When you eat a meal, certain reactions take place in your body. One of them is decreases in blood plasma antioxidant capacity. This allows the 'free radicals' to run rampant in your body. Free radicals are cells that were damaged in the splitting process that now will attempt to latch on to other cells to stabilize themselves, causing a chain reaction of cell damage.

It is known that the oxidative stress caused by these free radicals can cause damage to lipids (fat cells), proteins and even cell DNA. Another area that is affected is aging of the body, it is beleived that free radicals will cause your body to become "old" quicker. Disesases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and even cancer have been thought to be linked in some way to the levels of free radicals in the body.

When choosing your foods, you should strive to make the majority of your diet whole foods, taking care to get a large variety in your diet, and most importantly - you need to eat colorful foods. And I'm not talking about red dye number five. You will find most the of highest levels of antioxidants are found in dark or brightly colored foods such as broccoli and kale.

Fortunately, it's not just foods broccoli and kale that are full of antioxidants (although they certainly are great sources), there are numerous different foods that you can eat to get your daily dose. It is to be noted that in order to see the maximum benefit level from the antioxidant-rich food, you should eat some with every meal to counteract the post-dining drop in antioxidant capability.

I will now attempt to give you a wide variety of the best sources of antioxidants known to modern science using the most recent data available on the subject from the United States Department of Agriculture. I have broken them down into categories to make things a little easier.

Fruits are an excellent source of antioxidants, as well as various other vitamins and minerals.

Rank	Food	Antioxidants*
1	Elderberries	14697
2	Cranberries	9584
3	Currants	7960
4	Prunes	6552
5	Blueberries	6552
6	Plums	6259
7	Blackberries	5347
8	Raspberries	4882
9	Dates	3895
10	Strawberries	3577
11	Figs	3383
12	Cherries	3365
13	Gooseberries	3277
14	Apples	3082
15	Raisins	3037
16	Pears	2941
17	Dates	2387
18	Oranges	1819
19	Peaches	1814
20	Tangerines	1620
21	Grapefruit	1548
22	Apricots	1115
23	Mangos	1002
24	Pineapple	884
25	Kiwi	882

* "Antixoidants" in the above chart refers to milligrams of antioxidants per 100 gram serving.

Vegetables are your best source of antioxidants as they generally will have the lowest caloric intake associated with them, making it easier for your food choices to pack a real nutritional punch for the calories.

Rank	Food	Antioxidants*
1	Artichokes, Raw	14840
2	Red Cabbage	3145
3	Broccoli Raab	3083
4	Broccoli	2386
5	Red Leaf Lettuce	2380
6	Asparagus	2150
7	Sweet Potato	2115
8	Beets, Raw	1767
9	Radishes, Raw	1736
10	Spinach, Raw	1687
11	Russet Potato	1680
12	Alfalfa Sprouts	1510
13	Green Leaf Lettuce	1447
14	Butterhead Lettuce	1423
15	Red Potatoes	1326
16	Yellow Onions	1220
17	Yellow Peppers	965
18	Romaine Lettuce	963
19	Eggplant, Raw	933
20	Green Peppers, Raw	923
21	Red Peppers	847
22	Cauliflower, Raw	829
23	Green Beans, Raw	759
24	Corn	728
25	Carrots	666

* "Antixoidants" in the above chart refers to milligrams of antioxidants per 100 gram serving.

Remember - nuts may be high in antioxidants, but they are also high in calories - so keep your intake to just an ounce or two a day.

Rank	Food	Antioxidants*
1	Pecans	17940
2	Walnuts	13541
3	Hazelnuts/Filberts	9645
4	Pistachio	7983
5	Almonds	4454
6	Cashews	1948
7	Macadamia	1695
8	Brazil	1419
9	Pine Nuts	616

* "Antixoidants" in the above chart refers to milligrams of antioxidants per 100 gram serving.

Please note that these values are for uncooked beans, they will lose some antioxidants in the cooking process.

Rank	Food	Antioxidants*
1	Kidney Beans	8459
2	Pink Beans	8320
3	Black Beans	8040
4	Pinto Beans	7779
5	Lentil Beans	7282
6	Black Turtle Beans	6416
7	Soybeans	5764
8	Blackeye Peas	4343
9	Peanuts	3166
10	Navy Beans	1520
11	Garbanzo/Chickpea	847
12	Peas	524

* "Antixoidants" in the above chart refers to milligrams of antioxidants per 100 gram serving.

Sources Cited:

"Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) Of Selected Foods - 2007" Document Published Nov. 2007 By U.S. Department Of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service.

Kiefer, Dale. "Fruits, berries with meals offset after-meal oxidative stress.(IN THE NEWS)(Report)(Brief article)." Life Extension (April 2008): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. Eastern Michigan University. 12 Aug. 2008 .