I'm sure by now you've heard all about the amazing health benefits of antioxidant rich foods in your diet. Not only do these free-radical fighting antioxidants help you look and feel younger by slowing down the aging process, but they also help to prevent cancer, heart disease, and loads of other degenerative diseases. But that's not all. Antioxidants also help you to recover better from exercise...and that means more muscle and less fat on your body in the long run!
The function that antioxidants play in aiding your recovery from exercise is the inhibition of free radicals produced during exercise. Any time you workout, free radicals are produced in the body that damage muscle tissue. Having an adequate supply of antioxidants about an hour or so before your workout can greatly reduce the muscle damage caused by free radicals, hence, improving your muscular recovery from exercise.
Some of the most potent sources of whole food antioxidants are berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries), cherries, acai fruit, various teas (green tea, white tea, black tea, and red tea - a.k.a. rooibos tea), nuts, seeds, red and black beans, purple potatoes, grapes, red wine, cinnamon, and dark chocolate or cocoa. Don't be fooled by all of the intense marketing for expensive antioxidant supplement pills...remember whole foods are always better for you (and cheaper) than a pill.
My favorite pre-workout antioxidant-loaded snack is a piece of whole grain toast with almond butter, a small amount of blackberry jam, and topped with a pile of fresh blueberries or sliced strawberries. I wash it down with a glass of iced green tea or rooibos tea sweetened with just a small bit (about a teaspoon) of raw honey. This is literally a quintuple-whammy of potent anti-oxidants! The almond butter, blackberry, blueberries, raw honey, and the green or rooibos tea are all loaded with different varieties of muscle protecting, youth promoting antioxidants. I throw down this snack about an hour before my training. Give it a try for yourself, or be creative and come up with your own antioxidant-rich pre-workout snack based on your tastes.
Remember, your body is continually bombarded every day by free radicals (creating oxidative stress) from exercise, air pollution, smoke, sun exposure, junk food, exposure to chemicals, etc. To reap the full benefits of antioxidants, try to make sure that every meal and snack you eat has at least one or two sources of antioxidant rich foods. This will give you a continuous supply of antioxidants throughout every day to prevent damage from the free radicals you are constantly exposed to.
Antioxidants are just one piece to the puzzle of a healthy diet that will give you the lean, muscular, youthful, and disease-free body that everyone wants. To discover the secrets behind all of the other pieces to the diet puzzle that create a lean body (macronutrient profile, glycemic response, hormonal response, glycogen storage, muscle protein synthesis, the role of leptin, the insulin process, etc.), visit http://truthaboutabs.com
?2005 truthaboutabs.com
Michael Geary - NCSF CPT, AFAA CPT;
Author of "The Truth About Six Pack Abs" ?2004-2005
Visit http://truthaboutabs.com to discover innovative training and nutritional strategies for losing body fat and developing a rock hard body!
After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in... Read More
It is always amazing to me when I find a... Read More
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing my 6-month old... Read More
The research in support of dietary omega-3 fatty acids (such... Read More
Obesity is epidemic in this country for both children and... Read More
People who consume too much alcohol have good chance of... Read More
Can we really stop the aging process, slow it down,... Read More
We come from a society where growing organic and just... Read More
How Can... Read More
What Ever Happened to the Basic FourThe USDA was originally... Read More
Incorporating these fat loss tips will improve your nutrition program.... Read More
One must always keep in mind that copper is not... Read More
The first place that we cut corners when we are... Read More
Enzymes are the workers in our body that make everything... Read More
When you actually sit down and think about it, bottled... Read More
Recently, trans fats have risen to the forefront of the... Read More
Female and male athletes respond to training in a fairly... Read More
Eating grain products - breads, cakes, cereals - have long... Read More
Before we get to honey we have a question from... Read More
I'll preface this article by saying that it will help... Read More
The Zone Diet has been around since around 1995, when... Read More
Images of "protein powder" containers with accomplished bodybuilders on their... Read More
Because of consumer demand, the food industry focus is on... Read More
As any student of chemistry will assure you, acids and... Read More
There seems to be fairly poor tracking by any formal... Read More
pet-friendly home cleaners Mundelein ..Olive oil is a healthy choice over other fats such... Read More
Flaxseeds may be the smallest seeds you will find in... Read More
We come from a society where growing organic and just... Read More
Here's a conundrum: While experts agree that high cholesterol and... Read More
Dr. Barry Sears revolutionized nutritional thinking around the world with... Read More
Instead of Butter: Use top quality, cold pressed, extra virgin... Read More
Water is the most abundant substance in the human body.... Read More
Whenever possible, we should try to get our antioxidants and... Read More
Is the thrill gone? Has the thrill gone out of... Read More
Coq10 is also known as Coenzyme Q10.This co q10 is... Read More
For a considerable amount of time, nutrition has not played... Read More
Soy, and most soy-based products, are nutritional powerhouses. Soybeans are... Read More
Did you know that there might be poison in many... Read More
Secretly we all want just a few things in life,... Read More
Cherries?A Supercharged FruitThe little red fruit that has been enjoyed... Read More
Media coverage of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has incited... Read More
With new research, new products and new skin protection advice... Read More
With summer comes more sun and with more sun comes... Read More
Protein is one of the basic building blocks of the... Read More
When Helen Boardman was still a girlish 99, she fell... Read More
New studies bring to our attention that high levels of... Read More
Magnesium is an important mineral that serves numerous essential functions... Read More
You may have heard of the "Portfolio Diet" wherein it... Read More
Recently, trans fats have risen to the forefront of the... Read More
There are basically four major components, or essential molecular components... Read More
Nutrition |