Timeless Aging: Thie Miracle of Antioxidants

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Everyone wants to grow old gracefully, at least everyone I know.  If you are leaning towards a natural way of maintaining your healthy glow, look no further than the types of foods that you eat and the miracle ingredient they contain. Antioxidants!

Antioxidants have graced the pages of magazines, medical journals and every product from hand cream to supplement pills. But what are they and what can they do to keep you looking and feeling your best?

To explain this, I have to go back to the beginning. To produce energy, create more cells and repair damaged ones, your body goes through a process called cellular metabolism. One of the by-products of cellular metabolism are free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that damage the body.

The havoc they reak is both visible (thinner skin wrinkles and brittle bones) and invisible (cancer, diabetes, arthritis and neurological deficiencies). Free radicals can also enter your body from outside sources like cigarette smoke, radiation and the sun’s UV rays.

The more free radicals you have, the greater the damage that can be done. However, antioxidants have been shown to be of great help in addressing this damage. Antioxidant substances combine with free radicals and neutralize them, making them no longer harmful.

Antioxidants are not produced by the body, so to get the benefit of these power-packed substances you must ingest them. Fortunately, you don’t have to look any further than your local farmer’s market or produce aisle in the grocery store.

Get your antioxidants here

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

Vitamin A: Liver, paprika, sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, dark leafy greens

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

Lutein: Kale; Turnip greens, Collards, Spinach, Broccoli, Corn Lettuce (raw cos or romaine)

Lycopene: Tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon, and guava.

Beta-carotene: 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.

There are several different yet simple ways to start incorporating the above vegetables and fruit into your familiar and favorite meals. You can begin your day with a 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, have a vegetable salad with lunch and an apple for an afternoon snack. Include a vegetable with dinner and your set. My personal favorites are fruit smoothies and green drinks.

Putting the principle into practice

To make it easier, you might get in the habit of keeping fruits and vegetables visible and easily accessible – you’ll tend to eat them more that way. Store cut and cleaned produce at eye-level in the refrigerator, or keep a big colorful bowl of fruit on the table. Eliminating some of the preparatory work is another way of setting yourself up for success.

Take care of yourself and take care of your body. Food does more than stave off hunger, it helps you to live well and live longer.

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Related posts:

1. Super Foods for a Super You
2. What’s All the Buzz about Eating Raw

Tagged as: Living Well