I understand that antioxidants are an essential part of establishing long-term health and I also understand that I can find them in certain fruits and vegetables - like blueberries - but a woman can only eat so many blueberry pancakes. It's time to seek out other antioxidant-rich foods.

Firstly, antioxidants are not only found in fruit and veggies, they're also in certain nuts and teas. Secondly, antioxidants come in many different forms - beta-carotene, ellagic acid, and flavonoids to name a few. Following are a few blueberry alternatives for your daily antioxidant dose:

Acai: These Amazonian berries are packed with vitamins A and C and, um, have twice as many antioxidants as blueberries.

Spinach: This green contains beta-carotene and lutein which when combined can help to prevent cancer while protecting vision.

Walnuts: These are the ultimate antioxidant nuts. They're packed with ellagic acid, which is thought to be the most effective way to prevent cancer and inhibit cancer cell growth in people who are genetically predisposed.

Cloves: I thought garlic was the best antioxidant spice, but it turns out that cloves are rich in allixin flavonoids and they have more antioxidant activity than garlic, ginger, mint, pepper, and cinnamon.

White tea: White tea has three times more antioxidant polyphenols than its green cousin, and has been shown to be 100 percent more effective in combating free radicals.

[via Delicious Living]

image: larabar.com