Antioxidants From Highly Colored Fruits and Veggies

Antioxidants From Highly Colored Fruits and Veggies

By Connie Hertz

 

To increase our antioxidants, the good guys, that protect our bodies from free radical damage ( free radical’s are what rust out a car, and we don’t want our bodies “rusted out”!), we need to increase the amount of highly colored fruits and veggies in our diets, daily!

 

 “The amount of antioxidants in your body is directly proportional to how long you will live.”
– Dr. Richard Cutler, former Director of the National Institute of Aging, Washington

 

This is a big statement to make, don’t you think?  Dr. Richard Cutler certainly has the credentials, as an expert in this field!

You may want to pay closer attention to the amount of antioxidants you consume daily!

 

The smoothie recipe I gave last week in my May 1st article, is high in antioxidants. Making  smoothies or juicing, with many different fruits and veggies is a great way to increase our intake daily.

 

I have been testing people with my antioxidant scanner, the Pharmanex Bio Photonic Scanner, a Nobel Prize winning device, for over 8 years.  This device is non-invasive, and the results are back in just 90 seconds. Dr. Oz had it on his show over a year ago in relation to the importance of antioxidants and cancer.  Here’s the short clip of the scanner on Dr. Oz:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cco0gevk5RI

 

Contact me if you would like to get your antioxidant score, using the same Pharmanex Bio Photonic Scanner!

 

 

 

As a rule of thumb, the brighter and more deeply colored fruits and vegetables contain higher levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Fruits and vegetables are generally low in calories and high in fibers (both soluble and insoluble). Pay attention to preparation, however. A deep-fried sweet potato is in the same category as a deep-fried onion ring.

 

Benefits of fruits and vegetables:

Vegetables: Green-yellow-orange vegetables are sources of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, beta-carotene, vitamin B-complex, vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin K.

 

Dark leafy greens: Greens such as kale and spinach contain calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc and vitamins A, C and E.

 

Cruciferous vegetables: These vegetables are members of the cabbage family and include broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and cabbage. An October 1996 article published by the ADA stated that 70 percent of studies reviewed showed a correlation between increased consumption of cruciferous vegetables and protection against cancer.

 

Root vegetables: Some examples of root vegetables are carrots, beets, sweet potatoes or yams, radishes, parsnips, ginger and onions.

 

Fruit: Fruits provide fiber, vitamins and antioxidants.

 

Blue fruits: Fruits such as blueberries, blackberries, black grapes, mulberries, acai berries and chokecherries contain a polyphenolic compound called anthocyanins. This flavonoid offers potent antioxidant properties.

 

Olives: Olive oil is a preferable source of fat in comparison to vegetable oils, hydrogenated vegetable oils and animal fats. Olive oil is really just a cold-pressed fruit juice. Olive oil had a positive effect on blood cholesterol, and has been associated with cardio-protective properties.

 

 

Carotenes/carotenoids are very important to the antioxidant family. They are our first line of defense against free radicals, sacrificing themselves first to protect the other vitamins.

 

Get carotenes through orange vegetables and fruits, like squash, carrots,  sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, and bell peppers.

 

The other carotenoids – the ones that don’t convert to vitamin A, like  lutein, lycopene, and zeaxanthin – appear to be helpful. Both lutein and  zeaxanthin accumulate in the retinas of our eyes, where they seem to  play major roles. The more lutein and zeaxanthin you eat, the more it  accumulates in your retina (although this is most  pronounced in patients with low baseline pigment levels). Low dietary  intake of lutein and zeaxanthin are associated with elevated incidences of age-related macular degeneration, and  a similar  relationship was found for cataracts.

 

Get lutein and zeaxanthin through spinach, kale (what doesn’t kale have?),  dandelion greens, chard, collards, romaine lettuce, paprika, and turnip  greens.

 

Lycopene does some cool stuff, too. It reduces lipid peroxidation in people with heart disease, as  well as protects  the skin against UV-related damage from the sun. There’s also a lot  of research into the effect of lycopene intake on cancer.

 

The best sources of lycopene are cooked tomato products, like tomato  paste or sauce, especially cooked with  fat (but not sunflower  oil!), but lower levels can be attained through raw tomatoes, pink grapefruit,  pink guava, and watermelon.

 

 

The absolute best source, however, is gac, a  Vietnamese fruit that beats tomatoes by 70-fold. It also contains high levels of  other carotenoids, all of which are bound by long chain fats, making them even  more bioavailable.

 

Anyone ever try gac?

 

My company, Pharmanex, has a juice drink called g3, that gives me/you , in just 2 oz per day, 76 times the amount of lycopene than tomatoes.  The Gac Fruit is know as “the Fruit From Heaven”.  It enhances longevity and increases energy. In Southeast Aisa, they use the Gac Fruit to help keep eyes healthy. g3 is guaranteed by Pharmanex to raise a person’s antioxidant score in 60 days, or you will get your money back.

 

g3 has another fruit in the mix called Cili Fruit, the “King of Vitamin C”. Cili fruit is rich in vitamin C and has 60 times more vitamin C in g3 than eating oranges has.

 

Another fruit in g3 is Siberian Pineapple ( or also called Sea Buckthorn), has many properties that protect our skin and also helps heal the skin. It has a high amount of essential fatty acids.

 

The last fruit in g3 is Chinese Lycium ( also know as Wolfberry), is high Vitamin C,  the B vitamins, vitamin E, as well as amino acids, polysaccharides and fatty acids.  This is very helpful to keep our eyes healthy.

 

I hope you will consciously increase your highly colored fruits and veggies everyday!

 

As always, please “Share” this on your FB page and per email, so we can reach more people!

 

Here’s to living a healthy, youthful energized life!

Blessings to you,

Connie