What are good sources of antioxidants?

There's a visual trick to figuring out which foods are good sources of antioxidants. Dietitian Julieanna Hever, RD, explains why it's smart to choose a food by its color.

Transcript

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So we use antioxidants to quench the effect of oxygen on our body. And where do we get antioxidants?

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Well, they're abundant in the plant world. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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Antioxidants are abundant in the plant kingdom. You can find them pretty much in every fruit and vegetable

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in large amounts, and also in whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, teas.

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They're pretty much omnipresent and ubiquitous in all plant foods. The reason that we age is because of oxygen.

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And you can't be away from, you can't be outside of oxygen, because we need it to live. It's kind of ironic. So we use antioxidants to quench the effect of oxygen

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on our body. And where do we get antioxidants? Well, they're abundant in the plant world. My favorite sources are from the most colorful pigments,

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like chlorophyll, anything green. That's why I love, and I always recommend eating a lot of leafy green vegetables. Also, the blues and purples from the anthocyanins in blueberries

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and blackberries and plums, and anywhere you can get those colorful. Like I always tell people to eat the rainbow every day, because then you're going to get a wide variety of antioxidants.

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Also, carotenoids, all the reds, oranges, and yellow fruits and vegetables, rich source of powerful antioxidants.

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So eat your fruits and vegetables and you will get a wide range. And also, green tea. Green tea is a wonderful source of catechins

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and has a lot of antioxidant power. So you can't go wrong in the plant kingdom.