Read up. Wellness, your way.

When you were a kid, you likely heard a parent or two remind you to eat your vegetables.

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We all know it — but even still, many Americans, not just kids, aren’t getting the right amount.  In fact, fruits and vegetables are the greatest nutrient deficiency in the American diet!

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The USDA reports that the fruit and vegetable consumption for the average person in America is less than 1 cup daily for fruit and 1.4 cups daily for vegetables.  In fact, the CDC reports that only 1 in 10 adults reach the recommendation for 4 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day!

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And that’s counting potatoes, french fries, and ketchup as fruits and vegetables—and even fruit juice!

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What you may not know is just how powerful the nutrients inside whole fruits and vegetables can be.  They have the power to boost your body's natural defense against disease and add years to your life.  Whole fruits and vegetables are the real deal when it comes to food as medicine!

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What’s inside those fruits and vegetables?  Antioxidants, fiber, and fuel.

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Why Are Fruits and Vegetables Important?

Have you heard about the power of antioxidants?  Well, fruits and vegetables are the foods highest in antioxidants.  Antioxidants are tiny magic ingredients that improve overall health and longevity significantly.

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Antioxidants clear and repair the free radical damage to our body caused by oxidative stress from things like certain foods (fried foods, processed sugars, and processed meats), aging, and from exposure to daily living.  If we don’t do this, free radical attacks in our body can lead to DNA damage that can cause cancer and blood vessel harm.  This, in turn, can lead to diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and depression.

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The free radical attacks result in a variety of diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.  While it’s impossible to completely avoid free radicals, we do want to limit foods and lifestyle habits that increase free radicals in the body and, instead, add more of the foods and habits that combat them.  That’s where antioxidants come in!

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How Antioxidants Protect Our Health

Antioxidants are molecules in our body found in plant-based foods that counteract oxidative stress.  Oxidative stress occurs when there’s an imbalance between the production of cell-damaging free radicals and our bodies’ ability to counter the harmful effects of free radicals.  

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Free radicals are a by-product of a normal metabolism and in response to exercise, overexposure to the sun, and environmental pollutants like smog and cigarette smoke, and increased by certain foods like fried foods and processed sugars and meat we eat.  Free radicals can be measured in our blood and trigger oxidative stress which is damaging to the healthy cells in our body.

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That’s where antioxidants come in.

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Antioxidants essentially serve as bodyguards to protect the body’s healthy cells from these free radical attacks. They help maintain proper physiological function, protect our DNA, support our immune function, and repair and regenerate our blood vessels, cells, and body organs.  Antioxidants boost our body's natural defense and guard our overall health and well-being so we can live younger longer.

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Sounds great, right?

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How to Increase Antioxidants to Fight Disease and Reduce Inflammation

There are hundreds if not thousands of substances that act as antioxidants from Vitamin C to flavonoids and polyphenols which are all found in a wide range of plant-based foods.

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Top sources of antioxidants:

• Berries
• Pomegranates
• Hibiscus
• Grapes
• Citrus fruits
• Broccoli
• Dark leafy greens
• Apples
• Beans
• Whole grains
• Avocados
• Nuts
• Seeds

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Bonus?  Even coffee, green tea, and 70% to 80% dark cocoa along with herbs and spices like curry and turmeric have antioxidants.  There are so many ways to increase antioxidants in your body!

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Want to take it a step further than eating lots of one type of food?  Try the “eat from the rainbow” approach.  Eating brightly colored foods is where all the antioxidants are.  This a GREAT way to make sure you’re getting a broad spectrum of protective antioxidants in your diet.

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Diversifying your antioxidant sources also comes with added health benefits.  Whole plant foods of different colors come with their own benefits like being naturally packed with vitamins, minerals, and whole-carb fibers.

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How to Increase Your Antioxidant Consumption

I recommend that you build meals that start with 2 cups of whole fruits and vegetables and aim for a DAILY Dose of six cups of whole fruits and veggies.

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An example of how to do this is one cup of whole fruit and one cup of veggies at breakfast, two cups of veggies at lunch and dinner, and then another cup of whole fruit for a healthy dessert or snack throughout your day.

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You can also boost your antioxidants by swapping processed foods with whole, plant-based foods.  At Dr. Cheryl Wellness, we use The Healthy Diet & Longevity Score to track our Daily Wellness Routine and add healthier years to our life.  

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Here are some healthy swaps to up Your Score:

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• Trade up your breakfast pastry for a bowl of oats topped with fresh fruit and nuts or a smoothie that's loaded with veggies and fresh fruits and plant protein boosted with nuts and flaxseeds.
• Trade up a sandwich or a wrap, and go for a bowl made with beans, brown rice, or quinoa topped with generous greens and veggies and seasoned with hummus or guacamole.
• Trade up a processed snack by snacking on fresh fruit with nuts or seeds or veggies with hummus.
• Satisfy your sweet tooth by trading up to 70% to 80% dark chocolate instead of ice cream or processed candy.
• Trade up your daily habits by sprinkling cinnamon into your morning coffee and infusing water or tea with antioxidant-rich herbs and bits of fruit.

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Maybe you’ve heard the saying “everything in moderation.”  Well, antioxidants break that rule. You can never have too many antioxidants from whole food sources.

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Plus, choosing antioxidant-rich foods can elevate the overall nutritional quality of your entire diet and give you other benefits.  The bottom line is that whole foods are healing in a lot of different ways.    

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Do Supplements Work?

This is the hunt that the scientists and drug companies are all on.  They are trying to find a way to package the power of antioxidants into a little pill.  You may have heard of, or even been taking, supplements that promise antioxidants.

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Pharmaceutical companies and supplement companies are chasing for a magic pill

that can do what antioxidants in whole foods can do.  The more we learn about antioxidants, the evidence shows powerful anti-aging effects and a major ability to improve overall health and well-being.

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The problem with antioxidant supplements is that they’re highly processed and show inconsistent benefits in human studies.  While we can never eat too many antioxidants in the form of whole foods, the process of making a highly processed supplement full of antioxidants is not proven to be helpful at this time.

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What is a Supplement?

It is important to remember the term supplement means just that — additions and extras.  The research on supplementation of high-dose antioxidants is not yet proven to have health benefits, we may find these supplements more beneficial when added to a diet of mostly whole plant foods naturally loaded with antioxidants.  

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While the jury is out on the supplementation of antioxidants, keep focusing on eating more of the whole plant foods that are proven to have a medicine-like effect on the body for boosting the body’s natural defense.    

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Eat More Antioxidant-rich Food to Improve Your Long-term Health

The best way to consume our antioxidants is from an abundant amount of whole, plant-based foods.  This is partly because antioxidants work in synergy with one another and with other bioactive compounds.  In other words, they’re one ingredient in a complex recipe for health protection.

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The path to the healthiest diet is to eat as many antioxidants as possible through whole plant foods, even if you choose to add an antioxidant supplement to your daily routine.

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Here’s the bottom line on antioxidants:

They’re an important part of proactive nutrition and can help to fend off aging and chronic disease, making you look and feel better.  But, antioxidants aren’t meant to be a cure-all, and taking antioxidant supplements to treat a medical condition without the supervision of your doctor is not advised.  Antioxidants can impact treatment protocols for cancer and other conditions and be sure your doctor knows all the supplements you are taking.

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To get the most out of antioxidants’ powerful benefits, source them from whole plant foods or products made from whole plant food ingredients.  That’s also the most delicious and satisfying way to get your Daily Dose of these colorful nutrients.    

What is the Daily Dose of Antioxidants for Optimal Health?

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Here at Dr. Cheryl Wellness, we build meals with two or more cups of fruits in vegetables, in every meal, for a daily total of six or more cups.  If you get a 20 on The Score, my 20-point nutrition and lifestyle Daily Wellness Routine based on years of research, you’re guaranteed to get all the fruits and vegetables and whole plant foods you need to experience all the proven health benefits and start to unlock the body’s ability to heal.

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Eating this much will provide the right amount of antioxidants your body needs to counteract the harmful effects of the oxidative stress and cell-damaging free radicals we talked about before.  The right amount to repair DNA damage and repair and regenerate blood vessels, cells, and organs — and boost the immune system.

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Remember, you can’t completely avoid oxidative stress and free radicals, so the best thing you can do is eat three meals a day that include your Daily Dose of antioxidants.  We want every meal to have less of the foods that drive free radical damage and instead, add more to Your Plate with whole foods that combat free radical attacks and protect the body.  

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To learn more about how to improve your health and find delicious, antioxidant-rich recipes to reach your daily fruit and veggie count, check out more resources at drcherywellness.com.

Have you taken Your Score?  The Score is a 20-point nutrition and lifestyle prescription that can add 10 healthy years to your life and help you feel better today.