Find out More About Antioxidants

Antioxidants: the name says it all! They help preventing from degenerative diseases of aging such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune-system decline, brain dysfunction, and cataracts by slowing down the oxidation process of our body cells caused by free radicals.

Free radicals are produced by combustion processes including smoking, excessive alcohol intake, ultraviolet radiation, environmental pollution, bacterial or virus infections, and our normal body processes.

Health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and early aging signs are all caused by oxidative damages.

All forms of life have their specific antioxidant self-defence mechanisms, and our body provides some of those. However, and mostly due to our intensive and sometimes excessive lifestyles, our body alone cannot produce the level of defence required to counter-balance the negative effects caused by free radicals.

It is therefore necessary to add at least five portions of either fruit, vegetables, grains or nuts to our daily diet in order to assure our immune system can provide the necessary levels of protection to keep our body cells protected from such damage.

To illustrate how the above works, here is an example. Cut an apple into halves and sprinkle the juice of a freshly pressed lemon (which is rich in vitamin C) onto one of the halves. After a few minutes, you will see that the “unprotected” apple will change colour and turn brown. What you will see is the effect of oxidation damaging the unprotected cells; and that’s exactly what is happening to your cells when there is not sufficient protection from free radicals.

So give yourself a break and give a chance to your body to stay healthy, younger and strong. It is very easy to get all you need in a nice mix salad with fresh vegetables, full of Vitamins C, E, D, B group, A, Zinc, Iron, Folic acid, like tomatoes, pumpkin, carrot, paprika orange and many more, to complement your steak or fish.

However, the good news is: we have the power to tip the scales in our favour by making a few simple changes to our diet and antioxidants supplementation.

Here is a great beetroot recipe, which not only pleases your body – but also your palate. Think of it as a starter.

Beetroot Soup

Preparation 15 min.Cooking time 15 min.

For 6 persons, you will need:

700grms cooked beetroot
1 onion, 1 clove of garlic
1 and ½ plain low fat yogurt
2 tbs.olive oil
½ lemon juice
Some chives
Salt, pepper and a pinch paprika powder for seasoning

• Peel the onion and the garlic, dice and cook them in a pan with olive oil for about 10 minutes.
• Cut the beetroot and mix it with the onion, garlic fondue.
• Pour this puree into a sauce pan with 60cl of water, a bit of salt, pepper and paprika.
• Bring to boil for 5 min.
• Take the sauce pan off the heat and stir the yogurt in.
• Season to taste.
• Mix the remaining ½ yogurt with the lemon juice and blend into the soup.
• Serve and sparkle with chopped chives