Whittle Your Waist & Improve Your Skin

While we all know that antioxidants are supposedly the miracle child of fruits and veggies that help keep our skin glowing, our metabolism in check, and better yet- they actually fight the signs of aging.  But most of us don’t know much about antioxidants really, and how to make them work for us. So, if you’re going to get down with some skin-saving antioxidants like those in pomegranates, goji berries, and dark chocolate you’re going to need to know about ORAC scores.

The ORAC score test was developed by a chemist named Dr. Guohua Cao to quantify all the antioxidants in foods since they can’t easily be measured seperately. The ORAC score test identifies the most important nutrients in foods, which is better, since often nutrient-combos have greater protective benefits than single nutrients by themselves.  The scores are based on 100 gram servings.

Different types of fruit and vegetables have different ORAC scores. The recommended “5-a-day” fruit and vegetable servings results in an ORAC score of about 1,700 units, falling far short of the ideal 5,000 ORAC units per day. You could pick seven fruits with a low ORAC level and achieve only 1,300 ORAC units, or seven with higher values and consume around 6,000 ORAC units.  Just one large handful of blueberries would give you an ORAC score of around 6,000 instantly.

Do a little thinking for a moment… What did you eat today?  Get a calculator out, and score yourself.  It’s safe to say that if you’re focused on eating high ORAC score foods, you’re probably eating healthier foods.  You’re better off eating berriers and veggies with garlic than a fast food hamburger, for example.

So reach for a handful of berries, drink a few cups of rooibos tea, and you’ll be well on your way to fighting free radicals!