Antioxidants: Eat All Your Colors!

By now everyone knows the blueberry carries very high ranges of antioxidants. But, don't disregard all the other colorful foods out there loaded with antioxidants.

Antioxidants are all the rage today. And, justifiably so. Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals which cause cell smash up, which at last can lead to conditions of the heart and cancer. It seems everywhere you go its blueberry this and blueberry that. You have your choice of wild blueberry juice, blueberry-pomegranate juice, blueberry-cranberry juice and so on and so on.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love blueberries. But, in our rush to cuddle the latest antioxidant food craze (blueberries, cranberries, pomegranates) we’re ignoring some very high-antioxidant foods that are most likely sitting ignored in our cupboards.

“What?” You ask, “What could perhaps be higher in antioxidants than my beloved wild blueberry?” Well, how about the small red bean? That’s right, I said “bean.” The small red bean in reality has more antioxidants per serving size than the wild blueberry. And the red kidney bean and pinto bean have more antioxidants per serving size than a serving of cultivated blueberries.

What other foods are high in antioxidants? For starters, there are artichoke hearts, blackberries, prunes, pecans, spinach, kale, russet potatoes and plums. And, no, that’s not a mistake. Russet potatoes are on the list of foods high in antioxidants.

The truth is, there are many common foods high in antioxidants and you should not just confine yourself to one fastidious food source. Why? Well, have you ever heard the appearance, “eat your colors?” That refers to the fact that foods are in different color “families” containing different types of antioxidants which have different settlement. For example, the yellow-orange color family of peaches and nectarines help our immune systems. The purple-red color family of foods (pomegranates, plums, berries) helps reduce irritation. It’s important to eat foods from all color groups to reap the full settlement of antioxidants.

The good news is that you can eat healthy foods 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 being peddled in the supermarkets.

So, give your blueberries some company at the dinner table. Invite some beans, spinach, potatoes and artichoke hearts and enjoy your antioxidants!

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