Five Foods Packed With Antioxidants

There is much talk today about Superfoods; these are foods that are nutrient rich in compounds beneficial for a person’s health and overall well-being. Many of them are called Antioxidant food because they have a high ORAC value or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. This is typically measured as the amount and number of compounds they contain in a 100 gram portion.

Having a diet filled with antioxidant recipes may not in its self, cure any ailments, but it is believed to greatly assist the body in self-healing and recovering from illness and injury’s

These are the top five foods packed with antioxidants:

1. Sumac

A traditional Middle Eastern Spice with a salty lemon flavor, sumac has the highest ORAC count of any know food. Being a spice, it is not usual to eat a large portion of it, but a teaspoon in a dish will provide many benefits. Sumac measures at 312,400 per 100 grams; this is 60 times more than blueberries, which are recognised as being very high in antioxidants.

This very tasty spice is often used to flavor many Mediterranean type dishes, especially chicken and lamb and sauces

2. Ground Ceylon Cinnamon

Ceylon cinnamon with an ORAC value of 131,420 per 100 grams or 3,417 in just one teaspoon is one of the richest common foods with a high oxidant content. There are also many other health benefits including cinnamons ability to stabilize blood sugar levels, its anti-inflammatory properties and it has shown to be able to help support the immune system.

Cinnamon is used in baking, confectionery, desserts, added to smoothies, as a breakfast topping in tea and coffee

3. Cocoa

Cocoa as been known in the western world for generations and considered a fattening food, largely because of the high amount of sugar added to commercial chocolate products. There are two great ways to take it, but ensure you use unsweetened organic cocoa in a cocoa drink or in unprocessed organic dark chocolate bars. Avoid if possible highly processed commercial chocolates as they contain little cocoa and what they have is largely destroyed by the processing processes. Always check the label and enjoy the one with the least amount of sugar or made with other natural sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup. Pure raw unsweetened cocoa has an ORAC Value of 56,653per 100 grams

4. Pecans

Pecans have an ORAC content of 17.940, they are the nut with the highest antioxidant content followed by walnuts 13,541 and hazelnuts with 9,645

5. Chia Seeds

There are two types of Chia seeds White and black; White Chia seeds have a count of 7,000 and the black seed a count of 9,800. They are also full of other health benefits such as all the 9 essential amino acids and 3 times as many omega-3 fats as salmon.

They are commonly used in baking, especially to replace the protein when baking without wheat flour. They are also great in salads, in mueslis and smoothies.

While these are the antioxidant foods with the highest antioxidant contents, there are many antioxidant recipes that help to give people a level of antioxidant protection especially any fruit or vegetable with a dark flesh such as plums, berries, sweet potatoes and green leafy vegetables.

According to research, antioxidant may help to manage lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease.