Get More Antioxidants and Satisfy Your Cravings

By Kelley Herring

We all need to get more antioxidants in our diet. That's because free radicals - rogue molecules that wreak havoc on our cells and contribute to disease and degeneration - are constantly being generated, even as a result of basic biological functions like breathing and digestion. But by choosing foods that are high on the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) scale, we can pack more free-radical-fighting power into every bite.

Researchers at the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory recently released the ORAC values of various foods. In the report, raw broccoli came in with an ORAC score of 1,362. That's pretty good, but not nearly as high as blueberries. With a score of 6,552, blueberries rank near the top of all fruits and vegetables. But even blueberries can't hold a candle to cocoa. With an ORAC score of 80,933, the antioxidant power of cocoa powder is simply off the charts!

When choosing cocoa, be sure to opt for the organic, non-alkalinized variety. (I like the one from NOW Foods.) "Dutched" cocoa has been treated with potassium carbonate, which cuts the antioxidant capacity in half.

Stir antioxidant protection into your coffee, blend into a berry smoothie, or try a cocoa-packed cake to fend off free radicals deliciously.

"Has the 'I and me' rule changed?"

"I have a question for Suzanne Richardson:

"When I took grammar in school, I was taught that the use of I and me is not interchangeable. And I remember Miss Fancher in high school saying, 'If a sentence is appropriate using me, you still use me if another person is included. Example: Give it to me. Give it to Susie and me. Same goes for I. Example: I want to go. Jane and I want to go.'

"However, I now hear, almost every day, people saying things like 'John wants to go shopping with you and I' instead of 'John wants to go shopping with you and me.'

"Has the 'I and me' rule changed? Or is vernacular changing so the old rule does not apply anymore?

"A little thing, but I am beginning to doubt myself!"

Carrol S.

Dear Carrol,

Ah, pronouns. Tiny little words - but a huge pain in the rear.

Miss Fancher was right - and she hit on the easiest way to figure out when to say I and when to say me when another person is included. Merely remove the other person from the sentence.

Take this sentence, for example: "Do you want to go to the marketing conference with Aaron and I this weekend?"

Is that correct? Or should it be: "Do you want to go to the marketing conference with Aaron and me this weekend?"

One way to tell is to take Aaron out of the sentence.

"Do you want to go to the conference with I?" doesn't sound right. But "Do you want to go to the conference with me?" does sound right. So, in this case, you'd know that me is correct.

Another trick is to try out we and us in the sentence. If us sounds better, use me. If we sounds better, use I. In our example, "Do you want to go to the conference with us" sounds a lot better than "Do you want to go to the conference with we." So, again, you'd know that me is correct.

Some incorrect applications of the "I and me" rule have become so common that you risk sounding pompous or pretentious by being grammatically correct. (Correctly saying "It is I," for example, instead of "It's me.") In a case like that, just say something else. ("It's Jim.")

We've just scratched the surface on how to use pronouns the right way. (And I haven't even mentioned what's behind it all - objects, subjects, and such.) For a good reference book on all the complicated rules of grammar, check out Patricia O'Connor's Woe Is I.

- Suzanne Richardson

[Ed. Note: Speaking well can garner you respect and appreciation from friends and colleagues alike. One of the best ways to improve your speech is by understanding more about the words you choose. The bigger your vocabulary, the easier it is to choose the most appropriate word for any situation.]

Word to the Wise: Soporific

Something that's "soporific" (sop-uh-RIF-ik) - from the Latin - induces sleep.

Example (as used by Benjamin Schwarz in The Atlantic): "Since the war - beginning in 1950 with... Richard M. Titmuss's Problems of Social Policy - ... a tour de force whose soporific title belies its often disturbing contents - historians have probed, revised, and re-revised nearly every aspect of this self-defined finest hour of the British people [the Blitz]."

__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2420, 07-29-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.