What are " The Antioxidants" ???

The antioxidants benefits include strengthening your immune system, slowing down the aging process and most importantly fighting off free radicals. This is big because free radicals are damaging to the body... causing an increase in inflammation & can lead to many degenerative diseases (e.g. cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, etc).



Adequate amounts of antioxidants are needed to fight off damaging free radicals and to keep your immune system strong. Fortunately your bodies have its own antioxidant defenses against free radicals... mostly using oxygen.

Disease cannot live in an oxygen-rich environment. However, our world has an oxygen shortage. As a result our bodies are working overtime in order to keep free radicals in check. And this is causing extra stress & strain on the body.

I related free radicals to cracks on a freeway. But how much damage can free radicals really do?
Well, have you ever cut an apple and let it sit out for a bit? I would say go ahead and give it a try but I’ve already done the painful (and smelly) part of this experiment for you.

Here is a freshly cut apple for you (it's so cute, isn't it?)...

Now look what happens when you leave it out for a while (not so cute anymore)...

The rotting taking place in these pictures is free radicals at work (“oxidation” is the technical term). Now picture this type of rotting taking place inside your body.

Imagine it affecting your brain, immune system, heart and other major organs. This type of excessive free radical activity in your body is the start to a slippery slope of bad health and disease.

Doctor’s are recognizing that many acute and chronic illnesses are related to the excess of free radicals in our bodies. There is also a lot of research being done in discovering the antioxidants benefits.

Now for the 2nd experiment... cut open another apple but this time dip it in some lemon juice and watch what happens. The browning/rotting will either slow down significantly or stop altogether. The reason is because lemon juice has an important antioxidant, Vitamin C.

Which brings us to the next topic at hand...

So how are Antioxidants and the Immune System related?
There are 2 prevailing theories on why we get sick: The Holistic Theory and the Disease Theory.

The older of the two, the Disease Theory, states that a particularbacteria or virus will get “inside” your body and can cause you to be sick.

The Holistic Theory states that your body is already full of foreign bodies and free radicals but is able to function normally because antioxidants will “disarm” the harmful stuff... thus keeping your body “in balance.”

And the reason we get sick is because the amount of free radicals isgreater than the antioxidants fighting them, causing an “imbalance” in the body.

This imbalance, if nothing is done about it, can go from you feeling a little under the weather to potentially causing cancer.

I first read the Holistic Theory of disease in the book The Super Anti-Oxidants by Dr. James Balch.

The antioxidants benefits help to prevent free radicals from tipping the scales to the wrong side of things. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals so they go from very harmful to practically harmless (kind of like pulling the trigger of an unloaded rifle).

As a result, building a healthy immune system from the aid of antioxidants benefits will keep your body and immune system healthy and working well!

What’s The Best Solution?
The best solution to combating imbalance in your body is through properexercise, a good body-mind connection, nutrition and the right amount of antioxidants. Keep in mind that the benefits of antioxidants alone can’t make you invincible to everything but adding them definitely gives you a greater advantage.

Now that we know the benefits of antioxidants you might want to know what source(s) you can find them. Click here to find out the best sources of antioxidants and how to easily add them to your diet. Or feel free to click on any of the left tabs to find out more info on the various antioxidant sources discussed.

The best thing to do to start is by either adding an antioxidant supplement, such as a multi-vitamin w/ Vitamin A, C, D, E & selenium) and by including antioxidant-rich foods to your diet today!

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