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Are you eating enough antioxidant rich foods every day? Like colorful fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, herbs and spices. If you have diabetes, antioxidants can add extra protection for the cells that may be damaged due to high blood sugar, particularly in your heart, eyes and kidneys.  To fend off diabetes, many of these foods are low in calories, saturated fat and have no cholesterol, which all bodes well fending off belly fat and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels in check.

Yesterday, as I was whipping up smoothies loaded with veggies and fruits at a corporate event, I had the pleasure of having my antioxidant levels checked with a biophotonic scanner (sounds fancy, but you just place your hand over the scanner’s blue light and it penetrates your skin to test your carotenoid-antioxidant levels).  As much as I am always touting that people eat foods high in vitamins A, C, E, as well as carotenoids like betacarotene and lycopene, I don’t even know if my body is absorbing enough of these nutrients from my mostly plant-based diet.  Luckily, the number that appeared indicated that my cells had plenty of antioxidant company – that’s according to this antioxidant scanner, anyway.

How do you think you’d fare?  Boost your antioxidants and cell health by throwing plants into your blender.  Here’s one with green tea – a powerful antioxidant-rich beverage.

Raspberry Green Tea Smoothie

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Makes 2 6-ounce smoothies

What to do: Steep a sachet of green tea for 3 to 4 minutes in a cup of hot water; let cool to room temperature. Pour into a blender and add a cup of raspberries, a cup of fat-free milk, and 2 scoops of whey protein powder. Puree and pour into a glass and enjoy. Healing hint: Use any berry that you like or almond, soy or rice milk and also a dash of cinnamon to boost the antioxidant levels even more. 

Nutrition Information (per smoothie): 145 calories, 2 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 71 mg cholesterol, 51 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 4 g sugars, 25 g protein