Superfoods are Super-Mighty!

I will admit that when I pick the titles for my next blogs I actually haven’t planned anything out for that title. My thought process has been, “Well that sounds like a good title and I think I can ramble on about that for 500 words.” This is probably not the best approach to blogging and I forsee it being a problem in the future. Like all avoidance tactics, I will wait till it actually becomes a problem to do something about it.

So as I sat down to write about superfoods, having nothing planned out in advance, the praise song “Mighty to Save” started playing in my head. You know the song by Jeremy Camp, “Our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save.” No doubt that He is mighty to save our emotional, spiritual, and physical states. This theme is sprinkled throughout the Bible. 

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” Ps 147:3. 

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” Ti 3:4-5. 

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save” Zep 3:15.

This kind of saving can be beyond comprehension or understanding. Or perhaps we feel we don’t deserve it. Either way it is far more profound than the televangelist striking someone’s forehead shouting “Healed!”

Superfoods are rumored to be the food equivalent to God’s saving power. (Although I will take God’s power over a blueberry’s any day.) Superfoods are foods high in anti-oxidants. They are a topic that has increased dramatically in popularity the last few years. Anti-oxidants are compounds in certain foods that remove free radicals in the body. Now before you reach for the nearest detox formula, you should know that radical formation is part of the process of cellular metabolism. You can’t avoid creating it. In fact, free radical formation is one of theories of why we physically age. There are several types of free radicals but all of them cause cellular damage, and potentially disease and cancer. Anti-oxidants work to diffuse the free radical and keep it from attacking cells. 

There is still more research continuing with anti-oxidants and the pathways used by them to combat free radicals. Current research is inconclusive because one study will show that those who have intakes of fruits and vegetables have fewer incidences of disease and cancer, and the next study won’t show the same results. Many foods have anti-oxidants but they are thought to be most prevalent in fruits and vegetables. Just another reason to eat your veggies. For a comprehensive list of foods containing anti-oxidants, see the Mayo Clinic article.

Common anti-oxidants include:

Vitamin C                                       Vitamin E

B-carotene                                     Manganese

Dihydrolipoic Acid                          Lycopene

Vitamin A                                       Selenium

 Another overview source from the National Institute of Health. 

Today’s Verse: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Is 53:5.

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