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December 18, 2007

Foods that Fight Free Radicals

When we get older we still want to find ourselves healthy, mentally sharp, and energetic. What we now know is how you live your life today impacts how fit and well you will be tomorrow. 

"Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young." - Fred Astaire

Our aging enemy is free radicals. A free radical is an atom or molecule that has unpaired electron which attacks healthy cells trying to steal electrons and rebalance, causing damage to good cells. Free radicals attack cells and cause damage in the body. Scientists believe free radicals are responsible for numerous age-related diseases.

How do we combat free radicals? Scientists have found foods that score high in antioxidant analysis or ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) protect cells from free radicals reducing risks of aging diseases.

So, what should we eat? Below I have outlined many foods and their ORAC score. The number after the food name is the number of ORAC’s that 100 grams of each food provides. A high-ORAC diet will provide 3,000 – 5,000 units a day.

 

Goji Berries
Dark Chocolate
Black Raspberries
Milk Chocolate
Prunes
Pomegranates 
Raisins 
Blueberries
Red Raspberries
Blackberries
Garlic 
Kale
Cranberries
Strawberries
Spinach
Raspberries
Yellow Squash
Brussels Sprouts
Plums 
Alfalfa Sprouts
Beets
Avocado
Oranges

25,300
13,120
7,700
6,740
5,770
3,307
2,830
2,400
2,400
2,036
1,939
1,770
1,750
1,540
1,260
1,220
1,150
980
949
930
840
782
750
Red Grapes
Red Bell Pepper
Cherries
Kiwi
Baked Beans
White Grapefruit
Kidney Beans
Onions
White Grapes
Corn
Frozen Peas
Eggplant
Cauliflower
Potato
Sweet Potato 
Cabbage
Apples
Banana 
Carrot 
Tomato
Pear
Watermelon
Cucumber
739
710
670
602
503
460
460
450
446
400
395
390
385
300
295
295
218
210
210
195
134
100
60

A large handful of blueberries would give you an ORAC score around 6000. So just by identifying and eating a few of these highly antioxidant foods you could be looking at a retirement that is as active as you want it to be.

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