Are antioxidants good or bad for you I'm gonna explain both sides of the issue
coming right up am Dr. Ekberg with Wellness For Life and if you'd like to
truly master health by understanding how the body really works make sure you
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an antioxidant and the other question is what is an oxidant well oxidation has to
do with oxygen the reason that we breathe in oxygen is
that we use oxygen we use oxygen to make energy so even though oxygen is used for
energy and it's a good thing oxidation also can produce something
called free radicals and if we have an excess of free radicals they can kind of
start a chain reaction like a downward tailspin where things get out of control
and we can have a lot of cellular damage but just because an antioxidant can
offset some of that free radical damage doesn't mean that we should just
indiscriminately start gobbling up tons and tons of antioxidants because when
oxygen is involved with oxidation to make energy for us the antioxidants are
actually opposing that function so by taking too much antioxidants we can
actually slow down the energy production and some of the chronic fatigue or some
of the fatigue issues that people have can actually be caused from taking too
many antioxidants slowing down your energy production so like always the
body has thought of this and there is one antioxidant above all it's called
glutathione and your body makes it from 3 amino acids but the one amino acid
that is in short supply most of the time is called cysteine
and cysteine comes in a number of different foods
it is a sulfur containing amino acid so if you get a list of foods that are
sulfur containing then you are supplying that amino acid and you're setting
yourself up to make glutathione which is your body's number-one antioxidant so
the foods richest in sulfur rich amino acids are all the meats the beef and the
pork and the lamb and fish and shellfish and dairy and cheese and so forth but
there's also a lot of vegetables things like red bell pepper and garlic and
onion go look up a list there's tons and tons of foods find some that you like
and eat plenty of sulfur rich foods and you will have plenty of substrate to
make glutathione so does that mean we never have to take extra antioxidants
well it kind of depends it depends on your lifestyle it depends on where you
live if you live someplace where you're exposed to tremendous amounts of
toxicity if you live somewhere where there's a lot of pollution if you work
with chemicals if you are a smoker then you are producing more free radicals
than the average person and you may want to look at adding some extra antioxidant
support for yourself just don't overdo it because then you shut down your
energy production so one of the simplest and best antioxidants to take is a score
Bukh acid also often mistaken for vitamin C vitamin C and ascorbic acid
are not the same thing the ascorbic acid is the antioxidant component of the
vitamin C complex so you're not doing yourself a favor necessarily thinking
you're getting tons of vitamin C by taking huge amounts of the score big
acid but if you're looking for some extra antioxidant support then you might
benefit from taking an extra 500 or 4,000 milligrams a day so remember that
oxidation is not a bad thing and antioxidants are not necessarily a good
thing it's all about balance oxidation is what gives us the energy antioxidants
while protecting us from free radicals can also offset that energy production
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thanks for listening