For top disease-fighting power, eat all of these
amazing edibles together with other healthful foods that didn't make my
top 10 list, including green tea, chocolate, alcohol (in limited
quantities), olive oil, and soy. Beyond the choices I listed here, fruits
and vegetables in general are powerhouses of fiber, vitamins, minerals,
and antioxidants. By eating five or more servings a day, you help protect
your body from heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. The real key to
preventing disease and promoting health is not certain foods, but a
lifestyle of regular physical activity and healthy eating.
Step 1:
1. Beets Beet vegetable is one of the best sources of both folate and
betaine. These two nutrients work together to lower your blood levels of
homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that can damage your arteries and
increase your risk of heart disease. Plus, the natural pigments -- called
betacyanins -- that give beets their color have been proved to be potent
cancer fighters in laboratory mice. How to eat them: Fresh and raw, not
from a jar. Heating beets actually decreases their antioxidant power.
Step 2:
2. Cabbage One cup of chopped cabbage has just 22 calories, and it's
loaded with valuable nutrients. At the top of the list is sulforaphane, a
chemical that increases your body's production of enzymes that disarm
cell-damaging free radicals and reduce your risk of cancer. Sulforaphane
boosts your levels of these cancer-fighting enzymes higher than any other
plant chemical.
Step 3:
3. Guava Guava has a higher concentration of lycopene -- an antioxidant
that fights prostate cancer -- than any other plant food, including
tomatoes and watermelon. In addition, 1 cup of the stuff provides 688
milligrams (mg) of potassium, which is 63 percent more than you'll find in
a medium banana. And guava may be the ultimate high-fiber food: There's
almost 9 grams (g) of fiber in every cup.The Guava rind alone has more
vitamin C than you'd find in the flesh of an orange.
Step 4:
4. Swiss chard A half cup of cooked Swiss chard provides a huge amount of
both lutein and zeaxanthin, supplying 10 mg each. These plant chemicals,
known as carotenoids, protect your retinas from the damage of aging,
That's because both nutrients, which are actually pigments, appear to
accumulate in your retinas, where they absorb the type of shortwave light
rays that can damage your eyes. So the more lutein and zeaxanthin you eat,
the better your internal eye protection will be.
Step 5:
5. Cinnamon Cinnamon helps control your blood sugar, which influences your
risk of heart disease. People with type-2 diabetes who consumed 1 g of
cinnamon a day for 6 weeks (about 1/4 teaspoon each day) significantly
reduced not only their blood sugar but also their triglycerides and LDL
(bad) cholesterol. Credit the spice's active ingredients,
methylhydroxychalcone polymers, which increase your cells' ability to
metabolize sugar by up to 20 times.
Step 6:
6. Purslane Purslane has the highest amount of heart-healthy omega-3 fats
of any edible plant. This herb has 10 to 20 times more melatonin -- an
antioxidant that may inhibit cancer growth -- than any other fruit or
vegetable tested.
Step 7:
7. Pomegranate juice Scientists discovered that men who downed just 2
ounces of pomegranate juice daily for a year decreased their systolic (top
number) blood pressure by 21 percent and significantly improved bloodflow
to their hearts. What's more, 4 ounces provides 50 percent of your daily
vitamin C needs. Studies suggest pomegranate juice may contain almost
three times the antioxidant power of green tea and red wine due to their
content of flavonoids. They also provide substantial amounts of potassium,
iron, folic acid and vitamin C, as well as vitamins A and E, niacin, and
fibre.
Step 8:
8. Goji berries Goji berries have one of the highest ORAC ratings -- a
method of gauging antioxidant power -- of any fruit, The sugars that make
goji berries sweet reduce insulin resistance -- a risk factor of diabetes
-- in rats.
Step 9:
9. Dried plums Prunes contain high amounts of neochlorogenic and
chlorogenic acids, antioxidants that are particularly effective at
combating the "superoxide anion radical." This nasty free
radical causes structural damage to your cells, and such damage is thought
to be one of the primary causes of cancer
Step 10:
10. Pumpkin seeds Pumpkin seeds is the easiest way to consume more
magnesium. Men with the highest levels of magnesium in their blood have a
40 percent lower risk of early death than those with the lowest levels.