This is sponsored content by Chef John Procacci, Healthy Chef Creations.
Organic fresh fruits and vegetables are one of the best sources of antioxidants, helping to deter the negative effects of free radicals in your body. Free radicals are the “the bad guys.” These unstable molecules enter your body just looking for a fight. They wreak havoc on cells and have been implicated in all kinds of crimes against your good health like arthritis, premature aging, cataracts, even heart disease and cancer.
Antioxidants are “good guys,” like FBI agents whose job it is to keep those delinquent free radicals on the run. But the good agents need your help. Once you are of voting age your body stops producing enough antioxidants. To aid the good-guy agents, you need to ingest fresh fruits and vegetables and their organic versions turn out to be the best source of antioxidants.
As an example, broccoli, a cruciferous vegetable, is thought to contain more cancer-preventative nutrients than any other plant. It does this by aiding the liver’s production of phase II detoxification enzymes, which protect against chemical carcinogens, promoting scavenging of the nasty free radicals. Broccoli sprouts contain 30-50 times more of these protective chemicals than are found in mature broccoli plants. (Source: E. Wagner, “What’s Missing from Multi-Vitamin Supplements?”, ND-LE Magazine, Jan. 2005) (more…)
