Spinach
The spinach is a leafy vegetable, with broad green leaves. It ranks high among all green vegetables. The leaves are cooling and very nutritive. They contribute roughage, color and bland flavor to the diet.
Spinach tops the list of green leafy vegetables, which helps prevent cancer. It is an extremely rich source of antioxidants and anti-cancer compounds. It contains about four times more beta-carotene and three times more lutein than broccoli. This vegetable is also rich in fiber that helps lower blood cholesterol. Some of its antioxidants are destroyed in cooking. It should therefore, be eaten in raw form or lightly cooked. Spinach is extremely high in oxalate. Its use should therefore be avoided by person suffering from kidney stones.
Sweet Potato
This popular nutritious vegetable is a super food source of antioxidant beta-carotene. According to US department of Agriculture, about 130 grams of mashed sweet potatoes contains about 14 mg of beta-carotene, or approximately 23,000 international units. The liberal use of this vegetable helps prevent heart disease, cataracts, strokes and numerous cancers.
Tomato
Tomato is a powerful antioxidant, as a major source of lycopene, a substance that gives it its color. Lycopene intervenes in adverse chain reactions of oxygen free radical molecules. It has also been hailed as an anti-cancer agent. For instance, John Hopkins researchers found lycopene severely lacking in the blood of those with pancreatic cancer. They also observed lycopene to be low in those with rectal and bladder cancer. Some consider lycopene a stronger antioxidant than beta-carotene.
Vitamin E-Rich Foods
Vitamin E is high in antioxidant activity. It thus greatly helps protect the heart and arteries. Persons with higher blood levels of vitamin E are less likely to have heart arrhythmia and angina as well as heart attacks. Vitamin E, unlike vitamin C and beta-carotene, is fat-soluble and therefore can help protect fat molecules against disease-causing oxidative damage. Thus for instance, Vitamin E can effectively counteract oxygen free radical chain reactions that can cut through cells and oxidize their membranes. The presence of vitamin E can stop this damaging chain reaction. “Vitamin E is like a little fire extinguisher in a cell’s membrane,” says Joe McCord, an antioxidant expert at the University of Colorado. Chief food Sources of Vitamin E are vegetable oils, almonds, soyabeans and sunflower seeds.
Watermelon
The watermelon is one of the most delicious and health-building fruits. The pulp of the fruit is sweet, juicy and soft, with a delicate flavor. It is highly valuable on account of the large amount of easily assimilable sugar contained in its juice. This fruit has high concentration of antioxidants and strong antioxidant activity. It is a major food source of antioxidant and anticancer compounds, lycopene and glutathione. It can thus help prevent damage to cells by oxygen-charged molecules. Watermelon also possesses mild antibacterial and anticoagulant activities.