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Monday, February 23, 2015

The Power of Antioxidants

Free radicals are the culprits which work to diminish our health, say the medical experts who profess the power of antioxidants and the many benefits we receive by consuming foods on a daily basis which are high in antioxidants..

Apart from comparing "free radicals” to the ones who are unfortunately in control of the highest offices in our government, who I think are also working to diminish our health, the ones I speak of here are the kinds which invade our bodies and stresses the oxidation process in our cells.

That, the experts say, is the reason why we don’t live as long as we could live, and the reason for a long list of illnesses and diseases which are driving us to an early grave.

Not to fret. We can certainly do something about these menacing malefactors.

First, we can vote out the political free radicals in the next election; secondly, we can destroy the ones which are causing havoc to our bodies by simply eating the right kinds of foods.

However, the question is how much of the right foods do we need to eat to get the biggest antioxidant bang for our buck?

USDA Releases List of Top Antioxidant Foods

Here is a list of common foods which are high in antioxidants:



List of 20 Best Foods High in Antioxidants (In the list below, the foods antioxidant power is given as per their serving sizes.)

Scientists at the USDA have developed a rating scale that measures the antioxidant content of various natural plant foods. The scale is called ORAC, which stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.

 1.   Beans/Legumes, Red Beans (dried) - Half cup = 13,727
 2.   Fruit, Wild Blueberry - 1 cup = 13,427
 3.   Beans, Red Kidney Beans (dried) - Half cup = 13,259
 4.   Beans/Legumes, Pinto Beans - Half cup = 11,864
 5.   Fruit, Blueberry  - 1 cup = 9,019
 6.   Fruit, Cranberry - 1 cup (whole) = 8,983
 7.   Vegetable, Artichoke (cooked) - 1 cup (hearts) = 7,904
 8.   Fruit, Blackberry - 1 cup = 7,701
 9.   Fruit, Prune - Half cup = 7,291
10.  Fruit, Raspberry - 1 cup = 6,058
11.  Fruit, Strawberry - 1 cup = 5,938
12.  Fruit, Red Delicious Apple - One = 5,900
13.  Fruit, Granny Smith Apple - One = 5,381
14.  Nut, Pecan - 1 ounce = 5,095
15.  Fruit, Sweet Cherry - 1 cup = 4,873
16.  Fruit, Black Plum - One = 4,844
17. Vegetable, Russet Potato (cooked) - One = 4,649
18.  Beans/Legumes, Black Beans (dried) - Half cup = 4,181
19.  Fruit, Plum - One = 4,118
20.  Fruit, Gala Apple - One = 3,903
* USDA recommends consuming foods containing at least 3,000 ORAC units a day.

Bon Appetite!
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1 comment:

  1. Jacques, this is a great list of foods. I especially appreciate the ORAC values listed with them.

    Roger
    antioxidants-made-simple.com

    ReplyDelete

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