Life is about Oxidation (Free Radicals) vs. Antioxidation
What is Free Radical?
As you all know, we develop all kinds of illness and diseases, such as heart diseases, cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, as we get older. These are often classified as "adult diseases", "habitual diseases" or "chronic diseases", because we seem to domestically grow them inside our bodies over the time. We all used to accept it as just a part of the aging process.
With recent medical discoveries, it is now widely accepted that 90% of these chronic diseases come from the internal oxidation process over the years, which is none other than aging process itself. And this oxidation process is led by the Free Radical activities, which are not so easy to control.
Why?
Free radicals are a vital part of our immune system, and they attack once our body detects intrusion of unpleasent objects, such as toxins, virus, etc. In essence, they are very active oxygen molecules that are patroling around inside our bodies, and we desperately need them around for our own survivals.
Unfortunately, there is a down side. Free radicals are also very unstable and overreacting in nature, and sometimes they could damage other atoms and cells around themselves, including DNAs. Therefore, it is important to keep them at the bay as much as possible. The general rule to remember is; no harmful situation to our body, no excessive free radicals.
Here is the list of situations that are known to pump up the production of free radicals.
- Oxygen Intake (about 3% of oxygen we take in through breathing turns into be free radicals)
- Aerobic and Hard Exercises
- Sun Light (particularly Ultra Violet ray)
- Polluted Air
- Toxins (including cigarettes, alcohol beverages, sodas, food preservatives)
- Stress
How many of you have thought, "Wait a minute! This is what we all go through every day!"? Given this list, naturally, situations are probably a lot worse in big cities than in a much more country setting.
Good news is that these conditions above only account for about 10% of free radicals production. The remaining 90% is known to come from abnormal fermentation in your intestines. Bad news is that you can't really see what's going on in your intestines, other than the constipation and diarrhea, which apparently are not good signs anyway.
Here is what to look for to help you determine whether or not your intestines have abnormal or over-fermentation. Under the normal fermentation environment, your stool should;
- NOT smell more than the one of a healthy infant's
- be yellow or light soil color
- be consistent and soft
- be light enough to float in the toilet
So how does yours fair? The degree might vary, but your intestines are very likely suffering from abnormal fermentation if all of these conditions were not met. What that means is that you are incubating free radicals much more than necessary, and consequently, you are getting quietly sicker every single day, without even knowing it.
No, from now on, you should know this; over 80% (90% of 90% cause) of all those nasty, often fatal, chronic diseases are being manufactured right in your intestines.
Having said that, now, we should also mention what is known to cause this abnormal fermentation. Quite obviously, it has a lot to do with what you eat and drink, on a daily basis.
- Chlorine (most found in tap water, even from inhaling the shower mist)
- Meat (fat in particular)
- Milk and dairy products
- Processed foods and drinks (including bread and pre-packaged juices)
- Food preservatives and other toxins (such as dioxin leaking out from plastic)
- Alcohol beverages (do we need to say more about this?)
Again, you might not like this list either.
First, it was about your living environment and conditions, and now it's your eating habits. Among the list, chroline is particularly sneaky and dangerous. Chroline is used in public water system for a sanitation purpose, simply to kill all the germs, in the first place. However, once it reaches inside your body, it also kills your microorganisms, which reside in your intestines and help digesting the food you eat. Without healthy microorganisms, your body cannot digest the food properly. The result is the abnormal fermentation.
While we look so useless against the legions of free radicals we just can't seem to stop self-createing, we do have a natural defence system to counter-balance; enzymes (such as glutathione), catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD). However, studies show the internal production of such antioxidant properties slows down as we age. In other words, the ability to self-sustain your own health declines after a certain point in your life. And for most people, that point in life is around mid-30's, and it's all downhill after that.
In fact, according to a common statistic held by many life insurance companies, more than 95% of people over 40 years of age either already have or are nurturing some kind of illness within themselves. And most people don't know it and often find out too late.
Antioxidant Nation
Since our daily living is surrounded by toxins more than ever, it is inevitable for our bodies not to produce free radicals in excess. We've gone too far away from pollution-free, organic, self-sustainable lifestyle, which we now only know existed in history books.
With medical advances of last century in particular and public sanitation system in place, human kinds succeeded to wipe out most epidemics that once many feared. Ironically, as our lifestyle has changed over the time, we developed another set of diseases instead. And our current medical system hasn't exactly figured out how to save the world from these often complex diseases but one important point; prevention is a lot easier than curing such diseases.
What should we do now?
Well, at least we know that it has a lot to do with the internal oxidation within our body. And it is only natural to find it very important to take in antioxidant properties to prevent chronic diseases and premature aging.
Question now is; what kind of antioxidant should we be taking on a daily basis?
People take supplements, such as various vitamins and beta-carotene, and it seems more and more antioxidant products are coming into the market everyday now. This is only half good because you are taking some of the antioxidant potentials these products might have by taking them with tap water or even those bottled waters, which are all highly oxidizing in nature.
So, how about this super antioxidant water as an ultimate option? |
