Antioxidants & The Paleo Diet
Antioxidants are essential substances in the body, as they are known to protect cells from damage caused by chemicals, pollution and radiation. Some of the known antioxidants are Vitamin A, C and D as well as lycopene and selenium. It is important to have a diet which is rich in these antioxidants as it can really improve our health as well as our appearance. The kinds of foods which are high in antioxidants include vegetables, fruit, fish and nuts. These contain different types of antioxidants and offer many other benefits to the body.
As the Paleo diet contains foods which are highly rich in antioxidants, it is a good diet to follow in order to feel and look at our healthiest. We are eating as much as four times less of the amount of antioxidants our ancestors consumed, which is why our nation is becoming increasingly unhealthy and overweight. There are many people who eat other foods such as cereals, instead of fruits and vegetables and although they may be low in fat, they do not contain the amount of antioxidants we require to maintain a healthy diet.
There are a number of benefits to eating a diet which is full of antioxidants, including giving us a clearer complexion, helping us to maintain a healthy weight and reducing our likelihood of suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer and diabetes. It is therefore hugely important to analyse our diets to ensure we are eating all of the right foods.
The key is not only to eat a diet which is rich in antioxidants but also to ensure there is the right balance of antioxidants and that you are consuming a wide range of these so you are enjoying the full health benefits they can offer. There are a large number of antioxidants to be found in fruit and vegetables, whereas fish and meat have less but are still packed with other kinds of goodness. It is vitally important when following the Paleo diet to get the mix right so you are consuming as many different antioxidants as possible, as they all have different health benefits. The wider the range of antioxidants, the stronger the barrier is to any nasty pollution to our bodies, which can be hugely detrimental.
The great thing about foods which are rich in antioxidants is that they are also beneficial in other ways and are very low in fat so you can lose lots of weight while becoming as healthy as possible. A good way of ensuring you consume a high amount of vegetables and fruit is to use a juicer to mix them up as this will help you get the variety and is a much easier way to digest them. It means you are getting the whole goodness of the fruits and vegetables as you are eating every part of them, rather than discarding of parts of them.
If you like to enjoy the odd snack, nuts and seeds are a good way to ensure you are eating a lot of antioxidants, rather than eating sugary snacks and crisps, which have the opposite effect. In addition to consuming foods which are rich in antioxidants, there are also supplements which can be taken to boost the amount of these being digested in the body. It is more important to get the antioxidants from our foods, but there may be days when this isn't possible, so supplements are a good alternative at these times.
There are foods which may claim to contain antioxidants but the best way to ensure you are getting it right is to follow the Paleo diet, as these foods have been well researched to show their health benefits. If you follow a plan such as eggs for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, salmon and vegetables for dinner and nuts or seeds for your snacks, you will soon notice a difference in your appearance, how you feel and the amount of weight you lose.
Where do you get most of your antioxidants from?
