Foods High in Antioxidants, Your 5 Best Food Sources For Antioxidants

Foods High in Antioxidants

Foods high in antioxidants are currently the super foods of choice - the magic foods that will give us health and long life. The best of them are found in the fruits and vegetables. That advice we've been hearing all our lives: "eat your vegetables," turns out to be good advice in the end.

What is it about antioxidant foods that is so good for us? These foods contain molecules that, once inside our body's cells, react with "free radicals" and remove them. Free radicals are oxygen containing molecules that are highly reactive - that is they will react with many other molecules they come in contact with. When they react with our cells and tissues, they can do grave damage, leading to ill health and disease. It's better if they react with an antioxidant first and get removed from the picture before they can do any damage. This is why it's a good idea to eat lots of foods high in antioxidants, so that you always have lots of antioxidants available when they're needed.

The information we're hearing about foods rich in antioxidants is not hype or propaganda thought up by the fruit and vegetable producers; there's good scientific evidence to back it up. It is, however, being misused by many opportunists to sell antioxidant products to consumers. Because antioxidant foods contain many different antioxidants, all of which function in their own way to rid the body of free radicals, the single best approach to getting enough of them is to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables every day. If you simply cannot tolerate vegetables, there are antioxidant supplements available to the consumer. Choose one from a reputable source and try to find one that is produced from a range of plants and foods high in antioxidants - so you get a range of antioxidant molecules.

Foods rich in antioxidants include, in general, the brightly colored fruits and vegetables: leafy greens like kale and spinach (but not iceberg lettuce), other green vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, red and yellow vegetables like tomatoes, red bell peppers, carrots and squash, and other things like beet root. Fruits that are good antioxidant foods include, again, the fruits with lots of color: pink grapefruit, berries, oranges, plums, grapes, apricots, peaches. Even the dried forms of these fruits are good sources. Two foods rich in antioxidants that have enjoyed particular attention recently are blueberries and chocolate - they apparently contain levels of antioxidants out of all proportion to the rest.

Super antioxidant foods like blueberries and chocolate come with a caveat however: they tend to relatively high in oxalic acid. Oxalic acid will bind to other valuable nutrients in the food we eat and make them unavailable during digestion. Oxalic acid is also irritating to the intestinal lining and quite toxic if large amounts are consumed. Thus, a steady diet of foods rich in antioxidants and high in oxalic acid can lead to nutritional deficiency and ill health. The key here, as in most things in life, is moderation and variety. You can enjoy average amounts of these and other foods high in antioxidants, but don't overdo it on any one thing.

A healthy balanced diet containing plenty of fruits and vegetables, with as much variety as possible, should provide ample foods rich in antioxidants and all the other nutrients essential to good health. Again, if a healthy diet is not possible for you, consider a nutritional supplement that will provide the same variety and take it as directed.

Your 5 Best Food Sources For Antioxidants

Whether your goal is to lose weight or just have a healthier way of living, foods which are rich in antioxidants is the number one ingredient that you should not miss out on. Basically, what foods rich in antioxidants do is that they stop free radicals from damaging your body. As such, it does pay to know which foods contain a high level of antioxidants so that you would know which items to pile on your grocery cart.

Let us take a look at the top foods which are your best source of antioxidants:

1. Green Tea

Instead of gulping in the dose of caffeine that you need to function properly in the morning, why don't you substitute it with green tea? Sure, coffee beans also have antioxidant content, but green tea has more. This beverage is a staple drink in most Asian countries, and for good reason. Green tea has a lot of benefits to your health which includes containing a high level of antioxidants that help fight off free radical damage in your body.

2. Berries

Almost every member of the berry family is a great source of antioxidants, but there is one particular variant which is considered to be a superfood because of its potent antioxidant content. It is none other than Acai berries which are found in the Amazonian forests of Brazil. But even if you cannot find Acai berry products in your local health stores, you can still have the dose of antioxidants that you need with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.

3. Dark Chocolates

Surprisingly enough, sinful dark chocolates should not be a guilty pleasure because they do have benefits for your health. Dark chocolates are a great source of antioxidants like Flavonols, a type of Flavonoid, Procyanidins, Epicatechins and Catechins.

4. Fruits

Other than berries, the fruits which contain a good level of antioxidants include prunes, raisins, plums, oranges, red grapes and cherries. These fruits have a high ORAC level or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity - which is a more complicated way of saying that they are rich in antioxidants.

5. Vegetables

Finally, you should pile up these veggies on your grocery cart the next time you go shopping for fresh produce: kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, Alfalfa sprouts, broccoli flowers, beets, onions, corn, eggplants and red bell peppers.

By combining these food items rich in antioxidants with complex carbohydrates and proteins, you can have a balanced diet that will lead to your having a healthy body.

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R. Drysdale is a freelance writer with more than 25 years experience as a health care professional. You can learn more about foods high in antioxidants on the AntiAging Information site.

Thomas B. Chuong is currently writing about topics related to home improvement & decor, personal fitness, and home & garden. Find out more by visiting these sites Grill, and Air Purifier.

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