious about preserving your health. Changing up your diet to focus on antioxidant rich foods is a great first step. It can also be a fun way to explore trying new food and finding some delicious news tastes that you will crave. Cooking can be so much fun especially when you are trying out some antioxidant recipes for the first time. We will look at a few specific ingredients that are some top providers of antioxidants that you can start adding to your own meals right away. If there are any flavors that don’t appeal to you, then you can look into the many anti aging supplements available to fill those gaps. However, most people find that antioxidant food is something the whole family will enjoy.
Let’s start with antioxidant rich vegetables. Look for bold colors. The dark greens of spinach, broccoli, asparagus, kale, Brussels sprouts & green peppers. Brighten those up with red, orange and yellow peppers, tomatoes & carrots. A salad made up of these veggies will be the quickest way to boost your healthy eating habits. Or, you could bake a bright orange sweet potato. Whatever you choose, vegetables are a great source of the major antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, selenium and beta carotene.
Tomatoes provide a bonus benefit to all the others already listed. They are one of the lypocene rich foods. For those of you who love Italian food, the bonus is that lypocene is easier to absorb from cooked or processed tomatoes. So enjoy that spaghetti sauce without guilt! Lypocene is actually an antioxidant pigment found in tomatoes, grapefruit and watermelon. Studies indicate it may reduce the risk of most cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis and lessen the symptoms of severe allergies.
Possibly the best known antioxidant is Vitamin C. It is probably no surprise that fruits and vegetables are the best Vitamin C rich foods. The top 10 best are: papaya, bell peppers, strawberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, oranges, kale, tomatoes, peaches and potatoes. With the exception of the potatoes, the raw form of all of those foods is guaranteed to pack the biggest punch of C. Cooking can sometimes allow vitamin levels to drop. Of the bell peppers, red has the highest vitamin count. Also, it is really all citrus fruits, not just oranges, which provide a healthy dose.
Fresh produce is also a top source of Vitamin E rich foods, but there are a few additional foods in that list and since E is also a critical source for fighting off degenerative diseases it is important to rotate these into your diet too. The top sources of vitamin E are: mustard greens, swiss chard, spinach, kale, nuts, tropical fruits, red bell peppers, broccoli, olive oil, and wheat. Be careful that you don’t eat too much processed wheat though as it is lacking vitamin E because the germ has been removed.
All this talk of food has probably made you thirsty. Green tea is the perfect beverage to compliment these healthy, colorful meals. The antioxidants it contains are called catechins and these do a great job scavenging for the free radicals that can damage DNA and contribute to cancer and blood clots. Because the tea is minimally processed – the leaves are withered and steamed, not fermented like black tea – the catechins are more concentrated.
Did you notice the foods that are listed in nearly all the categories? Tomatoes, broccoli, bell peppers & kale. Well, those are quite possibly the best of the antioxidant rich foods and should be considered must haves nearly every day since they pack such a powerful antioxidant punch!
