Often you hear the words oxidation and antioxidants…but do you know what they mean?  Oxidation is caused from stressful environmental aspects to internal stress.  Anything from smog, smoking, eating unhealthy foods and anxiety to intense workouts (which are needed), lack of sleep and general “life” can add to oxidative stress.  Foods which carry “anti” oxidants help fight the oxidation process and in some aspects help us grow a bit younger internally!   Let me go into this a little deeper…

We need vitamins and minerals to make the thousands of enzymes, hormones, and other chemicals that our bodies need to work properly. Vitamins and minerals have another crucial role to play in our bodies. They act as powerful antioxidants that ‘capture’ the free radicals in our bodies.

Free radicals are unstable oxygen atoms created by your body’s natural processes and by the effects of toxins such as cigarette smoke. Free radicals are very reactive and cause a lot of damage to our cells, but they are not all bad as we use free radicals as a part of our immune system to defend against invading bacteria. However, if free radicals damage our cells often enough they can cause genetic changes that trigger cancer. Also, if free radicals begin to ‘work on’ the cholesterol in your blood, they can cause the artery clogging plaque that leads to heart disease. It’s only in the past few decades that we’ve begun to understand how damaging free radicals can be and how important it is to have plenty of antioxidants in our bodies to neutralize them.

What are antioxidants?

There are three vitamins that are called antioxidants. They are:

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Beta-carotene in the form of vitamin A

There are other substances that are not vitamins which also have antioxidant activity. These include:

• flavonoids (which are the colored pigments found in fruit and vegetables)
• trace minerals, such as, selenium.

How do antioxidants work?

Antioxidants are our body’s natural defense against free radicals. Antioxidants are enzymes that roam around our body’s cells looking for free radicals. When they find one, they take hold of it and neutralize it without being damaged themselves. The antioxidant enzyme stops the invasion and removes the free radical from our circulation.

In order for this to work effectively, we have to have plenty of vitamins and minerals – especially vitamin A, beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and trace minerals – in our body to make the antioxidant enzymes that do the neutralizing. If we are running short on the right vitamins and minerals, we won’t be able to make enough of the antioxidant enzymes. This will let the free radicals do extra damage to your cells before they get captured. To be sure that you have the antioxidants and other nutrients that you need, taking an essential vitamin and mineral supplement is advisable.

Of course, getting these antioxidants in foods come even better!  Here is a list of some of my favorites which top the list:

• Fruits… Blackberries, red currents, raspberries, cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, orange, pineapples, plums and prunes.  Apples are great too, especially red delicious.
• Vegetables… Artichokes, arugula, asparagus, broccoli, beets, avocado, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and spinach.
• Other… Dark chocolate, red wine (especially Chianti), green, white and black tea, and surprisingly coffee (in moderation of course)!

For a great website I found which lists the scale of each antioxidant, check out:

http://www.dietaryfiberfood.com/fruits-vegetables/fruits-vegetables/

Healthy eating!