
5 Antioxidant-Rich Superfoods to Add to Your Plate Now
As you age, you won’t fail to notice certain undesirable changes in your body. These include the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, and blemishes on your skin. Additionally, you will begin to suffer from more pronounced and recurring joint stiffness and aches in various parts of your body.
Although nothing can stop aging, there is a way you can delay and even prevent the emergence of its effects: increasing your daily antioxidant intake.
Antioxidants are substances that work inside and outside of body cells to protect them from the harmful effects of free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that cause irreversible damage to cell membranes and cellular structures, including one’s DNA.
When these free radicals are allowed to proliferate throughout the body, they accelerate aging. They also cause the onset of various diseases, including degenerative joint disease, heart disease, and cancer.
By eating foods rich in antioxidants every day, you protect and strengthen your cells and prevent free radicals from damaging them. You will have better health inside and out as well.
Boosting Your Antioxidant Intake
Taking the right organic supplements with antioxidants is a highly-recommended way to get more of these nutrients that your daily diet may not give you.
However, increasing your intake of antioxidants every day is not at all difficult. By adding certain superfoods in your diet, you will get more of these nutrients that fight free radicals.
Below are the top antioxidant-rich super foods that you should add to your plate every mealtime:
Salmon
- Salmon is a super-food since it is rich in protein, omega-3, fatty acids, B-vitamins, and potassium. It is also an excellent source of one of the most important antioxidants: astaxanthin.
- Astaxanthin is an antioxidant that can lower the risk of heart disease. It does so by decreasing the oxidation of LDL or the bad cholesterol and increasing HDL, the good cholesterol.
- Additionally, astaxanthin can help prevent skin damage. It protects your skin from UVA rays and prevents wrinkles. As a result, they thwart premature aging and enable you to look younger.
- Finally, this antioxidant also works with omega-3 fatty acids content of the salmon to protect the brain and nervous system from inflammation.
- Wild salmon is the best source of astaxanthin. Aim to eat at least six ounces of this fish every week to get its health benefits.
Organ Meats
- If you are not fond of eating organ meats such as heart, liver, and kidney, it’s time you develop a taste for these superfoods. They are amazing sources of iron, protein, vitamins A, B6 and B12, niacin, riboflavin, and zinc.
- Organ meats are also rich in CoQ10, another potent antioxidant. This substance protects all cell membranes from free radicals. Additionally, it helps facilitate cell communication, mitochondrial function, and ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) formation.
- CoQ10 deficiency is associated with neurodegenerative, muscular and cardiac diseases and other types of chronic diseases.
- Lastly, this antioxidant can help keep your skin young by decreasing the depth of wrinkles and working with other antioxidants to reduce oxidative damage caused by UV rays.
- Aside from organ meats, you can get CoQ10 from other fatty fish such as herring, mackerel, and sardines.
- Organ meats are also rich in alpha-lipoic acid or ALA, an antioxidant that has anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting effects. It helps prevent premature aging as well.
Green Leafy Vegetables
Adding veggies in your plate every mealtime is an excellent way of ensuring your body gets plenty of nutrients, including antioxidants, every day.
Some of the best green leafy vegetables you should have in your daily diet are:
- Kale
The most well-known superfood, kale is rich in vitamins A, K, and B vitamins, calcium, copper, and potassium.
In terms of antioxidants, kale contains vitamin C, beta carotene, flavonoids, polyphenols, kaempferol, and quercetin. These substances have anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-cancer, heart-protecting effects.
- Spinach
Spinach contains high amounts of vitamins A, C, K1, calcium, folic acid, and iron. It is also rich in fiber.
Additionally, this veggie is an excellent source of lutein and zeaxanthin. These are two antioxidants that can help protect your eyes from UV light and combat damage that free radicals can cause over time. It is also rich in beta carotene.
- Collard greens
This type of green leafy vegetable is rich in protein, calcium, and fiber.
Moreover, collard greens contain ALA. Aside from its anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting effects, this antioxidant can offer various health benefits to patients with type 2 diabetes. I have severe back pain, which is though not regular. On some days, I can’t stand it and have no other way out than to take a painkiller tablet. My doctor gave me https://hesca.net/tramadol/ Tramadol for soothing pain sensations. It works within an hour and keeps me out of pain for quite a while. Still, I limit its use to a minimum because I’m really afraid of becoming an addict. This substance helps lower glucose levels, increase insulin sensitivity, and prevent damage caused by oxidative stress.
Avocado
- This fruit is one of the top superfoods around. It is an incredible source of vitamins C, B5, B6, and K. It is also rich in healthy fats, fiber, folate, and potassium.
- By adding avocado to your daily diet, you can maintain a healthy weight, lower blood sugar spikes, and reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
- Avocados also contain antioxidants that help improve and maintain eye health. These include lutein and zeaxanthin; substances can lower the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration.
- Additionally, avocados are rich in vitamin E, another vital antioxidant. It protects your skin from damage and aging caused by free radicals brought about by UV exposure.
Dark Chocolate
- Finally, for dessert, you can munch on dark chocolate – one of thebest keto sweets you can indulge in daily.
- Dark chocolates are excellent sources of flavonoids. These are antioxidants that protect your brain from inflammation and oxidation. As a result, they support memory, learning, and cognitive function.
- Dark chocolates, in particular, are rich in fisetin and resveratrol. These two types of antioxidants have anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties. They can also help protect against stroke, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases, and depression.
- To get the health benefits of dark chocolate, eat only one to two ounces or 30 to 60 grams per day.
- By loading your plate with the superfoods above, you will experience all the health benefits antioxidants can give to your body.
About the Author:
Dave Asprey is the creator of the widely popular Bulletproof Coffee, host of the #1 health podcast, Bulletproof Radio, and author of the New York Times bestselling book, “The Bulletproof Diet.” Through his work, the Silicon Valley investor and technology entrepreneur provides information, techniques and keys to taking control of and improving your biochemistry, your body and your mind so they work in unison, helping you execute at levels far beyond what you’d expect, without burning out, getting sick, or allowing stress to control your decisions.
