Antioxidants, The Weight Loss Tip For Dallas

With all their wonderful benefits, antioxidants are all the rage today and justifiably so. Free radicals, which can cause cell damage and ultimately lead to diseases of the heart or cancer, can be neutralized by antioxidants. Blueberries are the most popular antioxidant today. The most popular and healthy choice today to get your antioxidants is a mixture of freshly squeezed blueberries, cranberries and even pomegranates. In our rush to embrace antioxidants, we have ignored some very important high-antioxidant foods that may already be in our cupboards. Instead of the beloved wild blueberry try the small red bean!

Foods high in antioxidants are important because they can help to neutralize unstable forms of oxygen molecules in the body known as free radicals.

An atom with an odd number of electrons in its outer ring is known as a free radical. Since electrons have a very strong tendency to exist in a paired rather than an unpaired state, free radicals indiscriminately pick up electrons from other atoms, which in turn convert those other atoms into secondary free radicals, thus setting up a chain reaction, which can cause substantial biological damage. In short, free radicals are very bad. There are many kinds of free radicals, which we are exposed to everyday, for example - pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke, and herbicides, just to name a few.

The truth is, there are many common foods high in antioxidants and you should not just restrict yourself to one particular food source. Another weight loss tip would be to "eat your colors." This means that different foods are from different color families and each color contains different types of antioxidants and benefits. Peaches and nectarines, belonging in the yellow-orange color family, help offer an immune system boost. The purple-red color family of foods (pomegranates, plums, berries) help reduce inflammation. To reap the full benefits of antioxidants it is important to eat foods from all color groups.

You can eat food high in antioxidants (by eating them raw, cooking them, or juicing them yourself) without having to pay a high price for the flavor of the month antioxidant juices found in grocery stores everywhere.

Give your blueberries some company at the dinner table. Invite some beans, spinach, potatoes, and artichoke hearts onto your plate tonight and enjoy your antioxidants and your weight loss tip of the day!