Natural Antioxident Rich Diet

One very obvious question that comes to mind is if free radicals and oxidants are so prevailing in the body, then why everyone isn’t falling apart. The answer is the natural antioxidants.

Your cells have their own defense system to fight off these free radicals. Scientists have reported evidence suggesting that certain vitamins and specially vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene can enhance body’s ability to fight these radical monsters and therefore prevent oxidation. These are a list of the best antioxidants.

Vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids (including beta carotene) and the mineral selenium are all powerful natural oxidants found in food.

But look at the problem in getting natural antioxidants to your body from vitamin C, E and selenium.

• Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin and most of the vitamin C in the diet (90%) comes from fruits and vegetables. But being a water soluble vitamin, cooking can destroy vitamin C in food.

• Vitamin E is fat. As vitamin W is found in oils, people following a low fat diet may not get enough.

• The amount of selenium found in food is directly related to the amount of selenium found in the soil in which food was grown.

So it becomes essential for us to get natural antioxidants from natural food and fruits high in antioxidants.

Vegetables and fruits high in antioxidants:

Red, yellow, orange and leafy green vegetables and fruits are rich source of beta carotene.

This includes

Carrots, apricots, cantaloupe, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin.

Vitamin E, another antioxidant is richly found in

Peanut butter, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and margarine, avocado, salad dressings.

Vitamin C rich foods that are antioxidants:

Peppers, tomatoes, citrus fruits and juices, berries, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, potatoes, mango, papaya.

It is enough for a normal person to get all the natural antioxidants from the food sources. Antioxidant supplementation may help people dealing with a lot of stress, people on a low fat diet, smokers, older adults, and dieters limiting their calories to 1200 per day or less, people with a family history of heart disease or cancer