The Health Benefits of Phytonutrients: Learn What Phytonutrients Can Do To Improve Your Health

The Health Benefits of Phytonutrients:  Learn What Phytonutrients Can Do To Improve Your Health
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What Are Phytonutrients?

Phytonutrients, sometimes called phytocehmicals, are biologically active substances that are responsible for the color, flavor, smell and natural disease resistance of fruits and vegetables. They also offer major health benefits to the body.

The most important thing that phytonutrients do is play a huge part in preventing cancer and heart disease. The phytonutrients contain natural antioxidants that provide protection from free radicals. They also slow down the aging process of dementia, increase longetivity and protect you from cataracts and macular degeneration.

Regular consumption of as many fruits and vegetables as possible in your diet is the best way to provide your body protection from cancer, heart disease and many other illnesses and conditions that you may develop if you don’t maintain a healthy diet filled with plenty of phytonutrients.

Fruits and vegetables can be classified by their color and each group has it’s own set of phytonutrients and its own protective benefits which is why you may sometimes hear people recommend that you eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day.

The Rainbow of Foods

Red fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, watermelon, guava and red grapefruit contain lycopene. Lycopene is responsible for the red pigment in these foods and protects against heart disease and cancer, especially prostate cancer.

Red/Purple foods like blueberries, grapes, eggplant and red wine contain a powerful flavonoid called anthocyanidin. This flavonoid protects the body from free radical damage, arthritis and atherosclerosis.

Orange colored fruits and vegetables like oranges, carrots, pumpkins and apricots have high amounts of carotenoids. Carotenoids stop singlet oxygen which is a reactive oxygen species of free radicals that damage cells and tissues.

Orange/Yellow foods such as lemons, limes, pineapples and nectarines are rich in vitamin C and bioflavonoids and protect us from free radical damage, strengthen blood vessels and cells and they prevent the release and production of compounds that promote allergies and inflammation.

Yellow/Green foods like spinach, kale, leeks and peas are rich in lutein and zeaxanthin. Lutein reduces the risk of macular degeneration which is the leading cause of blindness in older people. These carotenoids are strongly associated with protecting the lens of the eye from sunlight damage which slows down the development of cataracts.

Green foods like broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts and collard greens. These vegetables contain more phytonutrients than any other family of vegetables. They contain DIM which is able to suppress cancer growth and induce programmed cell death in a variety of cancers. They also stimulate detoxifying exzymes in the GI tract and the liver.

White/Green foods like onion and garlic are well known for their healthy benefits as they are a wonderful way to detox the liver, protect against cancer and provide a huge boost to the immune system. Green tea is a member of this group and has become widely known in recent years for the extremely powerful health benefits that it provides.

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