Antioxidants are necessary if you want to increase your health. Luckily many of the foods that you can find at the supermarket produce aisle, your local health food store and farmer’s market are laden with wholesome antioxidants.
When our bodies utilize oxygen in the course of life, oxygen free radicals are created. A free radical is really a molecule that is missing one or more electrons. This makes it tremendously unstable and destructive to our bodies. Free radicals create inflammation, which is a cause of many ailments from heart disease to wrinkles. An antioxidant reduces inflammation by donating the absent electron thus stabilizing the molecule. Antioxidants are important for reducing inflammation.
The ORAC or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity scale is the way that antioxidant ability in food is calculated. The antioxidants from the food are tested to see how well it is able to neutralize free radicals in a test tube. It is then assigned a number and the higher the number the higher the antioxidant capacity of the food.
Certain spices rank the very uppermost on the ORAC scale but the two top foods are the acai berry from the rainforests of Brazil and dried, unsweetened cocoa. Dark chocolate with 60 to 70% pure cocoa is one of the uppermost antioxidant foods that you can consume.
The acai berry is also yummy, having been described as tasting somewhat reminiscent of a berry dipped in dark chocolate. It is accessible in juices, smoothie mixes and even tablets and capsules. It has only been accessible all over the world within the past few years, mostly because it is exceptionally fragile and it is only lately that processing methods have advanced to the extent that this little berry can be accessible outside Brazil.
A further food that is pleasant and pleasing but also very high in antioxidants is red wine. Red wine is high in a compound called anthocyanins, which is actually the pigment that produces the deep dark colors of nature, including the red grapes, deep blue blueberries, and the blackish purple of blackberries. Red wine is helpful in moderate amounts as even though there are enormous health advantages with alcohol, there is also the hazard of serious tribulations caused by over-consumption. Nevertheless, if you can ration yourself to one wineglass of wine a day it can be a satisfying way to get a respectable quantity of antioxidants.
Amazingly, the acai berry contains as much as 10 to 30 times the quantity of anthocyanins as red wine. Anthocyanins have been demonstrated to be valuable for the avoidance of cardiovascular diseases. This antioxidant may even be helpful for weight loss, as indicated in preliminary studies involving laboratory mice.
You can get acai berries in delicious juices, smoothie mixes and even capsules and pills. Add in an ounce of dark chocolate every day, and unwind with one glass of red wine, daily and you have received a good amount of healthful antioxidants in a enjoyable and pleasurable manner.
While it is not a miracle food acai berries can still be an incredible addition to your healthy diet. The nutrients within this amazing berry can protect your body from damage from free radicals, which in turn will help prevent diseases and it will help your weight loss efforts because of the superior nutritional advantages.