The Importance of taking an Antioxidant SupplementWritten by Ryan Cote
Antioxidants are an important supplement to anyone's diet because they prevent bodily damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are most common cause of tissue damage and free radicals have been linked to every known disease by more than 6000 scientific studies. Free radicals are molecules that are over-reactive because they are unbalanced electronically. In an attempt to become balanced they rob electrons from molecules that make up cells in your body, damaging or destroying them. In addition, free radicals damage cell structure and reduce cell's ability to function. Controllable amounts of free radicals are formed during normal cellular functions, but excess free radicals can result from drugs, air pollution, tobacco smoke, pesticides, herbicides, chemicals in our food and water, allergic reactions, emotional upsets, excessive exercise, and even an excess of certain dietary substances such as fats. Fortunately, antioxidants protect against free radical damage. They offer a powerful nutritional tool to prevent illness and even slow down aging. Examples of antioxidant nutrients are Vitamins A, C & E and minerals zinc and selenium. There is also a super potent antioxidant commonly known as Proanthocyanidins. These active ingredients are most potent, natural, free radical scavengers yet discovered. In tests done to measure ability of substances to neutralize free radicals, proanthocyanidins proved to be 20 times more powerful than Vitamin C and 50 times more powerful than Vitamin E!
| | 5 Tips for Choosing the Best Dietary Supplements Written by Kathy Browning
Americans have become more health conscious over past few years and are beginning to recognize connection between good health and diet. Unfortunately, this knowledge hasn’t translated into healthier eating habits. The problem is people don’t take time to plan meals or do necessary tasks to eating healthful. It has become way too easy to drive up to a window and grab a bag of food to eat in car or at home. Even grocery stores are packed with fast food and there are entire aisles dedicated to frozen and processed meals in a bag or box. What kind of nutrition are you going to get out of a bag of orange dust and dehydrated potatoes? Not much. By time you eat it, it has been heated to extreme temperatures, processed, frozen, then heated up again. Then there are all those preservatives, additives and food colorings. There’s not much there to fuel your body. And, even if you ate healthiest diet on planet, you wouldn’t get all nutrients your body needs. Why? Because 90% of American soil is depleted of minerals. So, if you eat healthy, you need to supplement and if you don’t eat healthy, you REALLY need to supplement. The first thing to remember about adding supplements to your diet is that they are meant to augment, not replace, a healthy diet. Your body is one incredible machine and it serves you well, even when you treat it bad. But it can only take so much. You’ve got to help it by being nice to yourself. The best source of vitamins and minerals comes from whole food sources. I know you’ve heard this before, but it bears repeating – eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. If you decide to add supplements, do your research. Understand what supplements you need and why. Educate yourself about quality and effectiveness of product.
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