Antioxidant Rich Foods

Organic fresh fruits and vegetables are one of the best sources of antioxidants, helping to deter the negative effects of free radicals in your body.

Free radicals are the “the bad guys”. These unstable molecules enter your body just looking for a fight. They wreak havoc on cells and have been implicated in all kinds of crimes against your good health like arthritis, premature aging, cataracts even heart disease and cancer.

Antioxidants are “good guys” like FBI agents whose job is to keep those delinquent free radicals on the run. But the good agents need your help. Once you are of voting age your body stops producing enough antioxidants. To aid the good-guy agents, you need to ingest fresh fruits and vegetables and their organic versions turn out to be the best source of antioxidants.

As an example, broccoli, a cruciferous vegetable, is thought to contain more cancer-preventative nutrients than any other plant. It does this by aiding the liver’s production of Phase II detoxification enzymes which protect against chemical carcinogens, promoting scavenging of the nasty free radicals. Broccoli sprouts contain 30-50 times more of these protective chemicals than are found in mature broccoli plants. (Source: E. Wagner, “What’s Missing from Multi-Vitamin Supplements?”, ND-LE Magazine, Jan. 2005)

Choose fruits and vegetables with the intense colors of dark green, yellow and orange such as cantaloupe, carrots or kiwi. Don't forget to include onions and garlic too. Whether eaten raw or cooked, you will capture the power of these potent players in your body. For example, when you eat spinach, you get the whole package, including the fiber, plus all of the substances we know to be beneficial and probably some we don't know about yet.

10 foods loaded with antioxidants and phytochemicals: