Another reason to eat antioxidants at every meal
No matter how great a meal is, the very act of eating- like the very act of exercising- causes what we call "oxidative stress'. That's the attack on your cells from rogue molecules called free radicals which can damage your very DNA not to mention contribute to every major degenerative disease. Oxidative damage to your cholesterol is what causes it to be a problem (not the cholesterol itself).
And oxidative stress is one way we age- "rusting from within", so to speak.
The very act of metabolizing and breaking down food generates these damaging free radicals (just as exercising does).
But there's something you can do about it.
New research from the Agricultural Research Service investigated the effects of antioxidants on after-meal "oxidative stress". In it, volunteers first drank a shake containing carbohydrates, protein, and fat-but no antioxidants. Sure enough, they produced blood samples with a reduced ability to counter noxious free radicals.
Not good.
"We're learning that antioxidants should be consumed with every meal," says Ronald Prior, a chemist who was the lead researcher on the study. "And if you routinely skip antioxidants in your diet, over time, the excess number of free radicals being produced may begin damaging cellular components, ultimately leading to atherosclerosis, cancer, and other diseases."
But here's where it gets interesting. The researchers also found something that absolutely qualifies as useful "take home" information that that you can use right now in your fight against aging and disease: consuming grapes with that same test meal prevented the decline in antioxidant capacity.
Of course, it's not just grapes, though they're very high in antioxidants and were used in this research. It can be any antioxidant rich food or foods- vegetables and fruits being the most obvious. In other research, Prior found that grapes, kiwi and wild blueberries were high performers when it came to raising blood levels of important antioxidants.
When I recorded "23 Ways to Improve Your Life (besides diet and exercise)" one of the things I talked about was stuff you could do- foods you could eat, supplements you could take, spiritual exercises you could do, activities you could practice- that would raise your capacity to fight disease and aging and overall improve the quality of your life. Getting a ton of antioxidants in your daily diet- either in supplement form, or by eating foods rich in vitamins C, E, zinc, selenium, vitamin A and the many plant chemicals like flavonoids found in the fruit and vegetable kingdom- definitely qualifies as one of the top ways to improve (and probably extend) your life.
And if you're not interested in memorizing the names of the thousands of flavonoids, phytochemicals, polyphenols, catechins, minerals, vitamins and other wonderful things found in real food, there's an easy way to get as many of them as possible in your grocery shopping bag: Shop for color. Those colorful pigments- what makes blueberries blue, raspberries red, peppers orange- contain chemicals that nature put into plants to protect them from both the sun and from predators. Those pigments are antioxidant rich and will protect you in the same way they do the plant.
Consume them regularly and often.
And oxidative stress is one way we age- "rusting from within", so to speak.
The very act of metabolizing and breaking down food generates these damaging free radicals (just as exercising does).
But there's something you can do about it.
New research from the Agricultural Research Service investigated the effects of antioxidants on after-meal "oxidative stress". In it, volunteers first drank a shake containing carbohydrates, protein, and fat-but no antioxidants. Sure enough, they produced blood samples with a reduced ability to counter noxious free radicals.
Not good.
"We're learning that antioxidants should be consumed with every meal," says Ronald Prior, a chemist who was the lead researcher on the study. "And if you routinely skip antioxidants in your diet, over time, the excess number of free radicals being produced may begin damaging cellular components, ultimately leading to atherosclerosis, cancer, and other diseases."
But here's where it gets interesting. The researchers also found something that absolutely qualifies as useful "take home" information that that you can use right now in your fight against aging and disease: consuming grapes with that same test meal prevented the decline in antioxidant capacity.
Of course, it's not just grapes, though they're very high in antioxidants and were used in this research. It can be any antioxidant rich food or foods- vegetables and fruits being the most obvious. In other research, Prior found that grapes, kiwi and wild blueberries were high performers when it came to raising blood levels of important antioxidants.
When I recorded "23 Ways to Improve Your Life (besides diet and exercise)" one of the things I talked about was stuff you could do- foods you could eat, supplements you could take, spiritual exercises you could do, activities you could practice- that would raise your capacity to fight disease and aging and overall improve the quality of your life. Getting a ton of antioxidants in your daily diet- either in supplement form, or by eating foods rich in vitamins C, E, zinc, selenium, vitamin A and the many plant chemicals like flavonoids found in the fruit and vegetable kingdom- definitely qualifies as one of the top ways to improve (and probably extend) your life.
And if you're not interested in memorizing the names of the thousands of flavonoids, phytochemicals, polyphenols, catechins, minerals, vitamins and other wonderful things found in real food, there's an easy way to get as many of them as possible in your grocery shopping bag: Shop for color. Those colorful pigments- what makes blueberries blue, raspberries red, peppers orange- contain chemicals that nature put into plants to protect them from both the sun and from predators. Those pigments are antioxidant rich and will protect you in the same way they do the plant.
Consume them regularly and often.
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