Posted on April 22nd, 2016

We have all probably heard at some point that we need antioxidants, but why?

Antioxidants fight off oxidative stress and protect our bodies from free radicals on a cellular level. Oxidative stress comes from our environment through factors such as; pollution, foods that contain harmful substances, stress and many other things. When our cells become damaged our immune system becomes compromised exposing us to infections and various degenerative diseases including heart disease and cancers. Therefore to prevent our tissues from breaking down we need to load up on antioxidants to fight against oxidative stress.

As we are unable to prevent ourselves from becoming exposed to free radicals, there are things that we can do to combat our exposure.

Eating a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables are the easiest and cheapest way to get antioxidants, and the rich and bright coloured ones are loaded! It is the pigments that turn a fruit or vegetable into their rich or bright colour that is essential.

Leafy green vegetables (i.e. kale, spinach, broccoli and silverbeet) are great, along with other vegetables including sweet potato, beetroot and carrots. Fruits are best eaten seasonally to get the best range of antioxidants. Great examples include; berries, mangoes, dragon fruit, passionfruit, red grapes, pineapple and paw paw.

To increase your antioxidant intake further there are foods labelled ‘superfoods’ such as; goji berries, macqui berries and camu camu powder just to name a few that are very rich sources of antioxidants. There are also supplements such as glutathione which is a potent antioxidant that will really boost your intake. Often these foods and supplements are more expensive and not readily available for all people.

As we continue to age, the more antioxidants we require. However you choose to get your antioxidants does not matter as long as you get them!

Happy Life = Healthy Life