We each need 8 to 10 glasses of water every day depending on body mass, how much exercise we do and what climate we live in. But even so, most of us struggle to get enough water into our bodies.
Water is essential to get our bodies to work. Our bodies are made up of about 70% water. Our brains are made up of even more – around 77 %.
We can live for weeks without food but without water, we can only live a few days.
Hands up if you have a gym membership? That is most of us then! Unsurprisingly the fitness industry had grown into a £3.92bn industry last year, and no doubt has continued to grow this year too.
Whilst more gym memberships does not necessarily mean more of us are actually working out. Clearly more of us want to – or at least want the results working out can achieve. In particular, working out is supposed to make us look good.
The pressure to fit an image “ideal” has increased immensely over the past couple of decades.
It is commonly known that women and young girls feel a lot of pressure to look a certain way, thanks to media images and messages. However, men are increasingly under more pressure to fit into a perfect and ideal body image.Only recently there have been statistics about men being “under-diagnosed, under-treated and under- researched” when it comes to eating disorders. A sure sign that men are feeling desperate to control what they eat, particularly in combination with strict exercise regimes.
The media are always throwing about new diet fads and raving about the latest celebrity super food. At the heart of all the fuss are the so famed miracle chemicals: antioxidants. They are the chemicals known to help prevent diseases like heart disease and cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, as well as having anti-aging and cleansing properties. Basically they are exceptionally good for you and your health.
What most people don’t realise is that antioxidants are everywhere; present in a wide variety of foods. And, there are many different kinds of antioxidants with different properties. Polyphenols for example have been shown to play a role in the prevention of degenerative diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Even familiar sounding chemicals like Vitamin C and E are considered to have antioxidant properties. So, the good news is antioxidants are very accessible and if you eat healthily you probably already eat a wide variety of them without even realising.
There are however some foods which are extremely high in antioxidants. A good tip for spotting these foods is to look for natural foods with a strong colour – things like berries, red kidney beans and broccoli.
Here is a list of five foods which contain a very high percentage of antioxidants, that will give you a boost in your antioxidant intake.
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