Are you busy and always on the go? Add these foods to your diet to help your body detoxify and protect itself against free radicals.
In the world we live in today our body needs every possible support to keep up with all the pollution, processed foods, busyness etc. In order to fight inflammation that's created by these stressors, you want to consume as many antioxidants as possible that help protect your body against the damage. If you don't have much time and aren't ready to make a radical change, you can start by incorporating these foods to your diet to support your body. As a plus, these foods have a natural anti-aging effect!
1. Turmeric
Turmeric is one of the most potent antioxidants that helps to manage inflammation.
Turmeric is even a potent pain killer when combined with Omega 3, it supports digestive and brain health and helps manage skin conditions like psoriasis. You should know that if you are not using it as direct root extract in form of juice, you always need to combine it with:
black pepper
fat
and heat
so it can be absorbed by the body.
To get best results, it's best to use it as a juice or supplement as the concentration is much higher than the cooking spice (which will not give a therapeutic effect unless you're consuming tons of it every day).
How to consume it:
You can add it to your morning smoothie (ideally the juice as you won't heat it), or porridge
enjoy a golden latte: open up a capsule or two, or use 1 TBSP of juice in hot nut milk or coconut milk, add some cinnamon & vanilla spice to it and enjoy. For an extra anti-inflammatory effect you can also add some ginger
You can add it to any dishes you are cooking of course as well, just always make sure you are using black pepper, fat and heat so your body can absorb it
2. Cinnamon
Cinnamon helps keep your blood sugar stable to avoid cravings especially when being stressed.
But it also has anti-inflammatory properties and supports heart health. You should always pay attention to choose real Ceylon cinnamon as the most common (and cheapest type) called Cassia cinnamon can actually be toxic in high doses due to the presence of a compound called coumarin. Ceylon cinnamon also contains coumarin, but in much smaller amounts.
3. Magnesium
When being stressed, your body needs a lot of extra magnesium.
If using Magnesium supplements, always choose Magnesium Biglycinate which is easiest to absorb for your body.
There are a lot of foods rich in Magnesium though like Cocoa (no not the milk chocolate you can find in the supermarket unfortunately, you need to go for the real stuff!) Best is raw chocolate powder or organic dark chocolate (min 80%). Cocoa is also high in antioxidants.
Other foods high in magnesium are almonds, oats, seaweed, spinach, pumpkin seeds for instance.
4. Omega-3 rich foods
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to manage inflammation.
Essential means that you need to eat them because your body cannot make them! Food sources are wild caught salmon, sardines, mackerel and herring or grass-fed beef.
But also plant based sources like organic flax seed, chia seeds, hemp seeds or algae oil are rich in Omega 3. The problem in our diet today is that we consume too many Omega 6 (processed foods, vegetable oils..) and therefore our anti-inflammation process is out of balance. Hence the need for more Omega 3 fats to balance and anti-inflame.
5. Blueberries
Blueberries are one of the best sources of antioxidants
Unfortunately, Blueberries are heavily treated with pestizides so it's really important to choose organic. If not in season, you can opt for frozen or freeze-dried blueberries or Gojiberries which are an equally good choice and very available now as dried fruit. They can be very high-priced, it's best to buy in larger quantities online. Both fruits have a low glycemic index that will help keep your blood-sugar levels stable and avoid cravings, but also promote heart and brain health.