Healthy Diet and Lifestyle

Foods High in Antioxidants

You’re heard how good antioxidants are for your diet—they improve your skin, your health, fight cancer and extend your life expectancy—and now you want to get more antioxidants into your diet. Fortunately, it’s easy to find foods high in antioxidants.

If you simply follow the FDA’s recommended diet, you’ll naturally be eating a diet full of foods high in antioxidants. For those who are familiar with the FDA’s recommendations, here’s a cheat sheet of foods high in antioxidants. You’ll notice they are all foods that are good for losing weight, managing diabetes and improving heart health.

Fruit

While berries pack the biggest punch of antioxidants per serving size, several other fruits are also good sources of antioxidants. Try making a fruit salad for dessert each night and loading it up with grapes, orange slices and pineapple slices. Eat a plum...

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Cortisol and Stress

Cortisol is a hormone present in your body as a reaction to stress of any kind. Cortisol levels are sometimes measured to determine how much stress you are experiencing. Unrelenting stress can cause increased cortisol levels. Cortisol helps the body respond healthfully to stress and it also helps the body break down food for energy by stimulating metabolic functions. Cortisol also regulates blood sugar, supports levels of energy you may feel, reduces inflammation and boosts the immune system.

You will want to keep your cortisol balance in check. If your body is not producing enough cortisol, you will most likely feel tired and may develop a disease called Addison’s disease. If your body produces too much cortisol, you may have an under-functioning immune system, resulting in ulcers, rapid aging and weight gain, particularly belly fat gain. When your body has high levels of cortisol on a regular