Antioxidents are the key to good health.

We use color to brighten and accentuate our homes, change our hair color to define who we are, dress in different colored clothing to express our personalities and instinctively enrich our children’s lives with gifts and toys designed to stimulate and energize or calm and soothe. In a myriad of ways color makes us who we are. So why not our food? If the idea of eating a plateful of vegetables and fruit leaves you uninspired, you may be depriving your body of essential elements it needs to stay healthy. The latest research suggests that eating an array of brightly colored foods not only adds pizzazz to your plate but will leave you healthier and protect you from many diseases and illnesses too. This is because they contain all the antioxidants we need to stay healthy. So what are antioxidants and how do they keep us healthy?

You may have heard that eating several helpings of fruit and vegetables a day is good for you. You know these foods contain health-giving vitamins and minerals that make us healthier, more energetic and prevent illness. But did you know that combining as many colorful fruits and vegetables in your diet can protect you from cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Just what is in these power packed treasures from nature? Could it be that a simple change in diet could help us live longer?

Why We Should Be Eating In Technicolor

We have come a long way from the days when our mothers urged us eat all our carrots because they were good for our eyes, but mom may have had the inside track on this one. From the juicy reds of tomatoes and apples to the crisp greens of spinach and lettuce our foods may provide the answer to keeping our bodies healthier. Foods aren’t colored the way they are simply to look attractive. Scientists have now proved the link between the colorful pigments found in fruits and vegetable and our basic health.

The red, orange, yellow, purple, blue and green pigments found in food are housed in carotenoids and flavonoids. These are powerful antioxidants that have the ability to absorb toxins in our bodies. These ‘plant doctors’ have the power to boost your immune system, lower your risk of heart disease and cancer and fight the free radicals that cause aging and degeneration of the body.

Hundreds of carotenoids have been identified in our foods but the most important are: alpha and beta carotene, lycopene, glucosinolates, anthocyanins, zeaxanthin and lutein. These little power-houses protect our hearts, stomach, eyes, breasts and prostate gland from the harm they are exposed to by pollution, smoking, drinking and bacterial and viral infections.

Antioxidents are the key to good health.

Check your diet against the list below to find out if you are getting enough of what you need every day.

Orange:

Oranges, carrots, mangoes and pumpkins contain beta-carotene and cryptoxanthin.

Why We Need Them:

These cancer fighters and immune system boosters are antioxidant compounds that protect us against viral infections such as colds, flu, cystitis and skin conditions like acne. They lower the blood cholesterol and convert bad cholesterol into Vitamin A. This vitamin is important because it helps the body to produce the anti-bacterial enzyme lysozyme.

Tips For Eating: Add oranges to salads or meat dishes or squeeze as a juice. Eat carrots raw or lightly cooked or blend with orange juice for a breakfast drink.

Red:

Tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon all contain lycopene.

Why We Need It:

Lycopenes are antioxidants that protect us against cancers of the digestive tract, stomach, lungs and prostate gland. It also helps to stop the formation of LDL cholesterol low density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad cholesterol and thus is instrumental in protecting us from heart disease. One European study found that men who consumed food rich in lycopene were 50 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack when compared to those who didn’t.

Tips for Eating:

Add tomatoes to all your meat dishes, pasta and pizza sauces, or squeezes them to make tomato juice. Eat grapefruit and watermelons for breakfast or in fruit salads.

Purple:

Blackberries, mulberries, raisins, red grapes and red wine contain flavonoids.

Why We Need Them:

Flavonoids are antioxidants that help to prevent the formation of LDL which causes the build up of fatty deposits in your arteries. They maintain the blood vessels and keep them clear and healthy.

Tips for Eating:

Add a handful of raisins to meat dishes, deserts and salads and wash it all down with a glass of red wine.

Green:

Spinach, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts all contain glucosinolates and isothiocyanates.

Why We Need Them:

Glucosinolates are antioxidants that fight cancer of the breast and colon and break down to form isothiocyanates, which cause pre-cancerous cells to destroy themselves. They also may reduce the risk of developing diabetes. It is these substances that give broccoli and sprouts their distinctive smell.

Antioxidents are the key to good health.

Tips for Eating:

Serve with meat dishes or raw in salads. Delicious chopped up and stir fried.

Yellow:

Bananas, corn, yellow peppers, spinach and collard contain lutein and zeaxanthin.

Why We Need Them:

To help prevent cataracts and macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in older people. These antioxidants help to filter out the sun’s harmful rays and stop free radicals from doing damage to your retina. They also protect the skin from sun damage and smoking.

Tips for eating:

Eat corn on the cob, creamed or in soups, add bananas to baking or deserts and eat peppers in stir fries or salads.

Blue:

Blueberries and dark cherries contain anthocyanins.

Why We Need Them:

Anthocyanins protect our bodies’ cells from harmful carcinogens that cause cancerous changes in our cells and tissues. According to experts blueberries contain more age-preserving, disease fighting antioxidants than any other fruit or vegetable. Along with Vitamin C and E they keep our brains’ nerve cells from degenerating. Memory loss and disorientation of Alzheimer’s disease as well as the more general effects of ageing are slowed down.

Tips for eating:

Boil berries or cherries in a cup of sugar water and the juice is dark and serve with ice cream or yoghurt, or bake into muffins.

However you decide to enjoy them, make the choice today to start using nature’s gifts as protection against the ravages of a hectic lifestyle. Feel healthier, have more energy and live longer by making foods rich in antioxidants a part of your diet today. Antioxidants will help you to feel alive and more importantly – stay alive!