Anti-Oxidants Galore!
Natural sources of antioxidants, such as Vitamins C and E and
beta carotene, are some of your best defenses against
 coronary-pulmonary
aging.
Choose from these foods when eating at least five servings
per day of fruits and vegetables (better yet 9 servings):
Vitamin C: red pepper, Brussels sprouts, papaya, orange,
chestnuts, butternut squash, kiwi, strawberries, cantaloupe,
kale, pink grapefruit, sweet potato, cabbage, broccoli, and
cauliflower. (The latter 3 also help the liver detoxify poisons
and "bad" estrogens [16-hydroxyestrone] that promote breast,
colon, cervical and prostate cancer.)
Vitamin E: almonds, spinach, parsnips, peanut butter,
sunflower seeds, asparagus, sweet potato, wheat germ, Brussels
sprouts, peanuts, pecans.
Beta carotene: carrot, butternut squash, cantaloupe, sweet
potato, kale, watercress, apricot, red pepper, turnip greens,
mango.
A good rule of thumb: eat from the fruit and vegetable "color
palette" each day and include red, green, orange, and yellow.
By the way, eating lots of anti-oxidants keeps your lungs
strong. The proof? According to a 3/14/98 article in the FASEB
Journal, people who ate the most antioxidants were able to
exhale almost 1/2 cup more air in 1 second than people who ate
much less. The ability to inhale and exhale volumes of air
is called "Vital Capacity" and is perhaps the best physical exam
indicator of life expectancy!
And need I remind you that lung cancer is the number one
cancer killer? AND 18% of VICTIMS NEVER SMOKED!
So eat your 9 servings of a rainbow variety of fruits, seeds,
nuts and vegetables. Then take a professional quality
multi-vitamin/mineral with at least 1000mg Vitamin C, 100 IU
Vitamin E, and 15,000 units of mixed carotinoids (not just
beta-carotene), and 200mcg of selenium. As iron is a
pro-oxidant, it should not be included usually except in the
anemic, children's formulas and for menstruating or pregnant
females.
Pregnant females and those desiring or even "at risk" for
pregnancy should limit Vitamin A supplementation to less than
5,000 units a day.
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