A New Idea For You To Try

Anybody who knows me well, know that I am a huge advocate for antioxidants! Coffee, red wine, dark chocolate, pomegranates, berries, grapes, nuts, olives, tea, popcorn AND OATS contain large amounts of healthful antioxidant substances called polyphenols.

*Polyphenols play important role in reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

I often research new foods that I haven't tried before for health reasons and curiosity sake. I have come upon a new favorite food! STEEL CUT OATS! You may have heard of them before but thought it takes too long to prepare. You are right, traditionally it can. But don't let that make you miss out on the nutty flavor and unique texture of the oatmeal made with steel-cut oats. But if you soak the oats overnight, they cook in just 10 minutes! Try this....

1-1/2 cup steel cut oats

6 cups water

1/4 chopped salted almonds

1/4 cup dried cranberries (or any berry for that matter)

Brown sugar, pure maple syrup, or agave nectar for topping

In a large saucepan, boil oats in water for 1 min. Cover and let stand overnight at room temp.

The next day, uncover the oats and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer stirring frequently, until the oatmeal is cooked and creamy but still a little bit chewy. (about 10 mins, I have found) Spoon oatmeal into bowls and then top with the almonds, dried cranberries, and sweetner of you choice. I also like to add a splash of vanilla almond milk to make this a very low cal nutritious HEALTHY breakfast for the whole family!

Here is a chart that I found online which I think will be very helpful when deciding which foods to either add to your diet or eat more of.

List of 20 Best Foods High in Antioxidants

In the table below, the foods antioxidant power is given as per their serving sizes.

Rank	Type	Food item	Serving size	Total antioxidant capacity per serving size
1	Beans/Legumes	Red Beans (dried)	Half cup	13727
2	Fruit, Berry	Wild blueberry	1 cup	13427
3	Beans/Legumes	Red kidney beans (dried)	Half cup	13259
4	Beans/Legumes	Pinto beans	Half cup	11864
5	Fruit, Berry	Blueberry	1 cup	9019
6	Fruit, Berry	Cranberry	1 cup (whole)	8983
7	Vegetable	Artichoke (cooked)	1 cup (hearts)	7904
8	Fruit, Berry	Blackberry	1 cup	7701
9	Fruit	Prune	Half cup	7291
10	Fruit, Berry	Raspberry	1 cup	6058
11	Fruit, Bery	Strawberry	1 cup	5938
12	Fruit	Red Delicious apple	One	5900
13	Fruit	Granny Smith apple	One	5381
14	Nut	Pecan	1 ounce	5095
15	Fruit, Bery	Sweet cherry	1 cup	4873
16	Fruit	Black plum	One	4844
17	Vegetable	Russet potato (cooked)	One	4649
18	Beans/Legumes	Black beans (dried)	Half cup	4181
19	Fruit	Plum	One	4118
20	Fruit	Gala apple	One	3903

Another bit of good information for you to think about is ORAC:

Scientists at the USDA have developed a rating scale that measures the antioxidant content of various natural plant foods. The scale is called ORAC, which stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.

Fruits	Antioxidant Value ORAC units per 100 grams	Vegetables	Antioxidant Value ORAC units per 100 grams
Prunes	5570	Kale	1770
Raisins	2830	Spinach	1260
Blueberries	2400	Brussels sprouts	980
Blackberries	2036	Alfalfa sprouts	930
Strawberries	1540	Broccoli flowers	890
Raspberries	1220	Beets	840
Plums	949	Red bell pepper	710
Oranges	750	Onion	450
Red grapes	739	Corn	400
Cherries	670	Eggplant	390
Kiwi fruit	602
Grapefruit	483

USDA recommends to eat foods containing at least 3,000 ORAC units a day. If you can not fit enough of these healthy foods into your diet, then I highly recommend you take a supplement.

At the end of the day friends, it is all about prevention. I hope to give you some helpful ideas to add powerful disease preventing food and tips to your everyday meals in order to aid in you and your family's well-being.

A New Idea For You To Try