Free Radicals and Anti-oxidants

It is really funny when you think about it but I have been hearing a lot of people talk about "free radicals" and "anti-oxidants". As a matter of fact, you can see this on a lot of packaging of products nowadays. I really wonder how many people really know what any of this means. The way I hear these words thrown around tends to make me think that most people may have an idea but really don't know.

Scientifically speaking, free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. The body naturally produces these free radicals because of stress from our environment.

So what does this mean? Well, to start, once these free radicals are formed they start a chain reaction. The chief danger comes from the damage they can do when they react with important cellular compenents such as DNA, or the cell membrane. This causes aging of the body and is linked to one of the causes for some cancers.

Anti-oxidants are the body's defense against free radicals. Anti-oxidants are molecules which can safely interact with free radicals and terminate the chain reaction before vital molecules are damaged. The principle micronutrient (vitamin) anti-oxidants are Vitamnin E, beta-carotene, and Vitamin C. There are studies which show that there is a lower cancer rate in people whose dites are rich in fruits and vegetables.

The Federation of European Biochemical Societies Journal reported that they found that melatonin reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, and protects the brain and spinal chord from age-related decline. Researches say the best way to get melatonin is through food sources such as cherries, walnuts, bananas, oats, rice, ginger, green tea, sage and thyme.

What about exercise and oxidative damage? Regular exercise enhances the anti-oxidant defense system and protects against exercise induced free radical damage. This shows how smart the body is in adapting to the demands of exercise. These changes occur slowly over time and appear to parallel other adaptations to exercise. However, intense exercise in untrained individuals overwhelms defenses resulting in increased free radical damage.

What we have learned here is that oxidative damage is a natural process of aging but we do not have to sit back and accept that. Regular exercise, not periodic exercise, can help reduce free radical damage along with proper nutrition.

Find a good trainer who understands these concepts and will set up an exercise program that will gradually increase in intensity. Also find one that will be able to provide proper nutrition guidance or seek the advice of a certified nutritionist. Or, go to an Express train Fitness location where all of this can be provided. Some locations even have a FAR infared sauna that will actually release some of these free radicals from your body.

Diets and Obesity

Welcome to my blog! I hope you were attracted to this blog because you are interested in living a healthy lifestyle.

This site will analyze and report current trends in healthy living. We will track the progress of some of my clients. I will discuss the state of our populations health and hopefully attract some feed back and thoughts from others. I will also answer questions anyone has on living a healthy lifestyle.

The first topic I want to tackle is the title of this post: Diets and Obesity.

Do you realize that there are currently hundreds of different diet plans, books, videos and tapes on the market today? Some are similar but others are on opposite ends of the eating scale. For instance, there are diets that have you cut out carbohydrates but eat high protein and moderate fat. Then there are the low fat, high carbohydrate diets. The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry!

Now comes the tough question. If we have so many choices for diets and they all claim to be effective, then how come the obesity rate is the highest it has ever been in history? If billions of dollars are spent on diets then the opposite should be true.

This is my observation on this problem (yes, it is a problem for everyone). Dieting is complicated and is hard. They rely on you depriving you of needed calories by drastically cutting them. They also only concentrate on one or two aspects of the over weight and obesity problem. Everyone sees it as an eating problem or an activity problem. Diet "gurus" concentrate on cutting calories and fitness "gurus" concentrate on increasing activity. Some will do both but it is still not enough.

My formula has five factors. Those factors are nutrition, supplementation, resistance training, cardiovascular training, and personal assistance. Using all five factors makes dieting obsolete because this is a lifestyle change. What happens after someone reaches thier goal in a diet? Most will gain back the weight they lost plus gain additional weight on top of that! My formula is not something that is done until you reach your goal. It is done for your entire life. The best part about it is that it becomes second nature.

I have a twelve week program that I take clients through and teach them how to use the five factors. They change their bad habits for good habits. What I am talking about here is a lifestyle change. "Diet" no longer becomes a meaningful word for them. They lose fat (note that I don't say weight) and feel better, happier, more alive.

I am interested in what others may think of what I have said here so please leave your comments. This is just the beginning of a source of information for anyone trying to live healthier.