Superfood Bargains

Here we go—pecans. More than 8,000 antioxidant units per dollar. Great bargain, but apples are even better. Goji berries—packed with antioxidants, but so expensive. For the same price, we can get more antioxidants in cranberries, or artichokes. Here’s where açai comes in. So, you’re staring at that $5 package of frozen açai pulp at the store, and thinking about all the great smoothies you can make with it. But should you choose something a little more economical? Well, dollar for dollar, açai is worth it. If you’re willing to buy an apple a day to keep doctors like me away, it’s even a better bargain to go with superfood #1. Five to ten times more expensive per pound than apple, but with 20 times more antioxidants, so it makes sense in the end. 

But three even better bargains to go.

Winning the bronze for best bargain: cloves. And the silver to cinnamon. The gold busts off the charts as the #1 antioxidant bargain in the world: purple cabbage—red cabbage. As cheap as you can get, and packed with antioxidants; look at that beautiful color. And, it lasts forever. Next time you go shopping, buy a red cabbage, put it in the crisper, and slice off shreds to put in as many things as you can think of—great crunch for salad, soups, stir fries, whatever. In terms of eating healthy on a budget, purple cabbage cannot be beat by any food, anywhere. 

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.

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• U.S. Department of Agriculture. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of Selected Foods—2007. November 2007.

• acaí berries
• antioxidants
• apples
• cabbage
• cinnamon
• cloves
• cost savings
• fruit
• goji berries
• pecans
• smoothies
• spices
• vegetables