The following delicious foods (it reads like a grocery list I’d be most interested in) are handpicked by South Beach Diet as the top 20 foods containing the highest antioxidant concentration.
Why should we be interested in antioxidant-rich foods? Here’s why: Antioxidants are naturally occurring nutrients that help prevent heart disease and cancer, and even the effects of aging. Any time prevent comes before that cast of characters, we need to perk up and pay attention!
- Pomegranates
- Small red beans (dried)
- Wild blueberries
- Red kidney beans
- Pinto beans
- Blueberries (cultivated)
- Cranberries
- Artichokes (cooked)
- Blackberries
- Prunes
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Red Delicious apples
- Granny Smith apples
- Pecans
- Sweet cherries
- Black plums
- Gala apples
- Black beans (dried)
- Plums
Lately, I’ve been focusing really intently on holding each and every food and drink that I put into my body under the microscope. Okay, not literally, my family would send me off somewhere and my cats would disown me. I simply ask myself what that particular food or drink will do FOR me: Will it help my health or fitness goals in any way? Will it hurt them in any way? Do studies exist that indicate this food or drink could actually be harmful?
In the same way that we wouldn’t want to inhale polluted air, we should never rush to throw unhealthy food into our bodies. We want to breathe pure, clean, life-giving air and we should take the same approach with our food and drinks.
As a wife and mother, wanting to give healthier foods and drinks to my family drives me even more. I don’t want to bring things into the house that are going to harm any of these beautiful smiling faces.
Just look at the superfoods named above. As a fruit lover extraordinaire, I was delighted to see so many fruits on the list of superfoods. What an outstanding fruit salad you could make! As for the beans, these beans would work well together in a bean soup or even a bean salad. Black beans and kidney beans are also wonderful in tossed salads.
Check out this delicious, quick and easy recipe for fruit dip that’ll turn fruit into dessert in your household.
All the food mentioned above are colourful and thus the antioxidant properties. Grapes are not in the list but I guess it has been left out in the South Beach Diet because of the high amount of sugar
Paramjit, I wondered about grapes, myself. I love them! One of the coolest things about grapes is that, after we’ve eaten the best ones – I can place the rest of the grapes on the vine out on the carport and watch from the door as our evening-visiting raccoons eat away. Apparently they’ve heard about the antioxidants too. You’re right, I’m sure, the sugar must have gotten them d-listed – from the SB diet anyway. They’re A-list with me and my raccoons!
organic wheat grass juice seems to give more than is on the label. More energy & zest in life.
I love all the 20 above superfoods too.
A good variety keeps food interesting.
FitRosie, you’re so right. I love these 20 foods too – great eats!
Thanks for this great list Joi. I knew about most of them being high in antioxidants, but there’s a few new discoveries here too, like the Granny Smith and Gala apples. I have been eating them my whole life, so I was happy to find out!
Thanks for sharing and giving tips on what to eat. Maybe I need this nowadays I’m not feeling well but my body is beginning to be buff=)
I love reading your diet post as I believe that you can always learn something that can help maintain the healthy lifestyle that we all strive for. Thanks