Denton County Living Well Magazine March/April 2019 | Page 48

3
ANTIOXIDANTS
YOU SHOULD
TAKE EVERYDAY
I
n the health and wellness area,
there are words that make us
scratch our heads at times. It is hard
to figure out what everything means
and more importantly if it pertains
to us. Today I want to share with you a
word that gets thrown around a lot when
discussing health, “antioxidants.” Antiox-
idants should become some of your best
friends if you are interested in pain man-
agement, cell health, and longevity. will have the correct amount of electrons,
but if a molecule loses an electron at the
wrong time, it creates a free radical. Free
radicals are not stable, and are capable
of causing damage to cells, proteins, and
even DNA. When cells are damaged, ill-
ness, aging, and pain are symptoms. So
here is where the antioxidants come in;
these guys actually go to free radical mol-
ecules and donate the needed electrons
to them before they can cause damage! heart disease, pain, and inflammation
occur, it is because free radicals have far
surpassed antioxidant levels. When free
radicals outnumber the antioxidants your
body goes into a state of oxidative stress.
With this imbalance can also come silent
inflammation. Inflammation is your body’s
natural immune response to injury or infec-
tion. If your body is stressed from a poor
diet lacking antioxidants, then inflamma-
tion can stay turned on and cause harm.
Antioxidants If you think about it, antioxidants are
like the man or woman at a festival with
“FREE HUGS” written on their shirts or
the volunteers handing out free meals to
the homeless. They just want to serve and
donate. They go around your body, re-
pairing damage before it starts. Chronic oxidative stress and inflamma-
tion are the theories behind many chron-
ic diseases. The paragraphs that follow
will go over my top three recommended
antioxidants to consume daily, along with
a colorful whole food plant based diet.
Why we need them Called by some health experts as the “Nat-
ural Remedy of the Century” this supple-
ment has big shoes to fill. This root herb
has the ability to inhibit the COX-2 enzyme,
It all starts with a brief chemistry lesson.
An atom is the smallest unit of life, and
more than one atom creates a molecule;
our bodies are made up of large mole-
cules like proteins and fatty acids. In our
bodies, in order to function, hundreds of
chemical reactions are occurring, known
as our metabolism.
During metabolism, molecules are bro-
ken down or built up. Stable molecules
Our bodies actually need some free
radicals and they are used in various
pathways. When illness like cancer or
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DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | MARCH/APRIL 2019
Turmeric (Curcumin)
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