Is The Antioxidant-Craze Crazy?
It seems that antioxidants are being jammed down our throats lately, both literally and figuratively, with the slews of new antioxidant-enriched products and their promises to prevent everything from aging to cancer. Not only are antioxidants becoming more popular, but the common sources of them are also changing.
We've all known for a while now that red grapes and hence red wine have high antioxidant levels, but nowadays people are more likely to fight cancer by pounding pomegranate juice or trying to pronounce acai than by doing something as pedestrian as eating grapes or drinking wine or grape juice. Foods and products that are fortified with these new sources of antioxidants are all the rage right now. And as with any health craze, some of the new products actually contain the benefits of antioxidants and fight off free radicals, while others just look like they have added antioxidants because they're simply flavored like antioxidant-rich berries.
We've tried out several of the new antioxidant-rich products and examined their ingredients. Some are better than others, but at the end of the day, any of these foods are better for you than some other so-called "diet" foods like cream cheese wrapped in bacon. While these products may or may not keep us cancer free for the rest of our lives, they do add taste and variety to our diets, and so we think this craze is anything but crazy. Check out some of these fun variations:
1. Acai Berry Emergen-C
We love Emergen-C, but it looks like their Acai flavor is simply that - made to taste like acai berries without any of their antioxidant benefits. So don't buy this flavor if you like their Pink Lemonade better, but these little packets do provide tons of nutrients and a great energy boost in the middle of the day. Try skipping your afternoon Starbucks and mixing water or seltzer with some of this fizzy powder. It contains 1,000 mg of Vitamin C and 32 active mineral complexes. You don't even need acai in there for all of that vitamin goodness to do wonders for your hair, skin, and immune system.
2. Absolut Los Angeles
This new limited edition vodka is flavored with an all-natural symphony of blueberry, acai berry, acerola, cherry, and fruity notes of pomegranate. Sounds like the perfect supermodel's meal, right? Just joking. This stuff may not actually benefit your body in any particular way, but over ice it makes for a delicious, refreshing, fruity martini, and you'll feel very trendy drinking it. If you want a real shot of antioxidants, drink Absolut LA with a splash of fresh cranberry juice, and you'll have the very best of both worlds!
3. Mott's Plus Pomegranate Sauce
Each flavor of the new Mott's Plus sauce is fortified with different nutrients, and one of our favorites is the Pomegranate flavor, which is really and truly enhanced with the benefits of antioxidants. This stuff is also delicious, all-natural, and only has fifty calories per serving. We think it's the perfect snack for women who want to treat their bodies well.
4. Jamba Juice Acai Super-Antioxidant
We don't recommend sucking down high calorie smoothies all day long. However, this popular new Jamba Juice flavor does contain real acai juice with all of its benefits, plus the "Antioxidant Power Boost" that they normally charge you an arm and a leg to add. The "original" (medium) size has over 1,000 percent of your daily Vitamin C needs, but it also has 420 calories and almost 30 percent of your daily carbohydrates. The bottom line is that these smoothies are healthy, but they eat more like a meal than a snack, so you should probably try to eat them that way, too.
5. Endangered Species Organic Health Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs, Yacon & Acai
This is an organic, vegan dark chocolate with not only the antioxidants of acai berries, but yacon root, which acts as a natural sugar and breaks down slowly in the digestive system. We love hearing that chocolate can be good for us, but the truth is that dark chocolate itself is loaded with antioxidants, so adding extra healthy ingredients isn't really necessary. This stuff is certainly better for you than a Hershey bar, but we think you should find any dark chocolate bar you like the taste of and enjoy antioxidants in their most pleasurable form!
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Eat the fruit - easier cheaper better sexier
The easiest way to stop oxidation is by giving up breathing. It's best done by wrapping the whole body tightly in plastic foil. No free oxygen will be entering the body and the aging process is stopped once and for all.
:-)
It would stop oxidation rather permanently--but then again lots of fresh fruit, veggies, red wine, good beer is a lot more fun and tastier.
My whole family drinks Mona Vie. We buy ours at www.thefac
My wife has experienced much more energy and has lost 13 lbs. I'm sleeping better at night. Our children love the taste.
You owe it to yourself to at least try it. It's simply an all natural fruit blend of 19 wild, exotic, the highest antioxidant fruits from around the world with the main ingredient being ACAI.
My suggestion is you be the judge after you have tried it.
1/4 fresh bitter melon juice - 1/4 fresh nopal leaf juice and mix with 1/2 sugarless cranberry pomegranate/apple juice combo from, Ocean Spray (or equivalent)
Geez, yeah, give me that aspartame, I'm sure that'll do wonders for my health! NOT!
You people who are supposedly health conscious have to stop reading mainstream media and start looking at real food. Buy produce from local farmers. Buy a juicer.
By "fresh" juice I meant going to the local market and juicing them- can't be any fresher than that.
After the juice is concentrated & pasteurized, nutritionally it's nearly neutered.
As always, you're better off eating the fruit, but the hysteria has led the juice makers to buy up all the fruit (pomegranates, especially) so you can't find it or have to pay exorbitant prices.
Commercial smoothies are high-calorie because they fill them out with cheap, high-calorie ingredients like frozen yogurt. Here's a good smoothie recipe with nothing but goodness in it:
Flesh of one young coconut
OR 1 Tbs. Artisana coconut butter (NOT coconut oil)
1 cup fresh or canned coconut juice
(that's the clear water inside the coconut, not the
thick white milk used in Thai cuisine)
1 fresh ripe banana
1 fresh ripe mango
A dash of cinammon
First, blend the coconut flesh with enough juice to achieve a smooth consistency. Then add the other ingredients and blend until smooth.
If my mango isn't a super tasty one, I might add a heaping Tbs. of raw cacao powder (from naturalzin
Do not add vodka. :)
As one of the first responders on this thread said, EAT a lot of fruit and vegetables if you want high antioxidants. Blueberries, strawberries, grapes, raspberries, dark green veggies are all tasty and all good for you; no exception.
I would really like to see you do an article on Kombucha Tea. I swear by it and you actually feel the difference when you drink it. Unlike taking loads of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.
I agree.
I have become a real lover of Kombucha tea. It really is good for what ails you.
i will have to research thisone. I drink an OoLong tea by Trinity brands that gets me happy every time I drink it compared to other teas. I don't know why--but I will keep drinking it.
Most of the antioxidant studies have failed to show benefits and some studies suggest taking large doses of vitamins may be dangerous. I'd say the best thing to do is buy and eat organic food and forget most all of the supplements, including those for special reasons, like joint health. The health food industry has been scamming us all for years. I used to take antioxidants but then the science started showing it was a waste of time and money. Eat real food and forget the pills.
The health food industry does not understand fundamental science and instead relies on testimonials. Never accept anything a supplement seller says unless it's backed up by a published journal article. And read the articles before you buy anything. The journal articles cited often do not support the claims made by the company relying on the article.
I agree that most vitamins are not safe , they are manufactured using synthetic ingrediants and have harmful chemicals and preservatives in them. Visit peakenergy
All nutraceutals have been proven in clinical trials to be 100% non toxic and safe with superior absorption and is backed by real science.
we should stick to the antioxidants that really count - natural fruits and vegetables that contain them! man is always trying to improve on mothernature- rice is actually brown until it is bleached and looses all the natural benefits- flour is actually brown until it is also bleached - losing all of it's natural benefits;then it is fortified? what sense does this make?
i don't understand what is wrong with color? seems to me the richer the color the more health benefits the fruit or vegetable offers.
I drink 4 oz of wheat grass a day and have blueberries with oatmeai ( no milk just water) flax seed in it and cinammon. I have never felt better in my life and take no pills only real food.
Someday we may rediscover the joy and benefits of stopping by a fruit stand.
Keep it simple. Eat a variety of whole foods, avoid simple sugars and excessive fats. Don't smoke or drink too much and you will probably live a long live. It really isn't complicated.
There is a quite interesting new theory regarding anti-oxidants. It is that oxidation products are the messengers that tell the body to repair itself, and that by ingesting so many anti-oxidants, we remove the "repair" stimulus and the body deteriorates FASTER.
This may explain why people taking Vitamin E and other anti-oxidant supplements have, in some studies, higher rates of lung cancer, etc.
Pure Acai in a blender with some juice, rice or soy milk and a bunch of fresh fruit. The best!
Try Jawa Juice, it is high in anti-oxidants.
You may not be able to find it, as it's only found in Star Wars episode II.
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