Antioxidant superfoods are a grouping of various food groups that have the unique ability to stop bodily damage caused by free oxidizing radicals. Free radicals occur during normal metabolic processes and are accelerated when diseases and other stresses on the body are present.
Environmental contaminants, smoking, highly-processed foods, and UV radiation are all external sources of free radical creation.
Free radicals are very unstable molecules that attack fatty acids, protein, and DNA, mutating them and creating more free radicals in the process. This creates a chain reaction of destruction that could lead to heart disease, cancers, dementia, and macular degeneration. These dangerous molecules have also been theorized to be a key component in the aging process.
Antioxidants act a firewall, disarming the free radical of its destructive properties, and mitigating the damage. Incorporating antioxidant superfoods in your healthy diet plan is the best way to increase your antioxidant potential to fight off free radical formation.
Several scoring systems have been developed to measure the antioxidant potential in foods. The most comprehensive is the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, or ORAC and was developed with research from Tufts University located in Boston, Massachusetts. We have separated the antioxidant superfoods into three main categories: produce, edible seeds, and herb/spices.
Each of the values is based on a 100 gram serving. It is extremely important to understand this consideration. 100 grams measures weight, not volume or piece size which are the casual measurements of food.
For example, looking strictly at the numbers, it appears spices and herbs are the superior antioxidant superfoods. However, to eat 100 grams of any spice or herb would not only be difficult, but also ill-advised. On the other hand, 1 cup of any berry would be over 100 grams and is very manageable.
In general, vegetables and fruits are possess the greatest quantity of antioxidant potential among all food groups, and is consistent with why they rank at the top of our Daily Food Guide.
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One word of advice: Don't live by the numbers. In fact, the USDA has recently retracted its endorsement of this system because food manufacturers have manipulated the numbers to deceive customers and create inconsistency.
We want to empower you with a list of foods in various groups that are the best-of-the-best so you can make good choices at the market and know which are antioxidant superfoods.
**As always, feel free to use the navigation below to backtrack and get an overview of Healthy Diet Mentor and our plan to get you on your way to a lifelong healthy diet.