6. Getting vitamin C in the morning
To get all the benefits of vitamin C, including protection against colds, try to eat foods rich in ascorbic acid during Breakfast. A good habit is to drink a glass of orange juice or pure water with lemon in the morning, and you will have additional support and protection from germs and viruses throughout the day.
Or add half a Cup of berries or fruits to your Breakfast – in porridge or just for a snack – Apple, strawberry, cherry, kiwi. The bottom line is that our body does not produce vitamin C, so a portion of this powerful antioxidant will help us to resist in the world of microbes, cold, viruses and stress.
7. Snack – only useful!
If you like to drink a Cup of coffee or strong tea with a cake or cookies in case of weakness, try to replace sweets with nuts or dark chocolate.
A handful of almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts or walnuts is full of vitamin E and important minerals for health, and certainly more useful than cookies cooked on TRANS fats.
Nuts contain useful oils that will allow you to feel full longer and to refrain from unhealthy food. The same can be said about dark chocolate (at least 60 % cocoa) – it contains additional flavonoids, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, fluorine, plus it is a delicious snack that you can just enjoy.
8. Find time for a Cup of tea
In fact, both coffee and tea have a high level of antioxidants that resist diseases. However, if you are concerned about caffeine consumption, try switching to tea.
White, green, black tea, matcha tea, Oolongs – all these drinks are obtained from the same evergreen plant – Caméllia sinénsis. Therefore, any of these drinks contains a large number of healthy polyphenols.
Black teas contain slightly more caffeine than green varieties. Pay attention to the green powdered Japanese matcha tea – it is definitely the leader in antioxidant content.
Tea should be brewed with hot water to release flavonoids, but not too long to infuse, as its taste can become bitter. Pour a Cup of tea leaves with boiling water, in five minutes you will get the best taste and maximum benefit from this drink. In any case, do not use over-aged tea leaves, remember the wise Chinese proverb: fresh tea is like a balm, yesterday’s tea is like a snake.
Herbal teas are also delicious and definitely have a right to their place in the kitchen and in the medicine Cabinet. But they usually have their own specific medicinal properties, so you need to select them for yourself very carefully. And, of course, see what you add to your tea and coffee. Cream, sugar, flavored syrups add calories to the drink and turn a healthy drink into a sweet dessert.
9. If you drink red wine!
If you enjoy a glass of wine during dinner, prefer deep, dark red to white or pink.
Dark-colored grapes used for the manufacture of red wines, contains more anthocyanins than green grapes, and they in turn produce another powerful polyphenol – resveratrol.
However, wine should be consumed in a very limited amount – about 100 ml – for women and not more than 200 ml – for men per day. Excessive alcohol consumption can, on the contrary, increase the amount of free radicals, so the wine is useful in very moderate quantities.
10. Oil – the closest attention
Many groups of polyphenols are lipid soluble. This means that your body is better able to absorb nutrients when you have fat in your food. Therefore, when serving boiled vegetables, add butter, cream and salted or sweet sauces flavored with a small amount of vegetable oil.
Naturally, we want the fat we consume to be healthy. Many varieties of vegetable oil, such as almond, avocado oil, coconut, linseed, grape, hemp, olive, peanut, nut, contain phytochemicals – vitamin E and alpha-linolenic acid, as well as minerals, chlorophyll, lecithin, carotene. However, note that this information applies only to cold pressed oils.
There are several ways to produce vegetable oil, the most barbaric and unacceptable of them – the so-called extraction, which results in refined oil. This product should be avoided at all costs. In this article it is difficult to describe all the subtleties of oil production, but the extraction of seeds of oil-containing crops are subjected to such chemical treatment that the nutrients in them is almost no, but acquired a “bouquet” of chemical compounds, which is exactly “nothing to do” in our body.
When preparing salads, leave canned refills (mayonnaise, sauces) on the shelves. Make your own dressing sauce or give preference to the vegetable oil mentioned above. Freshly prepared dressing of quality vegetable oil, Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, flavored with black pepper and herbs – a simple and healthy option for vegetable dressing.
Putting it all together
Nutritionists recommend that at each meal half of the plate is filled with vegetables or fruits – for a proper balanced diet. You can add another rule: these fruits and vegetables should have all possible color palette. The only way you will provide all the nutrients needed for good health, including many antioxidants.
However, simply eating foods with a high content of polyphenols, you will have limited benefit. No antioxidant can do all the work of maintaining health and healing – they’re much more effective when working in tandem with other nutrients. When it comes to antioxidants, quantity is not the deciding factor, compounds with other substances are what is important.
In addition to the use of foods rich in polyphenolic compounds, it is important to avoid (or at least reduce) the use of sugar, refined oil and other chemically processed foods. This will help to reduce the level of oxidative stress, make the products more useful and effective for your body.
Have you thought about the role of antioxidants in your health? What are your favorite dishes with a high level of polyphenols? Write about it in the comments.