Why do we need anti-oxidants anyway? Antioxidants protect our bodies from oxidation. You may be thinking why do we need to protect ourselves against oxygen? We need oxygen! It's essential for us! Well yes, we do need oxygen but it is a very reactive element. So it doesn't like floating around by itself. It wants to react with something.
The term 'oxidation' means the reaction between oxygen molecules and other substances. When steel rusts or a cut apple turns brown, that is oxidation. When the oxygen that we breathe in undergoes chemical reactions within our bodies, free radicals are produced and these can damage cells.
There are 2 ways free radicals get into our bodies.
1. We breathe in oxygen which reacts in our bodies to create free radicals.
2. We inhale or ingest free radicals. For example, this happens when you breathe in smoke or eat a sausage that has been overcooked.
Basically, antioxidants stop your body from rusting on the inside. But we can't just breathe less to reduce the free radicals in our bodies as we need oxygen to live. So what can you do?
The key is to equalize your free-radicals with antioxidants. So where can you find anti-oxidants? This is where what you feed your body becomes very important!
There are lots of antioxidants in healthy fresh foods! Vegetables and fruits are your primary antioxidant sources. Here you will find your carotenoids (yellow & orange), anthocyanins (purples), polyphenols (red & brown) and many more beneficial phyto-chemicals.
You need to have a minimum of five serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruits to get the minimum antioxidant levels required for health. This doesn't mean 5 spoonfuls of peas and corn at dinner time either. A serve of vegetables is:
* Half a cup of cooked vegetables
or
* One cup of salad vegetables
So that works out to be 2.5 cups of cooked vegetables or 5 cups of salad.
I've covered the volume of vegetables you require but you also need to think about the kind of vegetables in your diet. The best way to make sure you are eating all the antioxidants you need is to eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables every day. The more colours the better. So make sure you ask for all the salads when you go to Subway!
