Antioxidant power competition! Top 5 must-eat fruits and vegetables in autumn and winter to help you stay away from diseases!

"Ha-chiu!" The weather changes dramatically in autumn and winter. Have you caught a cold? In addition to climatic factors, modern people are under great stress, have irregular lifestyles, and eat randomly for three meals a day. Excessive free radicals accumulate in the body, leading to functional aging, making them naturally prone to colds and various diseases. How to stay away from diseases? Nutritionists recommend eating more foods with high "antioxidant capacity". In the autumn and winter seasons when various pathogens are rampant, you can give priority to eating the top five fruits and vegetables to enhance the body's antioxidant capacity.

Stress, unhealthy eating... too many free radicals in the body are harmful to health!

Nutritionist Zheng Shijia said that modern people are overwhelmed by the work and life pressures of real life. It is easy for them to have irregular meals and irregular amounts, which results in poor liver function and circulatory metabolism. In turn, gastrointestinal motility is also affected, making them prone to constipation or repeated diarrhea. Over a long period of time, the body is prone to chronic diseases.

In addition, eating overly processed, refined, or chemical-rich foods, and being exposed to pollutants in the environment, such as pesticides, insecticides, exhaust gas, plastics, etc., will not only cause the body to produce many free and unstable free radicals, but these habits will also prompt the body to produce new fat cells to accommodate these toxins, thereby slowing down the metabolic rate, causing the accumulated excessive free radicals to continue to damage the body's tissues and organs, forcing the body towards the fate of "premature aging"!

To stay away from all kinds of illnesses, improve your antioxidant capacity first!

Nutritionist Zheng Shijia explained that "antioxidants" can help maintain healthy body functions, prevent illness and colds, and can also help fight aging and fight chronic diseases that were originally diseases of the elderly, such as heart disease, stroke, atherosclerosis, fatty liver, cirrhosis and cancer, so as to avoid them from happening early to young people or even children.

Which food has the highest antioxidant power? Nutritionists recommend 5 must-eat fruits and vegetables for fall and winter

So, how do you judge whether your body’s antioxidant capacity is sufficient? First of all, we need to understand a term called "ORAC"! "ORAC" is the abbreviation of "Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity", which is translated into "antioxidant index" in Chinese. It is a standard used by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) in in vitro experiments to judge the antioxidant capacity of various foods by setting the research environment and various conditions consistent. The higher the value of a food, the higher its antioxidant capacity.

Generally speaking, adults should consume 3,000 to 5,000 units of ORAC foods every day. However, modern people's diets generally fail to meet the "579 for fruits and vegetables" standard, which often results in the body's antioxidant capacity being inadequate. In this case, you might as well start with foods with higher antioxidant capacity! The following is a list of five antioxidant fruits and vegetables that are particularly suitable for Chinese people to eat in winter, based on the latest version of the ORAC rankings on August 26, 2017. Nutritionist Zheng Shijia also explains their nutritional characteristics and eating tips one by one:

No. 1: Blueberry

• Nutritional characteristics and effects: Blueberries are rich in anthocyanins, flavonoids and other phytochemicals, which can remove free radicals in blood vessels and the body, help prevent chronic diseases such as the three highs, and protect the brain from oxidative damage that causes brain nerve aging. In addition, they can also promote the regeneration of rhodopsin in retinal cells and improve vision.

• Correct cooking method: The antioxidant capacity of frozen blueberries is better than that of fresh blueberries. It is recommended to eat blueberries in the morning as breakfast to improve brain health and eyesight at the beginning of the day.

No. 2: Artichoke

• Nutritional characteristics and effects: Artichoke, also known as "French lily", is rich in cynarin (cynarin) and a large number of polyphenols, such as chlorogenic acid, flavonoids, luteolin and other active ingredients. It has strong antioxidant capacity and can protect cells from damage, aging or necrosis. It is especially effective for the "liver", including: stabilizing the liver cell membrane from being damaged, strengthening bile secretion to help metabolize fat, and also has the function of sobering up and sobering up. In the past, it was difficult to find fresh artichokes in the country, but in recent years, farmers in Puli, Nantou, have been picking them and they can be purchased online.

• Correct cooking method: The edible part of artichoke is the flower bud. After cooking, you can peel it off piece by piece and eat it with sauce. You can also make soup, bake it or microwave it, all of which can maintain its high antioxidant capacity.

No. 3: Cranberry

• Nutritional characteristics and effects: Rich in A-type proanthocyanidins. Studies have shown that A-type proanthocyanidins can inhibit bacteria from adhering to the epithelial cells of the urinary tract better than other proanthocyanidins.

• Correct cooking method: Cranberries should not be heated or cooked. It is recommended to mix frozen cranberries with yogurt for consumption. Type A proanthocyanidins plus the probiotics contained in yogurt can enhance overall immunity and resistance.

No. 4: Garlic

• Nutritional characteristics and effects: Contains organic sulfide, namely "Allicin", which can not only fight bacteria and kill bacteria, but also enhance immunity.

• Correct cooking method: Allicin is not heat-resistant, so it is recommended not to use the traditional high-temperature stir-frying method. Cut the garlic into slices or mince it and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the allicin to synthesize. It is best to eat it with vegetables or meat.

No. 5: Apple

• Nutritional properties and effects: It is rich in quercetin, which is a type of polyphenolic flavonoids with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypercholesterolemia and anti-atherosclerotic physiological functions. Studies have shown that menopausal women who increase their intake of foods rich in quercetin can lower the concentration of low-density cholesterol in their blood, that is, lower the concentration of bad cholesterol in the blood.

• Correct cooking method: Whether it is antioxidant capacity or dietary fiber content, "apples with skin" are higher than apples without skin. Therefore, it is recommended not to peel apples when eating them. If you are worried about the wax on apples, just spray diluted lemon juice and white vinegar on the apple skin, let it sit for 15 minutes and then wash it, and the wax can be easily removed!

【Health Tips】:

Nutritionist Zheng Shijia reminds that although the above five kinds of fruits and vegetables can quickly replenish the body's antioxidant capacity and meet the needs of modern people for efficiency, if possible, it is better to develop a "579 vegetables and fruits every day" diet and try to eat "nine-color fruits and vegetables" every day, that is, "red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple + black and white". By consuming fruits and vegetables of different colors, you can more completely obtain vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals of different types, ingredients and amounts, which can delay the oxidation process of cells in the body and reduce the damage caused by free radicals, and avoid the occurrence of aging and aging-related diseases.