Weight Loss Diet Tips 4 Life » Antioxidants http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com Tue, 04 Jan 2011 04:15:43 +0000 en hourly 1 Benefits Of Dark Chocolate http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/healthy-chocolate.html http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/healthy-chocolate.html#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:11:23 +0000 Trisha http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/?p=275

Healthy Chocolate, I know it sounds strange to say it. However, not all chocolate is healthy and let me tell you why.

Commercial chocolate is high in white sugar, trans fat, hydrogenated oil, wax, fillers, and preservatives. And then they add caffeine… to hook ya’!

Dark chocolate contains flavonoids which have been found to moderate blood pressure among other things.

A moderate amount of dark healthy chocolate, particularly cocoa may be sweet for the cardiovascular system. Eating dark chocolate can help bring down blood pressure and protect against tooth decay.

It may also be brain food. It can help improve the function of important cells lining the wall of the blood vessels for at least 3 hours. It may also lower LDL(bad) cholesterol and improve sugar metabolism.

Antioxidant scores are so high in pure cocoa, many people are now referring to cocoa as a superfood. Healthy dark chocolate is low glycemic, sweetened with complex sugar, and absorbs slowly into your body.

The Orac Scale measures the antioxidants in foods loaded with epicatechins (is like the work horse in cocao) these are processed out of commercial chocolate.

Science Daily Says :

The health benefits of epicatechins – A compund found in cocao so striking the health benefits could outshine penicillin. Epicatechin can potentially get rid of 4 of the most 5 common diseases in the world.

Storke, Heart Failure, Cancer, Diabetes.

Free Radicals are damaged molecules that do harm to your body.

You can’t avoid them, when you breathe you burn oxygen and make free radicals as a by product. Under stress you make more. We live in a society of pollution, take medications, eat fast foods, travel on airplanes, all these things and many more load you up with free radicals.

Free radicals have been tied into over 200 degenerative disease processes by the medical community, so you want to interupt their activity, and the way to do that is to take antioxidants. An antioxidant neutralizes the free radicals and keep it from doing anymore damage.

Dr. Ricahrd Cutler – Anti-Aging Reasearch Dept. National Institute of Health Washington D.C. states : The amount of antioxidants that you maintain in your body is directly proportional to how long and healthy you will live. So the length of your life is tied into the antioxidant intake.

The ORAC Scale = Nutrients for each individual fruit and vegatable and assigned them point scales for their ability to neutralize free radicals. Minimum antioxidant of 3000 per day, optimally you need 12-15,000 a day, we normally get around 800.

Health benefits of Flavonoid Rich Dark Chocolate and Acai Berry

Encourages healthier cardiovascular and respitory function, Helps promote joint flexibilty and ease of motion (anti-inflammatory), Encourages healthier blood pressure, Encourages healthier cholesterol levels, May act as a histamine blocker, Increases seretonin levels (the hormone that makes you happy), Encourages dental health (lowers bacteria in your mouth and increases circulation of your gums), Helps suppress cravings, Encourages healthy elimination

Natural sexual stimulant

Skin benefits and many other benefits

That is the product side of Xocai…

There is also the business side of Xocai…

Cocoa Flavonols

Unprocessed, unadulterated, undamaged cocao powder. There are 6 products that are outstandingly high in antioxidants.

Click Here To Know More About Dark Chocolate!

Benefits Of Dark Chocolate-Weight Loss Diet Tips 4 Life!

]]> http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/healthy-chocolate.html/feed 0 Orac Scale | Antioxidants Orac Scale | Top Ten Superfoods Dark Chocolate And Acai http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/orac-scale.html http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/orac-scale.html#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:50:02 +0000 Trisha http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/?p=183

What is an orac scale?….Orac Scale (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity).

The USDA developed this rating scale to measure the antioxidant content of various plant foods.

Orac Antioxidants

They discovered that a small group of “super foods” have up to twenty times the antioxidant power of other foods. It is recommended that we eat foods containing at least 3,000 orac units a day. You will see on the Orac Scale, foods that are high in Orac Antioxidants, which are essential for good health.

As you will notice, the acai berry is pretty close to the top along with the unprocessed cocoa powder and dark chocolate. Healthy Dark Chocolate with Acai appears to be in vogue these days, and for good reason, it’s a healthy choice.

Fruit like acai berries and blueberries are high in antioxidant value. Eating fruits and vegetables ranked high on orac scale can improve your body’s ability to fight the nasty free radicals that cause the weakness and damage associated with aging.

On average we only consume approximately 500 to 800 units daily.
Be sure to educate yourself today on how antioxidants can benefit you..

Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity – Super Antioxidant Foods – Orac Score

Foods High In Orac Antioxidants.

ORAC units per 100 grams (about 3 1/2 oz.)

FOOD ORAC Value
Acerola 70,000
Unprocessed cocoa powder 26,000
Wolfberry 25,300
Acai 18,500
Dark Chocolate 13,120
Milk Chocolate 6,740
Prunes 5,770
Agel EXO 3,848
Pomegranates 3,307
Raisins/Dark Grapes 2,830
Blueberries 2,400
Blackberries 2,036
Garlic 1,939
Kale 1,770
Cranberries 1,750
Strawberries 1,540
Noni Fruit Juice (pure) 1,506
Spinach 1,260
ViaViente Brand Juice 1,245
Raspberries 1,220
Brussels Sprouts 980
Plums 949
Alfalfa Sprouts 930
Broccoli Florets 890
Beets 840
Oranges 750
Red Bell Peppers 710
Red Grapes 739
Cherries 670
Kiwi Fruit 610
Xango Brand Juice 621
Grapefruit, pink 483
Grapes, White 460
Onion 450
Tahitian Noni Brand Juice 416
Corn 400
Egg Plant 390
Cauliflower 385
Peas, Frozen 375
Potato 300
Cabbage 295
Leaf Lettuce 265
Cantaloupe 250
Banana 210
Apple 207
Tofu 205
Carrot 200
String Beans 200
Tomato 195
Apricot 175
Peach 170
Yellow Squash 150
Pear 110
Iceberg/Head Lettuce 105
Watermelon 100
Honeydew Melon 97
Celery 75
Cucumber 60


Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity-Weight Loss Diet Tips 4 Life!

]]> http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/orac-scale.html/feed 0 Benefits Of Antioxidants | What Are Antioxidants http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/antioxidants.html http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/antioxidants.html#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:54:09 +0000 Trisha http://www.weight-loss-diet-tips-4-life.com/?p=162

Antioxidants! What Are Antioxdants and what are the best Antioxidant foods

Antioxidant nutritition is all over the main stream media today and I’m sure people must wonder what they are and what can they do for me?

There are antioxidant drinks for those who are not into eating their 5 a day fruit portions, antioxdant supplements which can benefit a healthy lifestyle change. Green tea antioxidants which are full polyphenols, there are oodles of wonderful antioxidant teas available. Antioxidant vitamins are everywhere, but be careful what your buying… the old saying is very true, read the fine print (ingredients) and you only get what you pay for.

Natural Antioxidants

What are they? They are substances or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body.

What can antioxidant health benefits do for me?

They may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. I know this sounds all too technical. However, by understanding the basic concepts of antioxidants, you will be prepared to choose antioxidant nutrition and antioxidant dietary supplements that offer the benefits you want.

It is a very wide topic and can cover a lot of issues with ones health. Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. They may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals.

Antioxidants-How they work

When our body cells use oxygen, they naturally produce the nasty free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage. You can’t avoid free radicals, their always there, if your breathing your taking free radicals into your body.

Antioxidants And Free Radicals

Antioxidants act as “free radical scavengers” and hence prevent and repair damage done by these free radicals. Health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, cancer etc are all contributed by oxidative damage…here is one we all like Antioxidants, Antiaging.

Phytochemicals-Antioxidants

Phytochemicals are natural plant compounds found in vegetables and fruit. There you go! high antioxidant foods are fruits and veggies. These Antioxidants vitamins and other compounds that protect our cells from damage. Whole grain breads and cereals, brown rice and some nuts are also rich in these bioactive compounds (polyphenols). Many of these compounds (such as lutein and flavonoids) may help reduce the risk of cancer (antioxidants).

Antioxidant Sources

There are so many reasons why we need antioxidants, and we do not get enough in our daily diets on a regular basis. No one food or food compound can protect you from cancer, but a combination of foods from a diet rich in vegetables and fruit can.

Foods With Antioxidants

Chooses foods high in antioxidants rather than take supplements. Experts say that the health benefits may come from the interaction of the minerals, vitamins and antioxidants in food. Antioxidant supplements come in a variety of ways. Eating antioxidant foods are the number 1 way, but when our daily dose of antioxidant fruits and veggies does not provide us with enough antioxidant nutrition, we need the vitamins, antioxidants can provide.

Orac Antioxidants

Listed below is an Orac Scale. The USDA discovered this rating scale to measure the antioxidant content of various plant foods. Here you will find the value of blueberries antioxidants
They discovered that a small group of “super foods” have up to twenty times the Antioxidant Power of other foods. It is recommended that we eat antioxidant foods containing at least 3,000 orac units a day.

If you look at the top of the Orac Scale you will see that Cocoa and Acai berry are right up there waving at you…And I have news about that too…(Acai and Healthy Chocolate) but right now it is Antioxidant Health.


“Antioxidant Orac-The Top Ten Superfoods”

There are numerous scientific articles describing the health benefits of phenols and flavonoids which are potent antioxidants.

How do we know if we are getting enough to meet our needs?

There are several types of scientific tests available to measure the quantity of vitamins, antioxidants in a product.

The main tests are known as the Orac (oxygen radical absorbance capacity), the HORAC (hydrogen radical absorbance capacity), and the NORAC (nitrogen radical absorbance capacity).

Orac Rating Scale

These tests attempt to measure a given foods absorbance capacity in vitro (in the glass). The values determined by these tests help scientist rate different products based on their absorbance capacity.

However, like most scientific or medical tests, you have to put them into perspective based on many variables. There are numerous factors that can influence and determine the effective value for a given food.

Antioxidant Research

The amount of water or fat present in the sample, the temperature, how thick it is, when the fruit was harvested, how they were processed, and how they were stored, etc. In a scientific study all these variables are controlled.

In the real world we cannot control the variables, so looking at specific numbers makes no sense in comparing one product to another. It is not the specific number that is important, it is the range of values for a antioxidant food.

Antioxidant Chocolate

Dark chocolate is excellent in terms of ORAC, NORAC, HORAC, total phenols, and epicatechins. The FDA has recommended that we digest a minimum of 4000-5000 Antioxidant ORAC a day.

There is no maximum amount, but it is important to remember that each is different and works at different sites in the body and at different times. A wide variety is needed to meet your body needs. Cocoa can provide an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber to meet the daily needs of your body.

Darker is better. Dark cocoa has a bitter taste because it is very high in antioxidants. Blueberries and acai berries also have a very high ORAC value.

Incorporate these antioxidant foods into your diet to boost your systems ability to counter oxidative stress and the many illnesses that can be associated with that stress.

Importance Of Antioxidants

It has been estimated that less than 1% of Americans get enough antioxidants a day to meet their needs.

The consumption of fruits and vegetables is very low in our country. The oxidative stress we face daily needs to be countered with high-quality antioxidant foods.

Healthy Dark Chocolate is delicious and very effective.

Benefits Of Antioxidants-What Are Antioxidants – Weight Loss Diet Tips 4 Life!

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