Antioxidants - Believe the Hype

If you want to help your body fight off cancer, consume lots of brightly colored fruits and vegetables. If you're interesting in preventing chronic heart disease, go grab a whole grain bagel. If you are looking to reduce your chances of developing diabetes, consider making a slow-cooked tomato sauce (even better, pour it over whole wheat pasta). Do you love dark chocolate and enjoy a glass of red wine? Go ahead and indulge yourself – they will actually improve your health. All of these amazing foods will help your body achieve a state of greater wellness, thanks to power of antioxidants.

Antioxidants are amazing nutrients in certain foods that can slow or stop oxidative damage to our body's cells. You can compare oxidative cell damage in the body to the formation of rust on a car. When iron is exposed to oxygen and water it corrodes. The free-radical theory of aging tells us that, as we age, cells are damaged by free radicals over time. If you've occasionally flipped through health magazines you may have seen the phrase, "fights free-radicals." However, many people don't know what a free-radical is and why it's worth fighting. The website www.wisegeek.com gives us the following definition, "Free radicals are organic molecules responsible for aging, tissue damage, and possibly some diseases. These molecules are very unstable, therefore they look to bond with other molecules, destroying their vigor and perpetuating the detrimental process." Free-radicals can destroy cells and cause significant damage to your health. They've been linked to diabetes, macular degeneration, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and aging prematurely. Ingesting foods with antioxidants and taking supplements will enable you to protect yourself and build your immune system, all while stimulating your palate. Antioxidants are found in fruits like grapes, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, lime, cranberries, tomatoes and peaches. They are in dark, leafy vegetables and also green peppers, carrots, squash and broccoli. Antioxidants are in nuts, seeds, whole grains and soy. You can even find them in dark chocolate. A list of the top twenty vegetables, fruits and nuts with antioxidants can be read at: http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/supplements/a/antioxidants.htm. When it comes to your health, antioxidants are one trend you really should follow.