FOOD ISSUES

ANTIOXIDANT

Information: food issues. Antioxidants are powerful substances that can neutralize free radicals before they damage your body's cells. Free radicals are highly reactive chemical substances that travel around in the body and cause damage to your cells.

Many experts, in fact, believe free radical damage is one of the most prominent causes of devastating diseases that are responsible for killing many people in the Western world, such as cardiovascular disease, which can manifest as heart attacks, and cancer. Indeed, the aging process itself has been postulated by some experts as the result of free radical damage.

Foods high in antioxidants

Tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and peppers are all excellent choices. The key is to focus on eating those fruits and vegetables that have rich hues of color. These are high in what are known as phytonutrients.

Phytonutrients are nutrients concentrated in the skins of many vegetables and fruits, and are responsible for not just their color, but scent, and flavor as well. Phytonutrients are the best antioxidant foods that exist in nature.

Clinical trials are now revealing that phytonutrients can enhance the strength of the immune system, and may play a role in preventing certain cancers.

Organic Fruits and Vegetables

One of the main problems with mass commercialized fruits and veggies nowadays is that they are produced using chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Organically grown fruits and veggies are foods high in antioxidants - antioxidant foods that have a higher concentration than their mass commercialized counterparts.

Antioxidant Food Sources

• Vitamin C

Citrus fruits and their juices, berries, dark green vegetables (spinach, asparagus, green peppers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, watercress, other greens), red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and tomato juice, pineapple, cantaloupe, mangos, papaya and guava.

• Vitamin E

Vegetable oils such as olive, soybean, corn, cottonseed and safflower, nuts and nut butters, seeds, whole grains, wheat, wheat germ, brown rice, oatmeal, soybeans, sweet potatoes, legumes (beans, lentils, split peas) and dark leafy green vegetables.

• Selenium

Brazil nuts, brewer's yeast, oatmeal, brown rice, chicken, eggs, dairy products, garlic, molasses, onions, salmon, seafood, tuna, wheat germ, whole grains, most vegetables.

• Beta Carotene

Variety of dark orange, red, yellow and green vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, kale, spinach, sweet potatoes, carrots, red and yellow peppers, apricots, cantaloupe and mangos.

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