Eat clean day #10 –Boost your lycopene with red foods!

Eat clean action step: 

Cooked tomatoes contain even more lycopene vs. fresh tomatoes. The heating process raises the level of lycopene by 35%!

Lycopne is a powerful anti-oxidant that has been shown to play a role in preventing cancer and heart disease.  Anti-oxidants help to neutralize cellular damage and offer a disease preventative role. Eating lycopene rich foods also helps to prevent the signs of aging that can occur from too much sun exposure.

Foods that are high in lycopene will typically be reddish in color. While tomatoes offer the highest source of lycopene other lycopene rich foods include sun-dried tomatoes, guava, sweet red peppers, watermelon, papaya and grapefruit.  Tomato sauce is also a readily available form of lycopne that offers heart healthy benefits.  Lycopene is fat-soluble so eating it with a small amount of oil (i.e. olive oil) increases its absorption.

Get Dr. Joey’s quick and easy tomato and basil soup recipe here.