I know you have heard of the term "antioxidant." It's been around since the 1990's as one of the ways to help cure or offset diseases and such other health problems. But do you really know what an antioxidant is, anyway? You hear it on the news and it is everywhere from cereal to supplements, lotions to creams, and everything in between. But do you really know and understand what an antioxidant is?
So we are going to have a little science lesson here. Bare with me, because I taught chemistry (and physics) for the last 15 years and I love the opportunity to educate people with what they thought was useless HS science. In our culmination of the BBD (bigger better deal) in trying to make better cars, better food, better everything in our society, we have put out a lot of damaging chemicals into the environment. Some of these chemicals you may have heard of before are called "free radicals." (Free radicals are also naturally occurring but I would like to point out that the human race has done a lot of serious damage too that has really done a number on our environment.) So these free radicals are everywhere: in the air, your food, things we touch. On a cellular and even atomic level, these free radicals are "electron stealers." When they enter your body, they really wreck havoc on many cells that can then malfunction (think down the line eventually become a cancerous cell to tumor to full blown cancer.)
Oh no! What can we do to protect our bodies from these "electron stealers" who damage the DNA in our cells? Da-da-da!!! Enter the antioxidant with his cape flying behind him to save the day. Antioxidants are generous "electron givers." They prevent oxidation, the lose of electrons. (Does anyone remember LEO the lion goes GER? Lose Electron Oxidation, Gain Electrons Reduction?) So antioxidants are able to give the free radicals the extra "healthy" electrons they have and therefore the radicals do not do damage to your body, or so the theory goes. (And this concludes our science lesson for today.)
So antioxidants are superheroes preventing damage from the terrible free radicals. But...well you gotta be in the right place at the right time. Meaning this: if you ate your blueberries back when you were a kid, but seldom ate them as a 45 year old adult, you missed the boat. You gotta keep antioxidants in and around your body so that they are in your system ready to help defeat the radicals. So that means you need to keep antioxidants in your diet regularly. How are Americans stacking up on that front? Terrible for the most part, when current statistics say the 2 out 3 Americans are overweight or obese. We are not eating what we need to eat to be a healthy culture.
How can we fix that? One thing I have done is to drink Shakeology everyday. It has taken me almost a year to retrain myself to have a healthier diet and I am still learning everyday. But I know when I drink my Shakeology, that I put in the antioxidants in place to do their job. This is part of what makes Shakeology unique compared to other "protein drinks" that usually just contain whey powder and couple of filler ingredients. (Do you read your labels?) The ingredients that they contain are just top notch and of the highest quality. They include the following: cacao, coconut flower nectar, acerola cherry, pomegranate, camu-camu, bilberry, goji berry, blueberry, acai, green tea, rose hips, cinnamon, and luo han guo. In addition to fighting free radicals, these super-fruits promote heart health, support joint health, and keep your brain healthy. The key is everyday consistency. If you want the battle free radicals, you need to have antioxidants present at the right place and at the right time.
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