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.
Common sense tells us that since most antioxidants are well known vitamins, the best source for them is fruits and vegetables. This is true, even though not all veggies are the same in this respect. So if you want to make sure that your antioxidant intake is enough, you should chose vegetables and fruits that are high in antioxidants.
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Best sources of natural antioxidants
Usually you can judge how much antioxidants a particular fruit or vegetable has by its color. Brighter the color, more useful vitamins you will get from eating it. Berries are the leaders when it comes to antioxidants - blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, cranberry and blueberry are all high in flavonoids. Flavonoids successfully neutralise the damage free radicals can do to your health including effect of peroxyl radicals, superoxide radicals, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radicals, and singlet oxygen.
Healthy food doesn't have to be dull; you can make delicious deserts from berries. Adding sugar doesn't decrease berries antioxidant properties. However, adding milk, cream or any other milk product does. Apparently milk minimizes the effect of natural antioxidants. So keep this in mind when preparing berry deserts.
Oranges, grapefruits and other citruses are another popular source of antioxidant vitamins. If you prefer drinking fruit juice rather than eating oranges, chose freshly squeezed juices.
Other natural antioxidant sources
Not all antioxidants are in fruits and vegetables. Green tea is a great source of flavonoids. So if you are a tea lover, chose green varieties.
Another unusual source of antioxidants is coffee. Not only it helps you to wake up on a cold, slow morning, but it provides your body with antioxidants. According to a study by researchers at the University of Scranton, coffee is a leading source of antioxidants for Americans. Decaf coffee just as good antioxidant source as ordinary coffee, but you should remember - no milk.
Dark chocolate also contain antioxidants. So as you can see, sometimes foods we all love anyway, can bring great benefits to your health.
Easy ways to include antioxidants in your diet
Teach yourself to eat fruits as snacks, instead of common junk snacks. Dry fruits are good natural source of antioxidants, dates and prunes being the leaders. But of course, if you are watching your weight you have to be careful, because all dry fruits are high on sugar as well.
Garnish like parsley, coriander and dill are excellent antioxidant sources. Add them to your meals. Most spices are also high in antioxidants, so not only they give your food rich flavor, but they also supply vitamins.
Stir fry is a preferred method of cooking, to preserve antioxidants in vegetables. Most vitamins are easily destroyed by heat, so less you cook your dish; the better it is for you.
Natural antioxidants can bring you many health benefits. It is now proven that regular consumption of antioxidant foods works as cancer prevention. Also antioxidants are great anti-aging agents.
