The Benefits of Antioxidants

Foods High in Antioxidants, Importance of Antioxidants Foods

By: Peter hutch

 Antioxidants neutralize free radicals and stop them from impairing our cells. Free radicals are highly reactive chemical substances that can cause cellular damage if left unchecked, leading to premature aging and disease.

Are you looking for best sources of natural antioxidants and how to work them best into your diet? With so many dietary supplements around it seems that all you need to do to stay healthy is to take several of these pills a day. Don't let the advertisement mislead you. Antioxidants are extremely important to our health, but no supplement can beat antioxidants we get naturally from food.

Antioxidants are substances that may protect cells from damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Free radicals come from a variety of sources such as air pollutants and cigarette smoke. Examples of antioxidants include Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, beta carotene, selenium and lycopene.

Even though a lot of people don't actually realize it, a lot of antioxidant foods that we consume are from vegetables. Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, and peppers are all excellent choices with some great benefits for your body. When consuming vegetables, you should always go for those that are rich in color, as they are high in what is known as phytonutrients.

Antioxidants can be found in a number of different foods or can likewise be taken in supplements and it can be found in tea. Both black tea and green tea has antioxidants that can be beneficial to the body by drinking a cup of tea at anytime of the day.

Foods high in antioxidants include specific fruits and vegetables - green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale delivering significant amounts of the antioxidant lutein; tomatoes and tomato products carrying the antioxidant lycopene; fruits such as blueberries and other berries, kiwi, prunes, and pink grapefruit; vegetables rich in the antioxidant beta-carotene including carrots and sweet potatoes; and foods high in antioxidants such as Vitamins A, C, and E.

Other delicious tasting and helpful antioxidant foods would include foods such as watermelon, spinach, apricots, pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes and nuts. One major benefit in taking supplements is that you do not have to worry about consuming many of the added chemicals that can be found in a variety of foods. You also will not have to worry about a high calorie intake or a high consumption of sugars.

Antioxidant rich foods are nature's way of guiding us to a healthy life. Fresh fruits and vegetables should form an important part of our lives. It is not a question of whether we like them or not, it is a question of how we have evolved over thousands of years. It has only been in the last hundred years or so that we have changed our diets drastically; prior to that we had no option but to feed ourselves with natural foods .

                       Read more:Getting a Handle on Antioxidants

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